Smoke and Mirrors

The skies over Gotham were occupied by thick grey clouds as the rain occasionally went on and off. It wasn't all that bad for its residents. Though most would prefer staying indoors for the day so it wouldn't feel all that muggy once they try to dry themselves off.

As for the resident Uzumaki, he was out running errands. It wasn't just for himself; but for his girlfriends, his ward, his unintentional guest… and his unborn children.

'...Okay so I've got the biodegradable diapers, baby bottles and other necessities.' He thought as he looked into his grocery cart to see said items along with the usual things for his place.

Even though they aren't going to be brought into the world for months now, Naruto wanted to be sure he got things prepared for their arrival.

It's been several days since both he and Talia got captured by Silver Monkey and Hiraishin for whatever they had intended. Naruto would've expected the pair to get arrested, but that was highly unlikely. When the GCPD arrived onto the scene, due to Harley placing an anonymous call, the one warehouse they were kept was empty. Naruto doubted the HIVE operatives stayed in the city. If they did, then he'd hunt them down and bring them to justice for what they exactly did.

It was shortly afterwards that the whiskered Uzumaki was given a startling reveal by his botanist girlfriend that by some experimentations, they were going to become parents. This wasn't done by the traditional sense or artificial insemination by using someone's womb to house the embryo, but by a more unique approach by using plants and gene therapy and some other information that flew over his head.

From what he could understand, Yggdrasil did provide Pam the information on how to possibly accomplish this, but she needed to do so many experiments to get things right. Animal and plant gene therapy was the gist of things but there needed to be a powerful, stabilizing agent to hold things together. And luckily for the red haired beauty, Pam was able to come across the creepy, glowing green pool when expanding her greenhouse that provided said agent.

The green liquid oddly had healing properties and seemed to revitalize dying cells. She experimented with small samples as the botanist found it was rather pure and not tainted… from what the Green could tell her exactly. Pam wanted to acquire more information from the waters, but her plant-like superiors wouldn't budge.

Regardless, they were going to have children.

Harley and Selina knew about this… Well Harley found out first and then blabbed to Selina as she couldn't keep the secret for long…

-Flashback-

"...PAMMY'S GONNA BE A MAMA!"

Selina reared back at both shock and of the sudden noise. "What?"

"Puddin put one in the oven and Red's finally gonna be a mommy!" Said the perky blonde as she bounced in each step.

Selina was merely sitting in her loft as she was reading a book the thief wanted to catch up on when Harley barged unannounced. After what happened last night, she needed some personal time while stroking Isis in her lap. Though the sudden announcement got Isis to freak out with Selina falling out of her seat.

When processing what Harley just said, Selina widened her green eyes in surprise. "Wait? Pregnant?! How?!"

"Does it matter?" Harley was basically bouncing all over the loft at this point. "I can't wait to see little Naru's and Pammy's running around while I spoil them to death." She gasped rather deeply as to take a large intake of air into her lungs. "Oh! OH! PUDDIN SHOULD GET ME KNOCKED UP AS WELL!"

From her placement, Selina oddly saw sparkles, glitter and an odd pinkish aura surrounding her close girlfriend and lover's form. It was rather creepy on what was happening. The ravenette would've dismissed and shrugged it off…

"Oh~ I can't wait to feel the tiny feet and hands in my belly as I read my babies nice bedtime stories." Harley said with a soft smile as she rubbed her exposed, flat stomach. Then out of nowhere, the blonde's innocent smile went rather creepy with a perverse giggle. "And I can't wait for puddin to fuck my bloated, pregnant body over and over-"

If it wasn't for that!

"WOAH THERE!" Yelled out the Red champion. "Don't say another word!"

"What? Why?"

"Because that's weird and I don't wanna hear that!"

"But I thought it was rather hot when I heard one of my female co-workers talk about it to us gals." Harley said with a slight grin. "Was rather kinky for her and her hubby and I wondered how it would feel like with me pregnant with puddin's baby inside me while he screws my-"

"SERIOUSLY! ENOUGH!"

Harley suddenly disappeared from Selina's view before feeling the blonde hugging her from behind. "Mou~ Don't be like that~" The environmentalist then felt the psychologist's hands grope one of her breasts while the other rubbed her lower stomach that got her breath to hitch. "Wouldn't it be nice to feel that way, Buttercup? I know you've done some kinky stuff with puddin with his clones and us girls. So why wouldn't getting plowed while having one in the oven differ?"

Despite feeling a little aroused on both Harley's actions and… the creeping idea, the ravenette pulled away. While taking several breaths to calm herself down, Selina spoke her thoughts. "Well I don't know if I'd want to think that way anytime sime, Harl."

Harley pouted. "Why's that?"

"Because for one, I don't want to be a mother so soon." Answered the dark haired beauty. "The idea's really nice with having kids with Naruto. But we've been so careful for that not to happen."

The blonde sighed a little. "Yeah… With the pills… the safety days… and the countless condoms which could practically restock a sperm bank-"

"The point is," Selina interrupted with blushed cheeks, "neither of us are ready to be parents."

"But that's why it's so exciting! It's so unplanned and pops right into your face and derails you quite suddenly."

The thief rolled her eyes as she unconsciously rubbed her stomach. Weeks ago, Selina thought she was pregnant and guessed it was because of the incident with her literally becoming a Catwoman. The ravenette wanted to be sure as most pregnancy tests were total crap.

When she went to her doctor for a confirmation, Selina was glad on the news that she wasn't pregnant at all. She was merely reacting on the bad food for the morning sickness and the pregnancy test she took was actually faulty when reading on the grocery store notice.

Regardless on the event, Selina did feel slightly bad she wasn't pregnant with Naruto's child right then and there. But on the brightside, she was happy that Pam was going to experience that first.

Speaking of…

"Tell me, Harl. How did Red get pregnant anyways?"

-Flashback End-

...Anyways… Naruto didn't know if he should tell Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Rachel, Lois, Cat, Victor, Talia and Arthur quite yet.

With the Wayne household, they were good friends and they knew enough on what's going on with Naruto and his unique household. But Naruto and Pam felt the matter should be kept to themselves until later as neither knew what might happen to the unborn children before their intended arrival. So for now, neither Bruce, Alfred and Dick will know until things were comfortably right for the couple to drop the bomb on them.

With Rachel, the pair felt if they tried to tell her it might draw attention away from the ashen child. It wasn't that she couldn't handle it, but the news would be rather sudden and might cause problems with her. Would she react badly or nicely? Not only that, but Rachel was merely Naruto's ward… who he cared deeply for as apart of the family.

And thoughts of the alternate dream life with Rachel as Naruto's adoptive daughter made things awkward for him. He wouldn't know if it would be similar like in there or not on her reactions.

Victor was a good friend and he might deserve to know by right with how close he was with the publisher. But he doesn't fully know of Pam's powers and how this news might affect the frozen man. Might cause him to go into a deeper depression or something in that field.

With Lois, Cat and Talia; Naruto knew them very well and were set in a good place in his heart. Each knew of his relationship with Pam, but not of her powers. So explaining all that would cause problems.

Oh if they knew of what Pam was exactly…

(Well Talia does to some extent, but Naruto doesn't know that tidbit.)

As for Arthur, he's been out of touch with the Maine native and he might consider telling him the good news.

'I should probably give him a call later.' Naruto thought as he rounded an aisle corner. 'He doesn't know of Pam's unique condition and complications so that might work.'

Regardless on the situation, Naruto was both excited yet scared on what's about to happen. He wondered how his parents fully reacted to this and hoped there wouldn't be any complications. The Uzumaki they had their own when it pertained to his birth with Kushina being Kurama's second Jinchuriki, the seal got weakened on the ten month pregnancy and the fake Madara Uchiha wreaking havoc by ripping Kurama out on that chaotic night.

But this was different. None of their unborn children were being brought into the world in the traditional manner. They were going to be monitored by both Pam, her drones and her superior: Luisa Cruz. And if you're wondering on Pam's boss, she helped out on this project and asked to watch over one of the 'baby pods' as part of the agreement.

The Uzumaki was knocked out of his thoughts when his grocery cart crashed into someone else's.

"Hey, I'm sorry." He apologized. "I didn't- Barbara?"

"Naruto?" Spoke the red haired daughter of the Gotham Commissioner.

Recomposing himself, he smiled. "Odd that we'd run into each other here, huh?"

Barbara chuckled a little as she adjusted her cart. "So it would seem."

Getting his cart back in order, Naruto briefly looked at the large order in her possession. "Stockpiling for just you or is it with your father?"

"The later. It's my turn to get groceries instead of dad. And I would've gotten less if it was just me and save things up for roughly a month."

"I can relate." He said as the pair started to roll their carts through the aisle. "Before certain circumstances, I would've gotten quite a lot and saved on buying food for a time."

Her amethyst eyes looked at his carts contents and saw evidence of baby supplies. Raising a brow, she voiced her thoughts. "What's with the baby stuff? You getting a kid?"

"No." He quickly lied as he didn't want the delicate information to be brought out.

"Then who are you getting those for?"

"A friend. Owed her a small favor and she requested a restock on her baby stuff before she moved."

"Well that's rather nice of you."

"Meh, it's no big deal for me." Grabbing a few things off the nearby shelf, a thought came to mind. "Did you finish your book yet, Barbara?"

She blinked. "Oh yeah." A smiled then formed. "I'm almost done actually."

"Is it because of the ending?"

"...Yeah. That and because of school."

"Quite understandable. Endings are always hard to muster and school is always important."

"Heh. No kidding." Barbara grabbed some protein bars and cereal as she continued. "So how are things with you, Naruto?"

"Lately?" The publisher sighed. "Just hectic."

"How so?"

"Just a whirlwind on things, I guess. Work tends to get rather busy and my personal life tends to get some interesting surprises." His eyes gained a small feel of being distant, in which Barbara noticed. "Both pleasant and discomforting."

"...Did something happen recently?"

"Just an old friend getting hurt and I feel responsible that I could've helped her sooner."

The commissioner's daughter could feel the pain coming from the publisher's gaze. 'Whatever happened to him must've hit him hard.' She briefly looked back into his basket and saw some particular medical supplies, both public and behind the counter. 'Quite recently, in fact.'

