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CHAPTER THREE

Batman hadn't slept in three days. He hunted down every lead he could for the past 72 hours. The dark circles under his eyes grew with each passing hour. A strangled cry came out of throat as he slammed his fist in frustration at the keyboard to his overly large super computer located to the right of the Batcave. "Where is he? Someone can't just disappear in this city, not someone like him!"

Alfred heard the outburst and came out of medical bay where he had been taking inventory in an effort to distract his mind from the current worries. I know my boy, I miss him too. He has to be out there. I trust that you can find him, but you need to rest. Not even Batman can go without sleep for much longer without fear of collapse."

Alfred gently walked over and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "I think it's time to go upstairs for a short reprieve Master Bruce."

Bruce leaned over his computer, his head bowed down. The slumped shoulders showed all the strain and worry from the past three days.

Bruce shook his head. "I can't stop, he's depending on me. Dick is out there, Alfred. What am I supposed to do? Give up hope?"

"No one would ever suggest that, but you are not worth anything to Dick if you can't even stand up due to sheer exhaustion. Come, I made soup for dinner but you weren't home. Let me heat some up for you."

"Your right old friend." Bruce rubbed his eyes with his hand. His costume was partly off. Being able to type easier and see better in the cave without his gauntlets and cowl he had stripped them off hours ago when he arrived back at the Batcave after another night of not finding a hint of where his missing son went.

Bruce straightened up and looked at Alfred. He noticed the man looked like he also hadn't slept at all this past half week, but yet somehow his surrogate father always managed to think of others before himself. Has it really been three days? It feels like three weeks. And yet I still haven't found a single clue. How does one just disappear?

Three days earlier….

Batman shoulders tensed as he pressed his earpiece and listened to the police chatter. He then turned and responded to Robin. "Play it low and safe. A break in was just reported from the Viracorp Labs over on 8th and Nall. A small bio tech firm that specializes in organ donation matches and blood tests."

A quick journey to the lab and Batman landed on the far left corner of the bank located across the street. He immediately noticed the lights in the windows and was thinking of the best way to enter. He didn't want Robin going in with him. The rumors he had heard of bioweapons being sold and stocked in Gotham had made him feel uneasy. When the news a week ago announced a new drug that had failed human testing and was scheduled to be destroyed had gone missing, his unease turned into outright fear. The increased hits on bio labs just confirmed his fear. Someone was stealing medical data and DNA to help the manufacturing of bioweapons. And they were somehow staying off everyone's radar.

The crooks they nabbed in the multiple lab break-ins had been hired remotely, never seeing the face of the leader. The last thing he wanted was for Robin to be exposed to anything that his young system couldn't handle. Batman was decent with antidotes, carrying several general ones around with him at all times, but for someone Robins age he had no experience.

Batman reached up and clicked his ear piece. . "You stay here and watch to make sure none escape. I am going to go in and sweep the inside. I have counted at least three crooks, and there are most likely others guarding the entrance and exits ways."

The boy grumbled an agreement and went back to staring at the lab. Batman knew he had been smothering him this past week. But he couldn't help it. Something bad was happening in his city and his first priority was to protect Dick. Though seeing Dick look dejected the second time this night was making him a little sadder than should be allowed out in the field. Ignoring the feelings of unhappiness he launched himself off the building and using his cape as a paraglide, coasted to the roof the building currently being robbed.

Batman landed quietly and quickly walked over to the roof top entrance, pulling out his lock pick set and having it ready for when he reached the door. The simple lock took less than ten seconds to jimmy open and soon he was inside.

He clicked on his night vision built into his cowl. The stair way was pitch black, not even the emergency lights were on. Someone had cut all power to the building, I bet hoping it would help make deactivating the alarm easier. And sadly they were right. The police should have been here minutes ago, but I'm guessing they think it is just another fluke in the system. And cops are spread so thin….

Making his way down the stairs he quickly scoped out the top floor then proceeded with caution to the lower level. He could hear the crooks walking around a few halls down and see a faint shimmer of light. Walking a few more steps he suddenly heard a loud piercing whistle in his ears followed by a bout of static than dead silence. Jerking his head to the side in pain he quickly pawed at his ear piece. Cursing, he flipped it on and off to make sure he was correct. Shit! Bruce you idiot, this lab has a magnetic and radio frequency lab to test molecular structures. Damnit, it fried my radio and half my equipment. Of course these yahoos would have turned the machine on.

Sighing with silent frustration he flexed his hand into a fist, ready to punch the nearest crook for making him have to rewire half of his suit. Stalking carefully to the corner he could hear four voices talking lowly back and forth. After a few minutes making sure he had an estimate of their positions he threw a gas pellet and waited till he heard the telltale hiss of gas releasing.

As soon as he heard the whoosh Batman sprung around the corner and punched the nearest guy straight in the forehead, whipping his head back and laying him out. The other crooks were scrambling around in a panic, making his job easier. He did wonder why they weren't using guns, but taking it as the first good sign of the night he quickly incapacitated the rest of the crew and zip tied them.

Seeing the first guy was waking up he stalked over and roughly grabbed his collar, forcing him to his feet so they were eye to eye. Giving the man a glare that told everyone he wasn't in the mood, he growled.

"Who hired you?"

"Oh man, I knew this was stupid," the guy whined. Whimpering, "I'm sorry, I don't know. We were told to just hit this place, but we couldn't use fire arms because it's a lab and supposed to be dangerous. I don't know, we were paid really well to just follow orders."

"I'll ask again, WHO hired you?" Batman's voice came out forcefully and he shook the man to get his point across.

The man was almost crying now, "I don't know, he said he would meet us outside when this was over. To finish paying us. Also about how maybe this would be the night he would run into you. I swear that's all I know."

Batman dropped the blubbering fool back on the floor and surveyed the damage. Very little was actually broken, minus the bodies he had tied up. But something seemed off.

"How many men were in this heist tonight?" Batman inquired sternly.

"Five, including me." The man was shaking and with a shudder passed out.

Crap, that means one snuck through. And my radios dead so I can't even contact Robin to see if they made it outside. Robin better not engage. But the temptation of taking down one crook may be too much…shit, he can't get hold of me.

Batman briskly ran out of the front of the building, something in his gut not feeling right. A man was laying on the ground but no one else was around him. Running quickly he noticed the man holding a canister. He grabbed it and put it in his belt and then zip tied his hands, wondering why Robin didn't do it.

He then lifted the man up and shook him awake. Giving him a few seconds to get his bearings he glared and hissed angrily, "What happened here?"

The man's head rolled around side to side while he came too, then seeing the Batman he looked like he almost wet himself.

"I swear man, I didn't touch your kid."

His face contorted in rage. "Where's Robin?"

"I don't know, he knocked me out. I…I saw him and tried to pull something out of my bag that would slow him down, but he knocked me out. That's it. I swear. I was waiting to get paid for the job and then I saw him and then nothing."

Seeing the crook was practically about to faint, he dropped him roughly and kicked him a little harder than necessary to make him pass back out. Searching the surrounding area quickly he found no sign or trace of his Robin.

After a few moments Batman's worry turned into fear. His worst nightmare had happened. Robin was gone.