Intrusion

The skull ship drew closer. Diana raced like a missile towards it, approaching it at a site above its energy cannon. Batman had flown off towards another area, attempting to locate the place Luthor had boarded.

Arriving, the Amazon began skimming by the ship, looking for a weak point. Considering all of the smaller ships that had been launched, there had to be a docking bay somewhere. The doors to that bay would be their best shot. Normally Diana would have simply made her own entrance, but if she were going to have Batman with her, they needed a place for him to land his Batwing.

It took a few minutes but eventually she found a set of closed doors, ones the showed a top and bottom side. Hovering before them, she eyed the large bay doors, looking for anything that would allow her access. Not seeing anything, she opted for the tried-and-true method of making one. Drawing a fist back, she then rushed the doors, slamming her fist against the doors.

Instantly, the doors dented from her blow. Drawing her other hand back, Diana began pounding fist after fist, making the dent bigger and bigger until a crease appeared between the doors. Placing one hand on one side of the crease and her other hand on the other, she then began pulling them apart, creating a bigger hole.

Soon she had a hole large enough for her to slip through. That wasn't enough for her though. Placing her feet on the bottom door, she then grabbed the top portion, her body coiled. Then she began to straighten herself out, pushing her feet down and pulling her arms up. For a moment, she didn't move. Then came a groaning sound and the doors began to open against their will. Soon, the dark-haired woman had her legs extended out as far as she could stretch them, her arms above her head.

Bending her legs again, she then launched upward, slamming into the top door, forcing it further upward. Soon, the entire top door was open, the bottom partially. "Batman," she then hailed over her comm link, one hand pressed up against her ear. "I've found a way in."

"Roger that. On my way," came the vigilante's reply.

Dropping her hand, Diana then drifted into the docking bay, seeing it mostly empty. There were places for the smaller fighter ships to park, three of which were still in place. There was no sign of Luthor's ship though, so it was certain he hadn't come through here. For now, this place seemed secured.

Of course, the moment she thought that, an alarm began to blare.

There was no corresponding flashing light, for that she was thankful. Many a time she would hear an alarm go off and a flashing red light would begin. That gave her a headache most times. Touching down on the floor, Diana prepared herself for an armed guard to appear.

She was not disappointed. A door on the far side of the docking bay opened and more of those drones appeared. They marched in, their metal feet clashing against the metal floor. A few raised their hands up and began firing those energy blasters of theirs.

Immediately, Diana raised her own arms up, bouncing any close blast off her silver bracers. The first ricochet flew right into the face of one of the robots, destroying it as its head jerked backwards and then its body collapsed to the floor. A few other ricochet blasts hit the walls with minimal damage, but then Diana got used to the angle and patterns the robots were firing at her. Soon, she was bouncing back each blast and hitting the drones more times than not. Eventually, this caused the robots to stop their march.

The moment they did, Diana launched herself into the air, rushing towards them as she held both of her arms in front of her, using her bracers as shields to ward off more energy beams. Rapidly she closed in on one drone, at the last second drawing a fist back and then slamming it right into the side of its skull-like head. The force of her blow shattered the side of its head, causing it to jerk to a side as the rest of its body began to follow suit. Immediately, Diana shot her other hand out and grabbed onto its extended arm, soon followed by her other hand clamping down on it. Yanking it off the floor, she began to spin around, swinging the robot onto she rammed it into another drone, knocking that one off of its feet and sending both flying away.

That left her with the remaining drones as they began to turn their bodies to fully face her. Seeing one immediately in front of her, Diana once again took to flight, rushing it and slamming right into its body. Lifting it off the floor, she forced the robot backwards, crashing into one of its comrades right behind it and hauling it off the floor as well. Another one joined the group she collected and Diana forced them backwards until they smashed right into the wall. The force in which they hit caused the robots to shatter, their bodies crumbling into different parts to the floor.

