TAKING DIFFERENT ROADS

Within a few days of being imprisoned a realized that I would do anything to return to the light again. I was willing to crawl on my knees and beg Bane to let me out, I was willing to weep and fulfill even his most degrading commands. The darkness never ceased to terrorize and engulf me day in and day out. I felt myself slowly losing my mind to it. Eventually I stopped just wishing that I were dead because it did absolutely nothing to help me. Someone came by once a day to place food inside the cage. I had tried pleading with the mercenary at first but they were clearly not permitted to talk to me, or even acknowledge my existence for that matter. As if on cue a small light appeared down the hall and I moved to the bars. The man who was carrying a tray walked up to them and took out a set of keys.

"Brian?" I whispered. My voice sounded broken. He looked up and I recognized him as the man who had brought me clothes on my first day in the compound. He looked down at his feet and didn't respond, "Please. Please, don't leave me in the dark here. Just leave the light on, just for a little while." Tears gathered in my eyes and I reached through the bars to grab onto his wrist. He was surprised and stiffened considerably but didn't pull away, "I'll do anything. Anything you want. I just can't stand it anymore."

"Okay." He whispered. He seemed torn and uncertain. Obviously he was afraid of Bane's wrath, but who wouldn't be?

"Really?"

"I'll leave the light on." He answered, "But I expect something in return." He unlocked the door of the cell and then locked it again behind him. I backed up, frightened by his sudden looming presence on my side of the bars. He shoved the keys in his back pocket, "Don't worry, I'm not going to rape you." He stated but I wasn't at all reassured. He had that same hungry look in his eyes that I had seen when I had tried to seduce him to get him to talk, "Nah, I don't like taking what I'm not given you know. But I do need… release." He breathed and raked a hand through my hair. I understood immediately what he wanted and lowered myself to my knees regretfully. Wondering if it was really worth it.

"You promise you'll leave the lights on?" I asked, desperation leaking into my voice. He nodded and unzipped his pants.

"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." He said with a smirk. But as soon as his sadistic smile appeared it was gone as the cell door was ripped off its hinges. I didn't see the event but I heard the metal bend and break with this horrible scraping sound. The barred door was pushed to the floor with a loud bang. Causing dust to fly up into my face. There was only one person who was strong enough to do something like that. Suddenly the dark didn't seem so bad.

"Get off your knees." He spoke harshly and I scrambled to my feet. Brian was shaking as he desperately tried to put himself away. Bane approached him menacingly and I closed my eyes, backing against the far wall. I heard the distinct sound of Brian's neck being snapped and I whimpered involuntarily. There was no worst sound in the world that that distinct breaking of bones, all the while knowing that the sound meant certain death. Loud footsteps reverberated on the concrete floor towards me. I cowered against the wall, "Come here my darling. I am not angry with you." I opened my eyes slowly and saw him standing over me. I couldn't make out the lines of his face. The only things I could really see in the dim lighting were the whites of his eyes. He helped me up.

"I thought it would take longer." He commented as he picked up bridal style and started carrying me out of the cell, stepping over Brian's broken body as he did so.

"Wh-what?" I stuttered.

"To break you." He answered, "I didn't think that you would stoop to that level so quickly." It was then that I started really crying. I don't think I had ever cried quite like that before. I felt like something inside me had shattered and I would never be able to piece myself back together.

"I- I loved you." I sobbed quietly. He looked down at me sharply and for the first time I thought I saw some deep emotion flicker in his eyes. Something unfamiliar. It wasn't rage or amusement. It was something new.

"Did you now?" He regained his composure and looked straight ahead of him as he spoke, "How could you possibly feel such a thing for me when I have done nothing but aim to hurt you."

"I don't know." I whispered, "I just do- did. I thought maybe, you understood me, felt for me, somehow. I'm delusional I guess. Maybe I just wanted to believe that you cared about me so that I could justify how I feel- felt. "

"Feel." He corrected me, "Go on."

"I have nothing left to say to you." We were back in the compound now. I recognized the grey and metal walls, the never-ending sound of water flowing, reverberating through the facility from every direction. Finally we were back in the small familiar room with the multiple computer screens and the curtain surrounding the cot. He laid me down on the small bed onto my side so that I was facing him when he kneeled down next to me. He stroked my cheek lightly.

"You fall very easily my little starlet." He said as softly as his mask would allow.

"I suppose I either feel things very strongly or not at all. It's my tragic flaw." Tears had never stopped flowing down my cheeks and I could feel the side effects now. My head was aching and my throat was raw.

