Young Amazons

by Wanderer D

Chapter 04: Presentation

Sunset looked from behind the curtain to see the crowd that was waiting in the building for the show to start. Many of the prominent movers and shakers of Gotham City were sitting all over the place at their dinner tables. It almost appeared like all of Gotham had come out to this charity gala. Old billionaires and business men sitting with their trophy wives hanging on their arms as well those of the Average Joe kind that was lucky to get tickets to the show.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding about what you said earlier.” Sunset stated. Looking back, if she was informed that she would be performing as Zatanna’s assistant before a huge crowd only a few hours after a test that she really didn’t study for, she would’ve gotten more sleep the night before.

“Maybe a bit more than I originally thought, but nothing too much to worry about. After all, I have full faith in your abilities,” Zatanna gave the girl a light pat on the back. “Besides, you did read the whole script of what I’ll be doing tonight, right?”

Sunset gave a nervous look. “Uh… with everything that was going on, it kind of didn’t cross my mind.” The former unicorn admitted. Zatanna’s eyes widened.

“Are you serious?” She exclaimed in a hushed tone. “Well, hurry up! We’ve only got twenty-five minutes till curtain!”

“Not to worry. I can handle it,” Sunset informed before quickly walking over to the table where the script waited and picked it up. She then flipped through the pages in succession as if she was shuffling cards. “Done!” She said after looking at it for about four minutes with a proud look on her face.

Zatanna could only blink. “Done?” She questioned. “You read all of that and got it memorized by just flipping through it in only a few minutes?”

Sunset smiled. “Well, no, I didn’t memorize all of it word for word, but I used some tricks that my friend, Twilight Sparkle, gave me. I don’t need to actually remember it all, just look out for key words and take the queues from that. Trust me; I think I’ll be able to pull it off when the curtain rises. ”

Zatanna grew a smile of her own. “You and your friends are quite interesting, Sunset.” The magician confessed before she turned her gaze towards the crowd she could see from off stage. “Alright, you stay back here and keep looking over it while I go over to the main table to talk with Bruce and the others before the show, ok?” Sunset gave her the thumbs up before going further backstage.

“So remind me why you’re here instead of Commissioner Patterson, James?” The mustached Police Chief Angel Rojas asked the Deputy Commissioner.

“Well, there are two answers to that, Chief Rojas. The first of which is that Zatanna herself gave me and my family three front row tickets earlier today, which is why I won’t be sitting with you, Mayor Grange or Mr. Wayne.” The red haired James Gordon replied calmly.

Rojas raised his eyebrows in a curious look. “She personally gave you tickets?” He questioned with a hint of disbelief. “Why would she do that?”

Gordon shrugged. “Don’t fully understand. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that her assistant is going to go to Gotham High this year and she thought that maybe Barbara, who admitted her admiration of her when we met her earlier at the school, could help guide Sunset through the first few days of school.”

“Well, that answers why I can see your daughter sneaking backstage.” Gordon quickly turned around to see that indeed in his only child was doing what Rojas said. “Relax, Jim. She’s probably looking for Zatanna’s charge so she knows who to look for come next week. Besides, that still doesn’t answer my main question of where is Patterson.”

Gordon groaned. “Sometimes, I just wish that girl would stay out of trouble. And to your question, Angel, the Commissioner has more important things to do tonight. Something about having an anniversary dinner with his wife of thirty years.”

Rojas’ eyes widened. “Shoot! That was tonight? I completely spaced out on that.” He turned his head to a nearby lieutenant. “Delaney! Remind me to send a card to Patterson congratulating his anniversary.”

The lieutenant quickly nodded. “Yes, sir.” He responded.

Rojas turned his head back towards Gordon. “Speaking of wives; where is yours?”

“She had to work a late shift at the hospital so she couldn’t make the show,” Gordon replied while rubbing the back of his head. He then noticed Mayor Grange walking by. “Listen, Rojas, I need to speak to the Mayor about something Patterson wanted me to handle so I’m gonna have to cut this conversation short. I’ll see you after the show, all right?”

“Yeah, enjoy the show.” Rojas said as Gordon walked away. He took in a sight of the room to see if anything was going on before the show and sure enough, he saw a sight that he really didn’t expect: Detective Ellen Yin was having a conversation with Bruce Wayne.

