The Darkest of Knights

"Even if I did eat and rest and all that stuff, I won't be able to be much of a fighter." Karmy hung her head. " I don't know if I ever told you this or not Cass but, the reason the bag is what it is is because well, part of my soul is what gives it it's power." her shoulder's slumped a little. "Part of Casey's too. I have never been this far away from the bag and it's really taking it's toll on me..."

"Yo! Hippie is back!" Cyborg smiled walking in. "Y'all didn't eat yet huh? I don't think there's anything vegetarian since BB left, but I think we can fix up a salad or somethin'." He asked. "You guys gotta get some rest y'know? Gotham is a stressful city. Just kick back for a bit will ya?"

"Hey Robin! I got us a room!" Red X sparkled as he ran up to Nicole. "Oh, you're. Out of costume already?"

"I dunno about you but I'm tired as hell. Wanna go sleep? There's a room on the second floor with two beds." Red X said hopefully.

"Not a problem... You're actually writing in that thing? Should I start writing in mine? Hmm." Red X said intrigued and suddenly. He pulled out his journal, looking at it.

"Uh.. Hey! You going to the room already? You dunno where it is?" Red X asked following her like a sad puppy.

"Hey I'll show you! Its really nice!" Red X said excitingly grabbing Nicole's hand and walking her out. "Wait in fact..." He thought, and he picked her up and ran to the bedroom a little too excitingly. "Ugh! Man you're heavy." He said walking into the room.

Karmy jumped slightly when she heard Cyborg. "No thank you." she said and hid behind Cassius again, feeling safer. "I'm really not hungry."

Cassius really couldn't think of a way out of THIS one. "hey, uh......." He stuttered in mid thought- he wasn't going to pretend he knew a lot about spiritual things. "Look, I'm sure this is hard, but it'll all get better. Why not just get a little rest and calm down?" he suggested to her.

"Dawg... really what's up with her?" Cyborg asked Cassius, he knew just the way she was standing that she was hungry. He could see it. It was that bad.

Red X thought for a minute, "Poor choice of words." He said putting her down by thrusting his arms down, Nicole hit the floor hard.

"Alright.." Karmy turned away and headed towards the couch. "I'll just be here if you need me." she plopped down and curled up, unable to fall asleep though.

"What?" Red X asked really confused. "What did I do? You told me to put you down, so I did!"

"She's going through a rough time right now- I'm not sure I understand it, but some of her essence is a part of that bag. without it, she's like this. We can't try to push her to do anyhting she's not up for right now. If she can't eat right now, she shouldn't force her to." Cassius tried to explain to Cyborg.

"Gah, fine! I'll just-.." Damian said walking over to a desk. He opened up his journal.. "How do you write in this thing?"

Damian Wayne wrote:November 13, 2031, Red X Journals.

We came from Gotham and landed in Jump City early in the morning. I thought fighting Slade would be easy, but unfortunately the experience told me otherwise. I took a beating, two shots in the leg. Raven healed me up pretty quick, damn she's hot. I can't believe he fought next to her in tights without getting an erection. That would have been embarrassing. I would have liked to see that.

Nicole and I aren't getting along too well. She seems to get along with Dick just fine though, he really acts as if she's his daughter. Even though their skin tones are completely different and anyone can tell she's adopted, they have a real connection. I use to make the same connection with Dick when I was Robin. Even though I hate Dick I can still say some good things about him I guess. Oh that reminds me, I was Robin before, wasn't I?

"Hey... You okay?" Damian asked taking off his mask and throwing it across the room. He did the same with his boots. "When was the last time you slept?" He asked pulling up the blankets as he rested his head on the large pillow.

[Time Rift Approaching]

"I'm doin' fine. No need to worry about me. Get some rest. Its the smart thing to do." Damian muttered before he began drifting off to sleep.

