Zatanna closed her eyes while chanting in an indecipherable whisper. Her hands glowed with a mist of violet energy as she reached out toward her foes. Zatanna's left hand was open, palm outward and fingers pointed toward the ceiling, but her right hand was clenched into a fist.

"They're here for the magician!" shouted one of the four guards in the room as he reached for his gun, instantly confirming his association with Giovanni's abduction. "Shoot them!"

Guards in suits stood up from their white laminate tables, the metal feet of their plastic chairs sliding noisily on the bare concrete as they were pushed back and out of the way. The guards were too slow as Zatanna finished her enchantment. She snapped her left hand closed, and the guns of the four men were ripped from their hands and holsters, flying toward her to land and skid to a stop at her feet. Opening her right fist caused an explosion of purple energy inside the small break room, and two of the guards shattered the side windows as they were ejected by the concussive force of the blast.

With only two opponents standing between them and Giovanni, Bruce launched into an attack of his own. He ran forward a few steps, put a foot in the seat of a chair and used it for a springboard to launch himself over a table and land both feet against the chest of one of the guards. The forceful blow catapulted the man backwards to slam into the rear wall.

Bruce landed on his back atop the table he'd jumped over, and the last guard tried to attack him before he could get up. Seeing him coming, Bruce took a hold of the edges of the table before rolling away from the incoming guard. The table stood on four metal feet extending outward from a central post. When Bruce rolled away, his grip on the table caused it to flip over, swinging the metal post and feet of the table up to catch the guard under the chin and send him flying backwards.

"Get Giovanni," Bruce instructed quickly. He thought the amount of noise they'd made was sufficient to be heard everywhere in the factory. It was certain the other security people would be coming for them now.

"Master Bruce," Alfred said in Bruce's earpiece.

"Security's coming?" Bruce assumed.

"Yes, but we've just had a new arrival," Alfred explained. "A sports car pulled up out front, and a man got out and rushed inside the building."

Pounding footsteps approached the break room.

"I think I'm about to meet him," Bruce answered.

"Boss, someone's in there," said a voice from outside.

"I give you idiots one job!" snarled an angry voice. "How is it you can't even hold a tied up and powerless man captive?"

"He's got help," pleaded one of the security men. "Nobody saw them. It's like they're some kind of ninjas."

"Wait here," the angry voice said in a colder tone. "I'll handle this."

Stepping into the doorway, a tall man in a white suit looked over the room, his dark eyes focusing on Bruce. The man's face was chiseled with sharp cheekbones and a long, narrow, and hooked nose. He raised a fist toward Bruce and began whispering, causing a cloud of black energy to surround his hand.

Bruce recognized the use of magic and knew he had to stop the man before he completed whatever nasty enchantment he was working on. He reached for a chair to throw it and distract the magician, but before he could lay hold of it, the magician's fingers spread wide and unleashed a shower of white hot sparks.

Bright points of light filled Bruce's vision, refusing to allow him to see anything else. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but nothing restored his sight. He'd been blinded. Knowing the magician would try to take advantage of his disability, Bruce dug into his pocket and pulled out the remote control for the amplifier he'd wired into the circuit breaker. Finding the activation switch by touch, he pressed the button to trip all the breakers at the same time. His efforts were rewarded by shouting coming from the factory as the guards on the main floor were plunged into darkness.

Bruce had been trained to fight when his senses were compromised, so battling the magician while blinded would be a familiar exercise. Since the warehouse was in total darkness as well, he suspected he now had an edge. Any thoughts of an easy victory were instantly dashed as he heard the sound of an old motor trying to start behind the factory. Bruce mentally berated himself for failing to consider the obviousness of a factory of this size having emergency generators. If the backup power supply engaged, the lights would turn on again, and his advantage would vanish with the darkness.

"Disable the backup generator," Bruce told Alfred before attacking the magician in an attempt to bring him down before the lights came back on.

The enemy magician had spent so long relying on his powers, he was no match for Bruce in a hand to hand fight. Bruce delivered a solid punch to the man's ribs, followed by an uppercut under the chin. A spin brought Bruce's heel around to kick hard into the magician's stomach and propel him up against the wall.

