ONE

Concern

As usual, it's not Raven's internal timer that snaps her out of her meditation but the crime alert. With a sigh she gently touches down and a loud banging starts on her bedroom door.

"Raven, we can't waste any time!" Robin shouts.

The door slides open on her command and reveals Robin's determined expression. The other Titans quickly come up behind him, all of them looking at Raven--ready for her to teleport them.

Teleporting all four of them takes up a hefty bit of energy so Robin often has her save it for emergencies only. There are few people who can warrant her taking them immediately to the scene of a crime.

"Slade?" she asks, dread coiling in her stomach.

"Red X, at the jewelers on 5th."

Number two on Robin's shit list. Mostly because his pride is still wounded from getting that costume stolen from under his nose. Other than that, Red-X's heists can be described as petty crimes.

For Raven, the biggest interest is how he's managed to continually evade capture.

Jumping into action Raven's shadows pool out from under her cloak and engulf her team. When she pulls back they're standing right outside the jewelers.

Through the glass doors they see the chaos of a dozen employees realizing they've been robbed. Robin points to the top of the building. "He's on the roof. Titans, go!"

They spur into action, each of them using their various methods to get onto the roof. By the time they get up, he's already jumping to the next roof and the next.

The chase is on but Cyborg has the hardest time keeping up and soon gets left behind. When Red X realizes the others aren't going to be as easy to loose he skids to a halt and turns to fight them instead.

"Surrender Red-X and return what you stole," Robin commands.

"Has that ever actually worked?" Red-X asks. "I don't respond well to commands, I imagine most criminals don't. Maybe if the redhead asked me, really politely."

In typical Robin fashion, he charges Red-X, swinging his staff and trying to catch his opponent off guard with a fast kick. Red-X blocks the hit and shoves Robin back in time to dodge Beastboy and throw a sticky bomb at him in passing.

Raven rolls her eyes. How many times will Red X come at them with the same old tricks? And how many times will Beastboy fall for the same one?

Starfire expects Red-X's attack when she charges him and even though he manages to knock her off balance, Raven can feel he's surprised at how well she holds her own.

"Someone's been practicing," he says to Starfire. "I'm flattered you've been thinking about me."

Raven goes at him next. He hurls a sticky 'X' at her but she catches it and throws it right back at him. It has no effect of course but he looks ridiculous with it sticking to his forehead.

"You're predictable," Raven tells him, Starfire voices her agreement as she charges him, the pair attacking together.

Red-X's combative skills have always outmatched theirs so he keeps up with them easily but at one point, after twisting away from Starfire and knocking Raven away, he turns to the empty space behind him, raising a hand to block a hit that doesn't come.

"Pro tip Robin . . ." Red-X's quip falls short.

For a weird second, Red-X, Starfire, and Raven pause. The lull in the fighting makes them realize Robin hasn't jumped in to help as they expected.

"Robin!"

Starfire rushes over to where Robin is sprawled on the floor. From where Raven stands she can see the blood pooling around his head.

Red-X takes a step in his direction and Raven instinctively blocks his path. No way she's letting him get anywhere near Robin when he's down.

She uses a shadow to come at him from the side but he sees it coming and rolls clear of it. The dance begins anew, this time with only Raven left to attack.

Red-X blocks everything she throws at him but his counter attacks become somewhat . . . not erratic, but disjointed. Like he's not even paying attention to what's in front of him.

He's still trying to get to where Robin and Starfire are. Raven blocks his path for a fourth time in their scuffle and says, "Kicking someone while their down is a cheap shot Red-X, and a stupid one when you've still got one Titan standing in your way."

She tries to get him with a roundhouse kick but he steps closer, catching her foot. He tries to pull her off balance but she lifts off the ground, flying out of his grasp.

When she settles back into her fighting stance he says to her, "Come on Sunshine, you're a healer, right? I'm not your biggest concern right now!"

"You don't get to tell me what my concerns are," she growls.

Yes, she's worried for Robin, but Starfire can handle it. Right now, she needs to make sure Red-X doesn't get away because Robin will be pissed to find out he got away again.

