E24: Question of the X!/"Children’s story"

The gang was all in costume, except Grimm since as he was a walking intelligent gorilla, discussing in the remains of Pamela's old apartment that towered over the city, it gave a stunning view but the inside was trashed by the fight.

"We can't stay here, the place is compromised. Lady Vic's going to prison but we can't take the chance that she might leak us and compromise our safety too." Said Gorilla Grimm to Nightwing as everyone else was feeling differently about the situation, however, this was unanimously agreed upon.

Brendan held the bulk of their downhearted spirits after this attack, he loved the view of the city, he lived there for a long time, it was his and Pamela's home. He was aware that there was a strong possibility of this happening but didn't quite expect it to happen as swiftly and as effortlessly as it had… what made him feel even worse, after compiling all research on their enemies, those under their biggest, he should've expected this to happen sooner, especially with the latest assassin.

"It's a shame, I loved this place. Money's no issue guys, I'll pay for any new whatever you guys decide on but I've gotta get back to my career. The agent's been blowing up my phone, you guys call when you've got a place in mind." Said Pamela as she gave Brendan a dirty look and before she made her exit back to the world of modeling, her presence was meant to be free time to spend with Brendan but it turned into an event she was far from hoping for after the visit she got earlier.

"I've been paying attention to a place on Parkthorne avenue for a little while, I think it'd be perfect, the layout of the building and no one would suspect a vigilante would set up headquarters in this specific smaller apartment complex filled with other tenants." Said Nightwing while the others were confused about the team's next steps.

"How small are we talking though?" Gorilla grimm questioned and wondered as he stared at Nightwing, "Great question." Grayson answered, alarming the Gorilla hero further.

The four heroes walked through the busy and hustling public once the sun rose up, all in their civilian attire to blend in and keep their secret. Gorilla Grimm used a piece of Gorilla city tech that kept him cloaked.

They arrived and Grimm is relieved to find out the building's not as tiny as he imagined it and as his pal Richard made it sound to mess with him. It was perfect because it did look like one of the last few places that a vigilante would take up. He would feel safer here.

"So, how're we going to make this work?" Brendan asks genuinely lost on how they're going to keep their secret by holding up in a public apartment complex while standing outside but nobody's nearby so they begin to discuss the plan.

"Simple, there's three rooms on the third floor for rent right now which are 3A, 3B and 3C. We can use two for two of us each, one for our hero equipment and get Pamela to purchase the place so we can make some slight modifications around the building to help us get in and out without being seen." Nightwing answered as he gave a slightly excited smile. Harold, Gorilla Grimm and Brendan were down for the idea but Grimm had something else on his mind.

Nightwing received a strong feeling that someone was watching him from a distance — he had this feeling for quite a few blocks now. Helooked around and surveyed the area discreetly to spot a possible suspect, in the distance was a man with features that were impossible to make out.

"I scheduled a meeting with the landlord, you guys go meet them, there's been someone tailing us since we went past Hogan's alley." Grayson said to Brendan, he told him to be careful but trusted him.

As he got closer to the unfamiliar man who resembled your stereotypical 1920's Detective. He wore a dark blue waistcoat with black slacks and a fedora. The younger Detective as he became closer to this mysterious stalker realized his facelessness was not because of the distance or his imagination. It was legit, which made him ask more questions.

"Richard John "Dick" Grayson of the phenomenal Flying Graysons." Said the man in a tranquil and composed tone as he kept his hands in his slacks' pockets.

"I get how you recognize me but can you tell me who you are?" Grayson replied with a tone this uncanny investigator isn't used to when he confronts a criminal, but he shouldn't be shocked either.

"I recognize you as having many different identities, Robin: The boy wonder, Nightwing: The leader of the Teen Titans, Red X: Master thief." The mysterious man stated in reply.

This revelation gave Grayson the shock and reminder through an unbearable memory that he needed to get riled up. Grayson pushed the peculiar conspiracy theorist into a nearby wall, but he felt villainous about it for attacking technically physically unprovoked but the fact there's no way anyone should know about his connection to "Red X" except his Titans, and whoever stole his suit gave him justification in his mind.

