The Darkest of Knights

"I love you, too." Ivy whispered, hugging Zero tighter. It seemed like the first time they had ever said that to each other, and thinking about it, she was surprised to find it was. This couldn't have gone any better. she thought joyfully.
---
Astro learned the hard way when they say fire whiskey, they mean fire whiskey. He's busy downing as much water as he can find to get the burn out of his mouth.

Karmy woke up and immediatly vomited into another portal. I gotta give France a break one of these days... Anyway, Karmy closed the portal with a groan and tried her best to cover her head with the pillow she was sprawled on. "What the hell happened last night.." she asked the pillow.

11/16/31
7:00 am
Metropolis

"Hell if I know Karmy." Alice said walking in and yawning. "All I know is that today is going to be hell. Heading back to Gotham is going to suck, and by the looks of things we already have a welcome back party from all of Gotham's finest." Alice said plopping by Karmy. "Y'know I'm not talking about the police." She said rubbing Karmy's back.

(How many hours passed anyways? Like, 3?)

Reminds me, I gotta look for that officer.. Karmy made a mental note as she buried her very very sore head deeper into the pillow. "Where the hell are we gonna go when we get there anyways?" she asked as she clenched her grip tighter on the pillow with each sickening throb in her head. "They know each and everyone of us and where we stay."

(idk o-o)

"Yeah, we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there, we have to say good-bye to the Titans. They're already leaving." Alice said patting Karmy on the back and getting up. "C'mon this might be a while before you see Beast Boy again."

"C'mon Cy, we better get back before the sun comes up over there." Beast Man said, packing up the rest of his stuff. "Where's Ra-GAH!" he was suddenly tackled by a hungover Karmy. "NOOO!! don't go!!" she cried. "They're gonna make me eat meat again!!" she clung onto him for dear life.

Raven came up to Beast Boy, "So it's official? You're coming back to Titan's Tower?" She asked him. "Yeah that means all we're gonna need now is a Tameran and we'll have a full team again." Red Robin said hefting a duffle bag.

"Yeah, definately, I mean since Aurora is now going to some college in California. I can hang out with you guys and visit her on the weekends! Everyone wins!" Beast Man said, trying to get Karmy to release her death grip on him.

"Cool, BB is back in the house!" Cyborg said walking out of the apartment. "C'mon Titans. We have a train to catch." Red Robin smiled wiggling his cast. Truthfully, he enjoyed the visit, and thought he might return one day. Just for kicks. Or Maybe not. "Good seeing you again Cyborg, come by Gotham whenever you have the chance. You too Tim." Dick said shaking Cyborg's hand and elbow bumping Tim.

"Hey, that's BM to you, metal butt!" Beast Man said as her transformed into a mouse and leaped outta Karmy's grip. "Sorry Karmy, call me if they do try to force feed ya though!" he waved to her before joining the rest of the Titans. "Nuuuu!!" Karmy buried her face into her hands. "They're gonna do it though!"

[prior to timejump]

"His name is Israel, but he's my Izzy." Rose said with a fond sigh, taking out the picture she had on her. She gazed at for a while, yammering on to Nicole about the time he knocked over a soup-can pyramid at Wallyworld. Rose seemed like she was about to explode with pride at the thought of her son making such a royal mess. When it got too late for primetime, she simply passed out on the sofa.

[Post timejump]

Zero and Ivy stayed outstide, just there with one another, for the longest of times. Zero hoped this moment never ended, but they both began to get tired, so they retired to the tower for the evening. Just a young couple alone in a tower.
Alone.

Zero managed to pry himself awake. Him and Ivy had fallen asleep together in the same room. It wasn't a genuine suprise- they had shared a room before. But never after a night as romantic as theirs had been. Ivy looked peaceful in her sleep, he didn't want to wake her up, but they had to regroup with the others to find out what was going to happen next. He reached over and touched her to wake her up when he felt..... something. He detected Ivy's presence, he was familiar with it. But he detected something......
new.

It took Zero a moment to rationalize what the new presence- coming from Ivy's body- was. It was then the color drained from his body.

He stoped trying to rouse Ivy and figured she could sleep however long she wanted. He quickly replaced all of his clothing on his person and decided to busy himself in the citchen. To suprise his pregnant fiance`.
[Well, i tried Abby. If you had something different in mind, let me know and I'll edit.]
[I'm done being mushy gushy and ever so sentimental now. We return to your regularly scheduled programming]

Slade was on nothing short of the warpath. Beaten soundly by Batman- to top it off, without landing one goddamn hit- was degrading and an unforgivable loss by all counts. He got back to Gotham and returned to where his makeshift hideout was. Sure enough, Mame's condition hadn't gotten any better. If anything, it was getting worse with time. Slade didn't have the equipment nor expertise to take care of her in this condition. If she didn't show any signs of waking up by that evening, he would..... persuade.... a doctor into examining her. But right now, he had anothe rissue at hand. He began to look for the Riddler.....

