Follow the Path

Getting booted into another reality after burning to death is really not my idea of a good time. Neither is finding myself in a world where alien invasions are treated as a mild inconvenience. Still, it could be worse. At least my power is completely broken!

And we're back. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

"Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, this power is fucking BULLSHIT!" I muttered as I walked out of the Tower with the X suit in a backpack.

I had quite literally just walked in and out of one of the most secure buildings in the city without being detected using only a mobile phone and a hair clip. The mobile phone had been to get the Titans to the other side of the city and the hair clip had been needed to mess with a couple of cameras and sensors to slip through the grid. I'd even used the tunnel the Titans used to get Robins bike and the T-car to the mainland in order to get there and back! Good god, I think I just out Accorded Accord! And I should probably stop comparing myself to Worm characters in case I start channeling Tattletale or something.

Anyway, with step one of my 'take down Slade and Trigon without dieing!'™ plan done with, I cranked up my power and was informed that the next step was to hide it at the bottom of my cupboard for a later date. After disabling the trackers of course. There were a lot of them. Damn paranoid Bat family members. The suit wasn't actually intended as an actual step in the plan, rather it was a test to see just what my power was capable of. I think my power detected the subconscious worry that it might not be up to the task and provided a method to prove its worth by letting me steal the Suit. It'd come in handy later I'm sure, but for now, I wouldn't be using it.

Instead, I needed a suit with which I could act the hero. If my plans had any chances of working, I needed an in with the Titans. I didn't intend to join them, but I needed to create a positive working relationship with them and working as an independent was the best way to do it.

I ignored my power as it churned away in the back of my mind, throwing out more paths and routes that I could take factoring in this decision. Most I threw out, either because they required frankly massive body counts (seriously, what is WITH this thing?!), were plain stupid (I fail to see how wearing a furry pink cat suit would help defeat an interdimensional demon in any way) or would require me to do stuff that I'm not entirely sure I could pull off. Then, my power threw up a Path that would definitely work with defeating Trigon that made me pause. It...would work, but it would require me to do something that I'm not sure I was entirely comfortable with.

Oh, it didn't require me to shoot anyone, in fact, it didn't require me to do anything illegal at all. Well, not in this reality. I suspect I'd probably risk getting Caged if I tried what was suggested on Bet considering it smacked a little too much of some of the nastier Human Masters. Of course, I couldn't directly manipulate someone's emotions, but my Path allowed me to perfectly guide a conversation and events to instil whatever emotion I liked in a target. With that in mind, it would be childs play to talk just about anyone into doing what I wanted. Hell, I could probably make a killing working at Arkham as a psychologist, although I suspect that trying to rehabilitate the Joker would be like trying to get Kaiser to convert to Islam. I shook my head as my power 'helpfully' provided several paths that would allow me to just that. I genuinely had no idea if my power had a sense of humour or if it was as mindless as it seemed, but some of the things it came up with were just ludicrous.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a blast of hot air from the fans above the door of the shop I'd just entered. One good thing about my power was that it had kept me on track. If I was going to be a hero, I needed a suit. Since I'd look terrible in spandex, I intended to see if I could turn my power into a pseudo Tinker ability and turn regular cloth into something that'd keep me from getting shot to pieces. I had faith in my power to keep me alive in a fight, but I had no intention of leaving it all up to chance.

My power conquered and within two hours, I was back home with the cloth I needed and a plan for what I'd use the X suit for. I needed a few things before I could go out as a hero and X was the perfect method to get my hands on them. But first, I needed to convert the suit to run on something other than Xenothium. To that end, I overclocked my power and, muttering about how bullshit it was that it could replicated Tinker powers, headed out to buy the components I needed. Most were off the shelf electronic parts, but I had the visit a jewelry store to get the last component. I quickly lugged them all home and started work on the new power source, ready for the night.

Three hours later, I was staring at the glowing blue device on my dining table, not entirely sure if I should be angry or not.

"Alright, so instead of Xenothium, I'll be powering my suit with an Arc Reactor," I muttered, "Thats...you know what? I don't care. But I'm not making an Iron Man suit."

I shoved away the Path where I did just that and somehow ended up in a fight with Thor in favour of grabbing the belt and CAREFULLY! removing the Xenothium Core. I set it aside to be returned to Robin later (with a lecture on idiotic moves in the name of a theme) and set about replacing the power source with my Arc Reactor. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to worry about Palladium poisoning like Stark because it wasn't implanted in my body.

