I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to review! Seriously guys, what an awesome response! I don't think I've ever received so many positive reviews after just one chapter. Hopefully this story continues to live up to your (and my) expectations!

Before we get too deep into this, I should explain that while this is an unlisted crossover between Teen Titans and Young Justice, it's also a crossover with Batman: The Animated Series. Here's a basic breakdown of how everything flows timeline wise in my head:

Dick's parents die when he is eight years old. He's adopted by Bruce, is trained rigorously trained for six months before making his debut as Robin the Boy Wonder. Batman and Robin do the Dynamic Duo shtick up until Robin turns fourteen. After some things happened, Robin left Gotham to make his own way in the world. He headed over to Jump City where he met the Titans in episode "Go!" (Season 5, Episode 10), not really allowing him to do that whole solo thing like he planned.

(So it's Batman: TAS that I am using and basing most characters off of. I'll even make references to events that happened in the show. From there I can connect these shows even further. In Batman: TAS, Robin left Batman and became Nightwing while he was in college. However, one could argue that this is the life Robin would have once leaving the Titans as we get a brief glimpse of his future in the TT episode "How Long Is Forever?" (Season 2, Episode 1). If I want to dig even further to support this theory, in the Static Shock cartoon, Batman and several other characters made quite a few cameos. Specifically, in the SS episode "Hard as Nails" (Season 3, Episode 1), Static asks Batman where Robin is to which the Dark Knight simply replies: "With the Titans.")

Now it was never really stated how much time had passed in the Teen Titans show, nor what the exact ages of the Titans were. This is where I take a few more liberties. So, initially when the team formed, the ages were: Robin 14, Starfire 15, Cyborg 16, Beast Boy 13, Raven 14. A year and nine months passed, covering everything up until "The Prophecy" (I toyed with the episode order a little) where it's Raven's 16th birthday. Months later takes us through the end of Season 4, completes Season 5, Trouble in Tokyo, and comes to the beginning of this story.

~Young Justice: Red X~

Chapter 2: Red X Reborn Part II

|GOTHAM CITY
|2010 June 6, 23:34 EDT

Red X stared down at the dark streets of Gotham, watching cars and people pass as he listened to various police channels through his comlink, as well as monitoring the private communication channels that Batman and his younger self used. If he was going to complete his first heroic act as Red X, then he wanted to do it in Gotham, the city he'd first started out in as Robin. It probably wasn't his smartest idea, Batman was territorial of Gotham, but this crime-ridden city had been his home for five years. The tattered-caped teen frown. No, that wasn't right, was it? He'd never lived in this Gotham City.

Before the teenager's mood could sour at that reminder, a frantic voice came over his comlink, requesting immediate backup. A pair of officers down by the Bowery were under heavy fire by multiple assailants. Having already started moving once the call for help came in, Red X teleported to his bike, having to forego teleporting to the Bowery as it was currently twenty miles south of his position in the East End. The farthest he could travel in one leap of teleporting was fifty feet, a useful range for a fight or quick getaway, but the not the best way to travel. As his X-Cycle roared to life, he sped out of an alleyway, outracing and maneuvering other cars with ease.

In ten minutes he arrived at a blocked off street where several cars had been left abandoned once the attack started. Some feet ahead of the blockade, in the middle of the street, two cops were crouched behind the remains of their vehicle as a gang of seven men advanced forwards with semi-automatic guns. Bullets rang through the air; as did the insults and hollers of the attackers and X felt a wave of ease wash over him, even as his body tensed up in adrenaline. 'Just grunts with guns.' It was so familiar, so routine, that he could do this with his eyes close.

Not wasting any time Red X launched himself off of his bike and towards the attackers, reflexively lashing out with a handful of X-Shuriken. With pinpoint accuracy, they sliced through the barrel of every gun, making them useless. Surprised, the thugs turned to look at him just as his now auto-piloted X-Cycle parked itself in front of the cops, giving them more cover.

"Who the hell is this guy?" One of the thugs shouted as he pulled out a switchblade.

