Long Road to Ruin

Partnership

"Ahhh!!"

"STARFIRE!!"

BOOM!!

An explosion rocked the building Starfire was smashed into, the entire structure shuddered and threatened to collapse in itself. The rest of my team stood around and stared agape in worry and bewilderment, even their opponent paused to wait for the Tameranian Princess, her sister, to escape the rubble. Hovering high in the air, with her glowing lavender-eyes Blackfire scoffed and chuckled when a full minute passed and Starfire hadn't flown out, flicking her silky pitch-black hair back over her shoulder when the wind blew it in her face. She smirked and propped a hand on her hip as she said loud enough for the Titans and the curious civilian onlookers to hear, "I guess that's the end of that."

From there it wasn't hard for me to deduce what was going on and I scowled, I've had it with this bitch, with my eyes still glowing white I zoomed into the clearing allowing my anger to stretch out and engulf the blue-skies as I spread my wings. Since I had the element of surprise I slammed into Blackfire from behind and smashed her into the streets below. The impact was hard enough to create a crater and puff up a mushroom cloud of dust, dirt, and debris that had the civilians running for cover. With my hands over Blackfire's throat I growled into her ear while she choked and tried to gain her bearings with her shortness of breath, "You just don't know when to give up."

She tried to gasp for air, but I tightened my grip around her throat and she started to claw at my arms while her eyes once again lit up a bright purple and fired a concentrated energy-ray from her eyes, but I moved my face from her line of sight in time before my face became ashes. However the distraction was long enough for her to slip her feet under me and kick me off with enough force that it threw me high into the nearest building. I shattered the thick glass and tumbled into an office space where a few people gasped in shock and moved away, obviously afraid of becoming part of the news as I got back on my feet and dusted off the glass from my shoulder. One brave soul came up to me and pointed out the obvious with a horrified expression on her face, "Oh my god, you're bleeding! Are you alright?"

I glanced around my person and felt my face for any cuts then winced when I found one at the corner of my right brow. I brought my blood coated finger to my face and examined it, but shrugged it off and decided it wasn't all that when I heard Cyborg's battle cry. I rushed to the shattered window and looked down, Cyborg had launched heat-seeking rockets at Blackfire the moment Terra erected and scattered bits of earth around to give Blackfire a hard time running.

When, from my point of view, it only aided in her nimble avoidance-tactic. She weaved in and out of boulders like a graceful dancer, using the boulders as blockers when each missile got too close till she was totally clear and she went on the offensive. Raining starbolts all around Terra, forcing her to take cover and left Cyborg firing his sonic-cannon multiple times to break her guard, but Blackfire was too quick. She dodged every one of his moves and turned her attention from Terra back to Cyborg and gave him a taste of her energy charged eyes. Yet, while Cyborg and Terra ran for cover, Beast Boy who had taken to the skies dropped down as a heavy triceratops to crush Blackfire into the pavement.

BOOM!!

He hit the ground on top of Blackfire, but the Tameranian was persistent, within seconds Blackfire had lifted Beast Boy into the air and thrown him off to the side with a grunt and a scream. Hovering with a smug grin she laughed out loud, "Is that all you got?!"

A tingling in the back of my neck made me shiver and I followed the feeling down to my right where I saw Robin with his bo-staff in hand looking eager to put a serious hurt on the arrogant ex-princess. He didn't have to look at me or signal for me to assist him; I knew what he wanted from me with the help of our bond, it was like our minds worked in perfect sync and I held out my hand when he rushed in to confront Blackfire. The tameranian turned her attention on Robin and smirked as if she knew what was about to happen when she had no idea.

Robin leapt into the air, his bo-staff high over his head and Blackfire arched a brow in confusion when it looked like he was about to slam the ground in the same manner one would do to a person. That's when I opened a black portal and Robin fell into it, seconds later, in simultaneous perfection another portal opened above Blackfire and Robin came through with the staff that cracked the top of her head. Or it would have if she hadn't have stumbled back in shock and fell flat on her ass momentarily stunned at the move, but recovered quickly and was back on her feet. However Robin fell into a flip kick and caught the bottom of her chin with his steel-toe boots and she cried out as she again fell back to the ground with a now bruised chin.

