The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Nineteen

It was a cold January night, the New Year had arrived, and with that came the resolutions. During the first week of the year, Rory and the others had seen a steady decline in crime sensing that the inhabitants of Gotham wanted to try and become better people. Maybe they had a family, a lover, or they just wanted to be better people. Whatever the reason was, it made it an easy week.

But like always, Gotham was filled with darkness and it always crept back to the hearts of her people.

The second week rolled around and crime started to pick back up, and with that came new schemes from Gotham's Rogues to welcome the new year. Bruce stayed true to his word, Rory was not left alone in the streets of Gotham night or day and she never involved in a fight with one of the Rogues. He wasn't careful enough once and it had cost him Jason, that wasn't a risk he was willing to take again.

Rory refused to tell Oliver that the Joker wanted her, she even made Bruce promise that he wouldn't tell at League meetings. She knew that the second he found out, Oli would fly his ass down to Gotham and hunt down the Joker before he could get to her abandoning his city in the process.

Usually, she was with Tim during the day, he had taken her to Wayne Enterprises multiple times to show her around and even stopped at a coffee shop, or four, while they walked. But when it came to patrol, she rarely left Batman and Robin's side with the exception being Nightwing and Red Hood. 

With their relationship, they all thought it was a good idea they didn't patrol together. If someone saw Grey Arrow getting a little too cozy with Red Robin, that would put a target on Tim's back and Rory refused to let that happen. Even with Bruce's house rules, Tim stayed in her room through the night. He knew his fears were getting the better of him, but Tim wanted to make sure that Rory wouldn't be taken in the middle of the night. So like usual, he stayed up the whole night working pushing the trivial thought of sleep out of his mind.

Grey Arrow was on patrol with Red Hood that night, Batman and Robin were paying the Riddler a visit and so he had him take her. Red Hood was her favorite to patrol with, the bond they shared was similar to that of a brother and sister. Hood saw her as the little sister he never had, and it made him that much more protective of her. 

The two of them were standing on one of the many gargoyles in Gotham city, watching the streets for anything that they could handle. Red Hood was given one specific rule when he was with Grey Arrow and that was to stay away from the Rogues Gallery, and that was the rule he wasn't going to break.

"You see anything Hoodlum?" she asked, tapping into the detective mode on her mask.

"Hoodlum, really? Hood wasn't good enough for you Arrow?" he asked, a chuckled in his response.

"Aw come on, you gotta at least let me have some fun here. Most I get to do is beat up thugs and robbers, let me have a laugh." she teased, her eyes scanning the upper east side of the city.

"Fine then, I get to call you Arrow-bat." he grinned, watching the southeast side from his position. 

Grey Arrow let out a groan, "That stupid name Harley came up with? No thank you." Ever since Harley had said that at the ballet, the entire city of Gotham had taken to calling her the Arrow-Bat, not Grey Arrow, and truth be told it ground her gears a little. Of course, the most stupid name was what had caught on.

Their conversation was interrupted when Batman's voice sounded through the com. "I'm sending Robin to the both of you, I need to have a talk with Gordon. He'll be more useful with you two."

Before either of them could respond, Batman cut the link, and minutes later Robin was standing there, his cape trailing in the cold breeze. "What are you two doing?"