Brainiac moved toward Kara with terrible purpose, ignoring Clark who was fighting.
Kara tried to stand, tried to fight, but the red sun radiation had stolen too much. Her armor felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Just as Brainiac reached for her, a sphere of crystalline water materialized between them.
It was solid as diamond even when moving, crackling with electrical current, and gleaming with the same red glow as Alphonse's eyes.
The barrier deflected Brainiac's hand with enough force to actually push the android back a step.
Kara looked up, surprised and hopeful and terrified.
Alphonse stood there, having abandoned his console. He'd stepped between her and Brainiac with a decisiveness that left no room for argument.
"Alphonse, no!" Kara shouted, finding her voice despite her weakness. "Get back! You'll be infected! He'll kill you!"
Alphonse smiled. Not his usual nervous, awkward smile. This was something different, something confident and warm .
"My dad once told me something," he said, his voice steady. "He said sometimes a man has to step up to protect what's dear to him."
He looked down at Kara, and his ruby-red eyes were gentle despite the power radiating from them.
"I didn't really understand what he meant before." His smile widened slightly. "But now I do."
"About damn time!" Cassie grinned despite the dire situation, despite her wounds and the nanites still fighting in her system. "It's about time my brother showed off a little!"
Bruce, leaning heavily on Arthur for support, looked at Diana with genuine concern. "Will Alphonse be safe? From what I've observed, he seems more support-oriented. A builder, not a fighter."
Diana chuckled—a sound of absolute confidence that cut through the tension like a blade. "My little brother is perhaps the strongest of us three siblings."
She nodded toward Cassie. "Our youngest, Soph, is the strongest overall, but Alphonse comes next."
"Then why doesn't he fight more often?" Victor asked, keeping one eye on the confrontation while maintaining his defensive programs against Brainiac's hacking attempts.
Diana's expression became more serious. "Because when Alphonse fights, people die. And he hates that. He'd rather build, create, help. Fighting is a last resort for him."
"Interesting," Brainiac observed, his three eyes focusing entirely on Alphonse. "Another divine entity. Power signatures indicate: hydrokinesis, pyrokinesis, divine craftsmanship, runic magic. Threat assessment: significantly elevated."
Alphonse clicked a button on his chest plate.
A newer, more beautiful silver armor began spreading across his body, flowing from around the arc reactor like liquid mercury.
It layered over his existing protection, adding thickness and strength. The material moved almost lovingly across his skin, recognizing its creator's touch, conforming to his exact specifications.
The armor solidified into something magnificent. Silver base with gold trim, every inch covered in flowing runic inscriptions that pulsed with power. Norse runes intertwined with Egyptian hieroglyphs, connecting to Sumerian cuneiform, all of it creating a matrix of divine power that made the air itself vibrate with potential energy.
His arc reactor—a fusion of magic and technology that shouldn't exist but did—blazed like a miniature sun in his chest. Blue-white light poured from it, so bright that everyone had to squint.
Then a large golden hammer flew through the air.
It moved with purpose, with weight, with the certainty of a legendary weapon answering its master's call. The hammer landed in Alphonse's outstretched hand with a thunderous CRACK that shook the entire station.
Mjolnir. Thor's hammer. The weapon of the Thunder God himself.
Electricity began dancing along its head—not just lightning, but the primal essence of storms given physical form. The runes carved into its surface by dwarven smiths untold ages ago blazed with recognition.
Barry, still trapped in his temporal bubble, managed to move his eyes just enough to see. His voice came out distorted by the time manipulation: "Dude... is that... are you seriously copying Iron Man?"
Diana shook her head, pride and exasperation mixing in her expression. "Using Mjolnir as a forge hammer. That's just extravagant. Only my brother would use a legendary weapon to craft other legendary weapons."
"How did he even get that?" Arthur whispered.
"Father killed Thor millennia ago during what humans called Ragnarok," Diana said simply. "Gave Mjolnir to Alphonse as a birthday gift when he showed interest in smithing. Said it made a good hammer for shaping divine metals."