"Who cares? He ain't the Bat and that's good enough for me." Another answered as he swung a metal chain in his right hand. The others seemed to agree with his logic and quickly pulled out whatever weapons they had on them. One man even picked up an abandoned beer bottle and smashed its bottom against the wall of a nearby building before waving it at him threateningly.

Red X stared at the group impassively. While he had hoped that his first hero gig would be something bigger, he was always glad to help out Gotham's finest. It wasn't a total lost either. He could easily see that these men worked for the Mad Hatter, as they were wearing masks from the various characters from Alice in Wonderland. If he scared them enough, they would likely tell other criminals about the new hero in town and his renown would quickly grow. Seeing the men tense, X lowered himself into a fighting stance, waiting for them to make the first move.

The two lowlifes closet to him, one wearing a lizard mask while the other was likely a dodo, gave each other a silent nod before simultaneously charging towards him. Red X dodged the first punch that was thrown at him and redirected the attack from the dodo at the lizard, sending both of them tumbling into the ground in an undignified heap. He turned his back on them, and without looking, shot out an Adhesive X that acted like glue, causing both criminals to be stuck to each other as well as the ground.

A low whistle came from up above, and Red X didn't have to look up to know that the Dynamic Duo were watching him. He felt himself tense as a familiar glare landed on him and it instantly set his teeth on edge. Batman was watching him, no doubt with suspicion, judging him, his moves, and his motives. This wasn't just about impressing a bunch of thugs now. Red X stood straight, raising his right palm out in front of him as he gave the universal sign for "bring it on".

Wary after seeing two of their numbers taken down so easily, the group seemed to decide that there was safety in numbers as they all charged at him. With skills that he'd perfected over the last seven years, Red X expertly weaved in and out of the poorly thrown punches and kicks. Using his acrobatic skills, he flipped over most of the group and went for the most dangerous opponent, the one holding the knife. X dodged as the man dove at him with the steel blade and caught the goon's wrist before he could pull back. With a controlled strike, he aimed a side kick at the man's chest, sending him flying across the street and into the neighboring building. The man slumped to the ground, rendered unconscious due to his head hitting a brick wall.

Without missing a beat, Red X caught the metal chain that had been aimed at his head and pulled, causing his attacker, who wore a rodent mask, to stumble. He did a back-handspring over the man, using his back as a springboard, simultaneously shoving him into the ground, and launched a kick towards the head of another man wearing a caterpillar mask. He turned towards the previously downed grunt and sent a pair of Constrictive X's at the criminal, binding his arms and legs.

Finally, X advanced on the last two grunts, each wearing a white rabbit and smiling cat mask respectively, and saw that they were trying to make a break for it. He teleported to appear in front of them and smiled slightly as they both let out startled cries that seemed to pierce the very darkness of the night. He attacked the cat masked man by elbowing him in the gut and then striking at the base of his neck, knocking him out. Glancing at the rabbit masked man, he almost sighed as thug tried to run away again. He was about to aim a Constrictive X at the perp, but stopped when a small figure dropped down on top of the man, effectively taking him out.

Red X could only stare at Robin as the younger boy grinned up at him.

"I know that you probably had him, but I couldn't let you have all the fun. You took those guys out in 83 seconds! My name's Robin by the way, what's yours?" His younger counterpart said excitedly as he started to collect the thugs strewed across the road. Red X was unnerved to find that the inside of his mouth suddenly felt like sandpaper and that sweat had broken out on the back of his neck.

While he'd realized that he would eventually meet his other self, he hadn't planned on meeting the Dynamic Duo on his first night out. That was the whole point of going after these small time criminals. He'd imagined them being on the other side of town, stopping the Riddler's latest scheme or something. 'Why are they here? It's too soon. I'm not ready to face him yet.' He forcefully pushed his uneasiness aside, trying to convince himself that it didn't matter who he was meeting. He was now Red X, nothing more.

