I2: Part XIX
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Bonzoluv
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Wonder Woman charged at Momoshiki and brought her sword down at him, but he sidestepped. It was a motion she anticipated, and she diverted the momentum of her blade upwards, slicing clean through his torso. He grunted, and snakes came to his defense, but Manhunter destroyed them with heat vision. Wonder Woman called out to Flash again while he delivered stronger and stronger blows to Isshiki. "You have to do something now, Flash!"
Wonder Woman drove her blade through Momoshiki's chest, and he broke it off at the hilt of the sword, engaging in a hand-to-hand combat exchange that put her on her knees. "Be proud to die by my hands, woman!" He tore the sword out of his stomach while his wounds healed and prepared to bring it down on her, but his entire body clenched up, and he lost grip of the sword.
The heat of the battle that made his heart beat ceased to exist, and when he wondered why, he got his answer by glancing down, seeing Flash holding his still beating heart with a vibrating hand. He was breathless but forced a smile while his heart tissue slowly regenerated, "If you think that'll be enough, th"—
—Momoshiki lost the ability to form words as Flash clenched his eyes shut and turned his brain into an unrecognizable paste that spilled out of his head. His body fell immediately, and all the snakes and titans he made crumbled into pieces right after.
Everyone turned to Flash, and Wonder Woman smiled and commanded, "Don't let your guard down yet! There's still one more!"
As if on cue, he tried to pierce every single hero with rods, but Flash saved them and displayed a piercing glare. He grunted, "That damned fool!" Isshiki shrank before Flash could deal with him, and even more black cubes than ever rained down on them.
Doomsday roared and stomped where only he could see Isshiki, and Hal ordered, "Raven, Soranik! Make a ceiling with me! Keep the field clear for everyone else!"
The two nodded, and they manifested a roof above everyone's heads that was a mix of black and green.
Lobo peered with his eyes, "Where are you, you little bug?"
He saw something skidding on the ground after Doomsday kicked it and tried to contain it with the red ring, "There you are!" Although Isshiki broke through the bubble easily, "Bastich..."
While Isshiki was on the back foot, Firestorm asked, "Who's controlling Doomsday right now?"
"That would be me. What's up?"
"I think I'm gonna have to go supernova."
After some time, Cyborg told the Lanterns, "We gotta go!"
Lobo sneered, "Like hell I am! I still need to get my piece of him!"
"Unless you wanna turn into a bundle of ashes in a minute, I think you should! A supernova from Firestorm is no joke!"
Lobo dug in his ear and grunted, "Ah, fine..."
They dropped the canopy, allowing the cubes to fall, and they all flew far away while Firestorm began creating a ball of energy that became more and more unstable. Isshiki tried to pierce him with dozens of black rods, but Flash knocked each and every one of them away while the ground began quaking beneath them. Doomsday didn't allow Isshiki a single moment to breathe and used heat vision and his strength to keep him from backing up. Eventually, Firestorm yelled, "I'm ready! Now go!!"
Doomsday punched the microscopic Isshiki directly into Firestorm, and Flash ran away as the Supernova finally went off. The explosion that ensued was many times bigger than the one Flash witnessed in Metropolis, and it lit up everything in sight, erasing all shadows and evaporating every cloud in the sky. The explosion showed no sign of slowing down, and Flash spotted all the other heroes huddled up. Hal waved him over frantically, "COME ON!!"
He didn't hesitate to join them, and everyone who could put a barrier around themselves did. Raven, Hal, Soranik, and Lobo all made their own layers of bubbles.
The explosion reached them and assaulted the protective bubbles. Raven groaned, holding up her shaking hands, but it ultimately shattered her spell. She flew backwards, but Cyborg got her, "You did good, Raven."
Thankfully, the worst of the explosion passed, and the Green Lantern's shield held strong with only some cracks in it until it was over.
Through the energy constructs, it was hard to see anything in any direction. Whatever had happened, the effects on it had no end in sight, poking through even the atmosphere, and Flash asked, "Is it safe to walk out there?"
Cyborg answered. "Firestorm has really advanced control over his radiation, so yeah, it should be fine. I can't tell where he is, though."
Manhunter stepped forward. "I can; I'll retrieve them."
