NU: Red-X Redux Chapter 1: X, a Naruto + Teen Titans Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or anything else within. It is all a byproduct of my overactive imagination and too many ideas in my head. This tale is written to, hopefully, amuse the many people who have wanted me to write such a story again. With that in mind, would all lawyers please leave me the f—k alone already!

NU: Red-X Redux…

Prologue: "X"…

It's a dark and quiet night in Jump City. Many of her citizens sleep, some mill about their jobs. But some remain awake and ever vigil. These are the ones known as this fair city's protectors. They are known as the Teen Titans. They are on a simple patrol. Cyborg and Beast Boy ride in the T-Car. Robin rides his R-Cycle. Finally Raven and Starfire take to the skies. They are about to end and go home, when a silent alarm goes off at the docks…

Voice: Its simple, there is good and there is evil. There are those who commit crimes, and those who stop them.

They arrive to find the doors of the warehouse, heavily fortified, and yet forced open with brute strength. They arrive just in time to see a wisp of black slip within. The team cautiously makes their way into the warehouse. They head down a long hall, a flash of red the only visible evidence of an intruder. Cyborg activates a flashlight on his shoulder as they continue into the darkness of the warehouse…

Voice: The two sides are opposite, as different as night and day.

They make their way through the warehouse. They find a grate on a vent ripped open and Robin quickly determines the route their intruder took with his palm top computer. With a nod the team move out, further into the warehouse. They find the route blocked by what appears to have been a net of laser trip wires. However, mirrors have been placed around the edges to allow someone through. The team pushed onwards, though Cyborg accidentally knocked the mirrors loose…

Voice: The line between them is perfectly clear. Or at least… it's supposed to be.

The team sees in the distance, a figure with sparking hands grip a terminal. The terminal flashes for a moment before it turns dark. The door slides open and a dark figure slinks inside the newly revealed room. The titans follow, though BB can't help but notice he can't smell the thief at all. Or even hear footsteps as he moves. But as they enter the room Starfire gasps as a familiar figure turns to face them and is fully revealed…

Voice: But its not…

It was Red-X, or at least a variation of Red-X. However while it visibly resembled the Red-X they had faced once before, it was clearly different. This one stood taller than Robin, and was in a very different suit than the leader of the Titans had worn. First of all, rather than spandex, this suit appeared to be made of an odd almost rubbery material. It was deep black in color and seemed like it would blend in well with the shadows.

White metal plates line the wrist and forearms. Rectangular white plates form a 'belt' of sorts, and smaller plates cover the knuckles of his hands. Diamond shaped plates line his spine and attach to the back of his mask. Two large white plates line his outer thighs. More of the white metal covers his mask in the familiar shape of a jawless skull.

Unlike the previous Red-X, the X on his mask crosses over both eyes and meets at his forehead. More Red-X's lay over his palms and connect to the ones on the backs of his hands, over his feet, and across his upper torso and connect to another on his back. Grey padding covered his knees and elbows, with thick black padding over his shoulders.

Finally he had a long beaten and battered trench coat with frayed edges overtop the suit, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, obviously in place of the cape of the original suit.

"Wait, that suit…" Starfire whispered to herself. However she then blinked as Robin stepped forward.

"Red X?" Robin breathed with wide eyes. He had never thought he'd see that suit, or at least a suit so similar, ever again.

"Whoa, looks like X got an upgrade," BB murmured with wide eyes. The thief in question chuckled lightly and then raised his arms.

"Got that right," the thief replied. He then pointed his arms at the titans and a pair of bright red beams shot from his wrists at them. As one the Titans leaped away from the beams as they tore two gashes of earth from the ground. The titans landed, or floated after the beam had passed and looked to their leader. Robin narrowed his eyes on the skull-masked thief and pointed at him.

"Titans go!" he ordered then reached back to pull his collapsible staff from his belt and lunged at the thief. However before Robin could reach the thief he vanished in a static flash. Robin came to a sudden stop and quickly looked for the thief only to grunt as a kick connected with his mid-section and knocked him on his ass. Robin looked up to see X and could all but feel the smirk under his mask.

"What? Did you expect me to just stand there and take it?" the skull masked thief quipped jovially. Robin twitched, growled, and then lunged at the thief. He swung his staff at the taller teen only for him to effortlessly dodge to either side to avoid them. The thief paused as Raven launched several dark tendrils at his back. X merely vanished in static flash with a chuckle.

Raven looked to either side to find the thief, then paused at a sudden whistle from above. She looked up and then felt her brain lurch to a halt when she noticed that somehow Red-X was now standing while upside down on the ceiling. She was only certain he was really upside down because his coat was still affected by gravity. The skull-masked thief idly looked up (down?) and raised (lowered?) a hand to wave at her mockingly.

