She Rises by Paradisical815


Featured Song: "Human" by Ellie Goulding

Chapter Nine: False Normalcy

"That hurts," Katty hissed, her eyes flashing.

"It will hurt more if your tendons don't heal properly," said Bane calmly. "Stop complaining."

It turned out her wrist wasn't broken after all but it was sprained quite spectacularly and now that she could use it without excruciating pain, Bane had insisted that she exercise it. Which meant anything from writing over and over to punching him in the stomach (she wouldn't have minded that part except he was built like a brick shithouse and it hurt) to holding still and keeping her mouth shut while he slowly bent her hand backwards.

In the past three days, their dynamic had shifted. Katty figured attempting-to-kill-and-having-life-saved-by a person tended to change the relationship a little, but it was still weird. She didn't feel comfortable around him and she didn't like him, not by a long shot, but now she owed him. She'd have owed him anyway, just for him saving her life, but him saving her in spite of her trying to kill him?

It didn't excuse anything, not really. He was still a psychopath with the blood of hundreds on his hands and he'd still taken her captive and threatened her friends and family. They were not, by any stretch of the imagination, even. She didn't know when or how but she did know a score would have to be settled one day between them.

But she still owed him and that weight lay between them and they had no choice but to shift around it.

"Be still," he ordered, his eyes flashing at her. He was grasping her right hand in both of his, one hand pressed against the back of her palm and the other gently pushing back her fingers. "Keep your fingers rigid."

"It hurts."

He gave her an extremely unimpressed look and she thought of the scar on his back. Three seconds later, he released her hand and she cradled it to her chest.

"Freaking- ow-"

"How are the wounds in your shoulders healing?"

"Pretty good, I guess. They still hurt like a bitch, but it's getting better and they aren't infected or anything, so I think they're alright."

He gave a nod. "Good. Are you able to change the bandages yourself?"

"Yeah, I got it."

Truth be told, it was awkward to clean and bandage the stitching in her shoulders, but the alternative was taking her shirt of in front of Bane. She disliked the fact that he'd seen her very close to naked once enough, and she'd been unconscious for that. She wasn't going to repeat it if it was at all avoidable.

He gave another nod and moved away from her, grabbing the coat that he'd put over her shoulders when she'd been broken and bleeding. She hesitated.

"Um… I… could I maybe go back to the hospital today?"

He pulled the coat on over his arms and looked at her, wordlessly, his eyes very grey above the mask.

"It's just… it's been three days. All I have for company is you and the rat." She gestured at his carrier. "It'd be nice to have a… distraction, or something."

"Are you having flashbacks?"

His voice was incredibly matter of fact. She drew in a steadying breath as she looked into his grey eyes.

"Little bit, yeah."

For a moment he was quiet, and his eyes above the mask gave away nothing. When he spoke, his voice was as mechanical and hard as ever but there was something gentle underneath it that never would have been there before.

"If you wish, you may go back in two days. Give your wounds time to heal. Let your body rest."

"It's not just my body that needs to heal," she said, very quietly, looking away from him. She didn't want to tell him how bad it was, to be alone, that she would shake so hard her teeth would chatter, that she'd only be able to see that man's eyes. She didn't need to tell him that it was so bad she even preferred his company over being alone because at least he was a distraction.

She didn't tell him, but she didn't need to.

He looked at her for a minute, his gray eyes searching her face, and she couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"And I don't wanna sleep," she mumbled. "Cause I'll dream."

She heard him inhale, a deep, mechanical rasp. "I won't be gone long."

She didn't move until she heard the elevator doors slide shut and then she went to the couch and curled herself up into a ball on it, staring with wide eyes at the window. She didn't want to fall asleep. She didn't want to think and she really didn't want to remember but her mind was her own worst enemy and she felt his breath on her neck and his hands on her stomach-

She screwed her eyes closed and grabbed her cross.

000

It wasn't the first nightmare, and it wasn't the worst. She was running, and she didn't know who it was from; first it was the Joker and then it was Bane and then it was Rat Tails, and she could only hear their breathing, only knew who it was by their breathing, and she was in Gotham, running, and she was alone in the streets, too scared to scream for help-

Then it changed, and she heard deep mechanical breaths, and then a voice, calling her name.

"Kathryn. Kathryn."

