Jackson wakes up, his mind clouded, uncertain of how or when he made his way home, and climbed into bed.
He rolls over to look at the clock. It reads "7:17 am". He yawns, sits up, throws his legs off the side of the bed, places his feet on the cold, wood tile floor of his bedroom, stretches his arms, stands up, and heads for the bathroom to start readying himself for another day.
After finishing up with his shower and other toiletries, he makes his way out of his bedroom, through the living room, and into the kitchen. He opens a cupboard next to his refrigerator, grabs a mug and K-cup, inserts the K-cup into his coffee maker activating it, turns to place his mug on the bar top, and that's when he notices a strange, green skinned intruder sitting on his sofa.
"Who the hell are you", Jackson barks, "and how did you get into my home?"
Brainiac slowly rises from the sofa, turns toward Jackson, methodically makes his way over to the kitchen bar top, and replies incredulously, "The human brain, even a so-called 'meta human' brain, is so fragile."
Confused, Jackson retorts, "What?!?"
Brainiac, ignoring Jackson's retort continues, "If we're going to have to rehash this every time your subconscious recovers from activity this arrangement will become tedious and inefficient quickly."
Jackson's ire continues to escalate as he says, "I don't know who or what you are, but I'm calling the cops!"
"Good luck with that," Brainiac sardonically interjects. "I think you'll find none of your communication devices are operational."
Jackson looks around the room and sees his cell phone on the side table next to the sofa. He walks over, picks it up, taps the screen, and… nothing. He looks back at Brainiac with a mixture of anger and confusion.
As he steps toward the front door of his apartment Brainiac comments, "The door will not disengage for you, either."
Jackson reaches for the door knob, but his hand passes throught it. His anger and confusion quickly begin to transition to panic as he shouts, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?"
In an instant Jackson finds himself seated on the sofa, unaware of how he got there. Brainiac appears in front of him, places two fingers on his forehead, and Jackson's mind fills with flashes of memories that appear to be his, but are not. Al's Bar… Supergirl… Dreamer… a fight… the pain!
Jackson's face becomes regretful and he utters, "What have I done?"
"Very little," Brainiac chortles, "you, Jackson Seaver, are but the vessel by which I intend to achieve my objectives. You have no say, no control. I may borrow your unique skills from time-to-time, but you are simply a means to an end."
"Why?", Jackson asks despondently.
"Simple chance, dear boy," Brainiac declares without a shred of guilt. "Of all the feeble meat sacks blindly milling around on this ridiculous rock in space… you were fortuante enough to be marginally compatible."
"Marginally compatible?", Jackson queries nervously.
"Yes," Brainiac confirms with a cold smile, "I searched this miserable world for a vessel compatible enough to achieve my goal. Those that were incompatible expired."
"Expired!?", Jackson acknowledges with disgust. "How many people have you killed?"
"Millions upon millions," Brainiac responds boastfully, "but if you're referring to potential vessels for this mission… 103."
Jackson's eyes widen with terror and his mouth is left agape.
"Do not fear, Jackson Seaver," Brainiac remarks dryly, "when I accomplish my mission you won't have to live with your pathetic guilty conscience for long."
The door to the DEO med bay opens, Alex and Kara step out into hallway.
"Kara, she's good," Alex comments. "The med tech's just giving her the once over to reconfirm she wasn't injured at Al's."
Kara, with a bright twinkle in her eyes, bits her bottom lip, and says, "I know… she's amazing!"
A wide, playfuly grin stretches across Alex's face as she pokes her sister's shoulder and says, "Spill!"
With a quirky, sly grin, Kara declares, "I… don't know… what you mean…".
"Something happened in her Mind Prison," Alex insists. "How did you get her out of there?"
"Well," Kara begins coyly, "I convinced her we were trapped in her mind… and that she had to face her greatest fear to escape".
"What was her greatest fear?", Alex asks intently.
As Alex asks her question, the med bay door slides open, Lena steps into the hall with them, slips her hand into Kara's and says sweetly, "I opened my heart to her and told her that I am in love with her."
Kara turns to look in Lena's striking green eyes. A wide, infectious smile spreads across her face, and she bits her bottom lip again. Lena puts her other hand on Kara's cheek.
"I have to tell you… that lip bite has always made my heart flutter," Lena confesses, "but I have to admit I miss the glasses. Watching you fidget with them has always been a turn on."
Kara blushes. Alex clears her throat and says with a slight grin, "I'm still here!"
Lena removes her hand from Kara's cheek, she and Kara both blush, turn to Alex, and say in unison, "Sorry."
Alex looks stern, but playfully at them, and says, "I want more details… later. Right now we need to get the team together in the conference room and figure out our next move."
