Chapter Twenty-Three: Signing Off With Courage
Gwendolyn was caught up in an opiate stranglehold by the time Bane navigated the small hybrid onto the fast-moving interstate.
As Gwendolyn remained locked in a pharmaceutical stranglehold, Bane reflected on his actions.
He'd acted on sheer impulse; he had become completely reflexive.
A low mechanical exhale spilled from the front of Bane's mask as he replayed toppling Mt. Olympus for the Goddess that slumbered beside him. An electrical trill raced up and down his nervous system as he felt the weight of his actions in razing Olympus into a fucking crater.
Gwendolyn's low moans brought Bane back to consciousness, he glanced over at her, his forehead pulling into a frown at the pained expression on her beautiful face as the uneven road jostled her healing body.
As Bane continued moving the tiny car further away from the only existence Gwendolyn had ever known before Bane had caused her life to explode from his abrupt, violent introduction, back in Gotham City, Blake and Gordon were moving in one of the Gotham patrol cars at breakneck speed to the Tri-Towers.
One of the retreating techs had phoned in an anonymous call to GPD about a body on the top floor.
They'd hung up before giving any further details.
Blake and Gordon would arrive in record time, not at risk for being pulled over for speeding, both men would be saddened in different ways at seeing Miranda's dead body, later feeling different emotions when they learned that the exsanguinated, still beautiful in death, was actually Talia al Ghul.
Blake and Gordon would continue to work for the GPD until they both died, years apart, at their desks in the busy station, fighting crime until the bitter, heart-stopping end.
Both of their official causes of death were heart attacks.
Bane pushed the ion battery car engine until he could swap it with another vehicle, leaving the hybrid in the crowded parking lot of an electronics chain in exchange for a king cab truck with sturdy dually tires.
Gwendolyn was in and out of sleep as Bane drove, he kept a close eye on her in the passenger seat, ensuring she was as comfortable as possible with the traveling medical care.
On the fourth day of travelling, Gwendolyn stirred awake as the glaringly bright sunlight hit her closed eyelids through the wide windshield.
"Where are we?" she croaked, surprising Bane as her voice broke the silence.
"Pear Creek Valley," Bane said as he looked over at Gwendolyn, pleased to see she had a little more color to her face, greater strength in her voice. He turned his attention back over the hood of the diesel truck as Gwendolyn unscrewed the cap on a bottle of tepid water and took slow sips, very thirsty but not wanting to drink too fast and risk vomiting, she'd already been feeling regularly nauseated, chalking it up to the myriad of medications swirling around in her system.
Bane named off a city that she was familiar with from a story a few years back about meth labs in the isolated area of the woodsy township, the heavily forested area even boasted a few moonshine stills that went back generations.
On the fifth year of Gwendolyn's disappearance, her father would also die of a massive heart attack.
He'd been trying to bully a new intern into lifting her skirt, asking if she knew who he was.
Robert Ales never got to finish telling the frightened intern that if she wanted to keep working there, she had to be appreciative, after all, everyone would tell the GPD officers that would investigate what she was wearing. How her slim-fitting skirt and beautiful body obtained through over-exercising and under-eating meant that she was asking for it.
Her co-workers were frightened of Robert Ales.
She knew that they would tell the investigating officers that she one time smiled at Ales and even said "good morning," and everybody knows that when a woman smiles at a man, it means she wants to suck his cock and get fucked up the ass.
Robert Ales died a painful death on the plush carpet of his swanky office, shitting himself as his body spasmed before his heart stopped.
That happened as Gwendolyn was far away, safe in the arms of Bane.
"What're we doing once we stop driving?" Gwendolyn asked, rolling down her window and breathing in the fresh air, the wind was brisk as she filled her lungs.
Bane reached over and settled his large hand on top of her thigh, squeezing gently with each spoken word.
"We'll just be," he murmured on a trio of gentle notes, deciding to tell her later about the suitcase of crisp bills in the roomy rear seats of the king cab truck.
Gwendolyn drank in the surroundings as he navigated the truck down smooth asphalt, lined lanes that became bumpy, unmarked roads.
Back in Gotham City, Barsad would've received a message from Bane via encrypted message. Bane released Barsad from any type of service or debt he felt he owed and wished him well.
Barsad never questioned the message, never questioned why Bane was moving on.
He secured work via private contract and ended up retiring early when he met and fell in love with a goat farmer in Kashmir India. Barsad assimilated into his new life and raised four children with his lovely Kashvi, never again taking a life for money or someone else's war.
Far away from Barsad, on the other side of the world, Bane and Gwendolyn settled in Pear Creek Valley. A modest home, deep in the heavily wooded area, streams nearby and more wildlife than human being in terms of population.
Gwendolyn healed once she settled into a routine with Bane.
He helped her in every way he could and that she'd allow.
One morning, Gwendolyn was sleeping late.
Bane had risen with the sun but remained next to her, listening to her deep and even breathing.
He rolled to his side, running his eyes up and down the length of her body, focusing on the curve of where her neck and shoulders met.
He slid across the mattress and settled a strong arm around her, the weight falling around her, stirred Gwendolyn to consciousness.
"Is it late or early?" she mumbled as she covered a yawn.
Bane chuckled, "it's after ten."
