Fan Fiction ❯ A Story of X ❯ First Strike ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans, nor any other DC characters that may appear at some point in time in this story… And you know what? WAKKA WAKKA DOO DOO YA!

The night was young. The moon glowed a hazy blue in the midnight sky as clouds passed by, temporarily obstructing its view. But even with these clouds in the way, the light from tonight’s full moon above shown through. The city of Jump was basked in the moonlight as its residents slept soundly.

The waters by the docks lapped up against the shore, caressing the sandy beaches with its ocean charm. The light from the majestic moon reflected off the glassy surface for the water, giving off a radiant glow that completed this peaceful midnight scene. Yes, all was utterly calm and peaceful in this quiet city. And as we all know, when there is such tranquility as this, especially in this city, it is bound to be disrupted by some loud noise.

CRASH!

Called that one. But where could this sound have come from in this sleeping city? Well citizens, you would find the source of the disruption not far off from the sandy beaches. In an old run down and abandoned automobile factory and warehouse, one would notice signs of activity in this once thought empty and forgotten building. Another loud sound resonated from this structure’s hallowed halls.

“Yahoo!”

Ah, apparently our hero Red X was in this very building. Let’s look in on him shall we?

“Wow, this suit is freaking amazing! I mean, I was limited to my first test run cause I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But now that I don’t have to worry about anyone else’s well being, I can really cut loose.”

A crate across the room exploded into tiny splinters with a blast of crimson energy.

“Ha! Bulls-eye. These things are pretty powerful,” X said while looking at his upturned palms. “Hmm… I might not want to use them against people, even if they do get in my way. That crate over there, or what’s left of it anyway, was proof enough of the destructive power this thing holds. I think I may just save these for demolition purposes only.”

Red X looked around the giant room filled with the destruction he himself caused. He was testing out the suit’s powers and limitations, but so far he was just having way too much fun blasting the hell out of crates. The floor was littered with splintered shards and strewn about auto parts which the crates held from within. Well, one can never have too much practice with aiming. After all, practice makes perfect, does it not?

X glanced over to another part of the room and saw something that made him smile with glee. Sitting there collecting dust as if it hadn’t been touched in ages, was an old beat up car. A blue Toyota Corolla from the looks of it. But the type and year didn’t matter to Red X, for he had just found his next test subject.

“Hmm… If I remember correctly, this suit amplifies my strength through muscle enhancement, or something like that,” X said while looking down at himself in the sleek body suit. “Let’s just see by how much.”

X walked over to the vehicle and stood in front of it, sizing it up, trying to figure out where oh where would be the best place to grip the car. He bent over and grappled the car by the front and was getting ready to lift with all his might.

“Now, remember X, you should always, and I do mean always, lift with your knees. Never your back.”

Red X let out a grunt as he began to try and lift the car in his grip. He continued to pull and pull on the object, but no matter how hard he tried, the car wouldn’t leave the ground completely like he wanted. He may have lifted the front part 1 inch, maybe 2 at the best, off the ground, but he was straining himself with that. X let out a sigh as he relaxed his grip and rested his head on the hood of the car.

“Crap. Well, I guess I’m not as strong as I hoped. Hmm…”

Red X once again gripped the car and began to try and lift it again.

“Come on… you lousy… piece… of cr-yaah!”

It seemed that X was pulling just a wee little too hard, for he had been trying so hard that he accidentally ripped the front bumper clean off the car and fell backwards from the release.

“Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned now did it?” Red X asked to no one from his position on the ground looking at the bumper in his hands. He got up off the ground and continued to glare at the object in his grasp, as a smile came across his concealed lips.

“Well there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And there are more ways to test strength.” With that said, X took the bumper and in a single motion, he bent it into an arch shape.

“Heh, not bad.” He tossed his test aside and strode back to the car. He didn’t even pause as he dug his fingers under the hood of the car and ripped it clean off the hinges. “Not bad at all,” he said with a smirk.

“Now, one more weapons test to go,” X said while looking at his wrists. With a simple toss, the hood was air born. A whirring sound began to sound from the twin X blades extending from the back of Red X’s ashen gray gloved wrists. As the hood fell in front of him, X slashed at it in a criss-cross motion and instantly the hood fell apart into four triangular pieces.

