The Third Incursion

Since the impromptu meeting with Luthor, J'onn had sojourn himself to the Watchtower. They had gleaned just about as much intelligence on the Brainiac probe, Luthor's binary code discovery notwithstanding. It had been some time since the first probe attack and the Martian felt a second wave was imminent.

One of the main purposes of the Watchtower was to monitor the planet of which it orbited. A second purpose was to act as an early detection center for space incursions. The latter was something the Justice League had been paying scant attention to lately and he was determined to rectify that.

Days later and there was not so much as a blip on the radar.

Batman, Flash, and Wonder Woman were all planetside, fulfilling their own obligations. That left the Martian with Hawkgirl for company, the Thanagarian having retreated to the commissary for nourishment. That left him the sole occupant of the Monitor Room, watching the large computer screen as various programs ran.

J'onn couldn't help it. He felt...how did the Earthlings call it? Jittery? Yes, jittery. There was an unease that ran through him, making him excitable. This must have been what the calm before the storm felt like. A long, deep breath just before chaos descended and devastated everything. The absence of activity on the Watchtower sensors only fed into the paranoia.

The doors to the Monitor Room slid open and Hawkgirl entered the room. "Anything new, J'onn?" she called out as she sauntered towards him.

"Nothing as of yet," the green-skinned man intoned.

The Thanagarian came to stand next to him, looking at the monitor. Then out of the corner of his eye, J'onn saw the red-haired woman glance at him. It was quick, perhaps a second or so. "You feel it too, don't you?"

J'onn turned his head to gaze at the shorter woman. "Feel what?"

"The static in the air. The hairs on the back of your neck sticking up. This sense of impending doom."

"Martians do not have hair on their necks."

Hawkgirl rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, J'onn. Something's coming, we just don't know what yet."

"Indeed." J'onn found himself nodding his agreement despite his vocalization of it. "I thought it was just me."

"Believe me, J'onn, it isn't—"

Suddenly, an alarm went off, the computer screen before the two heroes turning red. Immediately, J'onn was at the keyboard, his fingers typing as fast as he could make them go. A window appeared, divided into four smaller screens. Each was of a sensor camera on the exterior of the Watchtower. With a jab of a key, he began to cycle through them all, searching for sensor that caused the alert.

All the while, Hawkgirl did not say anything. She merely leaned towards the screen, eyes staring intently at the images that flashed before her.

The Martain stopped at one view, a small rock coming into view on the screen and vanishing just as quickly. Another window opened up, following after it until it met with the atmosphere and began to burn up in it immediately. There was no cause for alarm, just a typical occurrence in space. The instruments on the Watchtower were quite sensitive.

J'onn was almost willing to breathe out a sigh of relief. The stress of the past few days had begun to take its toll on him, it seemed. That a false alarm could-

"There!" the Thanagarian suddenly announced pointing a finger at one of the windows. Immediately, J'onn enlarged the image, which overtook the other three to fill the entire window. The image was of space, the sensor on the outer side of the station. At first, J'onn did not see what Hawkgirl had, so he began zoomed out into the dark void.

Once, twice, three times he zoomed without picking out anything. Hawkgirl growled next to him, informing him that she indeed see something. Perhaps it was her sharpened eyesight that allowed her such an ability. But then, he noticed movement. It was fast, a flicker of light, and then it was gone.

Suddenly, Hawkgirl took off, racing out of the room. Unsure of what she was doing, J'onn gave chase, taking to flight as he followed the Thanagarian. Darting through hallways, eventually they came to the observation deck, the two heroes landing on the floor.

They were just in time too. What the cameras failed to show to J'onn, he could clearly see now. There was an object approaching the Watchtower. With every passing second, it seemed to grow bigger and bigger until the Martian could discern characteristics of the unknown object. It was large, far larger than any Earth vessel he was familiar with. And there were features as well. If J'onn wasn't mistaken, it looked like a flying skull.

Suddenly, he knew why he hadn't been able to see this flying skull on the camera. The color of it was perfectly blended to the surrounding void of space. He hadn't been able to discern it from its surroundings. Hawkgirl had, however, her keener sense of sight detecting the slightly different shades or hues.

However, as time passed, J'onn came to realize just how large this skull was. In grew and grew and grew until it was clearly larger than the Watchtower. For a moment, the Martian thought it was heading right for the space station, but then he watched as if flew right passed it, heading for Earth.

