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Batman 1939: Three's Company

Chapter 20: Storytelling

Sindella Zatara lost tonight. She was kicked out of her house; she was spurned by the only family she cared for; she almost lost her life. It was easy to cry over losing, but once she accepted the night was over, Sindella took the long view and realized what she had won: her freedom.

The rest of her family was gone. No more threats to toss her on a pyre to appease old superstitions. No more hiding in a tower like a fairy tale. A fresh start. She had nothing but time and power. The world was her oyster.

As for her misfortunes tonight? Shadowcrest would be standing tomorrow. And grudges didn't last forever.

Sindella's fantasized about her future as she idly enchanted a broken chair back together for her new prisoner, Lord Felix of Faust. She forced him into the chair, fused his bindings into its frame, and animated the chair legs to walk so it could follow her.

"This is undignified," said Faust.

"You could ride as a cockroach," said Sindella.

"I won't give you the satisfaction."

"Don't pretend you can keep your guard up forever."

Faust snarled and looked away.

Sindella erased the door she had made before and raised her hands again. "ROOD OT SEÉSYLÉ-SPMAHC!" Another door appeared.

Giovanni cleared his throat to get her attention. "I would avoid Paris this year."

Sindella looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"There's a new war on."

Sindella rolled her eyes. "Again?"

"Afraid so."

"How about Warsaw? Or Krakow?"

"This is not a good time to be in Poland."

Sindella sounded frustrated. "Then Bucharest."

"I would stay out of Europe."

"You're joking. How about Saigon?"

"Avoid Indochina."

"Hong Kong then."

"East Asia overall is not so welcoming."

"Then-"

"Or South Asia. Or North Africa."

"Are there any nations not at war?"

Giovanni tapped his mustache. "The Americas are peaceful."

"Fine. Buenos Aires."

"Except Argentina."

"Ugh." Sindella summoned another door. "ROOD OT ZURCAREV!" She looked at Giovanni. "Until next time."

Giovanni tipped his head politely.

Sindella looked at Zatanna. "And dear-" She hesitated.

Zatanna had mostly calmed down. She gave Sindella a guarded look.

Sindella bit her lip as she returned Zatanna's gaze. "Have fun."

Without waiting for a response, Sindella swept open her new door. It was night on the other side. A breeze wafted through with the starchy scent of fried food and the chatter of a street market. Sindella gestured for Faust's chair to walk through. Then she gave Catwoman a wink and followed, closing the door behind her. The door toppled and turned to sawdust.

Catwoman immediately turned on Giovanni. "Hey, where do you get off giving that witch advice? She wants to put us in a cage or on a slab."

Giovanni ran a hand through his hair and sat heavily on a crooked bench. "Are you married, miss?"

"No."

"Then perhaps this will sound sentimental to you, but I once vowed to care for my wife in sickness and in health, and I'm afraid she is very sick."

Catwoman was unconvinced. "Mm-hmm."

Giovanni raised his hands. "It also crossed my mind that if she runs into trouble tonight, then trouble is in grave danger. Best no innocent trouble crosses her path."

Zatanna sat. "So she's sick?"

Giovanni opened his mouth to speak, but his first words came out as a muffled sob. Giovanni stopped and chuckled. "I'm sorry." He pulled a handkerchief chain out of his breast pocket and dabbed at his eye. "Zatanna, I've-" His voice caught again.

She hugged him from the side. "It's okay."

"I've planned this talk for twenty years. Now I'm lost for words."

"We have all the time we need, dad."

Catwoman yawned. "Sooner would be better."

Zatanna glared at her. Catwoman shrugged.

Giovanni looked at Catwoman thoughtfully. "Catwoman, yes? Why did you suddenly try to upset Sindella? You seemed to treat her respectfully at first. That was a risky thing, aggravating her."

"Thank Batman. When he woke up, he told me she was evil."

"I didn't hear him say anything," said Zatanna.

Catwoman grinned. "He just had that look in his eyes."

Zatanna and Giovanni looked at Batman's white lenses in confusion.

Giovanni asked, "Excuse me, Batman, why did you say my wife is evil?"

