The Pizza Corner was the infamous unoriginally named restaurant located somewhere in the inner-city region of Jump City. Its infamy was attributed to the occasional damage it suffered whenever a villain attacked the Teen Titans as they ate their lunch. Nevertheless, the restaurant remained a popular hotspot among many of Jump's inhabitants.
Unfortunately, with the constant investments that had to be put in to repair the damages along with the owners' bad plays in their gambling careers, the Pizza Corner was being shut down. While many were unsurprisingly disappointed, all of their products had their prices halved, and several were taking advantage of the going-out-of-business sale while they still could.
One of these individuals was Red X, in his civilian identity. Since the H.I.V.E. Fives' recent activity over the past week dwindled down to a gas station robbery here and there, X thought it was a good time as any to spend the money he managed to earn from his run-ins with those crazy kids.
His date also happened to want to spend their third outing at the Pizza Corner.
X had seen her before. She worked as a clerk at some of the places he's mugged. She was also one of the unlucky dames that had to be rescued by the Titans during a villainous plot every now and then. It was during one such villainous plot where she and Kitten became somewhat reluctant friends, or so that's how Fang explained it. This supposed friendship made X more relaxed around her as he didn't need to hide everything from a potential ally.
"So you working at the Video Dome again?" X asked his companion, mouth full. The pair was eating in the outdoor area of the restaurant, up on the second floor of the building. An umbrella provided cover from the noon sun.
"Yeah," the ponytailed brunette said lowly. "Thing is that the H.I.V.E. Six robbed it the other day. I'm out of work till they restock, and there aren't even any open positions anywhere else."
"It's the H.I.V.E. Five," Red X corrected.
"What? But I'm pretty sure there are six of them."
"Nobody ever said they were smart." X offered his date one of his side dishes. "Want some curly fries?"
Small dimples appeared on her freckled face. "Thanks. It really sucks that this place is closing down."
"Tell me about it." Looking up to a table a few meters away, X snapped his fingers and pointed toward it. "That party table, by the karaoke machine? Some pals and I spent Kitten's sixteenth birthday there. Who knew she could sing so well?"
The teenager across from Red X laughed. "I can still remember when this place was just the size of a cheap apartment, way before the Titans ever came to Jump." She looked down to the boulevard below and motioned to a particular section of the long line of buildings. "My sisters and liked to go to the arcade on the weekends and go to the Pizza Corner for lunch. It was practically my childhood, hanging out here."
Ah, ain't that sweet, X thought, smiling at his date. "You met Goth Boy here, right? What was his name? Lucy?"
"He likes to be called Lucifer when in his Goth getup." She gave X a sidelong look. "I wish we thought of 'Lucy' a long time ago."
"Your welcome."
The two ate in relative silence for a moment.
"What about you?" Henrietta suddenly asked, leaning forward and resting her arms on their table. "Any childhood memories you'd like to share?"
X took a short pause, his smile thinning, before he answered. "Not too much to share. I drifted a lot when I was younger, moving from city to city. I just came to Jump recently, like, around two years ago."
"And how do you like Jump City so far?" Henrietta continued, not bothering to ask about X's parents or current place of residence as Fang warned her not to get into those topics.
"Not bad, not bad at all. Doing better than cities like Gotham, considering, y'know, the quality of supervillains."
"You get used to those kind of people given enough time," Henrietta waved dismissively. "Have you seen the Titans up close yet? They usually hang around town, but we haven't seen much of them recently."
Silently, Red X snickered. "Seen them a few times. Looks like they take good care of this city."
"Well, there was that one time Slade took over the city," she recalled. "Other than that, the Titans do okay, I guess. If only they stuck around to kick those H.I.V.E. kids out of the city."
"I wouldn't worry too much about them," X replied with a smirk. "If they can't do basic math, I think the city will be fine. Besides, the way I hear it, the Titans are taking care of the next maniacal world domination, bigger fish to fry than a bunch of high school dropouts."
Just as Henrietta reached for her drink while X was chewing on his bread roll, someone climbed up onto their floor and kicked the table over. The couple withdrew from their seats and backed away.
