Hello, Fanfiction-ers! This is my latest story that I'd like to post online and I'm hoping you like it! Since this is the first chapter, I would love if people left me reviews saying if I should continue it or not. There maybe two or three chapters up before I decide to keep it or leave it, so if you enjoy this, please let me know! Any constructive criticism is welcome!
I claim no ownership of Young Justice or any of its original characters.
So, without further ado, welcome to Ingenious!
-Rachel/Brainiac's POV-
There was a crash outside.
Jolting me from sleep, the commotion multiplied until the entire warehouse echoed with the sounds of battle. I leapt from my bed and immediately got dressed, just as the security alarms blared once, then fell silent. Hurried boots clapped loudly as they ran down the hall, only pausing when they reached the sterile white door of my room. Sliding the door up and open, Lex Luthor moved into my line of sight.
"Good, Brainiac, you're awake; the Young Justice brats are here. Take them out." He slammed his fist harder than necessary into a panel aside of the door to release my mind controlling probe.
The probe that held power over me against my will was only about the size of my head. Normally, they came in baseball-sizes, but Lex Luthor had to redesign the model to control my complex mind. And even so, I could resist its control.
Lex Luthor flipped the switch on the probe's side and the machine powered on. A familiar pressure pushed its way over my thoughts and I fell prey to its will. The interruption of my natural pattern of brainwaves made my eyes glow a freaky white, the only sign of being controlled at all and although it gave off a certain amount of light, my natural vision was not affected one bit. When Lex could no longer see my irises or my pupils anymore, he knew I was a slave to his every command.
"Weapon one, capture the Young Justice brats."
I had no choice but to obey.
The outside hallway was dark, but my unnatural glowing eyes gave off just enough light for me to see. Lex always sent me into a fight alone, excepting when Supergirl was involved, out of fear that I would break free of his control and attack his henchmen. His paid followers already thought Supergirl and I were 'creepy', so the added retreats when the supervillan sprung a trap didn't help their nerves. Supergirl was the only person he trusted I wouldn't attack for the reason that he knew she was my friend, and I refused to hurt her, even while under extreme control. Not to mention she had more superpowers than I did and knew how to control them better.
Lex had his henchmen corner the Young Justice team into a storage area with only two exits on opposite sides of the room, they would be our entrances. Although it was considered a storage room, I had a feeling Lex Luthor had foreseen something like this happening and turned the room into a fighting arena. There were no boxes or containers of any kind, the room was bare excepting the support beams sticking out of the ground, walkways that didn't lead anywhere overhead, and a giant eerie glass dome roof above us.
A room's width apart from me stood Supergirl, standing in calm defiance, blocking any exit the Young Justice team tried to make. She wore our usual uniform, a white jumpsuit with matching elbow-length gloves and knee-high wedge boots. The only colorful detail, the symbol of a pink S emblazed on the front of the shirt, near the collar. My symbol was not a pink S, but rather a red X, the only difference in our costumes.
"Ha! Is this all Lex Luthor has to oppose us? A bunch of girls?" The guy who spoke was certainly arrogant; even his costume demanded attention consisting of a red and yellow suit with a flashy black cape. His hair was the color of the night, seconds before dawn, and in contrast his mask held white lenses over his eyes so you couldn't see his eye color. This must be the Batman's apprentice, the one they call Robin, and the R-crest on the right side of his suit confirmed it. He was taller than Supergirl. I knew this even at the somewhat distance I stood from him.
"Uh, Rob?" My attention flickered to the next who spoke. "I don't think these are ordinary girls." Smart guy. This new person was of African-American descent and wore a red tank top and black pants as a costume. The only accessory: a sort-of backpack contraption that hung from his shoulders just below his blonde, almost white buzz-cut. Attached to his backpack were cords that led into his clenched hands and sprung electric blue blades into his use. If I remembered correctly, this was Aqua-lad. He was approximately the same height as Robin.
