187 CHAPTER 184

Beneath the night sky, the city lay in ruins, smoke billowing from collapsed buildings as the young heroes faced the relentless onslaught of Darkseid's Parademons. Amidst the chaos, the heroes fought valiantly to both defeat the invaders and ensure the safety of the stranded citizens.

As Superboy continued his laser onslaught, Nightwing coordinated the team's efforts. "Focus on evacuating civilians! We need to get them to safety!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the clamor of battle.

Beast Boy swung through the air as a spider monkey, swiftly rescuing citizens and depositing them to designated safe zones. "Clear the area, people! We've got this!" he yelled, his green eyes scanning for any signs of danger.

Kid Flash zipped around the battlefield with lightning speed, creating a protective barrier around the civilians. "Don't worry, folks! We're the fastest evacuation team in town!" he quipped, managing to lighten the mood amidst the chaos.

"Cyborg, how about an update?" NightWing asked over the coms. 

"Wait… What!!!"

They exclaimed in unison upon hearing the update concerning Ace and Steppenwolf. Cyborg made it clear that he was the only reason Hawk Man was able to get away with his life, he also made mention of how Ace was completely dominating Steppenwolf who seemed to be the commanding officer of the invading troup. 

"Any ideas why that psycho is helping us?" Superboy asked as he shot laser beams from his eyes, dismembering every parademon in his sight. He superspeed right through them as he violently introduced his fist to their heads and insides. 

"I wouldn't waste my breath on that if I were you. Who knows what that nut job is thinking anyway?" NightWing replied before leaping into the air and hurling a number of exploding discs at the parademons. 

"It's a Christmas miracle, maybe he's not a complete nut job after all." Beast Boy chipped with his positive mindset before turning into a green rhino and running through the parademons on ground level. 

"After what he did to us, I don't care what he does, he will always be an enemy to us heroes." Kid Flash said as he zapped around, dismembering the limbs of every parademon in his path. 

While everyone shared their view on the matter, Raven remained stoic. her dark energy swirled around her as she unleashed her powers on the parademons.

As if the situation wasn't awkward enough, a stray thought crossed her mind. Some flashes of her hot and sneaky sex adventures her and Tom have been up to for quite some time now. 

Raven blushed a little as her cheeks slowly turned red and she nervously slapped on them to regain herself. "Are you alright?" Beast Boy inquisitively asked Raven, turning to her just after punching a parademon as a gorilla. 

"Oh… Um, of course… I'm okay." She said with a nervous stutter, contemplating the nature of her secret relationship with Tom, it seemed more like forbidding love to her.

She was an extremely powerful hero with literal demons in her closet, but the boy she was currently dating and probably in love with even though she hadn't admitted it to herself, was a huge menace to the peace of society. 

However, her focus snapped back as she swiftly dispatched another parademon attempting to harm civilians.

While the young heroes battled against the parademons, the available League members engaged Darkseid's elite soldiers in a distant part of the city. The sounds of powerful clashes and explosions echoed through the air as the two groups clashed in an epic confrontation.

Back on the ground, Artemis, wielding her bow with precision, covered the team's rear. "We can't let up! Keep pushing them back!" she shouted, taking down Parademons with each well-aimed arrow.

Aqualad, with his hydrokinetic abilities, created barriers to shield citizens and teammates alike. "Hold the line! We can't afford to let them advance any further!" he commanded, the water swirling around him in a protective dance.

Miss Martian was helping with the evacuation of the civilians when four parademons chased her tail, ready to kill anyone in sight. The escaping civilians screamed out in fear of the gruesome horror they were about to experience if she wasn't able to fend them off.

The parademons speedily descended to ground level forcing the civilians to either take cover or dive on the ground in an attempt to evade the parademons. 

One of them was about grabbing on to a terrified civilian who happened to kick rubble and fell to the ground during his run. 

"Help!!!" 

