Author's Note: I forgot to mention it in the last chapter but the quote Lena left Bane was by T.S. Elliot from the poem East Coker. I also don't own anything in the Dark Knight Rises.
Lena's eyes snapped open. She heard muted rustling in the next room. She eased herself out of bed. Her feet touching the cold worn wooden floorboards made her cringe but she stayed silent as she reached for the handgun on the nightstand. Lena crept toward her bedroom door listening for the sound but heard nothing.
She carefully opened the door and scanned the room but didn't see anything out of place. Once she'd established that Bane wasn't lying in wait to wring her neck she walked into the room setting the gun on the kitchen table. Lena looked over to her door and noticed a small stack of papers had been slide under her door.
She cautiously walked to the door and crouched to pick up the stack. Lena examined the first page and realized it was a newspaper. She was thrown off a bit because most of the city services had shut done after Bane took the city. The only reason the power and water were still working was because those plants weren't located on the island, they were pumped in.
Her eyes caught on the title of the paper and she chuckled to herself. It read New Gotham Times and it amused her that someone else had adopted the same nickname for the city as she had. Scanning down she stopped chuckling and whispered "Whoa" as she saw the front page article.
The picture was a black and white shot of Bane with the torn jacket lapel clearly visible. As she read on, the events of the previous day were recounted with relatively little embellishments. The article had an air of rebellion to it and Lena wondered if Bane would take action against the people who had created it.
She strolled into her kitchen and laid the paper down as she moved to get the coffee pot started. Once the coffee was ready she poured she grabbed a pop tart from the pantry and sat down to finish the paper. Lena looked over the second page and cursed softly. An article there detailed the fact that emergency supplies were being brought to the island that day.
"Well I was hoping that every single person in Gotham wouldn't be showing up today for food but that's probably not gonna happen now." Lena said with a huff. "Well I better go check it out anyways, make sure everyone plays nice"
She got dressed in faded jeans and a long sleeve thermal with a tee shirt on over that and a thick zip up hoodie to top it off. Next she pulled on thick socks wiggling her toes in satisfaction at the warmth and worn black boots. Once she had all her clothes on she grabbed her belt and fed the back handgun holster onto it and situated it into place.
She picked up her Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm of the table and ejected the magazine checking to make sure it was at full capacity, she pulled back the slide and made sure there was a round chambered. Lena never carried a gun without a chambered round now a days but it was always better to check and know for sure. She knew that paranoia kept you alive in New Gotham.
After tucking a knife into her pants pocket and another into the top of her boot she moved into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wrangle her hair into order. She paused for a moment looking at her reflection listlessly. Her skin was lightly tanned and her honey brown eyes looked tired.
"Getting too old for this crap." She sighed as she pushed herself away from the sink.
Lena headed back into the kitchen and packed up her rifle and threw on her fitted black leather jacket and lifted the backpack onto her shoulders. She grabbed up a black ski mask and rolled it up so it functioned as a hat. The mask kinda creeped Lena out but a least it only had a slit for her eyes and not her mouth so if she ever needed to wear it she'd look more like a ninja than a bank robber.
She headed out the door turning to lock up when Mrs. Scottsdale poked her head out her door.
"Lena dear did you see they delivered the paper today? Henry was up early and he picked them off the front stoop and handed them out" she said in an excited tone.
"Yeah Mrs. S it was pretty cool it felt like a normal morning for once, tell Mr. S I say thank you." Lena replied with a grin.
"I read about that awful business down at the courthouse yesterday, please be careful out there dear." Nodding to Mrs. Scottsdale she made her way to the stairs. "And don't forget about supper!" Mrs. S called after her. Lena gave her a thumbs-up as she pushed through the door and headed down to the basement.
Using the lift she got her motorcycle onto the street and headed southeast. Lena figured that the main way supplies would be shipped into Gotham would be by truck using the only remaining bridge with supplementary drops around the city with helicopters. She made her way towards the ruined stadium which was the largest and closet public structure to the bridge.
