Achilles

Roslyne was nodding off at her desk when she sensed a presence in front of her. Forcing her eyes open, she found Dr. Crane looming over her, the closest thing to a sympathetic smile on his face. "You alright, Roslyne?"

"Yeah," she nodded, voice coming out a little raspier than she would have liked. "Late night, you know. Didn't sleep well."

"If you need to take the day off, you're more than welcome to."

She leaned back in her chair, raising her arms above her head and stretching while ignoring the fact that Crane watched her as she did so. "No, I'm fine, really. I just need some caffeine, is all."

Her eyes lit up when her boss held out the cup in his hands. "Lucky for you, I just picked this up from the lounge."

She huffed out a laugh and shook her head. "No, it's fine. I can get my own."

"I got it for you," he immediately responded, expression blank. Roslyne quirked an eyebrow, and he elaborated. "I walked by earlier and saw you dozing. Thought I'd help you out."

The brunette grinned crookedly and took the coffee. "Aren't I supposed to be bringing you coffee, Dr. Crane?"

She could have sworn his cheeks took on a faint pink tint, but he only shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Consider this a symbiotic relationship. You help me, and I help you," he fought a smile. "And, Jonathan. Please."

So, Henry may have been onto something with his theory of Crane having a bit of a thing for Roslyne, but as long as they kept it mostly professional, she wasn't bothered by it. He was a good boss, and obviously very kind.

"Fine, Jonathan. Thank you. I swear I'll be fully awake in a few minutes."

He simply nodded, rapping his knuckles on the desk before walking through the door behind her, the one leading to his office.

She hadn't lied about having a hard night. Not only had she stayed late with the man who had previously been standing in front of her, but she had also taken on Gillen. It wasn't so much the fight that wore her out-- more the emotional turmoil it put her in.

Seeing Barsad and Mücher were one thing, but she had chatted with them since her return. This was the first time she had seen any of the other soldiers, and it meant that he was here, in the city, only a few miles away from her at any given time.

Roslyne nursed the coffee, going through some paperwork as she did until she could feel the buzz of the caffeine thrumming through her body. She filed a few things and made some calls to relatives of patients and other doctors, then got up and walked into Crane's office with an easy grin on her face.

"Back with us?" He asked without looking up.

"Yes sir, feeling much better, now. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like you to accompany me to the meeting with Koi and Itawa," he told her, referring to the two heads of the hospital, both of whom were put in charge soon after the mass breakout.

"Yeah, of course. What's the meeting about?"

"Patient development, the usual. It's in about twenty minutes. I'm sure you can find something to busy yourself with until then." He flashed another smile, and Roslyne took it as her cue to leave, returning to her desk just in time for her cell phone to ring.

Her brother's name flashed on the screen, and Roslyne picked it up with a sigh. "Yeah?"

"You didn't tell me that you ran into Gillen last night."

"Technically, it was this morning. By the time I got home, you were asleep."

"Should have woken me up."

She snorted. "What for? It's not like you needed to deal with him, or anything. I handled it."

"Obviously." Roslyne could hear him rolling his eyes.

"How'd you find out about it, anyway?"

"Miguel came into the office today to talk to me."

"Who?" Roslyne made a face.

"The guy I traveled with. He was my roommate at the compound...?" He tried.

"Oh, oh, Portugal, right." She remembered the blonde who Henry had returned with. So, that was his name. "What'd he come to the office for?"

"You may be surprised, Ros, how big a role building structures plays in all of this."

"Actually, I'm not," she shrugged. She could clearly remember memorizing the blueprints for the asylum (many of the doctors were very impressed when she first started working there and already knew her way around).

Henry chuckled. "Right, well, I saw him today and he mentioned Gillen getting the shit beat out of him and that he had been swearing about you since he got back to headquarters."

"Headquarters? Did he say where--...?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to," he cut her off, instantly sounding ticked off.

Roslyne breathed through her nose, frowning. "Well, I do, Hen. We're gonna see everyone again, whether you like it or not."

"Well, I'd like to put that off for as long as possible."

