Trigger Warning: Torture

Red Robin groaned. Where am I? Slowly, he sat up, his body aching. He opened his eyes. "Ugh." He rubbed them, blinking to clear his vision and waiting for his HUD lens to reboot. Nothing happened. Weird. Red Robin looked around. Sand. That's all he saw. Just sand. Where am I? His head was ringing. Rising shakily to his feet, he brushed sand off his legs. A groan to his left caught his attention. "Robin!" he exclaimed, rushing over to his youngest brother, who was just sitting up as he reached him. "You okay?" Red Robin held out a hand.

"I think so," Robin said, taking it. As he rose, he wobbled. "Whoa. My head's pounding."

"Careful." Red Robin steadied him.

"Where are we?" Robin looked around. "Where's Batman? Where's the Team? Why are we in the middle of a desert?"

"One question at a time," Red Robin said. "First, are your HUD lenses working?"

Robin blinked. "Nope. Nothing."

"Same here." Red Robin frowned. "All right. Next question. Where's Batman?"

Robin checked the tracker on his wrist. "No signal."

A sliver of a memory flickered to life in Red Robin's mind. "Are you sure you can handle this? You'll only have one chance to communicate with us." Batman had leveled him with a steady gaze.

"I can do this," Red Robin had replied with resolve. "Find her, note her location, contact the League…"

"Do not engage the Chaos Lords," Batman ordered, leaving no room for questions. "Now, according to Raven's tracker, she is in Bialya."

"Right, Raven." Red Robin rubbed his head. "Why is my memory so… spotty? We're in Bialya," he said slowly. "We're here to find Raven."

"Why?"

"I don't know. My memory's all—"

"Dude!" a voice screamed from the distance. They looked up to see a familiar cloud of dust before a figure skidded to a stop, spraying sand all over Red Robin and Robin. "SorryIwokeupanddidn'tknowwhereIwasandsoIstartedrunningyoutwoarethefirstpeopleI'vecomeacross!"

"Speed talk," Red Robin and Robin said in unison.

"Sorry," Kid Flash took a breath. "I woke up, like, 10 miles away. Alone. Under the burning sun."

"The sun's setting," Robin pointed out.

"It's still burning!" Kid Flash retorted. "Anyway, why are we here? My head is killing me."

"We're here to find Raven," Robin answered.

"Okay… why is she missing?"

"I don't know, man," Robin muttered as Red Robin started checking their tech.

"Someone must've released an EMP pulse," Red Robin said. "Communicators, earpieces, computers—everything's down. Compass is… stuck."

Kid Flash snorted. "A compass? That's the most boring piece of tech you carry. Why are you so focused on it?"

"An EMP should only disrupt it briefly, but it's not moving at all," Red Robin muttered, frowning.

Robin hurried over and peered at the compass. "It's pointing east."

"Yeah… but why?" Red Robin tapped the glass. "There's a tiny rock wedged in here."

"How'd it get in there?" Kid Flash asked, puzzled.

Another memory flickered for Red Robin. Frantic hands. "He's gonna wipe our memories!" he'd heard Miss Martian frantically warn. Desperate, he'd grabbed a small pebble and wedged it into the compass…"I put it there," Red Robin said, realization dawning. Looking toward the setting sun, he continued, "So if that's west, then east is where we need to go." He pointed away from the sun. "We have our heading. Let's move. Hopefully, we'll find Beast Boy, Miss Martian, and Wonder Girl on the way."

"Miss M, I hear them!" Beast Boy, in his fennec fox form, exclaimed telepathically.

Wonder Girl flew even higher, scanning the landscape. "Oh, yeah!" she announced. "They're on their way here."

"That's good," Miss Martian replied, standing and muttering something in her native tongue. She placed a hand on her head. "My head feels a little better."

"We need to get you some water." Beast Boy, still in fox form, sat beside her.

"They're about a mile out," Wonder Girl said as she landed next to her teammates. "I can carry you and meet them halfway." Beast Boy shifted into a sugar glider, perching on Miss Martian's shoulder. Miss Martian wrapped an arm around Wonder Girl's neck.

"Ready?" asked Wonder Girl.

"Ready," Miss Martian replied, and Beast Boy chirped in agreement.

"Okay," Wonder Girl said as she slowly floated into the air.

"Hey!" Kid Flash said, pointing. "Look!"

"Wonder Girl and Miss Martian," Robin said. The three males ran towards their teammates, meeting in the middle.

Beast Boy jumped from Wonder Girl's shoulder, returning to his human form before landing on his feet. "Thank goodness!"

"Are you okay?" Red Robin asked Wonder Girl and Miss Martian.

"Fine." Wonder Girl massaged her temples. "A little lost. My head hurts, don't know where we are, and Miss Martian may be dehydrated, but... fine. Any idea where we are? I'm having trouble recalling the past few days."

"Bialya," Red Robin answered. "We're here to find Raven."

Beast Boy perked up. "Oh, so you remember! That's great. Glad one of us does."

