I do not own anything related to Batman either thru television, written books, comics or film. Everything belongs to DC Comics, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jon and Chis Nolan. I do own all the created characters. I do not own any songs, or literature mentioned. They are included to enhance the written words. This story is rated M and as such, features some strong adult themes. Please read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter Three
Song(s): Running Up That Hill (Meg Myers)
June –
Gotham State Police Training Academy…
(Flashback)
"Officer Charlotte Teller."
Rising to her feet as her name was called from the stage podium, Charlotte adjusted the brim of her service cap as she climbed up the steps to receive her badge.
I did it
I really did it…
Slowly opening her eyes, Charlotte turned her head and immediately felt the pain and sting against the side of her throat. Bringing two fingers up, she brushed against what felt like a wide bandage before tracing along the edge as she heard the rushing sounds of water not far from where she laid.
I'm still in the sewers
And…I am alive
Rolling over onto her left side, she pressed her cheek against the cool rubber of a dark blue rubber floor mat as labored breathing reached her ears.
"I would wait before sitting up. You've lost a lot of blood."
Throwing her eyes open wide as she heard the masked man's words, she took her time to sit up, scooting back from him until she felt the cold of the wall behind her back. Crossing her legs at the ankles, she laid her palms flat on her thighs as she noticed that she was still dressed.
The last thing I remember was the feeling of many fingers pulling at my bra
"Who are you?"
Hearing the young woman's whisper as he rose to his booted feet, Bane sucked in a deep breath as he stared down at her.
"Bane."
Bane?
Slight accent possibly from Eastern Europe?
Really tall at least six foot four maybe five?
And muscle. Pure muscle
Enough muscle that he can kill a man with one hand
Keeping her eyes raised to stare into his face, she noted that he had changed his clothing and now wore khaki pants and a black long-sleeved shirt covering the bulk of his muscles and the brute strength that she knew he was capable of.
"How old are you Officer Teller?"
Refusing to answer his question as she felt his dark eyes settling over her face in the half-lit darkness, Charlotte brought her knees up against her chest as she felt her stomach growling with the intense pains of hunger.
"Do you honestly think that I am going to join your sad, pathetic little group of men?"
Hearing her challenge as he squatted down near the edge of the rubber mat, Bane narrowed his eyes as he interlaced his fingers.
"You have already made your choice. The second you snapped a man's neck and showed me that you wanted to live."
Swallowing back the anger in her throat, Charlotte quickly kicked her leg out to strike and gasped as Bane grabbed her ankle painfully before pulling her towards him. Feeling the weight of his thigh against her hip, he turned her onto her stomach. Twisting her arm behind her back, he pushed down the weight of his thigh against her lower back as he heard her scream against the mat in pain.
"The next time you strike at me, I will break your arm" Bane breathed as he moved the edge of his thumb against the bare skin of her neck as he felt the loose strains of her hair against his knuckles. Hearing his metallic sounding low growl right up against her ear, Charlotte tightly closed her eyes as she felt him pushing her away. "You're training starts tomorrow, I would suggest you sleep."
Curling up on her mat, Charlotte brought her knees up and hugged them with her left arm, ignoring the searing pain that radiated along the muscle as she felt the dampness settling in around her bare shoulders.
You have to keep strong
You have to eat whatever shit they give you, and you have to sleep whenever you can to keep your strength and God damn wits
James Gordon will tell everyone that I am still down here
Officers will come down to investigate once they find my belt and jacket
They will come…
…
2 hours later…
Throwing her eyes open as she felt the hard toe of a boot nudging against her thigh, Charlotte scrambled up and immediately let out a string of curses as she smacked the back of her head off the wall behind her. Recognizing the man staring down at her as the one who had handed Bane the tracking device earlier, he said not a word as he dropped a small tin plate down onto her mat as its content's half spilled out onto the floor.
Well at least he is not going to starve me
Waiting until the bearded man had moved away from the edge of her mat, Charlotte leaned forward and took up the plate as she frowned. A bit of chicken left on a bone, a piece of naan bread that had been ripped in half, and a bruised Mcintosh apple. Tossing the plate aside as she winced from the pain in her neck, she froze as she wondered if he was watching her this second from the darkness that surrounded her like her own private coffin.
"You really should listen to his threats."
