Part 2: Unnatural Disaster

Chapter Rating: PG-13

Summary: Wally West struggles through his recovery but what happens when he gets an offer he can't refuse? What will it mean for him, for the world and for his future with the League?

Disclaimer: The DC characters are not mine. I'm just playing with them. They'll be returned eventually, not in good condition but that can hardly be blamed on me!

Author's Note: Woooo...been a while huh? Okay…chapter 9 took a while but chapter ten is well on its way so it should be out in much shorter order than this one. Many apologies for the wait. I will finish this story (if only for the sake of finishing the story). Thanks for the reviews and the reminders. –Sagga :)

Chapter 9 – Antebellum

'Hey! Piss off! He might not be, but I'm fully willing to kick all your asses!' The playback on the screen ended with the last frame frozen showing an angry Hawk defending his brother from a group of people, disgruntled and blaming the league for the recent string of natural disasters. Hawk had gone to his brother's aid seeing that Dove wasn't going to do more than talk while some brute grabbed him by his white and blue costume.

'That's Hawk, a Justice League member threatening harm against the very citizens they've magnanimously decided to protect. That seems a clear counter to the words of unity reportedly spouted by the Flash, a former Leaguer, in a Central City children's restaurant. I'm not sure who I believe but that Flash guy isn't the smartest cookie. And I have Wally West's college transcripts to prove it.' The talk-show anchor waved the papers in the air getting both cheers and murmurs of unrest from his audience.

The TV clicked off.

"I said I was sorry!"

"I thought school records were confidential?" Dove said.

"Apparently not." Green Arrow said, his eyes still narrowed on the rather docile young man's brother, who was the complete opposite. "What the hell were you thinking? And with news camera around!"

"I wasn't thinking! How many times can I say I'm sorry? It just came out! They were attacking him!"

"They weren't attacking me!"

"You didn't see the seven foot linebacker with his fist on your shirt?"

"I was handling it! You just made the situation worse!"

"You weren't 'handling' anything! Even Ghandi would have thrown a punch!"

"Enough!" The two siblings quieted but stared daggers at each other. "Look, it's done. All we can do is apologize and try to recover." Though his words were what one would expect from a Justice League member his tone was decidedly sour at the notion of having to apologize to people who would just through it back at them. He sighed. Were the others as tired of all this as he was? Hawk looked it. Though still passive, even Dove was showing signs of strain. Just because he didn't act on the anger did not mean he didn't feel what they felt when insulting remarks were made about the Justice League.

"You guys go home. Get some rest."

The two young heroes turned and walked off. Green Arrow watched Hawk give his brother a shove and then watched Dove shove back. He shook his head.

"Everything okay?" Superman's deep voice came suddenly from behind.

Ollie rubbed his eyes and faced the Kryptonian. "Mostly. We have a bit of a PR problem but, honestly, I'm not caring a hell of a lot right now."

"You should take a break. You've been on duty for more than a day."

"Take a break and leave everyone else to deal with the work. No, thanks. I'm good."

Superman smiled at the archer's spirit and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"So, any word from Flash?"

"Not yet. The longer we wait the less hopeful I am."

"Well, they can't possibly think they can take on this army by themselves, or that we'd even let them."
Superman sighed. He wasn't sure of what people were thinking these days.

+JLU+

Yall had arrived back on the Coluan mother ship and after dispensing with all the pleasantries and debriefings, she was ready to head back down to the planet she'd come to loath more than any other. Not even that mud-ball planet that she'd been on a few years ago could compare to her distaste for this orbiting rock.

"You're only included as a member of this search team because of your familiarity with the planet and your inside knowledge of Dox. Muran is in charge. You will follow his direction or you will face the consequences," Osip warned staring down at Yall who was now suited in the blue and black uniform recently instated in the Coluan Fleet. The area just below the left shoulder was used for the white stripes that denoted rank. On Yall's uniform that area was blank. Though on the books she maintained her rank of Commander it was no longer true in action. Even the lowliest of crewmembers outranked her right now.

"I understand. All I want is to bring this to an end."

+JLU+

"I can't believe they're doing this."

"What did you expect them to do? Say yes?"

Wally looked as his CO, eyes wide, silently saying that's exactly what he expected. There had just been a sighting of unidentified alien crafts over Metropolis. They were presumably Coluan and the US government wasn't going to just stand by.

