Dark Titans - Arc 1 - Red XX?

Chapter Five

Enjoy if you will, Tolerate if you won't.

Starfire did her best to ignore her grumbling companions, as she gazed longingly at the back of her very closest friend. She disliked, very much, seeing him in such a state of self anger . . . again. Even though he wasn't injured, the proud young man wore a pained expression. He stood ram-rod straight, staring intently at the elevator door as they rode up to the Tower's main room. It would have been obvious to anyone, not just his closest friends, that he was no longer cool and detached. She could see the muscles in his jaw clenching tightly as he tried vainly to contain his emotions.

An odd thought struck the Tamaranian girl, this all seemed eerily familiar for some reason . . . Almost like they had just gone through this not too long ago-

"DAMN!"

Robin's yell broke the uncomfortable silence, as the young man slammed his fist against the elevator door. The sudden outburst caused her to jump. She wanted to reach out to her friend, to comfort him somehow, but he had been inconsolable ever since Red X had made her escape.

She had been partly responsible for letting Red X escape as well . . . If only she had not let herself be tricked so easily . . . perhaps Robin would not be so angry now. Starfire turned to regard the rest of her friends, all of whom seemed to share Robin's sour mood.

To her rear, Beast Boy, Raven and Ryouga filled the back of the elevator. Beast Boy was somehow managing to pace angrily in the small space that he had staked out as his own. Red goo still clung to his hair and would likely need to be cut out . . . again. Beside her, still caught up in his adorably cute cursed form, Ryouga stood, his face an angry red. The only thing that seemed to be stopping the tiny terror from venting his fury was the young woman he cradled to his chest. Raven lay in his arms, only her nostrils and mouth visible through the red mask that covered most of her head. Her breathing was controlled, but shallow.

The flame haired alien briefly considered reminding Ryouga that Raven was perfectly capable of seeing, even blindfolded as she was and didn't need to be carried . . . but then discarded it out of hand. Not only did it fit nicely with her most devious and underhanded plot of making-matches, but his presence seemed to calm her friend. Even though she was no longer in danger of suffocating, Starfire imagined that Raven must have been fairly shaken up by the experience.

Beside her, Cyborg was busily reading a series of readouts on the view screen mounted on his arm. The small screen was showing a stream of data that he had collected during their brief skirmish with Red X. How much said data would actually help, that was anyone's guess.

The near silent swish of the elevator doors opening heralded their arrival to the main room. As a group, they trudged out into the room. Unsurprisingly, Kasumi was awaiting their arrival, she had taken to the habit of awaiting their return from missions, in case of any injuries; a most wise precaution. The young woman sat at the kitchen counter, a cup of tea to one side, a tall stack of medical texts on the other.

Apparently their most recent entrance was not nearly as explosive as their last; it took the older girl several moments to realize they had returned before she turned to greet them.

"Oh my!" Kasumi's shocked cry was not shocking in the least. Starfire could very well imagine what her companion's and herself must have looked at that very moment. Raven incapacitated, Ryouga cursed, Beast Boy covered in goo and Robin ready to explode . . . it was likely not a pleasant sight to witness.

"What happened to you all? What happened to Raven?" Kasumi asked, worry and concern battling for dominance in her voice.

Rather than answer her, which was odd considering Robin's respect for Kasumi, Robin ignored her completely. It was rude, but a small, small part of Starfire rejoiced at the gesture.

"Ryouga, lay Raven on the couch. I have the formula for the solvent in my lab, I'll prepare some and bring it up," ordered the masked youth. Ryouga simply nodded and moved over to the semi-circular piece of furniture. However, for some reason Beast Boy's head shot up at the statement.

"What? Solvent? Why didn't you get some of that out when you were Red X, instead of makin Star massacre my hair to get it out the first time?" growled the emerald shape changer.

Robin simply glared at Beast Boy. "I don't have time for this. I'll be back in an hour, make sure Raven's airways don't get blocked again." The Titan's leader then spun quickly on the ball of his foot, his cape flaring out angrily, and he stalked out the nearest exit.

Beast Boy grumbled loudly to himself, muttering various angry comments about Robin, but did little else.

"Please, tell me what happened here," Kasumi asked again, her voice straining slightly.

Cyborg crashed onto the end of the couch, a few feet down from where Ryouga had gently deposited Raven. "Red X happened . . . Man! I can't believe she beat us!" he barked angrily.

"Please, friends. The Red X, she did not defeat us, she merely escaped us. I am most certain that had her actual goal been to battle us, that we would have defeated her easily," she pleaded with her friends. She disliked seeing the rest of her friends grow angry with themselves as much as she disliked Robin doing so. Her words did not seem to be having a noticeable effect though.

Ryouga snorted loudly. "It sure felt like a loss to me. I mean, there were six of us! How could she get past us all?" The young, young boy rapped a heavy knuckle against his head. "If it wasn't for this damn curse, I would have had her."

"Pfft, at least you saw what happened to you," spat Beast Boy. "I got taken out like a rookie on his first day. Dudes, how did we let her play us like that?"

Starfire felt her heart drop as her friends looked at each other sullenly, until a new voice broke the silence. "We underestimated her. None of us believed that Nabiki was capable of standing against us, so we let our guards down," Raven stated, though her voice was slightly muffled by the red material that surrounded her lips.

They all stared at the girl and she saw her friends begin to nod slowly in agreement. Until Ryouga suddenly hopped off the couch, annoyance on his features. "Damn, this is getting repetitive! Weren't we just arguing about Nabiki yesterday? There's gotta be something better we could . . . be . . . doing?"

Ryouga's question trailed off uncertainly, his annoyed expression melting into a confused one. Slowly, the boy made his way to the kitchen. The sound of running water heralded his return to near adulthood and the now uncursed boy rejoined them. The uncertain look on his face remained however, only hardened with age.

"You know, I only really had a chance to see her for a second, before she soaked me . . . but something seemed off about Red X. For just a fraction of a second, I sensed her aura. It – it felt familiar, but dark, twisted somehow. You don't think the suit is doing something to her, do you?" Ryouga asked, actually sounding slightly concerned.

Cyborg seemed to consider the question for a moment. "I . . . man, I have no idea how that suit works, but I can't imagine it would have any kind of effect like you're talkin about. Robin wore the suit, and it didn't bother him at all."

Raven nodded shallowly from her position on the couch. "If I had possessed the training then that I do now, I likely would have been able to see through Robin's ruse immediately. However, I never sensed any gross corruptions in his spirit in the times before or after he wore the suit." The girl paused for a moment, her head tilting to the side in consideration. "Though you are correct, I too only had a fraction of a second to focus on Red X's aura. What I felt was familiar, but not familiar . . . how did you put it? It felt . . . twisted?"

That seemed to bring Ryouga up short. A far away look entered the boy's eyes and he looked out over the bay to the city outside the window. Then the boy asked a most unusual question, his tone of voice almost absentminded in its detachment.

"When was the last time that anyone saw Kodachi again?"

The door opened before Robin, revealing the Main Room once again. All of his friends were still present, Cyborg was plugged into the main computer, Starfire and Ryouga hovered over Raven and Kasumi and Beast Boy sat together on the kitchen counter, the young woman trying vainly to clean the gunk from his hair.

He looked to the tiny red vial in his hand, he hoped it would be enough, he couldn't make any more. As soon as he entered the room, everyone began to look in his direction. Rather than address them, he simply walked over to Cyborg and handed him the vial. "This should dissolve the material on Raven. Be careful with it, anything that isn't removed will need to be cut out and I can't make anymore," he explained quietly.

Cyborg eyed him curiously for a moment, then nodded and moved over to Raven. Robin turned to join him, only to find Beast Boy in his face. "Well, dude, where's my bottle of that solvent junk? How the heck am I supposed to get this goo outta my hair?"

Robin stared back at the boy, eyeing him seriously. Slowly, he reached behind his back and into his utility belt, as soon as he found the item he was looking for, his hand flashed out . . .