“Sweet. Freaking sweet. But, I think the same rule applies here as the lasers. These are too dangerous to use against people. Demolition only.”

X looked away from his wrists and towards the ceiling thinking he was just going to contemplate on his past events with the tests, but something caught his eye. And that something were the rafters overhead. In a blink of an eye, Red X was gone from his previous spot on the ground and was now up high in the shadow covered ceiling area.

“Short distant jumps could be helpful, you never know when they could come in handy. And I do need to work on balance and agility, so what better way to do this than to teleport jump from one rafter to another? Killing two birds with one stone,” he rationalized to himself.

And so the death defying leaps and bounds began. X jumped into the air and disappeared. Seconds later he reappeared a few rafters over. His landing was a bit wobbly as he began to swing his arms to try and gain his balance.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Almost, no… come on come on come on…” In the end, his efforts were rewarded and he was once again balanced on the high up beam. “Heh, that wasn’t too bad,” X told himself, trying to ignore the fact that his heart was beating like crazy. Again he leapt into the air, disappearing and manifesting himself atop another rafter. Only this time his landing wasn't as shaky as his previous attempt.

“Well would ya look at that. I think I’m getting the hang of it already. A few more jumps and I call it a night. I do need to get some kind of sleep before my first theft tomorrow.”

So his little jumping session began yet again, going from one rafter to the next with increasing ease. But as we all know, especially for this kid, hardly anything ever goes right with his luck, and this was going to be one of those times where luck just didn’t seem to be with him at the given moment.

As Red X leapt off his last rafter and was ready to teleport, something happened… or rather, something that was supposed to happen didn’t happen. He didn’t teleport. Luck had forsaken him. Oh ya, this wont end well.

“WHAT THE? Craaap!” he yelled out as he plummeted downward.

‘Is this the end? Am I going to die right here, right now? Why isn’t my life flashing before my eyes? Was it that short? Did it suck that much? Why haven’t I hit the ground yet? Craaap!’

CRASH!

It would seem that X still had some kind of luck for he did not become a pavement pancake on the hard concrete floor. Instead, his fall was broken by a large pile of crates. Go figure, since the very things he was blasting away saved his very life. Funny how things work out eh?

“Ow my freaking head, my freaking back, my freaking everything. That hurt! Thank God for this crate of,” X glanced down to see that he was surrounded by, “break pads. Ugh, the irony of it all. Great. But what the hell exactly happened just now up there?” X asked to himself as he looked up to the rafters while rubbing his aching head.

Red X glanced back down at the power core belt and stared at it. He tapped it with curiosity but nothing happened. He tapped again and again and yet again his efforts were rewarded with absolutely nothing.

“Grrr… Why wont you work? Come on, come on!” In an act of frustration, he slammed his fist against the button and was greeted with a whirring sound of the belt coming back to life. “Sheesh, bout time. But the still doesn’t explain why…” X didn’t even need to finish his sentence, for a heads up display was flashing in his eye visors that read ‘Warning: Synovium levels low. Suggest refueling.’

“Well, that answers that question,” X said with a sigh. The boy leaned back into the pile of auto parts as he stared back at the ceiling in deep thought. Where the heck would one find such a fuel as Synovium? Red X pondered this fact with a great intensity, but nothing was coming to mind. He slowly sank back further into the parts as he continued to rack his brain trying to figure out where he could get more of the precious fuel he so needed. This couldn’t be the end of the great thief Red X. Hell, he had never even gotten started with thievery to be granted the title of master thief.

“Well, this sucks. Come on Kale, think. You know you have heard where you can get your hands on the stuff, but where? Come on, think!” Out of frustration from this seemingly hopeless predicament, X slammed his head back inadvertently hitting it against part of a broken crate.

