Zatanna
The Warehouse

-Pain. Nothing but pain. Screaming against the gag. Power draining.
-Bruce talking. Another voice. Who?
-A hand holding her face. Unfamiliar eyes. Black eyes. Eyes filled with anger. Speaking in a soothing voice.

Her mind came in and out of darkness. She was bleeding to death now, her blood running down her legs, soaking her shoes. A wave of gratitude rushed over her, and she waited for the end to come. Teetering on the edge of passing out, she saw the unfamiliar eyes return to face her. A glow was coming from his hand and he reached down to her stomach.

No. Please no. Let me go.

She could feel the wound starting to heal as she groaned and shook her head back and forth. It was slow and painful...nothing like her magic.

"The pain is necessary, I'm afraid. It's too soon for you to die." Just another kind of torture.

You're no different.

His hand suddenly dropped and he turned to look toward the ceiling, her stomach only partially healed. A blue streak crossed her vision and the man was gone. She looked to Bruce, whose eyes were suddenly wide and looking at her, before another streak...green this time...caused him to vanish. She looked around the room into the darkness, but her vision was starting to fade again. As her head dropped to her chest, she felt herself moving faster than light.

"I've got ya, Zee. Just hold on." Wally's voice was in her ear, and the next moment, she was in Bruce's arms on a roof. He pulled at the gag until it released from her mouth. She writhed and screamed, finally able to release the sound that had been choking her since the torture began. Bruce worked the bindings from her hands, so she could hold her half-healed stomach. Her hearing was gone again, the booming of her heart once more drowning out the surroundings. She looked at Bruce's face: bloodied and broken. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear the words.

Hurt. He's hurt.

She raised a shaking hand to his face and rasped the words out from her dry throat.

"Laeh….mih." The light engulfed him as she screamed. She felt the power as if it were ripping through her neck. And then, just as quickly, it was gone.

Vision fading...pain fading...light...warmth

Bruce
Rooftop

He could feel the bones stitching together when the blinding light of her power engulfed him. She was screaming for a long moment before her voice suddenly cut off, the light faded, and his pain was gone. Zatanna was still in his arms, blood continuing to pour from her wounds.

No.

He lowered her to the ground and quickly saw that she wasn't breathing.

"Zatanna. Wake up. Heal yourself you goddamn fool!" She had healed him first and it had drained her of all she had left. He felt for a pulse - nothing. "Wally, do you know CPR?"

"I do." Diana was suddenly at his side and she knelt next to him and started pushing on Zatanna's chest and counting. "28...29...30." She paused to let Bruce give her breaths. He could taste the blood in her mouth. "1...2...3...4..." His mind wasn't focusing.

Why did she heal me first?

"Bruce, breaths!" Diana's voice barked at him. He breathed into her mouth again. "Breathe, sister. 1...2...3..."

Zatanna's body suddenly jerked under Diana's compressions. Bruce turned her face and put his mouth back to hers, feeling her weak breath.

"Heal. Zatanna, you have to heal. Zatanna!" Her eyes fluttered open a moment and she let out a small groan. "Heal!" The silence stretched on for what felt like forever when he finally heard her trying to choke out a word.

Say it!

"L...la..." she paused and took a deep breath. "LAEH EM" her piercing scream rang across the rooftops and a blinding light threw Bruce onto his back. He looked toward Zatanna, her body two feet off the roof, light bursting like sun beams through every wound. Diana and Wally were shielding their eyes from the glow and he could feel the heat radiating from the spell as it tried to save her.

It's taking too long. It shouldn't be taking this long.

Her body suddenly dropped back to the roof, the light blinking out like someone had flipped a switch. He moved back to her side; the wounds were healing, but slowly. Her face was pale and her breathing was shallow.

"Zee?" He grabbed her hand and pulled it to his chest. "Can you hear me?" Her hand started to shake in his. "Zatanna." The shaking moved to the rest of her body, increasing until she was convulsing on the roof.

