“They really did a number on this place…”, Ciri said as I set her down, “Alfred kept this place in pristine condition, and there were hundreds of unique items here. I cannot believe that it is all gone now, and it is all my-”
“Ciri, you need to stop blaming yourself for this. As I told you earlier, this would have likely happened whether you came here or not.”, I reminded her as I lightly punched her shoulder, “If you keep blaming yourself for everything bad that happens, you will never move past this and drown in your self-imposed sorrow. You need to focus your energy on more beneficial things…like ramming your silver sword right up Eredin’s ass.”
“Haha.”, Ciri laughed with amusement, “I would enjoy that quite a lot if I am being honest. After all the years of being on the run, he owes me for taking my childhood away and forcing me to grow up alone! Letting me ram my sword up his ass till it comes out his mouth is the least he can do for me!!”
Patting her on the back, the two of us ran over to the Batcomputer to see if anything could be salvaged. Destroying anything that could be of use to the League, Darkseid’s forces reduced the computer to scrap metal and broken glass. Fishing around for the storage drives in the debris, Ciri pulled them out with a grim expression. Showing me the drives, they clearly had been used as a footrest by someone with rather large, heavy feet.
“That fatass crushed them like soda cans…”, I complained knowing full well that recovering the data in its current state was impossible, “Alright then, looks like we are going to have to use one of my Quirks to fix this. Can you put them back where you found them? Once they are in place, please step back.”
Doing as I asked, she set them back in place as best she could and then took a few steps back from the computer. Using Rewind to repair the damage, the computer went back together in a comical manner. Like watching a rewinding VHS tape, the computer reassembled itself bit by bit before eventually coming back online. Stopping as soon as the sign-in screen came up, Ciri asked me if I knew his password.
“I do not know.”, I said looking under the desk for a potential password, “Knowing him, the computer will wipe the drives if we enter the password wrong too many times. Even though I could just undo the wipe, we cannot sit here all day trying passwords. I will try a more direct approach to resolve this matter.”
Zipping into the system itself, I quickly took control of the system and began unlocking the account and files. Removing all security measures within the OS, I used the computer’s audio system to ask Ciri the approximate date she left this world.
“Uh…I think it was a month called October or September.”, Ciri answered after thinking about it for a moment, “They had Pumpkin Spice Lattes available when I left, I was kind of hoping to get one while we were here actually…haha.”
Going off the usual timetable for that drink, I began sifting through weeks of video footage till I found a recording of the Wild Hunt’s arrival. Putting it on the monitor for Ciri to view, my focus was solely on Constantine's spell. Listening to his chant and watching the sigils appear, my mind began to calculate roughly where he sent them. When the spell activated, I momentarily froze the image to double-check the sigils.
“Alright, let me overlay the coordinates on a Starmap.”, I said pulling the most recent map from the database, “Give the system a moment here to complete the calculations.”
Watching the system move the map around till it locked onto the location I entered, it appeared the coordinates sent them to an asteroid field. Seeing no inhabitable planets within several light years of the asteroid field, we were confused about how a random asteroid belt led to all of this. Taking a moment to rack my brain for answers, I recalled that one of Superman’s biggest enemies liked to use overlooked areas like this to hide. Skimming through the League’s information on this area, my suspicions were confirmed by an entry several months prior made by Powergirl.
“After a recent encounter with Brainiac, I followed his energy signature back to a large asteroid field. Upon arrival, my equipment started acting weird causing me to lose the energy trail. Initially suspected that Brainiac was behind this, but discovered tons of rare metals that appear to be causing the interference. Suspect Brainiac used the asteroid field to cover his tracks or is using the field to hide. Need to review further with the team…”, I read aloud from her notes.
Cutting the feed to the monitor, I began sifting through video footage and deep space sensor data for the weeks following Ciri’s departure. Finding anomalies starting a week after she left, the system appeared to detect an unknown entity in the Solar System but it did not alert the team. Hacking into military satellites to get a visual on the object, I was not the least bit surprised that everything in that vicinity was corrupted.
“Interesting, I do not have your information in the League’s Database.”, a familiar mechanical voice said to me.
Turning around to see Brainiac, I instead found an amalgamation of Eredin and Brainiac. Not anywhere close to the seamless fusions that Luthor and Darkside had, Eredin’s fusion looked more like a Frankenstein monster. Standing there with an emotionless yet prideful gaze, the digital version of him looked at me with curiosity.
“Am I speaking to you in real-time, or a copy of you saved on Batman’s computer?”, I inquired approaching him slowly.
“Who knows?”, Eredin chuckled unwilling to give the answer.
“Either way, this explains quite a lot now about why you have become so much stronger as of late.”, I said observing him, “Constantine really screwed the pooch on this one, he went from two threats to a single dangerous threat. The ability to use high-level magics with the processing power of trillions of people, very dangerous indeed.”
