HAPPY NEW YEAR! Time for Chapter 2! Sorry for taking so long, been busy. But THANK YOU! Oh, my God, guys! I can't tell you how much your reviews mean to me! Thank you so much!

Quick Recap: Terry is having a serious problem with Dana and their relationship is... well... unraveling. Meanwhile, new murders have occurred in Gotham with only a black tiger figurine as a clue. And Batman needs to hurry and solve the crime and bring the killer to justice.

Now, on to the next chapter!


Chapter 2: Path of Discovery

Batman made it to the Gotham Water Treatment to investigate the latest murder; with his cloaking device activated, he observed the police busy about their duties: writing down notes and collecting evidence. There was a body lying on the catwalk with a white sheet over it, waiting to be transported to the coroner's office. The Dark Knight knew he wasn't going to get a look at the body that way so he scanned the rest of area to give him insight to the crime. He saw a couple of the police officers examining another small black tiger figurine. Same killer. Something was going on. As he continued to scrutinize the scene, approaching was the brown trench coat wearing, no-nonsense Commissioner of Gotham P.D., Barbara Gordon. She took the figurine from the police officer holding it and inspected it herself.

While still cloaked, Batman descended down, landing right near the Commissioner and her policemen. "Collecting figurines, Commissioner?" he asked, surprising the other officers. As the former Batgirl, she was only too used to the tactics of Batman.

Gordon only smirked as the young Dark Knight made himself visible. "Someone sure is," she responded.

"You don't usually come to crime scenes… not often anyway."

"Special cases require special attention."

"I bet." He looked at the body. "I hear this one was more involved."

"Yes." She handed the figurine to another officer followed by putting her hands in her coat pockets, "It seemed that the victim was strangled to death… by someone's bare hands."

Terry's eye twitched at the thought. "Ouch."

"My thoughts exactly."

He looked back at her. "Any leads?"

"So far, no. The only link is the tiger. Which suggests the same killer."

Batman looked at the sheet covered body. "This guy in the Shang family?"

"No. That's the interesting thing. That was Isaac Cade, a cousin in the Cade family."

Batman looked back at the Commissioner. "Aren't they all stockbrokers?"

"Most of them. It's their family business. Though, things haven't been going so well. They've lost quite a bit of money recently."

That sounded familiar. Sudden money troubles and deaths in the family. There was some kind of connection working here. Batman looked at the body then the surrounding area, analyzing as he knew he had to. He took into account all of the other murders surrounding this case that he and Bruce looked at. Aside from the strangulation, this was different in one other aspect.

The location.

Terry narrowed his eyes. "He ran here."

Gordon raised an eyebrow. She suspected as much herself but wanted to see what the kid had. Not like she didn't know but it was always nice to see McGinnis come into his own.

"The other murders took place at the victims' homes or hotels. Some place they were comfortable. No way whoever did this brought Cade to a water treatment plant. Cade must've known he was about to get it and ran for his life."

"He might have known his killer…" Gordon breathed out.

"Or saw him just in time to do nothing about it."

"Either way… this probably isn't over."

"Let's just hope I can find whoever this is before they catch up with the next victim." He opened his scarlet wings, activated his jet boosters, and took off for the sky.

Gordon watched as he flew through an open window and into the sky. "Let's hope so, kid…" she whispered.

After getting back to the Batmobile, the young crime fighter contacted Bruce. "Did you catch all that?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Any connection between Cade and the Shangs?"

"None I know of. But I'll do some digging."

"Alright." Since that would take a while, Terry decided he needed to try and deal with a personal matter. "I need a few minutes to myself."

"What for?"

"Something I need to take care of."

"Deal with personal issues on your time."

"I wasn't asking."

Bruce hated when McGinnis defied him. Even more so when it was probably over something that could wait or wasn't even necessary. "Terry…"

"I didn't say the day or the night. I said a few minutes. I'm taking it. I'll be right back out."

