The Darkest of Knights

"Randomness. Right." The Riddler said. "How's that working out for you?"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Anna stood up and left a tip. "Granted, I'm half dead most of the time, but ehh.. I get through. How are you holding up?" she asked, getting ready to head back out.

"How am I holding up? I'm a friggin villain. How do you think I'm holding up? You trying to make me crack huh? Well I know what your plans are. Your plans are trying to figure out what my plans are so why don't you just get outta here? You're hanging out with the wrong crowd." The Riddler snorted. "Go... really. Before I kill the bartender." He slurred. "Hey!" The bartender yelled. "Shaddap.... before I give you another riddle." Riddler said. The Bartender kept quiet...

"There is no right crowd, there is no wrong crowd. Like I said, I just came in here for a drink and to warm up, nothing more, nothing less. And I don't need to know you're plans, I'll be caught in the cross-fire eventually, so I'll just wait." Anna smiled. "And here," she pulled out another 10 from her pocket. "There's about this much left to drink in that scotch bottle, and I just wanted to say thanks for having a drink with me. Nothing more, nothing less." she held the bill out to him.

"Feh.... heroes. I'll tell you who they really are... they call themselves heroes, they work with the cops, they capture us and split the money with the police." The Riddler sneered as the door slammed behind Anna. "Damn heroes... damn Batman. Damn damn damn."

"Ha." Anna shook her head at the last comment she had heard. "Iff only they shared the money with us." she sighed and continued to walk through Gotham. It was overcast and it looked like it was about to snow by the time she reached the park. It seemed as if everyone else decided to stay indoors for the day, so Anna walked through the park alone. After a while she sat down at a bench, leaning back to take a break and let the food and booze digest in her stomach. Her nose and cheeks were red from the cold and she gave a small sniffle, her breaths visible in fogs.

"All Thorne said was to beat you so bad you never donned the suit again- some shock and awe crap probably." Slade said disdainfully. He frankly didn't care if they knew, not like they couldn't have peiced that together. Batface raised an eyebrow and and turned to Greyson. "What do you think?" He asked. He knew Thorne probably ammited/ altered the reality of it to Slade like he did them, so there was no guarantee that that was what Thorne had intended....

Cyrah shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just peeved that they NEVER seem to include me in ANYTHING." Cyrah said, getting to her feet. "Maybe the Iceburg once this is all done?" She asked. The Iceburg was a lounge formed by the penguin- if there was a cool (no pun intended. no, really......) place to go party, that was it.

Zero waited for the two girls to join him in the hall.......

"Poison Ivy."
"....Filthy child in black."
"I've heard about you."
"And you aren't worth hearing about, apparently."

The two glared at each other from across the alley. Knightmare's hands gory, her fresh kill behind her. She didn't mind in the least her current appearance, feeling she could easily take Poison Ivy on then and there, despite the way her damp clothes clung heavily to her skin, should need be. With Poison Ivy's blatant superior demeanor already getting on her nerves, her head spinning with the metallic scent of blood, and her own adrenaline surging through her veins...Something told her that if a good fight was what she wanted-And she craved it after such boring muggings- it would be what she got. "You don't even know what I can do." She hissed, nonchalantly wiping her right hand on the hem of her cloak.

"I don't need to know any more than what I see." Came the villainess's chilling reply. "A bloodthirsty child with a temper. Willing to get in a fight with me just because I irk her." A fat vine creeped along the ground, coiling around her ankle. She's preparing to fight, too. Knightmare observed, narrowing her eyes in attempt to give herself a more intimidating impression. It was almost useless, Poison Ivy giving a low tinkling laugh. "Come on, then. Think this'll prove that you're actually worth thinking about? It only proves how short sighted and dim you are." A smirk made it's way onto her face. "You've got one chance to leave. This is it." Her voice came across as bored, which she was. She was in no mood to stop and play with an ignorant girl who thought she stood a chance. Nor did she have the time.
"Underestimating your opponent will be your downfall." Knightmare rasped, holding her ground.
"Right now, I'm overestimating you."

That was all it took to make Knightmare attack. Half out of her anger and irritation with Poison Ivy, eager to show how powerful she was, and half to stretch herself out, get some well needed exercise. A quick muttering of her incantation and Poison Ivy was gone. At least, mentally. Green eyes glazed over, expression froze. The nightmare begins.

"It's too late." Her words were soft, hurt even. The plant went limp in her hands, it's petals dried and making a crunch sound as she pet them. "It's too...late..." She repeated, standing and taking in the scene before her. That one plant she had cuddled in her hands was only one amongst thousands of other lush greens. All healthy, lovely to the eyes. But she knew better. Where one plant died...

Just as she thought it, a rotten yellow spread from the dead flower, infecting the rest of the foliage. They all curled into one another, dying, falling. Seeming to call out to her, "Why? Why didn't you save us?" Tears sprang to her eyes. In that odd way dreams do, the scenary changed, melting away to be replaced by a more gruesome one. The woods outside Gotham, she realized. They barely could be called woods any more, stumps littering the dirt field dotted with a few scrawny trees.

"All my work...I...Mother Nature has failed!"

Knightmare, though pleased with Poison Ivy's reaction, didn't take this as a satisfying victory. It would be too easy to stab a knife through the distracted woman. No, she wanted a fight. A fair fight. That being said, she took the invisible "String" holding Poison Ivy to her nightmare, easily snapping it and yanking her out.

The dream, so real, so terrifying, shattered away before Poison Ivy's eyes. It occurred to her how when she was there, she didn't think at all about where she had just been. She should have known it was an illusion. Shame on her.

