Chapter Two: A Collision of Two Worlds
"What happened to the child?" Bane asked and felt Talia's feet grow still in his hands.
Talia looked up at him and gave him a peculiar, crooked smile before she looked down at her watch.
"You'll be meeting her in just a couple hours, I didn't call ahead to tell her we were coming either," she added with a cackle.
Bane's mask kept his shocked expression hidden.
"Who raised the child after the accident?"
Talia leaned her head back and stared up at the padded ceiling.
"My father found a family who wanted to adopt, and I don't know why them, but he picked this mathematics professor and chemist couple in upstate New York."
Bane didn't have to wait for her to continue, he could feel her muscles begin to vibrate with angry energy.
"The chemist wife died about five years ago of an aneurysm and the professor had a heart attack, recovered and retired at some property in Maryland."
"How do you know that?" Bane asked and resumed moving his thumbs in slow circles on her heels.
Talia rubbed at her eyes, real tears fell from her eyes and she sniffed hard. "I found this box in the corner of the closet, under the carpet. I only discovered it because one of the dogs was digging there."
Bane smiled behind his mask as he thought of the many mixed breeds that provided constant companionship.
"My father paid the professor monthly from day one to raise her," Talia spit before she added. "He paid for everything and all her education. He even paid for her braces and fucking allowance," Talia shouted in the confined space.
Talia's expression went blank. "The worst thing beyond the money was the fact that he wanted yearly pictures and frequent updates. He even got to name her."
Bane felt her feet grow still in his hands.
"What's her name."
"Helena."
"Helena Elizabeth."
Hours passed as Talia, her two new sidekicks and Bane all napped as Barsad directed the powerful turboshaft of the helicopter engine towards the property on the outskirts of town, conveniently isolated to Talia's delight. They all piled into a car they found that was unlocked in the parking lot of a big box retail store. Barsad hotwired the engine of a decent sedan and they drove the remaining distance to the home of retired mathematics Professor Howard Lang and his adopted daughter Helena.
A little after 7pm, the Lang household, which sat at the end of a long gravel driveway was quiet except for the sporadic conversation between Howard and Helena. The two lived in a sprawling two story home that was built in the late 1970's and boasted a kidney shaped pool, gazebo covered jacuzzi and tennis court. There was just enough property surrounded by lush greenery and towering trees which gave them a feeling of privacy and isolation.
Howard had just gotten settled at the dinner table, he suffered from a degenerative bone disease and was now reduced to walking with a much slower and uneven gait. Most of his footfalls caused spikes of pain to drive deep into his joints. He also hated asking for any assistance walking so Helena went to set the table and bring out dinner as he arranged a small round cushion under each hip. She set a crystal bowl of spring greens that was arranged with chunks of avocado as the doorbell rang in two quick successions. She paused in her path back to the kitchen and turned towards her father, "are you expecting someone?"
He shrugged, "probably someone wanting money, you know they always show up at dinner. Just ignore it, they'll eventually leave on their own," he said right before the doorbell rang again. This time the chime sounded rapidly four times in a row.
Sighing, Helena made her way to the front door, she opened it before bothering to first look out the peephole. Her frustration was obvious on her face when she opened the door.
"Hello Helena, it's nice to finally meet you in person," Talia said in a voice that grated on Bane's nerves. She sounded so much like her smooth second persona Miranda Tate. Her words were chunks of salt rubbed into raw, open flesh.
Bane felt certain the moment his eyes fell on Helena Elizabeth Lang that his heart clinically stopped beating long enough to be declared dead.
His vision seemed to divide and come back together as he drank in every part of her, memorizing the messy pile of hair on top of her head, held together with a plastic claw clip down to her turquoise blue toenails peeking from her flat sandals.
"She's like nothing I've ever seen," he thought to himself as Helena stared down with a puzzled look at Talia's extended hand.
"I'm sorry, do we know each other from the University?" Helena asked with a pleasant smile.
Talia's façade fell. "It's Talia. Talia al Ghul."
"Ale ghoul?" Helena asked nervously.
"Your whore mother fucked my father, I'm his legacy, his real daughter. You're a hybrid, barely a lifeform, you were produced from a cheap fuck."
"Excuse me?" Helena sputtered as she flushed and started let the door close a bit as she continued. "My mother Sylvia Lang is dead, and the estate is settled, there's nothing to extort. Please leave," she said and started to slam the door, anxious to lock it.
"Stop and restrain her," Talia said over her shoulder to Bane.
He moved with the speed of a tidal wave and simultaneously pushed open the door and scooped up Helena.
Helena shrieked as Bane moved his free hand to capture her wrists and draw her hands tight at her lower back. She was forced to face Talia as she stepped over the threshold.
She told the two random men that she had learned on the flight were named Chris and Ryan, to go secure anyone else in the house but no killing or permanently maiming.
Barsad was already moving around the perimeter to access the cable and phone lines.
"Your mother was Sienna Troy and she was married to the hedge fund billionaire Karl Troy. Your mother seduced and fucked my father at some party. Karl found out and sent her slut ass to the other coastline and she died in a car crash before you were born, I'm sure she was drunk."
"You're insane," Helena screeched and struggled futilely until Bane tightened his grip and slipped her forearms further upwards until she hissed in pain.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Bane, Talia, and Helena all looked over as Ryan appeared as he yanked Howard across the polished hardwood floor.
Blood fell freely from his right nostril and his breathing was labored to even the untrained eye.
"Dad!" Helena screamed and lunged towards her father as Ryan dumped him into an antique rocking chair.
"Everyone shut up," Talia said and discharged her pistol into the hand laid floor.
