Titans - Rising Robin & Invasion! Crossover Fanfic (Flash x Arrow x LoT)

Chapter V: Follow the North Star

Richard rested his feet over his couch's armrest & laid his laptop on his lap. He stretched his neck over a few throw pillows he pushed towards the end of the couch & shifted his body, trying to get comfortable. It felt like it had been forever since he last laid on his couch in comfort, but, he knew damn well that he couldn't afford to rest easily, with all that was going on. Richard sighed. He glanced back towards where the bedroom was. He hoped Cheyenne would be alright in the Watchtower.

Richard shook the lingering thoughts from his head & turned to his laptop. He woke the screen up & opened up his internet browser. After a moment, before he did anything else, he groaned, then sat up from the couch. He held the laptop in his hand, then walked over to the glass doors & slid one open. He walked out onto the balcony & sat on a small futon that was folded into a couch. He brought the futon closer towards the railing, sat on the futon, & lifted his legs high up with ease. He stretched his long legs over to the railing & rested them there. Richard grinned. It was a better position.

Richard began to type away at his keyboard, researching all that he could find about the speedster. When searching up Barry Allen, Richard found several news articles from decades ago that covered the tragedy of his mother's death, along with his father's incarceration. The boy had witnessed his own mother's death that night.

Richard gasped softly. He had no idea the chuckling, goofy guy had gone through that.

Richard read on, seeing articles about the Central City Police Department's efforts to fight off metahumans with Star Labs technology. It listed several encounters that the CCPD had with metahumans & criminals with abilities & tech that proved to be superior to the police force's. Richard caught sight of a picture of the CCPD's officers, all lined up for a group photo. Towards the center left, Richard noticed a skinny young man standing next to an older black man. The young man looked roughly Richard's age, but, he could've sworn he had seen him somewhere before.

Richard glanced towards the bottom of the picture. It had a listing of the names of the police officers that were photographed. One of them was Barry Allen.

Richard surveyed the photo one last time before confirming that the younger man must have been Barry. For some reason, the man seemed...smaller. He had a smaller body frame. He was skinnier, & he looked a lot younger than when Richard saw him the few times in the Watchtower. Perhaps this photo was an old one. Richard quickly shook his head, dismissing the suggestion, after spotting the date the photo was taken. It was a taken less than a year ago.

Richard sighed in frustration. He found Barry Allen. At least, he found a Barry Allen living in Central City...working with the police. It was a start, right?

Richard reached for his phone & dialed the CCPD's precinct's number listed in the article. He hummed to himself as the call rang, going through to Central City. After a few moments, there was an answer.

"CCPD, Captain Singh speaking," spat a fast-talking man with a clear Jersey accent.

Richard cleared his throat. "Hello, this is Mr. Grayson. I was hoping you could put me through to Mr. Allen?"

"Mr. Allen?" the captain scoffed. "Hold on a sec." He then set the phone down for a moment. Richard could hear him rustle the phone against something, possibly his chest. "Hey, Joe!" called the captain from his end of the phonecall. "Where's Barry?"

After a few moments, the phone was picked back up, but someone else with a deeper voice spoke. "This is Detective Joe West. Barry is out right now on a case, but, I can take a message for you."

Richard bit his lip. He glanced at the article's photograph & caught sight of the man standing next to Barry. Listed next to Barry's name was a Joe West. Richard tried to place the voice with the face, then spoke. "That's okay, Detective West, thank you though. I was hoping you could leave his number with me, that way I could try & reach him personally."

The detective was silent for a few minutes. "Who is this, again?"

Richard's mind ran at a fast pace to come up with a quick cover. "Uh, Detective Grayson, sir, of the Blüdhaven Police Department. I'm currently working on a case that may involve the death of a metahuman, & I'm not really sure how to go about this. My superiors recommended that I talk to a Mr. Barry Allen of the Central City Police force. I hear he's a bit of a genius up there."

Detective West chuckled softly. "Alright, I suppose." The detective proceeded to giving Richard Allen's cell phone number. "He may be busy right now, seeing as it's after hours, but you can try to reach him."

Richard nodded. "Of course. Thank you so much, Detective."

With that, Richard hung up & set his phone aside. Richard glanced down at his laptop & smiled. Rather than saving the phone number into his own cell, Richard searched for Barry's cell phone on a program on his computer that was able to trace generally most pieces of technology. Within a few minutes, he would see exactly where Barry was at all times. Or, at least, where his phone would be.

Richard sighed, observing the computer program scanning GPS's all across the coast. It was really state of the art. He was truly thankful to have Harper Row design it for him. Richard thought about Harper for a moment, & about her younger brother, Cullen. He often thought about whether Cullen was alright after all these years. Richard sighed. He ought to give them a call soon.

Suddenly, Richard's computer began beeping. The program traced Barry's phone in Central City, all the way up north, in a vast open area by the coast. Richard arched his eyebrow. He squinted, reading the address, then searched the address on his web browser. The address came up as the street where Star Labs was. In fact, this was the same Star Labs facility where the particle accelerator exploded, causing the outbreak of the metahumans in 2014. Richard smirked to himself. This was definitely the right place.

Richard shut his laptop, grabbed his cell, & stood up from his seat. He walked into his apartment & sighed. He was going on a trip to Central City.