I flew out of the building and landed beside Robin as he walked up to the dazed ex-princess and grabbed a fist full of her blouse to pull her up to his face. I did not sympathize with her when she groaned in pain as Robin growled, "You better tell me why you're here if it's not to finish off Starfire."

This isn't about Starfire? I arched a brow in interest while she hissed through gritted teeth, "Or what are you going to do? Kill me and I take my secrets to my grave."

She laughed in his face and I scowled in impatience, "There are worse things than death."

My glowing scarlet eyes wiped the smile from her face when she saw my shadow take a life of its own and stand up to tower over Robin and myself with it's own set of glowing red eyes and a set of jagged razor sharp teeth that grinned hungrily down at her. She glared at it, then at me, and then at Robin in contemplation, but then snorted arrogantly, "You wouldn't."

Robin completely disregarded her and she dropped to the ground on her elbows in bewilderment as I converged on her, my shadow grew taller and her eyes widened as she scrambled to get away from me. But I didn't let her get too far, my shadow lashed out with a black tentacle and wrapped around her ankle, it yanked her towards me and she screamed in terror just like every other criminal who wouldn't cooperate in questioning. Flat on her back she turned on her stomach and began to claw at the ground to keep from sinking into the darkness that awaited her with starving hands that reached out to grab her.

I levitated in the air to stay out of my shadow's way as those same hands slapped on her body, grabbed her, and started to pull. She screamed, "NOOO!!"

I didn't listen, I wanted to hear her confess, if it meant consuming her in my darkness than so be it, but I will get an answer from her. Honestly, I don't know why she would put up with this humiliation when all she had to do was tell us why she was here. That's all we wanted to know. More hands clung to her shoulders and pulled half of her body into the shadows, she screamed louder when I knew she felt things, creepy-crawlies that began to crawl up her leg and around her lower-body.

Her eyes were now the definition of terror opened-wide and tearing with nothing but fear and panic as she pleaded with me to let her go, to spare her the darkness.

I refrained from smirking in amusement, the way I see it, she deserved it.

ZZZING!!

"Raven!" Robin jumped at me and tackled me to the ground just before a sharp knife cleaved my head in half as it whizzed by Cyborg and embedded itself into the nearest lamppost and exploded like a concussion bomb. Distracted from Blackfire my shadow sank back into the ground to join me and mingle with Robin's as he picked himself up off of me and helped me back to my feet. Confused as to what had happened my head as well as everyone within the vicinity turned when they heard the sound of a roaring engine zoom down the street.

The engine belonged to a bike and that bike belonged to Red X as he slid into the battlefield with a broad-slide stopping perfectly beside the trembling Blackfire who was still trying to pull herself up from the ground. Shaking so badly she growled and slapped X's gloved hand away as he offered it to help her up.

"You're late." She snarled.

X scoffed, "Well excuse me for saving your life."

"Whatever just do your job and get me out of here," she snapped as she stood on her own two feet then mounted his bike with each hand holding onto his sides.

X then sat up, grabbed her hands and made her wrap it around his waist just before he leaned forward and grabbed a hold of the handlebars, revving his engine he turned to us, the slack-jawed Robin and the stupefied me and gave us his signature two finger salute. With that he tail-whipped the back of his bike and sped off down the street leaving us Titans completely dumbfounded. Well I was anyway; Robin had to physically nudge me out of my stupor back into the game as he ran for the nearby alleyway gesturing for me to follow as he shouted back, "Cyborg! Take Starfire back to the Tower! Beast Boy, Terra track our location and on my mark move in if necessary!"

We rounded the corner where his bike was parked and without a second thought he jumped on and ordered me to ride with him; I climbed on board and wrapped my arms around his waist, still operating on auto-pilot I asked, "What are we going to do?"

"We're going after them."

I knew what he said, I understood the meaning of the words, but putting them all together to form a coherent sentence and thusly understand what was taking place was hard for me to comprehend. We were going after them? We're going to pursue Red X's xinthonium powered bike, who was probably long gone by now packing Blackfire with him? Was that Robin's wishful thinking? Or was I still trying to process my whereabouts and the world around me?

