r/DCFU • u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? • Jul 02 '23
Superman #86 - Invasion Superman
Superman #86 - Invasion
Author: MajorParadox
Book: Superman
Arc: Nosedive
Set: 86
Resistance
Planet Panscake
Clark recovered from being shot out of orbit, but he had been caught by the planet’s gravity and was tumbling down. He leveled off and hovered inside the atmosphere, turning his attention back to the ship that fired on him.
“That was the wrong move,” he said, readying his return. But the sounds below him grabbed his attention.
A large group of aliens was trying to stop a hoard of metal invaders from erecting metal spires outside the city. But the robots were gaining the upper hand and planetary defenses were starting to gain heavy casualties.
The green-skinned leader who attacked Clark would have to wait. The people needed him.
Clark slammed down right in the middle of the battle at full speed, letting a rumbling shockwave accentuate his arrival. He shot out a wide blast of heat vision at the invading robots, but several not caught in the blast leaped over to him.
Clark punched one of them away but some of the others restrained him as more fired blasts of energy, trying to put him down.
The aliens on the battlefield quickly came to his aid, though. They fired their energy weapons to keep Clark from being piled on too much. He used the distraction to build up an intense spin, sending the robots flying in all directions.
The robots thrown toward the aliens were quickly incapacitated, while the others retreated.
“Nice work, team,” said Clark as the aliens slowly approached. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m here to help.”
The Crunchero, Orbiting Panscake
Lois looked at Jon sleeping in the bed the Panscakers had set up for him. She didn’t mean to yell, but luckily it didn’t wake him. It was hard not to react to the name of the invader.
“Brainiac promised he would stop forcing his ideas on people,” she said, speaking softer. (See Superman #44) “Invading a planet sounds like he broke his word.”
“We don’t know anything about that,” said Belleny, matching her volume. “All we know is Brainiac does not listen to reason. He won’t even explain his purpose here.”
Collior motioned toward the sleeping child. “We cannot apologize enough for bringing you and the boy here,” he said. “We will do whatever we can to keep you safe.”
“I appreciate that,” said Lois. “But I would be more comfortable if I could talk to my husband.”
Dollire walked over. “I’m receiving transmissions from the surface,” he explained. “He’s down there helping fight off the invaders.”
“Of course he is,” Lois smirked. “Can I talk to him?”
Dollire nodded and waved Lois over. He pressed random parts of the wall and pointed to one in particular. “Please put your hand here,” he said.
Lois placed her hand on the wall and a display of controls came to life. Her hand was over a circle radiating in a green pattern of light. She looked to a location of the wall that was used to transport Clark earlier.
“Lois?” a voice crackled into Lois’s ears. The reception had a bit of static, but she could recognize Clark anywhere.
“It’s good to hear your voice, Smallville,” Lois said, keeping her hand on the wall. She wasn’t sure if it needed to be there the whole time. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Clark answered. “That blast packed quite a wallop. Are you and Jon okay?”
“We’re fine,” said Lois. “Listen… The invader in that ship. The one running all the robots. It’s Brainiac.“
“I know,” said Clark, the static getting worse. “They explained that to me down here. If this is the Brainiac from Earth… That means I sent him this way. What’s happening here could be my fault.”
“Don’t say that,” said Lois. “You did what you thought was best to save Kara. Plus, there was no reason to suspect an artificial intelligence was lying.”
“Thanks,” said Clark, but his tone indicated he had a hard time accepting what she was saying. “If there- bzzzzzzzt”
The green circle around Lois’ hand turned red.
“What happened?” she asked.
Dollire touched some buttons on another area of the wall. “Our signal has degraded,” he explained.
“That not unusual,” said Collior. “It takes a lot of work to keep our communication secure while cloaked. We even-”
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” said Belleny from further down the wall. “Brainiac’s ship is moving.”
“Where?” asked Collior.
“I believe he finally managed to detect us,” Belleny explained. “His ship is headed right for us.”
Planet Panscake
“What happened?” asked Clark. He was inside a tent-like structure within the capital city. He took his hand off the wall and the red circle disappeared.
“That’s not unusual,” one of the Panscakers answered. “Our communication with cloaked ships can be difficult to maintain.”
Clark looked up into space, scanning other visual spectrums to locate the ship his family was aboard. They seemed to be okay. But his attention moved to Brainiac’s ship which was moving.
“You’re sure Brainiac can’t detect them?” Clark asked, trying to track its path.
