Author's Note:

This chapter has been updated, and is the beginning of the editing process that I have decided to do for the whole story. I intend to leave my original message with each chapter, as well as any additional notes that I may have now. Thanks to all of you for reading!

The character of Bane made a big impression on me and I instantly had the idea for this story, but it has taken me some time to work out how to get it all out there. As the summary stated this story deals with a secret weapon left at Arkham when Ra's attacked Gotham, and what Bane will do with it once he becomes aware of it. I do want to warn you that this story will contain mature themes, including violence, consent and non-consent, etc. Just don't say I didn't warn you. ;) Please review!

I do not own any of the Nolan characters used in this story; I only own my original characters and ideas. I am not making any money from this story.

Chapter One – Paradise Circus

It's unfortunate that when we feel a storm, we can roll ourselves over 'cause we're uncomfortable

Oh well the devil makes us sin, But we like it when we're spinning, in his grin.
Love is like a sin my love, For the one that feels it the most
Look at her with her eyes like a flame, She will love you like a fly will never love you, again

Massive Attack

Tiana peered up at the screen that was positioned in the corner opposite her small cell, and one story above her. Her home was one of the few places that the masked man and his henchmen hadn't touched, in fact her home and all the inhabitants, including the guards, had been left completely as they were before his attack. The attack that had crippled the foolish city of Gotham, nearly bringing it to its knees. The guards had cranked up the volume for this newscast, wanting to make sure every prisoner heard the words that were spoken, making sure to crush any hope they may had felt that someday he would come and release them.

Tiana was simply curious about the news that was being displayed, she had never clung to the hope that the man behind the mask would release the crazies from this hell hole. She sure wouldn't if she wanted to do what he was doing. Some of the people in here would really cause much more damage than they would give assistance. Regardless of how helpful they felt they could be. Of course, she resided there by choice, she could have left ten years before, but she had chosen to stay, and that was the bed she had made, now she would sleep in it.

The scenes playing on the TV just kept repeating: First the footage of the Bat's flying contraption taking off over the bay, carrying the bomb that had been destined to kill them all, seconds later the large mushroom cloud out over the ocean. The next image was of a truck that had crashed down into a lower level of road, having killed the female driver and allowing the Bat to acquire the bomb. The third and final segment showed a gurney holding the Masked Man, being wheeled out of the dark Courthouse and down the steps. She had seen all of those images several times now, but she continued to watch and listen.

"In a stunning turn of events, the Batman has showed himself for what he always was; our greatest hero. He returned to sacrifice his life to protect the people of Gotham. This incredible gift will not soon be forgotten. Batman was able to do this for us after causing the truck carrying the bomb to crash. The woman driving the truck was actually a Miss Miranda Tate, the latest head of Wayne Enterprises. It appears that she was the secret accomplice of the masked terrorist that held Gotham in fear all these months. It is certain that we will be uncovering the details of her treachery in the days to come.

As for the masked man that we all know and hate; he has been found among the wreckage within the Courthouse. He is suffering from massive damage to his chest and it is unknown whether he will survive the upcoming days. And I for one must say that I hope that he does not."

As the endless loop started over yet again, Tiana drifted away from the entrance to her cell and wearily dropped onto her thin mattress, staring up at the cracked ceiling. While she had never held any hope that they would be released, she did have to admit that she had found the mayhem that had been caused to be interesting. It had been a diversion from the daily horror of this place, perhaps not a diversion that she fully agreed with, but now even that was gone. Without the fear that that Masked Man had rained down on the guards she knew that things would return to the same as before. And a shiver of something akin to fear ran down her back at the thought that soon her treatments would begin again.

Three weeks had passed since the Batman had saved the unworthy people of Gotham and the Masked Man had been apprehended. Tiana had heard through the grapevine that the man had survived his wounds, and would be transferred to Blackgate within the week. While she found the information interesting, she lacked the energy to really think deeply about much of anything. Her "treatment" had started up four days prior and her whole being was suffering from it. Her suffering was nothing new; the "doctors" at Arkham had been trying out their mad ideas on her and several other patients for over ten years. Some of the treatments weren't all that bad, while others had been mind-blowingly horrendous. The latest batch had been on the more horrendous side, unfortunately.

She lay on her bed with her eyes closed, simply trying to rest her aching mind and body. She heard the footsteps walking down the narrow aisle toward her cell, but was trying to ignore it, hoping that the feet would continue past her door. Of course, her luck was not that good - not that luck was something she really believed in - and the feet came to a stop in front of her door. The jovial tone of Doctor DeAngelo spoke to her through the bars on the door, "I wanted to alert you to the fact that you will no longer have your cell to yourself come tomorrow. We have a special friend that will be coming to stay with you. I sure do hope that you treat this one with a little more hospitality than your last roommates."

