This is when things start to heat up, not particularly in this chapter, but this chapter signifies the rise in the story. This chapter is a little short, but I will make up for that in later chapters. I hope you guys enjoy. :) This chapter sort of delves more into Ren's past.

Chapter 4: Life

Ren had left the courthouse and went back to the apartment Bane and her shared. She dressed in fitting clothing for her investigation and immediately set out to fulfill Bane's request. She went alone, that is how she did things. On some occasions you would find her accompanied by a couple men, but she worked better in solitude. She had done some research before leaving and it particularly surrounded the hot topic of the city, the commissioner himself.

She had no doubts that he may be the one affiliated with the rebel attacks and she wanted nothing more than to end it. Bane felt respect for the commissioner however, even after sentencing him to live his short life these next few months under constant ridicule after his secrets were told to the entire city. She found a man that worked under him as Captain, Foley was his last name. She memorized his address and made it her destination.

It was getting closer to the end of the summer when Gotham would start to cool down. Ren had found herself in a long sleeved black compression shirt with cargo pants that tucked into her shiny brown boots. The sleeves ended at her wrists and her prized swords hung from her back. She wore sunglasses over her eyes because the sun had grown more ravenous towards the middle of the day and the skyscrapers weren't much help to this.

She stopped on the sidewalk, where the steps led up to Foley's home. She saw a pink tricycle out in the front and if she were anyone else she might have felt pity on the man's soul, but she was not someone else. She stepped up the steps, her boots clanking against the metal loudly, it would have been hard for anyone in the apartment not to hear. She stopped in front of the door and before she could raise a fist and knock upon the wood, it was swung open.

A woman in her late thirties stood at the door, shoulder length straight brown hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin. She wore the clothing of a daily house wife and mother, behind her Ren could see a young boy staying close to his mother's side, barely talk enough to reach her him. He had the same features as his mother, but his skull held orbs the size of moons tainted by the color of the sky. The woman carried an expression of grieve, fear, and anxiety all in one face. Ren had seen this look before, but that didn't mean she felt comfortable with it, in fact she felt indifferent about the entire thing. She held half her body behind the door and stared blankly into the lens of Ren's glasses. Ren sighed with disinterest, raising a hand up to flick the sunglasses up to her scalp line.

"Do you know who I am?" Of course, this woman did and Ren knew she was in the right place. Everyone in the city knew who she was, like they all knew Bane's name they knew Ren's face.

"Are you... Are you here to kill him?" She knew thugs that Ren wanted to know, but this didn't mean Ren had accomplished her task.

"No. I am here to talk to him."

"He isn't home." Ren stepped her foot out to wedge the door when the woman tried to close it.

"Then I will talk to you." The woman was hesitant at first, but obviously wanted no trouble. She stepped back, grabbing her son with her and leaving a way for Ren to get in. Ren squeezed into the house, she was greeted with the sight of a staircase leading up to a second floor. The hallway from the door split in two, a dining room one way, a living room the other. The door was shut behind her and Ren glanced over her shoulder at the boy who was rushed away by his mother and whispered an incoherent order into his ear. He ran off to go play with the little girl in the living room, Ren saw the toys scattered across the floor, the clean furniture, and flat-screen TV. It made her hunk of how she didn't have a home at all when she was little... But that will be thoughts saved for another time.

The woman looked at Ren as she admired the innocence that shun through in her two children and seeing their terrorist first hand, she felt less afraid. Other than the intimidating blades that is.

"Why are you doing this?" She croaked out, Ren looked over at the woman blankly, her lips forming a thin line.

"Doing what?"

"Blowing up Gotham, destroying everything."

"It is already destroyed and I don't believe that's what I am here to talk about Mrs. Foley." Ren's voice was monotone, she knew no compassion for these people, she would never have kids and she lacked a proper family. So why should she care about them? "Your husband, do you know where he might be?"

"Um..." She stifled back tears and shook her head. "I don't know. He's working I think, the c-cops are trying to be as helpful to the community as they can be right now."

"It's no use and..." Ren bit her bottom lip, she could read through lies. "You are lying to me." The woman froze, she glared up at Ren, but not out of anger, out of fear. "I want to make something clear. I am not here to kill you or your children, but if I find out that your husband is working with the rebels and you have lied to me. I will kill him." It was a promise, she swore it straight to the woman's face. The woman trembled, gulping audibly.

"He might be. He doesn't tell me anything anymore." She whispered, a tear streaming down her face as she looked at her children with worry.

"I wouldn't know what that is." Ren looked back to the children playing on the floor. She never knew what a mother's love was, much less a father's love and she had lost any care she had for anyone before she was inaugurated into the league of shadows. "I can't have children, I don't have anyone to care for or anyone to care for me." Ren drifted off into the space of the past a space she despised more than ever, but it wouldn't go away, it made her who she was.

"Why not? Just because you don't have anyone doesn't mean you can't find someone." Ren grew angered by the woman's words, she looked back to the mother. She wasn't angry because the mother was trying to get to her emotions. She was angry because the woman was right, the issue was, did Ren want to find someone? She loved Bane, worshiped him, but she knew it would never be. She wasn't the family type, if she ever had a family the most likely scenario would be that they all end up like her mother and siblings. She stepped forward, her jaw tightening, teeth barring.

"I want to show you something." She grabbed the bottom of the shirt she was wearing and lifted it up till it was seen. The woman looked away unable to look any longer, a wide deep scar drifted across from her belly button to up below her breasts. "When I was young my father mauled my entire family. I was next, he stabbed me in my womb all the way up my chest he went." Her finger trailed up the scar distantly and then dropped away. "I don't know how I survived, I was only nine at the time." Ren dropped her shirt and sighed. "But I did. You should be truly grateful for the things you have Mrs. Foley." Ren slid her sunglasses down to cover the pain in her eyes. "They can be taken from you so easily." It was a threat, if Ren found out that she was hiding something she wouldn't hesitate to kill her entire family out of pure discontent. That is how the world went, all Ren could say was that she warned her. Ren left the apartment leaving the mother to sob softly into her sweatshirt and be haunted by what the world really was like and what was said, but Ren remained unfazed.

She always remained unfazed, calm, and calculating. Much like her master, the only man who ever actually had two feet in the world at all times. When she thought of Ra's, she saw Bane... Not Talia. She placed a hand to her flat stomach and whimpered, but it was gone within seconds. Her expression was taut again, she wasn't going to cry over things she knew she didn't need. She pulled her hand away and shook her head, starting her way down the road. She would return tomorrow for Foley, much more earlier in the morning. She crossed her arms and let out a heavy breath, the crispy air turning it into a haze that rose up into the sky and disappeared.