"No, I've only had flashes here and there," Red Robin explained. "I remember Batman saying to find Raven, report where she is, and don't engage any of the Chaos Lords."

"O-kay."

Red Robin turned to Miss Martian. "Can you scan all our brains, see if you can glean anything?"

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

"Positive," Red Robin said, and the others nodded in agreement.

Miss Martian straightened her shoulders. "Okay. I'll only go back as much as I need to." She raised her hands, and a shimmering dome of psychic energy appeared over and around them as she entered their minds collectively. Scenes from 24 hours ago played in their heads—they saw themselves fighting yet another swarm of Chaos Lord magic. Then darkness. "Odd," Miss Martian said, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Wonder Girl asked.

"There are no memories to recover because there aren't any memories. Someone has completely taken them. But that would take multiple telekinetic users working together." Her eyes scanned the horizon. "I can't even sense Raven in the area." She turned to Red Robin, studying him intently. "But you... I sense a bit of Raven's power in you." Her head tilted. "Did Raven create a bridge between her mind and yours?"

"Uh, not exactly," Red Robin answered. "To save my life, she had to bond with me, but... I think it's gone now."

"It's not gone. I think—Raven is blocking it. It's probably causing her so much strain. Miss Martian's eyes gleamed softly. "Anyway, not all of your memory is gone. Parts of it are still there, floating like puzzle pieces. Her powers must have…protected you." She gestured to the space above Red Robin's head, where fragments of memories shimmered like broken glass. "Do you mind?"

"Go ahead."

Red Robin felt a rush in his head as the memory crystallized: "Are you sure you can handle this?" Batman asked, his cowled gaze fixed on Red Robin. The team watched the scene unfold through Red Robin's eyes. "You'll only have one chance to communicate with us. Can you handle it?"

"I can do this," Red Robin said with resolve. "We find her, note her location, turn off a magic thing, contact the league."

"Do not engage the Chaos Lords," Batman warned. "Her tracker stopped in Bialya."

"Understood."

"I mean it, Red Robin." Batman's tone suggested he would not entertain young people's shenanigans—namely, going off and doing the opposite of what Batman said. "We've all seen what they're capable of."

"Why aren't Superman or Wonder Woman or even you going?" Kid Flash blurted out. "Sir," he added quickly.

"The Justice League has had one too many run-ins with the Chaos Lords—namely Klarion. We're already compromised; they know exactly where and how to combat us. It's one reason Justice League Dark exists. Only magic users can combat magic users effectively. Batman's expression slightly eased. "As to why I'm sending you... I don't know what mental state Raven will be in. Sending those she's spent a year with... The memory faded like smoke.

"Right!" Kid Flash snapped his fingers as understanding dawned on all of them simultaneously. "I remember now... sort of. It's coming back to me."

"The Chaos Lords opened those portals again," Beast Boy said, his voice grim.

Wonder Girl's fists clenched. "And Raven willingly exchanged herself under the condition they stop attacking Earth."

"And we promised to be right behind her," Red Robin said. "I know where she is... or the general area. Neither mine nor Robin's technology is working. They must have launched a concentrated EMP blast." His expression hardened with determination. "We're going to have to rely heavily on you guys. Luckily, I have a plan."

Raven's body convulsed against her restraints, each breath a desperate gasp that tore through her. Her once-pristine uniform hung in tatters. She had no idea where her cloak was. Dark patches of blood seeped through the tears in her uniform. Her hair—usually sleek and controlled—clung to her face in sweat-soaked tangles. She felt naked, exposed, vulnerable.

She couldn't move. Every nerve ending screamed in agony, but surrender wasn't an option. I have to keep them out. I can't relax. The mantra pulsed through her mind, vying with the waves of pain wracking her body.

"You're wasting your time, Raven." Enchantress's voice sliced through the haze of pain.

Raven's head hung limp, chin pressed against her chest. Even the simple act of lifting her head required energy she no longer possessed. Through blurred vision, she watched Enchantress's perfectly manicured hand trace along the alien machinery that held her suspended in an 'X' formation.

"Apokoliptian tech." Enchantress explained. Her words dripped with dark satisfaction. "The Father Box draws energy directly from the Ghost Dimension. I don't understand it fully—don't know what it is, really. All I know..." Her fingers danced across the arc of the mission. "...is that it's Granny Goodness's favorite tool for re-educating Apokolips' new recruits."

The silence that followed was broken only by Raven's ragged breathing.

"Just let me in." Enchantress's voice softened to a seductive whisper. "That's all you have to do for the pain to stop."

A fresh wave of pressure exploded behind Raven's eyes. To her right, Psimon and Headcase stood rigid, their combined mental assault feeling like white-hot needles piercing her skull. A whimper escaped her lips before she could stop it and a wave of nausea flooded her.

Enchantress stepped closer, pressing a deceptively gentle, warm palm against Raven's chakra stone. Her eyes blazed a fiery green, and when she spoke again, her voice carried an echo that seemed to reverberate through Raven's bones. "Listen to me." The words slithered into Raven's mind like poison. "Raven, I command you... open a portal to the Dark Dimension."