If she was right FEMA would use the stadium parking lot as a staging area and distribute supplies to grocery stores around the city. Lena motored toward a twenty story building that would give her an open view of the surrounding area. She parked behind the building, instinct telling her she might have to make a quick getaway today. Lena poked her head around the building noting that from the fifth floor down the fire escape was a straight ladder down to the alleyway bellow.
"That could come in handy." She mumbled to herself.
Lena opted to ascend the fire escape instead of entering the building. Finally reaching the roof she dropped her backpack and sprawled on the ground taking a short break. As she looked up at the pale blue sky she could almost believe she was somewhere else, somewhere safe, almost. Letting out a long sigh Lena got to her feet and dragged her pack over to the edge.
She sat down with her legs crossed and poked her head over the ledge and scanned the stadium. The streets were quiet so Lena grabbed her bag and unpacked it carefully placing the individual riffle pieces down. She rummaged around and pulled out a pair of thick leather gloves and set them aside.
After she assembled her riffle she took out the scope but instead of attaching it Lena used it as a monocular to better assess the situation bellow. She waited…and waited. When about two hours had passed Lena finally heard the rumble of truck engines and saw the convoy headed her way.
A small smile played across her face and she muttered "It's nice to be right sometimes."
The sound of the trucks had brought people out onto the streets and a good size crowd had started moving toward the stadium. Twenty trucks rolled into the parking lot and Lena saw a man in the lead truck hop out and start directing the truck drivers. She watched as five trucks parked next to each other while the others headed into the city dispersing evenly down the side streets no doubt heading to the different grocers around town.
Lena glanced back at the stadium parking lot and was impressed to see the crowd being organized and people calmly waiting for supplies. Then she heard the sounds of motorcycles coming towards the stadium and she turned to see who was coming.
A small group of Bane's men rode up to the crowd five men on three bikes and started pushing their way through the crowd till they reached the man that had been organizing the crowd. Lena could see the unrest move through the crowd which turned into mob when two of Bane's men knocked the FEMA man down and moved toward two of the supply trucks.
As Lena slide the scope onto her riffle she heard shouts of protest from the crowd. The mob bellow pushed forward in outrage against the unfair acquisition of supplies. She got into position drawing the riffle to her shoulder as Bane's men started to pull away in the two trucks with the motorcycles leading the way.
Lena took a deep breath and focused on the lead bike just as the bikes were getting up to speed she fired. The back tire of the lead bike exploded and the rider struggled for control as it swayed out of control. The bike collided into to the two bikes behind it nicely and the riders went flying off sliding unconscious into the gutters. Lena heard the screams from the crowd as the gun fire caused panic in the masses.
She ignored this as she took aim again firing two shots in quick succession. The left side tires on the lead truck blew out and it swerved across the parking lot access gate and into a ticket booth while the second truck ran into the side of the lead. The crowd hushed when they saw the crash and suddenly they all started cheering as they rushed toward the trucks to off load the supplies.
"Well that worked out better that excepted." Lena stated happily as she quickly got to her feet.
She pulled a small slip of paper from her pocket using the spent shells to weight it down on the roof top. She broke down her riffle and packed it away efficiently her mantra repeating over and over in her head "Shoot and move Lena shoot and move."
Swinging her pack into place she grabbed up the gloves and put them on as she sprinted to the fire escape. She sped down the top fifteen flights and when she got to the fifth floor she grabbed the outside of the ladder and slide all the way to the ground causing the leather on her gloves to smoke a little from the friction. Coming down hard on the asphalt Lena's feet stung from the impact but she kept moving.
She hopped on her bike and kicked it to life as she pulled the mask down over her face. She raced down the alleyway and onto the main road quickly passing Bane's men who had just begun to recover from the crash. They chased after her but she was in the wind now and cruising through the city.
She took side alley after side alley weaving her way back to her apartment building. After loading her bike into the basement she headed up to her apartment and dropped off her riffle and changed into baggy cargo pants and an equally baggy winter coat just in case any of Bane's men had gotten a look at her clothes.
She had a few hours to kill before dinner so she reattached her handgun holster and headed back to the street. With her head down and her hands stuffed in her pockets she made her way towards the closest grocery store two blocks down and three blocks over. As Lena walked she saw the effects of Bane's "liberation" and it depressed and infuriated her all at once. Homes and businesses had been looted, trash littered the streets, and the good people of Gotham were in hiding. Little did Lena know, it was about to get much worse.
