"That happened when I was still a child," Kara said once she calmed down. "Brainiac came to Krypton. At the time, my parents and I were vacationing in Kandor."
It was a terrifying memory. If she could, Kara would rather never recall it.
"My parents and I fled Kandor as fast as we could, but many people stayed behind in the city. Then a beam of light fell from the sky, covering the entire city. Kandor was sucked away just like that. Afterward we tried everything to find it, but Kandor was never seen again, and Brainiac vanished. From then on we called him the Civilization Raider. That robot was the same kind that invaded Kandor. There were so many of them. Our guards weren't their match at all. If he comes to Earth, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Superman tried to comfort her. "It's different now. With the yellow sun, we can protect Earth."
But Kara's childhood trauma was too deep. She couldn't even think about fighting back.
"Stealing entire cities…" Batman muttered. Enemies like this were rare. He didn't know Brainiac was an artificial intelligence, something like Skynet from Terminator, that had enslaved its own creators.
Brainiac was born on a planet called Colu. The aliens there tried to build a mind greater than all others—and so Brainiac was created. But after he came into being, he realized he wasn't greater than everything. So he sought to become greater. He needed knowledge. The simplest way was plunder. By shrinking and stealing major cities of countless civilizations, he could extract their knowledge.
A tricky enemy. Liu A'dou recalled Brainiac's abilities. His ship was extremely tough. He could shrink cities. He commanded robot legions. His own abilities were decent too, but his weaknesses were obvious.
Since leaving Colu, Brainiac had never left his ship. Everything he knew came from the knowledge of captured cities. In simple terms, he was a pure theorist. He knew the sound of birds, he knew the roar of engines, but he had no idea what it was like when bird calls and engine sounds blended together. He knew many things, but truly understood very little. The world was too complex. Even natural brains couldn't be all-knowing, let alone an artificial one.
So if you dropped him into a chaotic natural environment, his processor, used to handling only simple data, would be fried by the overload of complex input.
Liu A'dou remembered enough to beat this enemy. The real problem was the ship. It carried countless miniature cities. They would need a place to be stored. Maybe the Fortress of Solitude could hold them?
"Looks like another fight is coming," Superman said. He already had endless enemies to deal with in Metropolis. Now the entire Earth was in chaos, with evil aliens flocking here like moths to a flame.
"There's no helping it," Batman said. "Right now, only we can protect Earth. Since we know they're coming this time, we'd better be prepared."
"Ordinary weapons won't work against him. It'll have to be you, Superman. The job's on you."
"And what about you?" Superman gave Liu A'dou a look, glaring at that smug face of his.
"Me? I'm a thief. Obviously, I'll be the one sneaking into Brainiac's ship to steal back the cities he's taken. I'd bet they're all stored right inside his ship."
"Then Kandor might still exist?" Kara asked quickly.
"Not just Kandor," Liu A'dou said. "There should be other cities too." He remembered from the comics—it was said to be thousands of miniature cities. "I'll have to steal them out."
Brainiac's ship was already primed for a jump. Even though Liu A'dou had smashed the probe, some of its signal still made it back to him. Earth looked promising.
A massive skull-shaped ship emerged from a portal, appearing in Earth's orbit almost as soon as their discussion had ended. Compared to many cosmic ships, Brainiac's vessel wasn't huge—not even the size of a town. Its weapon systems were simple: star bomb, energy shield, shrink ray, and the robot legion.
The star bomb's purpose was to wipe out the origin of a civilization's technology. That way they couldn't develop further and threaten his pursuit of supreme intellect. Besides seizing knowledge, he also destroyed it.
Krypton hadn't been destroyed because its red sun was already collapsing. Krypton was doomed. But Earth wouldn't be so lucky. Human civilization was at its peak of growth. A star bomb was almost guaranteed.
Brainiac's target was Metropolis. Superman's city—he didn't care about his face.
"That was fast, only a few hours." Superman was ready though. He always wore his uniform under a shirt, tearing it off the moment something happened. That iconic gesture, ripping open the shirt to reveal the S symbol—classic. Too bad no one in this world knew the reference. Maybe after retirement he could star in a biopic, making that action famous.
"Early or late, it was bound to come. Let's go," Batman said.
Superman told Kara to stay. From her expression, she still hadn't overcome her fear. Batman was ready too, though this time he didn't even wear his bat-suit—just brought some gear and teleported with Liu A'dou straight to the front lines.
Metropolis's citizens weren't afraid. Just a spaceship? They had Superman. No evil alien ever left here alive.
Human technology wasn't impressive, but it had its own edge. Brainiac's collection of knowledge didn't have to be advanced—just new. As long as it was something he didn't already have, he'd take it. Even if the city only contained the fact "1 + 1 = 2" and he'd never learned it before, it had collection value.
No chatter. He immediately deployed his robot legion to drive out and slaughter Metropolis's people. Cities could have residents, but not too many.
Metropolis had far too many right now. First, thin the numbers. Then, shrink the city.
The robot legion was half-biological, half-mechanical, modified from living beings. Their main attack was dual hand-mounted beam cannons that vaporized humans instantly, ensuring no environmental pollution.
They came in two types: ground-based biped robots, and wall-crawling spider robots, handling streets and skyscrapers separately.
Superman shot through the city like an arrow, weaving between buildings. Batman worked to protect civilians. Liu A'dou, naturally, went to fulfill his promise—stealing the miniature cities.
But of course, the energy shield wasn't easy to crack. Before he even got close, Liu A'dou was blasted back. Looks like he'd have to teleport. Inside the ship were robot assembly lines, missile factories, and most importantly, the storage chambers for cities.
In! With a flicker, Liu A'dou found himself inside the eerie, grim halls of the alien ship.
All around hung glass domes, suspended from the ceiling, each containing a different miniature city. So many, so varied. Stealing them all wouldn't be easy. But before anyone noticed, Liu A'dou started moving quickly.