A/N: Sorry about posting the second chapter so late. Had a bit of writer's block :) Many thanks to atiketook, DefyTheRules and BeautifulAngel for the kind reviews.
Tell me what you think and enjoy!
Jen blinked fast and swallowed the water in large gulps, drops dribbling down her chin. The same bearded man from before was holding a plastic cup to her mouth.
"Drink slow, mouse."
Jen complied. She was almost choking. She'd never been so thirsty before.
"Want another?" he asked, refilling the cup.
She nodded vigorously. "Thanks."
Barsad wasn't used to someone thanking him. He only grumbled in reply.
"Um, s'warm," she said, when he took the cup from her lips.
"The water?"
"No...here."
Barsad looked around at the tiny boiler room and chuckled.
"Sorry 'bout the locale. Place is kind of packed at the moment," he explained, as if he were telling her about some trivial matter.
Even though she was dirt-ridden, Jen still looked as innocent as a child. Her large warm eyes seemed to show him sympathy. Barsad was taken by surprise.
"Not your fault," she mumbled before she sipped from the cup again.
Barsad smirked. "Did Selina teach you to play nice?"
The mention of Selina made her hair bristle. But she continued drinking, without bothering to answer.
After a while, Barsad set the cup down and took a wet cloth in his hand. He started wiping her forehead.
"Is she okay?" Jen asked, at last.
"Kitten's where she belongs. I would worry more about yourself if I were you."
Jen sighed, feeling the cool fabric on her feverish temples. That was nice.
Barsad paused and looked at her bright face.
"You're just a kid who got mixed up with the wrong people, aren't you?"
Jen smiled a small, sad smile.
"I guess. Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"A kid who...got mixed up with the wrong people?"
Barsad smirked. "Do I look like a kid?"
Jen saw the mischief in his eyes, the turned-up lips, the laugh lines around his mouth.
"Yes."
Barsad almost laughed. He drew closer to her and dabbed the wet cloth at her neck.
"Except for the nose. The nose's too big," she commented, pointing at it with her chin.
Barsad was going to make a joke about how men with big noses had other big body parts, too.
He didn't get the chance.
One minute he was crouching down in front of her, the next, he was lying on the floor, almost unconscious, blood running freely from his nose.
He touched the wound gingerly. It sported bite marks. Half his nose had been bitten off.
He realized then, he was alone in the boiler room.
Barsad lifted himself up with a groan and roared in anger.
News of her disappearance spread quickly. As well as the fact that it had been the second in command who had let her escape. The henchmen did not like Barsad. They thought he was proud, arrogant and domineering. They were happy Bane was going to be displeased with him.
They were disappointed, however.
When Bane saw that his most trusted henchman looked like he'd been attacked by mongrels, he said nothing. Only the corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement.
"I'll catch her and give her a lesson, that I will," the second in command spoke spitefully.
"The mouse has scurried off, it seems. She can't be far away, though," Bane said, almost as if he wanted to mollify him.
Bane was always soft-spoken and polite, even when he was angry. But everyone could sense the latent power behind his words.
She remained a fugitive for a day and a half. Bane's men knew she couldn't get out of the tunnels without them catching her, so it was only a question of time. She was trapped down there. She just had to come out of the hole she'd hidden in.
Jen was hanging upside down, legs wound around one of the copper pipes. Her wild, blond hair fell down like a curtain in the darkness.
She was trying to ease the bolts with nothing but a hair pin and a small shard of glass.
She suddenly pulled herself up when she thought she heard a noise.
It was soft, like a pattering of feet.
Then she saw a fat, ugly rat running across the wet floor.
She wrinkled her nose.
"My men call you the Mouse. And yet you are frightened of them."
Jen almost fell from the ceiling, but she grabbed onto the pipe at the last minute.
How had he managed to surprise her? How had she not heard him?
He was a beast of a man. Surely, he would make his presence known.
And yet, he had rounded up on her without her even noticing.
Just like Selina.
"Will you come down, Mouse?"
