A/N:

Hey there guys an gals, my name is Jammything and I am excited to share my first ever Fan-Fic with you all! My wonderful better half 'xOnee-sanx' has been a long time member on the site and helped me figure out how to work everything, as well as proof reading my writing.

The summery: Bane has learned of a buried vault beneath Ace Chemicals, which holds potential ingredients for a more powerful version of Venom. To get his hands on it however he will need to steal some powerful machinery. These thefts grab the attention of Detective Jim Gordon who soon turns to the Batman for help.

Can Batman find and reach Bane before he manages to inject himself with this 'Venom 2.0', or will he be too late in stopping him from becoming a human titan?

I've wanted to write this story for a while now and am thrilled to have it posted on here. I would love to hear any thoughts you have on it so please feel free to review and comment.

Alright, well without further ado, I hope you enjoy Part 1!

Part 1 - A Bane of Existence

Ace Chemicals had shut it's doors years ago, becoming just another decaying relic from a forgotten time like many other buildings on the outskirts of Gotham. However the corrupting taint of Gotham seeps into everything within it's grasp, giving a new and dark purpose to this once derelict building. Now this crumbling factory had become the newest hideout to the villain Bane and his crew.

Bane had received information that there was a stash of drums filled with experimental and potentially dangerous chemicals, locked away in a vault and buried deep underneath the grounds of the plant itself. The information he had strongly suggested that these chemicals had similar properties to the Venom he used, making it of great interest to him. Bane planned to dig the vault up and use the contents of the drums to make a new, greater, Venom. He had the manpower for the job, he just needed to right tools and he knew where to get them.

Soon police reports had been flooding in, all regarding the theft of construction machinery and other equipment on a large scale. Building sites had been raided, workers had been threatened, beaten or even killed. This had caught the attention of veteran Detective Jim Gordon. He knew these weren't just random acts, something big was going on, and he knew just the man who could find out what it was.

Jim stood atop of the GCPD building alone in the cold and wet weather of a Gotham night. His only source of heat was the brief spark from his flip lighter as he lit a cheap cigarette, shielding the flame from the rain and wind with his free hand. He leaned on the ledge of the roof and looked out upon the city he had sworn to protect, smoking away as he briefly thought about how so much has changed since he had first started at the GCPD many years ago. How the city had grown darker, more dangerous, and the new lengths he now had to go to in order to protect Gotham from itself. He thought about the villains that had crawled out from the shadows over the years and wondered if Gotham merely attracted these monsters, or if it had made them. He finished his train of thought along with his cigarette before idly tossing them both off the balcony to be swept away by the wind. He casually stood back up, turned, and walked over to the searchlight which bore the emblem of the Bat at it's centre. He flipped the switch and the signal came to life, shining brightly against the heavy dark clouds. Jim knew he wouldn't have to wait long.

At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne was sat in his study playing a one-man game of chess. Pale, white moonlight shone in through the large, Gothic window, casting down upon him as he sat forward in a padded, red leather chair, resting his chin on his knuckles while deep in thought. Flickering reds and oranges danced along the outer edges of the room as they emanated from the dying flames of the fireplace. Bruce sat studying the position of the pieces for some time before making a move and then rotating the board, before studying it yet again. There was a distant sound of footsteps, walking along the corridor leading to the study. A slender yet elderly figure entered the room and approached Bruce.

"If it were me sir, I'd move my rook to G5 and take your pawn..."

Bruce squinted at this, leaning to the side slightly as if to look at the board from a new angle he hadn't yet considered.

"...If you were to do that though I could take your rook in three moves or less with another pawn..."

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Oh indeed you could sir..." A flicker of a smile appeared on his face."...Though in all the time I've known you, never once have I ever seen you risk the life of a pawn. You always make sure that The Knight is the only piece that is ever truly placed in harms way."

Bruce gently laughed to himself while sitting fully back in his chair, knowing he had been bested. "Touché Alfred. You got me there." He responded in mock defeat.

"Now then..." Continued Alfred. "...I take it sir has not forgotten that he will be attending the charity ball later tonight?"