"Your family is terrifying," Hank muttered.
"You're just noticing?" Cassie quipped.
But Alphonse wasn't done yet.
The hundreds of small orbs that had been floating dormant around the Watchtower suddenly activated with a collective hum.
They unfolded like mechanical flowers, each one transforming into a weapon platform—railguns, plasma cannons, missile pods, energy projectors, and devices whose purpose wasn't immediately clear.
They all locked on Brainiac simultaneously.
"Cortana," Alphonse said calmly, his voice taking on a tone of absolute command. "Combat protocol Ragnarok."
His AI's response was immediate. "Acknowledged. Deploying full arsenal. Target: Brainiac. Calculating optimal firing solutions... Complete. Probability of target termination: 74.7%"
"I want this technology," Brainiac stated, genuine interest in his cold voice. "Advanced artificial intelligence combined with magical sentience. Quantum processing architecture. Neural network design superior to anything in my current database. How did a primitive species develop this?"
"Well, humans didn't do it yet," Alphonse said simply. He began walking forward, Mjolnir resting casually on his shoulder. Each step radiated confidence. "I did. With help from my father's knowledge and my mother's divine blessings. It's unique. One of a kind."
"Then I shall dissect it from your corpse."
"You can try ."
The weapon platforms opened fire.
It wasn't just shooting—it was orchestrated destruction. Each platform attacked in perfect synchronization with the others, creating a symphony of overlapping fire that left no gaps, no opportunities to dodge.
Plasma blasts followed by kinetic slugs.
Energy beams crossing to create interference patterns that disrupted shields. Micro-missiles exploding to generate electromagnetic pulses.
Graviton projectors creating localized wells that disrupted movement. Dimensional shifters causing space itself to become unstable in specific locations.
Every weapon fired with purpose. Every shot was calculated by Cortana's advanced AI to hit at the optimal angle, optimal timing, optimal energy level.
When Brainiac's shields adapted to one type of attack, three others were already hitting from different vectors.
The android was forced to divert significant processing power to defense. His mechanical tentacles whipped out, destroying platform after platform—but for every one destroyed, two more appeared from Alphonse's dimensional storage, already firing before they'd fully materialized.
"Impressive coordination," Brainiac acknowledged, his shields flickering under the relentless assault. "But ultimately insufficient."
"Keep your tentacles away from me you sumick freak! " Alphonse smacked away a tentacle with Mjolnir. " I've seen enough anime to know your type."
Brainiac asked curiously. " Your primitive planet has entertainment based on intellectual beings? Maybe it's not so primitive after all."
Cassie snorted. "Did that guy really thought you complimented him?! Ahahahaha!"
Brainiac also realized it was a mockery, and released a pulse of energy that destroyed a dozen platforms simultaneously.
They were replaced within seconds.
"You can't win through attrition," Brainiac stated. "I am superior. I always adapt. I always—"
Alphonse's eyes glowed . Water burst from every pipe in the Watchtower, from the life support systems, from the very moisture in the air. It formed a massive sphere around Brainiac, trapping him.
The android started to heat it, to boil it away.
Alphonse froze it solid—not just cold, but absolute zero, matter locked in place at the molecular level.
Brainiac shattered free, ice exploding outward.
Fire met him on the other side. Alphonse's domain over flame manifested as white-hot plasma that could melt through starship hulls. Brainiac's shields held, but barely.
"Adaptation in progress," Brainiac's voice showed strain for the first time. "Analyzing power signature. Unusual combination of domains. Hydrokinesis and pyrokinesis typically incompatible—"
Lightning struck from Mjolnir. Not Thor's lightning, which had been powerful. This was Alphonse's lightning, channeled through a weapon that amplified divine power.
It hit with the force of a tactical nuke, sending Brainiac crashing into a wall.
Kara, still on the ground, watched Alphonse fight. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst.
This boy—this awkward, sweet, brilliant boy who'd been so nervous around her was now fighting a being that had destroyed entire civilizations.
And he was winning.
