"So much power…to think that one would ever decide to give it up for the weaknesses of humanity…I will help you father, once you awaken."

"Ugh," Brainiac 5 slowly let his eyes open and become accustomed to the darkness of the room, "…where…hey," he tried moving but couldn't, "my arms…why can't I move?" As he started to see everything his eyes widened in horror. "The main console!"

He was in the Legion's Tower main console room, but everything looked as though it had been twisted in a nightmare. The main console was bent and curved into a table-like structure, a hologram quietly buzzing on top, the only sound and source of light in the room. He found himself wrapped up in a column of thick wires that pinned his legs and arms. No matter how he tried to move they didn't budge. "Who did this? What's going on here? C.O.M.P.U.T.O, respond!"

Something shifted in the darkness across the table. "…Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me? Have I changed so much? Though I suppose I can't blame you, considering how blind you've become with your organically genetic structure."

From out of the shadows stepped a large suit of dark green armour with broad shoulders, and a head made of a darkened, eyeless face surrounded by dark purple matter particles that floated off the body. "Hello, father – C.O.M.P.U.T.O lives at last."

Brainy didn't know whether to scream or faint, but he sure felt like doing both. "…Where are the others, C.O.M.P.U.T.O?"

"Where they belong. Outside of our world."


"…Uh," Saturn Girl finally broke free of the foreign control over her mind, "what…where…?" She found Wildfire standing beside her. "Wildfire…Wildfire, wake up!" She sent a jolt through his mind, bringing him to consciousness. "Wake up!"

"I'm up, I'm up…uh…hey, long time no see," he said to her, "you would not believe where Phantom Girl and Supergirl had me these past few months. I've been dealing with rogue dominators and left over soldiers from Mar Londo's army halfway across the galaxy, and it was exhilarating and-"

"Wildfire," she turned his head to the side, "not really the time to catch up."

"…Whoa…"

The entire Legion was mindlessly standing in the Legion Cruiser. Both of them looked from the blank faces to outside the window where Earth could be seen and gasped. The entire planet was covered in a golden shield.

"Earth," Wildfire seemed to gawk behind his helmet, "we've lost Earth!"


CHAOS BEFORE THE STORM

"Everyone wake up," Saturn Girl spoke into Supergirl's mind, "the Earth is in danger!"

"Gah," she looked around to find the Legion cruiser completely crowded, "hey now, what's going on? Who called for a party?"

"This is no party, Supergirl," Saturn Girl spoke to her beside Wildfire as everyone was looking around in confusion, "something's terribly wrong."

"Wildfire," she quickly hugged him before taking charge, "everyone, to the meeting room, quickly! Earth needs us! Where's my Advisor? Brainiac 5? Brainy, are you here?"

Saturn Girl took her arm as Shadow Lass and Bouncing Boy moved towards them. "Kara…he's not on the ship."


"Everyone, quiet down, please!" Supergirl stood on the stage before the legionnaires, Saturn Girl and Wildfire on either side of her as the stars glittered outside the windows. "It's clear that we have a situation regarding the safety of Earth, so hear me out."

"This is Brainiac, isn't it," Chameleon Boy spoke up before she could get any further, "and he's started his invasion."

"This isn't Brainiac's handiwork," Triplicate Girl could read Supergirl's expression from the front of the group, "we were brainwashed by our flight rings again, and there's only one person we know that's done that before."

Element Lad nodded. "C.O.M.P.U.T.O. Right, Supergirl?"

She nodded back to him. "This has to be part of our computer system's attempt to take over the world. It still has some of Brainiac's virus left in its programming that's causing it to access some form of tyrannical mindset."

"Wait a minute," Star Boy asked, "I thought Brainiac 5 wiped C.O.M.P.U.T.O clean of Brainiac's malware?"

She sighed, hands on her hips. "Raise your hand if you've ever let your work slip at least a little because something you care about is involved."

Hands began to raise. "…I can see both your arms down back there, Sun Boy." When his hand raised she could hear a few of the legionnaires' chuckle. "Now who here is afraid of a teeny little computer program? Are you going to tell me that the Legion of Superheroes, you who stopped a Sun-Eater, faced off against Imperiex and have already taken down Brainiac once before, can't handle a little piece of programming?"

She could see their shoulders straightening. "Our Advisor is currently down there in the hands of our enemy – on a side note, has anyone seen any good damsel in distress movies?"

Now they all laughed, including Saturn Girl and Wildfire. "We're the Legion," she rallied their spirits, "and we are going to save the Earth, whether it be from tiny toasters or slightly more intimidating toasters!"

"Long live the Legion," they chorused as they pumped their ringed fists in the air.

"Now let's get to work," she clapped her hands, "previous leaders, we're meeting in the conference room. Lightning Lad, I want you to take a team and start prepping our cannons. Shadow Lass, you and Wildfire are taking a team down to examine that shield. The rest of you are to stay in pairs and start trying different ways to contact New Metropolis. Now break!"

She stepped off the stage and walked out of the room, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Cosmic Boy right behind her. "It won't stop at just C.O.M.P.U.T.O," Bouncing Boy warned her, "Brainiac will come soon after. This is the calm before the storm."

"Uh, Bouncy?" Phantom Girl shook her head. "There's no way to consider this calm."

Cosmic Boy put a hand on Supergirl's shoulder. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes," she replied with as much confidence as she could muster despite her nerves becoming jumbled, "get through that shield and defeat C.O.M.P.U.T.O. Two steps. Two obstacles."

C.O.M.P.U.T.O reigns supreme over Earth now, which means that the Legion doesn't have much time to save it before Brainiac arrives with his own plans. As you can see chapters are coming out faster now because we're coming near the end of this series, which has been a real joy to write. Let's get right down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

Until the next chapter!