"Again." Rory wiped her mouth, getting the small amount of blood on her lip. Roy looked down at her with a concerned look, Rory had only been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks and he was worried that she was pushing herself too hard. The doctor had said that she could increase her daily work out, but she was working too hard to get back in the game.

"Twinkle Toes, maybe we should take a break," he said, offering her a hand. 

"I don't need a break Roy, I need to get back on track so I can go back on patrol," she said, pushing his hand away and standing straight on her feet. Rory had a habit of trying to sneak out so Jason and Tim told Roy to take her to the safehouse they knew about to keep her out of trouble for at least a couple hours.

Roy let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair as he gave Jesse a look. They both could see that she was pushing too hard, and it worried them. "Rory, he's right. You are pushing yourself too hard and you need to stop doing it." 

"I said I'm fine Jess!" she snapped.

Jesse hopped into the ring and walked towards her and pointed a finger at her. "No, you're going to listen to me. Tim and Jason asked us to bring you here for a reason and it's for your own good, what the fuck has you so hellbent on getting back onto the field?" he questioned.

Rory glared at him. "Nothing, I just hate being cooped up. The two of you should know this better than anyone," she muttered.

"You're right, the two of us know you better than anyone so we know when you have ulterior motives," Roy said, leaning against the ropes of the ring they were all in. 

Rory crossed her arms and turned away from both of them. Of course, the two people in the world who knew her best were the ones to call her on her bullshit. There was a reason she wanted to get back onto the field, but the second she told them what it was they would not let her out ever again. Rory had too many things at risk for her not to be able to go out.

Roy and Jesse had taken notice of her sudden silence. There was definitely something up with Rory and no one was leaving until she spoke. "Come on, talk to us. We aren't going to change what we think of you because of this, we've all been through so much together. We're like the three musketeers, through thick and thin we stick together."

Honestly, there were a lot of things that were on her mind. She and Tim were fixing on moving into that apartment after they solved this case and Slade was taken care of. She was worried about the case with Harley and Ivy, she was always worried about Tim and she couldn't stop thinking about her last encounter with Slade.

The other night, Damian had come up to her saying that it was his mother who had ordered the attack on her parents and even gave her an apology on Talia's behalf. The exchange ended with her giving him a soft pat on the shoulder and a small smile with a thank you. It was still hard for her to talk about her parents' deaths, they had a major impact on her. 

Jesse stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Rory, come on." 

She turned slowly and looked at the two of them "You want me to be honest? Fine. I'm scared. I'm scared that Tim is going to wake up one day and realize that I am not who he thinks I am. I'm scared that he is going to get hurt because I am not out there to keep him out of trouble. But most of all, I'm scared that Slade is going to kill me before I finally put a stop to him." 

Roy let out a sigh. "Rory, revenge never ends well. You tried getting revenge on him the last time, and that's what got that family killed. You lose control of your actions when you're emotional and it isn't safe for yourself and others."

"So you're saying that I'm a danger to everyone around me?" she asked, looking at him with disbelief.

Roy quickly shook his head. "No! Fuck no! Rory, if you continue down this path of revenge then you will be. What happens if Tim gets hurt, or one of us because you are so hellbent on revenge against the man that killed your parents?" he asked.

"Why do I feel like you are trying to push us all away?" 

Rory scoffed. "I am not trying to push you all away."

"Do you really think I can't tell when you are lying?" Roy asked, walking over. He could see it in her eyes, Rory was fighting back tears trying to keep them at bay. With a sigh, he pulled her into a hug as Jesse did the same. 

"I don't know why I ever thought I could do this. This whole vigilante thing, I'm not good at it and I can't protect others." she sniffed, wrapping her arms around Roy tighter.

"No, don't think that. You have saved plenty of people, I could go get the statements of those you have saved if I have to in order to show you that you are worth being a hero. Sure, everyone messes up but you have made up for your mistakes in the good deeds you have done."

Rory wiped her eyes softly, she knew Roy was right but that didn't mean she fully believed him. It felt kind of nice, hanging out with just the two of them for once without any missions getting in the way. Even though Roy and Jesse were a couple now they didn't leave Rory out. She was still important to them even though her relationship with Jesse ended on a sour note but years later, she could see that they were never meant to work out. It was plain as day, seeing how much Roy and Jesse loved each other, and she loved Tim more than anything.

"Come on, how about we take a break from training for a bit and go out for lunch? Get your mind off of things?" Roy asked, looking down at her. 

"Leave it to you to think with your stomach Harper, I swear you are always hungry." Jesse chuckled.

"He thinks food will solve every problem in the world." Rory laughed trying to wiggle out of the hug she was trapped in. Of course, with Roy and Jesse being themselves they only held her tighter between them making her laugh once again. 

"I can break your noses if I want too, you guys do know that right?" she threatened. 

