Cyborg was about ready to throw something. He had spent the past two days trying to track down the signal Slade had used to send them that video message but the signal kept bouncing from ISP address to ISP address all over the world, making it impossible to track.
Robin had been missing for 4 days now and they were still no closer to finding him. They had searched Slade's haunt from top to bottom on three different occasions in the past two days and the only clue they found was that Slade's message had been recorded. Batman had spent the last two days watching that video over and over again; trying to pick up on any clues that Slade may have unintentionally dropped while he was speaking and listening to background noises to try and determine the location. Batman had barely come out of Robin's office {where he used to obsess over Slade} in the past two days and Cyborg now knew where Robin had learnt to obsess.
Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire had been in contact with the Titans all over the world to see if had heard anything that might lead them to Robin and if they hadn't to start looking. So far they hadn't had any luck either.
Cyborg took a deep breath and tried to focus on not throwing his laptop across the room.
'Maybe I should go blow off some steam in the gym.`
He was just about to act on that thought when Batman walked into his lab. The Dark Knight looked exhausted, as if he might pass out soon and, if how Robin acted in similar situations was anything to go by, the fact that Cyborg could tell as much without scanning his vitals meant that he really was about to pass out.
"Cyborg." Batman said, his voice devoid of it's usual gravel, "Any luck?"
Cyborg sighed, "The signal keeps bouncing all over the place. I can't trace it."
Batman let loose a heavy sigh and his posture slumped almost unnoticeably.
"I guess you didn't find anything either."
Batman shook his head, "Nothing to give me an exact location."
"Damn." Cyborg muttered, resisting the urge to punch the nearest wall.
"I'm going to go back to Slade's haunt, there must be something we're missing." Batman said, straightening up and walking out of the lab.
"Um Batman?" Cyborg called after him, "No offence, sir, but you look like you're about to pass out, maybe you should get some rest first?"
"I'll rest when we have Robin back." Batman answered simply and carried on walking.
"Okay, look," Cyborg said, stepping in front of Batman, "I know you're worried about him, we all are, but you won't be any help to him if you're too tired to actually notice anything that we may have missed."
Batman glared at him, "Do you know what Slade is putting Robin through? It's called 'white torture', a type of sensory deprivation. Victims have come out unable to remember who their parents are, and that's without them being strapped down for the entire duration of the torture. Robin is running out of time. There is no time for us to rest!"
Cyborg almost backed down and let Batman leave right then but he had scanned Batman's vitals and he knew for a fact that the man would be able to go on much longer.
"If there's anyone who can make it through this it's Robin." Cyborg said slowly, "You can't help him if you're too tired and I think you know it."
Batman glared again but Cyborg refused to back down until Batman finally looked away.
"I'm going back in two hours." he stated before turning on his heel and heading for the sleeping quarters.
"Dude," Beast Boy said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, "How did you do that?"
Cyborg shrugged, "It was kind of like dealing with Robin." he answered, "Any luck in East City?"
Beast Boy shook his head, "We need a break and we need one now."
An hour and a half later Batman stepped into the gym where Cyborg was busy venting his frustrations.
"Cyborg." he said
Cyborg paused mid-punch and looked to Batman who actually seemed to be looking normal again.
"You on your way out?" Cyborg asked.
"Maybe a little later, but first: do you still have the bomb fragments from when Robin was taken?"
Cyborg looked at him quizzically, "Yeah but I ran them through every database I have access to; the League's included."
"There are a few bomb makers I know of that aren't in any databases." Batman answered, "So I would like to have a look at the fragments."
Cyborg shrugged, "Alright." he said and led Batman back to his lab where he pulled out the bomb fragments and let Batman examine them.
"What makes you think you'll recognise something in the fragments?" Cyborg asked after a moment.
"Something Slade said in the communication that's been bothering me." Batman answered.
"Which part?" Cyborg asked, "All of it bothers me."
" 'The best place to hide something from a bat is under its furry little nose.' " Batman quoted in answer.
"So what do you think he meant by that?"
"I'm not certain," Batman answered as he picked up a magnifying glass and leaned in close to one of the fragments, "But I think it might mean that he's in..." he paused as he picked up the fragment he'd been studying and held it closer to the magnifying glass and turned it over; examining all sides, "... Gotham. Damn it!"
"Woah, wait! He's in Gotham?! What makes you so sure?" Cyborg asked as Batman spun around and left the lab.
"The bomb was made by a man named Sheldon Cooper; he was behind a string of bombings in Gotham lately." Batman answered as he turned towards the tower's hangar, "I caught him two weeks ago."
"Will you be able to get in to talk to him if he's in prison?" Cyborg asked.
"Yes; the commissioner and I have a long history." Batman said as the bat-plane's door started opening.
"Great!" Cyborg said, "So you go ahead to talk to Cooper and we'll follow in the T-plane. Where should we meet you?"
Batman stopped and turned around to face Cyborg, "You're not going to meet me anywhere. You'll be staying here."
"What?!" Cyborg asked incredulously
"Gotham's my city. I will find Robin on my own." Batman said before turning back to the bat-plane.
"Man, that's a load of bull-crap and you know it!" Cyborg exclaimed.
"This is not up for debate, Cyborg!" Batman growled.
"Of course it's up for argument! Robin is our teammate, our leader, our brother! Who are you to suddenly exclude us from the search now that he might be in 'your' " he used his fingers to put the word 'your' in punctuation marks, "City?!"
"Cyborg-" Batman growled.
"No! This is a load of crap, Batman! We've all done everything we could to help find Robin as a team! You can't cut us out now! We deserve to help find Robin too!"
"You are not coming with, Cyborg. Gotham is not a place for a bunch of inexperienced teenagers."
"Oh, but it was okay for Robin when he was eight?" Cyborg burst out, "You know I always wondered why Robin left Gotham all those years ago when we started this team, but I'm beginning to understand now."
Batman glared at Cyborg so fiercely that he thought all his metal parts might melt but he didn't back down.
"I don't have time for this!" Batman stated before spinning around again.
"Batman!"
"I'll contact you with co-ordinates for a meeting after I speak to Cooper." Batman said.
"Yeah, we'll meet you on top of the police precinct." Cyborg said.
"Fine." Batman ground out, "Meet me there in three hours."
With that he disappeared into the bat-plane.
Cyborg went to the main room in the tower and quickly called the rest of the Titans.
"We're going to Gotham."
AN: Hey guys, sorry this one is sooo late but I did warn you that I would be going on holiday a few chapters ago! Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed! Feel free to point out any mistakes because I haven't gone through this chapter yet since it's late and I didn't want to make you guys wait much longer for this chapter! Next one should be out by Sunday or Monday... I hope ;)