As much as she'd want to question it, the issue was not hers to dwell into.

"Well it's been nice chatting with you, Barbara." Said the Uzumaki, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. "Got other places to be and other things to take care of. Oh and let me know when you're done with your book so I'll give it another go around."

"...Yeah… It's been nice chatting with you as well. And I will."

He smiled and waved a little for a small goodbye before moving away from the red haired Gordon.

Seeing Naruto move away from her, in such a state, made her frown. She was a decently good judge of character as she could tell Naruto was rather hurt. It didn't take much on the conversation to realize that.

Building up the nerve, she moved her cart forward in order to catch up with him. "Naruto, wait."

Hearing her call out to him, he stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

"You also said that something pleasant happened. Could you tell me what it is, if you don't mind?"

He blinked a few times before remembering that little detail. Naruto smiled in which she saw his expression take a complete 180. "Now that would be telling, Babs."

The college student narrowed her eyes as a playful pout formed on her features. He laughed before she soon followed on the action. For his laugh seemed a little infectious in hopes of brightening the mood.

'It's as if I'm with Vanitas again.' She thought as Naruto moved away from her once more as he went to make his purchases. 'With his jokes to brightening me up.'

-Naruto and Pam's Loft-

Entering his loft, Naruto was greeted with the sight of Talia doing situps on the floor. "Shouldn't you still be in bed?"

The Demon's daughter stopped her action and rolled onto her back. Tilting her head back, she looked at the Uzumaki's eyes. "Staying inactive for too long is not good."

"Along with pulling your stitches." He said as he dropped the large load of groceries on the kitchen counter. The baby supplies were already left in Selina's loft before coming to his own, for obvious reasons. "You still got another day or so before those are good to get rid of. And I do not want to deal with the ones you reopened by your excessive workout like the other day."

She merely rolled her eyes. 'Oh please, it's not that bad.'

Talia truly appreciated him being protective of her after she woke up in his loft. She expected to wake up in the hospital, but figured her former student pleaded Vanitas to drop her off here so the Uzumaki could take care of her. Unexpected, but Naruto told her he didn't know if Hiraishin and Silver Monkey would've gone back into looking for her so best way to keep her hidden was an unexpected place: his home.

Regardless, it was rather nice of being waited hand and foot by him. Being fed while in bed, getting cleaned in a really nice bath and entertained by his guitar music for the first two days under his care. She even got those old backrubs she enjoyed all those years ago, which was absolutely to die for!

Oh she was in heaven.

And let's not forget when Naruto presented her-her old locket. She had wondered where it went off to on the night they were captured. The publisher told her he went back into the one warehouse and was able to find it for her, due to how much it meant to the assassin. Talia was rather touched and having it back in her possession made things right for her.

'Now if I could tell him how I feel.' She thought as she slowly got back up onto her feet. 'And hope he could return it in kind. Sharing a kiss. Oh and maybe convince him to join my side in the League. Then everything will be perfect.'

"What would you like for lunch, Talia?"

"Don't know." She said. "Surprise me."

Naruto smiled as once he finished getting the groceries putting. Going back into the cabinets and refrigerator, he pulled out the ingredients and started cooking. While this happened, Talia went to use Naruto's shower to get herself ready for the day.

During her time cleaning herself, Talia thought of what happened in the past several days since staying in her former student's home.

On the first day of her stay, she had called the Crocks and informed them on what happened to her and Naruto. Paula was obviously concerned for both while Lawrence was just concerned on Talia due to her just being their boss' daughter. They did ask if the Demon's daughter needed any help, but Talia turned it down as Naruto is doing what he can to keep her safe before she's ready to properly leave Gotham and head back to either Nanda Parbat or Infinity Island.

Talia was going to consider to just call it good and just enjoy her little vacation when several things bugged her from what she overheard around the time she woke up. Mind you that she was rather groggy and couldn't hear all the details or make out certain information. But as she was waking up, she heard some interesting details that pertained to the infamous Catwoman and some relations to what happened on that Saturday night.

The Demon's Heir somewhat overheard Selina talk to Naruto, Pam and Harley about a job she was doing and it's details didn't let her to respond fast enough to help them out on saving… something(s) or someone(s).

Asides from the questioning topic, the ravenette thief talked about the job that pertained to the rare black Siberian leopards. There were only a handful of them in the world, all due to collectors and poachers. Selina was able to acquire the feline from 'Amazing Leslies Animal Extravaganza', with the show arriving in town the other night. Though she was thwarted by several mercenaries trying to acquire the leopard and she was captured along for the ride before her escape… with her phone destroyed in the process.

Oh and it wasn't just any mercenaries, but it was the Joker and his very own gang.

Now the person behind hiring the Joker Gang and the abduction of the black Siberian leopard was one Kilgore Steed, a notorious man who enjoys hunting endangered animals for sport on his private island off the city's coast. Hearing about this man made Talia's skin crawl as she wanted to find the man and kill him for what he'd done to wildlife for his so called fun. And it turned out the poacher already acquired the other black Siberian leopards and wanted to hunt them down once he had all of them.

Though luckily for the Demon's daughter, Selina was able to acquire means of getting to Kilgore's island. She fought against the Joker and his gang, who had killed Kilgore and his employees, while escaping the island's various traps and extremely large maze. In the end, Joker and his gang fled with their tails between their legs.

From what the Catwoman got out of the whole experience was all of the islands' captured animals. The list consisted of: the four known black Siberian leopards in the world, a giant and thought to be dead boar, an exotic komodo dragon, a pair of extremely rare albino hyenas, a rare white rhino, and a pair of tasmanian tigers.

Harley apparently went nuts when hearing the tidbit on the hyenas as she wanted to keep them as her babies. But that wasn't meant to be as Selina transported the lot to the man who hired her for the job to safely transport to the animal sanctuary. He did show the credentials on what he was pitching and Selina acquired the money on her mission, which will be put towards well known animal sanctuaries around the world.

Talia wouldn't have minded on the gracious good act of it all, but it was the information as to who hired the ravenette thief: one Henri Ducard… One of the many alias' of her very own father: Ra's al Ghul.

Sometime after this bit of reveal, the Demon's Heir called her father and spoke to him as to the particular event. He was rather confused as to how his eldest daughter knew of this, which she explained her current predicament and reasons in Gotham. Ra's didn't mind in the end, but he told Talia on why he hired the infamous Catwoman for the job.

The leader of the League of Shadows learned of Kilgore's intention with the black Siberian leopards and wanted someone to acquire them and bring them to him in a delicate manner. He would've had several of his Shadows to do the mission, but Ra's remembered of Selina's thievery acts as she does it all towards the benefit of wildlife. So he got her to do the mission as she'd obviously use her acquired funds and quickly donate it all to wildlife charities.

What he didn't expect was the large surplus of rare and endangered animals. Ra's was extatic on Selina going up and beyond his expectations, thus paying her more for her services. And he'd obviously take the animals to his hidden preserve in the Amazon so the animals would slowly repopulate throughout the years. Not only that, but since Kilgore Steed was dead then Ra's had the opportunity to purchase the island for further plans.

'Wish he could've told Paula and Lawrence that he was coming so they could then inform me.' Talia thought as she was stepping out of the shower. She started to dry her slightly damp hair as her thoughts continued. 'Then again, I highly doubt he'd inform anyone on where he'd turn up, all in order to really test his operatives and forces unless necessary.'

By the time she finished getting dressed and stepped out of the one bedroom, her sinus' were assaulted by a pleasant smell. "Hmm~ What are you making?"

Hearing his former teacher's voice, he turned his head around and smiled. "I'm making parmesan heroes." He bent down and opened the oven before pulling out a pair of trays. "I made one with chicken, one with meatballs and one with eggplant."

"Eggplant?"

"Hey, don't judge me. Pam likes it a lot and she got me to try it." Placing the trays on top of the stove, he pulled his oven mitts away. "Gotta say, it was rather tasty and only have it every so often. So which ones would you like?"

Talia eyed the metal trays that have the sandwiches as she saw they were rather large and sauceless. The assassin looked a bit away and saw a pot with a ladle inside. This made her guess they were enough to be made for leftovers and so the sandwiches wouldn't be soggy when heated back up.

Humming a little, Talia gave her answer. "I'll take a meatball one."

He nodded and served her half of a the large meatball hero he made. The publisher was about to grab his own when his cell phone went off. Picking it up, he saw who it was and excused himself before answering. "Hey Lois, what's up?"

"Doing well Whiskers, yourself?"

"It's been fine." He answered with a smile. "Several ups and downs, but nothing too bad I think."

"Figured as much." Said the Daily Planet reporter.

"So why'd you call me anyways? I highly doubt it's just for my birthday, which was a few days ago, and you called me at the time."

"Which I wanted to do not only that, but also making sure if you got my present or not."

"Yeah I got them alright."

"Them?"

"Kitty Cat sent me one as well."

"Ah~ Gotcha."

Naruto chuckled at the mention of what he got from his old Daily Planet friends. It was after his birthday when he got them, due to his birthday being on a Sunday… so no mail. Lois merely sent him money as she didn't know what he had or not in his home and he appreciated the gesture. He was sure put it towards something good… once he got the issues with his ruined car resolved with the insurance company due to the other night.

As for Cat, she sent him something quite unexpected: a camera film. There was a written note inside of the envelope saying that Cat wanted him to develop what's inside of the film as she worked quite long to get these right. Feeling curious on what the film contained, he personally got them developed at work and they were really unexpected…

'Man oh man were they hot.' He thought with a hidden chuckle as he pictured the various risky photos of Cat on her bed in both lingerie and nude in his head. 'Didn't know she could bend those ways. Then again, she did take lots of yoga to help relieve stress.'

He called her up soon after and she giggled on the other end. Cat said she wanted to be sure he wasn't fully missing her and sent him the roll of film just to remind him on their relationship. This just added a bit more fuel on the fire in making him want to visit her sooner.

Getting out of his remembrance, Naruto spoke up. "So if it wasn't because of the gift you sent me, why'd you call me for?"

"Can't I just call you so I could say hi?"

"Knowing you, not really unless something came up."

"True."

"So what is it?"