Roslyne rolled her eyes, feeling anger rising in her. "You know what?" She hissed into the phone. "You can do whatever the fuck you want, but you knew when you got into this that it was for life. There's no use hiding from him, and there's no use trying to stop me from finding him."

And, that's what it was really about. Bane. That's what it was always about.

"I'm done with this conversation. See you when you get home."

"Yeah, maybe."

She hung up, bringing a hand to her face to massage it with the heel of her palm. Her brother truly knew just the right things to say to work her up. Roslyne braced herself on the desk, shutting her eyes and composing herself. She heard the door to Crane's office open and close, and the thin man stood next to her for a while.

"Everything okay? I couldn't hear what you were saying, but I could hear your tone."

He seemed to be all sorts of concerned for her today.

Roslyne forced a tight-lipped smile as she stood and nodded. "Everything is fine. My brother was just giving me a hard time."

"He does that a lot, does he not?"

They walked out of the large room and into the corridors, footsteps echoing on the floors.

"Of course. What else are siblings for?"

The two slipped into an elevator, remaining silent as they rode down to the second floor of the building. Hopefully, this meeting would be able to distract Roslyne for a while because all she had truly been feeling for the past few days was either irritation at her brother or longing for her old friend.



Crane let Roslyne leave early that day, or really forced it upon her after he noticed how bloodshot her eyes were from lack of sleep and stress.

"Go home. Go to sleep. Come back tomorrow at eleven," he had told her, despite all of her protesting.

While she did leave work, she did not return to the apartment, mostly because she didn't know if Henry would be there or not, so she changed into some clothes that weren't so professional (jeans, boots, a camisole, and a certain jacket that she had, had since the age of nine), and like that, she decided to walk the streets of Gotham and run a few errands.

The weather was nice enough-- a little chilly, but nothing she couldn't handle, and the city was bustling with bodies, people moving to and from work. It was something that Roslyne was quite used to after living on very similar sidewalks, fighting against the crowds and huddling up against buildings in the night. She shoved her hands deep into her pockets at the thought, walking with her head down, though she was still minutely aware of her surroundings.

The brunette ducked into a few stores, picking up some new shirts, handwraps for her workouts since her other ones were beginning to fray, and a sketchpad. Henry called her a few times, but she ignored him even as the sun started to set and the city lights began to glitter.

Loitering about did nothing to occupy her mind, and she thought about what the near future could hold as she made her way back to her car.

It was a little past nine o'clock when she got back to the parking lot she had left her Jeep in, having spent a good four hours walking among the skyscrapers and apartment buildings. Roslyne kept an eye on everything around her, very aware of how bad the crime had gotten over the past few months. She wasn't scared, of course, but she did want to be prepared should some thug think they could get the best of her.

Once she had her bags situated in her backseat, Roslyne slid into the driver's side, locking all the doors. She turned the car on, fiddling with the radio, and was ready to finally set off for her apartment when something, or some people, caught her eye.

Two young men, possibly still in their teens, were walking at a brisk pace, veering off of the sidewalk and into the road as they looked over their shoulders. Their movments were nervous, and Roslyne watched as both bent down and lifted the cover of a manhole, something she had seen years and years ago.

There had been rumors of work in the sewers when she and Henry were in New York. It was where he went when he left her, when he joined Bane's army.

With wide eyes and an accelerated heartrate, Roslyne twisted the keys in the ignition again, waiting for the men to lower themselves fully before she got out of the car, stuffing her keys into her jacket pocket, and swiftly making her way to the manhole.

She knew she wouldn't be able to lift it by herself, but lucky for her, the boys before hadn't managed to shut it all the way.

There wasn't enough room for her to slip into the tunnel, but it was still partially off, and it was easy for the girl to sit down on the concret and slide it further with her boot-covered feet, bracing herself on her arms as she used her body weight against it.

She grinned when the hole could accomodate her and took a deep breath before climbing down. The smell was overwhelming, but she had anticipated it, and her eyes adjusted to the darkness by the time she got to the bottom, hopping off of the ladder and landing in a nearly silent way.

