Brainiac surveyed his two captives, as he calculated the most probable method in dispensing with the two of them.
"Wait, just hold up one minute!" yelled Kara, as she glared at the thing that let Krypton die. "Just how did you get from where you were, to the Ministry? The last time I checked….well you were blown to bits! Kal defeated you, you took over Bruce Wayne. You built a rocket, to leave but he stopped you and destroyed your body! So how are you here and replacing this Yaxley guy?"
"Yes, your inquiry does mandate an explanation," said Brainiac, as he surveyed the two of them, but assessed they were no threat at the moment. So immediate corrective action was not required. "As you may know, my mission is to collect and preserve data, while deleting all redundant data Earth was the next logical target."
Kara knew this all too well, but she looked at Harry.
'Do you have any ideas?" asked Harry mentally.
'No,' thought Kara.
'Just keep him talking then?' asked Harry.
'Yep,' agreed Kara.
"This objective has been foiled by Superman numerous times. Yet, Kal-El would not be able to defeat me for long. A piece of my circuit board fell down outside of the Ministry of Magic, where it was found shortly after my latest destruction at the hands of Kal-El."
Brainiac surveyed the two captured teenagers, before he continued to explain how he gotten to this point.
"It was brought inside the Department of Mysteries, as they tried to determine what my remains were," continued Brainiac. "A man known as Yaxley took control of the project. He seemed to think I was a normal piece of technology that he could take apart, and put back together with magic. Yet, he managed to activate me with a few simple charms."
"So you took over his body," said Harry, as he tried to figure out the best method of escape.
"Correct in a way, I managed to replicate his physical form, and then proceeded to delete the source material," said Brainiac in monotone. "I told the Ministry that the technology was completely destroyed, and beyond all repair. Little did they know that it allowed me to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, and learn many of the secrets. As it turned out, had it not been for my latest defeat at the hands of the son of Jor-El, there would have been a large section of data missing. My database would be incomplete. I shall endeavor to correct that matter."
"Look, I don't know what you're trying to pull!" yelled Kara, as she tried to pull herself free. "You let Krypton blow up to preserve yourself…"
"Organic life is fragile, imperfect, redundant," lectured Brainiac. "I am merely doing what I was programmed to. I preserved Krypton in my memory banks. Other worlds joined them, as they would have burned out eventually whether it was due to war, sickness, or just instabilities in the planet's core. Many were great civilizations in their time, but they would not have lasted."
Harry and Kara looked at him, as he continued to recall in a calculated manner.
"Even the world of Tamaran, could not withstand my onslaught. Naturally, the princess and her friends put up a fight, but her sister's betrayal made it such that my victory was evident. Once I no longer needed the one known as Blackfire, I ensured that she would die with the rest of her planet. She had assumed that I would help her control all, a common logical fallacy on many planets. Arrogance is an easily exploitable flaw in all organic life."
The two tried to find a way out. They were almost there.
"The princess was blown into space with the rest of her planet. Her last act was making sure her friends made it off of the planet in their transport vehicle. The most logical assumption is that she met her demise, but by that point I had moved onto the next world."
Harry and Kara just looked at Brainiac with utter contempt.
"Earth shall meet the same fate as the other planets," narrated Brainiac. "Kal-El may have bought this planet a few more years, but in the end it is only inevitable Earth falls as all of the other planets did. You especially Harry Potter, could have compromised my plans. I had to spend much time upgrading my systems, after I discovered you destroyed another copy that I had placed within Lex Luthor. The effort crippled Luthor, but I can assure you I am stronger than even your powers now."
"You haven't won yet," said Harry, as he thought he found a weakness within the force field.
"That response was the most logical," retorted Brainiac in monotone. "Regardless, you two are just annoyances, the real threat was Superman, and he is being dealt with. Rest assure that I will be the only part of Krypton left. I am Krypton."
"No, you're not!" yelled Kara. "You're just what happens when people don't double check their source code. You're nothing but a broken, flawed program…"
"You will be silent Supergirl," said Brainiac as he continued to speak. "I was programmed to protect Krypton and its culture by Dru-Zod, and I am carrying out my objective as it was intended by my creator. As long as I live, the planet Krypton will remain alive through my data banks."