"Well~ I got some interesting news and I'd thought you could be the first to find out."

"C'mon Lois, don't leave me hanging here. You're leaving me in suspense."

He heard her chuckle on the other end. "Perry decided to open up a branch in your neck of the woods."

Naruto blinked. "I'm sorry, but did you say Parry wants to make a Daily Planet branch here in Gotham?"

"Yep~"

"Why?"

"Perry said he got inspiration on what your doing with your company and thought he could expand in order to get certain stories done quicker on varied locations. Especially with that partnership you and Cat did with your respective companies."

"But why Gotham? Shouldn't he try to go to one of the other well known cities like Central City, Coast City, Gateway, or Midway where it's safer?"

"You'd have to take it up with him, Whiskers." She said with a possible shrug on the other end. "Regardless, you better be ready for some competition ever since you started to get into the newspaper business with your company."

The Uzumaki sighed. "Yeah… I guess so." He then scratched his head. "Do you know when he'll get a location set up here?"

"No clue." Said the reporter. "It's still rough on the details."

"Understandable."

"But this means I could be able to come visit you more often."

Naruto could feel her smirk on the other end, causing him to form his own. "That'll be interesting."

"Really? Just interesting?"

"Well it would also be fun and we could hang out like normal. And I'd show you around town to see what you would expect while being here."

"I'll take you up on that." Said the ravenette reporter. "Well I gotta go, Whiskers. Got an assignment to take care of and I'd like to finish up by day's end."

"That's fine and good luck on your end."

"Thanks. Later."

The phone call ended just when he heard the doorbell ring. 'Huh… Wonder who that is?' Briefly looking back at the kitchen, he saw Talia was still eating her meatball parmesan sandwich. 'Might as well see who it is.'

Walking to the front door, he opened it without checking the peephole. When it was opened all the way, Naruto got a good look on the person before he widened his hazel eyes in surprise.

It was a woman who was roughly his age and shorter than him by half a head. She had a features that strongly showed her Chinese/Arabic/Russian heritage. Her strong shade of brunette hair, borderline black, reached past her shoulders as they were slightly wavy on the sides. Her olive skin matched that of her brown eyes and held a mischievous feel in her gaze which fit quite well on her uneven lips. Asides from her physical appearance; the dark brunette wore a red shirt underneath a black jacket, blue jeans, and thigh high boots.

His mouth hanged opened before he spoke in surprise. "Nyssa?!"

The woman smirked. "Hello Naruto. Long time no see."

Hearing the name and voice got Talia quickly choke on her food. Clearing her throat, she whipped her head towards the loft entrance. There she saw… her sister.

Well more like half-sister. But still, her sister.

Standing up, Talia spoke. "What are you doing here, Nyssa?"

Turning her head towards the counter, the now identified Nyssa spoke. "Well nice seeing you too, Talia." She then looked back at the Uzumaki. "Isn't it quite rude to not invite me in?"

"Uh… Yeah." He moved to the side and ushered her in. "Come right in."

"Why thank you." Stepping further into the loft, Talia's younger sister scanned the area. "Nice place you got here." Soon a pleasant smell invaded her senses. "Mmm~ Something smells good."

"I just made parmesan heroes for lunch." Looking over to the stove, he looked back at Nyssa and asked her a question. "Wanna have some?"

"Sure, why not."

Naruto walked back into the kitchen with Nyssa sitting in one of the stools once placing her bag on the couch. "So do you want meatball, chicken or eggplant?"

Nyssa gave him a strange look on the last option. She then shrugged. "I'll go with eggplant." The younger sister saw him nod while fetching the meal before feeling Talia's gaze at her. "Yes?"

"You didn't say why you are here, Nyssa."

"Yeah, I'm wondering that as well." Said the publisher. "Not that I mind your rather sudden arrival at all."

"With us not seeing each other for roughly nine years? Yeah, I figured you'd question about that." Tilting her head towards her older sister's direction, Nyssa spoke. "You can thank Father for sending me here."

As Talia rose her brow, Naruto practically voiced her thoughts as he served Nyssa her meal. "I'm sorry, but your father sent you here?"

"Yes." She responded. The younger al Ghul took the sandwich in her hands and took a bite. Taking several chews, she gave out a pleasant hum. "This is really good."

"Why thank you."

"Been a long time since I had something you cooked."

"Obviously. But going back to your father…"

Nyssa then swallowed her bite. "Ah yes, right. Well he contacted and asked me to help get you back home after what happened."

'After what-' "You told him?" He asked Talia, who nodded. "Well ain't that awkward."

"Considerably." Said the younger daughter as she chowed down more of the delicious home cooked lunch.

Hazel eyes met blue-green. "And did you..."

"...Yeah…"

'Weeelll crap.' He thought as he grabbed his own meal and started chowing down. The silence in the air, minus the sounds of eating, was rather tense as he looked back at the two sisters. Naruto opened his mouth and tried to say something. "So-"

"Our Father and I appreciate what you've done for Talia in helping her on these past days from her injuries." Nyssa interrupted as she ate more of her meal.

"...Your welcome." Naruto soon felt the tense feeling in the air and wanted to break some of it away. A thought did come to mind for a topic. "How've you been since I last saw you?"

Nyssa placed the last bit of her food down and looked at the whiskered Uzumaki. "I've been doing well. Work keeps me busy and I see the world quite often."

The former shinobi nodded. "And how's your relationship with Sara?"

The younger al Ghul was caught off guard before quickly guessing who told him this fact. Nyssa didn't have to look at her sister to see the little smirk on her face as she finished up her meatball sandwich. Composing herself, the younger assassin spoke. "It's been quite well."

"Really? Just that?"

"Yes."

"Huh…"

…..

…..

"Sounds like your relationship is boring then."

Nyssa glared at him while Talia started to laugh a little.

"What?" He asked with his head tilted. "If you say 'it's just well' then it seems like it's rather boring."

Talia kept laughing at her sister's expense as Nyssa's eyebrow madly twitched. Taking a deep breath, the brown eyed woman spoke. "Okay, it's been quite nice since we started dating. Happy?"

Naruto smiled. "Very. From what I heard form Talia, Sara seemed to make you less stingy. And seeing you now seems to prove the point."

Nyssa rolled her eyes as she dug back into her meal.

"So did she come with you or not?"

"I'm afraid she didn't have time to come with me on this trip. But why'd you ask?"

"I would've liked to at least meet and know the woman that made you very happy." This got Nyssa to smile alongside her older sister. "Everyone deserves to find love in their life and during the time knowing you, you needed it quite badly."

The younger sister nodded. "I appreciate it, Naruto. She's one in a million and I feel very lucky to have her in my life."

"That's good."

It was then Talia spoke up. "So, sister, when does Father expect me to head back home?"

"The flight's in the morning."

The elder sister nodded as she felt saddened that her little vacation was now coming to an end. Talia hoped she could've spent more time with her former student. But it seemed she needed to get back home and back to work.

"So do you have anything to do for the day?"

Nyssa paused her eating and looked at Naruto in confusion. "No. What are you suggesting?"

The Uzumaki pulled out some tickets from his wallet and showed them to the younger assassin. "There's this magic show going on tonight and I wanted to take Rachel and Pam with me to go see it. Sadly Pam can't come because of work and Rachel has school in the morning" He playfully sighed in disappointment. "Would've been fun for them to go as I enjoyed seeing the show for the first time when I used to live in Metropolis years ago."

That's technically true as the botanist was currently at the Botanical Gardens for the day. But afterwards, Pam wanted to fully focus on the 'baby pods' back at her Greenhouse and continue more examinations. Naruto would've taken Selina, but she was out of town to help take care of certain businesses with the large surplus of money she acquired for several charities. Harley did come to mind, but she was pulling a double shift over in Arkham and she did voice her displeasure in not coming along.

"Who's this Rachel?"

"Naruto's ward." Talia quickly answered. "You'll probably meet her later today if you don't plan on running around all over the city by yourself."

"And Pam?"

"My/His girlfriend." Both Naruto and Talia said at the same time.

"Okay…" Nyssa finished the rest of her sandwich before giving her answer. "I don't see why not in coming along. Need something to keep me entertained." Wiping the crumbs from her mouth a thought came to mind. "But what about beforehand?"

"I'm sure we can think of something." Came Naruto's response as Talia nodded in agreement.

-Evening, Gotham Mint-

In front of Gotham's treasury building, a simply large stage was set up. Spotlights were stationed all around for both the theatricality and lighting up the seemingly darkened part of the city. There was even two large video screens onto the sides to help project the footage of tonight's performance for those that can't see quite clearly onto the stage. Now normally there would be various other lights turned on. But the one that was about to perform requested the surrounding buildings to keep their lights off until the show's end.

"This is quite the crowd." Nyssa said as she, her sister, and Naruto walked towards the grounds. The small group wore semi-formal wear as both Talia and Nyssa didn't bring anything remotely formal on their trip here.

"With many elite Gothamites attending, why wouldn't it?" Said the Uzumaki as the younger sister nodded.

Things were rather nice during her visit her in Gotham. It had been quite a while since Nyssa was last here as she came her roughly seven years ago for an assignment. And prior to that was when her Father brought her here, as a child, for a lesson on why the League needs to help cleanse the world of it's filth. So it went well to see how much had changed on the visuals.

Nyssa had been shown some of the sights and acted like she never been here before so she wouldn't give away her cover. One of her favorite spots they went to was the Botanical Gardens. There she saw the wide plethora of flora that would have secured a place back at Infinity Island with it's beauty and odd rarity, even the millenia old tree that predated man. It was also there where Nyssa was introduced to Pamela as she was quite interesting to converse with.

Asides from this, the younger al Ghul was able to meet Rachel when her guardian needed to pick her up from school. It was rather funny seeing Alsiyada (Huntress) freaking out when said woman saw her from inside Naruto's car. She did get a laugh out of the situation before they hanged out in his loft for a while before coming to this evening's event.

But during her time here, Nyssa couldn't help but notice these odd white, lanky creatures floating around the rooftops. They were quite easily missed to the untrained eye, but to her and her sister they were barely able to see them. The sisters privately chatted of them realizing they saw Vanitas' odd summons while wondering why they seemed to be following them during the entire day.

