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DCU

Plot: A new DC story and a new Gothic. This one is a thief and a scoundrel whose out for number one, but deep down he's not a bad guy.

Pairing: OCxRaven

If you don't know who Red-X is in then why are you reading a Teen Titans story?

Also this story will cross over with some Justice League and I even have a plan to add more crossovers as there is so many things worth stealing in fictional settings.

Last of all, read and enjoy. Gothic commands it to be so.

DC Gothic – Red-X

Part 1

Recruitment and Training

Time flies when you're having fun, and it crawls to a stop when you're bored, and right now I was really, really bored. I felt every second, of every minute, of every hour that past with such aching glacial slowness. Being locked in a cell was no fun at all.

As to how I'd gotten here, meaning this cell. Well to make a long story short I was now a thief, a criminal and I felt no remorse for any of the things I'd done.

It had all started with my need to survive, need to eat. Upon arriving in this dimension I found I had no money and Jump City didn't have many homeless so there were no soup kitchens.

As for the nice people at the Homeless Shelter they had tried to pass me onto to child services as for some reason I was now a teenager again. However since I didn't exist in this world I'd wanted to avoid the authorities.

Facing starvation and badly needing shelter I'd learned to steal. In fact I'd learned rather well.

My first crime was breaking and entering in order to into what looked to be an abandoned house. Which it was, only it hadn't been abandoned for very long as some of the furniture had been left behind, and there was a lack of dust in the place. Who owned was still a mystery to me.

I'd quickly built myself a nest, and I'd secured the house as best I could, because I didn't want anyone else breaking into the place. Then I'd gone looking for something to eat.

Stealing food was surprisingly easy I had a rather innocent look about me, and I was rather good at not being seen so I was able to shoplift with relative ease.

The following days involved taking what I could when I could. I stole food, clothes and even books. My hideout had no electricity, but I was in California for some reason, and that meant plenty of natural light. I spent a lot of time reading. No much fiction as the stores that sold bestsellers had better security, however shops that sold books on things like science, history and psychology were far easier to buy with my special five fingered discount.

A few weeks more passed that way, and I got into a new business venture. Pawn shops weren't exactly common here, but a few existed if you wandered around the bad side of town enough to find them.

I always made sure to spread my goods evenly between the stores and until quite recently I'd been making a decent living. Then I'd moved onto bigger game.

By far the best thing to steal, if you wanted to sell them without much fuss, was electronics. Mobile phones were still new here but there was a market and they were easy to steal. But as my skills grew so did my targets. After getting a few pointers from people who never used their real names, I started breaking into small stores.

I learned to scale the fences and to how to outrun any pursuer. I learned how to hide from cops, and where to go if you needed to lay low for a while. I even learned how to bribe the right people.

With all that I was confident that pick-pocketing would be just as easy. Even more so when a few of the street people I gotten to know showed me a few tricks. However I was soon proven very wrong.

I was caught red handed by an undercover cop, who couldn't be bribed and had a grip like a vice. Amusingly he hadn't even been after me. He'd been bait for a sting operation. He'd wanted to capture the very people who'd taught me the basics of crime. I'd been set up.

That was when I'd learned an important lesson: trust no one and it's better to work alone.

Not that arresting me had done the police much good. They had nothing to threaten me with because they weren't going to hit me, and I was a homeless kid so I had next to nothing to lose. I couldn't even give up other crooks because I had no idea who they really were.

Still they took my prints, but I wasn't on file anywhere. I did not exist because I was from a different universe.

The cops didn't know what to do with me and they couldn't actually charge me with anything because had no idea who they had arrested. I couldn't be labelled as a John Doe because I had a name it was just that it didn't mean anything here.

Also it didn't hurt that I was under age. They called in Social Services and threatened to put me in a home, but they all knew that no home would keep me. I refused to even speak to the social worker.

They even tried a good cop/bad cop routine with me, but I knew it was an all act because there was so many TV shows in my world about the police. I knew their tricks and just ignored them.

On the down side I couldn't get a lawyer, because they'd need my records for that and I had none.

Not that it really mattered. By law they could only hold me for twenty-four hours without charging me and their time was nearly up. Soon I would be gone from this place. It wasn't that bad really I had my own cell because no decent cop, and they were decent here, would stick a teenage boy in with older and more dangerous crooks.

With hours left to go I decided to get some sleep, when I woke I could worry about what to do next.

(Line Break)

Police Station - Jump City

When I woke up I found a severe looking woman with white-gray hair standing inside my cell staring at me like I was a slightly offensive stain. I hadn't heard her come in and had no idea how long she had been watching me.

It was creepy, but since I had nothing better to do a staring contest seemed like a good idea.

Our gazes stayed locked as she ȧssessed me. The woman didn't so much as shift on her feet, which given her high heels was an impressive feat, so as I studied her so I didn't move either and I met her gaze evenly.

