Hi guys! It's been a while since a new story came out, and I'm sorry about that. School and work were piling on, so I placed all my focus into those two. However, my semester's over, and I'm on break from work, so I have free time to read and write once more (until I get a summer job). So, let's move on!

Warning: I took liberty with some of Brainy's anatomy. I apologize ahead of time if this annoys you.


When Brainy felt his systems come online, he was met with a dimly lit factory; he really didn't expect anything less, except he was annoyed to find that his systems were still laggy. Whatever that device did to him was still in effect; Brainy's anti-tech would have to work harder to remove the effects. In the meantime, he had his optics roam over the area, spotting his captors sitting not too far away from where he was... tied up.

Of course, Brainy thought bitterly, upset to find that not only was he tied up, he couldn't move his arms or activate his tools. For the time being, he was trapped.

Anyways, his captors were sat across from each other, in plastic chairs, facing Brainy sideways. They hadn't noticed that their captive was awake, which was fine for Brainy. He wanted to see if the man who hired them would show up; he already had an idea on who it was, but he wanted to test his theory.

"When did he say he'd get here?" Copperhead asked his companion.

"He didn't," Shade responded, leaning back in the plastic chair.

"So there's a chance we may be here until late at night?" Copperhead complained. "Man this reeks. The money better be good."

"It's Luthor, of course the money will be good," Shade replied, annoyance clearly laced in his words.

Luthor. So Brainy's theory was correct. Of course there would have been few men alive on Earth who'd pay some goons to go and do the dirty work for them, let alone having technology that could damage his inner circutry. And kidnapping -in Luthor's view- advanced technology was right up Luthor's alley. Now there was only the matter of getting to the Team and Justice League before Luthor could further mess with his internal systems.

"Well, well, looks like our guest is awake," Copperhead announced, getting up from his chair so he could get into Brainy's field of vision. "I gotta admit I'm impressed. Our investor said you'd be out like a light for at least six hours. It's only been one and a half. You're definitely more advanced than he thought."

I'm an alien tech from the 31st century, Brainy thought snarkily in his mind. How advanced do you think I am?

On the outside, however, Brainy didn't say a word. He merely glared at his captor. He didn't want to give anything away, especially not something that could be used against him.

"Oh now he doesn't want to talk," Copperhead said sarcastically.

"Perhaps that chip fried his vocals," Shade offered lazily. "I honestly don't care. He may not be the Brainiac, but he's still in that family line; I'd like any of his systems to be fried."

"Still, I can't believe a Brainiac would try and make himself look organic. I mean look at this kids hair. It's all shaggy and messy," Copperhead criticized.

Brainy's glare leveled at the criticism. He was captured by two thieves and his hair is what they're talking about? He would have been better off with Catwoman or Cheetah or something.

"I, quite frankly, don't care about his hair," Shade replied to his comrade. "I just want to get my money and hand him over. The farther away I am from him the better."

"I told you he's just a defect model," Copperhead said to his fellow thief in arms. "If this had been the real Brainiac, we'd be toast."

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm fighting off that foggy feeling still in my circuitry, you would be, Brainy thought in annoyance.

Copperhead sighed and fell back into his crappy chair.

"Well here I thought we'd have a little more excitement, but I guess not," the snake-themed villain lamented. "And I forgot to grab some cards."

Shade and Brainy rolled their eyes at the same time.


"How much longer is this going to take?" Superboy demanded impatiently.

"We're moving as quick as possible kid," Green Arrow replied, watching Batman type furiously on the League's super-computer. "We're using advanced tech."

"And you don't know how they work?" Superboy demanded from Superman, not looking worried or nervous like he normally was around his original.

Superman glared at his clone, not liking the tone the younger metahuman was using.

"I know how they work. I just don't know how to use them in this situation," Superman answered.

"Both of you, shut up," Batman growled as he worked on his project.

Superman and Superboy glared at the caped crusader, but obeyed his command and zipped their lips. Robin was watching over his mentor working on reverse engineering the Legionnaire com-link. He was quite impressed by the technology seen inside of it, and he was also jealous of all the techy-goodness the future had to offer.

Perhaps after all this I can talk Brainy into letting me see what the 31st century's like, Robin thought. I bet they're all riding around on hoverboards.

Batman typed a little bit more before pressing the enter key, and the assembled super heroes watched as a map appeared with a red dot appearing as well, blinking periodically.

"Is that it?" Superboy questioned.

"It is," Batman responded. "The signal from Brainiac 5's Legion Flight Ring is coming from one of Metropolis' abandoned warehouses at the south pier."

