If just a few hours ago, Danielle Noble had been told she'd have two men lying at her feet before the night was through, she would have exchanged her pale green nurses clothes and black trainers for her best dress and high heels with her alluringly cocksure smile to go with it. If, however, she'd known that those two men would the villain known as Slider who'd she'd just knocked out and the ridiculous Doctor John Smith, she'd have quit her job and got aboard the first the plane back to England that she could find.

But she hadn't known before hand, and now she was trapped in Arkham Asylum with a loony Doctor, a police man who looked like he should've retired at the beginning of the new millennium, and the infamous Batman.

Yeah, this was a really bad night for overtime.

"Not bad, lady," the police commissioner praised her as he came over to retrieve the gun she'd dropped.

"Yeah thanks, but I've got a name, and it's not 'lady'." Danielle replied scornfully.

The copper (Jim Gordon wasn't it?) frowned slightly at the response, but seemed experienced in dealing with unpleasant people in his job.

"Just keep your pants on, ma'am. We're going to get you out of this mess as fast as possible."

"In England, we call them trousers," Danielle said scathingly, not caring that Gordon had already turned away to search Harley to relive her of any other weapons "and I didn't see anyone do anything about this guy here," she indicated the stunned man on the ground. "And you tell me to 'keep my pants on', when the whole asylum is out of control? I mean do you realise what I've been through tonight?"

"Danni, you really should calm down," John Smith said. "I know you've had a hard time; I was the one who you spoke to on the radio, and-"

"You!" Danielle jumped at the sudden recognition. She'd pretty much forgotten about that urgent conversation she'd had over the police radio, but now she thought about it, that voice was unmistakable.

She looked the Doctor up and down. Not bad looking, but totally unfamiliar. He was the first person she'd met with an English accent since she'd come to America.

"You're not from Arkham, are you?" she asked. "I can recognise pretty much all of the doctors here, and I'm sure you've never been here before."

"No. Well, I'm not actually a doctor. Doctor is more of a nickname for me. Well, I say nickname- more of an alias. I'm a private investigator, and a false name like that can come in handy, but all my friends call me Doctor so it's kind of a nickname so… yeah! Nice to meet you too!"

Danielle ignored the hand he offered. There was something wrong about John Smith. For starters, he was lying about something. She'd had enough experience with men to know when one was lying to her, and John's gushing monologue hadn't distracted her from the fact that the things he said were far too clearly prepared to be the truth. The second thing was the way he was looking at her. His facial expressions were excessively jolly considering the current circumstances, but his milk chocolate coloured eyes held a powerful intensity every time they looked at her. The feeling it gave her made her a little uncomfortable, but more than that made her wonder what he was staring at. The chance to possibly ask was taken away as Batman approached them, having spent the last minute or so applying disposable plastic riot cuffs to the wrists of the unconscious criminals.

"So Bats. What now?" John Smith or 'The Doctor' asked. The vigilante looked at them with achingly dark eyes that made Danielle shudder. But before he could answer, Jim Gordon said "There's something we need to check out," he pointed out the window into the chamber below, where the odd greenhouse was situated. "They've got something down there; I heard them talking about it but I don't know what it is," Danielle decided not to mention that she must have still been unconscious when that happened, remembering back to when Harley had first taken her hostage.

"What a blabbermouth!" the Joker's ghastly voice whined from the speaker next to the broken TV. "Spoiling the surprise!"

"Be quite," Batman replied blandly. Danielle felt a chill go through her at the sound of the crime fighter's cold voice. She couldn't tell who scared her more- Joker or Batman.

"Oh, am I getting to you? Good! Heh heh heh- you're gonna love this next bit."

This time the Bat didn't answer at all; just led the way to the ruined electrical gate where the stairwell was. Jim Gordon followed after him.

"So, coming Danni?" asked John Smith. Danielle frowned at him, then crouched down next to the brute she'd knocked out. Quickly, she striped off the leather jacket he'd stolen from one of her friends and pulled it onto her own arms. Better worn by her that a wretched thief.

