So the winning vote from last time is
[ ] [Brain] Cease to negotiate with the Brain over the teleportation machine, it's clearly not worthwhile
[ ] [War] Plan: To bring war to the enemy
- [ ] Suggest gathering an elite team capable of striking the main Brainiac ship. Describe this as a top priority seeing as we don't know if we can suffer a war of attrition against him. Send Black Adam to Coast city to help deal with Brainiac's forces there and retrieve Ultraviolet in order to recruit her for our strike team if possible as well as using the Lantern Databases to gather whatever information we can on Brainiac preemptively now that we are aware of him. Aid Doctor Fate and attempt to bring him into the team as well. Contact other countries and request their aid in the form of any heroes that they can contact and spare for the attack while keeping in mind that gathering too many people would very likely arouse his suspicion. Suggest Tala to focus her efforts on contacting and helping coordinate these heroes
-[ ] Make sure that Green Lantern doesn't go after Brainiac by himself, his expertise is needed as well as his construct's defensive abilities making him far more suitable for fortification and defense than most as well as containing the drones of Brainiac's second wave of attack. Inform him that in the event that the first strike on Brainiac fails, he will be needed for the second strike and that involving him would be the equivalent of placing all of our eggs in one basket
-[ ] Task Pamela with developing countermeasures against Brainiac anti-teleportation gas. She is most likely immune and has permission to get all necessary help from LexCorp scientists and magic users. Hold off on employing countermeasures until its use will have the most strategic effect, with the assumption that it will have only a couple of uses until Brainiac will develop countermeasures against your countermeasures.
-[ ] Claim that attempting to work around Brainiac and combat him through purely technological means is both arrogance as well as not playing into our strengths.
-[ ] Bring up the idea of using magic, wards, curses and other matters of superpowers in an attempt to isolate Brainiac from his forces and interfere with their communication, making them less coordinated and thus making the fight on the planet easier for everyone involved as well as using this to confirm Brainiacs specific location via scrying/isolating him.
-[ ] Attempt to initiate a long-range bombardment on Brainiac's ship using Kryptonite bombs, magic, and whatever anyone has at their disposal (provided that it's not a bioweapon or radioactive in any way). Attempt to contact Zatanna for suggestions regarding the idea of using Jinx's bad luck magic as a part of this long-distance assault, as well as requesting her help as a consultant and coordinator on magic-related matters to work alongside Tala or as a member of the strike team itself.
-[ ] Attempt to delay the second wave of Brainiac's drones by containing them via magical means, the aid of any supers, and any and all other methods. Using scrying magic to coordinate long-distance assaults and limit the spread of drones so that it'd be easier to destroy them all at once with bombs and the like, placing wards around main ship.
-[ ] While Brainiac is distracted by the bombardment and the initialization of his second wave assault, have Brain teleport the strike team as close to him as possible. Have Ultraviolet carry all of the non-flying members should the need arise and initiate a direct assault on Brainiac himself in an attempt to destroy him once and for all under the assumption that if he goes down then his forces will soon follow.
-[ ] Lampshade the fact that any hero, regardless of how powerful they are, cannot protect the world by themselves. Bring up the idea of a united superhero association of sorts based on a reserve corps that is to be activated only in situations like these, as well as active hero teams in order to promote further cooperation between heroes as a part of the mainstream Describe this as an initiative to create a superhero community and make it a part of society at large rather than disconnected individuals that are fundamentally larger-than-life. Attempt to guarantee an agreement for a specific date to discuss the matter further while making sure that you are to be included in such discussions (and considering the fact that you are here right now, this is not an overestimation of your importance), making it clear that this is not something that we can afford to do in half measures. If anyone says something along the lines of "now is not the time" then inform them that now is exactly the right time to bring this up, lest we all become complacent the more distant threats such as Brainiac become over time.
Can I just say I hate this update? It's taken me forever to get out and it's been a struggle. I don't want to rant too much but I kind of hated working on this. I experimented with a lot of stuff and while I don't think the quality has dipped overmuch, there was a certain point where I just wanted to get this thing out. A lot of dialogue was cut and I shifted a good number of parts I don't feel were currently ready to occur later. Such is the costs of finally getting this out in a state I'm, if not totally happy with, at the very least satisfied with. I'm not going to ramble too long about this and without further ado here is the next update finally ready to be read.
