The night was cold. A harsh breeze was blowing, large droplets of water fell from the sky but it wasn't quite raining just yet. Large dark grey clouds filled the sky and the moon was barely visible. On top of one of the apartment buildings next to Crime Alley, Artemis and Zatanna waited in the shadows.
Pulling her jacket tighter around her, Zatanna looked to Artemis and offered her a weak smile. She was cold and being outside wasn't helping her mood at all.
"They have ten more minutes to get here or I'm bailing," Artemis whispered, her hands in her pockets to keep them warm.
"They'll be here soon, they need our help," Zatanna replied, moving closer to Artemis.
"They better be," Artemis said, moving her jaw from side to side as it cracked.
Hearing the faint sound of something landing on the roof, Artemis put her hand up to signal to Zatanna to follow her lead. Moving within the shadows, Artemis rounded the corner and sighed. Coming out of the shadows, she coughed once to let her presence be known.
Raising an eyebrow as both Red Hood and Spoiler had to turn around to spot them, she already felt as if she had one-upped them.
"Artemis, Zatanna, it's good to see you, thank you for meeting with us," Spoiler said, pulling them into a three-way hug.
"Hey Steph, Jason," Zatanna said, greeting them back.
"Let's make this quick as it's freezing," Artemis said, cutting off any chance of small talk. She really wasn't in the mood and they had already made her wait a good half hour in the freezing temperatures of the night.
"That I can do. Down there in Crime Alley, there is a fortune teller and we believe she is helping one of the lowlife gangs in the area to smuggle drugs into the city. Her name is Madam Gotham, or that's what she likes to be called anyway, and we believe she is the mastermind behind it all. We have already tried going in undercover as just ourselves but she wouldn't let us out of her sight for even a moment and we doubt we can go in as Red Hood and Spoiler. She's currently open right now too," Jason said, hoping he got everything in he needed to.
"Artemis and I will be happy to go in and see if we can find anything to help your case. We aren't exactly locals so I doubt she knows who we are," Zatanna replied, happily offering to go down to see if this woman was the real deal or not.
"Yeah, thrilled about it," Artemis added, rolling her eyes at the plan.
"That would be great; Jason and I will wait up here for you to be done. Thank you," Steph said, smiling at them even if she knew Artemis didn't look all that happy about the plan.
"You two better behave while we are gone, we've heard the rumours about you lovebirds," Artemis said, smiling to herself when she noticed the uncomfortable look on Jason's face.
Heading down the main flight of stairs that led into the building, Artemis knew that no one would question why they were there. Everyone kept to themselves unless they wanted to rob you and by the look on Artemis's face after being volunteered to see a fake psychic, they probably would avoid her.
"Why did you volunteer us to go as customers? Breaking in would have been a lot easier," Artemis softly said so no one other than Zatanna could hear her.
"It sounded like fun, and maybe we'll find something to help Red Hood and Spoiler with their case," Zatanna replied.
Sighing, Artemis led them down to the ground floor of the building. Outside the doors she could hear people screaming at each other, threatening one another over petty disputes. Putting an arm out to stop Zatanna, she signalled for her to stop as the sounds got louder and louder. If they were in their outfits, Artemis would have gone straight out there but they had a job to do and that was more important. Feeling Zatanna take hold of her arm, Artemis felt her cheeks get warm, tinging pink. Being pulled back a little by Zatanna, the double doors flew open and two women marched up the stairs, throwing insults to whoever was outside. Grateful that the door hid them, they quietly snuck out and began to walk Crime Alley, sticking to the shadows as they had been taught.
Coming to a small building tucked away in the corner, a dim light slightly flickering was the only indication they had that someone was inside. Stopping in front of the shop, Zatanna pointed out a small piece of paper taped to the inside of the glass that simply read: Psychic.
"Hello dearies, I'm Madam Gotham, is there any of my services you require?" Madam Gotham asked, her head poking out of the door.
"Hello Madam Gotham, my friend has wanted to get her palm read for ages and if you're open we'd love to hear what you have to say," Zatanna said, pushing Artemis towards the old woman.
"Yes, I would like my palm read, please," Artemis added, doing her best not to roll her eyes.
Feeling Madam Gotham take a strong hold of her forearm, Artemis shot Zatanna a look as she was dragged into the shop and through a dark curtain leading into another room.
"We'll only be a few minutes, dearie, take a look around," Madam Gotham said before disappearing behind the curtain once more.
Standing alone in the shop, Zatanna moved closer to the curtain separating the rooms and listened for a few moments. When she was sure that Madam Gotham was solely focused on Artemis, she began to look around the shelves. Running her fingers over some smooth crystals, she took a moment to appreciate a piece of amethyst and went on, looking around.
Moving over to where the cash register was, Zatanna took a quick look around before she ducked behind the desk and rifled through the papers that were there. Noticing nothing interesting, she put them back and stood up, going out to view some herbs hanging on the wall.
Noticing a door hidden behind a chakra tapestry, Zatanna slowly opened it and slipped inside. Seeing a desk in the small area, she went over to it and began reading through the papers on the desk. Some of them were bank statements from offshore accounts and others were delivery receipts for unknown items. Quickly taking photos of everything she could see, she opened the first drawer of the desk and found it to only contain stationery. Realising that the bottom drawer was locked, Zatanna quickly magicked it open and looked inside. Taking a step back, she blinked and looked again. Inside contained a small plastic tub with about a dozen diamonds. Quickly taking a photo of them, she sent it straight to Red Hood and Spoiler before she relocked the drawer and headed back out into the main room.