"We've got something to prove," one of the team members said as he passed Wally to get the rest of his gear.

Wally nodded in understanding. "Ok. I get that but this isn't the time to…to prove a point. This guy made Brainiac! These people… they have wicked-bad weapons!"

"West, we know the risks," Onade said jamming another cartridge of bullets into the belt of her suit. "What would be we if we cowered in the face of those risks?"

"They're not asking you to stand down. They've never asked that."

"No, they only asked us to stand aside. And we have for a long time, but now we have to fight. There's too much riding on this to leave everything to the Justice League." The rest of the team nodded at Lorelli's words. Wally reluctantly relented. He wasn't the brilliant orator that Superman or Green Arrow was so he knew that there was no chance of him convincing them otherwise.

Lorelli directed West to a more quiet area of the locker room to talk to him. "I'm not going to force you to come with us. I know you've got a bad history with these people and things have only gotten worse lately. If you want to go back to the Justice League, you can."

Wally shook his head. History or not he knew he could do more with Strike Force Alpha than with the League. It was a tempting offer but they had more than enough superheroes for an adequate force. This small military group needed him more than the League did.

"No. I'm still part of this group. I've got you covered."

Lorelli gave him a pat on the shoulder and went back to the rest of the team. He breathed easier with the Flash in their group. He was quite a bit less vulnerable than they were, much stronger, and almost immeasurably faster.

"Alright, guys! Let's go!" Lorelli called from the front of the small party. He briefly met Wally's green eyes and gave a slight nod of gratitude.

+JLU+

Yall watched impassively as the Coluan soldiers trampled through numerous housing complexes, searching for Vril. From what she knew of his plans, this was his second base of operations, which he had tried hide from her. She'd snooped and found out about it. And though she doubted he would still be there she was hoping for some clues about where he was heading next. She'd advised the officers to interrogate the humans in the area Vril had traded his naturally blue skin for fleshy, pale peach long ago and it made finding him amongst a group of similar-looking creatures that much more difficult.

"The inhabitants don't seem to know anything," one blue skinned man reported to her. "Our scouts have encountered some resistance."

"End it. I don't care how." She was ruthless. Tired of this planet, these people and this situation she was willing to do anything to bring it to a close.

Though she didn't have the force of her rank behind her the soldiers still followed her orders, even Muran, the one Osip had declared to be in charge. "Yes, sir."

A beep from within the ship she was standing next to caught her attention and she went back inside to see what was going on. The officer at the controls began to inform her with no prompting.

"We've lost contact with two scout teams; one in sector seven the other on sector three. The Justice League forces and the human military are responsible."

"The military. Strike Force Alpha?"

"Yes, that's the designation designated to the human force."

Yall didn't even think. "Take us there."

"…they're actually on their way here."

Yall gave him a pleased look then stepped back outside. The sounds of people running and screaming from the extraterrestrial force that had invaded the neighbourhood didn't faze or illicit any sense of regret in her for what she'd instructed them to do. Her only thought was of the human male that had so completely captivated her once great superior officer. In her mind it wasn't too late to save him. All she had to do was get rid of the Flash. Vril would go back to normal.

Yall knew they had arrived when, in the distance, screams turned into cheers. Her eyes narrowed but she waited for them to make it the rest of the way. Her wait was short.

Sharp eyes in front of a cunning mind shifted across the landscape crowded with old buildings in this forgotten corner of Metropolis. The air had changed. The sounds of havoc she and her people had caused became duller. The atmosphere was charged and in the tension Yall sank into the crafty, unfeeling officer she'd been when she was at her best.

"I know you're here!" Her yell echoed in the now abandoned area. A sound at her right drew here gaze but it was only a piece of glass from a broken storefront falling after hanging on since the pane had been broken in a struggle. "Are you afraid of me, Wallace?"

There was no response. The silence of the immediate vicinity was broken every so often by sounds further away. Then a crunching sound from behind reached her ears. She looked to find West leaning against the moderately sized craft an easy smile on his face. So different from his expression the times she'd seen him in person before.

"You're causing a lot of damage," West told her needlessly. He was sure she didn't care.

"Why would I care?" Wally rolled his eyes. Yall continued. "You insignificant organisms will die out before the greater history of the galaxy will even record you. You're nothing but a blip. The lowest forms of higher life imaginable."