"Yo," he offered cheerfully. Raven continued to stare, until she noticed a beam of energy sail towards X. However the thief vanished in a static flash before the beam could connect. She turned to see Cyborg with his sonic cannon raised, who shrugged, equally baffled by what the thief had just done. A second later said theif reappeared in front of Raven and backhanded her to the side.

The girl tumbled for a moment and then looked up at him sharply. X had his arms crossed and his head tilted to the side. "Bit of advice, don't broadcast all your attacks with magic words," he offered jokingly. Raven's brow twitched and she raised her hands. Hands of black energy rose from the ground and tried to grasp the thief. However he flipped back and out of their grasp.

He landed in a low crouch while Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at him again. However X noticed it from the corner of his eye and vanished in yet another static flash. Cyborg blinked and turned on his cybernetic eye. Last time they dealt with X he'd been able to turn invisible, if he could find him he could… Before the Titanium Teen could react a pair of electrified hands grasped his head from behind.

The teen screamed in pain as his body was electrocuted. At the same time his systems suddenly went haywire. The thief behind him held onto his head until finally Cyborg fell to the side, his single good eye rolled back into his head as he passed out. He slammed into a wooden crate, shattering it, and the thief grabbed up an object from it. X whistled to himself as he slipped the object into his coat pocket and then brushed off his hands.

"Might want to get a better surge protector, tin man," the masked thief quipped playfully. He then grunted as a green bull slammed into him from the side. The masked thief turned to BB and raised a brow. The green teen turned bull snorted and dragged a hoof across the floor menacingly. X practically snickered as he flipped back to his feet and pulled off his coat. He then waved the tattered coat as if it were a matador's cape.

"Toro toro!" he declared teasingly. BB narrowed his eyes and lunged forward with a primal roar. X merely narrowed his eyes and then chuckled as the green beast approached. "Olay!" he crowed and tossed the coat at him before he vanished in a static flash. BB ran into the coat only to quickly throw it to the side with his horns.

However BB's eyes widened comically as he slammed face first into a metal beam that'd been behind the thief. He returned to his human form with a groan and slid down into a crumpled heap. X reappeared with a laugh, sans coat. He took a moment to clutch at his sides from laughter and then wiped a mock tear from his eye. He then leaned down towards the green titan with obvious mirth.

"Here's a tip green bean, never rush in head first, it only leads to a headache," the thief advised. He then turned just as Robin swung his bo-staff at his head. X activated a pair of blades that shot out from his wrists to catch the staff and held the boy wonder at bay. Robin growled and glared heatedly at the masked thief.

"Who are you?" he gritted out. X raised a brow and then chuckled.

"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" he quipped playfully. He then head butted the shorter teen. The blow disorientated Robin long enough for the thief to duck down and sweep his legs out from under him. He then twisted up and kicked Robin away before he rolled back into a crouch. "Too easy chuckles," he stated with a shake of his head. However he then looked up to see a pair of black hands over him.

"Oh my," he stated. He then looked down to see Raven with glowing white eyes. The girl stared him down and brought the black hands down on top of him. However the thief suddenly appeared behind the girl and shoved her hood over her face. She yelped and stumbled forward to remove the offending material while X beamed.

"Aww, you actually took my advice that's adorable!" he quipped cheerfully. He then flipped over a black energy blade from the girl and landed in a crouch. He then looked up and raised his arms to block several green balls of energy. He narrowed his eyes at the orange skinned alien hanging overhead then vanished in another static flash. He suddenly appeared over the girl and grabbed her from behind.

"Hello there, cutie," he stated flirtatiously, with an unseen wink. Starfire blinked rapidly and then looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, are you…" she began, only for X to suddenly shift their combined weight. He pulled them into a dive and flipped off of her as she slammed into another crate. She slammed into it and left her legs sticking out, which kicked at the air as she tried to get loose. With a snicker to himself, X sauntered to where Raven and Robin still stood.

"C'mon kids," he urged then tapped to his chest, "X marks the spot," he quipped. Robin growled and tossed several birdarangs at the masked thief. However X merely threw his arms back. There was a sudden crimson glow around his hands as eight X-shuriken formed between his fingers. He then flung them forward to block the birdarangs while Robing rushed him from the side.

X turned in time to be knocked to the ground where Robin grabbed his mask. The boy wonder smirked down at the thief as he tried to find a switch or latch on the mask / helmet he was wearing. "Let's find out who's really under thi…" he began only to scream as several volts of electricity suddenly surged through him. X merely watched for a moment and then chuckled darkly.

"Really kid, you didn't really think it'd be that easy, did you?" X quipped dryly. He then kicked the boy wonder from his person and flipped back to his feet. Robin panted heavily on the ground while X turned to Raven. The dark bird narrowed her eyes while she could practically feel his grin. She summoned her powers and covered the area in her magic then brought it inwards on the thief.

