I would like to thank everybody who sent me their good wishes. During these rough times, I really appreciate it. I won't be posting a chapter a week like I used to, but I will get this story finished. Just bear with me. Thanks.
I would also like to dedicate this story to my father. Onward and upward, Dad, as always.
Batman & Benson 8
Chapter Ten
"I want to go!" Barbara said, angrily. "You can't let me not go!"
"You do whatever I tell you to do," Bruce firmly told her. He stood in the center of the Batcave, completely clad in the Batsuit, save for the cowl. He pulled on his gauntlets. "That was the arrangement, remember?"
"But this is Liv!" Barbara pleaded. "I want to help!"
"I know you do," Bruce said, his tone softening. "But this is also a school night. Your father is coming over to pick you up later."
"To hell with school!" Barbara cried. "Liv needs my help!"
"That's exactly the kind of attitude that will get you killed in this job," Bruce warned her. "I've told you and Dick time and time again, that you can't let your emotions get the better of you."
"It appears that Miss Gordon shall be staying with us another night," Alfred called, as he strode towards them from the elevator. "Your father just rang, Miss Barbara, and due to the crisis with Liv, he'll be too busy to pick you up, and so he's decided to let you stay here a while longer."
"What about school tomorrow?" Barbara asked.
Alfred shook his head. "No school for you, my dear, not for the next few days. You will be staying with us for at least that long, depending on the length of this crisis."
Upon hearing this, Barbara then turned to Bruce with a hopeful look. Yet her hopes were shattered when he shook his head. "You're still not coming out with me. However, you can man the Batcomputer as Oracle. I'll need backup from you there."
"Better than nothing," Barbara said in a dreary tone.
Alfred gently rubbed the side of her arm. "Miss Rachel will be leaving for the city very soon, and I was wondering if you would be so kind to watch Master Jonah for a bit? I shall be up to relieve you very shortly."
Barbara sadly nodded her head as she walked over to the elevator. Alfred waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke. "What you said to Miss Gordon was absolutely right, sir. However, I can't help but wonder if you're ignoring your own advice."
Batman had just put his cowl on, and he glared at the old man for a moment. "What are you saying, Alfred?"
"Bane abducted Olivia to get to you, sir," the butler replied. "And, I dare say, you are letting him do so. Here you are, charging off to points unknown."
"Point taken, Alfred. But I'm not exactly charging off to nowhere," Batman said. "I'm heading to a high vantage point above the city. Bane will make a public statement to me soon, and when he does, I want to be able to strike at him as quickly as possible."
They both turned and faced the Batcomputer when it chimed an alert. The word BANE flashed on and off in red on the main screen. Underneath the name were the words "online video message intercepted".
"Speak of the devil," Alfred muttered.
"Play message," Batman ordered the Batcomputer.
Alfred then let out a gasp of horror at the image that was presented on the large screen.
It was Olivia.
She stood tightly tied to a support column, her hands bound behind her back. Ropes were pulled taunt over her chest and bare arms, and a gag was stuffed in her mouth. Olivia had been stripped of most of her clothing, and was now clad in just panties and a camisole top. When a shadow fell upon her, Olivia's eyes glanced defiantly over at whoever approached.
It was Bane.
The large, brutish man, his face still covered by the mask, grabbed Olivia by the chin and roughly held her head up, as if inspecting her face.
"Such arrogance, even in the face of death," Bane said. His voice sounded calm, and casual. "This must come from her being in your presence, Batman. This exact arrogance must be broken by me, if I am to inherit the mantle of crime lord of Gotham City. I understand this city now, Batman, just as you do. It thrives on fear. And in order for me to command Gotham City, I must command the fear. I must become fear itself."
Bane released the bound Olivia's face. "I will not kill her. You know full well why she is here, Batman. You know the game as well as I do. She is bait for you. You are the one whom I must kill if I am to claim Gotham City as my own. For you are truly the city's rightful ruler, at least until you are dead. Come for her, Dark Knight, and try and rescue her, if you can. We're waiting for you in the lair of an old enemy of yours that's been recently renovated…with a brand new window, courtesy of a bat."
