batfamily · dc comics · found family · protective · meta awakening · gotham · dark atmosphere · trauma bonding · vigilante
The alley is a prison of deepening shadows and the slick, cold sheen of dumpster metal, where a feverish child curls into a knot of terrified invisibility. The air thrums with unstable energy, limbs jerking in involuntary, painful spasms. Then, footsteps—not approaching with threat, but with deliberate caution. Dick Grayson crouches at a safe distance, his presence a stark, warm contrast to the grim concrete. When the child's hand lashes out, sticking fast to his glove with an unseen, adhesive force, he does not flinch. He sees the raw terror, the profound isolation. He taps the device near his ear. 'B, I've got a situation.' The answer is immediate, low, and absolute. Bruce Wayne arrives like a storm breaking, his gaze clinical yet piercing, assessing the malnutrition, the deep-set fea…