Nevertheless Robin grabbed a hold of his handlebars and tore out of the alleyway with such a jerk I had to tighten my grip around his waist if I was to keep myself from falling off the bike. In no less than a few nano-seconds the R-cycle's speedometer climbed to 60, then 80, then 90 till we were going so fast the world blurred and I had to remember how to breath every time he zoomed through a busy intersection with a red-light. Now, I'm not a coward, nor was I jumpy or timid under extreme conditions, but riding with Robin on his bike I knew was most certainly not the safest place in the world to be.

But I trusted him.

"There they are!" He suddenly exclaimed over the roaring winds, squinting my eyes I glanced over his shoulder in time to see Blackfire's back on X's bike as he expertly weaved in and out of traffic. I bite down on my lower lip when the Tameranian looked back with X to observe our speedy approach. We were now close enough that I can hear him revving his engine to go faster, I can see his masked-eyes narrowed in annoyance, and I can swear I felt my heart stop when I realized just what Robin and X were both thinking and I couldn't do anything to stop either of them. All I could do was hold on as Robin jerked the bike to the left, then right following X closely as they traversed the obstacles of moving vehicles that might as well have been parked cars with the speed we were going.

An intersection came up, X nearly dropped his bike straight to the ground when he turned hard right, but as he did he held out his right hand and fired a stream of explosive X-blades that turned numerous cars into balls of fire and had panicking civilians running for cover. Robin leaned forward and screamed, "Hold on!" He didn't have to tell me twice, my grip around his waist was so tight I might as well have been giving him a life-threatening bear hug while he pulled improvised moves with a bike I never knew were possible. Then again, I should have known Robin was the king at improvisation, it's what earned him the title Boy-Wonder in the first place, because it was a frickin' wonder we weren't dead yet!

With a whip of his backend he completed his hazardous track-run with a flawless turn and had no problems catching up with the speedy thief. I, still chewing on my lower lip felt that tingle in the back of my neck, our bond working again and Robin giving me another order. I complied without thinking and held out my hand and concentrated on my powers to erect chunks of the earth to stand as pillars to act as deterrents and road-blocks to stop X and Blackfire. Yet, with each that I shot up X had nimbly swerved to avoid like a pro, despite his skill Blackfire was apparently annoyed at my intervention and glared over her shoulder with glowing lavender-eyes. She fired a beam straight across the street that was powerful enough to destroy it.

For a moment I thought that was it, the chase was over, but with another violent jerk Robin swerved to the right and like the true King of Improvisation he found a part of the street she destroyed turned into a ramp that Robin jumped. I held on tight as he dropped on the sidewalk that startled a bunch of already panicked civilians. Robin then hopped back on the street to avoid running over anyone and zoomed through the clear roads to follow the shadow that darted left through another intersection. Once again back on track, Robin revved his engine and I gasped softly when he popped the front wheel and then dropped it, our speed increased dramatically and we were suddenly right on X's tail.

Blackfire looked back and all but gasped in shock to see we were still alive and kicking, but then held out a hand and rained in a rapid-fire stream of starbolts, I erected a shield to protect us from her wrath. Yet, when the deadly bolt-rain stopped I turned the shield into a whip and cracked it across her face. She screamed and fell off the bike, but didn't hit the pavement, she was quick enough to recover from the shock to hover in midair while X put on the brakes and fell back. Robin swerved to avoid him and we both glanced back to watch as Blackfire, forgoing the bike flew above X with a scowl of vengeance on her face, most obviously not very happy with me.

I patted Robin's shoulder to let him know I was leaving and levitated to mimic Blackfire, but I flew backwards and with my glowing white eyes I grabbed a hold of everything disposable and flung them at the Tameranian. She retaliated with brute force and smashed everything I threw to bits then with a sudden burst of speed she came at me with a power-charged fist and clocked me in my jaw that threw me back so far and so fast I surpassed Robin and X. I crashed to the pavement with a painful bounce then hit the corner of a bus. Still flying back and bracing for a skidding stop Blackfire had other plans and grabbed my neck, "Come'ere!" She hissed as she smashed me against the ground and scrapped me across the asphalt.