Ellen Yin had not been doing too well for the past couple of weeks. It seemed that her life had taken quite a down turn ever since she came to this town. Yin was a well-respected and decorated detective from Metropolis who was rising through the ranks fast. There were those who thought she might be well on track to being one of the youngest police captains in the history of the country. That was until she was transferred to Gotham.

Now she was never one to truly complain about an assignment, but her idea of what she was going to do when she came to this city was shaken violently on almost her first day. Sure, Metropolis had its fair share of crime: burglary, assault, homicides, but most of those could be pointed to heat of the moment and crimes of passion. In Gotham, much of the crimes she was getting dealt with were going up against those beyond any rational thought. Pure and utter insanity. Crazies were coming out of the woodwork in this town and she just had to draw the short straw of going after them. Her and her partner, Detective Ethan Bennett.

Ethan Bennett. The person that was contributing to her recent depression.

Rojas had assigned the two of them to deal with the mysterious Batman, a masked vigilante that was going around and taking the law into his own hands and it was her job to find out who was under the mask and arrest him. Now, while it seemed that the Bat was doing a good thing, Rojas was having none of it. He believed that the man was a danger to society and needed to be put behind bars. At least that was the message he gave the press. The more personal reason was that Rojas felt that the Bat was making the GCPD look bad, and Gotham’s cops had a long history of problems ranging from incompetence to corruption that Rojas wanted to clean up.

One unfortunate effect of being on the Batman case was dealing with the certain ‘super criminals’ that the Batman would fight. Cat burglars, a bird obsessed creep, a man hooked up to super steroids, a walking ice storm, and possible the worst of them: The Joker.

The other half to her depression could be contributed to the so-called ‘Clown Prince of Crime’. A few weeks ago, Ellen and Ethan were working a case and were getting close to the Bat when Ethan ended up getting captured by the Joker. The clown used him for a sick game of breaking a man mentally as well as trying out some of his new toys. ‘All it takes is one bad day.’ is what Ellen remembered. The Batman was able to rescue Ethan, to which Ellen passed up a chance to find out who was under that mask as she felt his actions earned him this one pass, but the damage was already done to poor Ethan. Ethan was gone forever.

At least, that’s the way she was seeing it. It was better to think Ethan was dead than the actual truth. She was supposed to have his back and she let him down and now he was a shell of his former self in Arkham Asylum.

Clayface.

“Detective Yin?” Ellen immediately snapped back to reality to see that she was looking at billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. “Are you okay, Detective Yin?” They met once or twice before; she recalled first meeting him when Oswald Cobblepot was going on his first burglary spree after returning to Gotham from his string of crimes in Asia.

Yin shook her head to wake up from her memories. “Uh, yes, I am. Sorry, I was zoned out there for a moment.” She apologized. Yin’s opinion of Wayne wasn’t a very good one. Sure, he was quite the philanthropist and did a lot of good for the city but Yin heard more stories of the stingiest of those with so much money and it set her opinions of them quite deep.

“So, are you here to see the show tonight?” Bruce asked.

“No, Mr. Wayne, some of us work nights.” She held up her glass which showed it was filled with water and not champagne like many of the other attendees.

“Have things being going okay lately?” Yin’s mood soured once again.

“Ye... Yeah, they are,” She hesitated. “Actually, not really, the past few weeks have just been a mess for me…”

“Ethan was one of my oldest friends. I just… I’m sorry about what happened to him.” He explained with sorrow in his voice.

“Yeah, well, just his luck, eh? One of the best partners a cop could ask for and he gets stuck with the worst.” She admitted.

“Now don’t you blame yourself for what happened, Yin. I won’t have that,” Rojas announced as he walked up to the pair. “If anything, I’m more to blame for what has happened with Ethan.”

Bruce raised his eyebrow in curiosity. “What do you mean, Chief Rojas?” He asked while extending his hand to shake the chief’s hand.

“I’ve been thinking these past couple of weeks, and have finally come to terms with what had happened and the mistakes I made. I should’ve seen the signs. I was pushing both you and Ethan too far, Yin, on this whole Batman case, and putting you into way more danger than two detectives should handle.” He explained before he took a quick drink of water from the cup that was in his hand.