Raven's body betrayed her, muscles spasming with the urge to obey. But she remained steadfast. Hot tears cut trails down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that streamed from her nose. Every word was agony, but she forced them out through clenched teeth: "Fuck. You."

Enchantress withdrew her hand as hatred and disgust darkened her features. "Fine. Have it your way." She turned to Klarion with a slight nod.

"Oh, this is my favorite part!" Klarion's gleeful cackle echoed off the giant cave structure as his fingers danced across the makeshift control panel. The Father Box hummed to life, casting an eerie glow throughout the chamber.

For a moment, everything went quiet.

Then Raven screamed. The sound that tore from her throat was visceral, the kind of scream that haunts nightmares. Her back arched against the restraints as Ghost Dimension energy coursed through her body, setting every cell ablaze from the inside out. Blood vessels burst in her eyes, turning them a horrifying crimson. Her muscles contracted so violently that the metal restraints cut into her flesh. Still, somewhere in the depths of her mind, a small voice whispered: You can't let them in. You can't let them in. You can't let them in.

"This is pointless." Xanadoth's voice cut through Raven's screams and Klarion's maniacal laughter.

Mordru shifted, his face twisted in annoyance, before turning to face Xanadoth. "She is... powerful," he admitted begrudgingly. He cast a wary glance at their prisoner. "The Lords of Chaos exist to spread chaos—opening multiple portals on Earth was entertaining enough. But angering a spawn of Trigon? A powerful one at that." His words carried weight as Klarion's laughter echoed against Raven's raw screams. "Are you sure this is something we want to do?"

"She'll break," Enchantress said as she materialized behind him like a dark shadow. "Psimon! Headcase!" She screamed their names.

Psimon and Headcase approached her warily.

"What is going on?" Enchantress demanded to know.

Psimon's voice dripped with exhaustion. "It's taking all of my energy just to keep her in a docile state."

"You call that docile?" Tannarak drawled from his swivel chair, fingers idly stroking Teekl's fur. "She's wide awake, and she's been resisting for over five hours."

Psimon looked at Enchantress. "Doesn't help that you made me expend so much energy taking memories from those hero brats," he spat.

Enchantress's lip curled. "Oh, please. I did most of the work."

Psimon paused and forced himself to ignore that blatant lie. "I told them to forget. You got greedy."

"Taking and destroying their memories was a more efficient way to deal with them."

Psimon's patience was visibly fraying. "You're asking for the impossible. Every time Headcase breaks through this girl's barrier, another one appears."

"Her mind is a labyrinth." Headcase's quiet voice carried an edge of fear. "And the Trigon-like guardians that stand watch like sentinels..." He shuddered.

Psimon's eyes narrowed at Enchantress. "Why aren't you doing this?"

"I have to plant the suggestion in her head in a way that makes it seem like it's her idea," Enchantress sneered.

"Anyone can do that. I can do that." Psimon studied her, realization dawning in his eyes. "You're afraid of her."

"Nonsense."

"Are you?" Xanadoth's question hung in the air.

Enchantress's face hardened. "I am not afraid of this... child."

"Then maybe," Psimon's voice dripped with challenge, "you would like to give it a go." He gestured to the screaming mage being taunted by Klarion.

Before Psimon's next heartbeat, Enchantress's fingers had phased through his skull, wrapping around his brain. Her smile turned predatory. "I wonder... what happens if I squeeze?" Psimon froze, and Headcase watched in horrified silence. Behind them, Klarion's laughter continued to mingle with Raven's hoarse screams.

"I'm just saying," Psimon choked out, "it's hard keeping her powers from lashing out. We need a break."

"I'll keep her powers in check." Mordru straightened his robes. "You two focus on lowering her shields."

Enchantress's fingers twitched inside Psimon's skull. "Does that work for you?"

"That... works," he struggled to speak.

"Good." She withdrew her hand with deliberate slowness, snarling at Psimon. "Klarion!" she screamed.

"Aww, man!" The Witch Boy complained like a child as he released the button. Raven's desperate gasps for air filled the chamber. "I never get to have any fun," he folded his arms in a pout.

"Now, go," Enchantress commanded Psimon and Headcase, shooing them away with her hands.

Xanadoth stepped forward. "Are you ever going to tell us who we're trying to free from the Dark Dimension or why?"

"Does it matter?" Enchantress's response was sharp. "Just stick to the plan." She turned on her heel and strutted away.

"Tannarak." Xanadoth's voice was measured as she spoke in a low tone. "Get an eye on the hero whelps." As Tannarak began crafting a magical hawk, Xanadoth moved toward the exit.

"Where are you going?" Mordru asked, adjusting his attire as he prepared to contain Raven's powers.

Xanadoth paused at the threshold. "I'm going to find out who in the Dark Dimension is worth all this... trouble." Their eyes gleamed with suspicion. "It's time we found out who we're actually working for."