Edward Nygma walked down the streets of Gotham stopping by a television set that was being displayed in a store. The mention of Batface and charges raised against the Grayson Family now revealed to be The Batman Family. Interesting, he wondered what was going to happen next. "The Future is the only Riddle that time can solve." He muttered and walked off to Robinson Park. There were things to do, people to see, riddles to solve.

[You can do what you wish Red o_o..]

Slade appeared out of the shadows besides the Riddler, ninja like in his movements. "Riddler." He said plainly. He knew about RIddler havign a plan- it was common sense if you put the peices together and realized nobody had made a move these past few days. "I think I've got something you might want." Slade offered. He knew one thing the Riddler would no doubt roll right over for- the location of the Batbunker. He had been there several times already, and this kind of knowledge in the hands of Gotham's finest was bad news for Batman- meaning good news for them.

"Well if it isn't the terminator. How did you know it was me?" The Riddler asked. He had to give an applaud to him because Slade was able to see through his disguise. "And what is it that you want from me in return? Otherwise I'm not interested in whatever you have to offer." The Riddler seemed satisfied, content even. He wanted to know if he could give first before having more.

(No, that's fine. Better than anything I could come up with xD )

Ivy stirred slightly in her sleep, slowly waking up. Was it....could it have all been a dream? she thought, puzzled, feeling the familiar warmth of bed sheets. She lazily lifted a heavy eye lid. The jade stone twinkled before her eyes, prominent proof of everything that had happened last night. She smiled to herself, giving way to a frown only when she felt the cold side of the bed. Zero was already up and gone.

Minutes later she was up and dressed, few traces of sleep left in herself. She sauntered into the kitchen, "Morning."

Zero had TRIED to cook- he really did. He was engaged in epic battle with the thing he just finished trying to make, a demonic hand reaching from the cornflakes bowl. He manged to beat it to death with a milk jug.

"Oh, hey dollface." He said to her awkwardly, and not just because he was at the epicenter of the great breakfast masacre. He used hsi powers to clean it up quickly and then zapped to Ivy's side. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asked her, planting a quick smooch on her cheek. He all the while remained aware of that second, tiny presence coming form Ivy.....

"I would be terrible at my job if I didn't smell quality supergenius a mile away." Slade said to Nygma, taking a step closer. "All I want is in on whatever you happen to be planning- any opportunity to put Batman on the end of a pike is more then generous payment." Slade said, bloodlust for Batman saturating his voice, evil and malevolence coating his words and bringing his hatred forward. "I've got the location of Batman's hideout. If you brought that down, you would stab Batman a serious blow." Slade relayed to Nygma.

Super Genius. He liked the sound of that. Edward Nygma's eyebrow raised significantly and a smile curled around his lips. "Interesting. Well! I doubt we'll have trouble adapting. You sure security in The Batman's hideout is easy to bypass? I'm sure that The Batman isn't dumb enough to leave Gotham and not lock the doors to the most prized of locations. I always assumed that it's in the vicinity of Wayne Manor seeing how Grayson is The Batman. But I was never able to pin point it." He said continuing his walk. "We'll have to meet the One who instills fear in Men than he does in Birds." The Riddler said talking in his normal riddle fashion. "Though you tagging along won't slow us down in the slightest. I know that for a fact."

Ivy happily returned the kiss. She couldn't help but notice the breakfast attempts he had made, and how all the evidence had been wiped clean. "Fine. How are you, and your breakfast...what was that? Breakfast monster?" She giggled, the image of the mess her fiancé (Oh how she loved that word. Fiancé!) had created still fresh in her memory.
---
Astro woke up on the couch, with a wicked hangover. "Oh, god..." he hissed, clutching his head.

Rose pointed and laughed at Astro. "Har har, man can't hold his liquor!" She said, having just strode out of the shower and clad in her civies still. "What's up, haven't talked much to YOU." She said, flopping next to him, adjusting her eyepatch and leting her wet hair fall down around her shoulders.

"It was a breakfast monster, but I manged to drown it in milk and finish it off with the jug." He said to her. He wanted to continue, but he just stared transfixed at her midsection, still dead focused on that second lifeform. He managed to bring himself out of his trance and look at his future wife. Future wife- wow. It was a spark when he thought about it. A good kind of spark. "So, uhm, how about we grab something to munch on then head back? I'm sure the others are....." he zoned again for a second. "I'm sure the others are wondering where we are." He said, snapping back to reality again. In one night, a fiance` and now a kid......
He doubted a man could EVER be this proud untill now.

