It's said that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes. If that's true then I'm not going to die … yet. But, as I clean the ridiculously huge main screen, it still feels like I am. The day had started so promisingly… No I lie, I knew it was going to be difficult from the start. Just this side of 48 hours without sleeping it seems a lot worse…

: T : T : T : T :

23:00, 15 hours of being awake. Just enough to be uncomfortable.

Just as I was going to my room to sleep, Cyborg snuck furtively up to me.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

I looked at him, tip-toeing. I raised an eyebrow. "Stealthy." I said sarcastically.

"Listen," he whispered, "B.B.'s gone to bed, so now's the perfect time to practice!"

I sighed, and reluctantly I nodded.

"BOO-" he stopped his shout. "boo-yah!" he whispered.

He switched on the gamestation and inserted the Mega-smash-ninjas 3 disk.

He turned to me, sitting on the sofa. Teacher-mode. I swear I could almost see the mortar-board and teacher-cape. "Ok, the basics of Mega-smash-ninjas 3, it all begins with the joypad. So-called because it brings hours of joy to all gamers … and it's a sorta pad thingy. ANYWAY take note of the X, circle, square and triangle along with the four arrow buttons, there are also some others but we'll come to those later…"

Later. "…and that is how you execute a 'Stealth-Crusher'. Next, the 'Power-punch-flip', first get in this position," the character on screen knelt, "next press the X followed closely by…"

Later still. "And that is all the moves in the game. Next we come onto something called 'counter-moves' which are basically…"

Even later. "And now you're ready to fight!" He passed me a joy-pad and activated the 'versus' mode. We played a few matches, which he won. But at least I managed to hit him with a few moves.

Eventually, after I finally managed to beat him, just. "Ok I think that's enough for today, see if you can beat B.B. later ok? I'm going to recharge now. Later dawg." And with that he walked out of the main room.

I spotted the list of chores Raven had given me, on the cushion by my side. Since I was up I decided that I may as well start. I sighed and looked at the first item on the list. Washing up. Shouldn't be too hard, I used to quite enjoy doing the dishes.

I looked at the sink.

I looked at the pile of plates by the sink.

I looked at the piles of dirty stuff all around the kitchen area.

I sighed and stood up.

3:00, 19 hours of being awake.

I started doing the dishes.

I continued doing the dishes.

The Titan alarm went off. The main screen flashed 'Sector 5'. The titans, in various states of tired-ness came into the main room. Robin, fully decked out as the Boy Wonder, was first, Cyborg, who always wore nothing was next. Raven teleported through the floor fully dressed too. Starfire was pulling on her boots and Beast Boy was last, still in his pyjamas.

I raised an eyebrow. He looked down, turned red and then ran out of the room.

"Titans! You know the drill."

Starfire, Raven and I flew out of the window and Cyborg and Robin went to their vehicles.

3.45, 19 hours, 45 minutes of being awake.

The night air managed to wake me up a bit as we flew to what turned out to be a early morning bank robbery. Normal crooks, they barely lasted 5 minutes.

We all arrived at near-enough the same time. Robin walked through the broken open bank doors first followed by the rest of us. The three robbers, dressed in black looked back at us in fear.

"Bank's closed, gentlemen." The Boy Wonder said before charging forward. The rest of us followed.

SMACK! Robin knocked one of the thieves out with one punch.

Starfire flew to the remaining two. She tried to land, but misjudged the slipperyness of the marble floor. One leg shot out forward. Right into a robbers crotch.

CRUNCH.

Everyone in the room flinched as he slid to the floor, cross-eyed.

The final robber fled to the open doors. Just then Beast Boy arrived in bird-form. He saw the robber, and morphed into a stegosaurus. The thief tried to stop but due to the slippery floor just managed to slide at a high speed right into the green dinosaur's side.

SWWWWSSSH-THUD!

And they were all down.

We handcuffed the three and then deposited them in the gaol. Then about ten minutes after we had left the tower, we made our way back there. I decided now was a good time to have a rest, in a couple of hours Robin would want me to train with him.

As we landed back in the main room, Beast Boy was moaning. "I don't even see why we have to answer calls like that. I bet the police could have handled that easily."

"Indeed they could have friend Beast Boy, but there was not enough information on the suspects, they could have been metahumans with terrible weapons!"

I left the argument and went to my room.

Just as I was going to lie my head down there was a chime at the door. I went and pushed the open button.

Robin stood there. "Time for training, Void." I looked at my clock, sighed and followed him down to the training room.

4:00, 20 hours without any sleep.

He started by teaching me a few moves. In my sleep deprived mind I started to confuse this training with the moves that Cyborg had taught me on the fighting game.

After a while he decided to test me out. I ran at him with one fist raised, I punched. WHAP! He blocked.

A knee to the gut. THUD! He blocked again. He slid backwards from the impact though.

