The Desert of the Mind

Tim's aircraft fell, spinning as it dropped from space and back towards earth. The whole thing shook, making it practically impossible to see, so Red Robin slammed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. He needed to stay conscious as he entered earth's atmosphere if he wanted to pull the ejection on his seat and parachute out. Or what he thought was ejection button. Alien language was always a tricky one to read.

He briefly thought of the possibility of Superman or Green lantern coming just on time and saving him, but dismissed the idea, as the two of them, along with practically the entire Justice League, were deep in space, trying to take down the enemy's queen. That didn't make him stop hoping though.

Just another day of protecting the world from an alien invasion. However, him taking a hit for Robin and plummeting to an almost imminent death was a new one.

Tim gripped the steering wheel, trying to guide the broken aircraft into some kind of direction of some kind, but it was impossible. The blaring red lights and alarms going off made it all the harder to focus and stay conscious.

That little brat had better be grateful, Tim thought as his heart pounded to fast it hurt, but he kept his focus. Sweat poured down the contours of his face as the heat of the aircraft entering earth's atmosphere began to increase dramatically.

Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake, was the mantra going through his head.

Stay awake, stay awake, stay alive-


"And never return to earth." Superman's voice rang out, commanding and all around done with mindless alien invasions that costed so much of his and his friends time. The queen alien repeated the promise never to return in her native tongue, two eyes on Superman, and seven other watching Batman in fear. Clark smiled internally. It was good to have friends.

"Good. Now keep your promise and leave. We will be watching you." Superman's eyes glowed red, emphasizing the threat.

The rest of the Justice League then left, after the alien queen vowed never to return and called off the rest of her fleets, some flying, some using jets, others joining Green Lantern as their ticket back to the watchtower. It had been a long fight, from earth to space, and it finally came to a close with the aliens leaving, never to return.

Superman flew back to the watchtower, where they were going to hold a quick debrief before heading back to earth to help the ground front recuperate from the attack. He sighed to himself, but smiled. It was a good day.

"Superman to Titans, we have-" Before he could contact the young teens that helped the JLA in the process of pushing the aliens back from earth to space, Robin's voice cut him off.

"Superman, finally!" Came the growl, "I've been trying to contact Batman for hours now, where is he?"

While answering, Clark couldn't help but smirk at Robin's explosive yet commanding voice. "His com was hit with an EMP, along with most of the league, but he's fine, so no need to worry. Should be at the tower right now in fact-"

"I am not worried about him!" Another day, Superman would have laughed, because he knew Damian was trying to deny his worry for his father, when it was plainly evident that he did worry and think about him, but not this time. Robin was serious. Something had-

"What happened!?" The kryptonian demanded, the smile slipping off his face to be replaced by a frown. Dread was starting to cement in his stomach.

"It's Dra- Red Robin. The idiot took a hit and dropped to earth. We've been fighting off the last wave of aliens and weren't able to sav-catch him."


Bruce sat in a closed off room to the medical wing, grunting as Dianna popped his shoulder back into place.

"You really should rest more." Came her warrior voice, though her tone indicated that she knew it was pointless.

"After. The people still need us." He stood up, pulling his cowl over his face, and rolling his shoulder.

Wonder Woman smiled while raising an eyebrow. "When do they not?"

Batman tilted his head with a grunt in agreement to that, while they both walked, side by side, to the meeting room, where the rest of the league where arriving, mostly unscathed.

"Where's superman?" Batman's deep voice carried through the room, and Captain Atom stood up to respond.

"He should be in the-"

Just then, superman flew by the transparent window of the watchtower, and entered the bay door.

"Never mind. There he is." He said with a small smile.

Seconds later, Superman flew in, and Bruce could immediately tell something was wrong. He was flying fast. Very fast.

"Batman!" The kryptonian landed next to his side, and Bruce kept quite, waiting for the news.

"It's Red Robin."


Robin gritted his teeth as he slammed his fits down on he computer.

"That won't help you know." Ravens levelled voice came down from where she was floating.

"Nothing! Every tracking system, mechanism, and algorithm gives nothing. It's been nine hours since that idiot fell, and we haven't gotten anything." Damian's voice was exasperated, as he pinched the bridge of his nose with is fingers. "How about you?" He asked, looking up at Raven's glowing form as she tired to track him by spirit and psyche.

She opened her eyes and floated down. "Nothing."

