Batman
Gotham City

Throwing himself into work was the only way he knew to take his mind off of things. He took over all patrols, limiting the rest of the team to monitoring duty, despite their protests.

"What is going on with you? You do realize we want to patrol, right?" Kate had made her feelings very well known, as had Tim.

"Nothing's going on. This is my job and I'm going to do it. If I need you, I'll let you know."

"This isn't fair. You can't just start treating us like your employees."

"Leave it alone, Kate. Focus on something else."

Zatanna had disappeared. She skipped the next two meetings and training days without a word. He'd just shrugged and lied that she was out of town when the rest of the League asked about her. Every time he picked up his phone to call or text, he realized he had no idea how to fix things between them. He wanted her to trust him and she didn't...still...even after everything they had been through.

The streets of Gotham had mostly cleared of snow, which provided a slight uptick in crime. Gordon had called him in to follow ongoing cases, including the appearance of a possible new serial killer. They had begun to develop an M.O. that leaned toward a white male in his late 30s, possibly with a background in law enforcement or the armed forces. Whoever it was was careful and thorough. He kept his victims, all young women in their early 20s, alive for several days before killing them...kidnapped, raped, tortured, bludgeoned to death. His body count was up to four and Batman did not intend to let it rise any higher. Arriving at Gotham City Police Department, he went to the morgue and scanned for evidence on the latest victim.

"Michelle Bowman, victim number four. Student at Gotham U, taken on campus walking back to her dorm from the library at 9:30 on a Wednesday night. Held for three days before being bludgeoned. No prints or trace evidence found at the scene. What do your scanners show?" Gordon stood in the corner and read from the case file as Batman circled the corpse.

"Nothing to identify the killer directly, but did you notice these marks on her arms?"

"Yeah, the coroner mentioned them in his report. Wasn't sure if they were intentional or incidental," Gordon said, still looking at the paperwork.

"Pictures of the other victims?"

"I'll send them to your database, along with other evidence files. I appreciate your help on this, Batman. Victim four was definitely the tipping point. We know we have a serial killer on our hands now."

"I'll review everything after patrol and let you know what I find."

He left the department and finished his patrol. Rather than sleeping, he sat down at the computer monitors and started to look through the files and photographs collected from the previous three victims. The process was exactly the same on each. Three days of rape and torture, followed by blunt-force trauma to the head and disposal in a landfill. Cruel and dismissive. He set the computer to scan through the database of murders across the country, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. Most of his sleep came in the Batcave recently. Bed just felt lonely. As the computer worked, he let himself slip off to sleep.

Zatanna
San Francisco

The shows were already running together. She felt like a robot moving from city to city, researching on her days off and recruiting who she could. They had assembled quite the odd mixture of magicians. Effron, Zachary Zor, and the wild card of June Moon/The Enchantress. None of them really wanted to work with Zatanna, and even fewer wanted to work with Constantine. Still, they knew their options were limited. San Francisco presented a familiar challenge. She had fought Eldon Peck, aka Brother Night, before and defeated him. It was unlikely he would have forgotten his promise to make her suffer.

Once the show was wrapped, he came back stage...just like the others...expecting to either catch her off guard or parlay in a neutral space. Just like the others, he was bound and gagged and recruited. He swore his allegiance before swearing again to make her suffer once her mission was complete.

"I've defeated you before, I'll do it again. Help me fix magic and you'll get your chance to find out," she said as he left.

They were down to one more planned recruitment and it was the most important...and likely to be the most difficult. No magic show would be required, because they simply needed to track down the sorceress known as Tsaritsa, The Queen of Fables. She had a history with the Justice League, having been obsessed with and fought several members...which would make Zatanna a less-than-ideal option for recruiting purposes. Zee hoped that she would lean more toward obsession this time and that she could leverage that to her advantage; that her magic would be a temptation rather than a threat, or that she would hope that she could get close to the other members again through her.

Tsaritsa's unique advantage came in being from another dimension herself, though she hadn't come willingly. Decades had passed since she had been exiled to their Earth, but any experience with inter-dimensional travel was better than none.

"Good news, love. She's agreed to meet with you," Constantine had actually gotten up by 9:00 and was borderline sober. It made her feel uneasy...as if he were preparing for a difficult task for the day that he wasn't telling her about. "She lives in Los Angeles doing some kind of Hollywood nonsense. We need to be there at 2:00."

"Anything I need to know?"