"Yeah, dude! Look at their eyes!" Another guy spoke, his yellow and red costume the brightest thing in the room. Red, frizzy hair sprung out in all directions from within his lightning-bolt headgear and the pair of goggles perched over his eyes provided the protection he needed while reaching his top speeds. Kid Flash's costume may have clashed with my sense of style, but he was taller than I, and had wide shoulders and toned muscles from all of that running. If I wasn't being mentally controlled, my annoying girlish hormones would have left me distracted at the way he… appealed to me.
"That's not natural." A girl hovered in the air, a blue cape flapping around her shoulders. She had on a white top with an X insignia similar to mine, only hers crossed her entire shirt. She also wore a blue skirt, the same coloring of her cape flared beneath it. The oddest thing about her though, was her green skin that stuck out against her blue clothing. The skin was the teller, this was Ms. Martian.
"Well whatever they are, we need to get past them if we want to find Superboy's sister." The next girl spoke up with an arrow pointed directly at me. Blonde hair was pulled up with a green ribbon that matched the costume of this girl. Her grey eyes were pronounced by a same colored mask and I didn't miss the way they targeted me with ease behind that strong bow of hers. What was the draw weight? Maybe 50-60 pounds? I couldn't be sure unless I got a closer look.
"Actually guys, we've already found her." This was the last member, and probably the most dangerous. With a fiery temper, Superboy was the tallest out of all his teammates and he had the same color eyes as Supergirl. The only difference: his height and his black hair. Supergirl was shorter than I and was blonde. Superboy pointed to his sister, and her S-symbol showed the rest of his team what they were up against.
The doors behind Supergirl and I closed, preventing any escapes.
"Welcome, Young Justice pests," Lex Luthor snarled through hidden speakers. "Meet my latest and deadliest projects yet. Weapon one: codename Brainiac, is the girl with the red X. And I'm sure you're all familiar with Weapon two: codename Supergirl." He interrupted himself with shrieking laughter. "Now, you Justice brats, you have two options. One: You can surrender and save yourselves a nasty beating. Or two: Don't surrender and I will have my beautiful weapons teach you your place. You have one minute to decide."
"We already know our decision; we'll never surrender to you!" Robin shouted, aiming an imaginary punch towards the hidden speakers.
"Um, dude, maybe we should consider it…" Kid Flash was looking at me warily.
Too late. "So be it." Luthor snarled. "Weapons: take them out."
Upon command, I pulled my preferred weapon out of my wedge boot. It was a collapsible metal spear, and once triggered into action was a deadly tool. With a shining, sharp point on one end, it could be used for stabbing, to block enemy gunfire, swords, daggers etc., and in some cases as a pole-vault.
Crouching into position, I evaluated my opponents. Supergirl would most likely go for Superboy and anyone else who challenged her. That left me with Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, Aqua-lad, and Miss Martian. Out of the corner of my eye, Supergirl met my gaze and discreetly nodded. Returning the gesture, I leapt into action the same time she did, taking our enemies by surprise.
First, I launched my spear towards Artemis, who was confused at who to shoot first. Seeing my spear at the last second, she shrieked and dodged to the side, her arrow flying harmlessly away while my spear quivered in midair suspended in the support beam where her head had been seconds earlier.
Hearing a strangled cry, I turned and clicked a new spear into action as Aqua-lad lunged for me, swinging his blades in accurate arcs. I blocked them all, and sending a swipe to his face, I sent him skidding across the floor.
After Aqua-lad left my sights, Robin entered, sitting off to the side typing furiously into a computer screen sprouting out of his arm. Was he stupid? This was a battle zone. Hurling the new spear in his direction, I managed to cut him over his eye before Kid Flash intervened and tackled Batman's apprentice out of harm's way. The cut drew blood.
I wasn't out of harm's way though, finding that out when an arrow slashed into my shoulder, almost knocking me off balance. Catching sight of the bomb arrow's countdown, and the red seeping into the white surrounding my X, my hand automatically lashed out and reprogrammed the bomb to explode on impact. I then threw it back at the huntress who was watching me to see what I would do.
