"What do you mean it's delayed?" Alex said, stunned, holding the phone to his ear.
It had already been seven days since he ordered the PC, and now he was speaking with a representative after receiving a frustrating notification, one claiming his delivery had been postponed due to some vague, nonsensical reason.
"Yes," the voice on the other end said, calm and robotic. "We have reason to believe that your PC may not actually be broken and that this might be a scam attempt. You'll need to return the damaged unit to one of our nearest stores before we can proceed with the delivery."
Alex stood there, dumbfounded, completely frozen by what he had just heard.
"What? Since when was that a requirement for situations like this?" Alex snapped, frustration rising in his voice. "Trigon literally crushed it—along with my boss's car!"
"I understand," the person on the other end replied, their tone tight with discomfort. "But I can't authorize a replacement without some form of proof. It's just… company policy."
Alex closed his eyes and took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down. None of this was the rep's fault. They were just a middleman caught in the mess… Still, it didn't make the situation any less irritating.
"Okay," Alex muttered, clearly annoyed, before ending the call with a sharp tap of his thumb.
He opened his banking app, eyes narrowing as he looked at his account—this week's paycheck still untouched, reserved for a car he planned to buy. He stared at the balance for a long moment, frowning.
He could let it go. Call it a loss or… he could go to hell and back to make sure that money didn't go to waste.
With a slow breath, Alex closed his eyes and focused. His awareness stretched outward, reaching for the source of his frustration.
Far away, Lex Luthor sat comfortably with a glass of wine in hand, watching a screen that displayed Alex's personal data. Completely unaware that Alex's gaze—unseen and uninvited—was already locked onto him.
Suddenly, Luthor let out a sharp, pained scream. The wineglass slipped from his hand, crashing to the floor and shattering on impact. Red wine spilled across the polished tiles, mixing with shards of glass that scattered in every direction.
Luthor writhed on the ground, clutching his arm and groaning in agony. He didn't even notice the broken glass piercing into his skin—his focus lost entirely to the searing pain coursing through him.
His anguished cries were loud enough to draw attention. Guards and aides rushed into the room, panic on their faces as they scrambled to assess what had just happened.
Meanwhile, In Washington…
"Alex, what was with all that yelling?" Diana asked, opening the door to her office. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she glanced over at Alex.
"LexCorp's refusing to send me the replacement," Alex said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "They put the delivery on hold and want proof that the original was destroyed."
"I thought they had footage of Trigon flattening everything?" Diana asked, raising a brow.
"They're claiming it's not enough," Alex replied, his frustration clear. "Apparently, they need me to submit proof."
"That's weird," Diana said, raising a brow.
Alex nodded, his expression clearly frustrated. "I plan to contact a lawyer. That was over 20k worth of goods…"
He looked pained just thinking about it. That money could've gone toward something practical, like a car or anything else sensible. But he hadn't done that. He'd gone all in, and now he wasn't about to let that money disappear.
Even if it meant killing Luthor atom by atom… he would get his stuff back.
"Your arm… It's become completely useless," the doctor said carefully. "Blood and everything else still flows through it, so it'll remain healthy for now. But without use, the muscles will weaken, and eventually, they'll start to deteriorate."
Luthor sat on the hospital bed, his eyes trembling with barely contained rage. The doctor didn't even get the chance to finish his explanation. Luthor stood up abruptly and stormed out of the room.
He returned straight to his lab. Without hesitation, he removed the damaged arm and replaced it with a mechanical, robotic limb. But even that wouldn't respond.
He moved on, attempting to regrow a new biological arm—but the freshly grown limb was just as useless as the last. Not wasting another second, Luthor abandoned the lab and took off, he expected as much as this was what happened his his penis.
There was only one person left he could turn to now. Klarion.
"What happened to you?" Klarion, the Lord of Chaos, asked with interest, his eyes narrowing as he took in Luthor's panicked expression.
Just days ago, Luthor had come to him, ranting about some strange man who could kill anything. Now he stood here, missing an arm, clutching it in a bucket of ice.
"Check my arm. See if there's any magic in it," Luthor said sharply. "He's made his move again."
He didn't want to waste time. Without hesitation, he handed the severed arm to Klarion.
Klarion accepted it lazily, more amused than concerned, at first. But as soon as his senses brushed against the arm, he froze. This arm wasn't ordinary. There was something wrong with this arm, something someone like him, a lord of chaos, could easily tell.
Klarion attempted to reconnect the severed hand using magic. The process went smoothly—the hand reattached without any complications, restored to Luthor's arm as if nothing had happened… But it was useless.
The moment it connected, it was clear the hand had lost all rights to call itself a hand. It wouldn't move. The muscles began wasting away, bone density declined slowly, and the degeneration continued from there.