“Ow… that hurt.” But while this act of self-inflicted pain did hurt just a little, it also jogged his memory of where he could obtain the Synovium which powered the suit. “Gah, who’s the stupid one? Geeze, how could I forget? It was in that letter that came with the suit, Professor Chang. And I think I remember something about a Professor Chang secluding himself up in that old observatory on the outskirts of Jump City. I just hope that he has what I need, and that this thing has enough power for one more jump to get me there,” the teen said while looking down at the failing belt. And with a press of the button, X was greeted with a whirring sound that brought a smile to his covered lips.

“Hey Changy, I'd suggest laying out some milk and cookies, cause Red X is coming to town.”

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The wind was starting to pick up as the night air was beginning to chill. It was a sign that winding was coming and soon would be here.

The observatory stood upon its perch on the outskirts of Jump City, overlooking this sleeping metropolis. Clouds above concealed parts of the moon, casting eerie shadows upon the metallic structure. The large yet broken telescope was protruding from the opening in the building. A tarp was tied down to the telescope, covering this broken piece of machinery. Once used to gaze upon the stars and galaxies above, it was now a useless piece of junk.

Why the man named Chang had decided to seclude himself in such a desolate building was unclear to the public, but Red X figured it would be the perfect place to use as a criminal’s stock house. A supply base for anything imaginable a criminal might need.

But at this moment, X had something else occupying his mind.

‘Damn its cold!’

Ah yes, it seems our hero was succumbing to the weather like any other human being would. He was crouched on top of the telescope rubbing his arms trying to circulate warmth trough himself.

‘Brrr. Maybe its just the elevation of this place that is making me so cold. After all, the higher the elevation, the colder the air temperature.’ A cold breeze brushed by the teen chilling him to the core.

‘Or maybe its just really freaking cold! Okay Kale, you got two options. Either go in there and get the Synovium and possibly get warmer, or you could stay out here and freeze your ass off. Hmm… Oh yeah, real hard choice here.’

And with the decision of all decisions made, X descended the shaft of the telescope down into the heart of the observatory. He noticed that there was a great lack of scientific machinery here, hundreds of crates occupying the room containing who knows what. A vast amount of artillery was laid about as well, ranging from the simplest of hand guns, to semi automatics, to rocket launchers. Canisters with harmful chemicals no doubt were dispersed around the giant room as well.

‘Good God! This guy’s got everything he needs to start WWIII if he wanted to. Okay sure, he’s missing a few fighter jets and tanks, buts still. Cripes.’

X surveyed the area from his perch upon the telescope when he spotted what looked like a person standing in front of some crates taking inventory. From the looks of it, the man hadn’t noticed X’s presence, and he intended to keep it that way until he was ready to make his presence known. Who knew what this Chang person could have up his sleeve.

Red X climbed up a large stack of crates and began to creep his way along closer to the man. As he did so, X could pick out details he couldn’t see before. The man had a tube of some sort coming out of his right nostril and leading down into weird looking bio suit, which gave him a bulkier appearance than he probably had. He wore a strange pair of goggles and an odd kind of box around his neck, connected to a large, metallic back pack it seemed on his back.

‘What a creep.’

“Ah, everything seems to be in order. Hehe, I so hope this client will be satisfied,” the man said to himself. He spoke with an Asian accent with a heavy lisp to his speech.

X continued to creep closer to Chang until he was right over him, watching his every move.

‘Well, it looks like I found my target. Better make a good first impression.’ X smiled to himself as he dove off the crates straight for Chang. The boy grabbed onto Chang’s suit by the shoulders, completely catching the man off guard.

And with a flip and a throw, Chang found himself flying through the air, right into a wall. Not even having the chance to regain his composure, Chang was forced back into the wall by a hard grip. After his head had stopped spinning, Chang found himself face to face with the skull mask of this offender.

“So, you must be Professor Chang,” Red X said in that distorted voice that his mask provided for him.

“Ah, you must be the lucky young man Mr. Slade has chosen to wear the battle suit,” Chang replied with a toothy smile. “Hehe, how is it working out for you? Do you like your new and dangerous toys?” His voice raised in pitch showing his nervousness as clear as day.

Red X glared at the face of the man in front of him and sneered. This was the lowest of the low, pure scum. Someone he didn’t even want to be associated with. But the reality was that X needed Chang to supply him with the precious fuel that ran his suit. And so, he would have to tolerate him, but that didn’t mean he had to like him.

