[Fic] Arc 1: Rescue, Part 3 [Undead AU]
Progress: Incomplete
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Word count: c.1330
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.
Summary: The boys have to try and convince Zatanna to help them find Bruce, but at the risk of giving away their secret.
***
“Stop pacing, you’re making me nervous,” Jason snaps at Dick, who is steadily wearing a path in the rug in the study. Tim is curled up in a chair, reading a book in an attempt to ignore his quarreling brothers. But his own anxiety is given away by the tightness of his grip on the book and the way his eyes travel blankly over the page uncomprehendingly.
Dick snaps right back at Jason. “You being a pain isn’t exactly going to help either, Jay!”
“Fuck, D, you don’t have to yell.”
Before the argument can devolve into childish “You started it!” remarks, they’re interrupted by the sound of the doorbell chime, the sound carrying easily through the manor. Tim abandons his book, running for the window, peering out to catch a glimpse of the woman standing on the front step.
Zatanna’s dressed in casual civvies, her dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders. She didn’t dress up too fancy to see Bruce Wayne, unlike most of the women who come to the Manor. Tim doesn’t have a chance to deduce anything about her from her appearance before he’s shoved out of the way by Jason and Dick, who are fighting for a chance to see her.
Tim rolls his eyes and settles into his chair again, shushing his brothers when they start arguing again. They fall silent, and all listen intently to the sounds of Alfred and Zatanna talking down the hall.
“Thank you, Alfred. Where’s Bruce?”
“I’m afraid Master Bruce isn’t here at the moment, Miss Zatara. Please -- let me explain...or perhaps I should let the boys explain.”
“Who?”
“In the study, if you will.”
The door opens and Zatanna follows Alfred inside, her arms crossed across her chest. She visibly cringes as soon as she enters the room, and her eyes widen when she casts her gaze around the room and sees the three boys.
Tim steps forward. “It’s nice to meet you, Zatanna.”
Zatanna instinctively takes a step back. “What the hell are you?”
“Excuse me,” Alfred starts to say, but Tim shakes his head.
“It’s okay, Alfred.” Tim adjusts the cuffs on his shirt before he speaks again, getting straight to the point. “Bruce is missing, and we need your help to find him.”
“You answer my question first,” Zatanna replies, through clenched teeth.
Tim sighs, pressing fingertips to his temples. It doesn’t do anything, of course, it’s simple force of habit.
Jason decides to relieve him the trouble of answering, drawling from where he’s straddling the desk chair, “We’re dead.”
“And he does mean that literally,” Dick adds, walking up to stand next to Tim. Zatanna can’t suppress a flinch.
“God, Bruce,” she mutters. “What have you done?”
“Hey,” Jason says sharply, getting up to stand by his brothers. He lifts his chin defiantly and stares the magician down, who manages to resist the urge to recoil. “Don’t talk about him like that. He saved...”
“Your lives?” Zatanna retorts. “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but -- and I don’t mean to be cruel -- but do you even have any idea what you are?”
“No,” Dick replies honestly. “But my name is Dick. This is Tim and Jason. And they, and Alfred and Bruce - they’re my family. And that’s all that matters.”
“We need your help.” Tim gives Zatanna a hard look. “We can’t find Bruce without you.”
Zatanna returns the look, staring at him for a long moment before she speaks. “What do you need me to do?”
“A tracking spell,” Tim says. “We believe that Ra’s al Ghul has kidnapped Bruce, and we need to find him.”
“I know of Ra’s al Ghul. He’s extremely dangerous - are you sure you want to do this?”
“We’re sure,” Jason snaps.
Zatanna still hesitates, but she knows she’ll give in. It’s Bruce. She gives a small nod. “I’ll need an item of his, then. A piece of clothing will do, but if you have any hair or blood samples, that’s the best. And a GPS.”
Tim pulls a vial out of his pocket and hands it, along with the GPS from a desk drawer, to Zatanna, who examines it. “This is his hair?”
“No. It’s his daughter’s. We have no way of knowing where Ra’s is, so finding Talia is our best chance of finding Bruce as well.”
“Alright. I need to explain some things about the spell first.” Zatanna closes her eyes briefly, runs a hand through her hair. “This. Your mission. It’s so dangerous, and Bruce. Bruce is going to be furious at me for letting you do this.”
“He’s worth it,” Tim says fiercely.
“Yes. He is.” Zatanna nods in agreement. “This spell isn’t going to last forever. I’ll try and extend the time as much as I can, but you’re only likely to get about five days out of it. A week at the very most.”
It will be hard enough to catch Talia, but they’ll do it.
They don’t even want to think about what will happen if they fail.
But it’s okay. Because they won’t.
They can’t.
Zatanna concentrates hard, chants some backwards words, and the GPS glows briefly for a moment. A flashing light appears on the screen.
