DC X LOTM: A Beyonder in DC

The room was silent except for the faint hum of the computer's cooling fan. Alex leaned back in his chair, arms folded, watching the grainy surveillance footage looping on the screen. The flash drive he had retrieved at the Gotham docks had been encrypted, but that hadn't slowed him down.

Now, as he watched the video, the implications settled in.

The footage wasn't just about Aeternum Industries.

It was about him.

The camera feed showed clear, time-stamped surveillance of his childhood home in Smallville. The Kent farm. His parents. Even Clark. Someone had been watching for weeks, maybe months.

Someone in Gotham's underworld knew who he was.

Across the desk, Evan Drake shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, so, this just went from 'corporate espionage' to 'someone is actively stalking you and your family.'"

Alex exhaled slowly, keeping his expression unreadable. "Yeah. I noticed that."

Evan gestured toward the screen. "Who the hell even has the resources to track someone outside? The Falcones? The Maronis? Maybe Penguin?"

"Unlikely," Alex muttered. "They're bold, but they don't poke unless they have a death wish by petting other gang have a chance."

"Then who?"

Alex tapped his fingers on the desk, thinking. "Whoever it is, they don't want me dead. If they did, they wouldn't be watching from a distance. No, this is leverage. They want to see how I react. To see what makes me move."

Evan gave him a dry look. "And how are we reacting?"

Alex's smirk was cold. "By making their lives hell."

Evan sighed. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of."

Aeternum's Countermove

The next morning, Aeternum Industries made a high-profile announcement:

They had secured an exclusive government contract for Gotham's upcoming infrastructure overhaul.

The deal was massive—hundreds of millions of dollars locked into the company's future. Aeternum had suddenly become too valuable to be targeted without raising alarms.

Evan, staring at the announcement on his phone, rubbed his temples. "Let me get this straight. You just made yourself a public, legally protected entity that Gotham's underground can't quietly erase—on purpose?"

Alex sat back in his chair, looking satisfied. "Now, if they want to shut us down, they'll have to step out of the shadows and deal with us directly."

Evan shook his head. "You really like poking hornets' nests, don't you?"

"Only when the hornets are already watching me."

The First Retaliation

The response came sooner than expected.

At 2:17 AM, an Aeternum shipment carrying critical research materials vanished.

No distress calls. No alerts. The truck just disappeared.

Evan's voice came through the phone, tense. "We lost a shipment. Completely off the grid. This wasn't an accident."

Alex was already moving. "Where was it last seen?"

"Leaving Gotham's industrial district."

Alex grabbed his coat. "I'll handle it."

Evan hesitated. "And by 'handle it,' you mean…?"

Alex's eyes darkened. "I mean someone's about to regret crossing me."

The Hunt Begins

Dressed in his black combat suit, Alex moved unseen through Gotham's backstreets. No symbols. No cape. Just a ghost in the night.

Using his Seer abilities, he rewound time's echoes, watching distorted afterimages of the hijacking. Armed men. Military precision. They had intercepted the truck in under sixty seconds and disappeared into the maze of Gotham's industrial district.

But they hadn't covered their tracks well enough.

Alex followed their trail through the abandoned factories until he found what he was looking for—an old shipping warehouse on the edge of the Gotham Docks.

Inside, the stolen cargo was being unloaded.

At least ten men. Heavily armed. These weren't just hired thugs.

This was an operation.

And whoever had orchestrated it knew exactly what they were doing.

The Reckoning

He moved like a shadow.

The first guard never saw the knife slide across his throat.

The second had just enough time to blink before Alex snapped his neck.

By the time the others realized something was wrong, three were already dead.

Panic spread. They raised their weapons—too late.

Alex dropped into the center of them, his movements precise and lethal. A bullet whizzed past—he twisted, dodging effortlessly. His fist struck like iron, shattering a man's ribs. Another attacker lunged—Alex grabbed his wrist and snapped it like a twig.

Within sixty seconds, the room was silent.

Only one man remained standing.

But unlike the others, he wasn't afraid.

Instead, he smirked.

"Didn't think you'd show up personally," he muttered, tossing his gun aside.

Alex studied him. "You were expecting me?"

The man chuckled. "I was hoping."

Then, he pressed a detonator.

The Trap

Explosions erupted around the warehouse.

Flames roared, consuming crates and steel beams. The ceiling began to collapse.

The surviving attacker grinned through the chaos. "You think you're untouchable?"

Alex barely reacted.

Instead, he walked through the fire, completely unharmed.

The man's smile faded.

"...What the hell are you?"

Alex grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "The one asking the questions."

The man choked, struggling. "You... you can't stop it. Gotham... doesn't play fair."

Alex's grip tightened. "Who sent you?"

The man's smirk returned. "You'll find out soon enough."

Then, his body convulsed.

Poison. Fast-acting. His eyes rolled back.

Dead.

Alex let the body drop, stepping back as the warehouse collapsed around him.

Whoever was behind this wasn't just powerful.

They were smart.

The Message

The next morning, Alex arrived at Aeternum's headquarters, looking as if nothing had happened.

Evan was waiting, holding a letter.

"No sender. No return address," Evan said. "But you're going to want to see this."

Alex took the envelope and opened it.

Inside was a single playing card.

A Joker.

And on the back, scrawled in red ink:

"Welcome to Gotham."

Alex's expression remained neutral, but internally, he was already reevaluating the situation.

The Joker didn't play for money.

He didn't play for power.

He played for chaos.

And now, he had set his sights on Aeternum Industries.

The game had just escalated.

And if Joker wanted to play?

Alex would make sure he regretted it.

[To be continued in Chapter 31]

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