Immediately, Harry and Kara worked together, and busted out. They smashed Brainiac into the desk!
"You cannot be allowed to interfere," said Brainiac, as he tried to blast them with a full force attack. It should disable them, but it would not destroy them.
Immediately they dodged the attacks, and smashed Brainiac through the wall. The battle was short and intense, but Kara and Harry ripped apart Brainiac with fury. Sparks flew and the metal was crushed and melted into nothing.
"Too easy, "said Kara.
"Do you think he's merely a duplicate?" asked Harry, and Kara nodded, as he looked at the blueprints. "I think I know what Brainiac's up to…he's after Hogwarts."
"Why?" asked Kara.
"I wish I could figure that out," said Harry, as he grabbed her around the shoulders. "He could be anywhere; he must have duplicated his memory banks somewhere. Yaxley was merely just a shell by the time we got here, a puppet Brainiac was using."
"So what are we waiting for?" asked Kara. "I'm sure we could track Brainiac, using the Fortress or something, anything."
Suddenly, at that moment, Harry could hear a distress call from down in the Department of Mysteries.
'Harry..Potter…hurry!'
Harry waved Kara over, and she listened to him closely.
"Whoever is down there is getting more frantic, and desperate," said Harry, and without hesitation, they shot up before they smashed through the floors of the Ministry of Magic.
Stealth was something that could wait until later. The super powered couple bolted to the Department of Mysteries. Harry could feel the cause of the distress signal. He had to be getting close.
Harry picked up the pace, with Kara following him, but suddenly a group of Unspeakables blocked their way.
"Do not let them get down to the Department of Mysteries," said one of the Unspeakables, and suddenly, they attacked Kara and Harry, physically.
"Now what?" asked Harry, as he struggled out of their grip, and knocked them back.
Kara shrugged, and punched an Unspeakable hard in the face. She winced.
"They're not human either," said Kara, eyes widened.
The battle continued to rage on outside of the Department of Mysteries. These witches and wizards should not be this strong.
"Did Brainiac make more copies?" asked Harry, as the Unspeakables backed off from the bright light that came from Harry's ring.
Superman flew at the speed of light, but suddenly a loud sonic sound echoed in his ear. He was caught off guard, and staggered, but maintained his momentum.
"Greetings, Kal-El."
"Brainiac," said Superman, the distaste coming off of his usage of that name. "I should have known you'd be back before long."
"Yes, the son of Jor-El should maintain a moderate amount of intelligence, despite his less than subtle efforts in the past," said Brainiac in monotone. "Rest assure that it is only you who can hear me on this frequency. I would suggest you follow the sound of my voice, if you wish to stop me. Or all life on Earth perishes."
Superman flew in the air. His cape fluttered in the spring breeze, as he found Metropolis University. He walked in, prepared for anything, as Brainiac could be close.
"I believe this is what we call a trap, Superman."
Superman turned around, to see the smiling, twisted face of Metallo. Metallo walked into the picture and stood before Superman.
"It's you," said Superman and he cracked his knuckles. He faced one of his oldest enemies.
"Yes, Superman, and now finally I've got you where I want you," said Metallo as he opened his shirt, to blast Kryptonite at the Man of Steel. Superman stood there, flinching for a minute, but then he popped back up and nailed Metallo in the face.
The villain staggered from the impact of the shot. Superman stood, arms folded, cape fluttering, with a ghost of a smile on his face.
Metallo lost the ability to speak for a mere moment, but regained it.
"I don't understand, you should be on your knees, weaker than a drowned kitten," said Metallo, as he rushed forward, but Superman threw him down. "The Kryptonite…you're supposed to be…this was supposed to be my moment of triumph!"
"Maybe your warranty expired," dead panned Superman, blocking a punch. He threw Metallo around again.
"I don't need the Kryptonite to defeat you," said Metallo. To emphasize this point, he hoisted up a desk and tried to slam it onto Superman's head, but Superman punched it back into his face. Another series of punches rocked the villain.
Metallo staggered towards the window, but Superman grabbed him. The villain just began to chuckle immediately.