Brainiac Attacks Part 6: The Boulder Rolls
The Brain
It seemed as though the billionaire wouldn't take the deal the Brain had proposed. The Brain didn't mind it either way. It was better to be open and honest and to make deals legitimately and in good faith without having to struggle. Sure the Brain was confident that both he and Lex Luthor could have lied and tried to trick and cheat one another but they'd likely burn more resources than was worthwhile on this endeavor.
It seemed as though that as soon as the alien invasion was over they'd be going their separate ways. That being said the Brain wasn't going to leave anything to chance. Covertly, he sent a message to General Immortus as well as Mallah regarding instructions of what to do if Lex Luthor decided to betray them at the final hour. Contingencies would likely be unnecessary and it would be no means kill LexCorp but you didn't always have to kill a predator to disincentivize from attempting to devour you early.
The Brain was confident that the tide would be shifting soon. The world was united against Brainiac and the monsters were starting to come out of the woodwork in earnest. They'd take care of the alien invader and wipe him out well enough given enough time. Of course, Brainiac likely wouldn't be destroyed in the ensuing battle, the Earth simply had no way to stop him from just leaving and if the AI was a halfway decent tactician it hadn't committed all of its forces to this fight.
For now though the Brain's mind was almost more focused on the task of what he would be doing with his new temporary amnesty after the invasion was thwarted. One thing that had been made immensely clear was that the Brain needed to recruit someone to counter magic users. Lex Luthor at the very least had a good number of them working for him and that meant that they would likely be more prevalent than the Brain had thought they would be. Previously the Brain had dealt with magic users by simply baiting them out and attacking from oblique angles. He'd collected and worked with various magical artifacts and was quite comfortable working with supernatural elements, but he'd never needed a dedicated general-purpose counter. However, if magic users became more prevalent in the world at large it would be increasingly clear that he'd need an expert in the field who could handle that area.
The Brain also wouldn't be opposed to picking up a little more muscle for the Brotherhood. Someone pliable enough to be molded to match the group would be excellent. Ideally someone who would become dependent on their little fraternity of villainy. Anxiety was the dizziness of freedom and so the Brain constrained his efforts for now, merely making notes on what he learned and could find during the operations Lex Luthor had him conducting. The brave new world was coming though and the Brain planned to make full use of his potential amnesty to seize as many resources as possible to ensure that he retained his edge and position of power when he inevitably returned to his greater plans. He would eventually be a wanted man once again but he'd burn those bridges on his own terms. For now, there was nothing left to do save to be civil and part amicably once the job was finished.
Lex Luthor
It was infuriating to know that even when face with the threat of potential mutual destruction, humanity refused to come together and cooperate when necessary. Brainiac was a clear and distinct threat to everyone and yet factionalism still sabotaged any and every attempt to deal with him. It was aggravating to know that you had all the answers if people would just listen to you but they refused to do so anyways because of petty rivalries and disputes.
The meeting began productively enough. Your suggestion not to rely on solely technological forces to push back the alien menace was met with relative success even if various countries bristled at their stung pride and they intimated that it was merely you and by extension the US that was incapable and not them. You let the fools have their little bit of pointless pride. You knew what you were talking about and so it was best that they listened. If their egos were so fragile that reality left them feeling disparaged then they were going to have problems no matter what they did.
The idea to find ways to attempt to disrupt Brainiac's communications through extranormal measures similarly went over well even if people couldn't yet quite agree on how it ought to be done. Still things had been moving forward well enough for now.
It was only once you got to the issue of how the assault was to be coordinated that things truly fell apart. Everyone agreed that there needed to be a concerted push against Brainiac's forces but how that push was to be conducted was something that the various world leaders couldn't agree upon. The matter was only made worse when Avruskin actively refused to allow Russian forces to fly over or land in Polkolistan and mentioned how he openly disdained and distrusted the US and refused to take orders from a foreign power that would set up his country to be reannexed. The distrust had been established and nobody could agree to any sort of arrangement that everyone found workable as various bad actors constantly sabotaged negotiations through their commitment to factionalism. You did manage to assist in negotiating that the world would begin a two pronged assault on Brainiac's forces, first by targeting the incoming drones, then by conducting a strike on Brainiac himself over Point Nemo, namely through the use of superhuman assets. However, there was virtually no one in charge as every country would be running their own show and many prominent countries, including China and Russia refused to be teleported or transported by American forces. It was utterly irritating to be on the verge of getting what was necessary done only to be hamstrung by stupidity and shortsightedness.