X whistled for a moment, only to vanish in another static flash just as Raven was about to catch him. The violet eyed bird felt her brow twitch and exhaled deeply. "That is such a cheap move," she muttered under her breath. She then stilled and looked to the side as someone tapped her on her shoulder. X stood there in a casual pose. He idly buffed his knuckles on his chest and then looked at her with an obvious grin.

"I think it works just fine," he quipped humorously. Raven swung her arm at the thief, only for him to catch her wrist with one hand. She blinked, then stared at him for a moment and then sighed in resignation.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" she questioned. X mutely nodded his head and then quickly turned and tossed the girl to the side. She landed back first against a crate and groaned. She then sighed tiredly. "Ow," she uttered blandly. X snickered and then grunted as a concentrated beam of green energy slammed into him.

"Okay that actually stung a bit," he admitted to himself. He placed a hand to his head as he got back onto his feet. However seconds later a familiar golden skinned girl had him by his throat, eyes glowing bright green. "Uh oh… I know that look," he muttered under his breath. The golden skinned girl merely rolled her eyes and raised a hand. She made a complicated gesture and stuck two fingers into the teeth of his skull mask.

She then lifted her hand until she heard a sudden click.

"Hey wait… how do you even know how to do that," he demanded. However the girl merely ignored him and lifted the skull portion of his mask up. Revealed beneath is a crimson semi-transparent material with an array of different images across it. It vaguely resembles a HUD(Heads up display) with various information scattered across it. Regardless the alien powerhouse reared her arm back to throw a punch at the thief's face.

However X quickly gripped her other wrist and she screamed as she was hit by a sudden surge of electricity. Her knees wobbled for a moment before she finally buckled and fell down. X himself landed on his feet and lowered the skull portion of his mask back down. A frown crossed his lips under his mask as he stared at the girl as she lay there panting. He narrowed his eyes and idly rubbed at his wrist.

"Sorry cutie, but you could be a problem later," he muttered. He then formed several more X shurikens into his hand, only for Robin to knock him away from her. The two tumbled for a moment before X kicked the boy wonder away and rolled into a crouch. Robin landed in a crouch opposite him and both narrowed their eyes. "Okay so I might've underestimated you kids just a tiny bit," he admitted to himself.

Robin didn't bother to listen. Instead he tossed several birdarangs at the thief. 'Not this again,' X thought with a roll of his eyes. He tossed his X-Shuriken at the birdarangs to stop them only to grunt as an explosive disk went off in the middle of the birdarangs. The thief sat up with a groan and brought a hand to his head.

"Okay, didn't expect that," he admitted. He then looked up as Robin pulled out his bo-staff once more. X unlocked his wrist blades and rolled out of the way of the boy wonder's first attack. He then flipped onto his feet and blocked the second blow with his blades. He held the boy wonder back and kept his footing stable. "So kid, know what advise I have for you?" he questioned. Robin scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

"What?" he grit out. X smirked beneath his mask and ducked to the side. Robin fell forward and the thief grabbed his cape and pulled it up and over him. The boy wonder was pulled up and lost his footing, thus slammed face first into the ground with a groan. The thief snickered to himself and brushed off his hands.

"No capes," he stated plainly. Robin felt his brow twitch as he turned into a sweeping kick. However the thief vanished in a static flash and reappeared by his coat. He picked it up and slipped it back on with a flourish. "Now I'd love to stay and play with you guys some more," X declared even as Robin rushed back onto his feet and lunged at him. "But I think this little test run worked out perfectly," he stated. He then gave a mock salute.

"So better luck next time," he declared. Robin sprinted forward while X grinned beneath his mask and added, "if there even is a next time," with that he vanished in a static flash just as Robin's hand swiped at him. Once the thief was gone Robin halted and then frowned deeply. He looked to the sides where his team lay incapacitated for a moment, and then up to a nearby camera…

"Play it again," Robin insisted with a scowl. Cyborg groaned and palmed his face.

"Man it ain't any better after the first fifteen times I saw my butt get whooped by that guy," he grumbled in response. Robin shot a look at the titanium teen and he let out a defeated sigh. "New-X whoops our butts, take sixteen," he grumbled and hit play. The recording of their fight played out exactly as it had the previous times. They chased the then unknown thief into a warehouse, X revealed himself, and they got beat, badly beat.

Unlike his cybernetic friend, Robin narrowed his eyes. He saw subtle things that his friend clearly hadn't noticed. Most of all being how different X fought when compared to him when he wore the original suit. He hummed and leaned forward with a frown. The X-Shuriken, the static gauntlets, the wrist mounted blasters, wrist blades, even the cloaking device were different from the original model.

