A/N: Hi all. I mistakenly left my The Dark Knight Rises DVD at home two weeks ago so I wasn't able to update until now. Sorry for the delay, but I vow on finishing this soon.
This chapter will include several new scenes I've formulated myself for the changed plotline, but it will resume with the canon in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Note: I hope you all enjoy and don't hesitate in letting me know what you think. I accept all opinions, but just remember if I do something that you find irritating or inaccurate, how am I to know unless you tell me? If you do let me know, I promise I will cease the offending behavior at once :)
God Bless and Enjoy
Chapter 14: Occupy Gotham
Dean Porter ran his hand through his hair, the other gripping his retracted staff until it was white. "You brain dead, useless excuse for a pervert. How the fuck could you let her escape!" He had been angry before but never like this. The training picked up from his stay in hell on earth on his masters orders had steeled him and given him control, but sometimes the rage and impetuousness of his youth bubbled to the surface.
"I had the bitch down cold," blubbered Lowell Harris in his defense. "But then some sultry brunette smacked me in the head and they took off."
"You took her on alone!" Porter screamed, a vein in his head throbbing with rage. "I always thought you perverts were stupid, but don't you lack the shame so as to work in pairs?" Fuck, he had worked with, dated, and fought Olivia unlike everyone here besides Cobblepot and his master. Porter knew what Benson could do, and there was still Stabler to worry about. Together the once incorruptible Benson and Stabler could wreak havoc on their plan.
Others were just as livid as Porter, but kept it to themselves. "Tell me Harris?" asked Penguin, irritated as hell by this situation. "When was this brunette transferred into Blackgate?"
"Uh, I think it was a few days before the big show yesterday sir, why?"
The former mob boss looked pensive for a moment, taking a long drag on his cigarette before smirking. "Well gentlemen, it appears our little cat burglar Selina Kyle is in cahoots with Chief Benson, Waugh, Waugh, Waugh."
This revelation set the room into panic. Porter continued to scream obscenities, Penguin's new right hand man and Chief of the new Gotham People's Army Walter Burlock began to pace, and George Huang (also having been broke out of prison) began to chuckle and mutter to himself. Penguin's lips contorted into a satisfied grin at the sight. 'Such fools, all of them.' He knew Bane wasn't planning on surviving this little venture, and he'd be halfway to Bermuda by the time the bomb detonated. At least until then he'd be enjoying torturing the city he once ruled.
"Enough!" The room quieted to Bane's booming voice, the masked man always possessing an intimidating aura. "This may be a little setback but they can't pose a threat to us, not with the Chief separated from her friend." Penguin and Porter grinned, them being the only ones in the room who knew of Batman and Batgirl's true identity. "For now, we proceed as planned."
"What about this one master?" asked Porter, pointing to Harris who was on his knees.
Studying him closely, Bane strode over, bent down, and with a swoop of his hand which was now brandishing a knife cut off the pinkie and ring fingers off Harris' hands. The former prison guard fell to the ground, howling in pain. "Let this be a warning to you Mr. Harris. Next time you fail us I will not be so merciful."
Leaving the Whimpering Harris behind, Bane motioned to Penguin. "Be ready Cobblepot, for soon we shall make the announcement." Penguin smiled once more.
An hour later, the power being restored to the city for the big announcement, Penguin straightened his bowtie in the Mayor's office at Municipal Tower. "Showtime," he said to himself.
The trumpets blared as the announcer cut in. "Please rise for the new General Secretary of Gotham, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot." Penguin gave the camera his best warm smile, appearing to transform himself from a vicious mobster into a populist revolutionary.
"Greetings people of Gotham," he said. This had been all Bane's idea, and while Penguin didn't give a flying fuck about the image of bringing the humanity of the people and destroying it by making them follow a criminal like him, he did like the idea of going out with a bang before disappearing. "Today, we begin a new period of social justice and prosperity.
"This morning, our illustrious Grand Marshal freed the oppressed of this city. Now, I shall continue his great work by proclaiming the new Gotham City People's Republic, ruled by you, the people. This city belongs to you, and it is time you take it back." He suppressed his signature chuckle, finding this funnier than anything else in his entire life.
"I call on those who would serve to step forward for an army will be raised. The powerful will be ripped out of their nests and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure.
"Courts will be convened. Spoils will be enjoyed. Blood will be shed. The police will survive as they learn to serve true justice and serve the will of the people.