It was even more irritating to have your call to being the normalization and creation of a planetary superhuman community completely and utterly shut down. The inability to get their current forces to work together boded poorly for people's ability to agree to rules on a reserve force of sorts. Many individuals were uninterested in setting a date later on, with some people even being willing to accuse you of taking advantage of the current threat to exploit people's panic and have them agree to bad deals before the reality of what was necessary fully sunk in. Avruskin openly mocked the sentiment and stated that Polkolistan had no interest in submitting its forces to the control of others via comitee and that while they would assist in the current crisis they refused to endorse the sort of system you were trying to bring about. The motion to have people talk about the superhuman community was smothered ahead of time as the various leaders at the meeting promptly decided that now simply wasn't the time to talk about such things and that they couldn't agree to a date in the current situation as they were all effectively under duress. You ultimately had to let it go but it burned to have so many of your ideas and proposals be ignored or overturned.
Still as you left the conversation, you turned your attention to working with the US government. While the US was largely amenable to your grand strategic aims and was working with you quite effectively, the results were a little less effective than you would have liked.
Pamela's work on researching a counter to whatever gas Brainiac was deploying as an anti-teleportation measure was both proceeding well and poorly at the same time. The gas had been mostly identified as an utterly horrifying mixture of dozens of toxins as well as a few chemicals that Pamela theorized were included into the mix to target non-carbon based lifeforms but there were a few chemicals mixed into the gas that Pamela simply could not identify as existing on earth. Pamela Isley was effectively immune to the gas as expected but she was unable to accurately assess what made up those chemicals, theorizing that it was some kind of meta-material involving something like Dhawan's Particle. It was frustrating to hit that wall and be unable to proceed with an actual proper counter that could neutralize the gas itself before deployment. The US government was looking into getting both Will Magnus and potentially Edwin Alva to look into the remaining few chemicals that Pamela hadn't identified and seeing if they could figure it out in time. Regardless of the lack of immediate success on that front you had made progress with it and Pamela's contributions would go a long way in ensuring that the gas was eventually countered even if it wouldn't necessarily be in time for the actual conflict with Brainiac.
Attempting to contact Zatanna was a complete failure however. Zatanna was currently in Gotham assisting in fighting off the alien forces that still remained in that city. Tala attempted to contact Zatanna similarly to how she'd previously contacted world leaders but was blocked from doing so. Tala theorized that Zatanna likely had set up some kind of ward to block certain types of magical interference that would interact with her. As someone who dabbled in less traditionally positively viewed magical fields, Tala probably registered to Zatanna's magic as a hostile and thus someone who needed to be blocked. Furthermore, Zatanna likely had a method of detecting what kind of entity was probing her defenses and would likely reinforce them enough to make attempting to brute force past this obstacle most likely an exercise in futility. It was irksome but if you wanted her perspective you'd likely need to commit to a risky plan of action. Gotham wasn't a priority even if the US did intend to beat Brainiac back from there eventually but diverting forces to clear that area would only make things more difficult going forwards.
To add onto all of this, while no one outright disagreed with the proposal to work with Dr. Fate, many individuals who were more familiar with the entity's history pointed out that Dr. Fate consistently came to others when he chose to work with them and didn't seem interested in being approached by governments and working with them. It boded ill for the success of that gesture but you'd have to pray you could make due with what was available to you.
On the bright side there were definite upsides to the current situation. For all that your specific proposals didn't seem to be working out perfectly cleanly, the grand plan was intact and it seems that the US was more than willing to do what they could to assist on that front. Black Adam and Captain Atom were dispatched to deal with the situation in Coast City while Volcana and the Metal Men would be taking on the task of assisting Dr. Fate and opening communications with him. The US military would be mounting an operation to push back Brainiac from what remained of their cities and link up with whatever superpowered individuals they could find and get them to link up with the strike force.
Of a particular note, Eiling was particularly interested in having you use the Brain's teleportation device to move a superhuman asset known as "Angstrom" to key battlefields that you needed to stall on. Eiling was convinced that this individual would be capable of taking any punishment dished out by Brainiac. You weren't quite sure of the viability of said request but it was worth considering, especially since it wasn't your assets that would be burned.