"You have one more chance before I have to assume you're him coming back to haunt me again and take you out. WHO. ARE. YOU?" Grayson asked again, tightening up the lock causing more pain as he had this man up against the wall, barely struggling to keep him in place, with an expression of a man who isn't playing any more games.

"Who I am is the least important topic of discussion here, but you can call me The Question. I worked with your former boss a few years ago, and a few cases each of us struggled to handle." The Question answered after a few painful squeezes and grunts but that wasn't what got him to cooperate more.

Hearing the name he said out loud made him release his hold and hear him out, it made him realize he couldn't have been Red-X in a disguise or he's in trouble but Bruce would never let his identity fall into his hands.

"What's important is I need your help taking your elusive monster down, he's been terrorizing Hub city for a while now." Question informed the hero, still keeping his tone the same.

Nightwing's face turned from unbelievably confused to a humorless and solemn expression as he realized his neglect had just been him pushing his mistake onto another hero to deal with instead, possibly many different heroes and he's aware of the issues others have to face. He hated the thought of what Red-X has been doing, that he still hasn't corrected him.

"Alright, fill me in on what you already have on him, you've got my complete attention." Said Grayson after he was told that, gave it some thought and concluded he's been telling the truth.

"This all started 2 years ago on and off, He's been stealing things from innocent businesses and stirring up chaos around my city. I've connected him to 40 different thefts from low level Law enforcement to C.B.I attention grabbing crimes all over different cities but it's been tough. He cleans up skillfully and the usual methods such as connecting him to less intelligent associates to keep up isn't an option. He works all alone, most assassins and criminals in the world work with somebody from handlers to hired muscle. He's only traceable by individual victim accounts and witness statements, he has been able to evade law enforcement agencies too well." Question briefs his new temporary fellow investigator

"So, let me guess, you figured yourself and "the world's second greatest Detective" together could discover any significant clues better than some of the world's greatest law enforcement agencies?" Nightwing added, Question nodded his head positively as he fixed his coat up.

"Exactly but don't leave out I thought it was likely you've gotten closer to figuring out this mystery since you're the creator."

"I was young and stupid, obsessed like a Madman with a goal. He needed to be stopped but the Titans were not enough, the good guys needed a very unorthodox plan B. I thought I was being clever, using my skills the only way I knew how, at the time, but it felt like I was nine steps behind him and betrayed my team." Grayson blurred out, memories of a period where his entire team didn't trust him fueled him.

"You left his side but all those years with him, he's not doing so well right now, however, I'm curious about what you were obsessed with and nine steps behind?" The Question replied, relating to what his partner meant.

"General immortus, another powerful and ancient psychopath ruled by the fear of death." Dick Answered the Question.

"I haven't come across one of those yet." Said The Question but he still knew about him, "Be very grateful for that." Dick replied with relief in his tone.

Nightwing had to remove himself from the past and regain focus on the present, on what he's collected over the years.

"The title everyone gives me because I'm Junior is a sham, I doubt I've gotten any closer than you or the team within the C.B.I." Nightwing stated with conviction in his voice, "I've only stopped devoting so much of my time looking for anything I could find, my obsession changed from fooling Immortus and failing miserably to whoever stole the suit from me." Nightwing finished revealing to his latest temporary partner.

"Now you see, this is the part when I can tell you're withholding information from me and I feel like your untrustworthy side is showing." Said The Question, he was doing a trick like before, either the man in front of him hopefully slips up or stays within, Nightwing has been trustworthy to him so far. All the ordinary investigator can do is take risky gambles with the guy he's speaking to…

"You know what? I can't imagine crackpot theories and baseless dead ends don't bother you." Dick commented, he meant it as an insult but the investigative passion he holds deep down admired this aspect of The Question. Nightwing needs facts and logic to move forward, he requires seeing a net to jump.

