Suffering Builds Character

Sidonie was rather pleased that many of the men were scared out of even looking at her after whatever warning Bane had given them. She could walk through the building freely without all the invasive eyes on her, and it made the compound a little more bearable.
Barsad caught up with her one early afternoon just as she was leaving her little room. "Sido, come with me. I have something for you," he said. She followed him curiously as he led her outside through the back of the warehouse. Outside was a setup of bottles and cans scattered about the ground and fold out tables, and even stuck in the fence. She turned to Barsad to see him holding a hand gun out to her.
"Have you ever used one of these?" he asked. She shook her head, eyeing the gun before hesitantly taking it. "I thought not. Today, you're going to learn," he said, leading her onward. She wasn't expecting to do well, and she was right. She managed to hit a few of the targets, but she had a long way to go yet. Barsad taught her the basics and set her loose on the scattered targets, letting her get her own feel for what she was doing and giving her some pointers every once in a while. She soon realized there was another watching apart from Barsad, but waited until Barsad stopped her to even acknowledge the masked man.
She moved to give the gun back to Barsad when he stopped her and simply pushed it back down in her grip. "That gun is yours now," he said as he pushed. She gave him an odd look before looking back to Bane, his hands gripping high at the edges of his winter jacket as he watched from a distance. He lifted his hand, always covered in a brace, and gestured her over to him. Barsad shooed her off toward the masked man.
"This was your idea, wasn't it?" she guessed as she neared the man.
"It is a valuable skill. Especially here," he answered. "Barsad is the best gunman I have, he will teach you well," he added.
"Am I going to get dragged into something dangerous by staying with you and your men?" she asked after a moment of hesitation. Bane was quiet for a moment, his hard eyes giving nothing away.
"Only if you want to be," he finally said. "Would you like to know what we're doing?" he asked. He waited patiently for her answer. Sido had to think hard about her decision. She wasn't sure she wanted to know anything at this point. Yeah, she had searched, but she never found anything important, and that worried the girl, in all honesty. She nodded her head despite her worry, looking up at Bane with more confidence than she felt.
He led her through the lot and into his secluded office. He sat her down at his desk and placed one folder of many into her hands. Her stomach dropped the moment she saw the little label on the tab, and she was only able to stare dumbly at the unopened folder for a long time.
"Gotham? What's in Gotham for you?" she managed to force out.
"An unfulfilled destiny," he replied, noting her sudden change in demeanor. "What is in Gotham for you?" he asked. She glanced up at him.
"I grew up there," she muttered. "What are you going to do?" she asked hesitantly.
"We are going to destroy it," Bane said. The girl gave a curt nod before looking away from him. "I understand if this is upsetting news, but it must be done," he added, his mechanical voice softer. She looked back up at Bane, and her eyes were just as hard and unfathomable as his so often were.
"Bane, Gotham ruined my life. I will help you and your men destroy that city, if you'll have me," she said, voice as hard as her eyes. The only indication that he was surprised by her answer was the prolonged lack of response.
"If that is what you wish," he finally said. "You have all the time you need to study. This plan is still in it's early stages. You will be updated on new information. Once the plan is complete, we will move into Gotham," he explained.
She spent a lot of time studying the folders in Bane's office over the next few days, and letting Barsad teach her more about using weaponry, and generally just finding her place in the warehouse. She didn't see much of Bane, but he managed to watch her.
He learned that Sidonie was very keen on observing. She picked up on all the little things. She still wasn't comfortable talking to anyone other than Barsad and Bane, but that didn't mean she didn't know who a good portion of the others were. Just by watching others, she learned who to avoid, who to be careful around, who was safe, all of it.
She was with Barsad one afternoon, listening in on the man's conversation with a pair of men and leisurely eating a piece of bread while the men spoke. The men were young, and fairly new to the collection. Of course, they'd been there longer than Sido, but they held a certain naivety about their roles in Bane's plan. Bane had been looking over a few things not too far away from the small group, half listening to the conversation.
"No, man, just think about it. After all of this is said and done, we'll all be famous. How could we not be?" one of the men said. Barsad only grinned at the childish statement.
"That isn't the point of all this, to end up famous," Sidonie said. It was her first contribution to any conversation outside of Bane's and Barsad's company, but she couldn't help herself.
"Then what is?" the other man challenged. Sido popped a small piece of bread into her mouth casually.
"It doesn't matter who we are. The only thing that matters is the plan. It's not about anything else," she said. Her statement caught Bane's full attention.
"You would do well to listen to her. She is right, after all," Bane said without looking away from his work. That statement alone, especially from Bane, earned Sido a smirk from Barsad and wide eyed stares from the two men. It wasn't often that Bane was impressed by the words of another. And, for this girl that might as well have been a ghost, to earn that rise from the masked man, well... It struck a cord of slight fear and curiosity in the two men. As of that moment, to those two naive little men, Sido was just as much a force to be reckoned with as Bane was. There was no telling what that ghost of a girl was capable of.