Superman was still a complete and total unknown and you were uncomfortable leaving it that way. The situation he'd placed you in was problematic to say the least and having him coming to swoop in and save the day via standing atop the shoulders of the giants who had done all the real work was a possibility you were loath to consider but one that remained distressingly possible for the moment. Superman seemed utterly uninterested in working with others and as Avruskin had so very clearly demonstrated during the meeting of various key figures and powerful world leaders, that made him dangerous and a threat to unity and thus by extension peace and the ability to repel alien invaders.
There was plenty left to consider and determine but for now you were content to wait until more information came in. The tide had turned and it was time for planet earth to fight off the alien that had invaded it.
Dr. Fate
Nabu was often concerned with the state of the world. The forces of chaos inevitably arrived and destabilized the harmony which he sought to attain through the power of Order. However, not all of his brethren would agree with the reality of the need for intervention in this conflict. Brainiac was a creature of order. Furthermore, oblivion was a sort of order in and of itself. Nabu would not stand idly by and allow humanity to be obliterated by forces beyond their ken. It may be mere affection for his host guiding him to illogical behavior but Nabu sought to bring about a benevolent Order, one with trappings far superior to oblivion. Kent was often fond of telling him that the right thing to do was often not the easy thing to do and thus the right kind of Order was likely not the easy kind of Order. Dr. Fate was needed now and Nabu would enact his will in order to properly preserve the state of the world.
Kent knew that this battle would be a battle for the fate of the world. He had not been roused to don the mantle of Dr. Fate since the second world war and yet he could hardly stand by and wait as an alien invaded the earth. He hadn't been expecting anything like this. Nabu's warnings of a vast uncaring cosmos always felt so distant to Kent and yet at the same time he could hardly comprehend the scope of it all. For all that he'd encountered forces beyond his understanding they'd always been either grounded on earth or confined to the mystical realms, not like something out of some speculative science fiction. Yet that didn't change that the world needed a protector at this very same moment.
As he donned the helmet and once more came into contact with the mind of Nabu, Kent discovered that his friend was of a similar mind. While this alien, Brainiac, wasn't a Nazi or a Lord of Chaos, the fate he had in mind for humankind wasn't much kinder. The alien was responsible for the deaths of too many individuals for Kent to properly comprehend, even if Nabu could use his magic to understand the scale of what the entity had done.
He and Nabu had ultimately chosen to let humanity find its own path, content to be guardians and not governors but as heroes they could hardly stand by and let humanity be destroyed. Kent and Nabu argued on plenty but if there was one thing that they agreed on it was that humanity was worth preserving and protecting. As such he donned the helmet and once more melded his mind with that of his friend Nabu and prepared to defend the earth.
Dr. Fate ended up swiftly leaving their domicile, racing forth through the gateway they had conjured in order to confront Brainiac's forces over the Atlantic Ocean. Before engaging the forces in earnest Dr. Fate cast a spell to attempt to divine whereabouts various entities of magical significance might be interfering.
It was only logical, Nabu concluded as he began to lay forth the enchantments that could determine whether or not outside actors might interfere. Both he and Kent were confident that no outside forces would interfere in the battle against Brainiac but the forces of Chaos were nothing if not unpredictable and so it was best to make absolutely certain that this fight would remain discrete.
Kent knew that things almost always went wrong eventually. No plan survived contact with the enemy. Equally appropriate was the truism that you never know who would step into the ring. William Zard had once nearly succeeded in killing him by baiting him into engaging in a fight right on top of where Klarion was. As such while Dr. Fate couldn't control every aspect of the universe, though Nabu certainly wanted to at times, Kent knew that it was best to check which magical entities were around and able to interfere.
As Dr. Fate cast his spells and narrowed down who was active in what parts of the world, he found that he'd most likely be given free reign to act as necessary. Mordru was not loose and nobody was attempting to free him. There were no gaps into the shadowlands from which Karkull could escape. Klarion had restrained himself and if he entered the free other Lords of Order would balance the scales. Trigon remained contained for now and Wotan appeared to still have not yet resurrected once again.
