Chapter Twenty-Five

The Sinners Crawl

Malayna's POV

I liked to believe that I was a reasonable woman most of the time, I liked to think that I was levelheaded, and that I was kind and willing to work with anyone to accomplish that which needed to be done, but all of that had changed when Bane had been taken prisoner by those whose help he had sought. Suddenly I was a thoroughly unreasonable woman, one who was rash, and discourteous and demanding and unwilling to do anything at all to aid our new captors, not without laying out some terms of my own, that is.

"I need you to speak to me, Miss Bishop," James Gordon shaped, taking the time to form his words slowly and precisely, so that I wouldn't miss anything that he said. "I was always under the impression that you couldn't talk at all, because you never chose to while you were taking care of me, but the Batman assures me that you can, so….."

"You assumed that I was d-dumb, in addition to being deaf, is that what you're saying?" I asked, silently cursing the stumble in my speech, then looking behind the Commissioner, to the figure that was cloaked in shadows. "No, I've always been able to s-speak, when I wanted to, but I chose a life of silence until Bane encouraged me to find my voice again."

He leaned back in his chair and took a drink from the cup of coffee that never seemed to leave his side. "You speak very well, Miss Bishop, for one who chose not to use their voice for so long. You say that Bane encouraged you. Would you care to expand on that a little? Could you give me an example of the manner in which he would persuade you?"

I switched my glare from the Bat to the man who sat in front of him, my lip curling in time with the tightening of my hands into fists at my sides. He was insinuating that Bane had used force to encourage me to do exactly as he'd bidden, that much was clear and certain and it enraged me to bear witness to his character being maligned so grievously.

"He showed me that I could trust him," I answered, speaking through teeth that were tightly clenched. "And that's all that I have to say about that, Commissioner. As a matter of fact, I'm n-not going to say another word to you until I'm taken to see Bane with my own two eyes, so that I will know that no harm has come to him. He needs his medication, and he needs to know that I am here to help him, so I want to be taken to him at once."

He raised his eyebrows at me, not in a way that was mocking in nature, but one that set my teeth on edge none the less, not that they needed any help in that area. "We weren't informed that he needed medication of any kind, Miss Bishop, but if you will tell us what he needs, and what dose we ought to administer, we'll be happy to take care of that for you."

So that was the way that he was going to approach me, was it? Apparently he saw the woman that I had been, the little mouse, as Bane had thought of me, someone who was meek and mild and scared of her own shadow, as opposed to the woman that I had become, the one who was aggressive and strong and ready, willing and able to fight whomever I had to, to ensure that Bane wasn't harmed. I was the Mama Bear in every way, only it wasn't my cub I was guarding, it was my man, and I pitied anyone who tried to hurt him whenever I was around, because it would be their final act before they left this Earth.

"I am aware that a good amount of time has p-passed by since his last injury, but perhaps you will recall that it was a grievous, one that he barely survived, and as such he still requires care and medication from a t-trained professional, that being me, Commissioner. I have his medication in my possession and I will be the one who administers it to him, not some stranger that he doesn't trust, and who more than likely could care less w-whether he lives or dies."

When I looked at James Gordon I remembered the man that I had cared for during his time in the hospital, I recalled his kindness and his gentlemanly nature, and that was why it pained me to speak to him the way that I was, but not enough to shut me up. I don't know how much of his animosity toward Bane was due to his own experiences, and how much was because of the influence of the Batman, but I couldn't play nice, and act like things were still the way that they'd once been, when they were now so drastically different.

"What do the personal feelings of his caretakers have to do with his wellbeing?" Batman asked quietly, moving forward, into the light, so that it fell upon his face. "Are you saying that you believe he will fare better with you, Miss Bishop, because you love him? Surely you know better than to believe that, don't you?"

"Mark Twain said, "'Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see,'" I replied, fighting against my baser urge to tell him what I thought of him. Why should I behave that way when it was just as easy, and in the long run, was more rewarding and satisfying, to keep my temper in check?

"And what does that mean to someone like Bane?" he asked, refusing to back down even an inch. "I doubt that he even has a concept what kindness is, and even if he has heard of it, I seriously doubt that he cares….."

"Leo Buscaglia said, " 'Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around,'" I continued, choking back a laugh when I saw his brown eyes darken even further with his temper.

"And there are people who can't get past what he did to this city, so how do you expect for them to be able to tend to his needs as if he'd never wronged them? This city is still healing, Miss Bishop, and it's highly unlikely that they will feel anything but animosity toward this man, no matter how much time passes, no matter how much you think that he's changed."

"'Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not'…Samuel Johnson," I said, more to myself than to anyone else, though I was certain that both of them had heard me just fine. This was a part of life that Bane must have been happy to leave behind, even if nothing else about our former place of forced residence had pleased him, this knowledge that the world loathed him, and wanted him dead ha to have been nice to leave behind. I knew that it would have been nearly impossible for me to continue on with life if I knew something like that, and I was thankful that he was made of stronger stuff than I was.

