Red X
Ch03
Another long night in a dark, musty cave with the only light being the shimmer of computer screens. Bruce Wayne works tirelessly to understand one thing. "Red X. I thought I had him figured out." He mumbles to himself. "But that person I fought last night was far too inexperienced." He remembers back to the fight on the roof he had last night. "He was far too sloppy. Could someone like that have the ability to breach the Batcave security?" "Perhaps this Red X was not the same one who took your suit sir." Alfred delivers Wayne a coffee. "That could be it." Wayne wonders. "I was assuming that this was the work of one criminal but perhaps this is the work of two. A master thief and a fall guy who distracts anyone chasing them. That would explain his lack of ability." "In that case wouldn't Richard and Kyle Jeffries be the prime suspects?" "Richard Jeffries doesn't have the physical ability to do what it would take to get into the Batcave. His son however just might." "Pre haps the Jeffries hired another to take on the role of the wild goose?" "It's possible." Wayne looks over the security tapes he took from the night before. "But I don't think so."
Eventually Wayne decides to take some time out on the streets to attend to a currently neglected Gotham city. It is at this time that by pure chance that the Batman catches a glimpse of a familiar reporter walking down into the subway station. She is fallowed a short time later by a taller male pursuer in a large with a hat that covers his face and a black coat. Batman sneaks into the the subway after them.
The man approaches Penny Turman, aka Melissa Devons. She turns to him and sets down a briefcase on the ground beside them. The two talk and the the man picks up the briefcase and begins to walk away after she is out of sight. He turns into a large black figure. "Batman." The man says as he steps back but Batman has him by the shirt. "What's in the case?" He asks when he sees that the man he's holding is Kyle Jeffries. "It's private." Jeffries responds defiantly and without changing his steely expression. "We'll see." Batman takes the case and goes to pry it open but he's tackled by Jeffries. "Are you trying to steal my dads work too?" He asks as he battles down the Batman. Batman is easily abel to knock him off. "As expected." Batman tells himself. "You can't fight." Jeffries pulls out a gun. "Get away from here." He clenches the briefcase to his chest. "I wont let you take my fathers work like that thief did." "Thief?" Batman asks. "She broke into my fathers workplace and stole very valuable work from his office. He neglected to put it away safely but that was because of someone shaking him up earlier on. We finally tracked her down last night and I opted to make the switch." "What did you give her in return?" "Classified." "I see." Batman turns and leaves without another word.
The strain is starting to get to Wayne's head. He acted rashly and without thinking and now one of the suspects knows he is watching him. The dark knight of Gotham is not a person so easily thrown off of his game but anyone can become frustrated when they can't do what they do best. That's why Wayne is now drowning his emotions in a new way, being with friends. "I can't believe you actually took some time off of your schedule to hang out with a couple of kids." Sullivan slurps up a soda as she and Arkham walk along the billionaire. He'd ran into the two of them while he was out on a walk. "I'm not that old." Wayne tells her. "Besides, you two are going to a homeless shelter for volunteer work. I might as well give something back to Gotham, aside from a couple of bucks." "Will that affect your playboy status?" Sullivan asks with a smirk. "If you show people you have a soul they may loose interest in you. Just saying." "Guess we'll just have to find out."
The three of them are surprisingly able to work at the homeless shelter for quite a while without incident or sight of the media looking for a money shot. "I'm surprised no one can tell it's me." Wayne says as he brings a big empty, barrel sized, bowl of soup into the back. "Must be the glasses and lack of armani." Arkham tells him as he passes him a full bowl to lug back. A man yells out in anger as he tosses his soup on the ground. "Are you trying to poison me with this S#!+!?" He asks Sullivan who goes to back up but the man grabs her by the wrist and keeps her from pulling back. He grabs a shard of his broken soup bowl and reaches high in the air to stab Sullivan. Wayne gets ready to defend her but Arkham's already rushing down towards them. He jumps over the desk and grabs the mans arm before he can bring down the weapon. Arkham twists the arm, making the man let go of both the broken shard and Sullivan's arm and then he slams the mans face into the counter. "Don't try to move or I'll break your arm." Arkham tells the man who struggles for a moment before giving in. The mess is cleaned up, the man is picked up and taken into custody since there where drugs found in his clothing and everyone goes home at the end of the day.