Revealing a pair of scissors.

He handed the scissors to the glowering Beast Boy, a small smirk forming on his lips. "I'm sorry Beast Boy, but saving Raven's face is more important than saving your hair. And like I said, I can't make any more, I used the last of my reserves to make that and I'm not even sure it will be enough."

The changeling glared at him heatedly for a moment, before snatching the shears and stalking back over to Kasumi, muttering the whole way. The younger boy then settled in, as Kasumi prepared to give him a very severe hair cut.

Cyborg looked up curiously from his work, carefully applying the solvent with a medical swab. "Used of your last reserves of what? What could be so hard for you to get more of?"

Robin considered his friends question for a long time. Cyborg and Starfire were the only ones that seemed interested in the answer, Ryouga was too busy worrying over Raven, Beast Boy was still cursing about his hair and Kasumi was busy cutting said hair. Still, it was something he had never planned to tell them, and he knew that none of his friends would take it well. Still, he had to trust his in them; his lack of trust was what had led to the creation of the Red X suit in the first place. It felt somewhat ironic that this second occurrence of Red X should remind him of that.

"The base of the solvent is a very rare element; it's also the same element I used to power the Red X suit . . ."

Cyborg's human eyebrow rose in interest, it was obvious that he had been struggling with this very question ever since Robin had first created the suit.

"Xenothium, I used Xenothium to fuel the suit," he muttered in a low voice.

Starfire gasped loudly in shock. Beside her, Raven nearly sat up, a sharp gasp of, "No!" on her lips. Ryouga just looked across the room to Beast Boy and shrugged his shoulders in complete ignorance. Beast Boy returned the blank look, before crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance. He followed it with a disgruntled whine.

"Aw, man, I never understand anything!"

It was, of course, Cyborg's reaction which was the most predictable. "Xenothium? You powered that suit with Xenothium Are you crazy, man? That stuff is dangerous—and unstable! Tell me you were not stupid enough to go messing with it!"

Robin ground his teeth slightly in frustration. "Like I said, it was a mistake," he bit out sharply.

Suddenly Cyborg raised his hand to his chin, a look of inspiration lighting his features. "Xenothium . . . That explains how you could generate so much damn power . . . just a small quantity would . . ." The boy trailed off for a moment in his contemplation. "The belt! That was the power source . . ."

Suddenly Cyborg spun on him, clawing the air angrily. "Do not tell me that that entire dang belt was filled with Xenothium!" Robin could only look away in shame. He had realized what a risk it was when he had made the suit, but he had been so blinded by his obsession that he had ignored it completely.

Cyborg took his silence as consent. Immediately, the much larger boy spun around again, clutching his cybernetic skull in disbelief. "Man! Are you nuts? That's enough Xenothium to level half the city if it goes critical! What in the name of all that is holy in this world were you thinking?" bellowed the massive teen, still flailing in disbelief.

Back on the couch, Ryouga turned to Starfire and commented very conversationally, "Oh . . . so that's why he doesn't wear it anymore." The alien beauty didn't even register the boy's comment, still staring at him in shock herself.

Robin's shoulders slumped. "You think I don't know that? Why do you think I've been so determined to get it back? However, as bad as things look right now, we're actually very lucky at the moment."

Starfire stood slowly and moved toward him, wringing her hands in worry. "What do you mean, Robin? Our beautiful city is in a terrible amount of danger now. If for some reason the Xenothium were to detonate . . ."

A weak smile formed on his face at that. "If the Xenothium were to detonate now . . . not much at all would happen." He allowed a moment for everyone's shocked and confused reactions to pass. "The Red X suit is nearly out of power. I estimate that the suit only has a few more hours of power left at the most, and considering how volatile the power supply is, it's performance will probably get more unpredictable the longer it runs," he explained. It wasn't great news, but it was good news.

"Hey, that's great! All we gotta do is wait for the suit to run outta juice then. Sure, Red X will get a few last kicks in, but then problem solved. And the best part is, we don't even gotta lift a finger," cheered Beast Boy, whose hair was very nearly goo free by that point.

Cyborg shook his head at that. "No way, BB. If this actually is Nabiki in that suit, then she'll probably have Gizmo trying to find more Xenothium for her already."

That struck Robin as an odd statement, not the part about finding more Xenothium, but rather the uncertainty about Nabiki. He thought it had been pretty well established that it had been her by this point? She had the motive, the opportunity, the access to technical expertise. She also possessed the knowledge of Ryouga's curse and the mile wide devious streak to pull it all together. Why would they be starting to doubt that now?

Be that as it may . . . "Cyborg's right. Gizmo will be scanning for Xenothium, probably already is scanning for it. We have to find any possible sources before they do."

"X isn't the only one with a scanner," stated Cyborg. The larger teen then reeled a cable from his chest panel and plugged it into the computer. "I'm downloading the molecular signature and transmitting to your communicators."

Robin shook his head at that. "Thanks, but I won't need it. I already know where to look first."

Starfire stated at him in confusion. "But, Robin, how will you find the Xenothium without a scanner?"

"The same way I found it last time." He paused for a moment and looked over his comrades. Ryouga was carefully using the solvent to continue freeing Raven from her molecular confines, since Cyborg had started ranting. It looked like he would be at it for some time as well. Starfire had a nasty set of scratches on her perfect face, from when she face planted into the road. Cyborg was still downloading the signature to his friend's communicators.

He let out a long, tired sigh. "I want everyone to take the rest of the night off to recover. I don't care how good Gizmo's scanners are, Xenothium is extremely rare. The only person I know that even handles the stuff is Professor Chang. I'll go cover that angle myself tomorrow. Cyborg, you can use the time to calibrate the scanners in case that angle doesn't pan out, instead of us all running out half cocked tonight."

Starfire looked at his, slightly worried. "Are you certain that is wise? What if Red X is to find a source of Xenothium before us?"

He shook his head to dismiss her worries. "Don't worry Star, Nabiki is good, but she's still new to this, there's no way that she would even know who Professor Chang is. That gives us a large advantage to finding anything before her. And giving Cyborg more time to fine tune the sensors will only help us out in the long run as well."

His closest friend finally smiled, confident in his decision. He smiled back and dropped a comforting hand on her shoulder. He hadn't spent nearly as much time with Starfire lately as he would have like to . . . maybe he would ask her to train tomorrow before he went after Chang.

"But first, let's get that cheek looked at."

Cyborg smiled at his progress with the scanner. He had spent all night and most of the morning on it, but he was fairly certain that in a few more hours, and if he sent his team mates to strategic locations, he'd be able to blanket most of the city in one fell swoop. Robin had made a pretty smart move letting him take his time like this. If they had just ran back out again last night, their communicators would have only been able to sense Xenothium within several hundred meters. Pretty much a needle and haystack scenario right there.

"Excuse me, Cyborg, I hope I'm not interrupting you," came a pleasant voice from behind him.

He spun around in his seat, doing his utmost to appear as casual about it as possible. He smiled the most confident and mature smile he could manage, in the face of the lovely young woman that stood before him, her hands clasped together in front of her. Ryouga had mentioned that Kasumi preferred older, more mature men after all.

"Not at all, Kasumi, how may I assist you this fine morning?" he asked suavely.

Her giggle rang like little angelic bells in the morning sun. He sure hoped he didn't make himself look like a shmuck here, it was a long shot, he knew, but he was pretty sure that he wasn't too much younger than her.

"Actually, I was hoping that we could continue with my medical training. We have been putting it off a lot lately, due to this little Red X problem," she said, tilting her head to the side cutely.

His almost knee-jerk reaction was to agree immediately. He had come to enjoy his time with her quite a lot, and the times when he was teaching her were some of the few times that he got to interact with her without Beast Boy around to cramp his style. However . . .

"Maan . . . I'd love to, Kasumi . . . but I have to work on this scanner thing." He gestured to the screen behind him. Displayed on the screen was the scanner information, as well as a map with several locations that he had marked as having a high probability of possessing Xenothium, just based upon the kinds of work they did. S.T.A.R. Labs was one such building and he had thrown Professor Chang's observatory up there, since Robin had mentioned it. He planned to check those two places first when he sent his friends out.