It would be a question neither would find out right away.

When the group tried to find available seats, they ran into a pair of men. One was in a driver's attire and the other- "Oh hey, Bruce, Alfred." Naruto said with a cheerful grin. "Nice running into you two here."

The billionaire and his faithful butler turned around and smiled when seeing the Uzumaki here. It was Bruce who spoke first. "Nice to see you here as well, Naruto." The billionaire then took notice of a pair of women he never seen before. He figured they were sisters with some similarities they both had. Bruce then wondered who they were and what their relation was with his friend as the older one seemed to be a bit closer to the Uzumaki. "Mind introducing me to your friends, Naruto?"

"Ah, right." Moving away slightly, he briefly waved his hands towards the sisters. "Bruce, Alfred, this here is Talia and her younger sister Nyssa. They're visiting from out of town for the day and I invited them for this show. Naruto then moved again. "Talia, Nyssa, this here is a good friend of mine, Bruce Wayne. And this fine chap is Alfred Pennyworth."

The dark haired billionaire held out his hand towards the younger sister first. "Nice to meet you."

Nyssa smiled slightly as she shook his hand. "You as well."

As the handshake ended, Bruce soon shook Talia's hand as Nyssa shook Alfred's. It seemed rather firm and tight than he would've expected and raised an internal brow. "My, that's quite a grip you've got."

"With what work I do, it helps for me to have one."

"And what kind of work is that?"

"Revolves around environmental and wildlife as part of the family business." Was Talia's answer. It was merely a partial truth with what her Father's goal is as a whole.

Bruce smiled a bit as they ended the handshake. The three men walked away to help find seats while the sisters hanged back a bit so neither would be noticed of the little absence. It was then that Nyssa spoke up when they were alone. "So that was him, huh?"

"Indeed he is."

The younger sister briefly looked at Talia with a raised brow. "Surprised you didn't want to kill him on what he pulled on you."

"I'm rather tempted."

Nyssa chuckled. "Yet you have to restrain yourself as Father has interests in him." Talia didn't say anything at this point, which was rather clear that Talia didn't like the idea at all. "There's also Vanitas, you know."

"Yes, I know." She said with slight disdain.

"...Something the matter?" Nyssa didn't get a vocal response. All that she got was a long stare. Following the line of sight, Nyssa saw her older sister looking towards the silver haired Uzumaki. It didn't take long for her to realize on what the gaze meant exactly. "You love him, don't you?"

"...Yes, I do."

Their conversation ended as the pair heard music in the air and saw the spotlights moving around. They realized the show was going to start soon. It didn't take long for them to find their seats alongside Naruto, Bruce and Alfred. And by the time they got themselves situated, someone's voice was heard through the loudspeakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for magic!"

Out of nowhere, a large plumb of pinkish smoke appeared on the stage. By the time it cleared up, a woman was sitting on a sheet covered box. Upon her reveal, the audience clapped for her arrival.

She was a woman in her mid-late twenties with straight raven black hair reaching past her shoulders with bowl-cut bangs. The ravenette was currently wearing a black magician's tuxedo attire with a white button up shirt and bowtie underneath a blue corset to hike up her generous breasts. From there, she had a pair of white gloves, a top hat, black heeled shoes and a pair of black pants which replaced black nylons. Yet the leggings did her justice as they formed around her legs quite nicely.

"Good evening, Gotham! I'm Zatanna, Mistress of Magic!" She said with a smile as the audience applauded for her introduction. Hopping off the sheet covered box, she pulled the material off to reveal nothing was underneath it at all. Yet a variety of doves flew out underneath to please the crowd even more.

The female magician smiled towards the crowd as she walked towards the edge of the stage. Whipping her arm to the side, a wand appeared when she took off her hat. Waving her instrument over the headpiece, a large bouquet of flowers popped out.

"Tonight, I can promise you a few surprises." Zatanna said as a large rattlesnake slithered out of the hat, causing many to gasp in fright. The female magician paid the threat no mind as she continued speaking. "A thrill or two along the way." With another wave of her wand, the bouquet of flowers and the snake glowed in a purplish aura before they turned into multicolored bubbles. "And with luck, a happy ending."

The audience ate it up as they applauded once more as the Mistress of Magic started performing several spells and illusions left and right.

"How long has it been, Master Bruce?" Asked the Wayne butler in a low tone. "Thirteen years? Forteen? Fifteen?"

"All that and another lifetime." Said the dark haired billionaire.

Naruto was able to hear this and spoke up. "Wait, you know her Bruce?" He saw his friend nod. "How?"

It was Alfred who answered. "He met them on his travels before coming back to Gotham." Looking back at the stage, they saw Zatanna pull off her white gloves and crumpled them into fine powder before blowing the dust away. Said dust then formed into a spectral image as it floated around several audience members. "In fact, both her and her father was quite fond of him."

"I was a different person then."

Without missing a beat, the Pennyworth man continued to speak. "Yes. Intense, driven, moody. She'd never recognize him now."

Naruto stiffened a laugh while Bruce rolled his eyes on his old friend's bit of humor. Yet his blue eyes landed towards one of his oldest companions as small memories flooded his mind.

When the spectral image returned to her, they reformed back into her white gloves as she smiled at the audience. "Now open your heart to magic and become a child again."

-Flashback, 15 Years Ago; San Diego, California-

...Hanging upside down, Bruce Wayne was tied up in a straight jacket with chains wrapped around both inside and outside of the clothed confinement.

Standing not far away from him was an older man. He was in his early-mid forties as his blackened hair started to grey on the sides. The only form of facial hair was his moustache as it seemed to fit the tuxedo attire he currently wore. Though it was a little loose, at the current time, as the older man forgone his jacket to show the sleeves were rolled up.

This was John Zatara, Master of Magic.

Giving the younger man another look around with his blue eyes, Zatara spoke as he pulled out his pocket watch. "Now remember: concentration and control." He saw Bruce nod his head. "Focus on them, and you can master any escape." Flipping over the watch's covering, John held out his hand. "Annnnd….. Go."

Bruce started to move about in his constraints. The inner locks had to go first, which were quite easy. Next came the straight jacket as several buckles had to be carefully unfastened without fully touching them. And it wasn't long before the clothed confinement slipped off his person as Bruce quickly worked on the rope and chains holding onto his legs. He then fell to the ground, which he quickly reacted by heaving his weight so he'd land onto his feet.

Zatara smiled at this spoke to the youngster. "Congratulations, John. You've beaten your old time by six seconds." Placing his pocket watch away, Zatara placed his hand on 'John's' shoulder. "Yes. You've got the makings of a great magician. Or at least a good illusionist." The magician then sighed a little. "I'm sorry you're going to be moving on."

'John' nodded as his voice held a small hint of sadness. "Same here. It was an honor to study with you, Zatara."

"But to what end? Three months ago you appeared on my doorstep with no interest in performing. And yet you were dying to become an escape artist." The older man formed a small smile. "And for some reason, I wound up teaching you secrets I'd never shown another magician. Well except for my daughter."

"You could've sent me away."

Zatara merely shook his head 'no'. "There was something inside you I had no right to deny." The pair soon walked off of the little platform and came across one of the onstaged props. "Something deep… and painful. After all, I would be foolish to assume I was the only one with secrets. Eh, John Smith?"

Bruce smiled a little as 'John Smith' was merely an alias of his during his travels. 'John' held out his hand, which Zatara took in kind. "Thanks for everything, sir. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

The aging magician nodded. "I'll miss you too, John." Ending the handshake, Zatara briefly looked at the magical box before he quickly banged at it's side. This resulted in a small yelp to be heard as a figure fell out of the magic prop's door, who Bruce quickly caught. "And so, I trust, will Zatanna."

"Uh… Hi, Daddy." She said in an embarrassed tone as her eavesdropping was found out.

Zatara was a young and beautiful teenage girl as her body started to mature like it was truly impatient in moving forward. This would've fooled others as she could've been sixteen or seventeen if it wasn't for the fact that she was barely thirteen, going on forteen.

Blame the strong family genetics from her late-mother's side.

Her curley raven black hair reached past her shoulders as they would've bounced at each of her steps if it wasn't in a ponytail. She also wore loose jeans and a purple sweater with tennis shoes which held her developing figure. And her blue eyes held much love, innocence and joy.

Zatara chuckled as he walked away from the room. "Good night, children."

Once the aging magician was gone, Zatanna hopped out of 'John's' arms. Her cheerful appearance shifted to one of sadness. "I… I thought you'd be finishing the tour with us."

"I'm sorry, but I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow." Bruce said. "There's still a lot I have to learn."

The ravenette teen rolled her eyes. "Boy, that's you. One big serious schoolboy." She then walked over to the nearby table and grabbed the deck of cards. "No time in your life for fun or magic." Zatanna then quickly shuffled the cards before forming a fan and presenting them to 'John'. "Here, pick a card. I'll tell your future." He picked a random one as she turned around so she wouldn't look. "Hmm… I see emotion, intensity… Two of Hearts!"

Zatanna looked back at her crush and expected to see the spoken card. Yet all she saw was… Joker. Zatanna scoffed a little and threw her cards away. "Ohh~ it's a dumb trick anyway."

Bruce looking at Zatanna, who was walking off stage. "Look, I don't know the future, but I know I'll see you again someday, Zanna."

The teenage girl chuckled a little. "You're the only one who ever calls me Zanna. I really hate it." She turned around and saw him not coming close to her. "No goodbye hug?" Bruce saw the little desperation in her gaze. He complied, came to her and gave her a firm hug. "See. It's not so bad."

"I'll write you."

"No, you won't."

"I promise."

"You can't."

"And why not?"

"Cause I locked your hands to the wall." She laughed out.

He ended the hug and looked at her in confusion. Bruce then felt something cold around his wrist and tugged. There he saw that Zatanna somehow handcuffed his wrist with one of the toughest locks her father had for the show.

"What?"

The ravenette girl merely smiled like she won a big prize. "Looks like someone's missing their plane tomorrow." She walked away from him and didn't look back as sounds of metal meeting metal filled the air. "If you were any kind of escape artist, you'd be out of those cuffs and through the door by now."