The Lanterns dropped the barrier, and Hal made a large fan while Manhunter disappeared into the smoke. "Great, let's just clear some of this so we can see where we're going." As some of the dirty haze cleared, they got a clearer view of the scorched black earth that stretched on in every direction. Some places had even become glass.
Lobo whistled, "If that didn't kill that bastich. Then I don't know what would."
Cyborg replied, "It should have. The whole surface of this planet is hot as hell right now."
Hal glanced down at a withered plant that crumbled into dust, and he frowned. "A plant… Do you think there was life on this planet?"
All of them besides Lobo stared down at it for a long moment, and Lobo stepped on it, yawning and walking past paying no mind to what he said.
Black Adam cleared his throat, "I doubt that demon from space harbored a planet with much life on it… Either way it serves none of our minds to ponder on this."
Manhunter's voice rang in their minds, "I've found Firestorm and Doomsday. They're alright. It's done."
Their reactions were a mix of sighs and fist pumps while they recovered, and Cyborg calibrated his boom tube tech on his arm, "Great to hear. We can't waste any more time here, though; let's go help the others." As they moved, Hal's eyes lingered on the newly formed glass after everyone else had moved on.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Back in Brainiac's ship, Starfire and Superboy tore through the drones with ease while Brainiac used all of his efforts to keep the other heroes at bay. Despite his earlier words, he had difficulty backing them up and was forced to stay on the defense as more and more blows landed on him. One blow by Supergirl in particular made him unconscious for a split second, and his body made a small crater in the floor.
A moment after this, they all heard Manhunter's voice in their heads, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Kara smiled and replied, "Yes! We can hear you! Wait, how are we hearing you right now?"
Batman explained, "The pressure we're putting on him must be messing up his connection to the ship. The shields must have fallen!"
Superman clenched his fist, "Good! Let's keep this up then!"
Wondergirl cheered, "Alright!"
While they continued their assault, Manhunter informed them, "You're all quite far, but we'll make our way over to you!"
Batman acknowledged him, "Got it."
Brainiac popped a vein and held up his shield against the Kryptonians' combined heat blasts. "What?! If they broke free, then... that should be impossible! None of you should be sufficient enough to take down my sentinels!"
Wondergirl jeered, "Calculate this!"
She axe-kicked down on his heated-up shield and shattered it, following up by stomping on his hand and drawing back her sword. He tried to blast her head off, but she narrowly weaved to the side of it, only charring the ends of her hair before she sliced off the arm.
Brainiac cried out in pain, "SHIP! BRING THEM ALL!"
The last reserves of drones and tentacles came to his rescue and forced everyone away. Grabbing up some heroes even. He shuffled backwards while tending to where his arm was missing and forced out, "It appears I have... severely miscalculated how events would turn out. I would like to propose a new deal."
Supergirl struggled against the tentacles and shouted, "Don't think we can come to a peace deal now after what you've done!"
"You should think about this. It would be mutually beneficial to us all. Despite my Sentinels being taken down, I have positioned multiple beta drones around this planet ready to detonate and destroy this planet's atmosphere at any moment! So I suggest that you stop!"
The drones stopped attacking, and the tentacles let go of the heroes. Brainiac stated, "I will return Central City... and leave this planet. Allowing you to keep the Kryptonians. All you have to hand over to me is the anomaly and the Magician. Two lives against millions, this should be easy arithmetic."
Batman telepathically asked, "Manhunter, can you all hear this through the comms?"
"We all can, yeah. What should we do?" Cyborg replied.
He muttered, "Don't come here. Try to find where those drones are located."
Wondergirl looked around at everyone else who stopped fighting and gripped her sword tighter. "Are we seriously about to listen to this?! After what he did? Now he's acting like he doesn't want Clark and Kara all of a sudden!"
Starfire and Superboy clenched their fists, "We shouldn't!"
Superman held up his hands, "Wait! Whether we want to listen to him or not, we can't be too hasty if he's telling the truth."
Brainiac followed up, "I suggest that you listen to the Kryptonian. I can see by this point it is unrealistic to obtain the Kryptonians, so I shall make do. And from my understanding, it seems like many of you were planning to take down the Anomaly and the Magician soon because of this."