Bruce was silent for a full minute. Terry didn't often take such tone with him. The kid was serious this time. Which meant… whatever he was going through was serious. "Fine. But get back on patrol. We need to find this killer soon."

"Don't worry. I know the drill."

Bruce cut the comlink. He didn't like the idea of Terry stopping midway during patrol, and especially during an important investigation such as this, to take care of a personal matter. But when the kid was serious about something, he was deadest on it. And there was no getting him to change his mind. But, yet and still… Wayne knew that McGinnis would be right back to the suit when it was over. He wouldn't admit it to the teenager… at least, not anytime soon… but Terry had come a long way and required very little of Bruce being on top of him.

Later, Terry was standing in the park near his girlfriend's house. He sent her text letting him know where and when he would be there. He was hoping she would show up.

He saw her approach and smiled.

…That is until he saw her expression…

"Why do you keep texting me?" Dana asked, irritably. She stomped to a stop, radiating anger.

The question and her asking it, not to mention her tone, threw him for a loop. "Uh… to talk…"

"What else do you have to say?" He was just about speak but she held her hand up, "You know what? I don't care."

"Dana…" Terry breathed out.

"No, Terry. This is… I'm sick of this! Sick of it! You never have time for me. You're always putting me on the back burner. And the only time you want to talk is when I'm mad at you."

She was right, there was no denying that. If she only knew. The entire truth. "Dana… you just don't…" he tried.

"You're right," she interrupted. "I don't! I don't see you! I don't talk to you! I don't know anything about you! I don't even know that you still work for Wayne! For all I know… you're right back at the life you used to be in!"

A low blow. A very low blow.

"Whoa!" Terry shouted. He got upset. "Not cool. There is nothing that would make me go back to that!"

"How would I know that? How?! I don't see you or talk to you! Heck, the only person who does is Max!"

Terry sighed, leaning his head back.

"I don't know what you think you're going to say to make you missing my mom coming home okay but you're not just gonna sweet talk your way out of this." She turned to walk away but stopped, turning to face him again. "And the next time you go down that road of trouble… don't expect me to be there when you get caught. Use your one phone call from prison for somebody else."

An even lower blow. Dana was aiming for a knockout and then some.

She walked off and Terry didn't even try to stop her. He figured she said her piece and now wasn't the time for them to talk. He was starting to wonder if another time would present itself… or if he even wanted one to after that speech. Plus, he was in a depressed enough mindset… and he promised Bruce he'd be back in uniform.

Actually… maybe that was what he needed right now.

Then it hit him.

Being in the Batsuit would be a relief right now.

How scary was that?

That evening, the weather turned gloomy and a rainstorm picked up. Terry was back in his uniform, at the top of one of the many metropolitan buildings in Gotham, looking down at the city he called home. The rain, the view, and even the suit helped him relax; even remind him what all this was for. He could endure the hardships; he was making a difference, so it was worth it.

Still… that doesn't mean he's invincible. When things hurt, they hurt. And what Dana said… and what she thought… that hurt.

Terry worked his tail off to never go back down that path again. After becoming Batman and dealing with kids his age who were deeper into that life than he was, including his former best friend Charlie Bigelow, he realized he could not only never do that to himself again but never do it to his family and friends again, and that included Dana. He thought he was showing her that he wasn't ever going down that life again. He thought she could see that.

Apparently not.

Whether it was her anger or she really thought he was a criminal again, either way it hurt.

A lot.

"Terry?" Bruce asked over the comlink.

McGinnis snapped out of his trance. "Yeah?"

"Why are you out in the rain?"

He didn't think about his answer; it just came out. "Just felt like listening to something besides silence, that's all."

That was very cryptic. Even more so when it was Terry who gave it. Needless to say, it left Bruce concerned about his protégé. Something was clearly bothering him. "Terry… are you alright?"

McGinnis considered telling him… but decided not to. "Any news on the Black Tiger Killings?"

Complete dodging of the question. Bruce was almost upset: it seemed Terry had learned a little too much from him. But he decided to go with it. He would make Terry do so if the roles were reversed. "I see heard the news' label for it."

