The Darkest of Knights

Parasite winced. He didn't see this coming, and there was no way to dodge this kind of crossfire. As the bullets carved him apart like a cheap ham, he sputtered every curse in the book. When the shooting finally stopped, he flopped down, his loot shredded and his body not much better off. "God...... dammit....... the hell was......was THAT?" he rasped, bleeding profuseley from more bulletowunds then he cared to count.

"Oh shi-.." Karmy walked up to him and kicked him slightly. "Did you just.. Holy crap.."

"Portal him to a hospital, Metropolis should have good ones that could patch him up good seeing how Superman guards the city." Alice said stashing her guns. "Wonder where the Man of Steel was during all this."

The Batship landed on it's designated LZ, where Superman was waiting for them. The doors opened up and Batman stepped out. "Superman, you look good." He said as Batgirl and several of the other heroes took a step down. "Where do we go from here?" Red X asked.

"That fight was quick!" Karmy snapped her fingers and she portaled Parasite and herself to the hospital. "Knock knock! Delivery service!" she knocked on the door and left Parasite to be found. "Sorry, mister purple man. It's my job." and she portaled back to Alice.

"You bitches ain't portaling or sending me ANYWHERE! You're f*cking psychotic I swear!!!" Parasite said, crawling off and trailing oddly colored blood in the process. He kind of hung like a limp fish when Karmy dropped him off at the hospital. "Put me in prison quick, I can't do this crap witht hese psycho women about...." He grumbled to the doctors, sore at getting such an easy beating.

Superman nodded. "Thanks. I was confused at first when I noticed Your aide, Alice, downtown, figured you guys got here early without telling me. Parasite was in the area, but since she was with Karmy, I doubt they can't take Parasite." Superman said. Parasite was a pushover without a power, albeit if he got something good he was a disaster area unto himself.....

"Fights realistically don't last for more that 15 seconds. I've been in more hand to hand fights than I have been fighting with supers." Alice explained getting up. "Now do I have to walk into the city and get you and Dick presents all by myself or what?" she asked.

"Seriously, our fights lasted like, 2 pages." Karmy said. "Well, I just wont look but I aint ready to go back yet!" she jittered. "Can I get coffee?!"

"Parasite, I've heard of him." Batman nodded. "So what's the specs? How do we operate around here Superman?" He asked. "And more importantly, how do we stop this weapon?"

"Yes you can have coffee as long as I can get a light." Alice replied walking around the city looking about the sky scrapers. "Doesn't look like it needs the help of sixteen heroes." Alice commented looking abroad the peaceful view.

"Get a light? Here's a light!" Karmy handed Alice a flashlight. "Ok, coffee time!" she laughed and picked up Alice. From there, she ran to the nearest Starbucks. "Waaaaiiiittt... They might recognize me." she set Alice down. Pacing aroud back in forth very quickly, she thought for a moment. "Uhhhmmm..... You order!"

"Okay, what do you want?" Alice asked leaning on the counter.

"Anything with espresso!" Karmy whispered at her from underneath the counter before going to grab a table. She ran around all the tables before finally choosing one. By the time Alice came with the drinks, Karmy was fast asleep with her head on the table, drool pooling underneath her head.

"You'll find metropolis a different beast then Gotham- crime isn't allways as cut and dry as it is in other place as it is here. But more to the point." Superman said, looking out to the city. "the Earthquake generator..... It's got men wearing these swarming it." Superman procured a clothing patch from his pocket. It showed a silver, menacing looking bird, it's wings folded down like a sword. "If THESE sickos are involved, then that makes this a very, VERY dangerous situation." He explained.

"Is that Phoenix?" Batman asked the other heroes filing out. Batman, Superman, Batgirl, Robin, Red X, Zero, Ivy, Cassius, Cyrah, Rose, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Luna, John, Astro, and Crimson were all on the roof now. "What so special about the badge?" Batgirl asked. "And when can we kick some butt?" Red X continued to ask.

Alice put the cup of coffee by Karmy's nose. "C'mon. Wake up and smell the coffee. I'm not carrying you around town, and I'm sure The Batship has already landed." Alice complained.

Karmy woke up and groggily grabbed the coffee. "Rawr.." she mumbled before taking a sip. She perked up instantly and chugged the entire thing down. "Let's go!" she shouted and burst through the front door.

Superman looked at Batgirl. "If you don't know this now, you're going to get more familiar with it then you'll ever want int he next few hours. Phoenix, they're bad news." Superman explained. He kenw Batman mus tknow who they are, the color that sapped from Cassius's face indicated he knew what they were also.

"Well to start with, they're the bastards that messed with my first apprentice." Batman sighed. "I didn't think I'd hear from them again, because I honestly thought they were taken down." He said putting a hand to his chin in thought. "So what? They're all normal humans though right? What's so bad if they're gaurding the Generator? What's the threat?"

"Karmy owes me one cigarette." Alice said pulling out a pocketbook and recording the date, following her out.

"The point is, if they're gaurding the generator, lord only knows where ELSE they are. They're capable of terrible things, and not shy on doing them either. If their machine is in this city, there's no doubt they'll use it the first moment they can." Superman explained. He wasn't going to allow a disaster like that ot happen under his jurisdiction.

"I have no idea where we are!" Karmy said, running around in circles. "Where were we supposed to go? What are we doing?! What's going on??" she talked very fast.

"Right, and they've probably got it hidden, and hidden well. Knowing that Superman gaurds this city they most likely laced the facility with led." Batman deduced, "So that being, all we have to do is find an area that has an overflow of led. Detective Vision should be able to isolate traces of led in my cowl." Batman mused. Detective vision: another gift from Bruce.

"Why don't you just portal out of the Batship?" Alice asked using logic.

[Gonna be out probably the rest of the day, bye everyone. Control to who needs it.]

Karmy stopped for a second. "Riiiggghhhtttt.... Why didn't I think of that?" she shrugged and portaled them out of the Batship. "Hai guys!" she shouted in greeting.

"Karmy! Alice! You made it just in time for the briefing. Actually we're in the middle of it. Let me introduce you to Superman." Batman smiled at the two who were standing atop the Batship. "Man this roof is getting crowded.. any place we can talk that's not advertising a superhero get-together?" Alice asked.

"Superman?!" Karmy ran up to like an excited puppy. "Like, 'The Man of Steel?!" she poked him. "Can I punch you to see if my hand would break?!" she grinned in all seriousness.

Superman nodded. "Yeah, we don't need any prying ears. We can meet in my Apartment in a bit, I'm sure Batman knows where it is. But don't come as superheroes, come as youselves, if you catch my drift." Sueprman said. Low key was the element here. Zero kind of just orbited Superman like a freaky moon, idol worship drowning his brain. Superman then gave Karmy a look. "If you absoluteley must." He said, looking at Karmy like she had an extra eye.