"She's seizing. We need to get her to the Watchtower," Diana grabbed Bruce's shoulder and pulled him away. "Wally, take her."

Wally gently lifted her before disappearing.

"I have to go, too," Bruce said, trying to remember in which direction he needed to go to get to his plane.

"No. Dr. Light can care for Zatanna. We have to help Superman," Diana's voice was firm as she pulled him in the wrong direction.

"I can't...Di..." His mind suddenly cleared as he heard the sound of crashing in the woods and a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky. He looked to Diana's face and nodded - there was still work to do. She ran and leaped from the roof. He glided down into the warehouse and found his grappling gun on the floor where he had landed when Winters took him down. Returning to the roof, he headed toward the sound of the fight. When he arrived in the newly-created clearing, he saw Clark holding the creature while Diana tried to lasso Black Adam. Another bolt of lightning shot down, blasting Clark back. Batman shot his grappling gun toward the creature's claw and braced it to a nearby tree, but with no effort, it ripped the tree from the roots and stalked toward Clark.

He tried to think of something else, but the creature suddenly shot forward and landed on Clark's shoulders as he tried to stand. Bruce heard him scream as his neck was pierced and the claws ripped into him.

It can pierce Superman's neck.

Not able to think of anything else, he decided to bum rush the creature and try to break its grasp. Just as he was about to make contact, a green hammer came down and crushed the beast's back leg. Green Lantern grabbed it by the broken leg and threw it clear of Superman as it let out a shriek.

"Diana! Superman's hurt! We need to retreat and regroup!" John yelled over the sound of crashing lightning. Diana blocked another bolt with her shield before turning and joining them on the other side of the clearing.

"Don't think this is the end, Justice League! This has changed nothing. Nothing you can do will stop this." Black Adam yelled from the sky. Bruce didn't like retreating, but they were at a disadvantage with Superman injured.

"Batman, we have to get Clark help." Diana was holding his head as he groaned. He nodded and looked to Green Lantern.

"Get us out of here." A green orb surrounded them and they were slowly lifted off the ground. John carried them to Wayne Manor and the nearest Zeta tube.

Zatanna
The Watchtower

Death was so close. She could feel it as it wrapped its warm arms around her and soothed her pain.

Peaceful. So peaceful.

Just as she was settling into the warm comfort of of death's embrace, she was violently ripped back out. The pain returned and she could hear Bruce yelling at her. "Heal."

I don't want to heal. I want to die.

"HEAL!"

She took a deep breath and screamed the words out, regretting it instantly. The pain was unimaginable, ripping through every bit of pierced skin like white hot fire. It was all she felt...everything she knew. And then, it stopped. She felt herself drop to the roof and the roof start to shake.

An earthquake? Now?

Diana's voice yelled at Wally and she was moving again as the shaking continued. She closed her eyes as she shook, her muscles feeling weak. Her mind faded in and out, but she became aware that she was in a medical ward. There were voices, but she couldn't focus on what they were saying; the shaking was drowning everything out. Her stomach lurched and she turned her head to throw up bright red blood. Someone pinched her arm and the lights of the room started to fade. She hoped it was death again, coming back to welcome her and reunite her with her parents.

Batman
Batcave

When they arrived at the Batcave, they took turns transporting to the Watchtower. Clark went first, already recovering from the attack, followed by Diana, and then John. Bruce stayed to give Alfred a quick rundown of what had happened. Alfred had been the one who got the League into the right area, sending them his coordinates after communications cut off. He tried to convince Bruce to stay and change into a suit that wasn't ruined, but he needed to get to the Tower. To Zatanna. They hadn't received an update on her condition.

She has to be okay.

He stepped into the Zeta tube and walked into the monitoring room. Kate looked at him and let out a sigh of relief when he entered.

"Thank God you're okay," she said, before turning back to the computer. He heard voices down the hall and walked toward them.

"We're doing our best to track Adam. He took the crates and..."

