The Darkest of Knights

"She said what I just said." Alice said looking at Karmy with dead eyes. "You blame us.." She said pointing at her belt. "For losing you bag." Alice sighed. "You could have told me that you hate us, though I don't know why I didn't see it sooner."

"Right, so who are the pipsqueaks anyhow?" Beast Boy asked. "That's my adopted daughter Nicole, and that is my technical brother, Damian." Dick replied to Beast Boy. "And I'm Tim, The Third Robin Incarnation." Drake smiled. "Nice, nice. So you know my plans as being an astronaut failed for a proposition to land on the sun..." Beast Boy said nonchalantly..

"Yeah Beast Boy, that's impossible." Dick added. And here comes the aweful punchline that everyone knew was coming: "Well, I was planning on going during the night!" Beast Boy laughed at his own joke. "What? You guys don't know funny if it hit you in the face." He mumbled. "Hey what are they doing in the corners anyway Raven?" Dick asked. "They were at each other's necks I think." Cyborg reported.

"But Alice!" Karmy was becoming hystarical. "I dont hate you! Why the hell would Sarah say that.. Please Al, believe me!"

"Quiet Nicole!" Dick ordered. "I tought you would know better than to act on your emotions. Till then stay there and think about what you've done." He said rather fatherly. "Wow, you've turned into a real dad since I last saw you." Beast Boy laughed. "Only practice for the real thing." Dick replied with a smile. "Huh what are you talking about?" Beast Boy asked as Barbara walked in.

Alice stood there looking into Karmy's eyes. She looked away for a second, hugged Karmy and cried. "I believe you."

[Whoah. just whoah o_O]

(I dont think they're getting a lot of rest XP) Karmy hugged Alice back, crying. "You're my best friend and you always will be, Alice." she cried out. "I don't know why Cyrah said that stuff to you, but please believe me when I say I don't hate you! i never have and never will!" she suddenly felt very queasy and pushed away from Alice. She fell to her knees and managed to open up a portal before vomitting in the small portal.

[Hmmm, Lets see if I can wriggle in here somehow........]

Cyrah was still more or less seething to herself when she felt herself hoisted off the ground by a tough grip. She was spun around to look in the heartily pissed face of her father. "I heard what you said a minute ago." He said scornfully. "Oh it's none of y-" Cyrah tried to protest but was cut off by Cassius pointing his finger dangerously at her. "Wanna bet? What good do you think could have POSSIBLY come from saying that, Hm? Are you TRYING to get people pissed at you!?" Cassius scolded forcefully.

"N-no, I just-" "You Just WHAT?" Cassius continued to scold. Rose, feeling awkward in the highest extremes, took the ensuing awkward silence to scurry off. Cyrah gave a defeated sigh. "I just..... I wanted to be the one to help her. I kept feeling angry for making it worse while other people were the ones actually d-" Cyrah was cut off, yet again. "But that was no excuse. Saying sh*t like that and turning friends against is other is NOT the right thing to do." Cassius scolded, less forcefully but still very sternly. Cyrah's face pretty much gave away how much she regretted saying what she did.

"You're right..... It was dumb." She said in a slump. "You forgot Juvenile, crass, wrong, mean, deceptive-" This time Cyrah cut Cassius off. "I get it." She mumbled, still being held aloft. "But what now? I'm sure both Alice AND Karmy hate me right now." Cyrah said, feeling more and more ashamed of herself by the second. "Frankly, they have a reason to. You're damn lucky they haven't come up here to kick the crap out of you!" Cassius said flatly, plopping Cyrah back on the ground. "So you're going to go apologize." Cassius ordered. "But-" "NOW!!!" Yeah, Cyrah quickly booked it out of the room.

It took her a little bit, but Cyrah eventually saw Karmy and Alice sitting there on the beach. She considered squirreling away in shame, but all she could see was her dad finding her and forcing her to. Well, one way or another, she was going to have to do this. She knew dad was right- they DID have every right to beat the tar out of her for doing what she did. But if that was what it took, she'd figure it would be fair considering what she did. Nervously, her head slumped in shame, she shuffled over to Alice and Karmy

She could guess that she wasn't welcome, but she put her hands up passively and decided to get close to them so they should read how much she regretted what she did. "Look, you two must hate me right now. And I don't blame you- I deserve it. But..... I just wanted to say....." She held her head lower then ever out of sheer regret. "I'm really sorry for what I did. It was stupid- REALLY stupid of me to do. I had no right to f^ up the friendship between you two. I was just..... jealous of the bond you two share. Always there for each other, working as a team...." Cyrah began wringing her hands together nervously. "I spent over a decade living in a cage alone with nobody but scientists to keep me company, eventually being put into stasis I was so f^ed up. I woke up to be..... used by that bastard Charger." Cyrah choked out, recalling the animalistic things charger did to her and the inhumane transformation he put her through.