Spinning around, Diana raised her arms in time to begin bouncing away more of those energy beams, her arms becoming a blur as they moved in an intricate pattern familiar to her.

That was when a hail of bullets suddenly struck the robots from behind. Their bodies began to jerk and dance spastically as the bullets tore through them, a few of which exploding from the damage of the others crumpled to the floor. Keeping her arms up, Diana looked between them and saw the Batwing slowly entering the docking bay. It seemed Batman had found her.

As the dark jet landed, the canopy slid open and the Dark Knight hauled himself out, dropping to the floor next to it. He then approached her, cape surrounding his body as he surveyed the remains of the drones. "You didn't take your time finding the guards," he remarked.

The Amazon smirked at him. "What can I say, trouble has a way of finding me."

Batman continued his observations, not even so much as offering her a smirk for her quip before he said, "I don't see Luthor's ship."

"He must've have entered somewhere else," she supplied as an answer. "Shall we go find him?"

He gave her a sharp nod. "We shall."

It was like looking at another world, but it was one that truly, and utterly, fascinated Luthor. Yes, there was a chill in the air, but there had to have been a way to insulate the metal confines of this place, one that would ensure that the cold acted as ventilation rather than a result of laziness.

There was a certain lack of decoration, as if the creator had not cared for personal flourish. There was no mark to found, no signature to see, or another that indicated pride in the construction of this marvel.

His awe aside, the CEO was on a mission, one that he was inputting into his gauntlet.

"I'm doing a quick scan, seeing if I can't download anything from the ship's central mainframe. I'm putting a priority on anything that gives a layout," Luthor told Mercy, not looking up at his chauffeur and bodyguard.

"Can you find any signs of security?" Mercy responded, on guard and constantly checking their bleak surroundings.

It was a very practical question. Had Luthor been the builder of all this, security would have been a must. "I'm already scanning for any threats. So far, we're undetected."

And he preferred to keep it that way. Fighting and pointless violence were so beneath him, but he did understand the need for force every once in a while. Words, negotiations, persuasion, and coercion were all his preferred methods of handling any situation. However, there were always those stubborn fools who thought they were either better than him or flat out resisted.

There was a reason why LexCorp was one of the largest global conglomerates. When words, proposals, and '"understandings" failed, brute force often tended to pick up the slack.

It was another reason why he kept himself fit. You never quite knew when a healthy lifestyle came back to provide dividends.

Tapping the keypad, the infiltrating tycoon focused on the cyber aspect of this operation. So far, his intrusion was undetected; definitely a bonus for Happersen was in the immediate future. The researcher had designed the program to blend in with the cyberstructure from which it had been inspired by. If nothing else, it would buy time before they were detected.

"There we go," Luthor praised. On the small screen, a map of the ship had appeared, zoomed on to their current location. Now for some digital wizardry. It was time to find the grocery store of this fantastic place and do a little shopping.

It was maybe a moment later, but he seemed to have found something promising. "This way," he instructed Mercy. Holding his gun in front of him, Luthor took the first steps forward while his bodyguard picked up the rear.

So far everything was going according to plan, with an exception. Much of his city may be gone, but if he played his cards right, he could still come out on top. LexCorp had multiple branches located throughout the country and across the globe. Bringing back some goodies ought to fill the rage-filled hole in his chest. And perhaps, maybe he could stop this invasion single-handedly. His name would be back on the lips or every man, woman, and child, and in a positive light no less. Then—

The ship slightly shook, but the tremors were enough to bring Luthor to an abrupt stop. What the hell had that been? Wait, wait, don't tell him some of the nutjobs out there decided to grow a brain and somehow figure out the trick with the force field.

"Lex, we have company," Mercy warned, and in response, the CEO looked over his shoulder and further down the hallway. Several bug-like robots had prowled into sight and were zeroing in on the two of them. Various lights of a pale red flashed, and then the ship security was descending on the warpath.

