"Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

………………………………………………………………………………...

"Le Blanc said Red X was waiting for him in Siberia. A woman and Kid Flash too.", Ross Malverk said into his cell phone. He stood on the rear deck of a beach house somewhere on the East Coast, judging by the gentle waves lapping against the long smooth shore. "He's worried Red X is catching on and trying to hunt us down. Frankly, so am I."

"I figured he might try something like this.", said the young and angry sounding person on the other end of the phone. "He's tracking Le Blanc down by those stupid announcements of his. Always declaring his next heist in one way or another."

"I know. But I can't convince him to give it up. Something about showmanship, he said. It took me a practical fortune before he agreed to keep the Heart Of Eternity heist a secret.", Ross replied.

The person on the other end of the phone sighed audibly. "Such an idiot… But don't worry too much; I have a plan for this. Have Le Blanc announce a heist somewhere. When X tracks him down, I'll have a trap ready. Leave it to me."

"I doubt his 'showmanship' will let him announce a fake heist."

"Tell him it's that, or Red X mounts him on a wall."

"And you'll do the rest?", Ross asked.

"Yes. Tell that French moron to announce a heist in…" The young sounding man at the end of the line paused, as if thinking to himself. "…De Wallen."

Ross Malverk paused. "Amsterdam?", he asked. "You want to send them all to Amsterdam?"

"Yes, I said. Just do it. Call me with updates.", then the young man on the other end of the line hung up, punching the red button on his own cell phone with his thumb. Then the young man sat in his chair in his bedroom in his father's large house, and turned to his laptop.

He began typing and clicking away at his computer, until the circular T-Shield of the Teen Titans appeared on the screen.

-X-

One day later.

"Titans…", Robin said. He stood up inside the living room of Titans Tower, in front of the rest of the Teen Titans and the Titans East. "I'll go ahead and go over this again, now that we're all here, just so no one's confused. Yesterday, we received a short message from Arrowette, who as you know, is missing.", he said. "Cyborg?"

Cyborg inserted a data probe from the tip of his finger into a port on a computer console. A short message was displayed on the screen. "We received this simple text transmission."

The message on the screen read simply… "Robin, it's Arrowette. Red X kidnapped me. De Wallen, Amsterdam."

Robin began again. "Obviously… Arrowette had to sneak in this message to us somehow. It's safe to assume she wanted to look for her in Amsterdam. That might be where Red X is keeping her."

Speedy raised his hand as he lay lazily and half asleep on the couch. "One question: Can we quit playing FBI and go get 'em already?!", he asked in a disgruntled manor, as he crossed his arms in contempt.

"Hold up there, Speedy…", Aqualad said. "Something's bothering me. Kidnapping isn't exactly in Red X's M.O. How do you explain that, Robin?"

"I admit… Kidnapping's definitely not his M.O.", Robin admited. "But taking care of himself is his M.O.", he said more sternly. "Arrowette's been trying to catch Red X ever since he stole Zynothium from Star City. It's possible she got lucky and stumbled on one of X's best kept secrets."

"…So Red X kidnapped her to keep her from talking?", Bumblebee asked.

Robin nodded. "It's a possibility."

"Personally…", Speedy began. "I don't think it matters if it's Red X's M.O.!", he exclaimed as he uncrossed his arms. "X has Arrowette. That's good enough for me. I say we quit standing around and get down to Amsterdam already!"

Cyborg and Raven both raised an eyebrow.

"Taking this a little personally, Speedy? You alright?", Cyborg asked.

"Fine.", Speedy said very curtly as he leaned back into the couch.

Mas y Menos poked their heads up from beyond the back of the couch. "¿Como estas, Senior Speedy?", they asked as Mas poked his shoulder curiously.

"Arrowette's…", Bumblebee began, trying to put it delicately. "…A friend of the family.", she said while pointing her thumb at Speedy, the only other archery based hero around at present.

"I know the feeling.", Robin said simply, not betraying any empathy in his voice beyond what his words alone merely gave. "We'll find her.", he said with resolve, looking directly at Speedy.

And as if Robin had been able to communicate to Speedy on an entirely different level… Speedy exhaled through his nose and nodded back. Robin understood him, and understood how he felt. Robin understood what kind of family Speedy hailed from. The message was clear and had been delivered.

And that was good enough for Speedy, for now anyway.

Starfire looked on at Speedy with some concern, then she looked across at Robin and Cyborg, who stood up in front of them all. "What about friend Arrowette?", she asked. "She has come to no harm?"

"Anything's possible with Red X.", Robin said spitefully.

Slade or Brother Blood aside, Red X was arguably Robin biggest and most elusive enemy. And the fact that Robin had created Red X only compounded and magnified his determination to catch the super-thief, as well as his malice towards him.

"But…" Robin paused. "…If Arrowette sent that message, it means she's still alive and Red X hasn't crossed that line yet.", he said with a more gentle consideration. "To date, he's never crossed that line."

That was the thing about Red X. He could steal just about anything, but to date he had never stolen… life. As much as Robin didn't like to admit it, Red X could be a lot worse given his skills and the suit's abilities.

"Yeah. That and… He might still be the only one who knows where she is.", Cyborg added after a beat. "So keep that in mind when we find him and kick some butt.", he said a bit more upbeat.

All the Titans nodded at Cyborg's final note.

Bumblebee stood up. "Alright, then! We're going to Amsterdam." She turned to the rest of her team. "Come on, let's get going."

"Woo hoo! Road trip!", Beast Boy squealed. "What's in Amsterdam anyway?"

Raven leaned over and whispered something into his ear.

Beast Boy's eyes went wide and his lip tight. "Oh.", he said quickly.

-X-

The next day.

