Summary:Black Car, Black Hat, Blackheart Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Late September in New York City calls for layers. Zatanna, despite what people think when they look at her costume, has always loved layers; magicians have to. There are so many things that can be hidden up the sleeves of an appropriately baggy black leather jacket, or in the slightly gap between her boots and her jeans, or even under the midriff of the charcoal sweater she's wearing. Admittedly she doesn't have much stored on her today (just her wand) (okay, and a deck of cards) (yes, alright, and a marker) (fine, there's also a copy of the Hound of the Baskervilles) (yeah, and her wallet, but that one doesn't count, and neither does her phone), but the principle of the thing remains intact, a fact Zatanna is currently demonstrating for a young fan who's asking for a selfie. She's kneeling next to the girl, grinning up at the phone, and making a queen of hearts appear in her left hand just before the flash hits. The girl's eyes are stars and her mouth is all smiles and gasps when she notices, making her end of the selfie pretty funny, but that's exactly the kind of fan photo Zatanna likes to take.
The marker appears with a flourish, and Zatanna signs a quick, "You can do anything!" followed by her stage signature (which looks nothing like how she signs her checks, but yanno) and a hard kiss to leave a lipstick imprint on it. She passes the card to her fan, who looks so happy she might swoon.
It's a very wholesome scene to walk in on.
While Zatanna was spending time with her adoring audience, Robbie was investigating a…disturbing new arrival to this plane: The possible presence of a powerful demon. Robbie was in his full getup, but he did not yet transform into the Ghost Rider. Yet, he had the Hellfire chain wrapped around him for easy deployment and wore his casual clothing (knowing that full well that they change anyway when he transforms).
He was currently in a closed down shop, used to sell toys to children. He kneels down to investigate what looks like a dried bloodspot that definitely wasn't ther ethe last time he checked this place out.
"What the hell?" He whispers then before a hand grabs him by the shoulder. Something big.
After the girl seems to be in the middle of her joy, Robbie Reyes flies through a building, window through window, past Zatanna and into the parked car that was a small ways from her. The car -almost- flips over, but not quite. Robbie falls off of his engravement and faceplants it right on the ground. What was even more curious is that his wounds were already healing…an impact like that should've killed him, but he's already getting back up. "Motherf.." he winces before he can finish the word. He looks up to see the little girl, then Zatanna, before the beast makes itself known.
Blackheart.
This demon was easily several feet tall with pitch black skin and tribal-like clothing. Sharp quills look like they peek out of his back and it roars at everything in front of him. Robbie now looks to Zatanna and her fan. "Run!" He tells them. Some people do in fact run, others are frozen by fear. But Robbie steps forward, his eyes already blazing with hellfire.
Zatanna's fan screams. Zatanna doesn't. Rather than running, her first instinct is to curl into a ball over the kid to make sure no flying bodies or shrapnel hit her, glaring around until she spots the beast responsible. Zatanna is a medium, and she's used to seeing demons, but seeing one in the flesh as well as with her always-open third eye lends the thing's body an odd hyperreality as she sees both its physical and spiritual self-expressions simultaneously. It would be entrancing if not for the evil literally radiating off of it in an aura the color of a bruise.
Zatanna uncurls herself from the girl's body, takes her by the shoulders, and winks at her. "Want to see some real magic, sweetie? I only do this spell for my biggest fans!" The bewildered girl can't decide to be afraid of be hopeful as Zatanna presses the queen of hearts into her trembling hands and whispers to it, "Ylf reh emoh!" Obediently, the card lifts the girl into the air; she shrieks, but more like a girl on a roller coaster than in a war zone. Zatanna grins. That's the reaction she wanted. She touches her forefinger to her lips to admonish the girl to silence as the enchanted card lifts the girl into the air and starts her soaring homeward.
Right. That's the big thing out of the way. Zatanna stands up deliberately, brushing street dust off her knees (these are expensive boots), and looks the demon in the eye as she intones loudly and clearly, "Krow sehtolc."