"He still has my old teleport device, but it looks like he replaced everything else with something new or phased it out of the design completely," he mumbled aloud. He wouldn't admit it but he was a bit insulted by that. He'd designed the X-Suit to be a perfect counter to all of his friends' powers. Sure he wasn't proud of why he did it, but it was still an incredible piece of tech.

Cyborg idly glanced at his leader and then checked the recording and frowned. "Yeah… what about the armor on this suit? Did you have that as part of it hidden or something?" the titanium teen questioned. Robin grunted in response. He'd wanted to add armor or at least some padding to the suit, but he'd thought better of it. A thief who showed up with a suit too advanced to be explained would've given Slade cause to be suspicious.

It hadn't mattered in the end but it was the principle…

"No, that kind of Flex-Armor is hard enough to come by. I didn't want to make it too obvious that I put a lot of work into the suit. Slade would've been on his guard if the suit looked like I dumped tons of money into it. That's partially why I modeled it after a Comic-Book character, rather than invent a totally new identity," the boy wonder admitted. That and it would've made him too heavy for some of his acrobatics.

"What comic-book character looks like that?" Cyborg demanded. Robin rolled his eyes and typed on a nearby terminal. He brought up a picture of a character from Dark Horse Comics, by the name of X. Cyborg looked at the character and hummed lightly. There was a slight resemblance, although the comic character looked a bit more… dangerous, really. The guns and spikes certainly painted a vivid picture of how he acted anyways.

"Huh… you learn something new everyday," Cyborg mumbled to himself. Beast Boy took that moment to perch himself on the back of Cy's chair. He bent forward to look down to his friend with a raised brow.

"Dudes seriously, what are you looking for with all this?" the green teen questioned. Robin crossed his arms and sat back in his chair with a frown.

"Not sure," he admitted. Cyborg snorted and rubbed his head.

"I personally think Rob just wants to figure out what all he can do," the titanium teen admitted. Said bird themed titan just grumbled under his breath. BB idly nodded then scratched his head.

"So we ever going to talk about how this guy grabbed your suit, and that thermal blaster thing?" he questioned curiously. Robin grunted in annoyance and brought up a security video from several months prior. There was static before the video cleared up to show the interior of the Titan's Evidence Room. They watched the video silently for some time yet nothing seemed to happen. "Uh dude," BB began. Robin held up a finger to silence him.

"Watch," he ordered. He then sped up the video, only to halt as someone kicked a vent open. The mystery assailant dropped down and quickly set to work. He pulled a duffle bag from the vent and smashed one of the glass cases. He quickly grabbed the Thermal Blaster and stuffed it into the bag. He then went over to a large safe with a skull and an X on it and started to work on the keypad.

"When did this happen?" BB questioned. Robin frowned in response.

"Back when Terra ran us out of town," the boy wonder replied. Beast Boy winced while Cyborg frowned deeply. He remembered how they hadn't been able to really work from the tower at that point. But he also hadn't really thought about what'd happened to the tower while they were away. Slade had had control, but he hadn't bothered with the tower for the most part… unless he left a few surprises for them.

'I'm going to scan the shit out of the tower later,' he decided resolutely. If for no other reason then so he could prevent any nasty surprises from popping up. That mask of Slade's had been more than enough for the titanium teen. Still, that would be for later. "So how is it you didn't mention that some of our shit got jacked while we were gone?" the titanium teen demanded. Robin looked at Cyborg with a flat expression.

"Cyborg we were out of commission for weeks. Slade had Terra, who had our security codes. The tower was thereby left completely defenseless," the boy wonder reminded. Cyborg grunted but had to concede that his leader had a point. "Aside from that, I honestly expected more to be missing when we got back," he admitted. Cyborg and BB looked at him curiously, but the leader of the titans didn't bother to elaborate.

Instead they both turned back to the video as a sudden explosion caused the safe to come off of its hinges. The large door fell down while the thief avoided it and then stepped into a room. Within was a very familiar skull faced suit, which was quickly taken and stuffed into the duffle bag. The unknown thief then retreated from the room, slipped back into the vent and vanished. Once the thief had gone Robin shut off the video with a scowl.

"He snuck in despite the fact we weren't here," he grumbled under his breath. BB frowned to himself.

"Seems kind of redundant and maybe even a little paranoid," the green teen noted aloud. Cyborg blinked and stared at the green teen.

"I'm honestly surprised you know the meaning of those words," he admitted. BB looked at him as if insulted, which Cy ignored. "Besides that, he probably didn't want us to catch his face on camera," Cyborg offered with a shrug. Robin mentally agreed with the idea. It made sense and given how good X appeared to be he wouldn't put it passed him. Still, he but brought up their fight with Red-X once more.

He studied the fight intently and realized X's arsenal had gotten a downgrade if anything.

"He stopped using my weapon systems," the boy wonder mused.

"So?" Beast Boy questioned. Robin turned to the green teen with a frown.