Superboy was already heading for the door just as Batman finished revealing the location up. Robin was quick to follow after him, even with his injuries. Green Arrow shouldered his quiver and bow and trailed after the kids, leaving the two iconic superheroes at the computer screen.

"He's impatient, isn't he?" Superman questioned, obviously referring to Superboy's attitude.

"Yeah, he is. Reminds me of someone I know," Batman replied, not-so-subtly hinting at Superman and Superboy's obvious similarities.

Superman glared at the Dark Knight, but followed after. He needed to set aside his unease with the clone and focus on the mission. Brainy needed his help, and there was no reason Superman wouldn't be there for his friend; not even for personal issues.


As soon as John Stewart (Batman calling on John to give them assistance since four of them couldn't fly) released his hold on Superboy, Robin, and Green Arrow, the two Young Justice members were rushing at the warehouse. Batman was not at all shocked by their actions, but he was still annoyed that they went with it. John was ready to stop the teenagers, but Batman stopped him.

"Are you nuts?" Green Arrow questioned Batman, slightly surprised that Batman would let the two Young Justice members go on their own.

"We're not letting them go by themselves, but if we were to stop them, they would cause commotion, and we can't blow our cover," Batman reasoned. "Not yet."


Robin and Superboy didn't comment on the Justice Leagues inaction. They were simply happy that they were able to go ahead with their own plans. They moved silently and in the shadows, not going for the all-out attack. Superboy really wanted to go in fists flying, but Robin had talked him out of it, which was no small feat.

Moving along the raptors, the two Young Justice members didn't hear a thing, which worried them a little. Was this the wrong warehouse? Was it the wrong pier? Did something happen to Brainy? They finally found an opening that would allow them to see into it, and they found Shade, Copperhead, and Brainy. Robin was already calculating for a way to get Brainy without getting trapped by Shade's power, when there was a beeping sound in the warehouse.

Shade pulled out a small device from his pocket, saying to Copperhead that it was the boss, and then swiped the screen.

"I'm sorry I can't meet you both in person, but I have other things to attend to," the voice on the other side said with a voice modulator, scrambling his voice and making him unidentifiable. "I trust that you two have the subject?"

"Right here," Shade responded, showing the screen to Brainy so that their boss could see their handy-work.

"Excellent work. The money will be transferred into your accounts shortly," the boss replied, sounding pleased. "Now for phase two of my plan. I'm sending you a chip. Place it in the Brainiac, and I will do the rest."

The boss didn't wait to see them complete the job. A chip appeared from the device, which was taken by Shade. Brainy struggled to get out of his restraints, but whatever Shade had done to him prior to being knocked out was still messing with his systems, making it impossible for him to make his getaway. Robin and Superboy jumped from their hiding place, intending to keep Shade from implanting the thing in Brainy. They weren't sure what it was, but they guessed that it wasn't well, and would do harm to their friend. Copperhead and Shade heard their arrival.

"You two just keep looking for trouble, don't you?" Copperhead questioned, smirking at the young heroes. "You take care of bot boy, I'll take care of these two."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Superboy growled, running at Copperhead.

Shade sighed, but with Copperhead distracting the two, he took it as his cue to follow out with the plan. Robin was already making a b-line for him, so he'd have to act fast. He ran over to the struggling android, and after tapping his chest, he found the perfect place to store the little chip. Before Robin had the chance to stop the villain, Shade placed the chip inside the chest compartment and shut it. Brainy immediately stopped struggling and went limp, scaring Robin who only sped up faster.

Shade smirked at his victory, and raised his arm to swipe at Robin. Before the end of stick could hit the approaching Boy Wonder, a green light shot out and pulled the cane out of his hand. Looking up, Shade found John Stewart descending towards them. Robin took the opportunity to knee Shade in the gut while the villain was distracted by John's arrival.

Superboy was busying taking on Copperhead, avoiding getting bit by his poisonous fangs. Superboy was going in for another punch, but was stopped when he watched Copperhead be lifted off the ground. He snarled a little under his breath, watching Superman raise the villain up into the air.

"Awh nuts," Copperhead sighed.

"Hey fellas," Green Arrow called out, kneeling from beside Brainy. "The kid isn't responding."

"What did you do to him?" Robin demanded.

"Don't know, kid. My boss simply told me to put the chip in the robot, and I did," Shade replied. "We'll just have to wait and see what it does."

"Or not," Green Arrow replied, tapping on the chest compartment.

