The Darkest of Knights

"Awesome!" Karmy punched him. "Weeeee!! I can't feel my hand!" she laughed, clutching her hand. It wasn't broken, thank goodness. "Ohh that was awesome, you really are the man of steel. I've heard so much about you! Is it true that you once threw a car all the way to mars? How can you cut your hair if you're made of steel?" she asked random questions as fast as she could, following him around.

"Okay, we'll meet you in about fifteen to thirty minutes." Batman said to Superman giving him a lazy salute. "We'll all see you there."

Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy looked at each other. They were possibly the only people who couldn't go back to normal. "Well unless you want to be the pantless wife of a cyborg who walks around their green dog, I suppose we can pass for normal." Cyborg smiled at the Titans. "Oh goody." Raven sighed as everyone else went into the Batship to change.

[I keep forgetting how many characters there are. I missed out on Red Robin, so actually there's 20 heroes on the roof, not 19.]

"Low key eh?' Karmy squirmed into her bag and after a few moments, she jumped out, completely changed. She was wearing a blue band t-shirt with the words "The Insomnios'' written on the front and a design. A black zip up hoodie kept her warm, and she still wore the same jeans and shoes. "The headband stays."

"Guess i should change too." Crimson said as he ran into the batship. He later came out not wearing his usual black and red armor, instead wearing a pair of black jeans, green and black sneakers, and a black hoodie with the classic pacman on it. "Ready to go!" Crimson said excidedly. " Man i feel great!" Crimson then stretched, did two backflips then sat down. "Nice shirt karmy!" Crimson said.

Ivy changed into jeans (She had missed the comforting feel of denim) and a green shirt which read, "Starve vampires. Donate blood." She stepped out of the Bat-ship, leaning against the wall while watching Superman. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe I'm here with Superman! she thought, just as awestruck as the rest of the team. Batman, Superman, with her luck, maybe the whole Justice League would appear!
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Astro changed into a dark blue hoodie and dark green shorts. Him being more out of touch with the world, he didn't see what the big deal was. Superman was a name he had heard before, but in the background, only drifting into his thoughts and lingering in the back of his head. Now that he had seen the man behind the name, he was somewhat more impressed.
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(Catch up post. Still won't be posting a lot, so keep using my characters when I'm not here.)

Dick changed into jeans with a brown leather jacket, a plain white tee was under that. Barbara wore a green sweater with red skinny jeans that nearly matched her hair. Alice had on red flannel complemented with her fedora and blue skinny jeans. Damian threw on a black denim jacket with loose jeans. Tim decided to stay with the rest of the Titans who said they'll stay back on the account of looking "too eccentric."

When everyone looked as normal as they could look, they were knocking on the door of Clark Kent.

"Is like," Karmy was pacing around everyone, looking at the feet. "Everyone wearing some color of converse?" she asked curiously as she continued on her coffee high.

Cassius was in his norm- tank top, camo pants, war boots- think Guile from 'Street Fighter.' If anything, he stood out less in his armor. Cyrah already looked human with her holo projector, so no harm there. Zero had transmuted his outfit to a plain black jacket, black 'born to party' shirt, a baggy pair of jeans and normal shoes. Rose was wearing a hideous bright orange shirt, black jeans and just a bleh pair of shoes.

Clark Kent. Under that mild mannered surface, one wouldn't expect there to be a man of Superman's magnitude. Which is why when one clark kent initially opened the door, Zero initially thought they had the wrong apartment untill he ushered in the throng of superheroes on his doorstep. "Glad you all could come. Sorry to chop short the pleasentries, but we need to get to business." He said, still finding it dificult to focus with Zero hovering about him.

Once he had seated everyone somewhere or other, he took out a map of the city. He took out a tack and poked it into one of Lex Luthor's many claims in the city. "This WAS an empty construction lot where Lex was going to build one of his many Lexcorp skyscrapers. Needless to say-" He took out a polaroid of heavy duty construction vehicles at the site, driving into some kind of bunker. "I don't think Lex is building a skyscrapper there right now." Superman stated. "Also, I don't even think this is Lex's doing. It's not his style- Lex owns half of Metropolis from cars to scyscrapers, he couldn't do anything but loose billions if he used this thing. Whoever is doing this either has Luthor's hands tied, or is doing it without Lex knowing at all." Superman reported, taking a breif pause to see if anyone wanted him to go more into detail on anything so far.

"What?" Karmy shouted, she really wasnt paying attention to anything. She was too busy spinning around as fast as she could in her chair.

"So there's construction workers going in and out, assumed to be associated with STEAM in building the project? It seems that Phoenix and STEAM are either working together in a joint operation, or they're one in the same." Batman thought aloud. "I think Lex has to have his hands tied. There's no way such a large scale project could be happening right under his nose without him knowing." Batgirl added. "Meaning that these guys mean business. Something that money can't buy. You think they have Lex's life on the line?" Alice mused.

Superman shook his head. "No, if they actually threatened Lex, I don't doubt he'd sick Metallo or another one of his merry minions on them to teach them a lesson." Superman explained, unaware of Metallo's death but aware he had appeared in Gotham. "But it is safe to asusme Lex knows more about this matter......" Superman pondered. They'd have to see just what Lex knew about this.