Batman had no desire to join this conversation. Perhaps he felt shy at his near-paralysis, or perhaps he feared opening his mouth would offer another thread of his identity. But he couldn't refuse the man. He strained mightily to push himself into a more erect sitting position and looked at Giovanni. "I read your journals."

Giovanni accepted this with a hard expression. "Indeed."

"Wait," said Zatanna, "But you said you just read the bits with the tool notes."

"I lied," said Batman.

"You read all of it, didn't you?" She shook a finger. "You really are John. Gosh, I feel like the world's greatest detective."

Giovanni stood and took a knee next to him. "Are you John? The John we knew?"

Batman looked past him to Zatanna. "It doesn't matter."

"Dammit." Catwoman rubbed her eyes. "How?"

"How what?" asked Zatanna.

"It's never a coincidence with this guy. He planned this. But that means he knew wizards would burn the Lisbon. He knew I would ask him to help, even though we hadn't talked for a year. And somehow he knew the aforementioned wizards would snatch you and bring you to where I was bringing him. I want to know how the hell he knew all that."

"I d-"

"Actually, put a pin in how. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Zatanna more loudly.

Batman looked between them. "I said nothing because there's nothing under this mask worth knowing. John was a means to an end. It's better he stays a memory. "

"Easy for you to say!" shouted Zatanna. "I've been terrified all night! A friendly face would have been a relief."

Catwoman was annoyed. "Batman, didn't it occur to that jumbo brain that your shared history with this girl might relate to one of the magical mysteries we've run into tonight? Might've been nice to know."

"If we had found a hint of that, I would have said something. It's a coincidence." Batman turned to Zatanna. "Zatanna, I'm sorry you were frightened. But it's better this way."

Zatanna folded her arms. "For who?"

"Zatanna," Giovanni gently chided.

"He should have told me."

"Zatanna, your friend was willing to lay down his life for you. Will you scold him for keeping a secret?"

Zatanna huffed and seemed to deflate. She looked aside at Batman. "So you did remember me?"

Batman nodded. "Since the start."

Giovanni patted Batman's shoulder and held Catwoman's hand. "Well, I'm sure we will respect the privacy of our saviors in any case. I can't thank either of you enough."

Catwoman yawned. "Then how about we hear your side of the story?"

Zatanna nodded. "We need to know."

Giovanni sat back down. "Very well. I've kept these secrets long enough. The Cehennems-"

"The Cehennems! Drat!" Zatanna sprung to her feet and turned around. Under a large bell jar on the other side of the room were Zachary and Abdiel in the forms of a pig and a snake. Their piggish and reptilian eyes watched her with the same irate expression.

"How much air do you think they have?" asked Catwoman.

"Drat," said Zatanna again. "I forgot to ask mom to change them back before she left. We have to get them out."

Giovanni gave the brothers a disapproving look. "Are you sure you want their company, Zatanna? They've been very cruel to you."

"We can't cage them like animals."

"Then allow me." Giovanni stood and tugged at his bowtie. His kindly demeanor hardened into a grim stare. He walked to the bell jar and looked down at Zachary and Abdiel.

"Boys, we haven't been formally introduced. I'm your uncle, Giovanni Zatara. Please remind me which of you is which?"

Abdiel cowered on the opposite side, peeking his head between his coils and hissing. Zachary snorted against the glass, scowling at Giovanni and stamping.

Giovanni seemed contemplative. "I never wished you boys harm. You're in this mess because you tried to bump me off, but as an olive branch I'm willing to call us even. We can reckon with what you did to my building later. After all, I can't bring animals before a judge, and your curse looks as miserable as prison already. However," He lowered his voice just above a whisper. "You also kidnapped my daughter. If she forgives you, I might eventually do the same. Until then, you are on very thin ice. Tonight, you listen to what I have to say. You'll need to decide whether there is enough mercy in this life for us to coexist. Now, will you behave if I let you out?"

Zachary and Abdiel looked at each other.

"Fine. We'll hear you out," said Abidel.

"And you are?"

"Abidel."

"And you, Zachary?"

Zachary snorted. "Fine."

Giovanni stretched his wrists. "Don't disappoint me." He crouched and clutched the textured rim of the jar. With a heave, he tipped it two feet off the floor. The pig and snake hurried under the gap. Giovanni dropped the jar with a groan and held his spine.