Well, despite all the rumors, legends, and jokes about this place… De Wallen, Amsterdam was interestingly lit. Not well lit, but interestingly lit. Shades of whites and oranges, and especially reds, glowed all around and covered anything not deep in shadows a shade of red.

How fitting that Red X had dragged Cissie King-Jones to this place.

Currently, Cissie leaned on her arm and stared out the window at the city below their well-furbished hotel room. She was only trying to distract herself from her own upcoming difficulty, namely her mother coming.

Bonnie King had been the original Miss Arrowette, and after developing carpel-tunnel syndrome and thoroughly discovering she was a terrible hero, retired. Very soon after that, she gave birth to Cissie King-Jones and began raising her daughter to follow in her footsteps. And with Cissie in a laughably ridiculous costume, Arrowette was created again.

"It made you look more like a princess or like a contestant in a children's beauty pageant then a superhero.", Red X had once commented about her first costume. "Seriously, where did your mom find so much glitter?!"

But thanks to Kid Flash and Child Services, that grand vision hadn't lasted long before Bonnie was declared unfit to raise a child.

Fast forward a few years, a first encounter with Red X, a really long story, a few more months, then another frame up involving Red X… And here Cissie King-Jones sat.

"Mom is not gonna like this place…", Cissie said as she stared out the window.

"She doesn't have to." Red X sat in a plush leather chair with his feet perched on the footrest. The remote to the TV rested firmly in his grip as he flipped through the various channels, all speaking a foreign language he didn't understand anyway.

"Why'd we come to this city, of all the cities, again?", Cissie asked as she turned back to X.

X planted his elbow in the arm of the chair and rested his cheek against his loose fist. "Because Le Blanc just so happens to want to rob a museum here. Sounds like the kinda stunt I'd pull just for kicks." He paused then mumbled, "Knockoff."

Then after a few minuets the doorbell rang.

Cissie sighed, got up, and walked over to it. "Well… Here goes." She turned to Red X. "And please try not to be too much of a jerk…"

"No promises.", Red X said cheeringly, happy to be a pain in the end.

Cissie sighed again, took a deep breath, and opened the hotel room's front door…

"Heya!", Kid Flash said as he zoomed through the door in his typical red and yellow blur.

"Oh, look, dear…", Red X said to Arrowette as he picked up a Dutch magazine and pretended to read it. "It's the paper boy, come to tell me what in the world he's doing here before I beat him with a lead pipe." He casually flipped a page.

"No need to be so harsh.", Kid Flash said, as cheeringly as always, as he came to a stop across the room. "I just came to lend Cissie some support. Her mom can be a real whack job sometimes."

"So I've heard…" Red X flipped another page, acting as if he was just as interested in reading a magazine he couldn't read as listening to Kid Flash.

"Thanks, Kid Flash.", Cissie said as she closed the door again and locked it. "X here isn't being a big help.", she said, not disguising any displeasure.

"Hey, do I look like a talk show host?", X defended.

"Alright alright…", Kid Flash held up his hands gently. "Why don't I cook up some popcorn and make some sandwiches? Couldn't hurt."

"Thanks, Scarecrow. I'll help.", Cissie walked into the kitchen as Kid Flash zipped past her.

"I like mine with extra mustard!", Red X called out as he flipped another page.

-X-

"Man, what's with skull-face out there?", Kid Flash asked in his usual up-beat tone as he zipped around the kitchen so fast he seemed to be working at three places at once.

"He can probably hear you, ya know.", Cissie said as she sliced some bread.

"Nope." Kid Flash appeared next to her. "I just checked, he's too busy watching a commercial in Dutch."

"He's probably defensive already.", Cissie said as she worked. "I mean, as soon as my mom comes he'll be the first throat she goes for. Can't say I blame 'em. I'm kinda jumpy too."

Then the doorbell rang again.

"Not expecting anymore superheroes, are we?", Red X said as he finally got off his rump.

"Not that I know of…", Cissie said deflated from the kitchen.

"Well…" Red X said as he marched to the door. "Might as well get this over with." He walked up to the door and pressed his face against the door to look through the peephole.

Through the circular view port, X could clearly see Bonnie King standing outside. Her hair was put up into some sort of messy bun, she had a cigarette in her mouth, and she even wore a sparkling mask over her face…

You gotta be kidding me… "You alone?", he asked through the door.

Outside, Bonnie glanced to her left and to her right. "Yeah. No one's around.", she said seriously, probably taking herself too seriously too.

As Cissie and Kid Flash exited the kitchen and approached, Red X unlocked the door, turned the doorknob, and began to open the door. And as soon as the door was barely open…

An archer's bow swung down and slammed into Red X's masked face.

"Oof!", was what escaped Red X's lips.

Next Bonnie King tackled her way through the doorway and tackled the dizzy Red X to the ground. "Where is she?!", she said as she tried to pres the bow against X's throat.

"Ack!", Red X instantly reached up and try to pry away the bow and the insane woman on top of him. "She's right over there, you moron! Ack! Somebody give me a hand here! Kid Flash!"

"On it!", Kid Flash zipped past the two of them, closed and triple locked the door, zipped back and took Bonnie off of Red X and set her on the couch. Then he zipped back to Red X and ran him over to his chair. Then he grabbed Cissie and set her next to her own mother. Then he ran into the kitchen in a flash, gathered all the food, then zipped around and set all the food neatly on a coffee table in front of the couch and chair. Next he even served drinks, their soda not even getting the chance to fizz before he had set it down and ran off again. Then he darted across the room, grabbed a chair next to a desk, took it over to the rest of the group and had a seat across from the coffee table

Red X, Bonnie King, and Cissie King-Jones were still blinking and trying to figure out where they had just gone by the time Kid Flash took a seat.