"So long, Slider," she snarled at the unconscious body, before sweeping past 'The Doctor' and heading down the stairs.

After picking their way over Harley's electrocuted cohorts, the four arrived in front of the glass building. Smoke or mist filled the room, making it impossible to see what was inside, but Batman forced the lock and kicked the doors open, allowing the vapour to start dispersing. A work bench and a computer where slowly revealed, along with screens for displaying x-rays.

"Interesting," the Doctor smacked his lips thoughtfully. "That mist tastes like some sort of local environmental adaption catalyst, like some sort of habitat changer. Very expensive, and only used in the most delicate biological or terraforming experiments. Something big was going on here."

Danielle raised an eyebrow at Smith, not feeling the need to vocalise her thoughts. Batman ignored it as he moved further in the misty building, while Commissioner Gordon went to investigate the computer.

"It wants Doctor Young's login," the police officer announced.

"Yeah, this is Doctor Young's area," Danielle confirmed. "This room is spare. Doctor's can book them for complicated experiments for curing the super criminals, but Young's had it for ages."

"Never mind that; get behind me, now!"

Everyone looked towards the Batman at the sound of his exclamation. Naturally, none of them thought to do as they were told, instead looking to see what had provoked such a reaction. The answer soon became apparent.

The last of the mist cleared, and a horrible sight assailed Danielle's eyes.

A limp figure was suspended at the back of the small building, hanging face down from the roof by chunky cables, tinted red and only partially see-through. The man's lightly tanned body was skeletal, looking like the patients who had severe eating disorders, with ribs poking out of his thorax and joints clearly defined with skin stretched tightly over them. The only clothing he had was black cargo pants and boots which were far too big for him. Heavy straps coiled over his chest and held some sort of tank on his back that must have caused immense pain as it pressed down on him against the pipes that were plugged into his body and holding him up. More pipes came from the tank itself, connecting to the man's arms and the back of his head. Things that looked like manacles were clamped around the prisoner's forearms, adding to the weight he endured. There was some sort of hood over his head. It was black except for white segment over the face, which was shaped a little like a snow angel with its head removed, as though it was making fun of Batman's equally obscure bat emblem. Wide holes gaped open to give the man's eyes and mouth access to the air.

"Bane," Batman named the entity strung up before them.

"I thought he broke out of Blackgate," Gordon sounded puzzled more than anything. Danielle and the Doctor were speechless.

Then the body moved and raised its head to look at the intruders. Danielle recoiled.

'He's alive!' she thought.

"Cut...me...down," the restrained super criminal murmured in gasps laced with a Spanish accent. No one move to help, unsure how exactly to free him, but Batman asked "Who did this to you?"

"Doctor Young, the Bruja. She drained the venom from my blood. Must stop her."

Even having been raised in England away from the American culture that had grown to cope and live with the chaos of super criminals and the vigilante's who challenged them, Danielle had read enough in the Daily Mirror back home to understand that the venom Bane referred to was some sort of dangerous steroid that gave the user super strength. British media often had reports on the 'terrorists' who threatened the world, and Bane was among the most prominent, making Danielle feel a little queasy despite how powerless he looked now.

"Sorry has-Bane," the computer on the desk flickered and the Joker's face appeared. "The good doctor won't be a problem much longer," he them moved closer to the screen and seemed to direct his eyes at the group standing in the small building. "How do you like my puppet? What's say we cut him down?"

The Joker's image then lifted some sort of remote into view, and pressed the only button on it.

The effect was instantaneous. The moment the trigger was clicked, crimson lights lit up the greenhouse, and the red tubes holding Bane changed colour as a gruesomely green liquid rushed through them and into Bane's body. The man convulsed and groaned in agony and his fleshed bubbled audibly. The pipes in the tank on his back turned vivid green as well, pulsating as the fluid spread infectiously. Bane growled and roared and began thrashing about as his withered body started to inflate, bulging and growing stronger, while his eyes widen and turned emerald too.