Her autumn layers explode into light, blinding but brief. When the flare dissipates, she's glad in her white waistcoat, black tuxedo top, shameless bikini cut bottom with fishnets, the heeled thigh-highs, her tophat, her gloves. Her hair falls down around her shoulders, an night-black veil in which alien constellations twinkle.
Her heels click with strange authority on the asphalt as she strides across the street to the demon. A storm of anger brews between her closeknit brows as she demands, "Name yourself, demon! You are commanded by a master of the mystic arts, the daughter of those who chained your masters in jade and heart's blood from this world! You have no choice but to obey my will…" She smirks. "…so next time I see my colleagues, I can brag about whose ass I kicked today!"
Thankfully, Robbie is distracting Blackheart enough so that Zatanna can get the little girl out of there without being interrupted. The problem? Robbie didn't transform yet, a sign perhaps of his yet overbearing overconfidence and arrogance. But the creature holds Robbie in his neck, then punches him so hard that he actually flies backwards and smashes into a wall. But once again, he heals quickly, getting back up.
"Okay asshole…"
Since Robbie is currently recuperating, Blackheart looks at Zatanna and growls something indecent about her most likely. "I am Blackheart, little witch. And you will…" It grins now, looking like rows upon rows of teeth in a Pennywise smile.
"DIE!"
The creature then runs at Zatanna like its some kind of running Lion, it jumps on a wall then leaps off of it, back on the ground, it leaps at Zatanna!
meantime, Robbie finally transformed. This flesh seems to literally burn off of his body with the same efficiency of paper to a flame. When the flames finally die out, all that remains is a skull wreathed in Hellfire.
The Ghost Rider had arrived. It swings the Hellfire chain at the demon's leg, tugging it backwards to cause it to perhaps barely miss Zatanna…but its claws are long and deadly, they can still scratch or cut her if she's not quick enough with a defense or a dodge!
But its becoming clear to Robbie that he might not be able to stop this monster on his own.
Zatanna raises her wand with a delicate, loose-wristed flourish at Blackheart's threats. 'Oh, honey, you can't even put effort into cursing?' she thinks rather disdainfully, but what she says aloud is, "Ytpme sarc enob-eet nemod." It's a good spell, one that causes all the local cars to rise up like a flock of horrible metal birds to swarm around Blackheart to pincer-attack him… but Zatanna didn't notice the Ghost Rider until too late.
Blackheart is yanked back continuously by Ghost Rider, who seems to be successfully dragging Blackheart towards him. But then there's this beautiful young woman named Zatanna, right? She manages to get all of these cars into the air and smash it on Blackheart!
The Demon is repeatedly bashed by falling cars. But there's one problem. So is Robbie.
Soon enough, they are buried in metal. But It seems as though it didn't stop either of the monsters that stand in front of Zatanna as Robbie flies out of the pile all of a sudden with his chain in hand, but he smacks into the Hellcharger, which had not yet fallen down on them! So both land near Zatanna and Ghost Rider sits up like he's the Undertaker or something, looking at Zatanna.
It growls before it points at itself, then to Zatanna, then points at Blackheart.
'Here to help you against that'.
Speaking of that, Blackheart bursts out of the rubble proper, throwing a car at Zatanna and Robbie! Robbie's prepared to take the hit since he's not fast enough to dodge that, but Zatanna could stop it with a spell.
Zatanna nods at Ghost Rider without apology, partially because she's just not that sorry she hit a demon with a car but mostly because there's no time left to talk after a car comes flying at her. A shield spell to deflect it would probably be less sure than relying on her reflexes. Zatanna's weight rolls forward onto her toes and she leaps aside, body lengthening, one hand clutching the brim of her hat, a grimace on her face as she plans to land on her elbows and belly. Luckily, the flying car's overall area has been rather reduced by the vehicle crumpling against Blackheart's unyielding body. Glass shatters, cement cracks, steel and aluminum crumple, and perhaps most unfortunately for Zatanna, car alarms start going off, threatening to drown out her voice.