Tiana took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up and swing her legs around to the edge of the bed. Placing her feet firmly onto the ground she fought the urge to just lie back down, and pushed onto her feet, striding to the door with an icy glare on her face. When she reached the steel bars she forced a cold smile onto her face, speaking with a voice that was oddly warm in spite of the ice she tried to put into it, "Doctor, I think we both know how little patience I have for the type of men that are in this place. Really, I think that we both know you are perfectly happy with my lack of hospitality."

The Doctor shrugged and let a small smirk cross his narrow face before he spoke again, "I suppose that I don't really care what you do to our new friend, but I have a feeling that you may not get away with your past antics with this guy." With that he strode away from the door, leaving Tiana to shakily drop back to her cold bed.

She tried to think who they could possibly be transferring to her cell this time. The previous four prisoners that had been brought to her had been only small time crazies, men that the doctors had tired of. They were violent and dangerous, just like anybody here, but they weren't big name criminals. Of course, they weren't anything but worm food now. That thought brought a small smile to her cracked lips, but it was short lived as she returned to her thoughts of who they wanted her to dispose of now. DeAngelo's words about her not having the upper hand this time, also played through her mind. Perhaps this time they simply planned to dispose of her…

Bane was in more pain than he could ever remember. They had taken his mask upon his capture and they had swiftly weaned him off of the morphine only one day after his final surgery. Of course morphine was nearly a joke to him, but it had deadened his body slightly. After that, he had spent a week tightly strapped to his bed, the pain his only companion. No one would speak to him, or even look him in the eyes. The hate they felt for him came off of them in waves, making the air around him even more stifling. A fever raged through his body, but the doctors found no infection, so they decided that he could be moved, in spite of it. He knew the fever was his body trying to tear itself apart from the pain, but he had little hope that it would end any time soon. The only thing that could help him was his mask, and that was now in the possession of the damned Commissioner Gordon, and he knew that he had no intention of returning it.

Bane felt confident that his men would come to his aid as soon as they were able, but he also knew that it might be quite a while before the heat lifted enough to accomplish that. He had been thrilled when he heard that he would be transferred to Blackgate, and was blown away by the stupidity that these foolish people showed by placing him there. He knew that he had many allies in that place and it would only be a short wait before they banded together around him again. But without his mask he knew it would be a challenge to lead them… but he was up for a challenge.

At that moment he found himself shackled to the floor and the wall of a large, black van, guarded by the six armed guards within. He also knew that there were five armed escorts surrounding the van on its trip to Blackgate. He was reclined as much as possible with his hands pinned behind him, and was resting his head on the cold metal of the wall. He was counting the turns and trying to gauge distance, with his eyes closed and his breathing even, in spite of the pain. He knew exactly the route that they should take to get him to his destination and he also knew that there should be little traffic, due to the fact that it was four in the morning and few people would be out at that hour. He counted two left turns followed by a rather long straight away. So far things were going exactly as they should, but he was surprised when the next turn was a soft right, instead of the hard left that it should have been.

He waited a few moments, judging that a little less than a mile had passed, then he opened his eyes a small amount. He knew that he wouldn't be able to see where they were going, but he searched the faces of his guards to see if this was part of the plan. He had hoped to go unnoticed, but the pain was clouding his judgment and a man with a hard face was quick to spot his open eyes. The man chuckled humorlessly, "There's been a change in plans, Big Boy. You don't get to go to Blackgate, you have too many friends there. No that just wouldn't do, now would it? You're headed to Arkham, and I can assure you that you don't have a single friend in that place."

Bane closed his eyes again and nodded his head gently, a small smile twitching at his lips. There had been no change of plans, of that he was sure. They had always planned on taking him to Arkham, they were only publically saying that he would go to Blackgate. If everyone believed that he was going to the prison then they would be looking for him there, not at Arkham. He was certain that the media would never be made aware of his true location, it was a foolish attempt to keep him from his men, but a well thought out plan in any case.

He also knew that the man was absolutely correct in that he had no friends within the walls of the asylum. While he was seen by many at the prison as a hero for releasing them, he knew those at Arkham would not hold him so dear. He had chosen to leave all the prisoners there; he had in fact insisted that nothing stop the guards and the doctors from continuing with the routine there. Although he knew that most of the "treatments" had stopped while he was occupying the city, he figured that wouldn't be good enough for most of the people that were locked within those walls.

