Okay! Wow! This chapter... turned out to be a LOT longer than I expected! lol, sorry about that! But I do hope you guys enjoy it.

You guys have been reviewing, watching, and favoriting (I know that's not a word lol) and I just want this to be awesome. You guys deserve an awesome story and I hope I'm fulfilling that, I really do. I'm really grateful to all of you guys for making this story the success it already is. Thank you so much.

So, on to Chapter 3! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Path of Choices

Terry awoke in his bedroom the following morning. Once he realized it was time to get ready for school, he entered into his usual ritual of groaning and cursing the morning. It was always worse after a hard night and last night definitely counted.

The girl who was targeted by Tai Ji was Mimi Blackwell, a family of English nobility. The Blackwells were heavy in land ownership in America but they, like the Cades and Shangs, had lost a majority of their holdings in the last six months. That wasn't what bothered Terry most as much as Tai Ji's skill was the bigger. He already knew that the killer was cunning and smart but to be an amazing fighter to boot was a dangerous trifecta. That brief scuffle with the Black Tiger killer took a lot out of him. It amazed Terry that they barely rumbled and Tai Ji nearly beat the stuffing out of him. Still… that kick was nothing to laugh at. He was going to have his work cut out for him the next time they met, that much was made infinitely clear.

A knock came at his door. "Terry?"

It was his mother, Mary. She would usually knock to make sure he wasn't oversleeping, which he was prone to do most mornings.

He groaned, "Yeah, I'm up, Mom."

"Can I come in?"

The black haired teen looked around to make sure the Batsuit was nowhere in sight. In his early days of heroism, he had a bad habit of throwing it just anywhere; once his younger brother, Matt, burst into his room and almost saw it. He made conscious efforts since then to make sure the suit was put away, no matter how tired he was. He made a good scan of the room to find his hero uniform hidden. All clear. "Yeah, come on in."

She opened the door and he slowly sat up. She closed the door behind her.

"What's up?"

"Dana came by yesterday," Mary said, bluntly.

What a great thing to hear when he was first waking up… Not. Terry sat up, propping his knees up then resting his arms on them. He rubbed his head, "What'd she say?"

Mary was silent for a second. Dana had indeed said something… just not things Terry would want to hear. Not now, at least. "Nothing. She dropped off some things and left."

Terry wasn't all that surprised. "Figures."

Both mother and son fell deafly quiet. Terry didn't want this conversation and Mary was trying to get to the heart of the problem.

As she is the mother, naturally, what she wanted took precedence. "Did you two break up?" she, blatantly, asked.

He sighed. "Yeah."

"This job?"

"Among other things."

Mary paused. She walked further into the room and sat on her son's bed. "Terry… I know you've always tried to make up for mistakes made and that working for Mr. Wayne helps you do that but… you work so much, so often. We hardly ever even see you."

Terry groaned, "Mom…" He didn't need this right now.

"I'm not saying you working is wrong," she defended. "But… is this hectic schedule really worth losing Dana over?"

He sighed. "It's… a bit more complicated than that."

"I know this job means a lot to you… and… so does Mr. Wayne."

Terry scoffed. It constantly amazed him how true that actually was.

"But… I know how much you care about Dana, too. So, I have to ask again: is all you do for Mr. Wayne really worth losing her over?"

Man, was that really necessary? He couldn't possibly answer that question right now. He couldn't come up with an answer that would sate her, anyway. And no good lies were going to come to him this early either. He looked away from her gaze. "A really heavy question, Mom. And a little too early for me to answer."

She sighed. "I understand, dear. But… think about it?"

Before he could respond, the doorbell rang.

They both looked toward the door then Mary looked back at her oldest son. In his eyes, she could see Terry was grateful for the salvation of someone visiting.

"Go get ready for school," she instructed. "I'll see who it is."

Mary walked to the door, while Terry started getting ready. She opened the door to find Max standing at the doorstep.

"Hi, Mrs. McGinnis!" Max waved.

"Morning, Maxine," Mary greeted.

"Terry up?"

"He is. Just not quite ready to go yet. Would you like to come in?"

"Sure."

They both waited in the living room, making small talk while the McGinnis boys were about getting ready. Mary was constantly grateful for the fact that Terry had Max in his life. She knew that if no one else was helping him, the young Ms. Gibson was always there for her son.

On that thought, Mary looked at Max with a different eye. Dana claimed that Terry was constantly neglecting her… but she never heard such complaints from Max and, while they weren't very close, they did talk on a number of occasions. And, from her stand point, Max was a kind, beautiful, smart, and great girl. It made the wheels in Mary's mind begin to turn.