"Charity ball?" Inquired Bruce, still sitting fully back in his chair. "What charity ball would this be?"

"Why, the one, Master Wayne, is hosting of course. If sir remembers he recently made a sizeable donation to aid the homeless of Gotham, as well as having organized a function to encourage more of Gotham's elite to do the same."

"Ah. That charity ball." Responded Bruce. "Very well. Any suit in particular you would recommend for tonight then, Alfred?" As he said these words, a new source of light shined through the large Gothic window, catching the eye of Alfred.

Alfred sighed "Actually sir, on second thought I would highly recommend you wear your evening suit tonight."

Bruce looked at his old friend as he spoke. "...Which evening suit are you referring to?"

Alfred did not speak, only glancing at the window behind Bruce. Bruce slowly stood up and out of the leather chair. He walked towards the window while looking out of it. Not so much at the night sky itself, but at the Bat-signal shining against the clouds. He knew now which suit Alfred meant.

Jim Gordon flipped open his lighter once again to spark up, briefly bathing in it's warm glow for a moment as the rain dripped from his fingers. As he flipped it shut his eyes briefly widened, he felt a familiar shiver crawl down his spine. He realized he was being watched by someone hiding in the shadows, standing a distance behind him. The figure came forward, partly emerging from out of the darkness, moonlight revealed a Bat symbol on the figure's chest. The person spoke with a voice both deep and cold.

"Hello again Jim..."

Rain lashed down on the crane at Ace Chemicals as it whirred loudly, straining to lift the vault out of a giant hole in the centre of the grounds. A hole so deep even the flood lights could not penetrate it's void. Finally it was out and placed down on solid earth. Some of the men got closer to inspect it but soon backed away as Bane walked up to the vault and examined the door himself. It would take another day or so for his men to get it open. He did not want to wait that long. He pressed the button on his chest piece slightly, causing two of the six green vials on his back-piece to empty, Venom shot along the tubes which were connected from his back-piece to his upper body and the back of his head. His veins turned a dark green as the serum did it's job. Once he had grown to an enhanced state he grabbed hold of the steel door and prized it off with only his hands before throwing the door to one side with an almighty clang. After it had been opened Bane stepped inside to discover the cache of dusty drums within. He almost smiled to himself under his mask as he looked upon them, imagining the new strain of Venom that would soon be his...

Jim had got no leads on the construction-site robberies so far. The victims, the one's beaten or threatened were too scared to talk to the cops. The few who had been bribed were pulled in for interrogation. Unfortunately for Jim they understood that the money they were given paid for more than the machinery, it also bought their silence. One of those few, a pot bellied middle-aged man by the name of John, later changed his mind and decided he wanted to talk, he wanted to share all the information he had as quickly as possible in fact. He told of the man who gave him the money, what he looked like and where he met him.

It's funny the change of heart some people had, when they woke up in the middle of the night, to find the shadow covered figure of the Dark Knight standing at the bottom of their bed.

Armed with this information The Caped Crusader searched Gotham's underbelly. Hitting dive bars, known thugs, all while demanding a name. It took a couple of nights of work but eventually one name was given. Jim ran that name through the police data-base and it got a match. One Vinny Prince, Caucasian male, previous convictions for aggravated assault & robbery.

Jim was able to pull an address from the archives and, with a squad in tow, performed a raid.

It was a bust.

Vinny had long gone. The GCPD had nothing on him now. The bat-computer did have something on him, however. It tracked his finical records, shopping via card, online streaming services, a brand new apartment in Gotham.

It was the dead of night when Vinny received a caped visitor. He shot at the unwelcome guest, yet somehow each shot missed its mark. He tried to fight yet was overpowered. The intruder scowled at him and demanded a name. Despite the broken arm and being pinned to the floor he refused to give one. He would soon wish he had. The last thing he saw before everything went dark for a while, was a gloved fist appearing in front of his face.

When Vinny woke up he was dangling from the top of his apartment block by a piece of rope tied to his leg. The rain lashed down with an evil force. The demand for a name was once again given. Vinny's response... "Screw you, you damn Bat-Freak! Screw you and whatever freaky family you come from, I hope you all rot in hell!"