"Typical," Luthor growled as he turned around fully, aiming his firearm, and opening fire.

Much of what was left of Metropolis was emptying out, the people fleeing the skull ship's continuous blasts straight into the planet's crust. Much less dirt and dust were coming out of the hole with each hit, but that was not a good thing.

Unfortunately, even as Hawkgirl flew about, she was unable to see what she could really do about this. Her mace, while close to indestructible, was not invincible. The amount of energy being fired was strong enough that anything unlucky enough to get caught in it would be vaporized in an instant. Hell, flying too close was enough to make her want to pull back due to the intensity.

Damn it, how were they supposed to fight this thing?

Reaching her hand up to her mask, specifically her comm link, she called out, "Anybody have any idea on how we stop this thing?"

"I'm here on the ground, and right now have bupkis," Flash responded right away. "I've tried some stuff. None of it worked, so I'm hoping one of you guys might have a plan."

She hadn't expected too much from the speedster, though not because she thought less of him. She knew what Flash was capable of, or at least thought she did, and to hear he had tried anything showed that her fast friend was willing to try anything. Speed, unfortunately, was proving not to be an advantage.

."I myself am unable to offer a plan," J'onn spoke up next. "The force field resists my every effort to move through it, and while the blasts are not physical, I highly doubt I would be able to phase through it."

Oh come on! She had hope that the Martian…but J'onn was not indestructible either. Sure, he could do that thing that made him able to walk through walls, but like he said, this wasn't something physical They needed someone or something that could not get vaporized in an instant and was able to resist the force behind the blasts too...but the only one who had even a chance was still MIA. Where was Superman when you needed him?

The skull ship was powering up another blast, and Hawkgirl viewed it as an insult. Here they were, the Justice League, and they were unable to do what they were supposed to do. What were they supposed to do against this thing, this Brainiac? The only other person with a plan had slipped off with the princess, but what Batman planned to do, she could only guess.

As the hovering ship readied to fire, she could only glare at it. Would it provide her with some clue, some kind of weakness that she or one of the other two could exploit? So far the answer was no.

Then a solid, green light appeared right in front of the ship, placing itself between the planet and the weapon. It grew and grew until a thick mass of it was floating right there, and it took a moment for Hawkgirl to realize that this wasn't some light show, but a construct.

The beam fired down and into the green construct.

To her surprise, this shield of sorts held, the energy from the blast unable to penetrate it. While not detonating, that meant the energy had to go somewhere, and it was shooting out from the sides, harmless streaking through the skies.

That's when she saw...them. At first, Hawkgirl had begun to wonder just how strong a Green Lantern ring was because there was no way a single ring was capable of that. But then she saw the black and green uniforms and the distinct lack of human traits. Whipping her head about, she kept finding more and more of them, some humanoid, others in shapes and sizes that were as far away from human as you could get. Arms, tentacles, and other appendages were held out, and telltale glows from rings she knew too well supported the giant shield while others were used offensively against the small forces.

This was a veritable army, the Green Lantern Corps coming out in force.

"Hawkgirl!" one of the Lanterns called out, and in no time, John glided to a stop before her. "What's the situation? We just got here!"

The situation? Gesturing out to the destroyed city below, "You're late, that's the situation! We've already lost Metropolis and now Brainiac's trying to destabilize the core! Were you taking your sweet time getting back here or something?!"

To his credit, the Green Lantern showed no signs of being cowed. His gaze did flicker downwards, causing a slight grimace. "All that matters is that we're here now. We can still save Metropolis, but first we need to stop Brainiac."

Hawkgirl blinked at the dark-skinned human. "Save? You're too late! We've already failed! Metropolis is gone!"

"Listen to me," John commanded, his tone silencing her. His glowing green eyes stared at her down, refusing to fight her anger. "Brainiac doesn't destroy cities, he shrinks them. He has it in that ship, so first, we have to stop it before it can try to escape. We can still win this."

