Young Justice Season 4 - The Red X Factor

Episode/Chapter 16 - Teen Titans Era

"Wow..." Nightwing gasped as he and Aqualad stepped out of the portal that Impulse had opened for them and onto the top of a building.

"Welcome to the Teen Titans Era..." Aqualad said as they looked around, "I assume we are in Jump City?"

"Seems about right." Nightwing said. They turned around and gasped.

"Pretty nice view from out there, huh?" Nightwing smirked as he pointed to the Titans' Tower on the island at the center of the lake.

"And now, we contact Robin?" Aqualad asked.

"Right." Nightwing said as he got out his yellow Teen Titans communicator that TTRobin had given him.

He pressed a button on it, and the Titans' tone sounded. Then they heard him pick up.

"This is Robin."

"Robin? It's Nightwing."

"Nightwing! Thank goodness it's you! Is there more of you?"

"Yeah, Aqualad. Why? What's going on?" Nightwing asked.

"There's been a breakout. And ever since then, we've been encountering... An old enemy..."

"Really? Then we could help with the matter." Aqualad said, "In return for some information we seek."

"Then yeah, of course." Robin agreed, "meet as at the Titans Tower. Shouldn't be too hard to miss."

Nightwing and Aqualad looked out at the lake, and there was the Titans Tower standing on an island far off coast.

"Yep. Found it." Nightwing said as Robin hung up. Aqualad gestured to the road connecting the island to the mainland, and they walked to the tower, where Robin greeted them at the entrance.

"Long time no see, guys! Come on in! The rest of the Titans have been waiting anxiously for you guys to get here." Robin chuckled as he led Aqualad and Nightwing through the tower and to the top floor where the rest of the Titans were. When they got there, Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing video games, Raven was sitting on the couch reading, and Starfire was at the kitchen island feeding some sort of worm creature.

"Guys! Controllers away! Nightwing and Aqualad are here!" Robin announced.

"Nightwing!" Starfire smiled as she got up and gave Nightwing a hug, "and you must be Aqualad! It is a pleasure to finally formally meet you."

"It is nice to see you all again." Aqualad smiled.

"Are you two any good at video games?" Beast Boy asked. But he immediately shut up when Robin glared at him.

"Sorry about that." Robin chuckled.

"It's fine." Nightwing said, "so, which villain are saying returned?"

"His name is Red X." Robin said, making Nightwing and Aqualad gasp. 

"That is the reason we are here as well. We have a Red X in our dimension too." Aqualad said.

"Can it be the same one?" Robin asked.

"Can't be sure until we go see him for ourselves." Nightwing said, "but Robin. You said this was a past villain that is only returning?"

"Yes."

"Then can you tell us anything about him?"

"Well, I can tell you some things. But there are also still some things that are unanswered." Robin said.

"We can take anything." Aqualad said.

"Okay." Robin nodded, "at the time, when Red X first came about, he had the usual powers of martial arts, could fly, could teleport, and all these powers came from Sinothiim. Only one of the most dangerous elements in the planet. He took and smashed the only source of the Sinothium here on earth later on, so we had our doubts he would ever return. Especially since there was no Sinothium left. But we were wrong."

"Would you happen to know who Red X is?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah..." Robin looked down at the ground, then back up at then, "there were two Red X's. The first one, we found out who he was, but the second one is still to be determined."

"Then who was the first one?" Nightwing asked.

"....me. I was the first Red X." Robin answered.

"...You?!" Nightwing gasped.

"It was for undercover work. And when I realized the toll it took on the team, I knew that that wasn't the best way to go. So I gave it up." Robin explained, "but imagine my surprise when another Red X resurfaces. The same one the destroyed the last Sinothium, and we had no idea he'd be able to return. But he does."

"When specifically did you see him last? When did he return?" Aqualad asked.

"We saw him last yesterday when he was robbing a bank, and he returned the day before."

"The day before. That's when we were on Mars." Nightwing said.

"Mars?"

"Miss Martian explained to us that Red X from our dimension was searching for the Sinothium, and he found out that the source of it was on Mars. So Red X has been after Miss Martian for a very long time. We followed him to Mars two days ago, and there, he got away with all the Sinothium there. He disappeared before we could catch him, but we followed leads to your era. Here." Nightwing explained.

"Then that's it. Red X from our dimension has been in your dimension too." Robin concluded.

"But that still doesn't make any sense..." Aqualad said, "then the Red X that is now in our dimension was from here first?"

"Not sure. Only one way to find out." Nightwing said, "can we head out and figure out where this guy is?"

"Sure." Robin agreed.

"Then we can cut him off, reveal his identity, and it's all downhill from there!" Nightwing said.

"Then we'd better start moving." Cyborg called, "I planted a tracer on him last time we met. He's on the move right now."

"Where is he?"

"....hold up, he's..." Cyborg said, "he keeps disappearing and reappearing... He's teleporting! There's no telling where he is at one point and... Wait! Guys! He's--"

There was suddenly a crash and the window broke as a black and red figure jumped in.

"Hello there, Titans... Oh, and look... Nightwing and Aqualad. You followed me all the way here." Red X said.

"Yes we did. And this is going to be your final stop!" Nightwing said.

"Oh really? And who's going to stop me?"

"Us. All of us." Raven said as she, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin stood beside Nightwing and Aqualad.

"Oh please... You seven are no match for me." Red X sneered as he flexed his muscles. 

"Wanna bet?" Beast Boy smirked.

"You bet." Red X said as he got out his red boomerangs and thew them out, "you'll never get under this mask."

- To be continued! -