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GLOSSARY - BANE'S RESIDENCES

Bane's Office, 2001-2016

Stepping down at leader of the KDF in September 2001, JEREMY BANE opened an office for his DIRE WOLF AGENCY. This was on the ground floor of a four story yellow brick building near the corner of Third Avenue and 44th Street. The building had its own modest parking lot but Bane preferred to keep his cars in the IMPERIAL GARAGE down on 40th Street. Besides the walk-in clinic, the building also housed several doctor's office, a law firm, two realtors and a posh nail and hair salon.

A major factor in choosing this building was that, ten years earlier, Bane had rescued the manager's family from a kidnaping attempt by the PREINCARNATORS. Still grateful, Steven Goldfarb overlooked the many irregular activities Bane engaged in as far as possible.

Automatically sliding double-glass doors opened to the lobby. To one's left was a bank of mailboxes for the occupants; to the right was EMERGENCY ONE, an urgent care facility open from seven AM until eleven PM. Further ahead was an open staircase leading up to the second floor. The wall to the farvleft and the side of the staircase formed a short narrow corridor; on that left wall just before the steel rear exit door was a narrow wooden door with a bronze plaque reading DIRE WOLF AGENCY and a phone number.

A small waiting room held only two wooden chairs and a low table holding outdated magazines. High up in one corner was a monitor showing what the hall camera saw. As one entered the office itself, a door to a closet and a door to a minimal bathroom were on the left. In front of the wall to the right was Bane's desk with a cordless phone in its charger, in and out trays, and a laptop computer. Three wooden chairs faced the desk for clients. On a shelf over the closet door was a police scanner. The wall opposite the door had a long picture window facing 45th Street; this bullet-resistant window was normally covered by opaque curtains. In front of the window stood a black leather-bound couch with some cushions and a folded-up blanket where Bane sometimes napped or recovered from injuries. An end table at either end of the couch held a reading lamp.

Next to the bookcase, Bane installed a waist-high refrigerator by 2012. Not much perishable was kept in there, only bottled water and juice, dried fruit chips and crackers, beef sticks and hiker's granola.

Bane kept his field suit, an Eldar travel crystal and some weapons concealed in the floor. ("The Dire Wolf knelt beside the three-shelf bookcase on otherwise bare wall facing his desk. He knelt and undid a latch and then swung the case around on hidden casters. A shallow pit was revealed, chiseled out of the concrete by Bane himself quite against the terms of anyone's lease. Within it was a steamer trunk, black with yellow metal corners and a big old-fashioned lock. The big padlock was a decoy, the real lock was hidden in the trim. Inside was his field suit and an assortment of weapons and tools.") Before vacating his lease, Bane had to painstakingly repair the damage he had done and restore the concrete as closely as possible. Evidently no one noticed as he was not contacted by the building's owners.

The exit door was intended for emergencies only and was set to ring an alarm when opened. MEGAN SALENGER had installed a neutralizer within the device which could be deactivated by a signal from Bane's key fob for thirty seconds before turning back on again. This allowed Bane to secretly enter and leave the building, especially after hours when the lobby was closed, but all of this involved several violations of safety code.

GLOSSARY - BANE'S SECRET HIDEOUTS

Even before the death of KENNETH DRED, JEREMY BANE had used most of his salary to begin secretly renting a series of apartments or single rooms under assumed names and usually entering and leaving them in basic disguises. After an orphaned childhood spent on the streets, he always had gotten by with temporary quarters in seedy neighborhoods which he never became attached to. After entering the Midnight War, he frequently had to lay low for periods to recover from serious injuries while enemies looked for him, so these sanctuaries were life-savers and he maintained at least one at all times.

CINDY BRUNNER was the only person who knew the location of these refuges, and she was insightful enough to never go to them, feeling that they represented safety and privacy to Bane in a dangerous career.

Previous Hideout: Before 1993, Bane's refuge had been up on 8th Avenue and 50th Street, a drab little set-up that had been compromised when he had been followed by Snake men.

The Chinatown Hideout, 1993-2014
Evidently started at the same time Bane opened his DIRE WOLF AGENCY office and rented an apartment on 48th Street. This is the first sanctuary to be actually seen in the stories. although there had been numerous earlier ones. Located on the second floor of a five-story Mott Street building. Behind a plain wooden door with the brass logo 2B was a single big, high-ceiling room that was almost empty. The bare wooden floor was open enough for a dozen people to stand comfortably.

On the left wall as one entered was the door to a closet, then a sink and toilet with a mirror over it. One wall had a window covered with opaque curtains fastened in place. The facing unbroken wall had a row along the floor of gallon jugs of water, cans and packages of non-perishable food. ("Canned ravioli and beef stew, fruit cocktail, peaches, lots of soup. Apple juice. Crackers. Nothing fancy, this is an emergency hideaway.") Sitting on the floor was a microwave and a box of plastic utensils. On the wall behind them, next to the door, was a beat-up old couch with blankets and pillows piled up on it. A radio which picked up police calls sat on the floor in front of the couch. That was it.

In 2014, ASHLEY WHITAKER and JOCELYN GARIMARA were brought to this hideout for the THREE SLEEPERS adventure. Within a few weeks, Bane closed this hideout and established a new one. Although he trusted his teammates, he knew that anyone could be made to talk. Also, these hideouts had become a deep-rooted habit he would have had trouble abandoning. The First Avenue Hideout was on 41st Street, only a few blocks away from his office on 44th Street and Third Avenue. Even after he officially retired his practice, Bane still maintained the First Avenue Hideout from prudence. (Also, since he had closed his office and given up his apartment, Bane sometimes stayed in this sanctuary when having to remain in Manhattan for an period of time.)