He finished his sip before he continued. “The worst part of it was after we got Ethan back from that maniac and what do I do? I blame him for losing the chance of finding out who the Bat really is. Kick a man down when he’s at his lowest, and now, well, the less said about what happened next the better.” Rojas finished with a guilty tone in his voice.

“So what about the Batman case? Still want me on it, Chief?” Yin questioned before Rojas shook his head.

“No, I’m taking you off of it for the time being… I still want to know who that madman is, but I’m not going to lose another darn good detective in the effort.”

“You know, there are whispers that the Bat is actually more of a hero. Perhaps the GCPD shouldn’t be focusing on him.” Zatanna walked over to the group before holding out her hand to Bruce. Those words just added some more guilt to Yin. When she and Bennett were working the Batman case, Bennett was always in the corner that the bat was more of a force for good while she just saw him a dangerous vigilante.

The past couple of weeks had made her slowly see Ethan’s side of things. She worked with the Bat to stop Ethan, and then recently had been directing police away to give Batman some room to deal with the whole Egyptian Idols incident involving Cobblepot last night. In short, she was basically on his side now.

“Well, you’re not the first to express that idea, Ms. Zatara.” Rojas grumbled before Zatanna shook hands with both him and Yin. “But, at the end of the day, the man is a vigilante and we have laws against that. It’s the police’s job to deal with these creeps; not his.” Rojas turned around and started to walk away before he stopped and kept looking forward. “Yin, take the next few days off. I expect to see you at eight on Thursday.”

“I’ve never actually seen Rojas look that guilty before in the time I’ve been here in Gotham…” muttered Yin. “Of course, that last moment, he looked like his old self.”

“Sorry,” Zatanna said. “Didn’t mean to set him off.”

“Pretty sure he was on that verge…” Bruce shrugged his shoulders before checking his watch. “Oh, looks like the show’s about to begin. Better get my seat.” He smiled. “See you after the show, Zee.” He then walked back towards the back of the room where his reserved seat was.

“‘Zee’?” Yin looked at the stage performer curiously.

“We’re old friends,” Zatanna gave her own smile. “Enjoy the show, Detective.” She walked away towards the backstage leaving Yin alone to herself.

Yin sighed and took a drink of the water she had in the champagne glass. “Heaven knows I’ll try.”

Sunset was sitting down backstage as she was currently rereading the script that Zatanna had for her. She felt very confident that she would be able to easily keep up with her on the stage but it didn’t hurt to be as prepared as she could. Of course, she would have to pause on the studying when she saw a red headed girl walking around; looking very much like she shouldn’t be there.

“Can I help you?” Sunset spoke up and caused the girl to nearly jump out of her skin for a moment there.

“Oh, jeez…” Barbara caught her breath after it escaped her. “Sorry, you startled me is all… Um, you can actually help me though; you wouldn’t happen to know where I could find Zatanna’s assistant, would you?”

Sunset gave a small smirk and pointed to herself. “You’re looking at her.” Barbara’s eyes widen.

“Oh, thank goodness!” She shook the other girl’s hand. “I’m Barbara Gordon. I’m a student at Gotham High.”

“Sunset Lucciola.” She said, holding a steady grip herself before realizing the last name that Barbara gave sounded familiar. “Gordon? Are you related to Deputy Commissioner Gordon?” Sunset asked. Barbara nodded.

“He’s my Dad. We’re actually sitting in the front row tonight,” She pulled out the ticket stubs. “Big Zatanna fan. She even gave us tickets when she was at the school earlier today!”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. But I don’t think those are backstage passes.” pointed out Sunset. Barbara chuckled and scratched the back of her head.

“Yeah, they aren’t… I was actually looking for you.” Sunset had a confused look on her face.

“Me?” She pointed to herself again.

“Yep.” Barbara nodded. “Zatanna said she wanted you to join the gymnastics team. Considering that you’re a new student, perhaps I could show you around Gotham High.”

“Of course Zatanna had an alternative motive for this.” Sunset wasn’t upset though, but she honestly felt slightly guilty that Zatanna was still doing all this for her.

