The Darkest of Knights

Ivy's hand flickered back to wind. Every missile soared through her, breezily and nearly without pain. Nearly. She still felt the cruel sting of it cruising through her weak human self. Not quite a burning pain, but more than a simple irritating sting. Enough to make her grit her teeth to halt an oncoming whimper.

Mame nodded as she continued to hide her face from the world, she smiled however, her shaking frame moving back from her mentor as she held out the scrunched foam box towards him, some strange mayonnaise/ketchup mix oozing out of the split in one of the corners of the box, it had smeared all over her wife beater.

" I got...us....dinner"


She couldn't see herself, but she could still see him, all she had to do was make him her all consuming reason in order to override her terror at not existing, and she was already half way there with that state of mind. So she just smiled at him, offering the box to him before her eyes rolled back and she fainted. The sensory overload too much even for her abused nerves.

Crimson continued to walk on home. yesterday had been pretty eventful but it was somthing he just didn't want to remember. while he was walking, he remembered he had some money in his pocket, so he went to a nearby news stand, grabbed a candy bar, paid for it, and then continued on for home. Crimson heard some explosions of in the distance but he decided that he had done enough fighting.

He then climed back up into his room's window, slumped down on his bed and fell asleep

Zero looked at Ivy. Then at Metallo. He had hurt his dollface.

He was gonna get his ass beat.

He spread his arms wide, causing the shadows in the room to seemingly quiver. Shadow arms, similar to those used by Wrath, came out and swiped at the missiles, incercepting them harmlessly. He then caused the arms to re-direct at Metallo. As Metallo busied himself with the slashing arms, Zero dashed over to Ivy. "Hey, doll, you ok?" He asked.

Slade simply ignored the box as he took Mame with him back to their hiding spot. He figured that asleep, the toxin could run it's course and (hopefuly) be out of her system by the time she came to. He figured if she was hungry when she awoken he could simply go and swipe something.

(She was in wind form. Didn't hurt her that much.My fault, should have clarified.)

"I-I'm fine." Ivy assured, landing loftily and retaking her human form."Nice trick." she added, nodding to Metallo on defense. She didn't say much else. All she knew was this guy was going down. While Metallo slashed at the missiles, the earth beneath him began to shake. Ivy smiled.

Metallo was caught of gaurd by Zero's shadow atack, but more suprised by the small earthquake beneath his feet. "What the hell...?" he barked in suprise. His anger was mounting. "Little twerps- don't think you've won yet!" He barked, and the metal of his body shifted to what could best be described as a tank. A bright green blast roared out of the cannon and hurtled for the riders...

Alice had talked it over with Dick and Barbara and began her adventure to the warehouse district after assuring Cassius that she'd save his two daughters. In her suit and loaded with her default equipment. Driving in the Batmobile Alice's partner as usual was Batgirl, who was sitting in the passenger's seat. "Poison Ivy, The Riddler, The Scarecrow, and The Mad Pervert Creepy Stalker are all near where Karmy and Cyrah are being held captive. Wanna stop by after we've rescued Karmy and her?" She asked Batgirl, "I'm gonna beat the crap out of that Hatter." Batgirl said punching her fist into her hand; the way Batman did when he was young. "That's what I thought! Whoever messes with you messes with me!" Alice said in determination, kicking the gas, and jack rabbiting the Batmobile. She was happy to be driving it because, she barely ever got to.

Richard Grayson embraced Rachel Roth in the CB, they stepped back and looked at each other as most friends do when they haven't seen each other for two years. Not in a wanting way, but as good as friends could get. "Its great seeing you again Raven." He told her. "You too Robin." She said smiling.

"I'm, heh. I'm Batman now."
"You're still the same 17 year old Robin to me."
"Wasn't I 18?"
"You were a lot of things Robin." She said winking at him.
"What's that about?"
"I never got the chance to see the color of your eyes before."
"Really?"
"You always hid them under your mask... Blue. I like them."
"I get your seal of approval?"
"Call it what you want."
"I've never seen you this happy before."
"That's a lie."
"No really, what's the deal?"
"Before you moved to Gotham again..."
"What?"
"You didn't let me finish."
"Sorry. Continue?"
"Before you moved to Gotham again that was the first time since I met you that we were apart. Its weird being at Titan's Tower without you. Or Beast Boy. Or Starfire."
"Pheh. Starfire."
"Isn't she married?"
"Yeah."
"Anything?"
"I have Babs now."
"Oh! You two are together?"
"I think we might have made it official without words."
"How's that coming along? Did you kiss yet?"
"I don't need to answer that. Plus, Nicole is eves dropping on us."
"I know, hey you can come in kiddo." Raven called out.

