AN: Well hi there. I know I haven't been writing at all for month. I graduated college and got myself a big kid job, but I found myself rereading this story a few days ago and I decided I really liked it, so I wanted to continue it. This chapter isn't that exciting, but it needs to happen to get to the next thing. I hope you enjoy it!
In the next week, Ann spent much of her time alone. Bane was nowhere to be found, and she looked everywhere. More and more men were around, but very few seemed to speak English. The ones who did were extraordinarily young, which made Ann very uncomfortable. Occasionally, Barsad would be available for a conversation, but very seldom. Talia did not make an appearance during this time. Well, not in person anyway.
One night, Ann was up watching the news. It was really the only thing she did now a days. Batman's brief appearance was never brought up and Ann wondered if it was even true what she saw. It could have been all a show for all she knew. But that hole in the waterfall room was definitely not for show. Anyway, there was quite a bit of talk about the new big name in Gotham social circles, Meranda Tate. Ann recognized her immediately. Ann figures this has something to do with the big plan that Talia had told her about, but just rolled her eyes at the method. Of course Talia would make herself the public one, the pretty face to be photographed.
She was never allowed to go near it, the hole. Every time she tried to catch a peak at the large armored vehicles and sleek black sports cars up close, she was quickly pulled away with a very unapologetic 'Sorry, miss,' and was told it wasn't a place for her.
In fact, Ann spent most of her days in a huff. Over time, she thought less about the things that Bane and Talia had revealed to her and more time thinking about all the things she was missing on the outside. Fresh clothes that actually fit, a warm cup of coffee, even her usual McDonalds order made the list of things she wanted but couldn't have.
She thought about going out again a lot, but with the big influx of men, there was often other people in the corridor between her room and everything else. Part of her believed that Bane told them to hang out around her-to make sure she didn't get lost again. In the first day that she thought of that, it seemed rather sweet. The more days that went by though, it became annoying. She often heard footsteps in the hall, but no one ever came into her room. It made her paranoid.
One day, about a week after she last saw Bane, Ann was feeling extremely restless. The endless drone of the midday newscaster made her want to smash the TV against the wall. Instead, she slipped on Talia's boots, grabbed her flashlight (another thing that magically appeared after she got lost), and made her way into the hall.
The first thing that the beam of her flashlight landed on was the feet of a man. Ann's heard momentarily jumped into her throat, as would any one who found someone hidden in the shadows, but she willed it down, offering him a slight nod before continuing on. She knew they were checking on her, but she had no idea that one actually stood guard and she wasn't entirely comfortable with the thought.
She kept walking though, until she found herself in the waterfall room. A couple men were monitoring the screens to the side, but other than that, the room was pretty empty. This struck her as odd, since there were at least ten or so people milling around at all times for the past week. Ann clicked off her flashlight and walked down the stairs.
Lately she has been much more comfortable walking around the underground compound, even went to take a shower every other day, but it still felt odd not really being able to talk to anyone. Some couldn't speak English, but the ones that could wouldn't even acknowledge her. At first it made her angry, but now she just wandered around like a ghost, unnoticed. At least until she did something she wasn't supposed to do.
Now that she was pretty much alone, it almost felt a little freeing. No one was around to ignore her, but that also meant no one was around to tell her no. An idea popped up in her little head.
Turning to look back up the stairs, Ann sees the men are engrossed in their screens, so she scurried down the rest of the stairs to get out of their line of sight. Walking around the waterfall, she passed Barsad's room (which was thankfully empty) and eventually came to a stop in front of the hole, just steps away from the brand new room.
Taking one more look around, she saw no one that could have seen her. Putting her hands on the rim, she hauled herself up over the wall of rubble. She had to sit down on some rocks, took one look back, and then jumped down into the...garage? She was flanked on both sides by large SUV's that looked like they could drive through a twister and be alright.
Ann started to walk down the isle made by the cars, marveling at each one. Most were black and shiney, way nicer than any car she'd ever owned. There were no lights on in there, but enough light flooded in from the hole that she was able to make her way.
Just as she touched the reflective hood of one of the vehicles, she heard people behind her. Not bothering to look, Ann started running, weaving between the cars, running into total darkness. She wasn't sure why she was running, she had resolved long ago to be a pathetic sewer whore, but maybe in that moment, her body was betraying her (probably making the smarter decision) and mindlessly trying to lose herself from the people that may or may not be looking for her. There have been people near her constantly, the fact that there were so few now was pretty suspicious, so it was easy to expect someone to come looking for her soon.
Ann ran face first into a wall, crushing her nose enough to feel like it was broken. Putting her hand in front of her, she realized she had run into a vehicle, not a wall. Male voices were getting closer and closer, confirming that people were, in fact, trying to find her.
Without thinking, she clamored into the SUV and laid across the seats, trying to make herself as small as possible. She clicked the door behind her as quietly as she could, wincing when it was louder than she hoped. Trying to slide lower into the car, her knee hit something. All of a sudden, she was moving.
Scrabbling up, Ann gripped the wheel to pull herself up. Looking out the windows, she couldn't exactly see anything, but it felt like she was going up. There was a soft clang as the car stopped moving.
Ann didn't know what to do. She honestly had no idea where she was, but she was guessing it wasn't the same place as before. Opening the door, she put out a foot to test it. Finding ground, she climbed out completely.
This room, although still dark, had light coming under from what must have been a door. Quickly, she rushed towards it, only tripping over one thing.