Immediately, he was in the air, racing back to the Monitor Room. Becoming intangible, he flew through the walls until he reached the room, setting down right before the computer itself. Hitting a button, he opened all communication lines for the Justice League. "Attention all Justice League members, a ship was just seen entering Earth's atmosphere. Its destination is unknown. All League members are to track this object and discover its objective."

Shutting down the line, J'onn then began preparing the teleporter for the station. He and Hawkgirl were going to need to be planetside sooner rather than later.

It seemed the storm's calm had finally crashed.

The call had come moments before. Something big, something large was entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The worst case scenario had to be assumed until proven otherwise. As Batman finished donning his suit, he marched up to the Cave's supercomputer, tapping a few keys. He needed to link up with the orbiting satellites and see if he could track this thing, if not get a good look at it. While it was likely everyone on the planet was going to notice this at some point, he wanted to know before everyone else just what they were up against.

The satellite link-up occurred almost instantaneously and a couple windows appeared on screen. One window was of a digital map of Earth, a red dot flashing over and over on it. A white line with yellow triangles placed at even intervals along it trailed behind the dot, indicate which direction it was going.

On the other window was of a live feed. There wasn't much other than an unknown object much larger that Batman had ever expected, and it was beginning to be engulfed by flames, a result of a massive amount of friction against the planet's atmosphere.

He was going to need a lot of missiles to shoot that thing down.

With both hands now, he began typing on the keyboard, bringing up schematics of his flying wing. A quick diagnostic and briefing on its arsenal was needed and he wanted to know everything he was equipped for.

Suddenly, there was a presence at his side. The vigilante didn't even bother looking over his shoulder-he already knew who was there. Cassandra had seen him begin his preparations and had joined him; clearly she was done donning her own armor.

"This is it, isn't it," she said after awhile.

"I believe so," Batman replied to her. Finally, he glanced towards her. "If I asked you to stay in the Cave, would you listen?"

The younger girl shook her head.

"I thought as much."

"Where do you plan to be?" she then asked him.

"Wherever that thing ends up," he told her, returning his attention to the computer screen. "Be safe in Gotham. Coordinate with the others and do what you have to do to make it out alive, you understand me?"

"I do."

At least she was listening to that. Now—

Suddenly, the computer screen flashed, causing the Dark Knight to pause in what he was doing. Frowning, he stared at the screen until it flashed at him again, only this time it looked as if the images on the screen moved as well. What had previously been at the bottom of the screen was now at the top, looking much like a roll of film where the last part of the previous image and the beginning of the new one were trying to share the view. Slowly, the top scrolled upward, only to reappear back at the bottom the monitor, the rest of the images moving upwards as well.

This had never happened before.

Suddenly, static took over. It was then quickly replaced with all sorts of maps, pictures, images, layouts. Red, yellow, green, and purple flashed over and over, the computer speakers alternating between deep bellows and shrill crackles.

And then an otherworldly, ghastly voice came over. "THIS IS YOUR DOOM."

It was something right out of a horror movie, or even one of those paranormal investigation shows, where investigators pick up inhuman screams and voices. However, Batman's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. Something was successfully hacking into the super computer and was cycling through all of its databases.

Immediately, he was frantically typing on his keyboard. With every keystroke, a shrill sound blared out of the computer speakers, indicating that it was not working. Of course, the source of the hack had to tell him as much.

"YOU CANNOT FIGHT THIS."

Bearing his teeth, Batman pressed on, only to have everything he tried fail. Fighting the hack wasn't working; trying to track the hack to its source had failed. Whomever was behind this, they knew what they were doing. They had found his network's entry point into the world wide web and bypassed all of its countermeasures and hidden ghost networks.

That only left one option.

As much as he hated to do this, there wasn't any other choice. Rushing around the computer, he moved behind it, quickly locating the large cables and cords that connected the super computer to its power source and network connections. Each was coated in a protective tube to ensure corrosion and external damage was prevented.

How he wished they weren't.

Moving up to the ports in which the cables were connected, Batman pushed down on the clasps and then pulled them back. This as hard as he could, he pulled on it, gritting his teeth as he grunted from the effort. There was a squeal of protest even as he began to twist and turn back and forth until the cable finally pulled out of its socket.

Alright, one down. Only five more to go.

Suddenly, the end of a bat-shaped shuriken stabbed right beneath the metal port cap and the flexible cable sheath. Sparks blasted out, nearly making the dark-clad man jump away so as not to be bathed in them. A pair of small hands grabbed onto the other end of the shuriken and began digging it deeper into the cable.

