Chapter 16

The Citadel was in disarray; all networks were down, power regulators were operating at maximum capacity and citizens were in a panic. C-Sec was stretched thin as they worked to quell the riots and violence. Superman had arrived in the Widow system and immediately made for the Citadel. He flew in between the five massive petals of the station as he gazed all around him, he could see everything; the riots, the frightened people, and C-Sec trying their hardest to stop it all.

He took one last glance to his omni-tool and saw that Batman had come through for him and somehow ascertained a rough location of all the network disruption. It was comforting to him knowing that amongst the turmoil, there was still one man who would never stop fighting. With the clear orb still in hand, Superman stretched a fist out and took off towards the identified site.

Within seconds, he was soaring between hundreds of warehouses in one of the more downtrodden areas of the Citadel. Focusing his vision, he began to peel back layers of metal and walls to search for Brainiac's hub. It did not take long for him to spot the building; it had several power cables and antenna towers protruding from it.

Superman landed on the metallic ground as he cautiously approached the warehouse. Nearly twenty feet from the outer wall, a large turret emerged from the ground and took aim at him. Superman furrowed his brow and nimbly dodged the automated gunfire as he dashed towards the turret and bent the main barrel upwards with a single hand. Disabled, the turret went offline as sparks flew from its base.

Guessing there was a silent alarm activated, Superman quickly saw that there was no apparent entrance to the warehouse and wasted no time in smashing his way in with a powerful palm thrust. Stepping inside the warehouse, he noticed there was very little light and oxygen. He continued forward and soon saw an elaborate main hub, with numerous cables and connections coming from it. It had several screens that all had green code flashing on them. The closer he got, the more the core hummed with processing power.

Superman expected more internal defenses, but figured Brainiac had not anticipated anyone to discover the main hub and so did not take many precautions. He looked to the left of the main hub and noticed a pod with what looked like an unfinished Brainiac unit inside. The unit had its body built, but with many of the inner workings incomplete, undoubtedly one of Brainiac's backup systems. He continued to walk towards the mainframe when the code violently changed, prompting speakers to flare up.

"Superman" the virtual intelligence stated in near disgust. A face appeared on the numerous screens resembling Brainiac with its distinct 'V' symbol on its head. "You cannot stop this program" Brainiac said as cables began to detach from the pod next to it. The half-finished Brainiac unit powered up as it shakily removed itself from its pod and took aim at Superman. With its fist's curled, it began to accelerate towards Superman in a sprint.

With a sigh Superman leaped forward, grabbing the Brainiac unit's head and in one motion slammed it down onto the metal floor, grinding it into a paste of fluids and wires. The rest of the unit went motionless as Superman stood up and faced the mainframe once more.

"You have only delayed the inevitable, even if this program fails, the Reapers will return and exterminate all organics." Superman could tell Brainiac was desperate, he could see the empty pod already constructing another unit with nanobots. He looked down to the clear orb and then placed it on the mainframe's center console and looked up at the main screen.

"Maybe you're right, but we'll be ready. You were originally designed to help against threats such as the Reapers. Then through some error, you lost your way. But I hope one day you can be a force for good, instead of seeing organics as inferior" Superman explained as he waved his hand over the transparent orb. The green code on the screens then began to glitch and become erratic.

"What are you doing?" asked Brainiac as it attempted to compute the new foreign system. It tried to transfer itself from the hub to another location, but the device was blocking all transmissions and began to deconstruct all of its defense protocols.

"I had thought about just destroying your system all together, but then realized that maybe you could be changed and repurposed for what you were meant to be. In time maybe we can be allies" smiled Superman as the orb began to darken and absorb the key elements of Brainiac's core system from the mainframe. He figured the Kryptonian device would be completely unknown to the VI and thus give him a chance to capture it and one day rehabilitate it into something better.

The green code started to disappear from the screens and the few lights in the warehouse began to dim as energy swirled inside the orb, giving it a dark glow. Finally everything in the room went dark as the mainframe fizzled and went silent. Light leaked in on the far side of the warehouse through the hole Superman had made as he picked up the now black orb and looked into it.

The core programming of Brainiac would remain inside the orb until he could find a way to change it. With the orb in hand he stepped away from the console and let his eyes ignite as he burned away all evidence of Brainiac, leaving nothing but ash. Superman then stepped out of the warehouse as he listened to the Citadel; things had finally calmed down. Once Brainiac was shut down, all systems had returned to normal.

Superman breathed easy in the artificial atmosphere of the Citadel before he took off into space, once more heading for the Fortress. After traveling through the relay and making his way into the Fortress, he came up to the main crystalline console and was then approached by a golden robot with a round body and two fine arms. It floated with no legs and had a faceplate that protruded from the body with an opaque finish.

"Kelex," Superman called the robot as he remembered when he had thought to have robots watch over the Fortress in his absence, "make sure this is kept safe and let's hope Brainiac 6 is a little friendlier."

The robot obeyed Superman and extended its arms to take the orb and before turning it asked, "Brainiac 6, Kal-El?"

"Yea," smiled Superman upon hearing his true name, "I encountered three of its physical units and it had two mainframes…its only suited that the next one be Brainiac 6."

"Of course" chimed the robot as it floated away to place the orb in the Fortress vault. Superman then turned and caught a reflection of himself in one of the crystal walls, seeing his suit was torn and in tatters from the fight. He looked down and decided to change before heading back to check on everyone else.

A day after the event at Haestrom and everybody was still dazed by the event. The media had labeled the catastrophe as an elaborate cyber-attack. As much as Lois wanted to include the information of the involvement of the Reapers, her editor said to leave that part out, saying that the public had already panicked enough for one day.

