The Darkest of Knights

Batgirl nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Why? You ever deal with The Riddler before?" She asked tensing up.

(LOL!! XD!!!)

"Alls quiet on the western front." Karmy said over the comm. "I'm just currently trying to beat Cyrah at arm wrestling." and she was losing badly. Cyrah had one arm out while Karmy was pushing down with both arms.

Cyrah looked on in perverse amusement as Karmy strained ot beat her in arm wrestling. "Oh, did you start yet? I didn't notice." Cyrah mocked playfully. Casius shushed them. "We ought to be keeping an eye out in case something goes down, so don't get TOO preocupied." Casius said, looking out at the city.

"Yeah...? How did that go?" Batgirl asked holding close to the walls. She held onto a Batman disguise, it was heavy, and she felt like she was about to vomit. She shook her head and held the heavy disguise close to her chest.

"Arm wrestling?! Guys! Stay focused and don't get caught!" Alice said raising her voice slightly, "Stay serious! We need eyes in the West!"

"Oh don't worry Cas, I set up a mini camera, complete with motion sensors and a silent alarm." Karmy said and withdrew a small screen from her bag. "If anyone comes in from the West, we'll know about it." and she went back to trying to bring Cyrahs arm down. "Did ya get that Ali?"

"Ah lighten up on the kids- you've got the best eyes in the west over here anyways." Casius said looking this way and that, watching Cyrah continue to tease Karmy.

"Would you stop calling me a kid!" Karmy said still straining to bring Cyrah down. "I am old enough to drink my soul away and rent a car. I think I passed kid a long time ago!"

"He's known for his traps.." Batgirl said rather bluntly. "If he's going to kill anyone, he wants to pull some elaborate trap on you and Riddle me This and Riddle me That. God, why did Dick send me out to do this..?" Batgirl asked coldly, shifting her feet around.

"Oh whatever! Just don't let anyone spot you! How's The Midnight Riders on the North?" Alice asked frustrated. Batman looking down with binoculars. "There's police." He stated. "What?" Alice asked. "Police are helping The Riddler.

"Yeah.. Yeah.. You're right.. Sorry. I'm just.. Whew..! That tent looks ominous is all." Batgirl sighed. "We can do this... Oh god, we can do this." They spotted an enterance, police officers were walking in and out. "That's odd, the police are in on it... That must mean that this has to be a trap. But, The Riddler must know that we know that. What gives? He can't be that simple minded. Something must be up." Batgirl wondered.

Karmy gave up trying to beat Cyrah and fell to the floor gasping. "Ok.. ONE OF THESE DAYS... I'm gonna beat you!" she said to Cyrah. Hearing Alice getting frustrated over the com. "Hmm.. She sounds frustrated.." with a quick wink to Cyrah and Casius, Karmy snapped her fingers. She portaled up right in front of Alice. "Hiya Alice!"

"Ah!! Karmy! What do you think you're doing?! Get back to your post! I told you we have to stay low!" Alice barked as she tried to get Karmy off of her.

"First off, I'm bored and I can't beat Cyrah. Arm wrestling with a cyborg. Not easy." Karmy said. "And two, Riddler said that it would happen in like 30 minutes. I would imagine he's a punctual guy. Besides! Can't I come and hang out with mah buddy? Is that so wrong?" she grinned.

Alice looked at Batman who wwas starring at them. He quickly snapped his head back to the large tent as if he saw nothing. Alice could have swore he was even whistling.

"Okay, get off me!!" Alice moaned, pushing Karmy off. "Geez, did you gain weight last time you sat on me like that?"

"What th- no!" Karmy shouted and slapped her. "Are you kidding me? I weigh less then you fatty!"

"What?! Fatty?!" Alice asked rubbing her cheek, "I've lost more weight in my entire life in the past two years! I don't know what you're talking about!" She protested, "Can you keep it down girls?" Batman asked. "You're not apart of this!" They both said to him. Batman grumbled..

The two then decided to stroll up to the wayne manor, seeing as the original batman is dead, stopping by to see who now resides there doesnt seem like much harm to pay a visit.
When they arrived Nano said, "There aren't any lights on" Nano said. "Maybe no one lives here anymore".
"Try knocking or ringing the doorbell, dummy!" Crimson said.
"Ok, geez....." Nano said as he strolled up to the door.
He then gave the door two hard knocks and 2 rings on the doorbell and then he waited for someone to answer the door.

"Well fine then!" Karmy said and crossed her arms. "fatty.." she mumbled under her breath.

Alice glared at Karmy but couldn't help smiling, "You had too much coffee at dinner didn't you?" She asked slyly.