“That’s good to hear. It would be nice to have a friend on the first day… well, make that two since I already meet Pamela Isley at school this morning. I kinda promised I’d join her green advocacy club.” Sunset dug into her pocket and pulled out the brochure that Pamela gave her earlier before handing it to Barbara. The girl looked at it for a moment before handing it back to her.

“Pamela Isley? Not really familiar with her, I mean, I’ve seen her around school, but she’s a bit more of a… she kinda keeps to herself a bit, you know?” Sunset mentally smirked. The way Barbara described Pamela reminded Sunset of Fluttershy.

“She certainly was a lot more forward when I mentioned the plants.” Sunset said, chuckling.

“Hmm… well… I suppose I might check it out too, since I’m gonna be sticking around with you.”

“That’s very nice of you to offer, Barbara. I certainly look forward to it then; certainly makes things better if I at least know one person when starting out.” A thought then occurred to Sunset. “Hey, wait a second. You’re not just being friendly with me just so you can get close to Zatanna, are you?”

“Yes.” Barbara bluntly stated. They were quiet for at least five seconds before both of them just couldn’t hold it and started to laugh. “Sorry, I just thought that was funny!”

“It was! It was!” Sunset was trying to calm back down.

“Well, it looks like you two are getting along well already.” Zatanna walked over to them. Barbara nearly jumped again as Zatanna spoke.

“Oh, Zatanna! I’m so sorry! I know I’m not supposed to be backstage but I just…”

“It’s quite alright, Ms. Gordon,” The magician interrupted her. “I’m glad you two have already met at least.” Zatanna assured her which calmed Barbara down quite a bit. “However, I’m afraid the show is about to begin. If you don’t want to miss the magnificent magic of tonight’s show, you’d better head back to your seat, young lady.” Barbara was slightly disappointed but knew she was right.

“Okay then…” She started to walk away before she turned back. “Hey, is there any chance that perhaps you could have an audience volunteer sometime during the show?” Barbara asked hopefully. To see a Zatanna show live had always been a dream to her but to be a part of it? That would be even better. Both Zatanna and Sunset glance at each other and smirked.

“We’ll see,” Zatanna winked.

“What exactly were you doing backstage, Barbara?” James Gordon gave his daughter a stern look as she joined him at the table by the stage.

Barbara gave a small sheepish grin.“Sorry, Dad… I was just looking for Zatanna’s assistant so I know who to look for when school starts in the next few days.”

Gordon sighed at his daughter's answer.“Okay, I understand why you did that… but you could’ve just waited until she was on stage and then have your answer there.”

“Well, I just wanted to say hi too.”

“Barbara, please, I just wish you’d listen to what I ask of you. I thought I taught you better than this,” he said, shaking his head.

“You did.” Barbara spoke up as she felt slightly hurt by that remark. “Sorry, it’s just… sometimes I feel you’re a bit too stuffy with all these requests and orders.” She admitted.

Gordon understood what she meant. She was just a slightly rebellious teenager. It was completely normal but he did wish she was still that little girl he remembered. “I know. I just want you to be safe and responsible is all. I do it because I love you.” Barbara smiled as she gave him a slight side hug.

“I love you too, Dad. Don’t worry; I’m not going to do anything completely irresponsible.”

“Good… also, don’t think all this sweet talking and you being here is getting you out of being grounded.” He smirked, which caused her to huff and cross her arms.

"Darn," she grumbled, slightly irritated at his answering chuckle.

A moment later, the lights died down and all that was left was mostly the bright lights of the stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight you will experience wonders never seen before in the world!” The show announcer said. “You will witness unbelievable feats of magic that has to be seen to be believed! Brace yourselves, for the one, the only… the amazing… Zatanna!” Within a moment, the stage exploded in smoke before it died to reveal Zatanna on the stage. The whole audience clapped at the sight of her.

“Thank you! Thank you!” She bowed. “It’s a pleasure to be here tonight, especially for such a great cause. There’s nothing nobler than supporting all the good that the Gotham Children’s Hospital does.” She smiled. “As you well know, your tickets tonight will be full donations to the hospital, and in return, I will give you all a unique show! Tonight, you will also witness the birth of greatness, as I’ll be helped by my lovely and promising new assistant! Please welcome... Sunset Lucciola!” Sunset walked out on stage before taking a bow herself and remained in the corner of the stage while the attention went back to Zatanna.

