City Protector or Personal Bodyguard?
Summary: When Oliver asks Rory to stay behind while the rest of the team goes to Hub City to find the new Black Canary, he's told it's because the city can't be left unprotected. However, after numerous texts from Oliver, all concerning Felicity, he begins to suspect the real reason he was left behind was something else entirely. Based on 5x11.
An: I do not own Arrow. Just a quick note the pieces in italics are to denote text messages.
After a week of looking at Black Canary candidates the team had finally convinced Oliver to at least meet with one of the options. The option he agreed to was Tina Boland who was currently based in Hub City. Rory wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or some kind of divine providence that Tina was a metahuman with a sonic cry. He thought it was awfully convenient that the new Black Canary would have a cry of her own.
Oliver made his excuses as Mayor during the day while the rest of the team prepared to go recruit the new Black Canary. Rory packed his rags and whatever personal supplies he would need for the trip. He had never been to Hub City before and he had no idea how long it would take to recruit Tina Boland so he hoped he packed a sufficient amount of supplies. Oliver wasn't exactly the best at team recruitment pitches. The rest of the team had shared their team recruitment process and quite frankly, Rory thought Oliver was lucky to have the team he had.
When Rory arrived at the lair, Curtis was abuzz with energy. It was obvious he was excited to be going to Hub City. Rene, in contrast, was his usual indifferent self. Rory wandered how they would all get along on the trip. He certainly didn't want to share a room with either of them. Rory heard from Rene that Felicity had opted out of the mission preferring instead to focus her energy on tracking down Prometheus and getting Diggle out of jail. There went the only voice of reason that would keep them from getting on each other's nerves. It was going to be a long road trip.
Finally the elevator door opened and Oliver arrived. It was time to go.
"Rory, a minute please," Oliver said calling Rory away from the rest of the team.
"Sure," Rory answered going over to Oliver.
"I want you to sit this one out," Oliver requested.
"Why?" Rory asked confused. As far as he was concerned he was the next strongest member of the team. Oliver needed someone he could rely on in the field and that was him.
"If all of us go to Hub City we will be leaving the city unprotected. Prometheus is still out there and he can make a move at any time. I think you should stay and keep an eye on things," he said reasonably.
Rory ignored the way Oliver's eyes drifted over to Felicity while he was talking. He always did that. He always kept the blonde in his line of sight. Curtis had happily filled him in on what Oliver and Felicity were like when they were together and that it was Felicity that ended things. It was clear that Oliver still cared very deeply for her. In terms of physical strength, she was the weakest member of the team, so Rory understood why Oliver would always be concerned about her. As long as he didn't get dragged into any relationship drama, he didn't care what their past was. He was here for one reason and that was to honour his father by using his rags to protect his new home, Star City.
"Sure, no problem," Rory said. He had a project he was working on finishing in his studio anyway.
After the team left, Rory decided to get in a little training. He was very cognizant of the fact that without his rags, he was kind of useless. If anyone confronted him when he wasn't wearing his rags, he would probably put up a pretty shameful display. He took advantage of the team's absence to practice the moves Oliver had been teaching him.
His phone pinged indicating he had a message. He glanced over at Felicity to see her typing away at her keyboard. If she needed him for an emergency she would have verbally called since she knew he was still there. It was probably some sort of spam message then. He ignored it in favour of practicing. It wasn't everyday he got Rene-free time on the mats. It was nice to throw a punch without Rene commenting in the background that a four year old girl could do better.
His phone pinged again. He didn't usually get spam in such quick succession so he decided to check the messages. He picked up his towel and wiped the sweat off his body before walking over to his phone which pinged a third time. He unlocked it to find he had three messages from Oliver. He immediately thought that something was wrong and he opened the messages.
How is Felicity's hacking coming along?
Rory, I asked you a question.
When I send you a message Rory you should respond right away. If you don't answer, I'm turning the car around and coming back to Star City now.