"The police can be agitatedly incompetent or lazy, I've always thought following up on crackpot ideas are what separates us, Vigilantes, from law enforcement." Question replied which really got Dick thinking about it, He's never thought about it even when C.B.I did visit his team and their approaches were wildly different.

"Alright, I had two suspects: The Ravager aka Grant Wilson: son of Deathstroke and Andy Mallory, Scorn and the knockoff of my Robin since those were the only two capable of perfectly equaling me." Grayson admitted, "Except Grant Wilson is dead, he died thanks to a heart problem because H.I.V.E failed to copy the U.S government's supersoldier formula and I tracked Andy down since he could've grown to stay an equal, but he's totally legit now after he received Therapy for what his older brother forced him to do for their parents, he attacked me when I interrogated him but he really wasn't good enough and claimed he hasn't trained since our last battle. He's ruled out, he doesn't have the skills" Nightwing finished, he wanted to smile knowing a bad kid turned out to be a decent man, now he has a family on the way.

This is the other side of his life that fuels the warm fire inside his heart. Now he has to deal with the opposite side of his life that can equally make you want out.

"How about the supplier of your Zynothium ore? Can I just say you were a brilliant kid to have found a way to utilize Zynothium for gadgetry but I can't believe you were really stupid enough to go around messing with that stuff." Said The Question as he shook his head in a disappointed manner.

"Another mistake, I had no way of destroying the suit because of it but at the time that consequence would've been worth it if we had succeeded in stopping General Immortus, I needed to be powerful and different from Robin." Grayson asserted but he still felt some shame about it, "He's called Professor Chang, of course, Zynothium ore's not easy to find, it's even tough finding a supplier but then I stumbled into him in San francisco after some time of searching and we were able to come to an agreement but he's been dead for a while and whoever Red-X is never used him."

"So, let me get the facts right, we have no leads whatsoever as to his identity and only an idea of where he could be right now?" Question recapped as he rubbed his chin thought provokingly, feeling like he has the skills of a mall cop.

"This is what he meant when he told me that there's a time for brains and there's a time for action, with this guy you can guess what time it always is…" Said Grayson as he stretched before running to go grab his suit and head out.

The dynamic gumshoes realized this guy is the perfect thief, no friends, no lovers, no connections and always on the move searching for his next big score. The only way to find out who he could possibly be is to take him down and years of regret and neglect fueled Grayson's flames for succeeding this time. Years of being made a fool fueled The Question's curiosity.

Grayson geared up and followed The Question's lead, who he himself was following a clue on a hunch and an unbelievable amount of hope, that was until he found out about a big deal going down in Blüdhaven that day.

"The only city in the world where criminals travel all the way across the globe to feel safe taking part in illegal trades like they're only trading collector cards." Said the Question as he and Nightwing were surveilling the deal and one of the items being traded was a large supply of Zynothium.

"Yeah, well that's about to change and soon." Nightwing replied with a fierce tone as he continued looking for any clue that Red-X was present.

The trade happened but Red-X didn't crash the deal for the Zynothium like they were hoping for but Nightwing and Question couldn't let the criminals get away so they decided to crash it as the two began to walk away.

Tiger shark and Tusk saw the two heroes but reacted differently, Tiger shark's pets were hungry while Tusk began to flee, carrying the Zynothium which was worth more he could risk. The Question chased Tusk while Nightwing would handle Tiger shark's incredibly large, incredibly mutated, incredibly vicious abominations himself.

As soon as Nightwing prepared himself for what could get bloody, he was slightly relieved when Red-X showed up out of the blue, almost like he was there the whole time. The acrobatic duo made impressively quick work of the exotic animal salesmen beasts consummately.

The battle had its ups and downs, it's close calls, but Grayson had an epiphany when Red-X began humming "The daring man on the flying trapeze" after this everything hit him one by one like he was the board during darts. Any crackpot clue that fed his newly engendered theory as to Red-X's identity that he never would have considered. He felt powerful for a minute, questioning if that's how the man that chased a superhuman crime lord down for one of the most dangerous compounds in the world feels regularly.