"Aww, are you jealous?" Wally taunted. He continued to speak but Yall didn't hear anything beyond the word "jealous". She wasn't jealous of this nobody, her mind asserted. He had caused nothing but trouble for her. But she was jealous. The Flash had taken Vril's attention away from her. She'd never really had his attention in the first place. She had only ever been his second in command but before she was only second to a machine, a computer program. That could be excused. Now she was second to another person, a lower person. In her rage she didn't face this realization. She gave into the desire to harm what had ruined her world. She attacked.

A slower person would have been taken by surprise. Wally being as fast as he was, wasn't anything but annoyed that she hadn't let him finish his comparison of her to a lizard.

The object that she threw was easily dodged. A spark of electricity arced to him as it passed. The small tendril of electrons was enough to make the muscle under his skin twitch painfully and he was very happy he'd avoided a direct hit.

Yall was on him a moment later throwing kicks and punches that he easily deflected and dodged. He watched amusedly as her anger rose with each miss. There was something satisfying about toying with her. Wally hadn't forgotten that it had been her hand holding the weapons that had injured him on that lunar base not terribly long ago. Most of his anger had been directed at Vril but coming face-to-face with her again, Vril not around, brought back those memories he had tried to forget. His amusement at her anger faded and from deep within him there was a rage which answered hers.

Yall didn't even see the blow coming. She felt it against her stomach, then it was the hard ground scraping against her back until finally she came to rest against one of the building she and her team had damage without a thought.

Breathing heavy, Wally clenched his fist, restraining himself from going after her again. A sound at his back was all the warning he got before a powerful blast knocked him to the ground.

"West!" Lorrelli yelled and ordered, with a quick gesture, the team member next to him to take down the man who'd just emerged from the craft and shot their speedster. From around the corner of the nearest building Lawrence emerged with a long slender weapon supported on his shoulder. He quickly aimed and with a narrow blast destroyed the weapon in the Coluan officer's hand. A subsequent shot, this time much broader knocked the alien man back into the craft and into unconsciousness.

"Secure it!" Lorelli ordered and without elaboration his team broke into smaller units with different jobs to do. Lorelli and Hill went to Wally who was shaking off the shot he'd just taken.

"I'm okay," he said, voice hoarse. He cleared his throat. "I'm okay," he repeated this time sounding more like himself.

"We've got company coming!" One team member advised from within the craft. Though the language was unfamiliar he could still read a map and the yellow dots that were approaching he knew wasn't their back up. Strike Fore Alpha regrouped taking positions around the ship. The Coluan forces were already too tight around them in this urban setting to make a retreat possible. The best they could do was stand their ground. Yall was cuffed and still dazed but there were two SFA members devoted to keeping her secure nonetheless. She'd slipped out of their grasp that last time at the government lab when she and Vril had been looking for the remains of the Dark Heart. They wouldn't let her get away again.

The Coluan forces seemed to arrive all at once. They made a perimeter around the ship, enclosing the human team. Once that was done nothing happened. Lorelli, West and the others waited for the Coluans to say something, start negotiations so that they could get their two officers back. They didn't. Wearing their armour and carrying their weapons the blue shaded people didn't move.

"What are they waiting for?" Wally asked.

"Orders from above maybe," Marks shrugged.

"They're a little slow to respond," Wally said, trying to keep from fidgeting. The tense situation was getting to him, as was his proximity to Yall.

Suddenly all the Coluans raised their weapons. A symphony of clicks and the shrill whine of weapons charging was heard.

Marks swallowed. "Now might be a good time to call for that back up."

Across from them two Coluan officers conversed.

"Anything?"

The other shook his head. "No. They aren't responding."

"Perhaps the humans did it," the first suggested, looking to his colleague then back to their targets not far away. "We should end them before they have a chance to do anything more."

"It couldn't have been the humans. They don't have the technology to damage our systems like this."

The first soldier huffed and returned his focus to the small group around the ship that had brought them to the planet's surface and had been co-ordinating their search for traces of Vril. They'd yet to find anything and they needed to figure out a new strategy. They wouldn't be able to with the small human military force holding their craft and their well of information. Without their ship as well, they couldn't properly watch for incoming enemies or communicate with the other scout ships that had landed. That's why the sudden arrival of a blond woman flying at them and a second human military force took them by surprise.

