8553/It ends in the 20s

It ends in the 20s
Date of Scene:	05 November 2021
Location:	Sushi Yushu
Synopsis:	Babs and Zee get together for lunch to discuss the undying horror that the Birds and Bats captured on Halloween night. There's more going on than meets the eye and Babs asks Zee if she'd help teach Charlie how to control her magic.
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Zatanna Zatara

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Barbara Gordon has posed:
Something something serial killer returned from the dead attacking a school reunion on Halloween night? That's probably a very busy time of the year for the mystical arts people. But Babs knows no one else she trusts more when it comes to the weird and magical. Certainly not Constantine.

So it's time to tell Zatanna all she knows about what has happened. Because it's a weird one. Sushi! one of those restaurants with a sushi train would have been great but Sushi Yushu isn't that cliche. Babs has ordered an assortment of Sashimi and Sushi and Gyoza.

Sitting in a corner booth wearing her day to day business clothes because what's sleep and who has time for that when you run your own company and also stalk the night and run a team of superheroines. She checks her phone a moment to make sure Charlie is okay and then sips some water waiting for Zee.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna eschews the stage look for a low-key meeting with Barbara. Instead, Zee wears one of her favorite Japanese designers, a black coat with bias angled lapels over a short skirt also cut on an angle, tights and lace up high ankle shoes - so Yamamoto.

So sushi and Harajuku style, trying to stay upbeat in the face of what the magician suspects is not a catch-up lunch between girls.

"Hi," she slips into the booth opposite her, saying," I ordered on the way in. How are you?" Looking her over, "How are you? Tell me why this feels serious? Or am I being alarmist?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs expression softens when she sees the most fashionable of Zee's entering the establishment. The redhead gives her a wave. It's strange how the years seem to fly by. Once she was a young thing doing crazy crime fighting next to big scary Batman. The next thing you know Babs is Oracle and running most of the crime fighting in Gotham while Batman does Justice League stuff with Zatanna.

"Oh good. You don't need to be quite so alarmed. Or may be I should be more alarmed. But gosh do I have a story to tell you. I do need your help and hopefully it'll be as simple to fix as a bit of bibbity bobbity boo."

A playful smile as she reaches out to gives Zee's hand a welcome squeeze. "So, where to start. Hm. How about the beginning. Germany, 1951, Gustov Gantz is born. His father was a nazi and his mother gets murdered by nazis still in hiding post war. Gantz is unliked by other students at school and gets regularly beaten up. They kill his dog and put him in hospital one day..."

She grimaces, "A very sad start to the story and things only get worse from here..."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
It doesn't take but a moment and the years seem to fall away. Zee mirrors the warm smile and returns the squeeze, thinking how much she has grown since they first met.

The smile falls away and Zee's eyes widen as Barbara gives a classic rendition of the making of a psychopath. "How could they not get worse unless somebody good stepped into his life. So he is not young, like around 70 now. Don't tell me he is in Gotham, now?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"In a manner of speaking yes..." Babs lets that linger. She has so much more story to tell after all. She is a bat and a detective and if she can't tell her tale then what was all that research for? "He migrated to the USA in his mid twenties and built a hotel called The Sovereign Hotel in Metropolis. Metropolis wasn't nearly as shiny back then. And that's when the disappearances started."

"Gantz didn't just become an architect and build a hotel. Oh no. He built a murder hotel. Secret passage ways, murder rooms, traps and torture chambers. The works. Grade S+++ psychopath. He successfully operated as a serial killer with his death hotel until 1981."

Some food is brought over and she picks up the sashimi and feeds herself. A bit more water and she continues the tale. "An arts teacher named Geoffrey James took a group of students to Metropolis from Newtown Catholic Highschool, Gotham. They stayed at.. you guessed it, the Sovereign Hotel. Gantz was acting as a janitor in his own hotel. Presumably so he could slip around places and not be seen.."

"The trip was a school band competition. The kids found a secret passage way in their room and explored. Mr. James found them a little later and followed them in to the tunnels. There they met their untimely demise at the hands of Gantz.. but Gantz seems to have been mortally injured too and he died in his own labyrinth with the teacher and students." A raised eyebrow suggests there's still a lot more story to come.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna's blue eyes linger on Barbara, horrified at the recital. "He sounds like a demon made flesh." She happens to look down at her beautiful plate of sashimi moriwase and it is suddenly less appetizing. Still, she unsheathes her chopsticks from their paper, tying the paper into a little bow mimicking a Japanese good luck talisman, then picks up wasabi to mix into the shallow dish of soy sauce, nodding her encouragement to go on.

