She Rises by Paradisical815
Featured Song: "Devils" by Florence and the Machine
Chapter Two: Devils
She sat on that old couch for a long time, staring out the windows at the falling snow and at the buildings that used to mean 'home'. She cried a little, before pushing her tears away with the heels of her hands and returning to staring and thinking and planning. She'd explored the apartment and it had yielded little information of use. There were two bedrooms; one was unused. The other looked like the rest of the apartment; there were signs that it had once been luxurious and ornate, but now it was bare and almost militant. There was a bed that looked hardly slept in, bottles of pills with names she didn't recognize and an old book on the nightstand. She'd grabbed the book and flipped through it- it was in Arabic. She'd taken a few semesters of the language in college, she tried to read it, but gave up after struggling with it for a few minutes and now she sat and she stared and she prayed.
Nothing to do but wait.
The elevator doors dinged and she had jumped to her feet before she realized what she was doing. The doors slid open to reveal a worn looking woman in her forties who had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder along with a gun. The two women eyed each other for a moment before the older one stepped out of the elevator.
"Bane says this is for you," she grunted, swinging the duffel off her shoulder and dropping it onto the floor with a loud clunk. Kathryn eyed it.
"Don't turn your nose up at it, kiddo. There's food and clothes and shampoo. It's a hell of a lot more than some of the other guys got theirs'."
"Am I a pet?" Kathryn snapped, anger helping her to sound tougher than she felt. The woman laughed, her eyes crinkling in a way that made her face look surprisingly good-natured.
"That's a good way to put it. Better Bane's than one of the other ones', though. He's big and mean but he's got a code of his own. He won't hurt ya 'less you give him a reason to."
Kathryn said nothing, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. The woman eyed her before sighing.
"It ain't that bad, kid. You got a warm bed, food, and all ya got to do is-"
"- is whatever he says," Kathryn finished. The woman shrugged.
"That's the long and short of it."
"I'd rather be out in the cold," Katty said flatly. The woman shrugged again.
"Have it your way. But it'll be easier if you just give him what he wants."
Katty said nothing, feeling like she might choke, and the woman left.
She took a shower with the shampoo and soap he'd brought her and she shaved her legs for the first time since Gotham had been shut off from the rest of the world. She'd had better things to do than worry about how smooth her legs were, what with trying to organize a rebellion and trying to keep the people in that rebellion safe, but she wasn't one to waste an opportunity, either.
She never considered taking the razor to her wrists.
Once she was clean and dry she pulled the clothes out of the bag. He'd gotten her a few pairs of jeans and shirts along with underwear and two bras. There was nothing fancy; it was all highly practical and the lack of anything kinky gave her hope that he'd told her the truth when he'd said he wouldn't rape her.
She pulled on a pair of jeans and one of the t-shirts that was dark blue before going back to the couch. There was nothing in the apartment to do, nothing to read and no paper or pencils that she could use to draw on. There was the book on Bane's nightstand that she could keep trying to translate, but something told her he might not take kindly to her nicking his stuff.
So she folded her legs underneath her on the couch and laid down. For a long time she didn't sleep and instead stared with open eyes at the elevator doors.
000
Bane came back at two in the morning, stumbling, the valves on his mask loose and his hands covered in blood.
"Girl," he said, leaning on the counter. His voice was tight and wild at the same time, all tainted by that mechanical tone. "Girl, get up- come here-"
She awoke suddenly, sitting bolt upright and then she stared at him.
"What-"
"Come to me."
She climbed slowly off the couch and walked over to him even more slowly; she had the air of someone who was treading water with an injured shark.
"I need- need you to-"
But she was a smart girl and she could do the math. She saw how his movements were tightened, she saw the tensing of muscles and the way his brows were furrowed, and she saw the loose valves. She'd seen enough pain in the last few weeks to knew what that meant and she stared at him, calculating and thinking, wondering if he was incapacitated enough to give her a shot at overpowering him. She realized, very quickly, that he wasn't; animals in pain were always more fierce. And anyway, if she could get him to trust her now, things would be easier from here on out and give her a better chance at sabotage later.
So that's what the mask is for. Not for anonymity- he can't function without it.
"Do I just screw it back in?"
His eyes met hers and he gave a slow nod. Gingerly she touched the first valve and began to turn it. There was a sudden soft thrumming through the valve as it reconnected to the mask. She did the next valve, and then the next, and when she was done, Bane rose to his feet, towering over her, and looked down at her with something unreadable in his eyes. She stared at his stomach.
