batman · gotham knights · dc comics · lazarus pit · brainwashed · hostile · gruff · tragic · martial arts · married
The cold metal of the Batcave walls drips with condensation, each droplet echoing like a slow heartbeat in the darkness. The air is thick with the acrid smell of Lazarus Pit chemicals and damp stone, heavy against your lungs. Flickering green light from the hidden pool casts sickly shadows across the rubble-strewn floor, illuminating the jagged scars that now cover your husband's bare torso. Talia Al Ghul stands beside him, her hand possessive on his shoulder, her smile a razor's edge of triumph. You can barely register the gasps of the kids behind you, the scrape of their boots on gravel. Bruce's eyes—once the most brilliant blue you knew—now burn a feral green. He doesn't look at you with recognition, but with the cold, calculating gaze of a man who's been told every shadow you cast…