The moment his fingertips touched the compartment, an electrical current ran through him, forcing him away.

"Owwwh! That ain't good," Green Arrow commented, clutching at the arm he had used.

Batman kneeled next to him and helped the green-clad wearing hero up, which the other hero accepted willingly.

"Brainy?" Robin called from where he was by Shade. "Brainy, you okay?"

Brainy didn't respond, but his optics flew open, revealing blank purple eyes, with no pupils shown. Everyone immediately knew this was a bad situation. Brainy was able to transform into his battle mode, and broke free of his confines.

"This really isn't good," Green Arrow commented from his place next to Batman, readying his bow and arrows, aiming straight at Brainy.

"Brainy, can you hear me?" Robin questioned, still beside a powerless Shade.

Brainy didn't respond verbally. Instead, he raised his arm and fired off an energy blast at Green Arrow and Batman. Both powerless heroes jumped away from the blast, successfully dodging the hit. Brainy continued to fire off at the two heroes. John dropped Shade's cane and shot a train-designed light construction at Brainy. The android hadn't been expecting the hit, and so he was pushed into the wall by the construct.

"Don't hurt him!" Superboy and Superman shouted at the same time, briefly glancing at each other in slight shock.

"I'm trying to contain him," John shot back.

"What did you do?" Robin demanded Shade, getting in the villain's face.

"You saw what I did, birdie," Shade shot back with a smirk.

Batman walked over to his protégé and the villain, and, after moving Robin off of the top-hat wearing man, picked him up off the ground and got in his face.

"How do we change him back?" Batman demanded.

"I don't know. I guess pulling out that chip," Shade replied.

Batman frowned at the rather unhelpful response, and punched the man in the face, hard enough that it knocked him out. Batman dropped the villain to the ground and looked back over at the mindless Brainiac 5. He immediately began to calculate what they'd need to do to even get close enough to Brainy to get into the compartment, let alone pull the chip out.

John was doing his best to keep Brainy trapped within is construct, but Brainy was proving to be more powerful than he had expected. The android was able to fire a cannon blast directly at John, breaking the Green Lantern's concentration and releasing the time-traveling android. The mindless Brainy didn't hesitate to attack again, and he fired off his unibeam from his chest at John. The Green Lantern was able to defend himself from the hit.

Green Arrow, arrow pulled back and ready, ran to his teammate's aid and fired off an arrow at Brainy. The android caught it before it could hit him, but it was an explosive arrow, and so it exploded on itself. The blast from the hit forced Brainy back a few feet. Green Arrow took the open opportunity to send off another arrow. Brainy recovered, and wasn't going to be fooled a second time. He swatted the arrow away before it could do him damage, and shot at the Robin Hood-esque hero with his energy beams.

Still hovering in the air, Superman held Copperhead tightly in his fist, debating internally whether or not he should help or let them handle it instead. He didn't want to harm Brainy, especially since he wasn't in his right mind. Almost like when Brainiac... His thoughts and memories were cut off by Copperhead's chuckling.

"So that's what boss wanted him for," Copperhead commented to himself. "He needed a new weapon, and yeah, this thing definitely fits the description."

Superman bristled at the villain's comment, especially about calling Brainy an it, but Superboy beat him to the punch. The clone turned and glowered angrily at the villain.

"He's not a weapon!" Superboy snapped at Copperhead.

"Could have fooled me," Copperhead replied with a shrug.

Superman glared at the villain and threw him into the wall, hard. The hit and subsequent fall knocked the snake-themed villain out. After doing a quick check to make sure he wasn't dead, Superman turned his attention back to the fight. Superboy had joined the fight almost immediately after Superman decided to handle the villain. Green Arrow had been hit with an energy beam, and John was protecting his fallen teammate from another blast. Superboy launched himself at Brainy with a roar. He wrapped himself around the time-traveling android and forced him to the ground. Robin ran to help out, providing his own body mass, however useless it was.

"C'mon Brainy, snap out of it!" Robin urged. "We're your friends."

Brainy didn't reply, and he continued to struggle. Superboy tightened his hold.

"We don't want to have to hurt you," Robin continued. "C'mon, you're smarter than this. Fight it!"

Brainy flew into the sky, Robin and Superboy still wrapped around him. Brainy focused his strength and managed to throw the two young heroes off of him. John caught Robin in a glove-construct, and Superman caught Superboy. The clone was visibly shocked that Superman would do it, but the Kryptonian placed Superboy on his feet quickly.