She woke with a start and a gasp, jerking backwards and then hissing in pain as the movement sent pain spiking through her body. There were hands on her face and she panicked for a moment before her eyes focused and she saw Bane's gray eyes above the mask and her panic calmed.

Who'd have thought?

For a second she thought she saw something like worry in his eyes and Talia's words came back to her in a rush but then she blinked and his eyes were the same as they always were; still and gray and burning.

"You were dreaming," he said, his voice amiable.

"Yeah," said Katty. "I noticed."

His hands were still on her face and they remained there a moment longer before they fell back to his sides and he straightened up to his full height. Katty ran a hand over her face, trying to clear the lingering panic of the dream away, and straightened up too.

"What time is it?"

"Late afternoon. You should eat."

And then, just like that, he disappeared down the hallway and into his room.

Katty felt sort of put out.

"Good to see you too," she muttered.

She wouldn't tell him that just having someone with her in the apartment eased a bit of the stress; that having Bane around, as disagreeable as it may be in other ways, gave her something to focus on that did not cause PTSD flashbacks.

She rose slowly to her feet, wincing. Her jeans scraped over the cuts on her legs and her bra straps shifted against the bandages on her shoulders, but at least the shirt was big enough that it didn't irritate the cuts on her stomach.

"I am a mess," she muttered to herself, retrieving her iPad and headphones before raiding the fridge.

"Spaghetti," she mumbled with incredibly little enthusiasm as she leaned on the door of the fridge, "bananas. Water."

She closed her eyes.

"You know, normal people need to eat meat sometimes! Some protein would be nice-"

"No need to shout." His voice was amused behind her and she gave a yelp before leaning entirely on the door for support, her heart pounding.

"Why do you sneak up on me?"

His chuckle was low and mechanical. "Would you believe me if I said it was funny?"

She turned to look at him, crossing her arms very gingerly over her chest, and it was true; his eyes were crinkled up. "Actually, yes. You're the kind of guy who thinks it's funny to scare the daylights out of people, so you would think it's funny to terrify someone who is currently not at the peak of mental stability."

His quirked eyebrow very clearly questioned whether she was ever at the peak of mental stability and she gave him a glare that she knew was not at all impressive.

"Seriously, can I get some meat? Also, you never told me how you eat."

"We can go check some of the stores, if you'd like."

She raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"I was under the impression you wanted to get out, but I can go alone if you'd rather stay here."

His voice was a challenge and she examined him for a few seconds with a distrustful look on her face and then she gave a quick nod. "Let me get my boots on."

She came back into the living room where he was waiting for her, gingerly shrugging into her coat, and she frowned, thinking.

"I didn't know there were even stores open anymore."

"There are," he said as they stepped onto the elevator. "Some restaurants, too. Even a few movie theatres."

'Movie theatres' sounded extremely strange in his mechanical tone and she looked up at him as the elevator began sliding down.

"Are people still working?"

His grey eyes were amused. "Some of them."

"But I thought that… is anyone paying them?"

He shrugged. "I assume some are."

She looked away from him, frowning at the sleek mirrored doors of the elevator. Calm music played somewhere above their heads, and Katty realized that it was Enya. "Huh."

She felt Bane's eyes on her but he said nothing.

It was absolutely freezing once they stepped out into the late afternoon, but Bane had picked out a good coat for her and Katty stayed warm inside of it.

"So, where's still open?" she asked, looking up at her masked companion as they started to move down the snow dusted sidewalks. His mask hissed.

"There's a store open down this way."

"Do you have any money?"

Very slowly, he looked down at her, a flat look in his gray eyes. She drew back a little but met his gaze solidly, her brow furrowing.

"Do- do we need money?"

"Not anymore," he said, his voice light and his eyes unchanging. Her brow furrowed more deeply and he gave one of his short, mechanical sighs. "Food is being supplied to us by the mainland and replaced as needed. There is no one to pay, little bird."

At that she did start and stared at him as though she'd seen him for the first time. "Little bird?"

He was smiling. "You understand the reference?"

"Yes, I do, and we are not going down that road. If you want a nice, condescending pet name for me, you'll have to pick another one. I know where the 'little bird' road ends."

She couldn't tell because he looked away from her then, but she thought he rolled his eyes. She decided to ignore it.

"So, if no one's working, how are there still restaurants and movie theatres open?"