"I know I could tell, how could you?" Raven asked Dick. "The shadows of her feet at the edge of the door." Dick said in his detective like way. "C'mon in Nicole! We're not gonna bite."

"So you adopted her?" Raven asked Dick as he crossed his arms and smiled, "Every Batman needs his Robin." Dick chuckled. "I'm assuming you and I need to go on more espionage missions with me."
"Don't pick on her!" Raven said lightly punching his arm."
"I'm just saying!" Dick said in defense.
"Yeah Nicole, this is how we get when we haven't seen each other in a long time." Raven explaining her bubbly attitude.
"Whatever, you guys can pick on me now! Then can we be fair?"
"I dunno. Nicole what do you think?" Raven asked. "How do yo wanna pick on your Dad?"

"Wanna get some dirt on his ex?" Raven smiled devilishly. Walking closer to her, "Raven... I don't want to talk about it."
"Fine we'll talk about it." She said as a shadow from her powers formed under them and disappeared.

The noise from the near by battle roused Karmy awake and she wearily lifted her head and looked around. Seeing as she was still tied up, her movement was limited to just moving her head. Turning around and realizing she was tied to a still unconscious Cyrah, she tried to call out to her but was muffled by the cloth covering her mouth. So, using what little strength she had, she tried to shake her awake.

Poison Ivy shook slightly. "What the hell was that?!" She asked, referring to the noise of the nearby Metallo vs. Riders battle. Astro shrugged innocently. "Sounds like....heavy firearms." he replied. Poison Ivy rose an eyebrow. Firearms? That strong? This close?

"Astro, go check it out." She ordered, turning her attention back to the other villains. "Think Bats has found us...." She murmured, sipping her tea.
---
"Lu! Are you holding out alright?!" Ivy called, tempted to resume her wind phase.
---
Astro clung to the shadows just outside the warehouse. The battle with Metallo was doing heavy damage on the warehouse, and it was incredibly easy to spot. He slinked his way closer, hugging walls and curves when he could, struggling to see who the battlers were. A man covered in metal, missiles and cannon blasts firing from his arms. A girl with swirling black energy projecting from her hands, protecting her and her friends. A caped boy with goggles on, performing some shadow bending of his own. A girl in a green leotard, hands glowing lime colored.

Who were they? Whose side was he supposed to fight on? He gulped, watching the fight.

Ivy nodded, taking on her wind form to avoid getting too seriously damaged as she watched. Karmy and Cyrah. Karmy and Cyrah....Where were they? She peeked into the shadows, hoping to discover her two roped friends.

"See if I care if he found us!" Scarecrow asked pulling a grenade launcher from the table. "Look what I got!" He boasted. "I'm assuming you have gas maskes prepared for us." The Riddler asked knowing that he rigged the grenade launcher with his fear gas. "Oh course I do!" He said in defense. "Okay so are we going to wait for them to come here or go on out? And how did they find us anyway?" The Riddler asked, then Scarecrow looked at The Mad Hatter.

"As long as I get to grab Alice." The Mad Hatter said getting a dreamy look in his eye's. "You do have an antidote right? I wouldn't want her to be terrified of me." he said with a bucktooth grin. "I know how powerful that gas of yours is. The serum that I have for her wont work if that toxin is in her systems too long."

Poison Ivy shrugged. "I sent the new kid to see what was going on...Oh, here he is." She gestured as Astro walked in.

"There is a battle going on. A metahuman battle," Astro began, beginning to describe Metallo, Luna, Zero and Ivy as best as he could. "Do they sound familiar to you?" he asked. Poison Ivy grit her teeth. Of course they sounded familiar. "The other's being there will be a mere bonus, if we attack correctly." She suggested.

