Across || Tim Drake + Avengers Crossover

Chapter 3

Tim felt sick.

The light had blinded him and despite having closed his eyes before the flash exploded, he still had black dots fading in and out of his vision. His brain was foggy, his body felt weightless and he momentarily wondered whether he'd taken a mountain of drugs and then bashed his head on a brick wall after jumping from a ten story building without a grappling gun, not necessarily in that order.

His head pounded and his groggy brain registered that he was still holding the backpack in his hands and that he was falling. He was falling?! Tim forced his eyes open behind his mask and let out a shocked gasp as everything came back to him. The wind was snatched out of his lungs and he struggled momentarily to catch his breath. He couldn't see the ground yet because of the thick clouds around him, but did not doubt that it was fast approaching.

'Well this is perfect.' Tim thought sarcastically, scrunching his face instinctively against the wind in his face. He hadn't accounted for a situation where he'd be falling from this high up and deeply regretted that he hadn't packed anything in his backpack that was remotely useful for this situation. He wasn't really sure how he was going to make it out alive, if he were to make it out alive at all.

Tim did have one idea though and he didn't like it one bit. It was lucky he was dressed in his Red Robin costume. Tim maneuvered himself so that his backpack was in front of him and fit his arms through the straps with great difficulty. The loose ends of the straps refused to let his arm through, instead slapping his face painfully, though he couldn't really tell the difference between the straps and the harsh wind which was also working wonders on his exposed skin.

He reached back his arms, struggling to get a hold of the edges of his cape. They flapped out of the way and Tim grumbled, frustrated and tried his best to keep the panic from coming to the front of his mind. He grabbed a fistful of fabric in one hand and a whole lot of air in another, before finally getting a good grip on both edges. Tim knew deploying the gliders at this altitude and speed was practically asking for dislocated shoulders, but he really didn't see a better option. At least his cape was somewhat equipped for this stunt. If he'd had a normal cape like Robin's...

Tim braced himself briefly before spreading his arms wide, the wind catching the underside of the wings and sending him shooting up from the sudden increase in surface area. He'd caught a sight of some sort of giant aircraft momentarily but all thoughts on the matter flew out of his mind, as he tried focusing on controlling the gliders. It was lucky his shoulders hadn't dislocated because it was tough work trying to harness the wind and steady himself as he descended. Tim's arms ached and he swore he pulled a muscle, but he kept a strong grip on his cape, trying to hold it at an angle where it wouldn't send him spinning uncontrollably.

He squinted around at his surroundings again, trying to get a feel for where he was. Thinking back on it, he probably should have waited till he was a little lower and closer to the ground before deploying the gliders. That way his arms had to suffer for less, but oh well, what was done was done. The wind was cold on his face and his hair whipped around crazily everywhere. However, he was able to spot the aircraft he had seen previously.

Honestly it would have been pretty disappointing if he'd missed it, judging by its enormous size. Tim reckoned it could probably hold a good few city blocks on it. The surface was reminiscent of some sort of airport, with landing and taking off strips running parallel with several building looking blocks scattered throughout. Giant turbines and propellers were keeping the structure from falling and Tim couldn't help but feel somewhat awed at such a feat being accomplished. It didn't stop him from wondering why though.

As far as he knew, there would have been records of such a big aircraft being in the sky somewhere on the Batcomputer, even if it was unregistered. Tim knew that he hadn't read everything in the Batcave's files, but he was sure he would have heard something about it, whether it be through the media, or from someone else who got some intel in one way or another. Either way, Tim suspected the aircraft to be bad news. There was no way something this big wasn't part of something shady.