A/N: this is for this anon. Thanks again for requesting! I missed writing for Bane.
Warnings: angst
Word count: 2.5K
Taglist: @mollybegger-blog, @evelynshelby, @br0ck-eddie, @sopxhiea, @shadow-of-wonder, @fandom--0verdose, @fuseburner, @kind-wolf, @innerpaperexpertcloud (let me know if you wanna be added or removed)
The vastity of the night sky had always helped y/n ease her worries. Surely, whatever was bothering her couldn’t be as big and impossible to solve as she was making it out to be. Because, would you look at that? The universe is so big and we’re so small, so insignificant. and that applied to her problems too.
At least that was what she always told herself whenever she’d feel lost and hopeless. Thinking this way helped her put things into perspective. And sure, not everything was as easily solved but, even in that case, it helped a bit.
And so here they were, she and Bane were laying down staring up at the starry sky. Sometimes, they would spend it in silence, just enjoying the warmth and comfort the other’s body would bring. Others, like this one, they would easily fall into conversations about everything and nothing.
“Was there someone special in your life? Someone you wish to get back to?”
“You mean, romantically?”
He nodded.
“No. Single for life.” She did a peace sign to lighten up her embarrassment but Bane was curious and did not pay it any mind.
“You mean to tell me that you’ve never given your heart to anyone?”
“Well, if you put it that way I have to change my answer to yes. Being in a relationship with someone and giving someone your heart are two wholly different things.”
“Let me rephrase then. Have you ever been in love?”
She really thought about the answer, her mind going back to any romantic involvement she might have had during her life. Even if she scouted her memories, she found that it wasn’t a yes or no question.
“I guess,” not only was the word she chose explicative of her indecision but the tentative tone of her voice left no doubts as to where she was standing. But Bane was confused, to say the least.
“I’ve always been under the impression that love was one of those things where absolute certainty was involved when it came to its presence or absence.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. I have had mostly one-sided crushes, you know?” she started but Bane could see the faraway look in her eyes and knew that she had more to tell but was lacking the right words. So he waited.
“I said ‘I guess’ because I don’t really know what love is. I mean, everyone has a different take on it depending on their experiences but I don’t think I’ve ever felt it,” she paused turning to meet his eyes, “once there was a guy I strongly had feelings for. Even that was one-sided though and it took me a long time to recover from that because he was my best friend at the time. Looking back to it, I guess it was love or the closest thing to it that I’ve ever felt for someone. It hasn’t happened again though so I don’t have anything to compare it to.”
“Maybe it wasn’t love, just deep infatuation. Or maybe I just confused my love for him as a friend for something more. I don’t know. I guess I’ll figure it out when I fall in love with someone else. “ She concluded and refrained from correcting that when with if. she couldn’t see herself being as lucky as to have someone that cared about her and that loved her in the future. But Bane didn’t need to know that.
Turns out that those unspoken words had become a sort of oracle, ‘cause here they were now, years after they had that conversation. Just when she thought that she had found that one person to share her life with, to give her heart to, life quickly come into play letting her know that that wasn’t the case.
Because the man that had saved her from a destiny worse than death, who had given her hope and made her trust him to the point where she had felt safe enough to open up to him and allow him close to her heart, had now shattered whatever remained of it.
"So let me get this straight, first you save my life than you decide to keep me with you so you basically kidnap me, get me to fall in love with you, put me through an insanely difficult training so that I could stay with you but it was all done in vain because now you’re sending me away?"
"I'm not sending you away but you cannot stay here anymore. I’m doing this for you."
"And why is that? What changed?" and when Bane stayed silent she added, "what happened to 'I want you always' ?"
"I did not lie to you." His words were in striking contrast to the ones he had said before but y/n had learned to read him and could tell that this time he was not lying. But then the question naturally arises, what's really going on?
Nothing out of order had happened in the last few days. Bane and she had been the same as always, even his work had proceeded as usual. So what was it? What was she not thinking about? What was she not seeing?
Letting her mind go back through the last day to fat check that nothing happened, she went through their actions. Light breakfast together followed by a not so light tête à tête then they trained together until he had to deal with something for his work and she had occupied herself otherwise. She had called him to see when she could get dinner started and he said that he had a meeting with Talia first but had come right after. They had dinner and while they consumed their healthy and perfectly balanced meal she shared with him whatever came to her mind while he ate in silence. See, nothing out of order.
Wait a minute...
He went to meet Talia.
"It's her, isn't it?" Suddenly, everything was clear. She knew what had happened, what had changed. And she sneered at the pull Talia had on him. Suddenly, she understood but at the same time, the last year lost its meaning.
"I just wish I realized earlier that you didn't care about me as much as you said you did," turning she went to her cabinet to get her stuff, "I wouldn't have put myself through so much otherwise."
Nodding, she knew what she had to do. She had to leave. There was no reason to stay. Resolute and defeated she put everything her eyes fell on that was hers in a little bag. Clothes, lingerie, cosmetics, books. But when her eyes landed on the little box where she kept everything connected to him, her heart broke further and her anger was fueled.
In there, there was every present Bane ever gave her. Every little thing that made her think of him in some way. The letters he wrote her whenever spoken words failed him. She knew that going through its content would equal to a chronology of their relationship. If it was possible her heart broke even more. Everything she did to stay with him, everything he did to keep her now was all vain. She gave up so much for him, for a man. Her former self would be ashamed of her and knew that her heartbreak was contributing to making her feel something akin to that.
"Here," she said walking where he was standing, "take this. I don't want it anymore," and she threw it at his feet. The only acknowledgement on his part was a tilt of his head but it wasn't needed. He knew what it was and what she kept inside of it. He felt a pang in his heart but kept his face void of any emotion.
"I'll want you always," she said mocking his voice, still stuffing stuff in her bag and chuckled with mirth, "what a load of bullshit."
"Actually," stilling for a second, with a shirt cramped in her fist she faced him, "I am the biggest clown between us because I believed you." retrying her stuffing, shaking her head she added in a whisper, "I should have known better," but Bane heard.
As soon as he decided on this course of action, he had also prepared for her reaction. He knew her well and so far she hadn't done anything that he hadn't expected. And while he had been ready, he couldn't help but feel hurt by her words. He knew how she was looking at this situation, knew that his words had led her to believe it to be so. At the same time, a little part of him wished for her to oppose to his words, to see right through them and see that he was lying. That he had been honest when he had told her those things, he had opened up to her and meant everything. But knew that she was too lost to rage and hurt to think clearly. And it was also the reason why she was acting up and had thrown the box on the floor. He knew that she deeply cared about it and what it meant to her. He almost thought of offering some kind of comfort, to give her some hint about what was really going on. But knew that it would be unfair to her. After all, he was doing for the sake of her safety.
“You know,” her voice brought him back and his eyes were immediately drawn to her, “isn’t it funny how you man always pride yourselves to be strong and all that bullshit when even someone like you, who’s the epitome of masculinity and strength, at the end is totally subjected to a woman?”
They would always have this kind of conversation. Bane, being a leader of a huge army, had the tendency to be bossy. Even in situations when it wasn’t needed. It was just who he was and he felt the need to remind her of his alfa status an unnecessary lot of times. While she could enjoy this inclination of his when they were in bed, she definitely couldn’t stand it in their everyday life. And now, it made her feel stupid that she had to put with it and learn how to deal with it but when it came to Talia, he just did whatever she told him to. Also, this changed her consideration of him. What a clown. She had tried to warn him about his rather toxic relationship with Talia but he’d always get angry and dismiss the conversation either by leaving or shouting at her. She could remember their last fight about it like it was yesterday. It was also the first time that she had ever doubted her relationship with him. The first time that she had thought that maybe she had made a mistake by staying with him, by falling in love with him. Maybe she should have left as soon as she had rescued her. It wasn’t for the motive of their fight, neither her jealousy and worry about his relationship with Talia, but it had all to do with what he shouted her in rage that made her blood run cold and her heart shatter. For it was said that angry and drunk people were the more honest ones. And since that moment she couldn’t help but wonder if he really thought what he said to her or if it was just an impulse propelled by anger as he had explained.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have saved you.”
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, he decided to twist the knife further.
“I told you not to fall in love with me.”
As if one could choose who they fell for, she remembers thinking.
Those words still haunted her to this day. It happened a while ago and Bane had made it up to her, mostly. But it was in situations like this that they would come back and mock her for even forgiving him and thinking that he loved her as she loved him. To think that even a small part of him thought that it was best that he had left her to suffer in the hands of a sex abuser until he would have eventually tired of her and killed made her sick. How could anyone say something like that to another human being? One they presumedly loved? She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Bane had then explained that by that he didn’t mean leaving her with her captor but simply bring her with him and keeping her with him. Despite the fact that his explanation made sense, y/n still didn’t think it made things better.
And as for his second statement, it went mostly unmentioned.
Sure, that had been something he had told her in the beginning. It was after her training required them to spend most of their days together since he wanted to attend to it personally. Y/n knew that being in the military and with his past, it wasn’t easy for Bane to show emotions let alone let someone close enough to him to allow himself to love them. She understood that. She had a few things she was dealing with that made it difficult for her to entertain the idea of something more between them.
But that was almost a year ago. So much had happened in their life and between them that even though the words were not spoken aloud, she felt the shift in both their behaviours when it came to them. Hell, they even started dating.
Not that any of them labelled it that way. But that was beside the point.
They slept together, they ate together every meal, they lived together. If there was a band on both their left ring fingers and it was a more conventional setting, people would assume they were married.
While y/n didn’t like thinking about what they had in that way, she surely considered the commitment they had made to each other equivalent to a marriage.
She hadn’t considered Talia though.
Or at least, she had hoped that if she ever would try and come between them, Bane would stand up for her.
Turns out that she really was foolish.
“Whatever, I guess it’s not my problem anymore.” Giving him her back again, she closed the almost full bag and went to put on some shoes and coat.
“I don’t have any use for it, you should take it with you.”
“Neither have I. Burn it, see if I care.”
And with that, y/n turned around and walked out of their shared apartment at last.
It hurt to say the words, it hurt that things had ended to abruptly, it hurt that even after all this time he didn’t care about her, it hurt like hell but y/n was resolute in leaving all of this behind her. Yes, it wasn’t going to be easy and maybe it would be like leaving a hot fire trail behind her but at one point the fire would burn out, wouldn’t t?
Summary: The kidnapped daughter shows her true nature while curiosity overfloods Bane as he explores the soul before him.
Bane X Reader
One
a/n: this is so long, i’m sorry...enjoy pls :)
There’s no sound, no light coming from the upper part of the place like it usually is. The stone beneath your body is cold, the metal pieces bounding you to the floor clink against each other with every movement made. The room is silent apart from your heavy breathing.
It’s been three weeks.
Three weeks of calls made to your dad, threats thrown his way and attempts to make him see the truth. He’s off on some island with a bunch of twenty something year olds, kicking rocks as the masked guy keeps trying to hunt him down.
His name is Bane, you learn as they shout for him in the third day of your kidnapping.
He sometimes comes by to talk to you, he’s done nothing but talk. You’d waited for some sort of torture, something to get things out of you but you were already willingly giving him all the information he needed without a blade touching your skin.
It wasn’t because you were trying to sell your father out, although that also came in handy. It was because you thought that he was interesting, if you kept the waters warm, you could learn a thing or two about the bulky guy.
You’d seen the way he acted, the way he moved and you were sure he was some idea in a writer’s sketchbook, waiting to come alive and scare a bunch of people off and now that he was right there in front of you, you were nothing but amazed at the presence of such a man.