"This great city… Will Endure!" The screen cut. His lips contorting into an evil sneer, Penguin grabbed a Cuban cigar out of his jacket and took a long drag. "It is good to be General Secretary."
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The streets were empty, but that didn't mean they were quiet, far from it. The cackle of automatic weapons fire and the exulted shouts of Bane's men echoed through Gotham, eerie in a city devoid of electricity.
"Must be disconcerting, having no power for once," observed Selina dryly, having exchanged her prison jumpsuit for civilian ware in an abandoned boutique.
"Actually," replied Olivia, also in scrounged clothes, "I don't mind the dark."
Selina rolled her eyes. "Forgot who I'm travelling with." She then spotted headlights at the intersection ahead. "Get down," she hissed, both women hitting the deck.
Two pickup trucks drove by erratically, the convicts inside them obviously drunk and thus extra rowdy. "Whooo! Kill the pigs!" shouted one from the first pickup.
"Burn the shit down!" hollered the last, everyone cheering and firing off rounds from their assorted weapons. Ever since Penguin's announcement both they and the assembled crowds of vagabonds and looters had been going crazy all over the city, concentrating on the rich neighborhoods. It was a communist revolution of the worst kind, and Olivia knew it played right into Bane's hand.
Barely paying attention to the road in front of them, none of the escaped convicts noticed the two women expertly clinging to the shadows.
"Stupid assholes," muttered Selina. Even though the law branded her in the same category as those swine, she knew she was light-years ahead of the Neanderthals Bane freed from Blackgate. Turning to her companion, she whispered, "Nice job Chief. Didn't think you could keep up without your costume."
Olivia scowled, practically visualizing the smirk on the master thief's face. "For your information Kyle, my husband trained me quite well for this, and I was one of the best cops in the city."
"True, true." Selina let out a low laugh. "You know, I've been wondering how a weeny like Wayne managed to snag the illustrious Badass Benson, but now it makes sense. Tell me, how did bats rope you into this?"
"If you must know, I volunteered." Olivia might not trust Selina one iota, but it did feel good to talk with someone who wasn't trying to hold her prisoner.
"Of course you did." A small smirk appeared on her face. "So, is the famed playboy as good in the sack as I thought?" Even in the pale moonlight, Selina could see the police chief flush. "That good huh? Maybe I should take that for a test ride if I get the chance."
"If you so much as touch my husband, I will personally rip your heart out through your throat," hissed Olivia, though Selina's quip did cause her heart to hurt. 'Lord, please let me see my husband again.'
Selina shook her head. "Possessive much?" She wasn't about to go after Wayne, he wasn't her type after all. An image of a certain blue-eyed cop flashed in her mind but she shook it off. "Come on, the coast is clear."
The echoes were once more in the distance, so Olivia and Selina left the alley they had been hunkered down in and slunk through the streets as quietly as possible. Her boasting aside, Olivia was somewhat proud of her ability to remain as quiet as she did in her suit. Ever since swearing off field assignments after Sealview, the only practice outside of the suit had been sneaking up on her husband. Bruce caught her about half the time, pinning her down on the ground while when she won it would be the opposite (usually ending with a heated lovemaking). She smiled at the memories; if… no when Bruce returned, Olivia vowed that after they defeated Bane they were going to start a family, just like Alfred wanted.
She was halted by an ever so soft shhhh from Selina's lips. The master thief quickly shoved her into a dark alcove, catching the sound of footsteps in the distance. These weren't the cocky swagger of the convicts or the determined strides of Bane's men but instead the hushed ones of someone who'd rather not be seen. However, to the two women anyone out on these streets was a threat.
"I think I heard someone," came a whisper, causing both women to freeze. "It came from there." Sweat pouring down their faces, Selina and Olivia didn't move a muscle, hoping they wouldn't be caught. When two shotgun barrels poked through from the sidewalk both sprang into action.
Olivia kicked the closest man in the stomach, quickly wheeling around and delivering another kick to his side. Selina delivered an open-handed punch to her assailant but the man managed to grab her hand and pull her down with him. Olivia moved to help but was stopped by a revolver leveled at her. "Livvy?" said its owner.
Jaw dropped, Olivia would have recognized that voice anywhere. "Dickie?" The eldest Stabler boy lowered the gun and the two embraced happily, both ecstatic to see a friendly face.
