"You, Red X, are one of the best thieves the world has ever known."

"Thanks, but could we get down to - ?"

"You will respect your elders, young man! Children should be seen and not heard!" The old heiress shouted, animatedly waving her cane.

Red X wiped the spit from his mask, and grimaced, but let the old lady continue her rambling. He had been hired by many people of great wealth, and a quite a few of them had been pretty whacked out. This particular client was one of them, so he'd just have to deal.

Turning on her slipper-clad heel, she led the masked criminal into a parlor – an actual parlor, complete with kerosene lamps and faded rose wallpaper – where she told Red X of her diabolical plot to find a violin that was better than all others, so that she may join the ranks of Carmen Dulce, and Cody Giocoso, famous violinists whom Red X was fairly certain did not exist. She then found it necessary to demonstrate to him what she could accomplish on an ordinary violin.

It sounded remarkably like dying bunnies and rusted door hinges; like asthma attacks and stalled engines. Never had the barely recognizable strains of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' sounded as painful as they did now. The moment he got home, Red X vowed to find some nice rap music, or perhaps hip hop, as therapy for his ears. Even Japanese Bubblegum Pop would be better than this.

However, once he had listened to some real classical music, he decided that it wasn't half bad. He found 1812 Overture to be even enjoyable.

But several months later, as he perched in the rafters of the Jump City Opera House, he decided he was sick of it. Always listening, always watching - he should play too! And so mustering up his courage, he dropped onto the stage in the middle of the last act, directly beneath the spotlight.

There was a gasp from the audience at his sudden appearance, but the violinist – whose violin was apparently blue – didn't notice him until he reached out and grabbed her wrist, effectively stopping the flow of music. She looked at him in surprise, and her mouth opened slightly, but before she could speak, Red X said in a synthesized voice,

"I challenge you to a duel!"

At this the girl looked completely lost, so he clarified, declaring grandly, "This shall be the violin-off of the century, people will write whole scores about what happens on this stage!" Turning to a curious violist who was just off stage, Red X said cheerfully "I'll take that," before grabbing the viola from her.

The violinist on stage was now looking at him bemusedly, as if he had lost his marbles somewhere; but she shook her head and obliged, raising her instrument to shoulder-position with a knowing smile on her lips.

"You choose the song," Red X offered, giving her a fighting chance in his mind.

"Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D-major." In the orchestral pit, the rustling of papers could be heard. The conductor raised his hand, and four counts later, the beginning of the violin concerto could be heard throughout the theater.

This is what she chose? It sounds like elevator music, Red X thought. The 'elevator music' changed into something vaguely reminiscent of the Nutcracker within a few measures however. The girl hadn't placed her violin into shoulder position yet. Red X studied the music on the stand, and realized why. Shoot, that's a lot of rests! Wait – how many beats have gone by? When should I play? Luckily, his question was answered as the girl finally raised her instrument. Oh… wait how does she know when to play? Where's her music? The orchestra – or perhaps it was a symphony, he had heard woodwinds – had quieted down, and the girl was playing the first, low note. Red X turned his attention back to the music, and went bug eyed. What was this? This was far more complex than anything he had taught himself so far. What were all those little flags? Why were there little number signs in front of some of the notes and weird rectangles in front of others? What was the hidden meaning of those arched lines, and could notes really go that high above the staff?

Red X tried to play the notes, but it was hopeless, he couldn't read this. But he would not admit defeat. Instead he turned to the girl – saying 'the girl' felt weird, he'd call her Blue - and tried to copy her. He still had a chance, since Blue apparently needed to work on her elbow's position; she kept slipping onto multiple strings. And her left hand was shaking on the fingerboard. Ha! Beneath the calm, condescending exterior she was trembling like a scared little bird. Red X had that effect on people.

But despite this, her fingers were still far nimbler than his. Blue seemed to notice after a few counts that he was trying to copy her motion, smirking slightly she followed the music in another one of its spontaneous mood shifts (something he'd noticed in a lot of classical composers: they were all bipolar) but this time the conductor looked up at Blue in surprise. Suddenly his gaze shifted to me, still trying to copy Blue's fingers, and he nearly broke into hysterics. I became aware of the fact that the entire judging panel was bent over in deep, chest racking fits of silent laughter. Come to think of it, a large portion of the audience was laughing too. What the…? The realization struck me at exactly the same moment that I felt a familiar wire wrap around my torso.

Blue – and therefore I – had been playing Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy for the last minute.

My reputation was totally and completely ruined.

As the birdarang finished wrapping me in wire, I dropped the violin in order to try and regain my balance. From backstage I heard a "MY BABY!" and the violinist I had taken the instrument from ran forward.

"How dare you take my viola?" She seethed, grabbing the fallen instrument and pulling back her hand- waaaait, viola? No wonder he hadn't been able to go as high-

SLAP!

Red X went reeling, wondering how strong a viola player could be. This had gone on far enough. It was time to go.

"This isn't over" he said menacingly, before pressing a button on his suit and teleporting away.

Rowan/Rowena/Raven/Blue stared at the spot where Red X had last been, before calmly walking off stage.

"I think his ego will be sufficiently deflated for a while," she stated to the odd assortment of teens just behind the curtain as they all seemed to fade to black.

A/N - 6/26/12; I meant to put an author's note explaining this earlier, but better late than never, eh? Raven's finger were not trembling in fear. Any string musicians in here may have recognized that as Vibrato. Similarly, the slipping onto multiple strings is actually written in the music, though I can't remember the term for it right now. I realize that I sort of switched POVs at one point in this chapter (third to first person) but no one's mentioned it AT ALL, so I only recently noticed it, as well as a word that was accidently excluded. So any 'grammar-nazis' out there, your reviews are particularly welcome :)