Fan Fiction ❯ More Than A Thief ❯ Discoveries And Agreements ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Since I obviously don't own the copyright to Teen Titans, I'm taking advantage of the Fair Use Clause of the Copyright laws to write a story with them in it. Who knew the government would protect the little guys? Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

 

Chapter 1: Discoveries And Agreements

 

Red X snuck down the alley. True, he no longer had the belt, or invisibility, but he had been a thief long before he had taken the suit. Hearing a noise, he dove into the shadows. One of the ugly looking bums who hung out slowly made its way into the alley, apparently searching for something. X shook his head and bypassed the surly looking drunkard making his way to the decrepit warehouse.

When he had first holed up across the street a few weeks ago, he thought something was off with the abandoned warehouse complex next door. Sure, it had fallen into disrepair, and it wasn't in the nicest neighborhood, but he had seen far worse complexes in use. Then there were the homeless people outside. They had never left as far as he could tell, and while he hadn't actually watched to begin with, he grew interested when he saw them making regular searches of the area. They didn't seem to sleep, or eat, or attempt to stay warm during the frigid winter nights. Most people might have dismissed it all out of hand, but X was a thief, and thieves always have their eyes open…

And so, during the middle of a freezing night, Red X put his suit on and headed over. Now here he stood outside of a decrepit building, surrounded by trash and debris. Perhaps he had been imagining things. Still, there might be some useful materials the bums didn't take apart yet. Eschewing the main door, he made his way to the rusting fire escape. Taking a quick look, he decided it would hold his weight… at least he hoped it would. “Only one way to find out…” he mumbled to himself. He jumped at the wall, rebounded off it and grabbed the lower railing using his momentum to swing himself up and over the guardrail. There was a low rattle, and he looked around to see if he had been spotted. Nothing, no one was around.

X smiled to himself and deftly made his way up the old fire escape, making as little noise as he could. All of the windows were boarded shut or walled off. He nodded to himself, there had to be something here. Making it to the top, he looked over the edge and saw a burly looking homeless person standing guard. He ducked as the man twirled to look in his direction. He waited almost a full minute, cursing Robin for stealing the belt and its ability to render its user invisible. Taking a chance, he poked his head up and cursed as the homeless man charged at him.

Leaping over the short embankment that kept the fire escape from reaching the top of the roof he punched the charging bum. His fist hit, and he groaned; it was as if he had hit a steel wall. The man didn't even flinch, and punched X in the jaw and then again in the gut. Red X dropped like a sack of wet cement, and the homeless man lifted him up and over his head, to throw him over the edge of the building. X took this moment to roll out of the man's poor grip. As he used what leverage he could to push himself back and behind the man he felt a sharp pain in his side.

Falling and rolling, he grabbed at his side, where his suit was tattered and he was bleeding profusely from several puncture marks in his side. He winced, but got to his feet. This was no normal bum, to say the least, but he had to finish this quickly. The bum had turned around, and was readying to attack him again when X threw himself into the air and landed a savage hit to the man's jaw. The man stumbled backwards and over the edge of the roof. X's eyes went wide… he had never planned to kill anyone… he ran to the edge of the roof and looked down at the man who was impaled on some of the debris below.

X rolled up his mask, fell to his knees and vomited, “Oh god… what have I done?” he managed to sputter out to himself as he lost the remnants of his dinner. Taking a moment to keep the tears from forming in his eyes he looked down again. That's when he saw it… sparks, coming from inside of the bum's corpse. All thoughts of investigating the building were gone. X tried to control himself as best he could, and made his way down the fire escape and back down to the ground. There he found the man, several metal poles protruding from his gut. X nearly doubled over again, the mere thought that he had done this was sickening. Taking a moment to calm himself down, he slowly approached the corpse. He wasn't sure if it was a morbid fixation or simple guilt that drove him to look into the face of the man, but he had to do it.

He moved close, barely inches away from the man. The pallor had left his face, and his eyes were closed. X closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, because that was all the time he had before the man's arm had grabbed his throat. Eyes went wide with horror; X stared at the man, impaled several times, yet still alive and now throttling the life from him. X would have screamed had he been able to breathe, but all he could do was grab at the man's arm. Even now, when he should be dead, the man's strength was incredible, and he heard strange noises, as parts of his throat started to close up on him. In a state of absolute terror, X activated the sharpened X's on his hands and tore threw the man's arm. Still the hand held his throat strong, and only with the last bit off effort was he able to tear it from him.

Falling backwards, partly in shock, partly in horror, and partly to give himself a chance to breathe, X stared forward. The man hadn't stopped moving, he was trying vainly to pull himself from the metal poles that held him. It was only then that X realized that the man wasn't bleeding. He stared for a moment; the man's arm was still on the ground, still trying to move. “What the hell?” He said, still nursing his sore throat. Picking up the man's arm, he looked at it; the skin was partly torn away revealing the claws that had bitten his side moments earlier. He tore the fake flesh from the arm, revealing electronics and machinery.

