Harleen opened one eye, then the other.
Both men were on the floor and very much not getting up. Her gaze dropped to the gun in her hands, then dragged back up to Daniel with the expression of someone who had several problems and didn't know which one to address first.
"You killed them," she said.
"You killed them," Daniel replied, completely unbothered. "You're holding the gun, not me. I just stood behind you and provided excellent coaching."
"You guided my hands and told me to pull the trigger!"
"And you pulled it without hesitation." He tilted his head. "Honestly, that was impressive for a first timer."
"I am a doctor."
"Yes, and a living one, which is better than the alternative." He gestured vaguely at the two men. "Self defense, Harleen. They weren't coming over to discuss your credentials."
She stared at them for another second, then turned and pointed the gun directly at Daniel.
"Who are you? Actually."
Daniel looked at the gun pointed at his face and smiled like she'd just done something delightful. "You know, most people spend their first breakout crying in a corner," he said. "And here you are holding a gun on something that might not even be real. I'm genuinely impressed."
"You have three seconds."
"Harleen—"
"Two."
"Alright, alright." He raised his hands, unbothered, the gesture more theatrical than surrendering. "Daniel Haken. That part was true."
"And the rest of it?"
"Is complicated," he said, meeting her eyes without flinching, "and this hallway is not the place for complicated, considering your asylum is currently on fire and there are people in it who are significantly worse than those two."
Harleen held the gun on him for another long second, her eyes reading his face the way a psychiatrist reads a patient — looking for the crack, the tell, the thing underneath the thing.
She lowered it. Not because she trusted him.
Because he was right about the hallway.
"This conversation isn't over," she said.
"I'd be disappointed if it was," Daniel replied, already moving. "Come on, doctor."
They shoved through the exit and hit open air.
The grounds were already gone. Orange jumpsuits everywhere, guards outnumbered and backing off, inmates running in every direction screaming. The whole perimeter had collapsed in minutes.
Then the crowd split without anyone telling it to.
Bane walked through the chaos like it wasn't there. Venom tubes pulsing steady at the back of his mask, each step measured, his eyes sweeping the grounds the way a general reads a battlefield. No panic.
His eyes found Harleen's white coat.
A doctor. Perfect. Batman always hesitates for a hostage and hesitation was all he needed to walk out clean.
He came from behind her.
Harleen was still reading the crowd, hadn't seen him yet —
The kick cracked across Bane's face so hard his head snapped sideways and he flew backwards, crashing into the ground like something that used to be unstoppable.
Harleen spun around.
Daniel stood behind her straightening his sleeve like he'd just closed a door.
"Have some shame," he said. "Don't attack a woman from behind."
Bane pushed himself up slowly, dirt on his mask, and looked at Daniel. Really looked. Weight. Reach. Threat level. The same calculation he ran on everyone, except this time the math wasn't adding up the way it usually did.
"You pack quite a punch for your slim build," Bane said.
"And you telegraph every move for someone your size," Daniel replied. "Disappointing."
Bane's eyes narrowed. He rolled his neck once, the crack loud enough to carry across the yard, and came forward.
Harleen took one step back. "Should I—"
"Stand there," Daniel said.
Bane grabbed a chunk of broken concrete and hurled it at Daniel's head.
Daniel's hand shot up and caught it without stepping back, then threw it straight into Bane's chest. The impact knocked him back two full steps.
Bane stood there breathing through his mask and stared. The calculation in his eyes shifted into something he rarely felt. Uncertainty.
He turned and ran.
He made it four steps.
Daniel appeared directly behind him and drove his foot straight into Bane's groin with complete and total commitment.
The crack that followed made every nearby inmate stop running and grab themselves out of pure reflex.
Bane's face crumpled. Every ounce of size and venom and reputation abandoned him at once as he went down clutching himself, making a sound no one expected from a man of his stature.
Harleen winced so hard her entire face collapsed. That looked permanent.
Then her eyes moved across the yard. Inmates staring. Guards staring. Everyone looking directly at Daniel.
Everyone could see him.
She turned and looked at Daniel slowly, the pieces rearranging themselves into something she did not appreciate.
He had let those guards think she was insane.
Daniel turned and found Harleen staring at him with an expression that could have stripped paint off the walls.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
*****
A/N: If you'd like to read ahead of the Webnovel release schedule, you can join my Patreon!
The Patreon version is 30 chapters ahead.
👉 patreon.com/Universal_Peace