Axel lifted Zatanna up and held her in front of Doctor Fate's fallen body. Zatanna, panic in her voice, urgently called out a spell.
"Rewind Time!"
Light spiraled around Doctor Fate's broken form. Slowly, his heart began beating again and the wound Axel had made in his chest started closing, flesh knitting back together.
A moment later, a startled gasp came from inside Doctor Fate's helmet.
Axel didn't bother with courtesy. He yanked the helmet off and slapped Kent Nelson awake.
"Buddy, time to wake up. If you keep playing dead, I might just crush you for real!"
"Uh…"
Doctor Fate blinked groggily, confusion in his eyes as he took in the scene: Zatanna worried and Diana standing silent, and Axel trying to jam the golden helmet onto his own head instead of returning it.
"The helmet!!!"
"What are you yelling about? Nabu isn't your wife. I mean, what's wrong with me playing with it?"
Axel grinned and almost got the helmet onto his head.
Before he could, Diana exploded forward and drove an elbow into Axel's chest.
"Pfft!"
Axel nearly spit out his breakfast from the blow, and the helmet flew straight into Diana's waiting hands.
Diana didn't relax, not even for a second. She handed the helmet to Doctor Fate without looking back, eyes locked on Axel between them.
Doctor Fate exhaled painfully as he took the helmet and pulled it down onto his head. With its return, his battle suit and cape reappeared in a shimmer of gold light, the air itself seeming to hold its breath.
"No wonder Nabu warned me about him. Wraith," Fate said, referring to Axel's alias used by mystics, "is truly the most unconquerable enemy I have ever encountered. Even if his raw strength is below that of the Seven Deadly Sins, the chaos he causes far exceeds theirs!"
Doctor Fate breathed in deeply and addressed Diana and Zatanna with grave calm.
"Do not try to stop him head‑on. Until we discover his weakness, any effort to oppose him will only make him stronger and push us closer to death."
He rose into the sky, golden magic crackling around him, then drifted straight toward Axel, who was patting his chest and catching his breath.
Doctor Fate regarded him solemnly before speaking.
"Axel, if you truly want people to respect you, then tell me — do you intend to destroy the world?"
Axel took a ragged breath and coughed up blood, a cold, wicked smile spreading across his face.
"Gotham's my territory and Earth's my land. Do you think a lord destroys his own home?"
With that, Axel waved dismissively at Doctor Fate and vanished again in a blaze of flickering firelight.
A second later, an explosion thundered in the distance as the next support pillar crumbled.
Doctor Fate looked out at the rising cloud of debris and the groaning Sky Rail — steel twisting and concrete cracking under stress — and his head sank.
Diana didn't waste a beat. She launched herself toward the train closest to the collapse.
"Zatanna, be ready to catch the train!"
She rushed to the side of the trembling car. Inside, terrified passengers watched her with wide eyes.
Diana blinked with pain at their suffering then raised her hand and lifted the entire car as if it weighed nothing.
"Hold onto something solid!"
She called out as she sent the massive train car flying toward Zatanna.
Zatanna's toes curled nervously in her high heels as she watched it hurtle toward her.
"What magic do I use to catch a train?!"
"Trust your instinct," Doctor Fate said from above. "Just like I trust my instincts against Axel, you must trust yours now."
He hovered, extending his hand as mystic power rippled outward and wrapped around every train car across Gotham — the wheels still spinning but the cars themselves frozen mid‑motion as if time slowed just enough.
Then, as Axel reached the eleventh support pillar, Doctor Fate snapped his fingers and dozens of trains vanished from their perilous situation and reappeared safely on the grasslands outside Gotham.
Passengers stepped out in stunned silence, rubbing their eyes.
Zatanna nodded once, absorbing what Doctor Fate had done, then pointed toward Diana's thrown train car.
"Spatial Transfer," she called, and it blinked into the outskirts of the city as well.
Meanwhile, Axel had already demolished eighteen load‑bearing pillars.
Standing before the nineteenth, he looked up at the trio dividing rescue duties and grumbled to himself.
"I said not to bother me — and you actually listened? Great. I'm causing destruction here, I might as well get some damn attention."
He exhaled heavily, then in a flash leapt in front of Diana.
"Hey, Greek old bastard, you sure you don't want to kill me two more times?"
"Hmph!"
Diana didn't even look at him. She gave Axel a disdainful middle finger before turning her gaze back to the Sky Rail.
Axel shook his head with feigned boredom and teleported right beside her, casually looping an arm around her shoulder.
He sniffed her scent, smirking.
"You know, people are cheap. When you all bugged me nonstop, I was so annoyed I wanted to die. Several times I wanted to just kill you all. Even though each of you is a fun toy, I still wanted to smash you because I was genuinely pissed, haha. But when you all went quiet? That got boring."
He pressed his face against Diana's without warning and rubbed his cheek against hers.
"So honestly? I kind of liked your defiant look before. Wanna bring that back?"
"Go to hell!!!"
Diana had reached her limit. She kicked Axel hard, sending him flying.
Axel smiled cheerfully even mid‑air and teleported amid flames to the last remaining support pillar.
He eyed it, grinning.
He'd been at this for nearly an hour. Time for a break.
Just as he lifted his fist to smash down, a familiar shout split the air.
"Axel, stop!!!"
Batman leapt out of his Batmobile like some kind of grappling‑hook‑launching acrobat, swinging toward Axel's perch on the damaged track.
Axel's smile grew wide.
So predictable. Gotham did suit him like no other place.
What the hell were outsiders like Diana and Doctor Fate compared to this city of born fighters?
As Batman landed in front of him, still panting, Axel walked up irritably and lightly patted his shoulder.
"If you've got something to say, just say it. Don't stutter like your speech class failed you. I'm old enough, I don't need grammar lessons from you. What a joke!"
"Uh…"
Bruce rolled his eyes and winced.
"Alright. I mean… you must be tired from blowing up the Sky Rail. Want to… have a drink?"
Axel raised a brow.
"You don't drink, do you? Don't go off on some tangent. Tell me what's really going on."
He crooked his mouth and patted Bruce's head before leaping onto the crumbling rail.
Bruce fired his grappling hook and landed beside him, awkwardly sitting on the edge.
Axel stared at him for a beat. Bruce took a deep breath.
"I ordered takeout. If you're free, want to eat something together? I didn't have breakfast — cough — I mean, uh… damn it!"
He cursed under his breath then continued in earnest:
"I'm trying to stall you for another half hour. The citizens near the Sky Rail need that much more time to evacuate. But I really didn't expect talking to you would be harder than getting my ass kicked by you. Damn it!"
Bruce exhaled deeply and looked at Axel with forced resolve.
Axel shrugged with a grin.
"Alright then. That sounds like a good chance for me to taste what kind of takeout capitalists eat, haha!"