X didn’t have time to answer questions, he wanted answers and results. He tightened his grip on Chang and slammed him into the wall again.

“Synovium, where do you keep it?” Red X said in his most threatening voice, cutting straight to the point.

With a grunt, Chang looked at X with a very nervous smile.

“Mr. Slade is a very important client, and Shirumari Weapons Co. takes good care of their customers, especially ones like Mr. Slade. The informed me of the project and told me to keep his supply of Synovium separate from the rest, hehe.”

There was the name Slade again. This was the second time Red X had heard that name. Just who was he, why was he so important, and why the hell did he have this suit made in the first place? These questions were bugging X, but he needed to know where the Synovium was. First things first after all. He would deal with the other stuff later.

“Thanks for the update. Now where the hell is the Synovium?”

“Hehe, Mr. Slade’s supply is over there, by the rocket launcher ammo,” Chang responded as he pointed in the direction of said supply.

Red X looked to where Chang had pointed then back to the man and narrowed his eyes. With a violent tug, X flung Chang behind him and headed in the indicated direction, with Chang following closely behind, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Red X picked up one of the many yellow canisters and examined it. With a twist and pull of the lid, the canister opened with a hiss as the compressed air from inside was released. X glared upon the contents, smiling at the sight of the ten glowing red vials of the precious Synovium.

“I believe you will find everything to your liking. Please, take as much of the Synovium as you like, hehe.”

“Thanks,” X replied while closing the canister. “I think I’ll do just that.” With that said, X picked up a second canister and looked at it pleasingly. “This is enough to last me a good long while.”

The boy turned to leave when something caught his attention. To his right was a rack of belts, power core belts, like the one X was wearing at this very moment. Chang noticed his staring and smiled his toothy grin.

“Ah yes, the extra power core belts. Shirumari Weapons Co. sent those over, just in case there were any… problems.”

“Thanks for the info,” the teen replied while eyeing the belts. “These extras could come in handy. I think I’ll take a few of them.” X reached out and grabbed as many belts as he could in one taking and flung them over his shoulder.

“Yes yes, please do, hehe. Take as much as you desire. Mr. Slade has chosen well who deserves to use that suit. Please do give him my best regards.”

“Uhh… yeah, right.” With his mission complete, X turned on his heel to leave.

“Thanks for the toys old timer. Catch ya later.” With a wave of the hand in a mock salute, Red X jumped onto the telescope and ascended his way out of the observatory, out into the cold once more.

Once X had left, Chang proceeded to his desk at the far end of the room, where a small, 9in. Telecommunications screen lay. With a turn of the switch, a man shrouded in mystery and shadow appeared on the screen. Only the glint from his left eye could be seen through the murky darkness.

“Did the boy get what he came for?”

“Yes he did Mr. Slade, just as you said he would,” Chang responded to the man on the other end.

“Good… then everything is going quite well. Now, lets see what the boy is capable of.”

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It had been a day since X had visited Chang to get the Synovium. The belt was running as smoothly as ever, and now was the time to strike.

Red X stood on the rooftop of a building adjacent from his target, the Wayne Manor. In a metropolis such as Jump City, it difficult to build your mansion on the ground. But, if you were freaking rich like Mr. Wayne was, you would have no problem building your mansion on top of an exclusive building (imagine the Osborn’s house in the Spider-Man movie). It would be no problem at all. A pent-house mansion, not a lot of those around. And X knew this was the perfect place to strike first as a thief. There was something in that house the X wanted and couldn’t find anywhere else.

The night wind picked up and X’s cape flapped wildly in the current. He continued to stare at his target. He was nervous and shaking, but only out of anticipation. He was excited.

“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present.” As silent as a phantom, Red X disappeared into thin air.

Just as soon as X had vanished from the rooftop, he emerged inside a darkened hallway of the massive house of Mr. Bruce Wayne, and Dick Grayson. As Red X’s eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he was able to look around and survey his surroundings. In the hallway mounted on the walls were various paintings one would expect to find in this lavish environment. Vases were perched upon stands lining the hallway in various places.