The stunning Japanese girl nodded in understanding, though she did look a bit disappointed. Absently, he fantasized that she was disappointed about not getting to hang out with him, but then dashed the daydream quickly. "Don't you worry though, as soon as this whole Red X thing is outta the way, then I'll make it up to ya, big time," he assured her.

Kasumi smiled brightly at that, which made him smile again as well. "That sounds lovely, I look forward to it. But . . . what should I do today then?" she asked.

He scratched his head at that. He'd love to ask her to help him here, but there was a world of difference between his med tech and the tech he was using here, she'd likely just feel like a third wheel. "Um . . . you could go train with Robin again."

She shook her head slightly. "He's training with Starfire at the moment. I'm afraid that she's much more skilled than me, I'd only hinder her training," admitted the Tendo girl.

He nodded absently, Starfire was Ryouga's pet project; it was no surprise that she was progressing rapidly. "Hmm, you could always go chill out with Ryouga; I don't think he's up to anything."

Again she shook her head. "Ryouga and Beast Boy went down to Terra's cavern early this morning. I would hate to disturb them when they are bonding; those two haven't spent much time together lately."

He looked at her a bit strangely for a moment . . . but then let it drop. Only Kasumi would be concerned how much her friends were hanging out together. "Well, then you and Raven could . . . could . . . Hey! Ya know what? Why don't ya take the day off? You could head up town and do some shopping or something, I'll give you the account card that Robin gave me," he offered desperately.

Kasumi considered his generosity for a moment. "I couldn't possibly impose upon you like that. I'm still you're guest here, that would be terribly rude of me."

He just shook his head. "Naw, don't worry about it. Robin gives these cards out to everyone in the tower, there's a pretty low daily limit, to make sure we don't go crazy, but you are a member of the team now. I'll remind him to set up an account for you later as well."

She stared at him hesitantly, as he ejected said card from his arm and offered it to her. "Are you sure that this is alright? I wouldn't want to get you into trouble with Robin."

He gently took her hand and nearly forced her to take the card. He knew that Japanese people were polite, but this was ridiculous. What girl refused a free shopping spree . . . asides from Raven? "No, it's all good, now please, go; enjoy yourself." With that he rather brazenly placed his hand at the small of her back and gently began to shepherd her to the elevator. He allowed a small smile to form on his lips at the fact that she didn't object to his gesture.

When the reached the elevator, Kasumi turned and beamed him a brilliant smile. "Thank you very much for your generosity, Cyborg. I think that I will go into town today . . ."

"There is something that I need to pick up."

Now, to the many people that knew him, it would be a fair and frankly, quite honest statement, to say that Ryouga Hibiki was an irritable kind of guy. To be fair, Ryouga Hibiki had several very valid reasons for this, as well as a number of completely petty and in some cases, completely unfounded reasons. This being said, asides from a very specific and pigtail wearing boy, who will remain nameless, most people were relatively careful to avoid angering him.

Unfortunately, his current companion did not appear to be one of those people.

Ryouga idly wondered, if his first major act as a super hero was to brutally murder one of his teammates in cold blood, just what kind of irony would be used to describe it? Not that Beast Boy was actually trying to make him angry, but the younger boy's constant chatter about video games and movies and girls, and a dozen other things that Ryouga had next to no experience with, was starting to wear thin after the sixth hour in.

Did Beast Boy actually not want him to save Terra? Because, at this point, he was actually further away from remembering what he had almost stumbled across the other night, than he had been before he had even thought of it in the first place!

"Dude, I so cannot wait for you to bring Terra back," babbled the young man. Apparently Beast Boy was running out of things to talk about and was coming full circle to his earlier topics. Hmm, maybe it would make him that much easier to tune out so that he could get some actual work done. "Yeah, I had so much fun with her. We got along great, from the very first minute we met."

Ryouga stopped his irritated pacing and sat down in front of Terra's statue, doing his best to ignore the boy behind him. He stared up at the stone girl, silently mouthing a prayer for her to save him. "I know it sounds corny, but I think Terra and me could have really worked out in the long run, just like you and Raven," continued the changeling in his endless spiel.

Ryouga shook his head in boredom, would this boy never shut u-

"What?" he barked in disbelief. He spun to gawk at the boy behind him.

Beast Boy gawked back at him. "What, what?"

"What about me and Raven?" he asked seriously.

Beast Boy shrugged, suddenly looking a bit embarrassed. "Um, nothin I guess. I just figure that you and Raven make a good couple. You two got a lot in common, dude."

He stared at the younger boy oddly for a moment. "Beast Boy, Raven and I are not a couple. I nearly killed her; I'm still just working on being her friend. Besides, I'm still not sure I'm completely over Jinx yet . . ."

It was Beast Boy's turn to stare oddly back at him. "What? Why are ya worried about her for? She totally ditched you, man. Raven was there for you, heck, she's here for you now. Why would you wanna moon over some girl that's gone, when you could probably actually get something going with someone that's actually here?"

He let out a long sigh, he'd like to just state angrily that Beast Boy didn't understand, but unfortunately there was a monument roughly six feet to his rear that stated otherwise. "It's not something I can just turn on and off like a switch, Beast Boy. Besides, Raven can't even stand it when I touch her, how could she possibly think of me like that?" he asked in a tired voice.

His companion just snorted loudly. "Dude, you might have gotten to know that girl a bit, but I've known her for years. She is so totally into you, you just aren't seein it. Heck, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that outfit she wore out with you yesterday. I've never even seen her dress up to go out before; I didn't even know she owned any real clothes!"

He shrugged dismissively at the boy's wild claims. "You're reading too much into things. And since when is my love life of interest to anyone?"

Beast Boy smiled wickedly at that. "Dude, inquiring minds want to know!"

Ryouga could only wave off his friend's crazed mutterings. "Just how many boulders did Cologne smash your head against back in the village anyway . . ."

"Absolutely no one cares who I end up with."

Starfire and Cyborg chatted amiably while they washed the dishes. Robin and Raven had already long vanished and none of their other companions had even returned for the midday meal. Starfire let out a wistful sigh at the thought of a very certain pair of her friends. "I do hope that our dear friends, Raven and Ryouga can once again become romantically involved. They make a most wonderful relationship unit."

Cyborg turned to regard her immediately, a look of surprise on his face. "What do you mean 'again'? They never got together in the first place. Besides, Jinx was absolutely crazy about the guy, I'm sure she'll be back for him soon enough."

Suddenly, the water in the sink began to bubble around her hands as she turned to glare at her companion with emerald glowing eyes.

"You make that sound like a good thing . . ." she trailed off menacingly.

Cyborg just matched her gaze. "What if I am?"

In this confrontation, the only real winners were the dish manufacturers.

Akane leaned back on the porch, enjoying the setting sun. She giggled lightly, the breathtaking sight putting her in a strangely romantic mood. She stared idly at the boy sitting on the grass to her side, a number of tools strewn about him. She decided to try subliminally planting a few ideas in his head.

"Ryouga sure is a lucky guy, being in such a wonderful relationship, don't you think?" she asked slyly. She knew any subtle undertones would fly about a mile over his head, but that was part of the reason she lo- umm liked him so much.

Ranma just nodded absently, as he picked up a wrench and began adjusting some part or another on his new motorcycle. "Yeah, I guess he is pretty lucky to have a girl like Jinx. She's really dedicated to that guy."

That brought her up short. "What? That hussy? I was talking about Ryouga and Raven. Those two belong together," she stated forcefully.

Ranma just snorted. "Humph, not if I got anything to say about it," he muttered, nearly under his breath.

What had that jerk meant by that? How could he possibly think a villain like Jinx was better for Ryouga than a sweet and pretty girl like Raven? Now her good mood was completely forgotten. Leave it to her insensitive fiancé to utterly ruin the moment.