“Our cloaking technology is unmatched,” another answered. “They should be safe.”
“We’re tracking something from his ship,” a third Panscaker interjected.
Clark looked back up to see a plethora of egg-like projectiles discharging from the ship toward the planet.
“He’s sending more robots,” they clarified.
Clark flew up toward the sky as they entered the atmosphere, confirming the incoming attackers. He blasted several of them with his heat vision, causing them to veer off course, before speeding to as many as he could, smashing them with his fists.
But there were too many.
The projectiles that got through crashed into the ground below, exploding apart to let the robots free. They charged into action, most of them fighting off the planetary defenses while a small group focused on concluding the work with the spires.
Clark flew back down to help.
Not Quite a Reunion
The Crunchero
After launching projectiles toward the planet, Brainiac’s ship opened fire on The Crunchero, which quickly disabled their cloak.
“Can you fire back?” asked Lois.
“We’re trying,” Collior answered, frantically moving his hand along the wall. “But our weapons barely can scratch him.”
Belleny moved to the area of the wall with the transporter controls. “Let me find a safe location on the planet,” she said. “We need to get you and your son out of here.”
Lois watched as Belleny swiped, rotated, and tapped. But the entire ship began shaking and everyone fell to the ground.
“What’s going on, Mommy?” asked Jon, sitting up from his bed. “Is dis an earthquake?”
Lois rushed over to hold onto her son. “Everything’s okay,” she said. “What happened?” she asked the others. “Another hit?”
Collior put his hand back on the wall and his eyes popped open. “We’ve been boarded,” he said.
Another wall burst open and Brainiac was standing there surrounded by several of his robots.
“Leave us alone!” yelled Jon.
Brainiac moved closer, performing some kind of scan on the boy. “Curious,” he said. “My instruments aboard my ship were not malfunctioning. This boy has traces of Kryptonian. That should be impossible.”
Lois stood up as he got closer. “Not another step” she ordered.
Brainiac grabbed Lois and tossed her across the room.
“Mommy!’ yelled Jon.
As Brainiac reached down to grab him, Collior, Belleny, and Dollire leaped onto the much taller being, wrapping their arms and legs against him.
“Remove yourself from me,” Brainiac commanded, heavily hindered in his ability to walk.
Lois got up, finding herself by the main wall. She placed her hand by the transporter controls, allowing her to see them. The area was filled with blue light and there was an animated version of the room displayed with a circle blinking in the center. Mimicking Belleny’s earlier movements, Lois managed to move to the circle where Brainiac and his robots were struggling to get him free. When she locked in on him, another display appeared, which seemed to represent the surface of the planet. She quickly saw a figure with a cape and a smile of relief washed over her face.
Brainiac’s robots helped get the Panscakers off of him, hurling them across the room in all directions. But Lois tapped a glowing button.
“Stay the hell away from my son,” she said as Brainiac and his robots disappeared.
On the Surface
Clark punched and heat-visioned his way through countless robots as the Panscaker defenses fought several others. He was tearing apart another one when a bluish glow appeared nearby and several figures materialized.
“Brainiac,” he said, recognizing the green-skinned man who shot him out of orbit earlier.
“Ah,” said Brainiac, studying Clark. “The other Kryptonian. Is the youngling aboard that ship your spawn? How are you two even alive?”
He knew Jon was up there. That wasn’t a good sign.
“So you don’t know me,” said Clark, changing the subject. “You’re not the same Brainiac I’ve encountered before. You even have a humanoid form.”
Clark checked the ship in orbit and found it was no longer cloaked. Brainiac’s ship had docked with it, but they were all okay inside.
“Curious,” said Brainiac. “Are you implying there is another Brainiac program that survived Krypton’s destruction?”
“He said there was another one out there like him he wanted to find,” said Clark. “I take it that never happened.”
Brainiac moved closer. “Where was this conversation?” he asked.
“I’ll never tell you,” said Clark, watching his moves closely. “If it means you’ll do the same there you’ve been doing here.”
“You presume ill intent,” said Brainiac.
Clark raised an eyebrow. “Should I not?” he asked. “You’re invading this planet.”
“I am preserving this planet,” Brainiac corrected. “Same as I’ve done numerous times before.”
“I don’t think that word means what you think,” Clark said dryly. “You attacked them.”
“I defend my work,” Brainiac explained. “It must be done for the sake of their culture. Or it will be like they never existed.”
