The Darkest of Knights

"Booze yes, pie no." Karmy said, holding up her finger. "In my travels around the world, when a place sells pie and liquor in the same place, there is never any vegan food. Also, never ask for it or you'll have drunk hillbillies after you." she said as a matter of factly.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Damian, said standing up. "I'll get some breakfast. Want any?" He asked as Cyborg began destributing bacon, eggs, and buttered toast to several plates.

"Okay then, fine. I'll get the pie." Alice said walking around in the city and entering the pub and resting Karmy on a seat. "You order first."

"Two coronas, miss." Karmy asked the waiter, holding up two fingers. The woman gave Karmy an odd look. "Sorry hon, don't serve alcohol to minors. How about a Shirley Temple?" Karmy blinked, flabbergasted. "What? I'm 24!" she stated. "Darlin', don't ya be goin' an' lyin' to me now." she referred to Karmys height. "Lemme see some ID." "Fine." Karmy grumbled and reached for her-... "Oh.. Right.."

Alice guessed her size really did have an effect on how people thought she was. "Excuse me, she doesn't have her purse with her because I'm buying. Sorry about the trouble, but she is 24. She small cause she's part Asian." The waitress had a look of understanding and said "Two Coronas, coming up. What about you?" She asked Alice. "Uh, a scotch please." Alice said leaning forward on the bar. "Gotcha, $28.50." she said walking away to fetch the drinks. "Man, Huxtable really has to leave the economy alone. The more she tries to fix it, the worse it gets." Alice said a bit peeved at the jacked up prices. "Wish we could impeach her. President hasn't done anything to help us."

"Of course not. Here." He said placing a plate in front of Nicole. "Maybe you two should get a room." Cyborg said presenting two plates to the couple. "Oh sorry. We just never have time to ourselves these days.." Dick apologized.

"I'm actually half Italian, and half Swedish, Al." Karmy took the bottle by neck and took a swig. "I don't pay attention to politics. People in a position of power like scare me, and once when I portaled into the President's secret bunker to see if it was real, I was nearly captured." she said glumly.

"If calling you Asian gets you a drink, you're Asian." Alice said taking a sip of her scotch. "This is so weak." Alice remarked swirling the drink. Neither of them knew the fate of Cyrah and her destiny to become involved with politics and presidency. "I voted for Cornwall. I take it you didn't vote at all, hmm?"

"We have to figure out a team that can go to Ra's." Dick said as Damian sat down. "Zero, Damian and I are default because Zero needs the help, I made a deal, and Damian is his grandson."

"Nah, I'm not even registered. And I don't have a license nor a ID." Karmy finished the first beer and popped open the second. "And I never will either. Once you get into the system man, you can never get out. They would be on my like white on rice if I ever touched any of them legal documents and what not." she shuddered in fear.

"If you don't have an ID then you can't drive and you can't buy booze. You should get a real ID and dump your fake I'd, you might get caught and get into more trouble." Alice deduced. Karmy looked at Alice with half open eyes, and yet she looked surprised. "How did you-.." She started. "Well.. Working with a detective for two years is helpful. You looked for your bag to show the waitress your ID when you realized you didn't have it. You just said you don't have an ID meaning you have a fake one." Alice explained finishing off her scotch.

"I don't even have my bag, remember?" Karmy said, resting her chin on the opening of the bottle. "And I'm never gonna get a real one, they'll know where I am at all time's. I aint gonna be put in a system, man." she folded her arms on the counter. "I'll look older soon enough and in the mean time, I'll just get my drinks with Cass and you. And I still drive, they can't catch me."

"Speaking of which, don't you want to marry a man in blue?" Alice asked pointing at several police officers walking about in the bar. "You need some official ID if you want to..." The officers were talking with a local bartender when she pointed at the table Alice and Karmy were at. "Sh*t..." Alice muttered as the officers were walking toward them.

"Karmy can't come. She's too unstable." Barbara said as a final word. "Alice can stay here with her too with Nicole." Barbara crossed her arms. "You're staying here too then." Dick said to Barbara. "What?! Then who's going to take care of you?" Barbara asked almost outraged. "Hey, hey, I can take care of myself!" Dick argued. "I'm coming." Cassius interrupted. "I'm his papa after all."

Cyrah walked in in time to hear the conversation that was going on. "Whoa wait, what's this about Karmy not coming?" she said, standing next to Cassius.

"Love at first sight is rare Al, but I know he's the one." Karmy said as she finished off the bottle. "Awh crap.." she groaned as she saw the two officers approaching. "Can I help ya guys?" she asked them, pulling off a fake smile and sitting up straight. She had been in enough situations like this to know what to do.