"Ranma!"

Happosai sat lounged back on his pile of stolen lingerie. In an oddly sentimental mood, he fondly remembered two of his favorite students. He remembered the fun he had had teaching both of them, and how far they had progressed under his training.

"Ah, yes. Ryouga and Jinx would make a wonderful pair," he murmured fondly.

Cologne sat lounged back in her imported leather chair. In an oddly sentimental mood, she fondly remembered two of her favorite students. She remembered the fun she had had teaching both of them, and how far they had progressed under her training.

"Ah, yes. Ryouga and Raven would make a wonderful pair," she murmured fondly.

Jinx looked up from her hand and glared at Nabiki. "I'll take three cards. And would you give it up already? I told you, Ryouga belongs to Raven now."

Nabiki dealt her the three cards, before returning her glare. "Did you get brain damage when you jumped into that tornado? You and Ryouga would make a much hotter couple!"

Around the table, Mammoth, Gizmo and Kyd Wykkyd just shrugged and threw in their chips. As much as they loved them, these two girls were just plain crazy.

Ryouga nearly doubled over in a sneezing fit. Angrily he waved his hand around him, dispersing the dust particles that hung in the air. When he finally recovered, he glared at the laughing form of the emerald teen behind him.

"I don't remember it being this dusty before you started hanging out."

Robin dropped to the catwalk as silently as death itself. Nor did he produce even a single sound as he began to stalk around the interior of the massive observatory. Down below him, nearly hidden by a number of haphazardly placed crates, containers and equipment, was the target of his search.

Professor Chang was an older man, wearing an oversized biohazard suit. He was also completely clueless to Robin's entrance. The masked boy smiled grimly, he wasn't sure whom he should thank more for his greatly improved stealth, Cologne or Happosai. He took another soundless step forward . . . then stopped suddenly.

Something seemed . . . wrong. The room looked to be in rough shape, almost like a fight had taken place. A sudden sinking sensation in his gut, he jumped onto the railing and leapt towards the shady merchant, all worries of stealth forgotten.

He landed with a quiet thump, but just enough to alert the nervous scientist. Immediately, Chang reached out to his side and grabbed a long, staff like weapon. The end of the forked device began to glow dangerously as he spun in Robin's direction. The Boy Wonder wasn't in any mood for playing though, so he simply snapped the weapon in half with a lighting fast snap kick. He then snatched the flying half out of the air and pressed it against Professor Chang's neck, pushing the old man into the stack of crates behind him.

"Professor Chang. Remember me?" he whispered dangerously. Up this close, the Professor was much less easy to look at. The man had snaggled and yellowed teeth, and wore a strange breathing device in his nose. At least the top of his face was completely covered by a pair of large goggles.

Professor Chang looked back at him, before gathering his wits once more. "Ah. The good little boy who likes dangerous toys." The old man giggled in delight. "How could I forget?"

He decided to cut to the chase. "Xenothium. Where do you get it?"

Chang smiled wider at his question. "Nowhere. Suppliers skipped town months ago. That stuff—there's no way to get any. Unless…"

"Talk!" The masked hero was tired of playing games. He pressed the weapon harder into the man's throat.

If Chang was intimidated, he hid it well. Instead, he continued on in that highly amused tone of voice. "There's a tech company on the south end. Legend has it that they keep a generous supply of Xenothium ore in their vault. But it's not for sale—and it's locked up tight. You'd have to steal it," drawled the old man, obviously amused with himself.

"Not interested." With that, he threw the galling pseudo criminal to the ground and began to walk away. "But I know someone who is."

Behind him, Professor Chang began to laugh, slightly manically, even as he rubbed his throat. "Yes, yes, I imagine you do at that, boy. In fact, as you can see, she was already in to see me. Lovely young woman, absolutely stunning. And what an interesting suit she wore. I wonder, just what kind of recklessly brilliant mind would think to power a suit with Xenothium?" the man asked leadingly.

Immediately, Robin spun back to the man and grabbed his lapels harshly. He then lifted the man to his toes and slammed him back against the boxes. "What did you tell her?" he barked out angrily.

The deluded old man never lost his gruesome smile. "Nothing I didn't tell you. Of course, she seemed to be in quite a rush. She's likely breaking in at this very moment, if she hasn't stolen the Xenothium already, that is."

Robin didn't even bother tossing the man to the ground this time. He turned and fired his grappling hook into the ceiling, cursing himself the whole time, and flew out the massive opening in the roof. He didn't have any time to lose! He pulled out his communicator, even as he flew through the air.

"Titans! I know where Red X is going to attack, I'm sending coordinates!"

Cyborg jumped up from his seat at the main computer and cursed loudly. The coordinates placed the location that Robin indicated near the south end of town. It would take him forever to get there, even in his beautiful baby! Regardless, he spun around and made his way to the elevator.

Raven rose up from the couch, wincing gingerly as her chest brace dug into her side at the motion. Her arm was still strapped to her chest by the techno-sling and didn't help her rise at all. "It will be faster if I fly us there. Let's go."

He held up his hand defiantly at that. "The heck you are. Kasumi ordered you to stay in the tower after what happened to you yesterday, there's no way that you're goin on this mission."

Raven glared at him angrily. "Kasumi doesn't give me orders, I don't care how well intentioned. We have to capture Red X at all costs."

He nodded. "And we will. Robin backed up Kasumi one hundred percent; he was there when he saw you nearly get shot right in the chest. Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had?" he asked seriously. Silently he pressed the elevator button and started counting the seconds in his head. "Listen, I'm not gonna argue with you, so instead, I'm gonna slip into the elevator and ditch you while you sputter angrily!"

And he did just that, as the elevator slid open behind him precisely when he calculated it would. Instantly he slammed his finger onto the close door button, even as Raven began to float after him, sputtering angrily. He knew he was going to pay for that move later, but hey, it was for the girl's own good . . . that and it might get him a little more into Kasumi's good book.

He just hoped he lived to enjoy it.

Robin landed on the rooftop of the tech company Professor Cheng had told him about. He was wary of a trap, but his gut told him that Red X hadn't waited for him. A quick check of his communicator revealed that Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Ryouga were all en route, but that it'd be a few minutes before any of them arrived on the scene.

He spat out a small curse. He couldn't afford to wait for them; he had to stop Red X before it was too late, if it wasn't already. Decision made, he made his way to the edge of the roof. Several stories below was the main research branch of the company, covered by a massive domed roof. Even from the distance, he could see a small opening had been cut into the very center of the roof.

Cursing again, he leapt down to the dome and sprinted for the opening. It was obvious now, that Red X was already there. With hardly a thought, he jumped through the opening, just catching the edge with his grappling hook as he fell through. He could only hope that Red X hadn't already come and gone. Who knew what Nabiki would be able to do if she got her hands on the amounts of Xenothium that were available here? God only knew what her plans wer-

Damn! His hurried pursuit came to a screeching halt, as he suddenly found himself at a crossroads. Quite literally for that matter, he dropped to the ground after a hurried descent, only to find himself standing in a massive circular chamber with four obvious exits.

If he chose the wrong one . . .

If only his teammates were here, at least then they could cover all of the exits! He let out a sigh of impatience. He just had to go with his gut and hope for the best. Hopefully everyone would arrive soon and they could cover the other paths.

Robin spun around quickly, and more or less at random, picked the exit that he hoped was right. He sprinted through the door and found himself running down a grayish hallway. The hall ran on for several dozen meters, before his chase ended.

He nearly let out a laugh of relief. Standing before him, open wide, was a massive security door. Beyond the door was a long hallway which curved around so the end wasn't even in sight. His relief was short lived though, as the entire length of the hallway, from ceiling to floor and from wall to wall, was literally packed with crimson laser beams. The fact that they were visible like that told him that if he came into contact with them, setting off an alarm would be the least of his worries. What on earth was a company like this doing with such a deadly line of defense?

