Despite the injury, George spoke softly. "I'm sorry about this," he said. "You seem like a good person, I hope they let you out of here when this is over."

Even in the dark, he made out the glare that Cassandra gave him.

"You, you wouldn't understand," he said. "My dad's been away for most of my life. You wouldn't get it— blood is thicker than water, and all that."

Cassandra did not release her leer, but she did nod slowly.

"Eh?" George said. "What are you nodding for? What, you think you do understand?"

He jumped as the steel door behind them slammed open again. From the limited light Cassandra could see, it appeared night had fallen while she was unconscious. The giant, Bane, ducked his head as he entered the truck, the boy's father followed just behind him.

"She is a child of incredible power, boy," Bane said. "Only two circumstances could create someone like her, and I doubt there's another soul who landed from a dying world of supermen." He crossed the truck to where Cassandra sat strapped. "You were just like me, weren't you?"

Despite the glare she held for George, she cast only a quick look at Bane and then turned her sight away.

"Like you?" George said. "What do you mean?"

"She was born in darkness, and, through what was surely a childhood of brutality, she made herself a weapon. Isn't that right, little angel?" Bane had to kneel to get down to her level. "And I want to see how much further she can be pushed."

"Hold on, what?" George turned to his father. "Dad, I thought we weren't trying to hurt anyone."

"Aw, Georgie, we're not trying to hurt our own." Joel walked up to his son, the boy was taller than he was. "And I meant it. Your uncle is just waiting this out, your aunt doesn't even know what's happening, it'll all be fine."

"But—but Hannah's going to come looking for her," George said. "Her kids are going to ask about her, I know they will."

"Foster kids slip out of the system all the time, buddy," Joel said. "Your aunt, your cousin Lucy, they're good people. They'll find another hungry mouth to feed." He put his arm around George's shoulder and turned him around. "This girl—I've seen her in action before, I've seen what she does to our guys. She's a freak, Georgie, and you did good work helping to bring her in. Mister Bane gave us a very generous offer for her, and it would just be rude not to accept."

Joel's steps were quick and aggressive, as he pulled George toward the door of the truck. Still, he turned his face back toward the giant and the tiny young woman he's had a hand in delivering.

Out from a pouch at his waist, Bane drew a syringe. With a press of the plunger he emptied most of the bright green, almost neon liquid within onto the floor.

"This is venom," Bane said. "I was already a brutal fighter and a brilliant mind before it made me what I am. Above all else, the first dose is a test of your will to survive. Down on Santa Prisca, they intentionally gave us the exact lethal dosage to see who could push through the limits of their being."

Cassandra thrashed as he reached out and ripped her left sleeve between two of the lines of straps. It didn't do any good.

"If you can survive that first hit, the thirst will never leave you. The way I see it, if you cannot overcome, you simply weren't worthy." Bane chuckled. "But if you can, you'll need me to ever know that kind of power again." Undeterred by her struggle, he felt around on the exposed arm and found a vein. "So let's see what you're truly capable of, little angel."

He thrust the needle into her arm. And in spite of her silence through all else, Cassandra let out a great, shrill, agonizing scream.

Joel and George were already outside the truck, but the boy still heard it. His stomach roiled and his already troubled heart sunk as his father led him inside the church where the great heist was about to begin. And the last, possibly very last, thing he'd ever seen of that girl was her fury and her nod. A reassurance that maybe she did know where he was coming from, and that he was still guilty all the same.

George had come to Gotham at the request of his father, who said all he had to do was help incapacitate one of the adopted cousins he barely even knew. Then they'd pull a robbery from a church that wasn't doing anything with all that gold in the first place and the two could skip town together. For the first time since he was a boy, he could be with his dad and they'd both be set for the rest of their lives. It wasn't supposed to be complicated.

But as he imagined what horrors that monster was putting that mute girl through—someone who he couldn't remember ever giving him anything but smiles and reassurance, he wondered if this was what he really wanted. And he wondered it as he thumbed at the stolen transmitter in his pocket.

-000-

[Author's note- It was really my intention to have this whole story completed to celebrate the 8th anniversary, but as the times draw to a close, I decided to stop here. Things are bleak, I will acknowledge, but with a last hint that cavalry is on the way.

I hope it's been a good year for all of you, dear readers. So much has happened that I simply don't have the time to tell you about right now. But it is the 8th anniversary and I wanted to do something to celebrate. Expect the grand conclusion to this little side story before the month is out.

Da Pacem Domine will be completed… someday. God bless.]]