Batman's first instinct was to snap at Batgirl for her impulsive action, severing the wires within when prying them out of the mainframe at least left them still useful. However, that had taken quite a bit of exertion and she didn't have his strength. Time was of the essence as well.

Batgirl had moved onto another wire, having pulled her shuriken out of the first damaged cable and was burying it into the one below. More sparks shot out. It was hard to argue with that kind of result.

Pulling out one of his own bat-shaped shuriken, he then followed his daughter's example and began piercing the next cable just between the sheath and its metal cap. This time he was washed with the spray of sparks as wires were sliced and reacted to the metal projectile. Soon, all of the cables were effectively severed and damaged.

Moving away from them, Batman quickly made his way around the mainframe and was satisfied at the blank screen he saw, along with the lights from the computer station being off. That was one less concern.

Unfortunately, that meant he was without the use of the super computer for the upcoming battle. That wasn't a good thing. There were too many unknowns about this potential enemy and he was not a man to handicap himself.

So if intelligence was denied to him, what did that leave?

Seeing Batgirl emerge from behind the computer as well, he suddenly felt the urge to be secretive. It was his fallback when he was uncomfortable. A hack into his base was just the thing to make him feel that emotion. There was no telling what had been accessed in its brief time.

Yet, there was something that not even the computer would know of and that would serve to be his trump card. As his daughter came to stand next to him, she asked, "What now?"

Immediately, Batman pivoted on his heels and began walking towards a dark corner of the cave. "You come with me," he said without so much as looking at her. "There's something I need to show you and it may be your only refuge if things go horribly wrong."

He didn't hear Batgirl follow him, but he did feel her presence. "What is it?"

"A little place off the grid with the very weapons you'll need," he told her. "And a suit I'm very much going to be needing now."

Steve was listless. Beneath the surface was nothing but turmoil, the memories of his last meeting with Diana on replay and fueling his disgruntlement.

Over the years, the two of them had been growing distant with one another, and it was something he had disliked the minute he recognized it. This distance, once he had given some thought to it, had started around the time the Amazonian princess had signed up to be a member of the Justice League, her crusade for justice taking her more and more out of Gateway and putting it on a global scale.

Knowing Diana, it wasn't intentional that she left him behind; she could be a single-minded woman at times because she knew what she wanted and was going to make it so even if it meant stabbing a god in the eye.

That was a true story right there. The blond-haired man had been there to see it.

Despite the blood, that had been a nice memory, but it had in no way prepared him for the possibility that the dark-haired Amazon would ever consider an alliance or whatever it was with Lex freaking Luthor. It was an open secret what kind of a man that bald psychopath was, but when you had a bunch of politicians and philanthropists singing your praises, it made the detractors harder and harder to be heard. Had to give it to that Fortune 500 bastard, he knew how to play the public relations game.

He had so badly wanted to believe that there was no way the Justice League would have anything to do with LexCorp. Superman was one of their founding members for Christ's sake! What were they thinking and—

A dull-sounding alarm cut through his thoughts and instantly he was on alert. It was a sound he had only heard once, and it had come with a disclaimer that it was a test. You would expect it to be sharp, but it was designed to put you into a state of alarm without needing to put your hands over your ears.

In less than a second, A.R.G.U.S was nothing but activity.

"Bring up visuals! What are we looking at?" one voice called out. On the far side of the room where nothing but multiple monitors were placed, various satellite images of space appeared but nothing but stars could be seen.

"Sensors are picking up something in the atmosphere!" a feminine voice shouted through the din of activity. "It's not breaking up!"

"Is it another Goddamn meteor?" someone else roared.

"Don't meteors break up in the atmosphere?"

"Get a visual on the object, and do it five minutes ago!" Okay, that had been Waller and no one went up against an order from the Wall herself.

Multiple images flashed over the monitors, rapidly switching from angles trying to locate whatever they were trying to find. For a government agency with the kind of technology they had backing it up, you would think it would be much faster to get a visual…

Then the image of something falling, leaving a trail of flames in its wake appeared, and Steve immediately ordered them to stop the search. It had taken too much time to get a satellite in the right position to get this sight, but at least they had done it.

Immediately, Steve didn't like what he was looking at. There was no way that could be a large space rock. Sure, he wasn't the biggest expert on the subject, but rocks and heat had this way about them.

Metal and heat had their own as well.

"Looks like we have another incursion," he announced. "Keep track of where that thing is going and alert everyone we've got. Announce a Def Con One while you're at it. We have no idea what to expect from this thing, so let's assume the worst until proven otherwise."