“Intriguing that you thought of that immediately, the League was unfortunately too slow in realizing that.”, Brainiac remarked, “By the time they realized it, it was already too late.”
Pulling up footage of the encounter, the duo had caught the League completely by surprise. His opening salvo against the planet took out several major cities around the globe, including Metropolis. Engaging the League like he normally would, Brainiac lulled them into a false sense of security and let the League infiltrate his ship with minimal effort. When they broke into his Control Room, that was when the duo sprung their trap on them. With no magic wielders among the boarding party, all of them were easily subdued by Eredin’s Magic.
Incapacitating them, Brainiac used a device to transfer the Heroes' powers to Eredin’s most trusted soldiers before dumping them back on Earth. Destroying the Watchtower, Fortress of Solitude, and Titan Tower before leaving Earth, Eredin then used Brainiac’s systems to spread rumors that the Justice League had been crippled so Darkseid would finish them off for him.
“Their escape to an unknown dimension was unfortunate, but well within the margin of error.”, Brainiac stated, “Your interference though complicates matters greatly, removing you from the equation would be the optimal choice. As your limits are unknown, an agreeable compromise would be preferred to ensure your discontinued assistance to the girl.”
“What exactly could you offer me?”, I inquired with confusion, “You cannot reach my world, there is nothing you have that I want, and you are weaker than me in terms of strength and magic. I see no benefit for me to abandon Ciri.”
“I possess unfathomable amounts of information and history from across dozens of universes, are you saying this does not interest you?”, Brainiac inquired, “Forbidden knowledge, scientific technology of the highest precision, and knowledge that not even the Gods possess could be yours.”
“Here is my answer to you.”, I replied with a smirk, “When I see you next time, it will be at the end of my blade.”
Before they could respond, I forced the computer to overload and sever their connection. Getting out of the computer before it blew up, Ciri looked at me with a warm smile. Having heard the entire conversation, as the audio system was still live, she understood that we were in this together now. Giving me a hug, Ciri thanked me for standing by her through this mess.
“It is no problem Ciri, really.”, I chuckled patting her head, “Now that we know for certain what happened, I have a good idea where the League is hiding out for the time being. It is one of the few places that even Eredin cannot reach with his powers.”
“Where would that be?”, she asked as I forcibly opened a portal.
“We are going to the Dreamscape to find the House of Mysteries.”, I told her, “Stay close otherwise you may never return to reality again.”
Offering her my hand, she latched on and together the two of us leaped into the portal.
“They really did a number on this place…”, Ciri said as I set her down, “Alfred kept this place in pristine condition, and there were hundreds of unique items here. I cannot believe that it is all gone now, and it is all my-”
“Ciri, you need to stop blaming yourself for this. As I told you earlier, this would have likely happened whether you came here or not.”, I reminded her as I lightly punched her shoulder, “If you keep blaming yourself for everything bad that happens, you will never move past this and drown in your self-imposed sorrow. You need to focus your energy on more beneficial things…like ramming your silver sword right up Eredin’s ass.”
“Haha.”, Ciri laughed with amusement, “I would enjoy that quite a lot if I am being honest. After all the years of being on the run, he owes me for taking my childhood away and forcing me to grow up alone! Letting me ram my sword up his ass till it comes out his mouth is the least he can do for me!!”
Patting her on the back, the two of us ran over to the Batcomputer to see if anything could be salvaged. Destroying anything that could be of use to the League, Darkseid’s forces reduced the computer to scrap metal and broken glass. Fishing around for the storage drives in the debris, Ciri pulled them out with a grim expression. Showing me the drives, they clearly had been used as a footrest by someone with rather large, heavy feet.
“That fatass crushed them like soda cans…”, I complained knowing full well that recovering the data in its current state was impossible, “Alright then, looks like we are going to have to use one of my Quirks to fix this. Can you put them back where you found them? Once they are in place, please step back.”
Doing as I asked, she set them back in place as best she could and then took a few steps back from the computer. Using Rewind to repair the damage, the computer went back together in a comical manner. Like watching a rewinding VHS tape, the computer reassembled itself bit by bit before eventually coming back online. Stopping as soon as the sign-in screen came up, Ciri asked me if I knew his password.
“I do not know.”, I said looking under the desk for a potential password, “Knowing him, the computer will wipe the drives if we enter the password wrong too many times. Even though I could just undo the wipe, we cannot sit here all day trying passwords. I will try a more direct approach to resolve this matter.”
Zipping into the system itself, I quickly took control of the system and began unlocking the account and files. Removing all security measures within the OS, I used the computer’s audio system to ask Ciri the approximate date she left this world.
“Uh…I think it was a month called October or September.”, Ciri answered after thinking about it for a moment, “They had Pumpkin Spice Lattes available when I left, I was kind of hoping to get one while we were here actually…haha.”