"Just that she's a bloody headcase. She thought Wonder Woman was her daughter and fell in love with Superman or something. That was a while back, but I'm hoping anything remotely tied to them will be too tempting to pass up." He lit a cigarette and drank from his tea cup as she chugged her second cup of coffee. Sleep was difficult right now, so she was running on meditation and caffeine. It did feel good to be back in San Francisco, though, and she decided to stay a little longer until they were ready to travel. For that, she wanted to have the magic and protection of Shadowcrest.

"I'll meet you at 1:30. I want to take a walk through the city," Zatanna said, standing and placing a tip on the table.

"Can I come?"

"You hate taking walks. I don't want to listen to your bitching the whole time."

Constantine laughed and stood.

"I'll promise to be completely non-bitchy the whole time. I'll even put the cigarette out." He tossed the half-smoked cigarette on the ground and stomped it.

"Fine," Zee sighed, "but if you complain, I'll send you to Alcatraz."

"Deal."

They walked for several hours, visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts before stopping at her favorite deli to eat. Constantine had tried to keep conversation going, but her mind just drifted back to her long list problems. They felt inescapable now. She had backed herself into a corner and had no plan of escape. Surprisingly, the most insane thing she was working on was the only thing keeping her sane. Planning for inter-dimensional travel was complex, and she spent large parts of the day studying and practicing for the day they actually moved.

"I've been thinking," John said as they looked out over the Bay. "We should scout things before we go in to battle the Darkness again. See if we can find more allies."

"More allies?"

"Yeah, there."

"There...as in the other dimension?"

"Right. But not the assholes this time. I think we should try to find you. That you...the you that's there. You get my drift," he rambled.

"What about you?" She asked, though the mere thought of dealing with two of him gave her a headache.

"Too unreliable. I'm not a homo magi, I just got good at magic on my own. I might be a fuckin' bus driver there. You'll be just as magi there as you are here, so you're a guarantee. So are the other magi. We track a few down and they'll help us once we're ready to fight."

"Isn't it dangerous to interact with yourself in another dimension?" They wouldn't be useful to anyone if they just went mad in the process of recruiting.

"Nah, it's not Back to the Future, love," he grinned at her. "And magi are used to weird shit, so they should be easy enough to recruit. The more firepower we have there, the better our chances are for getting things right this time."

"We're asking people to risk their lives to fight a monster we inflicted on them."

"Not sure I'd really view it that way. There or here or any other dimension, the Darkness is a threat. Save one, save them all. We just didn't get it right the first time. I didn't get it right." His voice was suddenly quiet as he continued to stare out over the water. "I never apologized, Zee."

"Because you didn't care. You still don't."

"That's not true," he said, finally turning to look at her. "Maybe it was at the time, but not now. I'm sorry. For getting your father killed and for being dishonest with you."

She shook her head and watched a ferry as it made its way across the glassy Bay.

"You left me there. Burned and screaming and crying with my father's dead body."

"Because I'm a fuckin' bastard and I only cared about the victory. And we didn't even get that. Zatanna..." He put his hand on her cheek and turned her to face him. The look on his face seemed genuine as he leaned his head down to kiss her. His lips were warm and soft as he put his arm around her waist, but nothing about it felt right. She pushed his shoulders back and turned her head away.

"Don't, John." His arm stayed around her, other hand resting on her neck as he pressed his forehead against the side of her head.

"Why not? You know I'm still mad about you, Zee," he whispered into her ear. She grabbed his wrists and pushed him away, looking in his eyes.

"Because I'm in love with someone else."

"Someone who loves you so much he left you crying in a dressing room..." She turned and walked away, swatting his hand when he tried to stop her. "Hey, stop. Shit...I just meant..."

"What? That I only attract men who leave me crying on a goddamn floor somewhere? Guess I have a type, huh?"

He grabbed her arm and spun her around, kissing her hard as he wrapped his arms around her back and lifted her onto her toes. It was several seconds before he finally pulled his mouth away and let her catch her breath.

"I'm fuckin' sorry, alright? For all of it. For what I did and for being a bastard to you. I can't take it back and I'll never be able to make it right. That's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my miserable life."

"Let me go, John." He reluctantly loosened his arms enough for her to push him away. She took a step back and looked at him. "Don't do that again."

Swallowing hard, he nodded and turned back toward the water.

"I won't. We should go and do the job." He pulled a cigarette out and lit it. "Transport us."

