Identity Thief

By Remix17

Summary: Red X and Robin are different, but both have similarities that cannot be ignored. Now they’re about to have another thing in common, and his name is Slade.

CHAPTER ONE

Award-Winning Performance

As the saying went, Red X hated getting caught with his pants down—or in his case, caught with his belt off.

He had to give Robin, the Teen Titans’ leader, credit for stealing the specialized belt to his Red X suit. X missed the belt terribly, not because he was a belt fiend, but because without the special Xinothium-powered belt fit snugly around his waist, the Red X suit was useless besides as a scary fashion statement. Red X could not activate any of the suits’ special gadgets without it—not the X-shaped saw blades or the X-shaped shuriken, and certainly not the sometimes most important weapon of all: the ability to disappear and reappear in a new location with the belt’s built-in transporter.

Even if Red X ever did return the belt to his clutches, it had been low on Xinothium when Robin took it, and that added the extra problem of finding more to power the belt and the suit—if he ever even got it back somehow, that is.

Red X had stolen the suit from Titans Tower on a special thrills-only mission while the Titans were away one night. He hadn’t known the suit was there until he found the locked safe door, and, after playing with the security measures, he managed to get the safe open, and he found staring back at him the most incredible-looking suit ever.

Red X had a thief’s personality, and he had a thief’s skills, but he had never felt as much as a thief until he went home with the suit and began to play with it. He had slipped the sweet black material across his chest, pulled the gloves over his hands and forearms, stepped into the boots, and slowly tugged the black and white skull mask down until it covered his face. After wearing it and testing it out, he had taken it off and discovered how the complicated circuitry worked, had experimented for hours with the suit’s weapons and capabilities. It had been an excellent new toy, the best present he had ever stolen for himself.

But the Titans had found him soon enough, and Robin hadn’t been happy to see his suit—something the kid was actually ashamed of!—on a “common thief.” The kid took things way too personally, and life seemed to be one big migraine for him. Robin was adamant about not only stopping X, but taking back the suit as well. Red X had tried to lighten him up a bit, but the fifteen-year-old going on forty had remained a stick-in-the-mud during every encounter. Not a fun bone in his entire body.

Somehow, in the middle of their feud, Red X had temporarily teamed up with the Jump City hero when he went to save his friends and the city from a real evil idiot, Professor Chang. Red X had aided Robin in a victory, then tried to make a clean get-away with a new batch of Xinothium to power his suit when Robin stole his belt right out from under him. Red X had been forced to slam down the Xinothium vial in his hand and disappear in the resulting explosion in order to get away.

And so now, here he was. No special buzzing saw blades, no X-shaped shuriken, no sticky goo to pin adversaries to walls or floors, and no transporter to serve as a fail-safe when he got into situations stickier than the goo. Red X was back to being an even more common criminal, relying on only his body’s tough training and his own street smarts.

Of course, those two things were enough to make him successful on their own.

Red X was still active in Jump City, but he was keep a low profile until the Grump Wonder forgot about him—as much as the kid forgot about any criminal, anyway. X was ripping off rich people and small wealthy businesses these days, and he was making sure to pace himself so he wouldn’t tip the Titans off. The kids were drawn to crime scenes like he was drawn to…well, crime.

Red X chuckled slightly at this thought as he slipped into the window of a penthouse apartment far above street level. The place belonged to a rich actress that lived in Jump City two months out of the year, one he thought looked particularly good on-screen. Red X was about to show her how much he admired her work (okay, looks) by selecting her apartment to steal from tonight. It was a strange compliment, but hey, she could afford it.

Red X dropped lightly on a soft blue carpet that paled in the moonlight shining through the window, and took a glance around. He was in the lovely actress’ bedroom, and she was sleeping quietly in one corner tucked in her comfy, enormous bed. He smiled slightly behind his mask. Having the lady asleep so close to the crime scene was an added thrill to the ones he already got from stealing and illicit entry. The threat of discovery was magnified greatly with the woman being so near.

Listening to the actress’ soft breathing, X moved like liquid across the room, heading for her large wood-polished dresser. On the dresser were jewelry boxes, a carton of cigarettes, a cell phone, and a half-eaten candy bar. Red X picked it up, studying the chocolate bar in amusement and shaking his head.

“It looks like someone’s cheating on her diet,” he said, just loud enough to hear his own voice. The actress didn’t even stir in her bed. Red X set the candy bar down. Actually, he thought privately, if any movie star could eat as much chocolate as she wanted and still look like a million bucks (or several million, in her case) it was this one.

He moved passes andy bar and focused on the jewelry boxes, the real reason he was here. His gloved fingers paused above the first one, wiggling with anticipation at revealing what lay within, and he lifted the lid.