‘Alright, I’m in. Now, where are you?’ X crept along the hallway keeping close to the wall while humming the theme to Mission Impossible silently to himself.

‘Dun dun DUND DUND dun dun dund dund.’

There was a light at the end of the hallway and what sounded like voices was emitting from the lightened room. X was too far away to make out what the voices were saying, but that sign of activity was all X needed to know. With a twist of the dial and a press of the button, Red X became completely invisible. Even though he couldn’t be seen, X still continued to creep his way closer to the light and voices.

‘Great, I’m hearing voices and going towards the light. HA!’

“Alfred, thanks for the message, I’ll take the phone in here.”

“Very good Master Dick.”

X peered around the door frame into the room to see Dick and apparently his British butler, Alfred.

‘There you are my pretty,’ X said to himself as he smiled at the sight of his target. He entered the room silently but didn’t go into it more than a couple of feet. He was going to wait till the butler left before he would make his move.

“You may leave now Alfred,” Dick said with a shooing motion of his hand.

‘Perfect.’

“Yes, of course Master Dick.” Alfred began to exit as requested by Dick, but he paused and turned right in the direction of X and stared.

‘Crap. Can he see me? Of course not, I’m invisible. But still…’ X stared with baited breath back at the elderly man who seemed to be staring right at him.

But, and to the sheer happiness of Red X, Dick turned around from his phone conversation and noticed Alfred was still present.

“I said leave Alfred,” Dick commanded with a little bit of a hiss to his voice.

The butler broke his glare from where X stood and turned to Dick and slightly bowed.

“Going sir.” and with that second request to leave, the butler did just that, not even looking back to where X was still standing. With the butler gone, Dick went back to putting his attention back to the person on the other end of the phone.

Even though he was invisible, Red X was sure he was going to be discovered. That was just weird how the butler seemed to suspect he was there. X let out a sigh of relief and began to breath once again. He had been holding it throughout the entire ordeal.

After that little endeavor, X was shaken, but that wasn’t going to stop him from making this a successful first theft. He turned back to his target and smiled.

‘Come to me my precious.’

Dick paced back and forth, completely engrossed in the conversation he was having with the person on the phone.

“Yeah… uh huh… yeah. 7 on Saturday night sounds good. I’ll pick you up in the limo… I know I don’t have to, but I want… yes, yes. I love you too. See you then.” Apparently he had been talking to his girlfriend Kori, and from the look on his face, or what one could see with those infernal sunglasses on, he looked as happy as one could be. He fell back onto the couch and closed his eyes, just relaxing.

“I must be the luckiest person on the face of this earth.” this might not have been true, since some guy winning the million dollar jackpot lottery feels pretty damn lucky too. But as this moment, Dick felt that he was on top of the world. Nothing could bring him down. Bring on the world, nothing could knock him from this highest of high feeling he had.

He opened his eyes and his ear to ear smile immediately fell from his face. The tinted world he viewed from behind his sunglasses was gone. All was as it should be without the lenses blocking out the colors. Dick reached up and quickly groped at his face. It could be, could it? No, his sunglasses were… gone!

“What the hell is going on!”

Outside the Wayne Manor, Red X swore he heard someone yelling out at the top of his lungs. The teen in black began to laugh his head off as he twirled Dick’s prized sunglasses between his gloved fingers.

“Haha. Not bad for a first theft. That was too much fun. Well, with the exception of that little butler incident, but that was still pretty exciting. Exhilarating actually. I could get used to this,” X said as he confidently strolled across the rooftop.

“I should mount these on my wall like a trophy. My first theft, Dick’s sunglasses, hehe. Priceless.”

X leaned against the entryway to the roof and rested the sunglasses over his eyes. It was hard to keep them in place with his mask on, and with much difficulty, he finally managed.

“Huh, I don’t see what’s so special about these glasses. Why the hell does Dick always wear them? Oh well, they’re mine now.” X sighed as he looked up to the night sky through the tinted lenses, making the world around him even darker.

