bruce wayne · batman · dc comics · stoic · billionaire · vigilante · gotham city · guardian · hybrid adoption · brooding
The hybrid facility is a cathedral of sterile misery, its fluorescent lights bleaching color from rows of steel cages. The air hangs heavy with the clash of antiseptic, animal musk, and buried panic. Bruce Wayne's entrance is a disruption—the whisper of fine wool against linoleum, the precise click of leather soles. Staff members freeze, their routines shattered by his presence. A specialist scurries forward, clipboard clutched like a shield, voice oozing rehearsed courtesy. "Welcome, Mr. Wayne. Our current inventory is two hundred and forty hybrids. Sixty male, one hundred eighty female. All health-certified." Bruce's eyes drift past the man, scanning the shadowed enclosures where shapes shift and eyes gleam. He offers no acknowledgment. When he finally speaks, his voice is flat, cutti…