When the man left Grace alone, she was thankful and disappointed at the same time.
She felt so trapped and utterly alone.
Her apartment, while modest, had great windows that opened onto a fire escape. She would often sit there on the rare warm days and read a book.
There were no windows in this room. She felt a draft coming from under the door, but that was it as far as fresh air was concerned.
The trunk was the only source of entertainment in the room.
A quick look through revealed several bottles of water, packets of granola, dried fruit, assorted nuts and seeds and several other bland choices.
Three bottles of vitamin D tablets gave her great concern.
What if this was a sign that she wouldn't be going to the surface anytime soon?
How long would it be until she saw the sun again?
Just to be safe, she took one.
Also in the trunk was a deck of cards and some dice.
Maybe this could be a good way to pass the time.
Solitaire was often played on her office desktop. It shouldn't be that different with real cards.
Xxx
Two hours later, she had lost three games, cheated twice and threw them all up in the air in a fit of rage.
She had cheated and still lost.
Cleaning up the cards took time. She laid them out in order to make sure she didn't lose any.
The last card she picked up was the Joker.
She was tempted to rip it up. The mad clown had once haunted her dreams.
While she never saw him in person, she remembered just missing out on a place on the ferry to leave the city during his reign of terror. The Ferry's that were meant to explode.
It was a miracle neither ship blew up.
She placed all the cards back in the deck as the door opened.
She bit back a sigh.
"You could knock, you know? I don't fancy being caught in the all together."
"Where's the fun without a little risk?" The man was back.
"Am I free to leave?"
"You sound like you're talking to the police." He laughed.
"I'll take that as a no." She sat down on the bed to face him. "Why are you here?"
"I came to bring you this." He stepped aside to reveal a big red suitcase.
"T-that's my suitcase."
"Indeed. We swapped out the one you were going to bring on your little holiday for this… monstrosity." He almost looked disgusted at the size of the bag.
"You've never been on a holiday with a woman, have you?" She joked lightly.
"Trying to get more information out of me, I see?"
"Worth a shot. "She shrugged. "What's in the bag?"
"Items that we thought you would need for your stay."
"I imagine you went through my wardrobe then?" She cringed slightly.
"And your drawers." He smirked.
Her face was probably turning bright red as she prayed that they didn't go into…that drawer.
"Were you going to miss your little friend on holiday?"
Fuck. Please no.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Playing dumb was a stupid idea but that was her only way to save face.
"Just curious since you have no man to go with you on holiday." The shit-eating grin plastered across his face grew.
Her back was turned before she decided to slap that look off his face. She put the cards away.
"Hope you can find more stimulating activities to occupy your time. Burn off all that… frustration."
With one last chuckle, the door closed.
She tore open the case and there, smack bang in the centre was the reason why being single wasn't all that bad.
The small, bright pink, vibrator stood out against her plain coloured clothing.
Well, at least it couldn't get much worse.
She went to put it in the side compartment, so a part of her could pretend this never happened, when she noticed a new pack of batteries and a little post-it-note stuck on the back.
Let us know when you run out.
She was wrong. It could definitely get worse.
He just had to add the word 'when'.
Xxx
Three days later:
"Sir, you said that if I completed the programme, I could see my sister." Patrick asked Barsad. He could feel the anxiety dripping from him.
"I did, but that's not up to me."
"I did what was asked of me, the programme is complete. I just need to upload it onto the plane's computer."
"You're not going anywhere, anytime soon. We will handle that."
"Fine. I just want to see Grace." His eyes grew dark. "I'm starting to think there's a reason you bastards are keeping her locked away." He challenged Barsad.
"Be careful how you speak, you never know who may be listening." Bane appeared, seemingly out of the blue.
Patrick startled for a second. It seems the Fitzgerald's aren't fans of people sneaking up on them.
"Sir, I've done what you wanted. Please, I just want to make sure Grace is okay."
Barsad was almost impressed by the man's composure. He even looked Bane in the eye as he spoke.
"Show me your progress and then you shall see your dear sister."
Patrick nodded and practically skipped over to the station he'd been given when he arrived.
"It's portable, so you can just plug it into the cockpit and the radar will read as corrupted. The pilot will still be able to use it in the air to navigate, but the control towers will just write it off as an error and reboot their systems. You'll be gone before the system comes back online."
"And you have taken care of the possibility that this technology ends up in the wrong hands? So that we don't have another Patrick Fitzgerald to deal with?"
"It's authorised by a one-time code, and it deletes itself after 72 hours. So, if you want another one, I will have to start the process all over again." Barsad raised a brow at that. The man made it so they couldn't reuse the programme. He probably thought they would kill him after they got what they wanted.