He was still stunned at your reaction. Your eyes lacked the usual spark of the average human being but more than anything, you were curious. You answered to him and he soon found out that you often used sarcasm to shield from certain things. He knew you had a tough childhood, he had made research on you before the kidnapping but you were far more interesting than he’d initially thought.
You weren’t scared, there was not an ounce of fear in your eyes when you spoke to him. Even his men were scared of him but a young girl he abducted from a mental health institution was more than willing to chat things up.
It didn’t make sense.
He was the bad guy, given the things he’d done, everyone was scared of the masked guy in the streets of Gotham. He had taken you by force out of your comfort and there you were, a low smile on your lips as you bad-mouthed your father, tied to a bunch of metal bars as you sat on the stone base.
Everyone was sleeping in the compound, the place reminded you of a prison but you had seen the way his men rotated around here, they knew it like the back of their hand. It was their home.
You envied them, they belonged to a place.
Bane had seen the dance of the demons in the depths of your eyes, the way they tried to take over you and he saw the way you would power through. He knew of the same demons, the ones he was born with and had to grow up around.
When he had kidnapped you, he had expected a spoiled little girl out of her mind, panicked and scared until her daddy would give Bane the things he wanted and he’d either let you go or kill you, it was mostly the last option he went for.
But he had found something different. The research hadn’t told him just how broken you were, you lacked the basic manners to create a casual conversation and he realised because once, he had been the same way. He had to learn of emotion and empathy, although he didn’t always opt for them.
You had walls around you, ones he knew not to bring down by force because he, too had similar ways of protecting himself.
He knew you didn’t sleep, he had found you covered in a layer of thin sweat the first night you were there but you were completely calm about the whole situation, even though you had been in a nightmare just a second ago.
You were used to it.
The whole place was quiet except your fragile breathing and the sound of the night guard’s footsteps. They worked in the dark since Bane had trained them exceptionally well when it came to moving in the dark.
You didn’t see him come in, you were too busy with your own thoughts as they washed over you, leaving you breathless. He knew there was a reason why he had found you in a clinic of all places - he watched as you contemplated something in your own mind.
It wasn’t like you’d expected your father to show up, the first thing you’d told Bane was that he wouldn’t come for you. But the rich millionaire would eventually come around for his precious little daughter, right?
He had expected a pretty weak thing, spoiled out of her mind in a massive mansion but he had found you.
He would come in and talk most of the time, not at night but sometime during the day. He spent most of his days planning from what you could tell since he always seemed to have something on his mind.
You saw his shadow first before your eyes met the man in flesh. It was alluring just how hard he was to the eye. He seemed like a man out of a dream for you, it was a nightmare for most. He was wearing his usual vest, it was insane how big he was, especially compared to you.
His voice was almost strained from the mask, the tone was all over the place. It went up and down each time he talked, it was often hard for you to pick up on the toning of words as well as the sentence itself. It almost amused you just how metallic he sounded, it wasn’t the voice of a human.
He didn’t come too close and sit next to you on the cold stone but settled on the chair in front of you, your gaze was far from a scared one as you eyed him.
“You’re awake.” he breathed out, you strained your ears to pick up on the words while your gaze met his, ice cold.
You didn’t say anything back, he was just stating a fact.
“Why?” he asked, the toning confused you.
Sometimes, when he would talk, he would almost sound like he was speaking with an emotion : confusion, anger and rarely, worry. It could be your own mind playing games for all you knew, since it had sabotaged you many times over the years, making you trip on your own feet so you chose to ignore the sentiment swimming in his orbs, too.
You swallowed, meeting his gaze once again. You hadn’t complained once and it started to irk him.
You had grown up in mansions with maids running after you and there you were, chained into a metal bar while you looked up at him from cold stone floor. You didn’t seem fazed.
“I...” you shook you head, why was he asking?
“I don’t sleep well...” you said, seeing no point to lie but you wouldn’t give away the whole truth.
He nodded once or twice before you spoke, you didn’t sound tired.
“Why are you awake?” your voice was low, you didn’t feel threatened.
It had entertained him at first just how amusing you found the situation. It wasn’t like you got kidnapped everyday but the whole situation was something out of a fantasy for you. You had spent your childhood being chased and this felt like it had been a long time coming, you just didn’t know when.
“The same reason you are..” he said, the octaves of his voice changing as he watched your eyes flicker.
You knew he hadn’t been a fortunate one either, the whole situation spoke for itself.
You had thought they would take advantage of you until this point, they always did in the books you read and the stories you’d been told. He had been quiet for the most part, only asking questions he was genuinely interested to know something. He was smart - that much you could tell.
While speaking for the last three weeks, there was one thing you didn’t speak of and that was your mother. He had found out that she had vanished, disappeared into the thin air as his intel told him but he knew there was something else from the way you had flinched when one of the guys had asked about her, what better time than now?
“I’m curious to know something...” he spoke, getting up and walking around the place.
You nodded, voice loud and clear as you straightened your legs on the stone floor.
“Go ahead.” it was a mere whisper but he’d heard it.
He knew he needed no permission from you. But you liked the way his orbs would fill with fire when you gave him the green light to do something even though you were well aware of the fact that he needed no one to order him around.
He flinched slightly, a hiss from the mask before he spoke, he knew just how much this question would affect you and he wanted to hurt you because of what you just did, he was the bad guy.
“My source of information tells me your mother vanished when you were small...” he spoke, walking around again while your head started to pulse. He wasn’t seriously going there?
“...but it seems rather impossible that she’d just..disappear..” he said, turning to meet your gaze while you saw the amusement in his blue orbs, he was the bad guy.
You lowly chuckled, it was dry and bitter but it made him sit down again. You eyed him, your cold gaze met his as you spoke.
“That isn’t exactly a question..” you said, stating a fact as his brows furrowed, there was your shield of sarcasm again.
“What happened?” he asked, his voice, unlike the other times he’d spoken to you, didn’t waver this time. You’d heard it, loud and clear.
You took a deep breath, looking around. You didn’t wanna do this. He knew you weren’t afraid of dying, your medical records showed him that. He knew there were a few things you were afraid of as far as he was concerned, this topic was one of them.
“Why do you ask?” you asked him, waiting for him to reason with you.
He was a tough guy in a crowd, not so much when it was one to one.
He made a motion of his hand through the air as he spoke. “Curiosity.” he spoke. He didn’t wanna tell you that he couldn’t find the real information. He didn’t want to seem to have flaws in his job.
You nodded, chuckling again. He was impossible.
“I guess you didn’t do you research..” you spoke in the cold room, he hated how certain you were of yourself.
Your eyes wavered as you spoke, looking right into his eyes. “She killed herself.” you spoke, there was no sadness in your voice. You were an expert at hiding emotions, years of abandonment had taught you that.
He watched the slight ounce of emotion flicker through your eyes before he lost it again, he didn’t flinch while looking at your wounded figure. You had bled after a couple hits you had taken by his guys, he didn’t know of it until he had arrived to see you with a black eye but you seemed nonchalant about it.
He was the bad guy, he didn’t have sympathy or emotion carved inside his soul. He didn’t care, you knew that. But a part of him felt closer to you for some reason, the artery in his cold stone heart felt the slightest warmth before it went cold again. You were just as wounded as he was, it had been the same kind of darkness, just a different situation.
You swallowed, tears were absent from your eyes but he could see you shiver under the moonlight. You didn’t move, the nightmares wouldn’t leave you soon and you had no plans of sleeping soon.
He went out of the room, you assumed he was gone for the night. He probably had something to do, something important the next day. He had to kill more people than he’d already had for sure now that the whole of Gotham was afraid of him.
Your eyes blinked, staring at the empty walls as memories flooded you. You were fragile when it came to her.
You leaned back on the metal bars, feeling them cold against your skin but your thoughts were interrupted when he came in suddenly, a piece of clothing in his hands.
You felt the warm cloth around you when he leaned down, wrapping the cardigan around you while his face came close, you smelled the metallic scent of his mask while his heavy breathing filled your ear, he avoided eye-contact the whole time until he was sitting back on his chair again, far away from your now warmed up figure.
Were you supposed to thank him?
You didn’t know what affection was, not quite. You had felt love and warmth but it was a long time ago, you couldn’t quite place them anymore. This reminded you of the winters you would spend with your mom, you wouldn’t talk but snuggle instead, you felt warm.
You blinked, stare locked at him as you tried to figure out what just happened.
You were sharp but no formula or psychological analysis explained this, your anger was less obvious in your features now.
He liked your face when you weren’t angry, your smile was probably the loveliest thing he’d seen all his life, he wondered if your beauty came from your mother while your eyes didn’t leave his.
You didn’t move and neither did he.
There was one more thing he wanted to ask you, one thing that had been bugging him when you had dismissed the question on your first day there. He spoke up.
“Don’t you think Batman will save you?” he asked, wavering on his tone again. You picked up on what he was saying quicker this time, his question earned the nod of your head as you spoke.
“Sure..he’ll come..”
He didn’t know if you were serious or not. He hoped you weren’t.
Hope was something he hadn’t felt in a long time so it took him by surprise as you glanced at him. You were taking his walls down one by one and he could do nothing to stop you, he didn’t want to.
“My own father didn’t come but sure, Batman, a stranger who doesn’t even know of my existence..” you chuckled, shaking your head as your amusement filled him with the slightest feeling of joy.
You weren’t serious.
Bane was the bad guy, maybe it was the things that shaped him into the man he was or just bad luck but he was the bad one in almost every situation. He burned down cities and kidnapped innocent people. He didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on a hopeless citizen. He had men around him that promised to die for the cause, for his cause.
He was the bad guy.
He didn’t save the city. He wasn’t the hero of the town, people didn’t envy him. He didn’t rescue a kid, people feared him. He was the one to kill, the one to do the dirty work. He didn’t have people rooting for him, he didn’t get to have people cheering behind his back.
He certainly didn’t get the girl.
A wave of shock went through his eyes, he got up and left, footsteps echoing through the empty space as you looked around, dumbfounded.
What if he didn’t want to be the bad guy in this situation?
Summary: Mina has known Bane since his capture from prison. After the setback of losing in Gotham, what new changes will they both implement as they face starting over after almost losing one another?
Warnings/Tags: Violence. Sexual Content. Fluff, Angst. Medical jargon. Injury.
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As she sat next to the hospital bed where Bane lay bent and broken she couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time she’d seen him in such a way.
He had been brought to the league by Talia and her father. That was where she had first taken care of him. She spent her days and nights nursing his wounds, having far better means to heal him than they had in the prison. She watched him form back into one piece, his face losing the discoloration and swelling, scars forming as his natural shape came back to him thanks to her. He didn’t speak much, but it would’ve been detrimental to the healing of his mouth if he’d tried. He didn’t need to speak to show how deep his intelligence ran. His eyes remained bright, and she watched them formulate so many plans for their deeds.
They sat for hours in silence, her kneading out his back, working him through the painful process of his spine forming to completion.
Every time she saw the scar that ran from his thick, muscular neck down the expanse of his bulked-up back she was reminded of having her hands on him. The time spent so close and skin to skin with him at his most vulnerable.
But then Ra’s Al Ghul interfered. Mina was secretly and silently heartbroken when he was excommunicated from the league. Having had put in so much time with him, having found a way for him to function with the mask, an idea that turned out just crazy enough to work. He was becoming strong again, his body as sharp as his mind when he left. Talia was vocal about her distaste for what happened, but Mina was left to stay silent. She wasn’t a member of the league, only taken in for her healing talents and to be an indentured servant for the members. She had no real power and had to watch someone she thought she had a real connection with disappear.
