Sparks from the clashing of metals continuously appeared in the air as the clanging sound reverberated in the air.

Wonder Woman cleared from Granny Goodness and took a battle stance, heavily panting as she tried catching her breath.

"Still haven't had enough?" Granny Goodness asked as she watched Wonder Woman prepare to attack.

Without saying a word, Wonder Woman darted at Granny with her sword and shield in hand. Granny blocked the attack and kicked Wonder Woman back.

Granny quickly closed in on Wonder Woman before she could regain her balance, then violently punched her stomach.

The strike sent Wonder Woman somersaulting along the ground as she came to an abrupt stop by suddenly crashing into a parked vehicle, damaging the vehicle in the process.

Wonder Woman stumbled to her feet as she spat blood to the side, her lips with the back of her hand. Granny prepared to attack as her mega-rod crackled with red electrical energy.

At high speed, both warriors engaged in a battle dash towards each other. Wonder Woman came to an abrupt stop midway, and dug her sword into the ground.

She sent dirt right at her and went into Granny's attack with her shield in hand. She blocked Granny's weapon with her shield and struck her sword into Granny's solar plexus.

She pulled out her sword as Granny coughed up blood, then followed with a slash attack on her torso.

Granny held on to her bleeding torso as she dropped to her knee.

"Wonder Woman, can you hear me?" Cyborg asked over her coms.

"Loud and clear." She replied as she reached for the coms in her ear.

"How's things over at your end?" Cyborg asked, wondering if he caught her at a bad time.

"Hold on, I'm just about done here." She said before violently using her shield to strike Granny on the head as she finally fell on the puddle of her own blood.

"I could really use some good news right about now." She said to him.

"Okay, good news first. I found Lex and we are currently working on a way to send all of them back to Apokalips."

"Good. What's the bad news?" She inquired.

"I need some time to lock on to Apokalips and ensure the fumigation exercise only has an effect on the intruders." Cyborg explained.

"Don't worry, we will hold out for as long as you need." Flash replied through the coms.

"Let's hope Darkseid doesn't show up before Cyborg is ready." Aquaman said. He was well aware that holding off Darkseid would be a difficult task, especially with the absence of Superman.

"You heard him, everyone, do your best to buy as much time as needed." Wonder Woman ordered, taking charge in the absence of Superman and Batman.

…

Flash found Green Lantern leaning his back up against a wall, he had severally suffered from internal injuries and had his right hand broken during his fight with Kalibak.

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"Hal!!" Flash called out as he zapped to his side.

"Are you okay?" Flash asked as he placed an arm on his shoulder.

"I'll live." Green Lantern replied with a tone of exhaustion.

"You're in pretty bad shape budd, I think you should sit this one out." Flash advised, throwing his left arm over his shoulder as he helped Green Lantern get on his feet.

"Guys, we have incoming!!" Cyborg warned over the coms.

"What is it this time? More unending waves of Parademons?" Flash quipped, following up his inquiry with an exaggerated sigh of exhaustion.

Everyone waited in suspense, waiting for Cyborg to identify who or what might come out of that portal.

"Guys…!!!" He exclaimed as their worst fear at the moment had just been realized.

"Don't tell me…" Green Lantern muttered.

"It's Darkseid, he's here." Cyborg confirmed.

Looking onto the screen, he watched as Darkseid floated over the streets of Metropolis. He used his Omega beams to destroy anything that caught his sight. "He is near the Daily Planet, guys you have to hurry." He warned.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman headed straight in

the direction Cyborg had pointed them, while the worried Flash tried talking some sense into Green Lantern so he wouldn't engage in the fight.

"It might cost you your life if you go to battle in your current state, don't even consider fighting Darkseid in this condition." Flash argued, hoping Green Lantern would adhere to his advice.

But Green Lantern wasn't one to be easily persuaded from a fight. He pulled himself from Flash and tried standing on his own.

He stretched forth his left hand and his ring moved right into the finger of his left hand. "I might not perform at hundred percent in this fight, but I can definitely assist." He firmly said as green constructs materialized into something like an incomplete exoskeleton to provide him with support.

It would help ease the pain he felt from every sudden movement, and assist in helping him move like he would if he had sustained less severe injuries.

"Like I said, I can do this." He said to Flash.

"Okay, but don't overdo it." Flash replied.

"Sure." He responded as his feets slowly left the ground and with him floating in the air.