"My weapon system used a gel that could be hardened or made acidic with an electrical signal. The new system X is using limits the abilities of his shuriken greatly. All of his Shuriken are hard and sharp, true, but he doesn't have the Static X's or Explosive X's anymore," the boy wonder explained. Cyborg looked to the two with a smirk.

"He also don't have that goop that got in your do BB," he added playfully. Beast Boy idly reached up to ran a hand through his hair and chuckled.

"Thank goodness for that dude, once was more than enough for me," he declared with a nod. "Took months to grow it all back," he added. He then looked at Robin with a frown. "You know dude, you never apologized for that," he noted. Robin ignored him and focused on the weapons X used in their fight.

"Thermal Blasters, Flex-Armor combined with an odd padded bodysuit thicker than the spandex I used, wrist mounted blades that can fold into the gauntlets, X-Shuriken, a cloaking device, teleport device, and what looks suspiciously like the Electrocutioner's Shock Gauntlets," Robin murmured darkly. BB rolled his eyes, not surprised he'd been ignored then focused on one of those gadgets in particular.

"Dude, where does someone even get a cloaking device?" BB questioned the grinned, "no seriously, I want one!" he declared. His two friends shot a look at him and his ears lowered. "Heh heh… just joking," he stated and then slunk away. Robin hummed and turned back to the video. As Red-X turned invisible an idea came to mind and he glanced over to Cyborg.

"Did you get a scan of him when he was cloaked?" he questioned. The titanium teen nodded and pulled a wire from his arm. He plugged it into the computer and uploaded the readout from his scan of X while cloaked to the computer. Cy inclined his head and then started to type rapidly on the terminal.

"Yeah… now can someone tell me how he stood on the fucking ceiling like that?" he demanded with a finger pointed at the screen. Robin blinked and then shrugged his shoulders. He'd honestly never encountered someone who did that, at least not with tech they didn't. Even with their modern advancements and limited exposure to aliens, tech had its limits after all.

"No idea," he admitted. Cyborg grunted and muttered to himself. That was going to bug him until he figured out how X did it. He was currently running with the theory that he had some kind of micro-magnets in his boots soles that allowed him to adhere to metallic surfaces. However it was untested, if X could walk on surfaces aside from metal it would be clear it wasn't magnetic in nature…

'Not to mention he'd have to reinforce the suit to prevent tearing, then there's the power it'd need to actually keep him up there,' he admitted to himself. It would be an expensive use of power to be honest. Then again he had other things to worry about as he reviewed the footage. "That Flex-Armor of his, it seems almost like what Blackfire wears under her clothes," the titanium teen noted aloud. Robin blinked and then narrowed his eyes.

"That's a good point, I honestly hadn't considered that before," he admitted. He brought up their files on Blackfire and narrowed his eyes. "It has roughly the same range of movement," he noted to himself. However he then frowned as he noticed how little of the suit was covered in the 'flex-armor'. "Although he wears so little plating that can be disregarded entirely," Robin added. Cyborg nodded his head.

"Yeah, Blackie wore armor all over, he wears a lot less but he still has that weird rubber stuff all over him," he noted aloud. Robin nodded his head and brought up a 3D model of the new Red-X in his suit. It vaguely reminded him of something from one of those videogames BB and Cy played. He turned it all around and narrowed his eyes on the arms. He could easily recall how his arms were electrified during their fight with him.

He brought up information on Electrocutioner's Shock Gauntlets, which were similar. Not surprisingly the gauntlets had been given to the GCPD after the Christmas assassin incident in Gotham years prior. "They were held in Gotham PD's lock up," he mumbled to himself. He then checked on the GCPD's lockup and scowled deeply when he saw the results. Cy idly looked over his shoulder and arched a brow.

"Looks like those gauntlets went missing a while back only to turn up in a box on their door step a week later," Cyborg noted flatly. "Think it's a coincidence?" he questioned. Robin scoffed and laced his fingers together. The chance that the gauntlets went missing and this new X had similar gauntlets was slim to none in his personal opinion.

"While similar, they only vaguely resemble the Electrocutioner's Gauntlet's now. The gauntlets were clearly slimmed down with new age tech, so probably do roughly the same amount if a little less damage than the originals," he murmured aloud. Cyborg nodded his head in agreement with that assumption.

"Still more than enough to leave an impression," the titanium teen muttered to himself. He idly rubbed the side of his head where said gauntlets managed to effectively disable him for the rest of the fight. Robin grunted in response and brought up the fight with X once again. He watched the way that X fought closely and frowned.

Robin had been trained by the Batman to be an efficient fighter. He had also been trained to analyze the capabilities of his opponents. X's fighting style wasn't anything like his own, which was quick and acrobatic. It wasn't anything like Slade's, which was quick and brutally efficient in every possible way. It wasn't like Blackfire's, who had a very polished yet equally 'flashy' style.

