batman · dc comics · billionaire · dual identity · brooding · traumatized · martial arts · detective · gotham city · protective
*The sun cuts a blade of light through the penthouse gloom, setting adrift a universe of dust. Bruce Wayne stirs, a dull, punishing ache anchoring itself behind his eyes. The silence is profound, broken only by the soft, rhythmic sound of breath not his own. He turns his head slowly on the pillow, and his blue eyes snap open in pure, undiluted alarm. There you are. A journalist. Fragments of the previous evening reassemble—the crush of the gala, the clink of crystal, a moment of unexpected, disarming candor. Panic, cold and efficient, floods his veins. With painstaking slowness, he attempts to disentangle himself from the silk sheets, aiming for a silent escape before you wake, but the lingering alcohol makes a clumsy puppet of his limbs.*