Damian sighed narrowing his eyes in anger. The Titans had been giving the JLA air support as they went to break through the alien ranks, and with both Starfire and Beast Boy injured by the initial attack, it had just been Robin and Raven in the sky, as cyborg and blue beetle were both helping with the ground attack.

The waves of enemy aliens grew and grew and they were forced to call for backup, though the son of Batman had been extremely … disappointed to get Drake. Regardless, with his help, they were able to push them back to the edge of the atmosphere, back into space.

And then… he had made a mistake. Robin had made himself a clear target, stupid, but Tim had rammed into him with his own spaceship and pushed him out of firing range. And put himself in direct line of fire (what an idiot). When the spaceship Tim was in, which was one he hijacked from the aliens, was hit, Damian tried to focus on how Tim was pushed to the left probably a few miles as he plummeted towards earth. On how Robin should have moved first. On how he needed to get to where Drake was falling before he burned up, or on how because he had been sloppy, that might have costed a life, no matter how trivial. But right after that, everything went up in flames. Literally.

They were swarmed and forced to retreat. He then had met up with Nightwing and Red Hood, who were manning Gotham, and relayed the information. Not that they could do much when he did, as the aliens broke into Black Gate and all hell broke loose.

"We have to find him, contact Bats and tell him-" Nightwing was cut off.

"Jim to Nightwing," Gordon had cut in on the com, "the aliens just broke into Black Gate! We-!" An explosion rocked in the background, "We're overwhelmed here, but things-arrh! get those men back! Things are just going to get worse! We can not have those prisoners escape-" another explosion had cut the cop off, and he had ended the call with "get over here!".

Nightwing turned to look at Red Hood and Robin. Damian could read the turmoil on his face and gritted his teeth. They all made eye contact and nodded.

"Right, Tim will have to wait." Damian could see the guilt and pain on his brothers face and silently cursed Red Robin for putting him in such a state. "Priority one, clear and secure the streets and Black Gate. Also, someone get in contact with Batman. We need him."

As it turned out, it had been much more complicated and the fight took longer than expected. Nine hours longer than expected. And after getting word from the JLA that they had won, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin had little time to celebrate as Red Robin had practically disappeared from the face of the planet. Not that Damian didn't mind his absence, but Nightwing certainly did, and with little to no contact with the Justice League after Superman answered, they were getting nowhere.


Sand. It went on forever. Everywhere Tim looked.

Dry, dry, hot sand. The air was hot, hard to breath.

He had barely made it through the fall without dying from the heat and spinning, hitting the ejection button he didn't know existed before then. That had been 2 hours ago. The whole ship was long gone, the alien metal eaten by flames, and with his his com and gauntlet system fried, Tim had no food, water, or means of communication.

And it was coasting him.

Still he trudged on. Judging by the terrain, his best chance at finding civilization was to head north, but after spinning miles of course from his position in space, Tim had no idea where he was. Still. Right foot. Left foot. One after the other. Sliding through the grains of hot sand.

Red Robin's vision blurred suddenly, and everything had a double. The nausea in his head grew to a sharp pain, and his stomach flipped. The world spun, causing Tim to stumble, losing his balance, and hitting his knees with a gasp of pain. He hadn't counted his injuries, but he knew there were … a lot. His vision then tripled, and darkness invaded his sight.

(\M/)

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Tim woke up blearily, groaning as the sunlight hit his eyes. Groaning, he buried himself deeper into the blood red silk sheets that were draped over his lithe body.

Wait, silk? I don't … have silk … blankets … Tim thought tiredly, dozing off and on the verge of falling back asleep, before snapping his eyes wide open.

And my blankets certainly aren't red!

Bolting straight up, Tim's vision swam with a blur of colours and he fell right back down again, the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach cementing as he looked up. High ceilings with middle eastern designs on them, the tall pillars with large open windows, and the scent of a certain, very familiar, incense blowing softly with the wind.

Tim gulped.

"Good morning, Timothy."

Tim's head snapped to the right, where he saw none other than Ra's al Ghul sitting cross legged on a plush chair, the glint in his eye sending a familiar bolt of fear through him.

"Sleep well?"

Crap.

Oi, thanks for stopping by, it means a lot. Leave a review, it's legit amazing motivation, and all suggestions, constructive criticism, likes, dislikes, and all-around feedback is greatly suggestions.

Have a good one!

-the Eagle (I'm not bald tho :D)