"Okay…", Kid Flash said to break the ice. "So… Red X, Bonnie. Bonnie, Red X."

"We've met…", Red X said as he adjusted the cape's grip around his neck.

"Honey!", Bonnie lunged over to her daughter and hugged her tight. "You're alright!"

"Um… I'm fine…", Cissie said weakly as she was squeezed to death. "Will you get off me now…?"

Bonnie let go but held her daughter firm by the shoulders. "How are you? Did he hurt you-" Then she gasped horrified. "What are you doing without your mask on?!"

"Um…" Cissie looked away awkwardly. "About that…"

Bonnie was silent as stone. "He… Knows your secret identity?"

"I can guess her shoe size too.", Red X offered.

"Cissie…", Bonnie said serious yet horrified. "How could you let a supervillain learn your secret identity?"

"Hey, dude, you're a supervillain now. Congratulations!", Kid Flash said as he offered his hand to X to shake. "What're you gonna do now?"

"Thanks, Kid Flash!", Red X said cheerfully as he shook his hand. "I'm gonna steal the Eiffel Tower!"

Kid Flash's eyes shot wide as X continued to happily shake his hand. "Uh…"

"And you!" Bonnie took her talon-like grip off Cissie's shoulder just long enough to point at Kid Flash. "What're you doing here?! You're supposed to be a superhero too!"

"He didn't kidnap me.", Cissie said firmly as she slapped away her mother's remaining grip on her shoulder. "This is all a giant set up to frame Red X and blackmail me. Kid Flash and X are helping me figure it all out."

Bonnie paused. "You're not just saying that because he knows your secret identity are you?"

Red X, laying back in his chair, rolled his eyes. "It's not like I read her diary."

"You don't even know where my diary is!", Cissie yelled to X.

"Bottom of your duffle bag. Labeled 'Math Notes'. Who brings their Math Notes on a trip like this anywhere?", Red X said.

Cissie skipped a beat. Then looked off to the side with crossed arms. "Okay so maybe you do…"

"Look, Miss K…", Kid Flash began. "I know we're not the best of friends… But it's true. I was there." He leaned forward somewhat. "Sure, Red X is a semi-womanizing no-good super-thief…"

"And proud.", X added.

"…but he actually didn't do this crime."

Bonnie was quiet for only a second or so. "So… How did all this happen then?", she said. "What's going on?", she demanded.

"Well…", Red X suddenly stood. "I'm outta here.", he said as he crossed in front of the couch and to the window.

"Where're you going?", Cissie asked.

"Don't need me for story-time. Besides…" He opened the window and stet on foot on the ledge. "I actually came here to get some work done."

Red X fired his X-grapnel and disappeared beyond the window seal, swinging off somewhere outside to somewhere else.

-X-

She yelped and said something in Dutch. She was a decent looking lady; Caucasian skin with blonde hair, and dark bags under here eyes that sure wasn't eyeliner. She wore a tiny red dress and didn't carry a purse with her. And she pressed her back against the corner of the curving dirty alleyway, which she had become so familiar with.

The man that seemed to tower over her was dressed much better, with pressed slacks and a leather jacket. He seemed to be yelling something at her in Dutch.

While fighting off panic and desperate to keep some self-respect, the woman never the less reached into her leather boot and withdrew a wad of money. And she gave wad of crumpled money to the man.

He greedily took it, muttering something else as he counted it.

Suddenly the one light around, a simple lamp next to a backdoor, shattered. And the alleyway behind the man was instantly bathed in pitch and inescapable blackness.

The man instantly turned around upon the shattering sound and stared at where the light had once been, then he jerked his head to look behind him and into the darkness.

A skull materialized inside the darkness and stared back at him.

Before the man could utter a single word, something pulled him quickly and without mercy into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

The woman backed up tighter against the wall as the sounds of a struggle could be heard beyond the darkness of the alley. The soft thud of flesh being beaten echoed once or twice.

And then the man was suddenly ejected from the darkness, thrown really. He flew backwards and hit the ground next to the woman, holding his stomach and gasping for air, which had been wrenched from his lungs. His nose and lips were wet with a thin trail of blood that was only getting wetter.

Then the skull appeared again faintly in the shadows. It approached closer until a figure's shape could barely be seen beyond the shadows; a figure's whose head was that same glaring skull without a lower jaw.

"Looppas.", Red X said firmly to the man. Which roughly meant, "run" in Dutch.

The man got up, yelling a few phrases of gibberish, and pointing at Red X.

Red X moved his cape aside and visibly made a show of clenching his fist.

The man glared again and ran off, metaphorically with his tail between his legs and with wounds to lick.

Red X looked over impassively at the woman who was now on the floor of the alley, still tucked into that tight corner. She was saying something else in Dutch that Red X didn't understand, he only memorized a few words and phrases he thought he'd need.

Red X turned to her and held out his other hand to her. His gloved hand was loosely holding the wad of money, which he had taken from the man during the beating.

She looked up at him confused, then gingerly reached up and snatched the money.

Red X nodded to her then turned on his heel and walked off back into the shadows.

-X-

Later.

Wadda city. Red X perched atop of a rooftop and overlooked the city streets not too far below. Never seen this much eye-candy in one place before. And it'll probably rot your teeth just as quick, too. Red X glanced from one figure on the streets to the other, entertaining himself by people watching. And he had hours to kill before needing to do any real work to find Le Blanc, so why not? Baby, that dress outgrew you years ago.

"X…"

Red X snapped his head around like it was spring loaded, and looked behind him at… Robin.

Robin, leader of the Teen Titans, stood at the other end of the rooftop with his shorter cape draped around his shoulders and arms.

"Well, well… Didn't expect to see you here.", Red X said as he comfortably turned the rest of his body around and faced Robin. "What're you doing in a town like this? Came for the view but stayed for the company?"

