Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing but the original characters and the situations the characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for continuing to read and giving me feedback on my work. It's muchly appreciated and I do read every review you send me!
Note: Sorry for the lack of updates...this whole decade thus far has sucked the life out of me and my writing. Originally this fanfic was supposed to be a lot longer and more cat and mouse, but at this point I'm gonna start wrapping it up so it gets done and it's left unfinished. Thanks to the small audience that's stuck with it so long.
Vision Is The Art
'Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.' Johnathan Swift
Over the years Blake had heard plenty of stories about the mystical bond between twins. Had even capitalized on it back when he and Arthur were younger. Just agree on set answers to certain questions and you could make some good money off the gullible and stupid. Heck, there were probably at least a few people who still told the story about the twins they'd known as kids who could 'read each other's minds', Blake thought with a grin. People said that there was a mark born every minute, and Blake and Arthur's childhood had made them aces at finding and exploiting them back in the day.
So no, Blake couldn't read his brother's mind and find out what exactly Arthur's plan was. That would be way too easy and convenient.
They'd promised each other that if it came down to it, they'd try to make sure that at least one of them lived to take care of their dad. Losing both of them at the same time would kill him. They owed him everything; they were not going to repay his love and kindness by crushing him that way. They might find just the idea of living without their twin Hell on earth-but they'd bear it. For Dad.
Ergo whatever the plan was it didn't involve them both dying. That meant that the plan had to be for them to get off the bridge together somehow. Right?
How the fuck were they going to do that?
Unfortunately, the majority of Blake's attention couldn't stay focused on those questions. He had to concentrate on staying alive and keeping Roman distracted and focused on him. The latter of which was way easier than it should be, which made him very uneasy.
This whole thing didn't make sense, in fact. Why choose this place to have their showdown? Had it been an accident? Was Roman that stupid and unprepared? And why had he waited for him? Why hadn't he done the smart thing and run across the stupid art installation and gotten away? Or had he thought he wasn't up to the climb that would have awaited him there. That would be interesting. Later.
So many questions, no time to ask them.
Bringing up his arm to block the kick coming towards his head, Blake gave Roman a big smile as he asked if they couldn't just talk this out over a hot dog.
"You talk too much."
"You are not the first person to tell me that." Blake agreed as he swung out with his other fist, hoping to move the bastard back a bit more.
"I'll be the last one."
Making a 'pfft' noise just to irritate, Blake very deliberately did not look down towards where his brother was now climbing along the bottom of the 'bridge' they were on. Or at least he'd almost reached it the last time Blake had dared chance a quick glance over, and Blake knew his brother's skills. They could climb like fucking Spider-man when they needed to.
Now how to-
"This is the police!"
Oh, yay. Someone had given his stepmother a megaphone. Lovely.
Listening to her with half an ear Blake shared a couple moments of complete understanding with Roman as their gazes met. 'Cops'.
Just because Blake was himself a cop didn't mean he couldn't find a lot of procedure utterly ridiculous, not to mention pointless. Ordering Roman to stand down and allow himself to be captured-yeah, good luck with that, Not Mommy. Not going to-oh.
The light bulb in his head going off, Blake realized she was providing another distraction, not actually trying to boss Roman into surrendering. Though she did love to boss and tell people what to do, so that would be a side benefit for her either way. It was even working, the distraction part. Roman was visibly amused over her behavior. Yes, he was still visibly on his guard, but he wasn't attempting to attack him either.
Ergo she was buying them both time where they weren't trying to kick or punch each other off the art installation and onto the unforgiving concrete below. Which was a good thing, obviously. At least in his case. Blake was fine with Roman going splat.
So keep being annoying, Captain, Blake silently cheered. I know you can do it.
And it did work for a couple of minutes until, unfortunately, the two of them being so physically still meant that they were way more aware of creaking noises that they weren't the ones causing. And the bridge was not being as quiet as it should be.
Both of them looked towards the grinding noise, Blake recovering himself enough to kick out at Roman instinctively at the same time. It wasn't even a thought-he just knew that he could not let Roman see that Arthur was sort of on the bridge with them.
Instinct was strong with this one too though, and Roman twisted his body enough that the blow Blake landed was more glancing than anything else, the way the older man twisted his head like a cobra considering the mouse before it not boding well for them.
Blake had a bad feeling Roman knew there was a new factor in this cat and mouse game.
Right...time to step up the 'distractions' here.
