I held the body by the shoulder with one hand, which was even easier to do than before with my new strength, and ripped away the armor like it was made of tin foil and then the skin on the stomach area.
The League was surprised by my sudden action and speed but soon became more alarmed and stunned at the lack of human blood pouring out but the skull-like face of a machine along with the emblem carried by Brainiac. Especially when its blank eyes soon began to emit a flickering yet faded light.
"That is messed up," The Flash said, summing up everyone's thoughts. " ...is it weird that I find this less surprising than the idea of Luthor dying from a fall down the stairs?"
"...you aren't the only one." Green Lantern agreed.
"How! When! Was Luthor even aware of this!?" Superman asked.
"Likely not. He doesn't seem the type to willingly share his body with another, especially with something that once tried to kill him." Batman answered.
"Still, this makes no sense!"
"Nothing about this situation does."
Brainiac's eyes soon ceased flickering as they glowed in brightness. Then a loud screech erupted from Brainiac before a large explosion came next.
It wasn't powerful enough to do any real damage, even to a baseline human, but it did create a large amount of obscuring smoke. At least for those who lacked x-ray vision.
Out of the smoke was the running form of Brainiac puppeteering Lex Luthor's corpse in most of his power armor though it was forced to grow as the torso was enlarged, who now sported large blackish-green tentacled arms.
It was a surprise that my initial scan of him only read his armor rather than what Brainiac had done to him, but if Brainiac's technology allowed him to face Darkseid's army on his own then it would certainly be proficient enough to hide from the most powerful of sensory.
Not anymore. My eyes locked on to his fleeing form and made to scan once he briefly stopped near two trees. I knew that his current form was nowhere near as advanced as his main form, especially since it was diluted with Luthor's Power Armor, but alien technology from him was still nice to have data to use from.
His intention was soon revealed as he then used his newly grown arms to hook himself into the trees and slingshot himself toward the city while boosted by his rocket boots.
At least he tried to, for as soon as he was launched into the air, he was knocked back into the ground hard by a Superman in hot pursuit.
He then followed that up by slamming into the downed Brainiac once again, now forming a crater in the ground. And it got deeper as he kept hammering dozens of blows upon him, each delivery increasing in its concussive force. This being a combination of the Android that abandoned his home planet to its fate alongside the deceased body of his enemy had allowed the Kryptonian to use more force than he typically would.
A second explosion had occurred, one much larger and more powerful than the first, and this time it had emitted Kryptonite radiation.
A weakened and dazed Superman was then thrown out of the hole. Green Lantern was quick to catch his teammate in a constructed bubble. While he did so, Flash and Hawkgirl followed after a fleeing Brainiac who now sported dents upon his metallic face.
I turned my head away from them to take a look at Superman.
He was knocked out by the sudden and violent introduction to Kryptonite. He wasn't in critical condition though he certainly did seem like he needed some time to recover. Another scan confirmed my assumptions as well, he'd be fine.
I also noticed that Batman was in a similar state, likely from being attacked by Brainiac within that smoke cloud. Despite him lacking powers, I gave him a scan just in case of any unseen injuries. Badass he may be, he's still a baseline human even if he's at a peak level. And as expected, my assumptions were proven correct, just a minor injury to his ribs.
"I know that this is a lot to ask from a stranger, for you and for me, but could you keep an eye on them?" Green Lantern asked after he was done giving the two a look-over of his own.
"Sure, I'll help a hero out. Go kick his ass man." I encouraged with a thumbs up.
"That's the plan." He said before he flew off to join the fray.
And as for why I didn't decide to join in, it was for a few reasons. That Brainiac wasn't nearly as much of a threat as he would've been a few years down the line. So the League is more than able to take him down, my scans even backed this up. Besides, this was a great chance for me to observe them using their powers and allow myself to replicate their experiences. It's one thing to see moves used in media, it's another to have a real live demonstration.
And with my Android vision enhanced by Superman's sight, I was more than able to watch the fight from here.
The puppet didn't get far before it was struck from the front by a punch from the Flash, which was then followed up by Hawkgirl slamming her mace into his back.
As Brainiac was sent flying, more tentacles expanded from the stomach, further worsening the corpse's state as more skin was shed to make room for them. They dig into the ground, but rather than anchor him back to the ground, he used the momentum to fling himself away into the air before rocketing away.
Hawkgirl followed after him in the air while the Flash followed by ground.