Alice also unaware that Metallo was "dead" spoke up. "Well funny you mention Metallo, when we interviewed him, he was working for STEAM. Though it doesn't mean Lex has more men he could use to rough them up." She said in thought. "So what's the plan? Do we know the weapon is in there? Can we just barge in and kill everybody?" Damian asked. "Always the lazy way out, huh?" Dick commented.

Superman sighed. "There's hot watter boiling right now in Washington- after the week that shook the earth, people aren't keen on superheroes right now. A ton of dead soldiers is not going to be beneficial to anybody in this room, or out of it for that matter." Superman said in a solid voice. "However, we need to find out just what Lex knows before we barge in. I would have done this myself, but I wanted some extra.... insurance. Lex knows just how to dodge the subject." Superman said. He knew any encounter with Lex would involve Kryptonite, thus cutting the meeting short. It was one of the thigns Superman legitimateley hated- he found Kryptonite for sale by the pound at Wallyworld once. [Not really, but I had to make that joke]

[Lol, Kryponite is so easy to get your hands on these days XD]

"We understand, so we're giving Mr. Luthor a visit.. shouldn't be too bad if you allow me to interrogate." Dick said smiling with bat-like characteristics in his face.

Superman knew the Batman look. "Naturally. Just don't rough him up TOO bad." Superman said in a 'here we go again' tone. He waited to see if there were any other questions.
[yeah, I've got a few tons stuffed under my bed.]

"I think we're good for now. All we have to do is sap some information from Lex and we can be on our way to the generator." Dick said getting up. "If we want to get Lex, we'd better do it when he'd least expect it. Lets catch him with his pants down and interrogate him already. I still have business to take care of in Gotham."

"Ohh, let's go then!" Karmy leaped out of her chair and, after stumbling around a bit from the dizziness, headed for the window. "Now where is his place, I can portal us into his office if you can show me Mr. Superman, sir Super sir!"

"No no, we can do this. Just Batman is all I need. Beleive me." He said. Batman was one thing, he didn't think he could keep up with these levels of insanity for too long. Even Superman had a limit ont he craziness he could safeley handle. Besides, this was Lex Luthor- if you didn't take him seriously, you were in trouble. "If you want to help, uhm, there's a guy downtomwn named Ernie, he owns a bar, you can go and vi-"
Casisus was already out the door.

Ernie Rrodrigez had made a KILLING since moving to Metropolis. No criminals, no electricity shooting madmen, and best of all, none of his old armored regulars! So when Casisus burst down the door and demanded booze, Ernie was very sad.......

"Right Batman." Dick said walking out. "Allow me to get into my night suit." Dick said. "So what do we do?" Damian asked. "You are coming shopping with me." Alice said pulling both Barbara and Damian. "Hey! Then Nicole is coming with me!" Barbara said latching on to Nicole as they were being dragged out.

"Ernie? Yay!" Karmy zoomed off past everyone and followed Cassius. Sliding to a halt next to him, she plopped down and waved hi to Ernie. "Hai Ernie!" she smiled broadly. "Two of your best, por favor!"

Ernie is sad. As he gave Karmy booze, Cassius began blowing up his Jukebox and TV. Just like old times.

Lex Luthor was the most powerful man in Metropolis- nothing happened without him knowing, not a thing. He knew there was a mile long list of superheroe sin his city, and that unsettled him.

But I personally thing it was more unsettling when he turned around in his seat to see Batman and Superman looking at him. I don't know, just an opinion.

He kind of expected a visit form them at some point, what with the weird junk going on. He kept a good poker face despite his suprise. "Good day, gentlemen. While I'm waiting for security to come throw you two out, how might I be of service?" He asked, leaning on his desk and talking as if they were just random two random men and NOT the two biggest juggernauts in crimefighting to ever live.

As Karmy was chugging down her second drink, coffee and alcohol in her system doesn't sound too safe, she remembered something. "Hey Cass!" she called over to him while he seemed to be smashing a bar stool to bits. "I gotta ask you something." she reached into her bag and pulled out the chip from earlier. "Reven pulled this outta my neck the other day, it was something the institute implanted for experiments." she shivered for a moment. "I never knew what the company was, but there's this weird symbol on the chip." she pointed it out. "I thought you maybe recognized it." she held it out to him.

Cassius took a break form pillaging Ernie's bar and examiend the chip. At first he was about to discard it as some bizzare military device, untill the symbol caugth his eye. "You say she removed it from your brain, are you SURE it was THIS chip?" He asked, his face suddenly dead serious.

"I'm gonna head out to Ernie's if that's okay with you, Sir." Crimson said as he walked out the door. Crimson entered the bar, pulled up a barstool and asked Ernie for 2 Orange creme sodas. The chip that Cassius was examining caught Crimson's eye as he paid for his drinks. "Wierd looking Brain implant... what is it, some sort of monitoring device or brain control chip?" He inquired as he uncapped and took a chug of his soda.

Karmy narrowed her eye's a bit, "Uh yeah. It was placed at the base of my cerebellum right above my spine." she rubbed the back of her neck. "I know it's that chip because Dr. Foster was the one showed it to before.. He... But yeah, why? Do you recognize the symbol?"