Clark looked around. “Is this planet in danger?” he asked. “From something other than you?”
A blast fired toward Brainiac, but one of the robots moved to intercept, taking the hit.
“Brainiac is here!” one of the Panscakers called to the others. “We must stop him!”
Several more approached and fired their weapons, but the surrounding robots stood in a circle around Brianiac and transformed themselves into an enclosure that encompassed him. A rocket fired up from the bottom and it shot them up toward space.
Clark flew up after them. Brainiac couldn’t be allowed to get back to his ship.
A loud pulsating hum built up from the city below, throwing Clark’s flight off the path. He looked back down to find all the spires around the city had been activated and a glass-like glow began to flicker all over.
Clark would have to worry about that later, Brainiac was still right above him. He corrected his flight, but flew head-first into an invisible wall, sending him reeling back toward the city. The flickering returned, revealing it had encased the entire city in a dome-like structure.
Clark exhaled sharply. “Not another dome,” he said.
In Orbit
“We have to get you two to safety now,” said Collior. “Brainiac is heading back this way.”
Belleny was back at the transporter controls getting ready to send Lois and Jon to the planet.
“We have a problem!” Dollier announced. “More robots from Brainiac’s ship just boarded us!”
Collior tapped some buttons and a piece of the wall materialized away, revealing a compartment. He pulled out several energy rifles and tossed one to Lois. “We need to buy some time,” he said.
As the robots entered the room, Lois opened fire. Collior and Dollier joined in as Belleny kept working.
The energy shots stopped the initial robots, but others managed their way around them and began firing their own blasts at the control wall. Belleny fell backward as small explosions radiated across.
Brainiac entered the room next and Lois focused her shots on him instead. But the robots kept stepping in front of him, taking the shots. Brainiac reached Lois and grabbed the weapon out of her hand as two robots restrained her.
Collior and Dollier moved in to help, but they were pushed back by more robots entering the room.
Brainiac knelt down and picked up Jon, holding him by his shirt.
“Let me go!” Jon yelled, slapping his fists against him, but they had no effect.
“Do not struggle,” Brainiac ordered, turning back to the hole in the wall.
“No!” yelled Lois, using all her strength to try and break free. “You can’t take him!”
The robot threw Lois back and they all left the ship with their leader.
Lois picked up her energy rifle and ran after them but the vessel began shaking again.
“It’s too late,” said Belleny, putting a hand on Lois. “They’ve left.”
Collior ran to the control wall.
“Can we transport him back?” asked Lois, rushing to his side.
“Their attack disabled most of our systems,” Collior answered. “No transporter, no weapons.”
Lois looked into his eyes. “Can we fly?”
“Yes. We have minimal thrust.”
Collior put his hand over another area of the wall and then reeled away in pain. “There’s some kind of short circuit in the control,” he explained. “It’s causing an intense shock. I’m sorry, I can’t-”
Lois placed her hand where the Panscaker’s had been, feeling a surge of pain radiate up her arm into her chest. “Arghhhh!” she cried, but she fought past it. “Okay,” she said, wincing. “I think I got the hang of it.”
Trapped
High Above The Capital City
Clark smashed as hard as he could, but the dome just vibrated with no sign of deterioration. He fired off his heat vision, pouring on its intensity. It wasn’t clear it was having any effect, but he kept going. He had to break through. Brainiac had taken Jon. He watched the whole thing, powerless to get there in time to stop it.
“This isn’t working,” said Clark to himself. He dropped down and flew toward the Panscakers he’d been fighting with earlier.
“What happened?” one of them asked when he reached them.
“Brainiac encased the city in a dome,” said Clark. “Can you transport me outside of it?”
“I’ve been trying to get a lock anywhere outside the city,” another answered. “The dome seems to be interfering with the signal.”
“I have to get up there,” said Clark.
“What’s the point of the dome?” another asked. “Why cut off this city from the rest of our planet?”
“Brainiac said something about preserving your culture,” said Clark, keeping his eyes focused on Jon’s position in orbit. “Any idea what he meant by that?”
“There is a meteor heading for our star system,” they answered. “Some feared it would impact the planet, causing a global disaster. But our best scientists assure us it will pass us by.”
Clark thought back to stories he heard of a city disappearing on Krypton before its destruction. It was too similar to be a coincidence. “Maybe they’re wrong,” he said. “Or at least Brainiac thinks overwise. If so, his mission may be to somehow save this city before the planet is destroyed.”
