To those of you who reviewed, thank you so much for your kind feedback. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the first. My goal will be to try and update every Tuesday or Friday night.

Chapter 2: Death

When Bane and Ren arrived at the courthouse, it was flooded with naysayers and protesters to the government that Bane had constructed while in his power. Crane was sitting atop his thrown, where law books were cluttered into piles and expensive clothing was shredded and laid to rest in its decor. Bane stepped out into the crowd, breaking its surface, they allowed him a pathway and the room silenced at the sight of him. His eyes scanned around the room, there were no weapons, signs alone being carried by those who thought themselves to be in the utter sense of the word free.

"What is the meaning of this?" Bane asked in a sarcastic manner, looking up at Crane who held his high and mighty for the world to see. Ren came up alongside Bane and crossed her arms, Barsad stepped up behind them, but didn't say a word.

"We want that man killed for what he has done." It was quiet as the crowd waited for Bane's answer, he turned around to stare down at Ren. His eyes always had a way of holding such emotion, in this case aggression. He was violent when angered, he despised the fact that people of Gotham had become so selfish and greedy, but he soon calmed himself and thought to there mission. He thought of the outcome. He thought for Talia.

"Very well then... Send him in." Bane's voice carried such disinterest, he grabbed Ren's arms and guided her a step back as two of his mercenaries carried in a battered businessman. He was in a grey fine suit, with sleek blonde hair, and blue eyes. He would have been softer on the eyes if it wasn't for the many bruises and cuts that marred his face, his left eye was swollen shut from a beating and his nose seemed to be crooked, perhaps broken. His clothes although still on his body had been ripped at the knees, the elbows, and across the button up shirt, covered in small splotches of dirt and grime. Ren would have felt pity for him had she not seen worse in her life.

The crowd started to chant "Death", and throw trash at the man, they all felt a hatred for someone who hadn't even done much to any of them aside from his clients who were not present at the moment. They wanted to feel in power, like they were doing something right and Ren resented this. The mercenaries pushed him down on his knees to a familiar position before the "judge" that he had taken earlier. Bane rose his hands up and the courtroom was in silence again. Bane waited several moments, he adjusted the vest beneath his coat and looked at the faces of the crowd with an unwavering agitation. Ren could feel that and she could sense it in him.

"You want this man punished for his crimes..." Bane started, his fist clenching before him as his other hand gestured to the man on the floor. "Tortured?" Bane hissed out the word and those few who had been pressing for this in the crowd, were no longer. "Your humanity betrays you, that you would ask us to do this task for you and not take it upon yourselves. Who will it be?" He stopped to glance over at Barsad, who had pulled his handgun from its holster and properly gave it to Bane, who had passed it along to his other hand after pulling back the slid. His finger went down the slim of it and the gun itself appeared to be far smaller than his actual hand. He swung it around carelessly, but his finger still not meeting the trigger. He rose the gun and spun around the room to face the entire crowd that had circled the scene. "Who is the lucky one to kill this man and be done with it? To kill him and feel no regrets." Not one person stepped forward for the longest moment, then one hand was risen amongst the crowd and that man stepped forward. He was old and beaten down by the past few weeks, everyone was. He shakily stepped forward, Ren knew he was the type who had never killed a man before, but she would see how far he went. At this point, he represented all of Gotham and he did not know what made him take the gun from Bane and put it to the accused man's head. Nothing happened for the longest time and Bane merely stepped back to watch, but Ren could not be patient enough. The Human mind was not meant to kill, those that have practiced it many times could easily do it, those that felt no remorse for their victim or anguish. Humans were never meant to kill the other unless they had that will or had found it, this man obviously did not and Ren could wait no longer.

She stepped forward in Bane's place and snatched the gun from the man, he looked directly into her eyes and she into his as all she did was squeeze the trigger without a flinch and the once alive body had dropped dead with a thud. She took a deep breath and saw the pale faces of Gotham's people as they stared with unease.

"Learn your lesson Gotham. If you can't take care of the evil in this city yourselves then leave it to the people who can." She then turned and after giving the gun back to Barsad, leaving the courtroom. No one had stopped her, they were all horrified by the single dead body lying upon the once pristine floor, blood leaking from the battered head as it seeped into the tiles. Her steps echoed until she was no longer seen. Not a word was exchanged.

Balance, that is all she needed. Her hands wavered slightly as they held her weight. She was upside down with her legs shut together doing a hand stand with one hand, this was how she had to meditate now, it used to just be sitting on the floor in an Indian style, but now she did this. She had found that her meditations were much harder with him around and developed a method that ended this. She could see him better when standing up right and in this case she had less to focus on other than her balance and her mind.