Without the slightest concern for Luthor's well-being, Klarion ripped the hand cleanly off. To his surprise, Luthor didn't even flinch. He hadn't felt a thing. It was as if the hand had already been dead.
Undeterred, Klarion tried having Luthor regrow a new one… But the result was the same. The freshly grown hand was just as lifeless. Just as worthless.
Klarion ripped the hand off again. Just like before, Luthor didn't react. It was like tearing off a piece of dead wood.
With a flick of his fingers, Klarion cast a spell, conjuring a new hand formed entirely from magical energy and attaching it to Luthor's arm… But even that hand was useless.
It didn't twitch. It didn't move. It hung there, lifeless.
"What kind of wurse is this?" Klarion muttered in disbelief. His cat, perched lazily nearby, lifted its head and corrected him.
"He knew what I meant!" Klarion snapped, shooting a glare at his cat before turning his full attention back to Luthor.
He was curious now—truly curious—about who had done this to one of the most intelligent men on Earth.
Luthor wasted no time. He laid everything out, telling Klarion everything he knew about Alex—his abilities, his actions, and the strange, terrifying precision behind them.
As Klarion considered what he might do with this Alex, already crafting twisted ideas in his mind, he suddenly felt it… A chill.
His body stiffened as an unnatural presence settled over him. He felt eyes—countless unseen eyes forming behind him, each one watching him like he was an insect.
Before he could even react, before he could escape into a higher dimension, Klarion's expression froze in horror. And then, he dropped to the floor—dead.
Luthor stepped back in disbelief, unable to process what he'd just witnessed. Klarion… was dead.
Luthor could only stare, frozen in place, as Klarion's flesh began to decay, shriveling and darkening before twisting grotesquely into letters. Words were forming across his lifeless body, carved into the dying tissue like some ancient, forbidden spell.
The sight sent a cold shiver crawling down Luthor's spine. For the first time in his life, he felt the crushing weight of helplessness. He was supposed to be untouchable here—this facility was completely sealed off from the outside world. No technology, magic, or any form of surveillance should've been able to detect their presence.
And yet… Alex had found him. More than that, he had acted.
Etched into Klarion's body were the words: "I will kill part of you every hour."
Luthor stared in silence, his thoughts a blur. He couldn't process it—couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of being could do this from such a distance.
Klarion didn't get a chance to defend himself. He couldn't cast a single spell, couldn't run, much less fight. Whatever force Alex used had struck so swiftly, so cleanly, that even the Lord of Chaos had dropped dead in an instant.
And Klarion wasn't just anyone—he had been the Light's trump card. Now, he was nothing more than a warning.
Luthor stood there in silence for a long moment, the air in the room cold and heavy. Eventually… he admitted defeat. Not because he wanted to. But because he had no other choice.
He wasn't giving up out of fear—no, it was something deeper than that. It was because his hatred for Superman outweighed everything else.
Even if it meant the end of the universe, Luthor would sacrifice anything—anyone—just to see Superman fall.
Even if it meant accepting that he was up against someone who could kill him at any moment, someone he couldn't predict, outsmart, or defend against… he would endure it. Because as long as he could still chase that one goal, he was willing to bow his head
"You look out of it," Alex said, glancing over as Diana, who sat in the passenger seat with a distant, distracted look in his eyes.
"Yeah… I'm just thinking about my next move," Diana said with a soft sigh, her gaze drifting to the passing scenery outside the window. A faint smile played on her lips, subtle but present.
"I've actually been thinking about buying a computer," she added casually. "A gaming computer."
Alex blinked, nearly missing a turn as his eyes widened in surprise. He glanced over at her, genuinely shocked by the words that had just come out of her mouth.
"Absolutely not!" Alex said suddenly, his voice sharp with conviction.
Diana snapped her head away from the window, startled, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him in shock.
"Stop being so nice to me," Alex continued, his expression firm as he kept his eyes on the road. "Or else I might start catching feelings. This isn't generosity—it's pure perfectionism."
The words hung in the air, heavier than either of them expected. Diana opened her mouth, then closed it again, unsure of how to respond—or even how she was supposed to feel.
"What?" In the end, that was all Diana could manage to say.
"I mean no disrespect," Alex replied, his voice calmer now, though he still didn't look at her. "It's just… I already see you as this incredible person. Practically flawless. And that's kind of dangerous."
He let out a small breath, eyes still fixed ahead. "You're beautiful. You have a great-paying job, and yet you send most of your earnings to help people who'll never know your name. You've got a boss who dumps most of her responsibilities on you, and you never complain. You stay humble, you're kind, grounded, and you don't chase some impossible dream…"
He paused, catching himself as the words started spilling out faster than he intended. "You're just… cool," he said softly. "But… you're also my boss."
Diana stared at him, blinking.
"… Who says all that and ends it like that?" she asked, genuinely baffled. "And why are you acting like I asked you out and you're rejecting me?"