I surprised him next when I knelt, leapt out with a punch. THUD! Caught him on the jaw, sending him flying back. With his body flying back and mine above, I moved my feet to his chest. Using his body as a jump board I somersaulted back. Meanwhile he was sent crashing to the floor by my jump. I landed in a pose as he slid across the mats on the floor.

He stood up rubbing his jaw, "You've been playing too many computer games, Void. Nice though." He stood into a kung-foo pose and I knew that I was about to get the beating of my life.

Later. As I stood up form the floor after the last attack. I think Robin seemed mildly impressed. I had managed to get an attack in, even as he was kicking me to the floor. I had grabbed a leg and basically fallen over. It still managed to get the Boy Wonder down though.

Even later. We stood facing each other. "I think that's enough for now. You've shown some excellent progress today." And with that he walked out of the gym.

A beat.

I collapsed.

Raven teleported through the roof. "I can't help but notice you haven't done the chores yet…" I climbed unsteadily to my feet. "If you want them done by the end of the day I suggest you get going." I nodded and walked… limped out of the gym.

8:00, 24 hours without sleep.

Only Robin can train for four hours and still manage anything productive for the rest of the day. Does doing chores count as constructive?

As I cleaned, the eyes of my mask must have fooled everyone into thinking that I was perfectly awake. Underneath, my eyes were bloodshot and it felt like the bags under my eyes had bags under them.

I hoovered the main room. After I had hoovered the same spot for about 20 minutes Starfire came up to me, with a look of concern on her face. I smiled goofily and waved erratically.

She ducked under my hand after a particularly vigorous swing. She waved hesitantly back. "Friend Void, are you okay?"

I nodded emphatically and almost fell over. I tried to talk but my mouth was so dry it came out as a croak. It seemed I had gone through the almost-dead phase of tiredness and went into the drunken-tired phase.

Starfire said something. My brain couldn't register. "Smaller words." I mumbled.

"Time for shop, yes?" she said.

"Ah."

We stood there for a while. "Void?"

I shook my head and said "ok." I thought I had already said this but I must have been hallucinating. Thinking back this is quite likely… especially the bit with the mauve elephant.

Starfire flew towards the window. I tried to join her. After I had jumped a few times I really concentrated and tried again. Somehow I ended up jumping into a window and then I fell onto my butt.

She decided the stairs were safer. I got up and joined her. Walking.

10:00, 26 hours without sleep.

Again once we were out in the fresh air my mind became a bit clearer. I remembered how to fly and we flew together to the mall.

When we arrived I immediately made my way to a café, "One sec Starfire."

I ordered a triple espresso.

The smell coming from it alone woke me up. Hesitantly, I brought the cup to my lips.

And drank.

There was surprisingly little liquid in the cup so it didn't last long. Suddenly I felt a lot better. Awake. Everything was clear.

I threw the cup towards a bin. My arm was vibrating so much it landed in a plant pot about three feet from the bin. I didn't notice.

I went to Starfire. And then we went into a shop, and she bought some clothes. And then we went into another shop and she bought some shoes. And then we went into another shop and she bought a bag. And thenwewentintoanothershopandsheboughtsomefoodbutiididnthaveanybecauseiwasfullofcaffeineandithinkwemayhavegoneintoanothershopbuticantreallyrememberbecause

I stumbled and only just caught myself. "Arreee yyyyyooooouuuuuu oooooooooooookkkkaaaaaaaayyy vvvvvvvvvvvoooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddddddddd?" Said Starfire as she bent down to check on me. Everything was suddenly moving so slowly. I stood up at normal speed. Starfire slowly… slowly … finally straightened up. I tapped my foot, impatient. "VVVVVVVVVVVVooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddddddd?"

Behind her a small electrical store was being robbed at gunpoint. My eyes widened and I flew over there as fast as possible.

Behind me the tamaranian turned slowly.

I flew into the store, grabbed the robber's gun. I created a black hole and threw the weapon in. After closing the hole I grabbed the man's arm and shoved it up behind his back. I dragged him out of the store and dropped him in front of a slowly moving policeman.

I waited.

The policeman slowly widened his eyes in shock. The robber was somewhat dazed. I grinned and zipped back to Starfire.

"WWWWWWhhhhhhhaaaaaattttt jjjjuuuusssttt hhaappened, Void?" The world went back to normal speed.

I blinked, and shrugged.

"Ok!" She smiled, cute as ever. "I have everything I wish, it is your turn to do the shopping!"

"I, uh, don't really have any shopping to do."

"Oh! Well let us journey back to the tower then. Many thanks for coming to the mall with me, friend Void!"

The trip back was terrible. It seemed like my stomach was trying to crawl up my throat, and it was fighting with my lungs.

