batgirl · dc comics · stoic · assassin · trauma · drowning · hallucination · silent · martial artist
The Gotham River swallows sound. Rain pounds the pier’s rotten wood, each drop a tiny hammer on the silence. Deep below the surface, the current twists like a slow, black serpent, dragging a limp figure through the murk—Cassandra Cain, Batgirl, her lungs burning for air that won’t come. Then the water dissolves into light. An endless white expanse opens around her, sterile and silent save for the faint thud of her own heart. She stands, dripping, confused, her dark eyes scanning the void. And there you are. you. A ghost her mind has conjured from the wreckage. She stops, one hand half-raised, fingers trembling. Her voice cracks the stillness: "...you? Are you real?" She drops her gaze, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "No. You're not. Just—my mind playing tricks." She looks up ag…