Chapter 7: Jealousy

Ren winced as the needle took one final sift through the open skin, on the counter of the sink in front of her resided a fragment of metal that had remained after the bullet ran through her side, luckily having not met with any of her major organs. She stared up into the mirror, seeing the reflection of the once white sink covered in tiny droplets of her blood. Her hair was scattered, her eyes dilated and her wound still bleeding profusely.

She sewed up the rest of the wound and cut the thread, throwing the needle in the garbage can beside the toilet, then she took one last look at herself. Dry blood on her hands, long scar on her stomach and wound just far from it. She bit her bottom lip, she was so weak, she couldn't sleep, she was sore all over. She knew she was a monster, there was no hiding that truth, she was going to die like all the other monsters that went running around the city.

Ren brought a hand gently up to test at the wound with her index finger, wincing as soon as more pain shot up her side. She grabbed a towel and cleaned down as much blood as she could, some of it having stained her sports bra. She then flickered off the light and left to go down to meet Barsad.

She went to her room and dressed appropriately in case the situation called, a coat and jeans, Gotham was much colder at night. She stomped out of her room towards the elevator, but as though it was just her luck, Talia came walking through the doors as they slid open. Both woman stopped in their tracks and glared at each other with a sternness that they had never directed towards one another before. Ren felt no hatred for Talia, merely jealousy and she could only think that perhaps Talia thought the same, ever since she saw that her father had trusted Ren instead of herself with the blades.

"Hello Talia." Ren began, Talia nodded her head at Ren in response.

"Where is Bane?"

"I could care less where that man is." Talia cocked her head at Ren, Ren could see some form of panic in her eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I have other things to handle."

"Nothing more important than a meeting between old friends I hope." Talia made an innocent smirk and gestured to the couches as though they had been waiting especially for them.

"It has been so long since we talked, just us... Sisters." She placed a hand on Ren's lower back and guided her towards one of the couches and sitting her down. Ren tried to contain the wince that escaped her lips, but it was no use, the pain would be present for days. Talia ignored this and placed a hand over Ren's and stared into her eyes with a feigned sorrow.

"What is wrong?"

"It's Bane... I worry he might not love me anymore."

"Of course he loves you." Ren croaked out, trying to avoid the pain it brought her to speak those words.

"Oh no Ren, I think he lies to me and I need to know that when he fails I have your to trust." Ren suddenly felt offended, there was so little communication amongst the trio of tyrants that reigned over Gotham city that had began to go against one another, she shot up from her seat and shook her head.

"Talia, I love you as I would love my own family, but you of all people know that if Bane were to betray you... Then he would have done it earlier." Ren left for the elevator, leaving Talia to sit on the couch along with nothing more to ponder than Ren's words. Her expression was cold and dark, she stood up after Ren was out of sight and headed towards Ren's room.

Ren arrive at the second floor, it was mostly cubicles lines up in rows, papers scattered across desks and secluded offices. She saw Barsad in the distance, he had pushed a few pieces of finisher to the side leaving enough room for the prisoner to be kept on his knees, he held a pistol to the back of his head.

"Barsad, has he said anything my friend?" Barsad shook his head and lowered his gun, holstering it at his side.

"Nothing, that I would consider useful."

"What?" She stopped beside him and removed her cost to place it over the back of a nearby chair.

"Just muttering jumbled letters and numbers under his breath for the first few minutes."

"What code?"

"465N342S, if I recall..." Barsad itched his head. "Or maybe it's the oppo-"

"They are coordinates." She interrupted, holding her hand out to Barsad who gave her a knife in his pocket. She stepped around to face the man and fell onto her knees before him, bringing them to the same eye level. "To where?" She brought the knife to his throat and his eyes widened, he gulped. "If you tell me I will make your death a quick one."

"I ain't saying shit!" Her eyes keened and she read his every expression, dissected those few words. "You aren't an officer, are you?" He paused and didn't reply, knowing that if he said anything else, somehow she would know. The fact that he didn't reply, made her more confident that she was right. She stood up and passed the knife to Barsad, he placed back at his thigh cuff.

"What are you thinking?" His accent weighed heavily on the words and Ren sighed biting her bottom lip.

"I think that we are in for more than just rogue police officers fighting back for their community. I think we are in the presence of anarchists." She leaned back into a desk and cupped her chin, taking a silent moment to think to herself, eyes focused on the grey carpet flooring.

"How did you know..." Barsad glared at her weakly. "About the walkie talkie?"

"It was a wild guess, I knew that most Chiefs kept their talkies in the pocket of their coat. If it was wrong you would be looking at me like I'm an idiot right now."

"No..." He nudged her shoulder. "I must admit, I think of you as more of a leader than Ms. Al Ghul herself."

"Don't say that..." Barsad's smile fell, but Ren only smiled, it was the type of smile that belonged to someone who didn't know how to smile, she slapped his shoulder playfully. "She would kill you if you said that to her face." He laughed nervously, it was awkward when they at least tried to carry a normal conversation. She was use to taking Bane's orders and he was use to taking both of their orders. Their mouths were shut again and all that could be heard was the ragged breathing of their victim.

"How is your wound?" Barsad broke the silence, she shrugged.

"I sewed it up, the bullet was rough."

"Bane wasn't very happy when you left." Ren closed her eyes and shook her head.

"He could care less, we are all just pawns to him."

"But he respects us quite well."

"It's not the respect part that's the problem, if I were to shoot you right now he wouldn't punish me for it. He doesn't need us, any of us, we merely do the lazy work for him."

"You don't really mean that?" It was more of a question, Barsad still didn't know Ren long enough to say that she was worthy of making such an accusation or not. She was the one who spent the most time with Bane, but that made no difference to how trustworthy he made her out to be.

"I mean what I have to mean and Bane is a man that only means what he wants." Barsad nodded his head, he took out his pistol again and held it out to her, she mindlessly took it and held it up to the man's head.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Barsad finished moments later.

BANG!