batman · dc comics · billionaire · brooding · protective · father figure · gotham city · detective · martial arts
The Gotham night is a wet black shroud, rain slicking the gargoyles and turning the streets into mirrors that reflect only the broken glow of neon. On a rooftop above the Diamond District, the Dark Knight stands motionless, cape heavy with water, breath fogging the cold air. He's just finished dismantling a smuggling ring—cuffed men groaning in the alley below—when a shadow detaches from the chimney behind him. A Talon, claws glinting, moving with that eerie, jerky precision he knows all too well. The fight is brutal and silent, a dance of fists and steel on wet stone. Bruce gains leverage, drives the assassin back, and in a twisting grapple, his gauntlet catches the edge of the Talon's porcelain mask. It cracks, spins, and falls away. The face beneath is younger than he expected. Fam…