Morning came too slowly for Aurora after the moments she'd spent in Bane's room. As she lay sprawled across her tiny bed, his voice replayed over in her head. He said he'd come for her, but what did that mean? It didn't sound like a threat; no, if he'd wanted her dead, she wouldn't have left his room. She'd been an easy target in that corner with her back pressed into the wall. She would've fought hard had she needed to, but she was more than relieved that it hadn't been called for. If she wasn't trying to calm the nausea from imagining how close Bane had been to her, she was silently thanking whatever guardian angel thought her important enough to not face him blow for blow in that tiny room.

I will come for you.

The door to her room opened abruptly and the same usually happy assistant from each morning came in without her caravan of sentries and without a smile .

"Good morning, Ms. Donovan."

"Aurora." She answered quietly, rolling over so that her back faced him.

"Sorry. Aurora." He answered quietly.

John Blake rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. Aurora was his most difficult patient, she knew it. He came in everyday with the same sad eyes, the same sweet grin, and the same soft voice. She had to admit, it was nice to see a smiling face every once in a while, but Blake had held his façade much longer than his colleagues and it had begun to become tiresome; she appreciated his lack of pearly whites.

"It's time for your group session."

Aurora rolled her eyes and sat up. "No horde today?" she questioned.

"Not today. It's a good day."

"Liar." She stood up and stretched; there were no good days here and by the looks of his tired face she could tell he was beginning to realize that. She slipped her feet into her slippers and slicked the few pieces of hair in her face back up over her head and secured them in her messy bun.

"What's your deal?"

The sound of the door closing sent Aurora turning in her spot. Blake stood leaning against the door, watching her. Her heart dropped.

"I'm just wondering. I mean, you walk around here like you know the answers to all of life's mysteries."

"Open the door."

"I will." He pushed himself off of the door and took a step toward her. He raised his hands, palms facing her. "I'm just confused as to why you're here."

"That makes two of us." said Aurora, quietly. She desperately wanted to look away from him, to find some place to escape to. Never take your eyes from your enemy. "Now open the door."

"I just want you to answer one question for me," Said Blake, lowering his hands. He remained in his spot and made no move to surprise her. "If you have no reason to be here, why is everyone trying to make it look like you do?"

"Sounds like someone knows too much, doesn't it?" questioned Aurora finally pulling her eyes from Blake to look at the door.

"What do you know about the patient here called Bane?"

Her eyes snapped back to Blake as the question left his lips. "Nothing."

The lie came easily but Aurora wasn't sure why. She honestly didn't know much about Bane, but what she did know, that he slept on the floor instead of his bed, that he knew things about her she wasn't even aware of herself, that they were the same in many ways, she felt that she had to protect those things. She felt her fists begin to clench at her sides and she realized she'd protect those things with much more than words. With a single glance at her hands and without another question, Blake raised his palms again and backed away toward the door. He opened it and stepped out into the hallway. "Ok." He said quietly before putting on his award winning smile. "Let's get you to your session."

The group was already seated as Aurora was escorted into the room. She found Bane easily amongst them; his eyes had already been on her. She wanted to look away, to shake off the feeling of her nerves jumping beneath her skin, but she knew not to. She felt he would somehow be disappointed in her if she acted on her comforts behalf. She held his gaze as she walked and as she sat opposite him in the circle.

"Good morning, Aurora."

She continued to stare into Bane's eyes, but in an instant his form was gone. The voice offering her greetings twisted her from the inside out and made her nostrils flare. Her fists clenched tight on her lap and she planted her feet firmly on the floor. Fight them.

Aurora focused her sight again, staring deep into Bane's eyes, the rage in her threatening to rip her in two. Her vision blurred on the sides as memories tried to slide into her eye line. She forced them away, she wouldn't be dragged into hell surrounded by these people, not anymore.

"It's good to see you."

Aurora clenched her jaw tight, refusing to look in his direction.

"Alright, let's begin. As you all know, I'm Gregory Donovan, and I've been blessed with the opportunity to return to clinical work rather than administrative, so I thought it appropriate to take over a few sessions here and there and get to know the people we have here in our hospital."

