InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "HAMMER DOWN!"

Zatanna Zatara (giftofthemagi) wrote in modernage,
@ 2010-05-31 02:06:00

Entry tags:

{bruce wayne | batman}, {zatanna zatara}, ∴ scenes: completed

Who: Zatanna Zatara, Batman
Where: Shadowcrest Mansion, Gotham City, NJ → medbay, JLA Watchtower
When: 04/26/10 -- late morning, after this
Summary: After the Joker situation is over, Zatanna goes searching for the missing Batman. As luck would have it, she finds him in the first place she looks...

Zatanna wanted nothing more than to take a long, hot bath and lose herself in some music or a nice book for a good long while. She wanted to rest because her muscles ached and she was tired and most of all it had already been a terrible day and it wasn't even noon yet. Because the Joker had managed to kill dozens of innocents and got away with it. The jerk. (It was times like these she was sorely tempted to use dark magicks to give villains what they truly deserved.)

None of that was going to be happening, though. The words Barbara had spoken to her earlier still rang in her ears. Bruce was missing. Batman had stopped the Joker from bombing a mall and then vanished. That was not like him. Well, the not communicating well-- that was definitely like him. But not showing up again when the Joker made himself known that morning? Definitely not the man she knew.

Frowning, Zatanna decided her best bet was heading to the Watchtower. Oracle's resources were probably the best in the world but the JLA's would be a close second. And Babs was probably in a mood over the Joker's escape, which would be no fun for anyone involved there. (She didn't want to magic herself to him without knowing if that would be dangerous for her or him, and she didn't want to perform magic to locate him because it would only serve to make her more tired.)

For the first time in some time, Zatanna used the Watchtower teleporter. She appeared on the pad with her body tense. (She much preferred traveling under her own power.) From there, she headed into the monitor womb and punched in a few commands. Then she scrolled down to find Batman's last known location. It wasn't hard to find, since that location was in the watchtower itself-- the medbay more specifically.

Zatanna didn't even close her search screen; she just spun on her heel and rushed to check on him. When she reached the medbay, she saw Bruce lying in bed and her heart lurched. (Although, the fact that his cowl was still on made her smile absently.) She hesitated for a moment before entering and pulling a chair over to his bed. Then she sat down and began scanning all the medical information around. She wanted to know exactly how he was doing (and if she could help at all-- suddenly she wasn't quite so tired).

Plus, he'd sat for a long time beside her not so long before. She was happy to repay him, at least in part.

[Closed!]

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capedcrusade
2010-06-04 08:54 pm UTC (link)

He did. He just made a joke. "I'm on painkillers," he explained. "Strong ones, because for some reason I think it's a good idea to stand up." Slowly, he sat up and swiveled around in the bed until his feet were dangling off the side. Looking at them, he realized they were bare.

Actually, taking stock of the situation, he wasn't wearing a whole lot. Which made sense, considering the extensiveness of his injuries. Well, not counting the bandages. "I've been mummified," he commented, looking down at himself.

"Change of clothes?" he asked Zee. He had a spare Batsuit stashed at the Watchtower, but he didn't think that'd be very conducive to healing. Who'd have civilian clothes that would fit him? "I think there's some in Hal's old locker," he added.

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giftofthemagi
2010-06-05 03:03 pm UTC (link)

Zatanna rolled her eyes again and suppressed a sigh but didn't try to stop him. If Batman wanted to get up, then Batman was going to get up. Only the strongest magic would stop him and she wasn't up to such a feat. (Besides holding Batman against his will was probably up pretty high on the Worst Ideas Ever list-- man knew how to hold a grudge.)

"Two jokes in one day?" Zatanna made a show of widening her eyes and looking shocked. "Those must be some strong painkillers." Although just how seriously injured that meant he'd been didn't escape her, she decided to fret over it later. Batman could take care of himself. (Although Bruce had sat up with her and she was rather capable herself.)

Shaking her head, Zatanna sat up. "Sehtolc raeppa!" she muttered, waving a hand in Bruce's general vicinity. In her tired state, she could literally feel the energy zapped out of her for the effort but-- "As much as I'd love to see you in a cowl and severely outdated bomber jacket, I'm not sure I'd ever be able to take you seriously again."

Which reminded her-- "I saw Hal the other day, you know. He stopped by my place in San Francisco for a visit." Zatanna was curious to see what Bruce made of that. (Not because she had any delusions about his feelings for her but, rather, she was interested in his reaction to Hal after everything that'd happened.) "He seemed well but I think he misses the team."

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capedcrusade
2010-06-05 10:53 pm UTC (link)

A small pile of clothes appeared in his lap. Holding them up, they seemed to be a black karate uniform. A thinner fabric than the karategi he usually practiced in, but it would serve. He was hardly about to start throwing punches anyway. Batman put his arms through the uwagi and began to tie the belt.

No, he hadn't known Hal had visited Zee, and Batman wasn't thrilled to find out. He still wasn't entirely clear what had happened with the Parallax ordeal, and as such, wasn't convinced it was finished. Nor was he clear that the fault didn't lie somewhat with Hal himself. No, officer, it wasn't me, a yellow demon alien no one ever heard of before made me do it. Batman couldn't help but be skeptical.

"Does he want to rejoin?" Batman asked, not very pleased by the idea. Then again, it would be easier to keep tabs on him if he was around more.

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giftofthemagi
2010-06-06 12:06 am UTC (link)

Although she wouldn't have minded if Bruce elected to stay less clothed, Zatanna was glad to see he was at least satisfied with what she'd provided. It wasn't anything special but she'd wanted him to be comfortable and able to move easily, given his body's still tender state. Plus, it'd been kind of hard to take him seriously with the cowl on and not much else...

But onto Hal. "I don't know," Zatanna answered honestly. "I think he feels responsible for making sure Coast City gets the help and attention it needs with the reconstruction efforts." Which was, she imagined, rather time consuming. "I wouldn't mind if he came back, though-- I miss him." And he did wield the most powerful weapon in the universe, which was always nice to have around.

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capedcrusade
2010-06-06 02:35 pm UTC (link)

Coast City. Another thing to check up on. Wayne Industries had already pledged to reopen a branch office there, to help rebuild the economy. And they'd put in a bid on doing construction work for low-cost housing in the area. Some of the architecture work he'd financed in third world countries as part of Wayne Charities had produced ideas that he thought might translate into an urban environment. Inexpensive, but also low-impact on the environment, with lots of thought to community and human dignity. What would the psychological effect be of putting a poor population into a space that embodied respect for life, rather than the oppression of most slums. He didn't really know, and wouldn't for another 20 years or so, but he was looking forward to the results.

"I need to talk to..." Lucius Fox, he was going to say, but corrected it to "everyone." There was still the Joker and the Riddler and the mall. Rest time was over. Slowly but carefully, Batman detached himself from various machines and stood. The JLA control had access to most people he needed. He'd start there.

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giftofthemagi
2010-06-07 05:27 am UTC (link)

It was with a wary eye that Zatanna watched Bruce begin preparing to get back to it. (Shocking-- not.) Shoving her tired body out of the chair against its will and her better judgment, Zatanna moved over to the monitors. She switched each one off in turn, almost surprised by how quiet the room was without the constant steady beeping.

Zatanna was moving slower than her usual, so Bruce was in the process of standing when she turned back to him. "Whoa there, tiger," she said. She moved to his side, ready to help just in case he wasn't quite at a hundred percent yet. "Are you sure you're okay to be up and moving? I can bring a comm to you here, you know."

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