When she finished her rounds Amelia returned to the ICU; Bane's room like something out of some sort of horror film – the last door at the end of the mainly deserted hallway, only a few patients in the nearby rooms because of what she assumed to be a precaution. All it needed was cheap florescent lighting that hummed and flickered on and off and papers to be scattered across the floor. She laughed to herself at the thought before taking a deep breath, clutching the doorknob with clammy palms. She figured that Bane was awake by now, it being a good couple of hours since she had last been in to see him. She thought about what he would say to him, and the more frightening circumstance – what he would say to her.

As quietly as she could, she opened the door and slipped inside of the room. Shutting the door behind her just as quietly, carefully glancing over at the hulking figure in the small gurney, she saw his steely eyes looking over at her through partially opened eyelids. Letting out a breath that she wasn't aware that she was holding, she walked over to the gurney and felt ridiculous for feeling so stiffened by unintentional fear. He wouldn't be able to sit up no matter how much he wanted to; simple laughter would be the cause of excruciating pain – not that she actually thought a genuine laugh would ever come from Bane's mouth – forget about getting up and causing trouble. Right now he was just as helpless as any other post-op patient.

She rested a hand on the handle on the side of the bed, raising her eyebrows at the familiar stranger below her. "Hi, I'm your doctor, Dr. Stylls." She sounded incredibly professional, unintentionally giving him the cold shoulder that he was well-deserving of. "How long have you been awake?"

Bane gazed dully up at her, his brain still adjusting as he was regaining full consciousness. "A few minutes," he said hoarsely, his throat scratchy from the endotracheal tube during surgery. It was strange to Amelia, hearing his voice so clearly for the first time without the mask distorting everything he projected.

As he lay there, Bane became increasingly aware of his surroundings; mainly of the fact that his mask was missing as a dull ache slowly became apparent. Though it wasn't just his back that ailed him now, his entire body throbbed; the familiar shooting pain from his back standing above all else that he felt. His mouth slightly gaped and he inhaled impulsively to receive the sweet vapor-formed relief that his mask had constantly supplied him with though he felt no such thing. His heart palpitated as he thought about the whereabouts of his mask and his back brace that he noticed was missing as well, hoping that there were intentions to return both items to him as soon as possible. It was almost insulting, how helpless he was without his mask, but he couldn't deny his reliance on it. Without it he would not be as strong as he was – as daring, as efficient.

His mind raced, trying to piece together a seemingly unsolvable puzzle – if he were still in Gotham, what his business was there in that hospital – but he couldn't seem to piece the bits of information together. Though the doctor was speaking to him, he easily tuned her out; his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to recall what had happened before he had awakened there.

Talia. Her loving hands against his mask, gently putting the tubes back into place to spare him from his constant state of agony that she sympathized with and pitied.

"Goodbye, my friend." The last words she had said to him before he watched her walk away, as they were to carry out her father's wishes and die with the city for the higher purpose Talia had so strongly believed in – what they had fought for; their ambition, their plan, his chance to prove his worth.

But here he was, lying in a hospital bed with little knowledge as to why. He survived the nuclear blast, which means that he and Talia had failed and it was very likely that she had been caught and imprisoned, or even worse – dead. The simple thought made him want to cringe. A fate she did not deserve, he thought. She had spent enough years of her life in prison, Hell on earth, under such cruel circumstances. But now he wasn't there for her. He, her protector, was no longer able to continue his fate-brought duty. The only joy of his life, his redemption, had slipped away from him.

He inhaled deeply again, becoming more aware of the pain that gradually took control of his body, but tried to calm himself as best he could. There was no use in panicking; he needed answers.

Amelia looked into Bane's hazy eyes, watching his attention being drawn to her after noticing him fade out for a few moments before explaining to him what had happened. "You appeared to have been in an accident. You were found nearly dead in City Hall by some of Commissioner Gordon's men. They probably didn't want to bring you in, but the commissioner issued that you be taken to a medical facility for treatment so you can serve your sentence in prison when you're healed."

