The Darkest of Knights

"Huh?" Karmy tilted her head, confused for a moment. "What do you mean by that? I mean, I know that we're all family in a sense but li-" a glint from Ivy's finger caught her attention and she looked down and gasped.

Ivy held up her right hand, showing the ring with more pride. "Hey, cuz-in-law, sis-in-law." Her grin widened as the jade gem sparkled. She had been waiting for somebody to notice it.
---
"Mm, thank you." Astro muttered, taking a swig from the water bottle. "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back." he countered in between sips.

"Holy cheese, mother of toast!!" Karmy jumped over the seats and looked at the ring up close. "This is gorgeous!! Who proposed?! Dick?" she goggled at the ring. "Nah, just kidding Z." she laughed when he looked like he was about to hit her. "Ohhh I'm so happy for you two!" she grinned, ecstatic about the whole thing. "I saw this coming from a mile away!" she hugged them both. "Do the others know? Oh who cares!" she pulled out a bullhorn. "Lets spread the news!"

Sarah yanked all parties involved into a smothering group hug. Although she LOOKED like a normal girl, but under it all was still the hyperactive cyborg. "Hahaha!" She laughed, happily with her ever- bigger family.

"Whoa!" Alice sparked coming up to the loud hero gathering. "Cassius! Get over here! Quick!" She screamed happily. "Wait a second Nicole.. what's going on?" Damian asked standing up. "Looks like a lot of commotion at the front of the ship. C'mon lets go.." Damian said grabbing Nicole's arm and tugging her to the front. "What's this I'm hearing?" Dick and Barbara asked coming out of the cockpit. "Well, well, well! Congratulations Zero! We'll be in Gotham soon, we're already in city limits." Dick smiled patting Zero on his shoulder. Suddenly an ear-piercing sound exploded in the back of the ship and everyone was forced to one side, squishing everyone against the windows. Flames burst through the halls. Screams, one voice telling everyone to get down. Dick sprinted into the cockpit trying to maintain control of the Batship. The door of the cockpit was flinging open, Dick screamed through it and told everyone to hang on, to see if anyone can help not to hesitate. The ship was full of superpowers. Maybe they could get out alive.

Ivy hated working with fire.

She always did. The burning, the destruction. How quick it grew, and how long it took to get rid of it. Here it was, though, in her face and demanding to be extinguished. With the flames stealing oxygen from the air, she wouldn't be able to pull water out like she usually did.

Managing to orient herself, she began taking control of the nearest flames, collecting them and compacting them into a small flame in her hands.
---
"I'm too damn hungover for this." Astro moaned, pressing himself to the wall.

Figured- Happy for a moment, only to be slung about the ship haplessly the next. Well, he didn't come this far to die like this. Using his powers, he tried ot pressurize the injured plane and keep the air from rushing through, in an effort to keep the plane stable so it could be landed. He focused harder then he had in a long time- he wasn't going to le this family get hurt, not if he could prevent it.

"Dick!" Karmy called out to him. "Where to? I can portal us outta here!!" she shouted, aawaiting orders.

"Wayne Manor!!" Dick screamed over the wind flushing through. "Quick!!"

"Alright, everyone get ready!" Karmy did a quick scan to see where everyone was positioned on the plane. "Youngest first." she muttered to herself and snapped Nicole and Astro out of the plane. Then from she snapped each and every person out until she jumped through her own portal and waved the rest closed. "Is everyone alright?" she called out as she stood up and looked around the manor where everyone had dropped.

Alice shot up to do a head count. Quickly realizing. "Dick! He's still in the ship!" She panicked. "Karmy, you have to save him!" Barbara begged getting up from the portal also terrified. In the ship, Dick was trying his best to direct it into the ocean so it wouldn't crash into any buildings.

"What?1 I thought he was with you when I portaled you out!" Karmy cried in frustration. "I'll get him, don't worry." she promised and portaled back into the ships cockpit. "Dick!" she grabbed onto his shoulder. "C'mon, we gotta get outta here!" she yelled over falling plane.

Dick latched onto Karmy's arm. "One second!" He said aiming for the water. A little more... a little more... "NOW!! Do it!"

Karmy snapped her fingers and dove backwards through the portal, dragging Dick through. They fell through the portal and Karmy saw that the water from the wreckage was starting to come through so she quickly closed it with a wave of her hand before they hit the water. "Phew.." she breathed a sigh of relief.

Dick slowly got up helping Karmy up, Barbara quickly hugged Dick tightly mumbling words that said the usual missing, thought-you-were-dead, speech. "Thanks Karmy... thought you didn't like me enough." Dick joked sarcastically.