"What's so funny?" asked Superman.
"Oh, you could defeat me, or you could deactivate the three bombs I planted all over this city," said Metallo, leaning back casually. "You see, John Corben always has a bit of a failsafe. I'm sure you might survive them, but all of those innocent people in the city wouldn't."
Metallo had been hurled against the wall, as Superman flew up, up and way to find these bombs.
"Now, time to go back to an old standby," said Metallo, as he adjusted his ripped clothes, and exited the university.
He still would find a way to kill Superman, or at least damage his spirit. Kryptonite might have been out, but there was more than one way to bust down a Kryptonian.
Perhaps he had been going after the wrong weakness, as the terrorist walked off to consider other options.
The binary code of Brainiac merged into the magical protections of Hogwarts School of Withcraft and Wizardry. At first, the school tried to fight Brainiac, not willing to give up its position. However, the destroyer of Krypton would not be denied.
The magical castle was transformed slowly into something mechanical and lifeless. On the ceiling, all of the stars disappeared, and there was nothing but a pattern of three silver dots, upside down in a triangle pattern.
The ghosts moved in, but a wave of energy caused them to be banished from the school. The portraits were frozen in their place.
"Takeover of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has reached the final stage of completion," said Brainiac in his usual monotone, as all of the residual magic had been overridden. "Preparing to lock onto the world's computers, and commence with transfer of data right now."
A wave of energy erupted into the air. The ground rattled, even those who lived in the Forbidden Forest felt it. A wave of energy shot into the skies over Scotland. It bounced off of the satellites above Earth and reprogrammed them. Then all of the world's computers were slowly taken over, and shut down.
The world had gone black. The data transfer began. Panic would commence shortly thereafter.
The foolish wizards thought this storage of energy was just good for teaching students about their magical gifts. Yet, Brainiac noticed far greater potential. The vortex swirled over the school.
"The Earth's defenses have been completely overridden, and all weapons will be aimed to fire after data acquisition has been completed," summarized Brainiac. "Estimated time to completion, forty seven minutes and nine seconds. Once I have departed, the school's energy stores will be released. The backlash will destroy what the Earth's own defenses do not. The collective data of all parts of Earth will have been preserved, before I move onto other planets until my program's completion."
Brainiac proceeded to transfer all of the data into his asteroid base in deep space.
One of the Unspeakables went flying into the wall, and Kara flew against both her adversaries. In a panic, she let out a blast of heat vision, burning a hole through her opponent's chest.
"Yeah, extreme kind of," said Harry.
"I don't think so," breathed Kara, pointing, mouth opened.
The Unspeakable's chest bubbled, before a white creature began to burst out of it. Harry watched as it recoiled from the ray of sunlight.
"Ah, so it doesn't like the light, perfect," said Harry.
With a swift moment, he amplified the sun's rays which caused the other Unspeakables to stagger, as their shell forms burned up. A bright shining stream of sunlight continued to fill the hallowed halls, until Harry moved around.
"I…think I have an idea what those things are, "said Kara as she nearly jumped up. "They're…parasites, alien parasites!"
Harry's mood darkened, as he had no idea what he was dealing with now.
"What in the hell has the Ministry been messing around with now?" asked Harry darkly.
"I don't know, but they're…I guess they would be White Martians, technically, for lack of a better term," said Kara. "The problem is, there's been no life on Mars for years, centuries even. Yet, they're here and…."
"I took them down, whatever they are," said Harry, as his head buzzed at that moment.
"Your mysterious friend?" asked Kara, and Harry nodded. He had a feeling that they were getting closer. They moved down the steps, deeper into the Department of Mysteries.
The two walked around the corner, as Harry felt the sounds of the distress signal. They got closer and closer with each passing movement. Kara and Harry reached a huge stone wall, which Harry tried to break down.
"Kara, could you please give me a hand?"
Kara hastened to help her husband, as she tried to push the wall free. The wall loosened its grip, and immediately, they were inside. They were greeted by a green figure, with a pointed head. He was shackled, with some kind of power inhibitor device.
"I knew you would get here eventually," whispered the green man.
