The Darkest of Knights

"Alice is doing fine I think, though I can't be sure. You want to slap her awake or something?" Barbara asked getting impatient. It felt like they were in the same room for days. Many days.

"I'm not gonna slap here, sheesh." Karmy replied. She stretched and poked at her wounded hand till it started to bleed again. "I bet Ms. Thompkins is busy."

"Why did you do that? Its not like picking a scab when you're a kid! Leslie is going to have to sew that back up!" Barbara scolded looking at the blood spilling from Karmy's hand. "Actually.. Hey come here. Let me see if I can fix you back up." Barbara suggested. She didn't want to get on Dr. Thompkin's bad side, so if she could clean up the wound, maybe she wouldn't notice.

"Well it's not my fault I'm so curious about what's on my body." Karmy said, holding out her hand. "Wait.." she quickly withdrew her hand, holding it close. "Just outta curiosity, have you ever stitched some one up before? I mean, it would be different if it was on my head or my spleen but.. Damaging my hands is a different sorta thing. Source of my powers and what not."

"I stitched up some of Dick's wounds when he got thrashed by some black gate thugs after an earthquake, I think I know what I'm doing." Barbara assured Karmy. "Now come over here before Dr. Thompkins comes in and sees you bleeding all over the place."

"Alright..." Karmy said nervously and held her hand back out To Barbara. "I wonder where Cassius is." she pondered outloud as Barbara unwrapped the old bandages from her hand. "Tected him a while ago asking if he could come down here."

"He either doesn't know you texted him or he's ignoring you. One of those two." Barbara replied carefully stitching Karmy's hand back together. "Y'know if you really cared about your hand that much you would be curious and poke it until you reopen the wound again.."

"But... Cass always texts me back.." Karm slumped, hurt by Barbara saying that he might be ignoring her. The big guy meant a whole lot to Karmy. "And well, I have a natural curiosity. I didnt know they were dissolvible stitches."

"Or maybe his phone was built into his smashed suit and he couldn't reply." Cassius said, clomping up to the two ladies. It must've been a bizzare sight seeing him in just a bland shirt and jeans versus his large combat suit with a cannon slung over his shoulder, but it was still pretty obvious who it was. He gave a glance at Karmy's hand. "What happened there?" He asked.

"Joker stabbed it. You were unconscious at the time. How did you manage to getin the hospital with that giant weapon on your back..?" Barbara asked still being extremely careful in fixing Karmy's hand right up to what Leslie worked on. "Also how did you know to come here if you never got Karmy's text..?" Barbara wondered.

"The SCREEN was still intact, not the keypad." Cassius explained. "About the ONLY part of it still intact..." Casisus thought out loud. Between Bane and Alice, the suit had never been so thoroughly smashed before....

After spending 2 years traveling the world with him, Karmy could easily recognize Cassius withoust his armor. "Hi Cass!" Karmy waved happily at her father figure. "I'm sure no body would mess with him with that huge gun on his bac-ow!!" she helped in pain since the anesthetic from when Dr. Thompkins first worked on her hand had worn off.

"Well to be fair, that's the first time anyone tried to defeat Bane with their bare hands. Bruce would have never done that, but he never had your build Cass, so I thought you could pull it off. He seemed a bit bigger than the last time I saw him though." Barbara said expressing herself mainly. "See this is what happens when you poke at your wound Karmy.."

"Hey, I managed to knock Bane off the top of the roof of the manor!" Karmy pipped up. "And yeah yeah yeah... I know.. My curiosity is going to be the death of me one of these days, or at least maim me to near deathness, again"

"Yeah but there's no way you knocked off Bane with your bare hands. That would just be stupid." Barbara replied, now wrapping Karmy's hand with gauze. "Be more careful."

"Bane is a friggin' ox, even by MY styandards." Cassius said. He tried to be worried about what Karmy said, but- and he hated to admit it- he was almost used to her wandering off and coming back covered in blood- be it her own or someone elses. Same with Sarah coming back in fetal position because she had just been mindraped or Matt obsessing over someone's new evil plan or other to the point of insanity. But, he supposed what didn't kill you made you stronger.