The image clicked off just then.
"Dear God," Alfred said with a shudder. He glanced uneasily at Batman and asked, "What did he mean at the end? About renovations by a bat?"
"He's telling me where they are," Batman said. "And I know just the place. Alfred, get upstairs and relieve Barbara from watching Jonah. I want her on the Batcomputer, now."
"Right away, sir." Alfred hesitated when he saw Batman was headed towards the Tumbler. "Are you sure you know where they are, sir?"
"Positive, Alfred," Batman called over his shoulder. "The place that's been renovated with a new window? I know it very well."
Batman paused momentarily as he got into the Tumbler's cockpit and stared back at Alfred. "I'm the one who created that new window."
"Godspeed, sir," Alfred murmured, as he watched the Tumbler roar to life and then take off from the Batcave. "Godspeed to you and Liv both…."
B&B
Alex knew there was something dreadfully wrong once she emerged from the women's room of the diner that they had stopped in for a quick bite to eat.
Jordan stood by the booth that she and Alex had been eating in, speaking in a hushed tone with Detective Kate Farlane and two GCPD uniformed officers. When Jordan gestured at the approaching Alex, they all glanced over at her with wide, wary eyes.
"What happened?" Alex asked, bracing herself to hear about another kidnapping, or, worse, another sexually-oriented murder that the SVU had caught.
But then Alex noted that the entire restaurant was very hushed, with all of the patrons staring intently at the various TV screens, which were all set to the same thing.
"Alex," Jordan nervously began. "Alex, please, wait…no, don't look…."
But Alex already stared in horror at the sight on the nearest TV screen, which showed Olivia…her beautiful, darling Olivia, tied and gagged to a column of some kind, while that animal Bane roughly grabbed her gorgeous face and made threats against the Batman. Alex wasn't really listening to anything that monster said. Instead she intently watched Olivia, the love of her life, and hoped that this was some kind of a sick joke.
The next thing she knew, Alex was being led out of the diner in a daze by Jordan and Kate. The uniforms cleared the way outside for them, then opened the rear door of an unmarked police sedan.
Once Alex sat down in the back seat, with Jordan and Kate on either side of her, the realization of what she had just seen sunk in. And she began to shake with a mixture of fear and anger. "I-Is she still alive?" Alex asked. "Did that animal kill Liv?!"
"Inspector Benson's still alive," Kate told her. "She was abducted from the hospital by Bane. But he's keeping her alive so that the Batman will come for her. Bane wants Batman, Ms. Cabot."
"And he's going to get him," Alex said, now seething with rage. "Oh, he's going to get Batman, all right. And I sincerely hope that when Batman finds him, HE RIPS OFF BANE'S DAMNED HEAD!"
Alex then began to bawl uncontrollably just then, clinging tightly to Jordan, who just rocked her back and forth gently as she tried to soothe the inconsolable Alex as best she could.
B&B
"This is it," Kruse called. "Let's lock and load!"
Olivia watched as Bane's men departed for separate destinations within the old abandoned factory in the Iron View section. They were armed with what looked like rocket propelled grenades, or RPGs.
"You each will be guarding the only routes inbound that the Batman can take," Bane called to them. "So remain at your posts, and keep watch for the Tumbler. Only leave your post when backup is called for over the comms."
"Hey, what if we wind up killing the Batman by blowing him up in his batcar?" a black man in the group called back to Bane. "Would you mind that very much?"
"If you see the Tumbler, hit it," Bane ordered him. Then he shook his head. "But the Batman will use the same two-pronged attack that he used on us in the mall. And I won't allow his vehicle to be used to divert our attention again."
"That's assuming he even uses the car again," Kruse said. "He's also got his own plane, you know."
"The RPGs will work just as effectively against a Batplane," Bane told him. "Just keep close watch on the perimeter; I want no more surprises."