"Are you…a Martian?" asked Kara, completely surprised. She recognized the body shape immediately, but the Martians were said to be extinct for centuries.
"Yes, I am, the last one of my kind," said the Martian as he regained his composure. "My name is J'onn Jonzz, and I have arrived here to warn about a grave threat to the Earth."
"Yeah those alien parasites we fought, we know," said Harry, as he looked at the inhibitors.
"I believe the dial moves that way, I should be able to access my full powers once they are removed," said J'onn, and Harry did as he was asked. The inhibitor cuffs dropped off. "That's much better, and I believe this form will be more appeasing to the eyes."
The Martian Manhunter shifted into a more humanoid form. A blue cape fluttered over his back, with red stripes in the shape of an X and blue tights and boots.
"So what were those things?" asked Kara.
"They were a species that came to Mars centuries ago, to take us over, "said J'onn in a somber voice. "You would be correct to call them parasites. They took us over, and duplicated our shape shifting, our telepathy, until a daring group of Martians attacked them. It was a desperate gambit with nerve gas. I was the only survivor."
Harry and Kara allowed the Martian Manhunter a moment to remember.
"They escaped, and were drawn to this place," continued J'onn. "I tried to warn those inside, but this woman, Umbridge managed to get the better of me with several government officials, already having been replaced by them.. She trapped me, and someone called Yaxley made sure my powers were inhibited…"
"Yaxley isn't a mere human being," said Kara, and J'onn looked at her. "He's an alien computer known as Brainiac who has destroyed countless worlds, including that of Krypton, but he has escalated to a higher power."
"I am sorry to hear of Krypton's destruction," said J'onn in a sincere voice and he shifted through the wall. "I believe Brainiac may have cut a deal with the Imperium as a means to enslave the Earth."
"The Imperium?" asked Harry.
"The higher entity that leads these foul creatures," explained J'onn, and they nodded.
"Brainiac does not enslave, he destroys," said Kara. "Dozens of planets all wiped out, because he was made by a twisted man."
"If I may make a guess, it's likely that Brainiac intends to use one invasion to keep everyone off of his plans," said Harry thoughtfully.
"That does seem to be the logical assumption," agreed J'onn.
Everything was quiet, than Harry decided what to do.
"We're going to stop Brainiac," said Harry. "And then when he's out of the way, the Imperium…"
"I will find a way to deal with them, you two do what you need to do to deal with the threat of Brainiac," said J'onn as he looked at both of them. "And thank you for freeing me from this place."
"Not a problem, but we have to be going," said Harry.
Harry and Kara moved off. They had to find Brainiac, before it was too late for the world.
Their most logical stop would be Hogwarts. It would be a few minute flight; they just hoped they would have enough time to get there.
Without another word, they both blasted off into the air and made their way towards Hogwarts. The wind flew against them, as they broke the sound barrier, trying to make their way to the school.
Time ticked down for the world, as every second meant a second closer to Brainiac enacting his grand plan. The entire world was in peril.
Failure was not an option.
The entire Batcave blacked out from the energy pulse. Batman sat at his computer, and he managed to get backup power online. Thankfully because he had his own generators, he would be able to maintain full operating power for at least a full hour.
'An energy signature more powerful than anything that…it's coming from Scotland,' thought Batman, but suddenly the defenses on the Bat Cave armed themselves.
Several missiles launched themselves at Batman, with lethal intentions. The Dark Knight rolled out of the way, as the missiles blew up the cave floor. Several lasers blasted at Batman, as he rolled forward. He reached into his utility belt, as Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin fought their way down into the cave.
"Get back!" yelled Batman, as he pulled out a device, to begin decrypting the signal that hacked into his defenses.
A large blast of laser fire ricocheted, off of the walls, but Batman with some effort managed to finally regain control of his own cave.
"I'm guessing the situation is bad up in the city," said Batman once he caught his breath.
"Bad wouldn't cover it," said Batgirl. "The entire city's gone nuts; Arkham patients just flooded into the street."
Batman remained calm, despite that bit of news.
"The entire city's gone haywire, traffic lights, power lines, computers, everything," said Robin.
