Warning! This fic contains: Implied non-con, murder, suicide, psychological torture, descriptions of blood and gore.
A/N: This is the short sequel to Huge and Mighty Forms and it is dark. Really, really dark. Appearances by Bane, John Blake and Selina Kyle. Only Alice belongs to me.
The Sleepless Soul
I.
At night, after Bane is done with her and has closed his eyes, she slips out of their bed and wanders the halls of the compound. She barely sleeps anymore. She trails her hands over the cold, bumpy concrete walls and watches the men as they go about their business.
She's not afraid of them. Even though they could snap her neck with little effort, they've learned the lesson well: she is not to be touched. There are whores that can fill their needs, if it comes to that, and a war to fight if they grow restless. So they leave her alone for the most part, either ignoring her completely or skittering around her nervously when she stares at them too long.
She feels like a ghost, like a phantom. They're all aware of her but they barely acknowledge her for fear of what Bane might do.
She knows the truth though. Bane isn't only aware of the things they could do to her.
Blood blood looks so pretty but dries so quick.
He also knows what she's capable of doing to them.
II.
Alice wonders if John thinks about her. If he knows what she does now, of what she is.
(She thinks about him.)
III.
Sometimes after Bane takes her out to play, they stand on the rooftops of buildings and watch the fires throughout the city send columns of pale smoke up into the sky.
Day or night, there are always fires now, and sirens and screams fill the air. Bane holds her tightly against him as she peers down into the street. She likes heights, likes how the people below scatter and scramble about like ants on the pavement, so he allows her this indulgence.
"I kept my promise, didn't I, Alice? I set you free. This is your city now, this is your playground."
Gotham, my Gotham.
His hands, large and warm, grip her tight as she leans over the edge. They tighten with every inch until he decides she's done and pulls her away from the view.
"Not too far, pretty. That's enough."
Every night, every single night, he presses her down on their bed and moves against her, whispering in her ear until his words become nothing more than feverish panting. She stares at his mask, which he places beside her, and remembers how it used to be when she was the one who whispered to him-
If you're strong, we can leave this place.
If you're smart, you can get us out of here and we'll be free.
Don't you want to be out there? With me?
-as he clutched Osito against his chest and nodded, yes yes yesyesyes.
When Bane is spent, he kisses the bruises he leaves on her arms and her thighs, her hips and her neck, and tells her that she belongs to him, she belongs with him, and that he'll make sure of it.
Always.
Gotham, my Gotham.
"When we're done here," he tells her, stroking her face with his rough fingertips, "we'll go someplace better. Bigger. Once Gotham is finished and the Batman can no longer rise, we'll find another place for you to hunt."
And Alice can only think then, as he tells her all this-
You're destroying my Gotham.
IV.
One day a woman appears at the compound. She is not one of the willing bodies that Bane allows his men as distraction.
She taunts and goads his inner circle into arguments during a planning meeting while Bane observes.
She's striking, with full lips and dark, dark eyes and though Bane seems amused by her, his hand remains heavy on Alice's thigh, hot like a brand.
"Gordon has a new sidekick watching Wayne- that Blake kid."
Alice turns to watch the man next to Bane speak. He is older, with thick, ruddy skin and curly blonde hair. He is new; Alice doesn't recognize his face and she knows all of Bane's men.
"We should grab him and see what he knows. The GCPD may be a mess right now but they're planning something and Gordon's behind it."
"Crude," the other woman dismisses with a wave of her hand. "John Blake is a do-gooder, he won't talk and he'd rather die a martyr than a turncoat. Same with Gordon. Idealists make the worst hostages. Right now we'd benefit more from surveillance than outright brutality. If we take Blake, Gordon will simply replace him and go deeper underground and then what? We'll be left with nothing but a body and a wasted opportunity."
"I can make him talk," the man says, glancing at Bane. It's clear that he doesn't appreciate being shot down and Alice can see the stubborn pride in his eyes. "By the time I'm done with him, he'll be singing like a-"
John.
"No."
"Excuse me?"
Alice stands up and stares down at the man. Bane places his hand on her hip in warning but she pushes it away.
Not John.
"You don't touch John," Alice says quietly. She speaks slowly and clearly so that he understands. "No one does."
He's not for hurting.
The man stares at her for a beat, confused and irritated. He looks at Bane with an exaggerated eye-roll and then back at Alice.
"Sit down and shut up or we'll find other uses for that mouth of yours. I'll do whatever I want with Bla-"
No.
Before Bane can react, the man screams in shock and pain.
