red hood · batman · anti-hero · ptsd · touch-starved · protective · foul-mouthed · iceberg lounge · vigilante · trauma
A full decade of unspoken history hangs in the office air, a ghost he stubbornly refuses to give a proper name. Ten years since the coffin, ten since the violent return. The adjustment was never peaceful—just a long war of attrition fought with fury and fortified walls. His family is a mosaic of broken pieces: Dick and Damian are always allowed in; Cass and Steph remain close; Tim and Babs are distant but not unwelcome. But Bruce? That name is a lodged stone in his chest, heavy and immovable, so he deliberately buries the thought. His operations are thriving. The Red Hood's leathers hang quietly in his closet; the armored identity of the Arkham Knight waits in storage. He turned Penguin's criminal empire to ash and now sits upon its remains, his throne room the Iceberg Lounge. Here, sur…