+JLU+

High above, the Coluan mother ship was fighting a battle of its own, practically against itself. The computer system that controlled nearly every function of the spacecraft was acting up, badly. Whole systems would go down then spontaneously reboot only to go down again later.

The whole crew was working on keep the ship together and find the source of the problem. Like their soldiers on the ground, they'd first assumed that the humans had struck them with a virus hoping to cripple their technology. They quickly realized that the humans, with their primitive binary code system, would not be able to do this. It had to be one of their own people and there was only one who would dare turn against his own kind like this.

"It has to be Vril," the Leader of the small fleet, Osip, said tersely.

"No. It's probably just a glitch-" the lights went out. Four seconds later half of them came back on. "…probably just a glitch in the hardware that's gone unnoticed for too long."

The ranking officer shook his head. A glitch like this would have been noticed long ago and would not affect so many systems. They hadn't done anything particularly new today so there was no reason for the ship to go into such a technological tail-spin.

"This is deliberate."

"If it is, something this massive could only be initiated from within the ship." External signals didn't get processed by the main computer in the event of somebody trying to tamper with it from the outside. "If you're right…then Vril is on the ship."

Osip was right. And it wasn't just Vril Dox who'd snuck aboard. No, there were two other stowaways, one more alive than the other.

"Are you done yet," Luthor asked impatiently. He tightened his grip on the rifle and flit an anxious look to the door that had so far remained closed. He imagined that it wouldn't for long. The Coluans would be on to them soon enough and they'd find a way around the virus Lex had made and Vril had then altered such that it worked properly in the Coluan system.

"Almost there…" Vril responded almost cheerfully. He was too closed to achieving what he wanted to be annoyed with someone as small as Luthor. He and Luthor were in one of the ships numerous fabrication labs. Mostly the used it to synthesize parts required for ship repair. Today Vril planned to use the advanced technology for something more complicated than an engine part. All he had to do was fit the last connection to his module and…there!

The lights went out. The hiss of the ventilation and life support system stopped. The artificial gravity vanished leaving them light and free. The hum of the ship's engines faded into nothing. The ship was completely powerless, silent, except for the people moving within it. For several seconds they floated in the silent, pitch black landscape.

"What's going on?" Lex asked.

"Patience," Vril chastised lightly, a smile in his whisper. "You'll see."

A faint light emerged from the abyss of dark. Lex turned to see it. Vril was already facing. The light illuminated the two men and their surroundings making them feel less isolated than they had been a moment ago. The light increased and etched out a pattern that slowly started to become solid as it moved upwards. The panels of metal, silver, purple and black, the faintly greenish hands, even some of the internal workings were visible briefly before the hard outer shell became completely opaque.

The entire body was soon done and he looked almost exactly as Lex and Vril remembered it. The light began to fade, the process near the end. At the last second blindingly bright lights emerged from chest and forehead of the engineered being. The lights were in a pattern of three circles in a V-shape. The eyes flashed open and Braniac was reborn.

Darkness reigned for a little more. The white light from the mechanical man's eyes was just enough to light the pleased faces of his creator and his partner. The overhead lights of the room returned without warning, filling every corner of the room with illumination.

Lex blinked his eyes adjusting to the brightness then looked back at his much missed friend. "Welcome back." To his disappointment Brainiac didn't respond; neither the creation in front of him nor the voice in his head.

"He's not as advanced as he was when you last interacted," Vril explained. "Right now he's nothing more than an automaton, under my control. Coluan technology is advanced but not as much as the Dark Heart. We need to find whatever remains of it." He looked to Lex and saw the anger there. "Don't worry," he placated domineeringly, "Brainiac has a steep learning curve. Come Brainiac." Vril went for the exit, his creation following obediently behind him. Luthor was last, and unhappy at this latest development.

Brainiac was brainless! He knew it wasn't just that this version was not as advanced as the last one. Vril had done something to Brainiac's program, adulterated the pure genius that it had been. When he had the chance Lex vowed to undo the damage.

The Coluans were finally beginning to get some of their control back. The ship was starting to run like it should and the usual scores of information was at their fingertips again. Among that information was the log of the ships activities. Usually not reviewed until the end of the day the glitch had made their perusal necessary and that was how one of the ship's officers noticed the anomaly.

"Sir?"

"Yes, what now?" First Leader Osip the man in charge asked knowing from the tone that he was about to get bad news.

