Whoosh!
Furious beyond words, Diana didn't waste her breath arguing. The cold fire in her eyes said enough. She clenched her jaw, the divine muscles in her arms tensing, and launched herself forward like a golden comet.
Boom!
The shockwave tore through the street as she accelerated, her momentum cracking asphalt and shattering nearby windows. Her movements blurred into streaks of red and gold.
But Alex was already gone.
A heartbeat later, two silhouettes collided in midair—one blazing with godly fury, the other calm as the void.
They crossed once.
And in that same instant, it was already over.
One figure shot backward like a cannonball, her body slamming through a row of streetlights before crashing into the ground below.
There was no need to guess who it was.
Wonder Woman—Diana.
Alex stood where he'd been all along, unmoved. His boots pressed lightly into the cracked pavement, dust swirling lazily around him. He looked neither winded nor exhilarated—merely bored, as if brushing away a persistent insect.
> "Diana, you're not my match," Alex said, his tone utterly casual.
"Rage alone won't win back your toys."
His words fell like a verdict, cold and effortless.
Diana lay still for a moment, her chest heaving as the echo of his strike faded. Then, slowly, she rose to her feet. Her armor was dented, her hair tousled, but her pride held firm. She exhaled through her nose, forcing composure into her movements.
Her eyes—sharp, focused, burning—found his again.
> "Alex," she said, voice steady but laced with frost, "what exactly is your goal?"
Her tone carried confusion as much as fury.
His actions were irrational—taking her divine weapons again and again, refusing to kill her when he easily could, taunting her only to let her leave. It was deliberate, calculated, and she hated that she couldn't decipher his purpose.
Almost as if he wanted her to keep coming back.
During her stay in Gotham, she had gathered whispers about him.
The man they called Homelander—a name spoken with equal parts fear and awe.
A monster in human skin.
A protector who killed without hesitation.
Some hailed him as a god who kept the city from tearing itself apart.
Others called him a devil who ruled through terror.
Diana still couldn't decide which he was.
All she knew was that she couldn't see through him—and that unsettled her more than any enemy she'd faced.
> "Alex," she said finally, her expression hardening, "this isn't over."
Her voice trembled with restrained anger.
After a long, brittle silence, Diana turned away. The golden light around her dimmed as she rose into the air, wings of divine energy spreading behind her. Within seconds, she vanished into the night sky, leaving only the faint shimmer of her aura fading over Gotham's rooftops.
The fight was done.
And yet, she knew the real battle had only just begun.
Alex's gaze followed her until she disappeared beyond the skyline.
Then—
> "Alex," came a gravel-deep voice from above.
Batman dropped down from the shadows, cape fluttering, boots striking the ground in a measured thud. His eyes, narrowed beneath the cowl, held no fear—only resolve.
> "You've been provoking Diana on purpose," he said.
"What are you really after?"
Alex turned his head slightly, amusement flickering across his expression.
> "Batman, are you sure you want to meddle in my affairs?"
The faintest trace of a smirk touched his lips.
> "Whatever it is you're trying to start with her," Batman replied evenly, "it doesn't have to happen in Gotham."
His tone was quiet but unyielding, like the weight of a loaded gun.
> "Name your terms," he said. "What will it take for you to leave Gotham?"
Batman had already pieced the chain together. Every recent disaster, every incursion—it all led back to one man.
Diana's presence.
The Crime Syndicate's invasion.
The growing unrest.
Every thread ended with Alex.
If Alex left Gotham, Diana would follow. The Syndicate, too.
And maybe—just maybe—the city could finally exhale.
Alex chuckled softly.
> "First, find all the fragments I want," he said, waving a hand lazily. "After that… depends on my mood."
> "Even if you leave Gotham," Batman pressed, his jaw tight, "I'll make sure your fragments are found and delivered to you. That's no reason for you to stay."
Alex tilted his head slightly, as if weighing the offer.
Then, with a small nod—
> "You're right," he said quietly.
"But you're also wrong about one thing."
His eyes glimmered faintly beneath the moonlight.
> "Gotham isn't your city."
A faint smirk curved his mouth.
> "I don't need your permission to stay."
> "Finding the fragments is only one condition for me to leave," he continued. "Not the only one."
He turned away, his silhouette dissolving into the night mist.
> "Goodbye, Batman."
And then he was gone—leaving behind only the soft crackle of static in the air.
---
Screech—
The automatic door slid open as Alex returned to his penthouse apartment.
The city's din faded behind him, replaced by stillness.
Too still.
He froze mid-step.
The place was silent. Not the comfortable, lazy quiet of a lived-in home—this was heavy, empty, wrong.
Selina had said she'd wait for him. Dinner, a bottle of wine, her teasing smirk across the table. But the apartment was dark, not a sound to be heard.
His eyes narrowed.
Without hesitation, Alex activated his heightened senses.
Super-hearing, x-ray vision—his awareness unfurled across every corner of the building.
Nothing.
No heartbeat. No movement. No trace of her scent.
> Did I imagine it? Maybe she just stepped out…
But even as the thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it.
Selina never left without a word. Not when she knew how he was.
His instincts flared—sharp and absolute.
She was in trouble.
In the next instant, his hearing expanded outward, washing over the sprawl of Gotham like a wave. Every sound sharpened, layered voices overlapping—traffic, sirens, gunfire, laughter—until one stood out, bright and unmistakable.
> "You idiots! You know I'm with Alex, and you still dare to kidnap me? Are you out of your minds? He's going to kill you all when he finds out!"
Selina's voice—mocking, calm, and dangerously amused.
A half-smile tugged at Alex's lips. Typical her—taunting her captors even in chains.
Still, the undercurrent of his expression darkened.
She might be fearless. But he didn't forgive.
Whoosh!
Locking onto her voice, Alex focused, his vision slicing through Gotham's structures in a single glance.
There she was—tied to a metal chair in a dim, cluttered apartment, the wallpaper peeling, the air heavy with rust and chemicals.
Standing in front of her was a short, wiry man whose head bristled with strange metal contraptions—tubes, wires, and glowing jars filled with fluid. Sparks danced occasionally between the devices as he fiddled with them.
A mad scientist, through and through.
Dr. Neuro.
One of Dr. Poison's deranged subordinates.
Beside him stood a woman cloaked from head to toe, her face hidden beneath a metallic visor that gleamed silver beneath the flickering light.
Silver Swan.
> "You seem to have a lot of faith in Alex," Dr. Neuro said with a twisted grin, the cables on his head pulsing faintly. "But soon, you'll see what he really is."
Selina laughed—a sharp, derisive sound that filled the dingy room.
The kind of laugh that didn't just mock—it cut.
> "Oh, I've seen what he is," she said sweetly. "And you haven't. That's why you're all going to die."
Her tone was almost playful, but her eyes gleamed with dangerous confidence.
These fools didn't understand what they'd done.
Every single person who had ever raised a hand against Alex—human, god, or monster—had ended up the same way.
Erased.
> "Wait a second…" Selina's eyes narrowed, her smirk fading as realization dawned.
"Your target isn't me… it's Alex!"
The air seemed to still.
Dr. Neuro's grin widened.
Selina leaned back in her chair, shaking her head slowly, almost pitying them.
> "You really don't value your lives, do you?"
Because if Alex was coming—and he was—
then Gotham was about to drown in blood.
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