The trip took her less time than she expected and as she pushed through the glass door the little bell tinkled overhead and Lena came face to face with a double barreled shotgun.
"Jesus Mr. Lee put that thing away it's me Lena." She said hurriedly.
"Oh Lena I'm so sorry I just can't take any chances now a days." He stated apologetically as he lowered his weapon.
Lena did know Mr. Lee had his wife, three boys, and a little girl in the apartment above the store.
"What can I do for you?" He asked easily transitioning back into store owner mode.
"Mrs. Scottsdale needs some more tea so I've taken on the mission myself." Lena joked.
"Oh I have some in back. Watch the shop for me while I go get it and it's yours." Mr. Lee replied.
Lena nodded her assent and he headed to the stockroom. She glanced around the store before turning to look at the television mounted behind the counter. There on the screen stood Bane himself standing tall and proud.
Lena noted that she could see the rip in his jacket lapel and she smirked to herself. The smirk however died in an instant when she realized where Bane was standing.
"We take Gotham from the corrupt! The rich! The oppressors of generations who have kept you down with myths of opportunity. And we give it to you, the people. Gotham is yours! None shall interfere, do as you please." He said in his metallic croon still playing the heroic liberator of Gotham.
Lena wasn't buying it though and her brows furrowed deeper as he continued. Screams came from the TV as one of the Batman's tanks took aim at the front of the prison and fired. Bane's men entered the prison with massive duffle bags and after some time had passed Lena saw a sight that chilled her blood.
Out of the smoke came the prisoners of Blackgate armed with various weapons pumping them in the air.
"Step forward, those who would serve. For an army will be raised. The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests." Bane yelled triumphantly.
Lena pounded her fists on the checkout counter in rage. "Yeah an army will be raised for you, you bastard!" She shouted in frustration.
Mr. Lee came running from the back. "What's going on Lena?" He asked with a look of concern on his face.
"Lock up Mr. Lee and keep Mi Sun and the children off the streets. Bane just released the Blackgate prisoners."
Mr. Lee had the gravest look Lena had ever seen him wear and she completely understood.
"Lock the doors and barricade them after I leave and keep the kids away from the windows." She said in a serious tone.
Mr. Lee nodded and handed Lena the box of tea. She tucked the box into her coat pocket and squeezed his shoulder in support and headed for the door. Once on the sidewalk Lena heard the satisfying sound of the three inch deadbolt sliding into place.
She took off at a sprint heading back to her building as quickly as she could. Lena got back home in record time but she was exhausted. She couldn't rest thought she still had work to do. She had picked this building to live in for several reasons. There weren't any apartments on the first floor so the builders hadn't put windows in. The front and back doors were heavy metal security style and the fire escape had a retractable bottom ladder to keep buglers from easily accessing the upper floors.
The plain red brick fronting wasn't the prettiest thing to look at but the place was built like a fortress which is why the tenants consisted of single moms with young children and old people like Mr. and Mrs. Scottsdale. As Lena entered the building she headed down the basement stairs to lock up the service lift she used to move her bike in an out of the building.
After that she headed up to her floor on the tenth story she paused at the top of the stairs, she hadn't realized how tired she was. The events of the day crashed down on her and part of her wanted to sit down and not get back up but then a door down the hall opened and Lena got her emotions under control.
Mrs. S popped her head out and looked down the hall to where Lena stood. Lena grabbed the tea from her pocket and held it up so Mrs. Scottsdale could see it. She gave a big smile when she saw the box and Lena knew at that moment she had a job to do.
As she headed toward what was no doubt going to be the best dinner she'd had in weeks she resolved herself to keep fighting no matter the cost. Because someone had to keep the good people of Gotham safe, with the Batman gone who knows where, she would try her best.
"Someone needs to expose Bane's Hypocrisy might as well be me." She muttered as she entered the warm and inviting apartment.
I know there wasn't much Bane in this chapter but it was already pretty long so I promise there will be more of him in the next one which I hope to have out in a few days. Thanks for reading.