RedX Ch04

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HumanX

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Edited By HumanX

Red X

Ch04

Batman will go to Jeffries and threaten to bring him in for the Twoface thing. Red X blows up one of his bases as a retaliation, making him believe that Jeffries son may be X.

Bruce Wayne delivers a swift kick to an innocent training dummy. He concentrates harder on the form of his kick as he tries to further perfect his already lethal technique. Alfred brings him a tall glass of water and a small grouping of papers. "The information you requested, sir." He hands them to Wayne who flips through the papers while taking a drink. "Thank you, Alfred." He gives him back the files and the empty glass. Alfred steps back to allow his implorer more room to train. "I assume you will be getting involved in mr.Jeffries illegal dealings." "That's right." Wayne switches to punches. "I'll be needing some thicker gear that doesn't weigh me down." "I assume that our black and red cloaked friend will be joining your late night antics." "That's what I'm hoping for." Wayne says as he rams his fists into the poor training dummy. "Jeffries is using some of his connections with some of the Gotham underworld to smuggle illegal drugs into the city from his operations back home. Tonight is a sea side job. My first priority s to take out the drug dealers but I would like to get my hands on Jeffries as well." "And Red X is involved in drugs?" Alfred asks. "No." Wayne finishes off the dummy. "Red X isn't my main priority right now. Jeffries is dealing with criminals who have ties with Twoface. He's probably in on it and he takes priority." "I will have your suit pressed for the occasion." Alfred tells him.


The operation begins. Batman has been staking out the meeting spot for the past four hours and the boat has finally arrived. There is a spark of light from one of the crew members on board and another from a small truck sitting on shore. Six men get out of the truck, one of which being Twoface, and they walk up to meet several other men coming from the boat. One of the men holds out a suitcase which is exchanged for another suitcase held by Twoface. "It's a pleasure doing business with you." One of the men says nervously. "I'm certain it is." Twoface looks into the case and pulls out some keys from it. "There's twenty thousand in the case and we got the stuff onboard." The man tells him. "I can call my men out to load it up for you." "Take your time." Twoface tells him, flipping his coin nonchalantly. The men are called out and start to load cases onto Twoface's truck. "I guess this stuff really works." Twoface says as he observes the men carrying out extremely heavy cases as if they where nothing. "This stuff's supposed to me some sort of wonder drug?" "Yes sir." The man says shakily. "Each of my men've been breathing in the stuff this whole time so they all got some form of the effects. Mostly just made them stronger though." "Perhaps I should consider giving it to my men." "I wouldn't recommend it. The stuff's made with Zenothion." "Xenothium?" "Yeah, that. It's supposed to be unstable. My men ain't even allowed to go near it unless they use the anti drugs to stop it from deteriorating them to dust." "It's not like you can't always find new men with no futures and a lot of time on their hands. Have you checked your local high schools?"


Out of sight one of the men from the boat is knocked unconscious and his cargo stolen. Batman cracks the case open to find a soft orange powder inside. He scoops some into a vile. "Xenotope. An illegal mutation drug only known supplier is in a certain city nearby. Meant to cause enhancements on all human abilities. Side effects include complete destruction of cellular structure, heavy breathing, red eyes, a lack of energy while not under the influence, fallowed by a painful death. Looks like you boys are in some deep trouble." He ties the unconscious thug up and hide him where no one will find him until the police show up before he sneaks onto the ship.


It's not long before the disappearance of their men starts to worry Twoface. "We've lost another one?" The shivering captain of the boat asks seconds before Twoface snatches the phone away from him and puts his ear to it. "There just dropping out of…What the hell is that!" The speaker cuts out and Twoface hands the captain back his phone. "Seems we have a little bat extermination to do." He says, taking two guns out from his shirt and going onboard the ship.


Batman looks at the full boatload of Xenotope and places bat bombs onto each case. "This is the last thing Gotham needs." He says seconds before going to press the button. A hand reaches out from behind him and he dodges out of the way. "Red X." He says, facing off against his enemy. "Don't press that!" X tells him. "You have no idea what would happen if that stuff ignites in here." "What will happen?" "It'll cause an explosion that wipes us all out. You, me, the creeper with the burns. We all die." Batman puts the trigger back in his pocket. "Xenothium is a very unstable substance." Red X tells him. "It has weird effects on people and totally messes with their brains. If it's unstable molecules ignite then just one vile can take out a city block. And if any of it survives then it'll infect the water supply and people'll start dropping like flies." "Then what do you suggest?" Batman asks. "Give it to me." X tells him. "I can make it so this stuff wont hurt anyone." "No deal." Batman tells X, walking towards the door. "I don't give criminals the tools they need and I don't want to let something this dangerous out on the streets. Tell that to the real Red X." "What?" X asks him. "It was far to easy to catch you sneaking up on me. The way you act, the weight of your steps. It all points to you not being the same person. If you know the Real one then deliver this message; Stop doing crime and I can make him an offer to join me. Continue and I will take him down." "You think you can take me down?" Red X asks him. "Maybe I really am the true Red X and your little multiple suit wearer theory is a total bust." "In that case you should be able to attack me without my knowing." "Or I could let you think I'm a bunch of people by letting you loose. I have that skill." The two are interrupted by the sound of gunfire.


