A/N: Another revised chapter.
Muchos gracias once again to redxandraven4eva for reviewing!
Nameless: Chapter 3
Robin smirked, "First breaking and entering our home and now you're stealing precious jewels? You're just asking for a fight! Give up! Or do you really want your ass handed to you?"
Red-X scoffed, "You guys didn't put up much of a fight last time I saw you." He paused. "And if we're talking about asses, I'll tell you who has a good one," he taunted. And with that Red-X vanished only to reappear behind Starfire, grabbing her head. "Oh, she's quite the looker, isn't she, Robin?" Starfire's eyes and hands burst with green energy. Not wanting to be brought down by starbolts, X reluctantly jumped the girl and slammed her head into the pavement. He then took something red out of his belt that covered her eyes, blinding her and preventing her from using her powerful eye beams. She was left helpless on the ground trying to figure out a way to find her vision once more. She was down for the count.
Red-X imagined a Staples' Easy Button. Well, that was easy.
Robin growled in rage. Raven encompassed a nearby pole with her magic and swung at the thief, successfully hitting him from behind. However, that didn't stop X from vanishing once more.
This time, he reappeared on Cyborg's back. Cyborg started powering up his sonic cannon but X slammed some small electric device on the half-machine and watched as Cyborg began to shut down. "You may have had a rough past, but you're not the only one. Maybe you should think about what others go through too. Look at you! You're just a hunk of metal! No heart could live inside you!," Red-X whispered into his ear. Cyborg's one human eye narrowed in recognition of what the villain said, but he couldn't do anything about it – he was losing power by the second. He dropped down to the pavement, twitching with loose electricity.
Suddenly, Beast Boy started lunging at him in his pterodactyl form – of course not before X disappeared out of sight. Beast Boy flew in a circle through the air near a shutdown Cyborg searching for the thief. Next thing the shape-shifter knew, Red-X was situated on his flying back. Beast Boy started flying towards the ground to try and take the battle out from the air so he could see the guy face to face. As Beast Boy descended, Red-X softly said, "Look at you. Mr. High and Mighty. Who you gonna go home crying to? Your Mommy and Daddy? Or maybe your girlfriend?" Beast Boy let out a mangled pterodactyl scream. "Oh wait! You don't have a girlfriend!" This only angered the changeling, so he focused on trying to get the thief off his back by doing air somersaults. And with that the villain jumped off the changeling and threw a small ball at the changeling that quickly erupted into red ooze, locking Beast Boy immobile on the pavement. He wouldn't be able to continue in the fight.
Three down, two to go.
The masked villain rematerialized in front of Raven. "Hey there, Sunshine! Miss me already?" Raven scowled and started throwing punches powered with her signature black energy. She was unable to land her first punch, but she countered, "Yeah, but don't worry – I don't miss twice." And with that, her second punch hit him straight in the face, knocking him backwards a few steps. Raven smirked, "Not looking so sunny now is it, X?"
Red-X took the momentary lack of attacks coming his way to catch his breath and yell, "Hey Traffic Light! Look at Sunshine here! She has sweet cheeks and she's feisty! I like her already!"
Raven froze and tried as hard as she might to focus on the battle but she couldn't help it; his comments were flattering, no matter the fact she wasn't supposed to fraternize with the enemy. She tried to subdue her oncoming blush. Raven then stepped towards him and aimed to punch him once again. But X easily blocked her punch by catching her fist in his hand.
The thief couldn't help himself – he was a hormone-crazed teenager just like the rest of them. "My how wonderful you look tonight, Milady." He bowed, than hastily took off enough of his mask to only expose his lips. He gently caressed Raven's hand before he kneeled down and kissed it. His lips tingled. He didn't expect it her hand to be so soft. X quickly let go of Raven's hand. He yelled over to Robin, "Hey, Crayola! I don't know what you see in that redhead over there when you've got Sunshine here with skin as smooth as silk!"
Robin growled once again, momentarily letting X focus on the blunder boy instead of his so called "Sunshine".
Unbeknownst to Red-X, his touch had done something to Raven too – but she wasn't raged by just hormones. She couldn't stop herself, but his simple kiss on her hand had Raven quickly going into X's mind, picking up on some of the thief's memories and feelings.
Fear, anger, and sadness.
A man with a mask half gold, half black with only one eye shown laughed as he pulled the trigger on two adults. Two shots rang out. The bullets shot them straight through their heads and the adults were crumpled on the cement, unmoving. A faint female sob echoed in the background.
Rage and defeat.
The same masked man was throwing punches towards him.
Love and responsibility.
A young woman, with dark brown hair matted against her face, was sleeping on a hospital bed, her arms filled with needles attached to multiple machines.
Raven blacked out and fell to the ground. But the fight went on.
Red-X turned his head back to Raven. She was unconscious. "Hey, Wonder Bread!" he called back to Robin. "What's up with Little Miss Sunshine over here?" Is she going to be okay?
Robin looked at the battle scene. He was the only one left standing. He went into his trademark fighting stance, bo-staff at the ready. "What's it to you, X? You're a still villain and someone needs to bring you down. You're lucky I'm here to have that honor." The boy wonder motioned the thief to have at him.
Red-X just stared at Robin. Growing impatient, the Titan leader decided to go on the offensive. He jumped over towards X and started throwing various punches and kicks, all of which the thief blocked.
"Too scared to make a move, X?"
Suddenly angered, the villain then proceeded to punch the hero in the face, knocking Robin back a few feet.
"Psh. That's mere child's play. Is that all you've got?" Robin spat.