While Giovanni winced, Abdiel rose behind him and bared his teeth.

Catwoman called over, "Hey, snake meat."

Abdiel and Zachary spun to see Catwoman unsheath the claws of her free hand. "Just give me an excuse."

Abdiel bumped Zachary and shook his pig head. They moved back.

Zatanna muttered to Catwoman, "Do people eat snake?"

Catwoman nodded. "More places than you'd think."

Giovanni recovered from his back pain and ushered Zachary and Abdiel over to the group where they stopped on a patch of floor beyond anyone's reach. The cousins were frightened of Catwoman, and they were even more deeply unsettled by Batman's unrelenting glare.

Zatanna tried to break the tension. "Are you two okay?"

"I miss magic," said Zachary.

"I miss hands," said Abdiel.

"Hands were nice."

Zatanna nodded awkwardly. "Does the spell wear off?"

They both answered glumly, "No."

Catwoman yawned. "Can we get to the story?"

Giovanni looked around the group. "We are all victims of a prophecy. The year was 1918. Sindella and I were deeply in love. Zatanna, you were just a year old. I wish you could see your mother as I knew her then: kind and warm and patient and brave." He smiled at a memory, then his smile fell. "Her family ended that happiness. One of its elders-"

"Great-uncle Ekrim," said Zachary. "The first you killed."

Giovanni sighed. "Yes, and let me tell you why. Ekrim was the family prophet. Many of them believed he received warnings of the future. One day he visited us to share a new prophecy. He believed that Sindella would destroy the family." Giovanni looked down. "He was going to recommend that the family destroy her first. He wanted her to come quietly."

"So you bushwhacked him," said Catwoman.

"Not yet. Prophecies are never simple. Sindella tried to argue with Ekrim over his interpretation."

"What was the prophecy?" asked Zatanna.

Giovanni lifted his voice and declared, "The House of Cehennem will be ruined by their own, mighty in magic with fury unceasing, to protect the solstice child."

The others looked at him blankly. Giovanni smiled bitterly. "It fit so well. Sindella was a prodigy; they all respected her power. More than that, she was a passionate woman. When her patience ran out, then out came her temper. And Zatanna, you were born on the solstice, the only solstice child in the family. Ekrim believed that some day a conflict would pit your mother against the rest of the family, a conflict over you, and this conflict would be the end of them."

"And they believed him?" said Zatanna. "Without any evidence?"

"He hadn't told them yet. But yes, they would believe him. Or enough would. His gift was held in great esteem. And most of them shared his logic for such things."

"Why tell you first?" asked Catwoman. "Seems risky to deliver a death sentence without backup."

"He believed prophecies could be avoided if you," Giovanni hesitated. "If you eliminate the subject. But you had to be very careful. Ekrim wasn't stupid or cruel; he had to collar the tiger of fate without waking it. He hoped that if he went alone and appealed to Sindella's sense of duty, he might avoid her fury. If he told anyone else, they might take matters into their own hands."

"This is unbelievable," said Zatanna. "Couldn't she just promise not to hurt anyone?"

"She did."

"Huh?"

"Ekrim wouldn't simply take her word for it, but she made just that sort of deal. She found a magic spell that would keep her on her best behavior forever."

"You mean a lobotomy?" asked Catwoman, disgusted by the idea.

Giovanni shrugged sadly. "The spell wouldn't harm her intellect. She would simply face each day at her most serene and compassionate. I fought her tooth and nail. She was determined to try it. For Zatanna's sake."

"No offense," said Catwoman, "But are you saying the woman we met tonight was your wife at her nicest?"

"No. The spell backfired. It did the opposite."

"What does that mean?"

"Imagine the most desperate day of your life. Now ask yourself: what were you capable of? What lines were you willing to cross?

"So she's a monster."

"As much as anyone can be, I believe."

Zachary shook his snout. "This doesn't make any sense. She didn't ruin the family. You did."

Giovanni chuckled, growing louder and louder. He began to clap. "You are much smarter than you look."

"Thanks?"

"It took me years to realize that. Years! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ekrim supervised the spell. After it all went wrong, he decided she was doomed to fulfill the prophecy. He was about to kill Sindella. I struck first."