"Wait? Dead? Oh, those poor children. "But...somehow, not dead. Go on." She selects a slice of hamachi and dips it into the mixed soy sauce.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs is leaning in a bit like telling a ghost story around the camp fire. Sort of. Except it's real. It takes a special kind of person to get excited by gruesome tales and actually be one of the good guys. Gotham is a hard city to grow up in, it's pretty normal for Gothamites to enjoy dark humor and tales.

"Oh, yes, sadly they did really die. And Mr. James was a hero - but no one really knew that for another twenty years. Another school trip from the _same_ school. Coincidence? curious there I'm not sure what the connection is but this time Earnest Leist, the drama teacher, has taken the debate team on a trip to Metropolis and .. you guessed it .. they've stayed in The Sovereign Hotel."

Chopsticks and gyoza are met with mouth as she eats. A hand cupping her chin for the juices and then a napkin to wipe it all away. "Once again, secret passage ways are discovered. This time it makes the news papers - secret murder hotel exposed by school kids. Gruesome, yes, but heroic sentiment. They lost the debate competition but is it really any wonder? The decades long mystery surrounding the hotel is finally solved."

"... or is it. Because not a week later back in Gotham the kids are having a Halloween party at the school when there's a series of brutal murders. Mr. Leist is killed too and the police pin the massacre on him. Only three of the debate team that went to Metropolis survive the night."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Oh, they both lean into the story. The homo magi deals in the tortured spirits of the dead and demons as her stock in trade, especially since Constantine has managed to pull her back into his orbit.

That, too, is another story.

Another quick fishing trip for some maguro, this restaurant is lavish with it, to her delight.

In the pause, "How or who or what did that to Gantz? Because, it can't be anything but him. Who knows, he may have been demon-possessed before he landed in fair Metropolis."

Waving her chopsticks, she gestures, "Do go on. Don't mind me."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs shakes her head, "I don't know. But I have theories. May be it was a demon. May be his dead nazi dad. Who knows.. but he was a monster and those kids in 2001 disturbed his tomb, his lair, his inner sanctum. We know now that Leist was not the killer.. because a few days ago we had a replay of that Halloween massacre. Of sorts."

She taps a napkin to her lips and says, "The school is undergoing renovations and three workers were brutally murdered. This didn't hit my radar initially because the school principal embezzled money to pay off the cops to keep the murders hush hush. Why? Turns out the investors in the school were threatening to pull out their funds if the extensions didn't get finished on time."

She rolls her eyes, "Now, the school reunion, twenty years on. Some of the participants are quite hesitant as you might imagine. And well they should. One of them came prepared with a gun. But I was there with a team because I wanted to know what the dirty cops were covering up."

"When the bodies started dropping - including the cold corpse of the principal in the staff lounge, we met up with the three survivors of the original massacre from the debate team. It turns out they fought and trapped the beast using acids. They melted it in to the floor of the boiler room... and that boiler room was in the process of being ripped up as part of the school extensions."

"What I would amateurishly declare as a poltergeist began killing the attendees of the reunion. I had my team keep the monster busy while people escaped and I went to the chemistry lab and cooked up a cure. A very strong acid, nitrogen, and electricity."

"The monster was defeated, melted in to the Naughty the Nautilus team mascot image on the gymnasium floor. I came back with the Batwing and we removed said floor. I have it in cryo-storage and thought may be you would be able to prove a more permanent solution for our undying serial killer from Germany..."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
As quick as Zatanna might be dealing with this type of arcana, she doesn't answer right away. The sushi occupies her attention, deservedly. It's almost like eating in a good Tokyo restaurant. After a few more bites, she nods several times.

"Well I appreciate the vote of confidence. It does sound like it won't be long before he pops back into action again. Wow, good one Barbara. You even uncovered those dirty cops and the game the principal was playing. I think I need a beer." She catches a waitress's attention and asks for a Asahi Super Dry. "You know the dead don't just generate on their own, right?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs chuckles a moment and then raises an eyebrow. She missed something. Clearly she missed something. The big question -- how does a serial killer become an undying monstrosity? That's so out of her wheel house. "I figured he was just a really nasty person in life and continued being so in death?" Oh so naive in the ways of the mystical world.