"Please don't, you have done it already twice before and I am not looking forward to a third time." Roy quickly let her go and covered his nose, with Jesse copying his actions. She had broken Jesse's nose only once and that time was on accident. With Roy, both were on purpose.

"Let me go get cleaned up and we can leave okay?" she hopped out of the ring and walked to one of the spare rooms that held her clothes but when she got there, Rory knew immediately that something was up.

First of all, the room was not this clean the last time she left it and the various items looked as if they had been shifted. Her eyes narrowed when she saw a package of sorts awaiting her on the bed. The smart thing would be to alert Roy and Jesse, but there was the possibility that they had left it there for her. Slowly, she crossed the floor towards the bed. 

The package that was there was long and thin, eliminating what it could be by a lot of factors with just it's size. She was now standing at the edge of the bed and picked it up in her hands when Roy came knocking on the door.

"Twinkle Toes, what's taking you so long?" He peeked in the room to see what she was holding. "What is that?"

Quickly, Rory turned to look at him. "You mean that you didn't leave this here on the bed?" she asked.

Roy only shook his head. "I have never seen that before until now, do you think it was Jesse?" he asked. 

"What was me?" Jess asked, walking into the room following Roy as they both walked over to stand by her. He too saw the package and raised an eyebrow. "Did Darkwing Duck leave that for you?" he asked.

"Darkwing Duck? Really Jess, what the fuck?" she asked, turning to look at him. he just simply shrugged.

"What? His last name is Drake, and that's his secret identity; Drake Mallard?" he elaborated. Rory rolled her eyes. She was surrounded by idiots, but she wouldn't want to trade them for anything.

Carefully, her hands unwrapped the white bow on the package and dropped it to the floor as she tore off the wrapping paper. Underneath, it was just a plain brown box but the weight of it told her that there was something in it. Using one of her keys, she cut through the tape and slid the contents out of the box. 

What she saw, Rory's stomach dropped and her eyes widened. 

Inside were three stark white arrows, stained with blood.

Rory dropped them to the floor like they were on fire and backed away in a panic. "How the fuck did these get here!?"

Roy and Jesse recognized them and the former quickly walked over and grabbed Rory by the arms. She was starting to panic, her breathing was erratic and black spots were starting to form in her vision. Rory would have collapsed to the floor if Roy wasn't the one holding her up. Her gaze wouldn't leave the floor where the arrows were laid out, taunting her with their dark past.

Jesse knelt down and felt them with his fingers, he knew what Rory's arrows looked like and these were a set from her white suit for sure but what intrigued him the most was how old they were. Yes, there was dried blood on them, but it wasn't two years old.

"Guys, these are her arrows. But the thing is, they aren't those arrows," he said.

Roy looked away from Rory and at his boyfriend in confusion. "What the hell does that mean?" he asked.

"It means, that these aren't two years old. Bloodstains that are that old, they would be more faded. The red is still very bright, this was a few days ago at the soonest, a week at the latest." he explained.

Rory could barely hear him through the ringing in her ears, but she had caught onto a few keywords. They weren't those arrows, and that brought the oxygen back into her lungs. Roy felt Rory relax in his hold, watching her as she slowly calmed herself down. 

Giving him a grateful look, Rory slowly walked over and picked up the box once more seeing that there was something else in it. Shaking the box once more, Rory saw that it was an envelope that was filled to the max. Of what? None of them knew yet.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the envelope and gasped at what she saw. It was a picture of her and Tim the day he took her to the apartment for the first time. They were the only ones there, she knew they were the only ones there but yet someone had managed to get a picture of this moment when she told him yes and he pulled her in for a kiss.

The pictures continued, showing the moments she had spent outside the manor normally with Tim from her birthday to when she was held captured by the Joker even to when she was in France sitting with Alexis.

But it wasn't just her, there were various pictures of her, Roy and Jesse from around their time they had spent in Gotham. A couple of them were in the privacy of this very safehouse capturing the moments neither Jesse nor Roy wanted others to see. Roy snatched the picture of his and Jesse's bare forms in his bed and let out an inhuman growl.

"Who the fuck took these, and how the hell do they know who we are?" he snapped. 

Rory couldn't hear him, she was too focused on the final pictures of the pile. She was sick to her stomach, it wasn't just Roy and Jesse they had photographed in those vulnerable moments. It was a picture of her and Tim the day he took her out and rented out that penthouse suite after her pregnancy scare. She could feel the bile rise in her throat at the photo of her and Tim in bed, kissing and touching each other in ways that no one else should know about.

The last pictures in her hand were of that night, focused on her and Tim having sex and she never felt more violated. Jesse and Roy were looking through the pictures that had them in it, their anger rising to dangerous levels. 