"No, Hatter! How did The Batman find us?!" The Riddler asked walking over and flicking The Mad Hatter's hat off in anger. "It was you wasn't it? Wasn't it!? You want Alice? You go find a new place to hang!" The Riddler fumed angrily. "Not so fast Nygma!" The Scarecrow threatened The Ridder's shoulder. "We still need him! You want to find another way to get your hands on mind control be my guest, Jervis stays!" The Riddler then forced himself to sit down. He didn't like it but he did it.

Alice and Batgirl infiltrated the warehouse from a window at the top, quickly and quietly. "You search down there," Batgirl told Alice, "I'll start here and work my way around." They were sneaking around the fighting commotion and explosives, Alice wished so much for a cloaking device. She would talk to Dick about it when she got back, Batgirl on the other hand is just happy to be back on her feet again. Alice found a closet door, she wiggled it. Of course its locked. They must be here. "Batgirl," Alice called through her communicator, "I think I've found them. I need your picklock." Batgirl turned from her search, "Snake-Cam the door and make sure." She told Alice.

Alice unhooked a snake-cam from her utility belt, and crouched to feed the cam under the door. It was pitch-black so she turned the nightvision on which revealed two girls, bound together tightly. She reeled the feed back and held her hand to her ear, "Yeah, he's got them here." Alice said, "I'm on my way." Batgirl informed Alice. "Stay low." "I know, Al, I know."

Picking the lock they slowly opened the door, "Karmy. Karmy its me, Alice!" She said working on the rope and chains. "Hurry up Al! We have to go!"

Metallo, amidst his duel witht he riders, detected the arrival of Batman's merry brood with his radar systems. His metal body shifted back to his robot form. "I told you, didn't I? I told you they would die if back up came." He said ot the riders with a snide smirk. Black cables shot out of his hand and scooped up Cyrah and Karmy, sonstricting the two. "If anyone fires another shot, I'll break them apart!" he barked, keeping a tight grip.

Ivy leapt back from the shadows, shedding her wind phase. "KARMY! CYRAH! WAKE UP!" She screamed, giving Metallo a particular death glare. If Karm woke up, she could portal all of them out of there. Or Metallo to New Mexico.

"Sh*t, KARMY!!!" Alice screamed in horror as she jumped down. "What do you want with the Riders? I'm technically the founder so you can talk to me!"

"I called the three riders here so I could KILL them, brat! Why else?" Metallo barked, squeezing notably tighter. "You are a rider no longer, you are of no concern to me." Metallo said disdainfully.

"But the people you have caught are all of our concerns. Messed with one of us, we're all going to get you." Ivy retorted stubbornly. She figured, Metallo wouldn't kill Karmy and Cyrah right there, having those two prisoner was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment. If he didn't have them, she was pretty darn sure metal dude would have had his rear kicked by now.

(will be posting from itouch so expect slowness and shortness)

Karmy grunted in pain as she could feel the life slowly being squeezed out of her. She couldn't move her hands and her feet dangled uselessly underneath her. Having given up struggling, for she found it totally useless in Metallo's vice like grip, she could only hope that her friends would hurry up as she tried to figure out which bone in her body would snap first. The pressure on her arms was intense but she knew that the humerus bone was tougher than any of her ribs bones. When Metallo increased his grip she screamed out the rest of the air in her lungs as she felt something on her left side snap and she passed out again.

They were trapped unless they can do something right this moment and right this second. They need something to make him lose his grip; an explosion, a flash anything that might hurt him might make him grip harder. Alice took the key out of a smoke grenade in her side belt, smoke began to billow and pervade through the warehouse. She wasn't sure what Metallo's reaction would be next, but Batgirl began to do the same, she set colored smoke grenades off and threw them on opposite sides of the structure. The both activated heat-sensitive goggles.

(Mercy has Karmy control till laters o_O)

Metallo seemed genuineley unimpressed. "Oh my goodness, you set of smoke grenades, how will I EVER catch you all now? Fools." Metallo said sarcastically. His radar systems and movement detectors were mroe than ample to detect the bat clan. And this tactic would work against them- in this smoke, it would mask his own movements, and make help from the Riders difficult to receive at best. His eyes glowed a harsh green, and he fired a harsh radiation burst at Alice.