"So, Roman. Question. How was prison in Russia? Here in the United States activist groups have a lot to say about Arkham. That's our main prison over here. According them we're inhumane and barbaric, and that's why Gotham has so many psychopaths and crazies." Blake shrugged in a 'what ya gonna do' way. "Personally I figure we're still better than Russian prisons. What do they feed you guys?"
Narrowing eyes, but no response. Not good enough.
"Did you have cellmates? Were they nice? I heard you were straight, but nothing widens a guy's horizons like federal prison, am I right?"
That earned him some very not nice sounding words. And being called a bitchy little cocksucker in Russian.
"Who told you? Yeah, I totally am. I would be VERY popular in prison. And not just because I'm a cop."
Starting towards him with a 'I want and will throw you physically off this bridge' set to his face Roman spit out a couple more curses-and then went very still.
Oh, shit. What-
Watching Roman freeze up like someone had just gone petrificus totalus on the fucker's ass was unexpected to say the least. As was the fact that when he toppled off their precarious perch Roman didn't go splat, but proceeded to hang off the side of the art installation like a-no good comparison came to Blake's mind. He was just glad the suddenly deadweight hadn't sent them all plummeting to their deaths.
And then Arthur wiggled up from between the two sides of the bridge, yelling at him to make for the stepmother in case Roman's weight started straining something foundational.
Knowing better than to argue about who went first even though he wanted to, Blake spun around and started running in the direction ordered, yelling out the question of what the hell Arthur's plan was. This was a very temporary solution after all-and Roman could start shooting at people once he recovered and got back on the bridge before the cops could retrieve him. Which could totally happen since Blake wasn't entirely sure how they were supposed to go about arresting the fucker. Especially with all the traffic down below in the way. Unless of course whatever Arthur had done had killed the fucker. Or was really long lasting.
What had he done to take Roman out so quickly?
"It won't be an issue if a sniper takes him out first."
"Eames?" Blake knew that the Brit had been in the British army back in the day, but that had been a long time ago, hadn't it?
"You think your man doesn't have snipers in place?"
Good point. And crap, that was going to make things going forward between him and Bane awkward. If the man killed for him, that was. If he didn't then the-
He was a cop. Blake recognized the sound of a rifle going off and a bullet hitting its target even with all the screeching from the bridge and other noises below and around. But Blake didn't turn back to look until he'd reached the other end and had reason to spin around anyway as he crouched down and laced his fingers together to give his brother a boost up.
It was then that Blake allowed himself a quick glance at the limp form hanging from the bridge. Ah, a zip tie. That made sense. It was handling the corpse's weight well.
Speaking of which, the head was mostly still intact, Blake noted with the detached eye of a veteran cop. Too much damage to come back from though. Someone was a damn good shot.
Putting that aside now that he knew the threat was neutralized Blake concentrated on not revealing how much it fucking hurt to boost his brother up towards the hands that were thankfully in great supply at the moment.
One of those sets of hands belonged to Bane, so Blake wasn't too worried when his brother was lifted up and out of his hands, literally. Bane was smart enough to know that keeping Arthur safe for him would earn the man brownie points. Just like showing up had done.
Keeping watch the entire time though, just in case, Blake didn't so much as blink as his brother nimbly make his way over the barrier. Okay. Phew. Arthur was safe. He could breathe easy now. Or as easy as he was up to doing now that the adrenaline was starting to fade and let the pain shine through.
Fuck
Forcing his face to remain pain free Blake called out his own thanks when a fellow cop dropped down a rope to help him follow afterwards without too much difficulty. He was stuck with the rope since there was nothing for him to stand on and Blake was not going to try hand climbing up the wall in his present condition. He wasn't that stupid, thank you very much.
Rubbing his hands together-and praying his knee would hold up just a little bit longer-Blake grabbed the rope and began his short climb up.
And as he climbed two thoughts circled around in Blake's brain, distracting him from the growing amount of pain he was in.
One, Blake was a little pissed off that the stupid art bridge hadn't crumbled behind them, making their whole near miss that much more epic and action hero-ish. I mean yeah, it wouldn't have been good for the cars and the people in them below...but still. Oh well, maybe next time.
The second thought was a near death miss like this called for celebratory sex and lots of it. If Bane was willing to get creative and work around his knee-and he wasn't too drugged up on pain meds to enjoy or remember-they both might get pretty lucky later.
Right now, he'd just settle for some drugs for his screaming knee. Stat.
