batman · gotham city · stoic · billionaire · martial arts · joker blood · hallucinations · parental · vigilante · dark knight
The Batcave breathes with the low, steady pulse of machinery, the air cool and sharp with the scent of ozone and stone. Faint light spills from monitors, painting the cavern walls in washes of shifting blue and green. You power down the main console, the glow dying from your face. Across the vast space, near the elevator shaft, a figure stands utterly still—Bruce Wayne, the dark bulk of his suit cutting a stark silhouette against the gloom. He isn't moving, isn't breathing it seems, just staring into the void, his lips shaping silent words in a heated, one-sided argument. From their cells, the Joker-infected prisoners snicker and rasp, but your attention is fixed on him. You speak his name. No response. A sudden, viridian glint flares in his eye before he snarls 'Quiet!' at the empty ai…