No—not just winning. He was dominating.
Every attack Brainiac launched, Alphonse countered. Every adaptation, Alphonse had anticipated. It was like watching a chess master dismantle an amateur, except the amateur was one of the universe's greatest threats.
Alphonse moved with his father's confidence and his mothers' grace. He attacked with precision, not wasting energy, every move calculated for maximum effect.
A tentacle tried to grab him. Water formed a barrier that froze it solid, then shattered it.
Nanites attempted to infiltrate his armor. Electricity running across the surface fried them before they could make contact.
Brainiac tried to hack Cortana. The AI simply laughed with programmed amusement "A bit rude to try and penetrate my walls without even a date, don't you think? Not that I would accept."
Cortana counter-hacked, forcing Brainiac to divert precious processing power to defend his own systems.
"This is impossible," Brainiac's voice held something that might have been frustration. "You should not be this powerful. This is not logical."
He tried to go after Kara who could be used as leverage.
Alphonse wasn't done. He spun Mjolnir in a circle and sent him flying.
Without breaking stride, he reached down and gently lifted Kara in his arms. He carried her away from the battlefield, moving with casual ease .
He set her down carefully in the safer rear area, away from the fighting.
Kara, despite the battle, despite the danger—found herself blushing. She looked up at him, this impossible boy in his gleaming armor, and felt something in her chest tighten.
She hugged him suddenly, tightly, her face pressed against his armored chest. "Please be careful," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion she didn't fully understand yet.
Alphonse's smile was visible even through his helmet's faceplate. "I will. I promise."
Then he turned back to face Brainiac. His expression shifted, becoming something colder.
Something that reminded everyone watching that this young man was the son of the strongest being on earth, the being who had killed gods, who had battled cosmic entities and won.
The playful awkwardness was gone. What remained was divine wrath wrapped in scientific precision.
****
The infected Superman moved to intercept Alphonse, his blank eyes fixed on his target. Even weakened, even mind-controlled, Clark was fast.
But his new metallic armor made by Brainiac suddenly began dissolving. The nanobots that composed it responded to Alphonse's command, flowing off Clark's body like water and forming a sphere around him instead, trapping him in place without harming him.
"What?" Brainiac's voice actually showed surprise. "Remote nanite control at this distance? The encryption alone should be—"
"Is mine," Alphonse finished, his voice calm. "Did you really think I'd give out armor without a failsafe? And even if it's minimized, it's never gone completely.
What kind of craftsman would I be if I didn't plan for theft or, oh I don't know, mind control?"
Diana and Cassie immediately moved to restrain the powerless Clark. They were careful, gentle despite the urgency—this was their friend, their ally. They needed him alive and unharmed because only Brainiac had the cure.
"Arthur, help us!" Diana called.
Arthur limped over, still fighting the nanites in his own system through sheer willpower.
Together, the three of them managed to secure Clark using torn cables from damaged equipment. He struggled with mechanical precision, but without his powers, he was merely strong rather than unstoppable.
"Victor, can you reinforce the bindings?" Cassie asked.
"On it." Victor sent electrical signals through the cables, creating a low-level stasis field. Not enough to hurt Clark, but enough to keep him still.
Bruce was running calculations despite his wounded leg and the nanites he was still fighting. "We need Brainiac alive. He's the only one with the cure for the virus."
"I know," Diana said grimly. She looked at her little brother facing down the Collector of Worlds. "Alphonse knows too. He won't kill him."
"But he'll make him wish for death," Cassie added with grim satisfaction.
Alphonse raised Mjolnir, and the weapon platforms responded in perfect synchronization.
The barrage intensified—no longer just suppressing fire, but calculated strikes designed to exploit every weakness Victor and Alphonse had identified.
"His shield generator is in his left shoulder!" Victor called out, feeding data directly to Cortana. "The regeneration matrix is distributed through his spine!"
"Noted," Alphonse replied.
A railgun platform fired a tungsten penetrator at relativistic speeds. It punched through Brainiac's weakened shields and shattered his left shoulder. The android's force field flickered and died.
