Watchtower

"What did you just say?" asked Superman. He knelt down, holding up the head of his fallen ally, Steel.

"Brainiac has upgraded with Kryptonian technology," said Steel. His voice was weak. He was weak. The alien villain called Brainiac was an old enemy of Superman’s, perhaps one of the greatest threats the Man of Steel had ever faced.

Now, Brainiac had returned. After taking control of North Korea’s defense computers, Brainiac launched one of their weapons. From there, he took control of America’s defense computers and also launched one of their missiles. Superman stopped them both from reaching their targets, but not before Brainiac was able to also take control of the Watchtower’s computer systems.

"That’s not possible. How could Brainiac gain access to Kryptonian technology?" asked Superman.

"Wish I knew," said Steel.

"He said he’s just doing this to see how humanity reacts, to see if he can provoke them to go to war," said Superman.

"He might be right."

"Maybe so, but he’s also insane to try this," said Superman. He stood from Steel’s side and looked around the Watchtower’s monitor womb. From here, the Justice League could monitor any potential crises on the planet and intercept them before they cause any more damage.

"Brainiac, show yourself!" said Superman. "Or are you going to be a coward and hide behind these computers?"

{{If only you knew what was really coming, Superman.}}

"What do you mean?" asked Superman.

{{This is only a test. An experiment. To prepare mankind for the coming trial.}}

"And what trial would that be?"

{{Oh no, not yet I’m afraid. You see, I’m not done observing. Watch.}}

The monitors shifted to the White House press room. The Secretary of Defense was addressing a room full of reporters. Superman personally knew one of the reporters there and he himself was supposed to be there in the guise of Clark Kent.

"Mr. Secretary, why has the United States launched a missile at North Korea? Is this a counter-strike?" The young man who asked the question was very familiar to Superman—Jimmy Olsen. Photographer for the Daily Planet, former anchor for GBS News, and, recently, a newspaper reporter in his own right.

"There seems to have been a malfunction in our own defense systems. In light of this new development, the President is trying to open talks with North Korea. It seems that their attack was indeed unintentional, and adds credence to their claims as such."

Superman couldn’t help but crack a smile. "You see, Brainiac? Your experiment failed. In trying to cause a war, all you’ve done is force two enemies to speak directly to one another."

{{Patience, Superman. This is just phase one of his plan.}}

"Who's plan?" asked Superman.

The door to the monitor womb opened. In the doorway was a man who was about six-foot-four with short black hair. He wore a black suit with a blue streak down the center and his eyes glowed a bright red.

"…Eradicator?" asked Superman.

The Eradicator unleashed a massive blast of his heat vision, engulfing Superman in it. He spoke, but the voice wasn’t the cold voice Superman had come to expect from the Eradicator. Instead, it was another cold, emotionless voice.

Brainiac’s voice.

"I believe you have other concerns at the moment."

Jason Woodrue’s body was in excruciating pain. Still somehow, through it all, he found a way to pull himself together. Slowly, gruesomely. Earlier, he had attempted to twist the Green to his own purposes and the Green was not happy.

Now, over those months, he struggled to pull himself back together. Finally, he had succeeded, been able to emerge once more and give his consciousness a solid form to occupy.

The Floronic Man’s body reformed, out of tree bark, grass, soil and leaves. Once his eyes were formed beneath his newly-generated eyelids, he opened them. What he saw before him was a large hulk of a man with gray skin and dressed in the tatters of a black suit. The man simply stared back at Woodrue, who retreated back in his shock.

"Don’t be alarmed, Mr. Woodrue. Solomon Grundy won’t harm you. Unless I tell him otherwise."

The Floronic Man craned his neck to look past Grundy and see a figure walking towards him with a cane in his hand. Next to him was a larger man. Both were familiar to Woodrue.

"Not you, not again…" muttered the Floronic Man.

"You have not even heard my offer yet, Mr. Woodrue," said the man. His free hand stroked the strange goatee that adorned his chin. He only looked to be in his fifties, yet his eyes seemed as if they had seen far more than a man of that age could have ever seen.

"No more offers," said the Floronic Man. "I’m done. No more Green."

"Mr. Grundy here was also a product of the Green, were you aware?"

"Don’t care, use him then."