The racket alerts Zatanna to another threat: this battle is likely to last a minute or two. Long enough for people to get footage; long enough for people to see demons walking the streets of New York; long enough for idiot kids to get ideas in their heads about summoning the fallen to do their bidding from half-cocked spells they find on Reddit. Grim horror dawns on her face.
"Deal with him for a minute!" Zatanna yells at Ghost Rider as she scrabble up to her feet. She needs to be standing to get her diaphragm in place so she can suck in a deep breath and yell over the shrieking alarms everywhere, her wand pointed to the sky, "Duorhs su ni ssenkrad litnu Traehkclab sllaf!" A pencil-thin beam of blackness fires up from Zatanna's wand and spills outward and down, forming a dome of night that stretches from one sidewalk to the other, obscuring everything inside it from everyone without. Within, it's lit only by the unquenchable hellfire flaring out of Robbie's collar and cuffs, throwing everything into confusing, nauseating strobelight when he moves.
The demons, creatures of darkness as they are, aren't likely to be bothered by the veil, but as long as it keeps anyone outside from seeing the battle, Zatanna is fine with this situation.
Ghost Rider sees Zatanna dodge out of the way of the thrown car and he uses his hellfire chain to slice it in half, the hellfire enhancement to the chain creating a superheated material to the metal. With that done, Ghost Rider leaps at Blackheart, who leaps back at him! Thankfully, Ghost Rider wins that exchange, timing a strike towards the beasts eye to send him wailing back into the pavement, where the Rider grabs the beast and tries to burn it with hellfire.
It works.
Blackheart screams in agony, but then the surrounding area is covered by darkness before multiple people can pull out cell phones and other evidence-capturing material. All thanks to Zatanna's quick thinking, but yes, Ghost Rider is the only source of light, but to a being that can sense evil, thats not much of a problem.
Even in the pitch black, Zatanna can see and hear their pitched battle. Blackheart even tries to pounce into Zatanna, but the Ghost Rider tackles him in mid-air to push him away from the Sorceress. Ghost Rider looks at Zatanna for confirmation that she's alright before he continues into the fray! He manages to wrap Blackheart in the hellfire chain to burn it. "Go. HOME!" The Rider demands in its demonic voice, and honestly? Blackheart might take the ticket.
He might, but Zatanna has never been willing to take that gamble, or to step aside when she could turn face first toward danger. She aims her wand at the first light source she sees and commands, "Tsohg s'Redir semalf yfisnetni!" The explosion of light helps her see and no doubt helps the Rider tackle Blackheart, but Zatanna's big concern now is getting close enough for her spells to work over the sound of the car alarms.
She really didn't think that first attack through. She'll have to do better next time.
Zatanna runs forward through the wreckage on the street, yelling, "Tlahpsa rendu Traehkcalb nrut ot dnaskciuq!"
Ghost Rider feels his flames certainly intensify to allow Zatanna time to see, and really, Ghost Rider has Blackheart in the tightest chokehold she may have ever seen, wit hthe assistance of the hellfire chain burning this demon with intensity as it howls in pain.
When Zatanna casts her spell to turn Blackheart into asphalt, he certainly starts to turn, but it was a strong demon, and it was -wounded-. It grips Ghost Rider by the skull and throws him at Zatanna! though it burned its hand to near-incineration because of it. The demon decides it wasn't worth it, and creates a portal back to hell, which it jumps through, the portal closes behind it.
The battle was won.
"Teerts sehtolc," Zatanna demands as her barrier of darkness begins to fade, from the top down, like a soap bubble snapping in slow motion. The darkness doesn't quite conceal the flash of light that accompanies the transmutation. "Can you extinguish or do I need to help?" she asks the Rider, quickly.
As the demon leaves the barrier of darkness starts to fall, Ghost Rider looks over at Zatanna at her question and he nods, the flames die down, revealing just the skull…but now come sthe gross part. Zatanna might lose her lunch! But flesh and hair and muscle grow back on top of the skull until it is back to the face of Robbie Reyes, like he had never changed at all. He seems to growl a bit, seems the change causes him pain, before he stands up to his full height.