"I'm here for you, X.", Robin said seriously yet, somehow, somberly as well.

Red X paused. "Well, Robin, I'm flattered, but…", Red X glanced off to the side. "But I just signed a lease on my new apartment, and that's a commitment I just can't walk away from.", Red X looked back, satisfied with his sarcasm.

"Arrowette.", Robin said.

"Oh.", Red X said differently, with a quiet and disappointed understanding. Then he narrowed his eyes and firmly, and seriously, spoke. "Listen… I've done a lot of things and broke a lot of laws. But not this one. It wasn't me."

"We have you on tape, X." Robin began to step forward, but not in a threatening manor. This was the last chance for negotiations. "I watched you drag her off by the hair."

"It wasn't me!", Red X spat out. And he backed up somewhat against the ledge of the rooftop. "The tape was faked! I was framed."

Robin stood quietly with nothing to say.

"I don't know how yet… And I don't expect you to buy a single word of this.", Red X stated in his defense. "But that's the truth and I ain't going down for something that, for once, I didn't even do. So ya might as well make the first move, Birdy…"

"That's your call.", Robin said. He obviously wasn't energetically happy to finally take down Red X like this. Ideally, Robin wanted to track X down himself, and cuff the thief himself. But… Robin slowly reached into his belt and withdrew a freeze disk, knowing that what had to be done had to be done. "You're under arrest."

"What else is new?" Red X asked. Then he suddenly flipped backwards and dived over the edge of rooftop.

…

"Agh!" Suddenly, with a green flash, Red X was blasted back up onto the rooftop. He landed on the asphalt rooftop with a thud, and picked himself off the floor just in time to see…

Every single Titan.

Robin. Cyborg. Beast Boy. Raven. Starfire. And… Bumblebee. Aqualad. Speedy. Mas. Menos.

The ten superheroes stood in a ring around Red X, spreading out across the rooftop, onto the adjacent rooftops, and the flying members hovering in the air behind him.

"Well…", Red X said as he stood up. "Ain't this just swell…"

"Last chance, X.", Robin said as he held his freeze disk.

"If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that line." And then Red X disappeared, his image blurring and phasing out of focus.

Instantly, Cyborg jumped to a slightly higher elevation and switched the settings on his one mechanical eye. "Raven! Five O'Clock!"

Raven instantly spun around and fired a blast of her dark energy. A materializing Red X was pushed back and skid across the rooftop.

"Ugh… Okay, who's the magician?!", X said as he grunted, getting back up on his feet. 'Least he wasn't surrounded anymore, barely.

"We got you all figured out!" Cyborg shouted out as he pointed to his eye.

"Cyborg's eye can be set to scan on sub-harmonic frequencies.", Bumblebee said smugly as she hovered a bit closer with that annoying buzz of hers. "He can spot you even when you go invisible."

Red X paused. "Bummer." Then he threw up his cape and reached into his belt.

"Titans!", Robin ordered.

Red X threw a smoke bomb at his feet, and a cloud of thick gas erupted around him and disguised him. Then a swarm of some bombs shot forth in every direction, as if at least one was aimed at each superhero.

The rooftop was flooded in smoke and thick gas instantly, with a black shape swiftly darting in and out of the clouds.

"Cyborg! Infrared!", Robin shouted as he held up his freeze disk ready in defense.

"I'm on it!" Cyborg's eye switched to a different shade of red, as his vision was bathed in a sea of blues and reds and yellows. "I think I see him!", Cyborg said as he stared at a figure which darted around low the ground. "He's-" And then all Cyborg saw was a red-hot x flying strait at him.

The warm goo-x had shined red on Cyborg's infrared, a wonderful irony, and then wrapped around his face.

"Agh! I'm out! I'm blind!", Cyborg shouted.

Then Red X materialized in front of Raven, shocking even her. X didn't spare her a pick up line as he slapped an x directly over her forehead, and she had no time utter a spell or send him to another dimension as the x on her head shocked away at her. As X disappeared again into the smoke, Raven fell unconscious to the ground.

"Cyborg! Raven!", Robin shouted into the thick fog. "Titans! On your guard!"

Then a red shuriken spun from the smoke and embedded itself in Robin's utility belt's buckle.

Mas y Menos sputtered something in Spanish as they started running around in a circle, creating a whirlwind to clear away the smoke.

Each Titan looked around the clearing smoke for any sign of X. And there he was. Shrouded by his tattered cape in the middle of the rooftop. The thief held up his hand and fired one last goo-x at the Mas y Menos.

With Mas y Menos spinning around so fast in a whirlwind, the goo quickly entangled them to the rooftop like gum caught in a cotton candy machine. The end result was Mas caked in one clump of goo and Menos knee deep in another.

"Looks like you're in a sticky situation.", Red X smirked to himself, rubbing it in.

Then Starfire tackled him hard from behind and nearly pushed him off the rooftop.

Red X elbowed her in the upper chest, where the collarbones meet and the neck begins, and Starfire coughed while letting him go. X began to fall down the alley below next to the rooftop, and fired a long strand of X-Webbing (because copy write infringement is fun) at Starfire.

The X-Webbing stretched, slowing Red X's fall until he safely landed and stuck his end of the stand of webbing to the alley's brick wall. Then he took off again as fast as he could around the alley corner and further into the bowels of the city.

Starfire was hot on his trail again. But Red X turned right around and stood his ground as she continued to fly at him quickly.

Red X stood.

Starfire soared in determination for justice.

Then the X-webbing he stuck to her and the wall went taunt.

Starfire found herself halted just two feet away from Red X as the material stretched.

Red X waved. "Beep beep", he said of the Roadrunner.

