Cracks climbed the base of the golden statue in the Hall of Doom, crossed Vandal Savage's eternally smiling face at the top, and burst into a radiating fracture in the center of his forehead.
Flames gushed from the ruptured energy conduits, bathing the golden statue and dark rock walls in flickering orange-red light. Several fissures had already split the floor in the center of the hall. Rubble and metal fragments lay scattered everywhere, occasionally bouncing under the energy shocks before falling back to the ground.
Superman hovered in midair, one hand clamped around Metallo Coben's neck. But a blinding green light flared in the chest of Coben's metal body, casting Superman's face in a sickly pallor and forcing him to release his grip and stagger back.
"You won't last much longer."
Metallo laughed smugly. "Every time this heart beats, another batch of your cells dies."
"The same goes for you."
Superman threw a punch with all his strength, but the Kryptonite's light had weakened him so much that it barely drove Coben back a single step. A green beam suddenly erupted from Metallo's chest. Superman twisted aside, and the beam skimmed his shoulder before shattering a decorative sculpture on the hall's side wall. Broken stone tumbled from above, striking the floor and raising a cloud of gray dust.
On the other side, Wonder Woman had retreated behind a leaning pillar. Several fresh white scratches marked her bracers, and the Lasso of Truth hung from her left arm down to her side. Cheetah crouched atop the pillar, her claws hooked into cracks in the stone, her golden slit pupils glaring in the firelight.
"You look a little slower than the last time I saw you." Cheetah licked the tips of her claws as though savoring something. "The toxin hasn't quite worn