It had naturally fallen to Parker to make whatever arrangements she could with regard to Christopher's remains, thus she found herself negotiating obstacles in a city that remained very much at a standstill.
One morning there was a knock on her door, and through the peephole a surprised Parker caught sight of Selina.
"The thug pretending to be your concierge gave me the gory details about your husband's death," Selina drawled as Parker opened the door. "Congratulations. You're well rid of him, honey."
"Uh, thank you, I guess. It was difficult making his arrangements given the staggering body count in this city, but I managed to find a funeral home that could take him and everything is in order," Parker sighed. "Somehow I'll have to get his ashes to his parents in Palm Springs. Emotionally I'm okay, but I fully expect to have a post-traumatic response."
"Don't sweat it. He's not worth it," Selina replied dismissively. "It's a nice place you have here. A little bare for my tastes, but at least you have somewhere to sit," she said as she made herself comfortable on the torn blue sectional. "Now, how is it you're able to keep this place while other folks have been tossed out of theirs?"
"I can only assume that Bane has something to do with it, because I've never seen anyone lurking in the halls since the day I found some teenagers looting here. I suspect he has his people watching it. Anyway, what brings you here?"
"I haven't seen you around lately. Just making sure that he hadn't killed you."
"No. Far from it," Parker blushed. "He comes here most nights, and leaves me... very much alive."
Selina smirked. "At last! So, what's behind the mask?"
"A very beautiful man," Parker revealed shamelessly, rolling her eyes. "Breathtaking."
"Have you sweet-talked him into submission?"
"Not yet. I haven't progressed that far, because frankly I didn't... oh hell, Selina. Frankly I didn't expect that I would enjoy it so much."
"Listen, Parker. Leave your lust at the bedroom door if you have any hope of saving the city. Take it from me, it's the only way to control a man."
"I know, and I understand. Just give me time. I haven't wanted him to become suspicious of my ulterior motives."
"Look, I invented the game of looking after number one, so if you decide that saving the city is too big a mantle to take on, then just save yourself. I get it. But remember that sex is strictly business, and nothing else."
"Thanks," Parker nodded. "I appreciate the pep talk, Selina. I needed it. Now if only I can deceive him into deactivating the bomb."
"He has to make that decision on his own, with a little prodding from you in the bedroom. But don't go behind his back. If you think your husband's beatings were bad, just wait until you feel the back of Bane's hand or his fist. I saw for myself what he's capable of when I did a job for him not too long ago."
"You?" Parker asked, astounded. "What kind of job?"
Selina looked away as an expression of regret crossed her face. She'd thought of Bruce Wayne every day since, and of the stunningly horrific beating Bane had so easily inflicted upon him. What kept her sane was her own sense of self-preservation. The only thing that mattered was her need to escape a troubled past and forge a new life for herself. Since Bane locked down the city, those plans were up in the air but no less urgent.
"I delivered someone to him. Someone he beat to death right before my eyes. After that I realized my days were numbered, because Bane disposes of people who are no longer of use to him and who know too much. The only thing that saved me was being arrested on a previous charge and jailed at Blackgate."
Parker could only gape at Selina, wide-eyed and stunned that the other woman was capable of such darkness.
"Don't look so shocked, honey. A girl's gotta eat," she intoned as she rose from the couch. "See you around. Maybe you'll be preggers by then."
"Don't go just yet. Do you remember when I said Bane had a rival? A woman he suspects will diminish his work in Gotham in the eyes of their superiors? He says she's here, posing as an admired business executive. You seem to know everything, so if you've had dealings with him, do you have any idea of who she might be?"
Selina frowned. "No, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Why do you want to know?"
As Bane departed City Hall for his nightly walk uptown, he detected the sounds of frantic sighs and gasps coming from the aged freight elevator at the rear exit of the building.
Frowning, he pressed the ancient green button that summoned the rickety contraption, curious to know who among his men would be using the elevator for a sexual rendezvous.
The door slid open, and Bane's manhood swelled inside his cargo pants as he was confronted by the sight of Talia and Barsad in flagrante delicto.