Amanda trotted forward with Maureen in tow, both immediately seeing to Nick, who had a nosebleed from Olivia's kick. "Damn Chief," mused the blonde detective. "You have one hell of a kick." Olivia shrugged modestly.
Confused, Selina looked at the man pinned underneath her. She almost had a heart attack at the impossibly blue eyes staring back at her. "Hello Miss Kyle," said Elliot, a wide grin on his face.
"Umm," she stammered, silently cursing herself for it. "Hello to you too Commissioner."
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Hearing pained cries and grunts from the outer cell, the South African exited from the latrine pit. Opening the door, clad in his ratty uniform and thick wool blanket, he came upon the new prisoner, Wayne, crawling on the ground. Well, it could be crawling, but the best word for it would have to be pained struggling.
In the cell to the right, the blind prisoner spoke in his foreign tongue to the South African, who immediately strode to Bruce's side. "What did he say," said Bruce, the pain and anguish evident in his voice.
"He says we must fix your back before we start to walk." He flipped Bruce ever so gently off his stomach.
"How does he know?" gasped Bruce.
"He was once the Prison Doctor, a morphine addict who killed a patient and was sent down here."
"Very comforting," quipped Bruce, earning a disapproving snort from the South African. 'Liv would have laughed at that,' he thought, but the very thought of his wife filled his heart with a different kind of pain.
"Down here, he incurred the displeasure of many powerful people, including your masked friend." The South African threw a rope through the topmost horizontal bar to brace it, tying it firmly so as to hold Bruce's weight.
Despite his pain, Bruce's attention was up. If he was to get out of here and get back to Gotham, he needed to know as much about Bane as possible. "How did that happen?"
The South African sighed, wetting a rag in a pool of relatively clean water. "Many years ago, there was a plague in the prison. Some of the other prisoners, wracked with delusions, attacked Bane. The doctor's fumbling attempts to repair the damage left him in agonizing pain. The mask, you see, contains an analgesic gas to hold the pain at bay. Years later, when Bane brought his apprentice here to be initiated and spend two years in this hell, said apprentice blinded the good doctor in revenge for his master."
"Porter, sadistic bastard." Bruce connected some of the dots he remembered from what both Bane and the doctor had told him. "Was Bane the child you spoke of, the one who was born in here?"
Wiping the wet rag on Bruce's head, earning a relieved groan, the South African continued with his story. "Legend has it there was a mercenary who fought for a local warlord. He fell in love with the warlord's daughter, and they married in secret."
"Like me and Olivia," he murmured.
The prisoner continued, "When the warlord found out he was furious, sentencing the mercenary to this pit. However, the day before he was about to be cast down here, the warlord let him go. The mercenary only knew that it was due to the daughter that he was free, but what he didn't know was that the daughter took his place. She was cast down here, the mercenary's child in her womb."
Processing this, Bruce couldn't believe all of this. His mind replayed something Don Cragen long ago told him. "Once I had a wife, my great love. She was taken from me."
"Bane, he was Ra's al Ghul's son." Olivia would have been proud of his detective skills.
Not answering that, the South African began to loop the rope into a satisfactory knot. "Innocence cannot live down here, it has to be stomped out. One day, the doctor forgot to lock the cage." He left what happened next unsaid, cause a group of men stuck in a prison together often caused on thing and one thing only. "The child had a protector, a savior that convinced the other that her innocence was their redemption. The mother was not so lucky."
Bruce now had a new understanding for his late mentor. Cragen had to live with the fact that his wife died because of his faults. If Bruce didn't have Liv or Alfred at home, who knows what he might have become. The thought was all very humbling.
The doctor began babbling again, the South African paying heed and wrapping the rope around Bruce's shoulders. He began to heave, lifting Bruce up while the former billionaire cried in anguish. "There is a vertebra protruding out of your lower back. It must be popped back into place for you to heal." He delivered three sharp punches to the area, causing the worst pain Bruce had ever known to radiate out of his spine. "Stay like this until you can stand." He didn't hear the words, the darkness overcoming him as he blacked out.
What could have been anywhere from thirty minutes to two days later, Bruce lifted his head to the sound of a deep baritone laugh. "Didn't I tell you I would return Bruce?" Out of the shadows stepped Don Cragen in the flesh, clad in his usual suit. "Didn't I tell you I was immortal?"
"We watched you die," Bruce murmured, the shooting pain now a deep throb.
"There are many forms of immortality Bruce. It's a shame that you and Olivia weren't able to discover them."