The only real potential point of concern was that Chaon was active and openly flaring his power. Chaon was currently fighting some of Brainiac's forces though so for now Dr. Fate would let things slide. He'd certainly need to undo whatever damage Chaon wrote upon Tibet but for now the Lord of Chaos hadn't overtly affected any humans and so Dr. Fate didn't need to interfere. Dr. Fate was more than aware that if he attempted to fight Chaon and Brainiac at the same time he'd almost certainly lose and so he prioritized.
As Dr. Fate floated through the gateway he'd wrought, he readied the arcane bolts at his disposal as he saw a tide of mechanical automatons fly in towards him. With a gesture and the intent to bring an end to this invasion, Dr. Fate unleashed a blast of energy directly upwards into the air. Brainiac had almost certainly not encountered anything like this before so Dr. Fate felt confident in setting up this particular spell.
The gleaming golden energy burst apart and shattered into a tide of equally aurous butterflies. These lepidopteran constructs then flitted into the horde of forces Brainiac had arrayed before Dr. Fate. At each point in which the butterfly came into contact with the machines, a golden beam pierced and disabled the devices, causing them to uselessly drop down to the ground.
Brainiac then immediately had his forces open fire upon Dr. Fate, prompting the Lord of Order to unleash his next trick. A large golden ankh opened up and absorbed the incoming fire. Dr. Fate then flexed his magical might as a second ankh opened up and rained that back down upon his foes.
However, this in turn merely caused the alien to shift tactics as more drones approached Dr. Fate. Wave upon wave of spell, twisted, pinned, transformed, transfigured and destroyed the oncoming tide but Brainiac always had more to throw at Dr. Fate. Dr. Fate was actually rather reminded of the Red Tornado incident only these robots, while individually less impressive, where far more dangerous in numbers and in the oblique tactics they pulled off.
All of a sudden Dr. Fate felt a surge of terror as he noticed Chaon randomly begin teleporting to different places across the globe. This was concerning.
Nabu refused to allow the Lord of Chaos free reign to act as he pleased. He might not win the battle but the monsters designs needed to be curtailed.
Kent naturally complied with his partners wishes though the strain of what Nabu wished to enact would almost certainly weaken Dr. Fate.
Dr. Fate opened a rift to the location Chaon had jumped to only to realize that Chaon wasn't there, and that instead this was a city about to be collected by Brainiac. Dr. Fate was far more limited in sight in his current form compared to most of his contemporaries so he had missed this. Dr. Fate promptly enacted a spell to cause the barrier meant to miniaturize the city to collapse before promptly teleporting to the next position. Dozens of jumps later, Dr. Fate returned to the battlefield, exhausted but willing to return to the fight.
When he got back he found that the entire area he'd previously been in had been mangled by Chaos magic. Space had been bent into knots, barriers flickered into an out of existence and a glowing green fire was alight upon the waves of the sea below. Dr. Fate let loose a surge of magic to undo the alterations that had been wrought and restore Order to what Chaon had made into disorder.
He had been used by Chaon, likely the ancient entity indulging in some whim as what he knew of Chaon suggested that the entity hated planning and was borderline incapable of working in the long-term but it still didn't undo the fact that he had been used and manipulated. Once he dealt with Brainiac then he would deal with this complication.
As yet another wave of Brainiac's machines came Dr. Fate readied himself for battle. He downed several dozen of the carriers Brainiac was using to bring his troops in and destroy hundreds of machines but he was starting to flag ever so slightly. The tide of battle hadn't turned but he was beginning to simply run out of power that the host body could safely channel without burning out or drawing unwanted attention.
Golden light filled the skies and countless magical constructs clashed against Brainiac's forces and yet the alien didn't break. Plagues were unleashed and then neutralized, lightning and lasers flashed in greater concentrations than ever and yet Dr. Fate managed to survive it all. He refused to fall now. The battle raged on and on.
It was only when a woman wreathed in fire and a series of unusual elemental machines made their way towards him that Dr. Fate was forced to change the pace of the fight. While he had no issues with allies he could face Brainiac head on and protect them at the same time. As such he determined that while it would cost him a good deal of power, the ideal solution would be to have a conversation with the interlopers in private before determining the ideal course of action.
