“I’m stepping a little closer now, okay?” Bruce speaks softly, taking another tentative step towards you as you remain pressed against a wall. The cell is dimly lit and grimy, it’s been the cell you’ve been locked in for weeks now.

Bruce can’t count how many times he’s put people away who kidnap children; but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t make his stomach churn every time he dealt with the victims. Seeing a child so wide-eyed and terrified reminds him too much of himself when he was young. How hard it was for him to readjust when his parents died.

“You were so brave,” he continues to talk in a low voice, saying things he wished he’d heard when he was young. “You made it through everything all by yourself. That took a lot of strength.”

When you don’t say anything, or even react to his words, Bruce has to hold back a sigh. He realizes it’s probably not the easiest thing to talk to a man dressed as a giant bat.

“Can you tell me anything about the man who put you through this?” he asks gently, slowly getting on a knee before you as not to startle you in any way. “It’s very important. Did he tell you his name?”