It hurt like hell, but she wasn't done with me yet, she threw me into the air and flew up to smack me around some more. Yet despite the agonizing pain within me, I was running on pure adrenaline so it didn't matter how bad everything hurt I was going to end this fight once and for all. So I corrected my fall and the moment she came close enough to throw a punch I flipped and with the help of my powers I dropped down to nail her with an axe-kick that threw her back to the ground. As she fell I followed her and just as we were within a few feet of the ground I grabbed her ankle, spun her around and threw her into a nearby building with enough force to kill a normal human being then watched her fall to finally hit the sidewalk unmoving.

I levitated closer to the ground and closer to Blackfire to get a better look at her and to see if she was really out of it this time around, but even with my cautious approach I just can never seem to catch a damn break. Inches from the supposed knocked out ex-princess I heard a loud, KABOOM!! It shook the ground and I snapped my head around to stare down the street at the flaming mushroom-cloud which climbed into the air and I was reminded of the dual speed-demons I had left to their own devices. Robin … I thought in worry for I knew X could careless if he killed my leader, if anything he'd be the one to pull a risky stunt if he felt like he was pushed into a corner.

That's not to say I wasn't worried about X either, I was concerned about him being hurt, but I was in public, and I can't show it.

I looked back down at Blackfire and with quick thinking on my part I grabbed the nearest streetlight and wrapped it around her to make sure she wasn't going anywhere then took flight to see what had happened. Who was in trouble, and who was the victor. I prayed Robin won, but if he won that meant Red X was in trouble of going to jail … but if X won than Robin might be dead right now. I tried not to think about whose side I was on, I wasn't on anyone's side, that's what I chanted in my head as I grew closer to the disaster and saw bits and pieces of the X-bike and the R-cycle scattered throughout the block. I'm not on any one side … I gulped when I touched down in the middle of a clearing and began to look around for any signs of either a masked hero or a masked villain.

Who won?

What happened?

Then I felt it, the familiar tingling in the back of my neck.

"Robin?" I called out to him and following our bond I found his burnt and torn up green-gloved hand sticking out of a pile of rubble a good 30 feet from the fiery accident. My heart skipped a beat when that hand twitched and his fingers weakly scrapped across the asphalt, "Robin!"

I ran to him, but the moment I got within ten feet of him a red adhesive smacked me from the side and I flew back till I was pinned against a streetlamp with my arms pressed tightly against the sides of my body and I couldn't move. Grunting I opened my mouth and chanted, "Azarath! Metrion! Zin –!!"

Another red colored adhesive like tape was slapped on my mouth and I was silenced with my glowing white eyes that stared into X's mask when he slid into view and I could feel his smugness as he chuckled and shrugged, "What can I say sunshine, I'm that good."

I blinked since it seemed to be the only thing I was able to do with my immobility.

So many questions, so many things I wanted to say and he silenced me!

Was this an act?

Or were we officially good-guy vs. bad-guy?

Why wouldn't he give me a sign?

Helplessly I watched him turn his back on me and casually stroll out of my view when he pressed the button on his belt and he teleported out of the scene of the crime. Probably to get Blackfire since they appeared to have formed a partnership. I wasn't surprised, nor was I insulted, and I was far from jealous … I was just confused, how did that happen and why? What was really going on?

Why was Blackfire back on Earth?

--

It was embarrassing to say the least that local officials had to cut me down and carry Robin away to the hospital in a stretcher. Of course Cyborg had him transferred to the Tower so he could be with Starfire, but it was still embarrassing that one guy … one villain had taken on the Titans and won. I didn't even fight Red X directly and I still lost! Watching the news in the med-bay (Cyborg insisted that he had a look at my minimal damage in case they were infected, which was pointless since my half-blood could filter out toxins) I cringed at both the pain of the peroxide and the video clip of me being pinned to the streetlamp. I scowled and mumbled, "Embarrassing."

Cyborg looked over his shoulder at the news, then grabbed the remote and shut it off, "It doesn't matter anymore Rae, let it go Red X has always been a bastard."