Then the elastic X-webbing pulled Starfire away quickly, making her hit and scrape against brick walls as she disappeared down the alleyways.

Red X heard the buzz of Bumblebee approaching, and quickly disappeared just before the ground he was standing on was burnt with a blaze of yellow lightning-like blasts.

-X-

"So… Awesome sandwiches.", Kid Flash awkwardly, hoping to break the ice again.

It had been mostly quiet ever since Red X left. They had nibbled on the snacks, except for Kid Flash who had devoured half the table. Bonnie sat back with her arms crossed; staring off at the ceiling while Cissie sat and leaned on the couch's armrest, as if ashamed.

"Didn't stick to the roof of my mouth or- …or anything?", Kid Flash looked up at the two girls sadly. "Come on you two. Ya gotta say something."

There was another pause of silence, before Bonnie spoke without looking. "How can you be okay with this? A supervillain knows your secret identity!"

Cissie said nothing.

"Hey… Take it easy, alright?", Kid Flash offered.

"He could kidnap you, ransom you to any number of villains!", Bonnie continued.

"Don't you think I thought of that already?", Cissie somberly but seriously replied.

Bonnie slowly looked over. "He could blackmail you into never stopping him from doing a crime. Star City could be robbed blind and you couldn't lift a finger!"

Cissie continued to stare at the floor while leaning on the armrest, closed off and somber. "I know."

"He knows where you live." Bonnie touched her own chest with her hallowed hand. "He knows where I live!"

"I know.", Cissie said.

"Probably knows more then that…", Kid Flash muttered to himself.

"Then how can you sleep at night?! How can you be so at ease?!", Bonnie leaned over and demanded of Cissie.

"Wasn't easy at first.", Cissie said as she hunched over further, staring with heavy brows at the floor.

"Then- Then- What, Cissie?! What is wrong with you?!", Bonnie said.

"Hey, easy now.", Kid Flash spoke up but was ignored.

"How can you not care if he knows who you are?! How can you be okay?! Didn't you listen to a thing I taught you?!" Bonnie paused. "How are you okay?"

"Because…" Cissie slowly sat up strait and looked strait into her mother's eyes. "I trust him."

-X-

Red X ran. And he turned he back fisted whoever was behind him, which happened to be Aqualad. Next he dived and tucked into a roll, knowing an attack would happen soon enough.

He came up and fired an x of some kind at Robin, who's bird-a-rang Red X had just dodged with his roll.

"How can you trust him?", Bonnie asked from back at the hotel.

Red X was hit with a net from one of Speedy's arrows, and was thrown back against an alley wall.

"He steals things, he lies to people, he's a no-good dirty thief!", Bonnie said.

"I know that too.", Cissie said firmly. "But I've lost count of how many times he saved MY life. He saved Jump City twice!"

X fired blasts from both his hand and quickly blasted away Robin and Aqualad through the netting. Then he put his hands together and fired another blast through the net at Speedy, who had been standing on a rooftop ledge above.

"But didn't he say the only reason he was helping was because you owed him and he couldn't collect if you- were… six feed under…?", Kid Flash said. "I'm not helping, am I?"

Red X tumbled into the streets with a big green wolf on his chest.

"Well, yeah… But…", Cissie admitted.

He kneed the wolf in the chest then slammed his elbow against its snout before he could roll it off. The wounded wolf yelped and turned back into Beast Boy's human form.

"I think he was lying.", Cissie stated.

Red X rolled up and stood up slowly… His costume was scuffed and his cape had at least one new tatter. He slowly rose and barely squared his shoulders as the Red Light District's red lights bathed over him…

"I think…", Cissie tried to speak. "I think he's afraid to admit he's a good person deep down."

Red X stood proud but tired while a few Titans crept out of the allies and gathered in front of him.

"Why in the world would he do that?", Bonnie said, sarcastic as if the mere idea that Red X was decent was laughable.

"Because-! Because, I…"

People on the streets looked up in awe. Businessmen and tourists. Women and children wearing much less then they should.

"I trust him I guess…"

Red X slowly narrowed his eyes and clenched one fist.

"Oh do you? Do you really, Cissie?!", Bonnie asked condescending.

And so they stood… All bathed in a wash of red light…

"Yes…", Cissie said.

Red X glared. "It wasn't me."

"With my life.", Cissie said firmly and proudly.

Red X charged.

-X-

Later.

Red X ran through an old battered building, but no less evacuated then your average hotel. "S'cuse me! Pardon! Didn't see a thing, miss! Get out of my way!!!"

Suddenly large metallic arms busted through the thin wall and grabbed up Red X. X was pulled through the wall, creating a bigger hole in the process, and suddenly X found himself being held by none other then Cyborg.

He no longer had any of the goo-x on his face. "Nice trick with the goo stuff back there. But I'm gonna have kick your butt now.", he said in a semi-cheerful manor as he tried to maneuver Red X into a sleeper hold.

Red X only fought the hold with one hand around his arm, which should have been Cyborg's first warning, as X's other hand reached into his belt. "Ack! You'll forgive me if I'm not too keen on that!" X reached up and slapped a disk against the side of Cyborg's head.

The disk began sending out sporadic electromagnet pulses, and Cyborg felt his entire body twitch and malfunction as a result.

X slipped out of his grip as the disk scrambled his circuits, knowing Cyborg's life-support was likely shielded or durable enough to withstand the sporadic pulses without any major failure.

Red X stood and watched the twitching and sparking Cyborg. "Go Go Gadget spaz-dance.", he commented before turning his back and running from the malfunctioning hunk of flesh and mechanics.

And no sooner did X take a step, and then did a swirl of yellow and green energy burst through the wall and impact Red X.