"Everyone run!" Batman shouted as he began to back away. Gordon swiftly retreated, trying to bring up the machine gun he took from Harley. Danielle would have just stood there in shock had John Smith not grabbed her waist and dragged her round the side of the door. Any complaint the nurse might have made was covered up by the noise of Bane finely becoming too heavy and ripping the pipes out of the walls as he dropped to the ground. Smoke and fumes billowed out of the small room, and Batman was forced to back away in order to have some clear air to see through.

Then, growling like a bear, with footsteps like war drums, Bane thundered out of the room, barrelling straight towards the Bat.

This was no longer the weak creature that had been held captive in the glass building the other three now sheltered next to- half man, half tank, with bundles of gleaming muscles and physique of insane size and stature, this was the Bane that was both glorified and feared for the same reasons throughout the world; a member of Batman's rogue gallery, surpassed only by the likes of the Joker himself.

Bane threw a massive blow at the Bat's head. The monster was so tall that Batman got underneath his attack with only the slightest crouch. Bane struck again, this time with his left fist, sticking it into the floor where Batman would have been standing had he not stepped aside in time. The crime fighter delivered one ineffectual punch to the hooded face, achieving nothing except perhaps making Bane a little more furious. With a grip like hydraulic mechanics, the criminal seized Batman and lifted him without difficulty, all the while snarling like a beast.

"Wait!" someone screamed. Danielle looked all around in confusion, before doing a double take as she spotted John Smith skidding to a halt in front of Bane. What the hell was he doing!

"Bane, stop! If you just wait a moment I can help you!"

Bane ignored him completely, and flung Batman into a brick wall. The rock blasted away with the force of the vigilante hitting it. Bricks went bouncing from the site of the impact, and Batman vanished through the hole in the wall.

Bane was then faced with the Doctor.

"I'm a smart person, Bane. I can take care of whatever they've pumped into you. You jus-"

The monster roared again and slapped the smaller man aside. He went flying, right into the hole created by Batman, catching the side of the opening slightly and spinning away into the darkness. Bane immediately followed after him, his shoulders shunting his way through the hole, making in three times wider.

Danielle left her hiding place, staring at hole in the wall with disbelief written all over her face. Just now, right in front of her, a super hero battle had taken place, and she of all people had been there to witness it.

Nurse Noble felt a rush of panic go through her. From what she could hear, Batman and Bane were making quite a fight of it, and John Smith was in there as well. What if one of them got killed? She'd had only a minimal experience with death, and on the few occasions she encountered she'd completely gone to pieces. How would she cope if someone was murdered right in front of her, when keeping her head was paramount to her survival in the overrun asylum?

Then there was a small rumble from somewhere above. Danni looked up instinctively.

"The hallway!" Jim Gordon appeared at her shoulder, making her jump. "Joker's goons must have blown open the doors they were barricading to get down here. They're gonna be here any second."

Fear chilled Danielle's veins as she asked "What are we going to do?"

"I can't fight them all off with just this," he indicated the machine gun, before looping the strap over his shoulder. "Are only chance is to stick with Batman; through the hole."

Danielle boggled at the suggestion. True, she could hear the angry voices of approaching thugs, both from the hallway door at the back of the chamber and the office above her. But to go to where that monster was?

"No-way!" she emphasised both words. The commissioner quickly grabbed her upper arm.

"Way," he said dully, before dragging Danielle towards and literally throwing her through the wall. All the while Danni screamed protests.

The nurse fell into some kind of boiler room. The entire floor was made of metal grates. Steam hung everywhere, making it difficult to see.

Danielle looked back at the police officer, intending to let rip with one of her best tirades. The words died in her throat as Gordon entered the room with something he'd taken from the knocked out Harley Quinn.

A bomb- a fist sized black ball with a piece of wick in the top, like the ones in cartoons, with face composed of crimson snake eyes and a pearl white grin stencilled on the side. The commissioner had already used the attached lighter flint to start the fuse. As he rushed through the hole in the wall, Gordon tossed the fizzing explosive behind him and dived to the floor.

Danielle had never heard an explosion up close before. It wasn't really how loud it was that mattered, but how sharp it was. It reached its full volume so quickly and suddenly that it left her head spinning, and she only just had the presence of mind to crawl forward as the brick wall collapsed.

