Paths of Desire

Chapter Two

1

City Streets, Gotham City. 9:04 PM EST.

Nightwing found himself staring into the ice-white eyes of a huge, white wolf. The thing was as tall as he was, with jaws that could easily snap him in half.

He resisted the urge to say, 'nice doggy,' or anything like that— that was cliché. Everybody did it.

Instead, he drew himself up to his full height, tucked his arms close to his sides while protecting his throat with his gauntlets, and began to back away from the snarling white beast. He made sure not to look into the animal's eyes.

"You don't want to attack," he told it softly. "You don't want to attack."

Years of dealing with thugs had taught him how to fake confidence, and he doubted he'd ever given a better performance. "Listen, you really don't want to attack me. It would be a bad, bad idea."

The wolf continued to snarl.

City Streets, Gotham City. 9:05 PM EST

Tim Drake crept through the city, his footsteps landing silently on the rooftops, the red, green, and yellow of his uniform contrasting with the white of the snow just as ridiculously as Batman's black cape.

"Batman, Nightwing's found the wolf." Tim heard the voice in his earpiece.

That was odd— Oracle was a lot more selective, usually.

Tim heard no response for a moment, and then Batman's voice, low and tense, demanded, "Where?"

Oracle rattled off the street names and Tim heard Batman assert that he would head to the scene.

"No." Nightwing's voice broke in. He kept his voice quiet, but he sounded confident. "I have no idea what would happen if you showed up."

"Probably little different than what it's doing now."

"Yeah, but if you just appeared, it might attack."

The wolf began to howl. Tim could hear it even without the earpiece and it sent a chill down his spine.

Fierce winds began to blow, howling along with the wolf, and several other howls joined in, keening high and mournful.

Tim shuddered. Something fucking weird was happening, and he wasn't sure what it was.