"Where is she?" Bruce's voice cut Diana's off.

"The med bay," she responded. He pushed past her and J'onn and half-ran down the hall and into the medical suite. Zatanna was lying on her side in one of the beds, oxygen tubing in her nose and an IV in her arm. She looked pale and fragile as he walked toward her.

"Don't you dare wake her," Dr. Light spoke from across the room, where she was tending to Clark. "I gave her enough lorazepam to down a rhino to stop that seizure. She needs rest."

"I won't," he said, pulling a chair over to sit beside the bed. Grabbing her hand and pulling it to his chest, he leaned toward her face to hear her breathing. It was slow and steady. "Not dead," he whispered in her ear.

Clark came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Bruce asked, still holding Zatanna's hand.

"I will be. It drained a little power from me, but nothing I can't recover from. Everything else is healing quickly." Bruce sighed and nodded, still watching the slow and steady breathing. "We know the enemy now," Clark said, pulling his hand back and moving toward the door. "We'll need Shazam back on this...and anyone else we can get. I'll contact Arthur and have Kate call in all of the reserves."

"Thanks, Superman. We have the upper hand now. Let's keep it that way."

Once Clark left the room, Dr. Light came over to check the fluid bag running into Zatanna's arm.

"She's cold."

"Yeah, you would be too if you had about a third of the blood you were supposed to. She's also still in shock."

"Can't you give her blood?" He asked, not liking the color of her skin or the feel of her icy hand in his.

"Maybe. It's not something I want to try unless I have to. In case you hadn't noticed she's not a regular human." I noticed. "Unless her oxygen requirements go up, I want her to recover on her own rather than giving her a transfusion that isn't from another magi."

He gave a quick nod. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, the food in the cafeteria here could use an upgrade. All this technology and you can't make decent food?" Dr. Light walked out of the room and left them alone. Bruce let his head fall to the side rail of the bed and he took his free hand to run it through her hair. It caught in the blood that was caked to it and he felt the anger flare in his gut. Taking a breath to calm himself, he leaned back in the chair and held her hand. He was exhausted and his mind quickly faded into sleep.

Black Adam

He'd been a fool. If you put your trust in the wrong people, you will pay. He was paying dearly now. Zatanna was out of his grasp and the Justice League would be coming for him in full force. The beasts would help, but he had planned for them to have the witch's power running through their veins before they moved against the people. Now, he was left with one beast half-fed and six who hadn't fed on anything in weeks. If this plan was going to work, they needed to be released on the world as soon as possible.

Dax was a mistake. He knew he was arrogant...he could deal with arrogant. His inability to control his sadistic tendencies was not something he anticipated. He expected a neurosurgeon to be able to control himself. Adam had promised him ample opportunity to torture when the plan was put in motion, but he couldn't even contain himself for that long.

Pathetic!

This would be the end of his reliance on the weakness of men. It was time to take full control.

Bruce
Watchtower

The sound of the door opening woke him. He looked down to see Zatanna still sleeping, her hand still in his. Rubbing his eyes, he looked to the door. Dick was standing halfway in, holding the doorknob as he watched them. Bruce leaned his head back against the chair and yawned.

"Come in."

Dick closed the door behind him and held his hands up briefly to indicate he wasn't there to fight. He pulled a chair up to the end of the bed and leaned back, looking at Zatanna as she slept.

"Will she be okay?" He asked after a long stretch of silence.

"Physically, yes."

Dick's eyes went from her face to their hands. Bruce instinctively squeezed it tighter.

"She told me, you know. You didn't, but she did." His voice was still quiet and calm, despite the topic.

Rubbing a hand against his forehead, Bruce looked at him. "I'm sorry. I should have."

"She also told me it was over. Is it over?"

He shook his head and leaned forward to brush his thumb against Zee's cheek. "No."

They sat silently for a long time before Dick spoke again.

"She deserves better."

Bruce turned his eyes slightly to look at him before returning them to her face.

