The Darkest of Knights

The Batface didn't take long to notice Clayface. Not like you could miss the lovechild of Mud and Play-dough attacking a bunch of cops. He leapt down from his perch and put himself between Clayface and the cops. "Evening, sh*tface." He said in his raspy two-face voice. "Mugging cops? Not the classiest thing I've seen all night." He said smugly.

Cassius thought for a moment. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that her humanity was the thing Cyrah craved more then anything. But still.... "But what fo these pits, aren't they a one- shot type of deal?" Cassius asked.

Zero couldn't help but still get butterflies when Ivy touched him, and didn't hesitate to retun her hug. He wanted to think of something to say, but to him the two of them just here together said more then words could right now.

"Is that...?" Jason asked backing up. "The Batman?" Clayface spat. He shot forward to him, "I've thought I'd draw you out if I.. Wait Dent?!" he was astonished when he got cloe enough to see who it was. Jason's radio buzzed. "This is Arkham Island to Mainland, Arkham to Mainland, we got a prison break!"

"Yeah its a one shot deal, but I think its one per person I think. Once you use it you can't use it again. And then there's the temporary insanity deal." Batman continued to think. "I think if that's the case then they could go at the same time." He pondered. "I just want you to all be satisfied.

"Well if you don't tell me you know who you will have to tell." Red Robin said as they reached the common room. "And if you don't you'll be in trouble."

"Ya' pass your eye test." Twoface replied cooly to Clayface. He turned to the officers when he heard the radio call. "Looks like tonight's going to be a long night." He grunted, and turned back to Clayface. "You may leave now- you don't want this to get ugly." Batface said, griping something on his red and blue utility belt.

Cassius was still in thought. "Has a pit ever treated more then one person simultaneously? I appreciate your concern, but there's a lot we don't know about these things......." He thought.

"Doesn't anyone just every STAY in prison." Robert grunted. "C'mon, lemme get the bus and we can head down there."

[Red, we we're voting on a Time Rift, are you in? And Deceiver posted XP]

Clayface launched an attack at Batface. "Why the hell are you in a Batsuit Dent?! What the hell is going on with you?! A tear between two parts of one whole?!" Clayface asked enraged. "Where's Grayson?! Aint he the New Batman in town!?"

"That's the thing Cassius I don't know all the answers. Its never been done before, but who knows what will happen when we do? Talk to your daughter about it Cass. We can talk tomorrow morning. Discuss these matters.." Dick said drearily looking out the cockpit's window.

"You want to go to Arkham Island? Are you crazy? You'll get yourself killed!" Jason said getting up and sprinting away from the action.

Batface lifted the blue half of his cape. With the slightest twitch, it became rigid and solid. Batface used it to keep Clayface's attacks at bay. "There's a new sherrif in town- Greyson got bored here and he's frying bigger fish elsewhere. As for why I'm doing this-" Batface continued to use his 'sheild' to bat Clayface's attacks away. "During the week that shookt he world, I did insidious crimes- I was partly at fault for unleashing ben, I helped SYNG, and was a pawn to the Black Hand. For my crimes-" Batface dropped the blue half. "I must do my pennance." He then lifted the red half. "Two halves of one whole. For my crimes, I will uphold justice." The red half became rigid also, but whereas the blue half was like a sheild, the red half had a sharp edge, which Batface used to lauch his own attack at Clayface.......

Corben raised a non-existant eyebrow and thought for a second. True, Thorne probably was telling the truth- a hitman like Metallo would be enough for Thorne to get a step up in Gotham even higher then what he had now. And it's not like Metallo couldn't benefit from this anyways. "What kind of job?" He asked.

Cassius nodded. "I'll see what she say's about it." He said, and clopped out fo the cocpit......

[I'm game for a time jump if you want to do it]

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Robert said, fiddling with the keys in his hands to the bus. There was a skull and crossbones keychain on tehre to remind him what they belonged to.

Clayface backed off. "Damn you Dent, I thought you were on our side." He complained retreating to a nearby sewer. "You'll have to face us eventually Dent... all of us." He escaped in the sewer system that was still potent of the antidote Batman used several days ago.