"I can haul the nautilus floor to where-ever you might need to take it." With the batwing. If Bruce isn't using it. "Are you concerned there must be some other piece of the puzzle? may be back in the hotel? it got knocked down a decade ago. After the murder rooms were found the place became abandoned and eventually the lot reclaimed. If there was something there mystical it may have been moved or buried or forgotten..."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"If only it worked like that. We'd have a lot of good people walking around, too if it were from the impetus of good or evil we performed in life, wouldn't we? Like karma on wheels," she grins, eyes exaggerated and round at the thought.

The beer arrives, Zatana lets her pour for her before taking a long quenching drink from it, nodding in agreement, "It would be good to go over that ground. Consider this, it takes energy to make magic, it takes energy to bring back the dead and it doesn't happen like spontaneous combustion (which doesn't really exist without magic.) Ergo, there is someone putting the wires to the magic battery to start up the dead."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs lifts up a finger, "Forty years ago at least. Gantz died in 1981. If we're going for occums razer here I'll just say it.. out loud." She smirks a moment, "Clearly it was his nazi father who had some occult object that he kept as a family heirloom when he immigrated to the USA without knowing its special significance and upon death it resurrected him as a poltergeist or something."

She does an almost playful little head wiggle and adorns her conversation with some sushi to top it all off. It's a massive guess and not backed by any evidence but then she is way out of her depth with magical things. "Actually if you're going to dig in to the past to figure out what really happened... I've been meaning to talk to you about something a little more personal and this could be the best opportunity."

"I have a ward, her name is Charlie Gage. She's had a rough time and has finally settled down as part of my family. I'm intending to adopt her - we've been discussing the ins and outs of it."

She leans in a little again, "But also she's a vigilante and .. well .. she's magical. She can teleport herself around. She's had some lessons from John Constantine and if I'm being perfectly blunt I'd much rather she learns magic from yourself. I know you've got a busy schedule, but may be she could tag along with you from time to time."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Like I said, someone is pulling the strings. An object like that does not exist in a magic vacuum. It is connected to some ritual of power, likely a blood ritual. And those..." the magician shakes her head slowly, her expression grave, "...are the most evil. Most often connected to the Underworld. But, I'm getting ahead of myself without doing a little investigating."

"Your ward, Charlie? With John?" Black black eyebrows rise high and she gives Barbara a skeptical look. "I heard John mention her in passing. Wild magic in the wrong hands can have serious consequences, not that I'm implying she is bad. John..." she lets her words trail into nothing before huffing a small sigh. "But magic is slippery stuff. Think of mercury with the power of plutonium."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"You're describing exactly what Charlie says to me. Slippery stuff. She finds it chaotic and confusing and hasn't really been able to get a hold of any ability so far beyond teleporting herself. One day she's going to be an amazing bird I just know it. But with all this doubt hanging over her head..."

Babs looks concerned, "I just want what's best for her and if you could help her in any way that'd be great. No pressure. If it doesn't work out, if you can't help her.. well, at least we tried right? Please Zee.."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Concern for Barbara softens, Zatanna's expression. "It's no light thing taking an apprentice in magic. I would almost be an adoptive parent."

A flitting sardonic smile, "No pressure, right?" She sits back, eyes looking into the middle distance before she focuses on Barbara again, "Let me meet her and we will see if we are a good fit. That's important, too. Sometimes it just doesn't work if master and apprentice are oil and water."

After she nearly finishes her beer, "I will be on aboard to start tracking down that object and its owner. There /will/ be an owner. Magic doesn't exist in a vacuum."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs nods her head, "Thanks. That's all I can hope for. So... what do you want to do with the gymnasium floor? I can't keep it in a freezer forever. Is there some wave of a magic wand you can do to put this monster to rest for good?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The homo magi tips her head back to laugh aloud. "Don't you wish? I /can/ take it to my mansion to shield if you want. No wands here...well sometimes. But mostly hard work. You're a detective, you understand."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs nods her head. "I do understand.. I'll fly it over tomorrow. May be it'll help you unpack the mystery of how he got like this. He was a real piece of work though. I can send you all the footage of our encounter with him if it'd help."

Babs has the cheque covered when it comes to the table. She has no issue pretending this is a business meeting to cover the costs. "And hopefully next time I call it'll just be to catch up and not.. business." as usual.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Oh, I hope so, Barbara. Well, perhaps it will be sooner than you think if you introduce me to Charlie. Thanks for the lunch." Like many wealthy people, she appreciates being taken out, too. "Send the footage. Send it all."