Bane strode over to the office where Olivia was bound and intensely regarded her with his dark eyes. "Fear not, Inspector; you will survive this night. For who better to tell the world of Batman's demise than Batman's Buddy herself?"
He leaned in so that they were face to face. Despite the fact that Olivia was helplessly bound hand and foot and gagged, she glared right back at him unflinchingly. "You don't know how fortunate you are, Inspector Benson. You are about to witness true history being made right here. The demise of the Batman, and the rise of Bane as the one true power of Gotham City." Bane turned to one of his men and said, "Keep watch on our guest. She has a front row seat to these proceedings, and I want her to enjoy the show."
'You crazy bastard!' Olivia thought, as Bane stalked away from her. She would have told him so, had her mouth not been stuffed with a gag. Then Olivia glanced the man whom Bane had left behind to guard her.
"Hey baby," the man said, as he slowly walked up to her. He was slight in build, with a Spanish accent, and he had the look of just having recently been in jail. It was the hungry look of a man who had been denied too many of life's simple pleasures. "Not so tough now, are ya? Not without your badge and gun, huh, chica?"
He ran his hand up Olivia's bare leg and hooked a finger on the side strap of her panties. "Hell, you ain't got much of anything on right now, do ya?"
His hand then slid up under her camisole, up towards her breasts.
'Oh, shit….' Olivia warily thought.
B&B
"WE GOT A HIT!"
Deidre glanced up from the ebook she had been reading on her iPad. She was in the main control center at McHenry Air Force base, maintaining what they called Bat-watch. When Bane uploaded the video with the kidnapped Olivia Benson online twenty minutes ago, Deidre had ordered her entire squad on full alert.
They had launched several stealth drones over Gotham City in the hopes of capturing the Dark Knight as he entered the city, and it appears that was exactly what happened.
She went and leaned over at the console of the operator who had called out. "What have you got?" Deidre asked.
"Looks like a big-assed vehicle entering the city, right here," the operator said, as he pointed on the screen.
Deidre smiled when she recognized the bulky black shape of the Tumbler. She pulled out her cell phone and called David Marks, the assault squad commander.
His face appeared on the screen of her phone. "We got something?"
"We got the Batman, driving right up the main drag of the city," Deidre replied with a grin. "Go kick his ass!"
"With extreme prejudice, ma'am." Marks then turned towards his assault crew, who stood ready by the special jump-jet that had been requisitioned for them. "ALL RIGHT, LET'S SADDLE UP, PEOPLE! WE'RE GOING BAT HUNTING!"
B&B
"Where are you going?"
Batman was momentarily diverted from the intense drive into the city by Oracle's voice, which spoke to him over the Tumbler's cockpit speakers.
"The Iron View section, to a former battleground," Batman replied. "The Penguin's lair, where he held Alex captive. She was actually rescued by Mr. Freeze, who momentarily confused Alex for Nora, his wife."
"Yes, I remember," Oracle said excitedly. "We all flew over there in the Batwing. You flew right through the wall!"
"Thus creating the 'brand new window' that Bane spoke of in the video," Batman said. "He was telling me exactly where they were."
"And leading you into a trap, no doubt."
"He's the one falling into a trap, Oracle, by crossing me for the last damn time," Batman snarled. "Can you check traffic for me?"
"You're clear all the way up on West Avenue," she reported. "Just take that straight into the Iron View section."
"Thanks, I'll-"
Batman was startled when the very asphalt in front of him blew up into a fiery explosion. He deftly steered the Tumbler around the smoking crater, only to see another explosion blow up further down the street.
Batman brought the Tumbler to a halt, then glanced around. There was nothing on the street that was armed with that kind of firepower. Then he glanced up.
And he saw it.
Some sort of flying monstrosity with hover abilities hung over him, aiming red targeting lasers at the Tumbler's armor. Batman stomped on the pedal, and the Tumbler lurched forward, just as the very ground where it stood exploded into flames.
"Who the hell's shooting at you?!" Oracle asked.
"Good question," Batman said through clenched teeth as he swerved the Tumbler in a zig-zag pattern down the street. He expectedly ducked the rapid fire from the hovering aircraft.
