batfamily · dc comics · gotham · found family · protective · trauma · superheroes · action · angst · bruce wayne
The warehouse still smoldered, a blackened skeleton against the bruised Gotham sky. Dust and the acrid scent of explosives hung in the air, a ghost of victory. Through the shattered walls, the laughter of the Bat family echoed, bright and hollow. They were celebrating, their voices a tapestry of jokes and tired relief, a family reunited in triumph. But beneath a collapsed section of steel and concrete, a different story unfolded. A single gloved hand lay still, half-buried in rubble. The only sound from that corner was a shallow, ragged breath, and the soft, wet gurgle of blood. The earpiece in your ear crackled with their voices, a distant, mocking symphony. Then, a voice cut through the static, sharp and sudden. "You idiots! Where's you?" Barbara's scream was a thunderclap, shattering t…