Then Batman would intervene, killing Ra’s Al Ghul and bringing Talia and Bane back together. With Ra’s gone, Talia allowed Mina to learn to defend herself, finding her years of watching to be beneficial to her in the endeavor. As a plan was formed to carry out Ra’s Al Ghul’s destiny, she found herself to be among the ones named to join Bane and Talia in their work.
In the sewers, she was kept mostly hidden. Bane didn’t want just anyone knowing about Mina. He considered her an understated but vital piece of the plan. He kept her close where he went, having her in masculine tactical gear. But instead of the plethora of weapons, one would expect to be in the numerous pouches and pockets, she kept the secret to Bane’s endurance and strength with her. She supplied him with his analgesic gas to keep him functioning so highly despite his body being broken underneath that threshold of pain. She helped him heal, being the one alone with him after confrontations, using her mixtures and knowledge to further aid his body in repairing the damage he inflicted upon it. Once again she knew him at his most vulnerable. He found himself trusting Mina, confiding in her plans and theories and intently listening when she gave her feedback. He was a master of strategy but she gave a distinct point of view from being the voiceless ears and eyes of the league for so many years. She had nursed so many who thought themselves invincible back from death that she knew where every one of them went wrong. Bane knew this information was priceless, and thus it made Mina that in turn.
So when she saw Talia leave, finding Bane in a heap against the wall after being shot she knew what she had to do. She did as she had time and time again, and saved him.
After gathering a handful of other mercenaries and taking one of the stolen Bat tech flying vehicles to get Bane out of Gotham, she took him to a small isolated island in Ireland to a bunker so she could put him back together again.
And here they were now. The steady and quiet beeping of machines, the painkillers being pumped in at high levels for him at her request. She stayed by his side, not trusting anyone else to watch over him.
He came and went, the sheer force from the blast making his insides displace and rupture. Slowly those who escaped Gotham found their way to them again. She found herself the highest-ranking person left and she made decisions she’d never had to before. She was training men, reaching out to other mercenaries for support as Bane healed. Failing in Gotham had left a bad taste in a lot of their mouths but she still believed in him. She knew no man smarter than him and she fought to keep his name clear of shame while he could not.
During one of the earlier nights alone, the trauma still fresh from fleeing Gotham, she sits by his bed in her casual civilian clothes. She reaches out and holds his hand, scorch marks still visible on his skin as she lets her sadness breakthrough for the first time since he was exiled from the league.
She lets herself cry alone in the room with him, her face pressed to his big hand, the hands she’d splinted so many years ago. The hands that broke necks and the bats back and destroyed their enemies without so much as fracture thanks to her. She stroked his arm and wondered if she’d ever know his hands to be anything but fierce. He had never been unfair or forceful with her. She had long wondered, since the days before he was this beast of a man in his size and reputation. She wanted to know if there was the sort of softness he held for Talia left to be shown to her. She had only ever shown him softness. But he had never called her weak for it. Only praised the things she did for him. She wondered when it was that she let her heart get in the way of her work. And why was it a man like Bane to make her thoughts so foolish?
She leans over him, wiping the tears she sheds for him as they fall to his pale skin. Her fingers feel the indentions on his face from the mask, her fingers tracing the thin pink scars she’d helped make barely visible over his nose and mouth. In a moment of weakness, when it was still uncertain if he would ever wake, she kisses him gently. She doesn’t linger long, her lips pressed to his forehead after his lips affectionately.
“I won’t give up on you. I never have and I never will. You’re going to come back to me, Bane. The world still needs you and so do I.”
———
“What are you doing up?” Mina turns to ask Bane as she could hear his forced heavy footsteps as they came down the hall and stopped in the lab's doorway. She moves towards him, trying not to show her concern for his pain as there were others around. “Aren’t you hurting?” She asks with a quiet voice, her face showing her worry.
“Yes but...you weren’t there when I woke.” He answers with squinted eyes, his brow still furrowing under the center strap of his new and improved mask.
“I was here looking to see what progress had been made with your new braces.” She explains with a confident nod.
“And?” He demands, taking a deep breath with the analgesic gas pumping through his lungs to ease the intense pain that was currently gnawing away at him from his injuries sustained in Gotham.
“The new vials are ready, they’ve passed all the necessary testing. The braces will match your new body brace as well, not that you care about that sort of thing.” She remarks with a subtle smile, the matching of new pain-relieving arm braces to his newly formed and reinforced body brace had been a purely aesthetic choice that she had made. She thought his image was important and while he agreed to a degree, he didn’t think the production should have been slowed for such a thing.
“When will they be ready?” He asks, holding his form up against the doorframe, his still large body looking as if it may even bend the metal of the sterile looking wing of the bunker.
“By tomorrow. They need to be installed and then another round of tests. Then I would feel comfortable having you try them. Then there’s the nasty business of having you come off the gas and adjust to the injectables. But as always I have complete faith in your full recovery within 4-5 days.” She gives another nod to confirm her words.
“Good.” He nods with a curt tone. He lumbers and turns, making his way back to his room down the hall. She knew he was in pain, so she didn’t take his short words personally.
——-
“How are you doing this morning?” She inquires, with a tender voice. She was the only one left now to dare to speak to him in such a way.
He’d been angry ever since he’d woken up. But she didn’t blame him in the least. His plans had failed, he’d lost the woman he’d sworn to protect from birth and now he was injured severely. It was more than an acceptable and understandable setback. With his men now in the Gotham prison, he was left with a scattered arsenal. And though he thought Mina was worth the cost of a hundred men, it didn’t change the fact that those men he had conditioned were now oppressed by the very structures he tried to take down. His anger for the turn of events was always under the surface, and the unpleasant change from his tried and true mask was going to be something he had to adjust to. He had no doubt he could, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Mina stayed by him continuously, as she had ever since she brought him there. She oversaw the connection of the new arm braces, interchangeable for damage and reloadable for medicine and thanks to her stern demands, and the technology she’d taken from their heist of the Batman’s weapons arsenal, they were practically indestructible.
Bane wasn’t a creature for wallowing in his emotions. He was a force that nothing stopped, always forward on a mission. But as he found himself now without one, without a clear and precise prerogative and plan, emotions started to surface. For even though he knew only darkness from a very young age, he was still human. There were emotions from being an abandoned child, living in fear every moment as he grew strong and resilient that he could recall. And in that youth and initial betrayal, there was softness. This is why he had protected Talia as a child. This is why he kept Mina so close to him. They represented things that seemed so out of touch for him. With Talia now gone, something he found coming back to him in anger-inducing waves, he was left with only one other person now that had ever shown him such care and tenderness. And she reminded him of this unintentionally every time he woke up and she was there next to him, every time she touched him with a look in her eyes he hadn’t seen anyone else have for him. She had always been a source of softness in his life when there was room for none. She had reminded him of the child he once was, the boy who craved warmth and affection in a world where there was no such thing for a creature like him. And unbeknownst to her, in his weakened state, in her dedication to his survival and thriving, she had made him feel more like a man and less of a war machine. She’d made him feel like this pain and failure he put upon himself in such heavy doses were something that he wouldn’t drown in. If she were there to be a lighthouse on the shore guiding him to land.
He watches her with curious eyes, delicate hands he’d seen do such violent things, now so lightly adjusting the braces on his arms which were now pumping new serum into
his system. She asks him if it’s comfortable. He doesn’t recall the last time someone took this into consideration.
She then instructs him to rest, as the medicine will make him tired soon as she lowers the amount of gas the mask puts out and his mind panics, a trained response to reach for the mask and fix the problem.
She shushes him, the only one in the room to see his wide eyes and still marked hands reach up in desperation to his face. She takes his hands, and even though she was not stronger than him, he’s compelled to not fight her back as her grip is strong and certain as she takes both of them into hers.
“You will sleep soon. We don’t want too much in your system at once unless you need it. It will be okay. There will not be the pain you are accustomed to with less gas. No reason to worry.” She comforts, without a look of disdain or judgment as she runs her fingers over the taut center strap on his still shaved head. Something else she had done while he had been in his comatose state. As was her role, and what she enjoyed more than most anything else, she took care of him in every way she knew how.
His breathing slows, the lump in his throat bobbing as he accepts this instruction. Wasn’t it so strange that the only one to speak to him without bite and demands was the one a man like him listened to?
———
Mina makes adjustments to Bane’s mask, being placed on so he could address the men and fight and overpower without pain if need be. They were all expecting the man in the mask, and he wasn’t ready to be without it yet.
“You will instruct with me today Mina.” He informs with a nod, eyes avoiding her large ones that held no fear when he spoke.
“Yes, Bane.” She responds simply in a curt tone acceptable for the men to hear.
“You will show me their progress. I want to see what I have to work with. Weed out the weaklings, promote the strong.” His voice drags, he knew she knew the drill, but it made him feel back in his element to say it all out loud again. He’d been away from the only existence he knew for months now, and he was ready to make some progress.
As she was trained to do, Mina takes control of a room when she walks into it. The men at first lazily reacting, but reacting to her voice barking over the large gymnasium where they trained. When they turned and saw Bane behind her, the scurried like scared rabbits into line as he stood on a small raised platform and she, at his side.
As he always does, he fills the space he moves around. A loud booming charisma and unmistakable power shifts with his wide powerful gate. His hands matched into the new dark metal and leather panels that surrounded his torso and forearms. He looked broad and strong and she felt pride for having helped get him to this point again.
Another introductory move, something she had to do when she took command in his absence, he challenges a man who seems to be questioning his ability to do the things he claims he will if any of them go against orders. And as it always went, with a single hand and not a bead of sweat, he picks up the man by the neck and tosses him into a pile of crates by the wall. A friend of this now injured man twitches too much for Banes liking and he comes to the defense of his fallen brother. Even with a weapon in his hand, he is no match. With the braces giving theatrical sparks to the display as the edge of the sword comes down against it time and time again, Bane shifts and attacks like a glorious beast that was born with no other motive than to kill. The man finds himself on the floor next to the man he had defended. The sword now bent and broken in his hand.
As Mina stands at attention and never flinches, she watches diligently. The other men with their wide eyes and white knuckles as they watched Bane made her suppress a fleeting smile. She knew some would doubt him after Gotham, but she was happy to see that all concerns would be quickly forgotten as they always were when Bane had to defend himself in combat.
He stands tall and in control, his arms with their bulbous musculature, unmatched in strength by any adversary as they hang after a shake of his shoulders.
“This is Mina. She will be the second in command here now that I am back. If she gives you orders. You obey. It is simple. If she speaks on my behalf, you ready as if it were my voice saying the same words. She will be in charge of you. I will be moving forward with our plans for the next venture.” He speaks without looking at her and she artfully hides the shock on her face for the announcement. She’d always been kept in the shadows before. Now she was his second, a title she never expected to hold. “She will oversee your every move. We need soldiers who can listen and learn. If you cannot do that...you are free to leave.” His tone doesn’t agree with the words he says, a threat hanging in the air. “But if I hear a word of anyone speaking ill of Mina due to the nature of her gender, you will have no choice but to leave. You could only dream of being the soldier she is. She is someone for you to strive to emulate and any treatment of her, verbal or otherwise will not be tolerated. There is no room for such nonsense in my work. Is this agreed?” His words tell that there is no other option, that it isn’t really a question, merely a formality, a warning. “Now then...Mina. They are yours. We will convene later to discuss these....men.” He says with disdain in his voice, letting them know he was not impressed. Even if he had been he wouldn’t show it. It was nearly impossible to reach Bane's level of expectancy, but that ethic is what got him as far as it had.
