The Archer | T.D. ✔

Chapter Seventeen

Rory flinched away from the explosions as she was dragged down through the theater, towards the stage where Harley was swinging her bat around, a limp in her step from the knee Rory messed up. People were screaming, and she could do nothing to help her but hope that Tim's message to Bruce went through. 

"Hey, boss! I got something for you!" the thug yelled and pushed Rory towards the villain. Harley looked over and saw Rory stumble towards her, and swung her bat onto her shoulder. 

"Why the hell did ya bring me her? I want the Arrow-Bat, not some hoity-toity socialite." she snapped, the thug grabbing Rory by the arm.

"She was with one of those Wayne boys, I figured we could get some good shit if we used her to our advantage." Harley walked towards them and circled Rory as if trying to figure out who she was. Stopping in front of her, Harley used the bat to tilt Rory's head upwards to get a better look at the necklace.

"Well, she does have some very fine bling. Ya must have some good amount of money unless you're that boys sugar baby." she grinned. "Take the necklace and earrings, then get rid of her. " Harley ordered and walked off humming a tune.

With a jerk, Rory was drug off backstage and thrown into a wall. Looking up at her captor, she saw an unsavory look in his eyes and that was never good. Before he could even lay a hand on her, Rory kicked him in the groin as hard as she could and went to make a break for it.

She didn't get very far before two more showed up and threw her back into the wall, hitting with a whimper. There was no way she was getting out of this unless she was willing to take the risk. The thug she kicked grabbed her by the throat and held her up against the wall cutting off her airflow.

Her hand flew up to try and pry his off of her, but his grip was stronger and she was getting weaker. Rory's legs thrashed about trying to kick something as dark spots clouded her vision and she could feel herself fading. 

Before her vision blacked out, Rory saw two canisters drop from above and began to fill the area with smoke. The next thing she knew, she was dropped to the floor as there were a series of grunts and cries of pain coming from the smoke. Feeling an arm wrap around her, she was lifted into the air and set on the metal walkways above the theater.

Rory started coughing to try and catch her breath, her hand on her chest. There was a pat on her back and she turned to see Robin sitting there, his eyes hidden behind the whites of his mask. 

"You alright Sonnet?" 

Rory gave him a nod and sat on her knees, taking deep breaths to refill her lungs with oxygen again. "Thanks, Rob." she rasped.

Robin pulled something out of a pocket and gave it to her. "Batman said to give you this, keep it in and stay out of sight," he said and took off down the metal path. Rory looked at the item in her hand and saw that it was a comlink.

Putting it in her ear, she pressed the button. "About time guys," she said softly, her throat hoarse still.

"Save the chatter for later, where was the last place you saw Tim?" Batman asked.

"Top box, left side of the theater. There were three thugs there still when I was dragged off. Make sure he's okay Bats." she forced out, coughing once she finished talking.

Looking below, she saw Harley looked irritated. "Come on B-Man! Where's the girl? I have a few things to say to her, and Mistah J wants to greet her personally." she called. "He promises he will be nicer to her than he was the last one! Honest!" 

What the hell was going on? Why did the Joker want to meet Grey Arrow? She had only been in town for a month and a half and she already made enemies. There was a loud explosion on Rory's right and she turned to see that the metal walkway was rigged with explosives. Quickly she got up, trying not to fall off from the path shaking violently.