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

Chapter XII: The Team

Richard sighed, examining the dark caverns by the beach in D.C. He was unsure of whether this was the smartest decision he had made. However, seeing as the League's control over their sectors in Jump City may or may not have been compromised, having the team meet up in another location that was efficient enough as a operating base was still crucial. Richard happened to come across the caverns a few years ago, before the Titans were established by the League. These caverns served as the Justice League's original base, back before they had created the Watchtower over the Hall of Justice. Richard knew that his people would get the coordinates & come on alert, with the sudden events that were now taking place.

Richard shook his head. Central City was now under threat as well. If that was the case, Barry Allen had some problems on his hands. The poor man was too small to be able to fight off any alien. However, the Green Arrow may be of some assistance. Richard considered calling him, but, decided on getting Roy's help. Richard let him know what was going on, & that despite not knowing Richard personally anymore, Roy would most likely come to D.C. to help with the threat.

Richard bit his lip nervously as he managed to find a small computer dashboard that was placed towards the center of the large caverns. Richard pressed several buttons before finding the power switch. Richard flipped it, illuminating the vast open caves. Richard smiled softly in admiration. He now had the base. Now he only needed the team.

Richard sat at the dashboard of the computer, going over the intel he had gathered within the last few hours of the Central City crash landing. As he did so, he felt a presence looming over him. Richard quickly spun around, reaching for a winglet that he carried in his compressed utility belt under his t-shirt. He found Conner Kent hovering over Richard, smiling faintly at him. He wore his black t-shirt & blue jeans, looking as though he wasn't a clone of Superman.

"Hey," Conner said softly.

Richard gasped. "Hey, Conner," he breathed. "You scared the hell out of me, I won't lie."

Conner nodded, floating down to the ground. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Richard looked up at Conner, who was still a few inches taller than Richard himself. It had been several years since he last saw Conner. In fact, he hadn't seen him since they put Slade Wilson back on Lian Yu. Richard sighed softly. "How are your studies?" he asked awkwardly.

Conner nodded. "I mean, they're okay," he said. "Studying journalism & astronomy."

"Wow, really?" Richard asked in genuine interest.

Conner shrugged. "Well, yeah, why not get a double major? I figured journalism would be interesting, going out & getting stories about the world. Astronomy gets me excited because it's the closest I'm probably ever going to get to the stars."

Richard nodded, smiling up at the young man. He was technically less than 10 years old, having been an experiment born out of Cadmus's test tubes, but he was very mature. He had grown up a lot since Richard had rescued him from the labs. Conner was shy & nervous of the whole world, without a name or a mind of his own. Now, Conner was so much like Clark, & the young man didn't even realize it. The two trained together for a brief period of time, before Clark felt as though training a young Superman would pose as a liability in the case that one of them goes rogue. All Conner ever wanted was a sense of identity, & Clark gave that to him. However, with Superman leaving Conner's life, all he had were a few college courses to remind him of what it was like to be a Kryptonian on another planet, working as a journalist. It broke Conner's heart, losing Clark...but probably not as much as him losing M'gann, & losing trust in Richard.

Richard smiled softly, extending his hand out to Conner. "I'm really glad you're back," he said.

Conner stared at Richard's hand, then bit his lip. His eyes were pierced sharp, as though heat vision could hiss out & zap Richard at any given moment. Conner slowly brought his right hand up to RIchard's & shook his hand. "I'm here because you said something bad was happening," he said bruntly.