With that done, I suited up (mentally thanking the fact I'd already adjusted the fit) and tapped into my power. Within seconds, I knew what I needed to do and headed out, just as the sun went down.

The place I was hitting was a storehouse for Star Labs, the place where they kept their prototypes and some of their more...unique items that didn't have a use for the general public. Naturally, the place had some fairly tight security, but between my powers and the many gadgets Robin had helpfully put into the X Suit. I was after a machine designed to produce synthetic spider silk that had been intended to produce better quality, far less bulky protective equipment for the armed forces. Considering what Skitter had managed with her costume, it was the perfect choice for my own.

Fortunately, the device wasn't very large, only about the size of an office printer (don't ask how thats possible), so I was able to set up the teleport beacons I'd brought along to teleport it outside to be retrieved and lugged back home. I was just about to leave myself when the door suddenly slammed open and the Titans came charging in. They skidded to a stop, staring at me in shock.

"Red X?!" spluttered Beast Boy, "But I thought Robin was Red X!"

I scowled behind my helmet. Well, this was a pain. I couldn't let them know what I was really after, just in case they put it together later, so I'd need to make off with something else. Like...the Xenothium scanner? That ought to throw them off and I could let Robin know that he didn't need to worry once we saw each other again.

"Think again," I said and fired a barrage of explosive Xs at the Titans.

They jumped away as Raven threw up a barrier. I smirked and charged her, my power directing me as I teleported behind her shield and tripped her, causing her to crack her head on the floor. I winced and decided to take her out of the fight with an electrical X, but before I could shock her into unconsciousness, Starfire went on the attack, forcing me to flip out of the way. I danced around her Starbolts as she chased me through the rafters, before nailing her with a pair of energy blasts that zapped her out of the sky. A solid X between Beast Boys jaws prevented him from taking a chunk out of my shoulder and removed him from the fight for a short while as he removed the X by turning into a hippo on a very thin beam and ended up falling into a stack of crates. I wonder how much super hero insurance costs?

I shook off the thought as Cyborg came at me, right before I snared him with an elastic X that slammed a load of boxes into him. Unfortunately, that just pissed him off and the rest of the Titans were back on their feet.

"Hmm, this is starting to feel a lot like the X episode," I thought, "Either I've brought the timeline forwards or I can't rely entirely on my knowledge of the show."

I brushed off the thought for now as the Titans advanced on me.

"Come on Kids," I said, my voice made unrecognizable by the modulator in the mask, "X marks the spot."

They went on the assault, with Cyborg opening fire, Raven tossing a box at me, both of which I vaulted over and danced around more Starbolts. I landed in a crouch and immediately teleported out of the way as Beast Boy tried to squash me. I reappeared on top of a crate, only to be almost immediately tackled by Robin. Apparently my Path is not quite good enough to keep up with five highly skilled opponents at the same time, but that was fine. It worked perfectly well for the actual fight.

We exchanged blows, with me occasionally teleporting around Robins attacks, before he managed to catch my fist with his feet and throw me into a wall of crates. Before I could recover, he appeared in front of me and grabbed my mask.

"Who are you!?" he snarled.

"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" I asked as I grabbed his wrist and shocked him, sending him flying into a stack of crates.

With Robin temporarily down, the other Titans came at me, led by Raven and Cyborg as they charged up their attacks. My response was to toss a shock X that zapped both of them and resulted in their attacks hitting each other.

"Looks like you got your wires crossed," I said.

I flipped back, evading a barrage of Starbolts from Starfire and once again starting the dance around her attacks while trying to find an opening. It didn't take long and I shot an X at Starfire which pinned her to the wall. Since I didn't fancy getting zapped, I didn't try flirting with her, instead I turned my attention to Beast Boy as he came at me and morphed into a bear as he did. I slammed my hand into the ground, which promptly split in an X shape, dropping Beast Boy into a very deep hole. Seriously, how the fuck did Robin manage half of these things without some form of Tinker power bullshit?

"Watch your step," I said as I walked over to where Robin was laying.

I pushed him aside and picked up the gun shaped scanner that he'd been laying on. I didn't need it, but I needed them to think that was what I was after, rather than the spider silk producer.

I took off as Robin recovered and charged after me.

"I won't let you escape!" he yelled, right before he tripped as another X wrapped around his ankles.

"Better luck next time," I said as I put the scanner on my belt, "And thanks for the suit."

I hit the belt button to teleport...only to get an error message.

