(Aden's P.O.V)

After telling me everything he knew, which as it turned out was not much, I took a minute to mull over his words. Because you see, while what he knew was little, it was very shocking. Vandal Savage was out of commission. Had been infact, for more than a few weeks. That timeline lined up perfectly with the time he had arrived to see Lucifer. The man's wariness had been a real thing. Tangible and significant, showing that he knew what sort of being was standing before him. I hadn't stuck around for that meeting. Nor had I asked any questions but, it seems like Savage did not get out of that meeting in one piece, if what Ultra-humanite told me was true.

Of course I took his words at face value, even going further to sneakily scan his mind as he talked. Unfortunately, the Albino Gorilla had dense mental walls, which wasn't all that surprising given how long he had been alive. But still, my telepathy had steadily been getting better, even though I didn't pay it that much attention. I couldn't break past his walls as that would alert him about the intrusion, so I asked guided questions on what The Light's intentions were. Normally, a thought cannot be separate. Except in times of great distress, when the mind is overtaken by strong emotions. Like fear. When you're afraid of something that's chasing you, the only thought in your head is going to be 'gotta get away! gotta get away!'

However, in normal cases, when you think of something, that thought holds a precedent up until it's relevant. It also forms a chain when stimulated. A chain that leads to procrastination if your attention is not broken. Asking pointed questions, prompted him to instantly think of one thing and then another as he discarded the initial thought to follow up the link, whenever another question was asked.

"What is the Light's planning? Who's in charge now that Savage is indisposed? How many of these vine Monsters are there?"

I touched upon his mind gently and used the slight waver in concentration as he discarded the first thought, grabbing on to the fluctuations of the initial answer he was thinking of and because his attention was actively focused on another thought, getting through the walls was easy. It wasn't part of the lessons the Martians had taught me but was instead inspired by something so mundane it was funny. When you go to the club and the line is crowded, if the bouncers get distracted for a little bit…you can take that chance to slip in. And because it's fucking loud inside and filled with lots of people…no one will even bother to come looking for you. No one will know that you ain't supposed to be there.

It was the same here. The mind is a jumbled mess of half finished thoughts and memories. Only a true telepathic master or with the help of one, can you have an organized mind. Getting inside the Martian's mind undetected would be harder than fighting Omni-man as a base human. That's never happening. See they had a big advantage that normal humans with the exception of human telepaths don't have. Awareness. If the mind of a normal guy was a club, then that club had no bouncers or closed doors, you were free to enter. If a human like Batman was trained to shield his mind from Telepathic influence, then their clubs had bouncers on the door and the club was always on lockdown or hard to push through if you were especially good at it. Now, a master telepath is a different case. There was no club. Just a blank void where they could exert full control of their mental faculties, to welcome you with full force even before you could fully knock on the door to their mind.

Now back to the matter at hand, I combed through Ultra-humanite's mind with more than a little difficulty. Which while expected was also off putting and bothersome. For starters, I wasn't used to this and secondly…his way if thinking was so… analytical. You'd think that would be a good thing due to how straightforward his memories would be but the problem with trying to understand a mind that is very unique from how you yourself think, is the little cues and placement of detail. He had code words for information, all placed in a bundle of scientific observations, that getting the actual details needed indepth analysis.

Luckily after five minutes which in real life translated to barely two, I understood what Lex was trying to do. The bastard was trying to acquire d.n.a sample from Superman for something called project Rebirth that would end up helping Savage regain his health back. That was the extent of Ultra-humanite's knowledge. The vine Monsters were simply distractions for the other League members and independent heroes who would try to intervene and help Superman in his fight. And it seems like The Light had gone all out. The one fighting Superman was an interstellar mercenary. Ultra-humanite didn't know who he was but I had a pretty good idea.

Ending this whole affair just became all the more important. I didn't want to deal with whatever Project Rebirth was. That means, I had to go to Superman's aid. Knowing Lex, there was no way the Kryptonian would win if he was faced up against Lobo. Not because Supes wasn't powerful but because Lobo was a fucking maniac who wouldn't stop. Before I pulled out of the Albino Gorilla's mind, I left a little surprise there.

I blinked my eyes open in the real world, letting go of the now dull faced gorilla. His eyes were unfocused and in my telepathic senses, his neural activity was quiet. That what happens when you detonate the equivalent of a telepathic C4 bomb in someone's mind. You scatter their psyche, leaving them braindead. Let's just say, he more than deserved that. After all, his analytical way of thinking had made him conduct various cruel experiments. Some of them on even kids.

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I turned away, while sighing. This was necessary. And now for the last one. Like a roaring tiger, his energy signature reared its head at me. Black Adam was back. Had been for some time actually. Just content to watch as I dispatched his colleagues.

