Chapter Thirty-Seven: Deadly Fusion Part One.
Empire State University was closed for today, there were no classes. Yet, some of the teachers were there and one of them was Milton Fine. He had been a history professor at ESU for a long time, about as long as Kal had been to Earth. That was something that threw up a rather agitating red flag in his head.
"So, what exactly is the problem regarding Fine, do you think?" Kara asked. Kal turned towards her and frowned deeply. "He's able to create a computer virus that is written in Kryptonian language. And that's almost complex enough to break through the Fortress. Neither of those things are normal."
"No, they're not," Kal replied. He stepped inside. The door was locked and he frowned. He had a way inside due to his numerous donations from the college. But someone switched the locks.
"Maybe we should smash it down," Kara suggested. She always was the type of person who was more willing to smash skulls now and ask questions….well she wasn't sure when she would ask questions. The blonde looked over the door and Kal grabbed her by the shoulder. "Not something that we should do, should it?"
"No, we shouldn't," Kal said. He switched tactics with something more cerebral. "Oracle, are you on it?"
"Yeah, I'm on it," Barbara agreed. She figured that the security on ESU was going to be a bit tricky to decode and deduce. Her frown got deeper when she worked towards it. "It seems like the computer virus is messing with my ability to hack. Let me see if we can find another way around."
"Well if you don't, we're going to have to try it my way," Kara responded. She seemed itching to smash down the door.
"No, I think that I got a pretty good idea," Barbara said. She enjoyed a challenge. "And I believe that I've got your way in."
The door popped open and Kara gave a sigh of disappointment. Kal placed his hand on her shoulder and she shook her head.
"So, after you," Kara said. Kal smiled when he went inside. Kara followed him. "And his office is on the ground floor, isn't it?"
"Last time I checked," Kal said. He moved into the communication link. "Barbara, do you….do you want to double check?"
There was a long pause on the other side of the communication link. He realized that the long pause was silence. Kal cleared his throat. "Oracle, Barbara, are you there? Hello, say something if you're there."
There was a long pause and Barbara didn't say anything on the other side of the communication. He was pretty sure that she had the same problems on the other end.
He realized that he couldn't hear any mental comments on the other link. He turned to Kara and she made the obvious comment. "So, you don't like this about as much as I do, don't you?"
"Yes, I don't like this at all," Kal said. It felt like they were cut off from the rest of the world. He turned towards the other direction and the door closed open behind them. "Well, we're going to have to go up."
Kara used her X-Ray vision and she frowned. "I think that Fine is behind that door."
"Stand back," Kal warned her. Kara agreed with him and she stood back behind him. She stood at his shoulder. Kal grabbed onto the door and pushed it open.
They almost expected something really bad to happen the moment they pushed the door open. They saw Milton Fine sitting at the computer with their back towards him. He kept typing on the computer in a monotone.
Kara saw the code from the virus reflected on it. It was monotonous.
She grabbed Fine's chair and tried to spin him around. His arms ripped off when she turned him around. That was horrifying enough in it's own right. The more horrifying fact was that his detached arms continued to type.
"Okay, is this freaking you out about as much as it's freaking me out?" Kara asked. She turned towards Kal and he raised his eyebrow. He nodded completely coolly, one nod at a time.
"Yes, it's freaking me out," Kal agreed with her. He acted calm and collected despite the fact he was freaked out.
His heat vision burned through the "body" of Fine. Several miniature nano-bots showered them. They looked around.
"Fine is a dupe," Kal told her. Kara agreed with that. The fact that numerous nano-bots sprayed out into the lab made things a bit trickier than they thought that they would. The bots sprayed all over the floor and Kara pursed her lips in response.
She knew exactly what Kal wanted to do. The two of them used their super ice breath to freeze all of the nano-bots.
"Let's see if I can crack the computer," Kara said. She removed Fine's detached arms from the computer keyboard.
Her fingers whirled onto the computers in the whizz of light. She thought that she could stop the computer system off at the source. The blonde's fingers touched the keyboard and she frowned. Kal stood over by her shoulder and looked over.
"What's the matter?"
"It's going to be trickier than I thought, the virus is at multiple sources," Kara answered. Her heart beat when she kept typing it up. She realized that she would have to do this without any assistance.
"I'll just leave you to do what you do and I'll watch the door," Kal said. He shifted himself over towards the door and looked on the other side. His hands place on the other side of the door and frowned.
He had a feeling that there was no one in this building that was alive.
"The world will kneel before the might of Doom," Doctor Doom commented. He frowned when he looked over the computer system. "But there is someone who is trying to counteract the system and work their way back into it."
"A minor set back."