Rory crumpled the envelope in her hand, noticing that there was one more photo in it. She pulled it out and stumbled, seeing what it was. It was a family photo of the two parents and little boy she had killed two years ago, smiling happily as could be unaware of the tragedy that would befall them.

Tears fell from her eyes as she stared at it, being reminded of her greatest failure once again. The final photo was the final piece of the puzzle to who had sent this to them. The blood-stained arrows, the photos of her, Roy and Jesse, and then the photo of the family she had killed? Only one person knew all of these details about her life and was willing to use them against her.

Rory was about to rip the photo in half when she realized that there was something written on the back. "Guys, look at this."

Roy and Jesse leaned over her shoulder to see what it was she was looking at. 

"I told you Aurora, if you lived I would make it worse. Consider these a parting gift, reminders of what is probably your greatest accomplishment, and your greatest failure. Don't let these go down the drain."

The three of them looked at each other. What the hell was this? Rory knew her greatest failure, but what was this all about her greatest accomplishment? Roy took it from her fingers to read it himself. "What does it mean accomplishment?" he asked.

Rory shook her head. "I have no idea, does it mean Tim? Every photo of me is when I am with Tim, every single one of them," she muttered.

"Maybe it's the fact that you were able to move on and start a semi-normal life for yourself, but I have no idea why there are pictures of me and Roy in there as well," Jesse commented, crossing his arms.

"Maybe he knew that you two would be with me almost every day?" she asked.

"He? You don't mean Slade?" Roy asked.

Rory nodded. "There is only one person in the world who knows this much and would use it against me, Roy."

"Why the hell would he leave this here? And how did he find us and get in without any of us noticing? Jess and I have been staying here while we've been in Gotham, we would have noticed if he was poking around." 

The two of them looked at Jesse to see what he thought, but the photos he was holding were covered in ice along with the floor where he stood. The expression on his face was neutral, but Roy and Rory could tell that Jesse was beyond mad. He always had a good hand on his powers, it was only when he got extremely mad and angry did he lose control.

Roy quickly walked over and cupped his face with both hands. "Jess, baby look at me." he pleaded. "You need to calm down before you freeze us to death, the temp is already dropping rapidly and Rory and I aren't immune to the cold like you are." 

Jesse's eyes flickered to Roy and Rory noticed a certain softness to them when he looked at Roy, she could tell that he was deeply in love with him. Slowly, the temperature began to rise and the ice slowly melted away as Roy took his hands, his eyes not leaving Jesse's.

"I swear you're the mother of the group." Rory chuckled softly. "You are one of few people who can successfully calm the both of us down, do you have that superpower with any of the others too?" she chuckled.

Roy and Jesse let out a laugh. "No, believe it or not, not everyone I work with has anger issues on the hour. The only other person who actually gets as angry as the two of you is Jay and even then he doesn't throw things at people's heads, throw them off of buildings or threaten to break their jaws."

"I don't do any of that," Jesse stated.

"I know, all of that was aimed at her. Rory is the most violent person I know, and I am best friends with Jason Todd." he chuckled.

Rory rolled her eyes and looked at the writing once more, something was off about that last sentence. 'Don't let these go down the drain'? What was that supposed to mean, unless...

Her face went pale and she looked at the two boys in front of her. "Rory, what's the matter?" Roy asked, looking at her. All she could do was point at the word 'drain'. The other two seemed to have gotten her message before the three of them took off out of the room and began to search the entire warehouse and check every drain. 

Roy had gone up the stairs, Jesse went to the basement where the training ring was and Rory checked the main floor. Drain was a very specific place, and they all had a bad feeling. Roy had come down the stairs first and went down to help Jesse search as she kept looking through every bathroom. 

She checked the kitchen last and her eyes saw the one thing was hoping not to find. Attached to the drain under the sink was a bomb set to go off in fifteen seconds. Quickly she got up and grabbed her phone, running for the stairs to the basement as she dialed the first number that came to mind.

"Roy! Jesse! It's in the kitchen, we need to get out now!" she cried. The two of them appeared at the bottom of the steps and quickly ran up them, Jesse in the lead not letting go of Roy's hand. if her countdown was right, they had less than ten seconds to get out.

The number she dialed picked up almost immediately. 

"Princess, what's going on?"

"Jay! It's Slade! He pu-" Rory never finished her sentence before she was knocked off her feet with such a force, she blacked out the second her body hit the wall across the room.

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This is going to be fun, but can we talk about the fact that this story has 2.3k reads? Like, what the hell is this? The Archer is officially my second most read book, right behind Oblivion (my Kingdom Hearts fic). I can't express how grateful I am for this, I know for a fact that there are better Tim fics out there (because I have read them myself).

But none the less, I want to thank every one of you for all the reads. It warms my heart that you spend your time reading my shitty writing with my constant cliffhangers and other bullshit I like to pull in my stories.

Hope you all have a good rest of your day!

Until Next Time,