There was quite a bit of force in the Lantern's words, and all the emotional turmoil made her usually sharp mind a little slower than normal. Shrank? As in, that large hole in the ground had been shrunk? Wait—he? But wasn't Brainiac some AI program?

"Whoa, GL, you came packing! Nice!" Flash exclaimed. "No wonder it took you so long getting back, you brought a freaking army!"

Lowering his tone, John said, "Shayera. I need you to focus and get your head back into the game. We can still win, but we need everyone on deck. So long as we can keep Brainiac here, we can stop him from attacking another planet. We can end this today, but only if we're calm. Are you ready to kick some ass with me, or not?"

The last words were what brought the Thanagarian back to the present moment. Gripping the handle of her mace, she hefted the weapon up and gave a small smirk. "Point me where I need to go."

"Hey, John! It looks like we have company!" a Lantern called out, directed their attention to a new wave of aerial fighter being released from the skull ship.

"I think that's a good start right there," John said, balling his hand into a fist, his ring beginning to intensity in its glow.

She couldn't agree more.

"This was unexpected."

The Coluan observed the arrival of the Green Lanterns, and watched as the self-policing force of will-powered warriors blocked the firing of his ship's cannon, preventing further penetration of the planet's crust. In time, he was sure that he would be able to break through, but it was an effort that would cost too much time and was highly inefficient now.

Focusing his mind, Brainiac issued the commands necessary to release more of his forces. There was an emphasis on those with flight capabilities, and the objective was to engage a hostile enemy force.

There was only one reason for the Corps' presence: his apprehension. Brainiac was well aware of the Guardian's attempts to track and incarcerate him. It was why he had deliberately sought out and incorporated stealth technology into his ship. It had also served as further motivation to increase efficiency in his collections.

This did not mean he had allowed himself to become idle in the meantime. It had been anticipated and planned for that the Green Lanterns would eventually catch up, whether it was through an ambush, careful calculations, or sheer dumb luck. There was a part of the Coluan that desired to capture several of them; the last one had not been able to withstand his experiments for very long, only allowing him to gain the most basic of information about the Corps' abilities.

Once that Lantern had expired, the ring from which all members were granted their power had escaped, and done so in an entirely unanticipated manner. Brainiac had decided then and there to not chance his freedom any more than necessary; there had been no need to tempt defeat by actively antagonizing an organization of such large numbers where an individual who knew what they were doing would eventually engage and triumph over him.

"Looks like things aren't going your way."

Brainiac paused for a nanosecond, regarding the so-called Kryptonian's words.

"This outcome had been anticipated and prepared for long ago," the Coluan answered needlessly. "The Corps' intervention does change how events proceed from here. Since drilling consumes too much time, it will be a method that is not considered for future acquisitions until such time as it becomes more efficient. For now, I will fall back to a more efficient method of planetary elimination."

There was a period of time where the Kryptonian was silent. "What are you planning?" the prisoner inquired warily.

Maybe it was because this acquisition had resulted in nothing that the Coluan could use to further enhance and improve himself, thus wasting his time, but he answered the redundant question as the answer should have been clear. Perhaps the method was beyond the inferior man's cognitive abilities, but that would not stop an opportunity to educate.

"It is the more common method I have found, one far more efficient and less time consuming," Brainiac stated, inputting the commands. "It is a method of my own invention. A missile I will launch will be targeted to this planet's nearest star, its sun. The contents of the missile are a material I myself have created that is capable of unleashing the powerful nuclear energies held within the star. In effect, it releases a solar flare with the power of a supernova. It is more than enough to destroy this planet as well as the Green Lanterns present."

Any other words the false Kryptonian said or would say were ignored. They were meaningless and held no power to change what was to come. The commands were already being followed and the missile was being prepped. In minutes, it would be ready to fire and then this acquisition would be complete.

It wouldn't be the first time the shields had successfully held against this particular act. After all, it was this scenario that they had been designed, upgraded, and eventually completed to handle.