His legs were much longer than hers and every few steps she had to do a funny little hop-skip to catch up with him. There were more people on the streets today than she'd seen in a while and they were all staring at the two of them with wide and confused eyes. Katty didn't blame them; there was the tall, menacing masked terrorist, and the short, chubby blonde girl, who was currently high on painkillers and chattering at the terrorist like they were friends.

"Some people like to work," he said, and his voice was amused. He seemed to have noticed the same thing she did, and they absolutely noticed that people gave them an extremely wide berth. Katty almost- almost- wished they'd see someone from high school, even though it'd been almost two years since she'd graduated and really, it was time to just let it all go. There were a certain number of people (the number was four) who she sort of wished would see her walking side by side with Bane.

But they reached the store, an old Walmart that had been vigorously revamped in the past few years, without seeing anyone she knew at all.

Katty grabbed a cart- Jesus Christ I am actually grocery shopping with freaking Bane- and headed directly for the meat section. She was vaguely aware of Bane following her and for a few minutes she just looked at the food.

She got chicken and hamburgers and a steak, things that would be easy to cook, and then she made a beeline for the vegetables.

There was something very relaxing about it, despite the masked man at her side. It was normal. If she ignored the smell of chemicals and smoke and leather and old books that clung to Bane, if she shut out the hiss from his mask, then she was alone and running errands for her family. It couldn't last, of course. But she still enjoyed it.

"Now that you've got the medicine I made," she asked, grabbing a package of green beans and tossing it into the cart with a metallic clang, "are you going to take off the mask?"

He just looked at her for a minute, his eyes unreadable, and she continued, pretending to examine the nutritional value on a gallon of milk.

"Cause," she continued, keeping her voice conversational, "I could get some food for you, too. Since, you know, thanks to you I don't have to pay for it or anything so it's not like it'll be a huge sacrifice."

She knew he heard the sarcasm in her voice because he smiled, and then she frowned to herself because she knew he'd smiled only by the change in his eyes; the lift of his lower eyelid and the wrinkles that fanned out from the corner of his eyes. He was becoming familiar to her, and something in that was terrifying.

"The thought is appreciated," he said in his mechanical tone, his accent lilting, "but unnecessary."

"Seriously," she said, leaning on the handle of the cart as they started to move. "How do you eat? I mean, I've been your captive-" his eyes flashed at that but he said nothing, "- for about three weeks now, and I haven't seen you eat, not once. How do you do it?"

He looked at her for a moment as they moved, and he seemed to be considering something. Then he said-

"Very carefully."

Katty stared. And then gave a completely involuntary laugh that surprised both of them and made a man in his thirties look up at them, startled, from an aisle over. Bane seemed pleased; the wrinkles around his eyes deepened, anyway.

"Okay, fair enough. Oh, crap-"

She trailed off into silence, thinking for a moment. She knew she needed female hygiene products, and for a second she considered trying to get Bane to go get himself another normal shirt or something, but quickly abandoned the idea. After the events of a couple days ago and thanks to their extreme, if polite, distrust of each other, she knew that it wasn't likely and decided not to waste her time. She gave a mental shrug and headed to the tampons.

It was actually extremely funny. She felt no awkwardness at all- it was just biology- but Bane looked so out of place amongst the Tampax, with his mask and his eyes and his hands gripping his collar that she actually snorted and he gave her a flat look.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" His voice was extremely unimpressed. She couldn't bite back a grin.

"Little bit."

That time, she was positive- he absolutely rolled his eyes at her. She seriously considered chucking a box of pregnancy tests at his head but decided against it- he hadsaved her life.

There weren't cashiers anymore, but there were stations they went through to check out. Instead of a cashier, there was one very unhappy looking government official, walking between the check out lines, and there was a log book where they had to enter their names, the date, what they were taking, and how many people the supplies were for. Katty grabbed a pair of boxers to sleep in as they headed to this station, and when she looked up, the pack of plaid shorts in her hand as Bane leaned on the cart next to her, her jaw dropped.

"Oh, Christ," she exhaled, tossing the boxers into the cart, her heart pounding unnecessarily hard. Bane looked over his shoulder, following her line of sight. There was a couple, about Katty's age, staring at Katty and her captor in utter disbelief.

