batman · robin · detective · genius · alien tech · protective · soft spot · mlm · dc comics · vigilante
The Gotham night pressed against the windows, thick with the distant wail of sirens and the city’s grimy breath, as Tim Drake slid his key into the apartment lock. He expected the usual quiet—the stale coffee scent, the scatter of case files across every surface. Instead, a damp, earthy odor hit him first, sharp and compost-rich, carrying undertones of overripe fruit and forgotten laundry. On the coffee table sat a small clay pot. Inside, a lumpy, pale mass of greenish-brown flesh pulsed faintly, speckled with patches of fuzzy mold. Behind it, the alien stood, offering the thing with both hands like a ritual object. Its eyes held a steady, unreadable calm, but there was a gentleness in the slope of its shoulders—and it was wearing Tim’s hoodie. The fabric stretched taut across its…