She Rises by Paradisical815
Featured Song: "Come Away to the Water" by Maroon Five
Chapter Eight: Light
She felt complete and utter panic flooding through her veins and for a terrifying heartbeat she could do nothing but stare at her seventeen-year old brother, kneeling on the ground between her and the door. His blue eyes, a masculine mirror of hers, stared back, wide in confusion and horror. For a few seconds, she could not think, she could not strategize; it didn't matter that she was putting her brother in danger by staring at him. All she felt was terror.
And then she snapped back to herself, suddenly, and tore her eyes from her brother, planting them on the other boy instead. She did not let herself look back at Nathaniel Sherman.
Bane's mask hissed. "You know these boys?" he asked, his tone very easy and masking something very dark.
"No," said Katty flatly.
The boys both started. Katty felt Bane's eyes on her.
"Interesting," he said mildly. "Shall we begin?"
She looked at the two men, standing on either side of Bane, both with large guns, and for a second, her heart stopped. She knew what she had to do.
"Yes," she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. "I need a gun, though."
Bane raised and eyebrow and the boys exchanged a wide-eyed look.
"I can hardly test out pain medicine if they aren't in pain, can I?" Katty snapped, extending a hand out to one of the guards. Bane's eyes searched her face for a moment, and then he jerked his head at one of the guards, who extended his gun out to Katty.
She took it with shaking hands. Adrenaline was beginning to fill her body; there was a rushing noise in her ears, her heart was pounding and her skin seemed to be vibrating.
"Is the safety off?" she asked the guard, calmly. He nodded.
"Good."
And then, faster than she'd have thought herself possible of, she raised the gun and shot him in the head. Blood and skull and brain matter spattered the wall behind him and he collapsed to the ground, but Katty was already turning to the other guard and she shot him too.
"Run!" she shouted at her brother, pointing the gun at Bane. "Go, now, run!"
She heard them behind her, moving, scrambling to their feet and running out of the room. She kept the gun trained at Bane, whose eyes had gone very dark, his body tensed up like a lion's.
"Are you going to shoot me, little girl?" he asked, his mechanical voice a low, dangerous rumble. "Do you think you can?"
"I shot them."
He said nothing. She pulled the trigger, and the gun clicked. She pulled it again.
It was empty.
For a heartbeat she and Bane just looked at each other. And then she chucked the gun at his head with all her strength before turning on her heel and running. She heard a clang, a grunt and a sudden rush of filtered air and knew she'd hit his mask.
She ran as fast as she could out of the building, her feet hitting the floor with incredible force and her arms pumping. She felt like she was flying and she heard her brother call her name when she was out in the cold.
"Kathryn!" he shouted, and she ran to him as fast as she could.
"Go!" she shouted, barreling past the two of them. "Keep running!"
They ran for five minutes, twisting and turning down the alleys and side streets before she stopped. She doubled over, panting, her hands on her knees, adrenaline still pounding through her.
"We have to split up," she panted, struggling for breath. "Nathaniel- you go- go off on your own, keep running, don't stop running, do you understand?"
He nodded and she suddenly grabbed him and pulled him in tightly for a hug.
"You can't go home," she said quietly. "Not for a few days. Keep moving, get a gun. Shoot anyone you think is following you, I love you."
She let go of him and pushed him back. "Go, now. Don't stop running. Go!"
And then he was running, very fast, and he disappeared within a matter of seconds. She could hear shouts in the distance, and knew that Bane's men were coming. She turned to the boy, who was staring at her with wide brown eyes.
"You, with me. Make as much noise as you can."
They were running and Katty knew they were being followed, but they were fast, both of them, without the gear that weighed down Bane's men.
"In here," Katty gasped, panting, and they turned, quickly, skidding into the door of an abandoned convenience store. She ran behind the counter and started pulling the drawers out with shaking hands, searching.
Two guns.
She checked the safety and made sure there were rounds in the barrel and then she tossed the first one to the boy.
"Use this," she ordered, and then she took the second gun, cocking it with a quick, jerking motion. "Get over here and get down."
They crouched behind the counter, waiting. Katty's heart was pounding.