Jen watched him carefully. His mask was hideous. There was no way around it. Usually, the first thing she noticed about a man or woman was whether they were attractive. She was relieved, in a way, that he had been made ugly. She had a weakness for pretty faces. Selina came to mind, again.
"If I don't?"
"I'll have to drag you down."
Jen considered the idea for a moment or two.
She decided it was better not to get in a fight with someone five times her size. Barsad had been only thrice her size, after all.
With an elegant jump back (which she had learnt from Selina), Jen made a clumsy cartwheels and was back on her feet.
"Impressive," he muttered and she could sense a hint of irony in his voice.
"I'm out of practice," she replied matter-of-fact, as if she were talking to an old acquaintance.
Bane noticed she wasn't scared of him, which made him wonder. She didn't seem particularly brave or haughty either. There was a haunted look about her, like she had bigger problems than a terrorist on her hands. But her tone was normal, even, one would say, friendly.
It was strange, because Selina Kyle was most definitely afraid of him.
He did not understand why this young girl seemed so...aloof.
"If you were trying to escape, that was a very poor plan."
"I'd like to see Selina," she said, meekly. But Bane wasn't fooled. She was anything but meek.
"You will have the chance next time she comes to me."
Jen frowned. She was a bit taken aback he would offer that kind of information.
"And I'll be able to talk to her?"
Bane considered the question as something only a child would ask.
"No."
Jen nodded her head. "That's fair."
Bane's eyebrows shot up in bemusement.
"Fair?"
"I just wanna know she's safe. That's all I need," she replied evenly.
Bane was slightly put off by this girl's stubborn loyalty. He had no idea what the cat had done to get in her good graces to such an extent. He admired loyalty, but only when it was granted to people who deserved it.
"Will you punish me for what I did to that guy?" she asked in a childlike voice.
Bane stared her down.
"I'm afraid he'll want to punish you himself."
"I didn't mean to hurt him too bad. Hope he's all right."
Bane sized her up from head to toe. Was she mentally unstable? Had Selina picked up some deranged orphan from the Gotham Psychiatric Ward? She seemed disoriented and unable to cope with reality.
"Hope he won't cut me. You won't let him cut me, right? Selina would get pissed if he did. You still want her to work for you."
It was a statement, not a question. As if she knew him well.
"It's not cutting you should be afraid of."
Jen stepped up closer to him.
"Listen, mister, I know it's weird since I don't know you and you don't know me. And you probably don't like Selina very much. But if you don't harm her and if you keep her safe, I promise I won't run away. Ever. I'll probably run around. But not away."
Bane frowned at the familiarity of her words. He was no mister. She had a strange way of talking. As if everything were nothing but a light joke. He didn't like young people and he didn't like her. They all talked the same, dressed the same. They were all vulgar and stupid.
The girl might have been a bit brighter; she might have learnt something from Selina. But when you came down to it, she was just another immature teenager who had been lucky enough to be taught combat.
Bane scratched the Gotham Psychiatric Ward story. No, she must have run away from some good home, regretted her mistake after she found out what real life's like, and remained with Selina for lack of a better choice. It would explain the haunt in her eye.
"I won't have you run around or away," he replied sternly.
"Will you consider my offer, though?"
Bane remained implacably silent. Jen knew she was not going to be striking any deals with him any time soon.
Maybe she'd catch him in a better mood next time.
She sighed and her shoulders slouched in resignation.
"Will he cut my face?"
Bane threw her a look. "If he does, you will survive."
Jen understood. His mask was proof that you could live with it. For the first time, she felt fear.
Before she could react though, he had already seized her shoulders.
How does he do that? she wondered. Sneaks up on me even when he's standing in front of me.
He grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder easily, as if she were as light as a feather.
Jen was jolted by the sudden physicality.
She didn't try to struggle, but she became stiff.
He swung her back and forth as he walked back into the tunnels.
"The Mouse won't scurry away again," he said, a dangerous finality to his voice.
Jen realized she had to find something else to offer him in return for Selina's safety. She wondered what it should be.