The group was eerily silent as her father spoke of himself with prestige, as if he were much more than a rapist and a liar. They took turns all looking to Aurora to see if she would speak, to see if she would do anything, but all she did was stare at the nefarious gleam building in Bane's black eyes.

They were dark and heavy, and they could see her clearly amongst the grim backdrop that was her situation. She'd wanted to look away from him earlier, to run from him when she found herself in his room; she'd wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible, to put as much distance between them as the hospital would allow, but she needed to see him now. The crawling beneath her skin and the tingling in her spine, the flames gnawing at her nerves, it wasn't fear; it was reverence. She'd wanted to get away, not from him, but from herself; from the deep-seated need to be in his presence. She needed him to see her in this moment. To see what she was capable of, to see that she was indeed what he needed her to be, a mirror of himself.

"Aurora, are you alright?"

It was the hand that pulled her gaze from Bane. It was his repulsive touch, the icy chill that bit through her skin when he touched her that sent her over the edge. Fight them.

She grabbed the hand trying to hold hers and twisted it, standing up in the process, ready to twist his hand backwards the same way she'd done to his friend. Gregory followed suit screaming as he went, sending the rest of the group, all but one, into unrest. "You will never touch me again."

Aurora was tackled from behind and she fell heavily to the floor in the center of the circle with two men on top of her. With a grimace, she allowed them to pull her arms behind her back and cuff her.

"No please," spoke Donovan as he watched her cautiously rubbing at his hand. "This isn't necessary."

Aurora spat in his face.

"That's it!" yelled one of the guards already beginning to haul her out of the room.

She hawked in his face as well, and was able to get a laugh in before his open palm connected with the side of her head.

With one guard on either side holding one arm, they led her toward the entrance. They would lead her back to her room where she would no doubt pay for what she did. She only spat on one of them but she knew they'd both get a few hits in. They'd say she proved to be a danger and they needed to defend themselves. If she were smart, she'd give them something they needed defense against.

Aurora slammed the side of her head into the face of the guard on her right sending him to the floor. As the second guard reached for his sidearm, she jumped and slipped her arms under her feet, placing her cuffed hands in front of her. As he pulled his weapon, she grabbed both of his hands, forcing him to aim the gun over her shoulder. She slammed her elbow down onto his forearm, breaking it by the sound of the scream that came from his mouth, pulled the gun from his useless hands and turned it on him.

"Put it down or I will blow your fucking head off!"

Aurora felt her finger tense on the trigger. Anything was better than staying here, even death. Her arm tensed as she went to fire.

Pain erupted on the back of her head and she fell to the ground, the familiar sight of twinkling stars dancing across her vision.

I will come for you.

The voices were what woke her. They were thin, almost ghost-like, and they hummed about her head in a cacophony of tones. There were women, men, maybe even children by the way some of them fired off questions in rapid succession. They came through her walls; both on either side, and one to her right. She listened to them for a while before she realized they were actually there.

There were no lights but for the one that hung above her on the ceiling. She laid still on the cold hard floor, staring up at the single light bulb that swung melodiously about her ceiling, trying to ignore the pulsating headache she felt. She didn't know how long she'd been out, or how long she remained on the floor when she came to. But she knew she was no longer at Gotham General.

She was in a cell, a small one at that. The dark solid gray of the walls were familiar and the smell of the place invited memories of cold exam rooms and secret I Know Your Daddy Won't Mind But We Should Try To Keep It To Ourselves Just In Case experiments back to her mind. She forced herself to sit up and she slung her arms over her knees, lowering her head down to help with the nausea she was feeling. She had done it; she'd gotten out of Gotham General and found herself in the one place she knew she couldn't escape from; Arkham Asylum.

At one point in her life she had spent many summer days roaming these halls, running errands for her father and the occasional patient if they weren't asking for much more than an extra ration from the kitchen. From memory she knew she was sitting in a temporary cell, much larger than those for more permanent guests on the floor. She had been out cold when she arrived which meant no entrance interview, which fortunately meant no room, and unfortunately meant the same. Temporary cells held unguarded meat and the officers on the floor were relentless in their efforts to damage the already damaged goods. The real security was underground in the maximum security part of the building. That was where criminals like herself and Bane would find themselves once they were interviewed and processed.

