The room was filled with debris and rubble from Catwoman's grand entrance. The blast from her rocket released a horrible gas that clouded her and Batman's vision for a brief moment. Bane, the world's most dangerous man, lay near death on the floor. He could hear the muffle of voices before he blacked out.
***
Bane awoke with his ears ringing and his eyelids heavy. He could feel arms wrapped around him and his feet being dragged along the ground. The constant ringing began to dissipate and he could hear a voice. A female voice. The only thing he could make out of the jumble of words was, "God, someone help me with him, he's huge!" With that, Bane dropped his head and fell back into unconsciousness.
***
Bane woke up with fuzzy vision and clearer hearing. He could hear the same voice from before and he felt the familiar sting of cold steel on his bare back. Curiosity finally drove him to glance. He was lying on an operating table in muggy room filled with medical equipment. Bane recognized a few faces as some lower-class goons he had recruited. He looked around some more, following the voices he heard.
The woman he remembered and one of the goons were arguing in the corner. They were too far away to hear what they were fighting over. She threw her arms up in frustration and started towards Bane. The click her heels grew gradually louder with each step.
"We need to get this mask off! He may have a concussion or a brain hemorrhage!" She said standing over bane. Her pale arm reached down at the pipes of his mask. She was inches away when Bane abruptly grabbed her wrist and said, "This mask is to never come off." His mechanical voice froze the woman. One of the goons spoke up and the woman snapped back to reality. She quickly pulled her arm away and cradled it with the other.
The woman shook her head and turned to walk away. "Fine... Whatever..." She was stopped by the bigger goons. He put a gun to the middle of her chest and gestured towards Bane. "Nah, not whatever. You are here to make sure the man is a hundred and ten percent, Missy." he said, putting more pressure on the gun to her chest.
"Look, bud," she smacked the gun away from her, "I can't do anything with that mask on!" The woman walked back towards Bane. "I can't take any X-rays..." she continued on with the list. She was nearly out of breath by the time she was finished.
"I am fine." Bane spoke up, breaking the woman's ramble. The room became very still and quiet as the goons shuffled into a respective form. The woman stood frozen with fear; She did it every time Bane moved. Bane pulled himself up into the sitting position, cringing from a shard pain in his side.
The woman switched modes almost immediately. "Lay back down! You're going to bust open seventy stitches! You were lucky you were unconscious when I fixed you up; We don't have any anesthesia." She rushed to his side and gently pushed his shoulders down. A long, dark strand of hair fell from the tight bun she kept on top of her head. She looked unkempt and exhausted.
"Seventy stitches. How long have I been asleep?" Bane asked, breathing heavy.
"A few hours... at the least." she said with a long sigh. The woman pushed the fleeing strays of hair behind her ear. She busied herself with rearranging some medical tools. She wouldn't even look Bane in the eye when she spoke to him. Bane noticed that. "You really should lay back down." she added.
"I am and will be fine. Where is my coat?" Bane said as he pushed himself off the steel table. He was weak and couldn't even stand straight. A goon handed him the thick coat he had asked for. Bane slipped it on slowly as the woman watched from the corner of her eye. It covered a majority of scars, but a few were still visible.
Bane stumbled when he took a few steps forward. Another goon came over and wrapped his arms around Bane's shoulder for extra support. Bane looked slightly annoyed by the need for dependency and the unbearable pain from the injury.
"You," Bane pointed to the woman, "Who are you?" He took a few more slow steps away from the table. The goons walked patiently with him.
"Doctor Arryn Mann. Your friends took me to you, to help you." she said still not making eye contact. "They also stole some pretty expensive equipment." She was wearing a white button-up and a pair of black slacks. Her bare-feet were covered with dirt from the ground.
Bane took a few more steps then pushed the goons away. He put his large hand on Arryn's shoulder. She shuddered underneath his palm. Her sweat and grime glistened under the make-shift lights that hung from the ceiling. The raven hair she tried so hard to keep on top of head had fallen into a heap on her neck. "I am very grateful." Bane said lifting his hand.
"Sir," a goon came up from behind the two, "What are we going to do about The Batman and Gotham."
"Ah yes, come with me." Bane said. He grabbed the nearest goons and used them as crouches. He lead them done a hallway lined with hung-up lights. Arryn only got a small glimpse of what was beyond the hallway.
The last goon took Arryn by the forearm and lead her the opposite direction. He took her to what looked like a dug out room with a cot by one wall and a bucket by the other. Pipes came out of the back wall and spiders crawled along them. "You stay here." he pushed her into the room and put up a curtain for privacy.
Arryn walked over to the bucket at took out a light bulb that was at the bottom. She looked for a place to put it in. A cord, that let out of the room with a light, with a socket was beneath the cot. She twisted the bulb in and the room lit up. Arryn examined the room closely. She eventually drew the conclusion that there was no way out. She sat down on the cot and buried her face in her hands.