Oh, yes. Now this was what he was talking about. Red X let out a sigh of pleasure. There was a variety of rings, four in all, and all of them set with diamonds. Winding about the rings was a pearl necklace. Red X gazed down at the beautiful sparkly objects and visions of yen, rubos, and American dollars danced in his head. A peso or two million snuck in the vision. He lifted out the pearl necklace, carefully depositing it into a small velvet bag with pull-strings (he liked to be classy) that was tied at his new belt. Next came the diamond rings, which he deposited just as carefully.

The next box held some jade earrings of very good quality, a matching jade bracelet, as well as a few sticks of gum and more candy—apparently candy was a precious commodity now. Red X stashed the earrings and the bracelet with the rest of the pilfered jewelry and ignored the other stuff.

A few more minutes and he had swept the entire bedroom, taking anything that caught his fancy and that would fit in his pouch. He then did a quick sweep of the rest of the apartment to see what was lying around before returning to the bedroom.

“Looks like my work here is done.” Red X headed for the window, and then paused, turning to look back at the sleeping figure still lying in her bed, oblivious to his presence. Red X stepped away from the window and started toward the bed curiously.

Maybe it was his attraction to beauty, maybe it was the fact that he was still in his teens, but Red X wanted to see the sleeping actress up close when she wasn’t surrounded by bodyguards or crazy fans—hey, it was his big chance. Red X carefully pulled back the blue comforter from the young woman’s face.

She looked pretty even when she wasn’t done up for the big screen or a movie premier. Her hair was kind of tousled, but that only added to her natural beauty. It was really too bad she would wake up and find her precious jewels gone, but them was the breaks. She didn’t look like the type to wear diamonds anyway. He slowly returned the comforter to cover her face, then left for the window.

Outside, the wind greeted him coolly. Red X started for home, carefully climbing down from the penthouse and then running from rooftop to rooftop. He was pleased by the sound of the jewelry clattering against each other in his pouch. He had at least a million dollars on his belt, and he could now brag that he had seen Hollywood’s rising star in the flesh.

“I should’ve asked for an autograph,” Red X muttered to himself as he ran across one rooftop. But she probably just would have screamed anyway.

That was when the bird-a-rang clipped him in the shoulder, making the thief cry out in surprise and take a tumble forward to the roof. He was soon up on his feet again, gripping his shoulder indignantly as he turned around to glare at the person who had thrown it.

“Well, well, well,” Red X said slowly. “If it isn’t Mr. Obsessive.”

The stuffy Titan leader Robin stood poised on an air conditioning unit, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at Red X. “I watched your performance,” Robin said, his voice displeased. “I give you two thumbs down.”

“Do you write you own material?” Red X smirked at him behind his mask. “You should go to Hollywood, kid. Though I think you’d make a better stuntman than a writer.”

“Give me the bag,” Robin said, not caring to wander from the subject at hand. “Whatever you took, it isn’t yours.”

”Well, no, not for long…there’s this Russian guy who will love the jade ear—“

”Hand it over, X. After this, you’re going to jail for a long time.”

Red X titled his head slightly, amused by the threat. “As if you can stop me.“ He paused, then his eyes slowly scanned the area. “Say, is it just us here, or are your friends hanging around waiting to get the drop on me?”

Robin’s own head lowered, almost predator-like. “It’s just you and me.”

“Too bad.” Red X stepped back a few paces. “I was hoping for a little challenge.” And with that he turned and ran, jumping the distance to the next building. Robin was on him in a heartbeat, clearing the jump behind him, but X continued to run, his tattered cape lifting up behind him in the wind. He’d have to stay well ahead of Robin or the kid could grab hold of his cape and haul him back. Fashion had its risks.

As X picked up speed, he could hear Robin’s feet hitting the rooftop as the boy pursued him doggedly. This guy is a serious workaholic, Red X thought in exasperation. Who chased common thieves at this time of night? Weren’t there mass murderers or evil geniuses that deserved more attention?

“You’ll never catch up to me, kid,” Red X called back. He cleared another rooftop and landed on the next one. Just ahead head was a water tower, and he couldn’t help but smile as a paln formed in his brain. “I’ll always be better than you, suit or no suit.”

“We’ll see about that!” Robin reached for X’s cape, but Red X slipped beneath the water tower’s support beams just in time, reaching for his new belt and pulling out a small homemade device that he had made for such an occasion.

“Well, kid, it’s been a blast, but I’m afraid out little outing ends here.” Red X thumbed the small device, dropped it unceremoniously, and ran, slipping our from beneath the water tower at the other end.

Robin was no fool. He recognized the device as a bomb immediately and ran in the other direction to escape. Red X saluted the kid's retreating back, then threw himself over the side of the building, landing on top of a closed dumpster and jarring his legs. But at least it was better than going through a sewer like he’d done the previous time to escape the Titan.

And then the bomb went off.

Not only did it create a marvelous explosion, but it took the water tower with it. The support beams were destroyed and it crashed down on itself, releasing a flood of more gallons of water than Red X cared to guess. He clung to the wall as a waterfall burst over the side of the building, pummeling the alley floor loudly and mercilessly. Red X was soaked immediately as the water splashed up to meet him, but at least his mask protected his eyes.