When she was finally sure that the destruction had ceased, Danielle raised her head and looked back. The rust coloured stones had completely barricaded the way in, preventing anyone from coming after them. But of course, that also meant that no one could get out, and they were stuck in the boiler room with Bane. Speaking of which, Danni could make out the undeniable sound of a pitched battle over the ringing in her ears. She quickly forced herself up, swaying a little and waving her hands to clear away the sheet of brick dust that stung her nose.

As soon as she saw the fight itself, all thought of the uncomfortable conditions were forgotten.

Batman and Bane were in the middle of the walled room, fighting savagely. Danielle was simply awestruck by the shear brutality of the match. Bane's strength and weight was unmatched and he was clearly faster than he looked, but Batman was faster still, and more importantly, cunning. It was truly titanic.

At that point the super criminal raised both arms over his head, gripped both fists together, and brought them down like a sledgehammer. Batman rolled aside as the fists smashed a hole in the floor. Bane grabbed the loosened metal grille and ripped it up. He swung in through the air in arcs that would slice a man in two. Batman ducked one, jumped out the way of another, then circled round till he was near a wall. Bane cut the air with the segment of grating, only to have it hit the wall and jam between two pipes. The Bat used the short pause in the fighting to jump onto the panel as though it were a step and deliver a pair of punches to Bane's face. He leapt away as Bane pulled the grille free and swung again, this time using the flat surface to try and swat the vigilante like an insect.

The metal pounded against the floor, narrowly missing its target. Batman immediately stepped forward. He seized part of the metal grate with his left hand and a bolt of electricity was channelled through it and into Bane. The brute staggered back and dropped the grille, but otherwise appeared unharmed. Batman followed up the attack by flinging a handful of pellets at Bane, each of which burst into patches of smoke. A second object that looked like a bolas went spinning towards the monster. Bane quickly lumbered out of the smoke screen, but the bolas had tangled around his legs and he fell.

Batman lunged through the air as soon as Bane's knees hit the floor. He scrambled over the super villain's back, perched himself on the hunched shoulders, and yanked a pipe out of the tank on the criminal's back. The tube pulled away with a slurp, and Bane roared, driven wild with pain and anger. He groped blinded above himself, but Batman had already vaulted off the man and positioned himself a few feet away.

Bane eventually spotted Batman. He got back to his feet and snatched at a piece of the wall, easily tearing a tablet of bricks away from a jagged corner. With a laugh, Bane hurled the brickwork at the Dark Knight, who was taken by surprise at the speed of the projectile and knocked flat as the object merely brushed past him. Bane snarled victoriously, then charged.

Swiftly recovering from his injury, Batman shot his grapple gun into the roof, and the cable dragged him sharply into the air. As he left the floor, he shot out a heavy boot and kicked Bane in the face as he soared past. The super strong monster went blundering onwards, holding his face in pain.

It was only when it was far too late that Danielle realised the thing was coming straight at her.

Bane pounded by the nurse, coming within hairsbreadth of her. He crashed into the wall and moaned in pain. Danni stood stock-still, paralysed with shock. The monster was so close she could smell the tang of his sweat and sting of spilt venom from the pipe that was hanging loosely from him. She could feel the very air shifting in response to the mad man's every movement. Her mind screamed to run, but her body refused to respond. Or was it the other way round- her body desperate to run, but her mind unable to process the demand. Her brain was still trying to cope with how close she'd come to being run over. The only experience she could relate to such a thing resurfaced unbidden from her memory- a stupid dare when she was about ten, having wandered near a railway track without realising a train was about to pass by. The force of the passing locomotive had left her breathless and trembling. Bane's presence had the exact same effect on her.

Feeling herself begin to shake, Danielle forced her head to turn to face the super criminal.

Bane took one look at her, roared terrifically, and swung his right arm back.