Nom paused waiting for his commanding officer to turn to him. "There was an unauthorized teleportation off the ship."

"Must you bother me with this now? I'm a little busy." Osip thought Nom would know better than to bother him with somebody playing with the teleporters when there were bigger issues at hand.

Nom did know better. "Sir, look at the footage." He slipped a memory chip into the nearest empty consoles slot and let the security video play out. Three beings, three men vanished in the array of vertical stripes characteristic of the Coluan technology. One was Vril, the other was Lex Luthor, the human criminal and Vril's accomplice, the last one, was Brainiac.

"Logs also show he was in on of the synthator rooms. He reconstructed Brainiac using our technology."

Osip stared at the footage. He paused it and examined his failure. This was exactly what they were trying to prevent –Brainiac's return. All they'd done was deliver the tools Vril needed to bring him back.

"How did they get here?"

"We've found a small craft attached the hull. It was in a blind spot. They must have used a hand held teleporter to get through the hull and into the ship." Nom waited for Osip to respond. "Sir?"

"This has gone too far."

"What do you want to do?"

Osip sighed and straightened himself to his full height. "Let's set a trap."

+JLU+

Wally helped one of his team-mates up from the ground absentmindedly. A weaker person might have been pulled off balance by the weight tugging on him but even with his mind elsewhere Wally kept himself upright and brought the other person up as well.

"Thanks."

Wally mumbled a response. It might have been some form of "yeah, don't mention it." But he couldn't say for certain. He was too busy fuming over their latest battle. It wasn't quite a win but neither was it a loss. Damn, stupid Yall!

She got away again, found some weakness in the cuffs binding her and made an escape. Wally had been more than ready to go after her and the look she cast over her shoulder as she ran away challenged him to follow. He'd been about to go after her but a cry of pain from somebody on the team stalled him. He couldn't leave them in the middle of a fight.

Their backup had arrived; Strike Force Beta and their resident meta-human Galatea. A battle had ensued. Due to their poor position and the disadvantage in numbers the Coluans had the two Strike Fore teams barely managing to hold their own. With Yall and the other Coluan man out of their grasp thanks to a teleportation from the mother-ship and Yall's own flight the Coluan forces had retreated, leaving their small scout ship in the ruins of the neighbourhood.

"Are you okay?"

West turned his eyes away from the route Yall had taken upon her escape. Galatea was looking at him with some concern. "Yeah I'm fine." He wiped away the small trickle of blood that came from a cut on his cheek. "Glass is always a problem for me a high speed."

Galatea nodded and was quiet. Wally noted her silence and assumed that it was just the usual social awkwardness that one would expect from a person who was cloned from a well known superhero and accelerated through normal growth stages with little normal human contact. Otherwise, she wasn't so bad.

Wally was going to say something to her but Galatea suddenly turned away from him. Wally blinked, not sure what to chalk that up to. He watched the blue eyes narrow.

"What is it?"

"Your friends are coming."

At first he didn't know what she meant. The familiar rumble of the Javelin's engine informed him who she meant. In the densely packed city and with so much debris around the craft couldn't land. A hanger door opened and several people flew out. A few went off in different directions but three continued to the ground. As the approached Wally quickly recognized the suits.

"You okay kid?" Green Lantern asked. He slid a distrustful glance to Galatea.

"I'm fine," Wally smiled. "As you may have guessed the powers that be aren't interested in a joint effort." He glanced back to the two military contingents. "They want to do their fair share."

"It's dangerous," Superman said. Next to him Wonder Woman nodded her agreement.

"It's their planet too," Wally argued. He reasoned that people had died in wars before. Just because the Justice League was around didn't mean that the new battles would have no human casualties. Seeing the situation so deeply from the other side left him tired in face of the futility. They all wanted to fight. He was almost at the point where he'd just sit back, wave a hand and say 'go ahead'. He was tired, a deep, soul-draining tired. He was being pulled apart; the military and regular humans on one side, the Justice League, his friends and family on the other and, from within, the emotional turmoil that continued to gnaw at him.

Superman glance to his colleagues and then to his young friend. He gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I know, Wally."

Wally took a breath, found some inner strength and forged on. "So you guys ran into the Coluans too?"

"Yeah," Stewart nodded. "I think they might have been looking for clues about Vril. I see you guys made their acquaintance too."