"Did you hear that, Billy? This fella thinks we can't do math just because we came up with a good team name!"
Dozens of similar-looking trespassers in red jumpsuits climbed onto the Pizza Corner's elevated outdoor area.
"Now that don't mean nothing, Billy. He's just jealous he don't have any super powers is all."
The army knocked over more tables and chairs, some even eating the pizza slices the customers forsake to run away.
Henrietta gripped X's shoulder and pulled him toward the exit. "Come on, hurry!"
Oh, pray that Red X will be in a good mood when he comes across you, Billy, X thought as shoved a clone out of his and Henrietta's way and went for the stairs. You just ruined a perfectly good date.
When they reached the first story, one Billy managed to tackle X to the floor. Two more copies grabbed Henrietta, inciting a shriek that added to the collective screams all the customers were giving as they tried to flee. The cries were only challenged by the laughter and banter of the Billys.
"Get off of me!" Both X and Henrietta sucker punched their respective captors. However, more clones converged toward them.
Henrietta picked up a fallen chair and used it to hold back the Numerous aggressors. "Why are you even here? This place is going to close soon. It's not like they have much for you to rob."
"Ah, darling, it ain't all about the cash."
"Yeah. Billy and I got to have a little fun between jobs."
Unfortunately for the anarchists, they were not expecting much resistance as they raided the restaurant. It wasn't like civilians go out of their way to fight criminals in this day and age. Henrietta, however, simply bashed each Billy clone again and again with the chair. When one clone tried to sneak up from behind, he fell as Red X knocked him out with a fire extinguisher.
If I wasn't on a date, X considered as he and Henrietta tried to fight their way toward the exit, I could've made a pretty good example out of this redneck.
As the pair of impromptu vigilantes fought on, the original Billy observed from the cashier desk. Most of the customers and restaurant employees were cowering, leaving those two the only ones even making an effort to escape.
Jinx's plan was just for Billy to attack a popular joint where the local teenagers hung out at. She suspected a casual guy like Red X would have marked the Pizza Corner part of his "territory." The rest of the Five, minus Kyd Wykkyd and See-More, were waiting and watching out for X's arrival.
"Hey," Billy shouted at the top of his lungs, still chewing on some French fries, "you, freckles and the fire fighter!"
After one more bash, X and Henrietta found the Billys keeping their distance but surrounding the couple in a circle. The screams of the other customers were muffled as the replicas stuffed rags or napkins into their mouths.
Jinx said to make a show if he didn't show up.
Billy jumped off from where he sat and strolled into the circle. "What's your names? You skedaddling young'uns are the first pair of civvies that have ever tried to resist a good ol' robbery and are putting up a good fight, too!"
"Screw you!" the brunette barked, chucking her chair toward the lead Billy. Not expecting the move, he was caught off-guard and tumbled back against his brothers. Red X shot the contents of the fire extinguisher against the rest, helping clear the way to the double door exit.
Alas for the off-duty thief, he tripped and fell when a Billy stuck out his ankle. Another Billy blocked the doorway with a fallen vending machine when Henrietta dashed through.
"Now, don't you run off, partner," Billy drawled out, he and a clone picking up X and restraining him. "You'd make a good hostage, I reckon, the hero of this fine establishment being hung over the roof." With a nod, they dragged X back to the second floor while the rest of the copies bullied the rest of restaurant's inhabitants.
Where are the Titans when you need them? X thought as he silently berated himself for letting the clones get the better of him. He didn't want to risk the H.I.V.E. Five finding any clue of his secret identity, so he chose not to take out of the Xenothium-powered equipment he had on-hand.
The Billys dragged Red X pass his overturned table and dangled him over the roof's edge by the scruff of his collar. X could see the semicircle of police cars and some SWAT vans setting up shop.
There was Henrietta, talking to someone with a badge, but she didn't look like a cop. She had a red coat with long, raven hair hanging off the back of her head. She was probably some investigator, and the stranger was the first to announce loudly of X's predicament to those around her. Henrietta looked up as her eyes widened, taking a step back.