If everyone was active before, they were more so now. This was it, not some drill. Every satellite they could access, and the ones no one were supposed to know about, were being Shanghaied into keeping track of the unidentified flying object, one that was being labeled as hostile pending further confirmation.

In the meantime, Steve was setting off to get the next phase of this process complete. This part included preparing and sending out a welcoming committee of sorts, one to join up with other military branches. Their country would not have the same response it had during the Kalanorian invasion.

He'd make sure of this personally.

As renovations in his office began, Luthor had settled himself in a new space, one several feet underground and closer to his pet project. No more elevator rides that would waste precious minutes. Time was being crunched as it was.

That meant a few meetings needed to be moved around or flat out rescheduled, some pending decisions about various deals and ventures would be signed off on or refused, and other day-to-day operations delegated so that he could focus more of his time on this.

A.R.G.U.S. and the Justice League had come calling, only one of which had been anticipated. The only thing that was certain is that neither were going to allow him to hold on to the robot for much longer. That just wouldn't do; Luthor was not about to give this up. Not yet.

Time, that's what he needed more of, and if that wasn't possible…

Well, there was more to the CEO than a man of business. A past time, and one he had profited off of many a time was his prowess in technology. Luthor understood tech in ways many of his contemporaries didn't. If you weren't keeping up, you were falling behind, and if you were keeping up, that meant you weren't leading. LexCorp was a leader and a revolutionary in technology. Other "rivals," if you could call them that, were not in his league.

All this led the tycoon to conclude that his personal touch was going to be needed. If nothing else, it would speed up progress now that the facade of normal, everyday activity had been lifted. With his mind, any other secrets kept within that robot would soon be discovered.

Then he entered the new labs that were his prize's new home.

His prize was nowhere to be found.

His staff was in disarray, hurrying about with all the success of a chicken with its head cut off. Happersen was demanding answers, and he wanted them now before the big man himself found about this and find that goddamn robot already!

It was too late for one of those demands.

"Happersen!" he roared, charging towards his lead researcher. "Explain. Now. Where is my robot?"

Like a deer in the headlights, the lead researcher froze up before slowly turning to face him. "M-Mr. Luthor! I—!

"Where. Is. My. Robot?" the bald tycoon snarled as he marched his way to the other man. "Talk to me. Now."

"I… Mr. Luthor. I don't know how to explain this!" Happersen stammered, further testing Luthor's patience. "It was here this morning, I swear to you! Then, then, I can't explain it! Someone noticed it was gone, and, and…" The researcher gestured helplessly about the lab.

Luthor took a deep, calming breath. Then two. "Do explain to me how a marvel of advanced technological make can disappear in a room full of people where it is under constant surveillance...and no one noticed it being taken?"

Like an idiot, Happersen was opening and closing his mouth, trying to find something to say, anything he could say, but was already losing the businessman's interest. Fortunately, one of the technicians thought now was a good time to approach the pair, Luthor still fuming and ready to lash out at the first person to attract his attention.

"Mr. Luthor? I found this."

Away from Happersen, his green-eyed gaze tore from and settled on the technician. The man that had dared to approach held in his hand a small card, one white in color. Snatching it, the bald CEO ran his eyes over it, finding nothing of note until he turned it over.

Staring right back at him was a stylized symbol of a bat.

More precisely, it was the same symbol he had seen on the chest of a lunatic in a Halloween costume very recently.

...how?

How. How had a man, one reputed to make his own turf in Gotham come all the way to a section of his headquarters, one that wasn't on any city map, and kept deliberately that way, and spirit off the prize of the millennium?

For once, Luthor found himself unable to respond in any meaningful way.

It was often said by the superstitious that when it rained, it poured. A small alarm went off, interrupting Luthor's processing of the events occurring in front of him. As if a small part of him wanted the distraction, he gave into it, looking away from the taunting card and towards a large terminal filled with various monitors, keyboards, and buttons. It lined a wall and several technicians were at their stations, quickly getting to work as if their lives depended on it.

In some ways, they weren't wrong.

"What was that?" the CEO growled, his hand clenching closed and crumpling the card it still held.

"An alert or a notification," Happersen answered almost in a trance, though the man's body was acting for him, moving him away from the fuming tycoon. The researcher hurried over to the terminal, and only a few seconds later did Luthor follow after, unwilling to let his employee get too far from him. He overheard the scientist making his inquiries to his subordinates, Luthor willing to wait to hear what would be said.