Dr. Fate enveloped them all in a bubble of golden energy which he then promptly induced a time dilation effect in order to effectively have spent no time conversing with them and not fighting Brainiac. Before anyone could get a word out, Dr. Fate cast his spells of post-cognition in order to see the past of these entities and determine if they were friend of foe.
In the end they were neither. Claire Selton was a broken woman being used by her country as an instrument of violence while the Metal Men were the puppets of a man dreaming of greatness yet failing to achieve it
Kent personally felt that such an assessment was overly harsh and somewhat missed the good these individuals could attempt to achieve.
But the reality of the matter was that this was what they were. Perhaps they could ultimately rise above it but Nabu believed that they simply lacked the time necessary to cause such a change to occur
For now Dr. Fate would operate under the most negative assumptions of their character and potentially prove pleasantly surprised when, like most sentients, they overcame their base natures and became better.
Still for all that he was approaching them with a negative mindset the plan they were involved in was one that could possibly work. Dr. Fate wouldn't stoop to following the orders of politicians and generals as he knew how best to use his phenomenal magical power. He'd work with them but indirectly and not as part of the team in and of itself. After all Dr. Fate was at his most effective when the plan didn't rely on him as he could step in and assist where possible instead of acting as a lynchpin that would simultaneously potentially draw things far worse than Brainiac out of the woodwork.
Dr. Fate imperiously relayed his information to the gathered agents. When they protested his seeming refusal to help, he corrected them. He knew better than them where and when his power would be most useful and so he'd step in to help as necessary. Through the use of his magic he'd appear neither to early nor to late and he'd assist at the most critical junctures without being a part of the official plan so as to prevent someone from coming after him.
What Dr. Fate didn't state was that as it was he was already pushing things too far. He'd used too much power as is and for now he needed to retreat so as to not draw a Lord of Chaos atop them at an in opportune time.
Dr. Fate then undid the spell temporarily removing them from the same plan of existence as Brainiac and thanked Selton and the Metal Men for informing him. For now he had urgent business to take care of, namely ensuring that Chaon was kept in check and that all of the magical power he'd thrown around wouldn't attract other entities. When the time was right he'd rejoin the battle proper and assist in driving off Brainiac.
Guy Gardner
Now Guy Gardner was no Einstein but he knew a thing or two about getting into a scrap and coming out on top. Sure his whole recruitment to the Green Lantern Corps was a relatively new thing but when it came to kicking ass and taking names, Guy was practically an old hat at it.
The space smurfs should have given him the power ring long ago since he was way better than the other guy at saving the day and beating up interstellar creepazoids. Of course, that only made it all the more irksome when the flying skull-bots from outer space just wouldn't stop coming. Guy was more than happy to give each and every one of them a heaping helping of pain, courtesy of some constructs, but there was only so many times you could smash robots with a giant fist or baseball bat or bus before that shit got old. Then after that there were only so many times you could do that before it started to seriously piss Guy off.
He'd been in Coast City fighting for hours and he'd made nearly no real headway into taking down the alien menace. Whoever the hell this alien invader was he knew a thing about how to fight Green Lanterns and that only made Guy want to prove himself even more, so there was no way he was going to back down now, but he'd be lying if he didn't admit that as of right now it was kind of a struggle. Even when that Ultraviolet dame showed up and assisted him they were still on the back foot.
Guy honestly didn't know much about Ultraviolet, although he was pretty sure his ring had given him some data on her when he'd checked in a bit of boredom. He didn't really pay attention to what the ring said as it was all very boring and dry and was something about a sapphire? Guy didn't really care about it all that much and considering she was a superheroine of some stripe he probably didn't have to worry about her all that much. She wasn't as good as he was but then again no one was and she was a whole lot prettier to look at which naturally lead to her being a lot better at winning popularity contests.
Still having a hot babe who could make constructs and fly like half the lantern he was should have helped him turn the tide against the buckets of bolts from space but apparently they were barely making a dent in things. It was just hours upon hours of smashing stuff to the point where he was seriously, incredibly pissed off.
Guy was starting to think that there would be no end to this when a pair of flying weirdo's showed up and helped wreck the place. Lightning man and chrome dome came in and started blasting stuff and that finally, finally gave Guy the opening he needed to open up a can of whoop-ass on the alien. The big skull ship in the sky went down and the clankers all got smashed. A job well done and a day saved if Guy said so himself.