On cue, a holographic map that was a copy of the one Batman showed earlier appeared above their heads. Superboy's brow scrunched. "What is this?"
Starfire turned to Batman. "You were planning to take down Itachi and Zatanna? Why?"
The three titans looked around at the other heroes who remained silent with stern stares. Brainiac straightened up and informed them, "It appears you're out of the loop. Let me inform you then. The anomaly, with the assistance of the Magician for the past month, has been using genjutsu on thousands of elites and innocent people around your planet. Not just CEOs, but trafficking victims to make sure they give false testimonies that the mind-controlled elites will go along with, even if they did nothing to them."
The three of them froze up, and their faces strained. Starfire shook her head, "You have to be lying..."
"I do not lie, I calculate. There's no benefit to deceiving you people by this point. Consider among yourselves, for the moment I shall be patient."
Wondergirl's grip on her sword loosened, and she turned to the other heroes, "He's gotta be lying, right? There's no way they did that! Right?"
Her head turned rapidly between them, and Batman replied, "No, it's true. All of it. That's why I had the league gathered this morning. To address the threat they present to everyone."
Wondergirl took a few steps back, but before anyone else could say anything, a portal opened and the sound of Zatanna casting a spell filled their ears. Despite Brainiac's resistance, he was forced to make eye contact with Itachi's Mangekyo as the two flew out of the portal.
He felt like a flashbang went straight off in his eyes; his memories flashed through his mind forcibly as if they were being ripped from his head. He saw multiple planets he destroyed in the past, and the planet with the most focus in his mind was the one he obtained his Sentinels from: Momoshiki fought Naruto and Sasuke, he ambushed everyone when they were weakened, used them to subjugate the rest of the planet, gained control of Isshiki, then finally traveled to a separate dimension to obtain Kaguya.
After it ended, he blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness around him, but it never disappeared. Eventually he forced himself to open his eyes, and he blinked a few times. The heroes were gone, the ship was gone, everything was gone. There was nothing. Not even a visible floor beneath him. Everything was a blinding white canvas. "Brainiac."
He jolted around and saw Itachi. It was then that he noticed he had his arm again, and he gulped, "This is a genjutsu..."
"Yes. Tsukiyomi." Itachi's voice was missing its earlier rage, but gained a sense of finality in its place.
Brainiac walked around and noticed that his feet didn't make a sound no matter how hard he stomped on the ground. An old instinctual feeling he hadn't felt in thousands of years began to bubble up in him, and he commented, "Yes... I heard of this from the one known as Kakashi..."
"Yes. A reality of my own where I determine the conditions and time of everything." He put emphasis on the word time, and Brainiac looked up at him with a lowered head.
"You wish to interrogate me? About what remains of your world. About"—
"—I already know anything I could want to know from your memories. I saw how you used the Otsutsuki, Naruto, and my brother to subjugate my world and tear parts of it away. I saw you do the same thing to countless other worlds. And I saw how you'd destroy the world left over with all its 'worthless' people left on it. Because you couldn't stand knowledge existing outside of your collection, even if it's not as valuable." His expression hardened. "There's nothing left that you could possibly offer me. I know how to operate your ship and liberate the stolen cities. You can't bargain for anything with me."
Brainiac's dry lips pursed, and he forced his fists closed. "Then... why am I here?"
"Judgement."
"You wish to kill me?"
Itachi let out a small chuckle and smiled. "You'll spend a long time wishing for that... but no. That would be an easy way out for you. After seeing the trillions of lives you've destroyed and captured, it's confirmed for me that that isn't a mercy you could ever be provided in here."
A realization sank into Brainiac's hyper-intelligent mind. And that instinctual feeling he wished to never feel again rose to the surface, causing a cold sweat. His voice shook for the first time in his life, "Then what do you... propose? You're going to keep me here ten... a hundred years in this blank space? With nothing but my thoughts?"
Itachi didn't answer, simply staring at him for a long time. Brainiac waited and waited for an answer, but it never came, and he broke, "ANSWER ME!"
