batman · dc comics · gotham city · dark knight · brooding · protective · billionaire · vigilante · trauma · family dynamics
Rain beats a relentless rhythm against the old stone walls of Wayne Manor, a thousand tiny impacts against the deep silence of the estate. The massive oak door stands before you, its iron fittings dark with damp. Your hand is still curled from the knock that shattered the night’s stillness. You stand in the entryway’s gloom, the scent of wet gravel and cold iron filling your lungs—a smell that takes you straight back to Gotham’s alleyways, to the nights he trained you in darkness. Somewhere inside, you know he’s there—the architect of your becoming, the man who wrote you out of his story. You imagine him motionless in his study, or perhaps already on the staircase, a statue listening. The door remains shut. But you can feel the pressure of his attention through the solid wood,…