TEN HOURS LATER

11/13/31
09:30 pm - Jump City
Cool

Dick woke up with his arm asleep, he couldn't remember where he was. The ceiling looked awfully reminiscent of his youth. Something smelled, it smelled good. He looked to his side and saw Barbara sleeping, curled in his arm. Her head was right under his chin, he nudged her. "Hey." He said quietly. "Hey wake up." Her eyes opened up, deep blue, he could look into those eyes for a lifetime. He intended to. "How long have we been out?" She asked her muffled voice came from under a the covers as she ducked beneath them. "No idea, what are you doing?" He asked her as she was spreading out on him in the small bed. "I don't wanna get up.." She mumbled. "I was having this great dream. You were in it." She smiled and kissed Dick's chest softly. "Oh yeah? What was it about?" Dick asked. "Well.. I already gave birth." Barbara started.
"Boy or girl?"
"Girl."
"Of course girl."
"What? You don't want a girl?"
"No no, I'm fine either way!"
"You sure about that Dick Grayson?"
"Okay, so maybe I'm leaning towards boy."
"So you can have another Robin when Nicole turns into the new Nightwing? I don't think so."
"Anyway continue on with the dream."
"Okay! Gosh. So we were take our child to the movies and we saw some old black and white film."
"At the movies?"
"Yeah, you know. Like those dollar theatres?"
"Oh yeah. What did we see?"
"I don't know."
"Oh.. Well then what?"
"Then we had ice cream.. I picked Vanilla, you picked chocolate... And Alice picked a mixture of both."
"Alice was in the dream?"
"Oh.. Well... That was our child's name."

Karmy hadn't really moved in the past few hours, only to get up and stretch around a bit. Having spent the time staring at the ring, which only switched every so often, indicating Slade's movements, she hadn't really slept at all. She had dosed off for a while but, after a horrid dream, she just lay on the couch, staring at her ring. Hearing the tell tale signs of people waking up upstairs, Karmy let out a heavy sigh. "F*ck..."

"I'm not a spy! And im sorry for not knocking first! Crimson said. "I can even prove i'm not a spy! See? no recorders, cameras, or anything! I just want to help the riders! After saying what he needed, Crimson closed his eyes and trned his head in fear of receiving a blow.

"Wow he's not that bright huh?" Red Robin whispered to Raven. "How long have we been at this?" Raven whispered back to Red Robin. "No idea. We have to end this now." Red Robin said almost ready to rip his eyes out. "Look kid," Red Robin said. "Just cause you don't have any recording devices or cameras to be a spy. Lots of spies aren't James Bond." He explained. "Nevertheless you're sitting right where you are. The Midnight Riders will interview you." Red Robin. Sighed. Walking out with Raven, they used intercom systems to call the Midnight Riders. "Ivy, Zero, and Luna, come to the interrogation room." Tim Drake said pulling back his mask. "What time is it?" He asked Raven. "Its 9:34" She said pulling out her cell phone. "Damn.. That's almost ten hours." Tim mused.

Alice got up looked around and checked the time. "Damn, its early." She mumbled. She got up and picked up a heart-shapped box opening it up to look into the mirror. "Nice." She muttered combing her mess mat of hair.

Damian snapped awake. "Noodles." He said without thought.

"Nyuh..." Ivy groggily shook herself awake, realizing she and Zero had fallen asleep outside. "The grass was softer than my old mattress..." She mumbled, propping herself up on two arms. Her journal had pressed into her side, leaving a thin impression. She frowned, pulling it out from beneath her. The com. beeped again with the message. The girl nudged Zero. "You awake? We fell asleep outside."

Zero had initially slept through his comm going off, but he slowly roused himself awake as Ivy nudged him. He could tell by the cooler air that it was late. "I'm awake now..... *yeaaaaawn*....." he said grogilly as managed to sit himself up and stretch. "Hey, How log've we been out here?" He asked tiredly. One downside to blindness was that time perception was difficult, although between the temperature and how long he felt he rested, he'd imagine they had been out here for several hours. Not that it bothered him- there was no place he'd rather be then with Ivy, even if it was just to sleep.

While she waited for everyone to come down, Karmy decided to write in her journal real quick, just to get her mind working.

Karmy Anna Anderson wrote:I broke my promise. I'm so sorry Casey, I really am. It's all my fault, I shouldn't have gotten drunk that night, shouldn't have run away. It's all I can ever think of doing whenever things are bad. Alice force fed me this morning.. Oh god that was horrible. It was even worse then when the Joker did it because it wasn't some psychotic villain that did it, it was my best friend. I hate this.. Everyones mad at me, I just know it. I'm useless. I can't even f*cking hold onto my most personal posession! I failed. I hate this stupid journal! Stop making me cry, dammit!

Karmy shut the tear stained journal and set it down next to her. Flipping over onto her stomach, she slipped the hood over her head and buried her head in her arms, trying to calm herself down.

Ivy checked the time on her com. "About...ten hours. We needed a good rest." She informed Zero, doing her best to camouflage her worry. He was still blind, despite Raven and Luna's efforts. She was tempted to ask him how bad it was, if he could at least make out shapes and such, but was terrified of what might be the answer.

"Come on, they want us back at the tower." The heroine lent Zero her hand, attempting to help him up and guide him back. Her journal was tucked between her belt and side. She straightened herself and stood.