"Thing's change, Dick." Karmy smiled sheepishly, wiping off the ash and dust that was on her body. "And Babsy might have killed me if I hadn't gone back." she shrugged.

Barbara continued to bury her face into Dick's chest. He smiled at her as she ignored any comments about her that was floating around. "We'd better check the news." Dick said concerned about the Batship and the damage it did to the lake they crash landed it. Maybe everyone would think they're all dead. Maybe.

Karmy looked around. "Sure is dark in here." she said and pulled out a flashlight. "Made sure we landed in the living room so I'm pretty sure the TV should be around here somewhere?" she passed the light over the room to see where everyone was.

"Looks like the government boarded up the rooms while we were away." Dick mused at the darkness even at the early hours of the day. "Ah here we are." Dick said switching on the television. A soft blue light glowed on the faces of the heroes observing the news and what it had in store for them.

Karmy remembered that the government was involved and got a little antsy."Urm.. Should we be here?" she asked nervously. "I mean.." she looked around at the boarded up windows, paranoia starting to over come her. "They could be watching us right now." she sat down in between to Alice n Cyrah.

"I doubt anyone is dumb enough to try and rush all twenty of us at once." Cassius snorted confidently. Any one of them were a tough customer, all at once was simply idiotic.

"We all know what they're capable of.." Karmy muttered and pulled her legs in close. Luckily, before they had been hit, Karmy had taken the camera from Alice and put it in her bag.

Ivy bit her lower lip, watching the TV screen. She clung to Zero anxiously, still shaken from that landing. Teleporting landings were not her forte. If they ever had been, she lost the ability from those years spent away from Karm.

Astro promptly sat down, indian style, a few feet away from the TV. The darkness surrounding them was unnerving. Anything could hide in the shadows. Anything could leap out without warning and...He gulped, unwilling to think about it.

"Alright are we ready yet?" Godfrey looked himself over in the mirror of his television van. Slicking back his hair and running his tongue over his teeth. They were outside the home of their latest 'guest.' They weren't really that important though, but when you were writing a narrative, certain things could only really have effect if they were said by certain people. Mothers were the best, their simply outrage or the cold emptiness of simply being unable to comprehend something. The look someone got when you utterly destroyed their world, when their grasp of reality was simply destroyed, there was something about it, it begged to be shared, to be recorded, to be shown to the world. Maybe it would help them recognize just how fragile reality was.

Or maybe it would just make some fat cat television executives exceedingly wealthy. It didn't really matter all that much, people would always do terrible things and terrible things would always happen to people. It was the way of the world, and no man could change that. They could report it though.

"Alright roll on me in three... three two one... Hello, you're watching Glorious TV. I'm your host, the Glorious Gordon Godfrey, and I'm outside the Gotham City residence of one May Palami, and what she doesn't know, is that right now, right this instant, her young niece Nicole, who lost both her parents, is in the custody of a child predator." Gordon was hunched as he spoke into his microphone and looked into the camera atop his camera-man's shoulder. The photographer was hunched as well and that gave the image a shaking shot, drama was being thrown at the viewer with every word and step they took toward the door. "The reason she doesn't know is because this predator has gone to incredible lengths to conceal his behavior. This man not only owns a large estate well outside the city, his nearest neighbor is over three city blocks from his primary home. He has a steady girlfriend, numerous house guests, and is an active member in the colorful night life here in Gotham City. Now how is this man able to participate in all of this, and still find the time to hide his criminal, despicable, and immoral behavior from the public's eye? It's simple." Godfrey stood straight, standing on the house's stoop and staring straight into the camera lens, grim and straight faced as he prepared to make the deceleration of his journalistic career. "The man molesting May Palami's niece Nicole, is none other than, Dick Greyson, heir to the fortune of Bruce Wane, and The Batman of Gothem City."

Godfrey turned on his hip, the camera panning to the door, as the blond reporter curled his fist and knocked lightly against the wood.

11/16/31
11:30 am
Cold and windy

"What the hell?!" Dick asked outraged at what was going on at the television reported the news. He was expecting to see something about the Batship crashing in the lake. He felt all the eyes in the room stare at him. "Oh come on, you guys don't actually believe that do you?!" Dick pointed at the screen in disbelief. Barbara loosened her grip on Dick's arm, her heart was pounding. "What? Babs, that's complete BS, you know it and Nicole knows it." He clenched his teeth. Every moment was a tense moment. "I know. I just can't believe that this is happening. Nicole, are you okay?" Barbara asked her. Dick thought about news reporters that could clear his name before this whole thing went out of control. He thought of Jack Ryder.