Itachi's expression was unchanged, and he finally spoke, "You catalogue everything. Taking every scrap of knowledge you can to add to your collection. I refuse to give you an answer for that. The only thing I'll tell you is that you should be grateful that you never killed Sasuke. If you did, then this punishment would go many times worse for you. So if you want to know how long you're going to stay here, then start counting."
Brainiac yelled and ran at him, but Itachi disappeared, and Brainiac yelled, "You infernal pest! I am a 12th-level intellect! I refuse to be defeated by the likes of someone from a 3rd-level intellect species! Do you hear me?!"
He stomped around trying to catch his breath. Sound wasn't normal here; there was no echo, no sound of footsteps, only his voice. There was no response either, and Brainiac stopped yelling, "I've gained a vast understanding of Genjutsu from when I was on that planet. I shall simply find a way to break out of here."
After a year passed, Brainiac lay on the floor, having given up on breaking out. There were no hints, no holes, no way out. He simply counted.
A hundred years passed; he had hoped it would have ended by now once he reached that marker, but he chuckled weakly when nothing happened and pinched himself, hoping to feel something, but nothing happened.
A thousand years passed, and he tried gnawing his own hand off, but it was like play doh, and it simply reformed without any wounds or pain. He recycled through the knowledge in his mind millions of times, recalling all the worlds he conquered, the knowledge he gained. But there was a flaw in his perfection that hadn't existed before. His memories began fading; the perfect recall and photographic memory he knew he had was no longer a trait of his mind. He grasped tightly onto his memories, trying not to let them go, but they ripped free of him.
After a million years, only the white was around him. The white, his arms, his legs, no stimuli, nothing.
A billion years, no sound, no mind, no colors, no sleep, no memories, no ship world conquest knowledge pain death revenge escape punishment no....
13 billion years..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
In the real world, Brainiac's coal-black eyes seemed to somehow lose what little life they bore, and his body mechanically waltzed past Itachi and everyone else.
They all stared at Brainiac, ready to fight, but he didn't register anyone's presence. Superman's brow furrowed. "What happened?"
Itachi answered, "Brainiac has been defeated. He'll no longer be an issue for anyone. Ever again... That's likely the least of your worries now though. Aren't I right?"
Itachi slowly turned to face them all with his signature blank expression. None of them spoke at first, lining up on the other side of the room with only Wondergirl standing ahead of them. She stared at the ground, "Was everything they said about you true?... Using... genjutsu on all those people?"
Zatanna stood close to Itachi and frowned, closing her eyes. He answered, "Yes, it's all true."
Cassie was so stunned by what she heard that she made eye contact with Itachi. Her jaw dropped, and she shook her head. "I... I... I trusted you! We trusted you and you... You!"
She turned to Zatanna, "Zatanna, please say you were mind controlled, or he held something over you! Or or... Just something!"
Zatanna gripped her arm sleeve so hard that it threatened to tear a hole into the fabric. She forced herself to look up at her and shook her head, "I've known. I chose this, and I won't pretend otherwise."
Her gaze fell back down, and Cassie scoffed, dropping her sword. The sound of it hitting the floor echoed through the room. The other titans and Superman flinched when they heard the sound, and Cassie's vision became blurry. Itachi and Bruce held their cold stares while Brainiac stared absently at nothing.
Bruce announced, "That confirms it. Everyone, prepare for"—
"—Bruce." Itachi's gentle voice cut off his order, and he continued, "Before you give that order, tell Ray to stand down."
Bruce tensed up, "... What?"
"You gave Ray a mission to shrink down and enter my brain this morning. To put a little kill switch in my head that you could activate at any time. It was a good plan, but I've had him under genjutsu ever since President Pierce's speech. He's in your head, Bruce. Not mine."
He pointed at him, and Bruce shook his head. "That isn't possible. I have chakra sensing built into my tech; I would have noticed if you put anyone under genjutsu! That's ignoring the fact that we know not to make eye contact!"
"That would be the case if everything I told you about genjutsu was the whole truth. You remember what I said to the League, don't you?"
Clark answered, "Years ago, you told us that to put someone under genjutsu you need to make eye contact with the sharingan… And that's how you've always used it the past seven years, no exception."