“And now… prepare to experience magic like never before!!”

About an hour into the show, an officer discreetly walked over to where the Gordons were sitting. “What is it, Callahan?” James whispered to the officer.

“Anonymous tip just came in. Cobblepot has been spotted several blocks away; near the main branch of the Gotham Credit Union.”

“I thought he was dealt with last night with those idols?” Gordon asked. "The reports said that during last night's confrontation the cat statue was destroyed. And that the bird one was returned to the museum. What happened to Cobblepot?"

“We never actually arrested him last night," Callahan grudgingly admitted. "Guess maybe since he couldn’t extort the city for a billion dollars, he’s now just deciding to knock over a bank for some cash.”

Gordon scratched his chin as he thought about what to do next. “What’s Rojas’ response?” he asked.

Callahan gave him a weak chuckle in response. “He wants almost every cop in the area to converge on that bank. Says ‘I want a hundred guns pointed at the door when Cobblepot walks out.’”

Gordon gave him slight nod before looking over his shoulder to see Rojas whispering furiously to a few officers around. He also noticed Bruce Wayne looking like he got a text message and was on his way out of the building. He didn’t focus on it for long as he had more important things on his mind.

“Okay, then, let’s move… though I don’t feel as comfortable leaving this place unguarded," he admitted, "Barbara," he said, turning to his daughter, "we’re leaving.”

Barbara looked devastated when he said that. “But, Dad!” she whispered harshly, trying to keep her voice down.

“Barbara. Please. I just want to make sure you’re safe, okay? I’ll make it up to you.” He explained, feeling disappointed in himself that he had to do this. Barbara kept looking at the stage before looking back at him.

“End my grounding and I won’t say another word.”

He nodded. “Done. Come on, let’s go.” He took her hand and almost all of the GCPD were walking out of the building. The only one who stayed behind was Detective Yin who Rojas ordered to stay. Still, it was just a skeleton force that would be keeping the peace at the gala. Gordon looked back at the stage while still holding Barbara’s hand before turning around and heading out to the cars in the parking lot.

Sunset was keeping up with Zatanna's planned tricks as she went along with the performance. She had felt nervous at certain points, fearing she would forget her lines or cues, but whenever she felt she was losing control of the situation, Zatanna would be quick to give her a cue, or meet her eyes, silently guiding her back to her show persona. Even though most of the time she'd recover quickly enough, her mentor's presence and attention made the whole thing a lot easier than she had anticipated it to be.

Sunset was watching the crowd from backstage once more as Zatanna was performing her solo acts at the moment when she saw the GCPD guards all leave. She honestly wondered what the issue was but it didn't seem to have anything to do with the show, and for now, that's what she had to concentrate on. The crowd clapped once again at Zatanna’s act before she took a bow and announced a short intermission, granting her guests the chance to refresh themselves and get new drinks while she prepared for her next trick.

“Been a great night so far,” he said, grabbing a glass of water to refresh herself.

“How have I been doing?” Sunset wondered. "I'm sorry you had to save me so many times."

Zatanna smiled and put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “You’ve been doing terrific, Sunset. You’re a natural at this.”

Sunset smiled back and was about to say something, but she was interrupted by a loud shattering of glass that echoed through the theater.

The pair peeked through the curtain at the gala, and saw two women in red, skin tight suits that covered their bodies jumping in from the roof. The only thing not red on them was the kabuki masks they wore on their faces and the long, sharp triple bladed fingers on hands. Behind them came a swarm of different birds with bags in their mouths. Finally, a last figure holding an umbrella jumped down and floated onto a table.

The man was short, pudgy, and dressed in a suit with a large top hat and monocle. Sunset noticed with some unease that he also had a long nose and sharp teeth.

He cackled, looking around theatrically at the gathered guests. “What’s this? A large wealthy gala and there wasn’t an invite for Penguin?!” His smirk turned dangerous. "Maybe you nice people can make up for that faux pas now."