Catwoman asked, "How did Sindella end up in a locked room for twenty years?"

"Even with Ekrim's warm corpse at my feet, I had the clarity to realize Sindella wanted nothing more than to be your mother, Zatanna, and she would be an abominable parent." Giovanni's eyes started to shine with tears, but his voice stayed calm. "I didn't know if I could raise you alone, but I knew that I couldn't do worse than her. I'm so sorry, Zatanna."

Zatanna's eyes also shone with tears. She hugged her father tightly. "It's okay, dad. I think you made the right call."

"Magi have many tools to force slumber on their victims; even then I was familiar with a few. I had to be quick. If she had recovered from the spell, she would've killed me the first time I tried to keep you apart. Or forced me into a marriage worse than death."

Catwoman was skeptical. "And you guessed all the consequences of this wild spell backfiring in a few seconds?"

"That's right. I guessed. But I spoke with Sindella later, before I put her to sleep. As you saw tonight, it's not too difficult to make Sindella angry. And she's very honest when she's angry. Her intentions were as bad as I feared."

Abdiel hissed. "Did you consider that you were wrong from the start?"

Giovanni looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You shouldn't have interfered. You should have let Ekrim stop her."

Giovanni looked at him coldly. "Do you really mean that?"

"If Ekrim was the family prophet, then he was protecting us. It was his choice to make, and her duty to submit."

"Have you ever been in love, son?"

"No. I've been busy hiding from you."

Giovanni nodded. "Fair enough. Actually, I almost let him stop her. I almost let this bitter old man murder by wife for the sin of appearing in his dreams or in tea leaves or the stars or whatever stupid method he used. I was too terrified to do anything else. I suppose I've developed a dangerous reputation among the Cehennems, haven't I? But back then I was as convinced as anyone that a mundane attacking a mage was suicide. If Ekrim had kept his mouth shut, he would have gotten away with it."

"What did he say?" asked Zachary.

Giovanni squeezed Zatanna's hand. "He said he would take my daughter away."

"So?" said Zachary.

"Someone's got to teach her," said Abdiel.

Zatanna scowled.

"Well," said Giovanni, determined to ignore his nephews, "That set it all in motion. I told the family that Ekrim and Sindella had an argument, that he had killed her, so I killed him. Naturally, they wanted my head. And they wanted to take Zatanna. I couldn't let that happen. They tried again and again, year after year, and each time I stopped them. To be honest, I didn't expect to survive this long."

"That still doesn't answer the prophecy," said Zachary. "And prophecies are almost always right. Everyone knows that."

Giovanni smiled condescendingly. "Oh? Do tell."

"The prophecy said that the family would be ruined by a mighty family member trying to protect Zatanna. But you're the one who ruined our family."

"And?"

"You're not mighty in magic."

Batman, Zatanna, and Giovanni shared glances.

Giovanni lightly shook his head, "I did meet most of this family. They resented me, but I was invited to weddings and birthdays, and we would talk. Every single one felt as you do. Do you know what I do for a living, Zachary?"

"You're a stage performer."

"I'm a magician."

"He's a great magician," said Zatanna.

Zachary laughed. "But that's not real magic."

Giovanni shrugged. "I thought the same. But I've had nearly half my life to ponder this riddle, and I think fate has a more flexible definition of 'magic' than we do. Prophecy is a fickle art."

Zachary snorted. "Maybe."

"I do have a final theory. The prophecy may describe Ekrim himself. He believed he was protecting Zatanna, and he set me on the warpath. I guess we'll never know."

"Fascinating," yawned Catwoman, "Is the warpath over? Any more cousins crawling out of the woodwork to light the woodwork on fire?"

Giovanni looked keenly at Abdiel and Zachary. "I hope it's over. Before tonight, I thought it was."

"You did?" asked Zatanna.

"The rage didn't touch everyone at first. Ekrim was an unpleasant man; I doubt many mourned his loss. His kin fought, of course, and those who worshiped his gift, and a few who hated me on principle. There was no reasoning with them. But the more lives I took, the more branches of the family started looking for revenge. It was a vicious cycle."