He was in the other room, looking through blue prints and musing over Gotham's reckoning. When the elevator directly across from Ren's place in the living room opened and a familiar face walked in. Ren was between ignoring or greeting her, but she chose the latter option because Talia was a good friend, almost a sister. Ren flipped from her hand stand and smiled as Talia and her shortened the distance between themselves for a hug.

"It's so good to see you again my friend. It feels like forever." Talia said, rubbing Ren's shoulders, before she wrapped an arm around her and the two woman began to walk side by side to where Bane was in the room down the hall. "I am most pleased with yours and Bane's accomplishments. We are so close to fulfilling father's dreams."

"Yes." Was Ren's only reply, her guilt consuming her in a manner where she felt a stone in her chest. Somehow Talia knew something was wrong by the hard expression on Ren's face. She stopped Ren in the hallway and cupped her cheeks.

"What is bothering you?" Ren could not look into Talia's eyes, they were averted to the floor, the door to the room Bane had been in swung open.

"Talia, I was not expecting your arrival so early. We have much to discuss." Talia nodded distantly, before looking back into the eyes of Ren.

"I will be alright." Ren assured and they gave one last hug, before Talia disappeared into the room and Bane had shut the door. Ren felt alone now, she had always been alone, but in these moments they were the worst. She walked across the floor to her room. It was small, consisting of only a twin sized bed with a mattress and a balcony opening up to a view of the city. But underneath the bed was where Ren had decided to keep her most sacred items, two katanas made of the strongest steel and given to her by Ra's al ghul himself.

She fell onto her knees beside the bed and slid the thin, long black leather box from its place unlatching the hooks and swinging it open. She glided her fingers over the intricate patterns and sways of the metal, they were her most prized possessions. Ren was unsure how she had managed to keep them hidden for so long, they once belonged to Ra's and instead of giving them to his daughter he gave them to her.

She held the handles of the blades and lifted them from their place in the box. She bit her bottom lips as she watched the sun that gleamed into the room shimmer off the blades' clean surface. She picked up the double sheath and encased the blades in their holsters. She fastened them around her torso, so they rested on her back, grabbed her jacket and left the room. Not suspecting that Talia would be waiting in the living room for her.

Both woman froze and stared at each other silently, her eyes flickering from the blades on her back to her face again. It was in that split second that both woman felt intimidated by one another, that Talia had not received the blades once belonging to her father, that Ren was trusted more. It had always been a competition despite their relationship. It was funny how friendship could thin so fast in a matter of time.

"Where are you going?"

"I feel the need to go and scavenge the city for those who fail to follow our authority."

"And you will kill them?" Ren dropped her head, she couldn't stare at her friend any longer without becoming angry.

"No."

"Then why do you have those swords and where did you get them?" Ren, although feeling in a mood to lie to her friend for the sake of their relationship, she told the truth. She knew it ha already dulled down, Talia would never think of her the same ever again. It had always been a competition between the two when they were being trained. Raz had spent more time with Talia, but Ren knew she was favored by her skills and her mindset.

"Your father gave them to me and I have them because they make me feel secure." Talia nodded, but said no more. She made a scowl of sorts as though in jealousy and exited through the elevator shortly after. Ren felt curious as to why Bane had let her go so early and ventured towards the room he was in... Unless it may be that she had left him on her own terms. It was once a dining room, papers cluttered the oak table and documents of all sorts that she knew she wouldn't understand without explanation. He was staring out the window at the view of Gotham and she could not see his face, but she could see how much sorrow his eyes carried.

"Bane." She called, he did not look away from the startling view, arms crossed in a manner where his muscles bulged further. Silence... It was long and gruesome almost, he didn't answer her and she thought to leaving him be and going on patrol as she had planned. She turned about to leave, but he stopped her with her name.

"Ren." Her false name, she wished she knew her true name then. "Are you afraid of death?"

"No..." She replied back in sincerity, Bane nodded his head thoughtfully, but did not look over at her.

"Why not?" He rasped out in an almost choked breath.

"Because I know that when I die... I will be released of my burdens. I would have lived my time on earth and hopefully by then, I will have lived it well."

"But what if you were to die right now?"

"Then I would tell you my darkest and deepest secrets, only you." She hadn't realized she had said that out loud until Bane's hand was on her shoulder and she found herself staring up at him into those beautiful eyes.

"I ask that you keep them to yourself before you die..." Her eyes shut closed and she nodded her head, he was gone then. Leaving the room, before she could stop him and scream at him. "A secret is far better to keep in one's body than one's soul." He muttered before he was gone. She might have been too young to understand what he meant, he was not much older than her... But he was wiser and stronger, he had more reputation although they might have shared the same status through another's eyes. She didn't know what he meant, but she made it her goal to find out.