Greetings folks, ShadowMajin here with the third story of Anonymous Void and my's series. I'm gonna be upfront about this, I think this one's going to be the best of the series to date. I'm really excited about it. Hope y'all enjoy it and look forward to your response.

The click-clacking of high-heels bounced off the cement sidewalk. Tall buildings lined the street as dull light poured from street lamps. Gotham was everything and nothing like she expected it to be, though that wasn't to say that was a good thing.

It was a chilly, autumn night, which prompted a rather large, fuzzy coat to be draped over her body. Long, dark hair poured over the collar and down her back. Usually she had a hat on, but she had only arrived in the city earlier in the day. The last thing she needed was to be recognized at least until showtime.

On the bright side she had on proper leggings. The night was growing colder the longer she was out here. So far she hadn't blown out steam from her nose and mouth, but she was waiting for it. Heck, she'd probably be seeing that mist by the time she got back to her hotel.

Oh, where were her manners? She had yet to introduce herself! Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Zatanna Zatara, magician extraordinaire, heir to the magical mantel of John Zatara, and all-around amazing dad. He wasn't around anymore though, so it was up to her to keep the magic act going, and if she didn't say so herself, she had brought it to heights even her father hadn't dreamed of.

Which was why she was in Gotham, her first trip to the city ever. So far, she was impressed and unimpressed, a dichotomy of odd proportions. The iconic skyline had been breathtaking as the plane had flown her and her troupe in. It was a shame that she couldn't have explored the city during the day—it may have given her a different experience than the one she was having. She had thought the nightlife had something to offer since most big cities did. While Gotham did have that setting, Zatanna had made the mistake of going off the beaten path and found herself in a less savory neighborhood.

Which led her to her current predicament as she walked to her hotel with nary a cab in sight. Wasn't it in the interest of taxi drivers to be anywhere and everywhere? You never saw this in Metropolis, she'd have you know.

Oh well, there was one other thing a tourist could do at night in this very city: Bat-watching. No, not those furry little critters that looked like Satan's spawn had hocked a loogie and went running away screaming. That would just be boring and a waste of time. Instead, she was on the lookout for one that was reported to be huge and liked to jump from rooftop to rooftop.

To be honest, she hadn't really paid much mind to the rumored appearance of the so-called Batman. Zatanna had figured it to be a publicity stunt or some such nonsense—at least that's what she thought until the fabled Night of Ice as the Gotham press was so apt to call it. It was hard to argue with video footage of a man-sized bat fighting a man in a space suit.

Then there was the constant stream of Gothamites she had run into during her travels. Everyone of them had gone on at great length about Batman-this, and Batman-that. Yet none of them had even seen the guy, though one of them swore that a friend of a friend of theirs had. Pretty sketchy stuff if you asked her. So here she was, gazing up at the tops of buildings with the faint hope of catching sight of a dark figure peeking his little bat-head into sight like a whack-a-mole, only so she could say, "I saw him and he wasn't that scary."

And so far, nothing, not that she was disappointed. Oh well, this night was already a loss and a sighting of a wanted vigilante wasn't going to magically make things better—that was her job after all.

As she approached the opening of an alleyway, she didn't pay much mind to a man in a hoodie leaning his back against the corner of one of the buildings. She could feel his eyes rake up her body though. It was something she was used to, especially in her costume. Besides, she was hot, so it was expected that beings of lesser, instinctive minds would drool about her. You know, men.

However, when the man in the hoodie took a step towards her, Zatanna immediately flickered her blue eyes to him. "Hey baby, lookin' for some adventure tonight?" he leered at her.

Zatanna ignored the man as she walked by him. If the guy was was harmless, he'd just keep wolf-whistling as she kept walking away. No harm, no foul, though she would be a little annoyed by the lame pickup lines. Seriously, what guy thought those worked? She hadn't met one that worked, at least on her. The price of having standards, the dark-haired woman supposed.

However, if the guy was aggressive, well, there was always her lessons from Ms. Hogie's Self-Defense Class for Girls.