Brainiac wasn't willing to return to the solid ground yet also didn't remain in the air as he instead continued to use his arms to swing and sling himself across the forest trees. Trees that Hawkgirl couldn't get a proper swing through nor the Flash could traverse as well as he could the ground.
Just as the robot reached his latest tree and was about to swing, a green blast of energy was fired at him, disrupting his jump and sending him off course and flying. Up in the sky was an approaching Green Lantern as he held his ring out before having to use it again to blast away a thrown tree.
After he attempted to delay the Lantern with his flimsy diversion, Brainiac was about to resume his fleeing before he found himself struck in rapid succession in multiple directions by red streaks.
The Flash continued to hit and run upon Brainiac until a new tentacle sprouted from his upper chest, knocking the speedster out of his barrage. He was then grabbed by said tentacle as he fell before being lodged into the air.
Hawkgirl as the closest flyer to him flew to catch him before he could fall to the ground but was beaten by a pair of extended green arms. Arms of flesh rather than construct.
"I'm glad to have made it in time to help." Martian Manhunter said upon catching his falling teammate.
"Glad that you caught me in time. Thanks." Flash said in a mix of relief and gratitude.
"What in Hera's name is going on here!? I thought Luthor was dead!" Wonder Woman said as she arrived right after the Martian.
Both of whom I quickly analyzed, though my gaze did linger on Wonder Woman a bit longer than necessary. I now had the telepathic and shapeshifting abilities of the Martians and the blessings from the Greeks. I was now well and truly above the Justice League. If I wanted to, I could definitely let out maniacal cackle at my newfound stolen lmao power. But I didn't want to wake Batman or Superman with that being the first thing they hear from me, so I giggle in my head.
"Luthor apparently died from falling down some stairs and breaking his neck. Brainiac has been inside of his body for an unknown amount of time, and now controlling his corpse." Martian Manhunter answered, from having read Flash's mind to assess the situation.
"Stairs? Possessed by Brainiac!? He died with Darkseid!" Wonder Woman gasped in surprise before shaking her head. "We can find out how later, we need to deal with whatever this abomination is."
She pulled out her Lasso of Truth before descending towards the robot in question.
Brainiac was fending off Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, his puppet now a mass of robotic tentacles keeping her at bay while firing energy blasts to keep the Lantern at bay and prevent him from using his ring offensively. But it wouldn't be for long as Hawkgirl's mace was reducing the number of tentacles that the puppet had at its disposal and its energy blasts were losing their quantity and quality in power.
The Amazon was able to swing her lasso around the puppeted Luthor's neck catching him completely off guard, as it was too focused on its desperate struggle. She then pulled.
Lex Luthor's head opened its cold dead eyes at her before a tentacle burst from the head area and pulled on the lasso. Despite the sight greatly disturbing her, she remained firm in her hold, now engaged in a tug of war.
One which Brainiac had immediately tried to disengage from once it was apparent that it would take far too much effort on its end to participate. Unfortunately for him, this brief distraction was enough for Green Lantern to restrain his limbs. Soon enough the tentacles tried to brake the body free from the construct's hold but were all pulled off by Martian Manhunter as he phrased in to get close. With the puppet now immobilized, Hawkgirl went for the kill as she jammed her crackling mace right into the core of the body which was his face.
The Nth Metal mace was resisted at first, as were Superman's blows, but the core's durability had greatly waned over the course of the battle as had the energy powering the body's resistance. Once the mace went through the core, the puppet of Brainiac only had one response left.
'BOOM'
An explosive finale yet a dying whimper
XXXXXXXXXXX
This was entirely a fight scene, so sorry if there wasn't much that happened beyond that and Amazo scanning the League (honestly that part feels super forced so I'll probably remove that and add it back in for chapter 6). But I hope this was interesting at least since I'm still new to writing them and I hope I did well with it, if not then please tell me where I went wrong.
Brainiac isn't at his fullest or best capacity, as shown by the fact that he hasn't even spoken once. He didn't have the years he did to build and improve Lex's body so he was pretty much desperate the entire time since he isn't prepared for a fight at all. And he didn't have LexCorp tower to use as a weapon for even more tentacled action so he had to degrade his meat body for those. As for why he didn't just fly away, its flight was dependent on Luthor's armor which was already damaged from a previous scuffle with the League and he needed all the energy he could get to focus on his escape. So all the League had to do was just wear him down until they could get a killing blow on him.
Also, this is hella raw (as I literally just finished this) so I'll fix this in a bit after I get some sleep lol.
Anyway, tell me what you guys think and thanks for reading.