After a few minutes, the elder McGinnis boy emerged from his room, rubbing his head all the while, and looked to see his best friend sitting on his couch.

"Morning, sunshine," the pink haired teen greeted. "Ain't you a sight?"

He stared at her for a second before saying, "Good grief, you get up early."

"I sleep at night," she retorted back, in classic Max style. "And just because you lack the ability to tell when morning starts and have a wicked boss, doesn't mean everybody does."

He narrowed his eyes at her and, sarcastically, replied, "Ha-ha."

Mary giggled. "You two better get going or you'll be late."

"Yeah, come on, gruesome," Max stood up, "I'll make sure you don't fall asleep and land into traffic."

Terry walked for the door with Max, "Ya know? With friends like you, I might actually welcome that." He opened the door for her.

She walked past him, "Getting hit might improve your IQ."

"There's nothing wrong with it now." He followed behind her. Mary came to the door to see them both off.

Max giggled, "I have nights worth of tutoring and your grades that prove different."

"Maybe but you're comparing that with your unusually smart brain. That's not even fair."

"Sorry, but while your brain is trying to figure out all the best ways to sleep, mine is preoccupied with being schway."

They both laughed at the joke.

As they walked down the hallway, Ms. McGinnis couldn't help but notice that Terry's mood improved, if only a little… or greatly, since Max arrived. He seemed more approachable and relaxed. And they were both comfortable around each other. Mary stopped wondering if her oldest son should focus on getting Dana back… and started hoping he would move his life forward with who seemed, at least to her, like someone who was always there for her son.

The duo made small talk on the way to school, leaving the night duty talks for when they arrived at their place of learning. They wondered, once, if anyone ever paid attention to their conversations, especially considering they were mostly about supervillains, then they remembered: it's a high school. Of course not. Everyone else was preoccupied with normal teen problems. At times, Terry envied those days, then others, he and Max felt bad for them everyone else's lives were nowhere near as awesome as theirs, if, for Max, it was only by association.

"So, you met the guy last night?" Max asked, as they walked through halls heading for class, speaking just loud enough for each other to hear.

"Yeah, calls himself Tai Ji," Terry explained.

"That mean 'Black Tiger'?"

"Nope. Just a name. Don't even know if it's his or not. The old man's checking it out."

She smiled. "And he kicked your butt?"

He glared at her. "Really? That's what you had to ask."

She giggled.

He just shook his head. "Well, to answer, yeah. One square kick to the chest and it felt like that guy who hopped up on Venom patches all over again."

"Wow. Must suck."

Instinctively, McGinnis rubbed his sternum, "Yeah."

"And still no idea what he wants?"

"Not a clue. Problem is its starting to look like these targets are random but the way he was talking makes me think otherwise. I need to find out quick before more bodies pile up."

She shrugged, "You'll get 'im. You always do."

He appreciated the vote of confidence. He needed any he could get right now. "Thanks."

"Guess no gala for you on Sunday then, right?"

He remembered, "Oh, yeah, for your internship."

She nodded.

He sighed. "Probably not. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You do have everything in the world going on right now."

He exhaled, "Yeah. Gotta deal with Tai Ji. Plus…"

They walked into their next class to find Dana sitting and talking with Chelsea, their other mutual friend.

Max didn't need Terry to complete his thought. Seeing the raven haired girl spoke volumes.

Dana's conversation with Chelsea stopped, dead, the second she saw Terry and her whole body seemed to tense up. She glowered at him and, from across the room, Terry felt another kick to his chest. The tension could've been cut with a knife. Terry stared at Dana, trying to convey sympathy with his eyes.

She would have none of it. She turned her head away.

At her gesture, Max breathed out, "Whoa…"

"You can say that again," Terry whispered.

After a rather slow and visibly disturbing day of school, Terry and Max were heading back to his place so he could catch a little bit of sleep before going out on patrol and get back on Tai Ji's trail.

"Well, that was a weird day," Max admitted.

"Gotta feeling they're ALL gonna be like that for a while," Terry replied.

"Least today was Friday, and a three day weekend, you can avoid that death stare for a while."

"Thank God for any break, at this point."

"What I can't believe is that she's that mad at you. I mean, it's not like you…" She was going to say gone back to a life of crime but Terry preempted her.

"She thinks I have."

Max ceased walking. She looked up at him, "Say what?"

Terry stopped as well. And, with a shrug and sigh, said, "That's what she told me."