Very aware of the fact that her coming down here was probably very dangerous, she stayed as quiet as possible, tapping into all of the skills she had learned at the compound years prior. She stuffed her keys into her tighter pants pocket so that they didn't rattle in the coat, moving stealthily toward a faint light.

Her heart was beating harshly in her chest, and she hoped and prayed that this was it, that she would finally see him again.

Things were complicated, however, when she noticed two soldiers standing guard at a tunnel. There was a good chance that they wouldn't recognize her, though she didn't look terribly different from her younger self, maybe a bit taller with lighter hair and a slightly more lithe form. She'd be able to deal with them, though.

There was no use in trying to crawl on the ceiling or distract them. Instead, she simply approached them cautiously, raising her hands as they did the same with their weapons.

"Hey, hey, no need for that. I'm just looking for a job," she lied. Neither face was even vaguely familiar, and the men looked at each other in confusion, giving her just enough time to kick the gun out of one soldier's hand and duck when the other fired at her. She took his legs out in what was becoming her signature move, straightening up and turning to slam the heel of her palm into the weaponless man's throat.

Both were down long enough for her to hop past them and sprint down the tunnel, pressing herself up against the wall at the sound of heavy footfall coming from a different tunnel--backup.

She held her breath, waiting for them to pass, then slipped into the stone corridor that they had emerged from, the light growing brighter as she approached a massive underground room (cave, more like).

She could see into it from where she was, soldiers moving back and forth, both on the ground and on cables in the air. They seemed to be doing some kind of underground construction, which did not surprise her in the slightest. There were many parts of this plan that her friend had not explained to her.

Trying to find him without being noticed by anyone would be impossible. However, with this many men walking around, some were bound to recognize her, and the ones who didn't probably weren't allowed to kill her on the spot. Worst case scenario, they would take her to their leader.

And, that was exactly what she wanted.

With a smile on her face, she walked into the workplace with the same confidence she possessed in the compound. This was her family. It was who she belonged with.

The sound of hammering and some drilling echoed throughout the cavernernous area as everyone worked. She began to see a few old faces, but all of them seemed very focused on what they were doing. Surprisingly enough, none of the actual mercenaries ended up stopping her. It was a girl, in the end, who blocked her path as she walked about, eyes searching for that one, hulking figure.

Roslyne stopped abruptly, fingers twitching by her sides, and lifted an eyebrow. She hadn't thought the mercecherries would be traveling with them, though, this girl didn't look quite like the others.

"Uh, how in the hell did you get in here?" She asked in an arrogant tone as she put her hands on her hips.

The brunette could only stare at the other for a moment. The women at the compound had never been so outspoken. Things had probably changed a bit since her departure, but this took her by surprise.

"I walked?" She replied, refusing to cock her own hip out in a more defensive position. Apathy was the best way to annoy someone, anyway.

"There were guards," the female spat. She looked about Roslyne's age, maybe a year or two older, and was dressed in black leggings and a white v-neck. She wore boots, too, another thing the girls at the compound never did, and her blonde hair was pulled back.

"I took them down," Roslyne told her simply, looking over her shoulder and really just not caring what she had to say. "If you'll just excuse me," she mumbled, brushing past her.

Roslyne tensed when she felt a hand clamp down around her arm, irritation evolving into anger, and she turned back to the girl with what she knew was a dangerous look in her eyes. "It'd be in your best interest for you to let go of me."

She scoffed, smirking, and raised a challenging eyebrow. "No, I think it'd be in your best interest to do as I say."

Her blood pressure soared. She could feel adrenaline begin to pump in her veins as she set her jaw. This woman was definitely not a cherry. If anything, she was more like...

No, that was impossible.

"Who the fuck are you?" Roslyne finally spat, glaring daggers at the blonde girl in front of her.

Her smirk grew, and she let go of the captive arm, crossing her own over her chest as she said in a haughty voice, "I'm the girl who's gonna beat the shit out of you, if you don't tell me what you're doing here."

Roslyne laughed, toes curling in her boots as her hands clenched into fists by her side. With a sardonic smile, all she uttered was a sarcastic, "Nice try," before throwing a heavy left-hook and watching her drop to the concrete floor.