Danielle screamed at the top of her lungs, seeing her death approach. Then something slammed into her from behind and knocked her to the ground. Bane's fist breezed over her head like a cyclone. Danni felt arms wrap around her as somebody pulled her into a tight embrace. When the arms had a firm hold of her, the person rolled them both away from Bane's descending foot. The floor crumpled, and Danielle felt the grating change into a slope as it did. She looked up to see Bane stomping after his escaping prey, but he hadn't gone two steps before a metal claw bit over his head.

Batman took a firm hold of the batclaws cable and pulled, unbalancing the hulking beast. Bane followed the pull of the claw, howling again. The vigilante made his move and started wrapping Bane up in the cable, dodging wild swings with ease as he circled his old enemy.

Danielle felt the arms holding her let go. She untangled herself from the grip and looked behind.

It was John Smith, a.k.a 'The Doctor' as he preferred. Danni found it quite puzzling that it would be the skinny man who would pull off a daring rescue like that, his fight with Harley demonstrating his competence in tasks of physical strength.

With a start, she realised the Doctor had just saved her life!

"Are you all right?" the Doctor asked with panicked concern. For once, a sarcastic answer failed to come to Danielle's mind. She was imagining what would have happened had the Doctor not been there.

"I'm fine…" she managed eventually.

Another loud yell drew their attention back to the Bane-fight.

Bane had somehow managed to snap the batclaw cable, but Batman had produced another one from somewhere. Blinding the Spaniard with a flash from a light emitting gadget, Batman shot the cord through one of the looping pipes in Bane's venom tank. He deployed the grapple again and lurched upwards. The cable of the batclaw was dragged along with him and tore the pipe out of Bane's head. Bane screamed in pain, trying madly to stick the tube back in, to no avail. Batman casually dropped back to the floor.

The super criminal huffed in rage. Before it could recoil out of reach, he snatched up the batclaw wire and held it tight; Batman was forced to let go before Bane tried to reel the cable towards himself. Instead of that, however, Bane charged the Dark Knight, who dived out the way again, but was forced to duck low as the metallic cord trailed behind the monster. Bane turned to face the Dark Knight and lashed the batclaw like a whip, catching him in the face. The distraction gave Bane enough time to close the gap between them and he grabbed the crime fighter between his massive palms.

Batman grunted in pain and tried to worm free, but he was trapped in the criminal's grasp. The briefcase sized fingers covering the Bat's equipment belt stopped him from getting anything from there, and Danni and the Doctor didn't have a hope of trying to overpower the super villain. Things looked bleak for the Bat.

Then gunfire rang out; Gordon appeared as if from nowhere, firing his gun into the huge monsters back. Slugs punched holes into Bane's exposed flesh and ricocheted off the tank of venom. None seem to help at all; Bane's impressive network of enhanced muscles held against the lead onslaught, and Bane merely grumbled in response.

"Gordon," Batman continued to fight Bane's clutches "shoot the pipes."

Gordon reacted instantly, turning his attack upon the pipes in the roof nearest Bane. Some had already been damaged during the fight, but a few were still intact, and jets of steam blossomed out from where the bullets struck them.

Bane moaned and growled as hot water scalded his head and shoulders. While he was distracted, Batman punched at different pressure points in the monster's wrists until his hold weakened. The Bat then kicked himself away from Bane and broke free, landing on the floor a few feet away.

Deprived of his catch, the super criminal turned his fury on Gordon. The commissioner emptied the rest of the assault rifle into Bane as he approached. Again, the rounds caused the man no harm. Bane grabbed hold of the gun and crushed it in one hand. He tossed his other hand in a punch that would have cleaved Commissioner Gordon's head from his shoulders had a batarang not knocked him down in time.

Before the monstrous criminal could look back, Batman swung through the air on the titanium cable of his grapple, slamming both feet into the back of Bane's knee. The super strong brute keeled over backwards as his leg collapsed. The Dark Knight rolled aside as he fell. The moment Bane was down, the Bat tried to jump forward and grab the last tube coming from the venom tank into an oversized arm. Bane saw him coming and slapped Batman away. The vigilante tumbled across the floor for a few metres before coming to a halt. He seemed a little dazed, but started climbing to his feet faster than the super criminal, who struggled just to get into a crouching position.

