A/N: I am not a native English speaker so sorry if there're any grammar/vocabulary mistakes :)
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2. Take Me Out of Here
Jane stood right where she had fallen, her grey eyes wide opened, inspecting the man. He was lying on the ground, gasping for air every few seconds, moving his chest in a very strange way. He looked like he was collapsing and probably unconscious. Jane didn't know how to react. She stood up as quickly as she could and gave a few steps towards the place where he was lying. It was the first time that she had been so close to him and the experience wasn't being very nice. He looked big, very, very big, and the mask didn't add much friendliness to his aspect. Jane felt relieved that he was unconscious and decided to check his pulse. His skin was warm and she could feel the strong beat of his heart right under her fingers. He was very much alive. She had always felt curious about his mask so now that he was unconscious she had the opportunity to inspect it. It was made of some kind of metal and had little tubes connected to it, she wondered what they were for and tried to see his face under it but couldn't move it. Jane realised that there was blood coming out of it, dripping down his neck and getting under his shirt. When her eyes followed the blood, she found out that he had a strange purple mark on his chest, it didn't look good. She opened the protective vest that he was wearing and ripped off his black shirt. She saw a quite serious bruise that occupied the right side of his chest and part of the abdomen. She felt it carefully with the palm of her hands: something was broken in there. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and stared at her. For a few milliseconds, his look was angry and furious, but then his eyes started to show the deepest of fears and he tried to move away from her. He couldn't do much so he just stayed in the same position, staring and her like no one had ever done before and coughing. He was really scared. No, no, no, no… Stupid crazy Crane. She took the walkie-talkie out of her pocket.
'Officer Sykes. I have Ba…' she heard a noise, he had smashed his fist on the ground. He was seriously in pain and literally freaking out, '… I have a civilian here, male, in his thirties, big complexion and with probable internal bleeding. He's been breathing Jonathan Crane's toxins so he's in need of the antidote and urgent medical assistance.'
A few seconds passed by but it felt like minutes for Jane.
'Copy that. We're moving down.'
'Roger.'
She held the walkie-talkie like it was the most precious thing in the world and kept looking at Bane. There was much more blood coming out of the mask and he started to sound like he was choking. Crap, crap, crap. Why hadn't she even mentioned that the 'male with a big complexion' was Bane? She knew the answer but didn't want to admit it. She knew that if she had said his name they would have probably ignored the call or just tell her to kill him and she didn't want to do that. She was very well aware that the man lying in front of her was the one responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including some that were extremely close to her, but she couldn't stop thinking that it was a human life and that she had to do what was supposed to be right. She intended to approach him but it only accelerated his breathing and that wasn't very good for his health. Some small rocks fell on her head. She looked up and saw the light of a lantern. The other officer had returned.
'Here, take the bag.' She saw a black bag tied up to a rope coming down the space between the rocks. 'The antidote and a syringe are in there. There's also a first aid emergency kit and water. You know what you have to do?'
'Yeah, kind of. Guys, you have to take us out of here, the…civilian is in really bad shape,' Jane yelled.
'We are working on it, mate. They said it'll take a few minutes though. We'll probably blow up the rocks but I'll inform you when we are sure.'
'Alright, alright…' she looked at Bane, 'just make it quick. I'm not sure he'll make it.'
'Copy.'
Bane's fist hit the ground once more and something like a scream came out of the mask. Jane hurried up and opened the bag. Her hands were shaking, she couldn't believe all that was real. She managed to load the syringe with the antidote from the vial and made sure that there was no air left in it. She took some cotton and alcohol from the first aid kit and approached Bane very slowly.
'It's ok, I'm just gonna… insert a needle into your skin.'
Nice choice of words, Jane. She had to be quick if she wanted to do it. She put her knee on top of his arm and tried to immobilise it with the weight of her body. Of course, it wasn't easy but all she needed was just a second of peace so she could focus. That second came right afterwards and Jane took her chance. She quickly rubbed the cotton with alcohol onto his neck and stabbed him with the needle, releasing the antidote into his body. She stepped back and sat down on the floor again, waiting for the antidote to start making effect. She put the cap back on the syringe and kept it in the bag. It had been done. Bane's body kept shaking for a while, he was still afraid of everything around him until all of a sudden, the movement stopped and the choking started again. Jane moved closer to him, making sure that he heard her so she wouldn't come as a surprise. He moved his head towards her, he looked very disoriented. Jane didn't know what to say, she felt that the standard 'I'm here to help you' wasn't going to work with him.