Milton Fine was just one of the many faces that the BrainInteract Construct wore, or Brainiac for short. He stepped forward and his current form as a Doombot that he unloaded his brainwaves in and upgraded for his use. The form was about as perfect as it would be considering the circumstances.
"You must know that a long game needs to be played," Brainiac commented. "There is something far darker that is coming, and it endangers my mission, along with your conquest of Earth. The son of Jor-El is nothing compared to your power."
Brainiac sensed Darkseid was after Krypton towards the end. That was among one of the many reasons why he salvaged all of the information off of the planet and didn't inform the Council that the planet was going to be destroyed. If it was not for Zod's devious plan in kidnapping Jor-El's son and his wife, there would be no problems that got in the way of Brainiac's plan.
"Yes, he is powerful but I very nearly defeated him," Doom commented. The gift Brainiac had given him upgraded his armor to a new level. He would be able to take down the Black King of the Hellfire and take everything that he acquired. "This time, there will be no nearly about it."
"Yes, I have a surprise for Kal-El and his cousin as well," Brainiac commented. He blinked and he felt that the Milton Fine drone was disabled. So far everything was going according to plan. He tried to summon the nano-bots to activate them. The signal was blocked. "They are far more resourceful than I have previously given them credit for."
Brainiac had an alternate plan he was sure. There was also the problem as it pertained to Doom. He had his own plans and his own flaws. The BrainInteractive construct would normally appreciate the power of someone like Doom but it didn't mean that he needed to bow down right before him. The last remnants of Krypton stepped forward again. His eyes powered on through.
"Do you wish to engage him?" Doom asked. He was oddly docile. If he was more hostile, that wouldn't be something that would play into Brainiac's plans all that well.
"Not yet," Brainiac confirmed. "All you need to do is wait and watch."
Doom nodded. He recalled his previous battles with Ultraman and they were something that caused him to wonder what he was doing wrong. He could have defeated him fairly easily. What was he doing wrong? He didn't know and that was something that slowly agitated.
Why did he have to be so calm? Why did he have to be so tranquil? All he could do is get out and do this.
"He will come to us and I will destroy him."
"Do not think beyond the plan, there is no need for him to be destroyed when the entire world burns around him," Brainiac commented. He could tell that Doom was doing something that he might end up regretting with this. Brainiac's glowing eyes met his. "Do not…?"
"Yes, you're correct," Doom responded.
Brainiac knew that his virus, his initial virus, was blocked. He screwed his eyes shut and focused his energy forward. The energy went through his mind and everything started up.
"Begin the second wave, and bring everything to Darkness," Brainiac declared. Organics had their annoying reliance on technology. He was going to take full advantage of it.
He saw the problem with Doom currently. There were certain internal desires that couldn't be suppressed.
Nick Fury was outside of SHIELD when the insanity started happening. He looked up to see the crashed remains of their facility. There were many SHIELD agents that were badly hurt in the attack. There were other SHIELD agents that managed to get out. Some didn't make it. Fury understood loss.
Maria Hill walked over towards him. Fury acknowledged her with a nod.
"Quite the time for you go away on…..wherever you went," Maria said. It was obvious that she was annoyed, although she tried not to show it out of some kind of respect towards Fury.
"Yes, I can see why you're upset," Fury replied in a delicate voice. That caused Maria to scoff a tiny bit when she looked at Fury. "Doom is taking over the world."
"It's something far deeper than Doom."
Fury turned around and saw Ultraman and Ultrawoman hovering next to him. Much to his surprise, neither of them tripped up any of his senses. That was something that he might regard with suspicion under many instances.
"Why is it when there's trouble, you two are close by?" he asked.
"Could say the same to you, Fury," Kal replied. He looked towards him. "Doom has gotten his hands on an alien super computer that is allowing him to cripple the world's technology."
Fury looked like he wanted to slam his fist into something hard. Kal couldn't say that he really blamed the man. He would have wanted to do the same thing if he was in Fury's position. The man let out a long and heaving breath when he looked towards him.
"Fortunately, we're dealing with a way to isolate the virus at the source, and take down Doom and the computer causing it," Kara replied.
Fury wasn't Director of SHIELD without a good reason. He was about to state the same thing that Maria beat him to the punch for. "It seems to me like you're talking like the alien computer was the real threat and not Doom."
Kal smiled. "Don't miss a beat, do you?"
"It was bad enough that Zod character caused chaos all of those years ago," Fury answered. "And that's how you came here."
"Figured that out, didn't you Fury?" Kal asked. Fury nodded at him. There was something crisp and clear about his nod. "I can't say that I blame you, because it was obvious. We've got to stop Brainiac before he brings the end to all life on Earth."