Cyrah focused her sorrowful look on Karmy. "Only these past two years have I really had any memorable concrete connections with anybody, you most of all. I thought that with Alice, you would grow to forget me.... only now that I tried to 'prevent' that, I realized I pushed you even further away and hurt your feelings. For that, I'm so sorry you couldn't imagine." She said, choking back the urge to break down and cry.

Cyrah turned to Alice Next. "And you..... The reason I couldn't stand you, was because I was jealous of you. You're talented, pretty, you live with friggin' BATMAN...... I'd give anything to be you for just an hour. But the thing I was envious of the most was your relationship with Karmy." She took a quick pause before she continued. "What I did was wrong- I had no right saying those things I said, and I wish I could take them back- it was mean of me to try and come between you two, and..... I just....." Cyrah couldn't fight it anymore. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" With that, she turned around and took off, bawling in shame.....

Before Cyrah could get too far, a portel opened and Karmy landed in front of Cyrah and pulled her into a hug without a word. Karmy knew what she was talking about. She had also spent 8 years(Just realized I screwed up on math) of her life in hell and she knew how much it affects a person. The physical and emetional scarring that was left on both of them would never be forgotten, never. Unlike Cyrah, Karmy had had a better experience after her escape. The Insomnios had taught her so much about life and about friendship and, that no matter what, friends will always be there. "I will never forget you Cyssy." she said, her voice strained because of the recent stomach acid that had burned her throat. "Ever."

Slade continued to root through the bag to see what he could see. Gun, Tofu, light fixture, tofu, watch, tofu, clothes, tofu, grenade, tofu, twiggy Florida girl, tofu...... Slade began to notice a pattern and gave up. It didn't take a lot of dificulty for him to whip up the plans for his suit- he built the thing, he knew it inside out. He spent the remainder fo the day aimlessly prowling the streets and alleys in his spider form to try and eavesdrop and hear what had happened to the Joekr and all last night. As night approached, he returned to his suit just in time to receive Thorne's call. After taking a quick check at Mame's vitals, he took off. He knew he couldn't keep her here much longer- her health was soon going to be an issue, but he wasn't going to keep thorne waiting.......

Like before, he strolled up to the door to the building and rung the bell.

Cyrah couldn't find the words, she just hugged Karmy back and continued to repeat over and over how sorry she was......

"Sure, Lu, it's our most effective way." Ivy agreed, leaning back against the wall. "If we're taking recruits, and he's telling the truth, I suppose we could give him a chance." She murmured, fiddling with her belt. "Nothing wrong with extra help, I guess."
---
Astro quietly waved at the newcomer, gathering from everyone's reactions he was an old friend. I wonder just how many Titans there are... he pondered.

(....... Mah tofu D:!!)

"It's alright Cyssy." Karmy shushed her. "What are sister's for?" Suddenly, she sensed a disturbance in the force. "Oh god.." she fell to her knees, clutching her stomach in pain. She looked at the ring on her finger and saw that it was changing colors fast and the needle was pulsating with light. "He's messing with it.." she groaned in pain, feeling sick. She gave a wet cough and a pale red foam came from her mouth.

"I swear i have no intentions to cause harm to anyone in this building!" Crimson said with certainty. "Now will you let me go and join the riders?"

Alice caught up with the two girls. "Barbara, this is Alice, come in Barbara." She said kneeling over Karmy and resting a hand over Cyrah. "We gotta get back and we're outside the city. Can you come pick us up?" Alice asked. "Sure, Cyborg is offering to pick you up. He'll be there in ten minutes." Barbara informed her. "Thanks Babs."

"Dude! Shotgun!" Beast Boy joyfully exclaimed. "Yo man, whatever. See you guys later." Cyborg said waving, Beast Boy—still shorter than Cyborg—jumped onto his back as a piggyback. "Aww man, you still gotta do this?" He asked. "Still the same Beast Boy right?" Beast Boy asked.

