Disclaimer: Not mine! I only own Kenneth and the plot I came up with. Sue me, and all you'll get is a whole boatload of nothin'!
A/N: Edited 19/5/13. MAJOR changes made in plot so the story flows. Much better read and it stays more true to Bane's personality. MUST REREAD chapter 1 before rereading this one! :) Will be confused otherwise.
A/N: Edited 22/5/13. MAJOR EDITS! Story writing itself at this point :P
Chapter 2: A New Reckoning
Kenny's POV
Kenny's POV
She'd cursed herself for staying outside. She'd been entering her apartment building when the snow had picked up. The sight had entranced her for some reason, and she unconsciously began singing. She shouldn't've done that. Bane was looking for her. She had finally gone home, instead of to a safe house; it would be disastrous if they caught her there. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting, when the devil, think his name and he shall come, materialized in front of her from the shadows. The cold she hadn't noticed yet, bit abruptly, mercilessly, and froze her to the bone. His eyes were hard and filled with nothing but contempt and thinly veiled malice. Then something shifted and for an instant she thought a spark was there, hidden deep with the depths of his soul. It was so fleeting she dismissed it as her imagination. Her fear slowly consumed her from the inside out. She was terrified, and they both knew it. Bane chuckled and the sound made Kenny shiver from something other than the cold.
"Hello my dear." Bane said, "How nice to be seeing you again. And so much sooner than you predicted."
"What do you want?" she managed to grind out, her teeth clenched in an attempt to hold back her screams. The snow gradually began receding as she watched him, waiting for the mercenary to make a move.
"What's the Mocking Bird doing out here? Don't you know there are dangers about?" he seemed to tease, tilting his head in curiosity. Kenny, who'd been blushing felt her cheeks flush as the anger began to kindle. She'd been thinking all day about how much she hated this man and his goons. Now there was an opportunity to dress him down, and she was going to damn well do it. She was caught because of her own stupidity. She had to get him away from there before it clicked this was her residence. Then, she had to, somehow, get away from him... Screw it all! She was past the point of caring. If she died, Kenny would welcome Death like a best friend. But, she wasn't going to let this opportunity pass.
"What dangers?" Kenny growled, her fear being steadily consumed by her fury. "You? Do I look concerned?" she asked rhetorically, because it was obvious she actually was. She stomped up to him and jabbed his chest with her knuckles, glaring up with glowing eyes. "Cuz I ain't! I don't care about your stupid curfew! I don't care about getting in trouble with you or the rest of your lolly-pop brigade!" she gesticulated expressively with her hands, "So screw you and this crapped up shit you call a revolution!" She rolled her eyes. She jumped up, hollering sarcastically into the empty snow covered streets, "Viva la' frickin revolution, my muchachas and muchachos! Let's party like it's the friggin' Armageddon!- oh wait!" She turned back to him and paused with feigned realization, "Well, wha'da'ya know! It is! Woop'dee friggin' doo!" She finally let the words cease, trying to catch her breathe in the biting cold air. She glowered at Bane, waiting for the strike that would kill her.
Bane's POV
Bane had watched the young woman rant with a look of interest. He saw the spark in her eyes that flared as she held his gaze. Her chest was heaving with the passion of her outburst. He felt a grudging respect for her, and he went to respond, but she beat him to it.
"I get it man. I really do." Her voice calmed, the sound of her low register surprising him, "Gotham's people are evil and selfish. However, you've failed to see there's goodness here too. You took away our Dark Knight in hope that it would prompt us to fall further into darkness." her eyes hardened, "You hoped by doing that, that it would kill the little light that's left; and all so you can justify our genocide. That's why Mocking Bird was born." The fury was back, "To stand for Batman and the city he loved, to stand up for the REAL victims of you malice. YOU are the most evil man alive!" She pointed a finger accusingly, "And you need your own reckoning." Bane chuckled darkly and narrowed his eyes.
"And I suppose you would take on that role. Would you like to be My Reckoning?" He rumbled threateningly. The girl flinched away, almost giving herself whiplash, and she tried to back away from Bane; but his colossal hand clenched around her forearm in a bruising grip.
"Ah. What foolish courage you have little songbird." he scolded. He jerked her forwards, pulling her body flush with his. He grabbed her face in his free hand and made her look at him. "You challenge and insult me when most would cower back, letting their fear take over. You have escaped my men, disrupted many of my plans." His eyes crinkled in amusement as Kenny tried to wriggle from his grasp, "But now, now you have mocked my intelligence." She stopped as his hold tightened even further, shivering at the indecipherable look in his eyes. "I know what you're doing." her face paled, "It's very admirable that you would try to distract from the fact this complex is where you live." he chuckled, "So there's no doubt you have friends here. I can tell by the look in your eyes. It's one I've seen on many as they died trying to protect their loved ones." the girl was shaking by then. He found the obvious terror refreshing. Her mouth flapped like a fish, the words she was trying to speak, were refusing to come out.
"What should I do with you now, Mocking Bird?" he asked. He pulled her even closer, bending his head down to her own. He met her defiant gaze, searching her eyes as if they'd give him the answer. She tried to ignore the wall of solid muscle she was intimately aware of due to proximity. The heat radiated off him, warming her extremities that previously been growing blue from the cold. She didn't dare breathe, let alone move with him this close. She glared in an attempt to hide her skewy emotions.