Lois slumped back in her seat; she had not slept or eaten until she finished the story. Only she knew the truth about what had happened and now could not tell anybody. That and all she could think about was Superman and hoped he was okay after what happened on the Citadel. She pouted at her desk until she saw Clark walk up to his desk, excusing himself as everyone walked by him. She quickly got up and hurried to his desk.

"Smallville, where have you been?"

"Well Lois I was on my way to meet you for that big story you mentioned, but I got stuck on one of the shuttles. The systems started to go haywire and I tried to call you but nothing seemed-"Clark then stopped as Lois sat on his desk with a grin on her face.

"I was there for the whole thing. I helped Superman stop the Brainiac at Haestrom" she said with a smile as she looked down to Clark, who was adjusting his glasses.

"Geez Lois, weren't you afraid you'd get hurt or something?" Clark stood up, facing Lois.

"Nah, I did manage to get an interview with Dr. Hamiltin who said he was going to turn himself over to the authorities and I also…" Lois trailed off, lost in thought. Clark watched her, recalling where they had last been before he confronted Brainiac, guessing she was doing the same. He breathed in, nervous, wondering how to sort the feelings he had for Lois. He knew that if she got close to Superman, he would be putting her in harm's way. But she had left an impression on him that he could not shake. He stood up straight and smiled as he looked at Lois.

For a second he forgot that he had dropped his bumbling persona and coughed, lowering his back and nervously fidgeting his glasses again. "Lois?"

She blinked and then looked back to Clark, "Sorry."

"Well after the day you've had, I imagine you're pretty hungry. How about I take you out for a nice meal?" asked Clark once again straitening up, smiling at Lois.

Lois looked back at the flustered farm boy and then down to her omni-tool, half expecting a message from Superman saying to meet her someplace to talk. When she saw nothing, she realized she was fooling herself and then returned her gaze to Clark, seeing him in a new light.

"You're on Smallville. I can show you some great places to eat around here, you don't even know" Lois said as she hopped off the desk and started walking away. Clark watched her leave when turned around, "You coming?"

"I'll be right there" he said grabbing his overcoat and turning off his holo-system before following her to the elevator.

Superman could only stare as he floated in the upper atmosphere of Earth. This was his favorite place to be as he was not quite on Earth but not a part of the stars; just like how he felt sometimes as an alien raised on Earth. He had his arms folded over the crest on his chest as he just gazed below; taking in all the sights his home had to offer.

It had been several weeks since Brainiac's cyber-attack on the Citadel and normalcy was slowly returning to the public and economy. Most of the human enterprises and factions were disabled from the attack, but the tireless efforts of one company had kept numerous Earth businesses from declaring bankruptcy. The CEO had announced a press conference to announce the completion of the endeavor and had invited Superman as an honored guest.

Superman floated in the silence of space, wondering why he had a bad feeling about attending the event. Finally he gave in and began his descent into the large city where conference was being held. As soon as the crowd saw Superman they went into an uproar, cheering him with banners and signs. He waved as a courtesy before landing gently on the stage next to the CEO who had invited him, who was clapping along with the crowd.

"And here he is ladies and gentlemen, your Champion of Earth!" he called out, once again clapping as the crowd applauded louder. The bald man at the podium signaled for the crowd to quiet as he continued to speak.

"As I've said, I am proud to announce that thanks to all the effort and cooperation between the several companies affected by the Brainiac Attack, Lexcorp has secured the financial future of Earth. And it is all possible, because of this man" the middle-aged CEO pointed proudly at Superman as the crowd once again cheered. The man stepped away from the podium and outstretched a hand to Superman. The Man of Steel hesitated as he looked down at the hand. The man then reached out and grabbed Superman's hand and began to shake it as he looked to the crowd with a smile. He then leaned over to Superman and whispered, never taking his eyes off the applauding audience.

"Smile big guy. This is just the start of something spectacular." The man then thrust his both his arms into the air, still holding Superman's hand in a champion pose and yelled out, "Superman and Lex Luthor; an alliance forged from legend!"

Superman then looked the man's face and noted that his mouth smiled as he spoke but his eyes seemed to say otherwise as they panned the crowd. Superman played along and smiled, realizing the morale boost Luthor had on the people of Earth, but his gut still did not let him trust the man.

The event was highly publicized and was important for Earth to see. After the initial celebrating, Superman spoke to the crowd about the endearing spirit of humanity and then told them to never stop reaching for their goals, for anything was possible. He concluded his speech and took off, hovering over the crowd as they praised him.

While on Earth, he decided that he would visit his mother, but when he arrived on the farm she was not there. Figuring she was in town, Clark changed into spare clothes he kept there and walked around the farm. He stood on the porch, looking over the corn field just as he once had when he was a child.

He smiled, knowing this time it was a not a hallucination and just enjoyed the tranquility of the farm. Behind him, Shelby nuzzled his leg begging for attention as he knelt down and petted the old dog. His armed buzzed as he looked down at his omni-tool and saw a message marked urgent:

Smallville,

Huge story! Where are you? The human terrorist organization known as 'Totenkopf' unleashed a biological weapon on the Gagarin Station. Many are still trapped on the station, I'm heading there now. Seriously where are you?

-L

Clark then started stepping down the porch as he gently put his glasses in the safe compartment of his omni-tool. He smiled at Shelby before looking up and ripping open his collared shirt to reveal his family crest as he ascended into the sky and soared over the sun-filled horizon.