Chapter 13

Hamiltin knew this was his moment, the moment to fix everything he had done.

After he had been let go of the STG and stripped of all his clearances and titles, he thought his life was done. He stumbled around from place to place, trying to figure out what to do next, when he arrived on the Citadel and saw what was happening to everything.

Strange patterns formed across screens, symbols he recognized from his work with the Brain Incept Auxiliary Construct. He immediately realized his worst fear had come true; the VI had breached the firewalls that day in the lab and accessed the extranet.

After a few dozen panic attacks, he tried to get a hold of C-Sec or anyone who would listen, but everyone was too busy dealing with the cyber-attacks. He wanted to contact Dr. Solus, but did not want to drag his career down as well. Hamiltin even had the idea to get a hold of Superman, though he had no clue where to begin.

The scientist finally took matters into his own hands and began to search for all the information he could. Searching for the familiar code through the extranet, he started to get a clue as to what his creation was up to. Though he could not pinpoint where the BrainIAC's main hub was, he intercepted several files that showed blueprints for a massive device to be built next to a star. Digging deeper, Hamiltin found the coordinates for the structure and immediately chartered a private shuttle to the location.

He was captured almost instantly as he entered the Dholen system.

Geth ships swarmed his shuttle and brought him to a fortified location on the planet Haestrom. The Geth units said nothing to him as was shoved into prehistoric Quarian bunker. Moments later the main door opened again and in stepped Hamiltin's creation.

It had acquired a body and made vast improvements upon it, but the distinct symbol on its head revealed it was the BrainIAC. Hamiltin was speechless; he could not believe what he was seeing, how much the VI had attained and accomplished. The machine broke the silence.

"Salarian. Male. Emil Hamiltin. Creator. Threat." The words were spoken with a coarse monotone voice as it analyzed Hamiltin. Then it left as soon as it had arrived, walking out of the main door as two Geth troopers replaced him and stood guard. Hamiltin breathed heavy thinking of all the destruction BrainIAC could unleash upon the galaxy.

That was all several hours ago, now the Geth guards had left their post and locked the door behind them. Something was happening and Hamiltin knew he was only going to have one shot at reaching out to someone. He realized far too late that when trying to create something that could defeat the Reapers, he inadvertently created something possibly stronger than them.

The whole time Hamilitin had been working to improve the archaic console that was in the stone bunker. He did not need to do much, only get a message out to anyone nearby. After hours of work and adjustments he was finally able to code a message that bypassed the Geth's network to any local source. The salarian nervously waited for a response and his heart nearly skipped a beat when someone acknowledged his message.

Hamiltin was about to encode more details about where he was when the all too familiar code signifying BrainIAC appeared on the console. He had been blocked out. The scientist hoped that his first message was enough; at least someone now knew he was there.

"One day you'll face challenges unlike anyone has ever seen and when those days come, I know you'll be ready"

His adopted father's words echoed in his head as Superman gathered his thoughts. The ruby sunlight shined in his eyes as he started to regain his focus and see what he was up against. Ahead of him was a humanoid looking figure with dark purple and green armor. Bright purple nodes were scattered all of its body as it floated in the nothingness of space.

The more Superman stared at it, the deeper he scanned and realized this figure was not organic. The insides of the synthetic were unlike anything he had ever seen. Then through the silence of space, Superman's earpiece screeched as the armored machine spoke.

"Organic identified: Superman. Leave now or be eliminated."

Superman was taken back. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked around the threatening synthetic. Behind it was a colossal structure that seemed to be built directly onto the system's star. The structure seemed to be supported by intense energy shielding, protecting it from the gravity and heat of the star. Superman could see Geth inside the structure working to insert large amounts of eezo directly into the star through an advanced transit way.

It was as Superman feared. The scientist Mordin Solus spoke of had created a VI that built itself a body, hacked a Geth army and constructed a massive eezo pump into a star, all to release techno-gods upon the galaxy. Superman sighed to himself as he put on his face mask so he could speak back to the machine, hoping to reason with it.

