Chapter 37

Last chapter Mariko—with a little help from Livewire—blew up Lex Corp, she then entered some sort of Mystery covenant with our favorite little Witch-boy Klarion. What kind of deal did she make? We'll find out in due time, Now ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

Tony ran down the hallways of the Cave until he reached the main hall where he ran into Robin—literally. The two landed on the ground in the middle of the main hall. The group stared.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Wally asked, Tony stood.

"N-nowhere." He mumbled, then noticed that Super-boy wasn't around, "Where's Super-boy?"

"There was an explosion at Lex Corp, he and Superman went to go help, and to hunt down who did it." Robin explained as he stood up as well. Tony froze.

"Who…who was behind it?" he asked.

"A Electric girl named Livewire," Wally said, "She's been out for Superman for years, this explosion just means she's out of jail and is out for blood again."

Tony sighed, relieved that Mariko had nothing to do with it. The group stared.

"Why do you ask Tony?" Zatanna asked, Tony stiffened.

"No reason, just…curious." He said, Zatanna pursed her lips, debating on whether or not she believed the cyborg's story. She then shrugged.

"Anyhow it's nothing you need to worry about. So where were you heading anyway?" M'gaan asked, Tony shrugged.

"Wolf, he still doesn't like me." He said with a nervous smile. He was amazed he could lie so easily about that, "Say would you mind if I went out for a while? Staying inside, it's suffocating."

"No can do Tony," Artemis said, "Can't risk you trying to find Mariko."

"But I have no interest in anything like that!" Tony said, M'gaan made a face, Tony sighed, "Right Martian, not much point in lying."

"Nope." Zatanna said. Wally frowned.

"Why would you want to find her anyway? She's crazy, evil, and dude she cracked your skull because she was bored." He said. Tony said nothing, while the others in the room sighed, knowing well why he wanted to find her, but still not sure the reasoning behind it.

~0~

"See how the game of life is playing all of us for fools? Dancing a string around us, making all these silly rules. See how he looks down on us like we're acting out a show. Throw the dice and let's see which head will roll…" Mariko sang as she rode on a bus to Gotham, next to her Klarion sat with his cat on his lap. He looked to Mariko who was listening to her mp3 player drowning out the rest of the world. He leered earning Mariko's attention.

"What?" she asked removing her ear buds, Klarion groaned.

"Remind me again why we're taking the bus to Gotham?" he asked back, Mariko pouted.

"Because, teleporting still makes me queasy." She said, "I have no idea why you're still here, I figured you'd have left by now."

Klarion paused for a moment in thought. Then he asked; "Good point, why am I still here?"

Meow.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." He then said, then looked to Mariko and gave her a grin. she gave him a look of discomfort back as she shifted in her seat.

"W-what are you lookin' at me like that for?" She mumbled, her face turning a slight shade of red. Klarion's grin widened.

"I just enjoy watching you squirm, it's funny." He said with a dark chuckle. Mariko grumbled and replaced her headphones.

"Y-you be quiet, and stop lookin at me like that." She muttered as she stared out the window and cranked up the volume. Klarion chuckled, wondering if he should continue on with his teasing. He decided, in the end, to save it all for later and let Mariko continue to blush the rest of the way to Gotham.

After a few hours on the bus, and the duo was in Gotham, Mariko stretched. It felt like they had been on that bus for days not hours. She sighed as she looked around for Klarion, when she didn't see him right away she removed the arm warmer she had on her right arm. There was a small demonic mark on her wrist. A pentagram with an abstract cat's face in the center, it was Klarion's mark. He had made it there when he agreed to her contract. She stared tracing her finger over the symbol remembering what it meant, she then felt a pair of arm wrap around her from behind. She gasped and spun around her blue and green eyes landing on Klarion's figure.

"Antana Hentai! Y-you pervert! Stop doing that!" She shouted, Klarion grinned.

"I thought it was funny, so what do you plan on doing here?" he asked, Mariko shrugged.

"Batman's biggest enemy—who isn't insane and is in the Light—is Ra's Al Ghul." She said, Klarion placed a hand to his chin.

"Oh yeah; he and I had a talk about immortality a few days ago. He's pretty boring." He said, Mariko rolled her eyes.

"Anyway; the League of shadows, I'm going to lead Batman to them." She said.

"And Robin?" Klarion asked, Mariko paused, then turned her back to the Lord of Chaos and smiled.

"With any luck I'll be able to see him and convince him not to stop me." She said, "He's a smart boy, I'm sure he'll figure out I'm as soon as I start something."

"You have a lot of hopes in that boy." Klarion said, Mariko blushed.

"I told you I'm in love with him, he has to be pretty smart. Now enough delay, let's get going." She said, then walked off ahead of Klarion.

"How exactly do you plan on getting the League of shadows to show themselves anyway?" Klarion asked.

"I know someone who owes me a favor."

~0~

"No." Jade said flatly, Mariko frowned placing her hands on her hips.

"Hey, you owe me Jade!" She growled, "Who do you think gave you that information to help your boyfriend find his real self?"

"That was you?" Klarion asked, Mariko narrowed her eyes.

"So not helping Jigoku." She mumbled, Jade stood.

"I don't care, as far as I'm concerned I paid my debt to you. Remember? I didn't kill you when that brat Gizmo said to." She said, Mariko frowned.

"Oh don't give me that; you were having too much fun with the others to even think about Gizmo and I. Besides that you hated the creep too." She said.

"I'm not going to help you drag the league of shadows into your war with Savage." Jade said. Mariko glared.

"My war is your war too. You hate the league of shadows too." She said, "Now, you can either help me or I can tell Ra's about yours and Red Arrow's you know what."

"What?" Klarion asked, Mariko ignored the prying Lord of Chaos and kept her gaze on Jade. She glared back.

"You wouldn't." she hissed, Mariko nodded.

"Try me." She said, Jade growled.

"Fine, I'll help you." She said, "But only to keep my family safe. After this I don't want anything to do with you."

"Fine by me, this will over quickly." Mariko said, "Gather as many Shadow members as possible, after that I want you and you're little family to get as far away from them as possible."

Jade nodded and then left the two. Once gone Klarion looked to Mariko.

"I didn't know you and Cheshire were friends." He commented, Mariko turned.

"We aren't, remember I have no friends," She said, "I did her a favor, this is her returning that favor."

"What is it you're hanging over her head?" Klarion asked.

"Hers and Red Arrow's daughter." Mariko said, then pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, "I hate bringing kids into my fights."

"I figured that, so what now?"

"Now? We wait," Mariko said, "Wait until Jade does her end and leads the League of Shadows out in the open."

"Sounds fun."

Getting ever closer and closer to the end! Will Mariko get her revenge? Will Tony admit his love to Mariko? Will Robin ever return Mariko's feelings? All these answers and more! 'See you later armadillos—unless I see you first! Haha!' Review!