X was right… this building was special. All the horrors were being pushed from his mind, what was going on here? What would make these? He thought of all the other homeless people. This was some sort of base, those weren't bums at all; they were machines disguised as men. X bit his lip, and absently put a hand on his wounded side. He stared at the automaton in front of him, still trying to extricate itself… still trying to reach him to kill him. X frowned, he would have to dispatch it to keep his presence here a secret, assuming the machine or the noise hadn't summoned more of these monstrosities. Taking care to look around, he quickly brought down the sharpened edges of the blade down and threw its neck. It struggled for a few seconds longer… then finally ceased moving.

X took stock of his surroundings. He had probably been heard, or worse, spotted. Was he really going to risk going inside the factory, even though he was wounded? He gingerly touched the wounds in his side, several of them where small lacerations, only 2 of them were anything more than flesh wounds. Whatever these things were, they wanted their privacy, and were more than willing to kill him to keep it. Curiosity had killed the cat… but he had always been a bigger fan of dogs anyway. Taking his time, he made his way back up the fire escape.

The roof was clear of anyone, or at least, no one was out in the open. Red X sighed, he wasn't exactly eager to fight another one of them. Stealthily making his way across the roof, he moved from one light fixture to the next… nothing, they had been painted and he wasn't about to shatter a piece of glass to wake up who knows how many of those things. He couldn't see anything through any of them… but it's unlikely they soundproofed the windows. Carefully leaning up against one of the windows, he put his ear to it. The sounds of machinery were all he heard, no other sound.

He took some of his usual tools from his pocket. He knew he was going to regret doing this in the morning, assuming he lived that long. The glass was cut with relative ease, and he carefully removed it to peer inside. The darkness was nearly total inside the building. He could barely make out the machinery, let alone anyone actually inside. Instinct versus nature, would he run or would he venture on to find out what lay inside? Taking a last look at the outside world, he lifted up the small group of glass panels and dove into the darkness.

His landing was amazing, completely dodging all dangers… except when he landed directly on one of the robots. He felt it buckle under him and all he could do was use the force to rebound off, unless he wanted to break his legs. He rolled and, ducking, ran further into the warehouse. There were no sounds outside the huge machines… had they been alerted? What were they making here? He looked around nervously, and then rushed forward towards the machine, staying in the darkness as long as possible until he saw what was being made.

Red X gasped, he was in the factory that produced these blasted machines. He stared at where he had landed, directly where the machine had been. Another automaton stood there; completely oblivious to the fact its predecessor had been crushed and used as a cushion for Red X's fall. None of the robots moved, they stood stock still slowly being moved forward into a larger machine and completely out of sight. Red X moved forward to the machines. “These are the ones that Slade used when he attacked the city…” X murmured to himself, reaching into another pocket for a digital camera…

 

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Morning, the next day at Titan's Tower.

 

Robin, as always, was the first to rise beating the rooster version of Beast Boy by at least half an hour. He walked into the training room. He ran every morning before breakfast, force of habit carried over since his training before he was a titan. The morning run came through every hallway in the tower, outside, down to the very edge of the island, and back to the training room. He went at his normal, if quick, pace; rushing past the bleary eyed Beast Boy.

“Dude, what are you doing, its six thirty AM!” Beast Boy yelled after him, but Robin didn't have time to reply, as he turned down another hallway and then down the stairs. Reaching the doors to Titan's tower, he smiled, the cold air would be refreshing, as would watching the sun peak up and the first sunlight hit Titan's tower. He made his way to the very edge of the island, the path leading straight into the water, then turned around, and ran back, sunlight hot on his tail. He smiled, he knew he wouldn't beat it to the door, but it was always fun.

Every whimsical thought left his head the instant he reached the door. He hadn't seen it when he was exiting, but returning it was far too obvious for him to see. The sun caught up and passed him, reaching Titan's Tower, and the giant red X on the door. Robin approached cautiously, seeing a bump in the middle of the X. Taking a look at it, he saw it was a simple disk. His hand ever so slowly reached for the disk, being extra careful for any signs of a trap. He had just touched it when Beast Boy sounded off as a rooster. Robin reactively threw himself backwards and growled, “Knock it off, Beast Boy.” He mumbled, and removed the disk from the door.

Robin felt numb as he walked back inside. Red X had been his creation. He was the first Red X, and it had led to disaster. Not only had he betrayed his team, he had gone against everything he had ever learned for a single-minded obsession. It had nearly destroyed him. Then someone had stolen the suit and the hellish nightmare had started again. In the end, Red X had saved his life as well as the rest of the Titans, but Robin had stolen the belt that held most of its powers. He still wasn't sure he had done the right thing by taking it.