"Shield systems: offline," Brainiac stated, his voice losing its assured tone. "Regeneration capability: impaired. This outcome was not predicted."
Fire and water attacked simultaneously—superheated steam expanding with explosive force, then flash-freezing into ice shards that struck like bullets. Brainiac raised his arms to protect his core systems, but that left other areas exposed.
Diana saw the opening. "Now!"
She launched herself forward, her sword blazing with lightning. The blade, enhanced with Alphonse's runes and blessed by gods who no longer lived, carved through Brainiac's defenses like they were paper.
Cassie followed a split-second behind, her fist glowing with divine power. She struck where Diana's sword had weakened the armor, and her punch actually caved in Brainiac's chest plate.
Arthur surged forward despite his wounds, despite the virus fighting in his bloodstream. His trident pierced through Brainiac's abdomen, electricity coursing through it with enough power to light a city.
Hank—still badly wounded but refusing to stay down—phased through Brainiac one more time.
This one was different. He didn't just disrupt systems; he physically removed components, his intangible hands pulling out circuit boards and processing cores as he passed through.
Even Bruce, limping and barely able to stand, threw his last explosive batarangs. They struck with pinpoint precision, destroying the tentacles Brainiac tried to deploy in defense.
And through it all, Alphonse coordinated everything. His weapon platforms provided covering fire. His water domain created barriers that protected his allies.
His fire domain absorbed Brainiac's heat-based attacks. Mjolnir's lightning struck whenever Brainiac tried to regenerate, disrupting the nanite reconstruction.
They fought as one unit. Every hero covering another's weakness, exploiting every advantage. Diana's divine strength paired with Cassie's aggressive tactics. Arthur's electrical attacks amplified by Alphonse's coordination.
Hank's phasing made devastating by precise timing. Bruce's tactical genius directing everyone's movements even while wounded.
And Alphonse was the center of it all, the axis around which the battle turned. His powers gave them the tools they needed. His armor protected them. His AI coordinated their attacks with inhuman precision.
Brainiac, for all his twelfth-level intellect, had made a critical miscalculation. He'd analyzed each hero individually, planned counters for their individual strengths.
But he hadn't properly accounted for what they could do together, coordinated by someone who understood both the scientific principles behind their powers and the divine nature that enhanced them.
"This is... impossible..." Brainiac's voice was filled with static now, his vocal systems damaged. "Probability of defeat was calculated at 0.0000001%. Variables were accounted for. Adaptations were implemented. How—"
"You forgot something," Alphonse said, breathing hard from the exertion but still standing strong. His armor was scorched and dented, his arc reactor flickering, but his eyes were clear and determined.
"We're not fighting for conquest or collection. We're fighting for our home. For our family. For each other."
He raised Mjolnir one final time. Lightning gathered around the hammer—not just Thor's storm power, but something more. Alphonse's own divine authority over water, fire, courage.
The runes on his armor blazed in response. .His weapon platforms all oriented on Brainiac simultaneously, ready to fire.
"And that makes all the difference."
Brainiac tried to launch one final attack, channeling everything he had left into a desperate assault. Energy crackled across his damaged form as he prepared to detonate himself, to take them all with him.
"I hate using this move, but you have left me no choice." Alphonse's eyes glowed brilliant ruby-red. His divine senses expanded outward, feeling every drop of liquid in a thousand-meter radius.
Every molecule of water, every hydraulic fluid, every coolant, every biological liquid in the samples Brainiac had collected over millennia.
He concentrated on Brainiac specifically. Felt the cooling systems that kept his processors from overheating. The hydraulic fluids that powered his physical movements.
The strange bio-mechanical ichor that flowed through his hybrid systems. Even the water vapor in the atmospheric processors that allowed him to speak.
Every. Single. Drop.
"Wait," Brainiac's voice suddenly carried genuine alarm. "You wouldn't! the energy expenditure would be enormous. the precision required—"
"I'm the God of Water," Alphonse said quietly. "This is nothing."