Sitting up straight as she heard a low whisper in the darkness, Charlotte narrowed her eyes as she struggled to see in the dark. Catching the sound of gravel and dirt being pushed around the floor, she saw the outline of a man as she couldn't help but stare at his horribly sewed up right eye socket.
"When I was first brought here, he caught me staring at a large plate of food. He told me, the next time he saw the greed in my eye, he would take it."
"That man Bane?"
Nodding his head in silence, he crawled over closer to Charlotte's mat before sitting up cross legged.
He must not be around if this man is now speaking above a whisper and moving around
Catching the man's eye as he glanced towards her discarded plate, Charlotte skidded it across the mat towards him as she watched his dirty fingers greedily pulling the chicken meat off the bone.
"How long, have you been down here?"
Looking down briefly at the watch upon his wrist, the man glanced up at the sewer ceiling as he tried to count.
"My watch battery died nearly seven months ago…"
Seven months?
"You are a Police Officer?"
Nodding her head as she watched him eat every bit of the apple right down to the core, Charlotte glanced down at the dark cracked screen of her own watch as she felt her mouth going dry.
Please battery don't die before I get out of here
"Then they'll know you are down here. They'll come down here looking for you."
Jesus I hope so
"Did you come here… willingly?" she asked, feeling the distaste in her mouth as she added the last word.
Shaking his head as he licked at his fingers, the man thanked her for the scrap offerings with a small nod as he looked over his shoulder.
"I worked for the city and my partner and I were down here to fix a broken pipe when…we were jumped. I…won the last round of his fight club" he added, moving his eyes onto her bloody bandage.
"My name is Charlotte Elizabeth Teller." Speaking her full name, she almost felt like she was saying it for the last time in the hopes that if this man somehow managed to escape, he would breath it above ground.
"Thomas Riley. You may have a leg up against everyone else down here you know."
Narrowing her eyes as she listened to his words, Charlotte tucked her feet beneath her as she rubbed at her cold bare arms.
"Why do you say that?"
"You are a female. There are no other females that I have seen, well, except for…prostitutes that are sometimes brought down here."
I won't submit to prostitution to stay alive down here Thomas
Feeling her stomach lurch at the prospect of a woman being brought before Bane, Charlotte shivered as Thomas spoke out in the darkness.
"You do realize that you should be dead. Had he not thrown his knife…"
Holding her breath as she replayed the scene in her head, Charlotte reached up and touched the bandage against her throat, feeling wetness as she pulled her fingers away.
"I suppose I should ask for a first aid kit?" she spoke, changing the uncomfortable subject as Thomas flipped up the collars of his dirty plaid sweater in a bid to stave off the uncomfortable dampness
"You can't ask for anything down here. Not until you are initiated."
Like hell I am going to wait for that
Hearing shouting from the tunnel around the corner, Charlotte watched as Thomas quickly scooted back into the darkness to his own mat as Barsad came into view. Hauling her up to her feet, he pushed her forward with a growl.
"He wants to speak with you."
"And if I have no wish to speak to him?" Charlotte spat as Barsad swore under his breath.
"Fucking women…"
Feeling her stomach lurch as she was shoved roughly down the dark tunnel, she kept her eyes forward as she heard the distant sounds of jackhammers and drills.
What in the hell are they drilling for down here?
"Be polite, and take your one-eyed friends' advice."
Feeling her mouth falling open as she turned around to confront Barsad, Charlotte nearly tripped over a large stone as she was pushed past a strung up curtain, this one heavier in fabric.
Not see through
Hearing Bane's metallic steady breathing, she ignored his seated presence in the corner of the room as she noticed the numerous amounts of books that were piled from concreate floor to near ceiling.
"Sit down."
Moving her eyes onto Bane's face as he remained seated near a long oak desk, she folded her hands behind her back as she flexed her fingers.
"I'd rather stand."
Rising to his booted feet with a long drawn out breath, Bane tucked his hands into the side pockets of his beige vest as he took two steps forward.
"You have questions to answer."
"Okay…"
"One, how old are you?"
Moistening her lips as she slowly stepped her left foot backwards in a supportive stance, Charlotte thought back to her Sgt that morning speaking of age…
"The minimum age to be accepted as a police officer is twenty-one, and I'm expecting, judging from the baby faces I see seated before me, that many of you just rolled off your mother's couch and into the nine-pound belt that is fastened around your waist..."