"X, Red X. The pleasure's all mine." He said as he reached out to shake Robin's hand, which the boy gladly accepted. Robin's grip wasn't harsh nor was it weak, and X had to stop himself from tightening his own grasp in a show of strength. If Robin could be amiable, then so could he. From the corner of his eye, Red X saw Batman talking to the two cops, no doubt asking for any details they could give about the situation.

"Your moves were totally awesome, heavy on the awe! Do you have any powers or do you use gadgets like me and Batman?" Robin asked as he poked at the Adhesive X that held the Mad Hatter goons together. "I'm guessing the latter since this stuff seems to be man-made." He saw the boy discreetly cut off a piece and place it in his utility belt. X felt his pulse speed up a little. They would know he used Xenothium, which was by all means a barely legal substance that only the rich and powerful could get their hands on. What kind of conclusions would Batman draw once the test results came back?

Red X didn't confirm that Robin was right. Instead, his attention was turned to Batman as he saw the caped crusader move towards them. Robin pulled away from his inspection and stood beside the Dark Knight, putting up a solid front to make Red X feel threatened. It was an old tactic that he'd been a part of many times in the past, both with Batman and with the Teen Titans. 'Oh joy, interrogation.' He thought bitterly, his expression subconsciously becoming blank.

He turned fully to face the man, forcing himself to make eye contact for the first time in two and a half years. He held back the flinch that wanted to break out as he caught the Bat glare being aimed at him. 'He's not Batman, not my Batman anyways. They're not the same.' That thought did little to quell his nerves, so X retreated to his usual strategy when it came to dealing with the brooding man. Deflect and redirect, be on the defensive, and if the first two didn't work, get angry.

He tried not to remember the regret he'd felt before going through the Black Hole. There were no second chances here, no apologies that needed to be said. This wasn't the man who'd raised him. He'd never be able to reconcile with his past mistakes now.

"Who are you?" Batman asked, or rather, demanded, as he continued to scowl at Red X and spoke in a cold tone that said volumes about his lack of trust in the new hero. X forced himself to feel irritated, surprised to find the feat not as difficult as he'd thought, and merely continued to stare up at the double of his mentor. Anger, bitterness, guilt, those feelings had never gone away after all these years. He'd just managed to bury them better.

"And here I thought bats were supposed to have excellent hearing." He said in a deadpan manner as he shrugged his shoulders at the two. He caught their surprised looks before Batman's face took on the form of displeasure, while Robin's became a mixture between humor and awe. It was almost as if he couldn't imagine anyone talking back to the Dark Knight. That made X frown. Strange, he could remember the fights with Batman starting at around Robin's age. "My name is Red X." He continued simply before he moved towards the police officers. He heard footsteps from behind him and narrowed his eyes in annoyance at this dimension's version of his mentor. He knew his Batman had hated it when a hero had fought crime in his town, made sense that his counterpart felt the same way. "Are you two okay?" He asked as the officers came forwards to meet him halfway, both men looked shaken and relieved at the same time.

"Yeah, you really saved our asses back there. Another few seconds and we would have been Swiss cheese." The one cop said while the other nodded in agreement.

"Why did the Hatter's men attack you?" X asked, getting straight to the point. He could practically feel Batman narrow his eyes in distrust.

"Probably because we were taking their boss to Arkham Asylum. Batman just apprehended the Mad Hatter about an hour ago, but a few of his men were still on the loose. They attacked us and he got away. We tried to follow after him, but then his men started to shoot at us." The same officer explained and X nodded in understanding.

"Try to get a hold of Gordon and tell him what happened. It would be best for you to wait here to keep an eye on these guys and to have a second unit come here as backup. I'll take care of the Hatter." He said firmly, leaving the officers no room to argue. Fortunately, the two men didn't seem to mind being ordered around and simply nodded. The one officer returned to the car in order to call dispatch, while the other moved to stand guard over the thugs.

"You don't really think that you stand a chance at taking on the Mad Hatter?" Batman questioned critically as he continued to glare at the younger hero. "He's dangerous and has a fixation for mind control. Stay out of this." Red X, hard as it was, ignored the man's unforgiving doubtful tone, and walked over to the grouped grunts.

