The teens sat in the penthouse with Alfred, completely unsure of what to do. Bruce lay unconscious on the couch while the rest of them interrogated Zatanna. After an hour—and a couple more squeezes with the Lasso of Truth—the group was satisfied that Zatanna wasn't a threat. Since they'd all used their powers mere moments ago, they had to let Zatanna in on their secrets. She did the same for them.
Bart was still a little confused by what had happened. "So that... thing..." he said. "That was Bruce? 'Cause it sure seemed like some crazy Exorcist crap there for a while."
"It was and it wasn't him," Zatanna explained. "It wasn't anything magical, exactly. My powers... they gave the thoughts inside Bruce's mind a magical form."
"So... he doesn't really have a demon inside 'im or anythin'?"
"No. Well, not a literal one. He's got his 'inner demons', but so does everyone. The darkness inside Bruce's mind is... well, it's stronger than most. Almost palpable."
Alfred was busying himself by cleaning up all the glass shards and debris with a broom and dustpan.
"Oh, Alfred, don't do that! Let me," Zatanna said. She jumped up from her seat at the kitchen bar and walked over, taking a moment to examine the room in its entirety.
"Riaper eht moor."
The glass shards lifted themselves off the floor and floated to the windowframe, squeezing back into their original places. The cracks seemingly sealed themselves as the shards fused back together. All the dust and debris swept itself away, and every broken object in the room became whole again. The furniture slid back to its original placing—the couch on which Bruce lay moving very slowly so as not to wake him—and the broom and dustpan flew forcefully out of Alfred's hands and into the broom closet.
"Unnngghh..."
The group stood up when they heard Bruce groan. He was waking up.
Zatanna was by his side when his eyes opened. He frowned at her. If there was anything he hated, it was not understanding what was going on. It only got worse when he sat up and saw the entire super-group standing over him.
"What happened?"
"I... I ran a couple of spells on you," Zatanna said. "You didn't have any sort of magical curse or anything."
"I didn't need a spell to tell me that."
She gave him a disapproving half-frown. "...but... there was something else."
He looked at her impatiently. "What?"
She sighed. "Bruce... did you... make a kind of vow? Maybe when you were a child?"
"...Yes."
"Something involving vengeance, or power?"
"Something involving justice."
"...right, well... see, Bruce, we all make our own fate, to some extent. I think this bat problem you've got is because of you. It's not a curse anyone put on you; you're causing it to happen by holding onto all this... whatever it is inside of you. This darkness."
Bruce sat in thought for a moment. "So this... darkness. It's a part of me?"
"Um, yeah," Bart said. "You were all like 'I am vengeance!' and crap. It was freaky, man."
Bruce somehow didn't seem surprised. But he still had one more question. "What was that bat-creature?"
Zatanna had almost forgotten about him. "That... I'm still not sure of. That couldn't possibly be you, so... hang on."
She stood up again, and closed her eyes to concentrate. The rest of the group immediately began backing up warily.
"Etacol eht tab nam."
A golden orb of light appeared in front of Zatanna, gently spun in the air for a few seconds, then faded out of existence.
Zatanna was perplexed. "He's... not here."
"What?" Bruce said intensely.
"I.. I don't know. If he was on this plane of existence, I'd be able to find him. But right now, he doesn't exist. It's like he... teleported away somewhere."
"Is that even possible?" Clark asked.
"Well, yeah, theoretically," Zatanna answered. "He could be a traveler. He might be in any time or alternate dimension and we wouldn't know."
"So there's no way of tracking him down?" Diana asked.
"...There is, but I'm not skilled enough for that. It'd probably take me years to learn how."
"But it's gone?" Bruce asked.
"...As far as I can tell, yes. Whatever he, she, or it was, it's definitely gone."
Eventually, the teens all left for home. Only Zatanna lingered behind.
"So, you're sure you'll be alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Bruce answered.
She grinned at him. "Told ya magic was real."
He looked at her very seriously. "I don't know what power it is exactly that you have, but it's not 'magic.' Everything can be quantified, explained, and understood. I don't deny that you have real ability, but it's nothing supernatural."
She sighed, but kept a smile on her face. She should have known he'd still be a skeptic, no matter what.
"Alright, fine. Keep your archaic beliefs; not my problem."
She walked into the open elevator door.
"But hey, if you ever need someone to help with a... magical problem, you can always call me."
She tossed him a card, flicking it perfectly so that it flew across the room and into Bruce's open hand. He glanced down at it. "What's this? A magic calling card? Do I just say your name twice and you appear?"
She was slightly amused by his sarcasm. "It's my phone number," she said with a flirtatious wink as the elevator doors closed.
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