Feeling her mission was accomplished, Harley hopped back on the motorcycle and vroomed away, spraying Amazo with a burst from her submachine gun as she left.
Amazo's attention was completely captured. It found the silly string fascinating, but unfortunately, the sophisticated technology that created it was beyond its capabilities. Its simulation abilities focused on superpowers—silly string? Sorry, that wasn't in the original design specifications...
Ignoring Diana, it stood still for two seconds. Realizing it couldn't simulate this item, Amazo's fuzzy emerging consciousness felt something like... desire? It took off on those two big legs to give chase. What would it do after catching up? Even it didn't know.
After two steps, it discovered a problem. Amazo could only use one "person's" abilities at a time, even if that "person" had multiple powers to simulate.
Currently running the blue Lantern Mogo simulation program—as a planetary consciousness, Mogo had no legs. Amazo's AI rejected the revolution/rotation method (commonly known as "rolling") and chose to use its own body's legs to chase Harley.
Naturally, it couldn't catch up. It had to switch modes again. Amazo stopped for a second, data flashing through its eyes, then crouched suddenly and launched itself like a cannonball. Left arm forward, right arm bent—minus the cape, this was a textbook Superman flying form.
"Whoa! You're so enthusiastic!" Harley laughed with pure delight, twisting the throttle to maximum. But the distance kept shrinking fast.
A bolt of yellow lightning streaked past as a familiar figure—Flash—scooped her up in a princess carry and took off running.
Amazo stopped in place for two seconds, then yellow lightning crackled around its body as it pursued with a speed matching Barry's.
Barry glanced back and nearly face-planted. This thing has the Speed Force too?! But something felt... off about it.
Not daring to get careless and remembering Batman's instructions to lead it as far away as possible, Barry wrapped Harley in the Speed Force, bringing her into a relatively time-frozen world while maintaining her ability to move during his run. After all, he still needed this lunatic to taunt Amazo—Barry saw his role as basically "a delivery guy."
"Little Flash, faster! Speed it up, haha!" Harley looked around at the yellow lightning like she'd found a fun new toy. She kept tossing random junk behind them while slapping Barry's shoulder to make him go faster.
Flash was deeply embarrassed. When Batman gave him this mission, it seemed simple enough. Now? This was obviously a trap!
The enemy could actually simulate his own powers—how was "awesome" even adequate to describe that?
Holding Harley prevented him from swinging his arms properly, dropping his speed by at least twenty percent. Only the fact that the enemy's Speed Force seemed somewhat off kept him from being caught.
Also, the person in his arms was way too restless! Those bare legs right in front of his eyes, swinging back and forth. Eventually, having thrown all her odds and ends, she even tossed her shoes.
Pale feet and firm, shapely thighs right there swaying before him—hot-blooded young Barry Allen felt certain... parts... heating up.
He could swear on all the gods that the vixen in his arms was distracting at least a third of his attention!
After lying down for a while, Harley got bored. Mouth twisted, brow furrowed, she looked for something entertaining.
Her eyes landed on Barry's serious face, and a demonic smile crept across her lips.
"I...! What are you doing?!" Barry was carrying her at a dead sprint when suddenly her weight shifted. She'd gone upside down, head pointing down, legs pointing up—performing a perfect handstand in his palms.
As a former elite gymnast one step away from the Olympics, Harley's flexibility and balance far exceeded normal humans. But Barry didn't have time to appreciate that, because he could see things that defied description.
Amanda Waller didn't provide prisoners with underwear, and the completely unhinged Harley lacked that awareness. With that one handstand, her already loose tank top slid right up to her neck...
Time seemed to freeze...
"What are you looking at?!" Harley's face emerged from under the shirt to demand sternly. Just as Barry's gaze became utterly unfocused, she switched to a smile.
Her legs clamped around Barry's neck, and with a strong core twist upward, she ended up riding on his face.
"I can't see the road!" Barry thought fast—he wouldn't admit his face had just contacted indescribable regions. He quickly grabbed for an excuse.
"Oh." Harley obediently braced on his shoulders and spun 180 degrees, now riding on Barry's neck properly.
Though Harley's two feet still dangled before his eyes, it was better than her chaotic interference. With Amazo rapidly closing in and his hands finally free, Barry could at least run in proper form now.
"Little Flash, run!"
"Big dummy, catch me if you can!"
Diana watched the three of them run off in an increasingly bizarre configuration, that distinctive cackle still carrying on the wind. She wasted no more time, twin swords sweeping horizontally to cut down approaching parademons. She had to close this rear Boom Tube.
Seeing Amazo lured away, Maxwell Lord foresaw his own failure. But knowing he couldn't escape, he remained firmly seated in the specially-made chair that amplified his mind control.
"Goddess? You're no gods at all! Everything—all of this—was brought here by YOU! You think I don't know? That thing in the sky brought..." Unfortunately, before he could finish his complaint or express his grand ambitions, Diana grabbed his jaw and the top of his head. With a twist of both arms—CRACK—she snapped his neck.
His vaunted mental control, skilled combat techniques, and deep cunning were all bubbles before absolute strength.
Diana spat on the corpse. Talking about my love right in front of me—thought your neck was so tough, did you? She didn't even spare a glance at the wide-eyed corpse, smashing the Mother Box with her sword before rushing to the sky battlefield.
Thea's situation was definitely not ideal, though she wasn't completely defenseless either.
After grabbing Darkseid's soul twice more, he'd gotten smart. Massive killing divine power now surrounded his body. This type of divine power heavily influenced one's nature—Thea absorbed a handful of it and felt sick all over, taking two full breaths to recover.
"Are you alright?" Like a firefighter, Diana returned to her love's side and pulled out her shield again, channeling guardian divine power into it. The crack-covered shield renewed its radiance.
"Ha! Of course I'm fine. You should ask our Dark Majesty if he's alright!" Miss Thea's confidence was sky-high. Calling it 50-50 would be generous—Darkseid's advantage just wasn't that obvious.
With Thea spending divine power without restraint, Darkseid fought very passively. He didn't know Thea had a human-shaped divine power source in Shazam, able to endlessly absorb power from Zeus's main battery. He didn't want to spend too much divine power on Earth—after all, Highfather was his eternal enemy. Thea merely warranted serious attention at most.