That was right. Selina Kyle had shot him with one of Batman's contraptions in her last valiant effort to help him save his pathetic city, he thought. He wondered what had become of him… what had become of Talia. They might not have destroyed the city, but he tried to hang onto the fact that they might have accomplished killing Batman. Killing the man who had murdered Talia's father was but a small fraction of their plan, but if they could not accomplish the rest then it would have to be enough.

As if suddenly coming out of a trance, Bane's hand snapped forward, taking firm old of Amelia's wrist. She gasped, shaking nervously as she feared his next move, waiting for it. Trying to pull away, Bane's grip tightened. His hand was large enough to wrap around her entire wrist, engulfing it and squeezing it with an unearthly grip. She turned to the door and then remembered the pager that she had in her pocket that the hospital director had given her. Her mind racing, she tried her hardest to figure out exactly what to do without exacerbating the situation.

Bane tried to clear his throat; an irritating twinge of pain shooting down it. "Where am I?" His voice was hoarse and quiet, almost an inaudible whisper, but stern; an inquisitive tone lying beneath.

Amelia looked back at him, her panic-struck eyes wide. "You're at Gotham General Hospital." As she told him his grip loosened, and after the statement he had let go.

He and Talia had failed to destroy Gotham after all.

As unmoved as he seemed, Amelia figured that this probably bothered him and that she might as well take advantage of the situation. She rubbed her wrist and took a step back to find a sense of calm again, letting out a deep sigh out of relief and a hint of misplaced embarrassment. She smirked, tilting her head to the side; nodding as her eyes narrowed with harsh sarcasm. "Looks like it's all over for you now. You're stuck here and that nuclear weapon you threatened us all with detonated about ten miles from here over the Gotham bay." She turned to his IV, changing the bag of fluid that was nearly empty with a new one.

Bane eyed her up and down as he watched her fiddle with the IV, placing it onto its stand before looking back at him with a deeply hidden sympathy. She quickly walked over to the bottom of the bed to grab his chart, reanalyzing it before giving him the rundown of what his condition was. Surely he must have been curious, though the mercenary's mind was too clouded with other thoughts at the moment to question his injuries. The pain was unbearable, becoming increasingly less tolerable with every minute that went by, and the only things that concerned him were the whereabouts of his mask and the depth of his failure.

"You had massive internal bleeding so you needed multiple blood transfusions along with very extensive abdominal surgery to patch up the organs that had been damaged. Luckily for you, they were in good enough shape to fix and not be removed. So no transplants for you." She shut the chart, placing it back at the bottom of the bed and returned to his bedside. "You're a fighter, I'll give you that."

Bane gave no response and Amelia questioned his unmoved stature. She noticed a growing change in him, his eyes growing duller as he stared blankly at the ceiling and suddenly he didn't seem nearly as confident as he was while he was in control of the city. Now he was just an average man, back from the brink of death, and left to deal with the pain of his downfall along with the physical post-operative pain as his the consequence to his actions.

She quickly glanced over at the EKG monitor on the other side of his bed and saw his heart rate had elevated. Despite his dull façade, something was obviously wrong. She blinked in curiosity a few times, her head tilting to the side slightly. "Are you okay?" Suddenly her cocky attitude had disappeared; she was now as concerned for him as she would be for any patient. "Are you in any pain? I could up the dose of your pain meds."

A small whimper made it past Bane's lips, barely audible but enough so that Amelia could hear it. He grit his teeth and clenched his eyes for a moment before the two shot open; his mouth agape and eyes wide as he called out in pain, becoming gradually louder as the pain he felt became harder and harder to bear. He thought he would be able to last longer before he reached his breaking point, but couldn't resist reacting to such extreme pain. It was almost as if he weren't on any pain medication at all. He had built up such a tolerance over the many years of being so hopelessly dependent on painkillers that only the compound in his mask could supply him with any ounce of relief.

Amelia looked on in pure shock, feeling her own heart race at her uneasiness due to the strangeness of the situation. For a man so infamously well-composed, once-triumphant and tenacious, this moment seemed almost as if she were imagining it. He had always seemed like he were incapable of experiencing fear or agony, but now the two intertwined, creating a man who was vulnerable and unfocused.

The whole midsection of his body throbbed; his back sending shooting pain through his limbs like he was being shocked repeatedly from the inside. His mind was blank, but he tried to bring bits and pieces of rational thoughts together in order to speak clearly. "My mask…" he struggled to say.