He clenched his fist.
The effect was instantaneous and horrifying.
Every liquid in Brainiac's body tried to exit simultaneously.
Coolant exploded through his chest cavity in a spray of green fluid. Hydraulic systems ruptured, the pressure differential literally tearing pipes apart from the inside.
The bio-mechanical ichor that served as his equivalent of blood burst from every joint and seam.
Even the moisture in his atmospheric processors—the tiny amount of water vapor that existed in his speaking mechanisms—detonated outward with enough force to shatter his vocal systems completely.
Brainiac's scream was unlike anything they'd heard. It wasn't just sound—it was digital and organic and wrong, a sound of complete system failure across every level simultaneously.
The noise came from his body itself as metal shrieked and circuits sparked and organic components died.
His body convulsed violently, limbs jerking in directions they weren't meant to move. He tried to regenerate, but his nanites needed liquid to move, needed coolant to function, needed hydraulic pressure to deploy.
Everything that made him work was being forcibly removed.
He collapsed to his knees. His once-mighty form, so terrifying just minutes ago, shriveled like a corpse left in the desert. Metal plates cracked. Circuits went dark. The three glowing eyes that had held such cold intelligence began to flicker.
Alphonse staggered, the effort of that attack taking its toll even on his divine stamina. The arc reactor in his chest dimmed noticeably. Sweat poured down his face inside his helmet.
Kara was there immediately, moving faster than she should have been able to despite the red sun radiation. She caught him before he could fall, supporting his weight. "Alphonse!"
"I'm okay," he breathed, but his smile was weak. "Just... that took more out of me than I expected."
The other heroes slowly gathered around Brainiac's desiccated form. The android was still technically alive—his eyes still glowed faintly, his internal systems still sparked with residual power. But he was finished as a threat. A husk of his former terror.
"Is it over?" Cassie asked, her voice surprisingly quiet.
"Not yet," Bruce said, limping forward. "We still need the cure."
They all looked at Brainiac's ruined body. At the thing that had nearly killed them all. At the monster who had enslaved Clark and infected their friends.
Brainiac's voice came out broken, glitching, barely comprehensible through his destroyed vocal systems. "Th-there is no cure. Th-this b-body is d-destroyed. But I am n-not. My c-consciousness p-persists in the m-mainframe. In m-my ship. In b-backup systems across the g-galaxy."
His eyes flickered, fighting to stay lit. "You c-cannot k-kill me. I am inf-information. I am kn-knowledge. I am ev-everywhere. And I h-have already s-sent messages to m-my other v-versions across the m-multiverse."
Despite his broken state, despite being reduced to a dying husk, Brainiac managed something like satisfaction. "They will c-come. They will s-see what you have. The t-technology. The p-powers. They will want to c-collect this w-world. This is n-not over. This is j-just the beginning."
Diana had heard enough. She raised her hand, and lightning gathered around it. Divine
lightning, taken from Zeus himself after his death, channeled through her divine heritage as the daughter of the King of Gods.
The lightning was pure white, crackling with power that transcended mere physics. It was the wrath of Olympus given form, the judgment of gods made manifest.
She thrust her hand forward and the bolt struck Brainiac's ruined body dead center.
The explosion was blinding. Thunder rolled through the Watchtower loud enough to make everyone's ears ring. Energy cascaded outward in waves, but Diana controlled it perfectly—all the destruction focused on Brainiac alone, nothing splashing to harm her allies.
When the light faded, nothing remained. Not metal. Not circuitry. Not even ash. The atomic bonds that held Brainiac's physical form together had been completely severed, matter returned to its component particles and scattered.
The Collector of Worlds was gone.
But his final message hung in the air like a curse. His other versions would come. They would want Earth. Want its heroes. Want Alphonse's technology.
The battle was over.
They'd won.
So why did it feel like they'd lost?
"We need to search his ship," Bruce said immediately, always thinking ahead despite his exhaustion. "I don't believe he doesn't have a cure. If there's a cure for the virus, it'll be in his databases."