A notification brought a pause. Another unexpected outcome had materialized: intruders had managed to board without his authorization or permission. How was that possible? How had these intruders bypassed his shields? Now that was something to investigate and in the future update the shield.

The annoying buzzing from the pseudo Kryptonian started to break through his cognitions, and the Coluan found himself interrupting, "Save your strength, Kal-El. Within the span of an hour, Earth will be no more. There is nothing you, your allies, or the Green Lanterns can do to stop it."

It was truth, and there was no denying the reality. Let lower lifeforms debate it, but Brainiac had yet to fail, and all oversights, including this one, had been dealt with. The remaining mess would be addressed and then the former status quo would be reestablished.

And he would be all the more knowledgeable for it.

Large did not do the chamber justice. Neither did enormous. Gigantic was close.

Batman quickly came to the conclusion they were less in a chamber than just a large empty space, space which was filled with walkways of various levels. Though they criss-crossed across the place, not a single pathway intersected.

Kneeling on one such pathway, the vigilante ran two fingers across its smooth, polish surface. Wrapping a couple knuckles against it, he was certain it was of some metallic compound based off of the dull sound it made. Lining the edges of the walkway were lights, each one placed an even interval from its neighbor.

For a brief moment, he wondered if this alien metal was conductive.

Hearing the sounds of laser blasters, he looked over the edge of the walkway he knelt on. Down below he saw Diana standing firmly, her arms weaving an intricate pattern in front of her as she blocked the laser fire being directed at her from several drones. One such blast shot by the dark-clad man, a result of a ricochet, which he didn't even flinch from.

Ever since the two of them had boarded the ship, they had been confronted by Brainiac's guards—a veritable army of them. At one point, he had been forced to grapple up to the current walkway he was on while Diana took the brunt of their attack. That had been mere moments ago.

Pulling out a bat-shaped shuriken, Batman activated the electrical system within, causing bolts of electricity to dance over it. "Diana, get into the air," he called out before he threw the shuriken down to the lower walkway.

The projectile whirled down through the air until it hit the targeted walkway, one end of its sharpened wing embedding itself into the metal surface. By then, Diana had taken to hovering at least a foot in the air, just in time to avoid the sudden electrical current that was suddenly conducted by the walkway. In fact, the entire bridge was electrified, delivering a shock that affected every drone on it. From his perch, Batman watched as the robots seized, their upper bodies beginning to dance from the shock until they exploded. One by one, then two, then all of them blew into pieces, sending their parts flying off of the walkway and down into the abyss below.

Diana watched the show for a moment before she flew upward, arriving in front of the Dark Knight with a smile on her face. "Nice," she complimented him before landing next to him on the walkway.

Standing up, he returned gruffly, "Thanks." He then glanced around them. "I doubt that's the last of them, though."

"Ever the optimist." The Amazon hadn't lost a bit of her good humor, not even when a few more drones suddenly landed loudly further down the walkway. By his count, there were three...no, four, the front-most one already raising its arm up to again fire on them.

Diana didn't hesitate. Immediately, she hurled herself through the air, racing towards the robots before they could even fire off one shot. Letting out a war cry, she threw a fist, one that nailed the first robot in the face, knocking it to one side and off the walkway, sending it falling to its doom. Bending that same arm, she then lunged towards her next target, ramming her elbow into the drone, knocking it off balance. The entire time she remained in midair, which allowed her to swing her legs up, one of which slammed right into another robot. The force of the kick sent it flying backwards, crashing into the robot behind it, the two careening backwards until they landed further down the walkway.

That's when a loud thud went off behind Batman. Whipping himself around, he found himself face-to-face with a drone. His first instinct was to punch the thing, but he knew better. It took someone of Diana's strength to toss them around like ragdolls and he was definitely not in that weight class.