"Would that I could, but I need you as well. But this will not be the same as last time. First, we must remove that thorn in our sides. What prevented us from accomplishing our goals before."

A quizzical expression was drawn on the Floronic Man’s face. "What?"

"Superman, obviously. If not for him, our plans would have succeeded with no difficulty. We must remove him from the equation. Mr. Grundy will help us, and I have others lined up as well."

"Not like last time?" asked the Floronic Man.

The man offered his hand as a gesture of goodwill. "You have my word."

The Watchtower

"How?" asked Superman. "What have you done to the Eradicator?"

"It was a stroke of genius on my part, Superman," said Brainiac. "The Eradicator was perhaps the greatest remnant left behind by Krypton. Possessed of all your abilities complete with the total accumulation of all the knowledge, history and technology of that lost world."

Superman flew from his feet and slammed his body into Brainiac’s, throwing the two aliens through the open door of the monitor womb. Brainiac caught Superman’s fist when he attempted to strike and countered with a punch of his own. A kick sent the Man of Steel off of him.

"It was a simple matter of locating the Eradicator and interfacing with his technology. His consciousness is gone, including the irritating human persona."

"In other words…" said Superman, climbing to his feet. "You killed him."

"No, I evolved him," said Brainiac.

"Into yourself."

"Precisely."

Superman cut loose with his own heat vision and Brainiac brought his arms up to defend as the wave of energy as hot as the sun washed over his new body. Once Superman ended the assault, Brainiac was on his knees, his body smoking from the attack.

Washington, D.C.

An aide came up to the Secretary of Defense and whispered something into his ear. The Secretary was visibly upset by the words, his face becoming pale. The aide left and the Secretary cleared his throat before he spoke once more into the microphone.

"I’ve just received word that North Korea does not believe our own claims and now believes we were responsible for the glitch in their system," he said.

The press room was alight with activity. Reporters all at once fired off questions for the Secretary to answer. Jimmy Olsen simply tried to record the events as they transpired. Many of the reporters asked what the President’s next move would be. The Secretary simply held up his hands.

"At this moment, I am not at liberty to disclose any more information," he said. "This press conference is over. Excuse me."

The Secretary moved towards the exit, escorted by Secret Service agents. Reporters still shouted after him, hoping for some answer to their questions. Something far more concrete.

Jimmy however, was already moving towards the lobby. He took out his cell phone and instinctively called one person. In his head, he knew it should have been Perry. Or even Clark. But at that moment, there was only one person on Jimmy’s mind.

"Lana, it’s me," he said. "Look, I think we should talk."

Watchtower

Steel watched in horror as the events on Earth transpired. He witnessed the press conference firsthand and knew there was something he had to do. While Brainiac was busy with Superman, Steel hoped it might give him the chance he needed to succeed with his own plan.

Nobody on Earth knew of Brainiac’s involvement, save for the Green Lantern. And since Superman returned to the Watchtower alone, Steel had naturally assumed the worst about John Stewart. Lately, it just seemed to be the modus operandi for the world’s heroes.

With Brainiac holding sway over the Watchtower’s computers, Steel knew he would not be able to contact anyone with that equipment. But his own armor boasted communication technology. It would take a bit of time, but once the proper modifications were made, Steel was positive he could get a signal out via a satellite transmission.

Immediately, he pulled his helmet off and got to work on the alterations.

Washington, D.C.

{{Jimmy, this isn’t exactly the best time.}} The voice on the other end of the line was that of Lana Lang’s. Childhood friend of Clark Kent, single mother, former First Lady and currently, the woman Jimmy was dating.

"I know it’s not, but I just…" Jimmy sighed. "I just wanted to talk to you, see if you’re okay."

{{We’re fine. But wait, where’s Clark? Isn’t he with you?}}

"He said he had something to take care of," said Jimmy.

Lana grew silent for a minute. Jimmy picked up on the note of silence and automatically assumed the pause meant something far different from what it really was.

"…you still there?" asked Jimmy.

{{Yeah, I’m sorry.}}

"Oh… I guess I should probably let you go, I gotta call Perry anyway."

{{Jimmy wait, it’s not—!}}

Jimmy shut his cell phone and paused. It took him a moment to regain his composure. Lana’s real worry was that Clark was in some kind of danger. She was one of the few people who knew of the mild-mannered reporter’s double life. Something Jimmy was unaware of, and assumed Lana’s pause meant something different.