“There.” Zatanna hands the GPS to Tim. “That’ll show you her location. To some extent, anyway.”
“Thank you,” Tim says, and the relief and sincere gratitude in his voice surprises her. And. Something else.
Desperation, almost.
“I should go,” Zatanna says, not wanting to intrude any more, and sensing that they want her gone now. She can see Dick fidgeting.
Alfred comes in, like he knew what she was thinking. “Thank you for coming, Miss Zatara.”
“It was no problem.” As she leaves, she glances over her shoulder, and catches a glimpse of the boys already huddled together, looking at the GPS and whispering, before Alfred closes the door behind them and escorts her out of the Manor.
When they brought Bruce back - and she could tell that they would, even if they had to die doing it - she had to come back and talk to him. She would let it lie for now. Finding Bruce was too important.
But when he was back. They had to talk.
About them.
Because they should not exist.
Tim, having relinquished the GPS for his brothers to examine, watches Zatanna stand on their doorstep and disappear with a backwards word.
“She’ll be back,” Tim murmurs, pulling the curtains closed. “She won’t just let this go.”
“We’ll deal with her after we get Bruce back,” Dick says firmly. “Right now, we have to plan to go to...Metropolis?”
“Really?” Tim goes over to look at the GPS, and just as Dick says, the flashing light on the screen is labeled ‘Metropolis’. “Why on earth would Talia be in Metropolis?”
“We’re just lucky that she’s so close,” Jason comments. “Metropolis is pretty near, considering that she could have been anywhere in the world.”
“The only problem is...how exactly are we going to get to Metropolis?” Tim looks at his brothers. “The train isn’t fast enough - Talia could be long gone by the time we get there. And we can’t exactly take a plane.”
“Maybe we can,” Dick muses. At Jason and Tim’s quizzical expressions, he explains. “Babs’ friends. You know Zinda?”
“Lady Blackhawk?”
“Never met her, but yeah, I know of her. You think she can help?”
Dick nods. “They got some new stealth tech, so totally inconspicuous. And we can trust Babs.”
Jason and Tim think about this for a while, but in the end, they both agree. The daughter of the police commissioner of Gotham, Jim Gordon, who also happens to be one of Bruce’s closest friends. He and Barbara both know about them. And they do trust them, implicitly.
Dick only has to make one call, sweet-talk Barbara a tiny bit, and promise to buy Zinda a drink or five, and they have a way to Metropolis.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None.
Word count: c.1330
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.
Summary: The boys have to try and convince Zatanna to help them find Bruce, but at the risk of giving away their secret.
***
“Stop pacing, you’re making me nervous,” Jason snaps at Dick, who is steadily wearing a path in the rug in the study. Tim is curled up in a chair, reading a book in an attempt to ignore his quarreling brothers. But his own anxiety is given away by the tightness of his grip on the book and the way his eyes travel blankly over the page uncomprehendingly.
Dick snaps right back at Jason. “You being a pain isn’t exactly going to help either, Jay!”
“Fuck, D, you don’t have to yell.”
Before the argument can devolve into childish “You started it!” remarks, they’re interrupted by the sound of the doorbell chime, the sound carrying easily through the manor. Tim abandons his book, running for the window, peering out to catch a glimpse of the woman standing on the front step.
Zatanna’s dressed in casual civvies, her dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders. She didn’t dress up too fancy to see Bruce Wayne, unlike most of the women who come to the Manor. Tim doesn’t have a chance to deduce anything about her from her appearance before he’s shoved out of the way by Jason and Dick, who are fighting for a chance to see her.
Tim rolls his eyes and settles into his chair again, shushing his brothers when they start arguing again. They fall silent, and all listen intently to the sounds of Alfred and Zatanna talking down the hall.
“Thank you, Alfred. Where’s Bruce?”
“I’m afraid Master Bruce isn’t here at the moment, Miss Zatara. Please -- let me explain...or perhaps I should let the boys explain.”
“Who?”
“In the study, if you will.”
The door opens and Zatanna follows Alfred inside, her arms crossed across her chest. She visibly cringes as soon as she enters the room, and her eyes widen when she casts her gaze around the room and sees the three boys.
Tim steps forward. “It’s nice to meet you, Zatanna.”
Zatanna instinctively takes a step back. “What the hell are you?”
“Excuse me,” Alfred starts to say, but Tim shakes his head.
“It’s okay, Alfred.” Tim adjusts the cuffs on his shirt before he speaks again, getting straight to the point. “Bruce is missing, and we need your help to find him.”
“You answer my question first,” Zatanna replies, through clenched teeth.
Tim sighs, pressing fingertips to his temples. It doesn’t do anything, of course, it’s simple force of habit.
Jason decides to relieve him the trouble of answering, drawling from where he’s straddling the desk chair, “We’re dead.”
