Bane's Sewer Mouse
Chapter 6
AN: During the week, updates will come infrequently. Sorry to anyone who waited! Please enjoy and review.
Ooo
When Bane was done with her, he left Ann there in the hall, sweaty and used. His adrenaline kept him going and Ann wanted to call after him, see where he was going, but the words froze on her lips. Soon, he was out of sight.
Ann took a deep breath and then gathered herself, pulling up her pants and slipping on the sweater. She knew she should feel ashamed, at least a little bit. She did after the first time they fucked, but she didn't now.
She pretty much knew the way back, so she swung open the door Bane had just used her against and stepped back out onto the catwalk. She was surprised to see a lot of people in the waterfall room. It was normally empty, but now Bane's men were everywhere. They were talking and reading and Ann could see people working at the monitors next to her tunnel. She saw Barsad outside of his room talking with his comrades. It was only after she noticed all of this did she see that Batman's body had been moved. She briefly wondered where they took him, but she shrugged it off as she went from the catwalk to the hall that Talia brought her through. Now Ann really did wonder where Talia went.
It was just a quick walk down the hall and then down the stairs, and she was in the waterfall room. A few men noticed her, but didn't acknowledge her. Ann kept her head down, trying not to stare at the massive firearms they all carried. She just made her way to Barsad's side, edging in between him and another man.
"Barsad," Ann said to get his attention. "I know everything now."
"Good," Barsad said quickly without really paying much mind to her. "Now hurry back to your room. We're working right now." Barsad pointed up, and that was when Ann noticed that on the other side of the room, a huge hole had been blown in the wall, accessing what looked like to be a car park for the army.
But she hurried along, realizing she was not wanted here. She scurried up the stairs, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Only when she got to the entrance of her corridor did she fear that she might not be able to make it back on her own. So she just took a deep breathe and hoped for the best. She had been walking back and forth through this tunnel for a while now.
Ten minutes went by. Then fifteen. She knew it didn't take that long to get to the room, but everything was so black around her. Trying to keep her heartbeat still, Ann pressed on, hoping she was just freaking herself out.
But too much time went by, the tunnel twisted too many times. Images of people getting lost in tunnels and then starving to death plagued her. Yet still she pressed on, hoping against hope that she would stumble on something, or someone, that could help her. A door, a window, she really didn't care what.
The sound of the waterfall was lost to her now; a silence she hadn't known in days enveloped her. Now she was freaking out, tears streaming down her face as she broke into a ran, grunting as her shoulder hit walls but not really caring, just hoping to find something, anything.
As if an answer to her prayers, a thin beam of light finally pierced the darkness, and she ran unabashed towards it. Around the first corner, she could see it. It wasn't a door or a window like she had hoped. It was a manhole, yards above her head. It was something though; it would save her from dying in a tunnel.
Without thinking, she scrambled up the provided ladder. Ann didn't even notice the grime on the rails. After all, everything down there had a thick layer of grime on it. When she got to the top, she tried pushing it aside with one hand and soon realized that it was just too heavy to do that. Anchoring her feet on the rungs and tucking her knees under one for extra support, Ann reached up with both hands. This time, it slipped aside with less effort.
Sunlight poured in, blinding Ann for a minute. This was the first time in many days that Ann had seen the sun and it confused her for a second. She didn't really consider that this would lead her…out.
But she knew she couldn't go back down, the thought terrified her, so she pulled herself up and out. Ann was surprised to feel the chill of snow on her fingers, it was a warm fall day when she was taken, and little snow flakes hit her face. She didn't even consider she would be going out.
Going out. As if she was going to the store-from her house. Not escaping, not going home, going out. She fully planned to go back.
At that moment, her mother's face flooded her mind, puffy from crying and begging for Ann to know that she loved her. Ann knew what she had to do.
Not quite knowing where exactly she was, she wondered out from the ally to try and catch her bearings. Realizing with her being on the news, people might recognize her, she kept her head down and kept to the shadows. As she came out of the alley she popped out in, the first street sign she saw was, thankfully, a street she recognized.
Making her way to her parent's house, she slipped in and out of alleyways and avoided eye contact with everyone around her. The streets were mostly empty and although she didn't want to admit it, her hair was probably looked like a rats nest enough for people to avoid her. The ends were still slightly damp and quickly freezing in the open air.
To her relief, it didn't take long to get to her parent's building. Walking up the steps, she took a quick look around to see if anyone noticed her. Satisfied she was inconspicuous, she pressed the small button next to her parent's name.
"Who is it?" Came the voice from the speaker.
"Mom?" Ann croaked.
There was no reply, but the door buzzed open. Stunned by the lack of reply, Ann walked through the foyer but had only just pressed the button to the elevator when the doors to the stares burst open.
There stood her mother, red faced from running and eyes streaming tears. Her hair looked greyer than Ann remembered, but all thoughts went out of her head when thin arms enveloped her.
"I was so scared," Her mother sobbed into her shoulder. "I thought we lost you."