Still, it was obvious that Red X had made it through unscathed, so he had to go through as well. With that in mind, the Boy Wonder took a deep breath and shook out his limbs. One slip up and it was all over, luckily he never slipped.

With one last deep breath, he ran forward and began the arduous process of tumbling through the lasers.

Starfire landed gracefully in the large circular chamber. This room seemed to be where Robin's last coordinates were, before his signal had been lost. She stared around in indecision. She had no idea which way Robin had gone. Wherever he was, the building was obviously too well shielded to allow his communicator to work.

Perhaps she should await the arrival of her remaining companions. Before she had entered the building, she had seen Cyborg's vehicle arriving in the parking lot. It seemed unlikely that he would be too far behind her. As well, she did not believe that Beast Boy and Ryouga were far off either. They had come directly from Terra's cavern, and had had the least distance to travel. Unfortunately, as quick as Ryouga was, he lacked both the ability to fly and the ability to drive, so he was forced to leap across the rooftops.

No, Robin was already here, and likely in peril. She could not afford to await the rest of her companions. Her only option was to make a guess as to which direction to go. She spun quickly in mid air, and flew towards a door, more or less at random.

She found herself wandering down a grayish corridor. The entire facility was eerily quiet, not a sound was to be heard. It was slightly heartening, since she could not hear the sounds of combat, but the dead silence was somewhat unnerving as well. Now she wished that she had waited for Cyborg.

A sudden sound drew her attention! It had come from down the corridor ahead of her. It had been faint; the sound of a shoe scuffing the floor, but it had been enough. Perhaps she had found Robin already! With that in mind, she flew down the corridor in pursuit of the sound.

Just ahead of her was a junction; she could see a shadow play across the far wall of the left branching hallway. She poured on more speed and flew on to investigate the disturbance. A moment later, she turned the corner, expecting to see Robin, Red X or both . . .

Who she saw was neither!

"Who-who are you!" she cried in surprise. Her only answer was a spray of blue liquid . . .

. . . and then she knew no more.

Cyborg lowered himself through the opening in the roof with the winch located in his arm. After the longish descent, he found himself standing in the middle of a massive circular chamber. The room had four obvious exits, but no markings of any kind to tell him where each one led.

He let out a minor curse. His scanner had shown this to be the last known location for both Robin and Starfire, before he'd lost contact with both of them. Damn, this place was obviously protected from outside signals and such, a pretty intelligent precaution if they were doing research into something as dangerous as Xenothium.

Still, that left him with only a twenty five percent chance of choosing the passage that would take him to Red X, if she was still even here . . .

According to his scanner, Ryouga and Beast Boy were pretty much right on his heels. They'd likely be here in a minute themselves.

Hmm, you know what . . . he was pretty sure that one more minute wouldn't hurt. He'd just wait for his two friends to join up with him; then they'd have a way better chance of finding either Red X, Robin or Starfire. Besides, Robin and Starfire could take care of themselves, so there was no need to charge off after them half cocked.

Decision made, he lifted his right arm up and started to tinker around with his scanner. Maybe he could figure a way to cut out the buildings interference and locate his friends. A few moments later, and a small beeping sound told him that he had met with partial success, as his scanner picked up a signature not far from his location.

"Hey, wait a minute . . . Why the heck is there a Xenothium signature right behind me?" he cried in shock. Instantly, he spun around, converting his arm into its sonic cannon configuration and brought it to bear on whoever was behind hi-

A blinding flash of red light was the last thing he saw.

Ryouga and Beast Boy dropped to the floor easily, only to find themselves in the center of a massive circular chamber. The two of them looked around, counting the four exits to the room.

"Damn, which one do we take?" muttered the Lost Boy.

Beast Boy ran a hand over his chin in thought. "Man, knowing our luck, whatever one we pick will be the wrong one. Dude, if only there were just two exits, that way we could let you pick which one to take. Then we'd automatically know that was the wrong one and we could take the other one."

Ryouga glared at the younger boy and just barely fought back the urge to club the guy across the back of the head. The fact that his friend had sounded completely serious didn't make it any better.

"Shut up! Look, the obvious choice is for us to split up, if we take two doors, that doubles our chances of finding someone else," he explained carefully.

Beast Boy eyed him warily, perhaps wondering if he had lost him mind. "Umm, dude, you want me to let you wander around by yourself? No offence, but unless Red X is gonna make a break for Siberia, I don't think that's a good idea."

Immediately, he grabbed his right wrist with his left hand and forced his clenched fist back to his side. "That's enough about my direction sense, thank you. Look, it's not great, but I still have my communicator, as long as I have it, I'll be able to tell if I'm getting too far away from you guys. Now let's go, we have no idea what Red X might be doing." It was true for the most part as well, splitting up was the best way to increase their odds.

Of course, normally he would never offer up such a suggestion, but at this point, he would give anything to get away from Beast Boy's incessant chatter, even if it meant getting lost in Zimbabwe again.

He didn't give his companion any more chances to argue the point either. A single leap took him to one of the exits and he started sprinting down it as fast as his legs would carry him. He wasn't overly impressed by the facility's drab, grayish walls, but at least it was a nice change from the stone walls he had been staring at for the past few weeks.

The sound of Beast Boy's cursing faded into the background as he continued to run down the corridor. After several more moments, he finally slowed down to a walk, he didn't want to actually get lost in Zimbabwe, but if he kept running like that, who knew what would happen? He took the moment to open up his senses to the world around him. Maybe if he could pick up on Starfire's unique chi, he could follow it to her.

Of course, by choosing that very moment to tune into his surroundings . . . he was completely unsurprised when a shadowy figure jumped around the corner ahead of him and started unloading a stream of thick, red liquid right into his face!

Robin exited the end of the laser trapped corridor, sweating slightly from the exertion. It appeared his ordeal wasn't over with yet though, as set into the ground before him was a massive shaft that sank down into the ground.

Carefully, he stepped to the edge and looked down the wide, circular tunnel that led down to the lower levels of the facility. The drop was at least fifty feet and a glowing white force field hung between him and the facilities bottom floor.

He let out yet another sigh, as he hooked his grappling hook to the ledge and leapt down again. Using his grappling hook to slow his fall, he reached behind his back and pulled out an Electro-magnetic Pulse bomb. It wasn't something he used often, especially when Cyborg was present, but it would short out the force field instantly.

He threw the device down below him, even as he slowly descended to the force field. The EMP grenade hit the shield and bounced several times, before a series of beeps and a high pitched whine heralded its activation.

Rather than explode, the device just gave off a sound like a dull 'thud' and suddenly all the lights within two stories died, taking the force field with them. A second later, the device landed on the floor with a ring of metal.

He joined it a moment later. He took a moment to retrieve the weapon, before he started running down the hall. His next destination wasn't very far away, though, as the corridor opened up into a large square room before him. This room definitely took him by surprise. The entire floor was covered in black tiles that looked suspiciously like sensors. At least they would have, if the entire floor hadn't looked like it had been torn apart by a massive laser weapon.

He made that last guess based on the fact that there was a massive laser weapon collapsed in a heap on the floor, sparking dangerously and with several cables still running to the ceiling, apparently from where it had been hanging. It appeared that Red X had already dealt with this obstacle for him; he'd have to thank her with a light prison sentence.

At the far end of the room, was a massive vault door, also hanging open. Beyond the door, he could see a massive storage room, with dozens of circular doors adorning the walls. He couldn't see anyone through the door, but he could hear movement coming from the room.

Robin made his way across the ruined floor of the laser room, moving as silently as he could. Several moments later, he slid up to the side of the large vault door and peeked around the corner and into the room.

There! He nearly sighed in relief. Red X was still there, the girl was loading several small tubes of Xenothium into a larger yellow containment device. Her movements were precise but hurried. Obviously she was expecting company any moment. He smiled to himself vindictively; it would be a shame for him to not live up to her expectations.

With casual ease, he swaggered through the doorway and leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. Red X still hadn't noticed his entrance, which he found to be a very amusing piece of irony. "Looks like you're getting ready for a long trip. Do you need a hand packing your things?" he asked casually.