"A satellite just detected an object entering the atmosphere," one of the technicians was answering. "According to the readings it's big...hold on, I'll put it on screen."

A large monitor, the largest on the terminal lit up with an image, one of a large fireball moving against a blue and white backdrop. Admittedly, it was an intriguing visual, but then details such as landmasses could be picked out in the backdrop and the realization that this fireball was currently in the atmosphere was the only conclusion that could be drawn.

"It doesn't look like it's breaking up," someone remarked.

Which would be natural for any space-based object like a meteor or debris. That meant this could be neither, and given recent events…

What were the odds…?

"Keep track of it," Luthor ordered. "I want round the clock updates. If it doesn't behave normally, if it moves on a trajectory only capable of autonomous objects, I want to know. Happersen, keep looking for the robot, but remember this," a hand gestured to the monitor, "is top priority. If this is another invasion, I want to be informed immediately."

"Understood, Mr. Luthor," Happersen confirmed.

While he sounded like he was in charge, there was a growing lump in the CEO's stomach, one that he vaguely recalled as anxiety. It hadn't taken much to recall that only days ago, one of his idiot employees and inadvertently reactivated the robot, which had promptly sent a transmission. Could this be what it was trying to contact?

Luthor would never take responsibility for what happened next if that was the case. So, to be productive, he was already thinking about something else. If this latest breach was indeed related to that transmission, in what way would he be able to take advantage of it?

How best would he be able to profit from it?

That was the only though in his mind as the second hack began, making its declaration of doom.

There were no signs of atmospheric entry within the ship. No shudder, no shakes, no anything to imply that they had arrived on Earth.

Superman tried to renew his struggles, but again had no success. His heart was pounding in his chest, the fears that Earth was about to face Krypton's fate alive and well and playing out in reality, not just in a dark fantasy.

"I have visited many words, Kal-El," Brainiac remarked, green eyes not leaving the holographic screen. "Each one differed more than the last. Some were a unified species. Others were heavily segregated. What they all have in common is that they built cities, multiple ones."

The hologram had shown nothing but red, the fires of the atmosphere washing over the skull-shaped ship harmlessly. Red was soon being replaced with blue, the same hue as that of an ocean. There were whites, indicating ice, but that rapidly disappeared, becoming only blips that signified clouds.

"It takes much time and analysis," Brainiac continued, practically a stoic statue that made little to no movement. "Only one may be sampled. Only one will remain the last piece of a species' achievement. Such a sample must include as much diversity as possible in order to retain the species at its greatest representation. A large population may suffice. Technological advancement is another factor."

Superman gave a grunt, giving one more heave of his body, but once again not freeing himself. The entrapment of the bio-shell was unyielding, right down to the smallest millimeter. By now, his struggles were being ignored, Brainiac more interesting in his plans.

"Currently, the last analyses are being conducted, cities are being eliminated for failing to meet standards, and this will continue until only one remains. By estimate, only five selections remain. Four." The deep voice was calm, almost clinical in its explanation.

Peering at the alien in his portable bio-shell, the captive Kryptonian tried to make another appeal. "You don't need to do this. Please. The people of Earth, they're not a threat to you."

It was only for a moment that Brainiac was silent. However, that just made the retort all the more scathing. "Who are you to say I need to do. Everything I do, everything I choose to do, I do because I choose to. It is by my will that I commit myself to these actions, and no one or nothing else's. Who are you, Kryptonian? In the grand scheme, you are nothing but a depository of knowledge and nothing else."

"What have they done to deserve your attention? They've done nothing but live their lives. You can't collect them for your zoo or kill them. They don't deserve it!" the Kryptonian argued.

"I would have found them regardless and the result would remain the same," Brainiac stated. There was a pause. "Two remain."

Damn it, damn it, damn it, he could not let this happen! Earth, it had no idea of what had arrived and no way to know what it was truly up against.

"Beginning preparations for arrival," Brainiac commented. "The sample has been identified.

Smoke billowed from the ship. Black smoke poured off of it, surrounding it as if it were nothing more than a cloud than the terrible fate that it was. Streaking through the sky, it flew, leaving its black trail in its wake.

Diana had managed to catch up with it over Egypt. As fast as she was, she was having a difficult time keeping up with it. Calling upon Hermes to boost her speed, she continued to track the smoke-enveloped ship.

Earth's atmosphere had failed to burn the ship up upon entry. The smoke was the result of this, even if there was no end in sight for how much there would be. Glancing below her, she caught sight of a red streak—Flash.

