Part 12: Unmasked
With our heroes assigned to different corners of Amity Park, it would be sooner or later before they found Red-X if he was to show up. However, it had been close to an hour and so far they had nothing.
Let's take a look, shall we?
Robin and Starfire were staking out and searching in the north side of the city and they had seen neither hide nor hair of our favorite black clad thief. Robin was riding his R-Cycle and Starfire flew closely above him. Robin, being the creator and original Red-X, tried to put himself in the thief's own mind. If he was the new Red-X, where would he go? Basically, the suit's primary function was to allow the wearer to sneak around undetected so that he or she could go around undetected. That's right, she. The heroes debated on if whoever was wearing the suit was a girl or a guy. Most of the girls, basically Ember, Sam and Valerie, suggested that the new Red-X could be female and the suit created an illusion of masculinity. Starfire slowly agreed with them. In her defense, a girl could be just as tough as a guy. This had been taken into consideration since the voice could be disguised by the mask.
Robin looked around, making frequent stops to places that a thief would've gone to like the bank, museum or jewelry store. Starfire searched the skies, but she couldn't find any clues.
Suddenly, Starfire thought she saw something and quickly alerted Robin. "Robin!" she cried. "I saw something on the roofs. I think it is the Red-X!"
"Good job Star!" Robin complimented as he reached for a grapple hook, shot it up and quickly pulled himself up.
At the same time in the south side of Amity Park were Raven and Shadowcobra, both flying, in search of Red-X. Shadow used his enhanced Vampire vision but couldn't find a thing. Raven tried using her empathic and telepathic abilities, but so far got nothing, except a few voices in her head and stray emotions flying about.
Shadow blamed himself for this. Even though Robin designed the suit, it was Shadow who had upgraded it, making it twice as powerful and deadly. He blamed himself for Danny getting hurt and the suit getting stolen. He should've been more careful. Now, the suit was probably in the hands of a dangerous criminal.
Raven picked up on her boyfriend's guilt and decided to comment, "Don't blame yourself, Shadow. You couldn't have known." This was meant to reassure him.
"I know, Raven," he replied. "But I can't shake off the feeling. If only I had put more security measures on that suit, none of this would've happened."
"We can't always predict the future, Shadow. You and I both know that."
"But still…" he trailed off when he saw a black clad figure run by on a building. Raven turned her head to the direction.
"Is that…?' she began asking, but didn't have to finish.
"Yes!" Shadow told her. "Let's go!"
In the east side were Oni and Ember, riding on their flying guitars like surf boards. However, they weren't exactly taking this mission that seriously. Oh, they were looking, but sometimes they took glances at one another.
Oni's mask was faceless with red marking and two small horns near the brow. It was hard to tell if he was smiling or frowning, but one could tell what he was feeling through his voice. Ember noticed that he had a lovely voice, especially when singing.
Ember, who was once one of Danny's enemies, now saw that the life of a hero was far better. She no longer sought to take over the Earth. To her, that was far too much responsibility for a rock and rolling ghost. All she wanted was to be loved; people chanting her name. Oni and Ember were famous in the Ghost Zone and Earth, playing at concerts and gaining popularity each time. They even had a few CD's out with their faces on the covers. The record company who signed them on was linked to Smart Brain. Basically, they could be famous rock stars and heroes, people would chant their names. Ember loved it.
But not as much as she loved Oni.
Oni was an enigma to her, a big mystery. He didn't tell her much of his past, since it was painful of course. She understood and felt sympathetic. I mean, being turned into a Hollow was one thing, but being possesses by one and trying to control it and contain it was a whole other thing. Oni was afraid, afraid that the Hollow within him would break out and hurt people. He was afraid that his friends and loved ones would be hurt by his inner evil. However, despite the dangers, he never showed it. He kept it inside to not worry her. But she could tell.
Of course, right now, they were going after the thief known as Red-X.
"Can you imagine? Someone else in a power suit like that?" Oni asked her.
Ember shrugged, "Not really. I mean, how tough could the suit be?"
They both got their answer when red blasts of energy struck their guitars and shot the ghost and Vizard down, sending them crashing onto the pavement. Oni went to Ember.
"You okay, Ember?" he asked her, concerned for her well being.
"I'm fine," she groaned. She was a ghost, but THAT still hurt. "What happened?"
Oni and Ember looked up and saw Red-X, waving at them before taking off. The ghost and Vizard picked up their guitars and flew after him. "LET'S GET HIM!"
Finally, in the west side were Danny and Valerie. Valerie was on her hover board with Danny flying close by. Danny couldn't wait to dish out some payback to whoever was in that suit. To him, this was personal. The hunter and halfa were discussing possible suspects.
"It could be Technus," she supplied, but he shook his head.