"Do you still think I'm an easy target?" Knightmare inquired, poised and ready to fight. A blade gleamed in each of her hands. Poison Ivy maintained her composure, knowing she had the upperhand. She knew the girl's ability, or at least one of them. She controlled the terrain-A plant inching through the crevices in the pavement, a tree looming behind her. And, she had one more thing. One thing that Knightmare didn't know about and never would. Until it would be too late. Her secret weapon.

"You brought this upon yourself." Poison Ivy snarled, watching as the small clovers peeking out of sidewalk cracks grew and strangled Knightmare in their grasp. Watching as the girl slashed her way through them with ease, going as far as to launch a spare knife at Poison Ivy. The redhead calmly swerved to avoid it. A small hand gesture and the tree lurched forward, monstrous. It couldn't move far, instead only uprooting where it's deeper roots were, where Knightmare stood, knocking her to the ground. The clover patch swiftly entangled her again, the cloaked figure struggled against them. Cutting wildly and without direction until deep red threads, evidently her own accidental doing, appeared across her arms.

Poison Ivy laughed coldly again, taking a few calm strides toward Knightmare's squirming body. She allowed the girl to swipe through the clover and even the roots-Though it pained her to see her children in such pain- before making her next move. Her final move.

Knightmare staggered upward, blank faced. Too weak to do another nightmare, but strong enough, (Or was it stubborn enough?) to continue.

"This is the big leagues, kid. We don't fight to play." The remaining roots retreated into the ground, the clover disappearing. Knightmare took this as a warning, a second chance. Maybe Poison Ivy was letting her go, only fooling with her. It infuriated her to have been played so easily, enough to make her want to finish off this fight. Even she, though, knew that given the chance between life and death, when Poison Ivy had just proven her power, she would run. Fast.

Too bad she didn't have the chance.

Vines wrapped around her from behind, the emerald eyed woman smirking in triumph. Her final weapon: Harvest. Knightmare didn't go without creating something of ruckus, squirming and halting her screams through gritted teeth. She made a solemn promise to herself: If she died, no screaming. No crying. It was as if, just then, her options were made clear: Die with dignity. Live with none. Her final comprehensible thoughts.

A squelching noise, a strangled screech, and one choking corpse later, it was over. Blood streamed freely out of every hole in Knightmare's body, her cuts flowing profusely.

The victor wrinkled her noise in disgust at the body, twisted in inhuman angles, crimson fluid pooling around it and face stunned into that painfully terrified expression. "Come on, Harvest." She called sweetly, sauntering out of the alley as if nothing had happened. "Mommy doesn't clean up her messes. There are people for that."

(My 2000th post! I tried my best to make it epic. Woohoo.)

(This post will not be as epic as that one o-o)

After a while, Anna started to get cold just sitting there, so she left the park and walked out of the park. A gust of wind passed over her and she bent her head to block out the biting cold. Her footsteps echoed around her, no one was around it seemed because of the weather. Another gust swept by and Anna noticed a familiar smell that carried with it. Blood. And it was strong. Lifting her eyes, she looked around, trying to pinpoint the source. "Sh-t.." she mumbled and took off in a light jog to search. Another gust and the smell was stronger, her pace quickened and she kept her eye's peeled. Slowing down to a fast walk, Karmy took off her beanie and stuffed it in her bag. Squeslch Karmy's eye's widened and she looked down and saw that she had trodden in what she was looking for. "Oh snap.." lifting her foot, she looked at the blood that coated the bottom of it. "that's just so wrong.." she looked into the ally for the source, and gasped.

"Come to get me, hippie?" Poison Ivy asked, appearing from the shadows. Karmy was easy enough to recognize, especially without her beanie. She gave the corpse's head a kick. "If you are, think twice about it." She sneered, implying her means well enough. Harvest appeared behind her, watching Karm curiously.

"No, I was actually having a pleasant day, but thanks for ruining it ya green b-tch." Karmy hissed as she pulled off her jacket and stuffed it into her bag. It was pretty obvious that a fight was about to go down. Slipping her bag in place, she looked down at the corpse but, didn't recognize the woman. She could not remember the incident from earlier that month, so she didn't remember Knightmare. "Killing more people I see, that manager at the shoe store and the Burger Queen wasn't enough?" she reached into her bag for a weapon, not ready to strike just yet. "I'm going to beat you black and blue, and then drag your sorry green butt back to Arkham."

"Oh, come now." Poison Ivy rolled her eyes. "It's been a busy evening for me. I'm in no mood to battle you now." She declined, ignoring the burning rage that built inside her at Karmy's insults.

"And, really, is it a good idea to send me back to Arkham? Where I can just set everyone free like I did before?" She asked, tensing slightly in case Karmy did attack.

"I good, then that mean's this will be an easy fight." Karmy said, pulling out a pickax. "For me at least." she held it in her hands, ready to swing when the time was right. "And I'll make sure that you're so broken by the time you get to Arkham, that you can't even think of escaping. Or even thinking for that matter."

"Patience only goes so far, Quinn." Poison Ivy spat, knowing how much that would irritate Karm. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're going to get. Harvest!"

The monster of a plant loomed behind the villainess protectively, no longer gazing at Karm thoughtfully, rather, it bore it's sharp thorns in plain view. Challenging her. "Taking on mommy means taking on the baby, too." She smirked, figuring it would be too much for the heroine. Two dead in a night. Hitting two birds with one stone! She thought, delighted.

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