"You don't mind if I borrow this guy for a few minutes, do you?" He asked the officer as he grabbed one of the men that had woken up. "I just want to talk to him about a few things." X continued as he dug his hand into the criminals' shoulder, pressing down on a pressure point and causing him to flinch noticeably in pain. The rabbit masked man looked up into the cop's face with pleading eyes. The policeman however only smirked in response before it was replaced with a look of confusion.

"Huh, that's odd? I thought there had been seven perpetrators, not six? Oh well, I must have miscounted." Red X gave the cop a hidden a smile. Despite all the arguments behind vigilantism, Gotham's finest was more lenient to vigilantes than any other city in the world.

"An honest mistake officer, things can be so confusing when one's being shot at." X replied blandly as he started to drag the still bound criminal away and into the shadows of Crime Alley. The other bound men watched them go with wide eyes, perhaps wondering if they would ever see their co-conspirator again.

"No! Please! Someone help!" The grunt shouted just before Red X teleported them to the rooftop of a building that was less than a block away. He had to make this fast. He didn't know how this Batman interrogated criminals, so he didn't want the man to see his interrogation skills, just in case they were too… excessive.

Once they landed, he shoved the criminal to the ground, allowing him to crawl away for a few feet before he walked over and stomped his foot hard into the man's back. The lowlife let out an almost silent gasp as he tried to reclaim the air that had been knocked out of him. Red X didn't give him the time to recover. He kicked the man in his side, making him roll over onto his back, coughing and wheezing, and brought his right hand over the mans' eyes, making sure the criminal could see the glowing X in his palm.

"I'm going to give you three chances to tell me where the Mad Hatter is. If you don't, I'll pump so many volts of electricity into you, it'll fry the few brain cells you have left. Got it?" X threatened with his cold and metallic voice.

The thug's first answer was a gob spit landing on Red X's mask. Using his Electric X, he sent jolts of red electricity racing through the man's body, causing him to scream out in pain. X stopped after ten seconds and observed as the grunt continued to twitch slightly for several moments.

"Strike one. If you don't tell me this time, I won't turn off the electricity until you either bite off your tongue or pass out." He leaned back a little, casually studying his glowing palm. "Did you know that it's possible for a person to drown on their own blood if they bite off their tongue? Not to mention the possibility of dying from such severe blood loss." He stated as he crouched down even closer to the man, who gazed up at him in obvious fear. "I'll ask again, where is the Mad Hatter?" Red X began to charge up for another Electric X. He could see the man sweating furiously behind his white mask, which easily reflected low red light coming from his palm. The criminal finally broke just as he was about to grab the man's chest.

"Okay, Okay! I'll talk! Just stop, please! The boss planned it all along. Batman stopping him was supposed to happen. The boss lured Batman out earlier and pretended that he'd been beaten so that when he escaped, the Bat wouldn't suspect a trap!" The man babbled quickly, his voice rising with panic as Red X's hand continued to hover over him.

"Where?" X growled as he brought the glowing hand up to the criminal's face. So that was why Batman hadn't come after him. He and Robin were on their way to a trap or had already been caught.

"The abandoned clock factory on 23rd Street, that's all I know! I swear!" The grunt yelled and Red X quickly grabbed hold of him and teleported back to the others. He let his eyes sweep over the dirty street, half-hoping to find Batman brooding in the shadows with Robin standing beside him. They weren't of course.

"Oh hey, you're back! Batman and Robin took off shortly after you left. Said something about their tracker still working." The officer guarding the crooks revealed as Red X handed over the still shaking criminal.

"Change of plans. This whole thing was a setup. Batman and Robin are in danger. Call Gordon and tell him that the Mad Hatter is hiding out at the abandoned clock factory over on twenty-third!" X shouted as he ran over to his motorcycle and started the engine. He saw both cops nod before driving off towards the factory.

