The Darkest of Knights

Slade was making his move to Metropolis when he happened across the empty airfield and the body of Metallo. He prodded it several times to see if he was alive- or whatever alive was for Metallo. "Poor sonovabitch- left here to rot." he said, giving the husk one final kick. He never really met him explicitly, just sene him once or twice and heard the name. But still, he respected someone as powerful as him- from what he heard, he had a good shot to wiping out the riders before Batman intervened. He didn't need to be super smart to recognize the spent explosives and wrecked vehicles, havign seen the smashed car before. "Thorne used the machine I got him and sent Metallo off to die against the Bats....." He said, looking for the generator out of boredom, but not seeing it. (He knew it was the generator as nothing electronic on the runway was working, not even enarby streetlights)

He didn't want to leave the bastard here, but he had to get a move on. "Rest good, rustbucket." He said, and clopped off over the cyborg's remains. The ghoulish face of Metallo, even mroe cold and lifeless then ever, looked up into the black sky. It was a look of shock, as if he never expected to go out like a weakling, weak and powerless. It was a look of hate, at being betrayed and sent off to his own execution. It was fear, as he never truly had been brought to his knees and made defenseless like he had. The years would pass, but this look of his would remain for years to come.......

11/15/31
7:30 am Jump City
Windy Cool 60º Winds

"FIRE!" A civilian screamed running out of a building. Everyone looked at him as if her was a freak. There was no fire, no, not yet, but he knew who was who and he had a good reason to be screaming his head off. A burst from the building, the entire skyscraper was consumed in flame in mere seconds. Killer Moth was impatiently rapping his knuckles against the metal door atop the roof. "Hurry up! We don't have all day! We have to hit the next building!!" he screamed. Their helicopter was already filled with their stash. His partner was merely having fun.

The alarm awoke the Heroes in the Tower. Dick and Barbara nearly hit the ceiling jumping at the sound. "Oh crud.. who is it now?" He mumbled getting up with Barbara and dressing in their suits. Alice was already at the mainframe with Cyborg and Beast Boy. "Killer Moth is playing with fire? Now that's really out of his MO." Alice commented. "Yeah, no doubt about that." Cyborg mused. "Well we'd better get a move on."

Karmy popped her head in. "Emergency? Sweetness!" she cheered. "Where is it? Never mind, I'll figure it out!" she talked very fast. "Meet y'all there." she turned heal and bolted out the door. Portals would just slow her down right now.

(Use my characters when I'm not on, when needed. Won't be on much, I'm afraid. )

Zero had been sitting outside, near the stup of Ivy's tree. It was sad, really- when he thought back to the tower six years ago, he though of Ivy on the tree's swing first and foremost. And Ivy slapping him for calling her dollface. And the time he picked up Ivy and flew with her to a mission. He truly did love her. When he let his mind drift, she was the one he th-

Then the alarm rang and cut into his thoughts like a hot knife into butter. He trudged out his communicator. "Talk to me." He said calmly, heading into the tower.

Sarah had done nothing but examine herself in the mirror the whole time, similar to what Cyborg did when he had his own hologram projector years ago. Assorted poses, looking at herself. It had been...... damn, she probably NEVER had the chance to just put on something normal and, in her mind BE normal. She had even found a way to mask her eye color, and for a moment she went back to that place in her mind- just run off, live a normal life, forget ever having been a robot and just pretend the Phoenix, the charger, all of the crap in her life never happened. God only knew how badly she still secretly desired it.

But she reminded herself why she didn't step into the Lazarus pit. She had this power, and to neglet it, to neglet helping people with it, to refuse to use it so others didn't suffer her fate or worse, wouldn't be anything but selfish.