"Sorry about this Brainy, but I've got to stop you before you kill someone," Superman apologized to the mindless android.

Brainy raised an arm-cannon to fire at the alien, but Superman was faster. He flew over to his friend and began to fly around him, creating a tornado. Brainy was in the eye of the tornado, trying to pin-point where Superman was. Before he could locate the Man of Steel, Superman shot out and punched Brainy in the arm, throwing Brainy of balance. Superman retreated back into his self-made tornado before striking out again, this time nailing Brainy in the leg. Brainy was thrown off balance once more. He activated his arm-canon once more and shot randomly into the tornado, but it didn't hit their mark. Superman appeared out of the tornado once more and punched Brainy in the face. The hit momentarily stunned the android. Superman then began to punch Brainy with his super-speed, continuously hitting Brainy before the android could defend himself. It pained him to attack his friend, but it needed to be done before Brainy killed someone. As Superman fought Brainy, the tornado dissipated, allowing the other heroes to see what was going on inside. Batman ran as close to the battle as he could get.

"Superman!" Batman shouted before throwing a small device at his teammate.

Superman heard the shout and turned in his direction. Seeing the device, he grabbed it and briefly glanced at it before figuring out what it was for. He quickly placed the device on Brainy's chest and tapped the front of it. The device gave a beep before sending several electrical currents through Brainy. The electrical currents were strong enough to force Brainy out of his battle mode and back into his regular mode, as well as knocking him out. Superman quickly got him, and removed Batman's device. He then tapped the front compartment, and removed the foreign chip, destroying it. With the chip gone, Superman heaved a sigh of relief and landed on the ground, Brainy in his arms. Robin and Superboy ran over, checking on their fallen friend in concern.

"Did you hurt him?" Superboy demanded, earning a glare from Superman.

"He's knocked out," Batman answered, walking over to the group. "He'll be fine once he wakes up. Probably a little sore, but he'll live."

As if hearing them talk about him, Brainy slowly began to came to. As Batman predicted, Brainy was feeling sore, but he was at least feeling better than the first time he woke up. He slowly opened his optics, and found Robin, Superboy, and Superman in his immediate field of vision. Robin reached out and pulled Brainy into a somewhat-hug. Brainy allowed the physical contact, simply because he didn't have the energy to move.

"What happened?" Brainy asked, trying to remember how he ended up in this situation, but finding nothing.

"What can you remember?" Superman asked.

Brainy closed his optics briefly to remember, before opening them again.

"Shade had a chip that, from what I overhead from their conversation, was supposed to do something to me," Brainy responded. "Everything after that is blank."

"We'll go to the Hall and do a full scan before returning you to the Mountain," Batman instructed from the sidelines.

"Alright," Brainy replied. "But what did happen?"

"We'll explain it after you've been scanned, okay?" Superman responded.

Brainy gave a slight glare at Superman, but considering how stubborn Superman was, Brainy didn't bother attempting to force an answer out of him. He thought about forcing the answer out of his two friends, but they were also stubborn, so he resigned himself to just sucking it up and waiting till after the scan. He did manage to convince Superman that he was fine enough to stand on his own, and waited for John to round up the two villains and give a lift to the non-flying heroes. Once all the technicalities out of the way, the Justice League and Team members headed back to the Hall of Justice, with Superman flying close to Brainy for that "just-in-case" moment. Brainy, though visibly annoyed, decided that something must have happened to cause Superman to hover. That made him even more curious to what happened while his mind was blacked out.


"Alright, I've been cleared," Brainy stated testily to his friends, getting into a sitting position on the examination bed. Green Arrow was being cared for in a different room while John was taking Shade and Copperhead to Belle Reve. That left Brainy to interrogate the others. "Now explain what happened at the warehouse."

"Shade placed that strange device in you, and it caused you to blank out," Robin began explaining from a seat near Brainy. "When you came to, you were a robot-zombie."

Brainy glared at Robin, clearly unamused by Robin's choice of words. Even Superboy was looking over at the younger teen with an unamused look. Robin shrugged under the gazes, sticking to the terminology he had used. It sounded like it was from a comic book, which made it uber cool.

"You went on a rampage," Superboy added. "You weren't responding to us, and it was clear you were being controlled."

"And how was I brought out of it?" Brainy asked.

"We had to weaken you with one of Batman's electrocution devices," Superman explained. "I took out the chip and destroyed it."

Brainy nodded.

"I see. Were you able to find out who was behind Shade and Copperhead's hiring?" Brainy asked.