"Agh!" Red X was thrown out the window by the blast, and before he could instinctively fire a grapnel, his thin young body impacted stomach first against the top of a street lamp hard with a sickening crack. X felt all the air and life fly out of his chest, and he fell limp onto the roof of a car below.

"Ya think we got 'em?", Bumblebee said as she emerged from the broken wall inside the building, holding both her electrified B-shaped stringers.

"Cyborg! Are you damanged?", Starfire said as she flew past Bumblebee and inspected the twitching Cyborg. "Must we… make a garbage disposal of you?", she said, oblivious to the phrase's meaning.

"I'll… erk! Be fine…", Cyborg grunted in between sparking, electrified twitches.

Move… Red X's head felt light, and clouded. His entire body throbbed like never before. His head hurt, but not nearly as much as it hurt to breath. You don't have time to feel bad! He grunted loudly and forced his eyes open. "Agh….!", he slowly moaned as he clenched his fingers and contorted his legs in pain.

He forced himself to feel over his chest, and he felt broken Kevlar panels under the suit's outer-most layer of Nomex. He pushed gently against the broken panels, directly over the sources of his pain, and the pain intensified. "Agh!" He winced and gritted his teeth under the mask. Ribs broken? Maybe… Gotta move…

He tucked his arms next to his injured side and slowly began to roll off the car. Be here soon… They'll be here soon.

Red X rolled off the car and cruelly hit the sidewalk. "Oof! Ugh… Someone put me out of my misery…!"

"The Red X! He must have been struck out the window." Starfire's voice somehow pierced the cloud of fog and pain that seemed to fill X's head.

X had barely even noticed the crowd of usual Amsterdam bystanders back away, yet still stare curiously from down and from across the street. He just knew that the Titans were seconds away. Desperation forced him to reach into his belt and slap an X against the pavement underneath the car.

Then he just moved. He didn't care if it was crawling or running, all he knew was he had to wince, swallow the burning pain in his chest, and somehow move away from the car and into the alleyway.

"There he is!", Bumblebee shouted from above as Red X held his chest.

X retreated further into the alley as Bumblebee flew down.

BOOM!

A ball of flame erupted from underneath the car and consumed the car's fuel tank, further allowing the blast to grow.

Bumblebee was thrown away by the concussion of the blast.

X clenched and leaned against a trashcan in the alley as the blast went off. He looked back at the flaming car. AGH! Then X threw his head up and clenched his teeth. Can't move like that! Ribs… Worry about it later… Everyone lived. Keep moving! Red X lowered his head in a hiss and kept limping off. Keep moving!

-X-

Cissie was holding herself lightly, arms crossed and hands holding the other shoulder. Her body language was a strange contortion of shame. But her face was a different story. She looked up at her mother with tired but unrelenting eyes, with heavy brows crooked into a glare and a firm upper lip. She was tired, vulnerable, and completely at mercy to the powers that be and to the thief who she knew nothing of. But… She was not backing down.

Her mother sat on the other end of the couch, tense. Her hands up and fingers clenched into claws, a gesture from her previous sentence that she had yet to relax. "How-", Bonnie sputtered, tripping on her own words. "How… How can you even- Grr… How can you trust him?!", she spat out after finally coming to grips with the mere thought of it.

"I don't know. But I do.", Cissie said firmly again.

"I do to…", Kid Flash spoke up sheepishly.

Bonnie looked over to Kid Flash with a confused eyebrow raised high up.

"If Cissie trusts him… Then so do I." Kid Flash was leaning over, forearms resting on his knees. "He can't be that bad a guy, can he?"

"Well…" Cissie let go of herself and glanced off to the side. "I wouldn't trust him with my wallet maybe…" She looked back to Kid Flash and her mother. "But I trust him."

"If he's so trust-worthy, then why…" Bonnie paused. "Why say he was only helping you so he could collect on what you owed him?"

"I don't know…", Cissie said with a sigh. She pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

"Maybe he likes everyone thinking he's a bad guy.", Kid Flash suggested.

"Maybe he's just insane…", Bonnie muttered under her breath.

"Maybe… He tried to play the hero once… and it didn't turn out so well.", Cissie offered aloud.

There was a silence.

Maybe that was it… Maybe not.

-X-

"Where is he?!", Speedy demanded as he ran up to Bumblebee, who was picking herself up off the ground.

"I'm fine…", Bumblebee said sarcastically unamused. "Thanks for asking."

"Any word?!", Robin asked as he swung down from the rooftops and landed on the red-light bathed streets with everyone else, his grapnel retracting after he landed.

"X went down that alley." Bumblebee pointed to the alley Red X had escaped down while rubbing her head. "I think he's hurt."

"Good.", Speedy muttered as he rushed over to the burning car and the alleyway's mouth, already cocking an arrow into his bow.

But before he could pass the blasted car, suddenly something swooped down from high up in the alley. Hanging on a thin wire, the Red X and his unmistakable tattered cape swung overhead.

"Got'cha!" Speedy spoke quickly as he pulled the arrow and let it go.

The arrow flew strait as always, and it's arrowhead blade cut strait through the thin wire.

"Speedy, no!", Robin cried as Red X feel strait down to earth below.

Bumblebee turned her face and closed her eyes with a cringe just before X smashed into the street with a… metallic crashing sound? Like that of banging pots and pans?

"Uh… Bee?", Speedy beckoned.

Bumblebee opened here eyes and looked. "What the…?

Red X's tattered cape lay on the ground, among a giant pile of garbage, a very dented trash can, and a trash can lid that slowly rolled away on it's side. The wire, nothing more then an old cloth line, was draped over the mess in a messy pattern after it too fell from the sky.

Robin glared at the mess. "That's not X."

"We were duped!", Speedy cried.

"Again?!", Bumblebee cried as she pulled at the buns on her head.