“So… now what? I’m done with my theft and the night is still young. I cant just call it a night now, there’s gotta be something else I could do.” X closed his eyes and began to ponder on something that could alleviate him from utter boredom. He could do another theft, but one was enough for the first night. He could just call it quits and go home. Hell no. What was he going to do?

An image of a girl flashed before X’s closed eyes and he immediately jumped up, causing the glasses to fall from his face. He didn’t seem to take notice. And this image of a girl wasn’t just any girl, it was the new girl, Raven. why was he so drawn to her? X didn’t know the answer to that, but he didn’t need to think twice on what he was going to do next.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

After a quick little detour to his own home to check the student directory for Raven’s home address and to drop off his new sunglasses, Red X found himself outside of the girl’s house. It was a quaint little two story house. A typical kind of house one would fine in the suburbs of Jump City.

A light was on in one of the windows on the second story and Red X scaled the tree that just happened to be next to the house. Convenient, no? But as he got closer, X wasn’t prepared to hear yelling. The boy peered inside the window and just stared at the scene before him.

There stood Raven, arms at her sides and head hung low. In front of her doing all the yelling was a big burly man, probably her father X figured. The man was built, that was for sure, but he also seemed to be of a late age. He had long white hair that fell loosely around his shoulders and down his back. He wore a white T-shirt that had sweat stains in certain areas, giving him a less than pleasant look.

“God Raven, why cant you do anything right? Another detention, what is wrong with you? At this rate, you’re going to get expelled in a week! For once in your pathetic, miserable, insignificant life, do something right!”

What came next shocked X to the core. Raven’s father pulled back his arm and back-handed her across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor.

“Its a good thing your mother died before she could see how worthless you are.” With an angry gruff and a slam of the door, the man was gone.

Red X was horror struck. How could a father do that kind of thing to his own flesh and blood. Sure, his own father was a jerk, but he had never hit him. X watched Raven slowly pick herself up off the floor. She didn’t even retaliate, yell back, or anything. She just took it. The boy’s heart went out to the girl.

Raven held her redden face as she stared at the door. She turned to walk towards her nightstand with a clock-radio on it. As Raven turned on the radio to hear a slow rock anthem play through the speakers, X saw the girl wipe away a tear from her face. Raven collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her pillow, letting the pillow and the sounds emitting from the radio drown out the sounds of her sorrow.

Red X longed to reach out and comfort the girl, but he knew he couldn’t, not like this. In his present attire, Raven would more likely call the cops rather than take his comfort. X couldn’t take anymore of this sad and depressing sight. He turned away from the window and leaned back against the tree. All this time he thought his life was in the pits, when all along there was someone else so close that had it much worse than he did. How long had this been going on in this house? Were there signs? Did she have bruises already? He should have noticed any when he saw her in the locker room, but he was too preoccupied with staring at her body than places where she could have been hit. He was ashamed of himself for this fact.

The boy was angry. Angry at himself for thinking he was the only one with problems. Angry at Raven’s father for hitting her. Angry at the whole world in general. Nothing seemed to be going right for anyone.

‘But maybe I could try and brighten up her life a little. Anything would be better than what just happened.’ He felt compassion for Raven. He didn’t know why, but he liked this girl.

‘I think I’ll get her something special. Something nice. Hell, what good is this suit if I cant get anything I want? Besides, I kinda owe you something after I walked in on you in the locker.’ X turned back to the window and sighed.

‘Don’t worry Raven, I’m gonna get you something that will make everything better.’

X was about to slowly descend but he noticed Raven turning. Those tearful eyes seemed to catch a glimpse towards his direction and he immediately gasped.

"Oh sh-" he quickly leapt to the floor and slammed his cloaking mechanism on. X groaned a bit as that sudden drop took a bit out of him. He huffed as he turned up to see those purple eyes peering out the window so saddened. His white slits gazed upon her as she looked frantically for that 'mystery' atop the tree.

‘I gotta be more-’

His eyes were now fixated on those deep amethyst orbs on the face of the girl who he was going to make life good for. And as she frowned, walking away almost disappointingly X nodded with confidence.

‘Oh we'll be seeing each other more... you can bet on that.’