Chapter 5

Bruce, Tim and Alfred had heard Elizabeth's screams, and had been up on their feet instantly, running to the door. They had nearly made it until it had been locked shut from the other side. Bruce banged on the door uselessly, but it didn't help. From the sounds of something scraping on the ground it was being barricaded. He would get out. He had to.

He turned and saw Tim and Alfred looking at him with worried looks, before he ran to the other door of the dining room. It wouldn't exit out into the hall way where Elizabeth was, in fact it went to an entirely different wing of the house and it would be unlikely that he would get to her in time, but he had to try.

"Alfred, go down to the Cave." Bruce snapped on his way past, grabbing a fire poker from the fire place on his way out, knowing Tim was following him close behind.

Most of all, Bruce wanted to know how they got in. And he was going to find out.

He rounded a corner, then another, and then he came upon a sight that made his blood run cold. Dick was lying on the ground, unconscious. At least, he hoped it was just unconscious.

He knelt besides him, checking his pulse and breathing and let out a sigh of relief. He was okay. Knocked around a lot, but okay.

"Tim, get Dick to the Cave." Bruce said coldly. "I'm going after whoever did this."

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Bruce didn't get too far. A screech of tyres was all he heard until he saw two twin break lights of a car smashing through his iron gate, and escaping into the night. He knew he would never catch them, even in the Batmobile. They would have too much of a head start once he reached the Batcave. But he would have them and their car on surveillance videos. That would be something.

And then he would get them.

All of them.

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I woke with a groan, only to find I couldn't see. A blind fold was tight around my head, and my hands had been tied behind my back where I sat on a chair. Not to mention the gag, what tasted like a dirty old rag wrapped around my head and in my mouth. Disgusting.

This wasn't good.

Damn Bruce. Two days ago I'd been a normal girl, and just because he suddenly finds out I'm his daughter, I get kidnapped. This kind of thing could only happen to me.

A hand pulled off my blind fold and I glared up at my captors as I tried to adjust my eyes to the light. Front teeth missing, shaved head, tattoos up and down his arms….just pleasant.

"Hello pretty." He said with a leer, and I had to look away, disgusted. That was when I noticed the video camera and the newspaper.

A ransom video. They were making a ransom video? And what made them think that Bruce would pay anything for me? He'd known me two days tops.

No Teeth gestured to the camera man. I couldn't see them due to the blinding light shining at me from the camera, and then they were rolling.

No Teeth picked up the newspaper, today's, I presumed, and started talking.

"This is Elizabeth Morgan." He said. "Daughter of Bruce Wayne. If we don't get twenty million dollars in small notes in 72 hours time, we will kill her."

He rounded on me and smiled. "And to prove that we're serious," he nodded to someone outside my view, and with a start I realised she could hear a car running. No Teeth took off her gag, and I used the chance to express myself. Loudly.

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled hoarsely. "I am going to kick your ass." I didn't have a chance to say anything else. A blow to my head silenced me, sending me reeling as I rocked back from the hit. Why was the room spinning?

When I came to my senses a cigarette lighter was being held in front of me, No Teeth facing the camera again.

Suddenly I gulped. This wasn't looking so good.

"Bring the table." No Teeth ordered, the camera still rolling, and a small, school sized, table was pushed towards me. No Teeth walked around my chair and untied my hands. I never thought I would wish to keep the bindings, but there I was, wishing I hadn't been untied, knowing exactly where this was going.

He grabbed my hand, despite my struggling, and managed to get it on the desk, holding it tight. I bit my lip. I'd started shaking, but I forced myself to keep looking. I wasn't going to turn away, and I wouldn't scream. I knew that was why he had taken my gag out. And I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

No Teeth flipped my hand up to the soft underside on the desk, and I knew I had to fight some more. I couldn't just let him do it. And I had a hand free. I had no chance against the men, whose number I didn't know, but I could try.

Well, that was what I thought until the cigarette lighter came down on my hand. All my brave resolutions went out of the window as I screamed, tears streaming down my face as the smell of burned flesh filled the room.

Oh god, what had I gotten myself into this time?

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When they were done with the video I was untied from the chair, then hog tied, then thrown onto the floor, gag, and blindfold in place as well.

I don't know how, but somehow I slept.

---

Bruce watched the video grimly, ignoring his daughters screams. He had to be objective, to find any clues in the video. But that didn't mean he wasn't scared.

He'd just found her.

He was going to lose her.

"Robin, have you the get to IPP address the video was sent from?" Bruce barked, and the young man jumped.

"Not yet, Batman." Robin said, typing away furiously. "But I'm close."

They were in the Batcave. They had searched all night for any clues, and when the video came through over the internet, on youtube of all places, they had returned to the Batcave. If they hadn't found clues yet, then the video was their best bet.

But these guys were smart.

They had routed the video through at least a dozen addresses, maybe even more. It was probably a safe bet that they were still in Gotham, because Elizabeth had only been kidnapped four hours ago. They also had the Gotham paper. While that wasn't conclusive evidence, there would be no reason for them to move Elizabeth out of Gotham. It was a big place. He remembered when they were trying to find Stephanie Brown. They'd only ended up finding her because she'd escaped. He could only hope Elizabeth was that lucky.

But in case she wasn't, he'd already started collecting money to hand over.

He didn't usually make it his policy to negotiate with terrorists, but it was his daughter, and anyone who knew Bruce, really knew him, would know that as soon as he had heard he had a daughter a bond had been created. A bond that he would preserve as long as he could.

So long as she didn't turn out to be evil.

"Uh, Bruce." Tim's voice was uncertain, almost like he wasn't sure whether he was sure he should interrupt Bruce's work.

"What?" Bruce snapped.

"There's another video."

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I'd been kicked awake. I felt sharp pains in my stomach as I tried to vomit past my gag. My captors grabbed me by my hair, dragging me up and slamming me into the chair again, the bright light already shining and I could tell the video camera was rolling as a newspaper was shoved under my chin by my now hooded captor.

I stared wide eyed into the light, eyes watering.

"Did you not think we were serious?" The man behind me snarled into the camera. "We haven't received the money yet. If we don't, pretty Miss Morgan will die."

Then one of the thugs was untying my hands again, and they were free.

"If burning her didn't get your attention, then maybe breaking an arm will."

I felt my eyes widened in shock and horror. Then I did the one thing I'd sworn to myself I wouldn't.

I begged.

"Please no." I cradled both arms close to my body, but it was to no avail, the kidnapping thugs quickly overpowering me and stretching my arm across the table, half of my forearm over the edge.

I opened my mouth to plead with them again, but all that came out was a long painfilled scream as the man brought his foot down on my arm. It broke.

And it was agony.

As soon as I was able, I withdrew my arm back to me, trying to hold it as gently as I could to my chest as I sobbed. I could feel the moisture tracing dirty tracks down my dirty cheeks.

I was beginning to hate Bruce Wayne.

"Because we were less then impressed with your response to our last video," my captor was talking. "You now have 12 hours to pay the money. Or we'll do more then just break bones."

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Bruce stared at the screen for a long, slow moment after the video had ended. His eyes turned cold, looking at Tim.

"Get that IPP address." He growled.