Suddenly, Danielle became aware that John Smith had got up off the floor and was running towards Bane.

"What are you doing!" she shrieked in horror. The Doctor ignored her and ran straight up to the super villain. He then whipped out the strange remote control with a blue light and pressed against Bane's arm. An ominous growl responded to the intrusion. Bane reached out with one gigantic hand that could squeeze the life from the John Smith. The private eye didn't try to get away, and as it turned out he didn't need to.

Suddenly, the metal plug in Bane's arm burst loose with a flood of bright green fluid. Bane roared in pain and quickly tried to hold the semi connected wedge of metal in place, but the Doctor grabbed it first and tore it the rest of the way off.

The Doctor skipped away from the hands that struck out at him. The super villain climbed up and went to attack, but as he raised his arms the Batman appeared and seized one of the limbs. As he came level with Bane's head, he used a tiny black canister to spray a grimy looking vapour into the monsters face.

Bane yelled again, throwing the Dark Knight off and pawing at his eyes. The colossus staggered around, nearly trampling both John Smith and Batman in his pain induced frenzy. This time he didn't quickly recover. Instead, he fell back to his knees, shouting at his agony.

"Everyone, I've found a way out!"

All eyes turned to Commissioner Gordon who was at the back of the room. He pointed up at the roof, but Danielle couldn't see anything from where she was sat on the floor. Batman either saw what Gordon was pointing at or simply trusted the policeman because he said "Doctor, get the nurse and follow Gordon. Everyone out, now."

In the blink of an eye, John Smith was helping Danielle up and pulling by the hand as fast as possible to where Gordon was looking for the best way to climb the wall. Danni was still pretty shaken by her ordeal and didn't think she'd make it up the makeshift ladder of pipes running across the brickwork. She said as much to the Doctor.

"Don't worry, I know you can do this," he said encouragingly. Danni was far from convinced.

"I'm not strong enough to climb that; I'll never make it. Either that or I'll fall and break my neck."

"That won't happen. I'm going to be right behind you the whole way."

Danielle looked up at the roof. Far above she could just make out what looked like a proper ladder, leading to the metal disc of a manhole cover. The path to it went up the wall and into a sort of tunnel that led out of the room. It looked like a long way to go.

Bane's voice echoed around the chamber as he again attempted to strike Batman. Even without the constant supply of venom from his storage tank, Bane was still fighting fit, and apparently unknockoutable.

The dire circumstances were starting to eat at Danni's fortitude. Doubt and deeply embedded paranoia stole her hope, and memories of all her shortcomings and disapproving comments from her mother inexplicably filled her mind and reminded her that she was already out of her depth. She just couldn't struggle up the pipes and escape. Shock was beginning to set in with vengeance, and the others wouldn't risk their lives trying to persuade her to save her own life if she didn't snap out of it and do it herself. She was going to be left behind and would die there; she just knew it.

"Danielle, look at me," despite the current emergency, the Doctor's voice was calm and gentle. She felt his hands on her shoulders, distracting her from the loud battle that was still going on. Still, she made no effort to lift her head from looking down in shame of her inability to cope with the situation.

"I know you're scared, and you're having trouble taking this all in, but you can do it if you really try hard."

"I can't do this," Danni was starting to feel tired, as though her brain just wanted to shut down and take a break from it all. "I… just can't deal with all this. This is just insane- what am I even doing here?"

"Danni, please…"

"Hurry up you two! Batman can't hold him forever!"

The two Brits looked up on impulse at the commissioner as he continued to forge ahead to get the manhole open. For an old man he was pretty agile, creeping up the pipe inlayed wall slowly but surely. Danielle thought bitterly of how the aged police officer could manage to escape but she was too afraid to even try. Was she just doomed to failure or something?

"We have to go now," said John Smith. Danielle shook her head.

"Just get out of here while you can. I'm not going anyway like this."

"What do you mean 'Like this'? Like what?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

Danielle felt her temper heat up and snapped "Like some idiot who can't handle a little bit of stress even if it gets her killed and is so damn worthless that not even her mum cares if she lives or dies. Now just get out of my face."

