The Bane of Our Existence [The Dark Knight Rises]

4: Bloodless Hands

Above their heads people were working hard. Sparks flew and hammers clanged, the water below them rushed so forcefully it was hard to hear anything. Leaning over the railing, Bría stared at everything, trying to take it in. Bane stood beside her, towering over her frame and she was not a short woman. She could see his bulky frame in her peripheral vision.

"I was a paramedic before this," she told him over the roar of the water.

"A useful occupation; why before?" Bane asked.

She turned to look at him, no longer afraid but more curious about the mask. It was menacing to say the least, but people of Gotham grew steel over their hearts, they became cold and used to the dark and terrifying. Prison had helped, too, for Bría was not the same woman she was when she went in. She grew sour and bitter, she hated the people of Gotham, she hated the fact that one was not allowed to die with dignity. She had nothing to live for, and she had nothing to fight for. She was grasping for something to keep her head above the water.

"I thought this was no questions asked?" she challenged.

Bane's eyes lit up ever so slightly. She thought perhaps he was smiling, if he was capable of such actions.

"Trust must be established, my dear," he explained.

"I killed a man," she did not explain, for she wanted to see Bane's reaction.

He pondered her words carefully, there was so much depth to them. To her surprise, he reached down and grabbed her hands, lifting them up. Her chewed down nails were embarrassing, another nervous tick she could not seem to kick. She had blue veins protruding out of her forearms, the muscles forcing them to the surface.

"These hands have no blood on them," he said, releasing her.

She pulled her arms in, crossing them over her chest. "I guess I'm just an open book, then."

"Mercy killings do not count, Bría."

It was the first time he had spoken her name, and it gave her chills. He was the first person, aside from her own mother, who spoke to her like what she had done was not a terrible crime. Looking in the eyes of Bane, she began to wonder if only the criminals and crooks could see her for what she was now. The mundane and the simple, the rich and the powerful, they would walk all over her. She would never find dignified work, she would never be looked at as an equal in society. And yet Bane looked at her as though she was an equal.

"I can be useful here." She looked back out at the water, unable to stand Bane's piercing gaze. "Your men, if they are hurt, I can help them. You as well, should you succumb to an injury."

"Only the weak succumb, Bría. I am not weak," he stated. "Nor are you."

"You see strength in me?"

"Very much."

"Does that mean I'm hired?"

His eyes lit up again, as though he were about to laugh, but it never came. He glanced around at all of the men who were working for him, each of them following his agenda without question. Occasionally one of them would make a mistake, and then he would end them; he thought about taking on this woman who stood so bravely beside him, with so little fear in her eyes. If she was lying to him, he would have to kill her, and he did not want that. His judge of character was well balanced, and there was a trust.

More than a trust, he wanted to give her the opportunity, and part of him wanted to keep her safe.

But at the end of everything, when Gotham was ashes, she too would be gone.

"I will give you this one opportunity to walk away from this. Leave Gotham, and do not look back," he said, giving her one chance to live for the rest of her life. Perhaps on the run, yes, but alive.

She planted her feet firmly, leaned over that balcony and watched the rushing water.

By choosing this life, she was choosing death.

Perhaps she did not know it, but Bane respected her choice. 

I watched The Dark Knight Rises no more than a week ago, and I'm craving it again. As I don't celebrate Christmas, my family always watches a super unorthodox movie on Christmas Eve. One year it was "Prisoners" another it was "Mad Max: Fury Road", can't remember all of them. But my dad suggested we watch "The Dark Knight Rises" and now I can't wait for Christmas Eve!

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