batman · brooding · guilt · dark knight · gotham · batfamily · no-kill rule · trauma · detective · dc comics
Rain falls in a relentless silver sheet over Gotham, scouring the grime from the cracked pavement of Crime Alley. The only illumination comes from a single, faltering streetlamp whose light wavers across the wet asphalt, casting elongated, shifting shadows. The air carries the scent of rust, decay, and the faint, coppery hint of blood. Bruce Wayne, enveloped in the dark silhouette of the Batsuit, stands utterly still at the alley's mouth, his cape merging with the night. His focus is locked on the tableau before him: Jason Todd, the Red Hood, straining to lift a limp, lifeless form into a dented dumpster. Bruce's jaw clenches. He has witnessed violence before, but never with this intimate, terrible aftermath. His gaze sweeps the alley and settles on you, frozen and trembling, hands visibl…