WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Truth & Justice #9, by Danny Lore, Adriana Melo, Norm Rapmund, Jonas Trinidade, Will Quintana and Becca Carey, on sale now.
DC's Truth & Justice series features John Constantine in yet another supernatural war with Papa Midnite. For years, they've gone at it, ignoring how many times they've partnered together, simply due to ego and a constant need to outclass each other to see who's the better mage.
However, Truth & Justice #9 finds Constantine pulling out a cerebral mind game to defeat his most dangerous enemy but sadly, in the process, he creates a new one.
Constantine's trying to steal a special mirror that Midnite wants to harness. Midnite has used Alex to get the relic, with Alex's magic able to activate it, but the problem is, this mirror can open up a gateway to a dark realm. Constantine doesn't want monsters coming out again as he's made big sacrifices in the past to keep them at bay. But Midnite has his own plans for the mirror and Alex's magic is more than enough to give Midnite access and make it work again.
However, the Justice League Dark vigilante reveals his big twist: he'd been tracking Alex for a while and hexed the kid. When Alex used the mirror they lost their powers and the mirror was left vulnerable. Constantine destroys it for good, banishing the creatures and foiling Midnite's plans, but it leads to a tense standoff with Midnite wanting blood.
Constantine disarms his crew, though, and warns Midnite that their rivalry won't end well for either of them. As a result, the villain backs down as he knows he's got a new weapon to use someday in Alex who is angry at Constantine for robbing them of their powers. Even though Constantine feels that he did what was necessary, Alex does not agree and sees Constantine's actions as disrespectful.
With their powers, Alex would be constantly placed in peril, but Midnite wouldn't care because he sees people as tools. Alex's ability to see the history of sinister relics would have mentally broken them as these items usually have horrific pasts. Constantine leaves Alex with a hope that they could be friends someday, but even then, it's better to stay at an arm's length.
However, Midnite knows Alex has immense potential and seeing as Constantine's spell rendered Alex inert, the villain could still break it someday and use Alex against Constantine. That said, it's an interesting game of chess with Constantine prepped for retaliation still believing he acted for the greater good.