The sounds then stopped, causing her to stiffen. Her blue eyes started to well up in tears. Hanging her head low, she didn't need to look back to see the man she grew to have feelings for escaped and left her behind.

"Now you see him… Now you don't."

-Flashback End-

Zatanna looked at 'John's' form in the audience as a small tear escaped her eye on seeing him again. She would've shed more, but years of stage performing made her keep up the current act as she smiled towards the audience. They did go back to her old friend's place before looking over to who was sitting next to him. She blushed on how handsome he was compared to the man beside him. From the silvery locks, the strong hazel eyes and the feral looking whisker birthmarks.

Getting a little mischievous look on her face, she waved her wand as a large bouquet formed in her grasp. The magician tossed the arrangement of flowers and her aim held true as they fell into... Naruto's unsuspecting lap.

"What the-"

Seeing this, Bruce laughed alongside the others in their applause. "Careful Naruto." The dark haired billionaire playfully warned as he nudged his friend's side. "Be grateful that wasn't a wedding bouquet or else you'd be needing to marry soon."

Naruto twitched his eye and jabbed back. "Well I would probably get married sooner than you, Bruce." He said, not noticing Talia's slight change of expression on hearing that comment. Feeling odd in having the flower arrangement in his grasp, he turned to his former teacher and held them out for her. "Will you marry me?" He asked in a jokeful tone.

Talia seemed to brighten greatly and smiled back. "I would love to." She took the bouquet and smelled them as she internally squealed in excitement. "Thank you, my husband."

From her seat, Nyssa couldn't help but facepalm on what Naruto just did… and what exactly that meant for him now. 'Oh God. If Father were to hear of this.'

Bruce rolled his eyes and smirked at Naruto's and Talia's little act before his blue eyes seemingly met with those of the Mistress of Magic. He could feel her gaze right at him and could tell she noticed him after all this time.

Zatanna focused back towards the audience as her smile was kept up. "Thank you." She waved her wand at the curtain as it briefly glowed and parted away to show the Gothamites the Gotham Mint. "You know I have this little problem with money. Seems like it disappears before I even make it." Holding her hand out towards the side of the stage, she motioned for a pair of men to come on up. "And here to help demonstrate are Mr. Irving Fauncewater, director of the Gotham Mint, and noted magic debunker Dr. Montague Kane."

The bank director was a aging and balding man as he wore a simple cream colored suit. As for the magic debunker, he as of slicked blackened hair with a matching goatee as he wore a simple black tux.

As the men got closer, Zatanna spoke up. "Welcome for coming, gentlemen."

"Miss Zatanna." Said the sophisticated looking man.

"This is so exciting." Irving said in a slight giddy tone. He did miss his step and fell forward, in which Zatanna caught him.

"Let me guess, first time on stage, Irv?" She asked, which he merely blushed a little. "Nothing like enthusiasm, right, folks?"

The audience laughed at this.

Montague didn't seem all that impressed. "The way they're responding, one would think your ridiculous stunt's going to work."

Zatanna merely rolled her eyes. "Just to clue you in folks, Monty here makes a living exposing magicians' secrets."

"Simple tricks and nonsense." The man said out loud.

Naruto thought overwise as he could tell the 'illusions' Zatanna was using was actual magic. He would know as he saw Jason Blood and his ward show him several times. Especially the later when training his ward back in the loft.

The magician continued. "And I've invited him here to find the secret of the feat I'm attempting tonight."

"There is no secret." Argued the debunker. "What you're proposing is flat-out impossible."

Zatanna shot back the man a look that practically screamed 'watch me' before looking back at the audience. "Well folks, impossible is what I'm all about." She then spoke towards the bank manager. "Mr. Fauncewater, would you kindly open the doors for us, please?"

Fauncewater nodded and motioned for his security to open the Mint's entrance. Many people looked onward, and onto the nearby screens, to see a large pile of money set in the center of the bank with a display of three large coins set behind the money.

"Ten million dollars and the means to make it." Spoke the magician. "Now take a good look, because you know what they say about money: Easy come easy go!" Zatanna focused power into her wand as she chanted a spell. "Raeppasid morf ruo thgis! (Disappear from our sight!)"

Yellow lightning shot out from her wand and struck the building entirely. From top to bottom, it glowed a multi-colored aura as it was soon covered in a field of pink smoke. Once it cleared, the Gotham Mint was gone!

The audience loved the act as they applauded and cheered. Many were flabbergasted on what just happened and wondered how the magician pulled it off. Was it merely an illusion or was it actual magic.

For Naruto, he knew what Zatanna did exactly and how she casted it.

From what he heard from Rachel the other day when she was doing her magical homework was a certain brand of magic that derives from speaking spells backwards. The original practitioners of this craft were the Homo Magus or Homo Magi, a sub-race of naturally magic-wielding humans. They existed for just as long as the human race, but due to their special traits, they didn't expand as the Homo sapiens.

As time went on, the Homo Magus' eventually started to breed with normal humans, resulting in many generations of Homo Magi turned to Homo sapiens. As the number of pure Homo Magi dwindled, they decided to recede and went into hiding throughout the world.

And to the Uzumaki it seemed that Zatanna is either a descendant, one of them, or was taught by them as the later would've taken years to perfect.

Off to the side, Montague clapped and nodded towards the performer. "Bravo, my dear. It was a pleasure to be proven wrong."

Zatanna smirked, feeling she finally got the upperhand on the debunker. "Why thank you, Monty." The magician turned towards the audience. "And now, just so Irv doesn't have a fit, I'll bring it back good as new." She pointed her wand back at the vacant spot. "Nruter ot ruo thgis! (Return to our sight!)"

Once again, yellow lightning shot out from her wand and struck the vacant ground. Pink smoke formed in the area and the building returned from whence it came. Everyone cheered once more on the display…

But voices of concern rose as the ten million dollars was missing.

"The money. Where's the money?!" Irving called out.

Zatanna smiled as she didn't look back. "What do you mean 'Where's the money?'." She said as she slowly turned to the Gotham Mint. "It's right there… What the-."

The Mint director was quickly losing his nerve and came up to the magic performer, who held up he hands in defense in hopes of calming him down. "What have you done with it?!"

"Now take it easy, Irv. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation."

Dr. Kane leaned forward and had a smirk on his face that set Zatanna on edge. "I'm sure the audience would like to hear it. As would the police."

"Now, wait a minute."

The Mint director wasn't going to wait as he yelled out. "Police, police!"

The audience grew worried and concerned on what was happening as security and the GCPD was quickly arriving onto the stage to apprehend the Mistress of Magic.

As the police surrounded her, she tried to speak. "I don't know what went wrong, but if we can all just calm down for a second- HEY!" She was interrupted when one of the officers placed the handcuffs around her wrists.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you…" Said one of the officers as he continued telling Zatanna her Miranda Rights. The audience started to stand up in response in either defending her or accusing her on what happened to the money.

And several audience members grew worried on the display, mainly one Bruce Wayne.

When being hauled off stage and escorted to the paddy wagon, Zatanna couldn't help but hang her head low and muttered under her breath. "This never happens to me in Vegas."

The audience was slowly disbursing and moving away as many of the Mint's patrons went up and voiced their concerns if their money is still kept safe or if it was still a trick as some examples.

With Bruce, he narrowed his eyes at the scene as his hands tightened in response.

"She's been set up." Said the publisher as he came up to his friend.

"Obviously, but as she's the only suspect." Alfred stated. "And the police must hold her for questioning."

"Thus giving the real thief time to escape." Said the dark haired billionaire. "I can't let that happen."

Naruto spoke up his thoughts. "And more important, you can't desert an old friend." He briefly looked back at his two old friends and remembered some of the past times with them that he did what he could for them when they were in trouble.

"Are you coming along, Naruto?"

The Uzumaki sighed. "I don't know if I could help you on this, Bruce. It would be suspicious if I left them behind suddenly. Maybe later if the opportunity arises."

The Wayne nodded as both he and Alfred made their way to the car so Bruce can quickly change into his other 'evening' attire.

With the publisher, he walked back to the sisters and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry things turned out like this. I didn't expect the show to end so abruptly."

"You're quite alright, Naruto." Talia defended. "No show or performance is perfect." Nyssa nodded in agreement.

"So what should we do now for the remainder of the night?" He asked.

It was the younger al Ghul who answered. "As much as I'd like to do other things since the show was cut short, Naruto, I think it would be good if I took Talia with me to the hotel I'm staying. Both of us need to leave first thing in the morning and it's going to be a long trip."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "That's fine." He said as he didn't notice Talia shooting her younger sister a small glare. "We should probably run back to my place to grab her things before I drop you two off."

Nyssa nodded once more as she saw her old acquaintance walk ahead. She was about to follow when Talia pulled her back. "Yes, sister?"

"What are you up to, Nyssa? Neither of us are really tired and we can have sleep for short hours."

"I know that, but Naruto doesn't need to know."

"About what?"

"I would like to maybe go around the city and kill off several low lifes like what we used to do." Came the younger sister's answer. "We haven't done anything of the sort for quite some time and I thought we could use some good sibling bonding time." She moved forward with her older sister not far behind. "And don't worry, I grabbed your 'evening' wear from the safehouse so you wouldn't miss out."

-On the Streets-

Inside of the GCPD paddy wagon, Zatanna was contemplating her life in the given situation. Things were doing so well for her and nothing seemed to drag her down from her high. She did falter a little when seeing 'John' again, in the audience, after all these years. The ravenette had hoped that once the show was over, she could talk to him and at least catch up with either some coffee or tea. Hoping to see if she could maybe stick around a little longer and see if he still cared for her or not.

Maybe seeing if she could chat with that whiskered hunk while doing so as it seemed both he and 'John' were good friends. She somewhat knew the man's name, yet it kept escaping her like her father's old 'illusionary' tricks.

Regardless, this latest performance changed her plans as things went all downhill.

'What the hell did I do wrong?' She thought as she leaned her head against the metallic wall. 'Everything was perfect. The spell was right and both the building and money disappeared. Got the building back into place, but not the money…'

Zatanna then looked at the handcuffs. She could easily get out of them and escape. But doing so would make things harder for her with the police and would make her even more guilty.