As soon as his home-made waterfall started to run out, losing its intensity, X jumped through it, landing in the water that was flowing in the alley. It washed over his legs and actually knocked him off his feet. He was carried away in the small torrent and deposited near the alleyway’s dead end, completely soaked.

“Whew. That was a ride.” Red X stood up, pulling his cape away from his mask. ”Looks like I won’t need a shower tonight.”

Destroying a water tower wouldn’t be good for the city, but at least no one had gotten hurt. That’s what killed really him when it came to crime fighters. There were bigger fish to fry and instead they went after little guys who just dared to take what they wanted. At least he wasn’t out to conquer the city or something.

Ah well. At least he’d gotten away. He could philosophize later.

“Yah!”

Red X jerked as he heard the yell, turning in time to duck beneath the bird-a-rang that was flying his way. It hit the alley wall behind him and broke in half, and Red X glared up at Robin, who was now above him on the roof. Red X shook his head, half-amused, half-annoyed. As much as he loved a good fight, he wanted to get home already. It had to be past three in the morning.

“Can’t we do this another time, kid?” Red X asked, an invisible smile in his voice as he held out his hands.

Robin jumped down onto the dumpster via his grappler gun, then jumped the rest of the way to the alley floor, going into a combat stance in the draining water. “No. Like I said, you’re going to jail.”

“You couldn’t beat me before, kid, and you can’t beat me now.”

A small smirk came to Robin’s face, no doubt remembering the infamous Belt Incident. The kid might have been cocky as Red X was.

Red X looked over his options. He’d rather run for it and fight the kid another day, but the alley behind him was a dead end and Robin was blocking his only escape. He'd gave to do a tedious fight to get away.

As if Robin sensed he had an edge, he spoke again, a hint less of anger in his voice. “Just take off the mask, a come quietly.”

“Mmm…no,” X said.

That was when the wall behind him blew up.

The force was powerful, a little stronger than the bomb Red X had just used to take out the water tower. The bricks struck him in his shoulders and back as the blast sent him flying forward. He saw Robin falling to the ground before his masked face met concrete a moment later.

Things went quiet and black for a second. Then his hearing turned back on and Red X blinked open his eyes. He raised his head, which was spinning, and pushed himself up on his aching arms. Groaning under his breath, he glanced over his shoulder, and saw a smoking rubble. Where the wall should have been was now taken up mostly by an empty hole, which led into a darkened, empty building.

Hey…wait…

Red X cast another glance at Robin. The kid was already getting to his feet, looking less rough since he had been further from the bomb. A new plan of escape already in his masked skull, Red X put on a burst of energy and forced himself to stand. He managed another mocking salute to Robin and said, “Well, see ya next time, kid.”

And with that, he turned and ran for the now-open dead end, regardless if whoever had started the blast might be in there on the other side. Robin let out a small sound of anger and tore after X—the kid really didn’t give up.

Well, neither did he.

It was empty inside the building, except for some tables and chairs stacked on top of each other. There were pillars made of something other than marble dispersed evenly around the room. As Red X gazed in the darkness, he thought he saw movement—a shadow shift from one pillar to another, and a slight glow of red eyes.

What the heck…? He thought, staring at the gloom where the shadow had been. What was that?

But his questioning was cut short as he heard Robin gaining distance behind him. Dismissing the shadow, Red X continued his mad dash for freedom, heading for a side door instead of the room's main one. He slid to a stop in front of it and grasped the knob.

Please don’t be locked…please don’t be locked…

He twisted the knob. It rotated easily in his grasp—boo-yah!—and Red X forced himself through the door, ending up in a small, confined stairwell. He quickly slammed it shut, and Robin hit the door a second later as Red X locked it. There was a window X could see the boy’s face through, and he punched the glass, making Robin jerk away from the door.

“Sorry, kid. Better luck next time.”

X ran up the stairs, which turned out to lead to the building’s roof. Using the rooftops around him, he started for home before Robin could get the drop on him again. He eventually slid down into an alley when it came time to go back to ground level and continued on. Despite his aching muscles, he pressed hard, just in case his arch-nemesis was suddenly pursuing him once more.

As he ran, Red X wondered what the shadow in the building had been—and if it was the same person that had detonated the wall for him. Walls didn’t conveniently blow up to give thieves an extra escape route, and someone must have caused it.

But that could wait. In fact, Red X really didn’t care to press the matter. All that was important was that he had the jewels and he’d escaped jail time.

Red X smirked behind his mask as his home drew near. He touched the bag of jewels bouncing at his thigh. Until next time, kid. Until next time.

(To be continued)

Yay, my first Red X story! I finally got a plot idea for the little guy.

Red X: Little?

Er…I mean big. Imposing. You put Slade to shame!

Slade: Excuse me?

Never mind.