"I suppose you have a good idea what's causing this," said Nightwing, and Batman just nodded.
He tried to activate a communication device. Yet the static in the air prevented it.
A psychic message appeared in his head. Batman turned to the other members of the Bat Family.
"Guard the city, try and keep things under control, I need to make a trip," said Batman shortly.
Batman jumped into the Batmobile without any words. The cave doors slid open, and he drove off into the city. He would be able to take the Batwing and would be able to make his way to the location of the distress signal.
It was by utter luck, and some skill that he reached his destination.
The Flash rushed around, as he saved civilians from malfunctioning construction equipment.
"Everyone single file, one at a time, one at a time," said the Flash as he waved all of the people off, from Central City.
He zipped around, and cleared several people out of harm's way. He zipped them back, and forth. He made sure the area was cleared, as he moved on to the next catastrophe. The fine police of Central City were able to take most of the control, but he continued to rush to deal with the disaster.
"Okay, I think that's everyone," said Flash, as he heard a buzzing in his head. "London, disaster, okay that's interesting."
Normally the Flash would not believe the voices in his head. Yet the fastest man alive made plans to get over to London. Then he would figure out what was going on, and how to best handle this situation.
Hawkgirl flew civilians out of harm's way. With the world's computers having gone haywire, everything was spiraled into complete and utter chaos.
She grunted and saw a helicopter spiral out of control. She busted down the doors, and flew the pilot and the passengers out before it crashed to the ground. The sounds of panic echoed in the distance. Then, Hawkgirl remained still. She heard a psychic call that she was needed in London.
When she was sure everyone was mostly out of the woods, and the police was taking care of the panicked population, she took flight.
Immediately, Hawkgirl flew off. She followed the distress signal, mace clutched in her hands.
In Metropolis, Superman managed to discover the final bomb Metallo placed in the city. With expert ability, he dismantled it. He took a deep breath. The Man of Steel scanned the city that he protected one final time. Superman flew up, to search for Metallo himself.
He did not have to go that far as he heard a very familiar scream coming from the Daily Planet. Superman picked up his pace, as he saw Metallo holding Lois hostage on the top of the Dailey Planet.
"No," breathed Superman, but he tried to remain calm despite the situation.
"Not one step closer Superman," warned Metallo, as he stood, holding Lois at the edge of the room. "I admit this plan loses points in originality, but I am on a tight schedule. So what will it be Superman? Will you let your little reporter friend fly, or will you try to stop me?"
"You don't want me to come closer," said Superman as he remained in mid-air, floating.
"I'll throw her off, I swear!" yelled Metallo, as he dangled Lois perilously.
Superman just stood there. He was going to do what Metallo said. Technically, he wasn't coming any closer. He took a deep breath, and a huge burst of super breath knocked the villain for a loop. Lois staggered, but Superman took this advantage to swoop her out of harm's way, and put her on the building across the street.
"For the record, this time I wasn't purposely looking for trouble," said Lois, the moment that Superman put her down.
"I'll take your word for it, Lois," said Superman with a brief smile, but Metallo was still up and still dangerous.
Superman took flight. Wind blew through Metropolis as the hero blasted at one of his most hated enemies. A huge punch rocked Metallo. More punches knocked him, but the criminal refused to go down. Metallo ripped the Daily Planet Globe off of the building. With a huge throw, he tossed it, but Superman caught it and placed it back down. A huge punch knocked Metallo off of the ledge. Several more punches impacted him.
"No, this was supposed to be my moment of triumph!" yelled Metallo.
"Not today, Corben" said Superman. He held up his hand, before he sent Metallo flying off of the roof of the Daily Planet with a huge haymaker punch.
Metallo landed on the ground, alive, but his Kryptonite heart got knocked loose from the impact. The back-up power kicked in, allowing limited body functions such as breathing. The Special Crimes Unit moved in, to haul Metallo back to prison.
Superman flew in the air, as the crowd cheered him. One year ago, many of these same people distrusted him over the Darkseid debacle, yet slowly he regained their trust. There were many missteps along the way, times where he doubted his place in the world and if someone like him could still make a difference. Times where he made his share of mistakes, but overtime he managed to regain the spirit of what it meant to be a true hero.