When Wayne gets home he goes straight to his cave. "Is everything alright sir?" Alfred asks him. "I think I may have misjudged Alex Arkham." Wayne tells him as he pulls up all of the files he has on the boy. "I ran into him and Charlotte Sullivan ad we where working at a homeless shelter when a man attacked Charlotte." "I assume that Batman made an appearance." "No, but I think Red X might have." Wayne explains. "Before I could move Alex was already moving in to save her. He showed an impressive degree of control and took down a man nearly twice his size. He does have a small history of self defence classes but nothing to that extent. I was ready to abandon my theories about him but this breaks that idea wide open again." "Will you be investigating master Alex in more detail?" "Later. Right now I have a more likely lead." Wayne starts suiting up. "Alex is a regular civilian. If he has the knowledge he doesn't have the tools to break into the Batcave. Charlotte could help him with that but it would be something I could easily track through her company's records. Jeffries has the money and people to cover for him. He also has reasons for hiring someone to wear a suit and start killing off criminals. This whole thing could be a cover so he can steal from other companies and take out his competition. I'll be going after him soon." "I shall prepare the victory parade sir." Alfred smiles politely. "Don't call it a victory just yet." "I don't know for sure who Red X is yet, and that doesn't happen often. For all I know I could be completely wrong about Alex but right now I have no other choice but to expect everyone." The alarm sounds on Wayne's computer. "It seems that there is an emergency sir." Alfred alerts Wayne and the Batman gets to work.
It's amazing what you find in Gotham. A signal for a routine heist in a major company like the one Jeffries owns could end up being a laughing gas filled death trap or a flying bird bomb. Tonight is no different, except this night there are no explosions or maniacal faces waiting on the roof of the building when Batman reaches it, but a blood coloured X. "Red X." Batman says as he looks up at the cloaked criminal who is sitting on top of the building's sign as if he was waiting for someone, and they just arrived. "Took ya long enough Bruce…Oh, sorry. Batman. We gotta keep our secrets, right?" X hops off of the sign. "What are you doing?" Batman asks. "The last time we where in this position it didn't turn out so well for you." "A veil of Xenothium and a tumble with Gotham's finest of the finest all in one night and getting away without a scratch isn't going well? Something's wrong with you Batsy." The two of them wait in silence for a moment. "Aren't you going to make a move?" Batman asks. "You where pretty eager the other night." "I know what you're doing." X chuckles. "You're absolutely convinced that it's someone new under this swanky mask huh?" "You tell me." Batman motions for a smoke bomb. "Love to." Red X says, holding out a hand. "But can't." A line springs out from his wrist and Batman dodges to the side before it can wrap around him. The string snaps back into place inside the wrist of X's suit. "If I tell you who I am or give you any more hints then the fun will be all over." Red X backs away in time to dodge an uppercut from Batman and he goes to deliver his own attack which is dodged in kind. "So, tell me Bats. Why do you have such a grudge against me? Cause I stole your gear?" Red X asks as he dodges the dark knights attacks. "Is it that I steal? That I kill people? The way I smell? Are you angry because my A$$ looks better in bullet proof armour than yours?" Batman knocks X to the ground and goes in for a shot to the head but Red X defends with the guards on his wrists, extending the X marks into blades and cutting at Batman, taking a piece of his right arm and knocking him off. "Or is it because you can't figure out who the hell I am? Am I the quiet son of a mad billionaire wanting to control the underground? Or am I the son of an insane asylum owner out for revenge against the world? Maybe I'm a rich girl with thrill seeking issues. Could I be a reporter who lost her family to crime and am now just trying to scrape any piece of my life together that I possibly can by lashing out at this cruel cruel world!? I could just be a hired thug. Has it ever occurred to you that I may be none of the above? I may just be someone who just happened to show up when you dropped your Bat keys and found some new toys." "No normal person could make it into the Batcave