Bruce
Watchtower

There wasn't much to go on from the trace evidence found on Maroni's body. Whoever had killed him was careful not to leave anything behind. The next step was interviewing the people in the small town of Tlacotán to see if anyone could give them information about strange activity in the area. After a lot of back and forth, it was decided that Jamie Reyes would go, accompanied by a member of the League who would monitor from a distance. There were others who could speak Spanish, but Jamie was the most fluent. He could also blend in; there was still concern that the area might be monitored by whoever led them there to start with. Clark quickly volunteered to be his backup, making Bruce feel better about the plan.

It would also give Superman a chance to go back to the shack and gather any remaining evidence that they had missed in their mad dash to get out. Bruce had been busy finding Maroni's associates in Gotham. The man that had given up his name was still in prison awaiting trial for at least a dozen charges. Gordon was happy to give Batman access if it landed them a bigger fish, but it ended up being a dead end; Maroni really hadn't told him anything other than where to pick up the shipment. From there, he moved on to other thugs around town. None seemed to have the faintest idea of what he was talking about when he questioned them. Despite his sloppy approach, he had kept the operation small and close to the vest, which made it even more likely that it was being run by someone with a large amount of infrastructure and money.

"I think I found the origin of the shipments!" Barb exclaimed from the Watchtower computers, sounding like she had won the lottery. "Egypt...near the Gulf of Aqaba. That's where the ship had docked last before it made the trek to Gotham."

"Is there a shipping manifest?" Bruce was trying to temper his expectations...sick of running into dead ends.

"Yep. It will take a little time to get it translated, but then maybe we can compare some of the information to that little diary."

"Great work, Barb. Send the translated text to the Batcave computer. I don't want to risk taking that diary through the Zeta tube."

She beamed back at him, clearly enjoying the victory. If they were lucky, they would have the results back by their next meeting, along with whatever Superman and Blue Beetle could dig up in Mexico. He walked to the monitors and connected to Jamie's communicator.

"Clark has your back. He will be watching you the whole time. Don't draw too much attention to yourself; if people get suspicious, back off and go again the next day. I'd rather it be clean than quick."

"Got it, Batman. I'll transfer data as I get it. Don't worry, people in small Mexican villages tend to be pretty laid back," he replied.

"Good. I'll be in touch," he said, switching to Clark's communicator. "Are you at the shack?"

"Close. I'll take pictures and gather everything I can. Don't worry. No one will see me. And by that, I mostly mean no one is here to see me. This place is one step shy of being a ghost town."

"That should make it easier for Jamie to gather info...and harder for anyone to hide," he said. It finally felt like they were forming a plan and he felt the hope rising in his gut. "Send me whatever you can get, no matter how small. Our roadblocks end here."

Ending the connection, he walked to the Zeta tube to return to the Batcave. Kate, Diana, and Barry were waiting to help Zatanna as she tried to gather more secrets from the diary. They wanted to see the mission through to the end; seeing that kind of horror up close had created a solidarity among them.

Zatanna
Batcave

She had convinced herself that nothing could be as bad as what she had seen the first time she had interacted with the diary (the bedroom flying episode didn't count as an interaction...more of an assault and battery). The same group would be there to surround her, plus Kate standing by with scanners to try to trace any energy that might still be connected to whoever had placed the hex. Zatanna knew that the scanners wouldn't work, but Bruce insisted that it was worth a try and arguing with him wasn't worth the extra energy. She would need every bit of energy she had if things went sideways this time. Putting the work-in-progress list of questionable magicians in her pocket, she transported herself to the Batcave 20 minutes early to draw her runes in peace.

If you consider working with a giant dinosaur watching you peaceful.

Adding a few extra runes for good measure, she felt confident that she would be as safe as she was the last time. The only problem was that she didn't have a clear target now. Tracking Maroni down had been simple, all things considered, but she was expecting a fight this time. The spell caster would have taken all measures possible to hide their identity.

"You sure about this?" Bruce asked her, pulling her away from the others before they dove in. He was wearing his Batsuit, but had taken his cowl off. His eyes searched hers.

"If I say yes will you believe me and not worry?"

"No."

"I'm as ready as I can be, Batman. Just be sure catch me if I try to make like a bird again," she said, trying to make him smile.

"Is that going to happen again?" He wasn't smiling.

"I hope not. Relax, please. We've got this." She quickly squeezed his hand and walked to the circle. The others followed close behind, taking the same places around her as they had the first time.