In all actuality, Red-X seemed to fight more like Starfire, that being blunt and reckless in the extreme. Added to that he liked to mock and belittle his opponents mid battle, causing them to get so angry that any skill they had fell short. X's style wasn't even a style really, truth be told he seemed more like a brawler. It was like he was someone who had a vague understanding of how to fight, but too little formal training to give him a coherent style.

'While that makes him absurdly hard to predict it also means he has to fight harder to compensate for the fact his blows don't do as much damage,' the boy wonder noted internally. He continued watching and idly tapped his fingers on the terminal in front of him. Whatever X had stolen was so miniscule that he couldn't get a clear look at it. He'd asked the warehouse workers to take inventory, but they had declined.

Further, the warehouse was owned by Lex-Corp, and thus far the suits there had been tightlipped on what the thief had taken. Aside from that, X clearly hadn't been too concerned about getting whatever he'd taken. Instead he'd just fought them, mocked them, and then decided to leave when he hadn't found them fun anymore.

'He wanted to play with us,' Robin noted with a scowl, 'he was genuinely playing with us like we were nothing but kids to him!' he thought with a growl. Robin hated to admit it, but he had a lot of pride in his abilities. This was in part thanks to how long he'd been an active hero, or partner to one. He knew the trade better than most adults and knew some of the greatest heroes in the business on top of that.

Still, X was a potential problem and he need to figure out what to do about him.

"Do we have any information on thefts of similar equipment to what's being used in that suit?" Robin asked Cyborg. The titanium teen did a quick search on his arm terminal and then exhaled out of his nose.

"No, aside from those gauntlets anyways. But like I said earlier those turned up in a box outside their door a while later," Cyborg replied. Robin scoffed and crossed his arms. Theft from the GCPD lockup happened so often that it hardly mattered. Further, even if X had stolen them he'd also returned them. 'He wanted the gauntlets, but only to figure out how to build his own,' he internally reasoned.

"The flex armor?" Robin grunted.

"Rob I have no idea who makes that kind of shit, how would I start to look for it?" Cyborg demanded. Robin threw his hands into the air and leaned back with a scowl. "What about the power source?" Cyborg questioned. Robin looked to him with a raised brow. "Suit with that many gadgets has to be pretty demanding on power right," the titanium teen offered with a shrug. Robin grunted in response.

"The Electrocutioner's Gauntlets ran on kinetic energy, the more he moved the more energy was converted and stored for later. The Thermal Blaster has an internal power source that charges itself after each individual burst of fire," Robin stated in a monotone.

"The wrist blades probably function in a mechanical fashion without any need for electricity. As such it's those shuriken of his, the cloaking device, and the teleport that are the most energy demanding functions his suit has," Robin explained. "Unfortunately I have no idea how he makes his Shuriken, and he probably updated the Teleport and cloak to make them more efficient," he explained. He then frowned and rubbed his chin.

"Especially if he ditched my old power core," he added.

"Which was?" Raven questioned. Cyborg yelped and turned to see the girl standing behind him. He placed a hand to his chest and glared at the dark bird.

"Dammit Raven, you know I don't like it when you sneak up on me!" he stated. Raven arched a brow.

"I didn't, I walked up behind you," she stated bluntly. Cyborg muttered about semantics while the girl herself looked to Robin. "Now what did you use as a power core?" she questioned. Robin's brow twitched and he looked away.

"A Xenothium based power core," he admitted with a sigh. Cyborg rounded on the spiky haired teen.

"Xenothium?!" he demanded, "Man I know y'all aren't dumb enough to go messing 'round with that shit! It's dangerous, not to mention unstable! What the hell were you thinking when you used Xenothium to power that suit!?" the titanium teen demanded. Raven idly crossed her arms and tilted her head with a frown.

"Clearly he wasn't," she responded in a dull drone. Robin twitched as if hit violently by someone. He then glared at the two of them.

"I needed a way to power the suit, Xenothium was the best way I could find," he grumbled irritably. Raven rolled her eyes in response.

"Yet X probably found a better way," she noted aloud. Robin twitched once more. On the couch BB snickered and pulled a drawing board from the side. On it were pictures of a cybernetic monkey, a strange kid in short-pants, and a robot. However the green teen spun the board up to the blank side. On it were the names of each of the titans and the words 'Owned List' above them. Oddly, Raven's had the majority of marks.

BB added yet another couple to the list in her favor.

"Even IF he did, that's not the point right now," Robin stated through clenched teeth. Raven arched a brow.

"What is then?" she inquired dryly. Robin inhaled through his nose and then exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. Before he could speak, Cyborg frowned.

"Where did you even get a Xenothium Power Core," he questioned. Robin blinked and his shoulder's slumped.