Max couldn't believe it. 'Was she serious?' she thought. A completely unfounded, ridiculous, not to mention uncalled for accusation. For once in her life, towards Dana, Max's blood boiled. "Oh, who does she think SHE is?!" she shouted.

Terry looked at her, surprised at her outburst and anger.

The pink haired stomped past him. "You miss a few dates because you work and she gets to say you're stealing again?!"

"Max…" He followed after her.

"Don't worry. I got it."

He grabbed hold of her arm, "Max, no."

She turned to face him, "No, Terry! Maybe you can't tell her… everything. But she doesn't get to assume you're on a bad track, either. You've given her no reason to believe that." She paused. "That isn't fair to you. You don't deserve that. You're nothing like you were. You let me deal with her."

Despite everything, he couldn't help but feel a little better. It was good to know someone believed in him. And as always, he knew he could count on Max to have his back, even if he forgot that from time to time. It was always a pleasant reminder when it came up. "Don't do that, Max. It's not your fight, not your problem. It's mine. I'll deal with it."

She didn't want to but decided to drop it… but only because he asked. "Fine. She's still wrong."

"Yeah, I guess…" They arrived at his apartment. "You sure you don't want to stay until I leave tonight? Or I can walk you home and go on patrol from there."

She smiled. "No, I'll be fine. Go on and get some rest, hero. This Tai Ji sounds tough… so you're gonna need all the rest you can get."

He sighed in agreement. "And how."

"Plus you're stressed enough. So, go on. I'm fine."

He nodded.

She turned to leave.

"And, hey, Max."

She stopped and looked at him.

"Thanks."

She smiled and winked at him. Then started for home. Terry watched her walk away… a little longer than he realized. By the time he realized he was staring, she was out of sight.

He blinked back to himself. 'Whoa… What was that about?' He ignored it for now, heading inside to get some rest for tonight.

That night, Terry was driving through the Gotham sky in the Batmobile. So far, they're hadn't been any Tai Ji sightings, even though Bruce sent a captured image of him to Gordon. The guy was like a ghost. But that was to be expected. He went this long without being caught, after all.

While Batman scanned the city, Max called his private line.

"What's going on, Max?" he answered.

"I just got off the phone with Chelsea a minute ago," she said.

Her tone told him this was going to be bad. "Yeah?"

"Dana… she, umm… she's been saying things about you…"

Terry sighed. He couldn't help it. This was turning into a worse situation then he wanted. Or needed it to be right now. "Things like what?"

She could hear it in his voice. He was wound up beyond belief. "Good news is that she isn't spreading rumors about being a criminal again. So you don't have to worry about that."

"I guess that is good news."

She could hear the disappointment in his voice. But this was no time for him to be griping. "Be thankful for the pluses, McGinnis."

As always, Max had a point. Even when he didn't like it or her straightforward approach, he needed and appreciated it. "Yeah. So, what the bad news."

She paused. "What she has been saying about isn't that great…"

He didn't want to know… but he had to know. "Like?"

"Like… she's been telling everyone that you've been neglecting her. That you… care more about yourself and this new life you're living than her."

Terry fell silent.

"Terry?"

"She's not wrong."

Max paused. "Terry…"

"She's not, Max. I have… I never meant to… but I have…" He exhaled, loudly, leaning back in his seat. He looked out at the city, "This life, Max… I don't mind it… even understand it more at times… how the old man did it… but… with stuff like this…" He looked down, "I know I'm making a difference for the city but… it just… makes me wonder… am I changing how people see me at all?"

She could hear the pain he was in over all of this. Strip everything away from Terry and you had someone who never wanted to let anyone down. She was about to say anything she needed to for him to feel better. "Terry…"

An explosion went off nearby.

"What was that?!" Max asked, panicked.

He looked up to see smoke coming from the back section of the penthouse area of High Tower Suites with flames starting to become visible through the smoke. "A fire just broke out at the High Tower Suites!" Batman informed. "Gotta go!" He cut the line and guided the car toward the fire.

When the fire was in view, he launched a few extinguisher capsules from the Batmobile to quell some of the flames. They worked mostly, restricting the fire from spreading, but he needed to make sure that the people inside were okay. He exited the Batmobile and jumped down into the hole made by the explosion. He looked around and saw eight people trapped by rubble, complete shut off from the exit. He used a few more capsules from his utility belt to extinguish what flames he could but the fire was grand… and seemingly centered to just the penthouse. He started clearing debris and began guiding everyone the nearest exit. While he was trying to get the people out, Batman looked up and saw Tai Ji, standing on edge of the partially destroyed wall, looking down at them all.