Bane was intrigued by Sidonie. She had been through a lot in her lifetime. She had a traumatic past, Bane could tell. She had seen too much in her youth. Her innocence had been stolen from her a long time ago, leaving her with only the harsh realities of the world around her. Underneath all of her walled up anger and pain, there was potential to be great. Bane knew she had a lot to offer, she just needed to realize it.

A small girl was running through a dark hallway, trying to escape the shadow figure following her. She was terrified, tears running down her face as she searched desperately for some form escape. She could see the door. Only a few more feet and she would be able to escape. But right before she could grab the handle, she was shoved forcefully to the ground and a sudden weight dropped down on top of her. The shadow figure was the girls father, greasy and reeking, looming over her small frame. A sick smile was plastered onto his face, and the girl was left defenseless.
Sidonie woke up with a sharp yelp and immediately shot up in her cot, eyes wide and looking wildly through the dark. She was unable to register that the man wasn't in her room for a long moment. She was breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat, realizing tears were sliding down her cheeks. She couldn't be in that room. She jumped up and rushed out of her makeshift little bedroom, grabbing her winter jacket on the way out.
Her nerves were grating away at Sido as she stood outside in the cold night time air. She hadn't had that nightmare, that all too painful reminder of her past, in years. She was too panicked and lost in her thoughts, and didn't notice someone approaching her as she leaned against the side of the building.
"Are your feet not cold?" a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside her, the tone exceptionally amused. With a very visible flinch, her head shot up to see Bane standing a few feet off from her.
"What?" she choked out.
"Did you not think to put shoes on before coming out into the cold?" he asked. She looked down at her feet and spared a light shrug. In her rush to get out of her room, she left her boots behind. "Why are you not sleeping? It's very late," he asked.
"I couldn't sleep," Sido answered. He could hear the evasiveness in her voice.
"You may come to my office if you don't wish to be alone," Bane offered, hard eyes watching her carefully. She pushed herself off the wall after a moment and let Bane lead the way. He knew she was frightened for some reason. Sidonie knew that he did. She realized her feet were cold indeed, as they walked into the office. As she slipped off her jacket, there was a question burning at the tip of her tongue.
"Bane," she called out hesitantly. The man turned to face her. "Why are you and Barsad so nice to me? Neither of you treat the others like that, I've seen it. I don't see how I should be any different," she said.
"You are very different, Sidonie. In many ways. None of my men have had easy lives, but each of them chose the road they took willingly. You, on the other hand, were forced down the road you took. You have never known true kindness. Of that, I am positive. You have given me and Barsad no reason to deprive you of that," Bane informed as he fiddled with an object on the metal desk top. She stared at him blankly for a long moment. It was extremely off-putting that he could gather that information when she had given so little.
"I could use your help. Come here," he said suddenly. She obeyed and padded over to the desk. He was seated in the fold out chair in front of the metal desk, still fiddling with the small object in his hands. As she neared him, he held the object out to her. It was a small, unlabeled vial of liquid. She furrowed her brows as she took it.
"What is this?" she asked.
"It is medicine," he answered, reaching over for a small machine on his desk. "It goes in here, where it is vaporized. This tube connects to the back of my mask where the medicine is then transferred. Since the medicine is concentrated, I need a new dose only at the end of every week. Normally, I would have done this myself. However, time is short, and your help would make the process pass much faster," Bane explained, turning on the machine. Sido worked quickly, sticking to the small time frame she had. It was a simple process, but she could tell why Bane had slight difficulty in doing the job himself. He couldn't see the back of his head, after all.
"If I asked what the medicine is for, would I get an answer?" she asked as she disconnected the tube from his mask.
"I will tell you, if you tell me something in return," Bane said, standing up. She looked up at the towering man.
"Depends on what you want to know," she said.
"How did you end up on the streets, so far from Gotham?" he asked.
"I ran away from home when I was thirteen years old. I stayed on the streets of Gotham for two years before leaving. I've been moving around ever since," Sido answered, deciding his question was simple enough.
"And you are twenty now? Seven years is quite a long time to survive by yourself in such conditions," Bane noted.
"My previous living conditions were much worse, trust me. Your turn," Sido said.
"The medicine is for pain. I need a constant supply in order to function, hence the mask. Without it, the pain would be far too great to ignore," he said.
"How do you eat if you can't take off the mask?" she asked. Judging by his size, he was getting nutrition some way or another.
"I never said I couldn't take it off, Sidonie. So long as I am not in an adrenaline induced state, I can take the mask off for several minutes. The medicine stays in my system long enough for me to do what I need to," he explained. Sido gave a nod of acknowledgement.
It was hard for her to see Bane the way the others saw him. She hadn't seen him very much in her first three months, but what she did see of him gave her no reason to fear the hulking man. She didn't see him with the same caution and fear his men looked at him with. She had been given a small taste of what he was capable of when two of his soldiers attacked her in the parking lot, and she knew he was capable of so much more than that, but still, she wasn't afraid. Perhaps it was because she gave him no reason to make her fear him. Not yet.