"My God you're stubborn. Fine, fine. Here!" Red-X tosses her the bag of stolen goods. "I'm leaving, take care of Dick. Unless you'd rather follow me."

It's then Raven realizes his emotions are going haywire, a big one at play is something she had yet to ever feel from Red-X: concern.

He turns and leaps off the roof. Raven blinks, dumbfounded.

Peering into the bag she finds it is indeed full of the jewelry he stole which leaves her to wonder if she just hallucinated Red-X willingly handing it over.

"Raven," Starfire calls. "we must get him medical attention!"

Raven teleports Robin, Starfire, and herself to the tower, right into the infirmary. Between the both of them they manage to get him onto the bed and Raven immediately seals the gash on the back of his head.

"I'll go back for Cyborg and Beastboy. I stopped the bleeding but we'll need Cyborg to check if he has a concussion."

She goes back to the roof, opening a portal beneath a still trapped Beastboy. He falls through with a yelp, landing in the infirmary with Star.

Cyborg's energy signature is easy to find as well. When he lost them he figured he might as well return to the scene of the crime to do some analysis and calm the people down.

"Cyborg, we have to go."

"Catch him?"

"No," she admits.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

She opens a portal for them and as they walk through she tells him, "We have what he stole, but Robin hit his head during the fight."

They step into the infirmary and the portal shuts behind them. Cyborg gets to work checking all of Robins vitals and Starfire uses her eye beams to burn away the goo wrapped around Beastboy.

Raven frowns, sensing a presence that doesn't belong. She walks over to the window and shuts the blinds.

With everyone busy in their tasks Raven walks out of the infirmary and teleports outside into mid air, right outside the room her friends are in.

"Did you think you wouldn't be caught trying to scale the side of the most well protected building in Jump?"

For a man hanging off a thirteen story window, Red-X seems remarkably unfazed by being caught. He swings around so his body is facing out instead of in, his spider-like grip on the windowsill stays true.

"You'd be surprised how many times I've done this. You might want to fire Cyborg, his security is a cakewalk."

"You're not here for the jewery you stole. As I'm sure you can guess, I didn't tuck them under Robin's pillow."

Reflecting on their encounter just a few minutes ago, she puts pieces of a puzzle together. She tilts her head. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were worried about him."

"I'm a theif toots, not a murderer," he says, back to his usual self. "I came to make sure my reputation wasn't tarnished."

It's almost like he never lost his composure out there on the roof--except he did, and Raven knows why.

She hovers closer, trying to imagine a face beneath that mask. "You called him Dick."

Red-X usually has a firm lock on his emotions as some people tend to do, but nothing can hide the slight stiffening of his shoulders. To his credit, he plays it off well.

"Because he's a dick, Sunshine."

"You can't lie to an empath." She shakes her head, trying to make sense of him. "You know Robin . . . You love him."

"You got me. I'm a fangirl," he quips. "It's the green kevlar that does me in."

It's not that kind of love. This love is strong and runs deep. He's bonded to Robin somehow.

"Fine, leave. Doesn't matter anymore."

"What do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes and explains like she would to a child, "Well when Robin wakes up I am obviously going to tell him everything that's happened. How you handed over that bag of jewels just so I would go help him. How you called him by name. Not many people know both his identities but if you do then it won't take him long to figure out who you are."

She opens a portal and flies through. Red-X calls out to her but she ignores him which proves to be a mistake because he leaps off the building and falls through the portal with her, both of them landing on the floor of her room.

"Wait, just wait." Red-X puts a hand over her mouth. "You can't tell him. He's relentless. Like a dog with a bone. And really, nothing that's happened is worth loosing any sleep over. Robin's going to be fine and you got back what I stole."

She glares at him, shoving him off her. He rolls and stands, keeping his hands up to show he's not going to attack her. "You know how obsessive he gets. It's unhealthy, really."

Red-X has never said this many words to her. Maybe he makes a valid point but all she hears are his attempts to cover his own ass.

"If you tell him about today, he'll never stop looking for me."

She brushes off her cloak. "Then you better start running."