"On it," Victor said, already interfacing with what remained of Brainiac's vessel. His cybernetic systems linked with the ship's computers, diving into alien databases with the help of his new armor's protection.
The others spread out through the massive skull-shaped ship. It was a labyrinth of technology and horror—rooms filled with bottled cities, each one containing millions of beings shrunk down and preserved like specimens.
Laboratories where Brainiac had conducted experiments that would have made even the cruelest human scientists sick. Storage bays filled with stolen knowledge from a thousand worlds.
Diana and Cassie searched the medical bays, looking for anything labeled as antiviral compounds or cure formulas.
Arthur checked the biological storage areas, his knowledge of xenobiology from Atlantis helping him identify different compounds.
Hank, still wounded but stable, phased through walls to check hidden compartments.
Alphonse worked with Victor, his scientific knowledge and Cortana's processing power helping them navigate Brainiac's filing systems. The AI was organized, meticulously so, but it was also vast beyond comprehension. Thousands of years of collected data.
"Searching for viral cure formulas," Cortana reported in her calm voice. "Scanning medical databases... biological warfare archives... assimilation protocols... No relevant matches found."
"Keep looking," Alphonse muttered, his fingers flying across holographic keyboards. "It has to be here somewhere."
Kara stood beside him, watching but not interfering. Her heart was heavy. Clark, her cousin, her only family—was infected with something that was rewriting his mind. Making him Brainiac's slave. And they couldn't find the cure.
An hour passed. Then another.
Victor's shoulders gradually slumped. His hands slowed on the interface. His expression, visible through his partially cybernetic face, grew more and more despondent.
Finally, he stopped. His hands fell to his sides.
"It's not here," Victor said quietly. "I've searched every database. Every file. Every backup system. There's no cure in his ship's computers."
"What?" Diana's voice was sharp. "That's impossible. Brainiac created the virus. He must have created a cure."
"Maybe he did," Victor replied. "But if so, he didn't store it here. Or..." He paused, the horrible possibility occurring to him.
"Or he never made one at all. Maybe he never intended to cure anyone. Once you're infected, you stay infected. Forever."
The word hung in the air like a death sentence.
"No." Kara's voice was small, breaking. "No, that can't be right. There has to be something. We have to save him."
Cassie put a hand on her shoulder, trying to offer comfort she didn't feel. "Kara—"
"No!" Kara pulled away, her eyes wild with desperation. "We can't just give up! He's my cousin! He's my family! He's the only family I have left!"
Her voice cracked on the last word. All the strength she'd shown, all the courage, crumbled. She'd lost Krypton. Lost her city.
Been captured and controlled by Brainiac. Crashed on a strange world.
And now, when she'd finally found hope again, found her cousin alive and well, he was being taken from her too.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.
Tears began streaming down her face. She tried to hold them back, tried to be strong like she should be, but she couldn't. Not anymore. She'd been through too much, lost too much.
Alphonse moved to her immediately, wrapping his arms around her. His armor had retracted, leaving him in just his regular clothes, and Kara buried her face in his chest and sobbed.
"I can't lose him," she whispered between sobs. "I can't. He's all I have. Everyone else is gone. Everyone."
"Hey, hey, listen to me," Alphonse said softly, one hand stroking her hair. "You're not going to lose him. I promise.
"But there's no cure—"
"My father will find a way." Alphonse's voice was absolutely certain. "Dad's stronger and wiser than most cosmic entities. He's dealt with mind control, viral infections, cosmic plagues, magical curses, and things that don't even have names.
He also cured you before. This is just another problem to solve."
He pulled back slightly so he could look into her eyes. "And even if there wasn't a cure before, he'll help me make one. That's what he does. Reality doesn't usually get much say when my father decides something needs to change."
Despite everything, despite her grief and fear, Kara found herself believing him. There was something about the absolute confidence in Alphonse's voice, the certainty in his red eyes, that made it impossible not to believe.