"Don't cry anymore Magdalene." Bane brushed my hair out of my eyes, "It's all over now. I've taken you away from that place. I saved you."

"You ruined me." I murmured before my eyes fluttered closed and I fell into a dreamless sleep. The darkness was never more appealing.

I couldn't paint anymore. I sat on the couch and just stared blankly at the television screen all day. I watched the news channel as they covered over and over again what had happened at the stock market, as they talked about Bruce Wayne losing his fortune. And about Miranda Tate taking over Wayne Industries. Bane told me that he was taking me out that afternoon. I didn't know why. I didn't want to go out anymore. I felt no desire to do anything really. Therapists would say that I was in the debilitating stage of depression. These were all classic symptoms. Bane had even upped the dosage of the anti-depressant medication but to no effect. I felt numb. I felt nothing. I felt cracked. That particular morning Bane had placed a blank canvas directly in front of me and demanded me to create something for him before he got back. All the materials I would need were on the coffee table. I hadn't even made a move to pick something up. I just lay on the couch with a black blanket wrapped firmly around me and looked at it. I wasn't this bad before I decided to commit suicide. I wasn't this bad when Javier left me. The last time that I had felt this catatonic was during the year that followed my 13th birthday. But I couldn't allow myself to go back to that dark place. I would only make myself sicker. Someone came into the apartment at around six. I didn't even hear her come in. It was only when she was standing in front of me, her heel tapping against the floor impatiently that I noticed her.

"You don't look so good Magdalene darling." Miranda Tate said with a smirk on her face. I wasn't surprise in fact I was rather pleased with myself for having her right all along, "In fact you look rather ill. Has my friend hurt you?"

"Are you trying to shock me?" I asked with a sigh, "You want me to go through some kind of revelation now that you've revealed yourself as an evil bitch? It's not exactly a blow Miranda. I always did think that you were a psychotic cunt." Miranda's smug expression fell right off her face and I went right back to staring right through her.

"I want you to wear this." She threw something on top of me, "It's important that you be properly dressed for the big game." I sat up slowly and fingered the material that she was given me. It was a cheerleading outfit with the Gotham football team colors and their logo on the front. I scoffed and pushed it off me, "Don't push me little girl, I will strip you and force you into that uniform myself if I have to." She hissed. I rolled my eyes and stood up, then left to walk slowly towards the washroom. I changed into the skimpy uniform, realizing how cruel and twisted Miranda Tate was and how little I cared at that moment. I made up my face and brushed my hair into a high ponytail. Then I returned to Miranda who was standing there with her arms crossed across her chest. She narrowed her eye at me as I walked by her and slipped on my pair of black Converse.

"Why did you buy my painting?" I asked out of the blue. She furrowed her eyebrows and then smirked, "Please tell me it's not because you actually like it."

"I do like it." She stated with a malicious grin, "But you're right, I had ulterior motives. You fascinated Bane. He researched you thoroughly and would watch the news when you were on it, almost captivated. I caught him examining that particular painting in the collection brochure, from which I bought it later that day. I initially bought it as a gift for him but he expressed to me that he wanted to meet you. So I threw the party, where you would be the center of attention, and persuaded Daggett to invite you. If it is any comfort at all he had no idea that you're being there was really Bane's idea. Nor did he know what was going to happen to you."

"But I stumbled upon them, you couldn't have known that I was going to want to leave early or that I would go looking for Daggett."

"No, that was a happy accident. Whether you had gone looking for Daggett or not you would have disappeared that night, one way or another. I made sure of it. You were, after all, my true gift to Bane." Miranda then pushed me out the door and escorted me to a car parked outside the building. So it wasn't random. I was his reward. He had wanted me before I even knew he existed. He had planned to take me, to rip me away from my entire life, it was just better that I thought that I was in control of my fate, that it was really only because I was a reliability. He must have been so pleased to see me stumble into that room. I swallowed back tears and sat in the black car with my head down. Refusing to look up at the evil bitch that sat next to me.

"Who are you?" I asked coldly, "Who are you really?"

"My name is Talia." She answered promptly, "Talia Al Ghul." Al Ghul. The name sent off alarms in my head. Bane had told me about the man whose vision he was going to achieve. The man whose destiny he was going to fulfill. Ra's Al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows.

