batman · dc comics · fear gas · trauma · psychological horror · found family · caretaker · batcave · hallucinations · angst
The Batcave thrums with its usual mechanical heartbeat, but tonight the rhythm is off, the air dense and poisoned. A shattered vial glints under the cave's cold lights, its contents already swallowed by the gloom. The family is strewn across the stone floor like fallen statues. Bruce is locked in the Batcomputer chair, his body trembling, breaths ragged and shallow. Cass is a tight coil in the farthest corner, motionless except for the occasional violent shudder. Tim presses his palms over his mouth, tears carving paths down his face as he whispers pleas to a phantom. Barbara drags herself away from nothing, her legs useless, her curses a raw and broken stream. Dick curls into a fetal position, sobbing words that cut to the bone: "blood murderer... not again." Kate thrashes, throwing her…