The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Forty-Seven

"Come on Bruce! You haven't found anything because I am not out in the field for him to follow!" Rory said, following Bruce down the steps to the cave. "I've been given a clean bill of health by the doc and yet you refuse to let me out!"

"Rory, we are not having this conversation again. You live under my roof, you will follow my rules," he replied, the batcape swaying behind him as he walked.

"I follow ninety-two percent of your rules, and besides we are having this conversation again because I don't understand why you want to keep me inside!" she snapped. 

The others were already down in the cave, watching as Rory followed Bruce around while she pestered him with questions. It was mid-August now, and Rory was completely healed from her encounter with Deathstroke. She had thought that was the main reason he kept her inside, but Rory had the sneaking suspicion that there was something more he was hiding from her in true Bruce fashion. 

"Just let me out for a couple of hours and you can follow me around! Slade isn't showing his ugly face because he knows you are keeping me locked up in the Manor! He's after me, what happens when he changes tactics and goes after the others instead?" she asked, following after him as he walked towards the computer.

"Can you trust that I am doing this to keep you safe? Oliver put you in my care and I am going to make sure he gets you back in one piece. We have had too many close calls with you as it is, I am not taking any more risks." he said, setting his cup of coffee down as he typed on the keyboard looking for different things.

"I will trust you when you quit treating me like a child! I'm an adult Bruce and I am not one of your kids. I abide by your rules out of respect, but if you can't give me the same and actually let me in on whatever the fuck is going on in that bat brain of yours then I'll figure it out myself." She snapped.

The cave was deadly quiet, Rory's voice rang as it bounced off the walls. The others all stared at Rory with wide eyes, not many people would straight up yell at Batman like that and get away with it. In fact, the only people who got away with it were his kids, but even then they knew that there were limits. 

Bruce took several deep breaths, trying to quell his anger. Rory had a point, he knew that it was wrong to keep her in the dark but there were things that he couldn't just tell her out in the open. He was still trying to solve the mystery of why Jesse disappeared the night Oliver's safe house went sky high, only to find him hours later walking around the bowery district. There was something going on, and it was safest to keep her and Jesse where he could watch them both.

"Rory, I know you are an adult and I know that you are not mine. But I need you to trust me when I say that there are things I need to figure out before I let you back into the field," he said, trying not to raise his voice at her. That was the last thing he needed to do.

Her eyes narrowed at him, for a man that seemed to preach trusting each other as a team he trusted her the least out of them all. Rory constantly felt out of the loop and it was getting on her nerves. "Fine. I'll be in my room, reading the same fucking books again because I can't even go out and buy more."

"But we can order more for you," Damian spoke up.

"That's beside the point gremlin child!" she snapped as she stormed at the steps, slamming doors as she walked to her room. 

The cave had gone back to being quiet at his kids gave him a look. "Nice going there Bruce, now she's pissed. I'll go make sure she doesn't try to sneak out again." Dick muttered and walked up the stairs to go try and talk to her.

Tim and Jason crossed their arms, alongside Barbara and Dick were the only ones that knew what Bruce was hiding from her. They had all thought it was weird that Jesse had disappeared without a trace to show up on the docks, especially when he was part of the explosion too.