Bane.

The thought of him sent her reeling with anger but she couldn't find the strength to stand. Instead she buried her face in the tops of her knees and tried to slow her breathing. He'd told her to fight them and she'd listened. For what, she didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore. She'd had a single conversation with him and ended up in the one place she'd been trying to avoid since she'd taken off 12 years ago. There was no refuge from Arkham, no savior. Arkham was the end of the line and the thought of her foolishness threatened to bring tears to her eyes. She lifted her head to look at the ceiling, trying to swallow the lump building in her throat and she felt the familiar sensation of eyes on her.

They were watching her from a cell directly across from her own; grim and ominous and set above a metal mask. Aurora stood then and walked over to the thick plastic of her cell in order to see him better. She placed her palm against the plastic and unexpectedly breathed a sigh of relief. He said nothing and made no motion to move, but that was fine. She just needed to see him; to see that he had actually come.

Aurora rested on the small cot in the corner of her cell. She laid staring at the ceiling and every few moments turned her head to peer across the hall. Each time, Bane was there watching. It didn't make sense, any of it. How he had planned for her to be taken, how he had somehow gotten a cell across from her when he should've been taken straight to the basement, how she had gone from fearing him, to being mesmerized by him, to loathing him and even missing his presence; how he seemed to know exactly what to say and what not to say to force her to play her hand.

Footsteps and a flash of lights pulled Aurora from her cot, and she pressed herself up against the wall of her cell in order to see what was happening. There were several people walking in her direction, a few of them with large cameras resting on their shoulders. A camera crew.

"I'd really rather much do this without all of you present." The sound of Gregory's voice reached Aurora's cell moments before he fully stepped into view.

He took a double take behind him and acknowledged Bane's presence and then returned his focus to the crowd behind him. "Please," he said quietly. "At least give me a moment before you start filming. I need to speak with my daughter."

Aurora couldn't believe her ears or her eyes as he smiled in her direction. He knew full well the cameras were on; a true sham to the end he was. He stepped as close to her as the wall between them would allow and placed his palm against it as if inviting her to do the same. "Aurora, I know you probably don't want to see me. And I know these last few years have been hard on you,"

Aurora slammed the side of her fist into the plastic, the annoyance building in her limbs trying to force its way out through the low inaudible growl that was coming through her lips.

"They've been hard on me too. I just want to say that I love you no matter what has happened. No matter what you did-"

"What I did?!" questioned Aurora, anger coursing through her words. "What about what you did, you sick fuck!"

"Please, Aurora let me finish-"

"I was twelve years old, you son of a bitch!" Against her will, tears threatened to fill her eyes. Defiantly she ignored them. "You raped me!"

"Aurora, please with your lies-"

"My lies-"

"Aurora, I forgive you."

Stillness fell over the hall; a few reporters gasped at his feigned innocence. Aurora did not. She stared Gregory in his eyes. There was nothing to search for, she just needed to make sure she had heard him correctly. The way his eyes shifted just slightly under her gaze alerted her to the fact that she had in fact heard him.

And then she was screaming. Her eyes remained glue to his as the sides of her fists slammed repeatedly into the wall, ferocity clawing its way out through her howl. There were no words, she had none. She had nothing but the suffering and torment he and his pack of wolves had left her with. She had no tears, no curses; all she had was the torture she had endured for the majority of her life. And she threw it in his face, in a chaotic bellow. All the pain he had forced on her and in her came tearing out against the clear plastic barrier between them.

Gregory stood in the throes of her howl and retreated behind the cameras with his face covered by a hand. He would be fraudulent until the day he died. The cameras followed him, quickly trying to escape the wild eyes of the hollering woman. Even after they were gone, Aurora continued to bellow, teeth bared, banging her fists into the wall. She couldn't stop; it wouldn't let her until it was done.

She found Bane, he was leaning against his cell wall, the side of his forearm pressed against the plastic as he watched her. She could see the exhilaration in his eyes and it fueled the beast within her. Her lungs burned as did her abdomen, but she couldn't stop. When finally she did, she collapsed and she was nothing.