And then it all went to hell.
Even weeks later, she wasn't able to figure out how the two men got in. All she knew was that one second she was crouching with the boy and the next a gloved hand had grabbed him by the hair and was pulling him up and then there was a bang that left her ears ringing and she was splattered in blood.
She didn't have time to scream; she didn't even have time to think. As the body of the boy fell beside her with a thud, there was a hand fisted in her hair, pulling her up, dragging her over the counter, her belly scraping against the uneven surface. Her fingers fumbled on the trigger and she fired, once, into empty air, and then a cruel hand was twisting her wrist; there was a crack and she screamed and the gun scattered to the floor. The hand in her hair yanked her head back and she felt hot breath on her neck.
"Remember me?" rasped a voice. Katty struggled, twisting and wiggling but she could not get away. The man slammed her against the wall and she saw his face; it was the man who'd punched her right after she'd first been claimed by Bane. His eyes were watery and small and he was grinning and his breath still stunk. There was another man behind him. Rat-Tails pulled out a knife.
"Never said thank you. For breaking my jaw."
She was too scared to say anything; her mind was frozen in terror. She knew that look in his eyes. She knew what was coming.
"No," she said involuntarily, her voice very weak. "No."
Rat-Tails' smile widened. "Yes," he breathed. He took the knife and, his eyes never leaving hers, traced it down her leg, deep enough to cut through her jeans and her skin and she felt blood flowing around the white hot point of pain.
"Bane said we weren't to hurt you when he took ya. But I don't think that still applies, do you?" He drove the knife in deeper and she inhaled sharply. "Do you think the boss still wants 'er, Jamie?"
"Doubt it." The other man had a British accent and he was staring at her with burning eyes.
"So you're all ours, pretty little bird."
She heard the jingle of a belt buckle and a zipper and she screwed her eyes closed. The knife pressed sharply against her thigh and began traveling up, up-
"No-"
"Yes." His breath was hot against her face. He used the knife and sliced down her shirt, baring her breasts in the plain beige bra and her soft belly and the breath he drew in was ragged. The knife moved and pressed against her right shoulder. She felt it, wiggling there, and then he very slowly began to push it through skin and muscle and she couldn't hold back a scream. He was panting and she felt a hand scrabbling at the front of her jeans. Blood was flowing down her bare chest, staining her bra, and then he pulled the knife out and she felt his mouth on her neck. The knife moved to her stomach and he began tracing it there, the point red hot where it cut into her skin.
"I bet you're a virgin," he was saying against her neck. "That's how Bane likes 'em, nice and innocent. He hasn't had you yet, though, I can tell… he'll just have to be disappointed."
"Please, stop- don't, please-"
"That't right. Say 'please' again."
The knife went into her left shoulder and she screamed again. Rat-Tails gave a groan.
Katty opened her eyes and he looked at her.
She took the only option left to her, the only way she could fight, and she spat in his face. He dug the knife in deeper and she screamed again, her eyes screwing shut involuntarily- there were a few seconds that were filled only with white hot pain and the sound tearing out of her throat and Rat Tails' panting and the lights dancing behind her eyelids-
Then there was a cracking, a solid thud, and a mechanical hiss. The revolting warmth of Rat Tails' body was torn away and she heard him shouting and pleading. She opened her eyes to see Bane, lifting him up by his throat. Reflexively, her hand scrabbled at her bloody throat until it close around her little silver cross and she held it, so tightly, something in her mind screaming. Rat Tails was sputtering and choking, his feet dangling a foot off the ground, and Bane's eyes were darker than she'd ever seen, stormy like the ocean before a hurricane, and so angry.
"I told you," he said, and his voice was like thunder and there was nothing mild or amiable about it now; it was cold and ancient and he was furious, "she is not to be harmed."
There was a sickening crunch and Bane dropped the body to the side before, slowly, his burning eyes found hers. His breath seemed especially ragged and his eyes were so dark and she was so afraid. She met his gaze, her own breathing harsh and made ragged by pain. Part of her expected him to finish what they started, but he moved over to her slowly, and his hands were gentle on her skin when he touched her. He didn't ask if they'd hurt her, he didn't need to; there was a hole in one shoulder and a knife in the other; cuts on her belly and on her thigh. Her shirt was torn and she was covered in blood.