"And none stood up for you?" asked Zatanna.

"Hm?"

"I mean, your story was that you avenged mom when she died in a fight with Ekrim. Didn't she have anyone close who admired you for that?"

"None willing to speak. Not after I made it clear I was keeping you."

Catwoman was thoughtful. "You spent twenty-odd years as a wizard hitman and didn't tell a soul. You could make some decent scratch in Gotham with talent like that."

"A hitman? No, no, not like that." Giovanni turned to Catwoman, then Zatanna, then the Cehennems. "Please, I shouldn't have sounded so cavalier. I'm not a violent man."

Catwoman was unconvinced. "Mm-hmm."

"They came for me, again and again. I wasn't on the offensive. I couldn't find them if I tried, not in the early days."

Abdiel and Zachary looked disgusted through this talk, which was not an easy expression for a snake or a pig. It required unorthodox stretching of little-used facial muscles, but they managed to make their feelings clear.

"How did you survive, exactly?" asked Abdiel.

"That would take a long time to explain," said Giovanni. "My attackers' self-restraint was a great part of it. They were reluctant to hurt me where Zatanna might see, or where they might be spotted by the public. And did you know that many tried to take me alive? Some wanted a confession. Some wanted a trophy. Some wanted leverage to control Zatanna. Some wanted my help to take Shadowcrest. Others had a thirst for torture. Didn't matter. They found I'm a difficult man to trap."

"I can't believe it," said Zachary. "All of them?"

"Not all, and they grew less restrained as years passed. But I grew as well. As I suspect you boys have discovered, living under the specter of death makes a man capable of anything."

"No," said Batman. "Not anything."

They watched in surprise as he abruptly struggled to his feet. Batman had felt this frail before, but the feelings had always made sense, like pain or numbness. Now his frailty came from feeling whole. His skin was hyper-sensitive. He felt the texture of every grain in his glove leather. The air tickled his abdominals through the charred hole in his suit. But his new sensitivity made it impossible to ignore what he couldn't feel: his scars. Dozens were missing. There was a radical suppleness in his joints. His cartilage had never been so silent.

Batman didn't trust his feet to walk, so he stood and trembled. "Were they all in self-defense, Giovanni? Some entries in your journal were light on details."

Giovanni rubbed his face. The lines of his eyes creased with memories. Finally, he said, "I never killed anyone who didn't make it intimately clear they wished to destroy me first." Giovanni's head bent. "Toward the end, some learned to fear what I could do. They found ways to threaten me from a distance. Ways I couldn't resist, or wouldn't. They stopped caring who might be hurt." He squeezed Zatanna's hand, then lifted his head to face Batman. "I beat them to the punch."

Batman glanced at Zatanna. He said nothing.

Giovanni's eyes softened. "Magic is not as simple as a pistol or a fist. It can be dangerous in a hundred ways you'd never imagine. To beat a mage, you must be bold. I doubt a jury would understand, but I hope you all do."

Batman seemed ready to speak, but he only managed to swallow. He gave Giovanni a fraction of a nod.

Zatanna finally broke the silence. "What end?"

"What?" Giovanni asked.

"You said 'toward the end'. What end?"

"Didn't I say? The feud is over," said Giovanni. "I finished months ago. I won." He looked at Zachary and Abdiel. "Or so I thought."

"Were you ever going to tell me about this?"

"Zatanna, I was going to tell you last night."

"You mean at the show?"

"Just after. I had it planned years ago."

"What was the plan?"

"I was determined from the start to let you choose your life. If you wanted to meet your mother, if you wanted to enjoy this estate or learn your family's craft, that would be your decision. But I knew that I couldn't offer an honest choice while there was a target on our backs. Whatever you chose, it would take all my care and attention to introduce you to your heritage properly. Besides, it seemed cruel to share a war with a child, even if she's all grown up."

"How come I never figured it out?"

"I guess I can keep a secret." Giovanni tugged at his shirt cuff and two doves flew out of his sleeve. "Of course, the tools here were invaluable. I found safeguards to discourage family from approaching you behind my back. These were less effective once you moved out on your own, but I had thinned the ranks by then, and happily the survivors focused on me. Once you were out, I could devote all my time to finishing the job."

