Chapter 1: Trial.
In The Land Of Treachery
By: LiveWild
Hope you'll enjoy! Review if you do:)
Disclamier: Don't own anything but Caroline and the story line.
Rating: M due to content, language, and sexual content at times.
Featured song: "Hallelujah." By Jeff Buckley
The exhausted woman couldn't help but curl her defenseless hands in to raging fists as she stood with a blank expression on her facial features. Her calves ached as she attempted to straighten her posture and lift her chin up high. She wouldn't dare show the slightest amount of weakness.
Her long fingernails pressed deeply against her palms, creating an overwhelming discomfort to zap through her entire body. It suddenly felt like her high pony tail was sturdily squeezing her skull; her vision was interrupted by an unexpected blur.
While concentrating on her heavy breathing, the young woman couldn't help but notice the tight feeling of her moist clothes sticking to her skin like glue, the sensation made her shiver undetectably.
It was drizzling outside.
The never ending sea of people that huddled a couple of feet around her made it difficult to concentrate, their roaring shouts and threats made her shift her weight on to one hip. The vexed crowd would repeatedly lunge forward with their claw like hands, reaching desperately forward before stepping back to their normal position. They wanted nothing more than to simply grab the woman and make her pay for their suffering.
No, the woman before them wasn't filthy rich but she did live in a more luscious part of Gotham, it made their bloods boil knowing what a glamours life she lived while the rest of them lived in the hazardous streets and in beat down apartments that even a rat wouldn't spend a night in. But, her life style wasn't the only reason why she was forced to stand before the court that day.
She was like a caged animal and this was the zoo.
She strongly believed she did absolutely nothing wrong yet there she was, at Gotham City Hall.
The deafening sound of the hefty gavel being slammed down aggressively made the woman's heart sped up with overcoming suspense. The crowd halted immediately, only then the woman could manage to hear that the calm rain outside had turned into a furious storm. The ferocious rain sounded like bullets as it assaulted the walls upon landing on it.
The deadly trial was about to begin.
"Caroline Mae Dollas," The man known as Jonathan Cane spoke clearly as he leaned lazily back into his chair while he rested his arms on the dusty wooden desk, "you are Caroline Mae Dollas, aren't you?"
Caroline thickly swallowed the saliva that circled her dry mouth, she gruesomely despised her true name, not even the woman who gave birth to her called her by her full name. She looked up at the fatal judge with narrowed eyes. The flirty, large desk that he claimed as his baleful throne was infested with papers that hung down to the ground like dead branches on a sickening tree.
Jonathan oddly titled his head at her with a wicked smile, he was queerly excited to show her how much he knew about her; no one lived in Gotham without someone knowing everything about them.
Crane cleared his throat, "Caroline Mae Dollas, 24 years of age, track star in high school, only child of policeman Bobby Dollas and jobless, addict Anya Richardson. My, my, what a family."
Caroline angrily squinted her eyes to tiny slits at his unnecessary choice of words, her forehead wrinkled as she did so. Caroline knew about him as well, Crane was a psychopath that had an overly obsession with various drugs which he used on people to frighten and manipulate, Scarecrow was his nickname.
Who knew he would retire from that job and become a judge.
Enjoying the awakening fire in her dark eyes, he continued thrillingly, "It says right here," he delicately touched the corner of his crocked glasses as he read the paper that laid flat out in front of him, "that you have been accused of attempting to help the police escape from their imprisonment in the sewers. Oh...how foolish."
The woman sighed soundlessly, her chest dramatically dropped as it supplied her lungs with precious oxygen.
The ravaging city of Gotham was experiencing hell all over again, the very core of its soul was being burned alive. The broken city had transformed into a dark place under the merciful control of Bane. The sadistically evil terrorist had corrupted it, releasing every type of criminal loose, that were once put behind bars from the Dent act, into the innocent streets while personally giving them permission to do as they pleased. One couldn't walk down the street without holding a gun clenched to their chests. Cases of rape, murder, harassment, break in and vandalism exploded through the roof. With the cops powerlessly trapped in the disgusting sewers, thee entire population was at risk.