This is what you wanted, dumbass. And seriously, you're with freaking Bane and you're nervous about these two? Priorities, woman, you need to work on yours.

"Friends of yours?" Bane asked mildly, his eyes flashing away from them and back to the blonde. She cocked her head, raising her eyebrows.

"They used to be."

His eyebrow lifted in questioning.

"They used to be some of my best friends," she said, turning her back on the staring couple and stalking towards the check out station. "I'd had a huge thing for that guy since I was like… twelve. She started dating him. Long story short, we aren't friends anymore."

His eyebrow lifted more.

"It was a bad year," she said shortly, entirely unwilling to go into any more detail. He didn't push.

Bane glanced back over his shoulder. "They're still staring."

She gave him a withering look. "Gee," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I wonder why that might be?"

The look he gave her then was definitely amused.

She bent over the ledger and slowly began to write out all the required information with her bad right hand. She had to go slowly, because using the wrist hurt, and after a few minutes the pen was plucked out of her hand by Bane.

"Uh, rude-"

"If I were to let you continue at this speed we'll be here all night. Move."

So she stepped back and let him fill it all in, all the while feeling the eyes of her not-friends on the back of her head. She wondered what they were thinking, seeing her with this man.

After a few more minutes, Bane dropped the pen on the ledger and it rolled away. They were walking towards the exit when they were stopped by the government official, a woman who seemed like she was trying to simultaneously show Bane how much she hated him and how much she was afraid of him.

"You can't take the cart," she said stiffly. Katty looked up at Bane to see him quirking an eyebrow. "We only have a certain number."

"You won't miss one," Bane told her, and his mild mechanical voice was an edict. The woman's eyes flickered to Katty and then back to the terrorist.

"I'm sorry, but-"

"Move," said Bane carelessly, and the woman swallowed her words as Bane pushed past her.

"I'll bring it back tomorrow morning," Katty told her, and the woman gave her a glare that startled her in its ferocity.

"Kathryn." Bane's voice sounded from a few feet away and she gave the woman one last, confused look, and then she caught up with her captor.

"She thinks you're with me," he said, his mechanical tone conversational, as the automatic doors 'whooshed' open in front of them and they stepped into the cold. "She is not going to reciprocate any kindness you show."

"How stupid do people have to be to think I'd willingly be with you?" she snapped, buttoning her coat against the cold with fumbling hands. Bane looked amused.

"Unfortunately for you, my dear, most people will think exactly that. Your friends certainly seemed to."

Katty made an unhappy noise in the back of her throat but said nothing.

Darkness had fallen and the streets were quiet. The streetlights were on, catching the falling snow in their beams, and it was not peaceful. It felt, instead, like a waiting, a quiet preparation. Katty glanced at her masked companion and understood.

The walk back to the apartment was largely uneventful, with Katty pushing the cart over the snow-dusted concrete and Bane walking quietly beside her. He made very little noise, for such a big man; Katty suspected that, were it not for the hiss of his mask, he's be able to sneak up on just about anyone.

000

She made beef stroganov, the kind her father always made for their family, and soon the apartment was filled with the smell of sizzling beef, mushroom sauce, and pasta. Katty actually hummed while she cooked, but not because she was happy; It just seemed the thing to do. Bane was sitting at the kitchen table with a massive file open in front of him, filled with things like blueprints and notes in a language she didn't understand. He had a pencil in his hand and wrote something down every now and then in what looked like Arabic.

She really wished she'd paid more attention in the language last semester.

He glanced up at her, over the notes and the mask.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

"I'm not," she said cheerfully, moving the ground up beef off of the hot unit and pouring the mushroom sauce into the noodle. "Can you smell this? It smells incredible,you should have some-"

He ignored her attempts at provoking him. "People of foul dispositions do not generally hum as they cook."

"True," she said, raising an eyebrow and pointing a spoon at him. "But people who're trying not to think do."

He raised an eyebrow and she turned back to the stove.

"Fake it till you make it," she said easily, although she knew her expression did not match her voice. "A depressed person wouldn't hum, so I'll hum. They probably wouldn't make beef stroganov either, so I'm doing that too. If I go through the motions enough, I will at some point start to believe it. It's just a matter of time."

She felt his eyes on her for another moment before he spoke. "That is certainly an interesting philosophy."

She gave a decisive nod. "Backed up by years of experience, too."