"Does it matter how old I am?" she bit back, keeping her eyes on his face as she heard the distant sounds of laughter echoing off the tunnel walls from outside the curtained private room.
"Perhaps, in time."
Feeling the dampness of the sewer air settling over her shoulders with his response, she unfolded her fingers and slipped her hands into her pant pockets.
"Twenty-one. How old are you?"
Blinking his eyes at her question, he felt his lips twitching behind the confines of his mask as he held up a single finger.
"I will ask the questions. How long have you been a police officer?"
Biting hard on the inside of her lip as she watched him take another step towards her, she knew from her training that her hands should always be kept free in case of combat, but as she heard the increase of the masked man's breathing, she repeated his earlier words over and over in her head…
"The next time you strike at me, I will break your arm"
"Today, was my first day."
Sucking in a deep breath as he moved his eyes onto the soaking wet red bandage against her throat, he watched as a thin line of blood trickled down towards her clavicle before he turned and brought an arm up against the curtain.
Watching Bane disappear around the curtain, Charlotte threw her eyes around as she tried to find something, anything that she could tuck away in her back pocket.
There has to be something
Spying three small black handled x-acto knives piled up on the edge of a shelve near the desk, she threw her eyes towards the curtain as she would have to cross the floor to where Bane had previously stood.
Grab one
GRAB IT!
Striding across the floor, she grabbed one knife and quickly tucked it into the support of her sports bra. Smoothing a hand over the front of her bra, she was about to walk back across the floor as she froze at the sounds of Bane's breathing approaching.
Shit…
Looking behind her, she spied the oak desk and quickly took a seat on the edge as Bane flipped back the curtain. Halting in his steps as he noticed her seated on the edge of his desk, he said not a word as he walked up to her and laid a white box on the desk top. Flipping it open, he pulled out a new bandage and gauze before stepping up against her leg.
Freezing as she felt his fingers lightly moving along the bloody bandage on her throat, she gasped as he ripped it off before slamming some gauze down on the bitemark.
"I…can hold it myself" Charlotte breathed as she listened to Bane's breathing.
"I will hold it, while you give back the knife you took from the shelf."
Feeling the blood draining from her face, she raised her eyes onto his and felt Bane moving slightly, trapping her in front of him as he stood strong.
"Don't think, that I won't search you for it" he growled strongly setting his left hand down on her thigh as he pulled her roughly towards him.
Reaching a hand up slowly, Charlotte refused to break his stare as she dipped her thumb and forefinger into the front of her sports bra before pulling out the folded-up knife.
"I wasn't planning to use it on you" she lied.
Why did I think to tell him that?
Given the chance, I would have stabbed him if it meant getting a head start through the tunnels
"You would use it to kill one of my men then?" he questioned, pulling the gauze away as he took up a bandage.
"Can you really blame me?"
Hearing her honest reply as he fixed the bandage against her throat, he moved his fingers through the strains of her hair as he pushed them away from her skin, swallowing as he felt a dry thirst at the back of his throat.
"I am a female among how many of your men? I will kill any of them if they try to touch me," Charlotte growled as Bane finally stepped away, taking the knife from her fingers as he tossed it back onto the shelf with the others.
"BARSAD!"
Wincing as Bane shouted loudly, she almost felt disappointed at the prospect of leaving his company for the damp darkness of her sleeping mat.
There is no protection out there
But is there really protection here with him?
Slipping off the edge of the desk as Bane turned towards his right-hand man, he flipped back the curtain as she felt her mouth forming a question.
"I know the answer is probably no, but can I please shower? And…have a shirt?"
Narrowing his eyes as he held a hand up, she watched as the man named Barsad turned and disappeared around the side of the curtain. Waiting for a strong hand to half drag her back to her mat, she felt relieved as the masked man brought his hands up once more against the front of his vest.
"Walk."
…
Rounding a corner as she tried to make sense of where she might be beneath Bank street, Charlotte listened to the sounds of dripping water as she stepped into a dimly lit room with numerous protruding shower heads and stalls.
"Make it quick before I change my mind."
Moving her eyes around the room, she spied a wooden plank that was fastened to the wall for a makeshift counter before noticing a single chair.
He is going to stand here while I shower?
Shifting her weight from her right foot to her left, she watched as Bane turned towards the chair and easily picked it up before slamming it down to face the darkened doorway. Taking a heavy seat facing the darkness he breathed in deeply leaning his forearms on his strong thighs as she continued to stare at his back.