The lights flickered as the aged generator tried desperately to engage. The amount of illumination wasn't much, but it gave the magician the opportunity to fight back. A whisper of magical words and a wave of his hand picked Bruce up and tossed him to the other side of the room, painfully crashing through the arrangement of tables and chairs in his way.

Outside, the backup generator exploded in a million burning fragments after taking a direct hit from a fireball thrown by Sindella.

An orb of energy appeared above each of the magician's hands, filling the break room with orange light. He looked toward Bruce, clenching his left hand to dispel one of the orbs. Blue lightning began crackling around his fist. "Nice try, but not enough."

An arc of electricity shot across the room with the deadly precision of an arrow, and its speed left no opportunity to dodge. The magician threatening Bruce was blasted out the break room door to land heavily thirty feet away atop one of the massive work tables. The security people outside scattered in terror when their powerful leader fell, stumbling and tripping over each other as they tried to flee without being able to see where they were going.

"It's alright," Giovanni's voice said in the darkness of the room.

Bruce still couldn't see, but he turned in the direction of the voice.

"Wait a moment," Giovanni told Bruce.

Within a few seconds, the bright points faded from Bruce's vision, and his sight was restored. Giovanni and Zatanna stood beside him, and the older magician held an orb of white light above his right hand to let them see each other.

"Thanks," Bruce said, grateful the damage to his eyes hadn't been permanent.

"It is I who owe you thanks," Giovanni corrected. "My magical abilities are related to my voice, so when I was gagged, my powers were neutralized."

"Alfred, we have Giovanni," Bruce reported, knowing the other two members of their rescue team would be eager to hear the news. "He's alive and well."

Bruce glanced toward the door. "Any idea as to the identity of the other magician?"

"He's a low ranking member of the board of directors for Burnehold Industries," Giovanni explained. "He has some magic of his own and wanted me to teach him my powers. He thought if he gained enough magical strength, he could take over the company, perhaps more."

"What are we going to do with him?" Bruce asked. "I doubt a conventional prison will hold him."

"We don't have to send him to prison," Giovanni dismissed. "There exists a magical ability to alter a person's memory, and I'll use it on him to erase all knowledge of his magical talents. He'll still be his greedy, corporate self, but he won't present the same threat ever again."

"Your powers could be very dangerous in the wrong hands," Bruce commented.

"I know," Giovanni agreed seriously. "I was fully prepared to die rather than tell him anything. Thankfully, the two of you showed up."

"We found the watermark on the letter you sent," Bruce told him.

"Nicely done," Giovanni praised. "Sorry I had to be so subtle, but I couldn't risk anyone else finding out I was calling for help."

"All that matters is we have you back," Zatanna said, hugging him tightly.

"Let's tend to our fallen foe and then get out of here," Giovanni suggested.

After blanking the enemy magician's mind of everything relating to the use of magical powers, Giovanni teleported the man back home where he would awaken tomorrow with no recollection of tonight's events.

Stepping outside, Giovanni was enthusiastically greeted by his wife as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Tears of joy rimmed her eyes.

Alfred climbed out of the van to join the impromptu celebration but only at the edges. He gave some distance to the family being reunited, walking over to where Bruce stood.

"Very fine work, Master Bruce," Alfred complimented.

"Thanks, Alfred," Bruce replied. His thoughts returned to his earlier mistake. "I should have known they had an emergency generator."

"Something to keep in mind next time, perhaps," Alfred suggested.

"Definitely," Bruce agreed.

"I was a bit surprised to see you, Bruce," Giovanni said as he was released from the embrace of his family and started toward the van. Alfred quickly departed and revved the engine to life. Bruce climbed in and helped the others enter the van before answering.

"Zatanna sent me a letter saying you were in trouble," he explained while buckling his seatbelt.

Putting the van in gear, Alfred drove away from the abandoned factory and toward the distant lights of the city.

"Bruce was the one who tracked you down," Zatanna said from the front seat opposite Alfred.

"Indeed?" Giovanni questioned with surprised admiration, still holding his wife's hand. "You would seem to be adept at this type of work. Have you thought about becoming a detective or something?"

"I've been considering it," Bruce admitted.