Going back over to the crystal display, she pretended to examine them as she could hear that Madam Gotham was almost done with Artemis. Feeling a little bad she volunteered Artemis to keep the woman entertained, she took a mental note to apologise later on and do something cute for her.
Hearing the sound of a chair scraping against the ground, Zatanna saw Artemis emerge from the back room.
"How'd it go?" Zatanna asked, getting only a filthy look from Artemis in return.
"It went very well, dearie, your friend here is going to find love very soon and I believe it is going to be with someone she already knows," Madam Gotham replied instead, a smile on her face as she looked at Zatanna.
Huffing as loudly as she could, Artemis shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out some money. Slapping it down on the front desk near the register, she grabbed hold of Zatanna's hand and began walking towards the door. "We're leaving, right now," she said, pushing the front door open and feeling the ice cold wind on her face as she stepped out into the night.
"Artemis, are you okay? What happened in there?" Zatanna asked, realising that something wasn't right with Artemis.
"I'm okay, I just don't like psychics, I just need to clear my head," Artemis replied, stopping behind a building and taking a moment to lean against it.
"We'll stop for just a minute. I'll quickly send what I found to Red Hood and Spoiler via text and say we can't meet back up with them tonight," Zatanna said, typing away on her phone as she sent off what needed to be sent.
"Did you end up finding anything?" Artemis asked, hoping it wasn't a waste of their time.
"Yeah, I did, I think she's smuggling diamonds. Weird for Gotham, right?" Zatanna replied, pocketing her phone.
"Very weird," Artemis responded. "Can we go now?"
"Sure." Taking hold of Artemis's hand, Zatanna led them out of Crime Alley and down two blocks. Stopping outside of a kebab van, Zatanna hailed a taxi.
Watching as the taxi pulled up, Artemis opened up the back door and shoved Artemis in first before sliding into the seat next to her.
"Where would you like to go?" the taxi driver asked them.
"Two towns over please, we don't care which direction, just somewhere not here," Artemis replied, deciding that they were going to get a dodgy motel room for the night.
Staring out of the window as the city went by, Artemis could feel Zatanna's hand still in her own. The words that Madam Gotham had said to her still rang through her head. When she told her that she was going to find love with a person she knew, she immediately thought of Zatanna and how her feelings for her had grown over the last few years. Zatanna was beautiful and one of the nicest people she knew. She almost knew that no one like Zatanna would want to be with her.
Noticing the car had stopped in front of an older looking motel, Zatanna thanked the driver and handed her the fee. Getting out of the taxi, she waited until it had driven off before she took hold of Artemis's hand and faced her.
"Should we get a room?" Artemis asked, not wanting to look at Zatanna.
"Sure," Zatanna replied, heading towards the reception.
Entering the small room, Zatanna pressed the bell on the desk as Artemis stood a little behind her.
"Hello ladies, would you like a room for the night?" an older lady said as she walked out of the office attached to the desk.
"Yes please," Zatanna replied, watching the woman's every move as she began to type away on the computer in front of her.
"We have two rooms available that would suit you. The first one is a twin room with two single beds, or we have a room with a queen bed, what room would you like?" the woman said, not looking up from the screen.
Turning to Artemis, Zatanna noticed that she was slightly shivering as the heating wasn't working very well. "Queen or single, what do you think?"
"I'm tempted to say queen as it's freezing and you're usually very warm," Artemis replied, not giving up any chance to be able to cuddle up with Zatanna.
"Queen it is, here's the key, and that'll be one hundred and twenty dollars," the woman said, finally looking at them.
Pulling the money out of her pocket, Zatanna paid for the room and took the key, checking what room number they were in. Exiting the reception, Zatanna shivered in the cold as both her and Artemis looked around trying to find the room.
Finding the room right at the very end, Zatanna put the key into the lock and turned it. Entering the room, she kicked her shoes off and sat down on the end of the bed. Patting the spot next to her as she looked at Artemis, she smiled softly when she sat down next to her.
Taking a deep breath in, Zatanna turned to face Artemis. Slowly exhaling, she looked into Artemis's grey eyes and felt like she should finally be honest with her feelings.
"I know you probably don't want to hear this but I need to say something. I know you don't believe in fortune tellers but Madam Gotham did get one thing right. I've been debating over the last couple of weeks on whether or not to tell you but I think I need to now. I'm in love with you and I want to be with you but it's totally okay if you don't feel the same way," Zatanna said, getting right to the point before she chickened out.
Gently cupping Zatanna's face, Artemis caressed her cheek with her thumb as she looked into Zatanna's blue eyes, searching them for the right words to say. Unable to find what she wanted to say, she slowly leaned in and brushed her lips against Zatanna's, kissing her tenderly.
Slowly breaking their kiss, Artemis rested her forehead against Zatanna's and smiled. "When Madam Gotham said those words to me I was hoping it was going to be you. I love you too, Zatanna."
Getting up from the bed, Zatanna took her jacket and scarf off and yawned. It was getting late and she was tired. In the taxi, she had agreed to meet up with Red Hood and Spoiler to tell them more specific details and she didn't want to be half asleep for that. Climbing into bed, she watched as Artemis stripped down to her shirt and underwear and got in next to her. Cuddling into Artemis's side, Zatanna placed a gentle kiss on her collarbone and closed her eyes, falling asleep with a small smile on her face.