Rory frowned. There was only a five minute difference between the first and last message. If he wanted to know about Felicity's progress so badly he could have just fired off the same question to her. Rory decided to answer the first message and ignore the bottom two. In the few months he had known Oliver the man did have a tendency to become overbearing.
She's still working on it.
Rory was in the process of putting his phone down when his reply came immediately.
Good. Let me know when she has a breakthrough.
Seriously? Rory thought. Wasn't that Felicity's responsibility to let him know? Rory tossed his phone in his bag and decided to head home and finish his latest project.
The next day Rory had taken his latest work of art to a gallery at the edge of the Glades. The Curator there loved his work and paid top dollar for his pieces. He was very grateful for her faith in him. Her purchases ensured that the rent of was paid on time and the heat stayed on. He had a few other pieces that he was working on but he was contemplating raising his prices a bit. She had commented that his work was sitting in the home of the billionaires that lived in Star City and he realised that she was probably making a 1000% markup on his pieces. While he wanted to raise his prices so that he could build himself a little nest egg, he didn't want to lose her business. He wasn't sure how to go about negotiating an increase. He had been meaning to ask Oliver for advice over the last week.
While he was waiting for the Curator, his phone buzzed. His gut told him it was Oliver checking in for the day. It was a good thing he had swung by the bunker on the way to the gallery to check on Felicity. He unlocked his phone to discover that he was indeed right. One message from Oliver had been received.
Has Felicity had any luck yet?
Rory stared at the message. Did he not realise that the first person Felicity would tell if she had a breakthrough would be him? She never went to anyone else first. It's always him. Rory decided to respond with one word.
No
There, that should keep Oliver occupied for a few hours. The sound of heels clicking along the marble floor brought his attention away from his phone and towards the Curator that was walking towards him. It was time to put on his charming smile and sell his latest piece.
Rory was coming out of the shower when his phone pinged. He instinctively knew it was Oliver again and decided to read it before Oliver started blowing up his phone with more messages.
Has she eaten yet?
Rory did a double take at the message. He honestly did not watch Felicity that closely to know her eating habits but he rather suspected he needed to answer the question as accurately as possible or Oliver might have a meltdown. He stopped to think and he didn't remember seeing her with food that day but then again, he hadn't spent all day at the bunker either. He decided to go with no since he knew Felicity could zero in on her hacking and forget everything else.
No
Oliver's reply was instantaneous.
Get her a Big Belly Buster with extra fries, no milkshake.
Milkshakes aren't allowed when she's hacking.
And no nuts she's allergic.
Rory arched his eyebrow. Wasn't he supposed to be protecting the city, not making food runs? He knew if he disobeyed Oliver, the man would make his life a living hell. He saw the abuse he put Rene and Curtis through. He threw on some clothes and headed to the nearest Big Belly Burger.
It was the middle of the night when his phone pinged again with another message from Oliver. It was a good thing that he didn't sleep or he would be pissed.
Has she fist pumped yet?
What the hell was Oliver talking about now? Furthermore why did he always ask about Felicity and not the city? There had been three robbery attempts earlier in the night and Rory stopped all three. Did he not want to know about that? Realising he was taking too long to respond he enquired about the fist pump.
Fist pump? What are you talking about Oliver?
Rory waited a few seconds this time before his phone pinged with the response.
Felicity fist pumps when she cracks a difficult firewall.
If she successfully found the information she's looking for she will fist pump.
Rory finally understood what Oliver was talking about but got the distinct feeling that if he admitted that he was not at the lair with Felicity he would be in trouble so he opted to say that he hadn't seen her fist pump. It was not a lie. He hadn't seen her do the fist pump. If she did it in his absence, he didn't see it. He answered with a simple no and waited for five minutes. When there was no further response, he decided he was in the clear until the next day.
With Oliver being such a pest, Rory decided to go to the bunker early to check in on Felicity's progress. She'd been out of his care for a while and quite frankly anything could have happened but out of all his teammates, she was generally the one that you could leave alone without worrying that she would burn the bunker down. After contemplating Oliver's messages, Rory concluded that Oliver wasn't really interested in the work Felicity was doing but more the actual blonde herself.
