Author's note: Hi folks glad to have you back. This was a fun but tricky chapter to write so I hope you enjoy it. As always I don't own anything from The Dark Knight Rises. Thanks to atiketook and Sera22 for the reviews. Any advice for improvements are welcomed .
The frigid air prickled on the exposed skin Bane's hands, neck, and head as he roamed the streets of Gotham on his motorcycle. He had felt the fire rising today as he released the scum of Blackgate back onto the filth ridden streets.
Satisfied with the results of the day he pulled to the front of a skyscraping upscale residential building. Several of his men milled around outside the building smoking cigarettes. Once they noticed Bane's presence they snapped to attention
"Like they should have been the whole time," he thought to himself but because of his excellent mood he said nothing as he passed.
He strode into the ultra-modern lobby and saw Barsad by the security desk. He approached the man to receive a statue update of the city. At the start of the takeover Bane had dispersed men around the city to gather intel about possible rebellions as well as the general feelings of the people.
Barsad was just finishing his report when Bane heard the rumble of motorcycle engines outside. He turned to see two of the men he'd sent out that morning to bring back supplies. They shuffled in dejectedly and Bane knew without them saying a word that something had gone wrong.
"Ah Barsad, here are the men with the supplies. We shall all eat well tonight." Bane said coming to stand close to them.
He towered over them looking down in mock confusion "But why do you both look so glum?" He said in a grating tone.
"Si… Sir we were intercepted at the stadium and someone shot at us. It caused the trucks to crash and the crowd of people that were gathered made off with the supplies." One of the men before Bane stuttered.
He no doubt would have continued making excuses but he found it difficult to talk because Bane's massive hand had wrapped around his throat. Bane looked into the second man's eyes as the life in the first man drained way.
He tossed the body away from him like a rag doll and still maintaining eye contact he asked, "I hope you have some better news to tell me or I'm afraid you'll end up in the same condition."
"I do sir, I went up to the spot where the shots came from and I found something." He said quickly as he pulled a slip of paper and several spent shell casings from his pocket.
Bane took the casings and rolled them around in his palm noting they were the same type as were shot at him the day before. He stuck them in his cargo pants pocket and took the slip of paper. Bane's eyes flicked over the words scrawled on the paper and his mask hide a wicked grin but his eye glittered with amusement.
It read: These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have it.
"You may go." Bane said to the man as he turned to Barsad. "Follow me friend we have much to discuss."
He and Barsad moved toward the elevators and did not speak again until they were in the confines of John Daggett's penthouse. Daggett had been one of the most repulsive creatures in Gotham. His lust for power and wealth may have put him on top of the social hierarchy in the city but he was at his core spineless and weak. Weakness Bane had been all too happy to snuff out.
Daggett's greed had of course had not stopped at his penthouse. He had filled it with varying styles of expensive art, books, and technology regardless of actual taste. Bane had emptied the place of almost all the "art" except for several pieces. He could care less about the technology but the books had been a lucky surprise.
He and Barsad moved into the large library and sat down in one of the many seating areas. "I have a task for you. As you are aware there is a rouge shooter running around Gotham and I am quite interested in meeting this fellow."
Barsad nodded in understanding and Bane continued. "In a few days we will set a clever trap and see if we can cage the bird before he flies again. Then I can tear each of his feathers out and see what makes him tick."
Barsad stood and left the apartment and Bane sat contemplating the messages left by the shooter. Since he had started the fires burning in Gotham he'd been busy and would be busier still in the coming days recruiting Blackgate inmates for his army. The shooter was an interesting distraction but a distraction none the less and he needed it dealt with soon.
He thought about the T.S. Elliot quote left for him a day ago and came to the conclusion that because Daggett's library did not contain a copy of the poem he'd have to go down to the grand public library tomorrow and find one.