Just as before, the door was answered by a large third rate thug, and just like before the thug lead Slade through a kitchen to a large elevator, though this time the thug stayed behind. Apparently Deathstroke had earned enough faith with the mob to be allowed to ride the elevator alone. Or maybe feeding time was soon and the buss boy didn't want to miss it.

Whatever it was, it was quiet. Even the elevator music seemed to be missing.

Slade was curious as to the awkward silence. He wasn't too terribly concerned about it, but just curious. He patiently waited in the elevator, the disk with the plans tucked into a pouch on his belt.

Zero still tapped his foot skeptically, his feelings on Crimson mirroring how his father thought about Astro. But he lacked the bluntness to just say no. "Well..... if he's being for real, I suppose we could give him a test run. See how he does when we're on assignment next, and THEN make a judgement call." Zero suggested. He probably couldn't do much observing, though in his present shape........

"Crap!" Cyrah cursed as Karmy seemingly burst into blood. She blatantly ignored Alice's hand and quickly knelt down next to Karmy also. "Dammit, we need that bag- she's only getting worse." She said with concern. Cyrah knew Karmy had been feeling down, but this was the first time she had seen Karmy physically in pain because of it.

"No.." Karmy strained and stood up, without their help. "I'm not the priority. We gotta help Zero and Metropolis first." she ignored the pain and pulled her hands away from her stomach. "I can deal, I've had worse before." The feeling of bile rising in her throat again came but, she forced it back down and looked down at the two. "I'll be fine."

"That sounds good." Ivy agreed with Zero, relaxing when Luna said Crimson was telling the truth. She wasn't up for a battle here or now. It was their "Vacation", after all.

"Reassuring to know there are still honest people out there wanting to do good." She sighed.

Crimson gave out a sigh of relief. It felt good that the riders knew he was telling the truth. "thank you." Crimson said. "I'm more than willing to help you guys in anyway possible."

Cyborg drove up to the group, Beast Boy lowered the window. "Sup ladies? Need a lift?" He asked leaning his arm out and handsomely combing his hair back. "Beast Boy? When did you join the party?" Alice asked leading the two into the car. "It's Beast MAN now!" He snapped. "Just call him BB." Cyborg said turning the music down. Alice closed the door, and they drove off. "Yo Babsy, we got the package." Cyborg said into his communicator. "Good, does Karmy have Dick's communicator?" Barbara's voice sounded. "Yep, I believe so."

"Yeah, too bad Star can't make it." Dick sighed. "Well she has an entire planet to govern." Barbara said elbowing Dick. "Reunions remind me of something. Damian! Wake up!" Dick yelled at Damian in the corner. He awoke screaming and falling back. "Whoa.. how long was I asleep?" He asked. "Not long, we need to visit your grandpa."

"Whoa whoa whoa kiddo! What do you think you're doing?" Barbara asked Nicole, noting that she wasn't supposed to be getting up. "Yep, you're still on a time out." Raven said bluntly.

Karmy tossed the communicator to Alice and leaned forward to talk to Beast Boy. "Hey Beast Boy." she greeted. "It's Beast Man- Oh, hey Karmy!" he smiled at her. She tried her hardest to smile back but came up empty, she just couldn't right now. "Hehe, alright, Beast Man." she really liked Beast Boy, as a friend of course. He had been the one that had found her with the Insomnio's when they were in Jump City and offered her the position of Titan. She owed him a lot. "You don't look so good, everything alright?" he asked, concerned. "Yeah just.. Slade's got my bag and it's taking a heavy toll on me. But don't worry!" she held up her hands when he looked like he was about to make a big. "I'll be fine."

"Well i'd be glad to help in any upcoming missions you might have."Crimson said to Luna.

(a short poster i am :I)

11/14/31
01:30 am - Jump City
60º

Cyborg returned to Titan's Tower dropping everyone off and parking his car in the garage. He yawned and took the elevator. He came upstairs to brief everyone again. "Hey y'all! I know the Bats are all supposed to be getting up around now, but everyone else. Lights out!" He said clapping his hands. "Hey; what about Ra's?" Damian asked. "We'll have to discuss plans.. as long as you and Robin are willing to get along. One more fight and I'll get Raven to send you into another dimension." Dick threatened. "Hey!" Raven growled.

"If you won't fight with Damian anymore." Dick said roughly. "Yeah, if you don't wanna fight me anymore." Damian said playfully. "Shut up."

"Doesn't mean I'm going to hit him kiddo. Now, kiss and make up." Dick laughed. "Okay!" Damian smiled. Dick smacked Damian across the head.