The First Avenue Hideout 2014-Present
Located next to a slightly sleazy bar that said LOU'S PIT STOP in neon across the window, the second-floor apartment was accessed through an unmarked wooden door on the side of the building which faced an alley.

Like Bane's earlier hideways, these rooms were shabby and almost bare. There was a couch with blankets and pillows, two windows he kept tightly curtained, and a waist-high refrigerator. The bathroom had a toilet, sink and a flimsy shower. There was a closet stuffed with assorted clothes very different from his usual black wardrobe, and a few suitcases on its floor. No TV, just a radio next to the couch. Stacks of canned food and dried food in bags stretched along one wall, as well as gallon jugs of water. If there was a sudden pounding on the door, he could be out a window and dropping down to the sidewalk within seconds.

Under the sink was a flat leather case which contained disguise materials, including tinted contact lenses, hair dyes, soft wax for changing features, three sets of dentures to distort his lower face. Several ID kits of wallets with false drivers' licenses and credit cards, eyeglasses and a single 9mm semi-automatic with ammo were kept on hand. Bane did not want to amass an arsenal in his hideouts.
GLOSSARY - BANE'S FOREST HILLS HOUSE

In July 2015, after vacating his 44th Street DIRE WOLF AGENCY office and his nearby apartment in Manhattan, JEREMY BANE bought a two-story white frame home with a slate roof off Pierpont Street in Forest Hills, Queens. There was a short driveway which reached up alongside the house where he could park his car, and a tiny back yard. His bedroom was on the second floor, with its own bathroom. On the ground floor was the living room, kitchen and another bathroom. Several rooms in the building remained untouched as he seldom used them. Most of his belongings were stored at the KDF building in Manhattan and Bane never got around to bringing them here to be unpacked. He was not sentimental about his belongings, for the most part.

The living room had nothing unusual about it. A black leather-bound couch facing a big screen TV which was invariably off, two comfortable recliner chairs, a low coffee table piled with loose newspapers, two lamps on end tables by either arm of the couch. A desk in one corner had a laptop waiting. Bane's personal habits remained Spartan, even drab. ("With some amusement, he watched the two men survey the living room for hints about him and come up blank. It hardly looked as if anyone lived there. Bane had never been much for hanging up photos or displaying knick-knacks, and he never left clothes or empty dinner plates lying around. Only a loose stack of local newspapers on the coffee table showed that the house was occupied.")

Megan Salenger had immediately installed advanced Trom locks and alarms on the three doors, as well as security sensors on the windows but that was the extent of her modifications. Insisting he was now retired, Bane resisted constructing a secured panic room and adding any exit panels or hidden arsenals.

The biggest exception to this policy was in the basement, where he stored a few metal containers of specialized equipment and where he hid his field suit. ("In one corner was a washer-dryer combination with the motor exposed and some tools scattered on the floor.There was actually nothing wrong with the washing machine, he could use it within a few minutes. Bane bent over, reached behind the motor and undid a concealed latch. The side panel of the machine popped open to reveal a bundle in a clear, tightly-wrapped bag. He yanked the bag out and closed the machine again. Stripping off his flannel shirt and jeans, he tugged on a snug bodysuit of what looked like wet silk, leaving only his feet, hands and head and neck exposed. This was a suit of the Trom armor which protected against impact up to and including high-powered rifle bullets. A matching pair of slim throwing daggers had already been strapped in sheaths on his forearms and he refastened them on the outside of the armor sleeves. Although he was not aware of it, Bane began to move more briskly and decisively as the familiar armor tightened slightly to fit his body. In the bag was an assortment of small gadgets and devices, much no larger than a pencil stub or a AA battery. The one exception was a long-barreled Smith & Wesson .38 revolver in a detachable holster.")

Bane added one decorative touch to the house. On a hook by the rear door, he hung a red plastic hummingbird feeder. When he happened to spot the little creatures, he enjoyed watching them hover and feed. Although he toyed with the idea of starting a garden, he was too much an indoor city-bred boy to ever begin one.

GLOSSARY - BANE'S APARTMENT

Bane's Apartment, 2001-2015.

At the same time he opened the office for his DIRE WOLF AGENCY, JEREMY BANE began renting a nearby apartment on Third Avenue between 46th and 47th Street. This was on the third floor of a six-story unnamed residential building. Not only was the rent unreasonably high but Bane had given a huge deposit to secure the apartment he wanted because of his proximity to his office.

("In front of him where he sat was a low coffee table with two comfortable armchairs on either side. The wall to his right had two windows facing west for afternoon sunlight, and a stove, sink and refrigerator in a row. The wall to his left was shelves from floor to ceiling, crammed with books, newspapers, and general debris that collected there. The shelves were interrupted by the door to the hall and beyond that the stairs going down to ground level.
"The wall opposite where he sat was bare, broken by the door to his bedroom... the bedroom itself had been partitioned to make its bathroom. There were five lamps in the living room, a rather small TV which was seldom on and which sat on a wheeled cart with its cable coiled up under it. There was a radio on the window sill and a microwave on the counter between the sink and stove. Everything was decent but not at all impressive.")

MEGAN SALENGER had insisted on installing advanced Trom-designed locks on the door as well as alarms on the windows which connected to the KDF's own systems. These were constantly armed and had to be turned off when entering or leaving the apartment, reactivating as the door closed. She installed a hinged wooden panel in the hall which had green and blue lights to further indicate if any attempt had been made to get into the apartment; the panel locked shut and was undetectable to the casual observer. All these Trom systems were removed when Bane gave up the apartment.

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