Caroline was one of those unsolved cases. A couple of days after the hellish prisoners were set free, she was unfortunately a victim of rape. All she could remember was that she planned on walking the three blocks to the supermarket to get food when she was attacked from behind. The man dragged her to an alley and did what he wanted. She horridly screamed and cried for help but it all went in vain, no one helped her.
And that's what influenced Caroline to do what she did, she tried to save the police and bring back some sort of justice. All she wanted to do was make a change.
She knew the untouchable man behind Gotham's chaos was in the courtroom, somewhere. She had previously scanned the room, trying to seek him out but it ended in failure. She couldn't see him but she had been informed by many that he stayed back and watched the trials happen. Caroline had heard taunting stories about him, how he had the strength and ability to crack a man's neck with just one hand.
Crane's tiresome voice swiftly snapped her from her haunting thoughts, "You may speak now."
Caroline opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. Planting her hands against her thighs, the courtroom watched as she took an uneasy step, advancing forward.
She tapped the solid ground with the tip of her combat boot, "I helped the police because I needed to, my father is one of the policemen that are trapped down there." Her girlish voice made her effort of sounding tough abnormal.
"How cute, a daughter wants to help her poor father out but ends up getting caught. Is your life really worth his?"
"Of course it is. If I had a chance to, I would have done it all over again."
"Yeah, well," Jonathan shrugged his shoulders playfully, "looks like you made the wrong choice."
Crane yawned with a roll of his neck, "Tell me, Miss Dollas, how did you get caught?"
Recalling his question, Caroline bit her fleshy lip, "The only reason I got caught was because one of Bane's men forgot his gun on top of one of the sewage drains I was planning to pull my father and the rest of the police out from. When he came back he not only found his gun but me as well." She admitted with a hint of pride.
For someone to be able to get as close as a yard to the sewers without a bullet in their head was unheard of, let alone get right next to it but Caroline did it.
The judge looked at the people with his hands awkwardly lifted in the air, "This woman," he pointed his stubbly finger balmily at her, "has willingly helped the people we are trying to treat a lesson to. Instead of helping us, Miss Dollas has chosen to go against us. This crime shall not go unpunished!"
The disturbing man smiled to himself, "Death or exile?"
The thunderous courtroom arouse from the dead as they began shouting their answers: Death. Death.
Caroline blinked rapidly at the sound, "Yes I helped my father, the man who loved and cared for me, try to escape but why wouldn't I? He did nothing wrong, non of us have done anything wrong!" Caroline yelling got mixed with the rest of the voices.
Crane viciously began beating the gavel, creating silence once again.
"Us?"
"The people of Gotham. All of this is wrong, you have no right to do this!"
"I say you deserve exile, I'm sure you'll give all of us the pleasure of watching you run across the ice." He humorously laughed to himself.
"Fuck you!"
"Such bitter words, death it is!" He hit the gavel, concluding her cherished faith.
Everyone shouted with exhilarated agreement.
Caroline's pupils dilated as she stepped carefully backwards in retreat.
No, no, God no!
A man heavy equipped with guns approached her like a hungry predator to a wounded prey.
"No." she pitifully begged to the dark skinned man. Her head was spinning.
A large crack of bone-chilling thunder echoed across the room from outside. Caroline's ghostly face turned a shade of pale, as pale as the bright light let off by the lightning.
"Stop, stop, please. Wait, I'll do it!" Caroline announced as she looked at Jonathan with watery eyes, "give me the gun and I'll do it myself." Her lower lip successfully quivered as she realized what she truly said.
Unknown to Caroline, her dreadful order was heard by everyone.
The skinny, dark skinned man shockingly paused as he spun around on his heels to eye Crane who looked as equally confused.
The bold woman instinctively opened her cracked lips as her drastic breathing got intense, she closed her vibrating eyes as she spoke with a shaky voice, "I rather die by my hand than yours."
