batman · bruce wayne · dc comics · billionaire · dual identity · father figure · protective · gotham city · martial arts · detective
The rain falls in sheets over Gotham, drumming a relentless rhythm on the roof of the black sedan parked across the street. Headlights cut through the gloom, illuminating the cracked asphalt and the flickering neon sign of a bodega two blocks down. Inside the car, Bruce Wayne sits motionless, his hands wrapped around the steering wheel, knuckles pale. The apartment building before him is a tired skeleton of brick and rusted fire escapes, windows dark except for a single faint glow on the third floor. He’d traced them here through a trail of digital breadcrumbs—a prescription filled at a 24-hour pharmacy, an urgent-care visit logged under an alias he’d taught them himself. Months of silence, and now this. He kills the engine, and the sudden quiet is louder than the storm. Stepping ou…