Guy slowly floated down to talk to the people who helped him. Ultraviolet was talking to some other attractive woman who'd been fighting on the ground. Naturally guy did his best to lay on the charm with the two of them and see if they'd be interested in a date with a real life superhero. Neither one of them wanted to go for it, which was really their loss, and the newcomer, apparently named Mari, informed both Ultraviolet and him that this was a global invasion. Guy was ready to rocket off and go to town but the other two weirdos who'd shown up cut him off and further elaborated on the situation.
Apparently, the alien they'd been fighting was some called Brainiac who was apparently an individual with a grudge against Superman who could survive being blown up. Guy was of the opinion that Superman had probably failed because he'd held back but at the same time he figured it was good of Superman to have the cojones to blow up space scum when they deserved it. Guy tuned out a lot of the strategy talk but apparently Brainiac was nowhere near done sending out more robots to try and collect things
The governments of the world, particularly the USA weren't going to wait for Brainiac to come to them though and instead they were going to launch a strike force against Brainiac to bring the alien down. Naturally they wanted Guy to be a part of that. Guy was ready and raring to go so he naturally agreed but when the folks working with the USA told him to slow his roll and wait for everyone else to get ready, Guy generously complied. Not everyone could be as awesome as Guy so naturally it would take them longer to get ready. Plus if this fight had shown Guy anything it was that dealing with Brainiac would be really, really, really annoying without some kind of backup. As such Guy was more than happy to let the second stringers tag along in taking down the alien creep.
Eventually the conversation shifted somehow to whatever was on Ultraviolet's power ring about Brainiac. Apparently, she didn't have much new information but Guy was more than happy to show off the capacity of his ring. He promptly used voice commands to access the database about Brainiac and his audience was gifted with a whole host of information about Brainiac.
According to the ring Brainiac was an AI that had advised, managed and assisted the running of Krypton following an attack by a creature known as Doomsday. At some point the AI had grown rampant and had escaped the destruction of Krypton. Green Lantern Tomar-Re, someone whom Guy had never met before, had apparently fought Brainiac before and noted that it was resilient enough he couldn't destroy it and that it's nature as an AI inhabiting advanced Kryptonian technology made it exceptionally hard to put down. Brainiac was noted as a potential threat and Green Lanterns had standing orders to destroy Brainiac's bodies whenever given the opportunity to prevent it from growing too powerful.
Everyone else started discussing things and trying to figure out what to do and where to go from that. Guy meanwhile was content in knowing that he had the right to smash those robots and this was his moment to shine. After all wrecking stuff was his speciality.
Freeing Gotham subvote
Gotham remains under attack by Brainiac's forces. While the US army is arriving to help push back the alien invaders, it is by no means a priority for them and as such they may not get it done quickly. You have been unable to contact Zatanna through magical means and she remains in the city. Furthermore Catwoman, Batman, Clayface and more individuals that could potentially assist in resisting Brainiac and pushing him off world are in the city. As such it's up to you to determine whether or not getting people in position to push Brainiac out of Gotham sooner rather than later is a worthwhile endeavor. Ultimately the decision on where to commit resources is yours as it's likely the US would listen to your suggestions. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. Write-ins are necessary for some options though as always all write-ins are subject to QM approval. There is a 1 hour vote moratorium.
[ ] [Gotham] Commit additional resources to helping push Brainiac out of Gotham
-[ ] [Deploy] Write-in which resources you'd like to commit to this action
[ ] [Gotham] Commit no additional resources to helping push Brainiac out of Gotham
Unloading Angstrom subvote
Wade Eiling has proven to be a perennial ally who assist you through thick and thin, though the man definitely has his own agendas at work. As such upon hearing of your use of the Brain and his teleportation device, he wants to make use of the device to teleport and agent known as "Angstrom" to specific locations in order to buy time fighting against Brainiac in certain locations. Giving Eiling permission to use the teleporter will reduce what you can use it for and would potentially cause the Brain to feel as though more is owed to him but at the same time it would also further prove to Eiling that you are doing absolutely everything you can to work with him. Ultimately the choice is yours. Please pick your favorite option from the list below. There is a 1 hour moratorium on voting.
[ ] [Angst] Enable Eiling to make direct use of the Teleporter to move Angstrom
[ ] [Angst] Deny Eiling direct use of the teleporter to move Angstrom