"Finally, you got rid of the weaklings."

The man said as he flew down. This time he touched the ground and curiously studied me.

"You are a strong child...but make no mistake, you will fall like the rest of them. I will show you no mercy."

He declared, his muscles seeming to expand even more as he tightened his fists.

"You didn't intervene as I killed your friends. That's rather heartless. I thought there was atleast a bit of camaraderie among you villains." I commented levelling Equity at him. The Kahndaq ruler snorted.

"They were weak."

He replied as if that answer was sufficient enough. And in his eyes...I suppose it was. The mega structure that was to my left suddenly blew up with flames, the large vine at the center burning with hellfire. I tightened my palm on Equity, Etrigan was keeping his end of the deal...time for me to do the same. This tile I wasn't going to lose.

His fingers twitched. I channeled the air element through Equity, constructing a wind dome around my form that was super condensed. The lightning bolts from Adam's hands hit the shield and parted to the sides. It had already been established that his lightning was unnatural. There was no way I was redirecting it. My vision was occupied by erratic blue energy...I expanded the dome unevenly. Most of the wind changing forms from a dome to a pillar of rotating wind that shot off towards him. Fire appeared along it's length and burnt everything around a 50 meter radius to my front. But Adam had disappeared to the sky.

Energy sense wasn't working as it should but I could feel the massive power level hurtling down from the sky towards me. I pointed Equity at him, creating weapon constructs made up of wind and fire, that shot off as I slashed out my weapon. Black Adam didn't evade. The first of the constructs hit his body and activated. An explosion of super condensed fire was the result. Throwing him back to the sky.The bombardment continued, the area around his immediate vicinity being covered by wind arrows and spears. I snapped a finger more for show and they all exploded, covering his form under smoke and light. But I knew it wasn't enough to put him down.

I took off to the sky, Equity changing to it's lance form, lightning clad my legs and feet as I skated in the air, enhancing all my parameters while pulling in closer to the scorned champion of the gods. Equity was currently one of the only things in my arsenal that could hurt him. The sword was sharp enough to slice the skin of an angel. I doubt Adam would offer that much resistance. A buildup of power pulsed in my senses, and lightning exploded out of Black Adam as he snarled. Ok, still can't pull in too close to him, it seems. I negated the air shockwaves that resulted from his blow up and quickly, shifted Equity to it's broad anime style form, anticipating his counterattack. The punch that landed on the flat side of the blade saw me pushed back, struggling not to let go of the weapon.

Adam's speed shot through the roof as he punched out at me, each time landing a blow that my sword intercepted pushing me away in a cinematic rendition of Superman vs General Zod from Man of Steel. The only difference was the absence of skyscrapers to demolish at my back. Each blow that connected helped me study his movements, his patterns and his form. It was clear that Black Adam had more experience and skill than me. But skill took a backseat when he was in the heat of the moment.

Were it anyone else, they would probably lose this battle. But I was patient, understanding that I couldn't trump over him in physical parameters. So I studied and learned. Evading when I could and blocking when I couldn't. Little by little, I started pushing back. At first it started by a leaving behind a trail of cutting winds and exploding fireballs, that were only a minor distraction. Then I combined the two elements into a funnel of flaming wind that singed his eyebrows a little. The flame fell below us and started a fire on the vegetation that was unnaturally snuffed out, which made me curious. lastly, a curtain of thunderbolts that I attracted with a combination of using the air, inner fire and energy sense to direct them from the sky, falling onto the path that Adam had to take to reach me.

The lightning bolts slammed onto his form relentlessly, coming out on the other side, with his body smoking faster than I thought he would. His visage showing frustration and anger at how I had been evading him.

"You're finished!"

He pulled his hand back and slammed it onto my chest, breaking past bone and flesh as the arm came out on the other side. His face betrayed a smile of conquest, filled with begrudging respect.

"You fought well. Die with honor."

His words were barely out, when he felt something was wrong.

"So did you."

His face changed as Equity speared him from the back. A moan of pain escaping his mouth as his body trembled and lost strength. The figure before him was an air construct that was humanoid in shape but didn't look at all like a person. So I knew he was wondering what the fuck had happened.

I pulled out Equity from his body and marvelled as the blood covering the blade was... absorbed? I filed that away for later, sending the blade back to my hammerspace. Black Adam floated down along with me, covered in a wind bubble. We landed and he looked at me with a surprised and pained look.

"How?!!"

He coughed out blood, barely managing to ask. For a second, I contemplated telling him. It was the honorable thing to do plus the dude was dying. But...this was DC, death wasn't permanent. Infact, I think she loves taking vacations when it comes to collecting the souls of villains and heroes to help them move on. So fuck no. I wasn't going to give my secrets away to an enemy.

"Simple. Round two goes to me."