Buzz.
With the faint whir of propellers, three groups of forty-eight drones lifted off from the wilderness, circling toward Axel.
Simultaneously, waves of numbness and pain coursed through him. Axel rolled his eyes, feeling electrocuted. He couldn't move. Not an inch. Not a muscle. And he couldn't even find the source.
It wasn't a simple taser. The road looked normal, spotless, with no sign of traps. Yet the sensation was like dozens of electric batons stabbing him from every direction, his skin threatening to burn. Pain, yes—but compared to death itself, this was child's play.
When Death ceases to be your weakness, your willpower becomes limitless.
Ten seconds in, Axel began to adapt. His body, honed through countless resurrections, resisted the shocks. He braced himself, stabilized his footing, and forced his gaze forward.
Above him, more than forty medium-sized drones hovered. They circled, eight meters out, then fired.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Every muscle in Axel's body spasmed. Electrodes stabbed into him, forcing him to curl up, hands clutching his head uncontrollably.
Hiss.
A faint sound, like air escaping a deflating ball, drifted past him. Following it, Axel's eyes fixed on the asphalt five meters away.
Tiny particles, invisible to the naked eye, swirled together, forming a coin-sized metallic ring hovering above the road.
When it fully formed, the electric shocks vanished.
"So… a keychain is electrocution now?" Axel muttered. "Whose tech is this? Fucking impressive… not something I've ever seen in a movie."
In the command vehicle, General Sam Lane clapped enthusiastically, watching Axel curled up and immobile.
"The LexCorp trial equipment is excellent," Lane said. "Refined, precise, just gentle enough. Perfect for a man who resurrects after death."
The driver looked hesitant. "General, should we rush him?"
Lane shook his head. "No. He's too unpredictable. Safer to handle him in the wilderness than in town. Heaven only knows what he can do."
The command vehicle rolled forward. Lane kept his eyes glued to the monitor, analyzing Axel's every twitch.
Beside the Maybach, Axel squatted, testing his limbs. A dry cough escaped.
"Cough, cough," he muttered, smirking.
Unable to move freely? No problem. As long as he could talk, Axel was fine.
"Damn it all," he cursed, smiling. "What are all these toys? Where were these gadgets when you were dealing with anyone else? But me? Oh no… all sorts of weird shit shows up."
He rolled his eyes. Maybe Liv wasn't telling him everything. Did the American military really set this trap? DC's military usually relied on brute force—bombs, missiles. Where the hell did these magical little toys come from? DEO? ARGUS? Some other secret agency?
He looked at the drones.
"Hey," Axel called, grinning. "Can you talk? Or are you just going to sit there buzzing? Send someone with a sexy voice, I'll cooperate. Promise. Haha."
He tried to move, muscles spasming under the electrodes.
But death had long ceased to scare him. His body, built through countless resurrections, pushed against the paralyzing electricity. Using sheer will, Axel forced himself upright.
In the command vehicle, Sam Lane's jaw dropped.
"Fuck! LexCorp said this tech could control rhinos and elephants. Is Axel even stronger than them? Wesley, max the controller!"
"Received!" Wesley, the young soldier, turned a dial, increasing the drones' power.
"At max power, we only have eight minutes of control," he warned. "We might not reach him in time. Should we anesthetize him?"
Lane shook his head. "No. Axel might just be toying with us. Preemptive anesthesia could alert him, ruin everything. Our Smallville team can intercept him in one minute. Let them handle it."
Axel, still twisting and writhing, shrank into a ball under the electric shocks, resisting every pulse.
Above Smallville, a stern man swiped through his tablet, expressionless. Flames suddenly erupted from the plane he was aboard.
"Resurrection not witnessed firsthand cannot convince me," he murmured. "Axel, prove it. Jonathan promised surprises, Gotham is supposed to be a city of infinite potential."
Boom!
Two missiles screamed toward Axel.
He paused, blank-eyed, then burst into laughter.
"Haha! Finally, some goddamn brute force! Missiles, huh? That's more like it! Now this is exhilarating!"
Even as fire and smoke approached, Axel's grin remained.
___
Throw your stones my way 😭
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