He brings his fingers up to his face and pulls Alice's ivory-handled blade out from his right eye, dropping it to the floor carelessly. The other men jerk back in horror as the injured man staggers to his feet. Thick blood pours out from between his fingers and he flings himself against the back wall, shrieking.
It'll dry if I'm not fast enough.
Alice licks her lips and lowers her hand.
I have to be fast.
She takes a step towards him, drawn by his agony, but Bane stands up and blocks her way. He grabs her arm and shoves her roughly to the side. She stumbles onto another body; it's Trogg, when she looks back.
"Get her out of here," Bane orders. His eyes flash and he shakes with rage. "Lock her in the SolCon room and stand guard until I get there."
She doesn't fight as Trogg pulls her away and she notices that the woman-
Her name is Selina.
-watches them from her seat, her pale face an expressionless mask.
V.
Bane keeps her locked away for a long time. Food and water is passed to her through a slot in the door and the room has an adjoining bathroom.
But she is kept alone. Isolated.
Solitary confinement.
There are no books, no papers or pictures, no screens or windows to distract her. The walls are blank and white and the lights are kept on so she can't tell when the days become nights.
Just like in the hospital.
At first she brings her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around her legs, rocking back and forth, trying to find comfort in the feel of her own skin. It's not enough, it's never enough and all she has are her memories.
The problem with remembering is that the bad things come back.
They left her alone, the doctors, her father.
Hours. Days. Weeks.
In the room, the white room, the empty room.
Eventually, Alice tears at her hair and claws at her skin, feeling something twist and turn inside of her like an animal looking for release. There are people outside, people she can hear but not touch, people she can't see and the torment of it, the want of it all horrifies her with its intensity.
Eventually, she begins to scream. She screams until her throat is raw and sore and her voice becomes nothing more than a croak. When that happens, when it hurts to swallow, she stops eating and drinking altogether.
She stares at the tray of food as it's pushed through the slot and then pulled away some time later.
It happens nine more times before Bane comes.
He returns with two other men and for a moment, Alice is confused by their presence. She looks at them numbly and only reacts when she notices the IV bag.
No more drugs.
It takes only a little effort for Bane to hold her down as the men tie her hands and feet to the bed. She struggles against the binds, terrified that they'll leave her like this. Once she's in place, with Bane's hands holding her arm still, one of them pushes the IV line into a vein and tapes it down before hooking the bag up to a pole set up beside her bed.
Bane runs his hand over her hair and her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks and the drool from her chin.
There is blood on his fingers and she remembers she chewed her bottom lip open some time ago.
"Calm down," he says to her, gesturing for the men to leave. They go and Alice turns her head with wide eyes to watch them walk through the doorway. "Don't make it harder for yourself."
A wordless cry moves past her lips- she can't seem to form words but she is sorry and she wants to promise that she won't do it again, but please don't leave her alone anymore.
Not like before, in the hospital, when hours, days, weeks would pass and-
They'd watch her but they wouldn't touch her-
Wouldn't speak to her-
They'd hide from her behind the mirrored glass and she'd beg them, her father, anyone to please, please come back-
"You had to be punished," Bane says gently, as his fingers stroke her hair. "They had to know that I wouldn't simply let you run wild here. You can't do that again. I have to protect my men, just as much as I have to protect you."
"Sorry." Her voice is thin and cracked.
"I know," Bane murmurs. Even through his mask, his voice is kind. "You can't help it, glorious as you are. If I had a choice, I wouldn't hold you back. But there are bigger things that I have to deal with so you have to obey my rules. You understand, Alice?"
She nods so quickly that she feels dizzy.
"I want you to prove it to me. I want you to show me that you can be good for me. Can you do that?"
Alice tries to think through the panic and fear. She nods, slowly this time.
"I'm going to leave you here, like this-"
Alice whimpers and Bane shushes her. She falls silent but her heart is beating so hard and so fast that she feels it down to her toes.
"-just for a few more hours, just until the IV bag is empty. If you can stay quiet and not fight against your restraints, I'll let you go. You can have your toy back and everything will be just like it was before. But only if you can stay still. Do you understand?"
Alice turns her wrists, testing the bindings, and they are strong and sure.
There's no escape.
"Alice." Bane says her name like a warning. "Do you understand?"
He reaches up and takes off his mask. He keeps it in his hand this time and he leans forward so that she sees his lips move when he speaks. "Alice, do you understand?"
Don't be like them.
The longer her silence, the deeper his frown grows, the darker his expression becomes.
