A/N Hello everyone reading! thanks for following this story with me. Sorry I've been pretty late with uploading chapters... but in case anyone was wondering... I've been searching for comic book illustrators and even animators to see if I cant bring my season 6 story to life. if that sounds like something you guys might be interested in... LET ME KNOW!!! I thought it could be a fun side project. Anyways... you know what to do! Drop a review and let me know how I can improve! Thanks again!
The masked vigilante continued to stare down through the glass into the prison cell where his opposite counterpart was being held. It seemed almost too ironic that he, the bad guy, was looking at Richard, the good guy, behind bars. It seemed the irony was think in the air. Richard had his jaw dropped as he fumbled around in his mind for the words to say to the man looking down on him.
"Well?" X said growing impatient, "do you want to get her back or not?"
Richard snapped out of his completely dumbfounded state of mind and rose to his feet still looking up at the masked man holding his freedom in the palm of his hand. He closed his mouth and his jaw clenched tightly. He know there was something else to this. some kind of motive that X had to gain from helping him escape. He knew what the motive was. It made his skin crawl as his blood boiled in his veins out of anger.
"I won't let you have her," He said through his teeth.
"Listen kid," X sounded like he was getting more than annoyed at this point, "neither of us will get her if you keep acting like this. More importantly... Who do you think you are saying I can't have her like it's your choice?"
Richard's expression turned to embarrassment. It wasn't until Red X said it out loud that it finally dawned on him how possessive and controlling he sounded. It almost knocked him off his feet.He looked down from X and the cold floor in front of him and started to think about that...
What's happening to me? He thought to himself..
"So what's it gonna be?" X said prying for an answer, "stay here and rot? Or go get her back?"
"I'm going to get her back," Richard said agressively without looking up at his current warden.
"You don't sound very convincing kid. Not when you're locked in room meant for the end of the world," X sounded like he was trying to get something out of Richard.
"Shut up!" Richard screamed as he looked back up at the glass window with the same rage from earlier. He raised his hand point a finger at him as if threatening X with the direction of his index finger, "she way too good for a guy like you! You only think of yourself! I was trying to protect her!"
"And you've done an amazing job with that," X spat back sarcastically, "last I checked, I'm the one who knows where she is and you're the one in a prison cell. So who's doesn't deserve who? Just who are you trying to convince here?"
Richard's face turned from angry to ashamed. His pointed finger withdrew itself back to his side and he looked down at his feet and began to think about what he was just told. It made him realize what he has been doing. It made him really think about what he has done that got him to this point.
Red X saw the change in his body language and could see that the message was finally beginning to settle in. He had wasted enough time as it is and knew if they wasted anymore more their mission would only get harder.
"But I can't do this alone," the robotic voice echoed through the cell...
X then reached forward and pressed a button on the control panel in front of him and the door behind Richard made a loud hiss followed by a whir and ending with a loud clang indicating door was now unlocked.
Richard continued to keep his head down as he turned to head for the door. He couldn't even bring himself to look at his former enemy. He couldn't deny that X was right. As of right now... He was the bad guy. He was the villain. Set free by a man he failed to put behind bars in the past. With all these thoughts coursing through his mind, it started to fill with a poisonous fog. A plaguing imagery of Starfire on the arm of Red X. The image of losing her because of his own actions. Worst of all he began to think something that felt cold dagger piercing his heart...
Do I even deserve a girl like her? Maybe she would be better of with a guy like him...Before long, Richard stood in front of X. X had his arms crossed in front of him once again as if looking down on his newly acquired teammate.
"Are you done?" He asked with a hint of insult, "we can't waste anyone time with stupid games."
Richard grew angry once more and looked up at the mask bearing the X he had designed. It was his suit. His mask. His creation... His fault. It was all him. He made it possible for Red X to be standing in front of him. He was the one who ruined the date with Starfire. He was the one caused things to fall apart when they were talking to Rose at the dock. It was all Richard's fault. The tension in his face relaxed as he accept the reality he had just come to realize. He let out a heavy sigh and looked away from X in shame once more...
"Alright I get it," he started, "I screwed up. I ruined your plan and made things worse. I lost Star the first night and took things too far in a stupid attempt to fix that," his voice trailed off as his remorse grew inside him, "and now she's gone... because of me."
Red X studied Richard. He focused on the tone of his voice. His body movements. It was like he was watching closely for something and it seemed like he saw what he was looking for...
"That's the kid I remember," X said with a sense of hope.
Richard looked up at X surprised at what he heard. It brought him a sense of nostalgia. Being praised for who he was. He had nearly forgotten what if felt like after being gone for so long with no one else around.
"And I can't do this without him," X extended a hand out Richard asking for a handshake as if accepting a business deal for a major corporation.