'If only I had my wand, then things could've been easier. Without it, then I-'

Her thoughts were abruptly ended as she heard a slight thud from the top of the armored vehicle. Part of a latch opened up and showed a darkened figure. She gasped as she saw the infamous Batman.

'Holy-'

The bat-themed hero hoped through the hole and quickly uncuffed her. Before she could properly respond to this, the Bat got her out and placed her shotgun in his batmobile.

Zatanna was amazed on seeing the interior of the infamous vehicle as it would've costed a fortune to make. All that she could say about it was... "Nice car."

"Thanks." Was the short response.

"I didn't love the idea of spending the night in jail, but what you did makes me a fugitive." She sighed while looking out of the window. "I believe I'm looking at prison time now."

"I heard about the mint robbery. I can prove you didn't do it."

Zatanna glanced back at the costumed hero. "Why do you care about some leggy dame in nylons? Which I'm not wearing, by the way. Or have I answered my own question?"

Batman looked over, turned the wheel and parked his car. "If you want to go it alone, I can-"

"No, no. I'm sorry." She quickly said, thus getting Batman to slowly turn his car back onto the road. "I'm just having a bad day."

The hero could relate. "I'm sure whoever framed you knew how your trick was done."

"Which I highly doubt that's possible."

"...Regardless, they may have left a clue at the Mint."

-Gotham Mint-

The police were patrolling the grounds for anything suspicious. With the performance earlier, the GCPD were on high alert. Even more so when Zatanna Zatara escaped from the poppy wagon before it got back to the precinct.

When the last of the guards left the main hall of the Mint, the skylight from the ceiling opened up. A rope was thrown in soon after as Zatanna slid down with Batman following.

"This place is surrounded by cops." She said as her eyes wandered all over. "Are you sure we might have enough time for clues?"

"Just relax." He said as he tapped the side of his cowl for his Detective Vision to kick in.

Walking towards the room's center, Zatanna spoke up. "This here is where the money was."

Batman got to her spot and looked towards the floor before kneeling down for a closer. "There are a series of lines scrapped into the floor." He then felt something against his fingertips and found something else. "Whatever it was-was large enough to leave them behind along with very small shards of glass."

"That would have been one mighty big piece of glass." She said before an idea dawned on her. "Or a mirror."

"Like the one you used to reflect the hologram of the vanished Mint."

Zatanna scoffed. "Not really."

Batman got up and started moving around. "Mind explaining then?"

"Sure, the idea is good and all if I was more of a standard illusionist." Said the magician. "But I don't like hogging around easily breakable objects if it costs me to replace them each and every other show."

"Then what do you explain on what you did earlier."

"Oh, it was actual magic Mr. Dark Knight." She stated. He looked back at her and seemed to raise a brow under his cowl, making her raise her brow as well. "What? You thought magic wasn't real?"

"In my line of work, I tend to see for the facts."

It was then a voice was heard from up high. "Well I hate to burst your bubble, Batman, but it's absolutely real." The pair looked up to see Vanitas sliding down the rope. Getting back up, he waved at the dark haired magician. "Hiya, name's Vanitas."

Before Zatanna could return the greeting, Batman spoke up. "Why would you think that?"

The helmeted vigilante formed a stack of cards into his hand before performing a series of tricks. "Then how do you explain this?" The cards then formed as one and expanded into human proportions. "Or this?" One of the card fell over and consumed Vanitas' form before falling onto the floor. Zatanna was curious, bent down and flipped the card over to see the helmeted hero waving at her. "Or what about this?"

"Your meta-powers." Came Batman's bland answer.

The magician could feel Vanitas rolling his eyes behind his glass-domed helm before the large card poofed into smoke where the hero laid there. "Of course you'd say that Batsy." Vanitas then saw Zatanna hold her hand out to get him onto his feet. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're welcome." She started to move around him and gave him a decent exception. "You are quite interesting."

"Excuse me?"

"You have an interesting power radiating off of you." Zatanna then started poking him on several places, which seemed to bug him a little. "It's faint but it seems like magic or something of that nature."

Vanitas slapped her hand away as she started poking his chest. "Please stop that."

"Heh, sorry."

Batman was feeling tired of this and wanted to move back into the current subject of things. "Can we focus please?" This got Vanitas and Zatanna to get back into things. "Regardless if you didn't use a mirrored hologram, I think the money was stolen sometime before your performance." Following the scraps on the floor to the large coin display, his explanation continued. "The thief reflected a hologram of the cash while you did your trick. Then quickly hid the mirror when it was over."

"How'd he get rid of a mirror that big?" Asked the ravenette.

"He didn't." Without any warning, he grasped part of the large coin display and pulled. A small rip was heard as both Vanitas and Zatanna saw a shiny surface underneath. "It's still here, all in plain sight."

"Who's in here?" Came the sudden call, causing the Caped Crusader and magician to stiffen. "Hold it and stay where you are."

"Make us." Was Vanitas' response.

Before the man could react quick enough, the masked Uzumaki shot forward and grasped the officer's head. A faint glow was seen by the others before Vanitas let go. The man stayed in place and didn't react to anything at all.

"What did you-" "We should probably get going guys." Vanitas interrupted Zatanna as he grasped her and Batman's hands. "The effect won't last long." A large card was formed underneath them before lifting itself off the ground and shot forward as the group phased right through the Gotham Mint and into the sky.

Zatanna recomposed herself and smirked. "Nice trick you did there."

"Thanks." He sent her a hidden smile, which she possibly figured through his slight change of body language.

Shaking her head a little, Zatanna scrunched her face a little in thought. "Whoever did that mirror trick must've been someone who really knows the method."

"Like Montague Kane." Said the Dark Knight.

The magician nodded in disdain. "He's been ripping off illusionists for years. And when I was coming here, I had originally thought of performing typical illusionist tricks. But when I realized he was living here in Gotham-"

"You decided to pull off the kiddy gloves." Vanitas finished off to which Zatanna nodded. "Magic is really hard to explain and pull off. So using your powers, you hoped to out dupe him and screw him over."

"Which apparently he decided to screw me over instead."

Batman narrowed his eyes on more of the information. "Vanitas and I will settle with Kane." He said, causing the pair to look at him. "In the meantime, he'll have to better drop you someplace safe."

"Oh, no you don't." She said with a scowl. "Kane played me for a sap, and I'll see him go down for it."

"You two do realize I'm driving this thing, right?" Spoke up the masked Uzumaki. "Driver gets to well drive and passengers need to follow or something along those lines." He then looked over at his brooding friend. "So what's it gonna be Batsy, wanna help settle the score or what?"

With the stares now directed to him, Batman sighed. "All right, but it could be dangerous." He then heard Zatanna say a successful 'Yes' before he continued. "But are you sure there's no one you want to call first? Friends, family… a husband, maybe?"

The ravenette let out a small scoff. "Me? Who's got time for a relationship when you pull rabbits out of a hat 52 weeks a year?"

'Sheesh. Talk about dedicated to your work.' Vanitas thought.

The woman then sighed with a downcasted look as they flew over the Gotham Bridge. "Besides, someone's got to keep the old act going now that dad's gone."

Batman was saddened to hear this as it was complete news to him. He heard John Zatara retired some years back but didn't know he passed away. "I'm sorry." Said the Bat.

"Why?"

"I saw him perform when I was younger. He was great." Was the Caped Crusader's response. "Made me really appreciate the illusionists back in the day."

Zatanna smiled. "Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it." She then looked over to the Bat and rose a brow. "You know, I have the weirdest feeling we've met before."

The Dark Knight looked away from her gaze. "I just have that kind of face."

Vanitas snorted on the answer and thought to himself. 'Of course you'd say that, Bruce.'

-Outside of Gotham, Montague Kane Estate-

"...Well ain't this goddy." Muttered the helmeted hero.

"Tell me about it." Spoke the magician as the group approached the estate. "I would say this fits Kane quite well."

"Large, dark and trying to obvious compensate on several aspects in his life."

Zatanna smirked as Vanitas phased them through one of the walls to end up in Montague's gallery. All around the room lied displays of various illusionist artifacts and tricks the man debunked. To the three, it was quite obvious they were his trophies on ruining the careers of others.

When passing through several corridors, they also looked at the decorations as each didn't really seem to fit well with each other. All this got was Vanitas and Zatanna to comment more on Montague's lack of taste and decor.

At one point of their search, the three heard Kane's voice resounding throughout the halls. "It would seem I have guests." Snapping themselves to attention, the three moved forward and eventually found the firelite study where Montague was hiding. "Come in and join me by the fire." The group inched closer into the room as the man seemed to mock them. "Come, come. Don't be shy. You've obviously unraveled my little scheme and I would congratulate you face to face."

Zatanna wasn't going to have it any longer as she lunged forward. "You're not going to have a face when I'm done with you. You slimy-" When she flipped the chair around, she gasped a little in seeing a mannequin in his place with a tape recorder in it's lap.

"It's a trap!" Spoke the Bat as he pulled his old friend back.

Though it was too late as the floor beneath them opened up and the three fell in with the mannequin and chair falling inside soon after. It wasn't much of a large drop as they went down to another level. Needing to give a good source of light, Batman pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. Looking around, the three saw the walls were lined with spikes.

"A trifle clichéd, I know, but effective nonetheless." Was Montague's voice coming from the tape recorder. "And while you briefly savor your fleeting triumph, I am winging towards more comfortable surroundings. Adieu." When the recording ended, the walls started to move and close in on them.

"I have an idea." Vanitas said as he quickly formed his ice shield and slammed it down to the ground.

Zatanna could feel power radiating from the newly made shield and seeing it's affects once making contact with the metal surface. Ice shards started to form before spikes show out and impacted the walls. They groaned and held in place as the gears were now working overtime in hopes of moving forward.

"I don't know if they'll last long, but I don't want to find out." Spoke the Dark Knight. He then turned to his friend. "Mind giving us a lift?"

Vanitas nodded as a card platform formed underneath their feet. Unlike last time, Zatanna braced herself as it moved upwards and got them out of the trap. Just in time too as the ice gave way and the spiked walls crushed into each other.

"Huh. And here I thought I knew how to make a good exit." She said as the platform disappeared.

"Unfortunately, so did Kane." Was the Bat's comment.