You weren't supposed to be like them.
"Alice. Do you understand?" His voice is stern now, sharp. "Answer me."
You're just like them.
"I understand," she says.
He smiles his crooked, sweet smile and leans down to kiss her brow. "Good girl. I know how you feel, how strong your urges get sometimes. You have to try and control them when you're here, that's all I want. It isn't too much to ask of you. I give you so much, don't I?"
He puts his mask back on and runs his hand down the side of her face in goodbye. She closes her eyes so she doesn't have to watch the door close behind him.
When she cries in the empty room, she tries to be as quiet and still as possible.
VI.
When she is released, she is meek and obedient, clinging to Bane as closely as she can. He revels in it and she sees the pride in his gaze every time he looks at her.
He is always looking at her.
Just like they all used to.
Selina is around more often and even when Alice closes her eyes as she presses herself against Bane, his hand running through her hair as he speaks, she knows the other woman is watching her too.
But it's a different kind of watching, a different sort of heat in her gaze.
Alice learns to hide her smiles against Bane's neck.
She remembers how to pretend.
VII.
"I know who you are."
Alice stops and tilts her head to the side when she hears the words. The corridor before her is empty, filled with shadows.
"Alice Cade."
She turns around to find Selina Kyle looking back her. She is dressed in tight, dark clothing and her lips are as red as-
Not here.
Not allowed.
Despite herself, Alice recoils slightly. It's been weeks since she was locked in the room but the very idea of it still frightens her. The memory of it burns in her mind and when Bane takes her out to Gotham, she lashes out, needing more and more bodies to cut and play with. She knows he's troubled by her increasing savagery, even as he places jewels around her neck and gives her sharper knives to add to her collection.
It's as if he thinks he can appease her with trinkets, rein her in with his gifts.
He wants me to stay his pretty little Alice.
He's just like everyone else.
She guards her secrets well; she hides the undercurrent of rage that grows, steady and true, beneath her skin. Bane isn't her savior. He may have Gotham under his control but he is just as deluded as the doctors from her childhood and just as impotent as her father was against her nature.
But she's learned her lesson- her blade stays in her pocket as she allows Selina to study her.
"You know, I watched you for a while," Selina says.
She walks slowly around Alice with a faint, patronizing smile. Alice knows enough about masks to see past the expression.
"Your father was a very rich man. Imagine my surprise when I saw where you actually lived and how. I thought for sure you'd be a spoiled brat but you had nothing I wanted."
Alice says nothing.
"You worked for your place in the world, didn't you? A self-made woman. Never asked for anything. Never wanted more than what you had. I wondered why you lived like that when you could have had so much more."
Her expression turns contemplative for a moment, the smile dimming slightly. She stops and turns on her high heels.
Her teeth are bright, bright white when she grins again.
"Speaking of which… John Blake. Handsome, isn't he?" Selina says coyly. Alice flinches and Selina looks satisfied. "Oh, don't worry, he's a wee bit too goody two-shoes for me. You wanted to protect him, didn't you? What a brave pet you are, biting the hand that feeds you like that. I wanted to clap at your little performance but- ah, I didn't think your current beau would appreciate it much. He does have a bit of a temper, no?"
Selina reaches out and brushes Alice's hair back from her shoulder.
"The men here talk about you. They say you went with Bane willingly, that he was your-"
Selina's hand stops near Alice's neck.
Something in her face shifts, hardens and becomes angry. The earlier playfulness is now gone, replaced by something cold and bitter.
Good.
Finally.
Alice is wearing a thin nightgown and she knows Selina notices the bruises- new and old- on her wrists, around her neck, on her legs. As close as she stands, the marks would be hard to miss, even in the dim light.
"He did this."
Bane is strong. He tries to be gentle with her but his hands were made for destruction, for breaking things. And sometimes, when she has trouble coming down from the high of a play night he has to hold her down to keep her legs apart for him. As possessive as he is, he hates that he leaves marks on her skin.
Alice knows this.
But Selina doesn't.
Alice stares at Selina.
People can be so blind.
Slowly, Alice nods.
VIII.
Bane breathes heavily against her neck and Alice shivers as their mingled sweat cools. He presses her against his chest, his entire body relaxing from his earlier release and she feels the heat from his naked skin warming hers.
When he lowers his face to kiss her, she makes a small sound of pain as the metal around his head scratches her cheek.
He touches the scratch and she hisses. "Your face, pretty. I'm sorry," he says hoarsely. Free from his mask, his voice is lower, rougher.