Danielle turned away from the private eye completely, checking on how the Bane situation was going. The beast was down again, and Batman looked like he might be planning his chance to escape and leave Bane trapped in the boiler room.

'With me,' she added in her head.

As though in direct response to her thought, the Doctor suddenly took a firm hold of her arms and spun her back round so that she was facing him. Before Danni's tongue could lash out at the treatment, the Doctor began speaking.

"Danielle Noble, I've heard you say some rash things in the time I've known you but that is the most absurd thing so far! When I spoke to you over the radio, I heard you outwit and attack Harley Quinn in order to protect the children's ward, nearly getting yourself killed in the process. You didn't beg or bargain or cry or do anything that a sensible person would do, and that stroke of initiative prevented a disaster so awful it doesn't bare thinking about what might have happened if it hadn't been for you. Then I came all this way through Arkham to rescue you, and what happened? I get jumped by a bloke called Slider and you have to rescue me! He could have shot me or Gordon or even the Batman, and again you risked your own life to end the crisis before anyone got hurt. All three of us here are indebted to you, and I know for a fact that just because your mum may be impatient with you, that will never change the fact that she truly loves you. I've known you for less than an hour and you are without a doubt the most stupidly brave, inspiring and resourceful person I've met in this asylum, and that includes Batman! You're no ordinary woman Danielle Noble; I knew that the moment I met you. You, are quite simply, brilliant! And I'm not going anywhere without you."

Danielle was struck dumb.

It took her a few seconds to register all of the rapidly spoken words, and a further eight point five seconds to check the words to see if any of them made sense at all.

Everything that had just been said was... extraordinary! But John Smith spoke with a passion of monumental volumes, sincerity vibrating with every syllable. And not in the way she'd heard mental ill patients ramble- the Doctor's words came at her like the Holy Scriptures, flawless and beyond doubt. His tone brooked no argument, and Danielle half felt that she ought to agree with him instantly, even though she knew he was talking rubbish. Now that she faced him, Danni could see again the Doctor's powerful eyes boring into hers with the same intensity. But now it was something other than that. John's eyes were no longer looking at her in that penetrating way that had made her uncomfortable. Now there was a spark in those creamy brown orbs, like bright starlight through the lens of her granddad's telescope. They sparked a flame in Danielle Noble; a flame which she couldn't explain the source or meaning of. But it didn't take long for that flame to become a wildfire of excited determination, and before she knew what she was saying, she'd already finished speaking.

"Stubborn man!" she shoved the private eye back. "Typical- never listen to reason! Fine, I'll climb. But if I fall you'd better bloody well catch me!"

The Doctor gave her a mischievous grin.

"That's more like it. Let's go!"

They began their climb.

The boiler room was ancient, and the piping was poorly maintained and fit to collapse. Aged pipes soiled the two climbers with the filth of corrosion. Some of the pipes were so badly damaged by the decay of time that festering wounds had been shattered into them. Jagged edges and loose chunks of metal pieced their flesh of Danielle's hands, but she knuckled down and fought back the tears of pain as she dragged herself up the punishing wall, one blood shedding handhold at a time. She could hear the Doctor scrambling up behind her, his mere presence after that outburst feeding her strength. Below him, the racket of the Bane-fight was still going on. It surely wouldn't be long before Batman would have to back off and Bane would have his chance to try and go after the escapees.

To take her mind of the toil she was going through, Danielle's mind turned to John Smith.

Upon her first evaluation of the man, the Doctor had put her in mind of a machine, powerful and energetic but somehow soulless, as if he gave her the feeling that his excitable bluster was an automated front he put on to get him through the crisis. Since the moment he'd tried to offer Bane help, however, his facade had disintegrated to reveal the man beneath. He seemed so full of life, and that feeling had empathically spread to Danielle. That was probably the best way she could describe it; the Doctor had made her feel alive, in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

After a short while climbing up a narrowing shaft which had stretched into a painful eternity, Danni came to the edge of the metal ladder. She turned her head and was glad to see that John had kept to his promise and was right behind her.

