Reality Crisis

Bane was entirely unhappy about the turn of events. The sudden disappearances, the loss of life. Mostly he was displeased because there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing Erik could do about it. They were all helpless and useless in the face of what this world threw at them. Bane did not like feeling helpless.

It soured his mood considerably.

Talia had shown up, and that added to his feelings. He had an inherent need to protect her. He had taken her in, given her his bed, slept on the floor so that she could live in the relative comfort, he had made sure that she was fed and well. All on instinct alone. Just as he had protected her long ago in the Pit, so he would protect her now.

But how could he, in the face of the world veritably imploding on itself? What was he to do?

The large man was returning to the hut after patrolling the settlement, taking stock of what had gone missing, and what was in place of it. Trying to discover if faces were gone for good, or if they were in hiding for fear of what might come next. This was not his place to command, though he deeply wished it was. He wanted to give orders, he wanted to make arrangements.

While he was relatively happy in Sanctuary, and he would remain loyal to Erik and abide by his rules whilst there, Bane was giving serious consideration to the idea that perhaps he was not made to follow orders, only give them. He would not abandon these people while they had need of him. But once this was over, he might not remain.

The world was a wreck and it hadn't exactly been pleasant before Kate arrived, either. Less than a week into being here and she was already hurt. Bruce managed to keep her on bed rest for about a day before Kate got up and began hobbling around. That meant they were probably getting kicked out of their temporary hut, but they'd find something new. Kate wasn't exactly sold on this place anyway.

She hadn't seen Magneto. Or at least, she hadn't seen an elderly man with white hair floating around looking menacing. Everyone was busy, deciding what to do, how to handle the missing buildings and people.

Kate went to one of the prehistoric trees and hung a target from one of the branches. She had her bow and one of the quivers with her to practice. The pain sucked and the young Avenger did her best to dismiss it. Though she felt it as she notched the first arrow and pulled back on her bow, she was using mostly muscles in her back, shoulders and arms. The pain gave her a slight tremble, however, as if cold.

She exhaled and released, hitting the target, barely missing the bullseye.

"Futz."

Erik was restless.

It wasn't that there wasn't plenty of things to do with taking care of Sanctuary but he wasn't used to being in one place for so long. It used to be that staying in one place was a weakness. When you were hunting the man who made you a monster you had to travel and make sure that you weren't ever left in a vulnerable position.

Now being on the move would be the vulnerable position. Erik knew that and understood that but he still would get the itch to do something that involved leaving it all behind to travel on occasion.

Instead he rearranged to take care of everything he wanted to do outside to leave him seeing what he could do to strengthen barriers and protections for his people. It was outside which was an improvement. And it meant stretching his powers. He was starting to feel a difference in what he could do with them the more he used them. Charles had been right about his potential.

For the moment he wasn't doing anything but sitting on a piece of the wall he'd put up to look back into Sanctuary and watch it from the outskirts. Sometimes you needed to see things from further away.

It was not, perhaps, the safest move -- walking in the forest just outside Sanctuary -- but if she couldn't hold her own in this new world, then she didn't deserve to live in it. Bane was on patrol on the opposite side of the settlement. She was on her own.

And the days were growing shorter, cooler, and far more comfortable than they'd been recently. The sun was slipping down, but there were hours of day left yet.

Talia walked silently, moving in the way that her father insisted she learn, and stayed within sheltering shadows. Not for a moment did her attention stray from her surroundings, but inside her head, she was just as occupied with the newness of her situation. The woman Dinah had given her valuable insight into the politics of the world, to say nothing about the hints of her alternate's past with the woman herself. It required a good sorting before she acted.

One thing was certain: Talia would find that library in die Festung and learn what she could about the ones she most wanted to find -- Bruce Wayne, her father, and even Bane. Bane... She knew him to be the one from her own reality, if perhaps not from her exact moment in time; but that didn't excuse blind trust. There could yet be more to know -- perhaps more than what he would tell her. Knowledge never hurt anyone, not unless they needed hurting to begin with. Knowledge was the great equalizer.

A sound came from a distance away, something out of concert with the nature around her. She turned toward it, then, and followed the sound.

She hadn't expected to find a child.

Dinah visited Sanctuary again a few days after her talk with Enigma and her meeting with Eric. She'd made a promise to herself to be more social and so she was back again, doing what she could to help the people in the area. Currently, she'd taken a break for lunch. She had one of the mystery meat sandwiches in hand as she wandered through the small city.

Even with the grim circumstances facing them all, there was still laughter in Eric's village. Children played and ran through the streets, people shared meals and drinks and swapped stories. There were also whispers of rumors and assumptions and always a bit of a buzz when someone new arrived. Maybe not quite as much as there would have been in die Festung, but people couldn't help but chat among themselves whenever there was a suspected new addition to the town. Dinah caught snatches here and there, but mostly tuned them out. It could just as easily have been someone fleeing die Festung or New Troy. There was no telling these days.

She stopped to chat with a few of the townspeople and then found a place to have her lunch in the makeshift town square amid the metal buildings, near the hut that Erik used for meetings. The ground wasn't soft, but it worked well enough to take a seat while she ate. Dinah's eyes watched as people walked by, some rushing and others taking a slower pace. People-watching was something she didn't get a chance to do much and it was as much getting a feel for the city that she was growing rather fond of as it was watching for any potential threats. That last part was so ingrained in her after years of crimefighting. It was as natural as breathing to keep an eye out, just in case.

Talia's meeting with Dr. Crane in the forest had been somewhat enlightening. By whatever method, it would seem that she'd been shaken free of the very fabric of her own reality -- and not a moment too soon, either. She was very certain she'd been seconds from death. It would have been a good death. A death she'd have been proud to fall under. But now she had a second chance. And apparently, also, a second Bruce Wayne to see to.

The way to Sanctuary was clear enough. She didn't allow her approach to be noticed, choosing instead to stay to the trees and watch the comings and goings, the guard's patrol patterns, the overall seeming of the place. It appeared to be a hard life, living in this establishment, but perhaps not so much a bad one. This Erik Lehnsherr.... She wanted to know more about him. A man's city would tell much about the man.

She'd climbed a tree and was sitting motionless between two sheltering branches. Her vision was slightly obscured, but then, that meant that her own shape was also obscured to anyone looking up. It was as good as one could get, in daylight hours.

It felt like crashing, which was not unexpected. Talia had already closed her eyes, ready -- content, even, knowing that her death was just a few minutes earlier than the rest of Gotham's. But when the din abruptly faded, she opened her eyes and found herself in the center of a wilderness. This was not Gotham.

Standing from the ground, she narrowed her eyes and scanned. There was nothing to see but trees. When she'd climbed as high as she could, she marked a distant city wall in one direction and a strange twisting of trees in the other. She was closer to the trees. It became her new direction.