The Batcave was cold tonight. Colder than usual.
Bruce Wayne stood still, his cowl resting on the console beside him, eyes fixed on the flickering footage from the drone that went dark the previous night. Static, then silence. No trace. No malfunction. Just… gone.
He didn't like that.
Alfred approached with a tray. "Chamomile, sir. You look troubled."
Bruce didn't respond. His mind was already building profiles — meta, magician, Kryptonian? Nothing fit.
"Sir?" Alfred prompted.
Bruce finally spoke, voice low. "Something's in Gotham. Something subtle. Strong. Maybe stronger than me."
Alfred raised an eyebrow. "You say that like it's rare."
Bruce smirked faintly. "No trace. No signature. Not even heat."
He opened a new file: Subject Zero.
---
Meanwhile, in the bookstore, Kai was helping Harold stack books. The old man grunted as he dropped a thick leather-bound tome.
"Careful," Kai said, catching it midair without touching it.
Harold blinked. "How'd you do that?"
"Fast reflexes."
Harold chuckled, too old to question magic anymore. "You're a strange one, Kai. You remind me of a soldier I met during the war. Quiet. But you see everything."
Kai smiled. "I just like books."
But that wasn't true.
He felt everything. The rhythm of every heart in Gotham. The dreams of people as they slept. The orbit of every satellite. Even the ticking of the Batcomputer deep underground.
A new file.
Subject Zero.
He rolled his eyes. "Figures."
---
Deep beneath Wayne Manor, Bruce ran biometric filters on every known meta in Gotham. Nothing.
Then he heard it — a whisper. Barely audible.
His eyes darted to the speaker.
"Subject Zero is already watching," the Batcomputer said.
"What?"
The screen flickered. For half a second, the Bat-symbol on screen morphed into a cosmic swirl. Stars. Eyes.
Then it was gone.
"Alfred," Bruce called, rising. "We've been compromised."
Alfred frowned. "Should I call the League?"
Bruce hesitated. His pride told him no. His instincts screamed yes.
But before he could decide, the lights flickered again.
A message appeared on screen:
> "Calm down, Bruce. I like your cave. - K"
---
Back in his apartment, Kai sipped hot chocolate and stared out at the rain.
He hadn't meant to spook Batman.
But sometimes, the Bat needed to be reminded he wasn't the only one playing the game.
Kai reached out with his mind, touched the Arkham Asylum barrier gently, just enough to calm the inmates for the night. The Joker stopped laughing. Scarecrow forgot his toxins. Clayface dreamt of Broadway.
Peace. Temporary. But enough.
---
And then… something strange.
Kairav felt it — like a hair out of place in the fabric of time.
Someone was casting a spell. Not in Gotham — farther. Metropolis? No, the outskirts.
Old magic. Real magic.
He snapped his fingers, and a single cosmic thread led him to a hidden glade, where a woman in a top hat was lighting blue candles.
Zatanna.
She was casting a locator spell. Not for him, but something close.
"Show me the being who disrupted entropy," she chanted, hands glowing.
A symbol lit in front of her — a glyph Kairav hadn't seen in a long time.
The Celestialsapien sigil.
Kai blinked.
"Well, that complicates things."
---
Back in the cave, Bruce's communicator buzzed.
Zatanna's voice came through.
"Bruce, we have a problem. Something ancient just brushed the timeline. I don't know what it is… but it's not from this universe."
Bruce closed his eyes.
So it begins.