"Oh come on!" I yelled, "Fucking thing…"

Apparently I should have run some tests before I came out. The change to the Arc Reactor power source had resulted in a power surge, disabling the teleporter. Fortunately, it was temporary, but it was still a pain.

I took to my heels as Robin broke free from his restraints and charged me again. I jumped out the skylight, evading Robins attacks as I waited for the cooldown to finish. A few seconds later, the all clear came up on my HUD and I grinned behind my mask.

"See ya around kid!" I said as I vanished.

I reappeared in an empty dumpster beside the spider silk machine and pulled my mask of with a sigh of relief. That had been INTENSE! I was SO going out as X again at some point, even after I made my appearance in my good guy persona. I grinned. I wasn't interested in stealing anything, I just liked playing with the Titans.

I quickly stripped off the suit and stuffed it into my bag, the same bag I'd found my start up capital in, and dumped the scanner off to the side. I didn't need it after all. I dropped my actual prize into a printer box that had held an actual printer I'd bought earlier in the day that I quickly sealed up with tape in the same way it would be sealed if new. With that done, I carefully peaked out of the dumpster and, after making sure that there was no one around with my senses, the scanners in my mask and my power, I hopped out and walked down the street with the box under one arm, joining with the light foot traffic. Just another face in the crowd.

Once I got home, I set the device up and started it cooking. It would take some time to make enough thread, so I decided to fall into bed and get some sleep.

Apparently, I'd massively overestimated the capabilities of the device I'd stolen. I'd known it had been discontinued from production and now I knew why. To produce enough thread to make just one standard issue combat uniform, it took well over 12 hours and it required a large amount of power. The latter was easily provided with another Arc Reactor, but I still had plenty of time to kill. That led to me amusing myself by following the Titans around in the X suit and taking down a couple of Changs men when they tried to kidnap Cyborg, although I wasn't quick enough to stop them from zapping him unconscious. I left them tied to a lamppost for the cops as I headed to the teams meeting point, helpfully provided by my power. I arrived in time to hear Robin bemoaning his past mistakes.

"Do not worry Robin," said Starfire, "Your mistakes are in the past. It is no longer you inside that suit."

"And personally, I think it looks much better on me," I said, making everyone spin around to face me, "Yo."

"Red X," snarled Robin, "What did you do to Cyborg?"

"Nothing," I said, "Actually, I stopped a couple of guys in space suits from kidnapping him. Your welcome by the way."

Robin narrowed his eyes.

"And why should we believe you?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"Believe what you want, I don't care," I said, "So, exactly what are you kids doing out here? I didn't hear any alarms going off at the labs."

"We're here to stop you!" said Beast Boy.

"You will not get the Xenothium!" said Starfire as the Titans tensed for battle.

I blinked behind my mask, before bursting out laughing.

"You think I'm after Xenothium?" I asked, "Why would I do something that stupid?"

The Heroes looked taken aback.

"Xenothium is the suits power supply," said Robin slowly, "And I know for a fact that the suit was running a little low."

I grinned as I pushed the buckle of my belt, causing it to open and reveal the blue glow of an Arc Reactor.

"Not anymore," I said, "I converted it to run on something that produces twice the energy at far less risk of disintegration. This baby won't run out of juice anytime soon!"

I snapped my fingers and reached into my pocket, pulling out a sealed container.

"Speaking of which, your better equipped to deal with this than me," I said, putting the container carefully on the roof, "Plus, its your mess to clean up."

The Titans eyes widened, before Robins narrowed.

"Why did you do it?" he asked, "With technology like that, you could change the world. Why use it to be a criminal? What are you planning?"

I shrugged.

"Some people don't like playing the benevolent philanthropist or the hero," I said, "I don't have any big plans for the suit, I'm just looking for something to kill my boredom. Stealing the suit was a test of my abilities, stealing the scanner was a test of the suit and, as an added bonus, I found just what I needed."

I stood and scanned the Titans.

"You haven't seen the last of me," I said, "I hope we can continue this game of tag another time. Don't disappoint me."

I pushed the button on my belt and vanished before the Titans could react.

Well, that was fun. I think I might just continue this one. Should be fun.

I have no idea if the Path to Victory could be used like that, but Dannys can. He can't produce anything that breaks the laws of physics and hes bound by what parts he can get his hands on, so don't expect any true Tinker bullshit anytime soon. However, since Stark managed to build an Arc Reactor from scraps, I think he could manage just fine with what he had access to. He won't be building any Iron Man suits though. I might do that for another fic though. Maybe.

Other than that, I don't have anything else to say, so I'll sign out. Don't forget to leave a review!