Gwendolyn echoed his chuckle, "I've been so tired lately, can't seem to sleep enough."
"Come here," Bane growled in a dark harmony as he tugged at her hips, urging her to turn and face him.
Gwendolyn rolled over, finding Bane settling on his broad back. "Come here," he demanded in a deeper melody as he roughly pulled her onto him, her thighs coming to rest on either side of his hips.
She'd been warm when she went to bed and was wearing an oversized shirt from her Alma Mater, the cotton shirt had originally been a vibrant blue but over the years had faded to a light blue, boasting several holes and multiple stray threads.
Bane had stripped out of his clothes before pulling her close, his cock had grown hard from the moment he'd pulled her close.
Gwendolyn gasped and felt a twinge in her lower body when his hard, thick length pressed against her inner thigh, she shifted and made a mechanical gasp spill from the front of Bane's mask as she reached down and tentatively gripped his rigidity.
"May I see you?" Gwendolyn asked as she smoothed the rounded head of his cock up and down the crease of where her hip and inner thigh met, her body beginning to tremble.
Bane initially didn't know what to say, he couldn't find his words as she moved the sensitive tip of his cock to move in slow circles on the pad of fat above her pussy. She made his breath hitch out of sync with his controlled breathing rate as she increased the pressure of her grip on his shift, moving her hand faster.
"Please," Gwendolyn whispered as she placed her free hand on the titanium coils over his mouth, shifting so she could slide the smooth head of his cock through her wet, silken folds, teasing both of them as she bobbed it against her velvet, pink opening.
Bane reached up and unclasped the clips that secured his mask into place, flipping a switch that allowed him to breathe room air but denied him of his pain suppression, not able to withstand being without his mask for too long.
His hands nearly shook as he lifted his mask, letting her see all of him.
Gwendolyn's expression softened as she ran her eyes over his face, seeing him struggle to breathe, his lungs only partially expanding.
Bane struggled to maintain any sort of breathing rhythm as Gwendolyn traced her smooth fingertips over the set of scars that criss-crossed his lips. She trailed his high cheekbones, feeling the poorly healed bones under the pads of her fingertips.
A blush filled her face as a rush of wetness rushed to her intimacy, admiring his strong features, her body betraying what she really wanted as she shifted until she could slide down the length of his shaft, her body stretching to accommodate his thickness.
"You know you're already mine," Bane stated in a strangled rasp, sounding vulnerable without his mask and aerosolized pain management. "Your consent just cements it," he added as he quickly secured his mask back into place, breathing deeply as he raised his hands to settle on her hips.
Gwendolyn gasped as Bane pulled her down his hard length with greater urgency, filling her completely, stopped only when their intimate flesh wetly kissed.
She couldn't really disagree with him as they found a steady rhythm of her sliding up and down his thickness, he stole her breath every time he filled her, the end of each deep plunge making a bolt of electricity strike her wet center.
Gwendolyn could only speak in incoherent moans and breathless sighs as Bane pushed her towards the precipice of ecstasy.
"Are you disgusted by my face?" Bane asked on a strained melody, each syllable near-bursting with vulnerability.
Gwendolyn shook her head, reaching for one of her hands, pulling until she could press his palm over her pounding heart, "no, I want to stay here with you," she began before she cried out as she was overwhelmed by a spine-bowing orgasm, her tight center pulsed and squeezed around his thick length.
"Tell me that again," Bane managed in a strangled rasp as he followed her into the valley of pleasure, his whole body tensing as his cock spasmed and filled her deeply with his sticky seed.
"I want to be here, I want you," Gwendolyn managed as she struggled to catch her breath.
"You've always been mine," Bane murmured on a satisfied melody, groaning when his cock softened and slid out of her.
The day passed as so many before.
In the middle of the night, a sound awoke Bane. He sat upright in the bed, finding Gwendolyn gone and the light visible underneath the closed bathroom door.
He strained his ears, waiting for the noise that awoke him to repeat itself.
Bane eventually heard Gwendolyn vomiting from the other side of the closed bathroom door, he jumped out of the bed and threw open the door without knocking after the sound of her retching ceased.
He froze when his eyes found Gwendolyn standing sideways as she scrutinized her reflection, slowly moving her hand in small circles under her belly button, the satin of the fabric shiny under the bright lights. She paused her hand's movement when she saw Bane in the mirror's reflection.
"Gwendolyn?" Bane whispered on a melodic rasp as he turned into a pillar of salt in the doorway.
"I've always wanted a child," she started as she turned to look at him. "I just never wanted to have to deal with the father, until now," Gwendolyn murmured as a touch of color lit up her pale cheeks.
Behind his mask, Bane closed the small distance between them and dropped heavily to his knees in front of her as he reached out and grabbed her hips, pulling her impossibly close.
She almost lost her balance, scrabbling her hands to grip the rounded caps of his shoulders.
Bane smoothed one hand around to the front of her body and pushed her gown upwards, exposing her naked skin, the barest bump visible from the rapidly dividing cells.
Gwendolyn took a sharp breath as Bane fumbled his mask free and pressed his scarred lips against her belly, the supple skin warm under his lips.
Bane closed his eyes, sharing the silence with Gwendolyn, his heart full as he wished for a son.