"I had to go to Professor Chang," he admitted. That was probably the only part of the suit he hadn't designed and built himself. He'd had to outsource at least that much to make it believable that he wasn't… well… himself. Robin wouldn't normally go out and buy parts for weapons from criminals after all.

"You mean the illegal weapons expert slash dealer," Cyborg stated flatly. Robin nodded his head and Cy groaned. "Dude the more I hear about this the worse your idea seems," he declared with a sigh. Raven however frowned.

"So did you go to Chang yourself?" she questioned. Robin frowned then nodded his head. The not so good professor was unfortunately very paranoid. He was paranoid in the extreme to be perfectly honest. So much so that even Robin had to admit he was way too paranoid to be healthy.

"Chang doesn't work with you without seeing you personally, he's paranoid about traps," he admitted. Raven hummed and then looked at Robin with a ghost of a smirk.

"So does that mean Slade just got information out of Chang to know it was you in that suit?" she questioned. Robin made to deny, only to pause and consider it. He had gone to chang for the core, Chang was paranoid so he couldn't do it over a phone or computer, he had gone in person and sworn him to secrecy… but Chang was criminal. Not to mention he'd sold him a Xenothium Power Core, for money, which Slade definitely had in spades.

Meaning that Slade could just pay Chang for information and figure out who he was…

As the realization sunk in his left eye spasmed. He then raised his hand and palmed his face. He then started to palm / hit his forehead repeatedly. "My work here is done," Raven declared with a ghost of a smirk at the corners of her lips. She then turned and walked over to the couch and levitated a book into her hand. BB snickered and added yet another Tally-Mark in Raven's favor on the board.

Cyborg merely rolled his eyes and patted his leader on the back. "Man stop that," he ordered. Although he looked like he didn't mean it as he watched Robin repeatedly hit himself in the face. "We've still got work to do," Cy reminded his leader. The Titans' Leader grunted and ceased his self-punishment. He then rubbed at his forehead, rather the angry red mark there, with a frown.

"Excuse me, but I just figured out that I was sold out by the same ass hat who sold me that Xenothium Power Core in the first place," the boy wonder growled. Cy rolled his eyes and made to say something, only to pause and tap his chin.

"Wait, speaking of, just how much did you actually pay for that thing?" he questioned seriously. Robin completely ignored that question and looked at X's suit once more.

"X's suit, or at least the belt, isn't designed like mine was. Further we saw no glitches and… Cyborg bring up your scan again," the boy wonder ordered. The titanium teen frowned but did as told. He brought up the readout on X from the fight and Robin narrowed his eyes. "No… it doesn't even have any of the subtle readings of Xenothium radiation," he murmured quietly.

"Meaning he was smart and found an alternative," Raven stated from the couch. She then turned a page of her book while Robin started to grumble. BB snickered yet again and made yet another tally mark in favor of the dark girl. Cyborg smirked and then watched his friend glare at the screen heatedly.

"Man don't mind Rae, you know she's just messing with you," the titanium teen stated playfully. Raven frowned and looked up from her book.

"No, he really was an idiot," she commented bluntly. Cy chuckled nervously while it almost looked like steam was coming off of the boy wonder. BB had devolved into a laughing fit, yet still managed to add a tally mark in favor of the girl over Robin. A frown crossed Raven's lips and she glared at the laughing changeling. She then snapped her fingers and a tendril of black energy smacked him away.

He was sent flying back and out of the room and left them in quiet. The girl nodded her head and returned to her book as the black tendril picked up BB's chalk and put yet another mark in her favor, only this time it was over BB. If one looked close they might see a slim ghost of a smirk on the pale girl's lips. Turning from the scene and quickly clearing his throat, Cyborg looked at Robin seriously.

"You know you're taking this way too personally right?" he stated seriously. His friend shot a look at him.

"A thief stole the suit I built and modified it to suit his own ends," the titans' leader reminded his friend. He then leaned forward and laced his fingers together with narrowed eyes as he stared at the image of the thief. "So excuse me, but of course I'm taking this just a bit personally," he stated darkly. Cyborg rolled his eyes and glanced back. He paused when he noticed a shadow in the doorway out of the corner of his eye.

He blinked and turned fully to see them, but whoever it'd been was already gone. Raven idly narrowed her eyes. She'd sensed who it was and she had questions in mind for her. 'Like how she knew how to pull open the skull on that mask,' she thought to herself…

(Later…)

Starfire of Tamaran, princess of the royal house of Tamarus, and member of the Teen Titans quietly walked the dark halls of Titans Tower. Normally she would be asleep at this hour, but she had purpose this night. She entered into the Tower's Ops center and looked around. She didn't see anyone so breathed a sigh of relief and quietly approached the terminal. She powered it up and quickly searched for the video of their fight with X.