I gritted my teeth and winced when he went down my back with a cotton-ball of peroxide then sighed tiredly and looked up when Beast Boy snorted, "Well this sucks, we get to see Red X again in a long time and he still is able to kick our asses, to top that off now he's working with Blackfire? Who didn't see that coming raise your hand?"

He raised his hand and so did Cyborg and just to humor him I did as well, Terra raised her hand too, but it was for a different reason, "Uh, yeah, is anyone gonna fill me in? Who's Red X?"

Beast Boy leaned closer to her and said, "Bad-guy, with an attitude."

Terra arched a brow and shrugged dismissively, "Everyone of our bad-guys have attitudes, what makes him different?"

"He doesn't care," I spoke up with an exasperated huff as Cyborg slid across the floor on his stool to grab the gauze in order to wrap up my wounds. I looked up through the curtain of my violet hair then jerked my head back to remove the strand from my point of view when Terra's attention was centered solely on me, "he doesn't have an agenda, everything he does, every time he shows up it's always for a random reason. He could he stealing your car one minute then saving your life the next, basically an idiot with nothing better to do than to make our lives miserable – ah!"

I glared over my shoulder at Cyborg when he tightened the gauze too tight around my waist. He looked up at me with an expression that was cause for question, it was like he was accusing me of something, I can even feel it in his aura, but I figured I was just reading too much into it, especially when he turned his attention back on my gauze and muttered softly, "Sorry."

I shook my head while Terra contemplated my explanation for a moment and said, "Sooo … he's Chaotically Neutral?"

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and myself all stopped to stare at Terra for a second then at once we chimed in bewilderment, "What?"

She shrugged, "Chaotically Neutral, you said it: might save your life, might steal your car type, totally random, and has no real purpose in life … yeah … am I the only one who knew that term?"

I scowled, "Apparently." An impatient sigh escaped my lips and I smacked Cyborg's hand away when he went on to check my bruising for blood clots, "I'll be fine, it's Robin and Starfire that are the one's unconscious."

"Ugh … not anymore …"

I jumped off my bed with a gasp, "Robin …" Beast Boy and Terra perked up while I walked up to stand at Robin's bedside as he lifted up one of his hands to his head and propped himself up on his elbow. With the cuts and bruises all over his body I winced when he turned his head to face me and groaned my name as if he weren't sure I was really the one beside him.

"Raven …?"

I nodded, "Lay down Robin, you hit your head pretty hard you shouldn't be –"

"X … he got away …"

I rolled my eyes, and Beast Boy shared my same annoyance when he scoffed, "Come on dude, drop it already, X always gets away just get some rest man."

He shook his head as if to disregard his protest and called to Cyborg as he sat up on his bed and swung his legs over the edge. I had the right of mind to push him back down and force him to sleep, but Robin is Robin and he was stubborn as all hell. So I stepped aside as he spared me a glance of acknowledgement before looking up at Cyborg and taking a deep breath he assumed his role, "Check your scanner, the locator I planted on Blackfire should be active."

My throat suddenly grew dry at the mention of a homing-device strapped to Blackfire, I may not know why she was working with X, but my guess (as well as Robin's) was somewhere down the line she was going to lead us to Red X. X, I knew was careful, he cleaned up after himself so well that some people might call it a minor case of OCD, but I called it paranoia. He had too much of a reputation and a sweet business going for him to lose everything to carelessness. Blackfire, on the other hand didn't share the same mannerism. If anything, she was apathetic, she just didn't care so long as everything was going her way.

I watched Cyborg fiddle with his arm for a few seconds before nodding, "If this is right than she's hauling ass out of Jump City and headed for the countryside."

Blackfire was out cold the last I dealt with her … that's probably X, but how could he go that fast? His bike was destroyed … wasn't it? Actually, now that I thought of it, I just assumed both the X-Bike and the R-Cycle were obliterated, I didn't actually see any specific parts that might be linked with the X-Bike. After all, their engine designs were pretty similar, only Robin uses power-cells and X uses xinothium. As a matter of fact that explosion should have wiped out the entire intersection and taken down that building if the xinothium went up in flames. So … does that mean the X-Bike was fine?