The explosion wasn't enough to kill her, but it sufficiently knocked her out as well as removing Miss Martian out of the fight too. She had been helping Superboy. Interesting…
Inside my mind, I was conscious of the pain Artemis' arrow brought me as my red X blurred, but my mental probe refused to acknowledge it, refused to care and there wasn't anything I could do about it or to take care of myself.
"Whoa! Calm down, Brainy!" Yellow arms wrapped themselves around me, pinning my hands to my sides. I struggled against Kid Flash as he tried to keep me from hurting anymore of his teammates. The only response he got was a head-bang that I was sure made his nose bleed. He cried out, and I used that distracted time to flip him over in front of me and kick him in the chest, sending him a few feet away.
"Ok, now you've asked for it." He sped around me, using his superspeed to make me helpless in his spinning vortex. But what he didn't know was that I was almost never helpless. Clicking yet another of my spears into battle-mode I thrust it into the path of the super-speedster, tripping him at close to about 70mph. He sailed through the air and into the wall, making me wince, despite being controlled by a computer.
"How many of those things do you have?" He groaned, without an answer, just as Superboy crashed into him from Supergirl's punch. Sliding to the floor and out of action, he slumped against the wall, one of his goggles cracked. Getting up, Superboy looked at me, but I wasn't interested in him, he was not my target. Turning away I caught sight of Robin, perched upon the crooked rafters, ignoring the fight and still typing into his computer screen. I raised my spear again, aiming for him. Behind me Superboy growled and leapt towards me in a rage, shouting: "Rob, look out!"
Supergirl intervened, flying into Superboy and smashing him into the wall. Robin meanwhile, leapt away once more, only I still had my spear. But my self-disappointment was short-lived, for the caped hero suddenly jumped back into my sights, pleased with himself.
"Yo! Big-Brains! Looking for me?" He catcalled, dancing precariously above on the creaking, broken rafters.
He was safe there, for now, but it was time to make the playing field even.
Backing up to where I had entered earlier, I broke into a running start, and planting my spear into the floor at exactly the right time, I was launched into the air straight for Robin. Surprised, he didn't react fast enough, and I managed to kick him off the rafters towards the floor. Rolling, he dodged my jump after him, but he was uneasy now.
"Alright Big-Brains. If that's how it's gonna be." He whipped out two of him infamous disks that exploded on impact; like they were supposed to scare me.
He flung them in my direction, but I used my only real superpower, telekinesis, to pause them in midair dramatically, then fling them right back. Robin's eyes widened, as he saw them change their course, pinning his cape to the wall as they exploded. The second explosion wasn't as impressive as the first, but they left Robin hanging limply by his cape.
But my job wasn't done yet, Aqua-lad was still conscious, and at that moment, he lunged at me again. It was an unexpected assault and I gave ground trying to defend myself against his blades. But something happened, neither of us expected, when I reached my spear. I pulled it out of the floor and held it aloft in defense, but Aqua-lad didn't hit me, instead he curled his blades around my spear and sent an electric shock through my metal weapon.
The shock must have somehow repelled the artificial brainwaves controlling me, and with their constant commands gone, I was free for a short time. Collapsing onto my knees, I looked around at the damaged I caused and all the people I could have potentially killed.
"Oh my god, what have I done?"
-Aqua-lad's POV-
Brainiac released her spear and fell to the floor in defeat, but then she looked up at me.
The unnatural glow was gone. Her eyes were blue.
Breaking her gaze away, she stared in horror at my unconscious teammates.
"What have I done?" She was shocked, genuinely shocked.
An alarm sounded from a machine near an exit, and flashing lights and sirens started emitting from it.
Was she causing this?
Turning back to Brainiac, I found her with her head pressed against the floor in obvious pain.
What was going on?
I might have never known, if Lex Luthor hadn't interrupted. "You insolent girl! Stop resisting the mind probe!"
She was under mind control? And resisting? That meant that she wasn't really evil. It must be that machine…
I ran towards the flashing probe, preparing to slice it in half, but Superboy was suddenly flung into me, sending him and I into the darkness of oblivion.