Barsad was almost impressed, and so too was Bane by the look of it.
"Very inspiring, Fitzgerald. You may find your place here yet."
"Thank you, sir." Patrick almost looked appreciative.
"Barsad will take you to your sister."
"Thank you, sir."
Xxx
Bane watched as his second in command led the new recruit down into the recess of their base.
His eyes glanced over the new programme created in less than a week. It would have taken his original cyber expert a month to develop a competing programme.
When his team alerted him to the security issue and the subsequent theft of cash from their offshore account, he was dismayed to learn that the perpetrator had concealed his identity and there was no way to trace them.
Rather impressively, he managed to bounce his signal from the US, to Russia, to the Maldives, to Sweden and numerous other locations on a continuous loop.
It seemed like a lost cause. Months of plans would come to a halt until another stream of cash landed at their feet. All hope seemed lost.
But, by a stroke of luck, and nothing to do with his cyber experts, a signal appeared not too far away from their base of operations.
Bane had stared at the little blinking light that pinned his location to a small café.
What's stranger was that it was a woman's phone ID that appeared on their screens.
Within seconds, they had recovered any and all information about Grace Saoirse Fitzgerald.
But there was a problem.
She didn't fit the profile.
A local high school music teacher who rented a one-bedroom apartment in a middle-class neighbourhood and who, according to her tax records, owed $25,000 to Gotham City University for student loans.
She also appeared to have been in a meeting with a student when the original theft occurred.
The student had been caught smoking and was to be suspended for three days.
No, this woman wasn't their thief.
It was when her family history was pulled up that it became clear who they were looking for.
The brother.
Arrested for the obstruction of justice and cybercrimes. Sentenced to Blackgate penitentiary in 2009, released in 2011.
He took a deal to get a reduced sentence.
His bank statements don't suggest steady work.
Some of the men recognised him from the construction site.
This was their man.
It was just a matter of alerting the nearest members to their location and for them to pick up a blonde male and take his laptop.
They grabbed and dragged him through the manhole just as he was exiting the café.
He shouted, cursed and fought back as best he could. But the league was better.
He was brought to his knees before Bane.
Following numerous beatings over the next 24 hours, Patrick surrendered to their authority.
The cash was located and just as their prisoner was to be executed, a lifeline was thrown his way when asked if he had any last words.
He spat blood on the ground before he spoke.
"You need to fire your IT guy. He left a virtual trail of breadcrumbs that led me right to you." He spoke with his last remaining strength.
Bane never would have given him a second look. It was the flippant remark of a dead man.
But it was the concerned face of his loyal brother, Almani, that stalled Bane's hand.
"That's him isn't it?" Patrick asked, looking at the same man.
Bane nodded.
"Speak, before I change my mind."
"Your IT guy brought my friend down here a few days ago, his name was Gino. I was worried he'd end up like all the other bodies that ended up in the river, so I scanned your guy's phone before they left." His eyes grew sad. "I couldn't stop Gino ending up in the river, but I did find out you were down here. It seems he used your network for his own sick deeds."
Bane's eyes grew dark.
"Go on."
"He latched onto some woman's home security network, probably because she has a tendency to walk around naked. He spends most days watching her from what I saw. So, I turned off her broadband and piggybacked onto your network with a handshake."
Everyone was silent. The breach had been from the inside.
"What's a handshake?" O'Brien whispered in confusion to Barsad.
"It's a signal that bounces back and forth when your servers reboot. It allows me to enter your systems without you ever knowing. It's easy when you know what you're doing. And your guy hasn't a clue." Patrick stared at Bane with determination.
"Is this true Almani?" Bane asked.
The man to his credit tried to play dumb, but no one could fool Bane. And he hated liars.
With great trepidation, Almani nodded.
"You put our operations at risk for a wank?" Barsad had his gun out and pointed at Almani within seconds.
"No, I-I can explain."
"Please do." Bane's voice was scarily calm.
"I- I thought-"
"You thought you wouldn't get caught. Next time, cover your webcam when you need to get your rocks off." Patrick cut him off. "It makes for sad viewing and takes up valuable space on my hard drive."
"You have recordings?" Bane sounded surprised.
"I was worried this would end in a blackmail type situation. I took precautions and gathered what I could."
"Show me."
"Are you still going to kill me?"
"Still deciding." Bane narrowed his eyes.
With a sigh Patrick gestured to his bag.
"In my laptop there's a file called 'SHORTCUT/SETTINGS' all of the videos are there."
Hidden in plain sight.
"Very clever."