Instantly Red X spun around to face him, a startled gasp escaping her mask. "Heh, of course, I don't think they allow their guests to bring suitcases full of Xenothium with them to prison," he finished snidely.

Red X composed herself quickly; then leaned back confidently, resting a hand on her hip. "Oh, Robin. I was expecting you to drop by earlier. I suppose that children like you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, though."

The masked Titan let the rather weak insult roll off his back like water. "Give it up, Nabiki. You can't escape this time."

"And what makes you think you can stop me all by yourself?" she asked in an amused tone of voice.

This time he did smile a very malicious smile indeed. "I made that suit, remember, I know what it can do. I also know that I'm a way better fighter than you. In fact, now that you've lost the element of surprise, I doubt there's anyone on my entire team that couldn't beat you in a straight up fight," he explained eagerly.

The girl's eye slits narrowed dangerously at his words. "Strong words, kid, considering I outmaneuvered your whole team just last night. I suggest you make like a good little boy and walk away right now," she replied.

His smile only widened at that. "Or what? You'll spank me? Face it, X, you're out of your league here. Now just surrender, before things get ugly."

Red X nodded slightly. "I am out of my league . . . for now, but that will change with time. Of course, for that to happen, you need to get out of my way!" Instantly, the girl kicked the yellow containment unit up into her hand and charged right at him. She raised her free hand in mid run and started firing whirring red X's at him as fast as the suit would allow.

He ducked and dodged around the projectiles, then quickly pulled out his Bo staff and used it to deflect the rest. Luckily, not even Red X was foolish enough to use explosive weaponry in a vault filled with Xenothium. He then charged in to meet her, his weapon flashing back and forth in an intricate pattern of attacks. The girl flipped back out of reach and fired a number of adhesive shots at the ground, trying to catch him again.

He nearly chuckled; instead he just flipped over the sticky floor and pulled out a fan of birdarangs. He let the weapons fly, even before he landed and chased them in. It was Red X's turn to dodge frantically, the girl extended the wrist blades of her free hand and used it to deflect the three razor edged weapons.

She finished just in time to swing around and catch his Bo staff in the crook of her wrist blade. She held him back steadily, her augmented strength more than a match for his. She then lashed out with a rapid kick. Rather than break off, he used her strength against her and lifted all of his weight up onto his staff and rose up into a perfect handstand, balancing perilously on the girl's wrist.

He smiled widely at the shocked look on the girl's face. She didn't even have time to retract her arm, before he swung down into a massive double kick directly to her chest. The attack landed home with a massive crunch and it sent the girl skidding across the floor to slam into the heavy metal of the wall. The containment unit skittered off to the side, as she lost her hold on it.

Robin dropped into an aggressive stance then, his left hand held horizontally before him and his staff held ready behind him. He was prepared for her next move, he didn't care what she did when she sprang back to her feet; there was no way she was going to surprise him again . . .

Except . . . except she wasn't springing to her feet. In fact, Red X had curled up into a fetal position against the wall, clutching her chest and breathing in ragged, pained gasps.

Oh, hell . . .

"Please tell me that isn't the first time that anyone has actually hit you . . ." he trailed off uncertainly. Suddenly a very unexpected feeling hit him, the insidious tendrils of guilt and embarrassment wormed their way into his soul. He had forgotten that Nabiki wasn't really a fighter, she wasn't conditioned to handle pain like him and his friends were . . .

The girl couldn't even answer his question; all she could do was whimper as she struggled to draw in breath. He winced at that, he'd obviously knocked the wind right out of her. He knew what an unpleasant experience it was to suddenly feel like each breath might be your last. Of course, he was more than used to it, but he had a feeling that the Tendo girl before him was rather new to the experience.

He shifted out of his combat stance, suddenly feeling like a bit of a heel as the girl drew in another long, wheezing breath. The poor thing was practically shaking and he could just feel the fear in her shaky gasps. Were . . . were those tears soaking through the mask?

Ah, hell . . .

Either Nabiki was the greatest actress in the history of the world and he was about to be in a world of pain . . . or he was about to give comfort to the enemy . . . Why did neither of those alternatives sound like something that an intelligent, rational hero would ever consider?

With a loud sigh, he took a step forward and reached out his hand to comfort the panicking girl, when-

A flash of red light filled the room behind him! Instantly, his world dissolved into pain and he crumpled to the floor, only inches away from Red X, who was still huddled against the wall. He turned his head, struggling to stay conscious every second, to see what was happening.

He wondered if his pain rattled senses were failing him . . . as a number of bizarre looking beings entered to room. To his agony laced brain, it looked like the march of astronauts strolling on the moon. A number of men, each wearing bulky hazmat suits, entered the chamber and started to open the small storage bays, one after another. In each of the small bays, was a canister, just like the one Red X was filling earlier. The men removed each and every single one, handing them back, from one pair of hands to another, before they closed the bays again behind them.

Still fighting the pain, Robin tried to drag himself towards one of the men, but he could barely even get his muscles to respond at all. Then, a pair of booted feet came to stop, just before him. Robin felt a shiver of terror run down his spin, as the space suit clad man pulled a lunchbox-like piece of equipment from behind his back. If he knew his villains, than this was likely an explosive device . . . and he could still barely move a muscle! Without a word, the man simply set the device on the ground before him, then turned and followed the rest of the men as through the exit, carrying the remaining containers of Xenothium with them.

With a groan, he forced himself up to his elbows. "The Xenothium!"

His attention was suddenly grabbed, though, as the box before him flashed to life. He prepared himself for the inevitable blaring red countdown, when-

"Yes. And I do so appreciate it," sounded a familiar voice.

"Chang!" Robin gasped in shock. The petty arms merchant's face filled the tiny screen of the device the man had placed before him.

Chang's wicked smile filled most of the screen, as the man continued to speak. "Since you two were doing the break-in, I decided to cash in. I'm sick of selling to bad boys. I'm ready to be one. And now that I finally have enough Xenothium to power my disintegrator cannon, I can be very, very bad."

As if to prove his point, Professor Chang then pointed to his side and whoever was holding the camera swung to reveal the massive tarp covered telescope that Robin had jumped on when he had entered Chang's observatory earlier that night. Or at least, that was what it appeared to be, until a pair of the suit clad men tore away the off-brown tarp to reveal the monstrous disintegrator cannon that actually dwelled beneath.

Almost immediately, Robin dropped back into his stock hero dialogue. "I won't let you get away with this!"

Chang only smiled wider at his empty words. "Oh, I think you will, because, my good little boy, I didn't just steal the ore . . ."

Again, Chang's cameraman swung away from the maniac, to focus on four cylindrical glass tanks. Three of the tanks were occupied . . . by his friends! Beast Boy was in the first tank, Starfire in the second and Cyborg in the third. Robin cursed loudly to himself, likely the only reason that Hibiki wasn't there, was because he had managed to get himself lost again.

Chang's voice continued from off of the tiny screen. ". . . I stole your friends. Stay out of this . . . or I'll test my cannon on them!" Then, without another word, but with a massive grin sprawled across his face, Professor Chang cut off the communication, leaving only a dead, black screen before him.

Robin cursed himself again, for the . . . damn, he'd lost count of how many times he had cursed himself that night. That couldn't be a good sign, not at all.

Eventually, he managed to work the electrical pulses out of his system and regain control of his agonized muscles. Unfortunately, the process took a number of minutes, and he just knew that the lackeys would be long gone by the time he started to chase them.

So instead, he turned to regard Red X. The young woman was on her knees now, finally beginning to breath normally again. She stared at him, still clutching her chest protectively. "Who . . . who were those men . . .?" she asked in a pained voice.

He glared down at her. "Criminals, just like you," he uttered seriously.

Her head snapped up at that, and she stared at him with wide eyes. "I am not a criminal! I . . . I didn't mean for things to go this far . . . it's all gotten so confusing," she muttered, an oddly sad note in her voice.