Unfortunately, hoodie guy turned out to be the aggressive kind. Just as she stepped past him, he suddenly shot an arm out and grabbed her by her arm. Roughly, he yanked her into the alley, her balance thrown off as she stumbled on her high-heels. Hoodie guy led her further in, away from street and prying eyes, until he came to an abrupt halt.

Zatanna had just gotten her footing again, but before she could act, the man moved behind her, his grip on her arm tightening. He then, ugh, stuck his face in her lovely hair and took a deep whiff. "Mmm, you smell good," he groaned. "Just the way I like 'em."

Gross.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll let me go," Zatanna warned him.

"Or what? You'll scream?" the man taunted her. That's when his grime-covered hand slapped down on her mouth, an attempt at silencing her. "Go ahead then. I like it when they fight back.

Ew, double gross.

That's when she made her move. Raising a leg up, she then stomped the heel of her shoe on hoodie man's foot, digging the heel in and causing him to howl in pain. She then leaned forward and moved an arm in front of her, bending it at the elbow. She then drove it back, imbedding it in the man's stomach and forcing the air out of his lungs.

She felt the guy loosen his grip on her arm. Immediately Zatanna pulled away, turning around to face hoodie man and then swung a leg up. Her foot made a direct hit as she kicked him right in the balls, causing hoodie guy's eyes to bulge out of his sockets as he dropped to the dirty ground, grabbing his wounded pride.

Ha! Score one for Ms. Hogie!

"So, still like it when girls fight back?" Zatanna asked rhetorically. Amusedly, she watched as hoodie guy tried to stand up, using a nearby trash can to help himself up. He was glaring at her through tear-shed eyes and his teeth were gnashing together.

"You bitch!" he growled at her before he reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a thin handle. With a flick of a switch, a five-inch blade shot up, gleaming in the dull light that managed to enter the alley. "I'm gonna cut you up for that," he threatened.

Zatanna wasn't impressed. In fact, she was thinking of the three different ways she could disarm the guy; she had taken a comprehensive self-defense class after all. In a way, she was glad for this guy—he was giving her the chance to put those classes to use and boy had it paid dividends. The next time her manager complained about wasting money on teaching the girls in her troupe basic self-defense lessons, she was so going to rub this in his face.

However, before hoodie guy made to fruitlessly stab at her, he suddenly froze. Strangely, his eyes widened in horror before he dropped his knife, whipped around, and ran stiffly away from her towards the other end of the alley. Even more surprising was how he was screaming the entire way.

Huh, Ms. Hogie didn't mention the lessons would do that.

Zatanna just watched before hoodie guy disappeared around the corner. A part of her was prideful about his awkward-looking run, no doubt from her crotch shot. Most of her was just bewildered by the man's sudden change in demeanor. It was pretty sudden after all and usually people were running at her, not away.

Whatever. Adjusting her coat around her, the dark-haired woman looked at the sleeve hoodie guy had grabbed and groaned when she noticed something sticky and black on it. She didn't want to know what it was, but she knew it was going cost her a lot of dry-cleaning bills to get it out. Just great, hoodie-loser not only ruined her already wasted evening, but dirted her favorite coat. It wasn't like she could send him the bill either since he was long gone by now. She'd just have to have her manage deal with it—she was so over this night.

Turning around, Zatanna made to leave the alley when a rather broad chest entered her sight, which caused her to let out a short squeak of surprise—she preferred to think of it less embarrassing than that, so she chose to remember it in much less girly terms in the future. More importantly, her eyes zoomed right in on the symbol of a bat staring her down.

Slowly, she tilted her head up and saw the horned head of the Batman, his white eyes burning into her own blue ones. He was...bigger than she thought. Oh God, did she really just think that, the most cliched first thought in all of surprised encounters?

Still, he was tall and was covered from head to foot in black. The only thing, other than those creepily blank eyes, that she found herself transfixed by was his mouth, which she found herself staring at next. His five o'clock shadow was showing and his lips...very manly.

Okay, now wasn't the time to fall head over heels for a guy she just met. That could come later.

"Umm, hi," she finally said, then just as quickly berated herself. Um, hi? Can you not come up with something better to say to a guy who looks like he could bench-press your body on a regular basis?