"You sound like you swallowed a book of quotations," he said, the corner of his mouth curving with what might have been a smile. "Do you have any words of wisdom of your own to enlighten us with, or do you always depend of something that someone else has already said better than you'd ever be able to?"

He was trying to provoke me, I could see that plain as day, but I'd be damned if I'd give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd managed to heighten my anger. "My life was filled w-with nothing but kindness until I lost my hearing, and that was when I learned the p-potential for cruelty of those around me. I had love and compassion from my g-grandmother, until she died, but not much at all afterwards, until Bane and I were taken from the hospital. I'm not saying that he's perfect, or that he's blameless, but I will say that he r-responded more favorably to my care when he was still in the hospital than he did to the others, and I believe it was because they m-made no secret of the fact that the only reason they wanted him to live was for the huge paychecks."

"So the money wasn't a draw for you as well? It made no difference to you at all? I have to say that I find that hard to believe, Miss Bishop….."

"Believe whatever y-you want to," I told him, hoping that my voice conveyed the loathing that I felt toward him that grew stronger with each moment that passed us by. "I couldn't care less what you think about m-me. I just want to take care of him, p-please. He needs me and I need him, whether you accept that or not, no matter h-how much it might disgust you, it's the truth….."

"You will be watched at all times, and if I think that something fishy is going on you will be forbidden to see him altogether, Miss Bishop," the Commissioner said, concentrating his attention solely on me, though it was obvious that Batman was making his protestations known. "I'm doing this because you took care of me when I needed someone the most. The others nurses saw to my every need, but there weren't many who went above and beyond, and you were one of them, the best of them, and I owe you my thanks for that…please don't make me regret this, Malayna."

They both escorted me down the corridor outside of the Commissioner's office, and toward the cells where the prisoners were being housed. There was one area that was cordoned off for those who were the least likely to unleash mayhem on anyone, then there were the ones which were obviously intended for the more dangerous criminals…and then there was the ward that Bane apparently had all to himself, with his cell located at the end of the hall, which was lit by bulbs that blinked on and off in a rhythm that I was certain was accompanied by a loud, annoying, buzzing sound.

The door of his cell was solid, with a window that allowed me to look in at him, and my heart clenched painfully at the sight that met my eyes. He was doing pushups in a methodical manner, and had been doing so long enough that his shirt was soaked through with sweat up and down his spine…and he was wearing a mask, the sort that people use when the flu season is in full swing.

"Why is he w-wearing that mask?" I asked angrily, turning to look first at Batman, then at the Commissioner. "Does it make it easier on you to treat him b-badly, if he looks like the man who terrorized Gotham, as opposed to the man that reached out to you to s-save us all?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned back to look at the Bat. "He insisted that we give him the mask, Miss Bishop. Maybe it makes it easier for him to be in our presence, if he looks like himself, even if he isn't quite as menacing as he used to be. I don't know whether or not he meant to save anyone, we're still looking into that, but I'd advise you to learn the facts before you start throwing accusations around."

I suppose that I ought to have answered him, to have said something, but Gordon had unlocked the door and stood aside, to allow me entrance inside Bane's cell, and my need to see him, to be near him, was too strong to have me linger one moment longer in that hallway, trading quips and insults with a man in a bat costume. I slowly made my way inside, clinging tightly to the bag that held all of his medications, wanting, more than anything, to run to him and throw my arms around him.

I stopped in front of him and felt uneasy, standing over him, so I squatted down, hoping that he would look up at me, but he continued with his exercise, as if he didn't see me at all. Now that I was close to him, I could see that there was sweat running down his face, which was red against the pale blue of his mask, and I knew that he was pushing himself too far.

"Bane, honey, you need to stop this," I said, reaching out my hand, to lay it tentatively on his shoulder. "You've done enough for today. It's time for you to rest and to take your medication."

His body continued to rise and fall for five more repetitions, and I was beginning to think that he meant to ignore me, but then he lifted one hand off of the floor and reached up to take hold of my arm. His touch was hard and punishing to begin with, enough that it made me wince, but then it gentled, and became a caress, before he slowly lowered his body to rest upon the floor. I saw that his mask was moving and knew that he was speaking, but I couldn't see his words and started to ask him what he'd said, but then he moved toward me and pressed his head into my lap, and I forgot everything, and everyone, and ran my fingers through his hair, soothing him as best as I could.

Bane's POV

"I knew that you would come, my dear. My past insisted that you would not do so, not now, that you had been given the opportunity to flee, but here you are just the same. You really do love me, do you not?"

No response.

Of course, I had not expected her to answer me. How could she possibly do so if she could not read my lips? It was not feasible for one who was deaf to even know that you had spoken to them if you were wearing a mask, but that did not matter right then. The only thing that was important to me was to move closer to her, to push down on her until she was sitting on the floor, and to rest my head in her lap. I had been concentrated on physically pushing myself as hard as I could, determined to keep my mind and body occupied, until she was there with me again…in the hope that she would be with me again.