—————
Leaving her behind he entered his quarters, his door shut and locked behind him, curtains pulled in the white and grey minimal room with only the essentials for work and rest. He slumps, hands on his desk as he takes in filling breaths of air. His body had taken just fine to fighting again, but the exhaustion from the new medicine was quick to settle in after he exerted himself. Something he was promised would cease, and yet he waited. He moves his bulky frame to sit in the simple metal chair in front of the desk of the same material. His breathing slows, the faintest of hints of the smell and taste of gas easing his mind which rushed to tell him more, that he needed more. He gathers himself, posture back to straight and commanding as he saunters towards the window, hearing shouting outside.
Below was Mina, her face contorted as she shouted commands, running the men over the obstacle course in the courtyard. She ran alongside them, sharp claps and glances to her watch kept her occupied. Bane sank back, careful to not be seen. He didn’t want his personal quarters known to any who didn’t need to know. He also needed to appear busy, and all he was doing at the moment was recovery from an inconvenient, temporary weakness, and he certainly didn’t want that sort of information getting out either.
He hoped that his promotion of Mina would show her his gratitude for all she had done for him. He knew that this particular offering was not one that didn’t come with great work, but he knew she could take it. As she was demonstrating below to him on the rubberized ground that held the metal and wood obstacles. He knew there was much to thank her for, and short of saving her life he knew of nothing he could do that would appeal to her softer side, the one that he wished he could have her show more. But thanks to him they had lost that option. Now they had to be harder than ever.
———-
Mina’s room was not without its comforts. The same simple base as Banes, as their quarters were both shared in the same wing. But hers had touches of coziness. A simple addition of a painted vase and flowers, a colorful set of pillowcases against a maroon comforter instead of the standard stark white. She had also gotten a small portable speaker, which she was currently syncing to a phone and letting the tones mellow out the white and sterile looking bathroom. She had been able to get a single scented candle, and she had used it sparingly, but it was still almost gone. Another secret import of bubble bath is poured by her tired hands into a warm bath in a stand-alone tub of white and with silver hardware like the rest of the room. A navy bath mat on the floor, something also not standard that added a small touch of softness to the otherwise uninviting space.
Dinner had passed and Bane was now being tended to by the inventors, taking a survey of what he’d experienced with his new injections and hardware today. He had seemed to take to them well and lets herself let go of the tense feelings she had held onto for so long about the introduction of the new elements.
This time alone was crucial to her. As the only woman in the bunker, she had to do these small things to keep herself from becoming something sexless and mechanic. Little things like applying a tube of cherry lip balm became ritualistic for her. Lighting a candle, soft music playing and submerging in a hot bath of salts and oils to ease her muscles from the strain she put on herself was something close to holy for her. Something that reminded her she was, in fact, a feminine and delicate creature underneath the loosely fitted uniforms and training clothes. With Bane being occupied, and previously keeping to his bed by this hour she finds time for herself. Before coming to the bunker she had more time alone with how Bane kept her out of sight, protecting her as she was crucial to his pain control during their isolation in the sewers and after the riots started breaking out. But in those conditions, she did not have the amenities or luxuries this hideaway was providing. So while she has this brief time where she was not holed away in some unreachable part of the earth, she was taking advantage.
A soft sigh escapes, head resting on the lip of the tub, her body submerged to her nose as she moves her limbs, feeling the silky water caress her skin. Soft things were so rare in her life now. She couldn’t believe she actually missed the mountainous hideaways of the League of Shadows with their hot springs. She missed the company of other women. She missed the understanding that came from another’s willing tenderness. She also misses dresses. She huffs out an amused sound at the thought. Such a silly thing to miss. Now her only indulgence was a nightgown and nothing with the sheer and feminine touches that she had cherished before. Nothing that made her feel sexual at all. Her life was painfully devoid of sexuality truthfully. Except for the rare occasions, she would let herself think about Bane. His size and dark charming nature appealed to her inner craving to feel small and coddled by a man in her personal life. A woman like her who had to be in charge in such a strict way needed an outlet, a way to let go of that performative facade she slipped into. She found that touching herself, whether thinking of Bane or not, was as good of a release as any. And certainly better than none at all.
“MINA?!” Bane’s rough voice from behind his mask interrupts her small sanctuary with a jolt as her eyes widened and her back stiffened.
“Just a moment!” She calls out and purses her lips, raising out of the tub.
“What is that smell?” He speaks slowly and moves with heavy feet towards the bathroom. Since it was an isolated room with an en suite, it had no door, and thus no protection from the barreling beast coming her way with no hesitation.
“Bane, I’m-“ she begins before his large form fills the doorway and stands at the end of the tub at her feet.
There’s a heavy moment for Mina. Her heart feeling stuck in her throat as she stands in the tub, bent at the waist to place her hands on its edge to get out. The bubbles cling to her skin in her attempt at a rushed exit.
Bane realizes his intrusion in an instant. But it doesn’t take away his surprise at the state he finds her in, the nudity was the last thing to raise questions in his mind.
Her face is more inconvenienced than scared. Although he hadn't seen her naked before, they were taught to think nothing of it if it occurred. Her eyes glare up into his from her a lowered brow. “Do I need to stand at attention at this arrival?” The words laced with sarcasm would possibly annoy him if he hadn’t seen he was, in fact, the one being troublesome.
His mouth parts and holds open as he thinks, luckily for him she can’t see it and read any pause. She blinks and her face holds steady. The bubbles only mildly distracting from her body glistening with iridescent color as the candlelight flickers against them. It had been since he first arrived at the League that he had seen her look so feminine, he realizes. When they were in the thick of plans for domination and destruction, it was easy to forget such things.
But now they were both acutely aware.
“I see I’ve interrupted your...leisure time.” He chooses his words and lowers his eyes from hers. His hands hang low off broad shoulders, wishing he had his brace on to hook them into.
“Yes.” Her voice lacks the usual bite, her face remains stoic as he doesn’t turn from her.
“You may resume.” He extends with a nod of his head as she sinks back into the water. But the moment had already shifted the dynamic between them.
He stands with wandering eyes, as she checks that her hair, piled on her head in loose falling pieces was still in place. “Did you need me for something?”
“I came to discuss strategy. After today’s events.” He begins, second-guessing his entry into her quarters now. “But I did not know you were...doing this.” He excused at a slow pace, seeing his brows shift as he takes in the unexpected scene.
“In the evenings after dinner, I like to do this when I can.” She explains.
“I was not aware.”
“That was purposeful. For the sake of keeping things... equal between us. Between everyone and myself, actually.” She informs him with eyes that don’t waver from him, trying to read his body language.
“What do...bubble baths have to do with that?” His eyes are less tense, a lilt of teasing in his voice.
“I do things like this to remind myself that I am in fact, a woman. But I work to hide and make that fact irrelevant to the others. It doesn’t serve a purpose here.” She shakes her head. “And since I am the only woman now, it has become more important to me to take time to remind myself. As it’s easier to forget.”
“That is understandable.” He agreed. “Is this...crucial for you? This feminine focused time?” His words lack his usual demanding tone, one of a genuinely curious man is heard instead.
“I do not wish to always be an emotionless machine. I was once made for tenderness, not violence. I like to entertain the idea I could be without this violence in my life someday. To keep that hope alive... it is crucial yes.”
“That is where you and I differ.” His head nods, a heavier breath heard through his mask.
“I’m aware.” She responds quietly.
“Since you are of the utmost importance to me and my work, is there anything that can be done to help you with this, feminization?” He offers, seeing a possible means to help her, to repay her for her work and her loyalty.
“I must remain a soldier. A leader to the others. I do not wish to be treated differently.”
“I agree. Remaining sexless is important. Especially with these newer inductees. They have much to learn.”
She nods in agreement. “Is it not their place to remind me I am a woman. It is not something our work allows.” Her eyes finally move from his and to the water. He could see sadness, reluctance in them. Things he was not accustomed to witnessing with Mina.
“They should not remind you, no.” He pauses, choosing his next words carefully as she sits in the bath. He puts on a hard brow and knows his next movement is crucial. He sees her face, can read her body language, hear her voice, knows by the book what he could do or say next and its chances of being accepted or rejected. He decides to show the softness he admires so much in her. As he approaches the side of the tub, standing with a relaxed posture as he waits for her to meet his eyes, “But would you like for me to?” He boldly suggests.
A blush rises to her cheeks, the pink noticeable in the white surroundings as the steam framed her soft-looking features. “You?” She finally responds, only her eyes shifting up to meet his gaze which held strong as always.
“Yes.” He answers curtly. “Do you see me as someone who could have that kind of role? Not in a...professional manner but a personal one.” He still spoke as if in a meeting, and she found his approach endearing. His voice was gentle, his palms showing as he inquires further with his hands speaking to engage her.
But she still couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. After all this time. Making her feel like a woman? In a personal way? She only knew one way to interpret his words and she audibly swallows. “You would… like to… remind me that I am a woman?” Her voice is quieter, he could hear the disbelief in it. “This would require such softness, Bane. A degree of tenderness that you are not accustomed to. Both emotionally and physically.” She warns him but does not tell him no.
“I am accustomed to receiving it from you. You have shown it to me, Mina.” He says with a slight tilt of his head before kneeling by the tub to connect with her, to prove that he could. “With your care, I know it intimately do I not?” He asks with a more stern tone, only proving her point as he tries to defend his abilities. “I have the capacity for such things. But as you said, it does not have its place in our work.”
“But we aren’t talking about work. Are we?”
“No. We are not.”
She blinks slowly, eyes moving across the bubbles. “Have you… do you wish to know me with tenderness Bane? To treat me like a woman and not a soldier? As a friend, a companion?” He can so clearly see the want and fear now within her. He knew only honesty would prove his long-time suppressed interest.
“Our time spent alone has led me to consider it. You have always touched me with care and consideration. Our time here now, after Gotham, has made me consider touching you in the same way. A creature with such depth deserves to know it the same. I do not wish you to hide what you are. It does not serve either myself or you to do so.”
“I did not know.” Is all she manages, and he sees she truly did not. Perhaps he had been harder on her than he realized.
“That is how I intended it to appear. There are sacrifices to be made for our work. The same as you, yes?”
“Yes.” She admits.
“So I ask you again. Knowing now of my intention. Would you like me to remind you that you are a woman? I would not allow any other man to do it.”
“Why is it that you feel this way? Why tell me now?” Her narrowed eyes are sharp as he smiles behind his mask, she was always inquisitive. Never trusting at a glance. Something he always admired about her.
“Because we’ve always belonged to one another in our way haven’t we? You mended me. Twice now. We trained together. Planned together, fought together. Always as a team. A cohesive unit. One of the best partnerships I’ve had. And that does go beyond the professional. You are not only skilled and irreplaceable to me, but you are also loyal and a friend. I never interacted with anyone in such a casual way as I have you. You allowed a few moments of informal behavior and conversation. You reminded me that I was also a man, not only this machine the world has created. It is only right I’m the one to make you feel like a woman. As you’re the only one to make me feel like a man.” His head nods softly her way in confession. He sees her shoulders lose their tension. She was truly touched by his words and the sentiment behind them. She had no idea of the depth that he was capable of. She could see her error now. He was only hard for protection, for himself and those around him. Same as her. Who was she to tell him what he was capable of? A man like him who did such great things. She believes every word he says as she always does.
“You have always made me feel like a woman.” She admits with a small voice. “With our work, I’ve never had the luxury to explore feelings like the ones you have awakened in me. It has never been a part of our plans. “ she shakes her head, her eyes far away for a moment.”But when I thought I had lost you… when I had to take control and protect you… ever since I have had a harder time separating our work and the inconvenient emotions that this turn of events has caused me to have. “
“It has caused the same in me little Mina.”He replies, moving his forearm to rest on the tub edge, his large hand somehow light as it touches her hair, causing visible bumps to bloom across her skin. “Let us find the answers together. For we have been suffering in silence separately. In the interest of showing you more, would it not make sense for us to work together on these emotions neither of us are accustomed to? I trust no one else in this way.”
