Alexander had managed to dodge Stardust's attacks for the most part, but the spray of rocks she'd sent flying with her assault managed to take him by surprise. Several smaller rocks managed to hit him with sufficient force to send him falling back down to the ground, hard.

Though shaken, he managed to pull himself back up relatively quickly. Even so, this left him wide open for Stardust to land a killing blow.

But that also meant that she'd probably be focused enough on him that the others would be able to finish the job.

"Excellent work, lad," he called over to Superboy. "Someone, get on that machine and use it, we don't have much time!"