The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Forty-Two

"Jay! It's Slade! he pu-"

The next thing Jason heard was an explosion so loud that he dropped his phone in shock, quickly diving to grab it again. "Rory? Rory!?" The line was dead, and he looked to the other people in the cave who were giving him a confused look.

"Jason, what happened?" Bruce asked. 

Before Jason could answer, Stephanie ran in looking frantic. "Turn on the news!" she screamed.

Tim, Dick, and Damian looked a little taken back at her volume before Bruce changed the monitor to the Gotham News, their jaws dropping at what they saw on the screen.

"Breaking News! An old abandoned warehouse was just recently blown up, sources say that no one had used it in a long time and it was long thought forgotten. Authorities are still unsure of what caused this explosion, and it is unknown if there are any casualties."

Tim stared at the screen before he shared a look with Jason. The two of them recognized that warehouse, it was the bigger safe house they knew about that belonged to Oliver. "Jay, what did Rory say on the phone?" he asked, scared of his answer.

"Not much, she was cut off by what sounded like an explosion," he said, still staring at the screen as firetrucks arrived on the scene. Before anyone could say another word, Tim and Jason were suited up and on their bikes driving out of the cave into the night.

"Tim, Jason, we'll meet you two there. Rory's tracker says that she is still there, so I am willing to bet Jesse and Roy are as well. Be careful, we don't know what caused this."  Bruce said through he comm.

Both Red Robin and Red Hood gave a hum of agreement, as they kept driving listening to the police scanner hoping the heard some kind of good news. The safe house was on the other side of the city, so it had taken them almost fifteen minutes to get there and they were speeding as fast as they could. Both of them had people important to them missing in the explosion, and they were hoping that they didn't find their dead bodies crushed.

When Red Robin pulled up, he nearly threw himself off the bike. The sigh in front of him was devastating, the entire warehouse was leveled with ash flying everywhere. He was saying silent prayers, hoping that Rory was not caught in all of this. She had almost once already this month, he wasn't ready for a second time.

The fire had been put out, and firefighters were searching through the wreckage trying to see if there was anyone giving a hint to what had sent it up in flames. As he walked, Tim recognized different things like the decorations Oliver had hidden there. Lucky for them, all the weapons and other items similar to that were stashed in a secret bunker. There was no way in hell that got blown up.

He heard a crunch under his foot and saw that it was a white arrow, stained with week-old blood. Red Robin eyed it carefully, what was one of Rory's old arrows doing here covered in blood? Looking at the floor, something else had caught his attention. Bending down, he brushed more rubble away and saw compromising pictures of him and Rory the night they spent away from the manor. 

Seeing these made his blood boil, hoping that she had never seen these not wanting to know how she reacted. He also noticed that there were pictures of Roy and Jesse in just as compromising positions. With a cry of anger, his fist hit the ground. Whoever took these, knew who they all were.

Red Hood had heard his cry and walked over. "What's wrong Red, did you find something?" he asked.

Without a word, he held up the few photos that were not ruined and showed him, Red Hood letting out a string of colorful curses. "Holy fuck, who the hell took these?"

"I have no idea, but I also found this." he held up the arrow and showed it to him. Red Hood pocketed the photos and took the arrow, twirling it in his fingers.