“We do make a very good team.” A small smile appears on her face. “One would think the compatibility might translate to pleasure from the professional.”
“We do know each other most... intimately.” He chooses his words to reflect something softer and more personable.
“We do.” She nods subtly. “And I have thought of what you and I would be like together. Intimately. Although I admit I pictured more of a frenzied unraveling than a discussion.” She chuckles. “But this does leave no room for misinterpretation. Which for people like us, in positions we find ourselves in, is more valuable than any quick tryst.”
“You know I prefer a deep discussion of important matters.” His shoulders move slightly as a small huff of amusement escapes him.
“And do you prefer other things deep Bane?” She asks, a less sweet smile appearing on her face. One he had not seen before.
“With you Mina, I have always wished to know what depths I could reach.” His voice has an inkling of that charm he uses to get his way. Almost cheeky and boyish that makes you second guess yourself. But she was past that, and she only found the confidence he held to be arousing as his knuckles grazed her cheek.
“We have been so very close all these years. And I have often wondered who the man was behind the mask. If the depth in your eyes was past mere intellect. And I have wanted to know if your brutality had an opposite side to it. If you had the power that lies in gentle and tenderness and not just violence” she puts her hand over his on her face and touches his face lightly, fingers tracing the tubes of his mask.
“I once knew it. But it was taken away and made into a weakness, a luxury someone like me couldn’t afford. So I tried to show it to Talia. And now I wear the mask. But when I was taken from the prison, when I was given to you, I was reminded that it existed again in others besides myself. And you have shown it to me without the expectancy of repayment all these years.” He stands, a hand outstretched to her that she doesn’t hesitate to take into her own now. “Let me repay it to you starting tonight.” He remarks, pulling her up and keeping his eyes soft as he lifted her from the tub and onto the mat by her waist. The water ran audibly down her body, plinking into the tub and tapping into the floor. With a steady hand he takes a towel and dries her off, limb by limb, one hand gently to her skin to move her as he needed and the other gliding the towel. Finishing with a soft once over of her face, hands to her cheeks as he looks over her gracious face. “You are as soft and lovely inside as you are outside Mina. As I imagined.” A soft hiss through the mask as his hands travel down her jaw, over the curves of her breasts and hips, his bare hands taking in every bit of her. Every scar and divot he touched lightly and with care, as she had when he was healing. He’s never run from anything that could be interpreted as a physical imperfection. He only wanted to make her feel as he believed a woman who was loved and cared for should as if she was perfect and the only woman in his eyes.
His thumbs circled and traced her raised nipples, a slight rise in pulse and rate of her breathing as he cupped and pinched. A soft sigh escapes her, eyes shut and hands reaching out for his arms to feel him. His hands roam, from her hair to her back and hips he touched her softly. Against his chest, she could hear his heart, the decompression of the mask she’d helped design to keep him with her in the hopes she’d know him like this one day. With her chin up to see his face, he presses his forehead to hers before dipping down and lifting her up.
She felt small but not weak in his arms. Her nose nuzzles his head and kissed his temples before he placed her in front of the bed. “I want to see you.” She softly asks of him, her hands at the hem of his basic black shirt.
A nod and a shedding of his layers commenced on her suggestion as she gets to see the breadth of him for what felt like the first time. The first time her body could react how it wished. He could see her hips twitch, her nipples harden at the sight of him. He was not a shy man and stood at attention for her to trace her fingers along his masculine lines as he held her.
“My god look at you.” She whispers, kissing his barrel chest. Hands feeling greedy as they explored the breadth of his shoulders, the musculature of his ass and thighs. She felt the need to please him, falling into a role she hadn’t expected and one she never got to play. She wanted to serve him. Moving to her knees he doesn’t stop her, letting her do as she pleased. He wasn’t one to judge how she wanted to feel like a woman. As she explored below his hips with a nuzzling of her face into his hair and skin the last thing he wanted was for her to stop.
As she always had, she touched him with care. Gentle hands stroked his length and cupped his balls, a hiss of pleasure from the mask as she took him into her mouth. Her soft lips and tongue worked against him hungrily. Small sounds escaping her as she sucked and licked him into her mouth and throat that told him she needed him there. He didn’t feel any need to be harsh with her, his hands only pushing back her hair to see her face, meet her eyes when they opened as she caught her breath. The steady audible breathing from the mask all the while. She could’ve stayed and worshipped him on her knees to completion but she withheld. She rose and with a gentle stroke of her hand still on him, she leaves messy kisses with trails of saliva behind them across his chest. “I’ve had my fun, now have yours.” She smiles, chin up to face the dark eyes that bore into her.
His hands lift and toss her to the bed gently as she smiles with soft waves of hair surrounding her face. A blush of happiness in color across her cheeks as he lay by her and teased her with fingers down her stomach.
She put her arm around his thick neck, bringing him close, temple to temple as he began exploring her body. Those strong hands, ones that snapped bones and took lives were gentle against her. She was the exception.
His fingers were large just like the rest of him and proved it as they parted her lips and legs with ease. She wasted no time giving herself over to it. Feeling the cold metal of his mask pressed to her throat where she wished his lips to be. But she had the heat of his skin, that handsome face pressed to her and it was enough to pretend the hiss was simply his breath tickling across her bare skin. With an arching back and open mouth she sighs and calls out his name. He pulled her to him, chest to chest as she grasps at his shoulders, leg over his hip as he kept pressing forward, stretching and stroking and making her feel how she needed, what she could never make herself feel.
“Bane, please. I want you. Let me feel you inside me when I come.” She whines, a tone he never thought he’d heard from her, but keeping her on the edge of orgasm she lets her needful nature show through. Her hands stroke him, already hard from feeling her hot and writhing against him. The call of his name so sweet makes him groan. Had his name ever been moaned in such a way?
With a lift of leg, he enters her fully sheathed and being pulled on top of her by her strong arms around his neck. Forehead to forehead he fucks her. Two column sized arms she clenches onto, his traps and shoulders daunting, she could reach around him and every bit of that muscle giving her the pressure and push she needed. With every call of his name, every arch of back and squeeze around him he felt closer to coming. Sex was something he did alone and only for the purpose of killing distraction. This was different, this was a connection being made. Something he hadn’t done with anyone else but her. Sex was performative, functional with anyone else. This was something different.
She sang his praises, “Bane, you feel so good. Better than I imagined. And oh how I imagined all these years.” She confesses into his red ears, flushed with effort. His own sounds, wordless carry into her sternum where his mask presses, holding her hips up and using the leverage of his knees to work her body against his. She circled her hips, hands back on the bed to push back onto him. His head hung down and hers back, both more animalistic now, growing only more so.
With clenched teeth and sweat dripping they locked eyes, holding an intensity they both knew the other held, and now it was for each other. She reaches for him and he scoops her up to ride him on his knees and arms around his neck. He lifts her hips and pounds her into him, both gasping the other's name, her's a light and delicate call and his a groaned and desperate warning.
“Bane, please love just… I’m going to come, finish. I want you inside me.” She mewls out with her lips latched to his neck.
He hadn’t expected it, and that was a rare event. Which is why it caught him deep in his gut and forced him to feel every breath she gave him as she came around him. Shaking and trembling, tears squeezed from clenched shut eyes as she felt it all so intensely overtake her. He follows suit, giving her what she asked, as he had always done within reason, and her plea of him was more than reasonable at the moment.
A mix of the two of them, cum, sweat, tears, and friction lay with them in the heap they created on the bed. Now with clear minds and relaxed muscles, they lay together, her kissing his chest and tracing her fingers across old scars. “Would you stay? Can you stay without arousing suspicion?”
“Those that would notice know better than to say anything.”
“Anyone who did would have to answer to my blade.” She chuckles and he feels her snuggle into him. “We are the leaders. They do as we say.” She adds with a tone that tells him she means it.
“Good to see you’re still the Mina I need in battle.”
“I can be the Mina you need in bed as well.” A smile crosses her lips and he pushes back her hair affectionately.
“You are many things to me, Mina. And all are important.” He nods in approval. “Now we rest. We have training in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.” She said playfully, wrapping herself around him and feeling him bare against her as she fell asleep, something she’d never really thought possible.
—————————————————
Time passes and it’s business as usual. He treats her no different around anyone else.
He calls her to his room one night and gives her the report on his vitals for the new injections. Everything had stabilized and he no longer needed the mask.
She can see his reserved body language as he sits on the edge of the bed. She places the paper down, moving towards him slowly like a frightened animal. She kneels in front of him and puts her hands over his that clasp together between his knees.
“Are you ready to take it off?” She asks with no demand.
“I was no one before it. Will I still hold the same power and fear without it?” He asks her.
She’s touched by his honesty for the concern of how he presented himself, he did have a point. “I believe no matter what you look like or wear you are powerful and worthy to be feared.” He senses no lie in her sweet words. She truly believed in him. “Is it your appearance without it that bothers you?”
“No.” He swings his head. “Such things are of no consequence to me.” He explains. “The mask is a symbol. A character head for a movement, a belief that goes beyond myself. I am not the movement, it will go on after I am gone. But without the mask, I am only a man to them. With it, I am more. It will not be the same without it.”
“No, it will not. But you do not require it any longer for pain.” She shakes her head as she stares into his eyes that had so many thoughts running behind them. ”I do have a proposition.”
“Yes?”
“You can wear it out there... for them. You are Bane and the mask has been as big a part of you as any since your inception. But you are not only who they know. You are who I know as well. Perhaps you can be without it in private? Have it serve as only a mask now. No longer an aid.”
“Is this something you would prefer? As you would be the only one to witness it.”
“I will admit I want to see all of you. In every way. Every incarnation. I have dreamed of kissing your lips and feeling them on my skin.” He feels her words brush against him in a caress as tender as her own.
He nods and furrows his brow, finding her advice to be as solid as it always had been. “I have wondered what you taste like. What the soft flesh of your breasts would feel like under my tongue, between my teeth.” He begins and exhales with a hiss. His hand raises her chin, speaks of her lips as his thumb runs across them, knuckles grazing down her chest to her hardening nipples, her body reacting to him with words alone.
“I want you to know what it feels like too. I want to taste your lips and feel the tongue that commands army’s against mine. I want your breath and sounds unfiltered against my skin. I want us to devour each other with nothing between us.”
Her words of lust encourage them both, a solid thrumming through their veins as their eyes meet and hold boldly, her face set with a confident expression and wanting eyes, lips parted just slightly, begging to be known by his.
“Then I’ll make it so.” He decides, standing and letting his hand trail through her hair as he moves to a mirror on the wall. His strong fingers pull the straps, release the holds and a whisper of air escapes. He suppressed the learned panic from not having it on his face. Usually a sign of immediate and intense pain to follow, but Mina's ingenuity had led him to be able to exist as he was before the mask, something he never thought possible.
He stares at himself, the mask now sat on the tabletop growing cold. His eyes were curious and unafraid. His face as he recalled beneath it, having been shaved recently as the existence of facial hair was cumbersome to him. The same scars were there, the same snare in his lip that split the top one unevenly. White lines around his mouth, his nose still strong and a bit crooked. She waits on the bed for him, letting him have his moment of reflection.
“There’s the face I remember from so many years ago.” She beams as he moves towards her. “The mark of a true warrior. Scars and proof of survival as a man such as you should be.” She raises her hand to touch his face. He simply closes his eyes and doesn’t recoil at the feeling. Never flinching as she touches the unexpected softness, “I cherish mending every scar.” She whispers moving closer. “You’ve only grown more wise, depth in your eyes where fear lay then.”