It was a rather long and very uncomfortable ride, but they finally stopped at a gate and he could hear the driver talking to security personnel. A moment later they pulled forward and traveled down a long gravel driveway. Each bump that the van hit sent fresh spasms of pain up Bane's spine, but he refused to show any outward sign of his intense discomfort. He knew that most people in Gotham were aware of the fact that his mask had held his pain at bay, but he had no intention of letting the world know just how severe that pain really was. He could not show weakness.

He felt the van come to a stop, and seconds later the heavy double doors at the rear of the van opened. He opened his eyes and turned to look at the crowd of armed men standing between the van and the large, open doors of the asylum. There were at least 20 men with guns, as well as four men in lab coats and a fifth man wearing a dark grey suit. Bane waited patiently for his chains to be released from the wall and the floor of the van and he didn't even shrug off the hand that roughly encircled his arm, pulling him forward and out of the van.

Bane stretched to his full height, in spite of the maddening pain that gripped him as he did it. He would not let these maggots see him in any way incapacitated. The man in the suit stepped toward him and spoke with a rather giddy voice, "Mr. Bane, how nice of you to join us at our humble abode. We are so pleased that we will be housing the most hated man in all of Gotham." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, indicating that Bane should walk up the steps and into the large, gothic building before him. And with a deep breath, he did just that.

Bane was exhausted and his pain level made agony seem like a kind embrace. He had endured eight hours of tests, and interrogation. Most of the tests had seems relatively standard, but there had been a few that he could tell were simply leading up to the torture he had heard so much about from this place. He was not afraid of what they could do to him, pain was his constant companion and they could do nothing to him that he hadn't already lived. He was merely interested to see what they would come up with to try to break him.

Their interrogation had been pointless, as had every other attempt at getting him to speak since he had first awoken without his mask. He had learned that the police already knew what they needed to about him from a file that had mysteriously appeared on the commissioner's desk the night they had pulled Bane's broken body from the wreckage of the Courthouse. Bane had only listened to all that they had told him and had not opened his mouth to speak since the last words he had spoken to the Batman. What was the point?

Finally they had decided that their threats were not making an impact on him and led him out of the sterile, white room and into the heart of the place. Bane was familiar with the layout of the prison from his research before his attack on the city, and he was not surprised to find that he was being taken to Ward E. This was where the worst of the worst were housed. He knew that somewhere within this ward the Joker lurked, and the Joker was only the tip of the iceberg.

They led him to the second level and then about halfway down the aisle on the right, before halting before a heavy steel door. This door looked just the same as all the others they had passed on the way, but he knew that this was where they planned to keep him. There was a fingerprint scanner on the left hand side of the door and the Doctor that was with his contingent of guards placed his thumb to it to open the door. Bane heard the sound of four separate deadbolts falling back before the door gently fell open.

The doctor took Bane's arm and roughly pushed him into the cell. One of the guards cautiously slipped into the cell and unlocked his cuffs and the shackles from around his ankles. For some reason the guard seemed much more concerned with watching the shadows of the dim room than watching Bane and that caused an odd chill to run up his burning spine. The doctor caught his eye and smiled wickedly, "Oh, and Bane, I hope you like your new friend. See you tomorrow… or not!" And with those comments still ringing in his ears the door slammed shut behind him, the deadbolts all falling back into place with a soft thunk.

Bane stretched himself to his greatest height and tried to plaster an intimidating glare on his face as he survived the room for the threat that was obviously there. While he scanned the room with his eyes he also noticed the layout and was rather surprised by how similar this cell was to his cell in the pit. While this place was touted to the outside world as a top of the line, modern psychiatric establishment, it was obvious that it was hardly more than a mediaeval prison. A small cot rested against a wall to his right and there was combination toilet and sink resting opposite of it. And that was it. A faint light shone through the bars on the door and a second source of light filtered through a small, dirty window high on the wall opposite the door. There was something odd about the window, but he couldn't place it.

He searched with his ears and nose, as well as his eyes, and was confused to discover that there was no one in the cell, but himself. Then his anger swept him as he realized that they were already beginning their little mind games. He was appalled to admit that they had succeeded in unnerving him and he swore under his breath, disgusted by how weak his voice sounded without the mask. He wearily sauntered to the bed and lowered himself to sit on the edge, allowing a quiet groan to escape his lips, now that he was safely alone. His head lolled down to his chest and he closed his eyes, trying to control his pain.

Then, suddenly, more light entered the room from the window that was now to his right and he heard a soft whoosh and the almost silent sound of movement on the floor in front of him. He jerked his head back up and his eyes flew open. Before him stood the last person he would have ever expected to see in this place with him. Talia stood before him.