Twoface looks down at a corpse he just turned into cheese. "Well, that one wasn't Batman." He sighs, lighting the cigar in his mouth. "If you're looking for me, Harvey." Batman calls out as six Batarangs fly from around the corner, exploding into gas. "I'm right here." Batman drive a straight punch into his enemies two faces and the criminal opens fire on him. Batman covers himself with his cape, deflecting the bullets off of it and Red X jumps out from behind him, kicking Twoface off balance. Batman uses Red X's attack as the cover for his own and knocks Twoface out. "That's enough of the trash." Red X says. "We better book it." "I wont let you take the Xenothium. You don't have a choice." Red X dives at him but fakes out and jumps over his head towards the Xenothium. "You can't let it blow up 'cause it'll kill everyone right?" X calls back. "Then don't try to stop me or I''l take us all out." Batman fallows after him.


Batman catches up to X and tosses some Batarangs seconds before he got his hands on the Xenotope. "I told you to back off." X calls back but Batman runs in to attack him. "I don't believe you'd blow yourself up just to get at a power source." Batman catches X's foot between his arm and stomach, tossing him across the room. "You don't have what it takes." The two of them begin to fight. A wounded criminal inches himself closer to the boxes of Xenotope, a time bomb in his hand. His half mutilated face grins maliciously as he drops the bomb into one of the crates and crawls away. When the criminal escapes he lets the bomb explode, causing the boxes to burst into flames around the two caped combatants. "Is it me or is it getting hot in here?" Red X asks when he looks at the flames coming up around them.


Red X and Batman continue fighting as the ship comes down around them. "I'm out of here." X says, backflipping to the ceiling and planting a bomb, detonating and opening a hole for him to escape from. "You're not escaping." Batman says running up after him. X is waiting up top. "Guess it's bye bye for now Bats." He waves. "If this thing sinks lots of people will die." Batman tries to tell Red X but he chuckles. "Are you serious? Do you think I would let even an ounce of this stuff go to waste?" Batman realizes the plan. "It's not real is it? You planted fake Xenotope on the ship and moved the real drugs to a safe location. Why?" "I like playing with you." X tells Batman, extending the X's on his gloves so they can now act as blades. "Cheating Dent out of his cut was pretty funny too." "You did all of this just to fight against me again? That doesn't seem like you." "And what do you really know about me? Have you figured out my name yet? I thought tonight might be fun but it was just boring. You said earlier that I wasn't even the real X. If you wanna test me then now's the time. We're out of the flames so you wont be distracted." Batman goes in to attack but receives a knee to the shallow part of his suit. "I'm sorry. Who was supposed to be a fake?" X kicks Batman back. Batman tosses flash bombs which explode around his attacker. He runs in and tosses some ropes which wrap around X and leave him immobile. X is out in second, having cut the ropes with his arm blades. He rushes in, exchanging blows with the dark knight. Batman starts to think he may have been wrong about, multiple X's. This is clearly the same guy he fought before.


The boat starts to capsize and X realizes his chance. He tosses two of his X's which explode into goop and stick Batman to the boat. "Catch ya later crusader." He says, diving off of the edge. Batman frees himself with a hidden torch device in his glove and escapes the boat before it capsizes.


Back in the cave Batman explains the events to Alfred. "After that I questioned the thug I captured earlier and he admits to Jeffries being behind the smuggling. I don't know about Red X's involvement. It's unlikely someone outside of the company could know about this." "Then you have an idea as to the identity of Red X?" Alfred asks. "I'm not ruling anything out yet but it seems that X has the ability to fake his level of skill. Maybe he's been leading me on to think he was separate people this whole time. But now I know that he has access to Jeffries information that is hard for even me to come by." "Would master Jeffries himself be a possible suspect?" "He's wouldn't fit in the suit. It's most likely his child. He has the brains and the ability. As head of security he also has access to all of his fathers information. I don't want to make any assumptions right now but that doesn't excuse Jeffries trying to smuggle dangerous drugs into Gotham. I'll be paying him a visit for that."


Batman waits for Jeffries to go to his car from his office and ambushes him. The man looks up in fear at the dark knight of Gotham who lumbers over him like a towering spectre. "I don't like it when people try to bring bad things into my streets Jeffries." He tells him threateningly and Jeffries tries to deny it but the bat grabs the man by the shirt and smashes him back into his car, nearly breaking the window. "You are looking at a lot of jail time if you try that again. Keep your business out of my city or get out." "I don't need to be afraid of you." Jeffries says shakily. "I have protection." "Your protection wouldn't happen to wear a black cape, would it?" Jeffries freezes in terror as the dark knights face comes in closer. "You are in big trouble Jeffries. Don't push me." "You're the one who should be afraid." Jeffries reaches for his gun but it's knocked out of his hand. He continues to try to act tough. "I'll have you dead within the day. I've got my sources." "What sources?" "Dad." Batman lets the man down when he hears Jeffries son call out to him. "I've already called the police Batman." The son tells him with his usual steely look. "If you leave now we will tell them it was all a mistake." "I understand." Batman says. "But I will be back to take your father in. When I do you should not be beside him." "You have no idea what you're messing with." Kyle's face is unexpectedly twisted into a smirk. "Unless of course you'd like to fight it out right now. Why wait until you have evidence. You've been on the wrong side of the law before, right?" The smirk unsettles the bat and he leaves.


A new fixation plagues Bruce Wayne as he sits in the back of his car, waiting to get to his office. They pass by the abandoned oil refinery. The ground suddenly shakes before a section of the refinery explodes. Wayne demands that the car be stopped and watches the scene. "That section is-" Alfred begins. "Batcave East." Wayne looks on.

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The Impersonator

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#1  Edited By The Impersonator
@HumanX:
Holy Batman! Great chapter!