Her words make him feel secure. He wasn’t a person who needed others to stroke his ego but having the approval of another person he admired as much as Mina felt good.
He opens his eyes again and she hums with content for what she finds there. “And hunger now.” She gives a broad and confident smile to his almost expressionless face. His eyes were always the way to understand him and she was fluent in it. “Tell me, Bane.” Her voice was low and full of clear intent to tempt. “What are you hungry for?” She asks as she removes her top, leaving her uncovered. “What do those lips want now that I’ve given them their freedom?” She challenges as she takes off each article of clothing, confronting him with an unwavering stare. “They can take anything they wish, just like you… your hands… your cock has before.” She touches his body before undressing him as he stands with a devilish glare to meet her precocious one. Stroking him now in her hands, she bites her lip and moans for the hardness she feels. “Let the flesh bleed between your teeth, my love. Take it how you wish. Know what this pussy tastes of as it starves for your touch. Only yours.” She taunts.
Bane has never let a worthy taunt go unanswered, and Mina was the most worthy person to receive his hunger. So he gave it to her. In full.
It’d been so long since she’d sparred with him she’d almost forgotten the speed that accompanied his strength. He had her mouth to his in an instant, hand in her hair to yank back her chin as he licked at her throat, drawing a moan from her. “Mina you minx I’ll eat you alive.” He threatens as they groan into the others mouth, hands fierce on each other as the kisses skip affection and go straight for desperation. Tongues outside of mouths, teeth drawing blood from lips and gnashing continues through the rolling they do on the bed. Nails leave marks on their bodies and they lap away at each other like beasts. He kisses her throat, teeth biting at her shoulders. His eyes rolled back, panting after the sound she emits when he takes her nipple into his mouth with a hard and biting suck. She only pleads for more, pressing his head into her chest.
He leaves a trail of marks down her body, on her thighs before he proves his appetite and takes her into his mouth. She’s left breathless, a starving man between her thighs he is as he laps and sucks and bites. He fucks her with his tongue first, tasting as deeply inside her as he can, a messy display of need as he slurps and grunts into her. His fingers follow, his lips attached to around her clit as they nursed and his tongue worked the sensitive and swollen bud between his teeth and lips. He earned every sound of pain and pleasure he wanted to hear. His enthusiasm is contagious and causes her to cum. He drinks her in, licking her clean before nipping and kissing his way up her body to meet their mouths again.
Only for a second a tender kiss is shared as he aligns himself and begins a brutish pace that her body eagerly welcomes. She was louder than he’d ever heard her as he engulfed her nipples, kissed her mouth and neck and couldn’t decide where he wanted to touch and taste next. The need was relentless, her hot and wet around him, both around his cock and his mouth now as she cried against him. He needed it harder, he needed her conquered and his jaws on her in new places.
He moves her without effort as she’d always fantasized. Turning her over and taking her from behind which made her roar out for him. Holding onto the headboard she braces herself, head knocking from the power and every breath a moan as he pounded into her full strength. His hand held her tightly, feeling her skin began to darken under his fingertips from the force. His mouth moved along her shoulders, as she cried for more from him. Always more.
He bites into her shoulder. She growls out approval and tries to push back onto him but he’s controlling her hips and the sounds were surely echoing around the base of their bodies hitting together. But who gave a fuck?
He yanks her up by her neck, one hand encasing it entirely as he holds her tightly by the hip with the other and pounds into her with his lips at her ears. She heard every breath and felt ever drop of spit on her skin as he groaned her name. He fucked her relentlessly as she came around him, giving it no mind as she yelped and shouted. He kept going, her legs spreading until she was flat on the bed, him with his heavy hands on her back, knees planted to hit into her impossibly deep. She moaned like a banshee for him, deep and guttural as she came again, him hitting and stretching every spot she craved.
He comes with a roar. The weight of him on her back and pressing her into the bed in the most comforting way. She was safe, he had her, she was his. She feels the heat and wet from his mouth in her hair, the lion-like roars now purrs against her skin. He had let out the beast in himself that had felt caged from the mask. He gave her a piece of himself, no one else had ever had, something that would frighten anyone else, and she took it as hungrily and desperately as he gave it. She was his match.
He rises and dips her over, her face with hair plastered with sweat, mouth open and arms already reaching for him. “You are… delicious.” He sighs as he leans in to kiss her again, this time taking his time, lips and tongue soothing and affectionate against one another.
“You are a beast.” She giggles against him. “You are as much of an animal as a man should be, Bane. You are… a force to be reckoned with.” She honors, hands on his cheeks to feel him even as he kissed her neck.
“Do you wish to tame it, Mina? Me?”
“Never.” She sways her head and he kisses up to her temples.
“That is why you are the only one to know him in this way. You’re the only one to ever know him, see him and accept it as it is. A part of me.”
“All parts of you are the ones I want. I’ve known them all. And I fear none because I know them. I know you.”
“You do. You see me now. As I am. As a man. No mask, no Bane, only a man.”
“And it is such a man that makes me feel like a woman.” She whispers against him. “Every part of me, woman and soldier are yours, my love. The only man to earn my heart.”
“And I’ll fight to keep it. I’ll bleed for you and our vision.”
“May the gods have mercy on our enemies, Bane. Because we never will.”
Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works! Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!
This is for the anon and @littlewollff that requested Bane. Om I’m so excited for you all to read this! I got pretty ambitious about it and it got me even out of my comfort zone, with writing about fight scenes and smut. Anyway, I really hope you like this! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
Tag list: @deaflikehawkeye, @mollybegger-blog, @of-love-and-of-the-sea, @br0ck-eddie, @evelynshelby, @fandom--0verdose, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @shadow-of-wonder , @sopxhiea (let me know if you wanna be added)
Warning: SMUT, flashbacks are in italics
Moving in had proven to be a harder task than Donna first thought but at the same time it turned out to be a pleasant one too. Unpacking her stuff meant that she got to find things she had considered long lost. Her life had not been always easy but Donna soon discovered that with time only the good moments were forever stuck in her memory. Her cherished musicals collection gave her a bittersweet feeling, proud of having so many but as it had always been, they also made her think of her mother. That lovely woman who she had got to know only through her grandparents’ stories. Donna had always felt close to her mother while watching musicals, especially those that her grannie told her were her mother’s favorites. Finding her precious fuchsia pin though was a whole different experience. She had loved that thing, she remembered how she used to wear it all the time. She could recall especially one particular night when she had been wearing that.
When Donna was a teenager, she had started dyeing her hair. The color changed from time to time and when she met Bane, she had been settled on pink hair for a while. According to the hair color, Donna arranged her wardrobe, makeup and accessories. So, she used a sparkly glittery fuchsia clip to hold her baby hair back during that time. The way they met wasn’t a conventional one and neither was the first night they spent together. She reckoned she had been startled and confused, maybe even a little scared. However, now that her mind brought her back to that moment, she couldn’t help but smile fondly at the memory as it played through her mind.
17 March, St Patrick day. Even if Donna had Irish blood in her veins, she couldn’t help but feel indifferent at the festivity. If it hadn’t been for a colleague that had mentioned it to her, she wouldn’t have even remembered it. She had always cherished her Irish heritage knowing how important it had been for her grandparents. Donna was aware that she owed everything to those lovely people and that’s why she had always taken part in the festivities regarding this very day when she was at home. However, since their death and her departure from Ireland, she couldn’t connect to that part of herself anymore. She found it very painful to do so and so locked it stayed, barely acknowledged.
There was something that she used to do with her grandparents on this day that she still did though, a sort of ritual. She didn’t know why but St Patrick day had always been taken by her grannie as a way to celebrate her mother. So, every year they would watch one, or a few, of her favorite films. That’s why Donna had grown up to love musicals, it was inevitable really. Even if she couldn’t seem to be able to cherish her Irish heritage anymore, she couldn’t renounce of that tradition. And so that’s where she was that night when unbeknownst to her, her whole life changed, on her bed singing along to “Mamma Mia”’s songs. At first, she had been too into her karaoke session to notice what was happening behind her. From her bedroom window, Bane was crawling in, trying not to damage his body more than it already was. He didn’t know how or why but Catwoman’s blow didn't kill him. It only left him to wake up in a lot of pain, even more than he was used to bear, and with numerous wounds that needed to be taken care of. The sight before him was rather… unusual. He had expected to be met with screams of fear, tears or a shocked expression even. Instead, Bane was met with the sight of Donna performing along with the actors on the screen. She was absolutely off-key but Bane was amused anyway. When he sat down on her window seat, groaning from the pain and holding his side, that was when Donna spun around startled by the noise he made and froze on the spot. She didn’t indulge in gossip but his face was one that everyone in Gotham knew. After the failed revolution it was almost impossible not to know him. Donna couldn’t help but feel scared at the sight of his masked face. Her mind instantly linked him with the uproar and the danger he put the city in. Not that Donna loved Gotham but she certainly cared for her life. Forcing her mind to work and not give up on her, she took him in. The side he was holding in his hand was bleeding and the mask, his distinctive trait, was damaged.
“Never thought of getting into Hollywood? I’m sure you’d make it.” His voice sounded strange. Strained, muffled. Probably because of the pain he was in and the mask on his mouth.
“What are you doing here?” She found herself asking, completely disregarding his words.
“As you can see I’m in need of a little help.” Bane simply said, silently asking her to clean his wounds.
“I’m not a doctor nor a nurse.”
“I’ll just need a first aid kit and somewhere to stay.” He resolutely told her and Donna couldn’t do much other than supplying him with what he had asked.
Sitting on her bed, she observed him cleaning and bandaging his own wounds in fascination. Donna could barely clean a scratch on her knees without flinching and here it was, an almost fatally wounded man in front of her that was taking care of himself without batting an eye. Bane could feel her eyes on him but continued to act none the wiser. This little woman was taking it well, better than he first expected. He figured that staring at him wasn’t a big of a deal. He was used to being at the centre of attention anyway.
Much to his surprise, when he wrapped the last bandage on his body, she got up and gathered everything he had used to clean after him. Before leaving the room, she almost imperceptibly pointed with her head to the bed she previously had been sitting on. Bane didn’t wait for her to ask twice, so that’s where Donna found him when she returned to the room. He heard her soft steps on the carpet but didn’t open his eyes to acknowledge her. However, his eyes snapped open when he felt the bed dip beside him. Donna was standing on her knees at his side, holding up something in her hands that he later identified as duck tape. Ever so timidly, she pointed to his mask and he understood that she was asking him permission to touch it.
“It probably won’t do much but your mask is broken. I can put the pieces together. Until you find a permanent solution.” Donna had never spoken so softly before and didn’t even know why she was almost whispering now. Like she was talking with a wild beast, afraid that if she spoke too loud she would startle her and made her attack her.
His mask was off-limits, everyone knew. However, Bane felt himself nodding before he could register what he was doing. This little lady was certainly… one of a kind. Not only she hadn’t screamed or tried to hurt him but was also trying to help him. Was she too kind or just insane? Bane couldn’t know, having only met her, but her hands on his face were gentle and unthreatening, he decided. Her touch then left his face and after a few seconds, he heard her leave the bed only to return right away with her laptop. She laid next to him, Bane didn’t know whether it was for keeping an eye on him or checking in on him, put her headphones in and pressed play.
Trying not to let her know, he glanced at the screen but wasn’t able to recognize the film she was watching. He knew it was a musical though, seeing as there were people dancing and singing. He closed his eyes again, trying to relax and didn’t open them even when he heard her whispers. It seemed that she wasn’t doing a good job at preventing herself from singing along, not that Bane minded. Even if his eyes were closed, his ears were always listening in to see if there was any danger approaching. He knew that there were men looking for him and in the state he was in, he couldn’t put up much of a fight. And the lady… well, he didn’t really think her capable of fighting against mercenaries, nevermind the police. The only thing that he could hear were the words that would leave her mouth from time to time. Until he heard it. The lock of her main door squeaked. Someone was trying to break in, he concluded opening his eyes.