Heh, if that was the case, his kids out punch out Superman....

Zero looked up at Luna as she came in. "Yeah, she'll be fine, I think whatever she was drugged with hammered her pretty hard." Zero said in a shushed tone. He decided to get up and let his future wife rest. "So how's everyone else? I thought I heard dad leave earlier." He asked her.

"Hey, I made him slip off the roof of the mansion, give me a little credit in the manner, sheesh." Karmy pouted like a five year old, except without the lisp of course. "Granted, I guess I coulda just portaled him into the middle of the desert. Ah well, I'll do that next time."

"There won't be a next time." Barbara assured, finishing up Karmy's wound. "Next time you break that you're going to have to wait for Dr. Thompkins to fix it back up. Be careful for a change." Barbara said wheeling back.

"I know I know, thanks Babs, for everything." Karmy said, admiring the.. handy work that Barbara had done. Keeping the bandaged hand close to her body, she climbed back up on the bed. "And sorry that I was a total jackass to you, being in a hospital really puts me on edge."

"Oh right, Dick mentioned that. I didn't know it was this bad.." Barbara replied in sudden realization. "But he told you not to worry. You're in good hands."

"Ah, ok." Zero said, quietly stepping out of the room and closing the door to let Ivy rest. "So, how's your loverboy?" He said jokingly to her as he edged into the living room to check on his sister...

Cassius was all surpirsed Karmy had stayed in the hospital THIS long without going bonkers or something, but he supposed it was a sign that maybe the fear was phasing out, so he decided not to comment on the matter.

Batman wasn't sure if what Robin did was the smartest thing to do, though, Robin. She was compassionate. Nothing like Damian, he allowed her to help the man who was so close to the homicidal maniac. If Mame attacked Robin for invading her space, he would strike. Either way the scene would still be over before the cops even showed up; whom at this time were rushing to the scene.

"Ah chillax Lu." Zero said, slumping into a chair next to his sister. She didn't seem to keen about his suddenly dropping next to her like a missile, but she made little note on the subject beyond a slight grunt. He gestured for Lu to sit with them in the oposite seat, and looked up at the ceeling fan, the blades slowly swirling in a circle. With that metronome, he mused over what a royally messed up month it was, from the issue of the heroes being torn on the issue of Batman's innocence/guilt, to Metallo and Steam, Ra's in Metropolis, and this recent thing with the Joker...... it had been a HELL of a month.

"What do you think is gonna' happen now?" He asked after a thoughtful pause, to nobody in particular. He was going to be a father and husband soon. Barbara was also pregnant. Dick had big plans for this Batman Incorporated thing. Really, the list just went down the block......

Mame didn't move to stop the younger vigilante, her eyes swirving however to view the girl as she helped the injured worker.

" Ah....Sorry about that they.....They didn't listen"

The blond rubbed the back of her head weakly, smiling despite her nervousness, now that she had them she just didn't know what to do with them. Mame licked her split lips, her eyes turning back to Batman before lowering to her feet. " Is Jonathan ok? Eddie? Pamela? Are they alive?"

She bit her bottom lip, being the way she was and now always on the move she had no concept of what was going on with her fellow criminals, and now that James Gordon was truly dead, she felt just a bit more hollow. He had been so important to the game, she just wanted to know no one else was lost. Her eyes pricked as she reached up and scrubbed at her cheeks with her palms, ignoring the splitting sensation as her scratched swollen cheek tore from the rough treatment.

"I...I wish he hadn't died....I really liked that guy"

"Surprisingly I haven't had a major freak out, yet." Karmy admitted, laying down on her stomach and facing Cassius and Barbara. "Probably cause no one has tried to give me pills or inject me with something. Last time I was here, one of the docs tried to sedate me. Don't remember much.. after.. Ah well, I don't need sleep. How's Cyssy doing, Cass?" she asked, worried about her sister.