The light filtering into the apartment worked to force Lena's eyes open. She groaned pulling the comforter over her head. She was cozy and warm in bed and she still felt stuffed from the feast she had enjoyed at the Scottesdale's. Her face grew warm and she knew she was fighting a losing battle she could never sleep with her head under the covers so she tossed the blanket off and hopped out of bed.
She gingerly made her way across the cold floor to the kitchen where for the second day in a row she was able to read the paper and enjoy some coffee. Lena had made the front page again for her antics at the stadium and she was sure if Bane hadn't already he would shut down the newspaper soon because it wasn't shining a very good light on him.
Against her better judgment she decided to take a stroll around the area and see what kind of damage the prisoners had done. In addition to the two knives and handgun Lena carried yesterday she strapped on a secondary gun to her ankle and put a set of brass knuckles in her left jacket pocket.
"Rapists and murders roaming free better to overkill than to be killed," Lena quipped as she exited her apartment.
Word had spread through the building that the streets were more dangerous now than ever before. Lena moved down the hall to the roof access stairs and ascended the short distance to the open air of the morning. She took stock of the streets bellow and found them still empty because of the early hour. Her block consisted of building constructed closely together and several of the rooftops had precarious placed steel beams bridging the gap between buildings. When she came across a bridge she crossed it and when there wasn't one she leapt the gap with varying degrees of success on the landings.
When she reached the end of the block she looked up and down one of Gotham's larger streets. It would take her north and it also looked clear. Lena scampered down the fire escape and headed up the road hands in pockets. Lena always preferred to keep the high ground as much as possible but she wasn't the Batman so she had to settle for ground transport even though it made her nervous.
As she plodded along she saw that more and more buildings had been ransacked especially the upscale apartment buildings. Lena had gone four blocks north when she heard noises up ahead. She looked up and saw a mob of people headed her way. Lena watched as they stopped at various residences and started to pull people from their homes.
She watched as a doorman drug an elderly woman in a large fur coat into the street. It would have been funny in a pathetic sort of way if it hadn't been so tragic.
"Well it looks like a bad time to be on the streets after all." Lena thought as she looked around for cover.
She blew out a sigh of relief when she saw to her left that she'd come upon a sanctuary that wouldn't likely merit the attention mob ahead. Lena moved quickly up the stairs and opened the large wooden door and ducked in shutting it softly behind her. The light was dim but the lager windows of the building let in enough illumination that it was easy to see her surroundings.
Lena took in the old air and while most would find it stuffy she felt right at home. She moved down the center isle and walked up two short steps. Lena placed her hands on the familiar worn wood of the main circulations desk of the Gotham public library. While some people found solace in church, Lena had always felt the safest tucked away amongst the thousands of book housed here.
She stood contemplating what book she should use to pass the time while the mob outside moved on. The events of the morning fresh in her mind she headed off towards her destination. Lena slowly climbed the sweeping staircase to the second floor that held the classical fiction. Her fingers glided over the top of the books until she found the one she was looking for and pulled it from the shelf. She found a comfortable winged back armchair and began to read.
Bane had been pleased to see that with the smallest push in the right direction the people of Gotham with the help of the inmates had begun to roust the rich from their gilded homes. As he made his way through the streets he felt the fire rising higher still.
Bane's exultation at the destruction of Gotham being so close was almost palpable but he knew there was still much suffering the city would have to endure before it would be allowed to burn. He'd given orders to Barsad for the day and had made his way to the library. Bane walked toward the building and took in the neoclassical style of the structure. While he'd never been overly fond of extravagance, he did appreciate the tone of respect the building of knowledge gave off. It was a beacon of intelligence in the languishing city.
He entered through the large wooden doors and was treated to the peace and quiet of the empty building. Bane moved through the different sections of books until he found the poetry area. He then located the specific book of poems written by T.S. Elliot that he'd come for and slide it from the shelf. His own mechanical hiss of breath was the only sound he heard in the silent library as he made his way back to the door to leave.