~Young Justice: Red X~

|GOTHAM CITY
|2010 June 7, 00:19 EDT

Red X parked his X-Cycle in an alley that was a block away from the clock factory and teleported himself to the roof of the Mad Hatter's current hideout. Not wasting any more time, he activated his cloaking device and silently snuck into the building. After a few minutes of searching, he found Batman and Robin. They were tied down to metal tables, their utility belts removed and in the Hatter's hands, who was standing not even a few feet away from the Dynamic Duo.

"You know Batman, you and your little bird should have really known better than to go down the rabbit hole unprepared." Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter, broke off to chuckle to himself. "But then, if one never takes any risks, they would never gain anything." The Hatter mused as he tossed the utility belts onto a nearby broken conveyer belt. He toddled over to a makeshift lab, his voice coming out high pitched and with a light British accent. "Tic Toc Batman, we really must hurry things along. You and young Robin have a very important date to make." He picked up two familiar looking mind controlling microchips, designed to look like the iconic 10/6 tag from the books.

Tetch looked identical to his counterpart in X's dimension. He was a short man with a slim build, a noticeable overbite and a hooked nose. His shaggy blonde hair was mostly hidden by the large ten-gallon top hat on his head. There was only the smallest of changes made to the costume. The Mad Hatter wore blue suit pants with a neon green dress shirt, an oversized black bowtie, and a dark blue trench coat. But where the black hat had once had a blue strip of fabric, it was now neon green. His trench coat was left open instead, letting it billow around him, showing that a checkered black and blue vest had been added to the ensemble.

"What are you planning, Hatter?" Batman growled as he tugged uselessly at his restraints. Red X easily picked up on the Dark Knight's plan. He would distract the Hatter for as long as possible while Robin focused on escaping from his own restraints. Sure enough, X spotted Robin trying to pick the lock of the metal cuff that was holding down his right hand. 'Well, there's nothing wrong with lending a helping hand.' Red X thought to himself as he quickly came up with a diversion that would give both Batman and Robin the chance they needed to escape.

"Oh nothing much Batman, just a little tea party that both you and Robin are invited to." The Hatter answered madly as he approached the Dark Knight with his mind control tags.

"I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think." Red X quoted Alice in Wonderland from high up in the rafters, his metallic voice echoing throughout the building eerily, causing the Mad Hatter and his men to jump in shock. "Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!"

"Who's there?" The Hatter called out as he looked frantically around the room, as did his men. X took the opportunity to drop down and grab the utility belts while everyone was distracted before retreating back to the rafters. Studying Robin's belt, he quickly disabled the precautionary shock that activated when someone tried to break into the utility belt's compartments and retrieved the Xenothium sample Robin had collected early. That should keep Batman off his case for a little while at least.

"I believe the correct question that you should've asked is: who are you?" He responded as he teleported halfway through his sentence, switching his position to make sure that his location couldn't be pinpointed, making his voice rebounded from all directions.

"What do you think you are doing here uninvited? Explain yourself!" The Mad Hatter shouted furiously.

"I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, sir, because I'm not myself you see." Red X quoted yet again. Finding the words he'd repeated to be strangely appropriate for his position.

He really wasn't himself was he? No longer could he be Richard Grayson or Robin the Boy Wonder. He forcefully pushed those thoughts out of his mind and turned to look at Batman, finding that the caped crusader had already freed himself and was moving to help Robin. The Mad Hatter, who was too busy looking up at the rafters to notice his escaping enemies, seemed to recover his demeanor somewhat, smiling a little.

"Oh dear me, dear me. There's just not enough room, you see? It's terribly rude to come to a party uninvited, my friend." Tetch countered with fake politeness as he looked towards the area he believed Red X was, silently motioning for his grunts to aim their guns in that direction. In actuality, X had already teleported to the opposite side of the room.