The young Batman looked across the street at the news billboard that lit up the night. "Kinda hard to miss."

"So far no but…" An alert came in on the computer. "Hold on." There was a 911 distress call coming in. "There's a disturbance. Right in your area. A woman called the police saying she was being pursued by a criminal then the line went dead. They're probably close by."

Terry looked to see someone running down an alley and someone moving on the lower rooftops at a high rate of speed. "Yeah. Real close." He unfurled his wings and jumped into a glide, sailing toward the chase.

The girl, in her early thirties, was running as fast as she could to escape her pursuer. She went down an alley but ran into a dead end. She was breathing hard when she heard her assailant land behind her.

He was wearing an ancient Chinese court robe, dark green in color with a decorative black tiger symbol on the front. The sleeves on the robe were exceptionally long and hid his hands. He wore white pants underneath with black boots. He sported long black hair that was tied into a single braid that stretched down to just above his knees. He was clearly of Asian descent with dark green eyes. "Rats…" he spoke with a strong yet normal sounding voice, "they always find a corner to retreat to. But it won't save you this time."

"P-Please…" the girl pleaded, sinking to her knees. "Please… don't hurt me…"

"Oh, you'll find me hard pressed to have mercy."

"Same goes for me!" Batman descended from the sky and kicked the man in the back, causing him to grunt and sending him crashing into a cluster of trash cans.

Batman got into a battle stance and told the young lady. "Get out of here… NOW!"

The girl took off running.

The man emerged from the trash cans. He looked at the girl as she ran off, paying the Dark Knight no mind. He watched her disappear around a corner then looked at Batman. "You should stay out of my way."

"While you kill people?" Batman asked, rhetorically. "Not likely."

"Sins must be punished."

"Sins, huh? Isn't killing one of them?"

"Yes. But not when they are justified."

"Sorry. I don't see any justification here."

"You will."

Suddenly, the man launched himself at Batman with amazing speed. Terry barely had time to dodge an open palm strike from him. He rolled along the ground to get some distance, readied a batarang, and threw it at the criminal but he back flipped and dodged it.

Batman was impressed… and surprised. "Oooookay…"

The man rushed at him and launched a flurry of blows at the Dark Knight, all of which he managed to dodge but just barely. Whoever this man is, he is a very skilled martial artist. Batman went for a few punches but the man managed to dodge those. Batman went for one last punch but the man caught his fist in his hand. And didn't let go.

"Impressive," the man said. "You have some skill."

He then spun gave Batman a kick to the chest, that could have crushed the sternum of a lesser man, sending the hero sailing through the air and into a wall before falling on all fours. Batman got to a knee, gritting his teeth to deal with the pain.

"I am Tai Ji, Batman." He bowed and rose up. "I believe warriors engaged in a struggle should at least know the names of one another." He reached into his left sleeve of tunic and pulled out a black tiger figurine, confirming his identity. He set the tiger down on a trash can lid. He looked at the Dark Knight. "We will meet again." He raised his arm and grapple line from the right sleeve. He lifted into the air and vanished into the night.

Terry pulled himself up and rubbed his chest. He muttered to himself, "Great… if my heart survives a week between the emotional and physical beating, it'll be a miracle."

"Gripe on your own time, McGinnis," Bruce's voice came though the comlink.

Terry had to resist rolling his eyes. "Now you have something to say?"

"I didn't want to distract you."

"It wouldn't have mattered. That guy's good."

"So I saw. The police picked up the girl. You gonna be okay?"

He grunted as he rubbed his chest, "Yeah. But now we need to know… who is Tai Ji?"


Who is Tai Ji? That question will be answered. Just... not too soon.

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Next Path: Path of Choices

Terry and Max have a chat about Terry's argument with Dana with tensions mounting on all sides. Later, Tai Ji strikes again. With everything going on, Terry is about to make a major decision that, if he goes through with it, will change everything... forever.

Be here for it!