"Y'all listen right here," the original Billy proclaimed next to the clone holding X, "It don't matter that the Titans are gone, or that most of the villains ain't around. The H.I.V.E. Five are alive and here to stay, ya hear me folks?"
Jinx's voice echoed from Billy's ear piece. "Gizmo's detecting Xenothium somewhere in the Pizza Corner, but there's no sign of X. Watch out, he could be invisible, but nice show. Just don't –"
The radio channel was abruptly overwhelmed by Billy's screams. Gizmo's cloaked drone in the sky cited the cause for Billy's pains to be a bald man in a tie and suspenders shooting a Taser. The Billy clutching Red X turned only to get the teeth knocked out of him. X would have plummeted to the ground if his reaching arm wasn't snatched by the copper.
"You alright, kid?" he asked as he pulled X up. He could hear the front door being busted open and the raddling of feet below.
"Could be better," Red X remarked, stroking his bruised wrist from his struggle with the clones.
As another Billy tried to get the jump on them, X used his good fist to punch him in the gut. The clone fell unconscious with a knee to his nostrils.
"Much better now," X continued.
Within the hour, the Billys were forced to retreat. With the original down for the count, they had lost their resolve and were beaten harshly by batons and riot shields. Mammoth and Gizmo swooped in to clear the way for their escape. Despite the restaurant practically in ruins, there were few injuries for the civilians and the police officers.
When Red X stepped out of the front doors, Henrietta startled him with a hug.
"Easy, easy," he murmured. "Hurt my wrist when I was in there."
X's savior joined the couple and placed a hand on the boys shoulder. "Come on, let the EMT check him out."
"And who are you?" Henrietta narrowed her eyes, her general distrust of the JCPD she spoke of on their first date surfacing.
"Detective Ethan Bennet," the cop said, hardly acknowledging the hostile tone. "You should take better care of your boyfriend."
"Maybe you should take better care of this city's supervillain problem, officer."
Before X could even try to defuse the situation (whether X liked it or not, the cop saved his ass, and that deserved a little rapport), the woman from earlier got between them.
"Miss Griselda, you cut your arm," she pointed to gnashing cut. Henrietta cursed quietly; she didn't like medical personnel no matter how useful they were and was trying to hide her injury. It wasn't that deep, anyway. "I told you to get that checked out."
Red X put his arm around Henrietta. "Let' go." He turned his head as they walked to say, "Thanks, Officer Bennet."
While X was saying random sweet nothings into Henrietta's ear, he listened to the adults they left behind, managing to hear, "You were being reckless, Ethan."
"That kid could have died, Yin."
"This isn't Gotham. This city isn't full of homicidal psychopaths."
"And this isn't Metropolis, where the local hero can be here in a heartbeat."
Red X couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as he and Henrietta sat inside an ambulance, but he heard enough from the officers that he had never seen previously in the years he spent in Jump City.
Bennet, Yin, likely transfers from Gotham and Metropolis.
More new blood in town. This is going to be great.
X
While Billy, no duplicates running about, was taking a bubble bath, the rest of the Five were having a team meeting in the living room. See-More had recovered enough to join them. He lacked his head gear as Billy didn't want any unnecessary pressure added on See-More's bandages. The cyclops' presence helped raise Kyd' spirits, though, not that most of the teen rogues could tell.
"So, boys," Jinx drawled out, eyeing the map of the city strewn on the coffee table, "what went wrong?"
"That crud-munching thief didn't come," Gizmo spat, "at all, and the cops beat up Billy."
"Exactly."
"Why do we gotta wait for him to come out?" Mammoth asked as he ate his bag of chips. "We have him outnumbered. If we play our cards right, we can just knock down his front door and kick his ass!"
"City's too big," See-More pointed out. His voice held traces of weakness, but it was otherwise firm. "He can be just about anywhere. Setting up more of Gizmo's drones and bugs would take up a lot more cash and materials than we have."
"And it would take up too much time to set up surveillance like that," Jinx stated further. The payoff would be great, but her boys wouldn't have the patience for that. Besides, X knew this city better than them. He'd probably find Gizmo's, well, gizmos pretty quickly.