She ate quickly, and the richness of the food running through her system made her relaxed and sleepy as she cleaned up after herself, washing all the dishes and putting what was left of the food in the fridge. When she was done, she turned back to look at Bane.

"I'm going to bed," she told him. He didn't look up from the file. "There's some food in the fridge, if you decide you want it."

And with that, she disappeared into her room, took an oxycodone, and was asleep very quickly.

000

Bane was gone by the time she woke up the next morning and, when she checked the fridge, the food was gone too.

The smile she gave then was a little sad, and it did not reach her eyes.

000

She was up early the next morning, dressed and showered and re-bandaged herself, very eager to get out of the apartment and to interact with humans who didn't speak with a mask. She was also extremely glad she'd bought a coffee maker, finding herself feeling truly awake for the first time in a long time as she leaned on the counter, taking massive gulps out of the hot mug. Bane was sitting on the couch, going through yet another file.

"Are we gonna… go?" Katty asked slowly, her eyes flicking to the elevator doors. Bane didn't look up from what he was doing.

"In a moment," he said, his mechanical tone very steady. Her brows furrowed slightly but she said nothing.

A few minutes later, the elevator doors slid open and Barsad, with two other men, walked into the apartment. Barsad looked at Bane.

"Sir?"

Slowly, Bane closed the file and unfolded his massive body, rising to his feet with the grace of a big cat about to start a hunt. Katty's eyes were flickering between the two of them; one of the other men had something in his hands, some kind of gun, it looked like, but she knew it wasn't a gun.

"Proceed," Bane said calmly, and Barsad grabbed Katty by the arms. She inhaled sharply in pain and panic.

"Calm down," Bane told her, his mechanical voice mild. "They aren't going to hurt you. Hold out your left hand, palm up, please."

"Wha-"

One of the other men grabbed her arm and twisted it, sending a spike of pain through her body and especially the wound in her shoulder, and she gave an involuntary whimper. Bane's eyes did not change. The third man approached her, holding the gun out, and her eyes widened, flicking from the man to the gun to her wrist and to Bane.

"What-"

"Be quiet," he told her sharply, and the point pressed the point of the gun against her skin. Complete and utter terror filled her and she started to shake.

"Now," Bane said, his mechanical rumble of a voice calm. The man pulled the trigger and there was a whoosh, a soft thump, and a burning pain in her wrist. Barsad released her and she stumbled away from him, holding her hand to her chest.

"You may leave," said Bane carelessly, his eyes not leaving Katty's. "I will join you in a moment."

Neither of them moved until they were alone and then Katty collapsed against the counter, her head spinning and her heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat. Her wrist was throbbing and she felt a lump there, right in the hollow where her palm joined to her wrist and she realized very suddenly what it was.

"You absolute asshole," she spat with a shaking voice through chattering teeth, and when she finally turned her head to look at him, she felt the force of the fire in her own gaze. He was holding bandages and his expression under the mask was flat and unreadable. "You're gonna put a tracker in me like I'm- I'm your dog?"

"Give me your hand," he said, holding his out.

"Fuck you," she said. "Give me the bandages and I'll do it myself."

He moved forward to take her hand anyway but she jerked backwards, out of his reach, and raised her eyebrows at him. She was still shaking but some of it was anger, now, and when she spoke to him next, her voice was a hiss.

"Don't you touch me."

Something did flash in his eyes then, but it was fast and gone before she could put a name to it. Without his eyes leaving hers, he set the bandages and the tape on the counter next to her.

"The tracker is in such a place so that, if you try to remove it, you will open a vein and bleed to death. My men and I have better things to do than constantly watch after you, so this was the logical alternative. It will also monitor your pulse, so I'll know if and when you find yourself in another dangerous situation that you probably caused. You will be back here by four thirty this afternoon," he told her, his voice conversation and mechanical and his eyes dark. "If you aren't, I will send out a manhunt and kill every man, woman and child between you and I."

And then he turned on his heel and strode out of the apartment, leaving her to bandage her shaking hand and regain her composure in solitude.

000

"He did a good job stitching you up, at least," said Dr. Langer as he gently examined the areas of flesh around the stitching in Katty's shoulders. She gave a grunt. "You cleanin' these regularly?"

"Twice a day, yeah."