She summoned the book again, letting it float before her while the circle glowed. Taking a deep breath, she crossed her legs and sat down this time, placing her hands on her knees and closing her eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want to chat. Let's see where you've been. Wohs em ohw etorw ni uoy."

Nothing.

"Okay...let's try something else. Ohw dexeh uoy?"

"Am I missing something?" Barry whispered after another long stretch of nothing. Diana quickly shushed him.

"You can't just try to kill me and then clam up, you little shit. Llet em esohw cigam uoy dloh."

She carried on the same way for close to an hour, asking every backward question she could think of. The book simply floated there, seeming perfectly innocuous. Fed up, she finally stood and walked outside of the circle, pacing around it for a few minutes while she thought. An idea finally came to her mind and she stopped, looking to Batman.

"Can you still hear it whispering?"

"No," he said, pausing and thinking for a moment, "but I haven't touched it since the last time."

"What are you thinking, Sister?" Diana asked.

"Koob emoc ot em," she said, holding out her hand.

"Zatanna, no!" Bruce yelled and rushed toward her as the book landed harmlessly in her hand.

She held it up to him and shrugged.

"Guess the hex wore off."

"That was stupid, Zatanna! So stupid! If that thing had still be dangerous..." his voice was a booming rumble in the quiet of the cave.

She rolled her eyes and tossed the book to him while he was still talking. Walking back to the circle, she mumbled the spell to make the runes disappear. When she turned around to face him, he was glaring at her, clearly not thrilled with her impromptu test of a theory. Sensing the mood, the rest of the group moved away and started looking for other things to talk about. He stomped toward her and threw the book against the wall. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her up the stairs to a dark corner before turning to block her in.

"This isn't a goddamn game, Zatanna. What the hell were you thinking?" His voice was quieter, but the biting edge hadn't left.

"I was thinking it was safe. It was," she ripped her arm free, refusing to let him intimidate her.

"You acted on a hunch. One that could have killed you if it had been wrong."

"It was an educated guess. The book wasn't responding to my spells. It wasn't whispering to you. Based on the evidence, I deduced that it was safe...detective." She knew speaking his language would probably piss him off even more.

"You're applying scientific reasoning to something that's both unscientific and unreasonable."

"Oh, for fuck's sake. You think you've figured out magic by saying that it's impossible to understand. Do you think that makes any sense? What was the point of all your questions the other night if you were just going to ignore me? Or are you just yelling at me for the hell of it now?" She glared at him, sick of his self-righteous lecturing. When she tried to push him out of her way, he grabbed her shoulders and held her in place.

"Your life is not disposable, Zatanna," he said, voice suddenly low and intense.

Taken aback by his statement, she looked him in the eyes and was about to speak when Kate interrupted.

"Hey, when you two are done fighting, I could use a hand with something."

She took the opportunity to slip away from him and go back down the stairs. He was on her heels when they reached the desk, where Kate had placed the book and was leafing through, scanning the pages.

"This ink. It's bizarre. And the handwriting is uniform. Like...every-letter-exactly-the-same uniform."

"Printed?" Barry asked, leaning in to look at the pages.

"No...at least I don't think so. It almost looks like one of those auto-writing pens that famous people use to duplicate hundreds of signatures without their hands falling off. Fake, but not fake, you know?" Kate tried her best to explain what the scanners were telling her.

"So we're looking for someone with an auto pen that speaks Arabic, knows magic, and was working with Sal Maroni," Diana said, voicing the absurdity of it all.

"And the ink?" Bruce seemed intrigued by the peculiarities.

"It has some sort of mineral in it. I'll have to run some tests - see if I can figure out where it originated. This may be nothing, but..."

"Anything helps. If chasing down a mineral in some ink gets us turned in the right direction, we have to look into it. I'm on patrol tonight, but let me know if you find anything," Bruce said as he turned back to the rest of the group. "Thanks, everyone. It's something, at least."

He didn't look her way and Zatanna had the distinct impression he was talking to everyone but her. Rather than waiting around for another angry lecture, she quickly teleported home.

Bruce
Gotham City Streets

A lead...maybe. It was the best he could hope for in the grand scheme of things. He felt like he was being slowly led down a path, with the tiniest of bread crumbs to follow along the way. Dick was right; everything about it screamed "trap", but he didn't see any other way. If they didn't follow the clues they were being given, there would be nothing to follow at all.

Zatanna was another complication...she had left before he could talk to her again. Yelling at her probably didn't help, but her reckless disregard for her own safety infuriated him. He was beginning to wonder if she cared whether she lived or died. It was more than inexperience as a newer team member.