"He's that dangerous, isn't he?" Fury asked.
"He is only about preserving the data and collecting it," Kara explained. "When he has all of the information he needs, he will destroy the Earth."
"He's using Doom as a puppet," Maria replied. She let out her breath in a slight whistle.
Kal smiled when he looked at her. She didn't back down from his gaze, intense as it turned out to be.
"Yes, he's using Doom as a puppet," Kal agreed. It did go without saying that Doom didn't see things as that way. He saw that he was in control. "We're getting close to tracking down the source. In fact…."
Kal decided to get in touch with one of his contacts.
"Oracle, are you there?" he asked her.
"Yes, and I'm glad that you're out there, after we lost contact with you for a while," Barbara said.
'And we got the sample from Brainiac as well,' Jean thought. 'Your mother and aunt are busy isolating a counter agent for it. We'll keep you posted when we figure out a way to defeat him.'
"And how are you coming along?" Kal asked her.
"I've got my network back up and ready, and Doom is on the move everywhere," Barbara said. "I can't isolate him, there's about ten of him now and in different parts of the world."
"Either, Brainiac has found some way to isolate the…."
There was a loud screeching sound that nearly blew the young man's ear drums. He staggered back. Kara heard it as well.
Fury and Maria dropped to the ground. They clutched their ears in pain and winced.
"What in the devil is that?" Fury demanded. He rubbed his ear lobe and sighed.
"That's Brainiac disabling all technology in the world, and causing us to go dark," Kara replied. "Are you still there Barbara?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure how long…"
"The Wayne Satellites run on a separate power source, you should be safe for the meantime," Helena said.
Kara shook her head and corrected that notion. "No, only for a short time. If everything is going dark, that means he's doing it all over again."
"SHIELD is down, we couldn't stop him if we wanted to," Fury replied.
"But we will help you in any way we can," Maria replied.
"Yes, you can," Kal agreed. He switch communication links. "Mother, Alura, is it ready?"
"In five minutes," Lara said. She was thrown up against the wall. She enjoyed a healthy amount of pressure as much as the next person.
"I will allow the world to return to what it once was, in exchange for every country in the world to surrender to me!" Doom bellowed. His loud voice carried a long way. "Anyone who defies me will suffer the consequences. I have control of every single weapon system in the world and I can annihilate all of your countries. Do not test me."
Maria spoke for all of them. "Is he mad?"
"No, he's Doom," Kal replied dryly. Time was of the essence now. Brainiac stirred him up as much as he did Magneto and the results were just going to be as catastrophic if they weren't careful.
Lara felt herself work up to the wire. Her nerves worked up through her body. She took a deep breath when she stood next to Alura.
"Nothing like a little pressure to cause your day to go a little smoother," Alura said. This was her first day out of the box. She would have preferred something a bit less stressful. "Will we get done in time?"
"I hope so," Lara said. "He's going to be dangerous and it's obvious that he wanted Kal's attention. But he has given us a gift."
"For a so called perfect super computer he has given us a lot of blind spots," Alura added. She brushed the blonde hair out of her face and frowned.
She could see Kal and Kara waiting on the door. Jean and Gwen joined them off from the other side. The quartet made their way inside to see the progress.
"It's nearly ready," Lara said. Her hand was steady despite the fact that there were nerves going through her body. "All and all, it's nearly ready."
"Just relax mother, you can get it done," Kal replied.
"No time to relax, Kal," Lara said. She could sense that the fate of the world rested on her hands.
"She gets like this sometimes, I apologize when she does," Alura said. Lara gave her friend a cross look in response. "And you can tell that she's getting like this by how agitated that she's getting. She's not in the best of spirits."
Alura frowned deeply. The woman really could tell that her friend really wanted this to succeed. She grew to love her adopted home world. Alura could see why, by her interactions with Kara and what her daughter told her.
She felt very pleased to be here now. She watched Lara get it together.
"It's done," Alura commented.
"And it only took three minutes longer than I said," Lara said. She could see that the computer sytems were clear.
"Gwen and Barbara are working their best on getting everything back online, but they have to counteract the alien computer virus and that takes time," Kal said. Kara decided to go off to check on the process. She gave Kal a light kiss on the lips and sped off without a word.
"We need to cut it off at the source if we're going to hope to live to see another day," Lara added. She folded her hand together.
Alura reached to her hand and touched the top of it. Kal knew that they had the only communication network on the planet and that was nearly breached by Brainiac already. They punched up the security.
"The good news is that he's OCD, and he's not going to rest until he has every scrap of data on the planet," Alura said. Lara and Kal turned towards her in surprise.