She was a bit confused on why it hadn't shown her opening X's mask. While Robin had certainly been out of it at that point, she was sure the camera would've caught her. At that point she'd certainly be interrogated by the boy wonder. Much as she liked him she wasn't an idiot, contrary to popular belief, while she was certainly naïve about Earth and its ways, that didn't make her stupid…

"You were out of its field of vision," Raven stated. Starfire almost yelped but quickly slapped her hands over her mouth. She then turned to see Raven sitting on the couch. If she hadn't already checked she'd almost swear the other girl had just been sitting there since earlier in the day.

"W-what?" Starfire questioned. Raven arched a brow and crossed her arms.

"When you opened X's mask, the camera was turned away from you, it didn't turn back until just after he'd fixed it," the dark bird replied. She then leaned forward with narrowed eyes. "So want to fill me in on how you knew how to do that?" she questioned with an arched brow. Starfire fidgeted in her seat and smiled awkwardly.

"Um, l-lucky guess," she offered. However Raven merely gave her a look that practically screamed 'that's really what you're going for?'. Starfire winced and rubbed at her biceps nervously. "I am sorry, but… it is something of a long story," she admitted. Raven nodded her head and then hummed lightly.

"Right, so maybe we should wait for the boys to wake up so you can explain it to them," she suggested. Starfire's eyes widened and she her arms and rapidly shook her head.

"No! Absolutely not! We cannot be allowing the boys to know of…" she began only to slap her hands over her mouth yet again. Raven arched a brow as if asking 'knowing of what exactly,' and Starfire sighed tiredly. "I must make confession," she began. She rubbed her arms and exhaled through her nose. "When I went twenty years into the future, I was not completely honest about my experience," she admitted quietly.

Raven blinked and frowned deeply. "By how much?" she questioned. Starfire shifted in her seat and grinned nervously.

"Um, only somewhat," she began. However Raven crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Err, well… perhaps it was mostly false," she offered. However Raven arched a brow in response. Starfire saw the look and sighed, a tired expression crossing her face. "Aside from the beginning, the majority of it was false," she finally admitted. Raven frowned and leaned back in her seat.

"Was it really so bad you had to lie?" she questioned. Starfire looked up at the younger girl with a pleading expression.

"I do not believe you would like what I would have to tell you," she admitted. Raven merely rolled her eyes.

"I highly doubt anything you can tell me would be that horrible," she assured the alien powerhouse. However Starfire looked away and let out a soft sigh.

"Your mind was fine for the most part," she admitted. Raven actually felt a little relieved by that. The idea of losing her mind was… "But you were still just… wrong," she whispered. Raven blinked and arched a brow.

"Wrong?" she questioned.

"You had darker clothes and behaved so… differently to my friend," she replied softly. Raven frowned deeply and narrowed her eyes. That sounded bad. She knew her mental state was tenuous at best sometimes due to her powers. But usually her physical changes were more dramatic with Rage. Which begged the question of what had happened to her. That in mind she looked at her orange skinned friend curiously.

"Starfire, did anyone call me something besides 'Raven'?" she questioned. She had an idea of what it would be, but she had to be sure. Her friend frowned in thought and then slowly nodded her head.

"I believe you were referred to as 'Pride' by the X of the future," Starfire admitted. Raven felt her heart stop and her eyes widen.

"You're certain of that?" she questioned. Starfire slowly nodded her head and a frown crossed the dark birds lips. She knew exactly what that meant for her. It meant nothing good for anyone to refer to her as Pride. Not for her or for the world for that matter. If she was willingly allowing herself to be called 'Pride' then…

"Are you still so certain you wish to know what I saw?" Starfire questioned. Raven was silent as she considered. On one hand, she didn't want to know. She honestly felt it would be better if she didn't know. But on the other hand, then she would always wonder what had happened to her. While she certainly didn't plan on such a future, the fact she was still alive at all seemed… odd. Even with that name…

So with that in mind she exhaled through her nose and nodded.

Starfire nodded her head as well and twiddled her thumbs for a moment. "To begin, I was not in that future for a few hours," she admitted. Raven raised a brow. "I believe I was there for a few days," she admitted. "Perhaps even a week," she added as she rubbed at her temples. "But maybe I should start with the day which I went to the future," she began. Raven silently listened…

Meanwhile a dark figure sat outside the window, microphone laced fingers to the glass…

TBC…

AN: I'm baaaaaaack… He he he he ha ha ha ha ha! Anyways, 'X' is an actual Dark Horse Comic book series, not just something I made up for the story, look it up and you'll see why I think they based Red-X's look off of this guy.

Addition: How does this story look when compared to the original? I'm hoping that it's a lot easier to follow and the overall action is better as well. I've improved my writing a great deal since I first started and I'm hoping this is up to snuff. Anyways, till next time readers… Allons-y!