He yelled as he closed his eyes, hoping for a last minute miracle. Suddenly the Parademon was punched into another as hot lasers drilled through the skull of the other.

Supergirl had arrived at the scene on time, she darted towards the last one and gave a mighty uppercut on its chin, sending the parademon sky high. 

She flew after it, grabbing it by the leg as she smashed it against another one.

Miss Martian had telepathically connected with Kara and asked her for her help, that was why she focused more on evacuating the civilians than fighting the Parademons which was after them. 

… 

[Meanwhile] 

Back in the secret lab beneath LexCorp, Lex Luthor had his mind wrapped around how to send the invaders back to their world. 

"Just because I didn't get the outcome I wanted, doesn't mean I could sit back and watch as humanity perishes due to a mistake of mine ." Lex said to Mercy as he ran more analysis on the Mother Box. 

He still had mixed emotions from the failure of his initial goal, but needed to move past that disappointment like a big boy and clean up his own mess. 

As he typed on the touchscreen keyboard, he paid attention to the computer screen ahead while Mercy kept him updated on the happenings at the surface. 

He suddenly paused as he raised his hands up into the air, in surrender. The sound of a charged up laser gun could be heard from behind. "Start talking… Tell me everything you did to end up screwing the world so badly." Cyborg commanded, having both Lex and his secretary on gun points. 

… 

*CRASH!!!*

The ground shook with an unappealing quake of destruction, reverberating throughout the city as the vibrations could even be felt on building structures. Dust clouds filled the night air as buildings crumbled to the ground. 

Steppenwolf was being tossed around like a rag doll, effortlessly getting his extraterrestrial ass literally handed over to him as Ace used him to level certain parts of the city. 

With heavy breaths he struggled to crawl out of the rubble from the building which had collapsed on him.  

Looking up, Steppenwolf saw Ace's crimson red pupils glowing in the dark as it give a charismatic yet completely superior aura to his presence. The cloud blocking the moonlight amidst the smoke, suddenly gave way. 

The moonlight cast Ace's shadow over Steppenwolf who was pissed beyond measure but appeared to be in a battered state and was severely wounded from Ace's attacks. 

Ace had turned Steppenwolf into a punching back, beating, smacking and tossing him around. 

Steppenwolf regained his footing, he grabbed hold of his axe and charged at Ace. Ace accelerated towards him and gave Steppenwolf a violent uppercut, sending him up as he somersaulted along the walls of a skyscraper. 

As Steppenwolf somersaulted into the open air at the top of the building, Ace suddenly appeared above him like he had teleported to that exact position. 

He grabbed Steppenwolf by the face and aggressively smashed him through the rooftop of the skyscraper, driving him through each floor until he bashed his head against the ground floor. 

Ace's destructive prowess caused shockwaves to reverberate through the entire building's structure. The building imploded, starting from the roof as it collapsed with Ace and Steppenwolf right at it's center.

Steppenwolf tried making a run for it but Ace suddenly appeared right in front of him. Ace quickly zapped off the ground and tightly grabbed Steppenwolf by the neck, lifting him off the floor. "Up we go, just as we came." He told Steppenwolf. 

He immediately used Steppenwolf's bioelectricity to temporarily cut off his motor skills, temporarily paralyzing him. The building's structure was about to crush them at the last minute when he suddenly kicked the air underneath his feet, pushing Steppenwolf head upward as he continuously bashed his face upon layers of both rod and concrete. 

They finally made way into the open air but Ace wasn't finished with Steppenwolf who was finally able to move again. 

He threw steppenwolf higher into the night sky when he suddenly appeared right above him as he kicked Steppenwolf like a soccer ball, with a force so great that it sent Steppenwolf through three buildings. A hospital, a company building, and a fancy coffee shop. 

"Come on now, is that the best one of Darkseid's top underlings can do?" Ace taunted with a bored tone as he nonchalantly played with Steppenwolf's electro axe in his left hand.