I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to update this story. I thank any of you who are still following this story and haven't given up on it.

The First Clue

Batman moaned in pain as Slade cupped his bruised face. He would've scowled at the villain if he had the strength, but Slade was relentless in hid torture techniques. Yesterday he had tortured him for four hours straight and the day before that it was five hours straight.

Batman wasn't even sure how long he had been here. One thing he knew for certain was that Batgirl and Robin were probably searching for him desperately. Batman managed as much of a smile he could at the thought of his students using the skills of a detective that he taught them.

Slade laughed, amused at Batman's determined smile.

"Your students won't be able to find you until you're just a carcass. But I won't allow that, seeing as how I need Robin to come to me and he will only do that if I let him know you're here. But of course I won't let them know right away…they'll have to figure it out," Slade explained.

"They'll find you quicker than you think," Batman croaked. "We'll see about that," Slade said. Slade walked over to the computer and e-mailed his first "session" with Batman to the Titans.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Batgirl opened her eyes. Yawning, she sat up in bed. She had felt more rested than she had when she arrived here, that's for sure.

Climbing out of bed, she decided to check on Robin and the others. Slipping into her costume, she headed into the living room. She nearly ran into Beast Boy, who had obviously been coming to get her.

"What's up Beast Boy? Why are you in such a rush," she asked him.

"We received a video e-mail…it's from Batman's kidnapper," he said. He barely had time to move out of the way as Batgirl stormed into the living room.

Robin, noticing Batgirl walk up, hit 'Play' on the e-mailed video. They all saw Batman helplessly dangling from chains but other than that he looked okay.

A strange shadowed figure crept up behind Batman and stuck an electrocution rod into his side. The villain continued this for a long time and each time Batman screamed in agony. At each scream Batman let loose, Batgirl could feel the tears threatening to spill over. Batman…he was enduring such horrible torture at the hands of an unknown madman.

I promise to end your pain once we find you. Then I'll deal with this sicko myself she silently promised Batman. The tape finally came to an end and the gang was speechless at what they just saw.

"A whole hour of electrocution…how could anyone survive that," Beast Boy asked.

"Batman's strong, he always has been. But right now we can't waste anymore time on our sorrow…we have to find out where this video came from and deal with the person who did this to him," Robin said.

"Look, there's an attached file here," Batgirl said. Opening the file, they saw the strange shadowed figure again. They couldn't see anything discernible about the villain and obviously the person had wanted it that way.

"Greeting Titans, after watching my video I'm sure you want answers. I'm here to tell you that you will receive answers in each one of my sessions with Batman. I will e-mail these sessions to you and you have to discover what the clue is. These clues will help you rescue Batman and discover who I am," a distorted voice said.

The file ended and the Titans were left in silence. Who was this mysterious man? What did the mysterious man want? Would they be able to find and save Batman before it was too late?

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