No, it doesn't … it could just mean that Malchior was probably in on this … he was the getaway-car (metaphorically speaking). After last night and the ride Malchior took me for was testament of his speed I wouldn't put it pass X to use the dragon however he saw fit. That is, of course, assuming Malchior could push himself fast enough with added weight on his back. Malchior's true-form was already a large weight for his wings to carry; I highly doubt adding more would keep his already taxed speed at the max.

With these thoughts kept to myself I watched Robin roll his head around to crack his neck and sigh, "Alright then, as soon as her beckon comes to a stop we'll go after her …" He then paused to look over his shoulder at the bed beside his at the still unconscious Starfire. He frowned and asked softly, "Is she gonna be alright?"

Cyborg huffed, "Yeah, she'll bounce back soon enough, minor concussion, but that's what I'd expect from a girl who's been thrown into a building numerous times. So do the girl a favor and lay back down, you're not exactly invincible here either oh-fearless-leader."

Robin shot him a dry look, but shook his head, "I gotta get to the bottom of this, Red X doesn't usually work with others … this means something …"

I placed my hand on his chest and it caught his attention immediately, he looked down at me and I held him with my violet gaze that mentally forced him back to the bed, "What this means is you should get some rest before you start bleeding out of your ears."

"Listen to her man," Cyborg backed me while he put away all the materials he used to bandage me, "you don't gotta worry, we got this, I'll monitor Blackfire's movements, if she so much as turns one degree in any direction I'll be da know."

"I don't doubt you …" Robin responded automatically and sighed heavily as he then laid back down on the bed, closed his eyes (I assumed he did, his mask was still on) and turned his head away from us. It was at this point did Beast Boy and Terra excuse themselves from the room to give Robin his much needed break. Cyborg cleaned up the rest of his mess and dusting his hands off as he turned to me and gestured for me to follow him out.

I nodded and complied without question, I honestly did believe Robin needed rest … but, I won't lie, I also had ulterior motives to keep him from thinking too much. Knowing Robin as well as I do I knew if I let him ponder the outcome of the Red X/Blackfire fiasco he'd call me on my tardiness and start to question where my loyalties lie and I couldn't have that. At least not in front of the entire team, at least then if we were alone and he decreed that my Titan status be revoked no one on the team would fight for me to keep my position.

That's the last thing I needed right now … to be fought for when I didn't deserve it.

Totally zoned out I somehow managed to make it to my room, but paused when my eyes fell on my mirror and I saw that it had cracked and the piece that had gone rouge was once again missing. I huffed in exasperation, "I don't have the time to deal with you."

"What a shame," I jumped my mind went into auto-drive and locked my body into a defensive stance with my palms engulfed in darkness and my eyes glowing while I braced to confront my intruder who was propped up against the door-frame of my private bathroom. As cocky as ever with his arms crossed over his chest and the whites of his masked-eyes narrowed on me I scowled when he said, "because here I've been waiting for you the entire time to show up."

"X," I growled as I loosened my stance, but did not power down. I still had no idea what was going on, I actually expected Blackfire to be skulking around, but with a quick scan I found she was missing. Lucky too, because I had more than enough left to put a serious hurt on that alien for what she did to me. I may be able to heal the little cuts and bruises she gave me but I'll be damned if she thinks she can getaway with scrapping me across the pavement without a similar parting gift from me. However, seeing as she wasn't here I settled for what – or rather who – was in my room, armed with a pointed finger I crossed the room to give X a piece of my mind, "You got a lot of nerve showing up here after the crap you pulled on the street. I should lynch you!"

X pushed off the door frame and stood so his full height towered over me, however, as soon as I came close enough to poke my finger to his chest he pulled off his mask and with a relaxed posture he shrugged dryly and smirked, "You can try, doesn't mean I'll let you string me up sunshine."

I scowled, "You don't think I can?"

"No, I said I won't let you … and I don't think you can."