Bruce
Batcave

He could hear typing when he started to wake from his uncomfortable nap. Looking back to the computer, he saw Selina sitting and going through his files on the murders.

"Selina. What are you doing here?"

"How did you find out about these?"

Rubbing his face to try to clear his grogginess, he stood and walked back to the desk.

"Gordon. Why?"

She scrolled through several pictures before landing on one of the second victim.

"This girl. Beth Harris. I know her sister. I've been trying to help her find out what happened. That's why I came by a few weeks ago.

"You should have told me that a few weeks ago. What do you know?" He pulled his chair over to sit next to her as she continued to scroll through the case files.

"Sweet girl, no enemies, never hurt a fly. No angry exes or family issues. She was a good one, Bruce."

"From what I've gathered so far, that fits with all of the victims. Random aside from their age and general appearance." His watch started to buzz on his wrist; he'd slept longer than he realized. "I have to get to work."

"Let me help you on this," she said, following him as he walked to get suited up.

"No. You're not a detective, you're a criminal."

"Fuck off. I'm working on this, with or without you." She walked back toward the stairs.

"Do what you want. If you find anything, let me know. Don't get in the way of the police or I'll intervene."

Without speaking, she walked up and out of the Batcave as he started to get dressed.

Constantine
Hollywood

Shitty fuckin' town.

Constantine led Zatanna to a group of office buildings on Sunset Boulevard. He decided they should approach this one together since he hadn't had any dealings with Tsaritsa and he didn't want to send Zee in alone. They walked in silence, despite the fact that he could still taste her on his tongue. It wouldn't be the last time he tried, but he had hoped for a better response to his most recent efforts. He'd wear her down eventually, he decided. She just needed to get over the big bloke who was dumb enough to leave her alone with him.

"This is it," he said as they approached Suite #205 in the Sunset Building. Zee entered and gave her name to the receptionist before coming back to sit down beside him in the waiting area. "You ready?"

She nodded silently as she stared at the floor.

"Ms. Tsaritsa will see you now," the receptionist said as she opened a side door that led into a large office. They walked in behind her, sitting down in front of a wood desk covered with papers and head shots.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Zatara?" Tsaritsa turned to face them as they sat. She wore gaudy clothing, too much makeup, and perfume that filled the room to the point that it turned John's stomach. "I wasn't aware that you would be bringing a guest."

"This is John Constantine, an associate of mine." Rather formal there, Zee. "We've come to ask for your help."

"A member of the Justice League asking for my help without the rest of the Justice League? I must say, I'm intrigued, if not a little disappointed that you brought this one instead of one of your usual teammates." Rather rude there, Tsaritsa.

"This particular problem needs a unique set of skills. Skills that you have and John here has."

"Magic," Tsaritsa said, catching on quickly. "I've felt the shift."

"Do you know where it's coming from?" Constantine asked, sick of being the silent one in the room.

"You already know, don't you? That's why you're here trying to get me to help. Because I came from another dimension."

"Yes," Zatanna said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the desk. "I know you don't have a great history with the Justice League, but we don't have a lot of options. If we're going to stop this, we need help from people who know magic."

Tsaritsa leaned back in her chair and studied Zatanna closely, narrowing her eyes with a small smile on her face.

"You know...you look a bit like Wonder Woman yourself," she said in a tone of voice that Constantine could only describe as "creep level ten". Unfazed, Zatanna continued to lean forward on the desk, keeping eye contact.

"Help me get to another dimension."

"Help us," John interjected, which earned him a sharp glance from Zee. Still staring at her, Tsaritsa raised an eyebrow.

"And what do I get in return?" She asked, still smiling and staring.

"You get to keep livin'." Another sharp look from Zee and he snapped his mouth shut.

"What are you looking for in return?"

Tsaritsa stood and walked to sit on the edge of the desk close to where Zatanna was sitting, crossing her legs as Zee leaned back in her chair.

"To be determined. Just a promise that you'll be as willing to help me when I come calling for a favor."

"Zee, I don't think..."

"Deal." Her words cut him off as she stood and held her hand out to shake Tsaritsa's. Another creepy smile and the deal was set. "We'll call as soon as we're ready. It should be soon. We just need to make a few preparations and notify our other allies. I'll summon you to my home in Gotham when it's time."

"Wonderful. I look forward to working with you, Ms. Zatara." And Mr. Constantine?

He stood as Zatanna did, keeping an eye on their new ally and thinking that maybe she wasn't the best choice for the mission.