'Don't move your head. We don't know if it's damaged yet.'
He moved his head back to the previous position and remained silent. A new river of blood came out of the mask as he coughed. Jane kneeled by his side and moved her hands towards the straps on his head. Unexpectedly, he grabbed her left wrist and put her arm away from his face.
'Hey, I need to do that. You are choking.'
He aimed to punch her face but Jane saw it coming and dodged it. She made a bit of pressure on the part of the abdomen that was damaged with her right hand and stared at him. His eyes closed covered in pain and he emitted a small cry that he had been trying to hold.
'You feel that? You have some serious internal bleeding, probably broken ribs or something, and that's affecting your breathing. So I suggest you take off that mask of yours and stop swallowing blood if you don't wanna choke to death.'
He kept staring at her for a few seconds. Jane tried not to look away from his eyes, which were filled with agony and impotent anger.
'Pa…in,' he finally said almost whispering.
'Pain? Will it hurt you if I take it off?'
He nodded.
'Ok. Ok. Let me see…' Jane took her walkie-talkie again, 'Sykes here. You guys can get me some morphine?'
'M…uch,' Bane said.
'Ok. You guys can get me much morphine?' she repeated, 'he's really in pain.'
'Affirmative. There's already an ambulance waiting outside. Give me a minute.'
A new bag came down the hole. Jane kneeled over his legs, took away his belt and slightly pulled down his pants. She cleaned with alcohol a small area of skin on the lower right side of his abdomen and inserted the needle deep into his skin. After one or two minutes, he clearly started to relax and the speed of his breathing slowed down. Jane moved up again and resumed her work. He tried to stop her a few times.
'You have no excuse now. I won't look if you don't want me to, but you really need to spit all that blood out. You can barely breathe.'
He nodded again. Very carefully, Jane removed the straps from his head and checked that the mask was loose enough for him to release it. Then, she turned around and waited. She heard him coughing and spitting out the blood that he had been trying to swallow. When all went silent again, she turned around and helped him tighten the straps of the mask.
'Sykes, you there?', the walkie-talkie sounded in her pocket. Jane took it out.
'Yeah, yeah, I'm still here,' Bane stared at her. Jane gulped. She was sure he was trying to kill her with his eyes.
'Ok. Listen, here's the plan. We are gonna blow up the rocks and then send a rescue team to take you guys out. They say the rocks will turn into small pieces so it shouldn't be a problem, alright? They are experts. Just make sure you cover your head and protect the civilian. We're doing it in a minute.'
'Ok. Understood.'
Jane quickly closed the bag with the first aid kit and moved towards Bane. He coughed, no blood went out of the mask though the sound that he produced when breathing was a bit alarming.
'They are gon…'
'I… heard it,' he interrupted her while taking a gasp of air.
'So I have to….'
'I know.'
Not very comfortably, Jane put her legs around his waist trying to cover the damaged area of his body with her own and protecting his head with her arms. She could feel the intense heat of his body and the short intakes of air in his chest.
'We are ready. Please, take me out of here.'
Bane laughed shortly and right after, the rocks exploded into pieces. Jane could hear how the coughing came back again from his lungs because of the dust and the laughing so she tried to clear up the air around his face. The rescue team, formed by two men and a woman, started to descend and landed next to them. One of the men in the team went to talk to Jane and kneeled next to Bane. He couldn't see the face of the 'male with a big complexion' until the dust had settled down and then he turned his eyes to Jane, who was still over him.
'He's being coughing blood but it seems it has stopped. There's also this huge bruise on the abdomen, ' Jane showed it, 'and also troublesome breathing. Oh, and don't take away the mask or he will be in pain.'
Jane tried to ignore the fact that he was Bane. Maybe they would also do so. The man kept looking at her and then stared back at Bane.
'Hell…o,' Bane said slowly. He seemed to be enjoying the situation.
'Are you fucking nuts?' one of the guys in the rescue team yelled at her, 'he almost destroyed the whole town and you want us to save his life?'
'I…'
'You are an idiot,' another one said.
'Well, so this idiot happens to be an officer of the law and law says that he has the right to receive medical assistance and to be fairly judged. I know that he's killed people, oh! I know that very well, but this idiot is not going anywhere without this other idiot so you better take us out of here.'
'I rea…lly appreci...ate that…Miss,' said Bane difficultly. Jane couldn't see his face but she could sense he was smiling.
You, bastard.
