The trip from Sicily to Prague is uneventful, which is a slight relief after what happen at the villa less than a week ago. However the hunger of having not eaten in over three days is starting to take its toll and for once Bruce begins to consider stealing food in order to stave off starvation. He nears a side street full of vendors, but then they all seem quite familiar with each other, so taking from one is likely to turn the whole against him, not a pleasant turn to consider yet his stomach is groaning from hunger while his head feels light from the lessening of energy in his limbs.
He reaches out for a loaf of bread on the cart closest to him yet at that instant a slender hand grips his wrist. He looks up the arm towards the face. She smiles at him then tosses a bag of coins to the vendor before handing off the loaves to him. Together they walk off and he is quick to munch away at the bread. She giggles quietly, but knows he is hungry, she had seen the look in others who often consider pocketing food to keep from going too hungry. The markets were usually left to govern themselves, which often breeds the eye for an eye principle, let the punishment fit the crime though in many cases it tends to exceed it.
If one could call stealing to prevent starving a crime, but then places like Prague are on the fringes of nations that had long been broken under the yoke of the Regime. The Regime however continues to deny that their eternal rule could end, but then they had beaten the Allies at Normandy back when her father was still a kid. She had no idea who this rugged yet determined boy was that she just fallen in with, but then something about him made her immediately like him, she even wonders if some other girl is waiting for where he had come from in order to reach Prague.
They would reach her father's workshop before long and then she would find out more if he chose to divulge much to her father.
"Father Michael is not one to send you all this way without a purpose in mind and I sense no dishonesty in your countenance, but you are running from something, though what that is not my business, the less I know the better for both of us," assures Giovanni Zatara.
"I only briefly met him through an acquaintance and I will honor your request that I tell nothing of my past to you," remarks Bruce.
"So do you have a name?" continues Zatara.
"My name is John Smith," says Bruce.
"I trust you what Giovanni translates into in your native tongue Smith."
"I do."
"You strike me as an educated youth… perhaps there are things I can teach you… things you probably left home to learn… so are you ready to begin?"
"I barely just ate on the way here."
"You'll have a heartier appetite later and besides my daughter is a much better cook than I am."
She blushes at her father's compliment though more so because of 'John' who she had to admit was equally mysterious aside from being a handsome stranger.
Zatara led 'John' into another part of the workshop where he kept most of his performance props such as a straitjacket, chains, and cuffs among others. Zatara quickly slaps the cuffs on 'John's' wrists much to the younger man's surprise.
"I know it looks like an odd place to start, but getting out of cuffs usually impresses a crowd and baffles those who look too deeply for how the trick is done… the truth is that as much as they want to know how it works… they still turn hypnotic when watching me get out of them," says Zatara.
Bruce scans the table top in front of him and Zatara now only stares at a pocket watch whilst paying almost no mind to Bruce. He picks up what looks like a lock pick except barely noticeably with its nearly miniature size then without breaking eye contact with what he figures is Zatara's daughter watching while trying to stay out of sight, he starts to pick his way out of the cuffs. It took longer than Bruce thought yet Zatara had a look of praise in his eyes.
"Most impressive… usually when somebody finds the pick they spend too much time trying to work out where to stick it… you did it without looking… you chose to rely on your hearing rather than your eyes. I would suggest you remember all the senses have merit though never rely on all or on one."
"I'll keep that in mind. Your daughter's been watching us the whole time," murmurs Bruce.
"I know, but let's not give her away shall we?" whispers Zatara.
"I get the impression she is not easily impressed," comments Bruce.
"No she is not, she is like her mother in that way, but like me, she is a capable Homo Magi. Now your next question while direct, it is also nearly irrelevant especially if you are as bookish as you physique suggests to me."
"Means you and her have access to magic and that I am just another non-magic human."
"Not all magic belongs to those with the words for it. Magic is about believing not hearing or seeing."
"So what's next?"
"We have done enough for today… I'm sure my daughter is eager for you to taste her cooking and as for myself I have a performance to get underway."
Zatara sweeps on his cloak then taps something with the tip of his cane and the top hat shoots out from at first looks like a flat disc.
"Remember flexibility is also part of the act too… enjoy dinner… he's in your hands again Zatanna."
