A/N

I apologize for taking so long, I had a busy schedule this week, lots of finals and a lot of projects. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and as always, please review, I appreciate the feedback and it always motivates me to write faster! Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Her head was pounding. Her stomach was aching and her body felt so heavy. She couldn't really recall what had happened. But she felt something soft underneath her and above her. Whatever happened she must have found a way to get back home and in her comfortable bed. She slowly opened her weary eyes. Her vision was still slightly blurry but she could see a familiar scene. Her bed, her nightstand, the window near her bed with its curtains completely shut, and a tall glass of cold water on the nightstand with a couple of pills next to it. Her throat felt so sore. She lightly rose up, supporting her weight on her elbow and reached for the pills. She took them and drank the water eagerly.

"Don't drink so fast." She suddenly froze. That was definitely not Jen's voice. She slowly turned to the other side and saw him.

"How long have you been standing there?" She swallowed dryly. Her voice was kind of hoarse.

He didn't answer her. He was sitting on her couch with a book in his lap staring at her. Bits and pieces slowly came to Selina's mind. His t-shirt was still covered in blood stains but it was already dry. She on the other hand wasn't with the clothes she wore last night. She was in her large t-shirt.

"How did you know where I live?" Now that she was slightly more awake, questions started rushing to her head. Furthermore, he changed her clothes. And she was dry.

"I have my resources." He leaned down while his arms rested on his knees.

Selina gazed at him for a moment then sat up and got out of bed slowly, careful not to stumble around. She walked over to the bathroom mirror. Oh that was not a pretty sight. Thank god for waterproof make up but it was still slightly smeared under her eyes making her look even more tired than she was. She wiped it off and washed her face and teeth and got back in her room to see Bane up on his feet ready to leave.

"You know, I could've had him if I wasn't wearing high heels." She crossed her arms looking up at him.

"You always wear high heels." He retorted and his eyes lit up with a playful tease. Oh she knew he was smirking under that mask. He then turned to leave but she interrupted him.

"Bane," he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. "Thank you." She mumbled it out slightly. It took a lot of pride to say that but he could see the sincerity in her eyes. He gave her a light nod and turned again.

"I expect you in two days, after midnight." He left her room.

"Sel, you okay?" Jen gazed at her friend while they were sitting at the table and having breakfast.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She slightly nodded while staring at her half eaten plate of spaghetti. She wasn't lying, she was alright, she felt well-rested and her head was a bit clearer. But she was deep in thought. This man did not want to leave her mind. Why did he protect her? Why did he seem so angry? And how on earth did he even know where she was? So many questions roamed her mind. And that many assumptions came to her.

"So, who was that big scary dude? Please don't tell me he's your boyfriend." Jen made a grimace while sucking in a piece of spaghetti.

"Don't even joke about that." Selina rolled her eyes.

"Then, who is he to you?" Jen giggled at her irritation.

"He's…" Selina didn't really know the answer to that. He wasn't an enemy, well at least not yet. And it was kind of hard to call him a friend. "An acquaintance. A complicated one." She took a sip of the cold juice.

"Oh…Ooooooh!" - The blonde got the hint. Selina wasn't going to talk about it. But Jen wasn't all that clueless.

It was an interesting sight she stumbled upon last night. As drunk as she was she noticed the front door was unlocked. And she knew that Selina never left the door unlocked, so she suspected that a thief had broken in to their apartment. It was dark, maybe whoever had broken in got what he needed and left. It was a soothing assumption but Jen didn't want to take any chances. She turned on the lights in the hall and saw wet and muddy footsteps on the ground. Big ones too. That was definitely not Selina. Anxiety took over the blonde as she reached over to the coat rack and took the metal baseball bat that was propped there. She quietly stepped towards Selina's room where she could hear silent noise. She gulped and slowly pushed open the door. She saw a large man, whose back was facing her, taking off Selina's dress. They were both drenched and he had blood on his body. And Selina was unconscious.

"Get off of her!"- Jen screamed and lashed the bat to his back. It was so quick. She thought she even missed it. He had turned around and caught the bat with his large hand. He narrowed his eyes at her in a glare.

"Good, you're here, change her clothes." - He spoke calmly and carefully set the unconscious girl in his arm on the bed. He pulled the bat away from her hands and sat on the couch.

"Wha-?" - She lifted a brow in complete confusion and he shot her another glare. Something told her that she shouldn't mess with him. Maybe it was the mask. And he didn't seem to hurt Selina so she took off her friend's shoes and stopped and turned to the large man and made a signal with her hand for him to leave.

"What?"- He demanded lifting a brow at her.

"I'm not going to take her lingerie off in front of you." She crossed her hands. He only rolled his eyes and stood up to leave the room. Jen took the rest of her wet clothes off and changed her in dry ones. Dry lingerie, dry t-shirt and she tucked her in nicely in her warm covers. Jen took notice that Selina didn't have any marks on her body, nothing gave out any hints that she might have been forcefully knocked out. Maybe she got really drunk and passed out and that man was another strange friend of hers who helped her get home safely. Even if that was true, Jen didn't trust him. She got some pills out of the drawer and put them on her nightstand, then left the room to pour her a glass of water. By the time she got back, she saw the man sitting on Selina's couch and reading one of her books that looked very old and had a black leather cover with no title. Jen left Selina the cold glass of water and left the room.

When Bruce opened his eyes, he never felt such pain and weakness in his entire life. Excruciating ache and extreme weakness had taken over his whole body.

"Why didn't you just... kill me?"- He spoke silently, barely closing his eyes again.

"You don't fear death... You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe." - His voice was low and calm it sounded so affable even through the mechanic melody that accompanied his tone.

"Torture..?"- Bruce's voice became a tired whisper.

"Home, where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth... Hope. Every man who has ventured here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy... So simple..." Bane stood up and gazed above at the light. "And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope. So, as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe they can survive so that you can watch them clamoring over each other to "stay in the sun." You can watch me torture an entire city," He sat down and calmly glanced at the television near the bars "and when you have truly understood the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny... We will destroy Gotham and then, when it is done and Gotham is ashes," he paused and looked back at Bruce as his voice deepened "then you have my permission to die." He put his hand on Bruce's chest and pushed it making him cry out in pain gripping his chest as Bane stood up and took his leave.

I'll try to update more regularly now that my finals are almost done.