Amelia was over at the machine that was distributing his morphine, upping the dose as she thought was obviously necessary, but the mention of his mask peaked her interested and caused her to look back over at him. "What does that have to do with anything? I'm afraid I can't give it to you." Her reasoning was simple – she didn't know what its purpose was. From the looks of it, it seemed like it was worn to frighten people, though now she questioned her former ideas of the item.

Bane took a deep breath, still trying to find his focus. "It helps with pain." His breathing became more rapid as he clutched the blanket draped over his body. "Return it to me."

There was desperation in his tone as well as a familiar sternness. Amelia raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, trying to process his request. Although she had doubts about the mask's purpose, it was nearly impossible to gain any information about it while Bane was in such agonizing pain. She turned on her heels and walked over to the cabinet on the other side of the room which contained the mask and back brace. As soon as she caught sight of the mask, her eyes seemed locked on it. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before – truly one of a kind- and its parts seemed unprofessional, like pieces of car scraps that had been thrown together. So grim, so inhuman. Returning it to Bane, allowing him to adorn it once again, would remind her of the past months. Of all of the misery he had put the city she adored through and all of its suffering. She shuttered at the thought, but picked it up. Holding it in her hands, its metal cool and displeasing, she analyzed it. Up close she could see its small flaws – the wear and tear of what must have been many years of being worn, and just how strange of a contraption it appeared to be.

She held it in her hands for a few additional moments before she handed it to Bane. He wasted no time and tensed as he lifted his head to slip it on. This was the face – or lack of one, rather – that Amelia was used to. She couldn't help but feel a sense of intimidation; a chill coursing through her, but she used all of her efforts to stay calm. "There. Better?" She let off a bit of annoyance, but Bane paid no attention to her. His breathing was still rapid as pain was still ravaging through his body, though it became gradually dulled as he inhaled the weak vapor being supplied to him, trying to slow his breathing to take deeper breaths.

Amelia sat unprofessionally in the arm chair beside the hospital bed. She highly doubted that he was going to be expecting any visitors so it was of no use to anybody other than herself. Carefully monitoring the EKG, she took notice of his heart rate beginning to drop. She crossed her legs and leaned forward. "So tell me," she started, running her finger along the bottom of her bangs. "How exactly does that thing help with your pain?" She motioned toward his face and he slowly turned his head to face her.

Bane wasn't going to object to giving her that information. He knew that there was no reason to withhold it and it could possibly be harmful if he did so. "It distributes medication," he stated bluntly.

Medication? Although she should have figured such a reply, Amelia was caught off guard by it. Her face scrunched as she thought about it, connecting the invisible dots. "It's constant?" she asked, genuinely interested, as many doctors probably would be if they weren't going against their own career descriptions with this case.

Bane only nodded, leading her to ask further questions. "In a vaporous form, I assume?"

He nodded again. She was smart, but not in a way that was particularly admirable to the masked man.

"Do you know what medication it holds? Morphine? Oxycodone? Hydrocodone?" Her eyes narrowed in dire seriousness as she asked this, being her most important question surrounding its medical use.

Bane shook his head. "It's a combination of morphine, ketamine, and a corticosteroid."

Amelia's eyes widened again, surprised by his answer. "That's a pretty dangerous combination of drugs." She stated, brows knitting together.

Still entirely unmoved, Bane replied. "I know, which is why the man who designed the medication named it Venom."

Amelia slowly nodded before standing and returning to the machine distributing the morphine, turning it off. "I'll have to take you off of the pain medication you're already on then. I can't have you falling into a coma, can I?" She returned to her seat and scratched the back of her head as she was hesitant on asking anything else. But as she thought about this situation, she realized that it had brought about an actual interest in Bane's case other than following her deeply rooted morals. Despite the fact that she was willingly treating such a fiercely intimidating individual, she found that his case was medically fascinating. She was a doctor, afterall. And just as she couldn't deny her sense of morality, she couldn't deny her passion for her work. "Does it get rid of all of your pain?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Not entirely," Bane replied, matter-of-factly.