"You were the mercenary." It wasn't a question. "He is your child. Your heir."
"A means to ensure the League of Shadows continues to bring stability and justice to the world. You and your wife fought the corruption and decadence of Gotham for over a decade, but all your strength, all your cunning, all your moral authority and the only victory you two could achieve was a lie. Now you understand Gotham is beyond saving."
"No," Bruce breathed; he would not let Olivia or anyone else die.
Cragen was disappearing, apparently only a vision. "Now you know that Gotham, its people, and most of all your precious wife must die."
"Noooo!" he screamed, planting his feet on the ground to get into a fighting stance. His eyes widened. He could now walk. Mumbling a thanks to God, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture. "I'm coming for you Liv, I promise."
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Elliot was full of conflicting emotions from the day's events. On one hand, he was on the run from a bunch of psychopathic mercenaries, revenge-filled mobsters, and crazed convicts most of whom he put away; on top of that, he was likely hated in the city on account of the Harvey Dent revelation. This was not a good day to be Elliot Stabler.
"Hey there El," came the familiar voice of his best friend, who sat beside him on the couch in their new safe house and handed him a mug of hot cocoa. The only thing going well for him right now was that Olivia was alright (even though he had no idea where Bruce was; when he asked Liv all she did was cry and shake her head).
"Hey Liv." He looked around the room, taking in Gordon, Dickie, Maureen, Rollins, and Amaro sleeping soundly. "Just like old times huh. On a stakeout while the others were snoring in the back of a van."
"Hold on a minute buster," Olivia scolded. "Remember the time…"
"Oh come on Liv," he defended himself. "Once, I only dozed off once."
"Yeah, and our perp got away because of it." Olivia was laughing. "You remember the look on Munch's face? I think he may have had a heart attack he was so pissed."
"I still caught the guy the next day," he whined, though a grin was on his face. It was like old times, Olivia and him, the great Benson and Stabler. He wondered if he wasn't with Kathy and she wasn't with Bruce if they could have been together as more than just friends. It would have been so easy to fall for Olivia, but he figured it just wasn't meant to be in this universe.
"So El," she said, "What's the plan after this? We're not going to sit on our asses and let Bane run roughshod over the city." While not telling him her and Bruce's big secret, she had informed him of the bomb's decay rate and the necessity of stopping Bane as soon as possible.
"In the morning, Gordon and Dickie are going to try and assemble every cop left in the city that's not trapped underground. We're going to form a resistance and try and get contact with the government."
"Good plan, but you think Tucker and the others will show up?"
"If they believe in freedom the will, though I think it would be best if you led the group."
"What?" Olivia was shocked. "But you're the Commissioner El." 'And my inspiration is best given beneath the cowl.'
"I betrayed the city's trust Liv. Why would anyone follow me?" He sounded so broken, the far cry from the Elliot she knew.
"Listen to me El," she said. She couldn't tell him she was there, so only used what Bane had said at Blackgate. "Everyone understands why you did what you did. They may not like it but eight years of clean streets speak for themselves. What they won't like is dying because you won't stand up and protect them like they entrusted you to do."
He snorted, a small smile spreading across his face. "You sure do know how to sway a man Liv."
"Hey, with how stubborn you and Bruce are, it's the front lines for me all the time," she smiled back. "I guess it's time for me to check to see if our lookout has flown the coop or not." She made to get up.
"No, no," Elliot stopped her. "Let me; you get some rest."
"Ok El, goodnight," she replied, not stopping him. Olivia grinned as he headed downstairs in the brownstone. It was time he got back out there, and her gut told her those two were good for each other.
Honing his skills as a detective picked up after over twenty years on the job, Elliot silently crept onto the first floor and toward the living room of the brownstone, spotting the distinct feminine shape of a head in the distance.
"If you're trying to sneak up on me don't bother," mumbled the dry, almost bored voice.
Snorting, Elliot made his way to the couch Selina was sitting on. "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you Miss Kyle. If I was, you wouldn't hear me." He gave her his cocky Stabler grin.
"Keep telling yourself that," she replied, a smirk forming on her lips despite herself. She quickly extinguished it and brought back her impassive scowl. "What do you want Commissioner?"
Sheepishly, Elliot plopped down on the couch next to her. "I just wanted to say thanks for saving Olivia."
"Wasn't hard, that pervert was both stupid and got what was coming to him."