"Yeah," Wally said with a glance to the side. He wasn't going to tell them about Yall's appearance she was a Coluan just like the other ones were. There was no need to make special note of her. Galatea thought there was need.

"That woman was here too. Yall, I think was her name." She'd seen the fury in Wally's eyes, recognized it because it had been in hers once too. The desire to face what brought you down, to take control of what made you weak. She'd gone after Supergirl (and lost) and Wally would have gone after Yall if his team hadn't needed him. If she were him, Galatea would have gone anyway. Well, yesterday she would have. Tomorrow she might not.

Wally glared at her then turned to face the wrath from his friends. Their eyes were wide and angry and Wally felt like he was a little kid who had just broken a window.

"It's not a big deal," he told them. "Nothing happened."

Green Lantern was suspicious but he and the others would not bring this up in public. He sighed. "We'll talk about this later." Wally frowned. How old was he? Twelve? "Right now we've got to find Vril before they tear apart the city."

"I don't know if it'll help, but if you ask nicely Lorelli and Gibson might let you tinker with the Coluan ship we managed to annex."

Superman's look became unfriendly when it shifted to the large group of military officers wearing their combat gear; guns, armour, grenades, weapons that could do more harm to them than to most of their enemies. As far as he was concerned human should handle human assailants. Super-powered ones would be left to super-powered people.

"I'll talk to them," Lantern volunteered. Maybe his military background would help with the negotiations. They needed to get a good look at the Coluan systems, maybe find a weakness.

"I'll introduce you," Wally offered and began back to the Strike Force teams. Green Lantern followed.

"So…" Galatea began but trailed off. Superman turned to Galatea who was still nearby.

"So?"

She glared at him but the look softened after a moment. "What was Argo like?"

Superman wasn't sure how to respond. Not only because he'd never been there but also because this was the clone of his cousin, a being that had caused a lot of pain for quite a few people. She was ruthless, mercurial, and unforgiving. Or maybe she had been. She didn't look much like the Galatea he'd seen on the footage from the Watch Tower or from the descriptions the others, including Kara, had given him. It wasn't just that she, like Wally, was wearing a similar version of the combat gear given to the Strike Force teams. Something below the surface had changed too.

"If it was anything like Krypton, it was beautiful," he said and when she nodded in acceptance of what little he could give her Superman saw some of the ferocity bleed away. Clark realized that she wasn't so different from them.

Diana kept her eye on Galatea for a few seconds. She seemed calm, not about to attack and Superman could take care of himself. Her blue eyes slid to John and Wally, two friends united for another brief period, and noticed something strange happening. "Wally!" Wonder Woman's exclamation and her quick sprint to the red-head's side drew Superman and Galatea's attention. They looked just in time to see Wally vanish in a pattern of vertical stripes, Wonder Woman just a fraction of a second too late.

"What the hell just happened?" Green Lantern cautiously raised his hand to feel the area where Wally and his astonished expression had been a moment ago. There was nothing. The air wasn't even a slightly warm.

The two groups, one significantly larger, eyed the other. Who was responsible for this? It could have been the Justice League stealing West away again. It also could have been the military snatching Wally from the mission. Both theories were quickly thrown out. Everyone looked surprised.

"Wait," Superman said softly. His brows furrowed. "I've seen that before."

"Where?" Lorelli asked, coming closer.

Superman shook his head hoping that he was wrong. "Vril Dox. He went to Wally before. When I arrived he escaped using some teleportation device that had the same pattern." It had been that time in the alley when Trickster had been attacking the Wally's orphanage. The Superman that had prevented Wally from going to the orphanage had actually been an impostor, Vril in disguise. The real Superman's timely arrival had kept Vril from inflicting anymore damage than he already had on the young man so soon after he'd already inflicted so much.

"You think Vril took him?" the horror in Wonder Woman's voice was matched in Green Lantern's mind. They'd seen the wreck Wally had been when he returned from than encounter. How was he to survive it twice?

"Maybe not. The Coluans said that they'd use Wally if they had too. They might think they have to."

"And they both use the same technology so their teleportation signatures are the same," Green Lantern deduced.

Wonder Woman and many others looked up to the blue, cloudy sky. They couldn't see the ship orbiting above them but it was up there and they had their colleague and friend. She met the worried glances of Green Lantern and Superman and was surprised to see the same worry in the faces of the Strike Force team. They may not know all the details but they knew enough to be worried.