"You don't have to do this, Dr. Hamiltin," speaking directly to the one Superman thought was controlling the synthetic, "we can work this out." The bot showed no emotion in its human-looking green face. It seemed to be computing an answer as it flashed green codes across eyes.

"This unit is the Brain Auxiliary Incept Cortex. Fulfilling primary objective. Superman is a threat to objective."

Superman tried to process what he was hearing. The synthetic spoke in a single emotionless tone. He had already been attacked once by this VI, but Superman was hoping that was a lucky punch and knew this needed to end now.

"Look Brainiac," Superman recounted what the machine had called itself and shortened it, "I can't let you do this. Whether you come peacefully or not, I will put a stop to it." Superman uncrossed his arms and began to float towards the VI.

Brainiac remained steadfast as Superman got closer, "This unit cannot allow that." Brainiac then glanced over its right shoulder to a small armada of Geth ships. The bug-like ships came to life and started to spray the space around Superman with bright plasma.

Superman raised his arm to shield himself from the oncoming fire. The weaponry was a nuisance to him as he saw Brainiac turn in space and fly away with boosters under its feet. About to give chase, a Geth fighter crashed into Superman, sending him slightly back with the debris. Soon after he was swarmed with fighters as the plasma fire continued from the dreadnoughts.

Superman dove between the small fighter ships as the large dreadnought fire collided with some of its own fighters. The occasional blast struck Superman as he streaked though space, trying to lead the Geth away from the star. With his eyes he followed Brainiac reach the red star and enter the massive structure.

Wishing he still had the power he possessed under a blue star, Superman led the bulk of the armada far away from the star. He then shot himself through the dreadnought, disabling it and scattering the fighters. Superman knew that they would soon recover from the attack and so pushed himself to the star hoping he was not too late.

Brainiac had inserted itself into the mainframe of the giant structure. While conducting precise measurements on the eezo being moved into star, it monitored Geth channels. Superman had temporarily evaded them and was on his way to the structure.

It did not matter however. At the rate the eezo was being pumped into the star's core, all it would need to do is send an intense pulse of concentrated electrical energy to set off the eezo and destabilize the star. Brainiac began to make the final preparations for the structure to begin storing the necessary power. Brainiac 'awoke' from its connection and walked forward from the detaching node lines.

All it needed to do was stall Superman long enough for the return of the Reapers, for no organic can stand against them. Brainiac prepped all its systems for combat, ready to stall and if possible eliminate the Superman. It launched itself out of the mainframe and twisted onto a collision course with the incoming Superman.

Superman could see Brainiac flying towards him, which meant whatever it was doing in the structure was complete and now was just stalling him. Hoping he could overpower the synthetic, Superman tightened his outstretched in front of him and aimed right for Brainiac.

Brainiac did not falter as it and Superman streaked towards each other. Superman braced for impact as he put everything he had into making sure this attack would damage Brainiac. As soon as Superman had reached the android, it twisted itself with pristine timing and grabbed both of Superman's arms throwing him back in the direction he had come.

Superman flipped through space unsure of what just happened when Brainiac appeared in the corner of his eyes already readying another strike. Stabilizing himself, he let heat gather in his pupils before letting loose overwhelming searing waves of energy towards Brainiac.

Brainiac raised a hand to the incoming volley of heat waves and let the rays of energy strike an unseen energy shield. The solar energy that was released from Superman's eyes fueled Brainiac further as he absorbed the power. The beams stopped as Brainiac got closer to Superman.

Rethinking his strategy, Superman curled a fist and swung it towards the robot's head, only for it to be deflected by its armored arm. Countering the attack, Brainiac launched an uppercut directly into Superman's stomach that caused him to grimace. Angered by how much he had underestimated the machine, Superman thrust his head into Brainiac's, separating them.

Superman looked at Brainiac and then at the structure behind it, knowing he had to somehow get past the android and shut it down. Without hesitation Superman jetted forward, tackling Brainiac and began flying on a crash course towards the structure attached to the star.

