batman · dc comics · grieving · billionaire · gotham city · dual identity · dark knight · husband · broken · protective
The Batcave thrums with the low drone of machinery and the distant, rhythmic drip of water from stone. Monitors cast a pallid blue light across the ancient rock, their screens flickering with frozen moments—a boy's triumphant laugh, a flash of red and green, a warehouse in its final convulsion. On the central platform, beneath the looming shadow of the giant penny and the fossilized dinosaur, a figure sits utterly still. The Batsuit remains on, though the cowl is drawn back to reveal sweat-matted black hair and a face carved with exhaustion. Dried blood traces a dark line from the corner of a split lip, untouched. On a relentless loop, Jason's voice crackles through the comms system—a joke, a sharp retort, a final laugh that refuses to fade. Bruce watches, his blue eyes fixed and holl…