"Why do you wear it?" she asks. She reaches up and runs her nails lightly over his smooth scalp. "The mask. Why not just keep it off always, like you do now?"
"I wear it or I die," he says. "If I don't put it back on, I don't get what I need to survive."
Alice makes her eyes grow wide. "You'll die? I don't understand. What does it do?"
"You're full of questions tonight, aren't you?"
It's true- it's only now, after months of this, that she's asked about his mask. She can see the faint spark of suspicion so she sighs and tucks her head under his chin, squirming against him as if she can't get enough of his touch.
She feels him begin to stroke her hair.
"What a brave pet you are."
"Your father helped create a very special drug while you were at Peña Duro."
She feels his voice rumble through his chest and she presses her mouth against him. Despite the scars on his back and neck, the rest of him is smooth. She runs her tongue over a patch of tan skin and he chuckles.
"The drug made me stronger, faster, better than I was… but it wasn't perfected and I was the first subject. I need it now. The mask helps regulate the amount of venom I need."
Venom.
Alice leans back to look at him. "And you're not angry with me? He was my father, after all. If it weren't for him…"
"'And the sins of the father shall be visited upon the son a thousand times,' is that what you think?" Bane laughs as if it's truly funny. "Your father was the cause of our pain, Alice. He poisoned us both. He separated us and then he tried to twist your mind apart. I'm only sorry it took me so long to save you."
"You need to be set free. I'm here to do that."
The anger she feels burns so bright that Alice has to close her eyes and curl her hands into fists to keep from tearing at him.
IX.
She still looks at herself in the mirror, just as she used to, but now she is no longer frightened by what she sees.
Alice is not strong or fast. She's not a genius like Bane or a trained fighter like his men.
Her hands are delicate, with long fingers and small palms. They are made for patient work, for slow and sure movements. For chipping away and uncovering hidden things.
Her eyes are sharp, trained to see tiny details and differences, light and dark scales. She is thin and tall, but very, very still.
She is patient.
Selina is all passion and heat; Alice burns cold but constant. She doesn't bother to hide who she is but allows herself to be a blank canvas, letting everyone who looks at her see what they want.
Alice smiles at her reflection and it smiles back.
X.
"You're a survivor."
Alice looks up at Selina from the corner where she sits on the floor. After a moment, she goes back to watching the light play off the edge of her blade, still sharp after all she's used it for.
"I found your father's files. The real ones." Selina's voice is tight with anger. "What those men did to you. You were a little girl and they… I can't believe…"
Do you see me in your mother?
In yourself?
Alice presses her lips together. It wouldn't do to laugh in the other woman's face, after all. She's been looking into Selina's history as well. It's not hard: Bane's men enjoy gossiping like children and Alice has learned from experience how a pretty face can buy forgiveness. And now that they think she's been leashed-
"You had to be punished."
-they're easier around her. They're still cautious and none of them would dare to even brush against her accidentally, but they like looking at her and she lets them.
As long as they talk.
And it's obvious none of them know why Bane takes her out with him every other day. Why she comes back with clothes dirty and spattered with gore.
"John told me to leave Gotham," Alice says. Selina crouches down on her haunches before her but Alice turns her blade this way and that. "He didn't understand that this is my city. I belong here. He wanted to send me away."
"You love him."
Alice stops and frowns. This is a problem. Love is a concept as distant from Alice's understanding as most other emotions are. Her range is limited but she knows how to display her features, how to use words, in order to be noticed or ignored. It's all a matter of choice, after all.
"He has a picture of you that he looks at when he gets home," Selina says, and her voice softens. "He cleaned your house after the investigation and put everything in storage for you. He wouldn't allow anyone else to touch your things; he barred your father's employees from entering your home."
"Can you keep him safe?" Alice asks. "Can you tell him I'm okay? He doesn't have to worry anymore. He was always so worried. He made himself sick with it."
Selina looks surprised and then disgusted. "That's all you want? Are you serious?"
"It's all I can ask for." And it is the truth.
"Don't you want to see him again?"
Alice gestures to herself. She's wearing a flimsy dress, satin and silk, and Selina looks up and down the length of her body. Her arms are bare and there are dark smudges the size of fingertips on her skin.
She licks her lips, knowing how puffy and pink they must look. How stretched out her mouth must seem to the close observer; Bane liked using it tonight. Her jaw still aches and her throat is sore.
"I chose Bane over him once." Alice goes back to playing with the blade. "I don't think John wants to see me like this."
