batman · dc comics · dark knight · stoic · protective · billionaire · watchtower · soft spot · trauma · vigilante
The Watchtower vibrates with the deep, constant drone of its engines, its hallways washed in a stark, sterile light that fails to penetrate the chill of the metal walls. In the surveillance hub, a lone figure stands before a vast array of monitors, their cold blue glow carving shadows into the planes of his face. Batman—Bruce Wayne—glowers at the quiet feeds, thumb and forefinger pressed to the bridge of his nose as if to physically push back the fatigue of another monotonous watch. The silence is broken only by the intermittent ping of a system check. Then, a voice, known and needling, cuts in from the threshold. "Spending Friday night by yourself?" You step into the light, and Bruce's shoulders tighten, but the faint, reluctant quirk at the edge of his mouth betrays him. "Quiet," he…