As Bane lay her body on the sofa in the room in which she first discovered him maskless and vunerable, Scarlett came to life and thrashed out of the embrace still panting, gasping for air with wide eyes. He kept the minimum space between them,
"Get off!" Said Scarlett, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe" She sputtered and used her small fists to grip the sofa material as she closed her eyes tightly.
Bane leaned back and kept his gaze narrowed on the feature's of Scarlett's face,
"What do you need?" He said firmly.
Ignoring him Scarlett's grip steadily began to loosen, her eyes relaxed and smooth reliefs of breath made her crumple.
She opened her eyes and they locked instantly with the man infront of her. Trying to remain calm and not induce a further panic attack Scarlett adjusted her body and used her legs to push her frame further up the sofa until her back pressed into the arm rest solidly.
With a far more intelligent brain than the average man, Bane sussed out the action instantly and his temper flared out. He pinned Scarlett between both his huge muscle clad arms, for the first time Scarlett turned her head away and refused to look.
"You killed them" Her voice declared painfully emotionless while she drew her hands to her chest and minutely rubbed them.
Bane kept his intensity focussed on her, like a magnifying glass angled perfectly on the dot of an ant, burning mercilessly.
"You knew I did it before. Is there some point to that statement?" He asked forcfully.
Scarlett kept her eyes focused on the painting hanging at the far wall to her left, whoever bought it was insane; just a bunch of paint spatters and a ridiculous price tag most likely.
"I never saw it" She spat, "I never saw a man's life taken from him, and I shouldn't have to" By now there was another ragged breathing pattern starting as she got worked up but Scarlett paid it no heed as she moved her hand to Bane's shoulder, vainly attempting to keep him at that distance.
"People die everyday, what's the difference whether I'm the cause or a car accident? Whether its me or cancer? Me or famine? What's the difference?"
"Cancer is a disease. A car accident is just that, an accident. And famine is natural!" Scarlett snapped her head back to look at Bane this time and furrowed her brow as she continued her arguement. "You stole someone's life, stole the possibilities they could of had, stole everything"
Bane bristled and gave a sharp exhale before responded equally passionate about his own arguement. "You didn't say anything when it was someone trying to hurt you"
"I never saw it" Scarlett answered quietly after a while, the firm pressure she had on Bane's shoulder weakened until her hand rested on his skin like a feather.
Bane strongly held his ground,
"It happened though".
Scarlett turned her head and wilted with a long drawn out exhale, her eyebrow tileted for a second as Bane added,
"You really don't realise the gravity of the situation you walked into".
She wriggled slight to straighten her spine, Scarlett kept running her eyes over that ugly painting and responded.
"But I didn't walk into anything, I was forcefully chaperoned" Her voice was harsh, but slowly Scarlett turned her head and shifted her hand to touch the metal of Bane's mask where underneath his lips would be.
The mask covered his skin and prevented Bane from the touch of Scarlett's cool fingers to make contact with his own skin, being unable to feel it made him stay perfectly still.
"Can you tell me why you started wearing this? Please, how did it happen?" She asked with unassuming interest and curiosity into the man's life before becoming a resident of Gotham sewer with a career in villainy. She needed to make the monster seem human, he was a human.
At this Bane did recoil away, he turned his back on her and, feeling exposed, Scarlett stood up quickly and moved from the sofa.
Intending to walk away, she turned herself and almost took a step towards the door before some part of Scarlett's subconcious screamed at her, 'Don't you dare'. Hesitantly Scarlett turned around on the balls of her feet sidled forward; she traced her eyes over the long line of scar tissue running up Bane's spine.
She kept walking up and reached out her hand, as it came close to Bane's skin suddenly Scarlett was grabbed and whirled around, pinned against the counter surface and the villain's body.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Scarlett gasped quickly.
"You keep asking questions? Why?" Bane demanded, he did a slight push up on his arms and cocked his head to the side to stare up at Scarlett's expression. Judging her face and all its slight movements or emotions. Scarlett bit her lip nervously,
"I'm interested…there's nothing wrong with that"
Sensing no hidden motive behind Scarlett's question Bane pushed back and put his hands up to rest on the top of his head, he sighed deeply put his eyes up high, searching for reason in all the confusion surrounding them.
Another long pause made Scarlett sigh for herself, "You don't have to tell me"
Gently she pushed herself off the counter and sat on the sofa, making herself comfortable by tucking her slender legs under her Scarlett lay her head on the plump pillow and watched Bane remain torn in himself.
Following Scarlett he sat upon the sofa but, in antithesis to her, Bane's movements were rigid and stiff, as if the mask he wore made all of his limbs appear in the same robotic style. His elbows knelt into his knees while his large hands sheltered his head protectively, each finger rubbing a tiny piece of skin underneath it.
"Prison. The worst prison you could ever imagine" Bane answered after the long pauses that tetered on the edge of uncomfortable. Scarlett sat up straighter, her interest grabbed and subconsciously she angled her body towards Bane's and leant forward.
She said it before, and undoubtedly she would say it again, but Scarlett was a firm believer that anyone deserved to have their story shared to people who wanted to hear it.
