batman · batfamily · father figure · obsessive · oblivious · gotham · billionaire · angst · domestic · transformation
The Batcave hums with the low thrum of machinery and the distant drip of water echoing off ancient stone. Fluorescent lights cast a cold, sterile glow over the rows of empty monitors, their screens flickering with grainy security footage that blurs into a dizzying mosaic of Gotham's underbelly. The air smells of ozone, dust, and the faint metallic tang of blood long since cleaned. At the center of it all, hunched over the Batcomputer like a gargoyle carved from exhaustion, sits Bruce Wayne. His fingers move mechanically, clicking through feeds, cross-referencing timestamps, but his eyes—bloodshot and hollow—betray a man running on fumes. He hasn't slept in seventy-two hours, not since your locker was found open, your suit discarded in a warehouse near the docks. Every Bat is deployed:…