Red-X took a step back. "I may be a thief, but that doesn't make me any less human." And with that, X vanished and failed to reappear. Robin stood there in silence. Why was he so unwilling to attack?
"Uh, Robin? I know you want to go after him, but uh.. a little help over here?" Beast Boy yelped in a red-hot mess on the ground.
Robin went over to his teammate, taking a special spray bottle from his belt. "This should do the trick," he murmured as he sprayed the unique liquid all over Beast Boy, slowly allowing Beast Boy to once again function normally.
Starfire called out to Robin. "Friends, what has happened? Please tell me that our foe's rear end has been severely whooped!" she exclaimed with hope in her voice. Robin sprayed her eyes with the same liquid he used on Beast Boy. Her vision returned.
"Sorry Star, that's not the case this time, " Beast Boy replied.
Robin made his way over to Cyborg's limp body. The device on his friend was the same kind Robin once used on Cyborg when Robin himself was in the suit. Robin called out to no one in particular, "If this guy doesn't modify the suit, we'll at least know some of the tricks he could have up his sleeves." With the press of few buttons, the device was off and Cyborg began rebooting.
Soon after, Raven came to. She awoke to the four concerned faces of her friends.
"You okay, Raven?" asked Robin. Raven slowly nodded.
"What happened to you?" questioned Beast Boy. "One minute you're kicking his ass, then the next you're on the ground!"
"He touched you, didn't he?" Robin gave Raven a knowing look. Cyborg's eye twitched. "Tell me you don't mean he frisked Raven, right?" Cyborg let out a feral snarl. "If he did, man that sonofabitch won't know what's coming to him." Cyborg pounded his hand with his fist. "I ain't letting no one like that near my lil' sis."
Robin turned to his half-robot friend and hesitated, "Uh, no Cyborg. It wasn't like that." Raven nodded once more to reassure Cyborg. Robin turned back to Raven and stated, "You remember what happened last time with Terra." Beast Boy glared at his leader but Robin continued, "Did you see anything?"
Raven took a moment to think. Foreign memories and feelings made their way back into her mind. "He knows Slade." Robin narrowed his eyes.
Starfire gasped. "Friend Raven, please tell me you are poking the fun. I do not think this is very funny, friend."
"I'm sorry, Star. I'd be lying to you if I said that this guy's got nothing to do with Slade." Raven replied with her usual monotone voice. Raven's feelings were going haywire now with the possible threat of Slade's return, but she tried not to let it leak out through her demeanor.
"Slade?" Robin finally hissed. "Looks like this thief is going to be more of a handful than we originally thought. We'll have to view him as Slade's accomplice."
"While I did see Slade in a number of his memories, I don't think this guy is as bad as you're making him out to be, Robin."
"Regardless, we'll have to assume he's on Slade's side. We'll need to take all precautions with this new villain. Slade is bad news, Raven. You of all people should know that." Robin said icily.
Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire exchanged anxious glances. All three knew that the resident birds of the team harbored ill feelings towards Slade. And the last thing they wanted was for the two stubborn birds to be butting heads during a time when Slade could be on the loose.
Raven glared at her leader. Of course she knew Slade was evil. He worked with the devil, for Pete's sake! But she knew that Robin meant well, so she didn't say anything in return, instead opting to bite her tongue and hold in any smart remarks that would only piss her leader off further.
Robin ordered, "First thing tomorrow morning, we're gonna dig up all the dirt we can get on this wannabe. At least, that's what I hope he is. We don't need another maniac like Slade running rampant in this city. Understood?"
His four teammates nodded numbly, all too caught up with what Slade meant to each individual. They thought of their past experiences with Slade. First with Robin as the original Red-X, next with Robin as his apprentice. It was hard for the team to fight against their leader. Then they lost Terra to the villain too, but she proved herself good in the end. They would never forget what happened next. Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire may have been turned into stone, but everyone remembered the night Slade came after Raven. A battered and almost unclothed Raven, with red marks blazing all over her body – it was permanently embedded in each Titan's memories of the villain. Was Slade coming back? Last they heard of him, he was fighting fire demons alongside Robin in hell, trying to bring back the world as they once knew it to be. That was the only time they were thankful for Slade. Without Slade, no one would've known where to find Raven. But it was different now. Guess Slade's nurturing his villain side once more this time around.
The team waited for the police to come and file a report. Robin then motioned towards the T-car to head home. But Raven surveyed the crime scene one last time. Something inside her was gnawing at the edge of her mind, telling her that Red-X wasn't a bad guy. Not completely anyway. His memories were proof of someone with a dark past, no doubt. She couldn't quite place where this inkling was coming from, but the feeling screamed that he wasn't evil. But what was this guy doing with Slade? And what was she to do? Go with her gut instinct or follow her leader? Raven sighed and resigned to join her teammates in the T-car. Little did she know that the new thief was hiding in the shadows watching her every step as the Titans retreated.
Keith may have been Mr. Wright, but to the Titans, all things pointed him to be in the wrong direction. They didn't know who he really was. They didn't know his pain. Robin, without a single doubt, saw the man now behind his former suit to be just as bad as Slade himself. The other teens were quick to agree with him – except Raven. But she tried not to let it show. All the evidence Raven collected made it clear that Red X was not to be trusted, but something in Raven shouted at her that something was… off with that assumption, that there was more story behind the mask.
A/N: HEY! You've made it to chapter 3! Thanks so much for reading! And once again, please feel free to send a review my way! Tell me what you think! :)