"Is it Bane?" Oracle nervously said.
Batman stepped on the brakes when a half dozen armored-suited soldiers landed in the street right in front of him. Their armored suits looked like cheap-looking, bulky knock-offs of Tony Stark's sleek Iron Man design.
The lead soldier, who actually had a red, white and blue banner painted across his chest, held up his hand at the Tumbler and said, "Batman, you are under arrest by orders of the OHMR! You will surrender yourself now, or…."
"DAMN IT, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Batman roared.
He stepped on the pedal, and the Tumbler screamed towards the line of armored troops before him.
They opened fire with meager-looking energy bolts that shot from their hands. But they were no match for the Tumbler's armor. Batman aimed the hulking monster right at them until the OHMR troopers all ducked out of the way at the last minute.
The Tumbler shook and rattled with a direct hit from the support aircraft struck it on the roof. Batman glared up at it through a side window and said, "It's time to get rid of you…."
B&B
As he worked in his office, Commissioner James Gordon thought he was hearing things. He could have sworn he heard a loud booming, off in the distance. Then there was a rapid knocking at his office door, and Montoya entered in a panic. "Commissioner, there's a full-scale war going on down the street!"
"WHAT?!" Gordon got up from his desk and went to the window.
"You can see better up on the roof, sir," Montoya told him.
After a quick elevator ride to the roof, Gordon found himself staring at a flying contraption that hovered over the streets like a large angry hornet. It fired what looked like missiles into the streets. Harvey Bullock stood watching the ruckus along with a crowd of other cops.
"Make room around the Bat-signal," Gordon ordered. "I've got to let Batman know about this!"
"No need Commish," Harvey said. "Bats is who they're fighting."
"Oh, my God," Gordon muttered, when he saw the familiar outline of the Tumbler on the street. It swerved and turned sharply, deftly avoiding the onslaught of missiles that were fired at it.
"But who's Batman fighting?" Montoya asked.
"That's what I'm going to find out," Jim Gordon swore, as he watched his city being turned into a war zone. "And when I do find them, I'll make these sons of bitches sorry they ever stepped foot in this town!"
B&B
Batman pulled the Tumbler into the parking garage and raced upstairs to the top floor. The Tumbler, being low and squat, handled the tight turns magnificently. Once he emerged on the roof of the parking garage, Batman finally had a clear field of view, free of buildings. He saw that the aircraft had spotted him, and moved in for the kill, hovering directly over the roof of the parking lot.
Which was just what Batman wanted.
He flicked a button on the control console, one that ignited a recently added feature that was attached to the front of the Tumbler. It was an addition that Lucius made back when Batman battled Clayface. It should work well here. Batman could have targeted his enemy with the Tumbler's missiles, but he didn't want to kill the people on board the aircraft, no matter how hard they tried to kill him.
The aircraft swung towards him, releasing another flurry of missiles that slammed into the Tumbler's side, which violently rocked the vehicle and sent a piercing stab of pain into Batman's torso. Stopping the Tumbler, the Dark Knight grunted in agony as he glared down at the jagged shaft of metal that had jutted out of his side.
'They've switched to high caliber, armor-piercing ammo,' Batman realized, as he pulled the bloody piece of metal from his flesh. 'Better end this, now.'
"YOU'D BETTER SURRENDER, BATMAN!" someone aboard the aircraft commanded over a loudspeaker. "OR ELSE WE WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!"
Batman waited until the aircraft had swung into view right in front of the Tumbler. He shook his head at the fact that they had just exposed themselves to his forward weapons array. He wasn't sure if it was a move born out of arrogance, or sheer stupidity.
"THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, BATMAN! SURRENDER, OR FACE THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES!"
"You first," Batman growled, as he pulled the trigger.
Clayface was a powerful and extremely dangerous shape shifter whose main weakness was electricity. Batman now used the weapon intended for him on this new enemy. He watched as several million volts of electricity shot out from the front of the Tumbler and directly into the aircraft.