He was about to exit the building when the thought of another book come into his mind and on a whim he decided to seek it out. His search took him up the grand staircase and into the classical fiction section. His fingers played along the spines of the old books as he moved down the aisle.
When he reached his destination his fingers landed on empty air and he looked down to see that the book was missing. He looked down and saw that there weren't any other copies of the book he'd come looking for so he turned to go. Before he could take a single step the faintest whisper of a sound hit his ears, the feather light sound of a book page being turned. The large man turned toward the sound and moved silently in that direction.
Lena had the bad habit of becoming engrossed in the activities she undertook wither it was listening to music or reading a good book. Her fingers fidgeted with the dog-eared pages of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities as she contemplated the uncanny similarities between the events in the book and current events in the city.
Lena heard the groan of the chair across from her and she froze behind her book. She slowly peeked over the top of the book and her blood ran cold and hot all at once. There across from her sat Gotham's reckoning, the man she'd shot at just two days ago.
Bane saw a girl siting in a wing-backed arm chair reading the book he'd been looking for. He sat down across from her and he saw her tense as she realized he was in front of her. She lowered the book and he examined her features carefully. She had a relatively forgettable face nothing really stood out apart from her light brown eyes, small nose, and scar that ran through her left eye brow.
Her hair was a basic brown color that framed her face while the rest was tied back. Bane had almost written her off a just another Gothamite when her eyes caught his attention. They were hardened and they did not break contact with his like so many others in Gotham did.
"Interesting choice in reading materials you have." Bane stated continuing to hold eye contact.
"It seemed to fit the current mood of the day." She replied quietly.
Bane laughed at the statement and replied, "Yes it does, that's why I'd thought to stop by and pick it up but instead I find it already taken."
He watched as the girl slowly closed it and held it out to him "Well then you'd better take it maybe you can learn something from it," she said just as quietly as before. Bane was amazed that this girl spoke to him more bravely than most of his own men would.
He didn't move to take the book instead he questioned, "What is your name little one?"
She paused for a moment and replied, "Evelyn."
The lie came easy to Lena and she stayed calm as Bane assessed her. Nothing in her expression gave away the lie but his instincts told him she wasn't being honest and he trusted his instincts above all things, they'd kept him alive a long time.
"Perhaps I could learn more from you little one, than from that book," He said with a hard glint in his eyes.
Lena wasn't sure what it was about that look but it made her heart stop. She imagined that she had just felt the same feelings an antelope has before the lion sinks its teeth in. Before she'd even made up her mind to do it something snapped in her.
Lena threw the book into Bane's face and kicked off of the small coffee table between her and him. The chair toppled backward and she rolled out of it somehow managing to stay on her feet and sprinted to the back stairs. She had no idea if he was following her or not but she didn't slow down.
Once she pushed her way out of the fire escape door she ran down the alleyway across the road into another. The farther away from the library she got the calmer she felt. She slowed her running to catch her breath and get a better hold on her surrounds. She was in yet another ally resting against the side of a building when she looked towards the opposing wall.
She let lose one of the strongest burst of laughter she'd had since the city was taken. There drawn in white spray paint was the image of Bane but he had been made up to look like Queen Elizabeth II curly hair, crown and all. Above the picture was written Keep Calm and bellow was And Carry On.
Lena slide down the wall with her feet kicked out in front of her tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. She shouted to no one in particular. "God save the Queen!"
Bane caught the book as the girl threw it in his face to distract him. He was impressed how she pushed back and out of the chair rolling to her feet and sprinting towards the back of the library. He heard the sound of the stairwell access door and he smiled behind the mask.
"fly little bird, fly fast," he said as he stood to leave the library. "There seems to be yet another interesting person in this city, perhaps my time spent here won't be as mind numbing as I'd feared." He thought to himself.
The quote I used in this chapter was from Abraham Lincoln. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up I've got to work on the plot direction a little bit but I'll get it out as fast as possible. Thanks for reading!