Before Bruce can even blink Zatara is out of sight though the older magician could just be quick on his feet. The way Zatanna looks at him now reminds him just a little too much of Selina, but then they only had a few tender moments before he left her to say with the Foxes. He could only imagine what Luc and Harvey were up to at present though they probably would be telling him to go for with the new girl, but no matter how much he thought about it, it just did not feel right because part of him really just wants to one day return to Selina.
They ate in silence, but she kept looking at him wondering why he gotten so quiet, she could tell he is enjoying her cooking though her company is another story. She finds him adorable and annoying at the same time, but then what she felt around him so far set him apart from all the other guys she met in Prague so far. After dinner, she took him to the spare room that she usually would hide away in when her father was out performing because it had a better view of the clear nights in Prague. The moonlight casts a rather unusual shadow when he stood just behind her.
However the points at the edge of his shadow's head were due to the fact that he did not attempt much grooming in recent days, but she would leave it to him to decide whether he continue to look the part of a drifter or clean himself up. She heads for the door yet feels his grip on her shoulder. She tilts her head to look back at him.
"Thanks for dinner Zanna."
"You know my name is Zatanna… not Zanna."
"I prefer Zanna."
"You better not say that around my father… he might get ideas if he has not already."
"What kind of ideas?"
"Are you really that dense or you can't tell when a girl enjoys your company?"
"Goodnight Zanna… I am tired between the meal, the lesson, and the trip."
She leaves him alone and returns to her own room across the way.
This platonic flirting would continue between them for months, but by then she felt like she was the only one consciously doing it. He made allowances for her to lie down next to him during the colder weather that soon overtook Prague in the winter, but then he only did enough to make her believe that he did care about her, which she felt certain that he did care for her. The attraction was not overly mutual. There was another girl somewhere else, she had grown certain of this, and his disappearing act had gotten better much to her father's delight. The rapport between them made sense as he continues to exceed Zatara's expectations yet there are some secrets that no magician ever shows or teaches anyone.
After weeks of rigorous testing, Zatara first binds 'John's' wrists, then puts a straitjacket on him, and lastly shackles him up before hoisting him upside down. Both continually expect Zatanna to be watching these escape acts at a distance. She sits across the room playing with her hair like she always does and 'John's' impassive stare no longer fools her.
He hides a lot behind that mask he calls a face and parts of the real him only get laid bare when she hears him calling out in his sleep. She couldn't imagine what could cause anyone that much pain and one time he had actually awoken to see her standing over him with a wet towel.
He took it in stride yet they never spoke of it again. Something told her that he would not be around for much longer and at a same time she did not know how she could go back to being just a magician's daughter if he left their lives.
The shackles are the first to clatter to the wooden floor, the straitjacket follows a few seconds later, then he forces his upper body to swing upward so that he can pull loose the knot binding his ankles together, and lastly he pulls the loop that holds his wrists together. She hears the click of her father's pocket watch like she had so many other times before. Zatanna ducks into the revolving cupboard used for the disappearing part of her father's performances.
"It has been an honor to learn from you Zatara," confesses 'John'.
"To what purpose, you show up outside my workshop months ago in the company of my daughter and I have shown you things I rather take to my grave then have known to any magician," says Zatara.
"You could have said no, told me to be on my way," reminds 'John'.
"No, whatever your secrets are, I had and still have no right to turn you out. Whatever it is, it remains with you still and perhaps it always shall… my only advice is to live your life as they would want you to."
"What do you mean you say they?"
"You know exactly what I mean. I don't have to say it. Your eyes tell enough, but remember there are those who still care for you, maybe even love you, because you can't escape everything 'John'."
"Escape everything?"
"You might fool others when you feign ignorance, but don't try on people who know you better in some ways then you admit."
"Forgive me Zatara."
"Already forgotten… besides I do believe you have more traveling to do if your inquiries about travel routes to the Far East mean anything to me. I only warn you that you are about to leave another familiar spot behind you and someone who doesn't like goodbyes anymore than you do."
Zatara pops his top hat as usual then taps the door to the revolving cupboard without bothering to peek inside as he had already known most of his daughter's hiding spots.
She plunges out and into John's arms. Her bare legs hang over his left arm, her hip is touching his stomach, and her back is against his right arm. She blushes deeply in embarrassment as her father walks away. 'John' gently sets her down and she steps away from him while palming a deck of cards. It was different saying goodbye to a little girl like Helena, but then Selina didn't take his leaving all too well either. All the things left unsaid usually would come back to bother him later.
