DECODE {The Batman 2022}

Chapter II

<November 1st>

She'd planned to sleep the entire next day and was even tempted to not show up for her shift at the bar. Zatanna tried to forget the night, she was almost willing to cast the night out of her mind completely. But there was something holding her back, the eyes of the batman and the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time their paths crossed.

Her phone woke her up from her dreamless sleep. She'd missed three calls already and she couldn't justify missing a fourth. She reached over for it, her face buried in her pillow. She brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" Her raspy morning voice was barely audible. That's what she gets for casting three spells and yelling at the bar all night.

"Oh thank god. Zatanna?" She recognized the voice and her heart dropped. No, no, no — her day of sleep, her only day off for three weeks ruined.

"What do you want Martin?"

"Listen, I know it's your day off but, Dr. Ortell hasn't come in and we can't get ahold of him..."

"Which one was he seeing today?" She asked.

"Napier," Martin said.

"I can't see Dr. O's patient." She rolled over on her back and rubbed her eyes. "He's told me he's too dangerous and is classified."

"Well, we both know you could give 'em better treatment than that old man ever could," Martin said.

Zatanna opened her eyes and looked up at her ceiling. It was a tempting offer. She'd only have one appointment if she worked with Dr. O's patient. She could probably get them done with time to spare before her shift. She'd always wanted to work with him. His story was mysterious and every time she'd tried to find out about him Dr. Ortell never let her get too close.

"Please, Zatanna the inmates are going nuts after seeing what happened on the news," Martin said.

"What happened?" She asked.

"You didn't see?" He asked.

"No."

"The mayor — he was killed last night. It was brutal. The guards are barely able to keep everyone down." He said.

The mayor, dead? No way, who killed him? How? There were so many questions spinning around in her head. She shook her head. There was no time to think about what had happened.

She let out a sigh and sat up. "Okay. Okay." She looked out of her window, the sun was shining into her room. "But you owe me." She said. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Martin sounded relieved as they got off the phone. Zatanna scrolled through her phone for a moment, she'd barely gotten six hours of sleep. But what worried her more was Edward's lack of checking in. She'd sent him many texts and several voicemails. She pressed the call button and pressed the phone between her shoulder and cheek. It rang a few times before going straight to voicemail.

"Hey, it's me. I don't care how close you are to finishing that 2,000 piece puzzle I got you for Christmas — text me! Shits going down and I'd like to know you're still breathing. Okay, bye."

She hung up the phone and threw it onto her bed. She moved over to her closet and changed into scrubs. She looked into the mirror and let out a curse. She'd not only forgotten to take off her makeup but she had dried blood below her nose, and a scratch on her cheek. She'd have to fix this before heading to Arkham.

Arkham was split in two. A state prison for some and for others a psych ward. It was hard enough as it was, getting funding for the place. Zatanna wondered why a facility such as this wasn't being taken care of. So on most days, she overworked herself to reach as many people as she could, or as many Dr. Ortell would let her see.