So he hesitated, which allowed the drone to raise one of its clawed hands and thrust it at his face. He reacted then, twisting his body and head out of the way of its arm while simultaneously grabbing onto it with his hands. One hand latched onto the wrist whereas the other went right into the axillary of the robot. Kicking a foot out, he landed a blow to the side of the robot's knee, which thankfully had the same construction as a human's. That was why the knee buckled, throwing the robot off-balance. Pulling on the wrist even as he raised his other hand up against the underside of the robot's shoulder, Batman leveraged the machine up into the air and threw it over the edge of the walkway.

For a moment, the vigilante watched the robot fall into the depths, but then his internal alarm went off, immediately sending him diving to a side, going into a roll over his back as he ended up on his feet. Where he had been standing, another robot landed, the metal walkway denting from the landing.

So, it wanted to play that way. Reaching to his belt, Batman pulled out J'onn's EMP device, taking aim with it at his new foe and firing the pulse. Instantly, the robot slumped where it stood, the light in its skull-like eyes going out. Good, the device worked even inside Brainiac's ship.

That's when he heard footsteps. Looking beyond the inactive robot, he saw Diana sauntering towards him, her hands on her hips. "Having fun?" she asked him as she came up to the drone, raising one foot to kick it in its side and knock it off the walkway.

"Moderately."

"So where to now?"

Suddenly, more of the laser beam flew by, miraculously not hitting either of them. Batman spin around even as he dropped to one knee, Diana suddenly rushing by him and putting herself in front of yet another armed guard, her bracers bouncing the beams away.

"This is getting old," she grumbled. "Where are we supposed to go now?"

Anywhere, but here preferably. Batman looked away from their new attackers. The current walkway didn't seem to have an end if they were to follow it, not that he wanted to with robots attacking them. Looking over the edge, he saw a similar sight with the walkway below them. That just left above.

When he tilted his head, he found another walkway as expected, but that one actually had a visible door at one end. Pulling out his grapple, he fired it towards the walkway, hearing the claw strike metal and feeling the line go taut. Hitting the retraction button, he grappled up to the new walkway, trusting Diana to follow him shortly.

As he drew near the higher bridge, he began to swing his body back and forth. By the time he reached the walkway, he had created enough of a swing to send up flying up over the edge of the metal bridge, landing on it a moment later. Disconnecting the cable, he quickly loaded another cable cartridge into the grapple. No sense in trying to retract the old line, there wasn't really time for it.

Batman then turned his attention to the doorway, just in time for Diana to join him. A few of the laser beams pelted the walkway, but for the moment they were safe from it. "Ladies first," he said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Diana replied before she passed through the doorway, the vigilante following behind her. They were soon in a narrow corridor, one that was thankfully short as they reached a set of doors. Not even bothering to open then, Diana pulled a fist back and then threw it.

The moment her fist hit the doors, they were both knocked out of their frame and sent crashing into the room beyond. Striding into it, the two warriors were on their guard.

The first thing Batman noticed were all of the cables that seemed to hang from some unknown ceiling above them. At the ends of the cables were oblong...things. Batman didn't pay them much mind as there were too many to count. It was obvious this room was quite large as well, though it was clear there was some sort of purpose for it.

Then he heard a gasp. Directing his attention to Diana, he saw her looking towards what was best described as a cocoon. Tall with smooth sides, and circular pink lights glowing along it. It curved almost form-fittingly, holding tightly onto the prisoner held within it

And peeking out from on top of it was Superman's head.

Immediately, the Amazon rushed towards the man, faster than Batman could keep up. "Superman!" she cried out, though it was apparent the dark-haired man was unresponsive.

Senses on high alert, Batman followed after his comrade, eyes darting every which way. His instincts screamed that this was a trap of some kind. No way would anyone in their right mind simply leave a restrained Superman all on his own.