"Than either of us," he said, still caressing her cheek.

"Yes." Dick finally stood up and walked to the door. "When you go after Black Adam I'll be there."

"Thank you, son."

Diana entered as Dick left and took the same seat at the foot of the bed.

"We need to work on a plan, Bruce," she said. "We can't let Adam regroup."

"Did we track him?"

"Yes. He went back to the bunker with the rest of the creatures."

"How many?"

"Seven. He released them from the crates before they left. They can fly, apparently," Diana said, looking at Bruce's hand holding Zatanna's. "She'll be okay, you know. She's too stubborn to do anything else."

He smiled slightly at her. "I know."

"We need you in the meeting room." She stood and left the room.

Leaning forward, Bruce kissed Zee lightly on the temple before letting her hand go.

Not dead.

Zatanna
Watchtower

Still not dead.

She blinked as the light assaulted her eyes and turned her head to figure out where she was. It looked like the Watchtower med bay and the memory of being there as she shook returned to her. She was still shaking, but less violently...this time from being frigid. Dr. Light was across the room, reading a book and ignoring her.

"Doctor?" Her voice was weak and her throat was dry and sore.

"Ah, about time. I mean, I know I sedated you, but still..." She walked over and pulled her arm up, strapping a blood pressure cuff around it and shoving a thermometer under her tongue.

"Firfsty." Zatanna mumbled around the thermometer.

"Yeah, yeah. Just a second." She was holding her wrist and counting her pulse. "Okay, your blood pressure and temp suck, but I expected them to."

After releasing the cuff from her arm, she walked to the sink and filled a glass with water. Zatanna took it from her and gulped it down in seconds.

"Thanks. I'm cold." She was shivering so hard her muscles ached.

"You're in shock and you're anemic. It will be a while before you're warm. I'll bump the heat up in here. Let me get something first." Dr. Light walked out of the room. Zatanna tried to stand up to get more water, but her head spun around like a top, so she quickly sat back down.

The door opened again and she was hit by a familiar yellow blur.

"Hey, Zee! You're okay." Wally hugged her, knocking the glass from her hand.

"Not really. Cold and thirsty." Dr. Light walked over with another glass of water that she made short work of. Her throat was finally starting to feel less raw. "Thanks for coming and getting me."

"Okay, Wally. Do your thing. Get her warm," the doctor said, leaving the room and a confused Zee behind with him.

"Your thing?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, she wants me to try something. Okay..." He was suddenly blurry as he vibrated and put his arms back around her. A warmth started to surround her and she leaned her cheek against his chest. "Oh, sweet, it's working."

"It tickles," she said, still leaning against him.

"Want me to sing?"

"No."

"Whole Lotta Shaking Going On?" He asked, teasing her.

"Please don't."

"Shake Rattle and Roll? It's a classic."

"I've suffered enough."

"Oh, I've got it...Good Vibrations!"

She was laughing now, looking up at his goofy, blurry grin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that someone was standing in the doorway. Pulling her head away, she met his eyes. Bruce was staring wide-eyed at her, jaw tight and hand clinching the doorknob.

"Hey, Bruce," Wally said cheerfully, not reading the mood.

"Wally can you...why are you blurry?" Bruce asked, furrowing his brow at the weird scene.

"Oh, kinetic energy. I'm warming Zee's frozen ass right up."

"Uh, right. I need a moment with her." Bruce's eyes returned to hers and his breathing was ragged.

"Fine, but if Dr. Light gets pissed I'm telling her you made me leave. She scares me a little." Wally walked out of the room and pulled the door closed.

It only took Bruce two strides to reach her, pulling her into his arms and squeezing her body to his. He wasn't as warm as Wally had been, but the shivering still eased a bit as he held her. She had almost fallen asleep in his arms when he finally spoke.

"Why?" His voice was quiet and intense.

"What?" There were a lot of things she thought he might say, but she wasn't expecting an instant interrogation.