Richard looked down at the extended hand then back up at the Red X mask. This guy really did only think of himself... But sometimes thinking of yourself meant helping someone you care about for your own selfish reasons. However, it still meant you'd help others in the process. As ridiculous as that might sound... it was still better than nothing. So Richard decided to extend a white flag of truce.
"We both want the same thing here," Richard began, "but until she's safe back home, we need to put our competition for her heart on hold. No dirty tricks. No mind games. No double crossing. Starfire comes first. Deal?" Richard reached forward with his hand and gripped Red X hand tightly narrowing his eyes at him waiting for a response.
X didn't like the sound of this deal. It meant going against everything he stood for. He does things because he wants to. He looks out for himself and his own interests. But this deal would mean he would have to do things even if it meant going against his own interests. It annoyed him but what choice did he have? He narrowed his eyes right back at Richard's as if returning the lightening bolt that Richard had sent him. He squeezed Richard's hand aggressively before responding...
"Deal..."
--
Drifting through the vast emptiness of an airless vacuum, jet engines gave off a gentle power that sent the ship flying through the darkness at incredible speed. On board the ship it was quiet and calm as Starfire slowly began to rouse and return to consciousness.
It seemed to quiet too Starfire. Was the whole thing a dream? Was she still asleep in her own bed in the safety and silence of her own room? Her mind entertained the idea of her warm bed and even played with the thought of reaching out for the jacket that still retained Richard's scent. It was at this moment she opened her eyes to find her outstretched arm searching the floor where she lay for the jacket she craved. As her hand found nothing but a flat smooth surface reality rush back to her and jolted her awake.
She jumped to her feet and almost instantly keeled over in response to a sharp pain that shot through her chest and upper abdomen. She clutched at the pain and began to feel nauseous out of nowhere. Then it came back to her. She had been attacked by a weapon that seemed to be more powerful than anything she ever encountered. It had even left burn marks on her skin around her biceps where the coil had wrapped around her body. This was a sight she rarely ever saw and it only add to her feeling of nausea. She put a hand over mouth and gave a soft gag into her hand and she continued to hunch over her pained body when a voice crossed the room towards her...
"I wouldn't yack in there if I were you," the soft and soothing voice sounded out. But it wasn't clear... it almost sounded slightly muffled as if speaking though a plastic wall, "no one will be cleaning it till we land... and who knows when that will be."
Starfire strained as she stood up straight and began to walk across the room. She could tell she was insome kind of bubble... a bubble that seemed somewhat familiar... When she reached the edge of the dome near what looked like a doorway she saw someone sitting just outside of it. Starfire prrssed her cheek against the rounded surface of the wall in front of her to get a better look...
"You!" Starfire gasped. She recognized this woman. It was the same woman that had lent her a tube of lipstick on a disastrous date, "Who are you? Where are you taking me? For what purpose did you attack me?!" The questions came pouring out of her rapid fire.
Rose Wilson sat on a small stool as she leaned her back against the wall next to her bounty's cell with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her left heel propped up on her right knee. Her eyes remained closed as if she were trying to take a nap on the long flight.
"Speak!" Starfire ordered. She began to get angry and was having no more of these tricks. The pain began to fade as her adrenaline started to pick up speed. Her hands began to glow green with starbolts as her feet slightly eased off the ground.
"I wouldn't do that if-" But Rose was cut off by the sound of a starbolt discharging from Starfire's fists.
It went flying in every direction around her small bubble of a prison cell before losing energy and dying away to nothing.
"Well what do you know?" Rose said with half a laugh as her wicked grin reappeared, "the kid genius actually did have a force field strong enough to hold you."
She was referring to Gizmo of course. The one person who had successfully built a level 4 containment field string enough to hold all of the Titan's at once. It actually worked really well on four of the Titans when Cyborg had infiltrated Brother Blood's school for villains and turned on his team for a brief moment before saving them.
Starfire calmed herself as her green glow faded and she gently hovered down to the floor. The pain began to return at a diminished level of discomfort but was still enough for her to raise a hand to her chest just above her abdomen where the pain was most intense.
"Please," Starfire pleaded, "why do you do this?"
"You're asking the wrong girl, honey," Ravenger shot back immediately, "I'm just here for the money."
Starfire sat in silence for a moment, not understanding what she meant. Was she not the one trying to capture her after all? What was she doing here then?!
"If you are not the one behind my attackers... then who-"
Starfire was interrupted by a sliding door opening with a sharp hiss and closing just as quick as they stepped though at the end of the hall. The sound of heeled boots clacking on the ground approached Starfire's prison cell. It wasnt until this person was right in front of her that she gasped as all the life and hope in her eyes drained from her entire body...
"I missed you sister, dear."