"What a shame. And here I thought there was always room for more at the Mad Hatter's tea parties." He replied before landing silently a few feet away from Batman and Robin while still invisible. He trotted up to them as they hid behind one of the numerous machines in the building and deactivated his cloaking device. "Here you two might want these back." He whispered as he tossed back their belts. Robin accepted his with a smile and mouthed a silent thanks while Batman completely ignored him. Red X brought a finger up to his mouth and winked at Robin who did likewise. "Well, if there is no room, I'll leave. But can you say something for me before I go? Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at." He said out loud and grinned alongside Robin as the man let out a yell when he found his two captives missing.

"I want them found, do you understand me? Now!" The Hatter hollered at his men. There were twelve of them in all, which meant there was six for him and six for Robin.

"Robin and I can handle the hired help, you get the Hatter." He said towards the Dynamic Duo and saw them both frown, but still nod in agreement. As soon as Batman left them Robin turned to him, frown still marring his face.

"Why'd you do that? I wanted to take the Hatter." The boy moaned as he moved into position to attack.

"Because the Mad Hatter isn't a fighter. Any of us could have taken him down. This way, we at least get to have more fun while Batman has to sit out the sidelines." He answered evenly, catching Robin's growing smirk.

"So that's why he looked so mad. I thought it was just because you told him what to do." The younger hero replied as he launched his grappling gun and shot up into the rafters.

"Well there's that too." X admitted to himself with a little bit of mirth. He raised an eyebrow as Robin let out an eerie laugh from above, effectively freaking out the henchmen below.

~Young Justice: Red X~

|GOTHAM CITY
|2010 June 7, 00:47 EDT

Red X stood on the rooftop of the abandoned factory with Batman and Robin, watching as Gordon and his men drove off with a screaming Mad Hatter and the rest of his crew.

"That guy is not happy, not happy at all." Robin muttered as his screams for revenge died down. "Anyways, thanks for the save back there." The Boy Wonder continued as he patted X on the back. He turned to look down and his alternate younger self, surprised to realize that the kid was nothing like what he had been at thirteen. By that age he'd already morphed into a miniature Batman. He hadn't been able to hang onto the carefree and playful personality that this Robin had, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

He reluctantly turned his attention to Batman and mentally prepared himself for whatever scolding he was about to receive or witness. His Batman had always been critical and harsh, pointing out his mistakes and failures. Sometime he hadn't even waited until they were out of the hearing range of others. Gordon had often sent him sympathetic looks whenever the Commissioner had unfortunately witnessed those moments.

"Thank you." Batman muttered with a growl. Red X was sure that even his mask couldn't completely hide his stunned expression. 'Batman, saying thanks? Okay, is this dimension called the Twilight Zone?' His Batman never said thank you to him, and he wasn't even Robin right now! He was just some stranger that they'd met less than an hour ago. "You saved Robin from the Hatter and for that, I'm grateful." X deflated a little. So Batman was only thanking him for saving his sidekick? Well that sounded more like his mentor, but still this man was obviously less… Batman-like.

"No problem." Red X replied lowly. He was about to leave when a heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Just because you helped us, doesn't mean that I trust you. While you're in Gotham, I'll be keeping an eye on you." Batman growled as he glared at the young hero. Ah, now there was the Dark Knight he knew so well.

"I wouldn't have expected anything less from you." X responded a bit more bitterly than he meant to. Unable to stand being in the man's presence for a second longer, he jumped off the ledge and teleported to his X-Cycle. The night was still young and there was always a crime being committed somewhere in Gotham. He just hoped that he wouldn't run into the Dynamic Duo again for the rest of the night.

~Young Justice: Red X~

Chapter two done and featuring the appearance of Batman and Robin! Honestly, I couldn't see putting their debut at a later point. Here's hoping I got Batman's gruffness down right. I was told that my fighting scenes could use a little work and hopefully I improved on that in this chapter when X fought the first group of grunts. Either way, I had a lot of fun writing this, so it's all good. Since the Hatter hasn't been introduced yet, I used the version from Batman: The Animated Series.

As you can see, there's already some tension between YJ/Batman and Red X, mainly due to the relationship Red X has with TT/Batman. Of course I will delve more into this complex relationship in later chapters, but for now, I'll just let you wonder.

–Hexalys