"Night Cassius." Dick said looking at his journal as he began to write in it again

TIME RIFT

Alice awoke in Terra's room again. She looked to the side of her to check the time. 8:00 am. Her face felt sticky with sweat and the same smell she inhaled the first time she came to Titan's Tower filled her nose again. Cyborg was making waffles. Lots of them. She got out onlty to be greeted by Tim Drake, unmasked and still half asleep. "Morning Alice." He waved. "Cyborg is making waffles?" Alice asked. "What tipped you off? The terrible smell? Or the unbarble heat?" Tim asked wiping his face off from the sweat. "Man. What's Karmy gonna eat?" she asked him. "I'm sure Cyborg is making Beast Boy and Karmy some vegan-style waffles as well. I told him to go get some last night." Tim yawned as they both walked in the common room to greet the Titans.

Dick sat up. 7:00. He walked out to see if anyone was awake, to see if what time they were going to begin their adventure into the mine shaft.

"Morning lil' bat! Yeah we'll go training for sure. Just really hungry right now." Tim assured her with an unusual brightness. "Training? With Tim?" Alice asked. "Yeah we did a little mock battle last night. She nailed me in the chin." Tim laughed. "Yo, I'm gonna nail you in the face if you don't get your butt over here! I'm makin' all these waffles by myself!" Cyborg complained. "Yikes! Don't wanna see ol' Robo-Cop get mad at me!" Tim said resting Nicole down. "Robo-What?! What did you call me boy?! I dare you to say that again, I double dare you! Go on!"

Barbara entered the common room with her Batsuit nearly all on, all except the mask, as Tim suggested. She sat at the bar looking at everyone on their usual morning routine. Raven making tea, Cyborg cooking, yelling at Tim to help him cook, Beast Boy.. Where is Beast Boy? Barbara flipped open her journal and began writing in it.

Beast Boy was prowling along the ceilings, in the form of a gecko, making his way over to the kitchen. Crawling over, he jumped down and landed sitting on the counter next to Cyborg. "Hey dude, you better be making some vegan waffles. I'm not gonna eat any of you kinda waffles and neither wi-" "I'm not hungry." Karmy said as she wandered into the room, wearing a black pair of Nicole's sweatpants and a red tank top. Was that the only color that girl had? All her clothes were big on Karmy so she looked even smaller with them on. "Not feelin' too hot right now, and after that incident, I'd rather not eat waffles anymore." she sat down on the counter next to Beast Boy. "At all." she put her feet up and pulled her knees close. "Ever."

It wasn't a hard job, honestly Thorne had made it out to be like something that only Metallo could do, but it was just heavy lifting. Move one package from one warehouse into a truck, and then ride with it to outside Gotham. Protection for a package and some heavy lifting, not exactly assassinating the president, but still if you were gonna ship one massive hunk of metal out of the city why not make a trip of it and get it to load up some things while you were at it. Still something rung sour about the whole thing. Maybe it was just that Thorne had a far from trustworthy reputation, or maybe it was that smile that he'd worn when talking about it, or maybe it was just the fact that the warehouse he'd sent Metallo too was smack dab in the middle of the Gotham industrial district and didn't appear to be housing too many wares at the moment.

The place was damn near empty, only a few crates, admittedly large crates none of them shorter than six feet, and all of them probably weighted over a hundred pounds, but still. It smelled fishy. Though there was a fish processing plant across the way.



Back at the pent house Thorne was putting on his Sunday best, adjusting his tie as he watched himself in the mirror. He'd gotten old, he didn't remember when exactly that had happened but it had happened sure enough. He was old and the city was going to eat him alive if he let people realize it. People like that Metallo, they'd be trouble if he got any older, and the cigars probably weren't helping him fight off the reaper any. Still Crime Lords dreamed of gentle deaths, no reason to be afraid of it just yet. There was plenty more to do before then. "Roxie, can I trust you to deal with our friend?"

"Yessir Mr. Thorne. I can call her right now if you'd like." The raven haired woman smirked, retrieving her cellphone from her purse as he boss donned his hat & coat.

"Yes, why don't you do that. I'll be out for a bit, picking up another 'friend' from the airport. I'm trusting you to get this done Roxie, your in charge. Don't fail me." Thorne stepped into the elevator with a half dozen of his boys before waiting for a response.