"I hope your father is burning in hell." I hissed, "And I hope that soon you'll join him." As soon as the words left my mouth she lunged at me. The seatbelt held her back a little but she hit my head back against the door and started punching me in the face repeatedly. It wasn't as if Bane was hitting me but she was very strong. I didn't put up any resistance. I just smiled smugly, glad that I'd gotten to her. When she pulled back, my bottom slip had split and my nose was bleeding. I knew I would also end up with a black eye in the next couple days. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror, touching my nose lightly I just laughed as if the whole thing were a joke. I leaned my head against the glass of my window and closed my eyes, waiting for whatever the fuck was going to happen next, to happen.

When we got to the football field I was shoved through a dark tunnel underneath the bleachers and blindfolded. I was handed off from man to man who were gruffly taking my arm and forcing me to walk foreword. Once and a while one of them would slap my ass and say something derogatory to his friends. Finally I was pushed foreword onto my knees. The bare skin scraped painfully against the concrete floor.

"What happened to her face?" I couldn't see him but I knew it was Bane. How could you ever mistake that voice for someone else's?

"I- I don't know, she got out of the car like that, I just assumed…"

"You assumed that I had beat her." Bane interrupted the thug midsentence. There was a terribly tense silence for a moment in which I was sure the thug was shaking with fear, thinking that he was about to get his neck snapped. But Bane apparently let it go and suddenly there were too large hands on either side of my face, "What happened my little scarlet. Whoever hurt you will not be breathing for much longer."

"I'm glad." I answered softly, "Then you can stop all this."

"What do you mean?"

"Miranda— I mean Talia, she came to get me from the apartment. Forced me to wear this humiliating outfit and in the car, she just attacked me. I think I might get a concussion." I raised my hand to finger the bump on the back of my head. There was a long silence.

"Did you provoke her?" Bane asked.

"I hate her." I spat, "I hate her more than I've ever hated anyone else in my life. I hated her when she was Miranda Tate and I hate her now that she's at the head of this master plan, whatever the fuck it is. So no, I wasn't particularly nice to her, but I don't think I'm the one that deserved to be beaten up!" I was shouting at him by the end of it but I could only feel calm radiating from him. He was so close to me now, I could imagine him crouched in front of me. He ran his hand through my hair, taking out the elastic band in the process. He didn't respond to my hatred for Talia, instead he forced up into his arms. He held onto my wrist firmly and pressed me up against his body when it started. The chilling sound of bombs going off in a close proximity made me want to shrink to the floor and look for cover. I knew I wasn't going to get hurt though, considering the man who was holding me had probably just set off the explosions himself. When it was over Bane started dragging me along behind him.

"Now, it's time for your big reveal." He said, "Gotham's liberation is afoot and I want to show them who is standing by my side." I whimpered as he pulled off my blindfold and we stepped out into the light. The tears followed quickly once I saw exactly where we were. The Gotham football field was destroyed, thousands of horrified fans were watching on as the massive man stepped onto the world stage. He began to speak, in a booming voice that commanded everyone in the stadium's attention. He told Gotham to take their city back. He told them that this was their liberation. And then he brought out the bomb. I don't know what I had expecting but it wasn't this. I wasn't expecting a bomb that could at any moment destroy the entire city and every living inhabitant in it. I wasn't expecting this deadly trap that made me feel even more claustrophobic then the tiny cell I had been subjected to only a few days prior. Suddenly I was faced with death in a way that I hadn't been since I was a little girl. Suddenly I wasn't going to die on my own terms. I wasn't going to die by my own hands. And I was scared. I started crying, like many of the other people in the audience. Bane's grip on my hand tightened considerably. The other hostage that I had barely noticed until that moment was brought to the forefront of the scene. He was introduced as the only man who could disarm the bomb and then he was dead. I bit down on my lip, which drew a great deal of blood considering it was already split from being assaulted. Sticky red liquid poured into my mouth and down my chin. Suddenly I was being pulled towards Bane's chest, "And this ladies and gentlemen, is someone you should clearly recognize, someone who I have taken a great deal of interest in because of you. How your reporters have stalked and surrounded her like starved wolves. How her precious mental state has been a constant amusement to you, a constant source of gossip." He stopped for a moment to let his words sink in, "This is why I took her in. A girl victimized by your upper social class. A girl tortured by the money thrown at her by cheating businessmen and their useless wives. I was her liberation, her salvation, just like this bomb is yours. Reclaim your city as I have claimed her!" He finished his speech and suddenly I was being pulled back into the darkness. The entire city was in a panic. Peacetime was over and the war had just begun.