Kyd crossed his arms. He met Jinx's eye, nonverbally telling her that he wanted X's blood just as much as she did.
"The news and the Titans don't have any reports on any of X's hideouts," See-More recalled from his days of bedrest and research, "but he has got to have at least one to store his Xenothium and all his loot."
"Place a tracker on him during our next fight," Jinx suggested. "The fight has to be on our own terms, though. We can't let him get the best of us again like in the museum."
Gizmo scratched the back of his head. "I can get us a tracer, but Red X is pretty unpredictable. How are we supposed to draw him out?"
"How 'bout we just make some noise?" Mammoth smashed a fist into his palm. "Tear up the town, and when he shows, we take him, or put the tracker on him."
"That was pretty much the plan with Billy," See-More reminded the hairy behemoth. "Look how that turned out. We never got to get a better feel of his fighting style."
"No, that's the best plan we still have," Jinx said. "Gizmo, I want you to make a few tracers and some more of your drones, but up the cloaking and defenses for them. Kyd, you and I are going to do some sparing with Billy when he gets better. Mammoth's on robbery patrol."
"What about me, Jinx?" See-More piped up. "I'm ready help with anything."
Despite the tugging in her stomach Jinx felt, she said, "See-More, I want you to do research on the cop that surprised Billy. Guys like that are more trouble than their worth, and if we need to make an example, he could be a perfect one."
See-More nodded at his crush. "You got it."
"We can start working on our assignments tomorrow," Jinx concluded, stunning most of her teammates. It was more like her to get started on taking down a person she was ticked with ASAP. "For now, let's just take the rest of the day off."
Almost immediately, the T.V. was turned on and the boys were playing with their video games. Jinx would've have joined if the players weren't so loud, so she decided to heat up a leftover steak the Five had recently acquired and leave it for Billy when he was done with his bath.
X
Red X, hanging out in Spike's apartment, had a few newspaper clippings set up across the walls and three computer screens lit up with photos and news articles. A good thief does his research, after all. With the Five, he didn't need to do much of it, but JCPD Detectives Bennet and Yin were much more interesting.
Ethan Bennet grew up in Gotham City. He wasn't rich, had a pretty average upbringing, but he became close friends with billionaire playboy philanthropist Bruce Wayne ever since childhood. X had a small laugh at that, and it looked like Bennet was one of Batman's most prevalent supporters in the Gotham City Police Department next to Commissioner James Gordon. However, during some sort of political ploy by a Quincy Sharp, Bennet had to leave Gotham or be framed for helping partake in some villainous plot. Wayne was able to maintain Bennet's career as a detective intact by transferring him to Jump City.
If Spike had any veracity in his crazy conspiracy theories, maybe Wayne chose Jump City so that someone he could trust was able to keep an eye on the Batman's sidekick.
Ellen Yin, an everyman woman, worked up from the bottom of the food chain and became the head of her policing department back in Metropolis. While she openly worked with Superman and some of the other heroes on occasion, she held a distrust for independent vigilantes. She critiqued the Batman for having his own agenda when Superman was willing to coordinate with the police and follow orders. Lex Luthor apparently was also carrying out another ploy like Sharp, and Yin had to also leave her hometown. Commissioner Gordon connected with a few people and got her a job in Jump with Bennet. Gordon and Yin were good colleagues, notwithstanding Gordon's willingness to work with the Bat.
Definitely more interesting than a few wannabe villains harassing a perfectly good restaurant's going-out-of-business sale.
Now, Yin and Bennet; from the look of things, they were anything but amateur. They had years of experience dealing with supervillains and criminals. X was hoping for a relaxing spring of tormenting the Five. With these detectives on board, he'd need to treat them like he treats Kid Flash: cracking annoying jokes while moving quick and fast to get out without getting too hurt.
Damn, there were only three days left for spring break. Henrietta would have to go back to school soon, and X actually found herself liking her. With the H.I.V.E. and the detectives on his plate, along with good old thieving, he'd be strapped for time to take her out on anymore dates.
Oh well. He would make the time. It was a long time since he really liked any female friend like he did with Henrietta. Red X should be able to take a breather.