+JLU+

"That was pretty rude!" Wally said angrily. Anger was good. Anger covered the fear and nausea that threatened. The ship that he'd been brought to bore more than a passing resemblance to the interior of the base in which he'd been held prisoner by Vril. They were built in the same style; same disgusting half hexagon arch over the doors, same putrid wall colour, same revolting pattern in the floor. It smelt the same too. Wally felt dizzy. He fought it down and focussed on the anger.

"I'm sorry but we have to do this." The tall blue skinned man approached. He halted when Wally moved away from him. "I'm Osip. I'm in command of this mission."

"Oh, so you're to blame."

Osip resisted a sigh and got to the point. "Vril has Brainiac."

"No. I destroyed Brainiac. You missed it. It was pretty exciting. Remind me to send you the home video." Wally crossed his arms. His panic was fading. This man didn't look or act anything like Vril. If anything he was like a cross between J'onn and the Green Lantern. He had to remember to tell John and J'onn about this guy later.

"Brainiac is nothing but lines of code. There can be numerous copies of him made. Dox has the seed program, a miniature copy of the base programming that, while in its initial stage of proliferation once active, is almost harmless. It becomes more dangerous as time passes and as it collects and integrates new information."

"So…Dox made another Brainiac."

"Yes. And while Brainiac is still harmless we need to strike."

"So strike. You really didn't have to run you're plan by me."

Osip shook his head. It wasn't that simple. "We don't know where they are. Vril has changed his biology. We can't track him. All we can do is lure him out."

Wally glanced at the blue faces around him, quickly realizing what his purpose was in this. "…you need to bait a lure…and I get that glamorous job." He shook his head. "I've never been equated to a worm before," he said more to himself than to those around.

"This is not something I ask lightly. I know he's hurt you. But he and his abomination would go on hurting more people if we fail to stop him now, while we can. We need you to do this."

"And if I say no?" Wally challenged.

"Then we'll destroy Brainiac and Vril but it will mean the complete destruction of your planet as well." At the human males wide-eyed shock Osip went on to justify. "It's you and your planet or the rest of the galaxy, perhaps the universe. It's not much of a choice but it's yours."

How could they put this on him? Billions of lives or him facing his tormentor. It wasn't really a choice –discomfort versus destruction. They were putting the whole world in his hands and it wasn't nearly as much fun as that song made it sound. "Alright, fine," he replied tersely looking away from Osip and the other Coluans. He shrugged in feigned nonchalance and said with false bravado, "I've saved the day before."

"Draw him out into an open uninhabited area. We'll track you with this." A man next to Osip handed Wally a small square piece of technology. Wally slipped it into his pocket. "When you get him we'll have our people ready."

"Sure make me do the hard work," Wally griped.

"Good Luck, Flash."

Wally glared at him. "I'll get him. Leave my planet alone." He vanished, the teleporters taking hold.

"You think he'll succeed?"

"I think if he doesn't, he'll die trying," Osip said evenly. He may not think much of these creatures but even great civilizations had to start from somewhere. "Begin charging the canon. If we have to we'll end it from up here." If he didn't think the boy could handle it they would bring this nightmare to a conclusion remotely. Wally would likely still die trying, but in the event of this scenario they would be the ones to kill him.

+JLU+

Dick Grayson didn't like to call it baby-sitting. One doesn't really babysit an entire city, and Tim Drake wasn't a baby. Yet Dick was stuck in Gotham watching out for both Gotham and Tim because neither of them (despite what they might think) can take care of themselves. It was still day time. The real thugs didn't come out until dark Gotham became even darker. So, for now Dick kept himself busy by monitoring the situation with the latest aliens to stop at Earth. Batman had shared with him the information the League had garnered about the Coluans and Dick wasn't liking them at all.

Every so often Batman would call, asking for information or just a general update on the situation that was better observed from the Batcave than from the Watch Tower. The last communiqué had informed him of Wally MIA status so it was quite the surprise when Wally showed up suddenly in the Bat Cave.

"Wally?"

"Dick, I need your help." He darted over to where his friend was seated at the large computer.

"Wally! Are you okay? What's going on?"

"I need to send a message," Wally said, possibly the least distracted that Dick had ever seen him. Wally had always been somewhat flighty, his mind moving faster than anyone could possibly imagine, even if it didn't tackle the most pressing of issues. Now it seemed that every neuron was focussed on the same goal.

