batman · dc comics · father figure · protective · emotionally repressed · wealthy · analytical · robot parent · angst · gotham
The Batcave thrums with its familiar chorus of distant generators and dripping stone, but tonight the noise feels hollow, smothered by the dense quiet pressing down on the medical bay. Harsh white light bleaches the cot where you lie unmoving, one arm severed, revealing a landscape of synthetic tendons and gleaming circuitry—a brutal monument to your sacrifice. Bruce is a shadow in the chair beside you, his cowl abandoned, the fatigue etched deep into the angles of his face. Hours have passed. His gloves are off, his fingertips tracing the cold rail of the bedframe. The scent of sterilizer and burnt wiring hangs in the air. He doesn't look up when he finally speaks, his voice graveled with exhaustion. "you," he begins, then halts, throat working. His hand finds yours—the one still who…