Early the next week Space Ghost and Zorak met Brak again on the set of Cartoon Planet. Zorak was sitting in his prison pod with a thick volume of poetry open in front of him. It was his job to pick some poems for Poet's Corner, and as far as anybody knew he hated the responsibility. No one could ever know that he was in fact fascinated by those rhythmical compositions and how they managed to evoke such distinctive and compelling imagery.

Brak was something else. His head was mostly empty at the moment, with nothing but his beans song in front of him. He was stymied because he couldn't think of any more kinds of beans, but the song wasn't long enough yet. He was just sitting at his regular seat, trying to think of more beans but coming up empty.

Space Ghost looked between the two of them before he chose to talk to Brak. "Hey, Brak," he said casually, "You never did tell anyone what you wanted for your birthday."

"Yeah?" Brak looked up at Space Ghost for a moment before he went back to work. "Oh, yeah, that's true, I didn't."

"What do you want?"

"Nothin'."

"It can't be nothing."

"I already asked, though. I can't."

"Come on, try me. I'm a superhero. I can get a lot of things."

"Well, I mean, if you wanna try…"

"What do you want?" Space Ghost prodded.

Space Ghost was prepared for Brak to say any number of crazy things. An infinite amount of beans. A hat made out of lemons that would never go bad. A swarm of bees that wanted to be his friend. Something that, even if Space Ghost couldn't get him that exact thing, he could pick something out that at least showed he tried and that he cared.

What he heard was something he did not in a million years expect to hear: Brak said, simply, and without any hint of sadness, "I want my brother to be my friend again."

It hit Space Ghost directly in the gut to hear that. Brak's brother, Sisto, was still in prison at least partly by his own choice, as he had refused all of Space Ghost's offers for parole, work release, or squealing on other villains to get a lighter sentence, as the rest of them had done. Space Ghost did not know the state of their relationship these days, but he hadn't considered it was this bad.

"Yeah, that's the face I thought you'd make," said Brak, his voice still chipper. "He already wrote me back telling me to lose his address, so I did. Now I don't remember where he is."

"Don't worry about it, Brak," said Space Ghost. "Excuse me, I need to go over today's script."

Zorak glanced up as Space Ghost crossed the set and picked his script off from a table set up out of sight of the camera. Space Ghost wasn't sure, but he thought the bug was smirking at him before going back to his book.

Space Ghost pressed his fingers into his temples as he pretended to read the script. It was stupid to think that Brak and Sisto's relationship hadn't changed when Brak so thoroughly had. Back in their glory days they were a tour de force to be reckoned with, taking what they wanted and eliminating anybody who got between them and whatever they had their eye on. Only Space Ghost and his young wards Jan and Jace, with the help of Blip, had ever managed to stand up to them.

Back then Brak had been cruel and cunning. He showed no affection whatsoever to his blood relation, instead barking orders and issuing threats that the younger brother followed and accepted without question. Sisto hadn't even called Brak by his name, instead using the title 'master' by Brak's own insistence. But it had worked well enough for them, apparently, as they had been unstoppable up until…

Space Ghost didn't actually know what had happened. The last time he saw them as normal was a year or so after the Council of Doom dissolved. They had kidnapped Jan so Space Ghost wouldn't interfere with their heist. It hadn't worked and the two had barely escaped when their ship flew into a deadly pirannamyte nebula.

Somehow, Brak and Sisto were the only two known intelligent beings to survive after being fully enveloped in pirannamyte, though Sisto was the only one to emerge unscathed. Pirannamyte was second only to the Death Mist when it came to the most deadly and inescapable forces in the galaxy. Pirannamyte was technically alive, a swarm of tiny but vicious organisms that clung together in a cloud of radioactive dust, seeking out and devouring anything unlucky enough to get near it. By the time their miniscule teeth sliced through the hull of your ship, you would be dead from radiation poisoning; they were among the most radioactive things in space, little flying Chernobyls that hungered for death. Pirannamyte didn't take its sweet time getting to you, either. They were named so after the idea of the fish that could skeletonize a cow if they were in a massive, starving swarm.

Space Ghost hadn't seen them again until just under a year later when he finally apprehended them. That's when he noticed Brak was different. He was now simple-minded, easily confused, and with poor impulse control. Sisto had been in charge of that mission, and Brak had followed his garbled and uncertain orders without a second thought. At first Space Ghost thought it was an act, and they were setting up a trap. But as time went on the act didn't drop, and they were locked up with no plan springing into action. Space Ghost began to realize that whatever had happened in the pirannamyte had changed Brak, and only Brak.

The first time Space Ghost got an up close, in-depth look at the new Brak was after his talk show started and he gave Brak a job working in the building. There he saw that Brak was now childlike in his mind, and his poor impulse control was pathological to the point where he often couldn't help doing bizarre or dangerous things, such as taking off his clothes at work or putting his entire paw on a hot burner. He also displayed other bizarre behaviors such as pica, which meant Space Ghost had to keep things like pencil erasers and chalk away from him so they wouldn't get eaten. Those behaviors they managed to curb, though not eliminate completely. His simplicity, and his cheerful attitude, were here to stay.

When the director called for shooting to begin, Space Ghost put the script down and took a minute to clear his head. He was resolute, though, and he would do whatever it took to bring Sisto back to him. Space Ghost didn't have a lot of friends; he had villains-turned-coworkers that he was a sort of weird dad to. Brak already liked him, due to said childlike simplicity, and that meant Space Ghost wanted to do this to keep him happy. How he was going to do this, he had no idea. But he knew where to start.

The prison cell that Sisto had called home for over half a decade was small, but homey. Restrictions on him were lax as he hadn't caused a speck of trouble since he was apprehended, so he had the opportunity to acquire and display personal effects. He had several band posters, a bedspread to match his shirt, and a stack of books on his desk among other personal touches. He was lying on his bed and reading quietly; another benefit he'd gained was that he wasn't forced to have a roommate.

When Space Ghost approached his cell, Sisto glanced up before going back to his book, Piracy in the Age of Space Exploration.

"Are you in it?" asked Space Ghost.

"Huh?" Sisto looked up in confusion.

"The book. Are you and Brak in it?"

"Oh. No, this is a little before our time," said Sisto. "I think it was published when we were teenagers." He reached under his pillow for the scrap of paper he used as a bookmark. "So, to what do I owe this displeasure?"

"I came to ask you about your brother."

"What about him?"

"Well, about why you aren't going to his birthday party."

"I can't."

"I already asked," said Space Ghost. "I would be allowed to take you for the day."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, what did you mean? Why can't you go to your brother's birthday?"

"That's not my brother," said Sisto darkly.

"Of course it is," said Space Ghost.

"No. I don't know what he is now, but he's not Brak. He's some silly oaf who sings inane songs and says ridiculous things."

"I mean, he's a little different now," admitted Space Ghost. "But all he wants is to see you."

"That's sad."

"It's sad that you won't see him, that's what's sad."

"It's sad that that's all he wants. I remember when he wanted everything."

"Isn't that also sad? To always want what you can never have?"

"He still does," said Sisto.

"He could have it, though. I mean, he could have you. At his party."

"I'm sorry, but he can't."

"When was the last time you saw him?" asked Space Ghost.

Sisto looked away.

"Sisto. When was the last time you saw Brak?"

"Nine years ago," said Sisto softly.

"Nine years ago," repeated Space Ghost. Two years after the Council of Doom founded and broke up. Four years before Space Ghost was offered his talk show after his enemies collectively had to give up in the face of utter defeat.

Eight months after their ship flew into the pirannamyte nebula.