She firmly holds the entire deck spread between her slender hands and he already understood a considerable amount about cards though not how magicians make use of the deck even after spending months with the Zataras.
"Here pick out a card. I'll tell your future," says Zatanna.
Bruce pulls out a card from the spread. She closes the spread and turns around then leans herself against him with her hips against his waist. He inwardly curses the fact that he does find her attractive, that he cares for her, but then he couldn't get that kiss from Selina out of his mind either.
"I see intrigue, danger… two of hearts!" declares Zatanna
Bruce looks at the card, Zatanna is off, way off, but he knows he'll have to tell her.
"Joker," admits Bruce.
Zatanna almost cheerful and loving demeanor turns almost cold and livid. She tosses the deck causing the cards to fly all over the room.
"Oh, it's a dumb trick anyway," fumes Zatanna.
Bruce knows he must be going on his way for the Russian border before the week is out.
"You're leaving and there's nothing I can do to convince you to stay or let me go with you. I already got that much from your secretive plans," remarks Zatanna.
"I feel I have come to the end of my training with your father and there is still much else I need to learn before I go home."
"Yes home and to her no doubt too."
"Are you jealous of a girl you have never even met?"
"Maybe I am, she probably kissed you too, and I… there were so many times I wish you did or would."
Zatanna walks away from him and he follows her towards the railing that leads up to the loft where Bruce usually sleeps though some times Zatanna had fallen asleep up there next to him or gone up after he gone to sleep. She had never a guy quite like him and she felt she never would again.
"Zanna, you know what my plans are, there will be others in your life after I leave," assures Bruce.
"I know that, but none of them will ever affect me the way you do. I used to detest you calling me Zanna, but every time I hear you say, I feel happy, feel cared about in a way different from how my father is towards me," says Zatanna.
He pulls her towards him and she wraps herself around him like they always did up in the loft.
"Zanna, I will write to you, believe I will," continues Bruce.
"It won't be the same, but you can't leave now," remarks Zatanna.
He realizes in a moment what she had done. As he notices the cuffs holding his wrist to the ladder built into the wall, and she steps back away from him with a coy look in her eyes. She dangles the key just out of reach and then slides it into the back pocket of her really short shorts. A popular fashion trend from almost twenty years ago yet Zatanna had the figure for them. He could imagine Selina would look ogle worthy in them too. He didn't need the key she had to slip out of the cuffs and he never made a sound.
"If you really are the next Houdini, you'd be out of those…."
She looks back with a slight gasp coming from her mouth.
"Cuffs by now…"
She climbs up the ladder and wraps herself up in the blanket that Bruce had been using this week as if wanting to be close to his scent for as long as she could be, but before long her father would likely go touring again.
As for 'John Smith' aka Bruce Wayne, he heads east in the direction of an overcast dawn and the search for martial arts truly begins.
"I never got to say goodbye to them, so I am not bothering with goodbyes because something tells me I have not see the last of you Zatanna Zatara."
He didn't get what had drawn her to him or why she took his leaving as she had, but then her father was right about many things in the brief time he had been living with them. He had learned the techniques of the escape artist, he had learned how to disappear, but he had to become invisible as someone still tracks him as he goes east. It had aroused curiosity of his trackers that he spent so much time with magicians, but the tracker understood the purpose and soon would report this change to the one who sent her to follow Bruce Wayne.
"He is leaving Prague before daybreak," says the woman.
"Stay with him, but do not reveal yourself," commands the man.
A/N 1: Enter the Zataras, similar to the flashback from the BtAS episode Zatanna, Bruce happens upon the Zataras and is taught to be an escape artist by Giovanni Zatara. At the same time, he also draws the affections of Zatara's only daughter Zatanna.
A/N 2: Again it shifts through time rather quickly though after all Bruce is a quick study even when it comes to the techniques of an escape artist.
A/N 3: Implied flirtations between him and Zatanna. Bruce isn't really good at goodbyes and Zatanna obviously doesn't want him to leave yet the mission calls again. Their parting scene is relatively identical to the one in Zatanna.
A/N 4: As for who has been following Bruce during his trek through Europe, that's another mystery.