I know I didn't promote this in my Fancast to the story, but after the recent onslaught of news focusing on the upcoming prologue to The Dark Knight Rises, I decided that a prologue to this would set up the story well. Like TDKR, this is the beginning of the story and sets up the villain of the fanfic. And if you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, click HERE to be re-directed to my Fansite where all 10 chapters from the previous installment are available to read! And now, without further adeiu, I present The Batman: Arkham City Prologue!
The Batman: Arkham City
By MovieMaster
The rain splattered against the crippled stone walls. The prison of Santa Prisca, a small Island off the coast of South America, was slowly collapsing after over 100 years standing, and built by weak stones and metal. In one of the cells, a pregnant mother sat against the soaking walls crying as she was giving birth. On her own. Nobody bothered to come and help her, and nobody paid attention to the screaming lady in a cell. She was losing the will to live. She nearly gave up pushing. When a guard opened her cell door and helped her. She was absolutely shocked, ever since she had arrived at the prison he had essentially bullied her and neglected her, downgraded her and heckled her every time she walked by. As she was considered attractive to the other inmates, she was downgraded and treated as a sexual object. The guard helping her reminded her greatly of the Bible story, The Good Samaritan. She was breathing heavily. Sweat was dripping off of her forehead.
“One more push!” The guard exclaimed. She screamed. Suddenly, a crying sound could be heard. The guard grinned. “Congratulations Evelyn Diego, you have a beautiful baby-“he quickly glanced across the baby’s body. “-boy!”
“Why did you help me give birth? You hate me!”
“I may hate you, but you were in an hour of need. I wouldn’t just let anybody sit by and slowly die, I’d help. No matter what our relationship was.” Evelyn smiled, and then laid her head back against the wall and ceased breathing. “Evelyn? Evelyn!” He shook her repeatedly. Other guards walked past and rushed in, calling for others to go and get medical equipment. But it was too late. Meanwhile, a baby was being cradled in the first guard’s arms, sobbing greatly.
“Hey Carlos, want me to take care of that?” Asked a guard.
“Nah, I kind of like him. Do we know if she had any relatives?”
“None, the father fled the Island before she could tell him that she was pregnant.”
“Aw. What’re we gonna do with him then?” Asked another security guard. Carlos stared long and hard at the tiny child rolling around in his arms, debating in his mind whether to send the baby to an orphanage or care for him himself.
“I want to keep him,” Carlos said firmly. The other guards were shocked. Carlos wasn’t really somebody you’d call a caring person, he was generally selfish and a bully. He had never shown any sign of compassion towards any other guard at the prison. What had Carlos seen in the baby that had made him want to keep him?
8 Years Later
A young boy ran through the long thick grass. He was wearing old, worn sandals. They weren’t even sandals; they were old flip flops he had found which he had transformed into sandals using rope and elastic. He was wearing home-made shorts which were covered in holes. His shirt was dark brown with dirt. The boy was running from a group of townspeople, who were holding pitchforks. In his hand he was holding a knife caked in blood. His name was Antonio and he had been born in a prison and raised by one of the prison’s security guards. Until he was 4, he had believed that the guard was his actual father until he had believed that Antonio was old enough to handle the news. He was wrong. This had torn his life apart, and made him spiral into a life of crime. Today he made his first murder, the owner of the nearby town shop. All because he wouldn’t sell Antonio cigarettes. Antonio leaped across fallen trees and sprinted through rivers with the townspeople catching up with him. He was nearly home. The boy ran across the dirt track leading up to the shack he called his home. His father burst through the front door holding his gun, coming out to see what all the commotion was.
“Son! Get over here!” He yelled, struggling to be heard over the loud chanting of the rioters. Then he saw the bloody knife, and gasped. His security guard instincts kicked in and he fired a shot, but his father instincts shoved it out the way, sending the bullet to the left of his adopted son where it hit the ground with such force that sand exploded next to Antonio, and thrust him to the right. His sandals had flipped back a few feet and he had injured his leg. The mob were nearly at him. His father stood there in shock, unable to move. The townspeople were standing over him and lifted him up above their heads.
"Carlos Sandalia, arrest your son! He has murdered the shopkeeper!" Screeched one of the rioters. Carlos still wasn't moving. Antonio began to cry, as his tears rolled off of his cheeck and were quickly fried on the hot sand. Carlos slowly edged towards Antonio. He put his gun in his holster and gradually took out his handcuffs. Antonio gasped.
"Do it faster!" Another townsperson yelled. Terrified, Carlos lifted up Antonio swiftly and slapped the handcuffs onto the back of his hands.
"Dad, please! I'm your son!" Carlos was silent for what seemed like an eternity.
"You are no son of mine." Antonio sobbed quietly, as he was led away by his adoptive father into the onslaught of rioting townsfolk and forward to the prison.
20 Years Later
A prison guard walked down a stoney corridoor. He was carrying an old set of keys, and had a look on his face like he was going to visit an old friend. The keys looked like they hadn't been touched in a while, as they were covered in rust. He reached a massive metal door with a wide slit/door type thing at the bottom, used to send food into the room. It was solitary confinement, a padded cell where the criminally unstable are usually sent to for a large sentence, sometimes for life. It was the prison's only one and had been occupied for the last 20 years. It's occupier was called Antonio Diego. He had been given a life sentence at the prison as an 8 year old boy after being discovered to have a history of phycological problems spiralling from when his mother died during childbirth. At the age of 8, he murdered the village shopkeeper for refusing to sell him cigarettes. He had remained in prison for 14 years, learning what the real world was like the hard way. He had murdered 5 guards during that time, attempted escape 7 times and once staged a prison breakout...
