horrendousness

[onapalehorse]

From this.

"You will find strength, and peace."

He promises, with belief.

Comments

[lasiurus]

That much is certainly true. Bruce is feeling optimistic, and alive. It will fade, and he knows it will.

But in the meantime he just tips his chin up, stubbornly rebelling against his training.

"Guide me to what?" And then, because he wants to see what Bane does with open communication, "Having my throat touched usually sets me off."

[onapalehorse]

"What happens when you are set off?"

Hand freezing, for the moment, letting him explain.

He shifts, so his legs pin Bruce's shins against the floor, and then pulls him subtly back against his body.

[lasiurus]

"Fight or flight. With you, it'd be flight."

He's tense again, but in this case it's because of the fact his singletail marks are pressed against Bane. He doesn't fidget or complain; it's just pain. He can handle it.

[onapalehorse]

"You've fought me before."

He reminds him.

"Very effectively."

But his hands drop down to rest instead on Bruce's hips.

[lasiurus]

"It wasn't effective. If it had been, we wouldn't have got to the whip."

He keeps his own hands resting on his knees, just as if he was meditating. It keeps them out of Bane's way.

[onapalehorse]

"I mean, you are a very effective fighter."

He clarifies, hands slipping in to find his buttons.

"Is it easier to be undressed, or to undress yourself?"

[lasiurus]

"It's about the same. I haven't had anyone try to undress me in... a while."

But he does finally grab Bane's wrist.

"Just- tell me if this is going to pain or not."

[onapalehorse]

"That was the anxiety of anticipation. Not knowing built the tension up in you until it burst into something you knew was ill-advised. Softened, thoughtfully, with very reasonable request, but still a tiny bit outside of your control."

Nuzzling at the outside of his shoulder, the unwelted portion.

[lasiurus]

The metal of the mask isn't cold, like Bruce would have thought. And he can feel the wires humming very faintly, because he's listening for them.

He leans back a tiny bit against Bane, welts be damned.

"Your advice is to live with the anxiety?"

[onapalehorse]

"Stop feeling it."

He says, instead.

"What is it you fear, then pain? I will be fair, you will know that if it is coming, it is necessary. You know also that you can withstand it. The fear does not make sense, it only coils you uselessly tighter, and eggs you into decisions that are wrong."

Captured wrist rotating lightly in Bruce's hand.

"This will not be easy to understand, until the first few times I have bandaged your hurts and put you into a soft bed afterwards."

[lasiurus]

He understands it from a psychological point of view. He's aware of his own damage, and how it drives him. But the idea of it in practice runs right against everything he's taught himself to be.

But he remembers a time before, in the mountains, when he had learned to submit to life-threatening tests just to master his fear. There had been a certain peace in it.

"I don't fear pain. I fear dying before I can save the people I care about."

And Bane is more than capable of killing Bruce if he feels like it.

[onapalehorse]

"Love."

Sorrowful.

"That, I cannot cure. I can, however, swear that it is not my intent to kill you."

[lasiurus]

Bruce considers, and nods at last.

"I can deal with that."

For now.

[onapalehorse]

"Good."

He announces, nodding in pleasure.

"Very good. Your safety is my undertaking, I know that trust is earned, not owed. Obedience, however, is your duty. Do you see the difference?"

[lasiurus]

"No. I've spent too many years obeying men I shouldn't have trusted."

He doubts that's news to Bane.

"I'll do what you say, but only to a point."

[onapalehorse]

"Then that, right there, is a neat summation of the problem we face. Your trust, and how it scares you into defiance."

Sounding quietly pleased.

"I will not win your trust by coddling you. But I think I can- prove to you your new consistency, while you try to save them from within the social structures you now forcibly inhabit."

[lasiurus]

The worst part is that when Bruce examines his actions from that perspective, Bane is right. He would have fought anyone yesterday, it's true. But it had turned into a fight against Bane himself and not against his captivity.

He looks over his shoulder at him.

"You'll help me save them?"

[onapalehorse]

"Probably never to the degree that you hope. You would see this new regime smashed, and I think it suits this country well enough, for the time being."

Meeting his eyes, thoughtfully.

"As such, how will you see any choice I make as aid?"

[lasiurus]

He can argue the merits of enslaving millions of people later; for now he just wants Alfred and Fox safe.

"By letting me go in after them. By helping me protect them when I get them out. I won't ask you to be my accomplice, but I will ask that you not stand in my way."

[onapalehorse]

"I will consider it. But I fear right now that turned loose on the hunt, you would not fly back to my arm."

He points out, as one of his broad arms does snake over Bruce's shoulders, weighing heavy across his chest. If he did lift it a few inches, it'd be right across the throat. For now, it's a quiet embrace and subtle threat, to see how bad the trigger is.

[lasiurus]

Bruce breathes in deep, like he's climbing to a ledge he plans to jump from. The memory of the soft bed and large window is keen enough that he can talk himself into giving Bane an inch of leeway.

So another slow breath, and he leans back against him.

"I don't know where they are now. You'll have time to convince me to come back here."

[onapalehorse]

"You'll be too busy at first to look for them. What are their names?"

Checking, fingers lifting, stroking his hair.

[lasiurus]

He realizes then how deep his distrust--his fear--has gone, that he hesitates to even answer the question.

But chances are they're dead already.

"Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox. I was taken before they were but they're ordinary people--they might still be alive somewhere."

[onapalehorse]

"Lucius Fox came out on top of this revolution. He runs a small, fortified encampment- out of your manor, actually, heavily armed and guarded, a safe haven for your kind."

He tells him, palm dropping down, body sliding away from his- Bane is used to people who experience intense emotion very physically.

[lasiurus]

Bruce acts out, at times, but when the emotion is really powerful he goes as still and pale as the boy who had watched his parents bleed out in an alley.

He stares up at Bane, begging him silently not to be lying about it.

It's when he speaks that he finally moves, turning to face him.

"And Alfred?"