Chapter 2 Searching for Hope

It had been hours since Helena had left and Oracle was getting worried. Helena had left her communicator off to avoid talking about what had happened last week. So now Oracle had no way of making sure nothing had gone wrong. "Maybe I should have let her have the night off." Oracle thought as she searched various computer systems for any news on this new drug dealer in Gotham. " I thought she just wanted to stay home and comfort me, but may be she needed some time off too. She thinks she is responsible for Waid's death. She hasn't been the same lately, even Reese said she was really distant lately. I shouldn't have let her go out." Oracle thought as her train of thought broke as Dinah walked into the room.

"Alfred wasn't kidding when he said Mr. Wayne had connections. The workers started like yesterday and the clock tower already looks great." Dinah said as she walked over to see what Oracle was working on. " Where's Helena?" She asked as she was reading the various screens that Oracle had been studying.

" She never came back from last night's patrol." Barbara said turning away from computers.

" You don't think something happened to her?" Dinah replied her face full of concern.

" Well this wouldn't be the first time that Helena didn't come home after patrolling, but it just with everything that has been going on." Barbara paused for a moment. "I really don't know." She said her voice trailing off.

" Did you call Reese to check if he's seen her?" Dinah asked.

" Not yet. I didn't want to get him worried about nothing." Barbara said already picking up her headset to contact Reese.

" Yea, It might be good to check. You know just in case." Dinah said before she went into complete silence to listen to the conversation.

***

Reese stood in the home of the Dieter family. It had once been a beautiful house where Mr. And Mrs. Dieter had lived with their teenage son. Reese looked around at the blood spots on the carpet and the ripped and tossed about furniture and wondered what had occurred here to change all that.

"You see this." Officer Wallace said staring down at the body that had once belonged to and resembled Mrs. Dieter. " There is a tooth about a foot away from the body." Officer Wallace said gesturing at a blood- covered tooth that lied on the rug.

" There was probably a struggle and someone lost a tooth so." Said a nearby officer that had followed Reese to the tooth.

" It's way too big to be human." Said Reese as he put on a latex glove then picked up the tooth to examine it.

" Yea, that's what I find so strange about it. Also we have been finding traces of hair that appear to belong to an animal. The problem is that the neighbors tell us that they didn't have any pets." Officer Wallace said looking up at Reese. " You think that this murder has anything to do with the attack on that jogger back on Thursday?"

" Two bizarre animal attacks in one week. Yea I would say there is a strong possibility. That doesn't explain where Mr. Dieter went though. We should try to check if the animal that was here is the same one from Thursday." Reese said as he got up and head outside for some fresh air. "There is probably a metahuman behind these attacks. I should contact Helena as soon as possible." Reese thought to himself as he paced along the porch. " Huh." Reese said as heard a small beeping from the device he was given to communicate with Barbara. He took it out of his pocket and placed it in his ear. " Hello." Reese said expecting that Barbara wasn't calling just to say hi.

" Reese it's Oracle. Have you seen Helena around lately?" Oracle said in an urgent tone.

" No, I haven't." Reese said wondering what was wrong. " Why? What happened to her?"

" She didn't come back to the clock tower last night after patrolling. Dinah and I are afraid something may have happened to her."

" I am on my way there now." Said Reese as he walked toward his car. " My day keeps getting better and better doesn't it."

"What does that mean?" Oracle questioned.

" Nothing, It is just that I think a meta is going around killing people. No pattern from what I can tell either."

Barbara listened to Reese as he told her about the recent attacks and then decided she would have to look into it after the mess with Helena was sorted out. " I' ll look into it, Reese and I'll see you when you get here."

" Yea I'll see you then." Reese said as he drove to the clock tower expecting something real bad to happen real soon.