26 Years Earlier
All was quiet at the Santa Prisca prison. The guards were guarding the cells like always and some of the prisoners were out back in the prison courtyard. A teenage prisoner was sat on the bench in his cell with his head in his hands. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit (it was customary for prisoners) and sobbing. Or was he? The guard standing next to his cell glanced in and grinned, thinking of different ways to humiliate him. He saw a small stone on the floor, and threw it at him. The prisoner stopped sobbing. He leapt up as fast as the speed of light and in one single movie, stepped towards the cell doors all the way from the back of the room. He grabbed the guard's shirt, swung him around and grabbed hold of the front of his neck. He slammed it repeatedly into the iron bars, strangling him at the same time. The guard fell unconcious on the floor, not before the prisoner could grab his keys. There was a white label on his jumpsuit reading his name: Antonio Diego.
He unlocked himself from his cell and unlocked all the other cells in the corridoor, and then proceeded to the others with an onslaught of prisoners following behind. Guards were trampled in the process, chanting words in South American. There was a motive behind this all. One of the prisoners had been ratting to the guards about what the others were getting up to. It was time to end it, and there was only one way to do that. Bane was holding a public execution. There was one unopened cell in the compound, containing a quivering, bald man sat in the corner trying to shield himself in the darkness. The prisoners reached his cell and unlocked it, carrying him out above their heads. When they reached outside, some of them managed to drag a large rock over to where Bane was standing. He pulled out a knife and slammed the rat's head against it.
"We all know why Jose Roche is here today, don't we? Because he's been ratting to the guards! And we don't take kindly to your kind, do we...?" He spat on Jose's head.
"I hope you rot in hell!" Yelled Jose, blood spurting from his mouth.
"That may happen," Said Antonio, "but you're going to swim in the Lake of Fire a long time before I will". He rose the large knife into the air, and swiftly decapitated Jose. Silence fell over the area. That was before the guards came. See, there was another prison on the other side of the Island and because it was such a small place, it didn't take long for them to arrive as reinforcements. They came running into the crowd and as most of them were cowards, they ran straight back in, leaving Antonio, Jose's lifeless body and a few other terrified prisoners outside. What happened after that was still a blur to Antonio. He didn't remember much, only that he was put in solitary confinement almost immediately after. And stayed there ever since.
26 Years Later
The guard opened the door to Antonio's cell. He was sat there smiling.
"Been a long time," he said.
"Indeed. You've probably noticed that we're letting you out early."
"Unless this is what Hell looks like."
"No, you're still alive. Unfortunately for you most likely. We have a scientist who has come to the prison looking for prisoners to experiment on. He has created a drug called Venom, which enhances the body's mental and physical capabilities. Once you inject it into your blood stream, you'll become superhuman."
"I like the sound of Venom, although I do not need it. I have already proved that I am by far the strongest prisoner at Pena Dura, and the smartest."
"Things may have changed," stated the guard. Antonio's smile dropped. He stood up, and the guard realised that he was much taller than he was 26 years ago, and bigger. He had the beefiest hands he had ever seen on a human being, and the most muscles. He was unbelievably tall, nearly touching the ceiling.
"What do you mean, 'things may have changed'?" Asked Antonio.
"The prisoners here have become stronger and cleverer since you were sent here. You are now a forgotten myth." Antonio grabbed the guard and slammed him against the wall. Not that it caused any damage, considering the walls were padded.
"I am the strongest person this prison has ever laid eyes on. I am the smartest person this prison has ever taken in. I am the Bane of any mortal. I am Bane, and I will..... BREAK YOU!" Bane grabbed the guard and thrust him all the way to the other side of the room with all his might. The guard crumpled to the floor. His face was bloodied and looked broken. Bane swiftly walked over to him, glancing down at the falledn guard.
"Son...." He couldn't manage anything else. The breath left his body. The life drained from his face. He died.
"Father? D-dad?" Bane came to the horrific realization that, after being locked away for so long, he had forgotten what his own adoptive father looked like. And he had killed him. Tears streamed down his face. But he held the rest back. Bane stood up and noticed that the door was ajar. He held the body of his dead father in his hands and carried him out to the courtyard, where he buried him. Of course the other guards noticed that the most dangerous prisoner in Pena Dura's history had just escaped and was burying the security guard he had just killed. But they didn't dare touch him, in fear of something similar happening to them. When he had finished the burial, Bane turned to leave. Naturally, the guards reacted with force.
"FREEZE!" They screamed at him, guns at the ready. Bane slowly turned around, his eyes red with tears.
"If you dare harm me in my current state, I can gurantee that this place will have burned to the ground within the space of two hours." The guards lowered their guns as Bane walked straight out of the prison. The guards seemed like they didn't even notice he left. They were petrified. As they should be. He was the Bane of them.
And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it and coming up with the storyline! The prologue did leave a few things blank though, like why does Bane go to Gotham City? And why does he want to kill Batman? Oops, I'm pretty sure that was a spoiler. This isn't the end of Bane's origin though, there is A LOT more to be covered in the story. But we don't want all that spoiled here, do we...?
NOTE: I've based the timelines of this around Javier Bardems age, the actor I've chosen to play Bane in the fancast. He is 42, so if you're having trouble understanding the timelines, it's not that hard to work out.
The Batman: Arkham City will be posted in it's entirety here hopefully sometime around the end of December or mid-January!