"Good." He gave a decisive nod and pulled the gloves off of his hands and then running a hand over his eyes.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about," said Katty slowly, not quite sure how to proceed. Langer's eyes rose to meet hers.

"I have, um… I have chemical depression." She articulated each word very carefully. It was a speech she'd given many times. "It runs in my family. Both of my parents have it, my grandparents, a lot of my aunts and uncles, so I've had it my whole life. Most of the time it's not a problem, cause I'm on meds, you know, so that evens me out, but since I was taken, I haven't had any." She drew in a deep breath. "And it's starting to effect my ability to think and remain objective and logical."

Langer raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue. She decided not to tell him she'd gone grocery shopping with the murderer with the blood of hundreds on his hands.

"I mean," she said, "I have the Oxycodone, so that's better than nothing. And I have to cope, I gotta stay sane and calm somehow. I know it's not the healthiest way of dealing, but I just have to keep my head above the water and I don't really have a lot of room to be picky about how I do that."

He nodded.

"But I need to be able to think, and rationalize, and I can't do that when I'm buzzed all the time."

He nodded again.

"What did you used to be on?"

000

She didn't see her mother that day and very much wished that she had, but being able to talk to people and help them did more good for her than the Oxycodone ever could have. She talked to the women in the rape ward and they gave her advice, told her how to handle it, how to find her triggers and how to control them.

She left at four and realized after a block that she was being followed. They weren't Bane's men; they looked like they weren't anyone's men. There were four of them and her heart was pounding and she was filled with fear and sheer disbelief.

This isn't happening. Not again. Lightening doesn't strike twice-

"Hey, girl!" one of them called out to her. She did not look back, held her head up and kept walking, her new pills rattling in her pocket, wishing that she had a gun because no one could touch her then.

She heard them speeding up.

Just a few more streets.

She could feel the fear rising in her throat like bile and she pushed it down because she knew she could not afford a panic attack or a flashback right now, keeping her eyes straight ahead of her as their footfalls drew closed. She started preparing her mind to fight, thinking back to her "lessons" with Bane, how he moved, the tricks he'd used-

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she drove her elbow backwards, feeling it sink deep into a man's stomach. He wheezed and she said:

"Touch me again and that'll be somewhere that won't just bruise."

Her voice was shaking but she kept moving. She heard the man she'd hit swearing and the other ones were talking too; they were getting angry.

Seriously what the fuck there's no way this can statistically be happening to me-

They were calling after her now, and starting to swarm around her. They were all taller than her, but not as tall as Bane- they looked hungry, and dirty, and she kept walking.

"Hey," said one of them, throwing an arm out in front of her, forcing her to stop. "Don't ignore us."

"Don't get in my way," she snapped, and they laughed.

"Got some spunk in you, huh?"

"So I've been told," she said. Her arms hung loose at her side and she was flexing her hands, very aware that she would not be able to pack a good punch with her right hand.

Use your legs, do that one thing, swing yourself up at them, you're good at that-

"Girls with spunk have got no place in a time like this," said another one of them, leaning in and smiling at her. She mapped them out in her mind; there was the one right in front of her, one directly to her left and the other two were behind her.

"Is that so?" she asked him, and then she kicked back with her right leg and felt something like a kneecap give way and the man roared in pain; she drove her elbow into the man on her left's stomach and drove her knee into the crotch of the man in front of her-

And then the second man, the one behind her, knocked her feet out from underneath her and sent her sprawling on the concrete, scraping her hands and leaving them bloody. They were quieter, now.

"Well," said one of them, his voice a growl, "that was unexpected. You are spunky."

She said nothing and jumped to her feet. None of them were smiling now and they surrounded her in a circle; she thought about trying to make a run for it but knew she'd never make it past them.

Think, think, what would Bane do-

But that line of reasoning was useless because Bane wouldn't be attacked in the first place and even if he was, he could snap their necks in under four seconds. She was barely a fighter in the first place and everything she knew came from Bane and from assorted action movies. She had to fight smart, and how the hell could a five foot two twenty year old with holes in her shoulders and a bad right hand fight smart against four fully grown men?

She thought of the tracker in her wrist. If she could hold them off for a just a few more minutes, Bane would come looking for her, and she was only a street or two over, and she was sure her fast pulse was registering on however the hell he monitored her. She'd start yelling soon- not yet, she had to conserve energy- and he'd find her. She hated that she had to rely on him, but she wasn't stupid; if it was between him and this, she'd choose him. Every time.