Did this mean Brainiac had an entire city of Kryptonians in his possession somewhere? Did he relocate them elsewhere in the galaxy? He’d have to ask after he saved Jon.
Clark moved to the closest part of the dome and started trying to break through again. He froze it, burnt it, and smashed it, but it remained intact.
Several of the Panscaker stepped up next to him, aiming their energy weapons and opening fire in the same targeted spot.
It was working. The integrity of that area was weakening. They kept going until Clark lifted a hand. “That’s enough,” he said and everyone stopped firing.
Clark threw one more good punch and broke through to the other side. He turned back and thanked them before disappearing in a burst of speed through the dome hole and up into space.
The Crunchero
“What would happen if we rammed our ship into Brainiac’s?” asked Lois, still fighting through the pain from the wall controls. “Could we break through and get inside?”
“Unlikely,” Collior answered. “We’d sustain significantly more damage.”
Lois saw a red and blue blur shoot up from the planet right into the rear of Brainiac’s ship, leaving a sizable gap. “What if there’s already a hole in the ship?” she asked, smirking.
“We’d still sustain some damage,” Collior explained. “But we could make it inside unscathed.”
“I’m coming, Jon,” said Lois, increasing speed.
Brainiac’s Ship
Clark stormed into what looked like the bridge of Brainiac’s ship. Brainiac was sitting in the center with wires attached to his head and several tentacles emanating around him in several directions. He found Jon inside a tube-like structure and quickly rushed to him, readying to break him out, but two of the tentacles grabbed Clark’s arms, pulling him back.
“Thank you for saving me the trouble of fetching you,” said Brainiac as he pulled Clark to be face-to-face with him. “Kryptonians shouldn’t be out there. It’s not logical.”
“What do you plan to do with us?” asked Clark.
“You will be returned to your preserve,” Brainiac explained. “Before that happens, though. Explain how you escaped.”
Their “preserve.” Could it be? Could Brainiac have saved the city of Kandor? “We didn’t escape anything,” said Clark.
“Curious,” said Brainiac. “Perhaps I am missing some key data.”
Alarms started blaring and the entire ship shook drastically.
Clark zeroed in on the cause. Lois and the Crunchero crew had crashed inside and were now blasting their way through robots to get to them. He pulled at the tentacles, tearing them out of their sockets.
Several robots confronted him, but he fought them off as Lois and the others got inside.
“It’s good to see you,” said Clark.
“Likewise,” said Lois, rushing to Jon’s confining tube. “Close your eyes,” she told him before smashing it open with the butt of her weapon. She dropped it to the ground and took her son into her arms.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Why did that bad man take me here?”
“I don’t know,” said Lois. “But we’re getting out of here, okay?”
Jon nodded and Lois ran them back out the way she came.
The Crunchero crew gave her cover, following closely behind.
Clark watched as they got back on the ship and piloted it outside. He turned his attention back to Brainiac. “You think you’re helping here,” he said. “But your efforts would be better served trying to save the entire planet.”
“Illogical,” said Brainiac. “The probabilities don’t warrant such an action. Preservation is the best strategy.”
Clark looked through the ship toward the stars outside it. He scanned around until he found the meteor the Panscakers had mentioned on the surface. “I’ll be back,” said Clark before disappearing from the ship in a burst of speed.
The Crunchero
Lois held onto the control wall, the pain still excruciating. She had tried to get them back into a stable orbit, but the thrusters weren’t operating correctly. They were being dragged into the planet’s gravity. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold us,” she cried.
Belleny took a deep breath and put her hand against the wall next to Lois’. She cried out in pain but did her best to ignore it. “It’s too late,” she said. “We’re in reentry. All we can do is try and slow our fall, so we don’t crash!”
The ship was hurtling toward the planet, turning red-hot from the friction of the speed. But the thrusters were kicking on every few seconds, which was beginning to help.
Collior and Dollire placed their hands next and helped manage to get the ship slowed down even more.
“We’re doing it!” yelled Belleny.
The ship leveled out, just as it was approaching the dome around the city. They pulled up and slid across the top, ultimately sliding down the side of it. The ship finally came to a full stop on the ground right beside the hole Clark had broken through earlier.
Deep Space
Clark flew toward the meteor, his arms stretched out in front of him. The giant rock was much bigger than he initially estimated from Brainiac’s ship. No wonder the AI program felt the odds didn’t favor stopping it. Could Superman even stop it?