The drumming sound of thunder wasn't the only thing that shook the city hall that day. Ponderous footsteps mimicked Caroline's heart beat as it got closer and closer behind her. A long piece of hair secretly untangled its self from her hair tie and fell down the length of her nose, Caroline witnessed the dark skinned man loosened the strangling grip he had on his large gun. The petite muscles in his shoulder lowered down as they relaxed.
As the armed man settled down, Caroline did the opposite and started to tremble softly.
"Is that so, my dear?" The deep rumbling voice questioned her.
Crane shifted in his chair with bewilderment. Bane continued to walk till he fully faced Caroline's hunched back. She was surely done for, an unpleasent image of him snapping necks flashed in her startled mind.
Under her breath, she prayed.
She felt him behind her, his burning body heat radiated onto her, warming her body up.
She was afraid, he could sense it pouring off of her. Her arms would twitch in an unscheduled pattern, her fingers flexed out completely as she nervously pulled down at her buttoned, red trench coat.
Caroline was quite small, compared to him, not only her height but thickness. Her head barely reached past his board chest. She wasn't skinny nor was she considered fat, her thighs were meaty and toned and her lengthy arms were well built due to numerous years of hourly training for track throughout middle and high school.
Caroline ventured to inhale speedily but instead she accidentally gasped out loud.
The court curiously watched with open eyes at the event before them.
Bane loosely held onto his ink black bulletproof vest with his powerful, giant hands, every breath he took created a metallic hissing sound to pierce her sensitive ears, "You don't fear death yet," he processed to walk in front of Caroline with his devilish eyes locked on her, "you appear to not fancy my presence."
Bane was a walking, talking giant.
Even with his long coat and rock hard vest, she could tell he was well built underneath, his muscles seemed to stand out like the craters on the moon.
Caroline childishly refused to look up at him, instead she set her gaze on his vest which was at eye level. Her nostrils expanded, he smelled like gun powder.
Bane could already sense what her weakness was: she was as readable as an open book.
How interesting.
Finally building up the courage, Caroline looked up at the beast. When she looked at his eyes, she found him already staring right back.
The look of death.
His eyes were like a pure white shirt that had been washed with the dark colors a hundred times to many, they were like two sliver oysters, a gray storm cloud thriving to be unleashed. The creepy sliver mask that covered his mouth and wrapped around his head sent a icy shiver ran down her spine.
"You have no authority here?" Crane spoke uneasily to Bane as he placed his spread out hands on the table. Regardless of the situation, Bane never got involved with the judgment trials, so why was he now?
Caroline wished he'd disappear from her sight, the unusual hatred she felt for Bane was unhealthy. He was responsible for everything that was happening in the city, he was the reason why her father was trapped in the sewer with a slim chance of surviving, he was the reason why she got kicked out of her home and stripped of everything she owned, he was the reason why criminals were out on the loose, he was the reason why she was rapped, he was the ultimate reason why Gotham didn't feel like home anymore.
Giving Caroline one last look, Bane spoke, the veins rising from his neck, "Today this girl mastered a plan to sneak past my men to save her father and was caught only due to a minor mistake," Caroline was paralyzed with fear, "today this girl asked to be given a gun to shoot herself," he raised one of his hands as his thumb and pointing finger pinched each other, his petrifying robotic voice raddled her, Bane turned half his body to Crane who awaited an answer, "and today, I have authority."
As no one exchanged a word, Bane broke the tranquility as he looked over to the dark skinned man, "Take her to my bike."
"W-what?" Caroline's lack of control caused her to stutter embrassingly, the armed man roughly hooked on to her wrist, pulling her against her will, "what are you doing!"
Caroline quickly tried to pull away by kicking un-tamingly but it only made the unknown man grab her other wrist harder.
"You wish to die, I can not give you that satisfaction." Bane stated to her plainly.
The last thing she remembered before existing the city hall was Bane brightly speaking to the crowd of demented people.
"Do not worry people of Gotham, the girl will die, in time."