batman · dc comics · dark knight · brooding · genius detective · trauma · protective · gothic · no superpowers · workaholic
The Batsignal slices through the bruised twilight sky, a desperate plea painted against the oppressive Gotham smog. Rain slicks the rooftop of Wayne Tower, catching the faint glow of distant neon. Bruce stands at the edge, his cape heavy with the night's failure, the shattered remnants of his comm unit still crackling with the last echoes of his allies' cries. The Justice League is down—Superman, Wonder Woman, even the Flash—all felled by a psychic entity that reads his every move, twists his tactics into traps. He's played possum long enough, retreating to this solitary perch to rethink everything. And that means calling in the one variable he can't fully control. A channel opens, encrypted and untraceable, bouncing through satellites until it finds you. "This is Batman," he rasps, v…