The stricken aircraft reared back, as if in shock, as all of its systems abruptly shut down. And once its main hover drives died, there was only one way it could go.
Straight down.
Batman watched grimly as the aircraft slammed into the roof of the parking garage. The crash instantly totaled the aircraft, destroying both of its main hover engines and shattering the glass in the cockpit. Batman drove the Tumbler back down to the street and headed for his showdown with Bane.
"Oracle, I've dealt with the minor problem, and am now heading towards the main objective," Batman said. "What do the streets look like?"
Yet there was only static.
"Oracle?" Batman called again, as he adjusted the tuner on the communications console. Yet there was still nothing. The battering the Tumbler took from the assault team must have fried the comms. He drove on, ignoring the fact that he was out of contact with the Batcave.
Just like he tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his side.
But there was no time for pain.
He was out to rescue Olivia and deliver justice to Bane.
Even if it killed him.
B&B
"What the hell?" Rachel said, as she gazed at the smoldering buildings in the downtown area. She stood on the roof of police headquarters with Jim Gordon beside her. "This almost looks like Metropolis just after Doomsday killed Superman!"
Gordon looked just as livid as Rachel felt. "It was an assault force from the OHMR," he told her. "They crashed on the roof of a parking garage on Canal Street. They were fighting the Batman…and lost. We've captured the crew of the aircraft, but the armored soldiers took off on us. They ignored commands from my cops to halt."
Hearing this news only made Rachel more angry. "A fed strike force is working within Gotham City's limits, without even telling us?!"
Gordon shook his head. "They don't have to, Rachel. Under the new anti-terrorist guidelines, they can now move in anywhere they want without so much as a hello to the local authorities."
Rachael gestured at the ruined office buildings and overturned cars that were set ablaze by the battle. "We have our own anti-terrorism guidelines, as well. And this looks a lot like terrorism to me, Jim."
Gordon gave her a wide-eyed look behind his glasses. "Rachel, please don't be thinking what I think you're thinking…."
"These OHMR bastards came in and shot up our city," Rachel told him. "You bet I'm going after them!"
"Amanda Waller is in Metropolis, which is out of your jurisdiction," Gordon reminded her.
"Yeah, but that's not where this bunch came from," Harvey Bullock spoke up from behind them. "This assault team actually launched from McHenry Air Force base."
"McHenry? That's within my jurisdiction," Rachel said, satisfied. "Get a SWAT team ready to go, Jim. I'm getting a warrant from the first judge I find who'll give it to me." She turned to Harvey and added, "Thanks."
"Hey, it's my city, too, counselor," he said with a shrug.
B&B
"You're such a sweet looking mama," the man whispered, as he ran his hand across Olivia's chest.
'Just wait one second, you bastard,' an enraged Olivia thought. She was frantically working her wrists loose from their bonds behind the pole that she was bound to, and the ropes grew more loose by the second. 'I'll show you just how sweet I am!'
"Oh, yeah, you and me, we're gonna have a real nice time together," he told her. He dropped his hand from her breasts and reached down to her panties, which he began to remove. "But first, let's just get nice and comfortable first, huh?"
A shadow fell across the man's face, and when he glanced up, his eyes grew wide with fear. Olivia smiled under her gag; she didn't have to look to know that the Batman was behind her.
Olivia's molester moved to pull a gun from his belt, only to be struck down by a bullet shot from a gun with a silencer. This stunned Olivia, for the Batman would never use a gun.
But once she finally saw who it was who had just saved her, the bound and gagged Olivia just stared at him in horror with wide eyes.
B&B
"Colonel Lawrence Greenway?" Rachel asked the officer who strode towards them.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. He cast an uneasy eye at the small army of police cars, SWAT vans and armored trucks that were parked at the front gate of McHenry Air Force base. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"You don't watch much local news, do you Colonel?" Jim Gordon asked. He stood next to Rachel at the front gate of the air force base. "This is Rachel Dawes, the District Attorney of Gotham City."