"Not quite. Technus usually shouts out his name and plans while kicking my butt. The guy in the suit didn't do that. And, Shadow told me that the Red-X suit had a ghost neutralizer and an anti-ghost force field. So, no ghost would be able to wear it anyway," Danny told her. Before the mission they had been given a briefing about what the suit was now capable of. Valerie and Danny knew first hand since Shadow tested them in that suit.
"So any other suspects?" Valerie asked.
"No," Danny shook his head. "All I know is that guy…or girl has something personal against me."
"Well whatever or whoever the guy in the suit is…" she cocked her gun, "He better be ready for me." Danny laughed.
"Val, you're too eager sometimes, you know that?"
"You know it, Danny!" Valerie laughed, but her laughter was cut short by a red blast that sent her crashing into the side of a building. Another red blast pinned her to the wall by red sticky tape…shaped like an X. The X-Tape crackled and then shocked Valerie. She screamed. Before long, she had been knocked out.
"Valerie!" Danny flew towards her to help, but an X-Blade stopped him in mid-flight. Narrowing his green eyes, Danny whipped his head around for the source of the blade.
He found it.
Standing on top of a building, not too far from him and Valerie was a familiar black clad and caped thief wearing an equally familiar white skull mask.
Red-X.
Red-X waved at Danny and then ran off, obviously a challenge to come after him.
Danny took the challenge.
The hunt was on.
The halfa took out his SB-Cell and alerted the others, "I found Red-X! I'm going after him!"
Back with Robin and Starfire, Robin answered through his T-Com, "What do you mean you found Red-X? Me and Starfire are going after him!"
Starfire added, "This is true!"
Oni answered through his SB-Cell, "But that can't be right! Me and Ember are going after X right now!"
"Yeah, dipstick!" Ember interjected rudely. "How can you be going after X if we're going after X? Check your eyes!"
Shadow told them all on his SNK-Phone, "But you ALL can't be going after Red-X! It's not possible unless…" his eyes widened in realization.
"What?" Raven asked. What's wrong?"
When the two cornered Red-X, there were going to be surprised.
Tucker and Sam were back in Fenton Works, in Danny's room, monitoring our heroes. Tucker scratched his head and dug his ears. He had heard all the previous transmissions from our heroes.
"Okay, this is weird," Tucker said to Sam. "Everyone's reporting in that they ALL found Red-X."
Sam replied, "But that's impossible, isn't it? Unless…" Sam's eyes widened and she tried calling Danny, "Danny! Danny!" Do you hear me?"
There was only static.
Robin threw his birdarang at 'Red-X' as Starfire struck with her starbolt. The attacks hit, but something was wrong. In a puff of black smoke, Red-X turned into a bat.
They had been duped.
Oni and Ember strummed their guitars and sent a powerful energy sound wave in the shape of fists that smashed into the back of X. They thought themselves victorious as they gave each other high fives, but their celebration was cut short when 'Red-X' turned into a bat and flew away in a puff of smoke.
"What the…" Oni began in bewilderment.
"This can't be good," Ember added in agreement.
Shadow and Raven had cornered X in a dead alley. As they were about to apprehend the thief, he literally exploded in a puff of black smoke, leaving a bat behind that flew away. Shadow realized that they had been following a fake. So, where was the real X?
There was only one answer. The Snake Knight whipped out his phone and received reports from the others saying that they had been tricked. The only call he hadn't got was from…
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a call from Sam.
"Shadow!" Sam shouted, "I think Danny's in trouble!"
Shadow pulled down the collar of his cloak and frowned grimly. Raven knew what was going on.
Red-X was only after one thing. He was after Danny Phantom. Shadow tried to call Danny and got only static. This was so not good. They had to get to Danny and quick.
Danny followed X and found himself on top of Casper High. Red-X stood arrogantly with one hand on his left hip while inspecting his fingers. Before long, Danny landed in front of him.
"Alright, whoever you are," Danny pointed at X. "Take off your mask so I can know who you are and then we can have what you stole returned to its rightful owner." Danny thought he made his demands clear enough, but Red-X only replied with laughter.
"You want me to take off this mask?" X pointed to the skull mask. He challenged, "Why don't you rip it off my head, or are you scared?"
Danny continued, "I don't want to fight you."
Red-X produced an X-Blade. "I'm not giving you a choice!" he threw the X-Blade at Danny and the halfa dodged only to be tackled to the ground by Red-X. The thief aimed a punch to Danny's face, but Danny was quick enough to go intangible and phase through the roof and then phase back up behind X with a glowing green hand. He shot an ecto-blast, but X teleported away, reappearing behind Danny with a drop kick that sent him sprawling. Danny got up and swung his leg out in a roundhouse kick, which X caught before twisting the leg. Danny spun for a bit before his face met concrete. X then dropped upon Danny and elbowed him in the back, causing Danny to scream in pain. The X on the elbow pad glowed and sent a surge of electricity through Danny, making him scream more. Danny, despite his pain, grabbed X by the arm and threw him off him. X landed gracefully on his feet.
