BATMAN: Fall Of The Dark Knight #Wattys2016

9: THE RETURN OF BANE

"Miss Vale, I presume."

Vicki Vale swung her head around to see the towering thick-accented figure standing behind her. Vale had driven to that parking garage in downtown Gotham late one night after receiving a call at her office at The Gotham Gazette saying that they had information on the Batman. She assumed the hulking man standing before her was that caller. The man was wearing a fur-lined coat and a pair of tight black leather pants with matching boots. His face was obscured by the dark as she could tell he was going out of his way to avoid the light. This wasn't the first time she met someone like this who claimed to have information that she wanted, which was why she kept a loaded gun, of which she had a permit for, inside her purse. 

"I take it you're the one who called me about Batman?"

"Yes."

"And you are?"

"I'm Bane."

She gasped. Next to The Joker, Bane was the most notorious and deadliest criminal Gotham had ever known. He was now a noted hitman for anyone who was willing to pay the reported millions of dollars he asked for a hit. And he would kill anyone he was being paid to kill be it a man, woman or even a child. It didn't matter to him so long as the money was green. Which was why he was now number two on the FBI's Most Wanted list only behind the current leader of the worldwide terrorist group Basilisk that Vicki herself had reported on numerous times over the years. 

"You said you had information on Batman?"

"I'm afraid I called you here under false pretenses, Miss Vale.."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've kidnapped the wife and daughter of Gotham mayor Dick Grayson."

"What? Why?"

"To draw out the Batman, of course."

"Why did you contact me?"

"Because I want you to relay a message to the Batman."

"Why ask me? I don't know who he is. Besides, there hasn't been a single Batman sighting in months, not since he killed that Harley Quinn."

"Come now, Miss Vale. I believe you already know Batman's true identity."

Vicki thought for a moment. "You mean Bruce Wayne?"

Bane gave a terse nod of his head. "Yes, Bruce Wayne."

"How do you know this?"

Bane ignored her question. "So you will relay my message to Mr. Wayne?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No, you do not."

Vicki took out her phone per Bane's instructions and recorded his message. She suggested that he step out into the light so that he would record better, but he immediately shot that idea with a resounding, "No." When he was finished recording his message, Bane began to turn around to walk away when Vicki asked him, "Wait, how do I know you're the real Bane?"

He turned his head and looked over his shoulder at her. "You require a demonstration, yes?"

She didn't respond as Bane turned back around and started to walk past her. She tried to get a good look at his face, but it was obscured by the collar on his coat, which she again surmised was his intent.

"This is your car, yes?"

Vicki was flabbergasted. "Well, yes, it is, but why--" Before Vicki could finish her thought, Bane had raised his huge hand that was balled into a fist. "Wait, what are you doing?" With a loud yell, he brought down his fist right through the hood of her car. The force of his punch was so powerful it caused the front tires to pop right off and the front fender to fall straight down on the ground. He drew his fist back, leaving a large gaping and smoking hole in the hood of a car. 

"Are you convinced now, Miss Vale?" Bane said without looking at her.

Vale again remained silent as Bane turned around, making sure he kept his back to her so she couldn't see his face, and started to walk off. Vicki stared at the big gaping hole in the hood of her car. She glared back at Bane who was still walking away and exclaimed, "Hey, wait, how am I supposed to get out of here?"

Bane answered her as he kept walking, "I suggest you call a cab. And you'd better do it fast. I hear this isn't the safest of neighborhoods."

With that, Bane disappeared into the darkness from which he came, leaving behind a bewildered Vicki Vale. She took one last look at her ruined car before she reached inside her purse to take out her cell phone and call a cab as Bane suggested.