-X-

"Agh! Ugh… Side hasn't hurt this much since I tried out for a sponsorship from MTV." Red X limped down another alley, seriously wondering if his ribs were broken. He had sacrificed his tattered cape for use in a great decoy, it had allowed him just enough time to move just far enough away.

Stealth gone, his suit was too damaged to disappear. Kevlar panels in chest cracked, broken. Hurts to breath. Lots of shuriken left, but running low on special X-weapons. And his shoes were scuffed.

Red X exited from one alley way and stepped foot onto a dirty side street off a main highway in Amsterdam. If that's what you call these kinda roads in Amsterdam.

X's next move was to take out his grey communicator and call Arrowette, or maybe even Kid Flash, for back up. It was one of the only moves he had left at this rate, his ribs felt like burning hot fire against every nerve ending in his chest.

But then Red X noticed a dirty puddle on the ground abnormally drift and pull in one direction, as if fighting gravity and being pulled to another direction. Aqualad. Aqualad and his aquakensis, the ability to move water.

And here X was without his jell-o packs. Aqualad would be here soon.

Then a car horn beeped and X's head shot up. "…Wha now?"

An old white car pulled up, and a door to the back seat opened up.

Inside, Red X could see a scantly dressed woman with brunette hair in the back seat, screaming something in Dutch and desperately calling X into the car.

"Lady… I don't know what you're saying, but I like how you're saying it!" X ran over to the car as fast as he could with his chest on fire with each breath. He held his side and hunched low as he ran awkwardly.

"X! Hold it!", Aqualad yelled from down the alley.

Red X didn't bother to reply; he just jumped into the backseat with the scantly dressed brunette, practically falling into her lap at the possibility of a safe haven.

The car revved and pulled away before X could even get his feet in the car and closes the door. But soon enough, Aqualad was riding on a wave of water he had summoned from some bad plumbing or an open sewage drain.

"Got you now, X!" Aqualad and his speeding wave of water lunged forward, and as water splashed against the car, Aqualad clung to the open door frame and peeked into the car to see…

Red X, held by the scantly dressed brunette, holding up his palm with a glowing crimson x in the center. "When in Amsterdam!", he said just before blasting right in Aqualad's face.

Aqualad was blasted away and landed on the dirty streets before the white car pulled onto the main highway, Red X pulling the rest of him self in and closing the door.

Red X took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he leaned over the door after closing it. His ribs still burned, but it was hilarious to blast Aqualad like that. Too bad it hurt to laugh.

Eventually X heard more muttering in Dutch, all female voices. X turned around and got a good look at who exactly saved his butt.

The brunette next to him was scantly dressed in black leather and waved with a smile. A redhead was driving and looked like the firm and dominating kinda woman, but seemed to look back and smile at Red X when she took her eyes off the road. And the woman in the front passenger seat was a blonde in a tiny red dress.

The blonde in particular was turned around and paying the most attention to X, saying something in Dutch with a wide smile.

"Wait… I know you. You're the broad from earlier?"

Something else in Dutch.

"Yeah… It's you…" Red X laid back in his seat, fairly sure he was roughly safe for now.

The brunette placed a hand on his chest, and X winced. The blonde muttered something comforting in Dutch, then pointed back and forth between her and X.

"Yeah… I helped you, you helped me.", Red X said with a slight wince, then he forced himself to try and relax. "We're even, sweet cheeks." He nodded at her, and she smiled.

-X-

Later.

"So… You're really sure about this, are you?", Bonnie said, still in her seat on the couch, with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. "You're gonna trust Red X to help you out of this mess?"

"Yeah… I am. Besides, I got Scarecrow here to help out.", Cissie said with a smile and pointed a crooked thumb at Kid Flash, who in tern smiled and lean back in his seat.

Bonnie reached into her purse, withdrew another cigarette and lighter, and began to light up again. "Well… If you ask me…", she said while holding her hand up to the flame, cigarette already in her mouth, and she lit her cig. "I think it's a dumb idea. And I'd like to help, but since I didn't raise you to be an idiot, and because of Kid Flash's restraining order against me…" She glanced a glare over to Kid Flash. "…I'll trust you, and stay out of it."

Cissie was frankly surprised.

"Just at least give me updates! Alright?", Bonnie said while looking at her daughter with lit and smoking cigarette in her mouth. "I just want to know if you're alright.", she said promptly.

"Fair enough…", Cissie admitted.

There was an awkward silence as Bonnie shrugged a little, pushing an awkward comment to her mouth to speak. "I still love you, you know."

"I know.", Cissie said and looked off uncomfortably. "I love you too."

Kid Flash sniffled a little.

"What's with you?", Cissie asked.

"Just, ya know, kinda sweet. That's all.", Kid Flash confessed.

That's when the front door to the hotel opened suddenly. Bonnie and Cissie both jumped up in surprise, Kid Flash was already thinking faster then a computer and quickly got board at that speed and wanted to know who it was already.

It was Red X, standing in the open doorway. His cape was missing, and his costume was scuffed and torn. His shoulders hunched and an arm around his rib cage.

X paused only for a second, with a recurring twitch in his left eye, before he slammed the door closed behind him.

Everyone was quiet for a second.

"X…?", Cissie spoke up. "You look like he-"

"I'm going to bed now…!", Red X cut her off with an triumphant announcement. "If anyone needs me… I'll be up in a week." Then he leaned over to one side and began to swagger his way to one of the hotel room's bedrooms.

"Hold up, just a moment!", Bonnie said and rushed to him.

Red X snapped his head around, pointed a finger in Bennie's face, and screamed, "BED!!!" After a silent pause from everyone, X withdrew his hand and spoke softly. "I've… Had a very rough night, everyone…"

Then X turned again, and collapsed on the ground.