"I lied." He let the information sink in before continuing, "While it's true for my strongest genjutsu, I can manipulate any of a person's five senses or mind with a mere point of my finger." He pointed at Supergirl to demonstrate, and she drew in a sharp breath. "I anticipated this day might come eventually, so I planted suggestions in every single one of you beforehand. Even if you can sense chakra, it's to a juvenile level. You won't be able to sense chakra I purposely try to keep hidden."
Supergirl looked around, "So right now... we're all..."
"Yes, you are. So if any of you try to attack me, I will stop you. I've never wanted to fight any of you; that hasn't changed, but I won't let you interfere."
None of them attacked, and Bruce gritted his teeth. Losing his composure while trying to wrap his mind around his next move. Cyborg muttered through the comms, "This is messed up, man..."
Cassie wiped tears from her eyes. "Why did you do it, Itachi? I can understand corrupt leaders... but trafficking victims?! What the hell were you thinking?!"
Zatanna clenched her eyes shut, and Itachi replied, "I know it was wrong, but trafficking is only one of the many degeneracies the elites would participate in. I couldn't be partial in my cleansing; it had to be absolute and swift, and this was the quickest way. I've seen too many cases over the decades of victims giving testimonies and receiving no justice. All because the trail led toward people with too much power and too many protected names attached to them, so the system did what it always does: protected names instead of the innocent. It happens incessantly all the time. Because the system isn't glitching, it's working exactly as intended. I knew it was wrong, and I'll never be proud of it. But the only way to achieve the better future ahead of us now was to remove the system in its entirety all in one blow. You're all welcome to hate me for my choices, but I've made peace with that. My mind won't be changed."
Cassie didn't respond, and Clark took a step forward with a relaxed, friendly posture. His voice was low. "Itachi. I need you to hear something, and I need you to actually hear it, not just wait for me to finish talking." Itachi didn't interrupt, and he continued
"I did this, not this exactly, but I stood where you're standing. I remember when I saw that the system failed, thinking I could replace it with something better. I told myself what ends were clean enough to justify the means and used that for five years. But you helped me see how wrong I was." He took another step. "You helped me become someone I'm proud to be again. I know you remember that conversation in my old cell. I know it meant something to you, because it meant something to me too."
"It did."
"Then let me say this as someone who's walked the road you're on now, instead of an outsider. Every justification I had felt airtight while I was doing it. God help me, every single one. But after I saw things from the other side, only then did I see just what I was doing for what it really was. I didn't have anyone tell me that at the time, but I'm telling you now."
Itachi's eyes softened only a little. "I appreciate that, Clark. But you stopped because I made you face what you'd already done. I already know exactly what I've done, and I've already accomplished all my goals that are of this world. You can't talk me out of something I did with clarity, I never lost sight of it to begin with."
Clark held his gaze for a long moment, searching for something that might still open, and found the door already closed.
Itachi closed his eyes and stated, "Now here's what's going to happen. I'm the only one that can operate this ship, and only I can liberate the cities Brainiac captured. I'll restore Central City, Oa, and eventually every other city Brainiac captured... alone. I've dropped all security measures on the ship, so you can all go home now."
They stood there glancing at one another anxiously, and Batman glared daggers through Itachi, "After all of this, you really think we're just going to walk away?"
"It's either that, or I control you all and make you go home, so yes. You'll do what I want either way."
Clark tried one last time, "Itachi"—
"—Our time as allies is done, Clark. I'm genuinely grateful for everything we've all done over the years, but that part of our lives is over. So goodbye."
Itachi was the first to turn his back on them, and he began walking away. Then not long after, the other heroes one by one went in the other direction with their heads down. After Bruce nearly broke the bones in his hands from how hard he clenched them, even someone as stubborn as him left. And finally, only Zatanna and Cassie were left in the room.
Zatanna looked up at her as tears ran down her face, and she felt a pull both toward and away from her. She settled on approaching her and pulled out a handkerchief, wordlessly handed it to her.
Cassie made eye contact, and Zatanna could see that there wasn't any hate in her eyes, just exhaustion. She mumbled, "Is it really all said and done already?"
"Yes... Cassie... I really am so beyond sorry for how things ended up... is there a chance we could ever"—
—Cassie held up her hand, and turned away. "Not now... Take care, Zatanna..."