"Why? You healed me first. Why?" He pulled her head back and looked in her eyes. He was angry. She pushed his arms away and sat back on the bed.

"You were hurt."

"You were dying!" He spat the words out at her with a harsh voice. She could feel the tears coming in her eyes and tried to blink them back.

"I...I did what I was supposed to do. I saved you. You weren't supposed to die there." Her voice trailed off as the tears filled her vision. She could feel her head starting to pound again and laid back down on the bed, pulling a blanket up to her neck. He wanted a fight and she didn't have anything left in her.

"What does that mean?" He sat down in a chair near her head and leaned forward, rubbing his hand over his face. "What have you been keeping from me?"

She closed her eyes as the shivering returned; it made her muscles burn. "Can you go? I'm tired."

"No. Tell me."

Another day, another Batman interrogation.

"I didn't think I had enough power to heal both of us, so I healed you."

"Why? I wasn't dying." He wasn't yelling, but his voice was still harsh and it grated on her ears like a knife. Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to find something to say that would stop the questions and make him leave.

"I didn't know that. I made the logical choice in the moment. Isn't that what you want a League member to do?"

"How was that the logical choice?"

"Keeping you alive is more important. If you die, the League is lost. Gotham is lost. Your family...Kate, Tim, Alfred...all of them. They need you, Bruce. You can't die."

"So you think they means you can?" His voice was rising and it made her head pound even harder. Their last night together felt like a lifetime ago as he seethed at her.

"If it's a choice between us, yes," she said, opening her eyes to look at him. "If I die, nothing happens. The League goes on. Your family goes on. Everything goes on. A few months and no one gives a damn, but you..."

"You can't be that fucking blind!" He stood up and shoved the chair against the wall, making her jump. Clark and Diana were suddenly at the door, looking at Bruce like he'd lost his mind.

"Got a minute, Bruce?" Clark's voice was calm, as always, but his eyes were narrowed and intense. Diana walked to Zee and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Good to see you awake, sister. That was quite the nap." She had positioned herself to where she blocked Bruce from her vision - it calmed her and she forced herself to smile. She heard Clark and Bruce leave the room. "He's just worried and upset."

"I guess I missed the worried part. All he wants to do is yell at me anymore. Di, I wanna go home."

"That's not my call. I'll find Dr. Light and see what she thinks. Try to rest more." She leaned down and kissed her forehead, squeezing her hand before leaving the room.

Bruce
Watchtower

Clark led him back to the storeroom. He felt like a little kid who was about to be punished by an upset parent for misbehaving at the dinner table. When they entered, Clark leaned against the door to block his exit, crossing his arms and silently staring at him.

"I know. I'll apologize to her." Bruce said, looking at his feet. He knew he had reacted in the exact wrong way, but anger was easier...he was used to anger.

"Is that what you think she needs right now? You yelling at her while she's lying in a hospital bed?"

"No. I know it isn't." His exhaustion was overriding his better judgment. "I need to rest."

"I think that's a good idea. We'll work from here to come up with a plan. Arthur is ready with the troops when we need him. The bunker is being monitored nonstop, so if Black Adam tries to move, we'll know."

"Thanks. For everything. Zatanna would be dead right now if you hadn't found us," he held out his hand and Clark took it.

"That's what we do," he smiled and shook his hand, moving aside so Bruce could exit.

They walked back down the hall, where they met Diana at the door to the med bay.

"She okay? I lost my head a little."

"Yeah, she's just tired. She went home."

"What? You let her go home like that?" He was immediately angry again.

"Dr. Light did. She said she's fine and needs to sleep. She'll do that better in her own bed," Diana said, turning away from him and walking toward the meeting room. Clark followed close behind, leaving Bruce fuming in the hallway.

Yeah, she sleeps great at home.

He walked to the communications room, where Barb was relieving Kate.

"I'm going to rest," he mumbled, stepping toward the tube. Taking a deep breath, he typed in the code to override the security and stepped in.