"Bane!"
His eyes flew open at the sound of the girl's screams and he leapt to his feet. He had not been sleeping - no, he rarely slept these days. The prison was no place to sleep; not when the likelihood of being stabbed was greater than that of a full nights rest. And Bane was hardly well received by his inmates.
He had merely been dreaming. Of what he couldn't say, but he knew it was far from here. He had become apt at resting without really losing consciousness. He was able to disappear whilst still being aware of his surroundings. After a while the hard concrete floor and the empty chasm in his stomach faded until he was somewhere else. Somewhere light.
"No, get off! Bane help!"
He dove out of his cell and into the main cavern. Light flashed into his peripheral vision as the sky came into view, the open shaft tickling his senses. It was beautiful, shocking and painful as his eyes adjusted from the complete darkness he had been residing in. He turned towards the source of the screams, spying a crowd of convicts huddled around a small mass.
"Stop it, get away! Bane! BANE!"
Bane flung himself forwards and grasped the nearest attacker around the throat. Holding him as a battering ram he parted the horde and shoved his way towards the girl. He thrust the man away and took hold of the girl, delivering his fist to the skull of any who remained too close.
He pushed her away just as he was grabbed and pulled into the centre of the mob. Talia watched as he disappeared into a sea of flailing arms.
"Talia stay back!" the girl heard him order as she advanced forwards and yanked at the hair of the man furthest to the edge of the group. She halted. She couldn't let him get hurt on her account, but she couldn't get in the way and endanger him further.
"Enough! Leave him!" A commanding voice boomed from the mob. The chaos parted, revealing Bane, lip split and bleeding and bruises already appearing across his arms. But he had given as good as he got. Two of the men had bloody noses, another was clutching his jaw. Two more were clutching their stomachs, one on the floor, the other merely hunched over. In front of Bane, the final man had a bleeding eyebrow to match Bane's lip, but was otherwise unharmed.
"You always have to shove your nose into other's business, don't you Bane?" The man who had spoken hissed. His name was Dimas, and there wasn't anyone who wanted to knife Bane more.
Bane spat at the man's feet, an action which would have perhaps been more intimidating should small flecks of blood not landed there with it. "She is my business. I've told you before, no one touches her."
"And I've told you before, watch your back." Dimas replied, nodding at one of the men across from them. He stepped up behind Bane and delivered a heavy handed punch directly to his spine. Talia cried out as he fell to one knee.
Dimas strode up to him and bent his head down to meet Banes. "The number of males greatly outnumbers the number of females in our little hell hole, friend." He whispered. "Its selfish of you to keep her all to yourself."
"She's eleven years old, you asshole." Bane growled in reply.
"I'm merely trying to provide a service to these men-"
"She's not a service!" Bane propelled himself forwards and slammed into Dimas' stomach. Dimas stumbled back and Bane swung at his jaw. The opposing men rushed forwards.
"Leave him!" Dimas barked at them. "He's mine. I will fight my own fight, unlike that little coward." he gestured to Talia.
"She's just a child you son of a bitch!" Bane snarled.
"She's a child of The Pit. She should be more than capable of defending herself. You can't protect her forever. There's only one of you, and-" Dimas sneered as he looked Bane up and down, "-you're not that big."
Bane dove forwards and ploughed his fist into his adversary's jaw. He put all his weight into the punch, falling to the ground with his foe. His hand to the rest around Dimas' throat.
"You lay a hand on her," Bane warned, leaning across him and pummelling his head into the ground. "I'll lay mine on you."
The moment Talia was revealed in the The Dark Knight Rises my inner fanfiction writer demanded I do something, so here it is, shitty title and all. I'm not sure how long I am going to continue it for yet, but there will probably be a couple more parts at least. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review, and it is good to be back.