Ann was doing her best to hold back tears, but they all escaped. Mother and daughter crumpled to the floor, not even caring that they were making a scene. Only when the elevator dinged open did they separate.
Quickly, Ann ushered her weak-kneed mother into the small space and pressed the 'close door' button, not allowing anyone else to disturb them.
"Mommy," Ann started, holding her mother. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to go..."
"We know honey, everybody saw. Oh my god, we have to call the police!" Ann's mother grasped her arms. "Everybody have been worried about you. The whole city is talking about it!"
"What do you mean?" Ann asked. Then she remembered the news report again.
"Ann, you were abducted by terrorists in plain sight! You been missing for two weeks. We got a random note…"
"What did it say?" Ann interjected. The elevator door slid open then and her mom took her had and led her down the hall. In one swift movement, her mother took out her keys and unlocked the door. Ann hurried inside and her mom closed the door behind them.
"Mary?" Called a familiar voice.
"Daddy?" Ann said, pretty childishly, running to meet her father's open arms.
"Dan?" Mary said, coming close to her husband. "What exactly did the note say again?"
"Oh," Ann's father said, pulling away from his daughter teary eyed. He led her to the couch as he spoke.
"It said something like 'She'll be okay as long as you pay. Be patient and wait, instructions on another date.' It was so odd," Her father sounded perplexed and angry.
But to Ann, it was kind of funny. She wondered who wrote it. Was it Bane? She imagined this huge hulking figure hunched over his desk, trying to come up with the perfect rhyme. Did Talia help? Did Barsad yell drunken suggestions?
"What are you laughing at?" Her father asked. Both her parents were looking at her like she was insane. Since she had sat down, the old family dog had come to lay lazily next to Ann, treating her as if she had never been gone.
"Nothing," she replied, knowing she had to get this done quickly before anyone noticed she was gone.
"Look," She started, staring at her hands. "I can't stay long."
"You're going back?" Her dad all but yelled.
"Yes," Ann replied, raising her eyes to meet his. Whatever she did, she had to make them understand,
"Where have you been? Where did they take you?" Many questions came all at once from them.
"I've been held in the city," Ann explained. "I've been treated well. I haven't been abused or anything but there is something I need to tell you guys.
"Something bad is going to happen. I don't know what it is exactly, but I know it's something bad. The people who kidnapped me are the same people who held up the stock exchange. They are…they're going to do something really bad and you just need to get out of the city."
It took both of them a second to process what Ann had just said.
"We have to call the police," Dan said, standing up.
"No!" Ann said, jumping up to stop him.
"What are you doing? We have to stop them!" Dan shouted as Ann's mother came to hold her daughter, to stop her from stopping her father.
"Bane can't be stopped, dad," Ann said, realizing how silly that sounded.
"Bane?" Both questioned.
"Look guys, don't tell anyone. It'll just cause a panic and probably just make everything happen sooner," Ann said miserably, just wishing her parents would get it, would stop asking questions, regardless of how justified they were.
"Get out of town, please," Ann begged, shrugging off her mother. "This is the only way I can think to save you. Please, just go." Ann wanted to cry, it was hard trying to tell her parents she knew they were going to die if they stayed.
She saw their stricken faces and had to force tears back as she quickly turns away, knowing the longer she stayed, the easier it would be to forget about going back.
"Wait Ann," Her darling mother said, rounding in front of her. "Why are you going back?"
"Because this is the only way I can think of to save me," Ann said simply.
Ooo
Leaving had been a relatively quick affair and soon Ann found herself walking down the street, now in a coat her mother forced her to wear. She kept her head bowed, avoiding eye contact, but she wasn't focusing. She didn't notice when she glanced over someone's face, their eyes light up with recognition.
Suddenly, her arm jerked back and she was staring at the face of a stranger.
"Are you Winifred Todd?" They said with almost reverence, as if they caught a unicorn.
"No, you're mistaken," Ann said, brushing him off.
"No, you must be…" Before they could finish that sentence, a team of militarized cars came rolling down the center of the street. All eyes were on them as they went past. The first two past Ann, and the third was in passing when it suddenly grinded to a hault.
The passenger door flew open and out came the ever mountainous man that Ann never would have expected to see right then. The man let go of her arm when he saw Bane coming towards them and rushed off, heavily intimidated.
"Bane," Ann said, coming up to him unafraid. "I was going back, right now. I got lost in the tunnels and it came out here and I swear I was going back."
She didn't want to admit it, but she was begging Bane to forgive her. Ann also artfully left out that she visited her parents.
"You're perfectly fine, Ann," He said, in a much more formal tone than when he spoke to her normally. She wondered if he was perhaps putting on a show. Word might get out that Winifred Todd was spotted, and Bane wanted to make sure the world knew even if she was, she belonged to Bane now.
He shouted something in another language back to the truck he came out of and two of Bane's men, both with large guns. He spoke to them a bit more before he turned back to Ann.
"These men will take you back. Be more careful from now on," She could have sworn she saw his eyes crinkle a little, as if he smiled under his mask.
And yes, she was taken back and life returned to 'normal', but she didn't see Bane for a long time after that.