His serious glare softened somewhat, though he wasn't sure why. "Not a criminal? Then how do you explain all of this? You stole that suit, you broke into a top secret facility, then you were about to steal a dangerous and unstable compound." He shrugged casually. "If it looks like a thief, and it acts like a thief, then the logical conclusion to draw would be: thief."

"I am not a thief!" Her desperate denial sent him back several inches in shock.

". . . I'm not a thief . . .," she repeated, as she started hugging herself and rocking gently from side to side.

Robin could only stare at the girl, total confusion on his features. What was going on here? This wasn't like any of his other encounters with the brash and confident girl he had dealt with earlier. Something very strange was struggling to gain his attention at the very hind end of his mind, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"You – you're not Nabiki . . . are you?" he asked curiously.

He wasn't sure if she registered his question or not, as she just continued to rock back and forth in a most worrying fashion. "I – I didn't mean to steal anything . . . I just . . . just needed this suit, needed the Xenothium. I needed them so badly that I just took them . . .," she muttered to herself quietly.

Slowly, he moved forward and knelt before the girl. Then he rested a calming hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes. "Who are you?" he asked soothingly.

Red X looked up at him then, and actually giggled, though a bit sadly. "Isn't it a bit silly to ask a person wearing a mask who they are? I – I can't tell you, Robin, not yet . . ."

For some reason – for some reason, her answer placated his burning curiosity. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Red X, my friends have been captured by that mad man and he has enough Xenothium to disintegrate the entire city. Will you help me? Help me save the city? Help my save my friends?" he asked.

His companion stared at him for a long, long time, before she finally nodded in agreement. "I never wanted anyone to get hurt. It's my fault that Professor Chang has the Xenothium, it's my responsibility to stop him," she decreed finally.

Robin smiled widely at that, who knew that the mysterious and frustrating villain known as Red X had a sense of responsibility under all of her sass and cocky dialogue. He stood up then and lowered a hand to help her up as well. She was just about to her feet –

A shout of pain, quickly followed by the sound of a body crashing into a wall, caused them to spin around. As one, the hero and villain ran to the entrance of the vault. They arrived just in time to dive to the sides, as the body of another hazmat suit wearing lackey went soaring through the air between them and into the vault.

There! At the far end of the room that had once housed the massive energy weapon a small fight was taking place. Strewn around the entrance to the corridor that led to the force field were five unconscious men and two of the stolen containment devices. Standing amidst the pummeled forms, his back to them and breathing heavily, was none other than Ryouga Hibiki!

Robin rapped a knuckle against his forehead. Either he was going to have to stop mentally berating the boy for getting lost, or start doing it all the time! It seemed that every time he did it, the Lost Boy seemed to appear at just the right place at just the right time.

With a smile on his lips, Robin picked his way across the debris field, Red X by his side the whole way. A final leap later and he landed by the boy's side. He dropped a companionable hand on Ryouga's shoulder, more than happy to see the older boy.

"Hey, Ryouga, how did y-"

He gasped in shock, as did Red X, when Ryouga spun around to face him, an angry growl rising from the fighter's throat.

The entire left side of the martial artists face was covered by thick, red goo! A stream of the same adhesive material also ran down the older boy's shoulder to his stomach, before it suddenly cut off to the side. It was obvious that that had been exactly when Ryouga had started to dodge whatever attacker had caught him so.

As soon as Ryouga saw that it was him, the angry growl disappeared and a relieved sigh escaped his lips.

"Ryouga, what happened to you?" asked Red X in a concerned voice from her position behind the fanged fighter.

The fighter spun around again, apparently he hadn't noticed Robin's companion until she had spoken up. As soon as he saw her though, his growl returned full force. Instantly, the boy's hand fired out and caught the girl around the throat. Her weight didn't even slow her, as he ran forward and slammed her into the wall behind her.

"I've got you, Nabiki! You'll have to do better than this to stop me!" barked out the teen angrily.

"Ryouga! Let her go!" Robin ordered quickly. Ryouga spun quickly, a questioning look on his features . . . his visible features anyway. "Ryouga . . . Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg have been captured, Red X is going to help us save them. That . . . and I'm pretty sure that isn't Nabiki in there."

Ryouga looked at him for a moment longer, digesting that particular piece of information. Slowly, he turned back to his captive, and stared at her intently with his uncovered eye. "Kodachi . . .?" he asked, very warily for some reason.

Rather than answer, Red X just shook her head in a negative. Ryouga scratched his head at that; then looked at her even more intently. " . . . Mr. Saotome?"

At that, Red X glared at the Lost Boy and bonked him across the back of the head. "Hibiki Ryouga, now you're just being silly! Let me go right now, we have to go save your friends," she ordered him.

Instantly, Ryouga released the girl and took a few steps back, smiling weakly. The Lost Boy then turned to face him and shrugged. "Well, my only other guess after that little rant, would be my mother . . ."

Robin just rolled his eyes at that. "How the heck did you get past those lasers in the condition you're in, anyway?" he asked curiously.

Ryouga shrugged again. "Hey, if you two could make it through, it would obviously be even easier for someone of my skills to make it through," bragged the taller boy smugly.

Robin looked over to Red X, a look of skepticism on his face. The taller girl looked back and crossed her arms over her chest in a patronizing manner. She then looked back at the fanged boy. "Ryouga . . ."

Ryouga looked back at both of them for several moments, before suddenly slumping over guiltily. "Okay, okay, I blew it up, are you happy now?" he replied in a surly voice. Rather than berate the boy, Robin just smiled.

"Yeah, that means we can get out of here that much faster," he explained. With that, he led the way down the corridor, led them to the rescue of their friends. Behind him, Ryouga hesitated for a moment.

"Um, I don't suppose you have any of that solvent on you . . . Robin?"

". . . Robin . . .?"

Robin stared at the young man to his right and the young woman to his left. The three of them were perched carefully on the edge of the massive opening on the dome of Professor Chang's observatory. His cursory scan of the buildings interior revealed a number of things: the disintegrator cannon (now fully charged), his friends, Professor Chang, and probably a dozen or so henchmen armed with unusual weapons.

At the moment, Professor Chang was looming before the cylinder that contained Starfire. For some reason, though they all appeared to have been frozen, the Tamaranian's head was free of the ice. Of course, this only subjected her to the disturbing advances and rants of the deranged man before her. A low growl from his right drew his sympathy and he dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Robin considered his resources and his enemies. There were three obvious objectives, and three rescuers, a most fortuitous occasion indeed. If they were in the Matrix, he was sure that some person or another would have droned on about how it was fate. First, was disabling the disintegrator cannon. Obviously Ryouga was not the best suited for that mission, so it would be either himself or Red X. Second was rescuing the frozen and trapped Titans down below. He dearly wanted to do that himself, but found that as much as he wanted to trust Red X, he wasn't about to give her access to a death ray full of Xenothium either. The third and final objective was to disable all of the guards below so that they could complete the first two objectives.

With a wicked smile, he squeezed Ryouga's shoulder. "The guards are yours, feel free to indulge yourself," he whispered conspiratorially. The feral smile that bloomed on Ryouga's lips exposed his lengthy canines for all the world to see.

Robin then turned to Red X. "With the suit you're the stealthiest, I need you to free the other Titans while Ryouga distracts the guards," he suggested very seriously. Luckily, the girl nodded immediately, not even putting up a slight argument. He looked back down at the disintegrator cannon, his target.

"The cannon is mine, luckily we got here before he could get in the driver's seat."

He then turned to face the bandanna clad boy beside him.

"Ryouga . . . go."

Starfire stared angrily at the man before him. Even though she was frozen completely in place, she could still hear his deranged ranting as he danced around happily before her cylindrical prison.

"Tell me, pretty girl, have you ever seen something ripped apart, molecule by molecule?" asked the Madman, likely rhetorically. The man then slid away from her cell, sighing in contentment. "It's breathtaking."