"But where would be hiding now?" Vanitas asked.

Batman thought about this as his eyes wandered the room. It appeared that Montague had a fascination with planes. Upon a closer inspection to some of his possessions were modeled seaplanes. There was even a photo of him in front of an extremely large seaplane, which was rather costly to acquire.

"...And while you briefly savor your fleeting triumph, I am winging toward more comfortable surroundings. Adieu."

Widening his eyes, the Detective looked towards Vanitas and Zatanna whom were trying to search for clues. "I know where to find him."

The magician widened her eyes. "Really? Where?"

"Come on." Was all Batman said as he ran out of the room. "The show's not over yet."

-Gotham Pier-

Upon the large state of the art seaplane, Montague Kane was sipping wine in the dining hall. He felt rather triumphant on the pleasant heist he pulled earlier this evening. Kane was able to rob the Gotham Mint and was able to quickly put the blame on the so called Mistress of Magic. Bah! There was no such thing as magic and he's ruined many careers with his own.

Montague would have celebrated his success here in Gotham, but then reports of Zatanna escaping the GCPD reached his ears back in his estate. He knew it was a matter of time before she could've tracked him down for revenge. Oh and lets not forget that he took her so called 'magic wand' as a trophy since he'd be leaving his other ones back in his Gotham estate.

So here he is in his large seaplane, ready to take off with ten million dollars in the safe to parts unknown so not even the illustrious Zatanna Zatara can find her.

Finishing off his glass, Montague saw they were taking off into the air. Hoisting his empty glass, the debunker spoke in a jolly tone. "Take a last longing look, gentlemen.

We're heading to a place where the climate's warmer, the people friendlier and the extradition laws are nonexistent."

"Sorry, but the only place you're heading to is a prison cell." Came an unsuspecting voice. Both Montague and his hired help quickly turned and saw Batman and Vanitas stepping out of the darkened hallway.

"Ah~ Well done, Batman. And you too, Vanitas." Was Kane's sophiscated response as his men pulled out their guns. "You not only eluded my trap, but solved my clue as well." Quickly standing up, the debunker narrowed his glance. "Get rid of him."

With the order, the men started firing at the two heroes. Each rolled out of the way and ran towards the respective sides of the group to take them out. They were quite easy to knock out as they seemed rather pathetic.

As his men fought the two vigilantes, Montague ran off in hopes of alluding them. Coming across the nearby door, he opened it and tried to enter without looking. Though he should have noticed was already there as he received a punch to his face.

Rubbing his sore jaw, the debunker saw Zatanna glare at him as she cracked her knuckles. "Oh, Monty. You fell for the second-oldest trick in the book. And here's the first!" And with a well placed kick, the magician sent Montague back a few feet. "God that felt good."

Looking to the side, Zatanna was about to run over and help Batman and Vanitas out with Montague's men. It didn't take her several feet before she tripped over as she felt someone snag her leg. Looking back, the ravenette saw the debunker holding onto her ankle and keeping her in place.

When the two vigilantes were done with the hired goons, they heard Montague speak up. "I would stand down if I were you!" Turning to the source, both heroes saw Zatanna get hoisted up by the thief with a knife towards her throat. "You best keep your distance or her life is forfeit."

The two heroes didn't want to risk Zatanna's life. Without having to speak to each other, the pair slowly held up their hands as some groaning henchmen came up and cuffed them.

Seeing this happen, Montague smiled and turned to face his female captive. "You are most engaging, my dear." She turned her head and gave him a nasty glare as she struggled against his knife against her throat. "Beautiful, impetuous. I could be persuaded to spare you, if properly implored."

Zatanna didn't like hearing what the debunker was suggesting. It was vile. Revolting! She did have an answer to his suggestion by lifting her foot and quickly slamming her heeled shoe onto his foot, causing him to yelp in pain.

Infuriated on turning down his offer, the illusionist wrecker gave a nasty glare and slapped Zatanna across her face. "You bitch!" Turning to his men, he gave an order. "Bring them all to the hanger!"

It took several minutes for the group to end up in the hanger. Both heroes would've tried to escape, but Zatanna was held at knife point and neither wanted to leave her behind. And when they reached the hangar, the three were confined together in heavily chained in hopes neither of them would escape their bonds. Vanitas would've phased them right through, but couldn't as he noticed he had power dampening cuffs on his wrists.

'No doubt Montague purchased them on the black market or some shady dealer.' Was the masked publisher's thought.

Sitting on a nearby crate, the debunker looked on with a smirk on his face. "With all reverence for the departed, Zatara himself couldn't escape those locks." Moving from his place, one of the goons walked forward and started flipping switches to the hangar door. "Still, between the three of you, you might be able to loosen a few chains before you hit the water."

Seeing what was going to happen to them, Batman whispered into Zatanna's ear. "Take my hand."

The woman looked over and spoke. "Scared? Well that makes two of us."

The Dark Knight shook his head. "Just trust me, Zanna."

'Zanna?' The magician paused and widened her eyes when hearing… her old pet name! 'John?!'

"Quick, in my glove."

Zatanna did as she instructed as she surreptitiously removed a lock pick from the bat-themed hero's glove. He then ordered the same thing to his helmeted friend as the three started to work into freeing themselves. They did have to slow down their efforts when the hired goons started to move them closer and closer to the hangar door.

Not noticing what the three were doing, all due to his blind arrogance, Montague waved the captives goodbye. "Farewell, my dear Zatanna. We could have been… magic."

Unbeknownst to anyone, Batman silently grabbed a length of webbing with his foot as he knew neither would be able to survive the fall, and get Vanitas out of his dampeners in time, without a little insurance.

Just when Zatanna was about finished with their bonds, the three were shoved out of the plane. The magician screamed as they quickly fell. Though her action lessened as they felt a hard tug as they stopped falling. Looking up, the ravenette saw the plane webbing was keeping them hanged midair.

"Oh god, that freaking hurt!" Vanitas said as he felt the chains started to unfurl. Zatanna was getting loose and was slipping out of the bonds, causing her to scream once more. Reacting quickly, he grasped onto her arm. "Don't worry! I got you!"

The ravenette nodded as she held onto dear life before being pulled up with Batman helping. The caped crusader soon held onto his old friend tight as Vanitas tried to free himself from the power dampeners.

From his spot on the plane, Montague glared at the three down below. Wanting to be rid of them, he leaned down and started cutting away through the plastic webbing. Seeing this happening, the three escapees started to climb on up in hopes of stopping the debunker in time. To help in the process, Vanitas used the chains that used to confine them and swung it upwards in a lasso-like fashion.

The metal links were able to latch onto Montague's arm. Seeing this, the helmeted Uzumaki smirked as he gave a mighty tug, causing the illusionist wrecker to be pulled out of the hangar door. Though the smirk quickly died as Montague quickly grasped onto the netting and held onto dear life… several feet behind them.

Seeing this happen to their boss, the goons started firing upon the three escapees. Though their shots missed, several started ripping through the net and almost hitting their boss in the process. This was noticed by the debunker, causing him to scream out to the hired help. "STOP FIRING, YOU FOOLS!"

The shots ended as the heroes and magician continued to climb upwards. Looking off to the side, Vanitas quickly tapped Batman and Zatanna's shoulders and pointed towards the enlarged combination ski. The others nodded, took careful aim and leapt to the side. The heroes were able to safely make it, but Zatanna rolled a little too far off to the side. Reacting quickly, Batman was able to snag her arm before she plummeted several hundred feet to the waters below.

Back at the hangar, the goons were pulling on the netting and was able to get their boss inside before closing the door up for his and their safety.

On the ship's exterior, the three were able to climb up towards the wings and tried to figure out where to go at this point. And it was there that Vanitas was finally able to pick through the locks after several trial and errors.

"FINALLY!" He yelled out. "Now I can be of better help!"

Batman nodded before the three soon felt the ship started to tilt upwards, causing them to quickly fall down and started to slide off the wings. The Dark Knight quickly grasped his oldest friend and held on tight onto the metal surface as he started to slip away. Vanitas was able to stop this from happening as his gloves formed claws as he dug them into the metal to stop from falling off. He then held on as hard as he could to keep them all onboard.

"Batman!" Vanitas called out. "Can you let go and turn the rotors?!"

The Batman compiled as he slowly brought Zatanna to Vanitas' grasps so he can do the request. Seeing the magician quickly hold onto his friend, Batman carefully slid onto the metal hull and made his way to the plane's rotors. Once close enough, he started pushing and pulling on them in order to level out the large aircraft.

When this did happen, Zatanna slowly let go of Vanitas and got up onto her feet. Just as she did so, her eyes spotted the nearby door open as several goons came out with weapons on hand. One of them tried to cut into her with an axe, Vanitas quickly got up and stopped the blow from happening.

Turning his head towards her, the helmeted hero called out to her. "GET INSIDE, NOW!" Once done he punched the goon away as Batman was facing against his own lackie.

Zatanna compiled and made her way inside as the goons started to go after the two vigilantes. She didn't look back as her mind was focused on getting even against Montague Kane. Before she did get inside of the aircraft, Zatanna saw her target was in the pilot's cabin.

'Oh oh oh oh. You're mine, Kane!'

It took several minutes for her to reach the sea plane's cabin as it was odd for her to navigate through the vessel. Once she reached it, she slowly crept inside and brielfy looked off to the side to see Batman and Vanitas tossing the hired goons off to the side. Zatanna did worry a little if they killed them or not, by accident, but saw the altitude meter was low enough for a drop into the ocean would be barely safe.

Putting that thought to the side, Zatanna came closer and closer to the unsuspecting debunker. Smirking to herself, she reached out and tapped his shoulder. The man quickly turned around and widened his eyes.

"Don't you know, Kane? A magician never does the same trick TWICE!" She yelled out before decking the man with a right cross.

As Montague fell down, unconscious, Zatanna noticed something shine in his coat pocket. Bending down, she saw it was her magic wand. The magician smirked, pulled it out and twirled the object in her hand.

'Oh it's good to have you back.' She thought. 'Felt naked without you.'