Alex, Kara, and Lena make their way into the conference room where J'onn, Brainy, and Nia are waiting.
"Are we waiting on Andrea and Kelly?", Kara inquires.
Alex replies, "No. Andrea went to the Foundation to fill Eve in. Kelly is picking up Esme from school. She's going to take her to the Tower and monitor the situation from there."
"Sounds good," Kara says. "Nia, have you checked in with Nathalie?"
"And Ms. Grant, too," Nia responds. "Nathalie has taken care of rearranging our schedules and Cat's got us covered until this is over."
J'onn interjects, "Then we should get started. Brainy?"
Alex, Kara, and Lena take their seats and Brainy begins, "I followed up with NCPD. Adam confirmed 4 more attacks between National City and Central City, So we widen the search nationally and came up with 17 more that have been reported so far."
"Brainy," Nia interjects, "who is this guy and how is he killing all these people?"
Brainy straightens himself in his chair and reports, "In human genealogical terms… Vril Dox would be my great-great-great grandfather. He was an accomplished, but deranged inventor and engineer who was raised by the rulers of my world, but rebelled against them, seeking to place himself in the ultimate seat of power. He led a rebellion to overthrow them and, though he and his followers succeeded, his lust for power made him more dangerous than anyone could imagine. His followers eventually turned on him, imprisoned him, and sentenced him to death. Until today I believed that to be the end of his story."
"Clearly," J'onn comments, "it wasn't."
"Agreed, Director," Brainy acknowledges.
"So," Kara adds, "if we believe what he told us, he transferred himself into the nanotech before his death sentence could be carried out and went on a shrinking rampage before Colu captured him, contained him, and reprogrammed him to do their dirty work."
Nia opens her mouth to say something, but in an instant her eyes transfix and close as her dream powers kick in.
"Help me!!", Jackson implores her from a cage in the middle of an indistinct room.
"Where are you?", Nia asks him anxiously.
"I don't know… I'm trapped in my own mind," Jackson replies gravely. "You have to find me, please. He's going to kill me."
"We're…," Nia begins, but before she can finish there is flash of bright white light causing her to close her eyes. When she opens them she finds herself standing in a strange laboratory. She turns to her left and sees Jackson lying on an exam table, unconscious. To her right she sees a couple of Kelex-type robots working feverously to mix a solution and prepare a syringe-like delivery device. As one of them starts to hover towards Jackson Nia turns and finds herself face-to-face with a green skined stranger.
"Nia Nal… so glad you could join us," Brainiac remarks smuggly.
"Where are we?", Nia demands to know.
Brainiac sizes her up and responds, "I calculate there is a 95% probability you are somewhere with your inept heroic compatriots, but right now you're seeing the inside of my ship's research bay."
"Fine," Nia snaps at him sardonically, "why am I here?"
"You're here to deliver a message to your insipid 'Brainy'," Brainiac answers coldly. "As I said earlier, I am here to bring him back to the 31st century by any means necessary. Let Querl Dox know that he has 12 hours to turn himself over to me. If he does we'll leave without further incident."
"And if he doesn't!", Nia demands to know.
"I will shrink National City," Brainiac replies in a condescending tone, "and take all of you back with us."
"What about, Jackson?", Nia questions.
As Brainiac reaches out to touch her forehead with two fingers he says cruelly, "His fate is sealed."
Nia snaps back into her own body and her eyes pop open suddenly.
Alex jumps out of her chair, rushes over to Nia, sits in an empty chair next to her, and asks, "Nia, what did you see?"
"Jackson," she utters ruefully.
Kara asks, "Where is he?"
"Jackson's mind is trapped in a Mind Prison," Nia answers. "He's alone and terrified. Physically he is on an exam table on a space ship."
"A space ship?", Kara reacts.
Alex adds, "That makes sense. After Vril used Jackson's telekinesis to repel you, J'onn, and Brainy, he doubled over in pain and immediately transmatted away. If there is a ship up there somewhere we now know where he beamed himself to."
"Brainiac was there, too," Nia blurts out.
"What did he say," J'onn inquires.
"He gave me a message for Brainy," she remarks.
"I suspect it wasn't an invite for a family reunion," Lena comments sarcastically.
"Not exactly," Nia says. "He said Brainy has 12 hours to surrender himself. If he does Brainiac claims they'll leave without further incident."
"And if I don't?", Brainy says resolutely.
Nia looks at her fiancé gravely and replies, "He threatened to shrink National City and take us all back to the future."
Kara stands up, looks around at her family, and declares sternly, "We have to find this ship and finish this before National City suffers the same fate as Kandor."