In response, the Batman just kept staring at her.

"Uhh, thanks...for uhh, you know...back there…with the guy…" Zatanna stumbled as she vaguely pointed in the direction hoodie guy ran, much to her own mortification. Seriously, a tall, dark, and mysterious stranger pops up out of nowhere and she gets tongue-tied. She thought she already had grown out of that phase years ago—apparently not.

She let out a sigh and bowed her head down. Alright, get it together, Zee. Show this guy that he isn't blowing your mind with his little act. You're the best magician in the damn country, so show that you're more than just a set of long legs and a pretty smile. Pep talk over, she lifted her head up to speak again.

Only to find herself completely alone with no evidence the Batman had ever been there.

"Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed as she shot her head from side to side, looking all over for the vigilante. When she saw no sign of him, her shoulders sagged.

Well, that could've gone better.

Zatanna had grown up.

Staring down on the dark-haired woman, Batman watched as she looked all over for him before giving up. He turned his head, following her as she walked out of the alleyway and back onto the street heading further into downtown.

The vigilante was perched on top of the building next to their surprise reunion. How long ago was it? Almost at will, images of a stage and a room filled to the brim with boxes, costumes, and all sorts of props appeared in his mind. A younger version of the woman he had just met stood before him with eyes only for him and lips in a near constant state of giggling.

For some reason, it felt like those days were so much simpler.

Shaking his head, Batman cleared the suddenly ride through memory lane. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her in the intermittent years since then, but seeing her from an audience and up close were two different things. A seat from the back of a crowded theater didn't show the glimmer in her eyes, the rosiness of her cheeks and lips, or the open emotions that shone from her face at a moment's notice.

If felt like a lifetime ago, and perhaps it had been. A lot had happened since the last time they had seen each other. She was the main act of her father's old show and he was sitting on rooftop waiting for punks to make the mistake of robbing jewelry stores.

Speaking of which…

Making sure Zatanna was in the clear, he turned his back on her fading form and stalked towards the other side of the building. Her attacker had come running this way, but there was only so much ground he could cover in the couple of minutes Batman had spent watching over a certain magician. Reaching the edge of the building, he looked left and right, soon spotting a fleeing figure several blocks down.

Grapple out, he fired it at a nearby building and waited long enough to feel the line go tant. Leaping off his current perch, he swung through the night's air, cool wind beating at him. As he began arching up, he swung his legs forward to add momentum to his swing. Reaching the apex, he hit a button that disengaged the grapple's claw and caused it to retract back to the gun. His momentum allowed him to sail through the air until he landed on the corner of another building.

Racing along the roof, he lept off the edge, grabbing the edge of his cape to slow his descent as he fell onto the next building. Staying on his feet, he kept moving, using his speed to allow him to jump an alley onto another building.

Glancing to the street up ahead, he noticed his target had slowed down, coming to a stop when his endurance gave out. Even as he closed the distance between them, the vigiliante could see the man bend over, a hand stretched and pressed against the building next to him as he tried to catch his breath.

That was his second mistake, the first attacking a woman for no reason other than his own gratification. Soon he was crouched on the building across the street from his prey, the man straightening himself out as he smoothed out the wrinkles in his hoodie.

With a leap, Batman was flying through the air, the edge of his cape in hand as he used it as a makeshift parachute. The streetlamps lights cast his shadow over the man, its darkness growing bigger and bigger as he approached the target. The man froze where he stood and slowly turned his head just as Batman was on top of him, his face twisting in horror as he screamed.

The vigilante's boots slammed into the man's chest, forcing him right into the brick wall of the building. Letting go of his cape, Batman dropped to the sidewalk, landing gracefully before he launched himself at the hoodlum. Grabbing him by his hoodie, he lifted the guy right off the ground and shoved him roughly against the wall.

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!" the man cried out as he struggled against the wall, body worming around and legs kicking sporadically.

"Which part?" he growled, which caused the man to stop his struggling, going limp in the vigilante's hands. "The assault or the knife?"

The punk stared down at him, gulping audibly. "Please don't hurt me," he said weakly.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to walk. Eventually."