Chapter 8: Red X, Mysteries
Robin stared at the vault door, the one that sealed the Red X suit from the work. Opening the door, his fears were confirmed.
The vault was empty, the suit was gone.
"But who is he?" Cyborg asked his teammates, who were sitting on the sofa. The main screen showed pictures of Red X taken during the fight.
"I mean, if Robin's the ex-Red X, who's the new guy?" Cyborg continued, only to be pushed aside by Beast Boy, who was carting in a white board covered in theories.
"Okay, if he's not Robin's evil twin, then he's obviously a bionic monkey infused with Robin's DNA" Beast Boy said.
With a glowing black hand made of energy, Raven spun the white board around, sending Beast Boy flying into the kitchen with a crash, sending various objects flying, including one of Killer Moth's moth larva. Only Starfire seemed to notice this though.
"Face it, Red X could be anyone. Anyone smart enough to find the suit and dumb enough to take it for a joyride." Raven deadpanned.
"But there's something about him that's off." Danielle added. "Somehow he managed to actually fight my overshadowing. Normal humans can't do that."
"There was something else." Raven said. "I caught a glimpse of his mind, and it was all a blur, like he doesn't know who he is. And I could sense power, it was faint, but it was there. That might be how he could negate your ghost powers."
"Allow me to test that theory." The halfa stated, before going intangible and diving into Beast Boy, who was just getting up. His eyes glowed bright green before speaking in Danielle's voice. "Well it seems this one's not immune." She/he said before Danielle left his body and flew to Starfire, whose irises glowed solid green. "Same here." Danielle said in Starfire's voice, taking the Titans off guard with her normal speak pattern. Danielle tried to the same to Raven, only to be deflect an inch away from her by a black burst of energy. Danielle turned solid and struck the roof, landing on the ground a few seconds later. "I'm okay!" she said reassuringly.
"Well, when Robin returns, he will help us to discover who." Starfire said as Robin entered the room.
"It doesn't matter, I created Red X. Every system, every weapon. Whoever's inside that suit, he's my responsibility." Danielle winced when he said 'my responsibility', which went unnoticed by everyone except Raven.
"Well, if we're going to catch him, we at least need to figure out what he's after." Cyborg told him.
"I already know." The Boy Wonder said, pulling up a screen showing a molecule shaped like an X. "Xenothium. The fuel that powers the suit."
Starfire gasped. "No!" Raven said. Beast Boy began storming off, saying, "Aw, man, I never understand anything!" Danielle gave a shocked face, having learned about materials that could affect ghost powers, and Xenothium was high on that list, being incapable of phasing through, but could be turned intangible.
"Xenothium?!" Cyborg shouted. "You powered that suit with Xenothium?! Are you crazy, man? That stuff is dangerous-and unstable! Tell me you were not stupid enough to go messing with it!"
"Like I said, it was a mistake." Robin replied angrily.
"The scanner Red X stole will locate any Xenothium within a ten-mile radius." Robin explained.
"So we must locate it first." Starfire said.
"X isn't the only one with a scanner. I'm downloading the molecular signature and transmitting it to your communicators." Cyborg said.
""Thanks. But I won't need it" The Boy Wonder replied.
"How are you gonna find the Xenothium without a scanner?" Cyborg asked.
"The same way I found it the first time." He replied on his way out the door.
The Titans regrouped on top of a rather tall building, minus Cyborg.
"X must have attacked him. If Cyborg's hurt, it's my fault." Robin said, blaming himself. 'Just like Danny.' He thought to himself.
"Robin..." Starfire began, but was cut off by the Boy Wonder.
"I'm responsible, Starfire, for everything that happened. I tried to stop Slade on my own, and nearly got all of you killed. I trusted Terra, and now Danny's gone. I kept the suit, and now someone else is running around with it." Robin said, clearly on the verge of breaking down.
"No, Robin. The error you made, it is in the past. You are no longer the one inside that suit." Starfire said, trying to comfort him.
"And personally, I think it looks much cooler on me." Red X said, crouched on the roof before throwing a handful of X's.
"Move!" Robin shouted.
The Titans dodged the projectiles, before hurling an X at Raven and Beast Boy, strapping them together with the latter as a rhinoceros and sending them both tumbling back into Starfire, who struggled to lift them up and away from the edge of the roof.
Meanwhile, Robin and Red X were engaged in a mostly one-sided battle, ending with X leaping off the edge and falling towards a domed roof below, Robin following after regaining his balance.
X created a portal in the glass roof, closing shortly after him and leaving Robin face first in the glass.
After a long chase through the building's security. Robin and Red X found themselves at a standstill. Robin ready to throw a birdarang, and Red X ready to drop a vial of Xenothium, which would blow the building sky high if triggered.
"Back off-or I trip the power core. And the core triggers the rocks. I don't think you want that on your conscience." X told Robin.
"And I don't think you want to be disintegrated." Robin said, raising his birdarang higher.
Suddenly, energy blasts struck them from behind as a group of hazmat suit clad figures barged into the room, leaving Robin and Red X on the ground as they took all of the Xenothium from the srorage containers.
"The Xenothium!" was all Red X heard before he passed out.
The Titans had beaten Professor Chang and his men, but Red X got away after Chang's cannon was destroyed. In the confusion, Red X somehow got back his belt from Robin, leaving the Titans without a clue as to Red X's location.
Red X sat against the wall of a cave just outside Jump City, winded from the battle with the mad doctor. Reaching up to his face, he pulled off the mask, revealing a head of unkempt hair hanging in the front, and a pair of bright blue eyes. He looked down at the vial of Xenothium ore in in hand, smirking at the fact that Robin had failed to notice a missing vial. He had taken two, one for the distraction and the other for himself.
"Very impressive, Red X." A voice said from the back of the cave. A figure clad in white and gold robes with a stylized skull on the chest emerged from the shadows, his gray hair gleaming in the moonlight that filled the front of the cave.
"What do you want?" Red X asked, readying an X to throw.
"I merely came to offer you something. I can read your mind and I can tell your lost, you have no memory of who you once were. I can help you regain those memories you lost, and all you have to do is help me with my plans." Brother Blood explained.
"I'm listening." Red X replied.
AN: (Dramatic music) So, Danny is Red X, has amnesia, and is now working for Brother Blood. How will this chain of events unfold. (BTW, the reason Danny is so effective as Red X is because when he put on the mask, it reacted with his ghost powers and he picked up the memories and personality of Red X that had been imprinted on the mask, creating a mix of both personalities.)