Okay. New tactic. Don't try to beat them. Just outlast them.

"I'm artistic, too," she said, her arms out to her sides. The circle of assholes was staring to close in on her. "C'mon, surely this is not the best way to get a date- shouldn't you at least buy me dinner first?"

"I don't think you deserve dinner," snarled one of them.

"Quite right," she chattered, trying to cover how absolutely terrified she was. "How about a coffee, then, that might be good-"

One of them lunged at her and, completely reflexively, she ducked underneath her, sending him sprawling into another man.

She saw an opportunity and she took it. She ran as fast as she could, sprinting, her arms pumping as they shouted behind her, clambering after her.

She was fast, but she didn't think she'd be able to out run them. She had to outsmart them but she had no idea how; she was running on adrenaline and leftover Oxycodone, she wasn't trained for this sort of thing, she was a Graphic Design major for Christ's sake-

Yeah, said a quiet voice in her head. A Graphic Design major who wants to work for the CIA. Start now.

She tried to think as she hurtled around a corner, skidding a little on the concrete and she stared around the street, trying to get her bearings, to plan and to strategize.

Okay, it's easy. What would James Bond do?

She skidded into the building on her right, a massive, modern bank, and she knelt behind a desk and waited.

They came in and ran past her; she waited until the sound of them was faint and then she rose to her feet and walked over to one of the walls, where there was a fire extinguisher and a fire alarm. She pulled the alarm and broke the glass to the extinguisher with her very sore elbow, grabbing it and holding the hose out in front of her.

The alarm screeched and whirred and generally made a huge nuisance of itself and, seconds later, the men came skidding back into the massive room. She turned the hose on them. Slowly, they looked from each other and back to her.

"Here's what's going to happen," she shouted over the sound of the alarm. "You four are going to walk out of this building in front of me. You are going to go your separate ways and not get together again, and you're definitely not going to chase down any women who want nothing to do with you. Understand?"

"What makes you think we're afraid of a little cunt with a fire extinguisher?" one of them shouted at her. She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth but their faces changed, suddenly, into surprise and fear, and she heard the tell tale mechanical hiss.

"If you were intelligent men," came Bane's voice behind her and the mechanical thunder had no problem rising over the shrieking of the alarm; "you would listen to her. However, I can see that you are not at all intelligent men, so let me make this very simple for you."

She didn't have to look at him to see that his eyes were burning.

"If I see any one of you within a two hundred foot radius of this woman, or if I find out you are abusing any other woman, your heads will no longer be attached to their respective bodies." His voice was very polite but Katty heard the dark promise underneath it. Bane turned next to her and gestured to the doors.

"After you."

The men all but ran past them and Bane gave Katty a very hard look before moving over to the fire alarm. He did something, and it quickly shut off. She tucked the fire extinguisher into the crook of her elbow and put her other hand on her hip as he turned back to face her. She could see by the set of his eyebrows that he was angry.

"I had it under control," she said, irritation clear in her tone, and he began to move towards her. He had a very distinctive walk, his shoulders sloping over, and she noticed that he was actually slightly bowlegged.

"They were about to attack you again. What would you have done?"

She raised an eyebrow and hefted the fire extinguisher. He came to a stop in front of her, very close, way too close, less than a foot between them and why did he always smell like smoke-

She had to crane her neck back to meet his eyes. "I was handling it. I don't need you to be my savior, thanks-"

"Clearly," he rumbled, his eyes burning, "you do."

She glared at him and he glared back, and then she turned on her heel and strode out of the building.

They walked back to the apartment in burning silence.

To Be Continued


A/N: Whew, LONG chapter. Things are definitely becoming fun to write. I love the dynamic that's developing and THE TENSION AND HERO/VILLIAN RELATIONSHIP AND THE WHOLE NEED/HATE THING IS SOOOOO MUCH FUN TO PLAY WITH.

Also, to anyone who's worried about Bane being too nice in this chapter, don't worry. That man's always got something up his sleeve and he's always got a contingency plan. :)

Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up the day after tomorrow. I hope the long one makes up for the extra day of waiting, hah.

Keep the song suggestions coming!

Love,

Paradisical