She had nice expensive clothes and a tidy appearance so at first I thought she might be from Child Services, someone very high up in that organization, but there was something dangerous about this lady.

I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew she could be a threat to me, and no child would willingly go anywhere with this woman. She had a vibe that would make little kids cry and someone like that would never climb the ranks of an organization that dealt with kids.

"The police tell me that you refuse to identify yourself" the woman suddenly said.

I was startled slightly when she talked, and I could see the triumph in her eyes at the loss of my composure. In an attempt to regain some of my pride I sat up slouched back against the wall so as to make it seem that I had a complete lack of concern.

Already I knew that this was the type of woman accustomed to being both respected and obeyed. So treating her as if she didn't really matter to me would get under her skin.

"Do they now" I replied.

The woman was not impressed by my attitude.

"You are no one" the powerful woman then said "No one cares about you, you have no home, no family and no friends. If you are lucky you might get off the streets, but most likely you will die a useless bum from a drug overdose or from alcohol positioning".

I doubted that as drugs didn't appeal me and I couldn't even get a drink. But she had a point I was homeless, more or less, and I had no allies. It just happened that I didn't want those things.

"Don't worry about me" I causally remarked "I'll be out in a few hours. The law says they can only hold me for a day without charging me something, and they can't charge me because I don't exist".

"Ah, yes. The law" was the woman's reply.

Her voice and posture didn't change, but her eyes sharpened and I saw hate in those orbs.

"Tell me young man, do you put your faith in the law to keep you safe, to prevent harm from coming to you?"

Well maybe as the cops here were decent I could tell, but no I didn't think they had much dėsɨrė to protect me. Really they just wanted me to stop being a problem for them.

"No" was my simple answer.

Her stony expression didn't change that much, but I could tell that was pleased by my response

"Young man" she said next "I would like to make you an offer. One you can't afford to refuse".

By that I ȧssumed she meant she'd have my killed so I agreed to her offer Once I had agreed she formally introduced herself as Adeline Kane, Headmistress of the HIVE Academy, and then went about securing my freedom from police custody.

I guessed that the cops must have thought that she was a part of some program for troubled youths or something along those lines, as they were quite happy to let her take me away.

As the paper work was sorted out the Headmistress explained that HIVE stood for the Higher Institute of Villainous Education. In other words it was a school for junior super villains

Which meant the real reason why the cops thought they would never see me again wasn't because I was going to get straightened out as they might hope, actually it was because I would hopefully become a higher class of criminal, one that didn't get caught picking pockets.

On the drive to my new home, after grabbing my stuff from the old one, I also discovered that Headmistress Adeline Kane shopped around the various precincts for the those who had seen the darker side of life and could deal with it.

Kids that took daddy's car for a joyride or who got into fights with their mates were of no interest to her, Kane wanted young people who were willing to do what it took to survive, and that I was quickly learning how to do just that.

I wasn't the only kid in the car either, by the end of the day we were packed in sardines, and that removed any impression I had about me being special.

What came next only enforced that view.

(Line Break)

H.I.V.E Academy – Jump City

While the Headmistress may have recruited me personally, that didn't mean she cared about me. She just dumped me into the basic training programs and headed off to her office without looking back.

Since I was the new kid at school I was at bottom of the pecking order. The kids with powers, were the jocks, and the rest of us were the uncool nerds.

Well there were those who acted as support for those with super powers, I mentally labelled them as 'Cheerleaders' and smartly kept my distance.

Despite my experience and skill that had let me survive this cruel world, I had no powers and therefore wasn't expected to become anything better than a foot soldier a mere minion. I was being taught to obey orders from someone with powers and maybe even get myself killed doing so.

I decided at once that I would be no ones minion, but I also didn't want to rock the boat so I didn't express those opinions out loud.

Having no one expect anything spectacular from me was actually rather freeing. I had no one to disappoint and felt no shame when I failed. I guessed that I was too pathetic to even mock for my failures. I wasn't even low enough to be stepped on. Partly this was because I'd already been through High School and college so I knew how to keep my head down and get on with things.

Still it should of shattered my spirit but instead it only fuelled my determination to prove myself. I would show the entire HIVE that even starting at the bottom wouldn't stop me from becoming a successful super villain.

My goal was to become a master thief because I already knew the basics but I would wring every bit of combat, espionage and weaponry training I could from my teachers without looking like I was doing that. From now on my only priority was myself and nothing would ever change that.

Unlike other schools the ȧduŀts here encouraged it, secret identities and false names were part of being a super villain so it made sense.

That however did not stop me from being named. The academy had no official uniform so I dressed in black and wore the few adornments I'd stolen over a period of weeks. That quickly led to me being called 'The Goth' and that was enough of a name.