Tapping on her shoulder, he got her attention. Turning to him, she removed one headphone and looked questioningly at him.
“Someone’s is trying to break in.” He said calmly trying to not make her panic. To his surprise she didn’t, she only nodded and got out of bed. She walked in her bathroom, opened her shower and put on some music. Walking back into her room, she strolled over the side of her bed where he was resting and helped him get off.
Trying to support as much of his weight as she could, Donna let him wrap one of his big arms around her shoulders and together they slowly limped towards the bathroom. The small walk tired them both, Bane was still weak from the blow and the blood loss while Donna was simply not used to lift something, or in this case, someone, that heavy. She gently helped him so that he was sitting on the edge of her bathtub that could also be used as a shower and turned around to lock the door. When she faced him again, she was met with an inquisitory stare. Bane wasn’t in the state to physically stop her, so he had followed her in the bathroom, but was still able to understand that her plan, if she even had one, simply was going to fail.
“They are looking for you. When they don’t find you here and see that I’m in the shower, they’re just going to go away.” She hoped so at least. Getting into the tub first, she gently turned him around, lifting his legs one at a time so that he was still sitting but was now in the tub. This time, she took both of his arms and wrapped them around her neck, while hers went around his waist. With her feet firmly planted on the ground of the tub, she crunched a little, to give herself a little push to make him stand up. She knew that she couldn’t possibly hold him like this for more than 5 seconds, so she swiftly pivoted. Holding him up with the help of the wall, they were standing close, too close. Their skin touching but their faces apart given the height difference. Donna tried not to think too much about it. They were just doing what was necessary to escape death after all. It didn’t mean anything. Her skin wasn’t reacting funny at his touch. It was for the strain she was putting her muscles through. His breath hadn’t stopped because she was close to him. It’s just that he was in pain. Then, in hope to make her plan work, she started to sing along to the song that was playing.
However, much to Donna’s dread and Bane’s not-at-all surprise, the men didn’t stop at the empty house or at the implication of the water running and loud music playing. When it came to Bane, they weren’t taking any chances. Only standing at his corpse, they would stop. Bane was perfectly aware of their way of thinking because it was also his and a shiver run through his spine at the thought of what was going to happen. No matter how many times he had defeated death, he wasn’t immortal and it seemed that his time had come much sooner than he would have liked. He had never been afraid of death. He had even embraced it, planned for it when he took Gotham. His only regret was that it had to be this way, at the hand of worthless men rather than for a noble cause.
When he heard the door lock creak yet again, his eyes involuntarily moved to the petit body of his unlikely rescuer. He wouldn’t go as far as to say that he cared about her, because then he would be lying. And Bane was above lies. He had never been ungrateful though and was perfectly aware that if it hadn’t been for her, he probably would have died on that filthy road. He didn’t care for her but was mildly sad that she would die in this way. She seemed like a nice person. He knew she was kind and that was a rare thing in this wretched world. She was also full of surprises, he would come to find out. As a matter of fact, when he glanced down at her, the fire and resolution in her eyes startled him. Bane couldn’t possibly know but in her mind, all the different scenarios of what could happen in the next minutes were playing and she was doing her best to try and figure out a way where both of them would come out alive. She would be damned if she’d let those men hurt her, let alone kill her. Completely unaware of Bane’s eyes on her, she slightly nodded to herself when she decided the plan of action.
“Stay here and don’t move,” she told him firmly before hopping out of the tub. Quickly drying her legs, she hid behind the door. Even if they blasted it, and she knew that they would, there was still enough space for her to hide and wait for the right moment to strike. It was in moments like these that she was thankful for her stature. She would push the door right back in their faces, startling them and if she was lucky even sending them back on their asses, as soon as they would open the door.
Her previous plan hadn’t worked but fortunately, this one did. As she predicted, the blow of the door in their faces did startle the intruders but it wasn’t strong enough to make them fall down. Opening the door again, she took advantage of the startled man. Grabbing the hand that was holding a gun, she pulled it to her and closed the door on him at the same time. This time the blow was strong enough to have at least dislocated his wrist and to make him lose the grip on the gun. With her hand still wrapped around the man’s wrist, Donna let the gun drop to the floor and slammed the door on his head again. When she loosened her grip she was met with the comforting noise of his body falling on the floor. Donna wasn’t sure if they had realized what was going on or if they thought it was Bane attacking them. Anyway, she needed to use everything she had to her advantage. Now that the element of surprise was gone she had to think quick on her feet. However, the door shook again preventing her to formulate any kind of plan.
She didn’t know how many men there were outside but when the door busted open again she couldn’t do much except for fighting. Hiding the gun she already had in the waistband of her pants, she braced herself just in time. She could only see other two men beside the one that was still k.o. on the floor. The one that entered first, pointed a gun at her head but before he could fire, Donna thrusted his arm to the ceiling, the shot wasted in the air while she swiftly jabbed him in the guts and in the neck with her elbow. When the man bent in two, she graciously let her knee and his nose get acquainted. Blood sprayed everywhere and even if she didn’t hear it crack because of the music, she knew she had broken his nose. When she spotted at the corner of her eyes that the other man was ready to shoot her, she let her instincts take over her. Pushing the wounded bleeding man to the door knocking him out, she pivoted on herself doing a 360-degree angle with her leg and kicked him in the face. Donna didn’t know what had possessed her to make her act like this, she didn’t even know she could be that flexible. It had been ages since her last martial arts class. She still got it apparently, she mused while she looked as the last man fell down with satisfaction.
Too busy catching her breath and disarming the men while making sure that they stayed out cold, she didn’t notice that the shower had been shut down and that Bane was standing behind her, leaning against the door frame.
“You knocked out three of my men.” He observed. Was that admiration in his voice? Or maybe astonishment? Donna couldn’t tell.
“Well, why the hell were they trying to kill me?” She didn’t feel accusation in his voice but felt the need to defend herself all the same.
“I believe they were trying to rescue me and thought of you as a threat.”
“A threat? Have you seen me?” she scoffed, “ you should recruit less stupid men.” She concluded while walking to him to help him back to the bed.
“You did manage to knock three fully trained mercenaries out cold.” Bane pointed out as a matter of fact and this time Donna could spot the amazement in his voice.
“Didn’t I tell you about my taekwondo skills?” she acted none the wiser and laid back next to him. Bane snorted in amusement even though Donna didn’t hear. His mask emitted a constant low hiss, muffling a lot of his sounds.
“Why didn’t you fight me then?” He had been wondering since she started fighting the men. He didn’t think it possible but this little lady kept surprising him.
“My grandfather always used to say: know when to back off Donna, don’t be like Napoleon at Waterloo.” She explained with a soft smile recalling all the times her beloved grandparent would tell her those exact words. He had been a history teacher and was especially interested in the figure of Napoleon Bonaparte.
“You were Waterloo, even in your state.” she pointed out. Fighting those men had been all about survival. They were trying to take her out so she acted before they could return the favor. With Bane, it had been different. He was hurt and needed help. As long as she provided for him, she knew she didn’t have anything to fear from him. And also that he could strangle her with minimum strength and bare hands.
That night had surprised both her and Bane. She still couldn’t believe what she did. She had been trained to fight but never in that kind of situation. Where both her life and his were at stake. Sure, after that her muscles had been sore for days but it was the least that could happen. She had even feared to have strained something at one point. Fortunately, it was just that she was out of practice. However, she could still feel the pride she felt whenever Bane looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. It was a really nice first impression, probably her best one. Lost in her memories, she didn’t hear the man of the hour walking behind her.
“Are you having trouble unpacking?” Bane asked her when he noticed her standing still in front of an open box.
“Oh no, I’ve just found something that brought me back,” Donna explained glancing at him over her shoulder, holding the clip up so that he could see. Not that she thought he would remember it or anything. And yet, little did Donna know, that Bane recognized the hair accessory indeed. Only that it brought him back to a completely different time. A sadder memory. A moment in their relationship of which he wasn’t really proud. One that if he could go back, would prevent from happening. But one that Bane knew, looking back to it after five years, helped them made the little jump they needed to bring their relationship to the next level.
Both Bane and Donna had never been fans of labels. Especially when it came to them, they much preferred living in the moment rather than risking ruining what they had by putting it in a box. Despite everything, it was safe to say that they had grown close. Very close. So close that they were now able to enjoy the comfort that only intimacy between two people that shared a bond could bring. As a matter of fact, after sex, they laid together in bed, both of them on their sides so that they were facing each other. One of Bane’s arms was under Donna head acting as a pillow, while the other rested on her back, slowly stroking the skin there. Donna was pretty much draped over him, one of her legs was over his waist and her arms held him in a loose embrace. It had always amazed her how smooth his skin was and after touching him for the first time she was also surprised to learn that his skin was soft and warm too. Always full of surprises this man. So they just were there, in each other arms, contently caressing the other. Skin to skin. Neither of their touches was sensual or provocative. Not at first. They were past round 1 and were just basking into the intimacy of the afterglow. But then Bane’s hand moved slowly from her back, where it was resting, to the curve of her ass cheek. Slowly but firmly he gripped her leg that was draped over his wait to secure it there and also move it a little higher so that their cores were now touching. He didn’t enter her yet, not even stroking, he just moved so that they were touching down there too. Donna gasped at the contact she didn’t expect but smiled a little when she felt him getting hard again. This man’s sexual appetite was endless. She didn’t move, allowing him to touch her and enjoying it at the same time. Bane took this as an invitation to proceed and so he did. He swiftly turned her on her back, his arms taking the most of his weight, otherwise, he would have crushed her, and her legs were now around him. Her hands didn’t stop touching him, they only moved to his neck. Donna would never tell him but his neck and his shoulders, so thick and strong, had always aroused her. And since his mouth wasn’t available to her, they took its place when it came to showing him affection and desire.
On Bane’s part though, he had always liked the striking difference in size between them. She was a tiny little thing, not even over 1.60, so infinitely little compared to him who was a bulky mountain of a man. It was no secret that Bane loved power and being in control, Donna had even compared him once to a certain Monica Geller - not that he knew who she was- and the fact that she was so small and that he could so easily manœuvre her and do anything he wanted, was a huge turn-on for him. Little did he know that it was something that aroused Donna as well.
One of his hand, moved from its position beside her head to instead trace her face. He had the habit of gently feeling her lips with his fingers and Donna had always wondered what it meant for him. If it was maybe a way for him to feel them since he couldn’t with his mouth, a kiss of sorts. In any case, she liked it and the way he carefully moved his fingers and his eyes lit up, would always make Donna curse in her mind at the fact that she couldn’t kiss him. His fingers then moved over her neck. They had been intimate for a while now and she had come to learn that he was as dominant in bed as he was in life and that one of his kinks was choking. Not used to it at first, Donna was, of course, startled and even a bit scared by the threat of his large hand on her throat. But for some unknown reason, she trusted him not to hurt her. And up until now, he didn’t give her a reason for her not to. However, his fingers didn’t wrap themselves around her neck as she expected but instead continued moving to her chest, where he felt her collarbone.
“Look at you, so small and yet so willing to take me.”
“Not going to lie, the first time I saw you I thought you were going to break me,” she confessed
“Oh, I could. I very well could break you, so easily. You never resisted me though.”