"Look Cyrah, she's already unstable as she is. Its best if she just stay behind. You can stay with Karmy too. But she's not coming on this mission. You can choose to be with your brother or with your sister." Barbara explained. "Look Sarah, you gotta understand, she might hold us back." Dick explained.

"Are you Alice Carrie Mau?" He asked Alice ignoring Karmy. Alice looked up slightly. She had killed an officer or two in her time with Slade. She understood why she didn't want to go back to Jump City, they still had her records. "Yeah. That's me." Alice said quietly. "Hold out your hands ma'am." He said, the second officer speaking in his radio, "We got her."

"Try telling her that." Cyrah said, crossing her arms. "She cares about Zero just as much as the rest of us, probably not as much as Ivy though. Whether you tell her she can't come or not, she's gonna go."

"Whoa hey now, guys." Karmy said, standing up from her chair and in between the officers and Alice. "I think you made a mistake," she held one hand behind her back, showing Alice that her fingers were in snap position. "I think you're looking for a differe-" she kneed one of the officers in the crotch and then pushed him towards his partner before snapping her fingers, creating portals underneath herself and Alice.

Alice landed on her feet, she realized she was getting better at the portals. Alice looked around at the familiar setting. "The place where we had our first one-on-one?" Alice asked Karmy looking around the clocktower. "Looks like I can't venture out in Jump City anymore." She sighed.

"She can't come. What if the Pit is halfway across the world? She'll be even more unstable than now. Karmy is staying. I don't care what anyone says." Dick explained. "She will hold us back, we have to get this done as quickly as possible." Barbara said. "Hey, I never said you were coming." Dick said to Barbara. "What? Oh c'mon!"

"Good luck when you tell her that, Dick." Cyrah waved him off and headed for the kitchen for some breakfast. "She's almost just as stubborn." Cassius shook his head.

"Told ya, Al." Karmy said, sitting down. "Once you're in the system, you can never get out."

"I'll explain it to Alice, she has to make sure Karmy stays." Dick said. "If this mission ends up more dangerous than we interpret, we can't account for her extremely liability to broken bones or wounds."

"Hey, I didn't ask you to save me." Alice argued. "Now, I'll probably get in more trouble for running away." She mused feeling the structure of the clock tower.

"Well it seems as if they're talking about seeing gramps.. Hey, want me to smuggle you?" Damian asked Nicole.

"Well I'm sorry that I want to help my friend. What were you gonna do anyways?" Karmy asked, not looking at Alice. "Go to jail?"

"I can't do that." Damian said. "Dick probably has something planned."

"Yeah go to jail. I'd probably have to talk with the officials. Pay a fine or something." Alice said looking out the clock towers window.

"Do you want me to take you there?" Karmy said, holding up her fingers. "If you're really serious. Though, I don't trust that that's all that will happen."

Alice knew she wasn't going to just pay a fine. Possibly have several life sentences. Alice sighed, she knew she would be a hypocritical hero if she hadn't faced them. What of Justice to the families that she harmed? Mercy detatched from justice grows unmerciful. "What happens, happens." Alice said knowing she'd regret it.

"Sorry babe." Damian said. "We have to work minimalistcally.." Dick said. "If you're not needed, you're not coming."

Now Karmy turned around to look at Alice. "You're.." she stuttered. "You're serious, aren't you?" she stood up to face her. She was now regretting saying that she would turn her in.

Alice looked at Karmy, she looked like she had been sucking on a bitter piece of candy. "Look Karmy, I don't know about you; but I still feel, and I am, guilty of committing murders." She said then looking away.

"Always do New Robin." Damian winked at her.

Karmy felt like she had been stabbed in the heart. "Alice.." she bowed her head. "You have no idea how guilty I feel about all the people I've murdered." she looked at her. "But I don't want to lose you." she knew it sounded selfish, but it was true.

The package had been handed off without a hitch. Slade had his little box, and Thorne had his armor specifications. They were out at 'the tailor' at the moment but he had given his assurances that they would have it back before the day's end. Honesty he could've taken a week and it would probably have been ready before he'd need it, but it was so hard to predict how quickly things unfold, particularly when they involved people you were, less than familiar with. Thorne would have to play it close to the vest if he wanted things to go smoothly, he couldn't let it become too obvious what he was going to do. He couldn't let the trail lead back to him, at least not directly.