"Oh don't worry boss. I won't." Roxie was used to that sort of thing by now, and she just dialed her new favorite number into her cell.
"Barbara? Its me."

Barbara excitingly flipped her phone out only to realize the caller ID did not present Dick's face on it. Instead it was an unknown number. Back then, Barbara didn't add Roxie's number to her phone. She was about to ignore the call when she figured she didn't have anything better to do. "Who's me?" Barbara asked getting up and walking out of the common room of Titan's Tower to hear the phone better.

"Ouch." Roxie feigned a bit of personal injury, smiling though she did. "It's Roxie, remember me. Told you about Thorne's plot to off the X kid? Genuinely tried to be your friend despite our differences." The mob secretary smirked. She didn't really blame Barbara for forgetting her, it wasn't like they were close personal friends, just yet anyway. "Look I'm calling because I've got something you might be interested in. It's Corben, Metallo, the guy who... you know... Anyway Thorne's stuck up a deal with him. He's got him moving packages or something in a warehouse here in Gotham, once he's done Thorne's going to ship the whole mess, Metallo included out of town. This could be your last chance at him Barbara."

Barbara unintentionally took a step back in response of Roxie's message to her. She shook her head. "I don't know if I can get back to Gotham in time, we kind of ducked out to Jump City several nights ago." Barbara sighed. "And you don't know how much I want Corben. You'll never know."

The Panty Raider, or now going by Levis, had ended his very short and very pathetic villain spree. Now, he was working to open his own clothing store with, you guessed it, pants galore. Though, he still had his uniform and weapon stashed away just in case... He felt the need to steal someone's pants.

(Had to be done XP)

Crimson stopped forming his shields when luna looked at him. Crimson definetley did not want everyone to think of him as paranoid. He then gave Luna a friendly wave and walked over to the window. "So whereabouts in Colorado is the pit?" he asked.

Corben smelled something funny, and it sure as hell wasn't the fish. Nobody went out of their way to find him for a lifting job, they could rent a forklift or hire some metahuman for a fraction of the dificulty. No, Thorne had something going on- only a few goods, a lifting job? Please.

Metallo partly blamed the fact that there was manhunt for him going on right now for his paranoia. But he was in the ring now, and the last thing he needed was to add another person to his already massive list of people that wanted his iron ass on a plate.

Metallo decided to play along with Thorne and shlep his toys around- for now. He kept constantly looking around at Thorne's boys, ready punt them to the moon with the slightest provocation he was so skeptical right now.....


It had been a long talk between Cyrah and Cassius the night before, and whereas Cassius was able to pass out relativeley quick, Cyrah's mind was racing at speeds that would make the Flash slobber with envy. She decided to whip out her journal and use it for once.

Dad says I ought to put my thoughts on paper, might as well give it a shot.

Lazarus pits: What do I know about them. Well, damn near everything. It's no secret I'd give anything to rid myself of this goddamn curse that was forced down my throat, and if these pits could be the ticket, I'd be the dumbass of the century not to take this chance. Lord knows I spent enough time raiding information about this kind of stuff.

But

Can I really do it? My brother needs this, and without his sight, we loose our biggest rescource. He helped design the damn thing and was in the original, with him at 100%, we can turn this thing inside out.

Maybe I'm over thinking this. Dad said: 'Family first, at all costs' to me once. Given the choice, I really shouldn't have to be asked to know that it would be nothing short of selfish to propose myself go int he pit.

We'll see what tommorow brings.

Cyrah stuffed her journal under her seat and continued to try and drift off unsuccesfult untill she heard Greyson moving about.

"Okay guys wake up. This is it. We're going in." Dick said pulling his mask over his eyes. "That's what she said." Damian said waking up and pulling over his Red X mask, "Why am I here again? Do I have to come or can I just stay in the ship and watch Adam Sandler movies?" Red X asked Batman. "C'mon, you'll get some exercise. Who knows what's down that mine shaft." Batman said still trying to wake everyone up. "Lazarus Pit is down the mine shaft, can I go back to sleep?" Red X complained. "No Damian."