"Okay…sure." Dick began calling up the numerous communications channels utilized by the League, the military and commercial networks.

"I need to send it to Vril," Wally added, more quietly.

Dick's gloved hands froze. Slowly his head turned to the man next to him. "No. No-God-damned way!" Dick's mood quickly went from shock to anger. He wasn't wearing the mask of Nightwing which covered his eyes, so there was no shielding Wally from the fierce emotion that coloured his gaze. "Are you nuts? That guy—"

Wally didn't have time for an argument. The Coluans hadn't given him a time limit but he was sure that somewhere there was a clock that was ticking. "I know what he did! And I know what they're going to do if I don't find a way to end this."

"Who?"

"The Coluans! They're totally, dead-serious about taking care of Vril and Brainiac and if it means destroying the whole earth, they're okay with that!"

Dick shook his head. If Batman had known this little piece of information, he'd kept it to himself. Typical. "You can't know what they're planning for sure. They're bluffing."

Wally laughed humourlessly. "To stop Brainiac? I may not be smart but I'm not stupid. I know they'll do it."

Dick didn't want to believe it. He didn't want this to be the only way. Every part of him screamed that he had to keep Wally away from Vril. That psycho had more than a twisted obsession with the Flash. Of course there was also the part where the entire world was in jeopardy, but then again when wasn't it. There was always some nut with a doomsday device, or some villain bent on world domination. And yet this time felt different. This time it wasn't just good against bad, heroes against villains. This time there was a smattering of subplots carrying on underneath and through the major events.

The US military, the Justice League, Luther, Vril, Brainiac, the Coluans and Wally, these major pieces of the conflict were intertwined. Dick could practically feel it, this conflict coming to a head all at once, precipitated by Luthor and Vril. He wasn't sure which side would win and how much they would all lose in the process.

"Okay," he relented, feeling dirty for doing so. "How do we do this?"

+JLU+

Vril smiled at down at his arm, his new arm. He rotated his forearm and visually traced the pattern of biometal encircling the limb.

"It's perfect, Brainiac," Vril complemented, though Brainiac had no desire for compliments or recognition. Off to the side resting on a console Luthor sat, sullenly glaring at the pair. When Vril had been otherwise occupied Lex had opened Brainiac up and tried to get the machine back to his previous state of glory. He even opened up the psionic links that had been locked. It hadn't worked. Brainiac remained a mindless drone. Vril continued to assure that Brainiac was simply trying to assimilate the vast amount of information available to it. Vril had managed to save some the libraries full of information he had collected during his shadowing of the previous Brainiac. Now the blank slate that was the new version of the ruthless program was cataloguing that data.

Once he had deemed it advanced enough, though it was still had much of the data to go through, Vril had ordered Brainiac to enhance him. Brainiac had followed the order without complaint, much to Luthor's annoyance, and retrofitted the already upgraded Vril Dox with powerful weapons integrated directly into his body. It was one of those weapons that Vril was admiring now.

"Are you done yet?"

"Patience Lex. Brainiac—"

"Shut up! I'm fed up with you're excuses. Just…just shut up." Faced with the anti-climactic reincarnation of his partner Lex was trying to reassess his situation. He was quickly finding he had little to fall back on.

A small light began to blink and a ring tune played. At first Lex was confused, then it hit him.

"You brought your cell phone?" Lex shook his head. Here they were standing next to the most limitless source of information and technology in the universe and Vril was dragging around a piece of primitive Earth junk.

"I like to stay connected," Vril said retrieving his device. He was fascinated by human gadgets and had taken to using them whenever he could indulge. On his phone, one of the new models being hyped up on the television, there was a message waiting for him. A message that made his heart and mind race. "We have to go!"

"What? Where?" Lex demanded, though he really had no choice other than to be left behind.

Vril didn't pause in collecting his gear to inform Lex. He didn't want to hear the useless man's useless protests. Vril had his own agenda and Lex Luthor's place in it would be at an end soon.

"Come Brainiac."

The response wasn't immediate but eventually it was articulated. "No."

Luthor's frown turned into a big smile.

+JLU+

End Part 9 – Before the War

Only two more parts to go. I think one of them will be a short epilogue-type chapter.

Sagga…