Talia had braced herself on the well-worn hand rail, her legs splayed and pressed against the side of the elevator wall by the sniper as he plunged into her.
"Good evening!" Bane greeted them jovially. They both jumped at the sound of his mechanical bellow.
"Fuck!" Barsad whispered. Pulling away from Talia he zipped himself, swallowing hard as a mixture of guilt and fear crossed his face. The masked mercenary had been Talia's protector since she was an infant, and Barsad reckoned he wouldn't take kindly to one of his soldiers having illicit sex with her.
"This is not what it looks like, brother," Talia assured Bane, drunk with desire and recovering nicely at having been caught red-handed. "Barsad and I were merely scratching an itch." Her high heeled feet dropped noisily to the floor as she pulled her skirt down.
"Good night, brothers." The daughter of Ra's al Ghul wrapped herself in Miranda's cloth coat, savouring the irony that both she and Bane had stumbled upon one another's secrets. Tossing her chestnut hair, she smiled and sauntered into the dark alley.
Bane watched Talia depart before returning his gaze to Barsad. His brow quivered as he viewed his second-in-command in a brand new light.
Barsad, who believed himself as good as dead, stepped out of the elevator and steeled himself for what was to come.
"It appears I have under-estimated you, brother," Bane observed as his eyes shone with admiration.
"You're not… pissed?" Barsad asked hoarsely.
"On the contrary, I am extremely impressed by your audacity," the mercenary replied as he gripped the straps of his protective vest. "This elevator with that woman." Bane gestured to the alley where Talia had disappeared. "It takes a bold man indeed."
Barsad laughed nervously, still a little wary of his commander. At any moment the mercenary might turn on him and snap his neck.
"You must take care, brother," Bane advised solemnly. "She can break you."
"I'm not in love with her," Barsad insisted. "I have needs, and she's the best fuck in town."
Once again Bane's eyes smiled.
"That is the lie we tell ourselves to shield us from hurt."
In the wake of Selina's visit, Parker had reluctantly decided that it was time to take her advice and begin to work on Bane.
She was no Mata Hari, and that was the problem. Once Bane's skilled hands began to caress her body, she forgot about the fact that she didn't want a child. She forgot everything except how good he made her feel.
Fortunately, she had an instinct about how she should proceed, and decided to act upon it one evening when Bane had stayed much longer than he normally would.
"It's a shame you never spend the night," Parker complained as she lay sprawled on her pillow with a sheet discreetly covering her breasts. "I have this nightly appointment with you, and all that's missing is you leaving cash on the bedside table when you leave. It's not very flattering."
Bane smirked as he pulled on his back brace. He saw no reason why she should feel offended.
"We have a business arrangement," he rumbled. "You will eventually provide me with my legacy. In return I will spare your life. There is no reason for me to stay the night. If you feel slighted then you should know that prior to my arrangement with you I was a celibate man. You are receiving a gift that for years was refused to many."
"Oh, Bane! I don't believe that for a minute," she laughed.
"It is the truth. After I was rescued from the pit prison by the father of my rival, I went to live and train at his secluded mountaintop compound. There I also received a classical education in literature, maths and sciences. Although I had always been a voracious reader, there was a part of my education that was sorely lacking. So, I began to steal away to the village in the afternoons, where I deflowered many a virgin, and took some of their mothers as well."
"Oh, my!" Breathless, the captivated Parker's mouth dropped open and her eyes sparkled as Bane continued to speak.
"When my master learned of my activities, he forbade me from visiting the village without an escort, and demanded a vow of celibacy. I was indebted to him for having rescued me and giving me a chance to prove myself. I was also his daughter's protector, so I agreed to his demands. My newfound discipline resulted in my being a more focused and effective warrior.
Nevertheless, I found that I had gained something from my village encounters that would become very valuable to me. I learned that even in a fearsome mask, I was a profoundly attractive man. I channeled that knowledge into my training. Now, ordinary men cower before me not only out of fear, but also out of feelings of inadequacy."
Parker listened in rapt silence as renewed desire for him stirred in her belly.