She would have continued this combination of posing and epic mental battle when she noticed the alarm. Craaaaaaaaaaaap. Oh well, it was to be expected. She begrudgingly dragged herself away from the mirror and nearly plowed into Rose when she turned around. "Gah, crap! How long, I mean, and y-----" Sarah stammered, wondering if Rose had seen her little fashion show just now. "Chill out, cutie. I was coming by to why why you didn't come out at first when the alarm went off." Rose said. "Dun' call me cutie." "Good, I'd rather call you dummy. Move it dummy." Sarah punched Rose. "Shaddap woman." Rose raised an eyebrow. "No, now movet it or I'll call you dummy untill you explode." She said, grabbing one of Sarah's hologram beltloops and forcibly dragging her off to where the others were.

Karmy zipped back in and ran around everyone. "C'mon!" she begged. She was soaked from head to toe, probably from swimming to the island and back. "He's already going after his next target!" and she rushed out again

"Let's roll! More bridges to burn!" Killer Moth yelled banging on the red hot door now. "Alright, alright, I'm coming!" the muffled voice came from the door. "What are you doing? Making sure everything is burned to ash before you come out?!" Killer Moth demanded. "Let's go!" Firefly said emerging from the smoke.

Zero was allready waiting with everyone when Killer Moth and Firefly got to the next building. "You know, I've heard of a moth drawing itself to a flame, but this is just silly. COme quielty, and you'll get a nice big case bug boys." Zero said, in that ever so goofy way the Titans often did, his hands glowing read in anticipation of what he knew was coming next.

Karmy skidded to a halt next to Zero. "Hi Z!!" she waved and pulled out a fire hose from her bag. "I'll take care of the fire's, you take care of Fire Moth and Killer Fly!" she laughed and she ran to put out the fire's.

"Is it me or are the villains getting lamer and lamer?" Red X asked Batman. "I'd go for the latter." Batman said shooting a line and zipping in, "Someone! Get the chopper!" Batman yelled, kicking Killer Moth in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and effectively knocking him out. Raven took the helicopter and destroyed the controls and saving the contents inside of it from the licking flames. Alice and Batgirl tag teamed Firefly rather quickly. "Sorry guys, places to go people to see." Batgirl smiled. "Curses.. that was lame." Firefly muttered under the weight of the two girls.

"Awww...." Zero sulked, not even having the chance to make one move. "I wanted to do some of that stuff...." he said. He regretted not being a Bat or Karmy, they seemed to get 99.9% of the kicks anymore. His own irritation aside, he decided to go to the default of cleanup and helped Karmy managed the fires and fix the buildings.

"Very lame." Karmy said and then turned the fire hose on the two villains, drenching them. "Alright, the lame baddies are kaput," she switched off the hose and put it back in her bag. "Now who want's to race back to the tower?!" she grinned.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Shouldn't we wait for the Police to pick them up?" Red Robin asked. "I mean if we're going to Metropolis then I'd like for the media to catch this." He explained. "I'm not sure if anyone will care if these punks got beat." Batman said plainly. "Ah you're right. To the Batship?"
"To Metropolis."
"To destiny."

"Let's go!" Karmy shouted impatiently and dashed off again. She walking back into forth rapidly on top of the plane by the time everyone was back. "Let's go, let's go!" Karmy repeated over and over as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Don't get use to it Robin." Batman said to her walking down Jump City streets. "Yeah, he's really changed since I last saw him." Batgirl smiled, "He's really ugly too. Tell me that was just a mask." Batgirl leaned on Batman's arm hugging him. "He's done some pretty bad things to himself since you last encountered him. He performed genetic engineering on himself to turn himself into an actual moth." Batman explained. "Sick! So why is he hanging out with that other guy?" Red X asked. "Well they were partners way back when. Killer Moth and Firefly.. Though Killer Moth was always a little scared of him." Batgirl reminisced.

Eventually they made their way to the Batship to begin their journey to Metropolis. Batman felt extremely weird out in his suit in broad daylight, so he felt better sitting comfortably in the cockpit of the Batship. The Bats called Wintergreen to check up on him and found out he was in hiding and Wayne Manor had been completely seized by the Government. The rest of Gotham wasn't doing so hot either.