It was the worst answer he could have given. The Bat was a hero many looked up to, but he was still just a man. A scowl appeared on his face, though unlike the others he had worn, this one was hidden behind the mask.

The rope was cut with a bat-shaped blade.

Vinny screamed in mortal fear as the ground rapidly rushed to greet him. The air shot past as quickly as the memories of his life ran through his mind. They were not happy ones. Just as he was about to fatally kiss the pavement, he closed his eyes as tears leaked through. He waited for death to take him as he clenched his eyes shut, though it never arrived. He carefully opened a single eye to see the ground mere inches below him. He dangled in place above as he reached out to touch it, but before he could something pulled him up. All the way to the top of the apartment block and he screamed in fear. A Wayne-Tech fibre rope was wrapped around his leg, though he had no idea where it had come from. He was ready to talk at this point. Unfortunately for him the one holding the rope was still unhappy about his earlier comment and let go of the rope for a second time.

Once back at the top of the building again, Vinny gave Bane's name and location as quickly as the words could leave his mouth. He told of the reason for the machinery, he told of Bane's great plan. The Dark Knight listened carefully...and planned...

Nearly three days had passed since the vault that was buried in the old Ace Chemical grounds had been unearthed and it's forbidden fruits harvested. Beads of sweat and terror were dripping down the face of one of Bane's chemists in the makeshift lab room. He willed his hands not to shake as he listened to the heavy masked breathing of his boss, standing right behind him, towering over him.

"I hope, for your sake, that you are done soon." Warned Bane. He had grown impatient some time ago, something his men knew whenever they glimpsed the broken and dead body of one such worker, who lay crumpled in the corner; his neck was crushed with a single hand and his body tossed aside like a rag-doll.

"Y...yes sir, we are nearly done. J-Just a bit more..." The chemist let a few more drops fall from the pipette in his hand. The droplets fell into the flask of greenish liquid. The mixture bubbled for a few seconds before calming down and turning a light turquoise. He then carefully tipped it into a vial before turning around and slowly holding it up to his boss.

"...There you go boss, Venom 2.0..." He said with a quiet sense of both fear and pride.

Bane carefully took the vial and held it up to the dim, naked lights dangling from the ceiling. He watched as the light danced with the swirling mixture within.

"...Excellent.." He hissed. ".You have done well..." With that he turned and left, much to the relief of the chemists that were still alive. Bane made his way out of the lab, across the main hall, passing a number of his men, to his private quarters.

Once there he stood before a coded locker. After entering the combination the locker opened, a hiss of cold air emitted from it as metal racks of green Venom unfolded outwards. Bane held the light blue vial out in front of him and looked from it to the many green filled vials. If he were right, this one single vial of Venom would, not only last longer, but also be far more powerful than all these other vials combined. It was an exciting prospect.

Bane carefully reached around to his back-piece, pressing a hidden button and releasing it. Though no longer on him it was still connected to his spine by a series of wires which stretched as he brought the piece around at the front. Slowly, carefully; he removed one of the green vials from it and replaced it with the new light blue one. He adjusted some more settings on it before finally reattaching it to his back. This had took little over an hour in total.

He was pleased. He decided that he should reward his underlings for their work. With the green vial in hand he made his way back down the corridors. He had shared Venom with his men before, though just a watered down version of the stuff. The vial in his hand was Grade-A compared to that junk. For their hard work, Bane was going to allow them the honour of fighting it out to posses a vial of his own personal supply of Venom. When he had got back to the main hall however there was not a single person in sight. His men were gone.

Bane looked around. Nothing seemed broken or out of place, no signs of a struggle. Upon a more careful viewing however he began to spot his soldiers. Some seemed to be hanging, unconscious, by their feet from the shadowy rafters above. Others lay on the ground, hidden in the dark shadowy corners. All of them seemed to be still alive.

He looked up above as he spoke, his voice a deep rumble. "...I know you are there...Batman..." There was no response. He turned and shouted to the other side of the seemly black void above him.