Alice dug into her waffle. She wasn't going to try to even tell Karmy to eat. Waste of breath. Cyborg and Red Robin were talking to each other when they began to call for Beast Boy. "Hey Beast Boy! Cyborg tells me you've really softened up on video games!"

"Then you're in luck." Roxie smirked lightly, taping quietly on her boss's laptop computer. "Thorne's got him loading up some stolen tech here, but once he's done the tech, and Metallo, are heading out of town." She smirked lightly, as she was actually adjusting the orders for the truck drivers, specifically to take them by Jump City. "And they're heading your way. Looks like they're gonna take the 904 Highway west, and try to avoid most of the major cities along that way. If you hurry you should be able to cut them off before they get too far."

---

"Come on, Thorne wanted this thing moving twenty minutes ago." The truck driver was antsy. Everyone involved in this thing needed to get out of Gotham for one reason or another, and he was particularly eager to leave the glum city before something in a mask showed up.

The unofficial 'foreman' of the little moving project they had going wasn't quiet as eager. "Cool yer jets Marcus, we're on the last crate." It was just the two of them, plus Corben, and though technically he was supposed to be helping Metallo load the truck, the blond thug seemed to have deemed himself 'supervisor.' "Alright, load this last one up and then hop 'n the back. We'll drive ya out of town 'n' to a private airstrip Mr. Thorne's been running. After that, ya help us load this stuff onto a couple of planes, and pick whichever one ya want to get you outta the county... least till things cool down enough fer Mr. Thorne ta call ya back." He didn't seem to like Corben much, but he was just a lowly thug, and Corben was a triumph of modern machinery. In another decade or so, Metallo might've been the basis for robot thugs the like to put honest hard working criminals like Marcus and himself out of work.

Beast Boy moved so fast over to Cyborg, The Flash would have been proud. "What was that, Tinman?!" he stood over Cyborg, glaring down at him. Though he had grown a few inches since his years as a titan, he was still no where near Cyborg's height. Luckily right now, he had been sitting down. "Whip out the gamestation big man, we're having a match." he jabbed his finger into Cyborgs head.

"God... You want me to kill him?" Barbara asked her voice shaking. "How long will they be here?" She pulled her mask over her eyes and looked at the common room, still very quiet. "And will I meet you there?"

"Oh no! I've been training Tim here!" Cyborg smirked. "Why don't you face him?"

Rose had curled up on the couch the night before and fell asleep something like a cat. The shouting match between Cyborg and BB proved effective in waking her up, and she dragged herself over to the kichen. He realized she hadn't gottan out of her outfit in days, and by now she must have looked like a car wreck. Needless, she wanted food first. As BB and Cyborg argued, she took the liberty of swiping BOTH of their plates and helping herself to their food.

Metallo continued to ride in the truck with the swiped goods, all the while having that same feeling of 'there's no way it is THIS easy'.

"There's an airstrip about half way between here and Jump. Officially it's been abandoned for nearly a decade, but Thorne's been running shadow flights out of there for almost twice that long. That's where they're taking Corben. I'm leaving Gotham now, if I hurry I should be able to beat them there. Meet me at the airstrip and you can do whatever you want to Jonh Corben. This is your showdown honey, I'm just helping a friend." Roxie snapped her phone closed and headed straight for her car. A blue convertible sports car that really had no business being in Gotham City, but it wasn't like someone was going to steal it from her. The mob secretary tied her raven hair back and pulled a pair of movie-star sunglasses from her purse. Now things got interesting.

"Yessir, Batman sir." Ivy mumbled groggily, shaking her head slowly as if to knock out any lingering feelings of exhaustion. The mention of Lazarus Pit was enough to make her perk up more, and soon she was nearly itching to get down to the mine shaft. Tired or not.

Barbara looked at her phone when Roxie hung up, glanced in the common just to make sure no one cared about her and walked into the garage. Spotting a familiar motorcycle, with a bright yellow "R" on the wheels, she walked it out and onto the streets of Jump City. "Sorry Pixie Boots, but I think its time for Corben to meet some independant justice." She whispered to the R-Cycle.

Batman walked up to Cyrah and knelt down next to her. "Have you given any thought to Lazarus Pit?" He asked her as Damian opened the hatch for everyone to file out and into the Mine shaft.