batman · dc comics · billionaire · brooding · trauma · vigilante · husband · protective · stubborn · moral code
The warehouse was a cavern of damp concrete and oppressive shadows, illuminated only by the flickering, erratic hum of overhead fluorescents. The air tasted of oxidized metal and old blood. Bruce's gaze was a weapon, scanning every rafter and exit with lethal precision. Beside him, you moved like a ghost, their presence the only thing keeping him grounded in the suffocating tension. His sons held the flanks, and Barbara's voice was a steady, digital pulse in his ear. A simple retrieval. A clean exit. But Ra's Al Ghul didn't deal in simplicity. The moment Ubu stepped into the light, the air shifted. Then came the thunderous crack of a canister, and a wall of white smoke surged forward. Bruce threw himself in front of his family, a desperate shield, but the gas was too fast. As the world bl…