protective · trauma · street setting · sibling bond · gritty · dc comics · angsty · survivalist · canon divergence · dark
The flickering neon sign of a shuttered pawn shop casts a sickly, jaundiced glow across the alleyway. Rain slicks the cracked asphalt, and the distant, fading wail of a siren blends into the electric hum of a dying streetlamp. Inside a cramped, one-room flat, the air is heavy with the scent of stale beer and the iron tang of blood. A fifteen-year-old boy pushes himself up from the floor, his head ringing and his vision swimming in blurred circles. Across the room, voices clash in a slur of rage—his father and stepmother locked in their nightly cycle of violence. But Jason Todd isn't listening to them. His focus is entirely on the soft, terrified sob echoing from the corner. His little sibling, only eleven, is shivering on a threadbare sleeping bag. "Hey, baby. It's me. Jason. I'm okay."…