Going off the usual timetable for that drink, I began sifting through weeks of video footage till I found a recording of the Wild Hunt’s arrival. Putting it on the monitor for Ciri to view, my focus was solely on Constantine's spell. Listening to his chant and watching the sigils appear, my mind began to calculate roughly where he sent them. When the spell activated, I momentarily froze the image to double-check the sigils.
“Alright, let me overlay the coordinates on a Starmap.”, I said pulling the most recent map from the database, “Give the system a moment here to complete the calculations.”
Watching the system move the map around till it locked onto the location I entered, it appeared the coordinates sent them to an asteroid field. Seeing no inhabitable planets within several light years of the asteroid field, we were confused about how a random asteroid belt led to all of this. Taking a moment to rack my brain for answers, I recalled that one of Superman’s biggest enemies liked to use overlooked areas like this to hide. Skimming through the League’s information on this area, my suspicions were confirmed by an entry several months prior made by Powergirl.
“After a recent encounter with Brainiac, I followed his energy signature back to a large asteroid field. Upon arrival, my equipment started acting weird causing me to lose the energy trail. Initially suspected that Brainiac was behind this, but discovered tons of rare metals that appear to be causing the interference. Suspect Brainiac used the asteroid field to cover his tracks or is using the field to hide. Need to review further with the team…”, I read aloud from her notes.
Cutting the feed to the monitor, I began sifting through video footage and deep space sensor data for the weeks following Ciri’s departure. Finding anomalies starting a week after she left, the system appeared to detect an unknown entity in the Solar System but it did not alert the team. Hacking into military satellites to get a visual on the object, I was not the least bit surprised that everything in that vicinity was corrupted.
“Interesting, I do not have your information in the League’s Database.”, a familiar mechanical voice said to me.
Turning around to see Brainiac, I instead found an amalgamation of Eredin and Brainiac. Not anywhere close to the seamless fusions that Luthor and Darkside had, Eredin’s fusion looked more like a Frankenstein monster. Standing there with an emotionless yet prideful gaze, the digital version of him looked at me with curiosity.
“Am I speaking to you in real-time, or a copy of you saved on Batman’s computer?”, I inquired approaching him slowly.
“Who knows?”, Eredin chuckled unwilling to give the answer.
“Either way, this explains quite a lot now about why you have become so much stronger as of late.”, I said observing him, “Constantine really screwed the pooch on this one, he went from two threats to a single dangerous threat. The ability to use high-level magics with the processing power of trillions of people, very dangerous indeed.”
“Intriguing that you thought of that immediately, the League was unfortunately too slow in realizing that.”, Brainiac remarked, “By the time they realized it, it was already too late.”
Pulling up footage of the encounter, the duo had caught the League completely by surprise. His opening salvo against the planet took out several major cities around the globe, including Metropolis. Engaging the League like he normally would, Brainiac lulled them into a false sense of security and let the League infiltrate his ship with minimal effort. When they broke into his Control Room, that was when the duo sprung their trap on them. With no magic wielders among the boarding party, all of them were easily subdued by Eredin’s Magic.
Incapacitating them, Brainiac used a device to transfer the Heroes' powers to Eredin’s most trusted soldiers before dumping them back on Earth. Destroying the Watchtower, Fortress of Solitude, and Titan Tower before leaving Earth, Eredin then used Brainiac’s systems to spread rumors that the Justice League had been crippled so Darkseid would finish them off for him.
“Their escape to an unknown dimension was unfortunate, but well within the margin of error.”, Brainiac stated, “Your interference though complicates matters greatly, removing you from the equation would be the optimal choice. As your limits are unknown, an agreeable compromise would be preferred to ensure your discontinued assistance to the girl.”
“What exactly could you offer me?”, I inquired with confusion, “You cannot reach my world, there is nothing you have that I want, and you are weaker than me in terms of strength and magic. I see no benefit for me to abandon Ciri.”
“I possess unfathomable amounts of information and history from across dozens of universes, are you saying this does not interest you?”, Brainiac inquired, “Forbidden knowledge, scientific technology of the highest precision, and knowledge that not even the Gods possess could be yours.”
“Here is my answer to you.”, I replied with a smirk, “When I see you next time, it will be at the end of my blade.”
Before they could respond, I forced the computer to overload and sever their connection. Getting out of the computer before it blew up, Ciri looked at me with a warm smile. Having heard the entire conversation, as the audio system was still live, she understood that we were in this together now. Giving me a hug, Ciri thanked me for standing by her through this mess.
“It is no problem Ciri, really.”, I chuckled patting her head, “Now that we know for certain what happened, I have a good idea where the League is hiding out for the time being. It is one of the few places that even Eredin cannot reach with his powers.”
“Where would that be?”, she asked as I forcibly opened a portal.
“We are going to the Dreamscape to find the House of Mysteries.”, I told her, “Stay close otherwise you may never return to reality again.”
Offering her my hand, she latched on and together the two of us leaped into the portal.