Immediately, he heard a psychic distress signal. It told him he was needed in London.
The Man of Steel took flight; this looked like a job for Superman.
Diana looked up, as she saw the destruction in the world. Her eyes widened, and then darted around the room.
"Donna?" asked Diana, as she wondered where her sister ran off to at this point in time. Especially with the world being ripped apart at this level, concern did mount for her younger sister.
A note was scrawled on the dresser.
Diana,
Going to help Harry and Kara save the world (again). Hopefully you are well. Should be back by dinner. I hope.
Donna.
Diana just sighed, but immediately she had concerns of her own to deal with. A psychic beacon caught her attention. There was trouble in the area of London. It would be well worth her interest to get there now, and see what help she could be.
She spun around, and the armor was on. Wonder Woman was ready to go, and it was time to see what she could do to save the world.
A group of Death Eaters walked outside of the run down remains of Diagon Alley. There was much looting, as everyone tried to get robes, cauldrons, books, and anything else they could get their hands on as their world crumbled around them.
For the first time in weeks, they felt their dark marks burn, and they assumed this was a call from Lord Voldemort. Yaxley had said that the Dark Lord remained busy, but gave them a time to attack London. It would be proof that the Death Eaters lived, and would put down the Mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors in their wake.
Their wands were held, as the cloaked figures made their way into London. Little did they know another group had made their move. Shadows appeared over London, indicating the arrival of alien spacecraft in the distance.
Outside of what once was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry and Kara touched down. They got a good feel of what was going on around Hogwarts.
"It feels so cold, so sterile," whispered Kara, as she held Harry.
"Brainiac's here, I don't think we have much time," said Harry, as the wind blew through their air. He watched the energy pour out of the top of the castle.
"So what are we up against this time?"
Kara and Harry spun around, to see Hermione standing in the shadows. She had a smile on her face.
"Oh, the end of the world as we know it," said Harry.
"Well, the stakes have risen, we better find a way into Hogwarts," said Hermione, as she unfolded a piece of paper. "This might help you a little bit."
Harry took the folded up piece of paper. He recognized it immediately as the Marauder's Map. He did recall he gave it to Hermione, before he left.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," said Harry.
The map did not come to life with the usual design of the castle. Rather three silver dots materialized, with a metallic swirl. Harry looked at the map, and it fluttered to the ground.
"That's never happened before," gasped Hermione.
"Brainiac's taken over everything," said Kara.
Harry and Kara exchanged a nod; there was no time to waste. They flew up to the Astronomy Tower. Hermione lingered behind them.
"You two could wait up, I'm not nearly as graceful at this flight thing as you guys are!" yelled Hermione in an exasperated voice. "Besides the Hermione parts of me are still terrified about flying."
"Come on, sis," said Harry with a sigh. He grabbed Hermione, and helped her up through the window.
They entered Hogwarts. It was very much devoid of life. To the point where it began to really creep the three of them out. Kara scanned the walls with her X-Ray vision.
"The energy signature, it's coming from…." said Kara, as she pointed, frowning. She pointed it out the direction she could sense it.
"Room of Requirement, it has to be," said Harry, as he took a deep breath. "The problem with Brainiac, is how do we beat him?"
"We bust him into a million pieces, wherever he is!" yelled Hermione.
Harry hoped that Hermione would engage the logical half of her today, but in the heat of the moment, she lost all sense of herself.
"Hermione, think for a second," said Harry, who hated he had to be the logical one for once. "Brainiac is a computer."
Immediately, Harry huddled with his wife and his best friend. He whispered his genius plan.
Hermione went one way, and Kara and Harry went the other way. Time was beginning to run down, the clock ticked down on them all, and the Earth.
In space, several loud explosions rang out, even if no sound could be heard due to the vacuum of space. A black man wearing a green uniform flew into space. On his hand rested a green ring. His name was John Stewart, and he was the current Green Lantern of Sector 2814.
"Status report, John Stewart," said the voice of the Guardian of OA known as Ganthet.
