A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry its a week late. i had my cousin's wedding to take care of last week so that ate up most my time. But here is the latest chapter! You know what to do! Thanks for reading!

The sound of distored heavy breathing from a masked figure in the shadows could barely be heard as he did his best to conceal and silence himself as much as possible. Armed Gordanian soldiers ran up and down the halls in pairs of two searching everywhere for the intruder who remained hidden in the shadows. But with the intense of number of enemies it was taking Red X everything he had just to stay hidden.

X reached into a compartment on his belt wnd pulled a small device out and studied it for a moment. The screen showed a red dot with a red arrow like a compass pointing in the direction of the red dot. He could only assume he was getting close.

As if on cue, a pair of sliding doors shot open in the direction the arrow was pointing. X ducked back into the shadows before carefully looking towards the doors. What he saw was nothing but confirmation to him when Blackfire stepped out of the doors alone. She began walking in the opposite direction from him and the doors snapped shut behind her.

He had hoped to see both Blackfire and Rose exit the brig allowing him to easily access the cells where his former ally and the woman he had his sights on were being held. But he knew it wouldnt be that easy. These female fighters are smart. It was highly likely one of them stayed behind to guard the cell themself. But... if the one that stayed behind was Rose... then this might be a perfect opportunity to get some answers to some questions he had from the long flight to this planet with an uncomfortable passenger.

He took a deep breath and prepared for another brawl. He used far more xenothium than he was hoping in the last fight and was going to need to be more conservative with what he had left if he was planning on getting out in one piece.

Once Blackfire had moved out of sight, X made his move and dashed across the hallway. His movements were so stealthy not even a mouse could hold a candle to his silent skills. When he got to the door he checked his surroundings and when he saw no immediate threats he raised an open plam with a glowing red X over the key pad that controlled the door's lock.

After the glowing X scanned the keys, Rex X had a small screen pop up on his forearm with a small loading bar displayed. The screen read: "Analyzing" as it took in all the deatials from the key pad. Which buttons had oils and residues from peoples fingers touching them over and over. Which keys were more freshly pressed compared to the others. With this information it could easily dechipher a code with 99% accuracy. Almost like someone retracing their steps to recover something they've lost.

C'mon, c'mon... He thought to himself as he grew impatient waiting for the loading bar to reach 100%. After a short moment that felt like years to him... it finally finished its analysis with the screen reading: "Complete."

The code popped up in place of the loading bar and X wasted no time punching it into the keypad. A small green light flashed continuously for a moment before the doors zipped open in a hurry. Red X snuck in as quiet as a night owl hunting its prey and the doors slammed shut behind him just as quick as they had opened.

Before he could even react a knife went flying past his head and stuck in the door behind him. His eyes went wide and his entire body clentched for a second. Rose stood next to the cell holding a pose with the perfect form of a pitcher that had just finished throwing a fastball. The same sinister girn on her face that he had always seen her wearing.

"Oops..." Rose mocked, "I guess I do think you're cute," she then stood up straight and leaned against the wall next the door of the cell without a single worry, "I never miss a rat that walks into my snare..." she insinuated as if hinting towards missing on purpose.

Red X stood up straight matching her carelessness and crossed his arm across his chest.

"I supposed I've recieved love confessions worse than this..." He respond half joking.

Rose tilted her head back with a single loud laugh, "I guess I need to up my game." She then pushed off the wall stading up straight again as if getting ready to battle.

X could see his window of opportunity closing so he shifted gears...

"You know..." he said nonchalantly trying to keep Rose entertained, "I had a very long and interesting conversation on my way here..."

Rose's face went from entertained to bored, "and they say women gossip too much..." Rose shot back with an annoyed tone.

"This gossip left me wanting..." X said with a seductive lure behind his voice, "and... you just so happened to be at the center of this whole thing..."

Rose expression immedately went from bored to peaked interest. She relaxed her battle stance and placed her hands on her hips with an eye brow raised.

"Rumors? About me?" She chuckled, "well... they're probably true. I mean, lets face it... I don't tend to hide anything, do I? I suck at keeping secrets anyways..."

"You didn't hide anything..." the robotic voice respond, "in fact, I agree... you can't keep a sercret," he the shift his gaze to the cell door behind her and narrowed his eyes, "but he can..."

Rose looked over her shoulder through the window down at Starfire holding Nightwing still. After a second, her eyes went wide as the dots connected in her head and she burst out laughing with the crazed cackle of a young witch in her prime.

"Did he seriously let that slip?!" She laughed, "oh my... and here I was enjoying myself just tormenting him over it."

"So it's true then?" X asked with an eyebrow raised behind his mask. He seemed amlost shocked that his suspicions could even be correct.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Rose sounded like she was going to enjoy every little bit of this. She was so confident she even backed away from the cell door and held out a hand as if inviting him to take a look.

Slowly and cautiously, X approached the door. He peered through the window to see the woman he was chasing holding Nightwing with the gentle care of a lover. It made him sick. Especially now that he all but knew he was unfaithful to her. Keeping his anger under control he knocked on the glass.

"Hey! Night-guy!" He insulted, "wake up! you got some answering to do..."

A vicious growl left the lips of Starfire with her eyes glowing green after hearing him talk down to her cherished man.

"You will not speak to him in that way!" She yelled behind glowing green eyes and a scowl of bare teeth, "Richard was right about you..." she said softly before rasing her voice again, "you are a liar and the selfish! You do not care for anyone but you!"

Nightwing groaned as he lifted his head off of Starfire's lap. He raised a hand to his forhead as if fighting a brutal hangover...

"What happened?" He asked weakly.

"Richard!!!" Starfire exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around him holding him tight.

"Star?!" Nightwing shout in surprise. He then looked around at his surroundings while she clung to him and realized what their situation was. It was the same one he found himself in after he lost her... and now that he found her... he was not in a better position. Even more familiar to him was the face on the other side of his cell. A face covered by a mask marked with an X. What once was his mask.

"Red-X," Nightwing said with a low-pitch snarl, "I never should have trusted you."

X shrugged his shoulders without any guilt, "hey... without me you'd still be in a holding cell," he looked around jokingly and then back at his former comrade, "but I guess that hasn't changed much, has it?"

Nightwing squint his eyes from the rage his face was expressing.

"But sicne were here..." X continued, "I think I'd like you to answer a few questions..."

"Why should I tell you anything?" Nightwig shot back.

"Oh, sweetie..." Rose said seductively as she approached Red X, standing next to him, "you don't have to answer anything when I know the answers just as well as you do..." The grin on her face was so wide it almost looked unnatural. Nightwing's expression turned to panic.

"Richard?" Starfire finally spoke up releasing him from her arms. She looked into his eyes and begged for answers, "what is it?" She could see the panic on his face. The tension in the room was created solely by him and it made her feel uneasy.

She has never seen him like this. Even in the most stressful of environments, he always had some kind of composure and wit about him. But now... he had none of that. He was like a person she didn't even know. It scared her.

"Well?" Red X continued, breaking the silence, "are you going to tell her? Or do we have to tell her for you?"

Nightwing's biggest fears had just been realized. A fear he's had ever since he put on a mask. A fear he thought he'd gotten over when he took he mask off. A fear that nearly everyone on earth holds in their heart...

The fear of personal faliures getting exposed. The fear of your deepest regrets being brought to life.