Amelia pouted, her eyes wandering up to view the ceiling as her curiosity got the best of her. She looked back at Bane and could see that he wasn't particularly phased by any of the questions she was asking him, but continued to acquire a more accurate medical history. "I'm gonna have to assume, after looking at what was written in your chart, the pain stems from your back, right?"

All she was given was another simple nod in response; a glint in his eyes hinting toward a traumatic truth – one that has yet to be disclosed. She was immediately compelled to ask him about it. "What happened that caused the chronic pain?"

And suddenly that glint was gone. Bane's expression didn't falter, but he finally came to the point in which to stop answering the doctor's inquisitions. "You know, doctor, I doubt that has anything to do with how you plan on treating me," he said coldly, a small twinge in his eyes.

Amelia let out a small laugh that was just as cold, shaking her head in a misplaced sense of amusement. "You know does have to do with how I treat you? How do you intend on eating with that thing on?"

There was a brief silence that hung over the two as Amelia eagerly waited for whatever information the man had to give her. "You shouldn't really be eating anything for a day or two, but I have to know," she said further.

"I'm very well capable of removing it, but I need injections of the compound for the moments when I am not wearing it," Bane replied, no longer objecting to answering her questions. As long as her knowledge of the mask would benefit him he didn't mind disclosing anything. It was unnecessary inquiries sparked by her curiosity that he would not answer.

Finding the answer interesting, Amelia pouted as she tried to formulate a plan of how to make this work. As far as she knew, the only ounces of the compound were inside his mask. Her hand resting up by her mouth, covering it as she took a moment to think, she let out a small sigh. "Is there any way I can take a sample of the compound to the lab downstairs?" she asked.

Bane continued to emotionlessly answer her questions. "The mask contains two cartridges in the back which are removable," he stated knowingly.

Amelia's delicate features scrunched together as a spark seemed to light up in her eyes upon hearing him say that. "There's a lab downstairs where they test experimental drugs. I can bring one of the cartridges there and have somebody recreate it so that we can have it handy."

She got up from the chair and stood beside the bed, gesturing for him to go on. "If you'd be so kind," she said somewhat sarcastically, cocking her hip to the side.

Bane did not hesitate and winced as he lifted his head up from the pillow once again, fiddling with the back of his mask in order to remove one of the cartridges. He carefully handed it to Amelia before resting his head back down on the pillow. She enclosed it in her hand, shaking it up and down. "I'll run this down to the lab now. You'll get it back when they're done using it," she said to the mercenary, though he didn't need her assurance of its return.

She turned on her heels and briskly headed for the door, feeling a wave of relief come over her. Everything about Bane was intimidating but she didn't want to let any of her insecurities show in front of him. Everything down to his unwavering expression seemed to intimidate her, but she knew very well that backing out on this case wasn't an option. Through stress and annoyance, she would continue to treat him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Some of you must be thinking "OMFG FINALLY" Amiright? Looks like I've got some explaining to do~~~

First off, I'd like to say that I'm so so so soooo incredibly sorry about how HORRENDOUSLY long it took me to update! Wow, I really didn't think it would take this long! And I do feel awful about it, but I struggled with some serious writer's block and a lack of inspiration for, like, ever. But here's what I promised you guys! Some vulnerable Baney poo. (haha what)

Second, I really tried to make this setting as realistic as possible. I used what little medical knowledge I have to make this seem convincing, but I'm not a doctor who pshh I have no idea if I've actually succeeded or not. As far as Bane's mask goes, I tried my hardest to come up with a realistic scenario for how he functions when he has it off and just what the medication it dispenses is. I took what Dr. Michael Leong (Clinic Chief at the Stanford Pain Medical Center) said about it into account, which was that it's probably an opioid, steroid, nitrous oxide, ketamine, or some combination of those substances. So I thought about them individually and I know that nitrous oxide is the laughing gas that they use at the dentist and I don't think he'd be able to function properly on something like that constantly since it makes you pretty loopy, so I decided to go with a combination of morphine, ketamine and a steroid. And I know corticosteroids are generally used for back pain so there ya go. ;D And what's the combination called? Venom! It would be a crime if I didn't call it that haha.

So yeah, I promise that it won't take me as long to write the third chapter. Thanks for reading~ xx