The Darkest of Knights

(Thanks for the recap, Merc!)
Ivy snuck out of Titans tower, stuffed with waffles and worn out from all the excitement. Her journal was tucked beneath her arm as she carefully weaved her way out the back entrance and towards, where she vaguely recalled, her favorite tree had been. The thought of it's familiar nooks and stretching branches comforted her in all the rapid changes. She stepped into the clearing, her heart sinking an inch or two. The tree was gone, a patch of weeds in it's place. The girl was not about to let herself be disheartened by the mishap, instead collapsing on the yellowed ground, indian style. The sun bathed her in warmth, helping her brighten up a tad. Her journal fell open, full of blank pages eager to be filled. She gingerly picked up her pencil and began writing.

Ivy wrote:Date:...Who keeps track anymore?
Place: R.I.P. Oaky
The Bats gave everyone journals to keep sane. I think. But with some of us, the ship has probably sailed. In fact, the ship might already be a Titanic waiting to happen. But, the wild things that happen around here keep us from getting bored. Silver lining, right?

Silver linings: No MAJOR villain has reared their ugly head up yet, Metropolis is so close this mission is practically over, those were some really good waffles. I can grow another oak tree.

I'm worried about everyone, though, and that has no silver lining so far. You know what it's like having a whole city out to get you? And the added pressure of trying to stop a government conspiracy (Ah, irony.)? And our own team. Babs was beaten half to death. Who knows whose next? I'm getting real jumpy just thinking about how many of us have been hurt already. I'm freaking out here, how many times could I have helped them? We're lucky to have such talented healers, but so much of this could have been prevented. A sharp eye, an extra hand. Just being there. What have I been doing?

Ivy paused, finding her writings were making her more upset than calm. She took a few slow breaths before lifting her pencil back up.

Silver lining found: We're all still alive. Rae, Lu, you're holding our team together.

Like Mom used to say, once you're at the bottom, the only way to go is...

"Up." She smiled, glancing up at the sky and reminiscing. Everything could change right there and right then, but her mother's words were eternally with her.

Thank you, shiny new journal, for enduring my rant. Please know I felt so silly writing in this, and hopefully can smile at all this later. Hopefully.

~Ivy

The snapping sound jolted Karmy out of her hallucinating as she crash landed on top of Titan's Tower. "How did.." she rubbed her head as she curiously wondered how she got back to the tower. "Shi.." she grumbled and jumped off, going through another portal and landing ontop of the old clock tower from long ago. "I'll eat later.." she mumbled as she settled down against the wall, resting her head.

11/13/31
Jump City 9:45am
Gotham City 12:45pm
Breezy/chilly

Batman knew leaving the interrogation to Raven was a good idea. Cyborg on the otherhand knew how swamped Batman and company had been stressed out like crazy. "Hey y'all. Uhh ever since you left we have so much open space. You go rest. Red and I will clean up the mess, aint that right?" Cyborg asked Red Robin. "Of course! Anything man! You go rest Dick!" Red Robin said with a smile. "I'm okay." Dick insisted taking off his portable Batsuit now that the danger was out of the way. "Okay, Dick... Be honest." Red Robin said placing a hand on Dick's shoulder. "When was the last time you slept?" Cyborg asked looming over him.

Dick stood there thinking. "I can't remember." He said. "All I know is that I woke up to..." Dick couldn't remember when the last time he woke up. "Wait. What day is it? What happened last night? Is today the 10th of November?" He asked. "Its the 13th, a Thursday." Barbara spoke up taking off her Portable Batsuit. "Photographic minds will never lose track of the dates." Dick smiled at her. "Man.. You're worst than you sound." Cyborg said talking about the phone call he received at 2am. "Look, Red and I can take care of everything, so why don't you go to your room and get some rest hmm?" Cyborg said to Dick sternly. "He's not suggesting it to you." Red Robin added. "As long as you're in my house, you'll live by my rules." Cyborg grinned. "I'll get you back at Gotham." Dick said. "Whatever man, think about yourself for once, go to your room. You came here to relax." Cyborg said sounding more and more like a father and leader. "Fine, fine." Dick agreed scratching his head and resting an arm around Barbara's shoulder. "C'mon." Barbara said taking him to the halls again. "Show me where your room is."

"Hey... Where can I sleep?" Alice asked. "I don't want to... Trust me I don't. My best friend is out there and.. And I don't.." Cyborg supported Alice up. "Hey hey Malice, get a hold of yourself." Cyborg said. "My name.. My name...." She whispered. "We got a good place for you to sleep." He said picking her up. "Hey and anyone else who's sleep deprived, don't hesitate to take up any free beds. We have several guest rooms scattered around the Tower." Red Robin advised. "That sounds good actually.. That sounds really good right now.. Right Ivy?" Zero said feeling around for Ivy and touching Cassius. "Think she stepped out for a bit son, I'll get you a bed." He said leading Zero out. "Dad? Where did Ivy... What's going on?" He asked his world consumed by darkness.

People began waking up in Gotham. A broken down and destroyed terror awaits the resting.

"Dehydration." Alice said. "Too much action, no water, not even coffee. Why aren't you obeying reason and going back? Tell me why you choose to stay away from people who are worried about you."

Zero felt like grade- a looser material right now. Fumbling blindly like a toddler, he was relying more or less on his spacial detection to keep from walking out a window or something and look for Ivy. Of all the people he wanted to be with right now, Ivy topped everyone, hands down.

