Superman: The Ark of Krypton
By
Jason Richard
Brainiac's core sat in The Ark of Krypton, processing more information than ever as he tried to find signs of Apokolips agents on Earth. After so much time looking Brainiac started to believe that he finally, finally, had a clue as to their whereabouts. It was easy to miss, even for him, but a few images taken by satellite telescopes had stars disappear for one one-thousandth of a second. This could be an effect from cloaked ships going back and forward from the Earth and one of the solar system's moons. Finally, a potential lead.
The fact that Brainiac was only working at 75% effectiveness when he discovered it was...disturbing. So much of his processing was directed towards studying the signal from that Colu probe. Brainiac didn't intend to put so much of his processing power towards that, and yet he found himself doing so. Something like this had never happened to him before.
Then again, he'd never had a conflict between his purpose and his desires before. When serving with Jor-El his desires of scientific advancement had aligned with his purpose, probably by design. Keeping the Ark Safe was also part of his purpose, but he did not...enjoy it as much as his scientific endeavors. It was so strange to think of himself as enjoying something, but he had no better word for it.
And now he had information about the technology he was based on just out of reach. Knowing he couldn't grasp it without compromising his true purpose was...confusing. He's never had such a divide between his purpose and his desires before. He didn't know if an artificial lifeform could go mad, but if they could, then it had to feel something like this.
In the meantime, however, he continued his purpose and messaged Kal-El with the information he'd found. Hopefully, if they could shut down the Apokolips threat, then the Colu probe wouldn't be a problem, and he could study it to his mechanical heart's content.
Hopefully.
…
Lois and Kara went over Lois's notes at Lois's apartment to try and figure out the most likely place for the technology they were looking for. It would have to be something that could activate the radiation poison when it was already in the bloodstream. Something that also emitted radiation would be the cover story.
There were microwaves, radios, lasers, and more. If Kara hadn't been a science student, she would have been surprised by the sheer amount of commercial technology that involved radiation.
However, the most likely candidate in her mind was…
"This one," said Kara.
Lois looked at it and frowned, "That's a weapon prototype. I thought the whole point was to hide it as something else."
"It's hidden as something else," said Kara. "It's supposed to be a laser cannon, but according to this, they haven't had much success getting it working. However, a few modifications and it should activate the chemical we found at the other lab."
"I see," said Lois. "Disguising one type of device that fully functional as another type of device that isn't. Exactly the kind of deviousness I'd expect from Luthor. Lexcorp is easily the worst company I've ever tried to take down."
Kara noted that despite the disgust in her voice, there was a devious grin on her face. They were close to something that could take down Lexcorp, and that made Kara give a little grin of her own.
…
Superman soaked up as much solar energy as he could. After the message from Brainiac, he knew he had to find the Apokolips agents hiding out in space, specifically on one of Saturn's moons. With the solar energy stored within he flew out, ready to find them. Now that he knew where to look he was able to see them. It took about five minutes of staring at that particular moon to discover the ship, but there it was, a sleek, shiny vessel hidden from sight.
Until now.
As he was searching, however, the ship detected Superman's presence and had planned for this. At Superman approached, it sent out a signal.
And back on Earth, a small device no bigger than an ant had snuck into the chamber where Lex Luthor kept the Colu probe. When it received that signal, it began its work, turning the Colu probe on and sending it out. As the Colu device powered up, the small device powered down, hiding its signature.
And both went straight for the Ark of Krypton, where Brainiac waited.