Brainiac was caught off guard by the attack, anticipating another long range attack. Clutched in Superman's arms, Brainiac rotated its head 180° to see that Superman was directing him to crash into the pumping station. Swinging its head back around, Brainiac's hands formed into solid blades that were ionized with red solar energy and drove them up into Superman's abdomen. Superman slowed down due to the surprise, he had never been stabbed before.

Superman tried to readjust himself, but the pain was unbearable; the blades seared his insides as Brainiac dug them deeper. Finally he had to let go and shove the android away from him, removing its blades in the process from his stomach. Blood floated in front of Superman as he covered his wounds. He could feel the yellow solar reserves from his suit already healing his body as he watched Brainiac compose itself.

Code flashed before Brainiac's eye lenses as it faced the wounded Superman. On its coded command, the now functional Geth Dreadnought fired upon Superman from his right side, causing him to raise his arms in defense. Brainiac seized the moment and boosted itself forward, gliding between incoming shots from the dreadnought and collided with the vulnerable Superman.

The plasma fire ceased as Brainiac now had Superman in the same position he had it moments earlier, but Brainiac was heading away from the mega-structure. Superman struggled, trying to wriggle his arms from the machine's grasp.

The pair soared through space, far away from the Geth armada. Superman let his irises burn once more, hoping Brainiac was focused on where they were going and let the intense heat beams start to cut through the armor on Brainiac's shoulder. The android immediately took action and twisted itself over and over. Superman felt the machine's grasp on him tighten as he saw that they were quickly approaching one of the three planets in the system and judging by the distance from the star, Superman figured it was Haestrom.

Superman continued to burn through the robot's armor with his eyes when he felt Brainiac increase its speed and finally let Superman go. Blinking he stopped his heat vision and sensed the gravity of the planet start to pull him down. Slowing himself down, he looked up to see Brainiac plummeting down towards him feet first. With extraordinary speed, as soon Brainiac was within his grasp, Superman reached up and snagged the androids closest leg. In one motion, Superman ripped off the robot's leg and twirled Brainiac around, sending him falling to the planet below.

It happened so fast that Brainiac was a merely a blur as it collided with the rocky surface. Superman began to descend to the ground still clutching the sparking leg. When he reached the floor, he tossed the leg aside and took the moment to assess himself. He looked down at the crystalline device, seeing he was still had 80% solar reserves. Due to the solar power coursing through him, the wounds Brainiac had inflicted were now fully healed.

Superman had started to walk towards the crater Brainiac had made when he saw a massive boulder get tossed away. Brainiac emerged, standing on one leg. It looked damaged, with exposed wires and erratic movement.

"You can stop this you know. This doesn't need to end badly, Hamiltin" Superman said as he folded his arms over his chest. Brainiac said nothing as it raised its arms towards the discarded leg beside Superman. The leg rose off the ground, flew past Superman and reattached itself to Brainiac.

Complete once more, Brainiac started to step towards Superman while the damage to it began to repair itself. Superman focused his eyes and could see microscopic nanites all over Brainiac. Realizing this could only end one way, Superman hovered off the ground and exploded towards Brainiac.

In a flash Superman connected a booming blow directly into Brainiac's face, sending it flying backwards. Superman followed above the machine and continued his assault by twisting in the air and planting both his feet into the bot's chest, crashing it once again into the ground.

Brainiac could not react fast enough as Superman circled around and began to drive him through the rocky terrain all while landing earth shattering punches to the androids head. Superman finished the battering with a powerful uppercut that sent Brainiac into the air. Superman broke the sound barrier as he appeared over the airborne android to land a devastating two handed hit which caused Brainiac to plunge once more into a large crater full of its own pieces and parts.

Superman hovered over the crash epicenter examining every damaged part. Brainiac was spread all through the deep hole, its arms and legs were all detached leaving only its torso and smashed in head. Superman could already see the small nanites working to repair the unit and so for extra measure he inhaled and let out an icy wind that froze all the pieces where they were.

Satisfied, Superman looked up to the sky and took off into it, heading towards the bright star. He was still in the upper atmosphere when his earpiece chimed.

"Hello? Superman? Can you hear me?"

Superman stopped and put his hand to his earpiece, "Who is this?"

"My name is Emil Hamiltin and I think I can help you"