After much dificulty and running into several walls, he managed to get himself outside. Cyrah offered several times to help him outside to where she was, but Zero declined. This got him the 'hardheaded man' lecture from her. Oh well, even though they didn't have much contact, at least they could still argue like proper brother and sister.

He could detect Ivy's presence better then just about anyone's, so once he was outside, he didn't have much dificulty finding Ivy. He clumsily flopped down next to her. "hey dollface. Watcha' doing out here all alone?" He asked, a mixture of concern and caring in his voice.

Cassius shoved his fingers in his ears to drown out thing 1 and thing 2. Good god, he thought Cyrah wasn't the yackitey type. Boy was he wrong. As he distanced himself, he jabbed the comm button on his helmet. "Hey, Karms, everything ok out there with you?" he asked curiously. He wasn't too worried about her being in danger or anything- he knew her well enough by now that any poor fool that went after her was in for an asswhuppin'.

Cyrah laughed at some joke Rose had just told. "Ha, nice! But tell me something- if it's not too personal, why are you stickin' around? You know your father is allive, shouldn't you, you know, go after him?" Cyrah asked. She didn't want Rose to leave, but she was curious. "Well, to be frank, I don't much like him. Sure, there's the whole daughterly love crap, but I just don't like him. When he died, I figured it was my duty to do the cliche' revenge thing, but, well..... I told you how bad Alice whupped my ass." Rose said with a shrug. "Ah well."

Cyrah didn't really get it much, but she just went along with it. "So how 'bout this- why are you staying?" She asked. Rose thought about this for a moment. "Well, you guys are about to go after Ra's Al Ghul and help that guy right? And after that blow up a superweapon, right?" "Yeah, we are." "Exactly. I'm crazy, not evil. If I can save half a trillion lives, I will." Rose said with confidence.

Crimson regained concessness to having a splitting headache and was trussed up like a christmas tree. "What the... why the hell am i tied up?! Look, i wasn't here to cause anyone harm! i was just here to ask if anyone knew were the riders are!

Before Karmy could answer hallucination Alice, the sound of Cassius's voice snapped her out of it. Reaching down into her pocket, she pulled out the communicator. "I'm just a little tired Cass.." she responded. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to come back yet.. Everyone seems pissed at me."

"Hey, nobody is pissed at you, we're just concerned. How we show it might be.... odd." Cassius said, re-counting Alice shoving food down Karmy's throat. "But we're just concerned, that's all.' He said, trying his best to be re-assuring.

Karmy let out a sigh and curled up as tight as she could. "I don't think I can go on Cass.." she closed her eye's and a few tears leaked out. She had been holding this back ever since she found out that Slade had her bag. "I need it back.. I'm so far away from that part of me that.." she snapped her fingers and portaled in front of Cassius. She stood before him, looking up at his visor. "I don't know.."

"You're in no position for demanding requests." Raven told Crimson, a bright light shined on his face. "If you don't like getting hurt, tell me why you're looking for the Midnight Riders in Titan's Tower." She interrogated.

"Man look at her go. She's evil." Red Robin said impressed. His arms folded over another, they were spectating Raven's performance.

Cyborg carried Alice into Terra's old room. "This use to belong to a blond who went bad. Now this is going to a blond who went good." He explained to Alice. "Terra." Alice muttered. "Yeah. Terra. My favorite little rock n' roller." Cyborg sighed laying her down on the bed.

Dick and Barbara walked into Robin's old room. "Wow, looks like how I left it." Dick said surprised. He jumped onto his bunk bed and felt the spring loaded mattress. "Any more room up there?" Barbara asked. "Actually not a lot. I can't believe I was this short." Dick said slightly embarrassed. "Well, make way, I'm coming up!" Barbara smiled hopping up onto Dick's lap. "Whoa! Geez, you could have warned me." Barbara ignored Dick and hugged him. "You're tired." She said softly. "This is a tight squeeze.." Dick complained. "Deal with it." Barbara nearly mocked at him. In no time she was asleep in his arms, and he was asleep holding her close.

"Okay, okay ill tell you!" Crimson said. Another beating was not what he wanted. "I was looking for the riders because i felt i could be a valueable asset to them! I want to make a difference in this world.

Raven's face looked appalled. We just beat the snot out of this guy.. We kicked his butt. Not knowing what to do she looked at the one way window and pointed at Crimson with a confused face. Red Robin facepalmed and stepped inside. "Okay kid, first of all The Midnight Rider's location is in Gotham, you just so happen to be lucky that they dropped by for a visit. Secondly, we have a doorbell kid. All unauthorized personnel will be considered a threat. We have top notch security measures in Titan's Tower. Raven." He said spinning his finger around Crimson and she released him. "So before we let you out, prove to us that you're not a spy." Red Robin said, if he was in fact a threat he could beat him whether he was or wasn't tied.

"Cyborg." Alice called to him as he was leaving. Cyborg turned to face her. "Call me Alice." she said. Cyborg smiled. "Will do." He said walking out and closing the door.

Cassius knelt down. He really didn't know what to do- if they were back in Gotham, he could go, find Slade, and beat the living tar out of him. But, they WERE across the country now. "Look, Karmy, I'm sorry, I really am. But you've gotta take care of yourself, we're about to get into some important fights, I want you in as good a shape as possible. I don't want you to get hurt." Cassius said with concern.