alone. It would have to be someone incredibly intelligent." "More intelligent than you?" X asks. "Are you holding a grudge because I might just have outsmarted you? No. That's not your style. You want to take me in so no one I kill will end up being the parents of a sad little kid. you're too late for that. I've already killed a girls parents and I've already gone way over the line you've drawn up for me." Batman tosses smoke bombs and tries to use them for cover. "I can't see!" Red X calls out as he easily dodges some of Batman's Batarangs. "At least I wouldn't be able to see without inferred in my helmet." X gets hit with one of the Batarangs and falls to the floor. "I'm working so hard because I want my suit back." Batman says as he picks X up off the ground by his cape. "Nice excuse." Red X chuckles. "You do this because you like it. Because you're insane. The death of your parents sent you bonkers and now you take it out on criminals because they are your targets. You're like a serial murderer will target children because they're easy or the homeless because people are less likely to notice. But you stop before you kill so you're better than them, right?" X knees Batman in the stomach but the knee is caught. It's only a feint and X grabs Batman by the head and flips him over his shoulder and off of the building. He goes for his utility belt but Red X stole it and he is now free falling.
Red X comes flying after Batman and catches him, swinging them both to the nearest building top and dropping Batman on its roof but Batman grabs hold of Red X's cape before he's to far away, causing them both to fall. Batman has his belt back and sends a flurry of Batarangs at X, who is too off guard to defend and gets tackled by the Bat. Red X moves his head to the side in time to avoid a punch to the face that seemed to damage the roof beneath them then he kicks Batman off of him but the dark knight grabs the legs and swings Red X, tossing him. X uses the time he has before the fall to launch his own counter attack and a blizzard of flying X's spring from under his cape. Each of them explodes around the dark knight and leave him blinded. He raises his arm just in time to block off a blade that Red X has. The blade is the same he used to slash Batman's arm earlier. He extends the one on the other side as well and the two exchange slashes and blocks. "This is bad." Batman tells himself inside of his mind. "He's stronger than I am. But I've fought stronger."
Red X tries to kick Batman's face but Batman grabs his ankle and tries to flip him over his shoulder and into the roof but X flips out of it and spins Batman, making him let go. Next, Batarangs and flying X's spark against each other in mid air and fall harmlessly to the ground. X spin kicks Batman and the force of the kick sends him sliding across the surface of the rooftop. X then tosses four flying X's, two of which burst into a cloud of smoke and the other two Batman deflects, not noticing that there is a hidden pair underneath which connect with his legs and become a sticky red liquid which holds the dark knight in place. "I win this round." X stands triumphantly as he turns to leave but throws his cape up just in time to deflect three projectiles. "Nightwing." He says as he faces the original boy wonder. "Look like I got here just in time." Nightwing looks over the battle scene. "Sorry, but I don't have time to play Grayson." Red X tosses him a small sphere which explodes into light. "Flash bomb!" Nightwing yells out and shields his eyes as he tracks down X. Red X is making a break for the side of the rooftop and Nightwing charges after him. X jumps of the roof, spinning around and tossing a few more X's to delay Nightwing before flashing a peace sign and pressing something on his belt and disappearing. "Teleportation?" Nightwing asks. "Invisibility." Batman corrects him. "And a whole lot more power than the last fight. He's definitely a different person than the last time." "Or someone who's good at faking a loss." Nightwing suggests as he tosses Batman a small hand held laser cutter which he uses to get free of the red goop. "No. This guy was simply on a different level. The last one was going all out and this one was even holding back." Batman informs his old partner. "He's also much stronger than me." "Think I should stick around?" Nightwing asks. "No. I'll bring in someone else to help me with this one. You still have your own battles to fight." "Just call if you need anything." Grayson waves and takes off.
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