Hack War

[Aly]

Tonight had been uneventful so far. It was late, at least late for Batgirl, while it was very early for every non-nocturnal person out there. Her sleep schedule was so messed up, trying to stay awake for most of the day in case the Titans needed her, and then out at night on her own patrols, doing what she was good at. Tonight was no different. She was alert, jumping at every sound of a scuffle, and rolling her eyes every time it turned out to be a raccoon or a cat jumping into trash bins.

Batgirl was actually making her way back to the tower through the streets of downtown Jump City, when she saw a familiar silhouette. The white mask was barely visible from her position, but she could see that he was hunched over some sort of electronic device. The building he was standing on was a known manufacturer of Xenothium, and she immediately knew what he was up to. Ducking behind the air conditioning unit on the roof she occupied that neighbored Red X's target, she pulled out her own mini-super-computer from the large pouch on her thigh.

After a few tweaks, she was into their system, and watched as Red X modified the security on her screen. A mischievous smile spread across her face as she dove in, and threw up her own firewalls, watching him from her hiding spot, trying to see if she was going to get a rise out of him.

HELLO SWEETIE

[Shadow]

The stars flickered a bright silver against the velvety darkness of the sky, their light and the moon shining down on the peaceful city as it slept. Well...asleep for all but those who worked this late hour and that included a lone shadow clad figure, easily making his way through the city under the cover of darkness. Tonight, he had but a single goal and it was a lovely red chemical known as Xenothium. It hadn't taken him long to copy a few less than legal records of a certain lab in the process of manufacturing some.

Red X had silently been sneaking through the city until eventually making his way to the rooftops. Every footstep bounced off the cement as he made his way across the rooftops and leaped onto the next, pausing only to evaluate the best entrance to the building he had landed on. In his sight there was the rooftop door and the vent shaft. Both of which were too easy and far too obvious but if he managed to break the security for both those areas someone would be bound to investigate as he's slipping down the building and into that cracked open window a floor below him. He smiled under the mask, eyes narrowing slightly as he pulled a small little gadget from his belt and walked over to the satellite. Sticking the device on the satellite he began calibrating it and beginning to bypass the normal systems when additional firewalls were sprung and an outside message came through loud and clear.

The message was simple and alerted him to the fact someone knew he was here. He continued to dig deeper into the program, letting a phantom program keep working its way into the system in his place while he carefully tried to pinpoint the location of the person interfering with him. But for the time being, he'd play a game of his own. After all, this was a girl's handiwork, no one else would have sent him such a message. Setting up his own firewalls so that it would slow Batgirl's progress, he sent his own message before returning to the company systems.

HELLO THERE BABE

[Aly]

Batgirl smiled as his message made it through the system, but frowned at his progress. He was moving fast. Well, he hasn't seen her skills yet. But first...

COME HERE OFTEN?

After the message was sent, she proceeded to keep throwing various programs at him, hoping to slow his progress. As she went, though, she noticed that her own system was slowing. "Damn it." Batgirl cursed under her breath as she fought with him. The Titans' files did not mention that Red X was a hacker. All they said was the extent of the powers of his suit, and a small section on his taunting. Well, it was time she found out more so that she could update the system.

As they figuratively played tag in the laboratory's system, Batgirl could tell that she was not going to get anywhere. She was falling slowly behind, and he was getting closer to his goal- which Batgirl guessed was turning off the security locks and alarms of the building. With her last hope, she triggered the very loud alarm. Their armed guards would be on alert now... hopefully he wouldn't decide to break in anyways. People were going to get hurt if he did.

[Shadow]

As her message showed up in his system, he chuckled softly, using that to help pinpoint the location of her interference. With a few swift keystrokes he threw up a few more programs to keep her at bay long enough for.....everything to get ruined. The sound of the alarm getting tripped reached his ears and instinctively, he clenched his fist and muttered a curse under his breath. He sent one last message to the pesky hero who was interfering in his plans.

ONLY IF I CAN SEE YOUR GORGEOUS SELF. ON SECOND THOUGHT, NICE TRY. CAN YOU DO BETTER?

With that message sent he pulled a flash drive out of his utility belt and plugged it into his computer, hitting a few more keystrokes before his image showed up on Batgirl's computer giving her a mock salute just before her computer crashed thanks to a few choice viruses and malware programs now inhabiting it. With that done he hit a couple more keys and the power to the building shut down, a low chuckle escaping him and now echoing in Batgirl's comm. He pocketed his computer and ran for the edge of the building away from where she was. As he ran, his altered voice echoed once again in Batgirl's comm. "Its only temporary. But you know what's permanent? How beautiful you look in the moonlight."

As he spoke, he leaped from the building, only to grab a grappling hook and attach it to the ledge he'd jumped from so that he could slip inside the slightly open window. Retracting the hook, he glanced around not seeing any guards just yet. A smug grin touched his lips under the mask as he checked what he did have in store. Noting the amount of Xenothium he had, he activated the invisibility function and started running down the hallway that lead to the stairs.

[Aly]

His message only made Batgirl roll her eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a picture of Red X on the screen. Cursing again under her breath, she watched helplessly as the device sputtered and died. She could fix it, sure, but she would have to wait until she was back at the tower to do that. Unless she jacked Red X’s equipment. No doubt it was stolen anyways. Carefully, she placed it back in her utility belt and heard her Titans’ communicator crackle to life with none other than his voice on it. With a scowl to make Robin proud, she stood and watched as the villain jumped from the building, only to disappear back into it through a window.

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Batgirl smirked as she grabbed her own grappling gun, shooting it at the ledge of the said building, and swinging into the same window. She landed with a roll, and looked around. The building was dark, only the emergency exit lights flashing red, giving the place an eerie glow. She only caught a glimpse of the tail end of Red X’s cape before he faded from sight with the help of his suit. That trick wasn’t going to get new anytime fast, even with a totally different person. Smiling to herself, she threw a modified bola (with batarangs on the ends instead of rocks what) from her crouched position, waiting for them to connect with the invisible villain’s ankles. She briefly wondered if the jolt from a fall would turn the invisibility factor off.

[Shadow]

The eerie red light flooded pieces of the dark interior from the exit lights. The sound of her breathing echoed off walls, mingling ever so softly with the flutter of a cape before it vanished into nothing. In the faint light of the window, crouched a lovely young lady named Batgirl, and as she moved to pull the modified bola from her collection of Bat brand toys, a taunting voice crackled to life on her comm.

"Who said I was trying to get rid of you? I'm just playing hard to get, Babe."

A soft chuckle escaped his lips, but it was short lived. As his voice faded from her comm, he quickly turned around and sent a few X-arangs flying towards her before he continued to run. As he ran, a single sound cut through the still air, missing the X-arangs as they flew towards Batgirl. A flicker of a glance over his shoulder was enough to let him see what was headed his way, but it was too late. By the time he saw the bola there wasn't much time to react before it caught his ankles. As he fell face forward, he put his hands out to catch him and rolled into the fall, tumbling before landing in a frog like posture. His suit flickered into existence and as it did, he untangled his ankles from the bola.

His voice flickered back into Batgirl's comm for a brief moment, his tone taunting, teasing her like a child. "How about I give you a little gift on our first date?" The words fell from his lips easily, giving him the little bit of time to stick an explosive on the bola Batgirl had just caught him with. In a single swift movement he turned and launched Batgirl's bola back at her. If it caught her, then she'd have a blast with her own toy. If not, then he would still have a chance to escape when the time was up.