Robin walked into the operations room as the others were sitting down for breakfast. He waved off their questions, and walked to the computer in the TV. He inserted the disk. For a moment, nothing happened, but just as he was about to remove it in disgust, the screen popped to life, showing odd-looking pictures from inside a dark room. There were pictures of row after row of people in a dark room, all facing the same direction. It took him a moment to grasp what it was, but when he did, he gasped. “These are Slade's robots…” He murmured still in shock. He heard some silverware being dropped on the table and the others rushed over.

“Where did you get this?” Raven asked, watching the screen it stopped at, a shot of the full machine.

“It was on the door… in the center of a giant red X.” Robin said, biting his lip.

“Red X? You mean the guy who stole your suit did this?” Beast Boy said, surprised.

Robin nodded; he didn't know what to say, “That's my guess…”

The screen blinked, and the picture disappeared. Red X appeared on the screen, “Hello kid.”

Robin growled, “How did you get those pictures?”

Red X watched unfazed, “That's my little secret.”

Knots formed in Robin's stomach, “What do you want?”

Red X smiled behind his mask, “Give me my belt back with the fuel to power it and I'll show you where his base is.”

“No.” Starfire grabbed Robin's arm, “We cannot do this. He is… not good!”

“Oh, isn't that so cute?” Red X said, chuckling.

Robin closed his eyes and bowed his head, slowly grabbing Starfire's hand, “Starfire… this may be our one chance to learn more about Slade. We have to do this.”

“And what of the Red X? Does he go free?” She said, an anger rising in her voice that he had not heard in a long time.

“Arrest me and you'll never find Slade's base.” Starfire growled at Red X's comment.

“You are not a good person!” She shouted, but Robin put a hand on her shoulder.

Robin looked at the screen, frowning, “X… can you give us a moment, the team will have to discuss this.”

“What is there to discuss man? We can't do this!” Cyborg said loudly, making sure Red X heard him.

“Yeah, why should we trust him?” Beast Boy said, arms crossed, looking at the screen.

Red X shook his head, “If I'm not mistaken, I pulled your fat out of the fryer, literally. Remember, Doctor Chang and his disintegration ray?”

“Oh yeah…” Beast Boy said, biting his lip, and scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

“Raven, what is your opinion?” Starfire asked, looking over at the robed girl.

“I… think we should do this. I am not happy that he will receive his belt… but Slade has tried not only tried to take over the city, he's tried to kill us, and he used Terra…” She winced and looked away, knowing she had made a mistake mentioning Terra's name.

The smile on Beast Boy's face faded, as did his doubts. The memory of betrayal and a broken heart were all he needed to accept Red X's return for Slade's downfall. “I'll accept the offer.”

Cyborg looked at Beast Boy, then at Starfire and then nodded, “I will too… sorry Star…”

“Robin we cannot do this.” Starfire looked around at her friends who were watching Red X on the screen, “We are not supposed to make deals with bad people…”

Robin bowed his head, “Starfire… there are different types of bad people… Slade is a much worse person than Red X would ever be…”

“Trade one evil for another?” Everyone was slightly surprised at Starfire's comment, as she stood her ground, “I do not think we should do this.”

Robin looked to the rest of the team. They nodded in agreement. He looked at her, “Starfire… we have to do this… it might be…”

“And if it is not?” she asked, cutting him off.

“And if it is not then Red X will be going to jail.” Robin said, looking at the screen.

Red X shrugged, “I'll keep my end of the bargain if you keep yours.”

Robin sneered, “Fine, we're agreed. Where do we meet?”

“Just keep your eyes open, kid. Don't look for me, you wont find me. I'll find you.” The screen went dead.

“I do not feel this is right…” Starfire started but Robin shook his head and walked away.

 

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Red X sat at his computer, smiling as he lifted the freshly created CD. “Didn't suspect a thing…” Red X looked at the CD, marveling at how easily he had just captured some of the Titan's most vital secrets; including Cyborg's schematics… it was almost as easy as stealing from Slade. He stared at the disk for a moment longer, even after the computer's screen had revealed a masked man with one eye covered.

“Did you convince them?” Slade asked in his oddly monotone voice.

Red X smiled, “I did much more than that Slade. I got you a new toy to use against them… one of their own.”

Slade's eye widened ever so slightly, “Excellent… you truly are a talented thief. When should I expect it?”

“When I get it to you.” Red X said, still looking at the disk.

Slade's eye narrowed and his voice grew harsh, “And when should I expect the Titans?”

Red X looked at the computer screen absently, “When I tell you.” He said, and closed the view screen. X smiled to himself, he still had some things to attend to…