It was because of this he noticed red light flowing down onto the man. Batman narrowed his eyes at the sight of them. As he arrived next to the two Leaguers, he took stock of the Kryptonian. Though there wasn't much of him exposed due to his restraints, what was visible didn't do the man justice. It looked as if he had been taken out to the woodshed and beaten.

That was not a comforting thought.

Diana raised a hand up and pressed it against the Kryptonian's face. A frown covered her own a moment later. "He's cold," she spoke. "And sweaty. Like he just broke a fever."

An illness? For some reason Batman was flabbergasted by that. He hadn't known the Man of Steel to be sick, so showing signs of illness was foreign to him. "Superman, wake up," he barked at the man.

Diana shot him a reproachful look before she said soothingly, "Kal-El, it's us. Your friends." She stroked the side of his face, her fingers brushing through his hair.

A groan came from the man and his eyelids fluttered open. "Diana?" he spoke wearily, looking dully at her before his eyes slid over to the Caped Crusader. "Batman?"

That was when a dull thud echoed throughout the room. Spinning around, Batman saw no sight of a threat, though that didn't mean much, not here. The sound echoed again, then again, imitating footsteps.

In fact, they were.

That's when Superman's eyes sharpened. "Brainiac," he growled.

As if on cue a man appeared, emerging from around Superman's restraints. His bald, green head stood out in comparison to the space-age, metallic suit he wore. Cables from the ceiling hung towards him, connecting to various ports in his head.

A blank, stoic look was on his masculine features. "So, you are the intruders," he greeted, his tone emotionless. "I must congratulate you on bypassing my shield. I was not aware that it could be breached—an error I will fix in the near future."

"So you're Brainiac," Diana returned, facing the man as she fell into a defensive stance. "The one that destroyed Metropolis."

"And you are the one Kal-El refers to as an Amazon." For a brief moment, he seemed to focus on the dark-haired woman. Then, "I have no need of you. All of the relevant files on Amazonian culture have been obtained and scanned. Further study is not warranted."

Study? Batman wasn't sure what was meant by that. That was until Brainiac turned his attention to him and repeated the process. If he seemed dull by his disregard of Diana, there was a slight disgusted tone in his voice when he said, "And you are a human—unexceptional and redundant."

For some reason the vigilante felt insulted. Maybe because he was.

"Still your tongue," Diana snarled. "You are invading our home and have harmed our friend. You will release him and leave our world."

Her words didn't faze the green man. "That I will not do. There are still many things I can learn from the Kryptonian and partially of yourself. I have already obtained an optimal sample of your planet's society and culture, so my interest with this planet has been satisfied. However, I cannot permit the continued existence of this planet."

Something about what Brainiac had said was bothering the Dark Knight. He wasn't sure what was meant by "obtaining an optimal sample" since the Justice League had practically followed the skull ship around the world until it came to its current destination.

"Metropolis…" came a tired voice. Glancing over his shoulder, Batman could see Superman looking pointedly at him and Diana. "He took Metropolis."

Took? Not destroyed?

As if in response, one of the oblong objects moved, drawing everyone's attention. "Indeed. This is my sample of your world. Rest assured I will care for it in spite of its...contaminations," Brainiac spoke.

Batman's eyes widened at the sight. As he got a better look at what was best described as a jar, he could make out part of the Metropolis skyline. And there was the Daily Planet and the LexCorp headquarters.

And then realization struck the vigilante. All of these oblong jars, they were different worlds. Every place Brainiac had ever been and subsequently destroyed, a piece of those worlds rested here.

And now it was Earth's turn.

"You will return Metropolis to us," Diana demanded, her posture becoming more hostile, offensive in stance. "Now."

"As I've already told you, I will do no such thing," Brainiac rebuffed, take a step closer to them, his stance belligerent and forceful.

"Then we will take it from you by force," the Amazon princess retorted, falling into a defensive pose, one that could turn offensive in a second.

The larger alien's eyes narrowed. "You may try, but you will find the outcome to not be in your favor."