"...I will admit, I am impressed. You have great skill. It is easy to see that you have trained hard for many years...and yet...you still have one glaring weakness that you refuse to correct..."

Bane listened carefully for a noise, some clue as to where the Bat was. There was only silence.

He walked up to one of his men lying limp on the ground. He picked him up by the throat with a single hand. He held him up for the world to see, before slowly squeezing and crushing the man's neck. "..You refuse to kill. You won't even let others do the killing for you..."

Although unconscious, the man began to splutter and choke as fingers squeezed around his neck, slowly crushing the life out of him.

There was a swift whooshing noise as a razor sharp blade flew through the air and buried itself into Bane's hand. He screamed in pain and dropped the chocking man on the floor, clutching his blooded hand with the other. Bane looked at his blood drenched hand and at the Batarang that was sticking out of it. There was a brief 'swoosh' sound, as if something had fallen from above and parachuted gently onto the ground behind Bane.

Bane slowly turned around as the red droplets dripped from his hand.

There, a few feet in front of him, a dark figure rose up to it's full height. It had black horns pointed upwards, a long black cape worn like a shadow, a battle scarred Bat symbol on the chest and worst of all, was the scowl. There, stood in front of Bane, was The Dark Knight; The Batman.

Batman knew how powerful Bane could be when on Venom and so, as always, he had prepared himself for the coming fight. The suit he wore was similar to his normal Bat-Suit, but with some modifications. Unlike his normal suit, this armour consisted of a large number of small titanium, alloy plates weaved together with enhanced nano-fibres. This combination resulted in a suit that could shrug off blows from the likes of Killer Croc, while still allowing for near-perfect mobility.

"Hhrrrrr...hhrhhrrrrrr...that...actually hurt." Hissed Bane. "Tell me...Bat...how did you manage to find me? I'm curious. I'm always looking to improve my methods, to stomp out any weakness I have."

Batman's expression remained unchanged. His lips closed.

Bane smirked. "Not only are you skilled, but you know not to brag or boast. What I could do with men like you..."

Batman ignored the comment. "I'm not going to let you unleash this new strain of Venom on Gotham, Bane." His voice was deep, harsh and foreboding.

"HA HA HA!" Laughed Bane. "You think I plan to share it?! Most of these men struggle to handle the weaker stuff, let alone my personal supply of Venom. What makes you think they could survive my new 'enhanced' formula...?"

Batman stood silent. Just watching. Waiting.

"...No, this is a special blend...and it is mine!" He hissed, "No one else but me could handle something this powerful."

Still no response.

"Come Batman...!" He roared. "...Come...see what you think to it yourself! You can be the first to bare witness to my new strength. Though you won't be alive afterwards to tell of it's glory..." Bane then thumped the button on his chest piece. His backpack lit up, the vials began to empty one at a time with a slight hiss, the five green ones were first then the light blue one slowly partly emptied itself afterwards. The mixture pumped through the tubes leading from his backpack to his head and upper body. As it made it's way it changed from a slime green to the same light bluish hue as the last vial. His heart began to pump it through his body, making his veins glow.

Batman mentally and physically prepared for the coming fight, he got into his first stance. He had fought Bane before when he was jacked up on Venom. He knew how he fought, what his first attack would be, he knew he would be so focused on attack he sacrifices all defence, leaving himself wide open to attack. As long as he could make a few good dodges to start with, he could get behind him and quickly cut the Venom supply off. Hopefully, it should all go to plan. He watched as Bane began to grow. The Venom was taking effect. This was different this time though. Bane seemed to kept growing, expanding past his normally enhanced size. This new Venom was doing it's job. Bane's costume had been designed to grow in size with him whenever he injected venom, however it was struggling to contain the human juggernaut as he grew increasingly bigger and wider then it had been created for, causing it to rip and tear. He shadow grew in size until the Bat found himself stood fully in it. The Batarang sticking out his hand was pushed out of the wound and soon healed over. The bat shaped throwing star landed on the ground covered in both red and light blue blood.