"You arrived on my doorstep, my long term ambitions began to take form, and thus it was necessary to do away with the ancient discipline. Comfort yourself in the knowledge that we have an arrangement from which we both derive a great deal of pleasure."
"I won't deny that." Parker replied huskily. She raised herself from the pillow, having found her opening in Bane's tale. It was time to start taking control.
"Tell me about your rival," she whispered.
"You need not concern yourself with her," he boomed.
"It's just that you've mentioned her a number of times, and all I know about her is that she's posing as a business executive and that you think she's going to steal your thunder. You want to best her so badly that you're willing to have a child to accomplish your goals. So, as the woman who may give you that child, I think I deserve some transparency."
"Very well," Bane conceded. "Like yourself she is young and beautiful, if that is what you wish to know."
"Ahhh, just as I suspected," Parker smiled.
"Indeed. She is a goddess who is desired by many men."
"Mmmm... but none more than yourself, I would imagine."
Bane's brow furrowed, and he stared Parker down as she rose from the bed, wrapping the sheet around her nudity.
"I'll get to the point. I suspect that at the heart of your rivalry lies a simple truth. You want her," Parker speculated. "In fact, you just might be in love with her."
Bane's frown deepened as he reached for his protective vest. "Nonsense. Since the day she was born I have been her protector. You are being deliberately antagonistic."
"It sounds to me like she can take care of herself. And yet you're still referring to yourself as her protector. I wonder if it's because without this symbolic standing, you hold no other importance in her life."
Again Bane didn't answer, plagued by a growing uneasiness.
"You say she's desired by many men." Parker left the bed and approached him, the sheet beginning to unravel around her. "Do you lay awake at night, wondering who she's sleeping with and wishing it were you?"
"I am here to fill you with child, not to address baseless speculation," Bane wheezed irritably. "Our relationship is purely professional. I have no unspoken desire for her."
Parker chuckled softly as the sheet fell away to her feet, revealing her naked form.
"Then come back to bed and prove it to me."
Bane's fingers twitched as his breathing laboured through the mask. Growling, he put his uneasiness aside, accepted Parker's challenge and held her gaze as he backed her toward the bed.
Hours later, he lay on his bunk, wide awake and staring at the cavernous ceiling. He had chosen to return to the sewers instead of City Hall because he wanted no interruptions.
On one hand, he admitted to himself that he was thrilled by Parker's progress. Tonight she had taken the lead and seduced him, resulting in their most satisfying coupling yet. She was growing beyond her past as an abused wife into a calculating woman truly worthy of giving birth to his legacy.
On the other hand, she had filled his head with self-doubt, rendering him sleepless. He had managed to put his unease aside for a few hours while he took her for a second time, but in the cold sewers even the harsh, artificial light and the relentless sound of rushing water, couldn't shut out his thoughts.
He couldn't possibly desire Talia, could he?
He had changed her nappies, and raised her after her mother's death. The very idea that he would want her sexually was impossible.
After all, she had recently offered herself to him, and he had readily rejected her.
Why then, did he feel so uneasy?
Bane's mind returned to an old suspicion.
What was the true reason behind his ex-communication?
He had always suspected that Ra's' motivation for ousting him was threadbare. Did Ra's see something that Bane himself did not know? That the masked monster desired his daughter?
Why did he reject the 'unimaginable pleasures' Talia promised? Was it because he was jealous of all the other men who had tasted them?
Why did she keep the offer open? Did she know something that Bane was blind to? Did she know that Bane wanted her, and that it was only a matter of time until he submitted to her overtures?
Why had his member stiffened when he encountered Talia and Barsad fornicating in the elevator? Was it because at that moment he lived vicariously through Barsad?
He closed his eyes, again attempting to shut out all the questions bombarding his mind.
Parker was wrong. He couldn't possibly want Talia. He couldn't possibly be in love with her.
The mercenary abruptly sat up from the bunk as his own wise words to Barsad reverberated in his mind.
"That is the lie we tell ourselves to shield us from hurt."
Author's note: As always, thank you for reading. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all. Let's hope 2021 is a healthier, happier and more prosperous year.