A/N: Update is a little late today, sorry - I got caught up in studies. Exams coming, you know!
Thanks to doglover500 and leathman for your reviews!
Chapter Ten: In Which Mr. Z Is Finally Found
Batman heard, rather than saw, Mr. Z's disappearing act. The shocked gasps and the astonished exclamations told him that the magician had just done something extremely extraordinary, undoubtedly with his actual magic. Even if he hadn't heard Mr. Z announce what he was going to do, the muted murmurs of "He's gone!" that soon became loud enough for him to hear would have been enough for him to realize what happened.
"Bruce!" Zatanna's distraught voice echoed through the comlink he'd given her. "My father's gone! He vanished!"
"Calm down, Zatanna," Batman instructed, as he saw the ringmaster frown and venture back out onto the stage. "Did you manage to see him?"
"No! I was on my way, but then I heard him say he was going to disappear…I tried to get to the stage, but he was gone by the time I got here."
Batman watched as the ringmaster addressed the crowd, who had begun to mutter discontentedly when Mr. Z failed to reappear.
"My humblest apologies, good citizens," the ringmaster said, bowing deeply. "But by unfortunate circumstance, Mr. Z has been taken ill very suddenly, and is unable to continue his performance. We are greatly saddened that our closing show has to come to an end in such a disappointing manner, but we hope you enjoyed the rest of the performances."
By now the audience had quieted and were murmuring, some in annoyance, some sympathetically for the 'ill' Mr. Z. Batman, however, could tell that the ringmaster was just as clueless about his magician's disappearance as the audience, and was only making up this excuse so that his circus' reputation would remain untarnished.
"Bruce, what are we going to do?" Zatanna sounded on the verge of tears. "I just found my father, and now I've lost him again."
"Maybe not," Batman disagreed. "Zatanna, pull yourself together. We may still be able to find him."
"How?"
"Meet me on the street outside."
When Zatanna, dressed back in her magician's costume, arrived outside, she saw Batman already standing there with J'onn and Doctor Fate.
"You called in reinforcements?" she guessed.
"Yes," Batman replied. "Since your father was here in person not long ago, J'onn's telepathy should be able to track his psychic trail."
"But my father teleported away with magic," Zatanna pointed out.
"That's why I'm here," Doctor Fate responded. "I am familiar with Zatara's magic, and I should be able to detect his aura in order to determine where he teleported to. I don't think he will have gone far."
"Let's get started," said Batman. "The sooner we find him, the sooner we can get to the bottom of this."
Doctor Fate waved his hand, creating a purple ankh in the air. He stared into it for several moments, then waved his hand again – the magic shimmered and disappeared.
"As I suspected," the sorcerer said. "He has not gone far."
"You know where he teleported to?" Zatanna asked hopefully.
"I do." Fate created another ankh, this time large enough to be a portal. "Come, I will take you."
Doctor Fate's portal led out to an old, closed down amusement park not far from the Gemini Theater. Zatanna scanned her surroundings, puzzled.
"Why would my father teleport here?"
"It was probably the closest place without people," Batman reasoned. "J'onn, can you pick up his trail?"
"Give me a moment." J'onn's eyes glowed as he synched his mind with that of Doctor Fate's so he could get a psychic imprint from Fate's recognition of Zatara's aura. After a few moments he withdrew from the wizard's mind, and the glow of his eyes faded.
"He is here," the Martian informed them. "He has not left."
"Where?" Zatanna demanded urgently, looking all around with sharper purpose this time.
"Follow me." J'onn rose from the ground and glided through the amusement park, tracking a mind only he could sense.
The Martian Manhunter had earned his moniker because of his unerring ability to find any individual by following their psychic trail, and this served them well now. J'onn led them through the various closed roller coasters and themed entertainment houses with purposeful direction; he knew exactly where he was going and he could feel Zatara's mind getting closer.
And then, all of a sudden, the psychic trail began to fade.
"What's happening?" Batman questioned, noting the way J'onn's eyes narrowed.
"He knows I'm tracking him. He's pulling away. He doesn't want us to find him."
"Then we have to hurry!" Zatanna exclaimed.
"You and Fate go on ahead as fast as you can," Batman directed. "Zee and I will be right behind you. We can't let Zatara get away again."
J'onn nodded and accelerated his flight, Fate trailing closely behind. On the ground, Batman pulled Zatanna along.
The race was on; they absolutely had to reach Zatara before he evaded J'onn. Otherwise, Batman knew, they'd never find him again.
J'onn turned the corner between the Ferris wheel and the House of Mirrors, and there, up ahead of him, he saw Giovanni Zatara running away from him.
"Wait!" J'onn called, increasing his speed to reach the magician; Zatara either did not hear him, or chose to ignore him – J'onn, linked as he was to the other man's psychic trail, knew it was the latter. In the back of his mind, he also sensed that Zatanna had heard him call out, and was sprinting forward at breakneck pace to catch her father.
"Giovanni!" Doctor Fate added. "Stop! We need to talk to you!"
If anything, Zatara ran even faster, a desperate quality to his loping strides visible even from this distance. The man's speed and stamina was remarkable, but even a Homo magi could not hope to outrun a Green Martian's flight without magic. J'onn caught up with Zatara easily, and so did Doctor Fate.
"Giovanni, wait." Fate grabbed hold of Zatara's sleeve and restrained his run as J'onn landed on the ground. They were just in front of the Haunted House, and by now they could hear Batman's and Zatanna's running footsteps approaching from not far away.
"No, please!" Zatara sounded panicked and overwhelmingly desperate. Doctor Fate didn't understand it at all.
"Giovanni, what is going on?" he demanded.
The footsteps of their colleagues drew nearer, and it was now possible to distinguish between the light, clicking sound of Zatanna's heeled boots and Batman's heavier tread. Zatara grew even more agitated and he cried out desperately, "You don't understand! She can't see me – Zatanna cannot be allowed to see me! Please!"
Doctor Fate was astonished. "But why –" he began.
He was cut off by J'onn; the Martian's green arm shot out unexpectedly to yank Zatara into the Haunted House, out of sight of the approaching Batman and Zatanna.
"J'onn?" Fate questioned.
"Go outside and prevent Zatanna from entering to see her father," J'onn instructed. "I will ensure Zatara does not vanish, but I think we need to discover why he is so anxious to avoid his daughter before we force him to meet her. There is more to this than appearances suggest."
Fate nodded and headed out to meet Batman and Zatanna before the entrance of the Haunted House.
"Thank you," Zatara said gratefully. He was leaning against an old mannequin that had probably been used to scare unwitting teenagers in the Haunted House when the amusement park was open.
J'onn inclined his head in acknowledgment. "I need to know your reason. Doctor Fate will delay Zatanna, but sooner rather than later she will insist to see you. Your daughter is as stubborn as she is talented."
Zatara sighed and ran his fingers through his black hair. "I know. And I know she will eventually force her way in here if she is prevented from seeing me – I cannot risk that. May I teleport us both to someplace safer? I will be far more at ease explaining everything if I do not have to fear that Zatanna will walk in on us."
Curiouser and curiouser. The lengths to which Zatara was willing to go in order to avoid meeting his daughter were truly alien to J'onn. But he sensed that Zatara had a very good reason for doing so, and so he acquiesced to the sorcerer's request.
A moment later, Zatara teleported them both away from the Haunted House.
A/N: Till tomorrow!