Was this something Dick knew about her?

He had warned him to keep her away, but she was too valuable to the investigation. Magic was going to be a vital part of solving the mystery, that much was clear; they would still be at square one if not for her. His challenge now would be to keep her from getting killed. The first step would probably be finding a happy medium between yelling at each other and fucking.

The bat signal lit up the sky over Gotham City PD, drawing his attention back to the present.

Duty calls.

The Buyer

He didn't know how it was possible for the stench to seep through the confines of the crates, but as another waft hit him, he was certain that nothing had ever smelled so foul. Not even Maroni's shack had reeked as strongly. It would be a welcome change to have them off of his hands.

Preparing for the witch was the next step. She was vital to the success of everything they had been working toward; that she was with the Justice League was simply the icing on the cake. One less weapon for them, one more tool for him. Her power was not to be underestimated, though. Taking her on face-to-face was not possible. It was time to call his ally to bait the trap once more.

Leaving the stench-filled room, he couldn't help but smile. Everything is falling into place.

Zatanna
Shadowcrest

It took her days to realize...to draw the connection. She had been trying so hard to forget her nightmares that she completely missed the moment that one became a reality.

In the Batcave. Bruce's hands pulling her clothes off. Entering her with a moan. Water from the shower running over their bodies.

Sitting in the library and thinking about their last time together, she dropped the book she was looking through and fell to her knees when the realization hit her.

Not a dream. None were dreams.

She had experienced premonitions before, but nothing this accurate. Nothing that ended up playing out exactly as she had foreseen. She wasn't Madam Xanadu – reaching out into the future and past every day. Her magic had never worked that way before. Fear gripped her body as she remembered the other scenes: bound, gagged, in pain, screaming. Premonitions. Panicking, she ran to her phone and started to scroll through names, unsure of who to call. Bruce wouldn't believe her and she was still pissed at him, anyway. Constantine was only good at getting people killed. She had no idea how to reach Xanadu. Coming to Diana's name, she hit the icon to dial.

"Hello?"

She stayed silent, another memory trying to creep into her mind.

"Zatanna? Sister, are you there?" She was starting to sound worried.

"Oh, sorry...butt dial," she lied quickly before hanging up the phone. The memory that was trying to surface suddenly came into focus: premonitions were never to be acted on. It was the hell of being an involuntary seer of the future; if she tried to prevent what she saw, she could make it worse...much worse. If Diana or Bruce knew, they would try to find a way to stop it, meaning there was no way she could let them know. The memory of the pain and fear rattled through her head over and over...waiting for her sometime in the future. Tomorrow. Next week. 20 years from now. She wondered how the experience awaiting her could possibly get worse and shuddered at the thought. Anger and frustration boiling over, she threw her phone against the fireplace and screamed. She was sick of being afraid all the time.

I'm too fucking powerful for this.

Walking back over to the table with her list of names and notes, she started going through them to find the most likely suspects. She couldn't stop what was going to happen to her, but maybe she could help find whoever hexed that damn book. The list was a who's who of magical assholes - people who abused the power they had been given and twisted it to meet their desires.

Madame Zodiac – thus far low-level in her criminal dealings, preferring to manipulate from afar. Basically Madame Xanadu, but a jerk.

Black Alice – unstable, works on both sides...whichever benefits her most. Steals the magic of others, could mystically masquerade as anyone, given the right circumstances.

Felix Faust – very powerful and always seeking more. Skilled and dangerous. The hex didn't feel like his energy.

Klarion the Witch Boy – obnoxious little shit with an obnoxious little cat. Dealt with frequently during time with Titans. Highly unlikely; beyond his capabilities.

Circe – she was never one to bother with beating around the bush. If she wanted to kill me...and everyone else...she would.

Allura – could still be holding a grudge after fighting with her father. Still imprisoned. Would likely much rather fight me directly, anyway.

The list went on and on in the same way. The magic used to place the hex did not feel familiar, so she felt that she could safely eliminate those such as Faust and Klarion that she had encountered before. Everyone else was a possibility, but none seemed to jump out at her. They usually worked alone and wouldn't waste time on someone like Maroni just to prove a point. There was always a chance that someone had turned evil along the way, escaping her father's notice. She tossed her list next to her busted phone on the floor.

"Just as useless as everything else you've done so far," she spat the words out at the walls. They didn't respond.

Needing to be anywhere else, she repaired her phone, grabbed her jacket, and headed out into the cool, damp air of the afternoon.