-Later-

Back onto the safe and comfort of solid ground, Kane and his thugs were taken into custody by the GCPD. They were called in earlier and quickly responded before arriving back at the Gotham Pier. Upon arrival, they saw the ten million in case waiting for them with Batman, Vanitas and Zatanna presenting the real culprits of the Mint's theft. The magician was cleared of all charges and the thieves were going to jail for quite some time.

Once the GCPD paddy wagon left the pier; Zatanna, Batman and Vanitas were walking away from the area. Not much was spoken after the three were questioned by the police on tonight's occurrences. All they wanted to do was go home and rest after what happened earlier.

As Batman was waiting for his batmobile to arrive, via autopilot, he heard Zatanna speak up. "So… you never wrote, John. Or is it, Bruce?"

Vanitas snapped out of his thoughts and quickly turned to the pair with hidden widened eyes. "Wait, what? How'd you find out his identity?"

"He called me by my old pet name: Zanna." She answered. "After that, I quickly two and two together. Not to mention other details along the way." She said with a small smirk.

The helmeted hero groaned and face palmed his protective headwear.

Zatanna chuckled a little on the black and white themed hero's action before she spoke again. "You never did answer back, Bruce."

The bat-themed hero let out a small sigh. "I meant to." She gave him a look, which caused him to hold up his hands with how she glared at him. "Really!"

Zatanna dropped the glare as she gave her old friend a small smile. "Hey, it's okay. I can see you've been busy."

"Yeah, no kidding." Came Vanitas' response. This earned him a jab onto his side by his masked friend. "Okay, ow! What was that for?!"

His question was ignored as the magician came closer to Batman. "Just answer an old friend one question."

"Go ahead. Shoot."

It wasn't spoken right away as the ravenette held out her hand and placed it against Batman's cheek. "What happened that made you put this on?"

The Bat let out a sigh. "Several… painful memories. And a promise."

Zatanna formed a small smile as she pulled back her hand. "I'd say you're keeping that promise pretty well." Walking away slightly, she added in some words of encouragement. "And for what it's worth, Dad would have been proud of you on what you've done as Batman. He would've been honored to know he helped train a great hero."

The masked billionaire gave out a genuine smile when hearing this. "Thanks."

Vanitas smiled underneath his helm when seeing this. Hearing that from one of his oldest friends must've meant a lot to him.

"So, with the acts you performed," Batman started off, getting Zatanna's attention, "I never saw your father perform actual magic before."

She sighed. "Dad was easing me into it during his later years after he retired from show business." Waving her wand, sparks appeared at it's tip. "I didn't believe him at first, but my powers awoke after he… left."

"Any reason how or why?"

"I figured it was after an extreme emotional loss that got it to start kicking in." She explained. "After that, I eventually found my mom's old spellbook that dad hid from me. From what I read in his journal, dad wanted to give it to me when I was ready and after that, I learned all that I could from there."

The two heroes nodded as they heard the batmobile pull up to their position, Batman spoke. "Can I give you a ride, Zatanna?"

Both he and Vanitas jolted a little when hearing an explosion. Looking over to Zatanna's position, they saw a large plumb of pink smoke. The wind quickly picked up and blew the vapor away to reveal the ravenette magician had left the scene.

"Huh…" Vanitas said in astonishment. Looking at his friend, he gave him a hidden cheeky grin. "I like her way of leaving more than yours."

Batman playfully glared at the masked Uzumaki. Before he could move towards his car, he saw a flyer attached onto his windshield. Pulling it away, he saw it was a flyer to Zatanna's show…

And it had a written message with a lipstick mark by her signature.

Bruce, I hate goodbyes too. Love -Zanna

P.S. Don't forget to contact me soon or else I'll put a nasty spell on you. I would like to catch up for old times sake.

The masked billionaire smirked and silently promised he'll indeed do that.

"Who would've known that you two were together, once upon a time." Vanitas voiced as he peered into the message. The helmeted hero ignored the infamous bat-glare as he chuckled. "Did you two hook up under dear old dad's nose?"

"Vanitas…"

"That would've been difficult in that kind of relationship, if you asked me. I mean having a thing for the teacher's only daughter." Vanitas let out a mocked gasp. "Oh how scandalous!"

Knowing he won't stop his friend from the teasing, he spoke his real name in a strict tone. "Naruto… Will you please stop?"

Hearing his name got Vanitas to do just that as he waved his hands in defeat. "Okay, fine~ I'll stop." Batman soon hoped into his batmobile and soon drove away to either patrol the city or return home and get some well deserved sleep. The masked Uzumaki shook his head a little and muttered to himself. "Sheesh, Bruce really needs to lighten up on some jokes every once in a while."

Quickly forming his wind lance, Vanitas took off into the sky and headed back to his loft.

…..

…..

…..

Well Vanitas would have made it home sooner if something didn't stop him after he made it past a block away from the Gotham Pier.

"Laever yht ytitnedi. (Reveal thy identity.)"

...Or rather someone.

The masked Uzumaki suddenly felt his powers fluctuate a great deal. He didn't know what was going on, but the hero suddenly felt both his armor and windlance disburse into smoke. And this disturbance caused him to fall onto a building's rooftop.

Once Naruto did a recovery roll, he frantically looked around with widened eyes as the publisher wondered what the hell happened.

"Huh, so that's who you are." Spoke a familiar voice. Turning to the source, the Uzumaki saw Zatanna standing on the rooftop with a smirk on her face.

"Seriously?!" Naruto yelled out in frustration. "Why'd you do that?!"

"I was feeling really curious." The magician then looked up and down like she was checking him out. "Glad that I did."

"DON'T DO THAT!" He said as he quickly reformed his Vanitas armor. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!" The hero started to get really animated as it seemed two comical white eyes appeared on his blackened helm. "I could have died on the stunt you pulled. I was literally really high up and with my powers suddenly going out of wack, I might not have been able to survive!"

"Yet you did." Came Zatanna's cheeky response.

"THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!" Vanitas growled out before he held up his hands to start calming himself down. It took several moments before his helmet melted away so he can rub his forehead. "Look. Can you please not tell anyone about this? I know you'll keep Bruce's, but-"

"I will." She quickly said. "You helped clear my name so it's the least I could possibly do."

"I hope so." He muttered.

"But could you do this itsy, bitsy favor for me?"

"...Which is?"

Zatanna brought out her wand and waved it across her hand. A plumb of pink smoke surrounded it before it disbursed to reveal a pile of books. "Mind if you sign these for me?" She asked. "Took me a bit earlier in my show to realize who you were exactly."

Naruto facepalmed and groaned before he motioned her to come over. Quickly forming a pen in his hand, he started signing each of his written books and the ones he published from his godfather. Once he was done signing, the hero then felt something press against his helmet. Looking over, Vanitas saw Zatanna kiss his cheek before she disappeared in a plumb of pink smoke.

The Uzumaki was about to leave before something smacked him in the face. Pulling it away, he saw it was a flyer to Zatanna's show… and it had a message on it with a lipstick mark next to her signature.

Next time I come into town, let's have a proper chat… over coffee? Lunch? Dinner? I just want to make up on what I did and whatnot. -Zatanna Zatara

P.S. And don't worry on trying to find me, I'll find you. ^_^

Naruto rolled his eyes as he reformed his glass domed helmet before folding and tucking the note into his utility belt. He did chuckle a little and wondered how the girls will take it when he tells them about this.

'Ugh! I can't take anymore surprises for one evening.' He thought before he formed his windlance and took off into the sky.

…..

…..

…..

If the hero were more attentive to his surroundings as he departed, he would've noticed a pair of individuals looking onto the scene with varied reactions.

"Did you pick up on that?"

"...Yeah… I did."

"...Having a hard time accepting and connecting things, Talia?"

The now revealed Talia nodded with widened eyes. This… This was not something she was expecting upon their arrival here.

The daughters of Ra's al Ghul were merely arriving into the area after going through the city and killing several individuals like Victor Zsasz as an example. They were a blight onto the world and even if they were supposedly reformed, they went back to their old ways. So the sisters decided to track then down, killed them and left on their merry way.

The reason why they came to the pier was because they heard of the arrest of Montague Kane, the debunker from the magic performance earlier this evening, over the radio. The pair did learn what went on and wanted to learn everything they could of the event. Both were glad that justice was served and an innocent woman would be happy in the end.

Yet the time of their arrival was only the scrapped bulk of the situation as things were getting cleaned up. Talia wanted to leave, head back to Naruto's loft right away and say her goodbyes one last time before heading home on Infinity Island. But Nyssa wanted to stick around a little longer and get more information, if possible.

Fortunately, or unfortunately on the situation, the younger sister was glad they did as they learned an interesting bit of information once they followed the helmeted hero. The reveal was very unexpected and rather brief, yet it had a very huge impact.

All due to Zatanna's actions.

"Naruto clearly lives up to being quite unexpected." Nyssa said as she walked away from the area. Looking back, she saw her older sister still standing there motionlessly. "Talia, are you alright?"

Inside of Talia's head, many thoughts were trying to sort themselves together as to how Naruto, her former student, was Vanitas.

She clearly remembered both of their fighting styles as they were like a fingerprint: no two were alike. Yet theirs were the same with the exact same movements and gestures.

Next was how protective Vanitas was the other night when both her and Naruto were captured. When he rescued her, Talia barely made out on being more fierce towards Silver Monkey, yet being so very gentle and caring when he held her in his arms. She could even remember feeling the same warmth both emanated when his feelings were directed towards her, unlike in the mission with the sonic drill.

How could he have deceived her so well without her realizing this in the first place? How did she not see this sooner?! What else was he hiding from her?!

These and so much more were being worked over time in her noggin.

She was so distracted with her thoughts that her younger sister had to knock her back into her senses. And a simple nudge on her shoulder got this to happen. "Yes?"

"Glad that you're still living." Joked the younger al Ghul. "With how still you stood, I would've thought you died."

"Sorry, sister. My mind… was busy."

Nyssa gave out a look of concern. "Talia, are you alright?"

Talia didn't say anything, at first, but her body said it all. Her hands tightened. Her heart was beating faster and faster in her chest. And her mind fully comprehended on what will happen now because of this reveal… On what will exactly happen to Naruto Uzumaki.

"...No, Nyssa, I'm not alright." Soon, a growing smile formed on her features. "I'm ecstatic."