Nightwing was brought out of this when he realized Red-X was making a break for the Zynothium but stopped him by ricocheting his Escrima sticks in his path, forcing him to dodge as they bounced around quickly and almost magically.

"So, you weren't daydreaming?" Red-X said after he caught his balance back from dodging his sticks, "Just figuring out who you are, who you were— at least." Nightwing replied with a smug grin but deep down, this revelation was heart shattering for him.

"Oh?" Red-X asked with a curious tone, "Catch me up on how Raya and Zane are doing— and what happened to you, Saiko??" Nightwing responded as he lowered his guard but Red-X kept his guard up.

"Dick… Grayson?" Red-X yelled perplexed and baffled, "I don't know what happened to the others but I can tell you my story since we're…" said Red-X as he lowered his guard, Nightwing remained silent and was ready to listen. Red-X froze for a moment, almost reminded of the old times but he eagerly swept it all back under his rug.

"Sorry, Dick, I'm not big on the emotional connections and catching up as reunited brothers, I've got some Zynothium to track down." Red-X replied before he tried to take off after it but the Question returned to stop him just in time.

"Hoppy skull-face." Said the Question as he took off his coat and tightened his gloves to prepare for a throw down, "Snoopy No-face, it's good to see you're still alive." Red-X replied as he realized he was surrounded by the two heroes that were trying to bust him for ages.

Red-X waited until The Question first made his move so he could follow up with a counter, it worked and he knocked The Question to the floor with one powerful push kick, however, Nightwing turned out to be a different monster entirely.

Nightwing was faster and had proven himself to be stronger than X as he manhandled him in the air when the two took to the air. Red-X realized he was fighting Robin based on his moves and finally realized what happened to his brother after Bruce Wayne took him in as his ward.

"I'm guessing you picked up what you know from the rest of our family at Haly's?" Nightwing asked as the two clashed, dual Escrima sticks against reshaped dual Zynothium ore spikes, "Yeah, it's almost like C.C's circus is perfect for breeding heroes or villains with how remarkable everyone is there, still remember the acts?" Red-X asked as the battle turned to his favor.

"Gunther and Gurbel with their Lion tamer the fantastic: Wilhelm!" Nightwing answered as he ferociously started to actually try to fight back and began impressively overpowering him, "Elinore the elephant!" He said as he pushed him back and gave the two wide space, "Harry: the hilarious clown!" Our hero yelled angrily as he started dodging X's swings with style that'd make Harry Jealous if he saw as he knew the clown had always wanted to be a dancer, "Pedro: The knife throwing Dwarf!" He yelled as he dodged X's X-Shurikens with the greatest of ease then tossed Wingdings of his own that hit Red, "Samson: Mister muscles the strongman!" He reminded him before he dodged an almost impossibly anticipated attack as X used his short range teleportation to help land it but the thief was slammed so hard he got the wind knocked out of him. He recovered quickly and teleported behind Nightwing but he realized his old friend grew while he stayed behind.

"Maybe too many years have flown by for us to call each other brothers again, but friends and heroes, it's never too late?" Said Nightwing as an attempt to reason with him, "I haven't found you because you've made it almost impossible, I've never wanted to find you because under that mask could be a man worth fighting alongside! If you still know how to play the hero that is?" Nightwing finished with a tone that caught Red-X's attention, he saw how genuine every word of his really was.

Red-X was exhausted, had no fight in him left and no more care. He was low on power with the suit but still had enough, "I said that when we were 16, let go of it." Red-X replied before teleporting out of sight. Nightwing assumed he dangerously pushed the suit's last bit of power to escape but without the suit, jobs will be a lot more difficult but fighting him won't be as much, so he wasn't worried. He knows maybe the hero will be The Question, Maybe a hero in coast city or Central city but X will be stopped.

Nightwing immediately ran to help The Question back to his feet.