"Let's move out!!" Flash loudly exclaimed as he dashed towards Darkseid's location. Green Lantern followed suit as he flew at stop speed towards Darkseid, leaving a green and red blur on their trail.

…

[Somewhere at the other side of the city]

Steppenwolf angrily got to his feet, a fierce gaze in his eyes as he stared at Ace in the distance. So far their fight had been completely one sided, and Ace seemed comprehensively invulnerable to his attacks.

"I at least expected more, I was all excited for this warm up fight with you before meeting with your boss in a unique but yet civilized manner, and of course, with quite a few gentle fist taps on his ugly face for ruining Christmas." Ace pressed on as he took a casual look at the axe in his hand.

Steppenwolf clenched his fist, gritting his teeth as Ace seemed to have gotten under his thick skin.

"Unfortunately for me you're a complete let down, and now I just seem like a kid picking on a defenseless old man." Ace continued his heckling words as he tossed Steppenwolf's axe right next to him.

"You aren't even enough to quell my boredom… Now, pick that up and give me a real fight because this time you will be fighting for your survival." On hearing this, Steppenwolf almost lost it. He was panoramically enraged and frustrated by Ace's attacks and incredible durability, but Ace kept on rubbing salt in his fresh wounds.

Ace stumped on Steppenwolf's pride as a warrior and proceeded to insult Darkseid without the slightest hint of respect or fear for his Lord and master.

With furrowed brows, he intensely gazed at Ace with hate filled eyes. Still maintaining eye contact with intense malice, he reached for his electro axe handle as yellow electrical energy swirled and crackled around it.

He abruptly lifted the axe up into the air and struck the ground, directing his attack at Ace. The ground quaked as an energized shock wave struck at Ace, of which the energy simply dispersed upon reaching him.

Steppenwolf quickly zipped at Ace and with his axe in hand, fully prepared to rip through the arrogant vermin. Taking the last step to a huge swing, Ace took a really quick step forward at hyper speed to close the gap between him and Steppenwolf, then touched Steppenwolf's chest with his palm before returning back to his previous position at the same speed.

Suddenly, spiky rock pillars burst out of the ground all around him. They dug their way through Steppenwolf's armor and into his body, bursting out from the other side.

Steppenwolf's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing what Ace had done to him. "Impossible." He struggled to say, panting through each word as blood spilled from all over. Dripped along his hand and to his axe as it dropped to the ground, covered in blood.

Ace looked upon the gruesome scene and literally yawned at it as he stretched out a little. "I noticed you regenerate from wounds and attacks that should have incapacitated you by now. So when I touched you earlier, I did a little tweaking with your blood cells."

Ace burst into a psychotic but yet menacing laughter as he noticed the look on Steppenwolf's face, he seemed to have realized what Ace had done to him.

"What did you do?" He growled, noticing he couldn't move an inch, like he was completely paralyzed. More importantly, he wasn't regenerating.

"I do not care how durable you might be, so long as something flows in your veins or you possess some kind of energy in your cells, you are already at a disadvantage against me." As he spoke, Ace stretched out his hand at Steppenwolf.

At that moment, the realization that the vermin he underrated could actually end his life, dawned on him.

Steppenwolf grit his teeth in anger and fear, fear of losing his almost immortal life before accomplishing his goal. Fear he hadn't felt from anyone else except from his Lord, Darkseid.

Ace reached his hand forward and started to compress the air around him and into an almost visible bubble in his palm.

He compressed the air over and over again and reduced it to the size of a pearl.

As the night breeze swirled around Ace, his crimson red pupils glowed with utter menace as he reeked of strong bloodlust. "If I'm being all honest and truthful here, you were the worst warm up a guy could get."

He released the compressed air bubble at Steppenwolf, it went through his skin and into his body. Ace slowly raised his hand up into the air as he tormented Steppenwolf with momentary suspense before his death.

He snapped his fingers and Steppenwolf immediately burst into different bits as his guts scattered around the area.

Ace looked around the areas he made sure to avoid during his fight with Steppenwolf, he saw the evacuating civilians look unto him with gratitude and little relief as they watched him end Steppenwolf.

"With that over with, I wonder what is taking him so long." Ace muttered as he floated into the sky, using his customized visor to search for the big names in the league.

They were sure to engage in some interesting 1v1s, and would go after Darkseid if he made an appearance, so that was where he needed to be.