Against my will my powers activated due to my rising agitation and my eyes flashed scarlet red just as the books on my shelves began to rattle and the trinkets on my other shelf over my bed also trembled under my short fuse. So in a short, deliberate pace I made sure he heard me loud and clear, "Don't mistake my friendship for weakness X … if I ever find out you're involved in matters far more diabolical than stealing priceless artifacts and government secrets I will see to it that the appropriate actions are taken so that your ass will never see the light of day, ever."

Of course … I didn't really mean that … at least I don't think so, it's just his arrogance and cocky attitude was not something I wanted to deal with right now. I wanted answers, and he wasn't giving me what I wanted which as an end result was making me very, very angry. I started grinding my teeth, waiting for some kind of response (fear actually, I wanted him to know that I wasn't in the mood to play word games), but he disregard me. I didn't know whether to feel insult or befuddled for his lack of concern to a very serious threat I dished out.

Knowing him, he probably knew I was straight up bluffing.

You can't con a con man who knows he's being conned.

It's like water painting in the rain ... need I say more?

I bit down on my lower lip as he closed the gape between us and still with that arrogant little grin of his dared to lift up a gloved hand to run it over the side of my face as an endearing gesture that – I won't lie – made my heart jump, but I hid that well enough with a dark look in my eyes. I tried to maintain the fierceness of my expression and the ferocity of my demon side that wanted to tear him to shreds, I really, really tried. However, when he pressed his lips to mine and massaged them apart to then dip his tongue into my mouth only to tease me with a little taste of him as he ran the tip of his tongue along the length of mine in a slow enough pace that made me shudder.

Yet, that wasn't the kicker, what was, was the fact that he didn't prolong it. He pulled away slowly, reeling me in still with that damn smirk on his lips with the look of triumph in his hot amber eyes. He won, and I didn't want him to think he won easily, so I forced myself to fake not being affected in anyway.

Pointless, but I hated to admit that I was the kind of girl to melt into a kiss if done correctly … and goddamn X, he knew what he was doing. In a husky tone with his hot breath on my flesh sending tingles to my toes he hummed, "Mmmm … I really missed that …"

My lips fell apart in an attempt to rebuke him, but I wasn't fast enough to speak for he kissed me again, I rolled my eyes in defeat. I can be mad later, right now this was just too good to pass up so I returned the affection in full and brought my hands up from my sides to place them on his shoulders, but they stopped short of his abdomen. I couldn't help to notice how well this suit brought out his perfectly toned body. It felt like I could trace every single rock-hard muscle with the tips of my fingers and I almost did, but I gasped when a sharp pain stabbed my back and shot up my spine.

"Ahh!" I yelped and pulled away from him to yank his hand off of my back when he managed to run his rough gloved hands over one of the sore unhealed wounds Blackfire had inflicted on me.

He hissed and softly apologized, "Sorry …" then with a subtle gesture made me turn around so my back was faced to him and he lifted up my shirt to see the full extent of the damage … or at least the part that Cyborg hadn't wrapped up and he whistled, "Damn … that looks pretty bad … how come you didn't let Cyborg check out the rest of it?"

I scoffed, "They're just little cuts and bruises, nothing I can't handle …"

"Right …" he pulled down my shirt, but then wrapped his arms around me from behind to pull me flush against his warm body and I bite down on my lower lip when he kissed me on my cheek and breathed in my ear, "… I don't give a damn if you're the fastest healer on the planet, have Cyborg look at it."

"…" I could have scowled and told him to piss-off, I could have giggled and teased him about worrying about me, I could just said nothing and let him think he won that argument, or I can change the subject altogether, and so I did, "What are you up to X?"

He chuckled in my ear as he kissed my neck and trailed down to my shoulder, in between kisses he replied, "Relax, there is a perfectly good explanation for everything that's gone down and is going to go down soon."

I frowned, "Then why don't you start explaining."

He paused in what he was doing after noticing that I wasn't taking the bait this time and he sighed heavily, "Because I don't have all the details yet and I got things to deal with, but assuming the General hasn't lost his touch I'll be seeing you soon enough and until then I just need you to lay low," he flicked out a card out for me to take, I stared at it as he said, "call me with this number when you get to Steel City."

Confused, I tilted my head and turned it as far as I could to look him in the eyes and asked, "You make it sound like you've already booked my plane-ticket what's in Steel City?"

