horrendousness

[onapalehorse]

From this.

"You will find strength, and peace."

He promises, with belief.

Comments

[lasiurus]

Alone, he tries to read. He tries every book on one of the shelves, and he has to tip his hat to Bane's taste. But now that he knows Fox is alive, and Alfred might be, it's begun to sink in. The vastness of the world, and the many ways it's fucked.

He turns a page, has to rub his eyes. Wonders if they've killed Banner. He was supposed to be invincible, but there are rumours of something else. Something capable of impossible things, perhaps even of killing the Hulk.

He sets the book aside, does push ups until his arms are burning.

[onapalehorse]

Eventually, Bane seems to compose himself to come to collect him (though how much of this is calculation is impossible to say.)

"You haven't eaten since you arrived."

He remarks, from the doorway, a little chagrined.

"Come with me. Bring a few books if you like, we are going to your room."

[lasiurus]

Bruce is sweating lightly, and feels little different for it. It had taken out some of the frustration and rage he feels toward the entire damn world, but he's still helpless here.

He gathers the two books he'd been reading, and follows Bane. Not a word of complaint.

[onapalehorse]

"I will come to collect you in the morning. Tomorrow will be a test that will make you wonder if you can survive. But we will do it out in the grass, I promise."

He warns him, quietly, putting a hand on his back to guide him to the stair.

[lasiurus]

He jerks slightly--he's got those welts on his back--but doesn't seem to resent Bane for it. But he also doesn't do well with being touched when he's not sure what's coming at him next.

"Can you tell me the details of the test?"

[onapalehorse]

"We will cause sensations you can neither escape nor ignore, and you will suffer them for me."

He promises, quietly.

"I will test what else in you he damaged, with his perversity."

[lasiurus]

He looks up at him stonily. For once, he wants to argue that he isn't damaged. But he'd flaunted his flaws when he'd been 'Prince of Gotham'; compared to his mind now, he had been the epitome of sanity then.

Besides, he can ignore a hell of a lot. He nods, and leans against the wall.

"I understand we can't get Fox yet. But if you find Alfred, if you can't get him here right off, just- tell him I'm all right. Please."

[onapalehorse]

"We're looking."

He promises, softening finally, nodding at him to get into his bedroom.

"I swear to you."

[lasiurus]

He tries to take Bane at his word. If he doesn't, all he has is despair. So he nods with a small smile, and steps inside to try to sleep.

Mostly he'll spend the night reading, exercising. Once he thinks he might actually cry, but he doesn't. He hasn't in nearly thirty years now. He showers instead and falls asleep after midnight.

[onapalehorse]

He'll have a scant four hours then, before he wakes up flipped over, forced face down against the pillows, pinned solid and still.

[lasiurus]

Bruce is normally so quiet, but this gets snarls, adrenaline giving him strength that is beyond him...but still far beneath Bane. He manages to maneuver his face enough that he can breathe, and that's about it.

[onapalehorse]

A zip tie yanks tight about his wrists, then another locks his elbows together and back, and Bane lifts him from the bed in the darkness, heaving him unceremoniously over one shoulder, holding his legs under one arm and carrying him up, out, towards the stairs.

The whole abduction takes less than five seconds.

[lasiurus]

Bruce doesn't kick; he doesn't want to be dropped on his head, nor does he think he stands a chance with his hands tied anyway.

He just lets Bane carry him, and hates himself for being so far from what he used to be. This is a test, and by his own scoring he's already failed it. He failed the second Bane got in the room.

[onapalehorse]

"How are you feeling this morning? A little more sturdy than yesterday?"

He checks, rasping, as they reach the bottom floor.

[lasiurus]

"Like someone who isn't sure where this is going."

He can't speak up much with his stomach pressed against Bane's shoulder. He has to stop, gasp, start again.

"...Finished Midnight's Children."

[onapalehorse]

"I met Rushdie, when he was in hiding."

He admits, and that is an interesting enough conversation that he lifts him up a little, so he can hear better.

"I preferred the Satanic Verses, which is in the library a well, if you enjoyed his prose. Do you know anything about the author?"

[lasiurus]

He's glad for it, even if his arms are bound. Al Ghul got him used to having conversations in surreal situations, at least.

"A bit. I read his short stories my first year of college. What did you find out about him from meeting him?"

[onapalehorse]

"That he is not very good at being in hiding."

He admits, with a metallic snort, and then the conversation will have to be cut short. He drops him down onto his feet in front of the door, and puts an arm about him, holding him against his chest.

"Breathe."

[lasiurus]

What's most surprising is that Bruce starts to laugh at Bane's answer. He might have continued, but then he's pinned and it's gone.

He looks up at him defiantly as he breathes, in and out, slow. His shoulders flex, trying to get comfortable.

[onapalehorse]

"I spent thirty years living in utter darkness, and when I first walked on free land, I fainted away cold and concussed myself."

He informs him, and then pulls open the door.

It's still dark outside, so the air is what hits first. Cool, beautiful, damp and fresh.

[lasiurus]

They might not get a single step outside. Not with the way a clean night breeze seems to intoxicate Bruce, make him literally weak in the knees. It doesn't seem real; he's afraid to believe that it is.

And then comes the hideous thought that it is, and this is as close as he will ever get to it.

"Bane..."

[onapalehorse]

"Don't fall."

He tells him, and then walks them forward a step, two.

Bruce is barefoot. The path is slick, damp stone.

[lasiurus]

He stops every time something moves (bats, his mind supplies, and he has to fight the urge to recoil). But the air is so clean, so full of night flowers and damp earth, he can't help but take it in.

He doesn't even care that whatever comes next will probably hurt. He'll be in the grass.

[onapalehorse]

Bane lets him set the pace, steering him eventually off the train and on to the grass, towards one of the hills he can see from his bedroom, with a sprawling apple tree.

He makes patiently sure he doesn't tumble, bolt or panic.

[lasiurus]

By the time they reach the tree (which shouldn't smell so strong, so perfect) he has decided that he will bring Alfred and Fox here. He will let them nap here if they want, pick fruit if they want.

And he, meanwhile, will do whatever it takes to become the person the world needs. Right now, Bane is the absolute best person to teach him how to become that person.

When he looks at Bane again, the gratitude is overwhelming and genuine, even if he won't say it. It comes out in the way he speaks, clipping off the formal and grammatically correct beginnings to his sentences.

"Best start to a test I've ever had."