"There was coffee?!" Karmy spun around and stared at her. "I didn't see it! Dawwww man..." she cried. "I want some coffee" she sniffled.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it now." Alice said stretching. "Unless you want to go to that Starbucks..." She suggested, "but the show is about to start and we need to stay on guard." She said quietly. Batman looked around, "Everyone down!" He whispered and got down with everyone else. "Notification," Batman said into his communicator, "patrol is on the roofs. Stay vigilant. Take out any officers if necessary. Try your best not to get spotted."

The door fell down after the second knock on the Wayne Manor because of how crudely it was put back together after Casius had knocked it over. The mansion was empty.

"Whoa!" Crimson said as he saw the door fall to the ground with a bang.
"See? I told you it was empty!" Nano said and sure enough the inside of the mansion looked as lively as a graveyard.
"Well lets go in and check the place out! it's abandoned and we might be able to find some dirt on the batman!" Crimson said as he stepped over the door and into the foyer. "But.....im not so sure about this" Nano muttered. "What if the house is trapped?"
"This manor has been abandoned for who knows how long!" Crimson answered. "Nothing bad is going to happen!"
"Why do i feel you're going to be the death of me?" Nano said.
"Now dont say that....." Crimson said as they began their search through the abandoned wayne manor.

[The manor isn't abandoned, just nobody is home.]

Cyrah sighed as karmy portaled away. "Allways on the move..." She said, crossing her legs. A few minutes dragged on, Cyrah drumming her fingers and Casius watching the town. "Remind me sometime how we ended up on the Batman's sife- last I checked we thought it probably was him." Casius said in order to strike up conversation. Cyrah shrugged. "I think you went to them to get them to help with Karmy, and it sorta cascaded from there." Cyrah told him. "Well, this ain't me- watching, waiting, playing lookout, being part of some hero squad- if Ghost was here, he would be laughing his ass of at me." Casius said with a sigh. "I hate just WAITING for something bad to happen." Casius mumbled. Cyrah listened to her father's complaints, noiding politeley every time. Truth be told, she was glad they were on good terms with the Bat-crew right now. Last time they were even on lukewarm terms, well.... one thought about the Quinn incident was all it took.

From her position on the roof, Karmy saw a guard on the ground sneaking around. "hmm.." she snapped her fingers and portaled down to him. Quickly covering his mouth so he couldn't scream. Snapping her fingers again, they appeared on the outskirts of Gotham, far away from Town Square. "I'll take that, that and that!" she took his gun, his radio and his hat before he could respond. "Watch out for bears!" and she portaled away, appearing next to Alice wearing the policemans hat.

Alice took one look at a broadly smiling Karmy, "I'm not even going to ask." She said turning back to into the shadows. "Quiet guys!" Batman hushed at the two. "Maybe you should go back to Casius and Cyrah." Alice suggested.

"Riddle me this..." The Riddler said to a working police officer in the town square under a canvas tent. There were about fifty or sixty officers setting up devices The Riddler had created for the "special event" that would occur tonight. "If I have twelve toothpicks and I take one away, I end up with nine. How is this possible?" He questioned one officer who stood up from installing the device. "You killed two of my buddies." He seethed, "The fact that I'm even working for you makes me sick. Don't patronize me, or I might just loose it." The officer said turning back to the device that would shoot a fear intoxicating gas into our heroes. "Gee, if you didn't like riddles that's all you had to say." The Riddler said now leaning over his cane in boredom. He wanted someone, anyone, to just... guess.
"C'mon..." He pleaded looking at the officer's name tag. "Barney, it's really easy. I'll even give you a hint!" "Okay that's it!" Officer Barney said getting up. "Oh goodie! So you're finally going to guess?" He asked cheerfully, but never missing a beat. The Officer pulled out his tazer and charged at The Riddler, who grabbed the officer's hand and turned it into his chest. He fell to the floor twitching. "Riddle me this," He said devilishly walking closer to the poor officer who was twitching, vomiting, shaking vigorously, tears swelling, "who signed a contract to work with me for one night and one night only, and if that person or persons retaliated against me will lose their position?" He cracked a smile at him, he saw tears swell not from the tazer, and that made him smile broader. "Its a wonderful life Barny, its a wonderful life."

He walked around and saw Flass, fuming and angry approach him.

"What's the big deal with this killing people?! I never signed up for that!"
"I said that the tape is filled with false promises commissioner, you better pay attention next time."
"Why did you say that? Not on freaking live television! Now the citizens of Gotham will think the police are the bad guys!"
"The citizens of Gotham always thought the police are the bad guys, commissioner."
"Ugh! But now Batman knows its a trap!"
"I know Batman knows its a trap."
"So why are you doing this?!"
"To get a hostage. Look will you trust me or what? I know what I'm doing, I'm not a moron, okay?"
"Fine! One chance Riddler, just one chance!"

The new chief of police stormed off that he was being treated like this by some punk in a domino mask. The Riddler smiled.

"Mkay, see y'all later!" Karmy snapped her fingers and landed on Casius's shoulders. "Hey Cas, y'all see anything yet?"