He found her in the same pink dress that she was wearing the day before which was unusual for her. He can't remember a time when she spent all night at the bunker. Maybe Oliver might be a little justified in his concern for Felicity. She seemed quite determined to find those files for Diggle. He deduced that there had been no fist pumping moment overnight so there was no way Oliver was going to know he wasn't in the bunker with her the entire time.
His concern increased when a box popped up from Kojo Sledgehammer calling Felicity out as Ghost Fox Goddess. He got even more concerned when Felicity decided to meet the hacker in real life. He knew she was desperate for the files but it could be dangerous. He wondered if he wasn't standing right next to her when she made contact with Kojo Sledgehammer, if she would have even included him in the meet. He knew for sure if anything happened to her he was dead.
Rory was seated in the van waiting for Kojo Sledgehammer to show when his phone pinged.
How is Felicity's hacking coming along?
Rory was beginning to think that Oliver had forgotten to check in but he was probably busy recruiting the new Canary. He decided to be vague in his response.
She's working on it.
He had no intention of telling Oliver that he was seated in a van while Felicity was waiting on a bench to meet some online hacker. Nope. Oliver would kill him. Oliver didn't respond this time which Rory is grateful for.
They had been there about five minutes and Rory was at least grateful that Felicity was taking it seriously. She was more paranoid about the meet than him. Rory wasn't sure what to expect but the slim female that appeared didn't look threatening at all. He would have liked to hear the conversation but Felicity muted her end of the comm. How was he supposed to keep her safe if she did that? Didn't she understand what Oliver would do to him if one hair on her got hurt? That was very selfish of her. He may have forgiven her for Havenrock but he was going to have to call her out on these self-destructive tendencies that would take the rest of the team with her!
Rory watched from a distance as Oliver interacted with Felicity. There was no scowl on his face and she even touched his hand with a finger which was a good sign. He was off the hook. Oliver clearly approved that Felicity was safe and as far as he knew the information was obtained safely. He did not need to know about the rendezvous at night with Kojo Sledgehammer and he would not be finding out from him.
Rory picked up his gear quickly so as to avoid an interrogation from Oliver about what happened in his absence. He didn't think he could pull off lying directly to his face. He knew the minute Oliver walked into City Hall and returned to being the Mayor he would forget all about talking to him and he would be in the clear. He would give Oliver three days before he approached him about how to negotiate for a better deal on his artwork.
One week later, Rory arrived for a team meeting in the bunker. He'd been seated no more than three seconds when Oliver declared, "We're going to Russia."
"I'm in," Rory said immediately. He was not getting stuck in the city babysitting Felicity again. That was not what he signed up for.
"I'll stay here and protect the city," Rene volunteered with a knowing smirk thrown at Rory.
Rory thought Rene had no idea what he'd gotten himself into. Babysitting Felicity was not an easy task. Oliver would be in full grumpy mode.
"Great, that's all solved. Our flight is in six hours. Go home and get packed," Felicity ordered
"Wait you're coming," Rory asked, realizing she said 'our flight'. He noticed the smirk on Rene's face widened even further. He'd been played. For someone who pretended to be the dumbest one in the group, Rene was awfully cunning.
"Of course I'm coming. It's been years since the team went to Russia. Not that the first time was so great and Oliver did make THAT mistake," Felicity said staring off into space remembering their previous trip.
"What happened in Russia?" Curtis asked curiously.
"Nothing," Oliver responded in that firm tone that promised if that line of conversation wasn't dropped immediately there would be hell to pay.
Felicity frowned slightly and Rory knew it was not nothing. He just hoped he didn't spend the entire trip trying to balance Felicity and Oliver.
"Enjoy babysitting blondie," Rene said to him as he was leaving the bunker.
Rory groaned, when did he become Felicity Smoak's personal bodyguard?
An: Thanks for reading.