The still very hyper Karmy was moving around the cabin, feeling very claustrophobic. She kept on getting up from seat to seat and as she passed by the cockpit, she heard the news. "The government?!" she suddenly screamed. "Ohhohoh no. There is no way in HELL that I am going back to Gotham now!" she shouted nervously as she walked around in circles, fiddling her fingers.

Zero sat in the Batship, plodding his head against the chair. So this was it, huh? The summit of nearly three weeks of swet, blood and tears, in the form of more of the same. He couldn't help but be nervous- he was about to be forcefed his biggest failure, how could he NOT want to vommit? Everyone was going about their business- Batman and Barbara probably smooching in the cocpit as allways, Lu and John doing whatever, Karms spazing out, Cassius dead asleep, Rose and Cyrah were yammering about something or other, Robin and the other titans probably was unsure he was alive. That left Ivy. The person he cared about most. Right now, he was too ashamed to look at her- because of him, the whole team was about to be shoved into the most dangerous situation probably ever. Some lover he was- he was making her go off to fight a ridiculously dangerous fight because of his mistakes. Zero just kind of sat in the back of plane, staying quiet......

Despite popular belief Dick sat in the cockpit seat, punching in numbers and a series of buttons that were flashing. Entering codes and such, Barbara as usual was sitting next to him; she was quietly observing Dick at work. He finished adding the coordinates and verrified the LZ. He looked at the screen, everything was set, everything was ready, except for him. An awkward silence overwhelmed the two. "So." Dick said as Barbara's hand cut the circulation from his wrists. "So.." She replied back still squeezing his hand until her knuckles were ghost white. "I guess we should get this thing moving." He said quietly. "Yeah.. probably should." Barbara agreed. "You're still upset with Metallo?" Dick asked. "A little..." She sighed. "A lot." She admitted. "You're not going to kill anymore." Dick assured. "Yeah.." Barbara agreed. "Doesn't mean we're going to lose." He smiled. Barbara avoided eye contact, looking at the floor as if that was more interesting. They knew this was going to be a dangerous mission, but she couldn't bring herself to kissing him again. It felt too warm, too good.

Dick pushed the intercom and held it there for a while, he was trying to find the right words to say. He wanted to say something happy to lift their spirits. The Titans mainly, they knew what they were dealing with, and everyone knew they were risking their lives. Yet the name of The Man of Steel kept popping up. Maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as they thought. "Ladies and gentlemen..." he said taking in a deep breath, "this is your captain speaking" said pushing the bright green GO button. "Enjoy your flight."

"Enjoy my flight?!" Karmy paced around the plane. "How am I supposed to enjoy my flight when- OH look! That cloud looks like a robot!" she had her face pressed up against the window. "Oh!" she ran to the otherside of the plane. "That one looks like a house." she shouted. "Look a U.F.O!!" she ran to the other side. ''Birdies!" she continued to run about, unable to sit still. "The people look like- Hey a flying squirrel!"

(Sry iv'e been out...school...)

Crimson sat down on a nearby seat and looked out the window. "Now that you mention it...the clouds are looking quite shapely today, i'd say that one looks like a....rabbit!" He said to Karmy.

Crimson Reached into a pocket and pulled out a picture. A picture of his Girlfriend, June. "We're all going to put an end to all this Violence....my love." he said under his breath. He then carefully stowed the picture back in his pocket. "Anyone got an estimated flight time?"

"Nah that one looks like cloud to me, but I can't be too sure." Karmy then ran to the other side. " THAT one look's like a bunny!" and her rambling. "FERRET!!"

"Hey look. Its a bag of baby whales." Alice pointed out her window. "And the Joker just dropped them." She said morbidly. Not really knowing what was going to happen to her, she didn't want to write in her book just yet.

"What whe- OW!" Karmy turned to look so fast that she hit her head on the plane window. "Gah! I can't take this, it's too small in here." she said, pacing around. "I'm gonna portal ahead to Metropolis, gotta do some work. Wanna come Al?" she asked, still pacing.

"No thank you. I'll just wait here." Alice mumbled leaning against the window, she seemed a little more depressed than usual.