Alex kept his eyes locked on the road, suddenly quiet, his silence saying more than words ever could.
"But you're right," Diana said with a small smile. "You're not allowed to catch feelings for your boss. Besides, you're far too young. Try dating someone a little closer to your age range."
Alex rolled his eyes, not bothering to respond. Dating wasn't even on his radar—he had no interest in that kind of distraction.
Just then, his phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen and picked up the call, instantly connecting to the car's Bluetooth system.
"Hello, am I speaking with Mr. Alex?" a polite voice came through the car's speakers. Alex confirmed, his tone casual.
The person on the other end introduced themselves as a representative from LexCorp and quickly explained that Alex's replacement computer would be delivered to his new address today. As an added apology for the delay and confusion, they were issuing a 50% refund.
Alex nearly jumped out of his seat in excitement, barely able to hold back a grin.
Diana, however, didn't share his enthusiasm. Her expression darkened with quiet suspicion. Luthor wasn't the type to hand out refunds or apologies. He didn't just make amends—especially not without a reason.
Why was LexCorp being so generous all of a sudden? Was the delivery really coming? Or was this all just a little too good to be true?
'Is it a trap?' Diana wondered, her mind racing with possibilities. Could Luthor have planted something inside the computer—something dangerous? A bomb, maybe? The thought made her jaw tighten.
She turned the idea over in her head, but before she could reach a conclusion, reality snapped back into focus.
Alex had already parked the car in her driveway and was rushing toward the front door—where the package now sat waiting like an innocent gift.
Diana's eyes widened. "Alex, wait—!"
But he was too fast, already snatching the box and disappearing inside.
She cursed under her breath and unbuckled her seatbelt as fast as she could, the seconds feeling like hours. Panic surged in her chest as she bolted out of the car and sprinted toward the house. The image of the entire home erupting into flames played vividly in her mind.
Her instincts took over. She tapped into her power and accelerated, closing the distance in a blur of speed, praying she wasn't already too late.
She burst through the door, heart pounding, only to find Alex in the living room, tearing into the package like an overexcited kid on Christmas morning.
"Alex, slow down," Diana said, her voice firm but edged with concern. "Something about this doesn't feel right."
Alex barely glanced up, too focused on the sleek, futuristic PC now resting in his hands. The machine looked stunning—state-of-the-art in every sense, with smooth lines and a modern design that made it feel more like art than hardware.
But even in his excitement, Alex frowned slightly. Eyeing the glowing trim that matched LexCorp's usual branding. It was the only thing about it he didn't like.
Diana, however, wasn't focused on aesthetics—her eyes narrowed, still scanning the machine for anything… off.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, not even sparing her a glance. His full attention was locked on the sleek machine in front of him, practically mesmerized by its flawless design.
Without hesitation, he plugged the PC into the wall. Diana's eyes widened. She shot forward, flying across the room in an instant, ready to shield him from whatever might happen… But nothing did. There was no explosion, just the soft hum of the system powering on.
Alex blinked, startled by her sudden appearance at his side. He turned to her, confusion written all over his face.
Diana landed softly, her boots touching the floor just as their eyes met. He looked at her like she was the one acting strange. Meanwhile, she couldn't shake the unease crawling up her spine. Something about all this still felt wrong.
"You shouldn't trust Luthor so easily," Diana said, her tone firm.
Alex glanced at her, one eyebrow raised, the pieces falling into place. Of course—Luthor. That's what this was about.
He nodded slightly, acknowledging her concern. She wasn't wrong. Luthor wasn't someone you handed the benefit of the doubt. But even so… Alex wasn't worried.
If there had been a bomb in that PC, it would've died long before it ever had the chance to explode. Even the delivery guy, unknowingly trying to give him this bomb, would've dropped dead before Alex could have been in any harm's way.
And it went even further back than that. If Luthor had planned something, anything, Alex would've sensed it the moment the idea was formed. Still… how was he supposed to explain this to Diana?
"Don't worry about it. Why would Luthor want to kill me?" Alex said casually, waving a hand as if brushing the thought away like dust.
Diana opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had no logical counter to that—at least, not one she could explain without revealing too much. So, she said nothing and simply watched him continue setting up the PC.
Fortunately, the two of them had already cleared a space a few days back, so everything moved quickly. Within minutes, the tower was in place, cables were connected, and Alex was double-checking airflow and alignment like a man possessed.
Still not satisfied, he took a quick trip to the nearest high-end tech store and returned with a pair of sleek, top-tier monitors and a new set of headphones. By the time everything was plugged in and optimized, the room practically glowed with futuristic ambiance.
Then, with little more than a shared glance, the two of them launched Blood of Zeus and settled in to play, the screen illuminating their faces as they were pulled into the mythological world.