Starling Wing - Arrow & Rising Robin Crossover Fanfic

Chapter I: The Job

 Richard Grayson stared out into the dark, barren road as he drove in under the starry night. He held onto the car wheel with one hand & left his other hand hanging over the rolled down window. The cool breeze made Richard's shaggy hair ruffle in the wind. He let his eyes close shut for a brief moment, taking a second to appreciate the simple bliss of the frozen moment. It had been a really long time since he had last felt this relaxed.

"Hey, Dick, are we there yet?" asked Tim Drake, sitting shotgun alongside Richard. Richard rolled his eyes. The teenaged boy ruined his moment.

"Dude, I'll let you know when we get there," Richard answered.

Tim nodded slowly, then groaned. "Dude, we've been driving all day!"

Richard turned to glare at Tim. "And I can easily just pull over & we can sleep in the car for the night."

"Oh my gosh, no!" Tim cried. "Take it easy, brother."

Richard rolled his eyes. "We're not far, Tim."

Tim waved Richard off. "I'm just busting your chops, man," he sighed. Tim glanced out the window for a few moments. "So what does Bruce think we're doing in Star City again?"

Richard scoffed. "What do you mean? He knows EXACTLY what we're doing."

Tim eyed Richard & arched his eyebrow. "Selling Wayne Tech merchandise to the city's police department?"

Richard nodded, never taking his eyes off of the road. "Yeah, something like that."

Tim shook his head. "Yeah, that's a lie."

"No, it's not," Richard said in annoyance. "Why would I lie about that?"

"Because Bruce raised you," Tim responded. "And, like, he has no reason to want to do that."

Richard clenched his hands around the driving wheel. He took a deep breath. "First off, don't tell me he raised me. He trained me, but I'm my own man. I'm not a liar like him."

"Okay," Tim shot back in a snarky tone.

Richard darted his eyes at Tim, then sighed. "Second, he had been working on attempting to branch out the Wayne brand into other cities, one being Star City. After Queen Consolidated became Palmer Tech, a lot of Bruce's assets in the company went with it."

"So he needs to reach out to the police department of the city to get his name out there?" Tim asked.

Richard shrugged. "Yeah. That's what he was getting at in his board meeting. I let him know I'd work on that for him if he liked. He didn't object."

"So he ever APPROVED?" Tim emphasized.

Richard rolled his eyes. "It's fine."

Tim nodded. He began picking at his fingernails slightly. Richard noticed that Tim had the tendency to do that. It was an odd little characteristic that Richard noticed he picked up on. Tim cleared his throat. "You know, Star City recently got a huge boom in vigilante activity."

Richard bit his lip. "So I've heard."

Tim turned to Richard, grinning softly. "Is there any particular vigilante that we may or may not be interested in hunting down or something?"

"What? No, dude," Richard grunted. "This is purely business, Tim."

"Alright, alright, I believe you."

Richard nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on the road. He tried so hard to set this up. Richard really did take the time to attend some of Bruce's conferences to see what needed to be done at Wayne Enterprises to make business run smoother. Richard kept in mind the recent struggles that Bruce had been dealing with, so he took it upon himself to try & make work at Wayne Enterprises as efficient as possible. Richard took it upon himself to suggest rebranding Wayne Tech in Star City to Bruce, who was reluctant to approve the action, but did so anyway. Richard took his time to study the current events in Star City to be prepared for anything that may come in between him & his goal with Wayne Tech.

Of course, studying the current events of Star City meant a whole lot more than what it should mean.

Star City fell victim to an earthquake-styled terrorist attack, followed by the city being sieged by genetically enhanced soldiers, then an attack orchestrated by the League of Assassins. Most recently, a madman named Damien Darhk with mystical abilities attempted his own terrorist attack on Star City as well.

However, this was all a joke to Richard.

The genetically enhanced soldiers were created under the command of Slade Wilson, who Richard had encountered during his time working alongside the Titans unit. The Justice League had requested that the Titans apprehend Slade after he had escaped an Argus prison on a remote island near the North China Sea. By doing so, Slade had grown a certain grudge against the Titans, but, against Richard especially. The League of Assassins had invaded Gotham briefly, & as it turns out, Bruce had history with some of their upper level leaders. Richard was never involved in that fallout, though. As for Damien Darhk, well, mysticism & magic wasn't new territory for Richard.

Along with the bad events, some good came out of it. The Arrow vigilante was born, only to be revealed a few years later that the Arrow was in fact Roy Harper, & that he died in prison soon after his identity was revealed. This bothered Richard, as he knew who Roy really was, & what had really happened. When the new Green Arrow vigilante appeared, Richard put one & one together. He knew Roy had covered for whoever the real vigilante was. However, it didn't necessarily matter.

Roy was on the run, but he was safe. Despite Roy not being in Star City, there was plenty else to do in the city thriving with crime. For example, the other number of vigilantes that had appeared after the death of the Black Canary DID, in fact, catch Richard's attention. However, Richard wasn't particularly interested in them. There was a number of suspicious murders that Richard was tracing all across the Eastern seaboard. No one could know about that, though.

There was the recent drug trade activity to account for, though. A crime boss known as Tobias Church had made his way from Blüdhaven to Star City, looking for new territory to overcome. Richard hadn't let him succeed in Blüdhaven, & he wouldn't let him in Star City.

"You're doing it again," Tim said, breaking Richard's train of thought.

Richard looked at Tim. "What?"

Tim sighed. "You're thinking. Not like planning your lunch kind of thinking. You're doing the intense thinking where you're orchestrating a whole other plan."

Richard gave Tim a soft smile. He turned back to the road. "I have prep for the meeting tomorrow."

Tim groaned. "Dammit, Dick. Why can't you just let me in on whatever it is that's going on?"

"You're not ready for this," Richard responded too quickly. He glanced at Tim, then cleared his throat. "You can't come to this meeting. It's gonna be with Mayor Queen & the head of the police department. It's not somewhere for a kid to be."

"I'm not some little unintelligent boy, Dick. I can hold myself up in a business meeting."

"Tim, Wayne Enterprises can't be represented by a 17 year old kid. Just hang tight, man."

Tim groaned once more in bratty fashion. Richard seriously did not want him involved with the board meeting that would take place the next morning. Richard actually did want the meeting to go well. It probably would.

Richard was more concerned about Tim getting in the way of what he was going to do tonight, though. The job was bigger than Tim. Richard had to face him himself.