Bane and the Suicide Squad (A Batman Alternate Universe story)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

2 and a half Years Later:

THUD. 

As the last bodyguard slid down the wall, now unconscious, Bane surveyed the area for any more threats. Eight men laid slumped on the floor of the corridor, various amounts of blood splattered around on the floor or on them. "The coast's clear." He stated.

He reached into his pocket and withdrew Mr. Tickles. "Take their weapons." He instructed it. He set to cleaning his hands with a scrap of cloth as the pug collected the guns into a pile on the floor. Bane turned around when his hands where clean to find Mr. Tickles treating himself to some candy from one of the bodyguard's pockets.

"Hey!" Bane said. "Focus!" He made a chopping motion with his hands.

Mr. Tickles barked back at him.

"Fine..." Bane muttered, shaking his head. "Watch them." He made his way towards the now unguarded wooden door. He gave the knob a turn and made to step inside...

Then three shots echoed through the building. Bane looked down at his chest and at the new ragged holes that had been made into his coat. He raised his head to consider the gunsel. Anderson Gilbert was frozen in his chair, his gun clamped tightly between both hands.

"I heard that you were looking to hire someone..." Bane said as he pulled out the chair across from Anderson's desk and sat down in it.

Anderson couldn't find his voice for a long moment. How had Bane not been affected by his bullets? It had to be a Kevlar vest. Finally he coughed. "You...you did?"

Sighing, Bane gave a glance over his shoulder. "Sorry about your men. It was unnecessary violence. But a person like me can't really call to schedule an appointment with you."

"Oh."

"Word on the street is that you're looking for someone that can handle himself in a fight."

Anderson took a shaky breath. "Yeah. We need someone who's willing to take care of...certain undesirable individuals."

Bane merely stared at him. He didn't have to vouch for himself.

"Well...your resume is quite...impressive." Anderson admitted, though he didn't know how to feel about a man that had tried to blowup Gotham, the very city he lived and grew up in. "You attempted to destroy Gotham with a nuclear detonation." He went ahead and stated.

Bane sighed. "Regretfully, yes, that happened."

Anderson looked Bane up and down. He'd be a moron to pass up on an opportunity like this. Bane would get the job done, no doubt. The guy was hardcore. He'd even heard that Bane had been excommunicated out of the League of Shadows because he was too extreme for them! Anderson found himself smiling.

"You've got the job."

***

He walked down the street now, his collar popped up, his hands in his pockets. Everyone he passed averted their eyes and held their breath. Hoping, praying, that they were not the one on his list tonight.

His business with Anderson had fell through months ago. Turned out Bane preferred to personally decide whether his quarry deserved the beating they got. So he'd broken their contract and started his own independent business.

He kept walking, down the sloping pavement, only stopping for a moment to pull a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and read it again.

Tonight promised to be a bad night for James Malone.

He was a sex-trafficking extortioner with plenty of enemies that were willing to pay a fine price to have his face rearranged.

Bane shoved the paper with the address back into his pocket. Then he heard the soft thump of someone dropping to the ground. He turned his head to see a dark shape was now in the alley adjacent to him.

The dark specter's white eyes met his, the creature's cape half spread on the concrete as it crouched there.

"Have you come to try to take me in?" He asked.

"Give me a reason to and I will." a voice growled back.

Bane nodded. They were adversaries, The Bat and he. "I'll let you know when I have," he said.

But the alley was already empty.