"You're misguided, Batman!" Tai Ji shouted.

Batman didn't respond. He looked back to see how many more people he had to get out. Most of them were out of the door but he still needed to get the rest to safety.

The assailant pointed at some of the people exiting. "Do you know the kind of filth that you shepherd to safety? In your herd of sheep lie wolves! And you protect them! YOU PROTECT THESE CREATURES! YOU PROTECT THE CORRUPT!"

Batman couldn't argue as the flames started to spread.

"I'll show you the true path! The true ways of justice! You will learn them soon!" After another flash of flames, Tai Ji was gone.

Batman was surprised to see him disappear so quickly. He wanted to go search for the villain but he knew he didn't have the time to do that and save these people. And the innocents had to come first.

Gotham Fire and Rescue arrived minutes later and took care of the rest of the flames, preventing any further damage to the hotel and saving other lives. Batman hung around to see what else needed to be done but, once everything was over, he got back in the Batmobile and reported in to Bruce.

"And he just disappeared," Batman concluded. "It was weird." He sighed, "I don't know how his screw got loose but he's a missile launch base with a toddler running the controls."

Bruce sat in silence for a few second before admitting, "I don't think it's that easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you notice who rented that penthouse?"

"Didn't have time. Tryin' too hard to get everyone out of there."

"Admirable and the right thing to do. But I did some checking: Ryan and Fred Cade. They rented it out for a group of their fraternity brothers and… associates."

Batman paused. Members of the same family as the man killed at the Gotham Water Treatment. That's when it dawned on him. "This is some kind of vendetta."

"Looks that way."

"But for what?"

"We better find out. Add this with the girl you saved and you have a pattern. Tai Ji is focused on these three families. You have to know all about your enemy. That's the only way to ever fully understand them. Of course… that applies for allies, too. You never know someone's motivation until you know their whole story."

That one comment got Terry thinking. And if Bruce knew about what… he never would have said it.

Knowing all about someone… knowing their whole story… maybe… that was Terry's solution… to a very different problem.

After getting home, most of the night saw Terry sitting on his bed, with his Batsuit draped over his chair, the mask facing him. He looked at it, having a mental conversation with it, letting his options play in his head. This whole situation with Dana was weighing on him. If for no other reason than, he hated that he hadn't been there so much that she honestly believed that he hadn't changed from what he used to be or, rather, gone back to it.

He fell back on his head, staring up at the ceiling. Whenever he looked back on it, he hated what he used to be. While he always believed Bruce's words that he made Batman worthwhile, Terry couldn't help but believe that it was still true both ways.

Batman was and is making him worthwhile.

And maybe someone else needed to know that.

He got up, put the suit away then got into bed. Tomorrow… everything would change.

He wasn't sure if he would accomplish what he wanted… he wasn't even sure if he was making the right decision… but… he had to make it…

No matter the cost.

But… not before he talked to someone else. Someone who deserved to know what he decided.

The following morning, Terry was at Max's front door. He knocked a few times, not sure if she was up yet since it was a weekend.

She opened it up and was surprised to see her best friend there. "Ter?"

Him stopping by was no big deal. She was more surprised that he was up so early, especially on a Saturday and even more so because it was a three day weekend. But whenever there was a case that needed Terry's undivided attention, it just meant that a three day weekend was all work for the man. Yet, she knew he did like to get his sleep when he could… and it was before 11 AM.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I need to tell you something… and it's something you should know first."

"O…kay," she said, unsure. "What's up?"

"It's about me and Dana."

"Yeah?"

"I figured out a way to… maybe fix this…"

"And that way brought to my house? Early?"

He paused. "It's… pretty big."

She looked him over. His tone and body language left her… a little concerned. "How big?"

He took a deep breath. "Big…"

She started to understand. "You mean…"

"I'm going to tell her everything."

Her eyes grew wide.

"I'm gonna tell her I'm Batman."

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, TERRY?!

...Oh, wait... I'm the author. Yeah... I guess he has. lol.

So, NOW what's gonna happen? Wait and see, my friends, wait and see...

Next Path: Path of Revelations

Terry and Max discuss Terry's decision and the ramifications of it all. Later, Terry goes to see Dana... followed by Dana confronting Max. And... Tai Ji strikes again... and issues a challenge to Batman.

Be here for it!

Same Bat time, Same Bat channel! (to be fair, shejams started it! I was trying NOT to say that! lol, jk!)