"Why- did you come for me? I would have killed you." Her voice was very weak.
"I knew you were going to kill them," he rumbled without looking at her. "The moment you asked for the gun, and I knew you would try to kill me. Luckily, I can count. Do not speak again; you are losing blood. Conserve your strength."
He grabbed her gently above her right elbow and quickly pulled out the knife. She whimpered, her knees buckling suddenly, and he caught her, quickly taking her shirt off of her and tearing it in two, pressing a half against each shoulder wound.
"Hold these," he ordered, and helped her sit, leaning against the wall. There was no strength in her arms but she held the fabric where it was as he moved to the counter. He came back a moment later with a first aid kit and taped the fabric against her skin to stifle the bleeding. She watched his face, breathing slowly, her mouth open. She realized, almost distantly, that she was going into shock. Her teeth were chattering.
Bane finished and pulled his massive brown coat off his shoulders and then, with one hand, pulled her to her feet and with a single motion, draped his coat over her shoulders. She was shaking and stared at the two bodies.
Wordlessly, he lifted her into his arms. She did not protest and found herself clutching at his soft black shirt while she swam in his coat. Unbidden, she thought of the first night she'd been with him, when he'd stumbled in, covered in blood and his hands shaking, when she'd helped him.
They were moving. He did not speak but she could feel his heartbeat as much as she could hear it.
Her last thought, before she blacked out, was that his heartbeat sounded like the beating of war drums.
000
She woke up with her back pressed against something solid and smooth and cold. There was a light shining in her eyes and her skin felt very distant, somehow. Something was tugging gently at her left shoulder and she squinted, seeing a pair of big hands quickly pulling a thread through her skin.
"Oh," she said, her voice hoarse. "Oh."
Bane's eyes did not leave the wound. Katty remembered that she'd tried to kill him and her eyes searched his face, but it was unreadable in the harsh light. His hands were moving quickly and deftly. She felt no pain.
"You lost an impressive amount of blood." His voice was quiet. She had no idea what to say. "I didn't know if you would live."
"Why did you come for me?" her voice was raspy and low. She cleared her throat; it was very dry. "I would have killed you."
He didn't look at her until he finished stitching up the hole in her shoulder and then he covered it with a bandage, taping the edges down; the other was already bandaged. His hands were warm where they touched her skin, and very gentle.
When he did look at her his eyes were unreadable above the mask. "Your medicine works. I used your calculations to determine the dosage you needed. How do you feel?"
She thought about it for a minute. She felt good; a little groggy, but that might have been the blood loss. She could feel his hands on her skin but she felt no pain.
"Good," she said finally, her eyes flashing up to his. "I feel… good."
For a moment he said nothing. Then-
"Good."
There were a few moments of silence and they just looked at each other. Katty was disarmed and she felt something shifting between them; the dam had broken when she'd tried to kill him, it was the climax, and this was them coming down. Something was changing.
"Why did you come back for me?" she asked him again, her voice soft, and for just a second, something behind his eyes cracked. There was a second where some sort of wall came down and then he blinked.
"There are several reasons," he said, and his mechanical voice was again calm and amiable and it didn't match his eyes in the slightest. "The most honest of which is that I need you for the medicine."
She gave a nod and waited. His eyes searched hers and he seemed to be thinking, considering options and making plans.
"The other is that I find you… interesting," he said, his eyes burning, leaning forward slightly.
"Are we talking, like… pet gerbil interesting?"
Add to side effects: extreme stupidity.
She couldn't tell, but it looked like he was smiling.
"Something along those lines, yes."
"Well, as long as that's all."
They looked at each other for another second and Katty realized that she was actually smiling at him; not the hard, biting grimace that normally twisted her lips in his presence, but a genuine smile.
Wow. I did a really good job with these drugs.