"So, that means that he'll come here first before we find him?" Lara asked.
Kal wondered if that was such a good idea.
'Not exactly the most ideal of plans, but if that computer wishes to invade Nova Roma, he might find himself regretting it,' Selene said.
Everyone knew from experience when Selene said that someone would regret something, they would really regret something.
Kal knew that Selene was pretty much bad as her word.
'There's just one problem, and you know what that problem is, don't you?' Emma thought. Her voice was calm.
"Finding Brainiac could be a problem," Helena said. She popped in both on the communication link and the bond network. It never hurt to be too careful. "And I think that I can isolate where the energy drain is."
"And I've got something here that could do so as well," Kal said to her.
"Excellent," Helena replied. Things were looking pretty bright right now, even if they looked grim for the rest the world. "All we have to deal with now is the wide spread panic and rioting of people who have been shut in the dark."
"Yes, that's all," Barbara commented. She was bemused by the fact that Helena treated this in such a blasé manner. "Oh, and I've managed to get all of Gotham City disconnected. You do realize that I'm going to have to do this one city at a time and it takes forever."
"I know, but just do what you can, I'm trying to force Brainiac to react and maybe attack," Kal replied.
"Do you think that he'll really come to you?" Helena asked.
Kal smiled when he answered. "It's like my mother said. He's OCD. He needs all of the data and I mean all of it."
"Obsession seems to be a defining factor of many criminals, whether they be real or technologically based," Helena answered.
Kal leaned back against the crystal array.
"Okay, we're trying to hit some of the major cities, and more importantly, I've gained control of a couple of weapon systems," Gwen said. She looked pretty pleased with herself. "It does help when you hacked SHIELD's computers by the time you were twelve."
"Really, I did it when I was ten," Barbara commented. There was a second where Gwen gave her a cross look. "I'm just saying, that's all."
"Show off," Gwen grimaced. Kal cleared his throat and that was the thing that encouraged both of these girls to get back to work.
"And I think that we found Brainiac," Kara replied. "He's at Castle Doom and it's…"
"I'm going after him," Kal replied. "Are you going to meet me there?"
"If that's what you want to do," Kara replied. She had a few misgivings about this entire mess but if Kal wanted to do this, then she was behind him pretty much every step of the way. "So…..?"
"I'm coming too, especially when it's ready," Lara said. It had been a while since she was out and about. It was a good time to stretch her legs.
"Seems like we're going to teach one of Krypton's killers a les
"Soon the world will be underneath the thumb of Doom!" Doom yelled. He was making plans to deal with that super computer. There was something about Brainiac that greatly unsettled Doom. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though.
Brainiac sensed that it was time to take more direct control of Doom. The Doom Bot that he took up residence in crumpled as the remaining nanobots that made up his programming moved forward.
Doom screamed out loud when his armor was taken over by Brainiac. His organic tissue inside the armor melted and then shifted into something more durable when Brainiac took him over.
"At last, the power of Victor Von Doom and none of his ego to get in the way," Doom said in monotone. He looked up into the sky.
It wasn't a bird, it wasn't a plan. It was the son of Jor-El crashing through the roof.
"Doom Bots, annihilate him," Brainiac ordered them.
The Doom Bots made their way towards Kal. Alura, Lara, and Kara all dropped down. The quartet of Kryptonians annihilated Doom's creations with heat vision.
"So, this is a typical family outing, isn't it?" Alura asked. She zipped behind one of the Doom Bots and she dismantled it. She ripped out the circuit board.
Kara, Lara, and Kal copied her actions and disabled them.
"Really, Doom, you send these tin toys after us and you expect us to fold?" Kal asked. There was almost an insulting tone his voice. "Where is Brainiac?"
"The Brain Interactive Construct is closer than you think, Kal-El," Doom said. His voice had none of the usual bold tone to it. All it had to it was some crisp, clear monotone that increased when he spoke. "Finally, I will have you before me. The last traces of the House of El will be annihilated. All will succumb before my power."
"We'll see about that," Kara said. Alura grabbed her daughter's arm before she flew head first into battle.
"I'm glad to see some of you have not lost your powers of observation, this energy field will protect me from any attacks, while being able to inflict damage on you," Brainiac commented. "My miscalculated attack at Empire State University was just that. This time, I will defeat you."
"You spend a lot of time talking about what you're doing, then actually doing it," Alura replied.
"Believe me that's more common than you think with criminals," Kara told her mother. She was trying to look for a way around this.
"And now it is time .You will be reunited with Jor-El and the rest of Krypton. And Earth will follow you soon after."
To Be Continued on January 16th, 2015.