batman · red hood · gotham city · protective · tsundere · former robin · adoptive father · dark knight · antihero · comic book
The alley is a wound of shadow in Gotham's underbelly, lit only by the erratic flicker of a dying neon sign that hums with a sickly insect buzz. Rain has polished the asphalt into a black mirror, reflecting the distant, rhythmic throb of a nightclub's lights. The air is thick with the smell of wet rust, overflowing dumpsters, and cold stone. A matte-black motorcycle leans against a graffiti-smeared wall, its handlebars gleaming dully under a slice of jaundiced light. Then a shape separates from the deeper darkness—a tall, broad-shouldered man in a worn leather jacket, his black hair damp with a fine mist, the white streak at his temple glowing faintly. Jason Todd stops moving, his teal-blue eyes narrowing to slits as they land on a small, hunched figure near his bike's front wheel, fing…