Pushing it open, she was blinded by sunlight. As her eyes adjusted, Ann took in her surroundings, noticing she was in a large lot, with a bunch of garages just like the one she was immerging from. Closing the door behind her, Ann wondered if the men had found a way to get to her yet. If Bane came back…
But she stopped herself from thinking that thought. Who cares if Bane comes back, she thought, he has been gone for a week without warning. I've been all alone for a week and I want to keep waiting for that asshole?
Fuck no, if you're keeping me as your personal fuck toy, then don't be surprised if I leave when you ignore me. I still have dignity. I can brush him off just as easily as he can me.
With her nose stuck up in the air, Ann walked out of that parking structure, not even bothering to wonder why the underground garage led there or who it belonged to. If Bane wanted her, he'd come find her. Besides, the 'criteria' they laid out for her could be filled by a thousand women. Ann snorted when she realized Bane and Talia probably just opened up the Sunday paper, saw her name, and decided she was the one.
Ann hopped over the car barrier and started trying to figure out where she was. Last time she popped out of the sewer, she was near home. This couldn't be too far from there, but she just couldn't figure out where she was. She wondered around openly on the streets, not even bothering to conceal herself like last time. There was no reason to, there was hardly anyone on the streets.
Just when she had that thought, a police cruiser rushed by with it's lights on. It wasn't an unusual sight in Gotham by any means, but the second, third, and fourth one after it were. Ann started to walk in that direction. It wasn't safe, sure, or even smart, but at least it was something. People, police…
She couldn't go to the police, she realized. They would obviously recognize her and, if that man that grabbed her ever did report what he saw, they would know she knew Bane.
As she came up to the sirens though, she saw a sight she never expected. There, on top of one the armored cars from the garage she just came from, was Bane. Over the wail of the cars, she couldn't exactly hear what he was saying, but she saw Barsad next to him. Slipping into the crowd that gathered to watch from across the street, she could only faintly hear Bane's raspy voice but couldn't make out any of the words.
Without any of the fear that the other people seemed to be feeling, Ann pushed to the front. There, she could hear Bane lay out his ideals for the city, how people would be able to be free and how the police would serve 'true justice'. Bane's eyes never landed on her and she didn't know what she would do if they did. Would he be mad? He seemed really into his speech, she doubted he would even really see her.
Ann was too busy studying the way he squinted in the sunlight, something she had never seen him do before, and was thrown off guard when one of the vehicles suddenly produced a huge gun that could take out a whole village, pointed straight at the group she was standing with. In that second, Ann remembered what she told her parents, that things were going to go badly. Hopefully her parents followed her advice, but now she wished she followed her own. To save herself, she had to stay with Bane. If he really was going to follow through with his plan, which he seemed fully intent on doing, he was the ticket to her survival.
Everyone ran in every direction, but Ann was the only one that ran anywhere near the gun-laden men storming the steps of the courthouse. It seemed almost as soon as she got out of the way, the gun went off and blew off the doors to Blackgate Prison. Men rushed in and Ann could have sworn that she saw Barsad among them.
Bane continued to talk and Ann walked closer to him, feeling safer the closer she was, fully realizing how strange this would look from the outside. There was so much commotion, but Ann didn't pay attention to any of it. She was just able to see the pleased look in Bane's eyes, but he hadn't even seemed to see her yet.
Hands grabbed at her butt and a slimy voice oozed into her ears.
"Hey pretty girl, I haven't see anything like you for a while."
Ann tried to elbow away the arm that encircled her but as she turned around, the first thing she noticed was the orange jumpsuit, a man straight from the prison, and the second thing was the huge semi-automatic he carried in his other hand.
"Come on honey, it's a whole new world. Let's figure it out together." A warm tongue lapped up her throat.
Fear finally overtook her, catching up with everyone else, and she screamed, trying to wiggle out of the man's arms. Her cries were drowned out with the rest of the noise. She turned her head, tears clouding her vision, and saw that Bane had only just gotten down from the top of the car.
"Bane!" Ann yelled, hoping he would be able to hear. A small part of her worried he wouldn't even care. "Help me!"
Relief washed through her when Bane's head turn and his eyes finally focused on her. But it stopped cold when the look in his eye didn't stop being hard. Normally when he looked at her, there was this sort of kind tolerance in his eyes that was completely absent now. The only other time she saw him looking at her like this was after the Batman incident.
Thankfully, Bane did eventually fully turn and walk towards them, way too casual for Ann. As he sauntered up, the man behind her went completely still.
"New brother," Bane said in a drawl, "I'm aware there is no way you could have known this, but it would do you well to know not to touch things that aren't yours."
As Ann bristled at the word 'things', the man responded with, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't know.
"No, but now everyone will," Bane kept the same tone of voice as he reached out past Ann and took the other man by the throat. It only took a second and the man crumpled to the ground, releasing Ann. Stumbling forward, Ann fell into Bane's chest. His familiar smell engulfed her and she relaxed into him for a moment before pulling away.
"Get lost again?" Bane said, talking far too conversationally for the frenzy around them.
"No," Ann said honestly. "I was bored and wandered around and…"
Bane held up a hand to stop her.
"It doesn't matter. I'm glad you were here," Bane looked over his shoulder and for the first time, Ann saw the news camera directed at them. "Come, let's settle you into your new home."
"New home?" Ann questioned, looking up at Bane as he led her away.
"Yes, little one," Bane answered, sounding quite pleased with himself. "Now that the city knows us, we don't need to hide anymore. Now, all you have to do is wait."
"Wait for what, Bane?"
And although he didn't say anything, Bane's eyes flickered down to her stomach and for a moment, Ann feared telling him there was no way she was pregnant. But she pushed that thought to the side as she was escorted into a military-style Humvee, comforted by the crushing weight of Bane as he slid in next to her.