Elliot nodded in approval. "Asshole did. I'm surprised though; you of all people should love this whole People's Republic business."
Selina scoffed. "It's just anarchy with a fancy name. I may be a thief but I do have rules."
"You wouldn't have been a fan of the Joker then," he quipped dryly, immediately flashing to images from eight years before. His lighthearted grin dropped to a pained frown, his mind settling to when Dent had his family.
Selina saw this, and her heart strangely empathized with the poor man (it had never done that before not counting the time Bane and Porter defeated the Waynes). "I wasn't in Gotham at the time. The news made it seem like an alien invasion or some shit like that, but what was it like for you, having Dent try and kill your son?" Selina didn't know what made her so bold in asking questions of him, but she wanted to know rather than wanting to get a read on him for her own use. As always, it was disconcerting.
"It was hell, pure hell," he choked out. "I was powerless to stop the monster that once was a great man from killing my own boy."
"Then why'd you lie? Why'd you lie to the world about what happened that night."
"Because Gotham needed a true hero, someone they could really understand and idolize. People like Batman, Batgirl, and I were willing to shoulder the pain and guilt for the betterment of everyone."
She looked into his eyes to see if he was bullshitting her, but his eyes radiated truth. Selina couldn't understand this level of altruism for either him or the Waynes. Any altruistic part of her body had been beaten out of her in the dog-eat-dog world that she had to live and survive in. She really didn't know what to say.
Illuminated by the soft moonlight, Elliot couldn't help but take in the thief's beauty. It seemed odd that the champion of justice, the brave warrior in blue that took down the mob side by side with Harvey Dent was attracted to a criminal, but he didn't really care. Firstly, much of the city considered him a lying scumbag anyway. Second, this woman was simply badass. Thirdly, he knew there was something else underneath that Darwinian kill or be killed façade, something that intrigued him deeply.
"You gonna stare at me or are you going to ask me something else?" He was interrupted out of his reverie by her suspicious stare.
"Well, I'm also surprised you're still here. I honestly thought you'd bolt first chance you got." 'I'm glad you didn't,' he didn't say.
"Where else can I go? Bane and Penguin are probably saving the bullet they're going to put through my head. You cops may view people like me as less than shit, but at least you won't kill me." She wanted to bare her heart to him like she wanted a lobotomy, but there was something about him that made her want to demolish the walls she had spent her entire life erecting to protect her soul from the vile society she lived in.
"Why would you think that?"
"Isn't it obvious Commissioner?" she asked with a roll of the eyes. 'Leave me alone!' She spent most of her life running away but this man was getting to her.
"Humor me." He may know the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her.
"Maybe because I'm a criminal, or helped Ganzel and Bane out, or maybe it's because people like you think I'm trash." She continued without bothering to hear his reply, rare emotion breaking out of her protective shell. "You think that you're happy, goodie-two-shoes lives gives you an excuse to look down on people like me, caught up in messes like these because of mistakes they made. That's why I know you don't like me Commissioner."
That wasn't an answer Elliot was expecting. "I don't think that Miss Kyle. I may be a cop to the core, but we can tell when a person has crossed the line that separates the good and the evil. Believe me, you aren't like the assholes running around playing liberator/thug outside."
"How do you figure?" Now she was curious.
He smiled at her. "Call it a hunch. Now go get some sleep. I got the watch now."
A few minutes later, nestled in one of the beds on the upper floor, Selina wondered what had just transpired. Was that the first real conversation she had with a person that didn't involve some sort of manipulation or survival? It was, and that both scared her and warmed her heart. Maybe the commissioner was right.
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Nearly a month since his back had healed, Bruce had reclaimed much of his strength back. "Why do you build yourself up?" asked the South African as Bruce reached his sixtieth push up.
Bruce looked up to the television, still playing footage of the continuing siege of Gotham. "I'm not meant to die in here."
"Here, there, what's the difference?"
Finishing his stet of seventy-five, Bruce glanced to his left where his picture of Olivia was nailed to the small wooden table. "There is someone waiting for me out there."
A/N: And I ended it with a little hope.
I hope you enjoyed Elliot and Selina's little chat. Her character is fun to write, and it lets me delve deep into her reasons for changing in the end which weren't really spelled out in the movie.
Next up, the siege of Gotham continues as Bruce tries to escape and Olivia fights Bane's men. Plus, Fox and Casey make their appearance once more
God Bless