"Thanks for the help."
…even if she did drop like…fifteen cars on him earlier, including his own. Speaking of his own, his car seems to have not even a scratch on it. No dents, no signs of wear an dtear….looks brand new. "You got a name?" apparently Robbie is unfamiliar with the world-class magician.
"Oh right," Zatanna murmurs. "Kcerw-nu all dekcrew cars!" she shouts, and lets the cars uncrumple, untwist, and repair themselves until the damned alarms stop blaring. She wonders sourly but not seriously if her hearing will ever be the same again. The cars are still in the wrong positions, but at least their owners can drive them now. "I might tell you my name if you get me a ride out of here," she suggests, nodding toward the car. "A few blocks away, though," she admonishes with a raised tut-tut finger and a wryly mischievous smirk. "Not looking to be ferried to Hell today, thanks."
Robbie looks at Zatanna as she casts a spell to fix all the cars. Certainly when the blaring stops Robbie checks his ears. "Christ, I feel like I'm going to be deaf for the rest of my life now." Robbie perhaps says playfully when she makes a deal with him: a ride for her name. He shrugs and opens the passenger door of the Hellcharger. "After you, then."
When she gets in, he'll shut the door when she's comfortably inside. Huh. Smells like cocanuts in here.
Robbie gets into the drivers seat and expertly drives away from the scene. Now both of them should be able to go on with their lives without being pointed to the event.
"So…sorcerer, huh?"
"Who, me?" Zatanna asks innocently, fingertips of one hand steepled against her breastbone. "No, no, I'm a superhero. I'm from the future, where I was… bitten by a radioactive… uh… beaver! It gave me the ability to rearrange objects like beavers do." She's literally shifty-eying as she explains this. "What about you? An experimental bomb exploded near you and now your skeleton catches fire when you're mad?"
"Ah…huh." Robbie says to her with a look of disbelief when she makes up a story about her superhero qualities. Her hand steepled on her breastbone draws his attention lightly, but he keeps his eyes on the road, instead of the beautiful woman beside him. "Try 'made a deal to save himself and a brother'." Robbie tells Zatanna. "But honestly? maybe being struck by lightning or something would've been significantly better." He jokes with Zatanna lightly.
"Name's Robbie. Robbie Reyes."
"Call me Zatanna," she introduces with a smile, relenting from the teasing. "Nice to meet you, Robbie." She doesn't offer a hand to shake or anything, though. Her posture is relaxed, legs uncrossed and hands on her thighs, but internally she's prepared to spring if she must. She has three spells ready. "Was Blackheart here for you?"
"Zatanna huh? Pretty name." Robbie flirts with her very subtly. He's glad she didn't offer a handbecause he's DRIVING. When she asks him if Blackheart was there for him, he shakes his head. "No. He was tormenting a family for weeks. Father was a toymaker. Drove him mad enough that he took his own life. the mother almost did the same, but I followed the trail and found them quick enough. But when I found them, Blackheart found me. Somebody had to stop him." Robbie tells her then.
Sounds like he's a hero. Or trying to be.
Zatanna examines Robbie carefully, looking for signs of the demon inside him, but no, nothing. The thing is too well concealed, which is disappointing but not surprising. Hiding is just another form of lying, and demons are the best liars out there. She mentally shrugs. "That's terrible about the father. Seems like small potatoes for a demon powerful enough to manifest in the flesh without a human host, though. Was it for a purpose, or just a demon having demonic fun?"
Robbie looks at Zatanna as she seems to be testing him. "Yeah, it was. Only sucks that I didn't get there in time." Robbie shakes hish ead lightly but he comes to a stop a few blocks away from the scene like what they had agreed, he parks on the side of the road in the legal manner.
He letsh is hands fall from the wheel, but he smiles a little bit at Zatanna. "For a purpose. For example, you probably know about the Ghost Rider."
Because she didn't seem shocked to see him.
"Terms and conditions. I only go after the people who have it coming. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles…" Robbie starts then. "Keep my hands free of innocents. He agreed." He speaks of the spirit that is bound to him. "Now, I've told you my story. Whats yours?"