Very slowly, she tried to sit up and immediately screwed her eyes shut, her head spinning. She heard Bane shift but he made no sound. Then, with her eyes still closed, she twisted her body slowly so that her legs dangled off the table.
And realized that she was wearing only her underwear and a towel over her breasts that was held in place thanks solely to how big they were. Her eyes flew open and she stared at Bane.
"It had to be done," he said simply, and there was no apology in his grey eyes. "I invaded your privacy as little as possible."
She looked at him for a minute, her gaze measuring, and then she nodded.
"Alright."
She tried to stand and stumbled, her head spinning and her chest going cold. She held an arm across her breasts to keep the towel where it was and she felt Bane's hands on her, supporting her. Everything was spinning and her vision was fading around the edges; it was hard to breathe. His voice sounded from very far away.
"Kathryn. Kathryn, listen to me."
She realized that it was the first time he'd actually said her name.
"Need- t' lie down-"
He picked her up again as though she was nothing but a doll and she kept her eyes screwed close, trying to anchor herself against his arms or his chest or anything. Her world kept spinning as they moved.
"Stand up for just a minute."
"I don't-"
"You can." His mechanical voice was calm. She opened her eyes but her vision was completely black so she shut them again and slowly, she felt him turn her vertical, and then her feet touched the ground. She pitched forward but he grabbed her, gently, and held her steady from the back.
"Lift your arms up," he ordered. "I can't see anything."
She did so, too dizzy and weak to argue, and she felt a shirt sliding over her arms and her head and then she was in his arms again.
"Happens- happens to me- sometimes-"
Her teeth were chattering. He was moving her and then she felt the bed underneath her, soft and steady but it felt like it was moving. She clenched her hands into fists, grabbing the sheets, trying to anchor herself. The bed dipped on the other side.
"You're in shock, and the blood loss is catching up to you. You need to sleep."
His voice was to her left and suddenly she knew which way was up again; she was anchored by that raw, mechanical thunder.
She gave a jerky nod. "Sounds… good."
After a few minutes, her body started to equalize itself. It became easier to breath and the world stopped spinning, and when she opened her eyes, she could see snow falling against the night sky outside her window. She heard Bane's mechanical breathing next to her and turned to look at him, her brow furrowing. He was sitting on the bed next to her, leaning against the headboard, his hands folded on his stomach and his legs crossed at the ankles.
"Are you- are you staying?"
"I spent the majority of my day saving your life. It would be extremely counterproductive if you were to die in your sleep." He looked down at her and his mask hissed. "So yes, I'm staying."
Her stomach jolted and she stared at him for a minute, but the dizzy episode had left her weak and exhausted and she didn't have the energy to argue. And, she figured, she'd tried to kill him and he'd still saved her. Just this once, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Just… don't snore."
She wormed her way gingerly under the covers, careful not to aggravate her wounds, noticing for the first time that her right wrist was splinted and taped, and she turned her back towards him so that she was facing the window. She tried to pull the covers up over her ear so that she was cocooned in them but the blanket went taut. She gave up and nestled her head deeper into her pillow.
She was asleep within seconds.
000
Bane waited until her breathing was deep and quiet and even before he looked down at her. She was just a lump, wrapped so entirely in the blankets that only the top of her head was showing in the moonlight. He watched her for a few minutes, just thinking.
What a curious thing you are.
000
She felt the pain before she woke up. There was a burning in her wrist and every breath caused fire to shoot through her chest; the weight of the blankets on her leg and stomach were painfully heavy.
When she woke up entirely the room was filled with the gray light of pre-dawn and she found herself flat on her back and was extremely unwilling to move. It wasn't that the position was particularly comfortable so much as that it didn't hurt and she knew movement would send the pain spiking through her. But she had to move.
She looked to her left and saw that Bane was gone and that she was alone and felt a rush of relief, and then she looked to her right. On the bedside table there was a bottle of water, a note, three pills and a banana. Very gingerly, she pulled herself upright, wincing and hissing at the pain as she did so. She grabbed the water first and drank out of it in long gulps, gasping for breath after she swallowed. Her throat felt raw and scratched. She grabbed the note, next, and was surprised at Bane's writing. Somehow, she'd expected an archaic sort of cursive or the neatness of a typewriter; it was neither. It was a messy scrawl. She liked it; it made him a little more human.
