Lost Stars

Chapter Twenty Five

-Dick's POV-

I crouched down beside the dead body. My partner, Amy Rohrbach, had already began studying the scene. She carefully peeled off her gloves and stood up.

"He has multiple signs of head trauma," Amy told a nearby officer, "However, he also has signs of heroine overdose. We will have to take this to Forensics." I bit my lip. The man was wearing a classy business suit. He was obviously important, but I couldn't identify him.

Amy hopped in her car, gesturing for me to follow. I took a running jump, sliding across the hood and into the window. She wasn't impressed. She rolled her eyes and drove us to the office.

When we got there, she shoved me into my chair after I tried to get up. "Dick, no running off. This case is important and you need to do your job," she shoved her finger into my chest. I groaned. Her painted nail barely grazed my Nightwing costume underneath. I liked being Officer Grayson. Being a cop allowed me to get tons of intel about Bludhaven's crime without putting myself as a target. But, I also still had to be Nightwing. I was hot on the heels of Red Hood. Being a cop full time made it impossible to chase after him.

And I had other fish to fry.

After three hours of wasted time researching a druggie case, my shift finally ended. Amy tried to stop me, but I bounded out before she could even touch me. I immediately took to the skies and ripped off my cop uniform.

The day time made me a very obvious attraction. People pointed and shouted at me as I flipped through the air. The more people that stopped in the street to watch me, the more I let my ego inflate. I began to show off a bit. I did trapeze trips in the air, running along buildings and swooping down over the crowd. A little girl let go of her mother's hand and took off, running into incoming traffic. The mother shouted out just as a car came whizzing by.

Seeing the danger, I dive bombed out of the sky, grabbing the girl around the waist as we were launched straight back up into the air. She screamed as we went flying. I smiled and hugged her to my chest. The girl softened and giggled, letting her arms dangle like she was Supes himself. I swung down and gently dropped her down in front of her mother. 

"Thank you, Nightwing," the mother grinned, shaking my gloved hand. I nodded.

"You're welcome, ma'am," I flicked my wrist in a salute and took off again. Before my feet left the ground, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

A woman shuffled down the street quickly, a laptop and binder under her arms. I only saw her face for a brief second before she whipped around and began to walk the other way. I wasn't sure, but the body shape and the glimpse I had of her face pointed me to the conclusion that Athena Thomas was roaming the streets of Gotham in street clothes.

I grappled above the sidewalk, scanning the crowds of people walking along the streets. To me, she stuck out like a sore thumb. I identified her almost immediately. She flipped her pony tail over her shoulder as she looked up into the sky. When she noticed me, she ducked her head and shuffled through the crowd quicker.

Sensing a chase, I also picked up speed. I grappled a bit ahead of her path and landed in the middle of the sidewalk. She stopped dead in her tracks as the crowd fanned out. With a smirk, Athena turned on her heel and dashed down the sidewalk, turning down into an alley. 

"Challenge accepted," I mumbled to myself, grappling after her. She scaled a chain link fence and continued to run through alleys, trying to take turns to throw me off and double tracking her steps. But, I had the higher ground. Or rather, I wasn't on the ground.

I knew the area. Predicting that she was going to hit a dead end, I dropped down behind her and continued to run after her. Just as I thought, she came face to face with a concrete wall. I put my hands on my hips.