Slowly Batman moved his right leg back. Bane's first attack after shooting up was always to rush his opponent, when he goes to run towards him he would jump left, grapple hook up several feet and try for a Batarang shot to one of the tubes sticking out of Bane.

That was the plan. Bane let loose a monstrous roar that echoed throughout the whole factory. He charged forward, each step leaving an imprint and shaking the hall itself, a behemoth of pure muscle and rage. Batman stood his ground as the giant quickly grew closer, his shadow burying him.

"GGGGAAARRRRRRHHHHH!"

It was at the very last moment Batman jumped left, While in the air he shot a zip-line up towards the rafter, it fired just over Bane's right shoulder and then found it's target, wrapping around a beam, before pulling him up. Batman zipped past over Bane's shoulder. After passing him by he let go of the zip-line in mid-air, he turned while still in the airs his cap swooped behind him, and threw a Batarang at the tube on the back of Bane's neck.

One of the problem's with the armour Batman wore for his fight with Bane was that it allowed for near perfect mobility. Sadly near perfect is not the same as perfect.

The Batarang missed it's target by the smallest of margins, instead it hit the upper spine. Bane winced from the strike and didn't notice the wall he was heading towards. He ploughed straight through it and took out a load bearing steel beam, taking part of the structure with him.

Batman landed with a roll as bricks and rubble crashed down right behind him. He barely had a split second to react as more fall down, leaping out the way just in the nick of time. Another load fell on top of him this time. Fortunately the suit he wore was designed for high impact. He struggled with all his might to lift it off of him and free himself.

As soon as it started it was over. Parts of the building still stood while whole sections were now gone, mere rubble. Batman slowly stood off, brushing the dust off himself. He looked around, there was no sign of Bane.

Just then another rumble started, Batman looked up to watch for more of the factory caving in but this was different. A large heap of rubble and bricks began to rise from the ground slowly. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. Batman moved his right leg back getting into stance and readied a Batarang. He watched as a figure, as a behemoth, emerged from the wreckage.

It was Bane. The dust was falling from him as he slowly walked out of the mess and stood on top of a heap of bricks and rubble. He had gone beyond rage, his mind filled with new levels of wrath and fury. He thumped his the button his chest piece yet again. The last of the light blue liquid emptied out of the vial. His veins bulged and shined brightly in the now darkened hall, his eyes glowing pure blue light. He seemed to have barely taken any damage from an entire factory falling on top of him, Batman knew there was little he could do to stop something that powerful.

But he knew he had to try.

Bane locked eyes with the Batman and thought of only blood, rage and death. He raised his arms out and bellowed with such might, causing spittle and dust to fly from his mouth, that the remains of Ace Chemicals shook even more. Batman knew he was getting ready to attack again. There was a chance, he thought, that this might be his final fight.

Just then, as the last drop entered Bane's body, he stopped and went quiet. His arms fell to his sides. Batman stood, watching cautiously. Something was happening to Bane, he seemed to be shaking violently. Until, at last, he collapsed backwards crashing into the ground and causing even more tremors.

Batman waited until the dust had settled before approaching the human mass lying on the ground. It took the enhanced strength from his suit for him to lift one of Bane's arms. He tried to examine the pulse as best he could given the size of the veins. There was nothing.

He pressed his finger against his left ear, pressing a hidden button behind the mask and allowing him to call Jim. Jim was stood with a police task force some distance away from Ace Chemicals, waiting for the all clear from Batman for the task force to move in. Jim answered his mobile phone.

"...Batman...that you?! Man...I got worried for a while there. When the building started to collapse I feared the worst...!" Jim calmed himself before continuing. "...Well seeing how your ringing me that can only mean one thing. You got Bane. My men are waiting just outside like you said, and are ready to take him into custody. Even got some re-enforced hand-cuffs and everything." He laughed.

"...I have Bane, but he won't be needing those hand-cuffs." Voiced Batman plainly. "...He's dead."

There was a pause. "...Wait, what? He's dead?!...How!?"

Batman stood up and looked the massive corpse lying across the ground before he spoke.

"...It...it almost looks...like he died from a heart attack..."