As Axel spoke, the world in his vision didn't just flicker, it shifted violently. Lucius and Bruce appeared to become unlabeled containers, equipment turned into rows of refrigerators and storage shelves, and the fear bomb in Axel's hand looked exactly like a box of yogurt.
Staring at the yogurt, Axel cracked a grin.
"Is that supposed to scare me? Come on, that crap doesn't even register. My nerves are already way tougher than an ordinary person's, so your precious potion didn't make me terrified, just brought up some not‑so‑great memories I'd rather forget."
With a careless toss, Axel chucked the imaginary "yogurt" far away.
Across from him, Lucius and Bruce exchanged exhausted looks. Axel hadn't shivered, hadn't flinched, not even twitched. Lucius threw up his hands.
"Bruce, look at him! Every part of his body is beyond normal limits, including his nervous system. Our fear toxin idea fell flat before it even started."
"No," Bruce said slowly, calm but focused, "It had some effect, even if tiny, which means it can affect him. Next, we refine it, purify it, make it stronger and longer lasting. And not just that, we prepare more strategies for him."
Axel interrupted them with a groan, pointing at them in his vision.
"Containers, shut up, don't ruin my good mood. I can hear you just fine, so go talk somewhere else!"
He followed his hallucination — the supermarket checkout — and dropped onto the counter with a sigh. His fingers traced the keys on the register, his eyes shut, lost for a moment in a distant thought.
Even though his current life was chaotic and full of messes, the past wasn't something he wanted to actually go back to. He wasn't truly longing for it, he was just… nostalgic. If he had to really return, he'd jokingly act like a show‑off, some dramatic performance just to grind everyone's gears.
Seeing Axel sprawled out and daydreaming, Lucius finally stepped closer, cautious and bewildered.
"Interesting. The subject walked onto the experiment table by himself, Bruce."
Bruce swallowed, stiff. "This is new to me."
He moved toward Axel and asked carefully, "Axel, how do you feel? Do you want the antidote?"
"No fucking way," Axel snapped awake, shaking his head so hard his hair swept the air. Bruce watched him intensely, noting something in his expression that he couldn't quite place, something stronger than before.
As the hallucination faded and reality snapped back, Axel saw Bruce and Lucius again, grinning with a lazy sort of amusement.
"What the hell is going on, Buddy? You two are like real damn doctors now. And you, Bruce, offering antidote like it's candy? If I actually asked for it, would you give it to me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Bruce said, picking up the antidote and tossing it into Axel's open hand without hesitation.
"You are a man who doesn't die easily, Axel. Death doesn't stop you, it only makes you stronger. Lucius and I aren't trying to kill you, we want control, something to keep you in check."
Bruce swallowed, placing a steady hand on Axel's shoulder. Axel's grin widened — interested, amused.
"Maybe you don't know, but I've spent most of the last few days tracking you. Since the first time you showed your regen ability, I've watched you. I've seen your brutality with my own eyes, and I've also seen your good side."
He paused, eyes steady.
"Yeah, your methods are vicious beyond what I expected, but I saw you give to strangers once, just regular people who had nothing to do with you. In that moment, you were just you. And that tells me something important. Good or bad isn't so simple with you."
Bruce pulled a chair over and sat down next to Axel, waving Lucius over.
"Lucius, get us a few bottles of beer. I think he'll want it."
"No problem, and we need food too," Lucius said, grabbing pen and paper. "What do you want? I'll have the group chef prepare it."
Axel didn't pause.
"Three cheese‑snow fish burgers first!"
Bruce added without hesitation, "And three Mexican steak burgers, plus some fried chicken."
Lucius nodded, smiling at both of them.
"Only when I'm here with you two do I get to enjoy fried food. My assistant always watches my diet when you're not around. Today, I'm taking advantage — chicken and beer. I'm not getting younger, so I'll take every indulgence I can."
Lucius walked off to arrange their order, and Bruce turned back to Axel, voice softening.
"Let's continue our talk. Even though I'm pissed about you taking Wayne Manor, I don't see you as an enemy. Hell, part of me envies you. You come into Gotham with this relentless confidence and abandon. You've been here three days, and in that time the city's lost over forty thousand gang members. That's historic — like wartime numbers — but actions speak louder than intentions, Axel."
Bruce brushed his hand over the lab table, thoughtful.
"Those losses are hard for the city to accept, even for me, but you're shaking Gotham awake. More young people will think twice about joining gangs, and that fear — that consequence — might actually change the future here. That's something I can respect."
He let go of Axel's shoulder, attempting a cautious, forced smile that barely looked like a smile at all.
Axel laughed, clapping his hands.
"Buddy, you almost had me buying it until that smile, which looked like someone who sat in a puddle of embarrassment. Of everything you said, the part about fear being effective? Yeah, I'll give you that. The rest felt like comforting words for a damn good show. But you and I both know it's smarter to be friends than enemies. Friends get a chance to talk me out of stuff that might be crazy later."
Axel slapped Bruce's shoulder with a grin, jumped off the table, and snagged a chair next to him. Without hesitation, he grabbed the fear bomb again, released the gas, and inhaled deeply.
The vapor rushed through him and he grinned wider, savoring the strange taste.
Bruce's eyes narrowed a bit, the reality settling in. Fear itself wasn't a weapon Bruce expected someone like Axel to understand, let alone appreciate. Axel wasn't following Bruce, but damn if he didn't have his own twisted logic.
Bruce tried another smile, this one slightly better than the first.
And as he watched Axel inhale another breath of the gas, he realized his plans weren't the only unpredictable thing in this room.