Once he pulled himself together, Jimmy opened his phone once again and called another number. "Perry, it’s me. Did you watch the press conference?"

Watchtower

"Got it!" said Steel. He slid his helmet back into place and spoke into it. "This is a priority transmission from Steel of the Justice League. We’ve discovered that the missile launches were no fault of anyone on Earth. Rather, they were launched by an alien creature called Brainiac.

"The Justice League respectfully requests that any hostilities which may have arisen as a result of these launches cease immediately. Any attack on either nation involved will be viewed as unprovoked and the Justice League will step in.

"In other words, behave yourselves."

Brainiac grabbed hold of each of Superman’s wrists when the Man of Steel attempted to punch him. The alien generated an intense level of heat with his hands and smiled as Superman’s face contorted in pain.

That was when they could hear Steel’s message through the Watchtower.

"No…" said Brainiac.

"What’s wrong, Brainiac?" asked Superman. He pulled his hands free and blew, his lungs generating breath which was the equivalent of frigid, gale force winds. "Your plan not work so well?"

"You don’t understand, do you?" asked Brainiac. "This is just the first step, Superman. There is more to come. You’ve only seen a small taste of it so far."

"What are you talking about?" asked Superman.

"I believe you’ll just have to wait and see," said Brainiac.

"You said this was all part of his plan—who were you talking about?" asked Superman.

"In time," said Brainiac. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a previous engagement."

"What makes you think you’re leaving?" asked Superman.

"This," said Brainiac. His body seemed to melt into a black liquid, which quickly flowed through the floor. Superman tried to rush forward, but Brainiac simply slipped through his fingers—literally.

The Last Son of Krypton stood and scanned the floor with his x-ray vision. He tried to find some trace of Brainiac, but whatever the villain transformed into had allowed him to slip through extremely easily.

There was a bigger concern at the moment, however. And that was the words Brainiac spoke. How there was someone else behind this. Someone who Brainiac was following.

The wall to Lex Luthor’s home blew open suddenly. The massive form of Solomon Grundy stepped aside and allowed his new master to walk in. The man moved about with a cane, but it appeared to be more for show. Behind them was the Floronic Man.

Lex Luthor sat in a comfortable chair before a roaring fire. A book was held in one hand with a glass of brandy in the other. He seemed unimpressed by the dramatic entrance. Instead, he just sipped his brandy.

"Haven’t you ever heard of a front door?" he asked. "Or is that too ordinary for the great Ra’s al Ghul?"

"We don’t have time for games, Luthor," said Ra’s al Ghul.

"I’m not playing any," said Luthor. He motioned to the glass. "Brandy?"

"No thank you," said Ra’s al Ghul. "We’re simply here for the crystal."

Luthor went back to his book. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Yes you do," said Ra’s al Ghul. "The crystal you stole from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude."

Luthor would not look up from his reading. "And just how would you know if I stole anything from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude? From the sound of it, I imagine it’s very fortress-like. Which would make it difficult for a man in my current situation to break in."

"We know about it because I know about it."

Luthor set his glass down and looked about the room for the source of this new cold, emotionless voice. He saw nothing and instead turned back to Ra’s al Ghul. "Who else is here?"

Behind Luthor, a black ooze dripped from the chimney, extinguishing the fire. It flowed out of the fireplace and onto the rug, slowly rising and giving form. When it took shape, Brainiac stood there, still using the Eradicator as a host body. But this time, the skin was green, the head bald, and the three familiar diodes were present on the alien’s head.

"I see you’ve adopted a new look, Brainiac," said Luthor.

"I can trace Kryptonian technology," said Brainiac. "I know you have one of the crystals. And the one you stole will be particularly beneficial."

"Just what did you have in mind?" asked Luthor.

"What else?" asked Brainiac. "The destruction of Superman."

"What do you say, Luthor?" asked Ra’s al Ghul. "Will you stand by our side?"

Luthor closed the book and stepped over to the mantle. He opened a small, jewel-studded and lead-lined box. Inside was the crystal he stole. He held it between his fingers and lifted it in the air for all to see.

"Gentlemen," he began. "I believe we can cut a deal."

NEXT: Superman Revenge Squad