He'd need to bring in some outside help for this one. It'd be easy enough to get a hold of the first, he was a local and if rumors were true he was hurting for funds and no fan of the Bat to begin with. It was the second and third that were going to be the problems. Out-of-towners both of them, and while one wouldn't be too hard to contact, just the thought of having to deal with him regularly was starting to irritate the crime boss. He was one of those flashy bastards that just had to have the spotlight. Still that was why he would be perfect, but Thorne really preferred his associates to keep a low profile. He was actually starting to like Deathstroke because of that.

But it would be the third that would be the biggest problem. He had no reason to seek Thorne out and, according to word on the street, every reason to be deep into hiding by now. It would take something pretty big to draw him out, and that meant that Thorne would have to expose himself to draw Metallo out. Plus it wasn't very likely that the metal man would enjoy the 'job' Thorne had in mind, but really wasn't something anyone else could do. So if it meant exposing himself, he'd have to, the crime lord had little other choice. So it was time to make some calls.

In the span of a few hours, Thorne had called virtually every low life mob boss, gang lord, and wanna be street thug in Gotham, in addition to a half dozen crooked cops and one very important politician who just couldn't learn to check for cameras before unzipping. The entire city would be look for Corben, the police, the gangs, the mob, and if any of them found him, they all had only one thing to do. Although it was a simple thing. A simple message, 'Rupert Thorne would like to see you.' It wouldn't be long before someone picked up a trace of the metallic man, even if he'd already left the city someone would've seen him, and if there was one thing that crime had taught Thorne, it was that everyone always wanted more money than they had. It was the foundation of the country, it was the foundation of his business, and it was what was going to get him what he wanted.

Though with that done, there was the less pleasant matter of calling the other two. Thorne was not looking forward to it... but after a short drag on his cigar, and a long sigh he picked up his phone and dialed the number. It rang a few times before the answering machine picked up and stated in far too cheerful a voice for Gotham. "You've reached the office of G. Gordon Godfrey, Attorney at Law, if you are calling for an interview press 1, if you're calling to suggest a case to the world famous host of Glorious Godfrey, Attorney at Law, please, press 2 now."

Thorne hit the asterisk and waited for a human being to pick up. "Godfrey, it's Thorne from Gotham, we met at the Intergang meet a few years ago. I don't know if you've been following recent events, but the Batman's been outed, and I need your help with a little something for him..."

Alice stood up. "C'mon Karmy, we have to face the music. Let's go." Alice said taking Karmy's hand and walked out of the old clock tower. The police station was close by and they entered. "I'm Alice Carrie Mau, I'm here to turn myself in." She said to an officer. "Let me see your hands." The man said getting up to check them. "Uhh what are you doing?" Alice asked. Another man in a black suit and combed blond hair. "Hey.. That's not my wife." He said inspecting Alice. "She fits the description. Short blond hair, blue eyes, has a short hippie friend, oh.. Her hands." The officer said slapping his forehead after looking at Alice's hands. "No tattoos." He muttered. "Damn, you could have at least checked.." The husband muttered.

"Wait... Your last name is Mau too?" Alice asked the man. "Yeah. Alexander Richard Mau." He said. "And.. Your name is Alice Carrie Mau?" He asked. "Yeah.. You're my cousin." Alice smiled. "Whoa, whoa, hold on. You have relatives still alive Al?" Karmy asked. "I'm not surprised. My father had three brothers and two sisters and only one of them didn't have kids. So I got to live with the abusive one who had no wife." Alice explained. "Yeah, my family had to deal with seven kids already and we couldn't add Alice to the family." Alex explained. "Not a problem, what happens, happens." Alice sighed. "I really don't remember you that well Alice, we kind of forgot about you." Alex apologized. "No worries, so this wife of yours..."

"Yeah, my wife. Apparently you two have the same exact name now. Use to be Alice Carrie Woods." He said. "She's got tattoos on her hands? What type of tattoos?" Alice asked. "They're special circles. Reaction circles or something like that. She's an alchemist." Alex explained. "An alchemist?" Karmy asked. "Yeah, I think she uses them to create one element into another. There's laws and such they have to follow. She went missing two days ago.". Alex sighed. "We're sorry to hear you loss Alex... Sorry for the trouble." Alice said. "Hey she hangs out with a hippie?" Karmy asked. "Yeah, but she's taller." Alex said.

"Let's exchange numbers incase I run into her." Alice suggested. "Good idea.. Thank you for everything." Alex said taking out his phone. A couple of minutes later, Karmy was talking to Alice as they walked back to Titan's Tower, arm in arm. How strange, things turned out.

Damian snuck out of the room and walked onto the shores and planted his butt next to Nicole. "Wow its cold." He shivered.