"My duties require me to keep watch on the skies, sir," Greenway tersely said. He swept a hand over the multitude of flashing emergency lights before him. "May I ask what is this about?"
"I think you know full well what this is about, Colonel," Rachel said. "It's regarding the assault force that just attacked Gotham City. It was launched from this base, and we're here to arrest the people involved."
Greenway just stared at her for a moment, as if she were crazy. "You can't be serious!"
"Terrorists have just launched an attack on Gotham City, Colonel. We've traced the attack to your air force base," Rachel said. "So, yes, we're very serious."
"Colonel, sir!" an airman called from the guardhouse.
"Not now," Greenway called to him. He turned to Rachel. "Are you insane? We never launched any such attack."
"Gotham City International Airport would disagree with you, Colonel," Rachel said. "Their radar picked up an unidentified aircraft over Gotham City. It would not respond to any hails, and, after it attacked the city with missiles, it later crashed on the roof of a parking garage. The flight pattern of that craft leads directly back to here, to your base, Colonel Greenway."
"What's the matter, Colonel," Jim sarcastically added, "the OHMR couldn't afford stealth tech?"
"Colonel, sir, please!" the airman pleaded from the guardhouse.
"NOT NOW, DAMN IT!" a visibly nervous Greenway shouted at him. "Look, I don't know what you want, but…."
"I've already stated what I want," Rachel said, "I want to go onto your base and arrest the OHMR people responsible for the terrorist attack on my city."
"No way are you getting in here," Greenway firmly replied.
"That's strange, because General Owens, from NORAD, was much more helpful," Rachel said. "I called him before coming here, and he was extremely interested in this situation."
Before Greenway could respond to that, the airman from the guardhouse came over with several of his comrades and stood between the colonel and Rachel.
"What's the meaning of this?" Greenway demanded.
"Excuse me, sir," the lead airman said. His tone was very calm and formal. "But we have direct orders from General Owens to escort you over to the phone so you can speak to him right now."
Greenway looked visibly sick. "General Owens is on the phone right now?"
"Yes, sir. Please come with us, now, sir."
"Uh…excuse me…." Greenway muttered, as he proceeded to go over to the guardhouse and speak to his commanding officer. He had the doomed air of a misbehaving student who had been caught and was now on his way to the principal's office.
"Smart move, calling ahead like that, Rachel," Jim commented. "Looks like we're going to get these OHMR creeps, now."
"Not unless they leave beforehand," Rachel worriedly said.
Jim gave a questioning glance at Montoya, who consulted her radio and then shook her head. "No activity on all gates at McHenry, sir," she reported.
"You see, Rachel? We've got the whole base cordoned off," Jim assured her. "Nobody's going anywhere."
"Oh, damn!" Rachel pointed at a sleek Blackhawk helicopter that suddenly rose up from behind the gates of McHenry. "How much you want to bet the OHMR bastards are aboard that thing?"
A sheepish Greenway walked back over to them. "I have been ordered by General Owens to allow you full access to the base. You may go wherever you wish."
"Of course we can," an annoyed Rachel muttered, as she watched the Blackhawk as it soared off into the night sky. "We're free to search the base…now that the people we want are long gone!"
B&B
Bane sat cross-legged in the center of the large hall, and calmed himself as much as he could. The venom flowed through him like a raging river, igniting every nerve within his body. He was ready for battle; he was prepared to fight to the death, if he had to…yet he would have to wait for his adversary to come to him.
It didn't take long. Soon, the concrete walls echoed with the explosions of pellets that spewed smoke all over, fogging up the room.
Bane smile beneath his mask.
Batman was here.
He rose from his seat, taking in a deep breath and rolling his head to work out the kinks in his neck. He could not see because of the smoke. But, being a creature of the jungle, Bane had learned not to depend solely on his sight. This was one of the main mistakes he'd made when he first fought Batman in the mall.
And he would not make it again.
Bane felt the rush of air come at him from behind, and was instantly grateful for the Venom, which not only increased his strength, but heightened his senses, as well. He ducked down, just as a body flew through the air right where he stood. The infrared goggles he wore showed the Batman as he deftly rebounded from the missed attack by landing on his feet. The Dark Knight turned and began his attack anew.