Bane booted up the laptop and sure enough, there was a dozen files of his head of cyber security. He tried to click in but they were password protected. And there was more.
Another file containing a bank routing number in Almani's name, due to be sent to Naples in three days. It seems Mr Fitzgerald wasn't the only one stealing from the League.
"You would betray us, brother?" Bane turned the screen to Almani.
The Italian sighed in defeat.
"I needed the money for my family."
"We are your family. And you have deceived us." Bane took measured steps towards the shaking man.
"Forgive me." Almani sank to his knees.
"I am afraid we do not tolerate betrayal." Large hands wrapped around the man's neck.
"Any last words?"
A haunting breath escaped the condemned man.
"May God have mercy on my soul."
With a sickening crack, Almani dropped dead.
Patrick watched the body being pushed down into the sewer systems through damp lashes. He'd seen a lot in Blackgate, but he hadn't seen anyone murdered.
The others around him barely blinked.
"Let us hope that you do not make the same mistakes, Mr Fitzgerald." Bane stood before him.
"What?" Patrick frowned at the wording.
"You work for us now. I am one cyber expert down. You will fill that void." He gave Barsad a nod. "Take him away."
Bane turned to leave when a final question was thrown his way.
"Wait!" Bane paused his retreat. "How did you find me?"
He obviously didn't know the part his sister played in his downfall. According to the men that brought Patrick here, Grace Fitzgerald had connected her phone without her brother's knowledge.
He didn't feel the need to create a rift between the siblings. At least, not yet.
"You operate in the dark. We live in it." And with that Bane waved off his men to take Patrick to his new home.
xxx
It was a risk taking on a new member without them voluntarily joining the league.
Barsad stuck to him like glue, as Bane commanded.
So far, Mr Fitzgerald was more than willing to offer his services and show his team how to sharpen their security.
He watched as Patrick constructed impenetrable firewalls. That master's degree certainly didn't go to waste.
Barsad remained vigilant. Even if he didn't understand everything that came out of the man's mouth, others who did, seemed impressed.
They were being careful though. Bane didn't want Patrick to become privy to what the purpose of their operation was at present.
Maybe, given time, he would become initiated into the ranks.
But that was a long time away.
Or so they thought.
One minute, Patrick was working quietly at Almani's old station, then suddenly one of the light fixtures blew a fuse and the entire area was in darkness.
It seemed like minutes before the backup generator powered on.
They would have to start the programme again.
"Okay, Fitz. Back to work."
But when he turned to where his ward should have been, he was met with an empty chair.
"Fitzgerald!" No response. He was gone. "We have a runaway!" Barsad shouted to those around him.
They began to search all the halls and hiding places.
He was found crouched between two cargo crates clutching Barsad's satellite phone.
He could hear the desperation in the man's voice.
"Grace, please trust me. Get out of Goth-" Barsad kicked the crate from behind, knocking Patrick on his side.
The dropped phone smashed against the concrete. Barsad gave it a once over. The antenna was broken. It was now useless.
Oh well. He had several others.
"That was a very foolish thing to do, Mr Fitzgerald. You're going to be in deep shit with Bane." Barsad warned.
"You're planning to blow up Gotham and I'm the bad guy for wanting to make sure my sister doesn't burn with it?"
Barsad paused at that. How did he know about the plan?
"I was right about Almani. He was a shit IT guy. You thought you could hide your plans from me? Even after I found your underground city, you thought I wouldn't find out?"
Barsad kicked him in the stomach.
Patrick groaned and tried to stand. He was grabbed by two others.
"Get Bane down here. Now!" Barsad barked at no one in particular. His focus was solely on the biggest threat to their operation.
They brought Patrick into a repurposed storage room.
Barsad let his brother's show the newest member what they thought of traitors.
As Bane arrived, he was met with the sound of grunts and punches coming from behind a closed door.
"You called?" He asked. Not pleased with being brought down and away from his work.
"We have to get rid of Fitzgerald. He knows about the plan."
That caught Bane's attention.
"How?"
"I don't know. But we can't trust him." The noise continued in the background. "He tried to warn his sister to leave Gotham."
Bane set his steely glare on Barsad.
"And how was he able to do that?"
"When the power went out upstairs, he took off with my sat phone."
"That is very disappointing to hear, brother. You should know better."
"It won't happen again. What should we do?"
Bane looked deep in contemplation for a moment.
"You said he tried to warn the sister?"
"Yeah, he told her to leave Gotham."
"Then perhaps there is a way to solve both issues."
"Sir?" Barsad frowned.
"I think it's time we paid the dear teacher a visit."