He shrugged, "Like I said, I don't have details, so you want more just give me a call when you get there."

I knew he knows more than he's letting on, but that's not what bothered me, what did was the fact that he was keeping everything hush-hush and not telling me about anything. With narrowed eyes I glared into his soul, looking for anything that I might not trust and openly expressed my unwillingness to go along with his little charade. He saw this and planted another mind blowing kiss on my lips to try and make me forget about my worries … it didn't work, but it did manage to succeed in quelling my discomforts.

His grip around my waist grew tighter when I took the card from his hand and slipped it into my pocket, I fumbled with it a few times when I felt something hard rub against my tailbone and I knew it wasn't his belt. He deepened what was suppose to be a reassuring kiss and I knew this was about to head in much hotter direction when I suddenly felt all his focused attention on me. He was quickly losing all his self-control and I knew why … he saw us … Malchior and I … he saw us at Carmen's birthday party … and he was afraid that he had lost me.

Or rather, he was still afraid of losing me.

It was like … seeing us together … had suddenly straightened out all his priorities, with me at the top of his list and he had to do everything in his power to keep me.

It made me frown inwardly; I was never, ever the single entity that was at the forefront of a single mind where I took precedence over everything else in that person's life. It was an odd fact I knew I'll never get use to, but besides that what bothered me the most was X was starting to lose sight of the bigger picture. Relationships are dangerous and as much as I was flattered he cared enough about me to throw caution to the wind it just wasn't worth the trouble it'll bring afterwards.

I sighed and collected my breath when for a brief period he pulled away, my heart was racing and so was my mind, bombarded with all these feelings he was throwing at me, I clung to my life-vest of reason and tried not to get swept up by the tide. I shook my head to ignore my earthly desires and whispered, "X –" but he swallowed my words as he claimed my lips once more to purposefully silence me, he knew what I was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it, but he had to. So I gently pulled away from him and tried again, "X … you're complicating things … don't do it … or we'll both regret it."

I can see it in his eyes, he was struggling with the rational and irrational, he'd rather forgo all caution and take me now while he had the chance, but if he did he'd be risking too much for it to all be worth it in the end. He licked his lips as if to saver my taste and I gulped as he leaned down to kiss me once more, chaste this time around, but lingering and leaving a lustful-wanting taste behind for me to mull over. If I didn't already know his intention was to stir me into a similar heated frenzy I would have said damn it all and throw him on my bed, but since I know how he thinks I controlled my carnal desire and said, "I think you should go now …"

He sighed heavily in defeat and pouted, "I'll see you in Steel City right?"

I furrowed my brows in thought, "I don't know … if I immediately suggest you're headed to Steel City, Robin might –"

He scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah I know … he might catch on to something … right … but just in case it doesn't go smoothly …" he pulled away from me and I glared at him suspiciously as he pulled out of one of his many pockets in his belt a shard from my mirror. My mouth fell open in shock and dismay as he smirked and slipped on his mask so his distorted metallic voice rang mockingly in my ear, "I figured if I take this you'll have to come find me."

I slowly shook my head as he continuously took steps away from me, I reached out a hand, "X … give that back to me …"

He chuckled maliciously, "Catch me if you can."

"X! No!" He vanished!

I gritted my teeth and shouted to no one in particular, "You, idiot!"

Why do I even bother?!

--

A/N: Wow … you guys have no idea how much these last few chapters have been a bitch to type up!! I've had to change the whole frickin direction of the story just to make it flow as smoothly as I want it to and it sux!! DX … but … I won't say I hate it entirely (otherwise I wouldn't be trying to finish it now would I? lol) I just have to readjust my course and steer myself in the right heading …

=/ … I just hope I can do all that while keeping up with my English, because as of currently I have discovered that as much as I love writing, I don't like English in the least … I think it has something to do with being told what to write and I don't like to be told what to do very much. So, yeah, that's my rant for the chapter … hopefully I don't update too late due to another frickin change in heading. Ugh … I guess that's what I get for naming this story Long Road to Ruin, lol XDD!!

L8er daez