Zatanna brushed a dove off her head. "How did you know you'd won? Zachary and Abdiel said they still have family around."

"That was the easy part. Magi fight dirty, but they'll let you know you're in a fight. And if I worried someone was hiding their intentions, I went to them first. I offered to let them swear in parley to leave me alone. If they wouldn't take the offer, then I knew the fight wasn't over.

"My only exceptions were the young ones. Some joined the feud when they came of age, but others stayed hidden, and I let them be. Why, I hadn't seen Zachary and Abdiel since they were yay tall." He held his hand at his knee. "I didn't believe anyone in this family would nurse a grudge so long in silence. They didn't seem patient enough."

Zachary sniffed. "I found funerals educational that way."

Giovanni accepted this with a shrug. "My last foe was Domina Mordecai-Cehennem, widow of Sindella's second cousin Ahmet. I got the better of her in June. The next day I scheduled our show at the Arabia Casino and sent you an invitation." He smiled sadly. "I wanted one last normal show with my Zatanna before I took her old life away."

"Oh," said Zatanna. She felt a new wetness from her eyes.

Abdiel finished swallowing a dove. "And you set up the door to Shadowcrest yesterday morning."

"I did," said Giovanni suspiciously. "How did you know?"

Abdiel managed a shoulderless shrug. "That's what Lord Faust was waiting for. We made our deal last month, but he wouldn't attack until you put up the door. He could sense there was only one left on Earth, but he didn't know where until it was installed."

Zachary nodded. "Pretty smart of you to destroy all the rest."

"He didn't destroy them," said Zatanna. "She pointed at the fireplace. Are you talking about the doors in those red chests?"

"That's right," said Giovanni. "Say, what did you think of the storage room, Zatanna?" Giovanni took a moment to reminisce. "Remember all those old tricks?"

"Well," Zatanna choose her words carefully. "Remember how I said there was a fight in there?"

"Yes."

"The room got a little water damage."

"Ah."

"And a little fire damage."

"Oh."

"Actually, a lot of fire damage."

"Hm."

"And a few other kinds of damage."

"Well." Giovanni kept the concern off his face. "The important thing is that you're safe."

"So you planned to bring me to Shadowcrest after the show? Just throw open the curtain on your whole secret life?"

"I thought we'd have a late dinner first."

Giovanni and Zatanna broke into giggles at the absurdity of it.

Catwoman yawned. "This is fascinating, but if you folks are out of trouble, then I think it's time to hit the road. How do you leave this place?"

Giovanni stood. "You must let us host you, at least for tonight."

Catwoman quickly shook her head. "Swell offer, but no thanks."

"We have a dozen guest suites fit for a queen."

"I'll take a rain check."

Zatanna stood and asked, "But you'll stay a while, won't you, John?"

Catwoman gave Batman an appraising look. He kept his face blank. "Are you comfortable here, Zatanna?"

Zatanna shrugged. "Dad's here, so I'll be okay. It's either this or my hotel in Bludhaven."

The three Gothamites twitched like they had smelled something sour. Giovanni gave her a caring smile. "You're wise to stay, Zatanna. Sindella won't break her vow, but she may skirt the edges with innocent gossip, and we don't know what ears her words may reach. An untrained mage is easy prey for many dark things."

"He's absolutely right," said Abidel.

"Wait, what about us?" asked Catwoman. "Do we have to watch for ghouls and goblins now?"

Giovanni gave her question more thought than Catwoman was comfortable with, but he finally shook his head. "You shouldn't be at risk."

"Shouldn't?" exclaimed Catwoman.

Zatanna looked again at Batman. "Will you spend the night then?"

Batman shook his head. "If you're safe, then I should leave."

"But you'll write, won't you? Both of you."

Catwoman yawned. "I'm not sure my postman delivers to this dimension."

"Zatanna," said Giovanni, "Our guests are exhausted. Let's not hound them for promises."

Zatanna looked at Batman. "Won't you, though?"

Batman said nothing.

Catwoman interrupted. "So where's the exit, Giovanni? Do we click our ruby slippers?"