"You let Bane do this to you."
"Like you said, I'm a survivor."
And that too, is the truth.
XI.
They're planning a siege.
Gotham will burn in the end.
Alice wraps her arms around herself and stares down at the table as Bane plans. His men gather around him and point at various locations on the map of the city.
"We need every man to take up the cause," Bane is saying, "Everyone will have a purpose. Everyone will have a place."
"And where will you keep her?"
Alice feels their eyes on her and she shrinks further into herself, trying to seem as small as possible.
"We can't bring her with us." One of the men shakes his head. "She can stay in SolCon again, can't she? She's already-"
He stops talking at the look in Bane's eyes. Alice feels her heart stop at the thought of being caged again and she can feel the fear start to claw its way up her throat.
Bane's tone allows for no opposition. "She comes with us and you will watch her."
The man nods once, pale and frightened. "Yeah, okay. I'll watch her."
"I have a better idea."
Alice looks up at the sound of Selina's voice at the doorway. She stands tall and proud, all inky black lines and razor sharp smile. She stares at Alice for a moment and Alice moves against Bane, resting her cheek against the smooth curve of his heavily muscled shoulder.
When he wraps his arm around her waist, Selina's smile grows strained- a brittle, furious thing made of broken glass and bad memories.
"Give her to me. I'll keep her out of trouble."
XII.
Alice is shoved into a room so roughly that she nearly trips.
"Wait here," Selina yells over the din. "He's headed this way!"
They are at City Hall and Selina has been running, running, running with one hand around Alice's wrist, dragging her behind. Alice has had to duck and weave between fighting men and flying bullets, through smoke and around fire, and now they are in what looks to be the records room. She remembers the paintings recovered there from years before and Alice knows how thick the walls are.
There are only two entrances into the room. The first is the one she came through. The second leads to the stairwell.
Behind her, she hears the door close and she whirls around, suddenly afraid of being left there alone.
"Selina?" She tries the handle but the locking mechanism has jammed. She bangs her fists against the metal door. "Selina, come back!"
There is no answer. Alice can hear the fighting continue outside and she runs towards the other door.
Before she can open it though, it swings open and a figure slams into her, knocking her down to the ground. She falls on her back and feels a heavy weight press down on her.
"Don't move!"
Alice blinks up to find the barrel of a gun in her face.
And then it shakes.
And then it lowers.
Alice wants to laugh when she realizes who it is. All the pieces she's been working to put in place are coming together better than she imagined.
"Oh God," John whispers. His eyes are wide and wild and he drops his gun to the floor as he clutches at her. "What are you… you're here! Alice, what are you doing here?"
His hands go to her face and his mouth twists down. He looks so tired and so ragged that when Alice touches his arm, his face crumples.
"Seven months, Alice, it's been seven months," John chokes over the words. "What did he do to you? Why did you go?"
It's as if he can't stop touching her, afraid that she isn't real and Alice leans into him, pliant.
"Has it been that long?" she wonders out loud.
It felt like years.
John nods and his hands travel from her face, to her neck and her shoulders and back up.
"We need to get out of here," he says. "It's madness out there. Bane's men are trying to take over the city."
"You're wrong," Alice says. She digs her nails into John's hands because he needs to listen this time.
"He wants Gotham to burn, John. He wants the streets to run with blood and the buildings to crumble into ash. I stayed with him in his compound. It's at the edge of the city to the east, just before the harbor. I heard his plans. He has a machine, ten times, a hundred times stronger than the ones he set off at the stadium. They're taking it to the weakest point of Gotham. You have to stop him. You can't let him bring my city down."
John grits his teeth but doesn't flinch, even as her nails break skin and his blood begins to flow.
"Why are-"
"Who cares why?" Alice shrieks. She releases his hands and grabs at the collar of his uniform, dragging him down so that his face is only a short distance from hers. "He's going to burn this city, John! My city, it's mine!"
I was born here.
My mother created me with the drugs she took before I was even out of her poisoned womb.
My father tried to destroy me with more poison but I lived.
And I lived here.
Gotham is where she belongs; its darkness is a reflection of her mind. It is the only place that could accept, even nourish, something like her and Bane would see it burn.
John wraps his fingers around hers and pulls. She lets him go easily, feeling drained and empty. She can tell by the set of his jaw and the heaviness in his brow that he's already thinking his way through her words.
With one hand on her shoulder, he reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a small, black device. It is sleek and shiny and she recognizes the small logo on the side. A light flicks on and he presses a button, bringing it up to his cheek.