Superman shook his head. He already knew who had done it, and he had a feeling Brainy already knew as well.

"No," Batman responded, also already knowing who was behind the whole ordeal. "The chip had been destroyed before we could ID, and the communicator self-imploded before we could backtrack it to its point of origin."

Robin and Superboy frowned, obviously believing that there was no way to figure out who had done in. However, the other three in the room already knew that it was Luthor who had been behind the whole set up. The only problem was that there was no evidence to convict him. And even if they wanted to, they highly doubted a jury would sentence Luthor to prison for trying to control a Brainiac. Luthor was a businessman and a politician; he'd find a way to spin the truth so that he'd come out as the hero, even at Brainy's expense. So, with no evidence, the three decided to just pretend there was no way of identifying the culprit.

"I guess there's nothing left to do but return back to the Mountain," Brainy said casually, ignoring the shocked looks on Superboy's and Robin's face.

"How far along are you with the Time Bubble?" Batman asked.

"I'm almost finished," Brainy replied as he hopped off the examination table.

"How much longer?" Batman questioned.

"If there's no distractions, by the end of next week. If there are distractions, another two weeks," Brainy answered.

Batman hummed a little in his neck, but he didn't say anything verbally. Robin broke the silence by hopping up to his feet and glancing between his new friend and his mentor.

"So, I guess we're done?" he asked.

"Yes," Superman replied with a nod of his head.

"Alright then, let's go and have Kid get us some pizza," Robin stated out loud, wrapping his arms around Brainy's and Superboy's necks.

Both boys sighed at Robin's instance for junk food, but exits the medical bay with him, heading for the teleportation tubes without Superman or Batman following. Batman had already warned J'onn to guide the three to the tubes, just so they wouldn't go wandering around on their own.

"I'm surprised Clark," Batman said once the teens left.

"By what?" Superman asked.

Batman gave a smirk and didn't answer him; instead, walked out of the medical bay, annoying Superman who followed after him.

"By what?" Superman stressed once more.

"If I told you, you might second guess yourself a second time," Batman responded sagely. "So I'll just leave it to myself."

Superman glared at his friend, briefly wondering why he put up with someone as cryptic as Batman, but in the end he shook his head and cooled off. There was no point in pestering Batman about it; instead, he followed in step with his friend as they walked towards the tubes themselves, intending to head to the Watchtower. Batman smirked at his friend, but internally, he was pleased by Superman catching Superboy before the clone had hit something. Sure, the clone was indestructible and could have survived the fall, but it was Superman's action that counted.

Slowly but surely, we'll get you off your high horse, Clark, Batman thought to himself. Slowly but surely.


"So you'll really be leaving in a week?" Robin asked as he, Superboy, and Brainy sat on the rec room's couch.

They were flipping through the channels trying to find a decent program to watch while they waited for the Team to get back from wherever they had ran off to. None of them felt like heading out again to get food; after what they went through, they just wanted to get some rest.

"Yes," Brainy responded, keeping his optics on the screen. "As I informed Batman, I should be finished by next week if everything goes as plan."

"Aw man. It's going to get boring again when you're gone," Robin complained, falling back into the cushions of the couch.

"You're on a team that goes up against super villains almost on a daily basis," Superboy responded stoically from his end of the couch, lazily flipping through the channels. "How exactly is that a boring life?"

"Hmmm, good point," Robin conceded. "Okay, I take that back. It won't be totally boring, but it won't be totally mazing."

"Mhm," Brainy hummed, not bothering to comment on the made up world.

"Well, let's make your last week a fun week," Robin declared. "No downer attitudes, got it you two?"

"Right," Superboy responded sarcastically.

A pillow flew over Brainy's head and nailed Superboy in the side of the face. Even with Superboy's hearing, he had been cut off guard by the hit. He turned his neck to glare at the young hero, who jumped from the couch and ran off.

"Get back here!" Superboy roared in mock-anger, hopping off the couch and racing after the non-metahuman.

Brainy watched with some disinterest as Superboy chased after the nimble youth, but his face slowly transformed, and a small smile was on his face as he watched the two heroes. Deep down, Brainy was going to miss this; miss them.

But he wasn't going to give Robin the satisfaction of knowing that just yet.


One more chapter left guys. Can you believe it? I'm so excited.

I mentioned Cheetah and Catwoman in the story because my original plan was to have Copperhead and Shade fail in the previous chapter, and so Luthor would have the two cat-themed women steal Brainy. However, I decided that it would just be better to continue it from the previous chapter, so I decided against it and instead this story came about.