I trained tirelessly, night and day to be the best in every course I was forced to take. I had a real talent for stealth, at least compared to my class mates who were used to either relying on their powers or on brute force, which was not option for me as I had no tricks like that and I was wiry little thing as a teenager.

All I had was a brain, a healthy body and the determination to improve myself unlike those the muscle-bound thugs. Granted I was no magic user or tech genius either. I would never be strong as Mammoth, or as good at electronic engineering and hacking as Gizmo, nor would I be a magic user like Jinx, but I knew that the real secret to success was to have well rounded plethora of skills.

As for Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx they were super powered freaks by all accounts. That said there was a lively debate between some of the students going on behind Gizmo's back. Some people thought that he wasn't actually a meta-human at all, some also thought he might not even be a kid and that he was actually a member of alien race that were foul mouthed midget with great knowledge of technology and the power to defy physics.

Personally I thought he was a rude, freaky person who would be better off developing buggy software for Mircosoft than being a super villain, but no one cared what I had to say and I liked it that way.

What was clear to everyone, even from day one, was that the trio were the pride and joy of the Academy, Mammoth was by far the strongest, Gizmo was the most intelligent and Jinx was the powerful student.

As such they enjoyed a celebrity status among the HIVE students and were watched so closely that the whole school always knew what they were up to.

Their battle with the Teen Titans was talked about for weeks in the canteen The trio made a good showing of themselves initially, actually managing to force Titans into fleeing back home to regroup and then ousting the heroes from their own tower.

That was when things had gone wrong. Rather than blow the tower up, or at least ransack the place before retreating back to the H.I.V.E, the fools had moved in and lowered their guard. It was as if the idea that the Titans might try to take their home back had never entered the minds of the super powered meta-human criminals.

They'd gotten their ȧsses kicked and had come scurrying home with their tails tucked between their legs.

That they had gotten their ȧsses whooped did not surprise me the least. The trio had been too ċȯċky and careless, but the real reason they'd lost was the hero, Robin.

Like me the Boy Wonder didn't have any super powers but he was still a team leader. The other Titans didn't look down on him or belittle him; they followed his orders without argument. Once he mobilized his team. Robin fought confidently and incorporated several recognizable schools of martial arts into his highly mobile, acrobatic combat style. Which wasn't that unlike the style I was working on.

A fight between Robin and I would be intense even if there was no way I could win. I was sure that I had a height, weight and strength against the hero, but I not that flexible so I couldn't out maneuver him either or his toys.

I knew nothing about the other Titans, aside from a little about Cyborg and there was something oddly familiar about that Raven chick.

Despite my lack of knowledge my attention was on Robin, the Boy Wonder, he was the protégé of Gotham's own vigilante, Batman. Also judging by the fact that Nightwing was already active then this was not Grayson. Which meant he was either Jason Todd or Tim Drake, possibly he was even Damien Wayne. I simply had no way of knowing, however I did know that he was the reason Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo had lost.

Still even when they fuċkėd up everyone still feared and admired them. Which for me was great because the more everyone focused on them the less they focused on the likes of me.

As weeks became months I never felt wanted, but I could call myself happy, or at the very least content. I didn't have any friends and the entire school either ignored me or underestimated me, but I was fine with that and I even encouraged this as it had become clear to me that I wasn't cut out for all the political manoeuvring and sometimes literal backstabbing that was going on around here. After all no one would bother to remove a threat that they didn't even know to exist.

It wasn't until I'd been at the academy for almost a year that I thought the professors caught on to what I had planned.

Anyone with a brain should have seen what I was up to. I was slowly improving but I was improving in every way. I had some talent in stealth and stealing, which was the name of a class here, but in every other other I'd been poor, now I was average, in every class. People didn't improve in such steady ways, not in so many areas and a few teachers noticed that.

But rather than point it out they started to encourage me. Not in ways that would get me called 'Teacher's Pet' but instead in ways that made it look as if I was being punished. I got ȧssigned essays, which always led to me researching truly fantasising subjects. Until coming here I'd never imagined that there could be book about Hostage Taking that offered advice on how take hostages and not on how to free him.

I was even asked to write up a plan to rob a bank. I had loads of fun with that as I imagined myself leading the group and decided to be the Red Hood and throw money around as a distraction. It amused my professors no end even if it was a bit silly. Over time I showed just how creative I could be when it came to making plans.

It may have even had something to do with how I got my first job. The students of this fine school were being turned into what Kane called "Well organized, highly trained, and combat equipped" H.I.V.E. agents for hire" which was a fancy way of saying 'yeah we can supply you with expendable mooks'. It was how the school actually made money, but not all the jobs were about gathering funds. Sometimes the Headmistress wanted a job handling. Not that many students came back, but those that did moved up the ranks.

So when I got called to her office I knew that my time had come and that was going to be thrown into the deep end to see if I could sink or swim.

As I later found out. I was a good swimmer.

Chapter End