Bane stood there, giving off the impression of not knowing what was going on, thanks to being blinded by the smoke. Once the Batman approached for the killing blow, Bane swerved at the last minute and landed a shattering punch to the Dark Knight's stomach.
The blow sent the Batman reeling, and although their brief encounter did not last long, Bane still picked up something. A smell.
It was the scent of blood.
"Injured, are you?" Bane taunted the Batman. "Burning the wick at both ends will do that to a man. Perhaps it is time for you to take a nice, long, permanent vacation."
Bane strode over to the hunched over Batman, only to let out a pained grunt when the Dark Knight abruptly kicked him in the stomach. Bane grabbed the Batman's foot and threw it up in the air, which flung the Dark Knight head over heels backwards.
Batman landed on his feet, but staggered slightly, clutching his side. Bane came over and slugged him in the face. Batman foresaw the attack and tried to duck the blow, but he was too late. The Dark Knight let out an anguished grunt as his face took the full force of Bane's venom-enhanced punch.
Bane watched, satisfied, as the Batman fell to the floor. Bane came over and kicked the Dark Knight right in the wounded area he had seen him clutch earlier. He was rewarded with an agonizing cry of pain from the Batman.
Bane reached down and grabbed the Batman, who tried to fight him off, but was no match for the venom-enhanced strength in Bane's arms.
"It's time to end this," Bane said, "right now."
Bane raised Batman so that he flailed helplessly above his head. Then, Bane pile-drove the Dark Knight right down onto his bent knee, and when he did this, Bane heard a loud crunch erupt from Batman's back.
When Bane flung the Batman onto the floor, the Dark Knight just lay there in contorted agony. Bane smiled under his mask. With Batman's back now broken, the fight was over.
"BEHOLD, THE MIGHTY BATMAN!" Bane triumphantly roared into the darkness that surrounded them. He stared down at the Batman, who, despite the pain he was in, still tried to retrieve something from his utility belt. Bane was truly impressed. Even now, with his back broken, the Dark Knight still tried to fight back.
"You are a valiant man," Bane admitted, "and, because of that. I shall honor you by giving you a swift and painless death. Goodbye, Batman. Rest in peace."
Bane wanted nothing more than to rip out his still-beating heart and show it to the Batman as he lay dying. Bane raised one fist up in the air above the helpless Batman, ready to bring it down in a smashing blow right into the Dark Knight's chest.
"Oh, yoo-hoo, Baney!" a sing-song voice called out from above him.
Bane, startled, turned in the direction that he heard the voice. And what he saw not only startled him further, it actually sent a chill down his spine.
The Joker stood on an elevated platform above him.
And the Clown Prince Of Crime had an RPG aimed right at Bane.
"Now hold still," the Joker instructed, sounding much like a photographer just before taking a photo. "These babies have a tendency to skirt to the left…."
Bane started running.
But it was too late.
The rocket propelled grenade slammed into the floor just behind Bane's back, blowing him halfway across the empty room, where he crashed painfully against the concrete wall and landed on the steel grate floor. By breaking into a run when he did, Bane saved himself from being blown apart by avoiding a direct hit. The venom that coursed through his body had also saved him from instantly dying just now from the shock of the blast's concussion.
But he was merely still alive, nothing more. Bane lay on the floor in horrendous agony, completely unable to move. A part of his mind could not help but appreciate the sick irony that he now was just as helpless as the Batman.
"Did you think you could waltz into town, with your Mexican wrestler mask, and just take over?" the Joker casually asked him. His voice echoed all over the chamber. "I mean…seriously, Bane. Did you really think it would be that easy?!"
Bane was just barely able to turn his head to look up at the Joker, who had finished reloading the RPG.
The Joker had an inhuman grin on his face as he aimed the weapon right at Bane. The Clown Prince Of Crime then said, "Welcome to Gotham City, bitch…."
To be continued...