Brainiac's eyes open. The space is white, empty. No throne, no nanobots, no aggravating heroes.
His ire begins to rise, "What have you done to me?"
From behind him a voice rings in the emptiness, "We've cut you off?"
"Cut me off from what, Querl Dox?", Brainiac demands.
"Everything," Brainy adds. "I know you can sense it… you have no control here."
Brainiac's composure continues to unravel. "You and your pitiful 'family' have no idea what I'm capable of… you think…"
"Yes, Vril Dox," Brainy mocks him, "I think. You may be an 8th-level intellect… a brilliant, devious, megalomaniacal genius, but I am a compassionate, selfless, heroic, 12th-level intellect that has found his place in the grand scheme of time and space. I have spent a lifetime striving to be more than the sum total of the darkness of the legacy of 'Brainiac'."
"You weak minded simpleton!", Brainiac malignantly growls.
"How ironic," Brainy laughs. "Weak minded? You cannot begin to imagine the strength of mind, body, and soul the depth of my love and compassion demand. For years I hid myself behind personality inhibitors, terrified that the darkness of your legacy would bleed out of me, consume me, and leave me unable to live in the light."
"Spare me your bleeding heart dribble," Brainiac moans.
"I SHALL NOT!," Brainy erupts. "You vain, evil, treacherous creature… I found love, I found family, I found myself… that is my legacy… the legacy I have built in this time, this place, with these people… my people, my family… and I will not be made to leave them!" He closes his eyes, refocuses his mind, takes a deep breath, and opening his eyes continues, "But that does not mean that I will abandon my duty to Colu and the Big Brain."
Back on the Legion ship Brainy's face appears on the monitor in front of Lena, "He is completely disconnected from the nanobot hive mind… release the probe."
"Agent Cho, drop the containment field, activate the portal, and let her go," Lena orders.
Agent Cho presses a button on the panel in front of him, "Probe released!"
The portal in the anti-chamber reappears, the Legion ship's captured probe zips through. Transforming back into its base constituent nanobots it immediately begins to reintegrate with the ship.
An alert sensor lights up on Lena's control panel, "Brainy, the trojan horse and modified algorithm have entered the ships command marix!"
"Is it working?", Brainy asks.
"It is!," Lena replies. "Full system re-write should be complete in 45 seconds."
"Vril Dox," Brainy declares, "you shall be the vessel that delivers salvation to the Big Brain!"
Brainiac's eyes turn white, "What's happening to me?"
Brainy steps closer and with a compassionate glance, "You are being given the chance to atone for a lifetime of atrocities… unforgivable pain and suffering. My family and I have isloated the degenerative algorithm that is destroying the Big Brain, reverse engineered a simple 'software patch' that rewrites the code, and excises the fault from our legacy programming. You shall deliver this cure to the 31st century… and then shut down forever."
"You can't do this to me…", Brainiac panics. "I am Vril Drox of Colu… 8th-level intellect…". Braniac's stare turns cold and his face turns grey.
Brainy disengages from Vril Dox's conscienceness.
Kara's helmet and shield retract. She places a hand on Brainy's shoulder, "You okay?"
"I am," Brainy replies.
Brainy, J'onn, and Kara look down at Jackson. J'onn asks, "Is there anything we can do for him?"
Brainy looks at them with a reassuring smile, "I believe we can."
"What?", Kara inquires.
Brainy continues, "After examining the collection of abilities that Vril Dox stole from his vicitms I was able to determine that the cranial fluid cocktail he was using to stablize his integration with Jackson Seaver's brain could be used to stimulate cluster repair on a cellular level. I reprogrammed the lattice to carefully trigger the chemical release and electrical impulses needed to jump-start regeneration."
Brainy leans down and presses a button on the lattice. Nanobots slowly begin to flow out of Jackson's ears and reintegrate with the ship. A light on the lattice begins flashing red.
"The process has begun," Brainy smiles.
Brainy and Kara make their way back into the anti-chamber.
Alex, directing members of the DEO command crew to remove all the glass jars from the rafters, sees Kara, runs over, and hugs her sister. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
Kara hugs her back tightly, "Ditto, sis!"
Alex looks around, "Where's J'onn?"
Kara turns her torso and points, "J'onn is with Jackson down at the end of that corridor. Jackson needs a medic."