Giovanni smiled. "Almost as simple." He crossed the room to the scattered remains of his desk. With a heave, he dislodged a crooked drawer and found a simple silver wand. "It's across the house. Just a moment." He tapped his head and disappeared in a shower of sparks.

The others waited uncomfortably. Catwoman leaned against a wall and closed her eyes. Abideal practiced rattling his tail. A dove cooed somewhere in the ceiling.

Zachary scratched his ear with his hoof. "Don't suppose anyone has acorns?"

"Shut up, bacon," said Catwoman without opening her eyes.

Zatanna noticed that Batman's utility belt was on the floor. She picked it up and handed it to him. "Here."

Batman tried to grab it. It slid between his fingers and fell. He struggled to hide his frustration, only exhaling a little stronger than usual.

Zatanna picked up the belt again, and this time the handoff was successful. "There you go."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." They stood awkwardly: he couldn't move and she didn't want to. She rubbed her arm, fixated on how much dried blood was on his suit.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Fine."

"Right."

They continued to stand awkwardly. Finally, Batman said, "Third flap left of the buckle."

"Huh?"

He nodded at the belt hanging in his grip. Zatanna held up the end of the belt and found the noted pouch. She looked up for permission, and he nodded again. Gingerly, she opened the pouch and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. She raised an eyebrow.

Batman shook his head. "Behind that."

Zatanna replaced the handcuffs and pulled out a syringe. She raised both eyebrows.

"Behind that," he repeated.

She replaced the syringe and found a business card. It was empty except for a number.

Before Zatanna could ask, Batman gave a quiet answer. "If you don't feel safe, call."

"Thanks. I will. Or won't. I hope I won't." Zatanna made the card disappear. "Thanks."

Batman shut the pouch and roughly swung the belt over his shoulder.

He felt a gaze on his back and looked over his shoulder. Catwoman was watching him through lidded eyes.

There was another shower of sparks and Giovanni reappeared. He carried an old standing camera.

"Miss Catwoman, if you'd please come here."

Catwoman strolled back to the group. "Yes?"

Giovanni began to prepare the camera. "This will bring you home. Will you be traveling together?"

"Yes," said Catwoman with uncharacteristic speed. "Yes we are." She gave Batman a meaningful stare. It's important.

Batman slowly answered. "We are."

"Very well," said Giovanni, screwing in a flash bulb.

"What do you mean by 'home'?" asked Catwoman. "Where specifically does this go?"

"I can't be sure," said Giovanni. "It will be somewhere familiar, somewhere important. A place you were together. I'm sorry that doesn't narrow it down much."

Batman and Catwoman shared a worried look. That narrowed it down considerably. They simply hadn't spent much time together. Those chases in the early days were rarely in one spot. It could be from today: maybe the Lisbon or her cat shelter. But they knew that in terms of minutes and meaning, the majority of their relationship had transpired at Fort Morrison. They dreaded that idea of going there now.

"Do you have any other gadgets to get out of here?" asked Catwoman.

Giovanni shook his head. "Not without a mage or the house spirit. Or three days to go digging in the basement." He saw her concern. "Don't worry, you won't hate where you go."

"How do you know?"

Giovanni fiddled with the lens. "The inventor made a deal with one of the lesser embodiments of hatred. It won't send you somewhere you hate. It also avoids umbrage, fear, anguish, and gloom."

Batman offered a head-shrug. Catwoman gave a small nod. "Let's go."

Giovanni stood up and wiped his hands. "I don't suppose you want a cane, Batman? Most people aren't up so soon after the treatment you've had."

"I'm fine," said Batman.

"Suit yourself. We're ready."

Zatanna gave Batman and Catwoman a big hug. "Take care, you two."

Catwoman patted Zatanna kindly on the back. "Take care, Zatanna."

Batman lifted his hands halfway, but he lowered them untouched.

"Okay, okay." Giovanni urged Zatanna back. "We'd best get them back to town." He stepped in and kissed Catwoman's hand. "After all," Giovanni clasped Batman's shoulders and looked him keenly in the eye, "The night will soon begin to wane."

Batman froze. His mind went blank. His breathing stopped.

Giovanni hurried behind the camera and held up the flash-lamp. "And one. Two. Three."

A flash lit up the room, and Batman and Catwoman were gone.