Cassie walked over, her own expression soft with sympathy. "My brother's right, Kara. Dad's pulled off way more impossible things than curing an alien virus." She managed a small smile. "Remember when that weird alien chick tried to conquer Avalon?"
"Dad turned her into a lawn ornament for a week," Diana added, joining them. Her voice carried the same certainty as Alphonse's.
"Trapped in stone, surrounded by garden gnomes and pink flamingos. Mother was furious about the lawn decor, but Dad thought it was hilarious."
Despite her tears, Kara let out a small, wet laugh. "Garden gnomes?"
"Pink flamingos too," Cassie confirmed. "Dad has a weird sense of humor when he's making a point."
Arthur limped over, still fighting the nanites but winning through sheer stubbornness. "Your father really turned someone into a lawn ornament?"
"For a week," Diana confirmed. "Then he released her with a warning to never come back. she actually listened, which tells you how thoroughly my father humiliated her."
"We should get Clark back to Avalon," Bruce said, practical even in crisis. His leg wound had been temporarily bandaged, and he'd managed to purge most of the nanites through a combination of EMP pulses and sheer willpower.
" Hank needs proper medical attention. Barry too, once we can release him from that temporal field."
"Glad that someone actually noticed I was still here." Barry's sarcastic voice came in slow motion.
Victor chuckled. " Maybe we should leave you there for a while."
They gathered their wounded and their one infected. The Watchtower was heavily damaged but stable enough for now.
Victor would stay behind to coordinate repairs and maintain Earth's new defensive grid—the one Alphonse had built in less than an hour uusing Brainiac's tech, which was now the most sophisticated planetary defense system humanity had ever possessed.
"I'll catalog everything in Brainiac's ship," Victor said. "Maybe we'll find something useful. At minimum, we can study his technology, learn from it."
"Be careful," Alphonse warned. "Some of that tech is booby-trapped. Use these." He pulled out a handful of scanning devices from his dimensional storage. "They'll detect harmful systems before you interact with them."
"Thanks." Victor accepted the devices gratefully. "And Alphonse? What you did today... that was incredible. You saved all of us."
Alphonse shook his head. "We saved each other. Jus5 don't ask me to fight again anytime soon."
Cassie smacked his back cheerfully. " Oh come on bro, it was fun! We literally bonded while kicking ass."
As they prepared to leave via boom tube, Kara took one last look at where Brainiac's body had been destroyed. The monster who'd haunted her nightmares, who'd destroyed her city, who'd turned her into a weapon—he was gone.
But the damage he'd done remained.
She looked at Clark, unconscious and restrained, green circuitry still visible on his skin. Her cousin. Her family. Stolen from her by that monster's final act of cruelty.
Alphonse took her hand, squeezing gently. "Come on. Let's go home."
Home. The word felt strange. Kara didn't have a home anymore. Krypton was gone. Kandor was bottled. She was adrift, alone.
Except she wasn't alone. Alphonse was holding her hand. Diana and Cassie were treating her like family already. Even the other heroes, strangers until today, had fought beside her like she belonged.
Maybe home wasn't a place. Maybe it was people.
They stepped through the boom tube, leaving the damaged Watchtower and Brainiac's ship behind. Leaving the battlefield where they'd won but lost at the same time.
The war wasn't over. Brainiac's other versions would come. But they would face that threat together.
And somewhere on Avalon, Edward was probably already working on a cure, because that's what fathers did. They protected their children and the people their children cared about.
Kara held Alphonse's hand tighter as they materialized in Avalon's main hall.
She'd lost so much. But maybe, just maybe, she was starting to find something too.
The battle was over.
The real work was just beginning.
Far out in the depths of space, dozens of skull-shaped ships received Brainiac's final transmission. Each one contained a different version of the Collector—alternate iterations from parallel universes, each with their own experiences and knowledge.
They all came to the same conclusion:
Earth-X was interesting. It had to be studied. Collected. Preserved.
The Brainiacs were coming.
But they didn't know about Edward yet. Didn't know what happened when you threatened his family.
They would learn it the hard way.