Drink the water and take the pills. There are two oxycodone and an iron supplement that will help replenish the blood you lost. If you don't feel nauseous, eat the banana. Go back to sleep. I'll return sometime in the afternoon.
There was no signature. She seriously considered moving to the couch just to spite him, but her burning and aching chest was very much against that plan. So she took the three pills and washed each down with massive gulps and she slowly ate the banana. When all that was left was a peel, she was beginning to feel drowsy and relaxed.
She nestled back into the pillow and this time she could pull the blankets up as high as she liked. She felt herself drifting off, her heart beating solidly in her chest, her breaths soft and even.
She dreamt of her friends, her three golden friends, and of the ocean, dark and cold and deep and eternal and kind.
000
Katty awoke in a rush just a few hours after she'd fallen asleep, and she had no idea what had jerked her out up sleep until she saw the figure sitting at her feet. It was not Bane.
It was Talia al Ghul.
Katty stared for a moment, not really understanding what she was seeing, not even when Talia gave a kind smile that didn't exactly reach her eyes. The high dosage of Oxycodone was still rushing through her blood and she was very relaxed, almost giddy in a detached sort of way.
"Um," she said, her voice groggy. "I don't think… Bane's here, right now."
Talia's smile widened. There was something very sad about that smile, Katty thought. "I know. I'm here to see you."
She had an accent, too, that Katty realized was a female equivalent of Bane's. It was clipped and lilting and exotic and it changed, too, twisting differently over vowels than it did over consonants.
What happened to these two?
"Uh… why?"
"To give some advice."
"Which would be… what?"
That small smile stayed on Talia's lips as her dark eyes searched Katty's face. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and kind and friendly and Katty didn't trust her at all.
"Bane has always had a fascination with innocence and the ways it manifests itself in people. He used to think that innocence should be protected, at all costs, that the innocence of a child could be a man's redemption… but that belief has faded, over the years. Now he is simply curious. It is a project to him, a science, to see this innocence, and test it."
Katty didn't have to ask Talia whom Bane was testing now.
"Tell me," continued Talia, her dark eyes much older than the rest of her, "has he tried to break you yet?"
For a few seconds Katty was quiet. Then-
"Yes, I think so."
Talia's smile was sad. "Once he would have done anything to protect you."
"Is that what he did for you?"
Talia sat up a little straighter and gave Katty an odd look. "You are smarter than you look."
Katty tried to shrug but it hurt so she just gave a strange nod. "It isn't hard to figure out."
"Yes, a long time ago. He protected me, and I saved him."
"So what happened? Why isn't he… protecting me?"
"That time has passed," said Talia simply. "He is more complicated now, than he was, all those years ago."
"Then why is he trying to break me?"
Talia leaned closer to her then and brushed her hair out of her eyes, very gently, like a mother to a child. "Because he wants to see you outlast him. He wants to believe that something good can withstand the battering of evil, that some innocence can remain."
Katty drew in a breath. "What if he's wrong? What if I'm not innocent, or… or good?"
"Are you?"
"I'm not innocent," she said quietly. "I've got four people's blood on my hands, as well as certain… other things."
"And are you good?"
There were a few moments of quiet. "I don't know. But- why does it matter- why is he… testing me?"
Talia's eyes were dark.
"Because he has long ago abandoned the idea of redemption for himself. He no longer thinks it possible for a man like him to be made whole, and it doesn't bother him that he is beyond redemption. But… somewhere, deep down, he would like to believe that someone else can be saved. And I think he wants it to be you."
To Be Continued
A/N: Just FYI, Come Away To The Water is the unofficial theme song of this story. It fits it in just about every way. Also, HOW WAS THIS FOR SOME ACTION? IT JUST SORT OF EXPLODES IN YOUR FACE but I'm actually really happy with the way it turned out. The not!rape scene was really difficult for me to write.
As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated and much flailed over! What sort of songs do you think go well with this story? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Paradisical