[Now to kill that totally gushy moment.....]
"I found ways around the security when I got in before, and I don't doubt that I can get around whatever security he has up. And if I can't, I'm sure one of the others can." Slade pondered, knwoing that Gotham's finest could do this if anyone could. Batman had beaten and humiliated him time and time again, as Robin, Nightwing, and now Batman. He would take it no more- he was going to show Batman the folly of underestimating him. Wiping out his hidey hole would be grand recompense.

Dick, Barbara, and Alice were already awake packing things into the Batship and preparing for lift off. "Has anyone seen Zero and Ivy? Looking for Zero and Ivy." Alice said walking down the hallways to pick up another bag and transport it to the Batship. "Looking for Zero and Ivy. What's going on? Did they have sex in the basement or something? Where are these two?" Alice kept calling out as she had already accounted for everyone except those two. The Titans left, and they were freeing space up on the Batship.

Red Robin looked at his ticket to Jump City, then to the eight hour train that would transport them there. Cyborg was carrying one of Red Robin's luggage. "Hey you okay Robin?" Cyborg asked as he observed Red Robin looking rather fondly at the city. "Yeah I'm fine." Red Robin assured Cyborg. "Being a Teen Titan really does feel good Cyborg, I'll tell you that now, but I think every bird has gotta leave their nest at one point." he said. "You think you're ready?" Cyborg asked. Red Robin looked at his broken arm that Slade inflicted. "No. Not yet Cyborg. Not yet."

"Okay then. Follow me." The Riddler said leading him to a tree with a man with a messy style was waiting. "What the hell Nygma? I thought you said we were meeting in Robinson Park alone." Jonathan said eyeing Slade. "Its too early in the morning for anyone to notice this get together." Riddler explained. "We have a new hired assassin who only wants in on the kill. He knows the location to the Batcave."

"And I simply haven't talked much." Astro replied, rubbing his temple. He had, in his observations, taken Rose as a sarcastic, tough, fighter of a girl. One that, frankly, intimidated him quite a bit. "As for holding the liquor...My first time trying fire whiskey instead of regular whiskey. So sue me."
---
"Sure..." Ivy agreed, willing to eat anything other than that concoction Zero had tried to create. She noticed he kept returning his gaze to her stomach with some unease. "And I'm sure the others are...Hey. My face is up here," she pointed out, tilting her head to the side. What is he staring at? she thought, hand falling and beginning to fiddle with the ring out of the simple need to do something. Her fingers twitched, twisting the ring around her finger over and over.

"I'd sue you, but I don't wanna' right now." Rose joked with Astro. "So, why do YOU pal around with these guys?" She asked curiously, wondering what Astro's reason was.

Zero blinked, realizing Ivy had caught on. Well, not for nothing, she'd find out about it ehrself sooner or later. In a few months, it WOULD be kind of obvious. "Sorry." he said. He began to think fo a mild way to tell Ivy that he coudl detect that she was pregnant. He figure dhe'd be blunt and get it over with. "Hey, uhm, dollface. Do you detect anyhting..... different about yourself?" He asked her......

Slade crossed his arms at Crane's skepticism. He didn't come to make friends, he came to help kill a bat.

Cyrah threw a random throwpillow at Alice. "Just call them, dummy. Loosen up, this is just role call, not a life or death thing." She said, groggily tired and somewhat irritable. Not to mention the thought of her brother and Ivy in a basement....... she didn't finish that thought.

"Sheesh, no one has any patience around here, eh Cyssy?" Karmy said, resting an elbow on her shoulder. "I don't see what the rush is, let them have their fun down there." she shrugged.

Punching the pillow, it rebounded off to a wall. "It is a life or death thing Cyrah, they could be in trouble for all we know." Alice protested flipping out her communicator. "Alice to Zero, Alice to Zero. Do you copy, give me your location sharpish." Alice said walking out.

"Let me ask you something." Crane asked Slade unfolding his arms. "What are you scared of?" "Ease off Jon." The Riddler warned. "I think it is too open even for the time of day. Lets go somewhere more private." He said. "Right, somewhere where this guy doesn't stick out." Crane said walking away, Riddler following. "Never did expect you to pick up an assassin." Naturally dealing with fear too much, Crane has grown numb with what scares him and what doesn't.

"Different?" Ivy repeated. "Besides how happy I am? Not really...Why?" She asked, baffled. She was slowly putting the pieces together. What they had done last night, him staring at her stomach, asking if she "Detected" anything. She had one plausible answer, but she wouldn't believe he had managed to detect it so early until he spoke. Their conversation was interrupted by Alice's Com. message. Guess it'd have to wait.
---
Astro shrugged. "I'm a traveler. Wander here, wander there. Help where I can, leave where I can't. That being said, I probably won't be hanging around here for much longer." he mused, feeling an uncomfortable twist in his stomach and something rising up his throat. "Excuse me." he coughed, covering his mouth and making a run for the bathroom.