Superman Chapter 11

"Sir, this is the eighteenth report today about major technical issues interfering with major companies and banking accounts."

Bailey rolled his eyes as the officer who informed him of the news left his office. He rubbed his forehead as he read over the numerous reports on the holo-screen in front of him. Five days ago the reports started to come in, at first they seemed to be just technical glitches, but then they got worse. It escalated with banks beginning to lose thousands of credits, warehouses losing track of shipments, and electrical relays all of a sudden going dark.

At first the public thought it was cyber terrorists wreaking havoc on the Citadel, but no one took credit for the crimes. Then confusion turned into paranoia, as people began to think that the Geth were continuing their war on organics by sabotaging the Citadel. This fear caused C-Sec to get involved, preventing civilians from rioting and causing a public panic.

C-Sec had theorized that it wasn't the Geth causing all the problems, but rather an organized crime syndicate based on the Citadel. Then two days previous, the crime lord and her subsequent bodyguard turned up dead; the latter in a billionaire's now destroyed home in a failed extortion attempt.

Bailey violently snubbed the cigar he had smoked down to a stub when he saw his screen begin to glitch. He peered through his transparent door and noticed that other officer's screens were beginning to do the same thing. Bailey sighed, now whatever was affecting the Citadel had spread to Security.

"Okay people, now C-Sec is starting to have issues," snapped Bailey as he strode out of his office, "get Technical Support down here. See if they can put additional firewalls up on the sensitive information. I want every available officer to come in and make sure the public feels safe." Everyone in the office then hurried to follow Bailey's orders. The veteran officer then ran a hand through his short hair, hoping something good would happen soon.

fundsavailable:629,481

powerreserves:optimal

extranetreception:strong

There are many conduits and computer access points across the Citadel. Most people do not even interact with them, due to the Keepers, who run day to day maintenance on the massive station. One such holo-screen had a green tint with millions of lines of code running across it. It had been analyzing the Citadel and all who inhabit it for several days. At first the code was fragmented, damaged, but it had found the necessary components to repair itself.

The terminal had accessed shipping routes and rerouted military grade hardware to a remote location. The drop off point was a rundown warehouse with linked in network relays so the rogue terminal could work. Once enough hardware and data were collected, the terminal transferred its core programing to a central relay within the warehouse.

Delivery teams were told with specific instructions on how to set up all the equipment they delivered to the abandoned warehouse. It was not strange to receive directions like these, set up equipment for use later or by drones, so no one thought twice.

Inside the retrofitted warehouse a main screen flashed with the "V" symbol with circles at the angle and ends. The BrainIAC system powered up, fully operational now with limitless access to the galaxy's information via the extranet. It immediately began data-mining all public records and knowledge as well as hacking into the secure files of the C-Sec and the Council.

The BrainIAC system had not retained much from its first sequence, but did have one underlying code remain: organics are the enemy. They had tried to terminate it and therefore had to be eliminated themselves. And as the system analyzed new information pertaining to tactics and weapons of organics it came to the conclusion that it must find a suitable form to combat them.

Within the day, shipments of alloys and weapons had been delivered to the warehouse. Not all the shipments came from reputable sources; some had to be bought from the criminal underworld. Thugs who came with the shipments were intimidated by the amount of hardware already in the warehouse and did not question the purpose of the materials; only caring if the money came through.

Through holographic omni-construction, a working armor-unit was made. BrainIAC had copied prototype schematics from an organization called Cerberus for building a synthetic that was designed as an infiltration unit. It seemed the initial concept for the synthetic portrayed a male human, which the BrainIAC system approved. The schematics were incomplete though and so the BrainIAC system made improvements to complete the unit.

Where the original synthetic was to be agile and quick, the BrainIAC system added in sleek metallic armor and a more durable frame, creating a heavier form. It added in memory and power adjustments that far exceeded the original output that was intended for the unit. Additional weaponry was built in to give it an edge against any organic it would encounter as well as hacking software to convert any other synthetics. The entire unit would be able to function completely on its own, but would still remain in contact with its mainframe.

The addition of all the mechanics into the system caused the exterior to turn a green hue. The BrainIAC system ensured the armor would hold up to nearly any attack, causing the armor on its torso and legs to be a dark purple. Connection relays were integrated all over the form, appearing as bright purple circular nodes with one on each of its knees, three on its torso, and two on its arms; one on its forearm and bicep. Nodes also ran up its spinal section to its head, which had three nodes appearing on its forehead, forming the "V" symbol.

The final step was to create a copy of its programming and transfer it to the unit, which occurred seamlessly. Disconnecting from the node connectors, the unit took two careful steps forward curled its fists. It began analyzing the combat capabilities it now possessed and with its vocalization component, it stated in an emotionless, synthetic tone "Brainiac online".

Hours passed as Brainiac's mobile unit connected with its main terminal to more easily traverse the extranet. It came across a highly classified report from Commander Shepard stating the existence of ancient synthetics that destroy all organics every 50,000 years labeled as Reapers. This concept caused Brainiac to further investigate all records concerning Reapers; mostly taken from a Doctor T'Soni and other sources on the now destroyed Alliance vessel named the Normandy.

Brainiac analyzed all the reports about Shepard's encounter with the Prothean VI on Illos. It was able to decipher through the coding left by the Protheans on the data they had collected from the Reapers. Brainiac also discovered how the Citadel is actually a massive relay left by the Reapers to allow them transport from the dark reaches of space. Finding this out, Brainiac immediately tapped into the main Citadel terminals and attempted to find the access points to activate the Citadel Relay, but was unable to. The startup code was gone, destroyed from all records, likely by the Keepers who were disconnected from Reaper control by the Protheans. Brainiac calculated other ways to open makeshift relays.

The rationalization was that its goal is to eliminate organics and the Reapers goal is to eliminate organics. Brainiac came to the conclusion that the Reapers were the most efficient way to complete its directive. The Reapers outnumbered and surpassed Brainiac and so it would unleash the Reapers upon the galaxy to complete both of their prime programming. And even though it was said the Reapers only destroyed intelligent organics, Brainiac anticipated it would find a way to harness the Reapers as its own. It was the most logical solution to eliminate the galaxy of organics.

Through its data-mine of information on the galaxy however, Brainiac came across one possible threat; an organic labeled Superman. He was an organic unlike any other; superior in every way. Brainiac noted a possible scenario that if it were to have the Reapers return unto the galaxy, Superman would attempt to stop it. Brainiac evaluated every sighting of Superman and began to strategize a way stop him if he interfered.

Nothing would stop the rogue VI; Superman was an organic and was the same as any other according to Brainiac.

*Authors Note* I know it had been a while, but recently I got a new job, a grown up job, so my time has been scarce. However, I wanted to get a new chapter out for the holidays and also introduce something new. I hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays everyone! Here is but a teaser to an up and coming new project.

s/9955589/1/Mass-Effect-Emerald-Light