We had not been separated from one another for very long, but it may as well have been days, possibly weeks, months perhaps, maybe even years and I kept a tight hold on her as I pulled myself off of the floor. She had become my anchor in life, one that kept me grounded in the reality of what was right and I could feel myself drawing away from the chaos that had taken hold of me when Gordon and the Batman had turned the tables on me, back toward the peace and purpose that I had found in her arms.

"She's brought your medication for you," the Commissioner said from the doorway. "I'll give you half an hour with one another, and then you and I need to have another talk. We'll be waiting right outside the door. Be sure to bear that in mind, just in case you get a notion to be a bit more touchy-feely than you ought to be."

I had almost forgotten that they were there, watching us, and his voice was like a splash of cold water raining down upon me. Thirty minutes with one another, it may as well have been half a minute instead, because I knew that the time would fly by in an instant. I needed more time to feel her arms around me, to feel her hands on my back and her lips on my face. I needed three hours, at the very least, but I knew that there would be no negotiating with the veteran police officer…nor with the one who was pretending to be the Batman.

Bruce Wayne was dead, I knew that as well as I knew that Talia was gone forever, save for that small piece of her that survived, and tormented me, from my memories. This Bat was a younger man, one who was quick to anger and who had taken a good deal more enjoyment in rattling my brains about in my skull than he ought to have. I suppose that his presence was necessary, I suppose that the people of Gotham needed a symbol to protect and inspire them, since they seemed to be incapable of doing so for themselves, but I was personally sick of the sight and sound of him.

"Leave us," I said, moving to sit down upon the floor, so that I could hold my beloved in my arms. "A half-hour is a paltry amount of time, and I wish to spend each and every moment solely with Malayna, if you please."

I had a good idea that my words had not pleased either one of them, but the Commissioner had lived long enough to know that it was best to keep quiet, while the young Batman had not come to that same conclusion. In the end it did not matter, because Gordon left the room, dragging the Bat out behind him, and finally I was alone with the one that I loved, well, as alone as we could be, that is.

I felt her hands on my face and closed my eyes when she slipped her fingers beneath the bands that were holding the paper mask on my face and smiled at her as she pulled it free, then tossed it aside. It was a joke, something that I had done in an effort to make the Batman and the Commissioner uneasy, but now it was a hindrance, an obstacle, one that kept me from kissing her lips, from tasting her as I needed to, and I was not the least bit sad to see it go.

"Hello, my dear Malayna," I whispered, running my fingers through her hair, smoothing it back away from her face. "I have missed you so very much, my love."

She smiled at me and rubbed her face against my palms, first one cheek, and then the other. "I missed you too," she said, taking my hands and placing them on her waist. "I asked to see you at once, but my pleas didn't hold much sway with either of your jailers, I'm afraid."

She wanted to kiss me, I could see her desire as clear as day in the depths of her eyes, and I wanted her to do so, truth be told, I needed her to do so, but there was business that needed to be done before we gave in to our longings. There was a school of thought that said that we could embrace first, and indulge in one another, and tend to my need for my medication afterwards, but I was wise enough to know that we had to see to the unpleasantness first, because there would be no way that I would want to stop once my lips met hers. As a matter of fact, I had every intention of making them separate us physically, because that was the only way that I would let her go.

"Are you feeling better?"

I looked up from the table that I had been studying and saw the Commissioner watching me from the doorway, with a plain ceramic cup in one hand and a stack of files in the other. "Well as can be, thank you for your concern."

"We did some digging after we found you, and it took a hell of a lot of manpower and research, but we think that we might have found the men that you refer to as "X" and "Dr. Adelai"," Gordon said, sitting down across from me, nursing his cup of coffee as he looked at me, first at my face, then at my shackled hands, before he moved his eyes to my face once more.

He slid a picture across the table and I leaned forward to study it. There were two men standing side by side, arms locked, with their other arm slung around the women who were standing to their sides, a step behind, as if they weren't worthy to stand as equals with their men. Dr. Adelai was smiling broadly, something that I had seen before, though this beam was different, one that was born of pure happiness, as opposed to smug disdain. I took the man beside him to be X, looking very dignified and serious, and not even remotely blind.

"Do you recognize them?" Gordon asked. "Do you know their names?"

"I do not recognize the women, but the men are Dr. Adelai and X," I replied, sliding the picture back toward him. He caught it in the center of the table and turned it back toward me.

"This woman here," he said, tapping the image of the woman standing beside Dr. Adelai "was named Phoebe, and this other was called Eira. Phoebe's husband was the man you knew as Dr. Adelai, but his name was actually George, just as you told me. The man who told you to call him X was his brother, a man named Edmund Dorrance, known to some as King Snake…do any of those names sound familiar to you, Bane?"