Alex nods, taps a few buttons on her wrist device, requests a medical team come aboard, and then heads down the hall to check on J'onn and Jackson.
"Where is Brainiac?", Nia asks.
"I am here, Ms. Nal," the disembodied voice calmly remarks, "and ready to head back to the 31st century."
Brainy remarks, "Mission parameters?"
The ship replies, "Return to 31st century Colu, deploy the cure to the Big Brain, shut down all ship systems and primary functions."
Kara exhales, relieved, "Thank Rao! It's finally over."
The portal opens behind them, a medical unit steps through, along with Lena and Andrea.
Lena sees Kara and sprints over to her. Kara makes her way toward her approaching girlfriend and they wrap each other in a tight embrace.
"I was so worried about you," Lena leans back, softly puts her hands on Kara's cheeks, and stares into her eyes.
Kara affectionately smiles, "I knew I had you to come home to and nothing could stop me from that."
They pull each other in for a quick kiss and then lean their foreheads together uttering simultaneously, "Let's go home."
A week later…
Night has fallen over National City. Kara and her family are gathered in her loft for their favorite weekly activity… family game night.
Alex, Esme, and Kelly sit on the sofa, Nia sits in a chair close to the television stand with Brainy sitting on the floor leaning against her legs, Kara and Lena sit closely beside one another on a new loveseat across the table from couch, Andrea is in a green chair at the dining room end of the coffee table, and J'onn occupies what was once Lena's favorite chair beside the loveseat.
Nia looks at Alex. "How is Jackson?"
Alex smiles reassuringly. "We released him from the med bay today. He's recovered from the ordeal about as well as could be expected. His brain scans look good, but emotionally he's got a lot of trauma to work through."
Kara concerned, "You think he'll ever fully recover?"
"It's hard to say," Alex adds. "Apparently he was fully aware of everything… not only what Brainiac was using his body for, but the attacks perpetrated by all the probes. That's a lot of devastation to process."
Kelly interjects, "I've recommended a couple of my old colleagues for him to talk to. He has a long road ahead of him, but with time and patience he has a fighting chance to live a happy, productive life."
Kara smiles tenderly, "Brainy, how are you doing?" She places a hand on his shoulder, "I know your family's history has always been difficult for you to process."
"Facing Vril Dox was challenging," Brainy's mixed emotions evident on his face. "Knowing the dark history of Brainiac is one thing, but looking it in the eyes and listening to the vitriol spew forth unfiltered from the dark brilliance of a gifted, but twisted mind…"
Squeezing her fiancé's shoulder reassuringly Nia comments, "You will never be that…"
Brainy, squeezes her hand, and smiles warmly. "Ironically, for the first time in my life… I'm 100% certain of that. Now knowing,
firsthand, the true depths of that darkness, I am confident that I'm incapable of being that absolutely horrific… if for no other reason than because of the love and support of my real family… this family."
Affectionate smiles break out around the room as Brainy is serenaded with, "We love you, Brainy!"
Brainy's face beams, "Thank you. I love you all, too."
"Grandpa J'onn," Esme asks exuberantly.
"Yes, Esme," J'onn smiles brightly.
Esme giggles, "Do you like Auntie Lena's chair?"
"I do," J'onn chuckles back at her. "I see why you like this chair so much," J'onn remarks to Lena.
Lena flashes an infectious smile, "I know, right?!? It's deceptively comfortable. Don't think I didn't consider having the Girl of Steel park her buns of steel in my lap so I could keep sitting there."
Kara blushes, lightly smacks Lena on the arm, and laughs with everyone else, "Don't tempt me… you know what??" Kara stands and grins playfully, "J'onn.. let's switch!! I'm sittin' in that lap!!"
Lena crinkles her nose at her, grining mischievously, "You goofy dork! Sit back down!" Lena grabs Kara's arm and pulls her back to the love seat.
"What are we playing tonight?," Esme excitedly inquiries.
The room fills with noise as they all start shouting out ideas. Kara turns to Lena, "What do you think?"
Lena looks at her with twinkling eyes and a beaming smile, "As long as we're here, together, in this place, with our family, full of love and happiness… I'm game for anything. With you by my side how could I ever lose?"
Kara places her hand softly on Lena's cheek, leans in, kissing her softly on the lips, and says, "No one and nothing can beat my Lena and me. I love you, Lena."
Lena's dazzling eyes fill with joy, "I love you, too, Kara."