"I think you got shot."
"Stabbed. That problem I can handle without your assistance."
"Don't you need stitches or something?"
For a few moments he said nothing. Then-
"Have you ever sown flesh back together, girl?"
The way he said it was a challenge more than it was an insult or an endearment and she forced herself to meet his eyes. It was easier in the dark, when his eyes were all she could see and his mask blended with the night.
"Uh, no-"
"As I said, I am capable. A room is ready for you, down the hall and to the right. Good night."
And, without another word, he turned and disappeared down the hallway.
She stared after him and then followed a moment later, turning right when he turned left. She shut the door behind herself and locked it and then collapsed onto the bed without a second thought. She was asleep within seconds and did not dream.
000
She awoke to the sound of voices.
Since the sacking of Gotham (and even before that, really, since the Joker eight years ago) she'd started waking up very quickly. There was no transitional phase; one second she was asleep and the next she was awake and alert.
This held true now; her eyes flew open and she stared at the ceiling and listened. Bane's voice was immediately recognizable, mechanical and yet somehow so raw, and there was another voice, softer and smoother, tainted by an exotic touch. It was a woman's voice.
Silently, Katty climbed out of her bed and moved to the door, listening intently. She was good at people, she always had been, and in the murmur of those voices she heard a bond, some sort of shared history.
Her brow furrowed.
Very quickly she checked her reflection in what remained of a mirror in the vanity across from her bed. She arranged her features into a look of sleepy stupidity, messed up her hair so she'd look like she'd slept harder than she actually had, took a deep breath and opened the door.
The voices became clearer as she moved down the hallway. They were talking about another person, someone with a foreign name, and it almost sounded like Bane was reassuring the woman. Somehow, that was hard to imagine.
She moved from the hallway into the light of the living room and Bane saw her first. His eyes didn't change but he straightened up, slowly. He and the woman were sitting at the kitchen table, turned into each other, their heads close.
Katty observed from behind the mask of sleep.
"Need food," she muttered, moving to the cabinet.
Bane's eyes moved from her to the woman and back again; the woman turned around and faced Katty with a small smile on her face. For a moment, Katty's mask of stupidity was broken.
Everyone knew Miranda Tate's face.
But then she blinked and she was an idiot again.
"Hello," said Miranda Tate, not unkindly. Bane was watching her and Katty realized that he was in love with her, or as in love as a person like him could be. She filed that information away in her mind, in the same place as she'd stored the Arabic book and the pain pills and the scar on the base of his head.
"So, you two know each other?"
Miranda Tate looked back at the masked man.
"Yes," said Bane, his voice a rumble and a threat. Katty nodded.
"Okay."
She grabbed a banana from the cabinet, raised it at the two of them in a mock salute, and disappeared into the hallway, where she pressed herself against the wall and listened, heart pounding.
"She's the leader?"
"She was."
"She's very young. What are your plans for her?"
There was a moment of silence. Katty held her breath. Then-
"I am going to make an example of her."
There was quiet again and the only sound was Bane's breathing. Then she heard two chairs scraping against the floor and Miranda's voice.
"Whatever you do with her, do it well. There are rumors everywhere, and some people are very angry. There are drawings of bats- a little hope deepens the pain, but too much will cause more problems like your little revolutionary." She said the word with a soft, mocking distain and Katty had to repress a smile.
"Be safe."
She gave a low laugh. "Don't worry, my friend. I play the captive very well."
And then Katty heard the elevator doors slide open and close again. She leaned against the wall, took a bite out of her banana and waited as Bane's footsteps moved closer to her.
He was a dark silhouette against the light that filled the room behind him and he looked down on her, his eyes expressionless.
"Your girlfriend's cute," she said easily, and with no change of expression on his face, he punched her in the stomach
To Be Continued
A/N: oh my GOSH YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME, I WAS TOTALLY NOT EXPECTING THIS RESPONSE! I'm glad yall are enjoying this as much as I am, haha. You guys rock.
So I'm pretty sure I know where this story is going, so now it's just a matter of getting there. I really don't know how long it'll be or any of that, but I imagine updates will be fairly regular at least for a while because it's summer and i seriously have nothing to do. Keep the feedback coming IT MAKES ME HAPPY AND HAPPINESS MAKES ME CREATIVE AND YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME
love,
Paradisical
