Superman, after knocking Black Adam away, didn't immediately pursue him. Instead, he scanned his surroundings. The sea was swarming with infected people brought by Black Adam.
While he could certainly fight Black Adam alone until reinforcements arrived, by the time they won, the survivors nearby would likely be infected. Clearing a safe zone for them was the priority.
"Clark, you and Supergirl go to shore to protect the survivors. Jonathan, you're with me!"
A father and son's bond is strong, and Jonathan understood Superman's thoughts without a word. As Clark, Supergirl, and others rushed to the shore to deal with a smaller group of infected, Superman and Jonathan stood together, taking over the task from Atom Smasher to hold off the massive army of infected swarming the sea.
"Let's go!"
Superman and Jonathan sped across the water, their super breaths creating a powerful hurricane that whipped up massive waves. The endless horde of infected were helpless against such godlike power, swept away by the waves and sent flying into the depths of the ocean.
Meanwhile, on the shore, Clark was also in action. Despite his reservations about Superman's approach, he found himself unable to kill the infected. Each of his attacks was just enough to break their limbs, leaving them alive.
Suddenly, a villain hidden among the infected struck. Black Manta, an enemy of Aquaman, had been infected. He used a portal to appear and fired a high-temperature beam from his helmet, which pierced Damian's future girlfriend, Batgirl Stephanie.
"Stephanie!"
Damian's eyes went red with fury. The searing beam had torn Stephanie in half, leaving her no chance of survival. He charged at Black Manta, and Supergirl and Wonder Girl joined him. Though not as seasoned as their predecessors, their combined effort was enough to take down Black Manta.
But Clark saw an even worse situation unfold. Black Manta's sneak attack hadn't just hit Stephanie; it had also detonated a cruise ship in the distance that was carrying survivors.
"Hold them off for now, I'm going to save people!" Clark yelled as he flew towards the burning cruise ship. He crashed into the cargo hold, finding a group of terrified civilians huddling in the flames.
"Don't worry, I'm here to save you," Clark said. Without waiting for them to question his age, he took a deep breath and unleashed a super breath—weaker than his father's or Jonathan's, but still powerful enough to instantly extinguish the flames.
He then found a rope, tied the survivors to himself, and pulled them out through the hole he'd made, transporting them to the roof of a nearby building.
"I'll come back for you when this is over. Please wait here," Clark told them before flying back to the burning cruise ship. This time, as he scanned the ship with his x-ray vision, he found no survivors. Instead, he saw two figures moving on the deck.
"A hero?" he wondered.
Only a superhero could walk through fire. Clark flew closer, intending to tell the person there were no survivors. As he got nearer, he recognized the green-skinned figure as the Martian Manhunter.
Clark didn't know the full extent of Martian Manhunter's powers, but he knew the hero had fought alongside Superman and Wonder Woman in Kahndaq, so he assumed he was formidable.
"Martian Manhunter, there are no survivors here. We need to leave. We're needed elsewhere."
"Is that so? That's good to hear," the Martian Manhunter replied. Unlike Clark, he had been responsible for protecting the survivors on this ship and had already used his powers to get them to safety the moment the fire started. This was why Clark had only found a small group in the cargo hold.
What Clark didn't know was that Martian Manhunter's powers were vast. He had physical strength on par with Superman and Wonder Woman, along with invisibility, shape-shifting, and phasing. He was also Earth's most powerful telepath.
However, he had a single, crippling weakness: pyrophobia. After watching his wife and daughter burn to death, he was terrified of fire. When exposed to flames, his fear would cause him to lose control of his powers, potentially leading to spontaneous combustion. Though fire couldn't physically hurt him, his own fear could kill him.
To save the survivors, he had suppressed his terror, but he was at his limit. His senses were dulled, and his superpowers were failing.
"Someone else is here?" the Martian Manhunter said. Clark's words made him sense another living person with his telepathy, but the mind he felt gave him a chilling premonition.
The two heroes looked into the flames together, and a dark figure slowly emerged.
"Black Adam!" they shouted in unison. Martian Manhunter tried to use his powers to defend himself, but he was a moment too slow. Black Adam, knowing his weakness, was a step ahead. He cut Martian Manhunter's abdomen with a knife, a minor wound for the hero, but enough for the Anti-Life Equation to take hold.
With his last ounce of control, Martian Manhunter knocked Black Adam away, but then he clutched his head and screamed.
"Martian Manhunter… what happened?" Clark asked, disbelief in his voice. He didn't know about the Martian Manhunter's weakness, and to him, one of the world's greatest heroes had been infected so easily.
The response he got was not the Martian Manhunter's usual gentle voice, but a monstrous attack.