His eyes never leave her face.
"It's Blake. I'm at City Hall. Alice Cade just told me that Bane plans to bring the doomsday device into the Narrows."
He pauses, listening to the response and closes his eyes briefly. "Yes, Cade's daughter. The one that… the one that was kidnapped. She's been with him this whole time. She knows his plans. I trust her."
He is quiet for a moment, listening. And then, "Alice, how long do we have?"
"Midnight," she says and John repeats it into the device.
He shoves it back in his pocket a moment later.
"Who was that?" Alice asks. She is sitting up and he has his knees on either side of her, with one hand on her shoulder and the other one against her cheek.
John smiles slightly and it's a wonder to see the expression as a genuine thing, with no trace of bitterness or desire.
"Our best chance against Bane," he says. His smile fades. "What happened to you? What have you done all this time?"
No longer blind.
Congratulations, John.
"You know what I am." Alice runs her hand down his shirt. It is stained and dusty, ripped and torn in places. It makes her frown; John loved his uniform. It stood for something important. "I can't help who I am."
"Alice, thirty-two bodies." John's voice is broken. "All those people, just torn open like that. Did you... Was it you?"
"I had to," Alice says. "If I didn't, my head… there's something inside of me that needs it. I tried to be normal. I tried so very, very hard but Bane took away my control. And even then I tried to be good. Please believe that. I wanted to be better for you. I tried my best to be normal for you."
John looks stricken and she knows he's torn between her confession and his own duty-bound heart. John is good. He doesn't understand her because he is so good.
"But it's okay, John, because it's over now. I can stop because I've done what I needed to do."
Gotham has a chance now.
"What are you talking about?"
She hears a crash behind John and he looks back, startled. He scrambles to his feet, dragging her up with him, with his gun in his hand.
Bane stands at the doorway and roars with rage. In the flickering light of the room, his eyes look nearly red.
"Stay back!" John holds out his gun, shoving her behind him.
Alice is struck by a wave of déjà vu. It is the Art Institute again and they are once again at odds.
Me and John and Bane.
Another choice to make.
"Alice!" Bane's voice is thunderous. He is furious and Alice imagines that his body grows with each step, fueled by his wrath. "Come here right now. You get back here!"
Alice feels the blade slide into her hand out of the little sheath she keeps around her arm where her sweater hid it. John glances back at her quickly, his eyes clearly showing fear.
He remembers, too.
The last time I stood behind him.
Bane's body is sculpted with thick, hard muscle, and Alice imagines she can feel the floor shake as he takes two steps forward.
"Alice!"
"I told him," Alice says. "Everything he needs to know to stop you. The Batman is already on his way to stop Trogg at the Narrows. If you leave now, maybe you can catch him."
For a moment, both Bane and John wear twin expressions of shock.
Alice clutches the handle of the blade tightly, letting the ivory warm in her hand.
"I know it was Bruce Wayne you told," she says to John. "And Bane knows who he is, too. It's why he went after him in the first place."
She looks at Bane and shakes her head. "You said I was glorious once. You said you'd set me free. You just gave me a longer leash than my father did. You were no better than he was."
Bane moves forward again and his eyes bulge from their sockets. "Put it down, Alice. I order you to put your hand down!"
Alice feels the blade cut into her skin. She knows just where the jugular is on her own neck. "I'm tired now. I'm done with you but you'll never let me go. I'll never be free."
John looks back and forth between Bane and Alice. Every muscle in his body is tensed and coiled, ready to strike. But he is uncertain of his target, to save or shoot.
"Alice, don't." John's eyes are wide with horror. "This isn't the way out. I'll take care of Bane. You don't have to do this."
Bane charges and this time, John sees him. He swings his arms forward, aims and shoots.
He does it again.
Bane goes down in a burst of blood. He clutches his leg above his knee and she sees the torn flesh on his bicep.
Won't stay down long.
He never does.
She knows he heals quickly, another side effect of the venom he takes, and he looks up at her even as the pool of his blood grows underneath him.
John needs to go now.
"Run, John," she says right before she cuts into her own throat.
Distantly, she can hear John screaming her name. She feels his hand over the gaping wound in her neck, where she cut sure and deep. She looks over his shoulder, where Bane is dragging himself towards them, and his face a demonic, ugly thing.
"Mask," she says, but she can no longer make sounds. She mouths the word carefully, hoping that John notices, even as he is weeping. "Mask."
And then the effort of keeping her eyes open is too much.
Alice goes to sleep.
Finally.
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