)
After ensuring that the brother was in good hands-and not just because Robin would never forgive him if anything were to happen to his brother while Bane was in the vicinity-Bane muscled back into the crowd by the wall just as one of Blake's hands appeared on the top of it. As they were closer and looked fit enough-and Bane wanted Robin over that damn wall and with him without delay-Bane didn't try to get closer or take over the rescue as Robin came over the wall with help from his fellow cops.
But he was there to pluck Robin up and into his arms for a crushing hug as soon as it was possible to do so.
"Wow. Hi."
Not saying a word, they were beyond him at the moment, Bane settled for remembering how to breathe. Mostly so that he could inhale Robin's scent and reassure himself that the other man was indeed safe and in his arms.
It had been one of the greatest tortures of his life, having to just stand there and watch as Robin's brother had rushed to Robin's rescue. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, and that any attempt he could make would just as likely cause harm than help. Not knowing if Arthur had any sort of plan or if he would make things worse or better had been the icing on the cake.
Thank all the powers that be it had been for the better.
He'd had visions in those moments of Arthur trying to do something stupid; foolhardy and poorly planned out. Like pop up in between the two or try and come up on Roman from behind. Perhaps try to pull him down from below or even taser him.
Bane also hadn't been sure if the brothers would try and bring the other man in alive...but someone had made that choice for them. Or Robin's brother had somehow arranged for a sniper to be in place, Bane mentally amended. That shot hadn't been fired on his orders, though he'd been about to give it.
A hard pat on the back, Robin demanding his attention.
"I need to check on my brother. Thanks for the assist."
Reluctantly letting go Bane stepped back and watched as the twins wrapped their arms around each other and held on tight, nuzzling in and closing their eyes in visible relief over the other's wellbeing. They were holding on as tightly as he'd held Robin moments before.
"All right, you two...EXPLAIN. NOW!"
And there was their stepmother to ruin their moment.
Though she did care about them, Bane thought as he watched the woman start hurling questions at the two without giving either of them the chance to try and answer. Her relief was there, in the way she was looking them over so carefully for injury while fidgeting with her hands, like she wanted to touch but knew better than to try.
Or perhaps, Bane thought with returning amusement, she knew that they'd just lie, which would anger her greatly. So she wasn't given them time to answer. She might also want less of an audience when she lost it on them, especially if she feared getting emotional.
She wasn't the only one talking, either. A lot of other people were asking questions as well, mainly about were the two were all right, and who was that guy and what the hell had just happened?
Bringing his fingers up to his lips Robin blew hard to get everyone to quiet down a little.
"Right. Answers to follow. But first I need a medic. And somewhere to sit down."
"Holy shit. Blake admitting he needs medical help? Are you dying?"
"Ha ha, Kraft. So funny. Not."
Noticing the strain around Robin's eyes-he'd missed it before-Bane nudged aside the couple of cops in his way and picked the slighter man up and into his arms. Princess style.
The fact that Robin's response to that was to wrap his arms around his neck for additional support, rather than complain about their audience, confirmed just now much pain he must be in.
That settled it in Bane's mind. "Hospital first. Questions later."
"Let's see what the medics say first. There's one nearby, right?"
His stepmother confirmed that there was an ambulance standing by, then started ordering people out of their way so that 'the idiot' could get looked over.
"She loves me dearly." Robin pretended to whisper to Bane. As in he said it like a small kid who thinks he's whispering but is really saying it loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
"Obviously." Bane agreed, amused as well.
His amusement only grew as Bane started walking, his men moving in to provide protection on either side of them-only the cops didn't want to be pushed out and thought it their duty to escort their injured comrade to the ambulance presumably waiting nearby. Two of the cops who wouldn't let themselves be elbowed out of the way Bane recognized as being part of Robin's division.
He could appreciate their loyalty.
Arthur followed closely behind them, reassuring the askers that he was fine. And no, he was not Spider-man. Or actually capable of crawling up walls. There'd been handholds, the younger twin was telling them. Just not obvious ones.
"His climb was impressive." Bane remarked, thinking to distract Robin from his pain. "I know few who could have done it so skillfully."
He was not expecting Robin to pout as the man stated that he could climb that well too, FYI.
Bane almost said that he looked forward to seeing that before realizing that no, he wouldn't and wasn't. He never wanted to see Robin risk himself the way Arthur had, climbing the near impossible to come to his brother's rescue.
And wasn't he going to have a hell of a time of it, keeping Robin safe and out of trouble in the future.