"Well, well…" Red-X flexed his wrists, revealing bracelets that seemed to have capsules on them. The same capsules were on his belt and around his ankles. "You seem to still have a bit of fight in you. I'm impressed." He flexed his fingers. "This will be fun."
Danny heaved and cracked his back. He was sore, but he was going to keep fighting. His SB-Cell was close to his feet, probably fallen off him in the fray. He went to pick it up, but an X-Blade flew by and destroyed it, making a cut in the back of Danny's hand. Danny hissed in pain as green ectoplasmic blood spilled from the wound.
"Don't want you calling friends now, do we?" Red-X mocked. "This is a private party. Just you…" he pointed to Danny and then to himself. "…And me."
Danny held his wounded hand. "What's your problem with me?" Danny demanded, still a little sore. Red-X answered by sending an X-Blast that Danny blocked with his shield. The force of the blast still sent him back a couple of feet.
"You still don't get it, do you?" Red-X asked producing a pair of X-Blades in the back of his gloves. He rushed at Danny and swung at him. Danny dodged and then grabbed X by the wrists to halt him. Red-X kicked Danny hard in the chest and then swung his leg up to strike him in the chin, sending him falling back. "Haven't you realized it by now?"
Danny messaged his chin and sent an ecto-blast at X who deflected it with an X-Shield. Red-X rushed over and punched Danny in the side of the head. "The answer's right in front of you loser…you know who I am. Deep inside you, you know the truth." He grabbed Danny by his hair, making the halfa scream in pain as he hauled him up. "You know whose face is behind this mask, Daniel…"
Danny groaned in pain. X's fist shot into his stomach before he was thrown roughly onto the roof. Danny struggled on his hands and knees.
"Come on, go ahead, use your Ghostly Wail," Red-X challenged him. "Or are you scared because you know who I really am?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Danny said to X, struggling and groaning on his feet.
"Don't lie to me, Daniel," he reached up for his mask and slowly pulled it off. When it was completely removed, Danny's eyes widened with shock.
"It can't be…"
"Hello Daniel," 'Red-X' smiled. Looking back at Danny was none other than Devlin Amakusa. "And goodbye." His hands glowed red as he aimed them at Danny.
"Why?" Danny asked.
"Simple, you're in my way and now I'm going to get rid of you," Devlin said before he fired.
Danny saw a large flash of red approaching him.
Danny Phantom was doomed.
(The Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Bayville.)
Using the Golden Tiger Claws, Copycat was able infiltrate the institute without being detected. She could've done this by using one of the many mirror portals, but she wanted to play with her new toys, the Shen Gong Wu that she had stolen.
To her, a work well done had to be fun.
She sat at Cerebro's computer console and slid in a disk. She typed on the keyboard and brought up all the data she needed. She hacked in and found plans for the institutes' security system, names of the students as well as the instructors and their data, but most of all she had just hit pay dirt.
She was able to download the plans and programming of Cerebro itself.
It wasn't long before she accidentally activated the security system, causing the alarms to blare and lights to flash red, alerting the occupants of the mansion. Copycat purred as she ejected and pocketed the disk. "I got what I came for. No need to stay here any longer." She shouted, "Golden Tiger Claws!" and slashed a portal to wherever she wanted to go next before jumping in.
It was at that time that Charles Xavier, Logan (Wolverine) Ororo Monroe (Storm) and Hank McCoy (Beast) ran into the room. To Xavier's shock and horror, there was no one around and Cerebro just got downloaded.
To Be Continued…
ZK Chromedragozoid: Oh my! What a shocking turn of events! Who saw that coming! Devlin is Red-X! Seems that he's walking in his big bro's footsteps. Wonder why he's trying to take out Danny? As if you didn't know? Will the others get to them in time? Stay tune in the next and final chapter of this arc. Part 13: Therapy.
Boy, will Devlin be in trouble when his brother and Danni find out. Wonder what's worse?
BTW, any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Please read and review with any ideas u might have. Thanx!
And to Hotshot45, Danielle 'Danni' Fenton/Phantom is from the show. She first appeared in the episode 'Kindred Spirits'. Look it up on And I agree with you. Whatever Slade is planning with all the stuff Copycat is stealing cannot be good. Hope the Titans are ready.
And if anyone has any fanart for my series, please send them to me. Also, I wish to ask if anyone wants to help with co-writing this fic.
With that, I bid u all adieu until the next chapter.