"Hmmmm… No? Was you diatribe only a show of hypocrisy? Are you really just another coward? You have been an obstacle since the beginning and have faced me bravely each time you have encountered me. However, now, when you are no longer able to hide behind your guise, you shake in terror at my wrath." he whispered contemptuous, his mask letting out a gaseous hiss. She didn't know how to answer that, so she just continued to scowl. He glared in return and dug his fingers into her flesh, making the girl hiss in pain, "Yes I am more evil than all of Gotham's ingrates," He snarled, "and that is because I am a necessary one. I have come to bring fire and destruction down on this sinful pothole. I am here to punish." Kenny's eyes began to glisten as the pain increased. Her face and arm were going to be a hideous mess tomorrow, if she even lived that much longer. She was about to let herself fall into the oblivion, when his next words froze the very blood in her veins from terror. "And now I will punish you, by ordering this entire block burned to the ground, with everyone still in their beds. Punishment for your stupidity and carelessness. I am going to make you watch and listen to their screams as the flames consume their flesh." He spoke with the calmest demeanor. She felt the tears begin falling and her heart thumped painfully, "And after the screams have stopped and the flames are out," He leaned in to whisper in her ear like a lover, "only then will I give you permission to die." Bane pulled back and threw her to the ground at his feet. He retrieved the radio from the holster on his belt. "Barsad. I want 20 men up her in the Narrows with gasoline and flame throwers. I have Mocking Bird. We're burning her haven to the ground." there was static, and then,
"As you've ordered, Commander." Barsad replied.
Kenny's POV
She laid there in the freezing snow bank, mind reeling as Bane called in the execution squad. She felt the ground tremble under his feet, as he came to grab her again, then take her off to his lair. Meanwhile, there would be the demise of her innocent friends and neighbors. She thought of Beth, the prostitute across the hall. She was a new mother and trying to reform herself so she could raise her kid right. There was the elderly couple that lived above her. They played classical music at night on their phonograph, the records had put her to sleep on many a restless night. Then there was her friend Sam… there were so many who were going to die now because of her.
As these things raced through her mind, they gave new fire to her bones, unfreezing them from terror. Slowly, ever so slowly, she came to her feet. Bane stopped making his way towards her and looked on with interest. She met his gaze with a burning look that managed to shock him, but he hid his reaction.
"You think me a coward," she hissed lowly, "and you're right. I am." Kenny concentrated on his face, refusing to back down again, "But I'm going to face that and still challenge you. And you're wrong Bane! There has never been a guise! Mocking Bird is me! Always has been." She finally reached him, and stood so close they were nearly touching. "And by being myself, if it can save them or anybody else, I'll always do it what it takes." Her voice dropped another octave, "Yes I'm scared. But so help me! Leave them be!" She threatened. "This is our fight, our freaky relationship to deal with. Not them. Leave them out of it! Let them live for whatever time's left before you're going to ultimately kill us all in the blast." Kenny started crying and snatched up handfuls of snow, and chucked them at the mercenary. "Please! Leave them alone and just take me already, DAMN IT!" She screamed. He stared at her in the following silence, then picked up the radio once more.
"Barsad. I'm altering your order. Stand down and await my return. And prepare a room." Bane gave her a blood chilling glance, "I'm bringing company." Kenny wouldn't have thought it possible, but she sank under the weight of even more dread.
"Done Commander." Barsad replied.
Kenny's face dropped in relief at his words, overpowering the uneasiness she felt for herself. However, that was short lives as Bane grabbed her arm and held her flush against his front.
Bane's POV
"I'm glad you have finally decided to stop running from me." he chuckled. He stroked her cheek with his knuckles. "It is better that you have surrendered to the inevitable my dear songbird. Things will be much more pleasant now for the both of us." He enjoyed the way his words made her blush and squirm. against him.
Kenny's POV
Damn his orgasmic voice! Damn his sexy body! Damn his irresistible villainous arse! John may have joked about her flirtatious style of banter with the mercenary, but he had no idea it was more than just that, banter. Kenny was constantly getting hot and bothered over the man, and both her and Bane knew it. The only thing that made the situation even somewhat bearable was the fact that two could play at this game. She just had to throw him off. She refused to be predictable. She'd always been a sore loser.
"Bane." she spoke calmly. Kenny smirked. "Let me bring you in on a little secret before we're no longer alone." she leaned up towards his face, her expression heavily banking on seductive, "I've always been your reckoning. I would never let anyone else be it, not even Batman." she reached up her hand and began trailing it down his chest, without ever breaking their eye contact, "Ever since I first saw you, only two words have ever come to mind," she whispered the next bit in his ear, her hot breathe fanning over his exposed neck "let's dance." she purred, then added, "And now I can't wait to tango the rest of this number."
Bane's POV
The woman refused to lose. Always had to have the last say. She would act one way, then suddenly flip and start acting another. No matter how many times he interacted with the young woman, she would always remain absolutely unpredictable. Inappropriately so.
Bane pushed her back down onto the soles of her feet and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her protests and the feeling of her body continuing to squirm and rub against his. Then he started lumbering back to base.
A/N: Kenny is supposed to seem hot'n'cold. She's fighting with emotions she shouldn't have about a man that has mercilessly killed innocents, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And yes, it seems to be moving fast, but remember, there's a history here. They've been running circles around each other since Batman left. So really it more like you should be saying "it's about time this happened!" :P. And no, her feelings have nothing to do with being attracted to 'bad boys'. Some people just 'click', no matter how cheesy that sounds, and I hate cheesy; but it's the honest to gosh clique truth. Also, this is how the story is writing itself now. I've pretty much lost all control over it. R&R!
~Afrika