I – The Pit

He came upon the child where the Pit opened up into the sky. It was a full moon tonight, brighter than the fires in the caverns. The child was watching the bats leave their nests and fly up into the night.

"You shouldn't stare for too long," he said. "You might start to think you can fly out too."

"You don't think I could?"

He gestured towards the bottom of the wall, where bones had gathered over the countless generations the Pit had served as a prison.

"Many have tried to climb out of here," he said. "They've all failed."

"That's because they've been doing it wrong," the child pointed up, near where the bats were streaming out. "See that ledge? That's what defeats them. Every single time one of us tries to escape, they stop at that ledge."

"It's a wide gap to the next ledge."

"Too wide, they think. The fear defeats them. So even if they jump, they fall."

"And I suppose you're the one who will make that jump."

The child shrugged. "When my legs are a bit longer."

He laughed, and this made the child smile. But as with any joy to be had in the Pit, it was tart and fleeting.

"You were born in this shit hole like I was," he said, growing serious. "Do you even know what you would do, if you were able to get out?"

"There's a better world out there," the child said. "And somewhere in it is my father."

"And I suppose once you find him, you'll be leaving the rest of us here to rot."

The child gave him a jab on the shoulder. It actually hurt, a little bit.

"Don't be absurd. I need to liberate my mother. And you. My mother says my father's a powerful man, so it shouldn't be too—"

He had laid two fingers on the child's shoulder. A warning – they were being watched.
Behind them, another of the prisoners had appeared, one with a particularly sallow face, and bad teeth. He extended a finger at the child, but it was to the man that he spoke.

"You truly live up to your name," he said. "You are a bane upon us all. Keeping that morsel to yourself while the rest of us starve."

Bane kept his hand on the child's shoulder. The mother had kept her in loose clothes, had cut her hair short. But Talia was coming into her own, it was increasingly difficult not to see that.

The prisoner took a step forward, and Bane felt a surge, the kind he felt when he knew he was in for a fight.

"Come here little girl," the prisoner wheezed. "Isn't fair that this one keeps you all to himself."

Another step.

"I won't hurt you, I promise," he reached out. "Just maybe a scratch, a bite—"

The stone came whizzing past Bane's arm, and right into the prisoner's nose. There was a crack where it hit. The man howled.

"Bite that," Talia hissed.

Blood was spurting from the prisoner's nose. He cried out again, in anger this time, and charged.

Predictable, Bane thought. He caught the man by the throat before he came in arm's length of the girl. Now the only sounds the prisoner made was whatever he could gasp out through Bane's grip. His eyes began to bulge.

Bane noticed, with a bit of irritation, that the blood from the man's nose was trickling onto his sleeve. He buried his thumb in the soft spot under the prisoner's chin. The prisoner began to gag.

The dilemma now was whether to kill him. On one hand, Bane knew he had no lack of enemies in the Pit. On the other hand, it wouldn't do to have him telling others the child's secret.

He turned to Talia, who was watching the man turn blue with a look of mild interest.

"What do you think?" Bane asked.

"I think he should die."

And so he did.

Bane left the corpse along with the bones at the wall. Already, flies were beginning to gather. But when he turned back to Talia, he saw that she had paled.

"I want to go back to mother," she said. "Right now."

"It's all right," said Bane. "That man can't harm you now."

"It's not me. It's her. What if they—"

Talia flustered. He thought that she might cry, but she didn't - she stood quietly, her breathing ragged, her fists tight at her sides.

"If they ever—if they ever hurt my mother, I will kill them all."

"You will," Bane said. "And I'll help you."

When she finally stopped trembling, she simply gave him a nod, her face assuming a look of complete serenity. Just in case though, he took her hand, and they walked back into the darkness together.