I did manage to get back without throwing up, but I had to go straight to the toilet. Black gunk came from my mouth, so much black crap. I swear the tiny amount of espresso I had drunk must have bred in my stomach to allow that much rubbish to come out.

Never again.

I will never drink coffee again.

I made my way back to my room for a well earned rest.

14:00, 30 hours without sleep.

In my bed, finally.

And then my head started to hurt. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! It sounded like a person with a huge mallet was trying to hammer his way into my brain.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

A caffeine hangover. Ugh.

And then a terrible wailing. The Titan siren was going off. Clutching my head I went to see what the trouble was.

14:30, 30 hours, 30 minutes without sleep.

I walked in to see the Titans already congregated. Robin had already briefed them.

"Void, we need to get there as fast as possible, so I'll have to brief you on the way ok?" I nodded, "Titans go!"

And we did.

"This thing is a monster; it doesn't seem to have any feelings or emotion. It just is. It sucks kids into it, for some unknown purpose. We also think it has healing ability of some sort. As far as we know it doesn't work for anyone, but we can't know that. We need to finish it quickly and without damaging anyone it has captured. Over and out." Robin's description of Kardiac, from pictures I'd seen, it basically looks like a giant heart. With added tentacles.

I tried to wake myself up as much as possible on the way over. But it wasn't working, my eyes felt like they were trying to shut themselves. The air had cleared my headache and now I just wanted to sleep.

We arrived in a playground, little children screaming and running everywhere. Kardiac was chasing after them; even as we arrived it managed to grab one child with a tentacle. It started to drag the child towards it.

Without any remark, smart or otherwise, Robin started the action. He had come on his R-cycle, so he used a see-saw as a ramp to get a decent view of the monster. He leapt off the back of the bike, unsheathing an extended Birdarang as he went flying towards Kardiac.

SLASH!

Using the birdarang as a sword he cut the red monsters tentacle in two. His bike safely landed itself using small rockets on either side. The Boy Wonder grabbed the kid Kardiac had tried to ensnare and fled.

In complete silence except the 'THUD. THUD.' Kardiac moved after Robin. Starfire pelted it with starbolts, but the creature just kept going after Robin and the child.

A tentacle whipped out after the fleeing hero, so I opened a hole up in its path. The hole swallowed the tentacle before I closed it, effectively chopping off the limb.

This gave Robin a chance to get the child to the newly-arrived T-car. Cyborg and Raven were busy ushering the kids in so they could be kept from harm's way.

Beast Boy arrived and immediately turned from hawk into a gorilla. He gripped the pulsating creature, jumped high into the air and threw it into the ground. Then as he fell towards it he turned into an elephant crushing Kardiac with his elephant butt.

But Kardiac was still fighting. With a re-grown tentacle it gripped the changeling and threw him off.

Then Robin came back into the fight, sword held loosely at his side. He threw birdarang after birarang but still Kardiac kept going. Dodging and slashing tentacles Robin charged. From the other side Starfire was also charging slicing apart a tentacle with eye beams. She was charging her starbolts, her hands encased with the green light.

I saw an opportunity and joined the attack from above. I judged the moment and stopped flying, dropping foot-first towards my target.

THUD!

In a three pronged attack, we all struck simultaneously. Kardiac was torn apart by the ferocity of the Boy Wonder's slashing sword, Star's starbolt encased punches and my freefall kick.

I opened black holes around the playground and we threw the parts of Kardiac into oblivion. "It's the only option. It can't have been alive and it was certainly mindless, it's the only way to deal with a self-healing robot. Annihilation."

Having destroyed the mindless, mechanical monstrosity we returned to the Tower. The rush I had got from fighting had quickly turned into me being completely knackered again.

15:30, 31 hours 30 minutes without sleep.

Beast Boy stood in the way as I tried to get out of the main room after the debriefing. "Hey noobie… wanna play another game of Mega-Smash-Ninjas 3? I promise to go easy on ya!" He grinned like a maniac. Over his shoulder Cyborg was nodding and gesturing to kick his butt.

"Actually B.B. I'm a bit-" I started but he cut me off.

"Good man!" and with that he and Cyborg dragged me over to play computer games.

I don't know how anyone can play games for 9 hours… but somehow they managed it, because after they finally let me go I checked the clock and

00:30, 40 hours and 30 minutes and no sleep.

I was just making my way to bed when I saw Raven standing in the doorway. The list of chores in her hand. Only two of the many … many chores were crossed off. "You have until I get up to meditate in the morning." She said and with a swish of her cloak she was gone.

And I started on the list…

8:00 48 hours without sleep.

I finally finished cleaning the main screen. I fell to the floor and

Slept.

: T : T : T : T :

Raven went into the sparklingly clean main room. She saw the list of chores on the work surface. All the chores were ticked off. She saw the rookie's slumbering form. She smiled.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"