Quiet filled every corner of the room after Gordon signed off. Lying to him has never been easy, but something in my gut told me that he was better off in the dark on this one.
Instead of keeping me grounded, the weight in my arms had me reeling for control of a situation far beyond my realm of expertise. I could not even look down at the…thing.
I practically kicked myself when I realized that I was fantasizing about the Joker walking in to the stuffy hotel room and cackling about this fantastic prank he had played on me.
Anything sounded better than the position I was in now.
Static from the transmitter in my ear.
"Master Bruce?"
The suddenness of Alfred's familiar and much needed voice shocked me into action.
"Alfred. I need you to drive down to Hilltop Hotel in the biggest car I own."
"That would be the Tumbler, sir".
And there was that British wit I loved so much…"Then bring the Royce. I also need you to bring a couple sets of radioactive cuffs. All sizes".
There was a long silence on the other side as I laid the creature hidden in shadow down on the floor, awkwardly trying to bend the massive wings. Alfred hesitantly replied as I reached into the dusty part of my belt for a set of cuffs. Hoping that they still worked I slid the on switch into position and it whirred to life, little lights glowing green in the darkness.
"Sir, are you referring to the cuffs you offered to the Gotham police should any thing at all escape the Anomaly?"
"I am".
A longer silence this time. I tightened the cuffs around the wrists of the starved creature until I felt bones creak. The lights remained green, blinking in five-second increments.
Assessing the damage. I could avoid it no longer. If this thing died because I hurled it into the barrier I would never forgive myself, freak though it was.
Pulse.
Weak, but there.
Breathing.
Reasonably steady.
Response.
Bright blue eyes staring at me when I opened closed lids.
I rocked back on my heels. Don't look now, it's okay to wait. The…person is breathing at least, and it's too dark to check for injuries.
"Master Bruce, are the cuffs needed as a result of the weakened barrier that I noted on the monitors not an hour ago?"
I sighed in annoyance and slight desperation. "Yes Alfred, a person did come out of the barrier intact which is why I need you to get here as quickly as possible in the Royce. No one else knows of its being here and I cannot risk a chase in the Tumbler."
"I am leaving now, sir".
The transmitter became quiet and the stillness of the room settled over me again. The dark had never been less welcome.
Wayne Manor, finished four months ago, was within twenty miles of Hilltop. This information combined with my knowledge of Alfred's driving put his arrival at approximately thirty minutes from now. More than enough time for me to run some tests on the barrier. I checked to make sure the cuffs were functioning one more time and then got to work.
I needed to test the strength of the barrier and make sure that it was not weak anymore. One creature-or child-coming out from the inside was bad enough but I knew that another was something I couldn't deal with. The device I'd designed eight months ago was meant to measure the strength in radioactivity of the barrier. It could read the entire bubble and if its levels were the same throughout, as it should be, the number would show on the device. If not, the device would send an image to a monitor in the cave pinpointing the weak spots.
Control and consistent thought quickly came back to me when the gadget was in my hands. This was something that I could deal with, something that I could bend to my will. Little numbers read nothing in my hands and I attached it to the barrier, careful not to touch it. The pain could still be felt through thick leather gloves, much to my annoyance. The numbers began climbing as soon as I started the process.
But I couldn't forget the little body lying on the ground behind me and soon the numbers flashed by and began to blur as the memory of that strange and terrifying day bubbled up.
It was a beautiful day. Cloudless skies, swooping birds and a burning California sun.
I dropped a bottle, now empty, at my feet.
The sun should not have been shining. Birds should not have been singing. Because Rachel, my one love, the reason for my existence, was gone.
Ten months since I last saw her face. Ten months since I holed myself up in my penthouse, accepting nothing but booze and food. In that order.
The door opened, Alfred's footsteps echoing over the floor that he tried so hard to maintain even in my desperation to ruin it with glass and liquor.
But there was something different…something in the air that made me turn to look at him in well-hidden curiosity. I could feel what was left of my heart plummet when I saw the look on his face. The horror.
I was spared asking when he walked briskly to the television and turned on the news.
What followed was a myriad of emotions so spectacular and sudden that my alcohol-laden brain fuzzed out.
I woke up in a clean white bed smelling of antiseptics and hand sanitizer. Alfred and-to my great surprise-Fox were standing at the foot of my bed, watching me. Almost as soon as my heavy eyelids were open, Alfred began to speak. He told me about what I saw, how not a single living soul knew what caused it. How mass suicides were taking place in fundamentalist religions, as those involved were convinced their god was punishing them in some way. How Fox's niece was one of the many children stuck in the barrier.
Alfred's voice began to blur as my eyes focused on the television screen behind him. A little boy was blowing bubbles, smiling at the delicate soap creations.
The bubbles popped.
He blew another one.
The barrier brought change of a good kind, bringing Americans together with previous enemies as all tried to understand what exactly was happening. Gotham cleaned up in record time as something far more sinister than robberies had happened right on the city's doorstep. I could not stop hiding in the walls of my mind any longer; Batman was still needed.
My mourning period was over.
It was time to move on.
I threw myself into research and for weeks could not find a plausible answer to the question "what". I didn't even bother with the "why". Desperate to make some kind of headway, my eyes turned to the Nuclear power plant in the middle of the barrier. If I could not understand what this thing was, why not take every possible precaution? I was soon creating gadgets whose purpose was not yet known, just to feel as if I was doing something.
Beep!
A tiny sound sent me back to the present as the number 98.4-normal-displayed on my little gadget.
The strength of the barrier was back to its original state.
I removed the gadget from the wall and turned my attention back towards the creature on the floor. Still no movement. She was completely unconscious, handcuffs still flashing in five second increments.
"Sir, I have arrived."
Alfred's voice flooded my ears and relief flooded my body as I replied and scooped up the body.
"I'm coming".
A/N: I've decided to stop bolding whatever Batman says; I don't even know why I did it in the first place.
PLEASE READ: I recently saw The Dark Knight Rises and really enjoyed the character of Bane, but did not think Nolan paid the character the respect deserved when he added Talia Al Ghul. It felt a bit like a cop-out on Nolan's part.
THIS BEING SAID, I'm seriously considering adding Bane to this story, but I don't want to add anything unnecessary. Opinions, anyone?