"Oh, you know. Scion of an ancient magical tradition stretching back to prehistory, charged by the souls of my ancestors to work as Kharma's agent in the mortal realm. En bee dee," Zatanna says airily enough it almost covers the smugness. Almost. "But yeah, I know about the Rider. I hope you're serious about keeping it under control."
"Sounds exciting. Bit dramatic, though." Robbie smirks at her when he says it, seeing if he can get perhaps a sense of humor out of her. Though he does give her a once over too, checking her out, but not making an outright flirtatious comment yet. Perhaps it was fate that they met together, after all.
But Robbie then nods. "Trust me." He did save her life not once, but twice against Blackheart. Chances are he's telling the truth about keeping the Ghost Rider thing handled. "No more handled than what you've got going for you with your magic."
Zatanna glances at the traffic which is, unsurprisingly, pretty packed in this area where people were fleeing a superattack. She doesn't rise to the bait of Robbie's jab, just asking equably, "Well, what am I gonna do, let Ian McKellan upstage me just because he's a professionally trained Shakespearean actor and the the best actor of his lifetime? Wizarding is a niche business! Gotta make your mark."
Robbie chuckles. "Considering that you're famous, hell even my brother is a fan of you, I'd say you're doing pretty well for yourself." Robbie compliments Zatanna now, but then he looks at the traffic. "I hope I don't make you feel uncomfortable." Though he totally understands if she does because…well, the reasons speak for themselves.
Zatanna chuckles. "No, I'm not really uncomfortable around you," she says, perhaps undiplomatically. "But I'm glad to hear your brother is a fan. Maybe your brother would like tickets?" She's mostly subtle about the sly emphasis she keeps putting on 'your brother'.
Robbie looks at Zatanna then when she tells him she's not -really- uncomfortable with him, but he does smirk to himself when she offers tickets in her sly manner. "Maybe my brother would." Robbie looks at her then, wondering what she'll say or do now that he's stated his agreement.
Zatanna makes her phone appear; a useless trick, but one she performs now and then to keep in practice. "I have a show in two nights at the Beacon Theater," she informs Robbie as she swipes around on the phone to pull up the notepad. "I'll leave your brother a couple of tickets at the box office. What names should I put them under?"
Robbie seems to almost smirk. Her phone arrives in her hand and she's pulling up notepads. "Two nights?" He seems to ponder this for a moment like he might tell her no. "Alright. As for the names…Robbie and Gabriel Reyes." Robbie tells her. Seems she was actually being serious! He seemed to almost equally be appreciative.
"Are ee why ee ess?" Zatanna confirms, then makes the phone vanish. "Alright. See you then, Robbie Reyes. Is it Robert or Roberto?" She pronounces 'Roberto' like she's actually speaking Spanish to do it, and what's more, it sounds perfectly natural coming from her. She'd thought she'd be able to guess from her brother's name, but really, 'Gabriel' could go either way.
"Yep." Least Robbie knows Zatanna knows how to spell, but then she's asking more direct questions. "Roberto." Robbie says with the Spanish twang in his voice. "But I tend to prefer Robbie. Easier, makes me sound less of a douchebag, you know?" Robbie chuckles. "you want my number too?" Robbie seems to tease her, but he doesn't consider that she may actually take him seriously.
"Slow down there, champ," Zatanna suggests good-naturedly. "I know I'm irresistible and everything, but for now let's just see each other at the show and we can go from there." She looks around, and decides, "This is far enough from the attack. Mind letting me out here?"
Robbie parks the car on the side of the street, closer to the curb so Zatanna could get out safely. "Heh, fair enough. Have a good day Zatanna." Robbie says to her with a bit of a smirk. "And uh, in my opinion?" He shamelessly looks her up and down. "You are pretty irresistable." He winks, before he's looking back ahead, his face going back to deadpanned. He was honest, but also somewhat focused. Now he needed to get home and tell his little brother he's going to see his favorite magician after all.