Everyone stopped talking and gave Talia their full attention.
"Okay, look, drop the surprised act. How do you think you got through school not to mention life without knowing who my father is? You spent his money."
Helena shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking apart. My mother was head of the chemistry department, I had a good foot in the door," she said as she shook her head.
Talia walked over to where Howard was slumped in the rocking chair.
"Did you not tell her who her real father is?" she asked as she put the pistol under his chin and raised his face to meet hers.
Howard was overwhelmed and sagged as his shoulders shook with sobs.
Talia blew out a sharp breath. "Alright, well we've got a whole of talking to do. I'm hungry though, where can I clean up before a big helping of whatever I smell cooking."
Bane squeezed Helena's wrists as she lunged again towards Howard as Ryan yanked him roughly to his feet.
"Where?" Talia asked as she pointed the gun at Howard's departing back.
Bane could smell the light musk that Helena dabbed behind her ears as her heart began to race. "The bathroom is to the right and the kitchen is through there," Helena said with a nod to the left.
"Go set the table," Talia said and pivoted sharply towards the downstairs half bathroom and cleaned up as best as she could in the sink.
As Talia scrubbed her hands and face, Bane pushed Helena towards the kitchen.
"Are you okay dad?" she asked and tried to move towards her father when Ryan settled him at the dining room table.
Bane wordlessly pushed her through a small doorway and into the chef ready kitchen. The oven timer still had twenty minutes on the chicken.
He released her wrists and pushed her towards the granite countertop and the pile of half-chopped potatoes.
Helena flinched when she heard Talia slap the dining room table as she shouted.
"What do you have in the way of booze?"
Helena closed her eyes as Talia's shrill syllables carried into the kitchen.
"I'll bring you something," Helena shouted back. She felt Bane's eyes as she turned away from him and opened a low cabinet next to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine and a squat bottle of aged whiskey.
Bane let his eyes travel the length of her body, the hem of her summer dress teased the skin of her smooth thighs and his fingertips felt electric with the desire to know what her flesh felt like.
He leaned back against the opposite counter and watched her move around the kitchen and finish the rest of dinner and gathered more plates and utensils.
Helena felt her chest tighten and her heart threatened to leap out of her ribcage as he followed her like a shadow as she took dish after dish to the rectangular table where Talia, Howard, Chris, and Ryan waited.
Talia smiled smugly as Helena served everyone a full plate of herb-roasted chicken, creamy mashed potatoes and pan roasted Brussel sprouts with toasted pine nuts and shallots.
Helena felt the weight of Bane's eyes as she passed everyone their plate. She paused before she handed him a full plate, their eyes locking as he reached up and depressed a few coiled wires at the base of his neck. He switched his serum from an inhalant to intravenously through a modified arterial line that led directly to his heart.
He watched a stray hair spring free of her sloppy bun and tickle the top of her earlobe. His eyes landed on her mouth as he unbuckled his titanium mask and pulled it free of his face.
Helena kept her surprise inside at the strong line of his jaw and the scant amount of scars that his mask covered.
He licked his dry lips as he accepted the plate from her. "Thank you," he murmured, eager to load his fork with food she had made, anything to keep the desire to forcefully taste her at bay.
Helena was grateful for the brief silence while everyone filled their bellies.
"Well we have a lot to talk about," Talia said and filled her wine glass to the rim with a vintage merlot.
Helena poured some of the strong amber whiskey into a short glass as Talia told Chris and Ryan to go join Barsad.
"Tell her everything now," Talia demanded to Howard's downcast face.
Bane's eyes never left Helena's face as Howard told Helena everything. He left no detail out about getting to adopt her. He explained that he knew Ras al Ghul as Sebastian Listonstiger, a fellow professor from overseas in the field of mathematics. The two men had inexplicably bonded and had a genuine friendship for years before Ras ever met Sienna.
Howard looked up at Helena, tears freely streaming down his face as he spoke. "I'm sorry, you're my daughter."
Helena looked down at her plate and crumbled up napkin as every emotion hit her at once.
She jumped to her feet and covered her mouth as she coughed and scrambled towards the bathroom.
Bane followed her closely as she dropped to her knees and vomited up undigested chunks of chicken on a buttery rich river of bile and parsley bits.
He waited until her choking subsided and she pulled the towel off the wall and wiped at her mouth.
The room suddenly felt too small and his clothes too confining as he stared down at her and how much her dress had shifted from her violent spasms.
The fabric had ridden up nearly the entire length of her thigh and one of her thin shoulder straps slipped.
He clenched his hands into fist and bit the inside of his cheek as she struggled to her feet and rinsed out her mouth before she patted her face dry.
Helena met his eyes in the mirror, he filled the entire doorway.
"How much is she paying you? I can probably double it?"
Bane held her gaze and stepped aside. "It's not about money," he finally murmured as she had to walk past him in an impossibly close manner.
He heard her hold her breath when she moved past him and returned to the table where Talia and Howard were deep in a low conversation that they stopped as soon as Helena reappeared.
"What were you talking about?" Helena asked.
Talia turned towards her, "how much you owe me for your life."
"Owe you?"
"Yes, the only reason you didn't end up in the foster system is my father. He acted without honor once in his life and fucked a rich whore and made you. My father paid for your upbringing, care, education and the very fact that you're standing there right now."
Helena took a few shaky steps backwards and was stopped by the broad wall of Bane's body. She flinched when his hands fell on her shoulders and just stayed still but unable to ignore.
Talia drained her glass before she stood from the table, "you owe me for every second you've been alive with fucking interest."
"How much do you want?" Helena asked flatly.