“I trust you. I know you won’t.” Taking her words in, Bane didn’t know what surprised him more, the fact that she genuinely believed that or that she trusted him. He didn’t stop to consider it though, he knew for certain what those words made him feel and that was what he was going to focus on.
Startling her yet again, both of his hands grabbed her bottom while he made her open up her legs more by leaning over her body. Adjusting her position so that they were perfectly aligned, he only needed to move his hips a little further and then they would be one. And when he did, both of them moaned for the sensation. Despite the fact that they had been doing this for a while, Donna had yet to get completely adjusted to his length. A part of her thought that she never would but fortunately, it wasn’t unbearable. Bane was very aware that their difference in size also meant that she’d take him with difficulty. And even if she had always been willing and never complained, he had always minded the first thrusts. Not too rough or fast. Just a few slow movements to let her walls accommodate him. But when her breath would quicken and her legs’ grip would tighten around him, he knew it was time. Time to finally ravish her. Bane wasn’t a gentle man, and neither was his approach to sex. His hands were strong and would leave marks where they would grip Donna’s skin. His thrusts became more vigorous and deeper, his pube hitting her sensitive bundle of nerves, his legs slapping against her making her move a little on the bed. She knew him though, knew what he liked, so she braced herself and locked her arms around him as well, staying in place this way. Not that his grip on her ass would let her go anywhere.
The rhythm of Bane’s thrusts was always an increasing one: he would start slow to allow her to get used to his length and then, as her moans would be louder and her hands gripped his shoulders harder, he would quicken until the room was filled with the sound of their pelvis slapping and Donna’s broken breath. Bane was delighted to find out that a little thing like Donna was able to take him, even when it seemed that his mission was to break her in two. Donna, on the other hand, wasn’t so shocked to find out that Bane is very vocal in bed. Not in the sense of dirty talking, sometimes he would do that too, but more in the way of asserting his dominance and her submission.
With his head on her neck, where his mask was gracing her skin, he bashed in the sensation of her tight walls around him. Adjusting his position so that he was leaning on her resting his weight on his hands beside her head. That only lasted for a while though, the urge to wrap his hand around her slim neck was too strong.
“ Such a tiny doll, so tight,” he panted in her ear continuing to mercilessly snap his hips on hers, “and yet taking me so well.”
“I wonder if it wasn’t made especially for me.” Applying more pressure on her neck, he stopped his movement with a strong thrust, opting for going deep rather than fast. “No matter because it’s mine.” The possessiveness was loud and clear in his voice but the growl he made while he slowly entered her again left no doubt.
“Am I right, Donna?” His answer was more of a rhetorical one but Donna knew that he liked to hear her answer nevertheless. And she did open her mouth to answer him. She couldn’t though, only a loud gasp left her lips. He set up a pace that he knew was torturing her and making her unable to make any rational thinking. He would slowly pull away, to the point where only his tip was in, be like this for a moment before going in again with a powerful snap of the hips arriving as deep inside her as he could.
He needed to know, needed for her to talk back, needed the reassurance that she was his and only his.
Moving his hand to press his thumb on her clit, he called for her attention again.
“Answer me.” And with that, his thrusts regained speed adding to his fingers stroking her where she was most sensitive, it brought her over the edge.
“Oh my god, Bane!” Donna was in pure ecstasy. Her legs were shaking but didn’t lose their grip on him, while her fingers had painfully gripped his shoulder blades. She was a mess, heart beating so fast that was ready to leave her body and her breath so quick that it seemed she had been running the marathon. Donna knew though that Bane wasn’t finished and that since she hadn’t answered him, she was in for a delicious punishment. That’s what she thought.
Growling at her like an angry fiend, Bane pulled out of her only to hastily turn her on her stomach and re-entering her from behind. Holding her still by wrapping a hand in her hair, he resumed thrusting only this time even more vigorously. Still coming down from her high, Donna was still sensitive and while normally she was able to take Bane’s strength with no fuss, now it was bordering pain.
His hand, resumed its position on her neck gripping hard and pulling her toward him, while hers snapped behind her on his chest to try and tell him silently to slow down. Bane though didn’t seem to notice. He was too far into his mind, set off by her silence, he was soon reminiscing all the time he would catch her laughing or mingling around with men of his army. He had never thought much about it, sure of where her loyalty stood. Now though he wasn’t so sure anymore.
As the thought registered in his mind, he gripped way harder on her neck while increasing his tempo, not aware of how his actions were putting Donna off, until he was snapped out of it by her screams.
“Bane! Bane, stop!” she pleaded, “I don’t want this anymore,” she repeated more vigorously when he didn’t even slow down. The way he gripped her neck, almost choking her, and the way he was mercilessly pounding into her like he was stabbing her in a way, was all too much for her. Donna didn’t know what had set him off but she needed him to stop. She enjoyed it rough but this was just violence. She tried to push him away with her hand when he ignored her and as he got suddenly pulled back to earth, he released her immediately when he registered and her cries for him to get away from her. She fell back on the bed and immediately turned around to face him, holding her knees to her chest so that not even an inch of her skin was touching his. Donna looked at him like he had wounded her, the betray in her eyes painfully evident for him. And for the first time in his life, Bane didn’t know what to say. He realized that he got carried away, lost himself in his emotions and let them control his body. That alone would have been outrageous for him but the fact that she had witnessed this moment of weakness and had even suffered from it, made it even harder for Bane to comprehend his actions. What had gotten over him?
Donna was busy in a train of thought of her own but unbeknownst to her, she was posing herself the same question. What had gotten over him? Okay, that he was usually rough in bed, but this was a different thing. It felt like he really wanted to hurt her, like he wanted to punish her for some reason. That wasn’t rough, it was hate fucking. And Donna didn’t know what to do with that realization. Locked in his bathroom probably wasn’t the best way to deal with this. But what should she do? What could she do? What could have happened to make Bane despise her so? Did something happen or it was just that he got tired of her and wanted to push her away? Did she think that Bane was capable of doing something like that? To be fair, Donna couldn’t say to really know Bane. But she did spend a lot of time with him and she had always thought him to be articulate and upfront. He didn’t seem the type of man to restore to such low acts instead of facing the problem. But what could she know? At the end of the day, you really can’t say to know your partner. Above all, Bane.
They weren’t even partners, Donna sourly considered. What they had was… something for sure but they never stopped and put a label on it. Yes, they were lovers in the sense that they had sex. Very frequently. But was it just that? Were they at least friends? Did he even care about her or was it just physical? Donna had never cared much for labels. As long as there were mutual trust and respect, she didn’t have any problems. But now that those requirements were abruptly missing, she started to question their relationship. If she could even call what they had that way.
She should talk to him. Yes, that was the best thing to do, she concluded. Maybe it was going to be painful and uncomfortable but she had to do it. It was time to cross some T’s and dot some I’s. Once she returned to the bedroom, she discovered that Bane had left just as she did. Disappointment washed over her. She had expected him to be waiting for her to explain. Apparently not. However, shaking her head, she didn’t let this sway her. She needed to talk to him and she would. Even if she had to wait for him. Sure, she could go and look for him but maybe it was best that she waited for him to cool off. An angry Bane wasn’t one to mess with. Not that Donna was scared of him. She had never been scared of him before, certain that he would never hurt her. Now, however, she wasn’t so sure anymore. And despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Maybe it was wrong of her to trust a mercenary this much but she had always been a firm believer in duality. In the sense that she knew that people were complex beings and one couldn’t just put them in a box and expect them to fit in there. One could be more than one thing. And Bane was more than just a mercenary. Now though, she was beginning to question this very fact. Perhaps she had been wrong. Too naive for trusting him so.
Little did she know though, that she had been right all along. Bane was more than just a mercenary. As a matter of fact, he was troubled by what happened. A man who was just a mercenary wouldn’t have been. He knew that Donna probably expected some sort of explanation from him, if not even an apology. He also knew that he owed her that, but he was also aware of the fact that he needed to sort himself out first. How could he explain to her what happened when he was the first one that hadn’t a clue?
Both of them had spent the rest of the day trying to put their thoughts in order. Clueless to the fact that the only way they could really sort themselves and the situation was by talking to the other. And that, unfortunately, didn’t happen. Bane didn’t return to their shared bedroom, choosing to keep himself busy with work instead, and Donna couldn’t find the strength to seek him out. If only she did, she would have put them both out of their misery. She would have spared herself from making a desperate and rushed decision: to pack her bags and leave.
When Bane didn’t come back, she took his action as a way to dismiss her. As a confirmation of her thoughts: he had grown tired of her and had given her a reason to go. He was pushing her away and even if she hated that they couldn't even talk about it before she left, she wasn’t going to impose her presence where she wasn’t wanted. And so, as it began so it ended: with one of them leaving the scene abruptly.
Needless to say, Donna had misunderstood the whole situation. But she couldn’t know what was going on inside Bane’s mind. She could only wonder. And her mind brought her to the wrong conclusion. But she wouldn’t know that she did for a long while. When Bane finally returned to their bedroom, expecting to find her there, he was upset, to say the least when he realized that she was gone. With just a note to notify him.
“Breaking up is never easy I know but I have to go. Here is where the story ends
this is goodbye. Knowing you it's the best I can do.”
That’s what the note said. In perfect Donna’s style, she had broken up with him through a musical song. That notion had made him smile. Since she had forced him to watch the movie with her, he recognized the lyrics and at what point in the movie it came up. And so, as easily as always, he was able to go through her whole thought process and cursed himself when he realized what must have gone through her mind to make her leave. If he had gone back to the room earlier, he would have been able to stop her from jumping to a rushed and wrong conclusion. But he hadn’t and now she was gone.
Bane never really cared to understand what they were. He knew they were fine with each other, he knew Donna trusted him and since that night in Gotham, he had learned to trust her too. He wasn’t an emotional man. He had been trained to use his mind and to only rely on his logic and instincts when it came to making decisions. But now he was left at a crossroad. There was no one to tell him what to do anymore, he was the boss of himself. And while that had been debilitating at first, since he had been used to follow orders all his life, he had quickly learned to appreciate the power that came with getting to make the call. It was in times like these, however, that he found himself missing that part of his old life. When he didn’t need to think at stuff like this, when he was nothing more than a soldier he had orders and he had to follow them. No questions asked.
But he was not just a soldier anymore. He was a man. He was a person. Donna had helped him discover that through their time together. It had always amazed him how she was able to see through his mask and get through to him. She got to his core. She had managed to know him, to understand him. He had despised her ability at first, he hated that he was such an open book to her. He believed that to be a weakness of his. How foolish of him to think so. After the first few weeks since she left, he had come to find that he missed the closure, the intimacy. He missed her. To acknowledge that, to even admit his feelings to himself, had been a journey of itself. It had taken him a while. Almost a month to be precise. A part of him had feared that it was too late to go back to her. Maybe she had already moved on and forgot all about him. And while that possibility broke his heart, not that he would admit it, he knew that if he didn’t at least try, he would regret it.
So he did. He looked for her and when he acquired her exact position, he went to find her. She was surprised, to say the least when one day she opened the door to find him. She almost had a mind to close the door on his face, but the other part pushed her to hear him out. She just wanted to understand why, after all. So she had moved away and welcomed him in. And thank god she did, otherwise, they wouldn’t be standing here, in each others’ arms, reminiscing about the good old days. They had gone far since that day. Their relationship had grown and blossomed beautifully in something neither of them thought they would ever have.
Once, Donna had told him that one had to know when to surrender when one was facing their Waterloo. After a really long conversation, they had both come to the same conclusion: they were both facing their Waterloo, and surrendering to their feelings, allowing their heart to feel them and allowing themselves to live them freely, wasn’t so bad after all. “No,” Bane thought burying his face in Donna’s neck, “it wasn’t so bad at all”.