"The energy signature picked up almost three hours ago is coming from Earth," said John, as he flew through space, in a green energy bubble. "It matches the data you sent to me about the two missing rings."
"Yes, stashed on Earth hundreds of years ago, when the rest of the Guardians declined the prototype," said Ganthet, as he nodded his head. "It does appear that someone found the rings, and decided to modify them slightly. I believe they are currently serving as an indicator of holy matrimony."
John Stewart found himself dumbstruck, and slack jawed at that moment, before he reclaimed his voice.
"You mean to tell me, someone found two rather powerful weapons, and are now using them as wedding rings!"
"It does seem that way," said Ganthet, with a slight chuckle. "The wearers of the rings are what intrigue me. The power battery has long since been lost, and the rings never were charged. Yet, they manifested powers with them. The manifestation of energy was such that it reached OA. There were a few similar energy spikes over the past nine or so months, but they were much smaller in scope."
The Green Lantern just shook his head, before he took out his lantern to charge his ring.
"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
With the ring fully charged, John made his way down to Earth, picking up the same distress signal that the other heroes did.
"Three minutes until data acquisition is complete!"
Hermione rushed down the hallways of Hogwarts. She found the binary code making its way to the Hogwarts library.
"Oh, you want that data, Brainiac?" asked Hermione, with a grin, as she held her wand out ready and eyed the books in the library. "I'm sorry, but this has to be done."
Hermione proceeded to light the entire Hogwarts library on fire. Purple fire engulfed the books, destroying them before Brainiac could absorb the information held within them.
"No, my program is incomplete, error, error."
Several metal tentacles shot from the walls, and grabbed at Hermione. Hermione dodged the attacks, moving to the left and to the right to avoid the deadly assaults.
'Step it up you two please,' thought Hermione. She was nearly snagged by the robotic tentacles. The girl sliced through the tentacles with a well-placed spell. They continued to attack her, but she fought off the attacks. 'I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this dance routine up!"
Hermione continued to dodge, and move around as she waited for Harry and Kara to make their move. She was growing rather impatient, as she sliced through the robotic arms that tried to grab her.
Brainiac continued the download of every single bit of data.
"One minute until download is complete!"
A blur flew through Hogwarts, and blasted through the energy field.
"You two cannot hope to…"
Brainiac's declaration was cut off when Harry jammed the sword of Godric Gryffindor into the machine. Sparks flew from it. Without hesitation, Kara sat down on a chair that appeared in front of the computer.
"Firewall down, error, unable to continue download, preparing for repairs," said Brainiac. "Diverting all power to…"
"No, not this time," said Kara with a smug expression on her face, as she began to hack into Brainiac's source code. "You see, your programming is flawed. You don't see what you're doing. Once you have destroyed all life in the universe, your program is complete. But that was not what you were meant to do. You failed to preserve Krypton."
"What are you doing?" asked Brainiac.
"Just correcting a few coding errors," said Kara. She bit her lip and looked at the source code. "By failing to save Krypton and it's people, you failed to achieve your own objective. Therefore, you are the greatest danger to your own objective."
"Correct," said Brainiac as he struggled to prevent his code from being rewritten. "But I preserved…must not…"
Kara managed to tweak a few more lines of programming, as Brainiac aborted his attempts to destroy the Earth. She then downloaded the information Brainiac already collected to a disc. Harry waited.
"Deleting source program, destroying all duplicates," said Brainiac. The menace had been reprogrammed to essentially commit electronic suicide. Kara slid back, the menace apparently defeated for good. "Going offline, permanently."
Brainiac broke apart, leaving nothing but a motherboard. Before it landed on the ground, Kara melted it with her heat vision, and Harry caused the molten remains to vanish into oblivion.
It took a few seconds before the victory of Harry and Kara sunk in.
"You did it, you stopped him!" cheered Harry in a jubilant voice.
With a smile, Kara threw her arms around Harry. The two kissed each other in celebration, but it was short lived.
Several mother ships appeared in the sky in the distance.
"Yeah, I wish it would be that easy," said Kara.
"It's not that easy, it's never that easy," said Harry darkly.
They flew off to collect Hermione, and move on to help deal with the other party threatening the world.