“And he does mean that literally,” Dick adds, walking up to stand next to Tim. Zatanna can’t suppress a flinch.
“God, Bruce,” she mutters. “What have you done?”
“Hey,” Jason says sharply, getting up to stand by his brothers. He lifts his chin defiantly and stares the magician down, who manages to resist the urge to recoil. “Don’t talk about him like that. He saved...”
“Your lives?” Zatanna retorts. “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but -- and I don’t mean to be cruel -- but do you even have any idea what you are?”
“No,” Dick replies honestly. “But my name is Dick. This is Tim and Jason. And they, and Alfred and Bruce - they’re my family. And that’s all that matters.”
“We need your help.” Tim gives Zatanna a hard look. “We can’t find Bruce without you.”
Zatanna returns the look, staring at him for a long moment before she speaks. “What do you need me to do?”
“A tracking spell,” Tim says. “We believe that Ra’s al Ghul has kidnapped Bruce, and we need to find him.”
“I know of Ra’s al Ghul. He’s extremely dangerous - are you sure you want to do this?”
“We’re sure,” Jason snaps.
Zatanna still hesitates, but she knows she’ll give in. It’s Bruce. She gives a small nod. “I’ll need an item of his, then. A piece of clothing will do, but if you have any hair or blood samples, that’s the best. And a GPS.”
Tim pulls a vial out of his pocket and hands it, along with the GPS from a desk drawer, to Zatanna, who examines it. “This is his hair?”
“No. It’s his daughter’s. We have no way of knowing where Ra’s is, so finding Talia is our best chance of finding Bruce as well.”
“Alright. I need to explain some things about the spell first.” Zatanna closes her eyes briefly, runs a hand through her hair. “This. Your mission. It’s so dangerous, and Bruce. Bruce is going to be furious at me for letting you do this.”
“He’s worth it,” Tim says fiercely.
“Yes. He is.” Zatanna nods in agreement. “This spell isn’t going to last forever. I’ll try and extend the time as much as I can, but you’re only likely to get about five days out of it. A week at the very most.”
It will be hard enough to catch Talia, but they’ll do it.
They don’t even want to think about what will happen if they fail.
But it’s okay. Because they won’t.
They can’t.
Zatanna concentrates hard, chants some backwards words, and the GPS glows briefly for a moment. A flashing light appears on the screen.
“There.” Zatanna hands the GPS to Tim. “That’ll show you her location. To some extent, anyway.”
“Thank you,” Tim says, and the relief and sincere gratitude in his voice surprises her. And. Something else.
Desperation, almost.
“I should go,” Zatanna says, not wanting to intrude any more, and sensing that they want her gone now. She can see Dick fidgeting.
Alfred comes in, like he knew what she was thinking. “Thank you for coming, Miss Zatara.”
“It was no problem.” As she leaves, she glances over her shoulder, and catches a glimpse of the boys already huddled together, looking at the GPS and whispering, before Alfred closes the door behind them and escorts her out of the Manor.
When they brought Bruce back - and she could tell that they would, even if they had to die doing it - she had to come back and talk to him. She would let it lie for now. Finding Bruce was too important.
But when he was back. They had to talk.
About them.
Because they should not exist.
Tim, having relinquished the GPS for his brothers to examine, watches Zatanna stand on their doorstep and disappear with a backwards word.
“She’ll be back,” Tim murmurs, pulling the curtains closed. “She won’t just let this go.”
“We’ll deal with her after we get Bruce back,” Dick says firmly. “Right now, we have to plan to go to...Metropolis?”
“Really?” Tim goes over to look at the GPS, and just as Dick says, the flashing light on the screen is labeled ‘Metropolis’. “Why on earth would Talia be in Metropolis?”
“We’re just lucky that she’s so close,” Jason comments. “Metropolis is pretty near, considering that she could have been anywhere in the world.”
“The only problem is...how exactly are we going to get to Metropolis?” Tim looks at his brothers. “The train isn’t fast enough - Talia could be long gone by the time we get there. And we can’t exactly take a plane.”
“Maybe we can,” Dick muses. At Jason and Tim’s quizzical expressions, he explains. “Babs’ friends. You know Zinda?”
“Lady Blackhawk?”
“Never met her, but yeah, I know of her. You think she can help?”
Dick nods. “They got some new stealth tech, so totally inconspicuous. And we can trust Babs.”
Jason and Tim think about this for a while, but in the end, they both agree. The daughter of the police commissioner of Gotham, Jim Gordon, who also happens to be one of Bruce’s closest friends. He and Barbara both know about them. And they do trust them, implicitly.
Dick only has to make one call, sweet-talk Barbara a tiny bit, and promise to buy Zinda a drink or five, and they have a way to Metropolis.