"Flash, are you having trouble keeping up with the ship?" she hailed over the comm link.

"Not at all," the speedster replied immediately. "I'm just keeping my distance in case it decides it wants to rumble."

"Get closer. You will be a first responder when this ship decides what it's going to do." Keeping an eye on the red-clad man, she saw him suddenly pull ahead, rapidly closing the distance between him and the ship. She didn't even need to hear Flash's affirmative to know he got her message.

And then the ship emerged from the smoke. It was slow, but then the smoke dissipated quicker and quicker, hanging onto the ship desperately until it vanished. Soon, all that remained was the skull-like features of the ship, the very ones J'onn had described.

Diana could not help the feeling of doom that settled within her. She rather doubted a friendly force would galvanize through the universe in a ship like this. A part of her suspected it was Brainiac, but there wasn't any conclusive proof as of yet. Considering the probes were an advanced scouting unit, it wasn't a coincidence that this ship's arrival was within such a short amount of time.

"Diana, status report," Shayera suddenly said over the comm link.

"The ship is passing over China, heading East," she immediately reported. "Its speed is incredible. I'm having a hard time keeping up with it."

"Any indication that it is going to stop anywhere?"

"None. While it seems to be descending, it's still high up in the atmosphere." Glancing down again, the Amazon saw they were over the Pacific Ocean now. "I've only just caught up with it several minutes ago. Flash is catching up with it as we speak."

There were several seconds to pass before the Thanagarian responded. "J'onn's telling me that the ship has circled around the planet at least twice by now. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this thing was looking for something."

Perhaps that is what is happening, Diana thought. Up ahead, she could see the coastline of the North American continent. Looking up to the ship, she found that she had actually closed some distance between her and it.

Was it just her or was that thing slowing down?

"Do you have any idea on where it's going?" she asked then.

"Negative. It entered the atmosphere towards the Arctic side of things and has been spiraling in a southern direction since."

"That sounds like its looking for something to me," Flash chimed in.

"Then we need to figure out where it is going and get there before the ship does," Diana said. "J'onn, I think the ship is beginning to slow down. Are you able to calculate an approximate destination?"

There was another silence before, "Not without the proper instruments, no," the Martian answered her. "I could go over a few rough estimates, but there's too many unknown variables."

That wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Then I will get you those variables," she said as she focused on the ship, ignoring the flat plains of the Great Plains. Again, she was drawing closer to the spacecraft. Yes, she was definitely gaining on it.

"Where are you going?" she muttered to herself. "Where are you going?"

"This acquisition is much different compared to previous ones." Brainiac, for whatever reason, had been detailing more and more of his selection process, ignoring or flat out dismissing any and all arguments Superman had been attempting to make.

Since his strength was robbed from him, all the Man of Steel had left were his words, and he was becoming more and more desperate as those too had accomplished nothing.

"I had to take in one addition criteria. Diversity, technological advancement, evolution are some of the primary ones. Contamination needed to be taken into account. What city on this planet has received your particular attention? Based on the analyses of Earth cultures, it is common for a member of the dominant species to select a single settlement to spend the majority of their life span. This is a common trait I have found in multiple races, including Krypton. You will have engaged in this same practice whether due to genetics or immersion in the local environment."

Already, a worst case scenario had appeared in the captive man's mind. Thoughts of people he knew, people he had come to accept as his own, from family, to friends, acquaintances, enemies, and even grateful bystanders. Some cheered for him, others condemned. Some wanted to know everything about him, others accepting what tiny part they had in his life and leaving it at that.

There were two places on Earth that he could think of that were important to him, and one could be scratched off due to the fact it didn't meet Brainiac's standard of diversity. That left only one other possibility that Superman could think of—!

Please, no.

"The analysis concludes," Brainiac stated. "The sample is chosen. We have arrived."

The image from the hologram was chilling, no longer a welcome sight The skyline, the distinctive rooftops of several buildings that were iconic in their own right, and the people below stopping what they were doing to peer up at the ship that hovered over them all like death itself.

"Selecting the ideal perimeter," the alien continued, a small screen opening into existence that showed a map of the city. A solid line drew itself on the small map, marking a large, circular chunk of it. "That will be ideal."

"Brainiac, you have me! Leave them out of this!" Superman tried once more, again struggling with the bio-shell and failing once more to get out of it.

Brainiac ignored him. "Releasing the drones. Commencing with the acquisition."

No, oh God, no Please. Someone, anyone…

...protect Metropolis.