Bane sat in the study watching the fire roar. His clothes and boots lay drying on the hearth while he sat wrapped in a towel wondering what had happened tonight to make everything go so wrong.
Ra's Al Ghul knew about the tracker. He must have sent someone to follow me to the hospital. He took the damn device and led me on a false trail while Cooper made his escape. He tricked me, I fell for it like a stupid dog and now that rat doctor's probably with the Demon right now.
Bane was furious, the impotent rage boiling inside him was match only by the sweltering heat of the coals. But for all his disappointment he had only himself to blame.
His one consolation, if he could find any, was that he didn't fail alone. On the drive back to the manor Batman shared his story:
After Bruce Wayne left the theatre Batman went to the police station to stake out from the shadows. Later he saw Dr Cooper being led out into a squad car with a pair of uniformed officers. But they were not officers Batman recognised.
He followed the cruiser out of Upper Gotham into the interstate and that was when he noticed he was being followed. Assassins in trucks closed in from all sides and tried to blast him off the road. Batman had to shake them off before they endangered the other drivers. They where relentless in their pursuit but he managed to pull it off, but in the chaos he nearly lost the car.
He finally caught up with them on the edge of the city limits and managed to blast the back wheels and bring the AWOL cruiser to a halt. The fake officers came out swinging with guns and swords but he quickly subdued them. With the would-be kidnappers under control he made his way to the car. He looked in the window, and saw the man sitting in the back.
It wasn't Cooper.
Batman ripped open the door and grabbed the imposter by the collar.
"Where is Cooper?" he growled.
The man smiled giddily, motioning to the duffel bag full of explosives on the seat next to him.
"For the Glory of the Demon!" he cried, before pressing the detonator in his palm.
No time to think Batman leapt back as fast as he could. That was when the world exploded around him and darkness overtook him.
His armour and cape saved him from the worst of the blast. Recovering several minutes later, nauseous and disorientated, he looked around before fixing mournfully on the smouldering remains of the cruiser. Car and passenger obliterated in a flash.
Once he collected his bearings Batman started to think, if the League wanted him out of the way, Bane was likely in trouble too. He set the autopilot to track the Aston and raced back to the city, meanwhile Alfred called Gordon to get an squad on the scene to clean up the wreckage and pick up the assassins before they came to.
Batman traced the Aston's signal to the harbour and working swiftly followed the bloody trail of bodies to what was almost Bane's water grave.
To his credit Bane would have been grateful for the assistance if he didn't feel so cheated.
Suddenly there came a whoosh. Bane looked over his shoulder.
In the corner the grandfather clock slid open and Alfred stepped out of the shadows. His thin face was stoic though not as cold as Bane had come to expect.
Acknowledging him with a nod Alfred silently took Bane's half eaten bowl of soup and left.
Bane sighed. The grandfather clock chimed 6. Out the window he saw darkness and his own reflection. Bane knew it would be another hour or so before dawn. He leaned back in the chair, glancing upwards he saw the Wayne family portrait.
In the middle was the bright-eyed young Bruce who looked no older than seven. And behind him stood his strong but smiling father and his tender eyed mother as they held their precious son. It was like a window to a simpler time, nothing in the artist's rendering would suggest the horrible tragedy that would tear this perfect family apart, or the terrible trauma that would follow this innocent little boy into manhood.
All at once Bane felt a strange pity for the boy.
How safe he must have felt back then. Safe and loved.
A log snapped onto the floor breaking Bane's concentration, taking an iron poker he pushed the embers away from the carpet.
"Ugh." he groaned.
Now he was back to thinking about his current dilemma. His one link to Ra's and the Phoenix formula has slipped through his fingers, and once again he found himself forced to turn to his enemies for help. He should be very lucky even get it. After that scene in Marie's dressing room Bane doubted Bruce would be in a particularly charitable mood.
Still, an little persuasion and a lot of manipulation can go a long way.
The clock slid open again and up came Bruce, dressed in black thermals and bandages.
Speak of the Devil.
"How you feeling?"Asked Bruce.
Bane shrugged, "Lousy."
"You may be happy to know the risk of hypothermia is past. Bad news is you probably got a cold. Feel free to grab a box of tissues on your way out."
"I am touched by your concern," Bane sneered, "I didn't expect I'd be welcome back here."
"Neither did I."
Bane coughed, already feeling the chill inside of him. Taking a deep breath he said, "I suppose I should thank you. For saving my life...Thank you."
Bruce stopped in his tracks, sceptically he joined Bane by the fire for a better look at his face which was surprisingly sincere. Humility and gratitude were not virtues he ever associated with Bane, usually the man found them more akin to weakness.
"Don't mention it." Bruce replied, leaning over the mantle, grabbing a log off the pile, "I'm sure if it were me in your position you would have left me to drown."
To that Bane laughed out loud, "Ha. Certainly not. I would never let you die like that. No, I would hold your head under the brine until you stopped kicking and expired."
Maybe it was a trick of the light but Bane swore he caught a hint of a smirk. They both knew their place, rivals to the end, never friends.
"This has been a very long and disappointing night for us both, no?" he continued, "I propose a truce, what say you?"
Bruce didn't answer right away, instead he looked down at the log in his hands, juggling it absent-mindedly as though he were weighing it against his options. But the silence began to worry Bane though he didn't show it. Bruce answer could get his mission back on track or derail it all together. Oddly he found himself also staring at the log while he waited for Bruce to make up his. He hated the log, he hated Bruce's hesitations and most of all he hated being at the mercy of them both.
Finally Bruce sighed, "Fine with me."
Bane smiled, clapping his hands together,"Good. Now what do we do about Ra's?"
Suddenly Bruce shot up, and threw the log on the fire sending embers flying like burning hail.
