As Axel swaggered off, he turned back and waved to Doctor Fate.
"The rest is up to you, old buddy. Hope you can clear up this mess and get traffic back to normal soon."
"If this blasted thing blocks my way home, I'll throw a tantrum," Doctor Fate muttered under his breath.
Axel laughed and continued walking toward the Iceberg Lounge, leaving Doctor Fate staring at the sky like withered grass in the wind.
God, why was I happy chatting with such an asshole? Doctor Fate thought with a groan.
Why the hell couldn't Axel just die?!
If Axel could hear thoughts, he might have chided Doctor Fate not to forget that the Great Flood — that devastating event — was said to be God's doing as well. But even with super‑hearing, Axel couldn't hear internal thoughts, so he just kept walking… until something caught his ear.
Hmm?
Axel's senses twitched. He thought he heard someone say his name.
That wasn't unusual in Gotham — half the city talked about him constantly. But this was different. This was Europe. And the voices weren't just talking about him — they were talking about the future.
Axel tilted his head slightly and focused his hearing on the voices. Then he heard a man speaking fast and with familiar enthusiasm.
"Axel at this point is surprisingly friendly. Besides killing a few folks here and there, he still manages to smile. Not only did he get along with the police, he even messed around with Diana like some horny kid. It's actually wild."
"You know," another voice replied, "ever since Axel totally destroyed Gotham and brutally killed Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Diana, and even Clark and Bruce, he's never smiled again. Though later the Lord did stop Darkseid's attack, that was just personal hobby stuff."
Axel's ears perked up. Destroyed Gotham? Killed Clark and Bruce? That didn't sound right.
The first voice continued.
"Bruce from Universe 14 offered one explanation. He thinks the Lord lost something important during his first week here, something tied to Gotham City. That's why we crossed countless universes — to uncover what he lost."
"Really?" said a female voice.
"Yes," the man continued, "and Mr. Thomas Batman from one universe suggested something else: maybe the Lord's brutality was the least desirable outcome. Perhaps with our help, the Lord escaped that fate, became brutal but still interesting, then traveled to the future and saved you."
"But can you talk less?" the female voice snapped.
The man protested, "I'm just sharing what I know. There's more too. If we want to help the Lord next, the enemies we'll face aren't just the three today. In the battle on the fifth day of Axel's arrival, several others might join… Old Shazam has a 14% chance, Ares has 22.1%. Plus there's a witch controlled by ARGUS and Clark from this universe. Clark might appear — he saw the superhuman world early and doesn't care much about his powers. You might even have to fight your cousin, Kara!"
"Kara?" the female voice scoffed.
"She's weak right now. Even after twenty years, she can't tap her potential. If she shows up, I can take her down in three moves."
"Barry, shut your mouth," the female voice snapped.
"No way! Now's not the time for that," he shot back.
Axel had heard enough. He appeared in London, inside the royal hotel where the two were staying.
Both were out of costume, casual and unprepared. Axel took a deep breath, then immediately confronted Barry.
"You said I destroyed Gotham and killed Clark and Bruce?"
"…Uh," Barry stammered, looking miserable, "your hearing got stupidly good. We thought you couldn't hear us before today. This is London — apart from Superman, almost nobody can…!"
"Shut up," Axel coldly interrupted Barry, teleported right in front of him, and grabbed his heart as if testing his pulse.
But Barry's body jerked, and he stumbled back against the wall, raising his hands in fear.
"Lord, we are…"
"Call him Wraith, or Axel!" a woman with short hair said sharply.
Wait — Kara?
This was definitely Supergirl — Kara Zor‑El. In DC lore, Kara Zor‑El is Superman's cousin who shares similar powers of flight, strength, and more due to her Kryptonian heritage.
Barry rattled on nervously.
"Right, Boss Wraith, it's me, Barry Allen, your loyal little fanboy! Well okay, maybe not super loyal, but I seriously was obsessed with you for a while! I mean, villains like you are always cool on TV, right?"
"Less bullshit," Axel snapped and made a 'shut up' gesture at Barry.
Barry hurriedly zipped his mouth.
Axel turned his gaze to Kara.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on?"
"Kara here knows," Barry said weakly.
"Kara," Axel repeated.
She turned away from Barry and pointed toward the door.
Barry looked confused but obediently shuffled out.
Once Barry was gone, Kara faced Axel with serious eyes.
"Barry doesn't know why you failed," she began, voice cold and direct, "but I do. You're just a tool brought to this universe — I can't trust him fully."
"A tool?" Axel laughed, incredulous.
"So tell me how I failed. How could I possibly fail? I can't even imagine it," Axel said with his usual arrogance, sitting on the bed beside her and patting the mattress.
Kara's expression didn't soften.
"You are performing a ritual," she said coolly, "a ritual that was supposed to grant you the power to cross the Source Wall. But you failed. You are now forever trapped within the DC Universe. You once told me — every moment is a game with God, because you missed something important. You wander across multiverses, able to appear anywhere, yet trapped between existence and non‑existence. That war with God exhausted you. Your freedom became your prison."
Axel's laughter filled the room.
"Are these really my words you're spouting?" he scoffed, pointing at his chest. "No one understands me better than me. Even if I faced terrible trouble, I wouldn't speak like some sad philosopher!"
He waved dismissively.
"I know what's going on. The truth is simple — God knows I might fail. So he found a few people to warn me, so I wouldn't fall. As for this 'future' you speak of, all God needs to do is breathe to make them real. If I needed help from future selves, I'd rather my future self show up. But that never happens. I only have one timeline. There's no second me."
His words trailed off.
Crack!
Suddenly, Axel's head exploded into flames and reformed an instant later.
Kara's expression stayed cold, but her eyes flared with restrained anger.
"Very good. I remember you," Axel sneered, "just for that comment, I'll find your future self and make sure you cry and scream. And I remember what you told me. I'll repeat it back to you someday."
"So that's why you forced yourself on me at that military base?" Kara said plainly.
Axel blinked, stunned.
"What? You're saying I forced myself on you? You think you're worthy…?!?"
Crack!
His head shattered again and reformed.
"I remember your kink, Kara. Now continue," Axel said, nodding.
"Very good," Kara said, expressionless but firm.
She took a deep breath and began.
"Your future self told me that the reason you failed was because they destroyed Wayne Tower early on the fifth day…"
____
Patreon = _Zeph