-X-

Later.

"Feeling better, now?", Cissie asked through the bedroom door.

"Yeah… Come on in.", Red X said from beyond the door.

Cissie opened the door gingerly, and her and Kid Flash peeked their heads in.

Red X sat on the foot of the bed. His belt was off but lay carefully next to him on one side. On the other side was a small mountain of bandages and medical supplies. Several of those bandages and swabs were red with drying blood.

"Mom left…", Cissie said as she slowly entered, Kid Flash meekly followed. "What happened, X?"

"Yeah, man." Kid Flash zipped from behind Cissie to the other side of the room. "What happened to you?!"

"It was an set-up…", Red X muttered as he snatched up his belt with a slight yank.

"A what?", Cissie asked taking another step.

"A set-up!", Red X yelled at Cissie. Then he hung his head low and buckled his belt around his waist. "It was a set-up.", he said, softer this time.

"What was?", she asked.

"This whole thing. Amsterdam. I went out to look for Le Blanc. He'd have to soften up a target before breaking in, or at least case the joint." X turned and gathered up his bloody bandages. "What every good thief does…"

Then X stood up, holding a wad of bloodied bandages. "But instead! Do I find Le Blanc? Nooooooo." He walked forward and passed Cissie. "Instead, I get attacked by every Titan! East and West!" He ranted as he walked into the bathroom attached to that bedroom.

"Whoa, wait.", Kid Flash said as he zipped over next to Cissie and watched with her as X entered the bathroom. "Teen Titans and Titans East?"

"That's right, Zippo!", Red X said as he threw the pile of bandages into a small metal trashcan. "Every single one!", he knelt and punched the wad deeper into the trashcan. "They came here looking for you." Red X looked over to Cissie.

"Me?", Cissie said.

"That's right. So either Le Blanc or Ross Malverk tipped them off to us being here and this is a set-up, a trap…" Red X stood up and reached to the ceiling, grabbing the smoke detector. "OR me and your loud-mouthed mommy are gonna have words!" Red X yanked the smoke detector off the wall, and began to disassemble it in a less-then-gentle manor. "But to be fair…" He threw the major components to the detector in the trashcan as well. "It probably wasn't dear 'ol Mother."

Both Cissie and Kid Flash had gathered at the doorway.

"…What are you doing?", Kid Flash asked after a pause and pointed at the metal trashcan.

"Destroying evidence.", Red X replied matter-of-factly as he withdrew a small laser torch from his utility belt, and used it to light fire to the bandages in the trash can. Then he deactivated and put away the torch before setting the flaming trashcan in the bathtub.

Cissie stared as the growing flames that perked out of the trashcan's rim, knowing the flames were fed by Red X's very own blood, and sweat…and maybe tears. His very blood, spilt by people who meant to protect her. Sweat that had trickled down his body as he ran for his life and his freedom. How many yelps of agony as he examined and closed whatever wounds they had given him?

So much of Red X's very essence, the only proof Cissie had ever seen that Red X truly was human, truly alive, an actual person in the suit… Burning away into nothingness, erased from existence forever. Up in smoke.

Red X stood outside of the bathtub, silently looming and standing over the burning trashcan. And suddenly Cissie realized how very fragile and human he was underneath that suit.

And if even Red X could bleed…

"We need to leave Amsterdam.", she said.

He'd saved her life so many times she lost count. He was always one step ahead of her. She could only hope to catch him someday.

She was just a rookie, and he was a professional. A master thief.

And yet…

He could bleed.

And if Red X could bleed… What could happen to her?

Cissie snapped back up to attention, finished with her inner meditations, and saw both Kid Flash and Red X staring at her. She mentally slapped her own face and stared more resolved at X. "They'll be looking all over for us. Right, X?"

X nodded. "Got that right. Gather your things, get rid of what you can't, and get ready to get out quietly."

Red X reached over to the bathtub faucet, and poured cold water into the burning flame. The flame extinguished in a burst of steam and smoke. Then he turned off the water, left the trashcan there to smolder, and scooted Kid Flash and Cissie aside so he could leave the bathroom.

"And help me wipe everything down to get rid of fingerprints…", X said with a sigh of the tedious job.

Cissie watched X carefully as he passed by her.

And she hoped none of them, not her or Red X or Kid Flash, would have to bleed anymore before this was over.

………………………………………………………………………………...

Author's Note: First off, let me apologize for how long it took me to update this. I got sidetracked and sucked dry by real life, then distracted by other creative ideas. I'm hoping now I can get my rear in gear and get back on track with Twice A Thief. It's now officially only a third of the way complete.

I hope you liked the little montage thing I tried, with Cissie's and co's dialogue posted over Red X's and co's actions. Little trick I picked up from Cinema that I thought I'd give it a try here. I also put a lot of symbolism into this chapter.

Almostinnocent: What are you? A teacher? Ha ha. No hard feelings actually. I admit I can be sorta dyslexic with the way I write, switching letters and, sometimes, entire words. Either Microsoft Word or I usually catch it, but sometimes stuff slips through.

Riana1: A lot of this globetrotting was to meet your request. And yes, in the next chapter, both Cissie and Red X will wear a beret.

KF fan: One of my side goals of this story was to be a sorta prologue to Lightspeed for Kid Flash. "I work alone these days. You got a nice place. Very…secret-lair." I wanted to show Kid Flash discovering the additional abilities of his powers. And he's totally gonna kick some major $$ with them at the end of the story. Kid Flash fans, stay tuned!

And to all you car lovers out there… You're in for a real treat next chapter, and I'm really excited about it. I'll give you a hint: What has four-wheel drive, 16 cylinders, 20-inch wheels, and a bulletproof gearbox?

Answer: Red X's new ride…