Unable to contain her righteous fury, her eyes lit up with emerald energy. A small burst later, and her head was freed from her icy confines. Unfortunately the rest of her body was not so fortunate. Despite, or possibly because of, her rather dire situation, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You are a bad man!"

Again her eyes lit up with emerald energy. Then she unleashed her optical fury upon the cylinder which contained her. Despite her best effort, the twin beams of energy just bounced off the cylinders interior, doing no visible damage.

Apparently eager to mock her, Professor Chang leaned closer to her cell, cupping a hand to his ear as if he hadn't just heard her comment. "Oh, if you think I'm bad now, you're going to be really impressed once I finish with your city-and move on to you," he threatened menacingly.

Again, she replied by rote. "Your plans shall fail! Robin will-"

"-not be joining us," Professor Chang interrupted her. He then turned away from her, eyeing his cannon longingly. "Not with your lives on the line. Far too risky for a good boy like him."

"You will be surprised at the risks Robin will take," this time it was her voice that held the deep menace.

If he registered her threat, he did nothing to indicate it. Instead he just walked towards his massive cannon, towards the long ladder that led to the controlling seat of the weapon. She continued to glare angrily at the man's back, desperately trying to think of something to shout to distract the man. If only she could distract him for another moment, perhaps Robin would arrive to save them. All she had to do was shout something – something like–

"Shi Shi Houkodan!"

What? Why on Tamaran would she shout tha-

Her train of thought was demolished, as an angrily glowing sphere depressive chi plummeted down from the ceiling and smashed heavily into a small cluster of three men. Instantly the chi blast exploded into an azure fountain, sending men and debris flying like so much chaff in the wind. It was quickly followed by the falling form of a very, very angry young martial artist.

Ryouga slammed into the ground like a meteor; the floor buckled wildly under him as metal panels warped and twisted and the stone beneath crumbled into gravel. A second later and the fanged boy nearly vanished into a blur of yellow, green and red and flew into the nearest collection of henchmen.

Starfire winced at the scene of brutal violence that unfolded a moment after that. It was hardly even worth her describing, considering that the battle consisted of Ryouga Hibiki against a mere dozen poorly trained and ill-equipped underlings. Suffice it to say, the battle was so one sided that if ever she was going to feel sympathy for a band of vile criminals that had captured her and threatened disintegration upon both her, her friends and her home . . . this would be that time.

Thankfully, her attention was drawn away from the borderline massacre, by the sound of Cyborg's startled gasp. She turned quickly; it was obvious that while Ryouga was distracting the guards, that Robin had snuck around to free them. She beamed a brilliant smile as she finally caught sight of her closest frie-

"Red X?" Cyborg gasped in shock. Her large teammate stared down in surprise at the black clad girl that had just freed him from his prison. Red X had apparently used some gadget or another to cut a large hole out of the cylinder; then used another to melt the ice around Cyborg.

Rather than hesitate, Cyborg reached down to catch the elusive villainess. "What the heck is a criminal like you doin helping us?"

Unfortunately, the cold was still slowing the boy down. Red X ducked back out of his reach easily, and then looked at him rather coyly. "Criminal? Me?"

Cyborg began to stagger out of the cylinder to catch her, when suddenly she shot forward and pressed her, rather generous . . . 'assets' to Cyborg's chest and wrapped her arms around his neck. The effect was instantaneous, as Cyborg suddenly froze up as if he had never been freed in the first place. The large boy's face instantly blushed furiously and he began to stutter incoherently as Red X rose up on her toes till their faces were nearly touching.

"The only crime here, cutie, is that we haven't gone out on a date yet," she whispered teasingly. After that, the villain giggled lightly and pressed a single finger to Cyborg's forehead. The hormone stricken boy collapsed like a sack of Earth potatoes, Starfire rolled her eyes in disgust at the pitiful display.

A moment later, Red X was in front of her container, the girl's dangerous wrist blades extending once more and rotating rapidly into a deadly cutting tool. Several swift swipes and Starfire was free from her prison as well. However, before Red X freed her from the ice, she stared at her seriously.

"I'm on your side this time. Robin sent me to help you," explained the young woman.

"Where is Robin?" she asked desperately, not caring about anything else.

The cocky villainess just pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, to the controls of the disintegrator cannon. Starfire followed the girl's rather haphazard gesture, up the long ladder . . .

To the sight of Robin, casually sitting on the back of a hog tied Professor Chang. The masked hero was happily watching Ryouga tear through the remainder of the henchmen. As if by fate, Robin chose that very moment to look back in her direction. The smile that bloomed on his face when he saw her being freed warmed her heart in a way that her icy prison could never cool.

Then the masked boy waved happily to her. A moment later, the boy pushed himself and his not-so-noble steed over the edge of the control seat some fifty feet above the ground. The evil professor screamed in terror, even as Robin rode his back down to the ground. The boy's manic smile only widened, as he pulled out his grappling hook and fired it into the ceiling far above.

They stopped roughly seven inches from the ground. Luckily for the criminal man, not that he deserved such fortune, he had already passed out from fright. Robin dropped the unresponsive man to the ground and made his way over to her. Thankfully Red X had already freed her by that point and moved on to Beast Boy, so she moved forward to greet him.

"Are you alright, Star?" he asked in relief.

She nodded happily. "I am, friend Robin. You appear most jubilant at our timely rescue."

Robin nodded, casually ducking under the flying figure of a henchman. "Just glad that you're alright, Star. I was really worried about you," he admitted, a slight blush on his cheeks. It was soon mirrored by a matching rush of blood to her own cheeks.

The sound of a pair of hands dusting themselves off heralded the arrival of Ryouga. The young man, half covered in red goo for some reason, was patting his hands against each other, as he approached them. "Well, I have to say that was anticlimactic. Maybe we should have held off for a few more minutes so they could have used that big death ray thing on us too. I bet that would have made it more exciting," complained the unbelievable boy.

She let out a huff of displeasure, half at his flippant attitude and half at his interruption. Robin just laughed weakly in disbelief. A moment later, they were joined by Beast Boy and Cyborg, both finally recovered from their ordeals. It looked like one, big, happy reunion, when suddenly Robin turned to face the exit.

"Leaving so soon, Red X?" he asked in a loud voice.

The black clad girl stopped in her tracks, only several feet from the observatories clearly marked exit. She turned to regard them, settling into a relaxed stance, on hip jutted out alluringly and a hand resting on it.

"Well, you all looked so happy together, I would just hate to interrupt your victory dance. Don't worry though, I'll let myself out," she replied agreeably.

Robin just smiled confidently. "I don't think you're going to make it too far, not with a practically dead power core at any rate," he stated a bit smugly.

Red X nodded at that. "And you'd be right too, if it weren't for the fact that the first thing I did back at the depository was refill my belt! Now it's time for me to take my leave, goodbye Titans, we'll meet again!" With that, the spandex clad female ran forward and kicked open the door. A second later, and long before any of them could hope to do anything at all, she vanished into a black blur of motion out into the early morning light.

Starfire suddenly bit her knuckle in worry and turned to face her masked companion. She dreaded the imminent explosion of self doubt and recrimination that was going to be the end result of Red X's escape . . .

Except that Robin was not frowning . . . why was Robin not frowning? He hardly looked upset at all, which did not make any sense to her at all! "Robin, are you well? The Red X has just escaped us, are you not terribly upset by that turn of events?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Robin turned to face her and shrugged lightly. "We'll get other chances to recover the suit, Star, don't you doubt that. And besides . . . I think it could have ended up in much worse hands, all things considered," replied the boy, making absolutely no sense to her whatsoever.

Rather than argue the point, though, she decided to take his explanation at face value. Instead, she just shrugged happily and latched onto the shorter boy's arm and started to drag him from the observatory. Ryouga and Beast Boy just looked to each other as she walked past and shrugged in total incomprehension. A moment later the rest of her friends joined her procession back to their home. Everyone except for Cyborg that is.

"Ya know something, guys . . .," muttered the boy, sounding somewhat confused.

". . . I'm startin to think that wasn't Nabiki at all!"