"That's it, right?" Zatanna asked, as if she hadn't just sold her soul to the Queen of Fables without a second thought.

"I'm not sure we should call on that one, love. She seemed to have more than one ulterior motive going."

"Well, you'd be the expert on that subject, wouldn't you?" She glared at him as she spoke. "You want to use me? Fine, but don't be a shit about it when I do it by any means necessary. Let me work and stay the fuck out of my way."

"Alright, fine. Do it your way and see if I give a fuck what happens."

"Believe me, John, I know you won't. Annataz ot Nas Ocsicnarf."

Batman
Gotham City

"I'm following. Give me an ETA on intercept, Batgirl."

"Current rate of speed, you'll catch up with the first car in 84 seconds. The lead car is 10 seconds ahead of that. I'm pacing them with the drone."

"Good. Coming over the hill." He pushed the Batmobile faster as he approached the vehicle, readying the winch to latch onto the last car when it got into range. "I have a visual. Stay with the others once I take this one out."

Approaching the rear bumper of the car, he shot the winch and slammed on the brakes, bringing them both to a sudden halt. No one flew out of the windshield. Seat belts...smarter than the average thugs.

"The first car is stopped. Put me on the others."

"Uh...I don't need to," Barbara responded.

"What do you mean?"

"You got an assist from a friend. Just drive another mile ahead and you'll see. I'll have a squad car pick up your buddies in the car you stopped."

He released the winch and drove ahead. After a mile, he started to see pieces of other vehicles scattered along the road, with the occasional unconscious thug lying on the sidewalk. When he reached the end of the trail of destruction, he saw Wonder Woman standing and pulling the last thug out of the remains of the lead car. He stopped next to her and hopped out.

"Not that I mind the help, but I'm a little surprised to see you here, Wonder Woman."

She nodded and put her foot on the chest of the last idiot as he cowered on the pavement.

"Seriously, Batman? We have you and now we have to deal with Wonder Woman, too? Give me a break!" Diana's foot moved to his neck to stop the thug's whining.

"I needed to talk. Alone."

"About?"

"Does it look like we're alone?" She looked down at the squirming thug under her boot. A siren approaching in the distance drew their attention. Bruce leaned down and placed zip ties on his hands and feet. As the squad car topped the hill, they walked to the Batmobile and got in before speeding away into the night.

"You've made some upgrades since I last rode in here. It's nice."

"What did you need to talk about?"

"Bruce...what is Zatanna doing?" Her brow was furrowed and her voice had an edge of concern to it. He didn't want anyone to know he and Zee weren't getting along at the moment.

"She has some shows in other cities."

"So why was she seen coming out of Tsaritsa's office in Hollywood?"

Tsaritsa...shit.

"I don't know," he mumbled. If this was her idea of recruiting allies, she really had lost her damn mind.

"I don't think I need to remind you how crazy and dangerous she is, do I? Zee doesn't know what she's getting into. Now tell me what's going on."

"I told you, I don't know." He pulled off the road and looked at her. "She's working with someone else."

"The man she was seen with in LA. Who is he?"

"A magician named John Constantine. She knew him from a couple of years ago and he showed up to get her to help him." Zatanna may not have wanted the Justice League to know, but if Diana could help keep her out of trouble, she needed information.

"Can he be trusted?"

"No. But Zatanna's going to do..."

"What Zatanna wants to do," she finished. They both knew her well. "Are you two not talking?"

Bruce stared out of the windshield and thought a moment. Diana was as reliable a confidant as anyone, even though he didn't really want to talk about his relationship issues...ever.

"Not for a couple of weeks. I found out what she was doing. She didn't tell me."

"And you yelled at her." Guess she knows me well, too. "She's young, Bruce. She's going to make mistakes. But she loves you."

"I know," he said quietly, "but I need her to trust me."

She nodded and sat for a moment looking out into dark night.

"Would you have stopped her if she told you what she was doing?"

"I would have tried, yes."

"Then maybe you should think about helping her, instead. Might lead to more trust if she thinks you'll support her."

Another long stretch of silence surrounded the car.

"I hate it when you're right, you know," he finally said, getting a small smile from her.

"You must hate me a lot."

"I might need your help with this. Let me talk to her first."

"You'll have my help, as will she. Go easy on her, Bruce. Yelling isn't always the right approach."

He gave her a glare, but then grinned.

"Get out of my car. I need to work."

Diana quickly jumped from the car and waved as she flew up and out of sight.

No yelling. I can do that...I think.