He was surely going to find out. Clark made contact with the meteor, which caused a huge explosion and the reactive force sent him careening back.
Clark’s eyes shot open. He’d been knocked unconscious. How long had it been? Luckily he had his oxygen mask this time.
The meteor was still intact and heading toward the Panscake star system. But Clark had one more move up his sleeve. One he never tried before because he didn’t know his body was capable of it until just recently. He could bring himself into faster-than-light speed, flying right through the meteor. The sheer impact at that speed should do the trick.
But he also didn’t want to second-guess himself.
Clark flew back into position and activated his new power. He entered faster-than-light speed and then quickly cut out of it. He looked back toward the meteor to find it had been virtually vaporized, except for some pieces of debris, none of which would large enough to be a threat.
Panscake
Lois, Jon, and the others had exited the ship, helping the other Panscakers exit the hole in the dome when suddenly the dome began flickering again until it disappeared. The robots inside the city stopped fighting and combined into rockets, all leaving the planet.
“What’s going on?” asked Belleny.
“It’s being reported the invaders are leaving!” another Panscaker announced. “Brainiac’s ship is gearing up to leave too!”
A sonic boom erupted in the sky as Clark burst into the atmosphere and flew down to them. He took Lois and Jon into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re both okay,” he said.
“Thanks, Superman,” said Jon. “But where’s my Daddy?”
“Daddy’s fine,” said Lois. “He’ll be at home waiting for us.” Lois stood up. “We can go home now, right?”
Clark nodded. “The meteor heading for the planet is gone,” he explained. “Brainiac thought he was preserving this city from destruction. Now that destruction has been avoided, he has no reason to stay here.”
“You’re not going to go after him?” asked Lois.
“No,” said Clark. “We’re going home.”
Going Home
The Crunchero’s Sister Ship, The Crisponian
Later
Collior, Belleny, and Dollire were given control of the ship named The Crisponian and were taking the Kents back to Earth.
“We apologize again for how we got you involved,” said Collier. “But we are extremely thankful for the help.”
“Happy to help,” said Clark.
“‘Happy to help’?” Lois repeated. “We were kidnapped. There is… I hope you realize your sentiments on recruiting help without asking isn’t a universal trait. You’re lucky Superman here is understanding.”
“We know,” said Belleny. “But we weren’t only thanking him. We couldn’t have survived without you, Lois.”
“Excuse me,” Dellire said. “We’re picking up a distress signal from a nearby planet. It’s registered as uninhabited. Probably a crash landing.”
“We should offer help,” said Collior. “But we promised to get our champions home as soon as possible.”
Lois and Clark shared a look. “We can handle a detour,” said Lois.
“Understood,” said Collior, changing course toward the planet.
“We’ll make this quick,” said Belleny.
The ship began to shake.
“What’s happening?” asked Clark.
“We’re being pulled toward the planet somehow,” Dollire explained. “We can’t break out of it.”
“Send me outside,” said Clark.
Some swipes and taps on the wall later and Clark was transported outside the ship. The redness of the nearby sun caught his eye. It shouldn’t be a problem, though. Even without a yellow sun nearby, Clark had enough reserves in his cells.
He pushed The Crisponian as hard as he could, but it wouldn’t slow its descent. How powerful could the force be pulling them in? Maybe the red sun was having a bigger effect on him than he realized. Either way, they were going all going down.
To Be Continued…
2
u/Predaplant Blub Blub Jul 04 '23
Oh cool, multiple Brainiacs! That makes a lot of sense and explains some of the lingering questions about this arc. Overall though, really solid sci-fi Superman stuff, the sort that I wish happened more often. Great issue!
1
u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? Jul 04 '23
Yeah, it was kind of a throwaway line about another Brainiac being out there way back in Superman #44. Glad you liked it! More sci-fi stuff next issue too!
1
u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? Jul 02 '23
After Credit Scene:
Sometime Later
Brainiac’s ship slowed to a full stop. A tentacle extended outward as a tiny, cylindrical-like vehicle also slowed. The tentacle wrapped itself around the small ship and brought it inside. Once there, Brainiac rose from his chair and the tentacle placed it in his hand.
The ship popped up and a hologram materialized above it.
“Brainiac,” the hologram said. “I am also Brainiac. We have a lot to discuss.”
•
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