Staring down fiercely at Bane he sneered,"You don't quit do you." before turning around to leave the room.
Bane also got up, "We had a deal, Wayne!" he demanded.
"You broke it." Bruce opposed.
"Do you not see the bigger picture? Every minute we waste fighting each other Ra's gets closer to using the Phoenix Formula and if it works no one, not you nor I, will be able to stop him. He struck us when we were alone because he knows we're on his trail. We cannot defeat him by ourselves, I see that now, only by working together can we bring Ra's and his League to heel."
He hoped his speech had won Bruce over but the man remained unmoved, "We are not heeling anyone. You have your truce if you want, but I stick by what I said before. You're off the mission and I'm going to deal with Ra's myself."
He opened up the grandfather clock having said all he intended it say. But Bane wasn't finished.
"This is because you're jealous of me and Marie isn't it?"
That stopped him, "Is that what you think?"
"What other reason is there?
"You want a list?"
"Have I not followed you throughout this whole investigation, carried out every order to the letter, have I not done everything you asked of me?"
"Its like I'm talking to Dick," Bruce muttered. He squared up to Bane's battered face, his patience having finally ran out.
"When I agreed to help you, I did it in the hopes that you would put your personal vendettas to one side and focus on the mission at hand. But since you arrived here, you have risked both of our identities and Marie's safety by going behind my back just so you can boost your own ego. And I swear, if you didn't need medical attention I would have dropped you off at the nearest police station and carried on on my own!"
Bane scoffed unimpressed, "Don't be dramatic. Your identity is perfectly safe, Marie has no idea what we are doing. And last time I checked, being forbidden from socialising with a woman, uncommitted I may add, was not a condition of our agreement."
"This isn't a game!" Bruce banged his fist against the desk, "People are dead, Bane, and God knows how many more lives are at risk, You should have kept you mind on finding Ra's, instead of letting your emotions get the better of you. Your behaviour was petty, vindictive and beyond irresponsible. What if some one saw you two together, did you ever consider that? Do you even care?"
Bane opened his mouth to protest but then found himself unable to speak. He thought about the question and for once he realised that shockingly he had no reply. To his disbelief Bruce was right.
For a long, tense moment Bruce stared at Bane waiting for his answer, then his brow softened. Reading Bane's expression closely, in his eye Bruce saw the sudden realisation, and then the faintest flash of fear. Fear that a man who cared only for himself would never possess.
He shook his head, "No. Why, why her?"
Bane hesitated, "She... makes me laugh."
"And that's enough to get you hooked? I don't believe it."
"She also sees you for the condescending, self-righteous culo that I've known you to be for years," Bane retorted defensively, "It's true I will admit, I wanted to spite you at first, just because we need to work together doesn't mean I have to like you. Looking back now I think it was our shared loathing of you that attracted me to her. Ignorance aside she's a good judge of character, she has good character."
Bruce smiled wearily, as if Bane had told him a joke, "Wow, I gotta hand it to you, Big fella, I never pegged you as the romantic type."
"I don't expect you to approve, you've made that abundantly clear already. You look at me and all you see is a criminal, an animal to be locked away. And by the laws of your civilised society you'd be right, but I am also a man. I feel like you, like any man."
"A true poet. Does she remind you of Talia?"
Bane clenched his fists at the mention of her name, "Talia was never that agreeable."
"And neither are you. You do realise you can't keep this act up forever. Lets say that you kept seeing each other, eventually she's going to find out and what will you do then?"
"Nothing. She won't find out because I going to tell her."
"When?"
"When the time it right."
"There isn't going be a right time. She's leaving, face it, what you thought you had was nothing more than a childish game. Just let her go, let me get on with the mission and get on with your own life."
There was shift in Bane, he sighed like he had given up but he stood tall, at the ready. It was obvious neither of them was going to back down, he tried using his words and failed, now he would indulge his other option. Slowly he stalked over to Bruce, looming over him like a cobra,
"You still think you tell me what to do," he said, he was tired and beaten from the nights ordeal but so was Bruce, and Bane wasn't to weak to get a good hold of Bruce, to beat him to the ground, and break the man's neck.
"That I will do what you command like one of your wards or that tottering old butler. I broke you once I can easily do it again."
Bruce knew what was coming, he wasn't worried, in this enclosed space either one of them could have the advantage so he would have to be quick.
"Just try it."
The two men lunged at each other, days worth of pent up rage ready to boil over, when the door clipped open and Alfred leapt through clutching the house-phone. The men paused, breathing heavily, their hands still gripping at each other ready to strike.
Alfred was shocked, though maybe not was going on here, he presented the phone to his master, his other hand covering the mouthpiece. "Sir, Mrs Sharpe is on the phone for you, she sounds very distressed."
Breaking apart Bruce took the phone and held it up to his ear. Casting Bane a quick glance to as if say 'Keep quiet, we're not finished'.
"Hello."
Speechless and frustrated, Bane looked to Alfred but he offered no explanation.
"No, Sharon just calm down, breath." Bruce left the room
Again Bane turned to Alfred, his expression seemed dire, he tried to follow him out but Alfred stood in his way. A pointless move as he could still vaguely hear Bruce through the door.
"Listen to me, you need to call the police right now, tell them everything that's happened...it's going to be all right...I will..."
In the study Bane and Alfred stood silent, the tension amplified by the crackling fire, the sweat on his back turned cold, he shivered.
Bruce re-entered the study and handed the phone back to Alfred.
"What is it?" Bane asked.
"Alfred, I have to go, if I'm not back before the police arrive tell them the usual."
"Where are you going. What happened?" Bane demanded.
Bruce looked up at Bane severly.
"Marie is missing."