Get the fuck going!
Blinking quickly, she strode towards the only private stall and pulled the curtain before stripping off all of her clothing. Kicking the items out from beneath the curtain, she caught sight of the beginnings of a bruise as she heard booted steps approaching.
"Turn the faucet completely clockwise."
Feeling the water falling over her naked body, she greedily opened her mouth and drank not giving a shit if the water came from the sewer itself as she ran her fingers through her hair relieved to feel a small amount of normalcy.
This would have been me if my shift had ended without incident
Would I have gone out with friends afterwards to celebrate my first day?
With all the rest of the rookies?
Would I have met up with Blake?
Stretching his legs out as he crossed his ankles, Bane closed his eyes and steadied his breathing as he listened to the water and its variations of drops as they hit the young woman's naked body. Letting out a low hum as Barsad came around the corner with clothing and a towel, he said nothing as they were placed on the wooden counter. If he had desired to, he could have taken her. She may or may not have struggled against him, but his brute strength would have won out in the end as it usually did.
But that was not the kind of man he had once been.
For the time being…
Turning off the faucet, Charlotte froze as she wiped at her wet eyes suddenly realizing that she had no towel. Feeling her teeth starting to chatter as she ran her fingers through her hair, she debated in her mind whether or not to even ask the seated mercenary for anything more when a towel was suddenly thrust into her vision around the frayed blanket that doubled as the shower curtain.
Can he see me right now?
Avoiding his fingers as she took the towel, she muttered a low thank you before quickly drying off.
"Can, I have my clothing back please?"
Hearing movement as Bane walked away from the stall, she perked her ears up as she heard the scraping sounds of the chair feet being dragged back across the floor.
"Barsad has brought some clean items for you."
Wrapping the towel around her chest and thanking God for its long length, she was about to push aside the curtain when it was ripped aside, revealing Bane standing impatiently in front of her. Staring down into her face before moving his eyes over her wet shoulders, he watched as she clutched the fabric tighter against her bare chest as he stepped aside.
"Your throat is still bleeding," he announced as Charlotte noticed a second chair now sitting opposite the first.
"Bite wounds usually require a hospital visit for stitches," she challenged as Bane took a seat. Taking a light seat opposite him, she held the towel firmly against her body as she noticed an assortment of medical items sitting beside the leg of the chair.
"Why didn't you just kill me?"
Hearing her words, he quickly threw a hand out and wrapped his fingers strongly around her wet throat as he steadied her gaze.
"Say yes, and I will squeeze the life out of you."
Hearing Bane's challenge, Charlotte swallowed hard as she felt his grip tightening around the softness of her throat.
Just say yes
You won't have to join his group
You won't be trapped down here for months like Thomas
You won't have to grow eyes in the back of your head
Blinking slowly, she managed to shake her head as he released his hold, glancing at the red marks his fingers left.
"You will face a lot more than bite wounds" he noted, pushing a knee in between her thighs to get closer as he felt her eyes on the tubes of his mask. Taking up a threaded needle between his thumb and forefinger, he pulled away the bandage and dropped it onto the floor as he stabbed the needle through her skin.
Letting out a sharp cry as the needle pierced her skin, she felt the vomit in the back of her throat as she firmly shut her eyes.
Show no weakness to him
Feeling lightheaded as she dug her fingernails deeply into the skin of her right wrist, Charlotte avoided Bane's eyes as he looped the black thread into a finishing knot. Snipping the needle free as he wiped his bloody fingers against her toweled thigh, Bane straightened his back against the chair as he tore open a new bandage. Fixing it against her throat, he cleared his throat before tossing the wrapping aside.
"Barsad…"
Turning around as she heard footsteps, Charlotte slowly rose to her feet as she set her eyes hard on the man who seemed to be in a position of power.
"Take her back after she has dressed."
Standing aside as she watched Bane rising to his feet, Charlotte held the towel firmly against her chest as she opened her mouth to speak.
"Thank you."
Narrowing his eyes at her words, Bane said not a word as he left the room with determined strides.
"Get dressed then."
Ten minutes later…
Taking a seat on her mat, Charlotte pushed it up towards the wall and frowned as she met resistance.
Something is against the wall
Moving her hands along the edge of the mat, her fingers touched fabric as she heard Thomas whisper from the darkness.
"He gave you a blanket…no one else has a blanket."
…
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