"We made it; we can escape!" she called down gleefully.

She could just make out the Doctor's smile from looking over her shoulder (she could hardly miss it; it was a big enough). Apparently Danielle's voice had travelled far, because Bane roared furiously in reply.

"Sorry has-Bane; should have accepted my help when I offered!" Danielle couldn't tell from Smith's tone whether he was being serious or mocking the super villain. She started climbing again. Before she moved more than a few feet there was the sound of something rushing through the air, followed by a crunch, and then a quick gasp. She looked back, and her expression turned to one of horror.

A brick fell back down the shaft from where it had been thrown from. Blood dripped with it, racing back to the monster responsible. The Doctor was currently doing a fine impression of a gawping fish, frozen in open mouthed confusion. Even unable to see his back, the drips of blood falling from the Doctor indicated to Danielle that Bane's hurled brick had caused injury. The Doctor's hold on a particularly sweaty pipe faltered. He began to topple back.

"No!" Danielle screamed for the second time that night. She braved the drop by reaching out hopelessly with one hand even though he was far out of reach.

"I will kill you all! You and the Bruja!" Bane's voice ascended from below; a death knell for John Smith.

She didn't want to lose the Doctor. It was strange, but Nurse Noble had had far stranger impulses to far more unlikely mean in the past. Her emotions mounted to levels of absolute terror at the thought of losing the private eye with the complex personality. She didn't want to see him die, but at the same time she couldn't bring herself to look away as he fell.

Then there was hope, in the form of a guardian; a knight. A Dark Knight.

Never before had the expression 'like a bat out of hell' been more relevant as the Batman materialised out of the darkness below as he literally flew up towards them. Just as the Doctor's backwards collapse reached the point of no return, Batman came level with him and shoved him back against the wall.

"Gordon, give me those grenades," Batman somehow allowed his voice to carry up the shaft without seeming to raise his voice. A bandolier dropped past Danielle's face and into Batman's hand.

"Keep going," Batman said before he dropped back out of sight.

"Can you keep going, John?" Danielle called over her shoulder.

"Yeah, fine," the Doctor's voice was strained, but he spoke with confidence and reassurance. "I'll be right behind you."

Danni didn't like the idea of going on and leaving the private investigator to his own devices, but she was having a hard enough time herself and couldn't help him. Her head was drawn back upwards by the scraping sound as Gordon reached the manhole and started to push it free. She decided that the best option was to get out quickly so as to allow the Doctor to follow as fast as possible.

Explosions from below jump started Danielle's movements, and she scurried towards the dim light coming from the open manhole. The sound of falling stone and metal accompanied a roar from Bane, echoing between the cramped walls. The nurse dared not stop.

Danielle didn't realise just how fetid and noxious the air in the boiler room was until she took her first breath of cool, clean night air as she emerged from the underground, outside the medical facility. She coughed the stink of the deep chambers out of her lungs as she crawled out onto the dirt track. Gordon was standing at the lip of the hole, helping her out. As soon as she was clear he turned his attention to the second person. Danielle quickly moved to help as well.

Danielle had been expecting to have to drag John Smith out of the hole, but surprisingly he climbed out on his own, only the slightest wince with each movement of his left arm indicating that he'd been wounded. Nevertheless, she brushed off the man's protests about being fine as she dragged him to a nearby bench and forced him to sit down while she checked his injury.

"Some Doctor you are! That brick might have killed you," she said, trying to stay calm while her emotions went unexplainably haywire with the relief of finding that the crater in his back wasn't as deep as she'd believed, and the thought of what might have happened to him if Batman hadn't had caught him.

At that moment, the Batman himself vaulted out of the manhole and joined the small group.

"Bane's been buried under a pile of rubble," he announced in his heavy voice. "He won't be causing us any problems for some time."

The gathered people lapsed into a moment of silence as they allowed themselves to withdraw from the adrenaline high and catch their breath. Nearly ten seconds passed as they gathered their thoughts before anyone spoke.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" said the Doctor.