Her voice was weak, and she trudged out of the room. A mix of thoughts went through Zatanna's mind, and she went in Itachi's direction.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
In a more tame room compared to the chaotic throne room, Itachi and Zatanna observed different bubbled civilizations. Zatanna kept her mind occupied by looking at Central City, but Itachi's was much more personal.
10 distinct locations he was connected to lay in front of him. Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest, the Valley of the End, the Rain Village, and the five great villages, including Konoha, sat in front of him in the palms of his hands. "Depending on how the future goes, we might end up having to be permanent residents of Konoha. Never thought my first time visiting your home would end up that way."
"We shall see. But I think your Mansion will be safe."
"What if Bruce develops a technology that makes people immune to genjutsu?"
"If that's even possible, then by that time they'd have to fight the whole Shinobi world with me. Which I doubt they'd want to do."
He leaned in, looking down at Konoha, feeling the familiar chakra that radiated from it. Zatanna raised a brow, "You think they'd all side with you?"
"Considering that my brother was pardoned despite betraying and committing terrorist acts against the world for years, I think they would."
Zatanna stood up and examined one of the nature realms of his old world. "Hopefully. Can you bring them back safely? I always wanted to try the famed Ichiraku Ramen."
He smiled and lightly placed his forehead on the dome of Konoha, "I'll bring them all back. Every last one of them. There won't be any complications."
Zatanna leaned over and asked, "Where do you wanna put your villages?"
Itachi answered quickly, "I've thought about it all day... there's a lot of empty islands in the world. A lot of Australia is empty. Maybe we could establish some cities in Antarctica... I haven't fully decided yet... but either way, I'll be seeing you soon, Sasuke."
Wonder Woman drove her blade through Momoshiki's chest, and he broke it off at the hilt of the sword, engaging in a hand-to-hand combat exchange that put her on her knees. "Be proud to die by my hands, woman!" He tore the sword out of his stomach while his wounds healed and prepared to bring it down on her, but his entire body clenched up, and he lost grip of the sword.
The heat of the battle that made his heart beat ceased to exist, and when he wondered why, he got his answer by glancing down, seeing Flash holding his still beating heart with a vibrating hand. He was breathless but forced a smile while his heart tissue slowly regenerated, "If you think that'll be enough, th"—
—Momoshiki lost the ability to form words as Flash clenched his eyes shut and turned his brain into an unrecognizable paste that spilled out of his head. His body fell immediately, and all the snakes and titans he made crumbled into pieces right after.
Everyone turned to Flash, and Wonder Woman smiled and commanded, "Don't let your guard down yet! There's still one more!"
As if on cue, he tried to pierce every single hero with rods, but Flash saved them and displayed a piercing glare. He grunted, "That damned fool!" Isshiki shrank before Flash could deal with him, and even more black cubes than ever rained down on them.
Doomsday roared and stomped where only he could see Isshiki, and Hal ordered, "Raven, Soranik! Make a ceiling with me! Keep the field clear for everyone else!"
The two nodded, and they manifested a roof above everyone's heads that was a mix of black and green.
Lobo peered with his eyes, "Where are you, you little bug?"
He saw something skidding on the ground after Doomsday kicked it and tried to contain it with the red ring, "There you are!" Although Isshiki broke through the bubble easily, "Bastich..."
While Isshiki was on the back foot, Firestorm asked, "Who's controlling Doomsday right now?"
"That would be me. What's up?"
"I think I'm gonna have to go supernova."
After some time, Cyborg told the Lanterns, "We gotta go!"
Lobo sneered, "Like hell I am! I still need to get my piece of him!"
"Unless you wanna turn into a bundle of ashes in a minute, I think you should! A supernova from Firestorm is no joke!"
Lobo dug in his ear and grunted, "Ah, fine..."
They dropped the canopy, allowing the cubes to fall, and they all flew far away while Firestorm began creating a ball of energy that became more and more unstable. Isshiki tried to pierce him with dozens of black rods, but Flash knocked each and every one of them away while the ground began quaking beneath them. Doomsday didn't allow Isshiki a single moment to breathe and used heat vision and his strength to keep him from backing up. Eventually, Firestorm yelled, "I'm ready! Now go!!"
Doomsday punched the microscopic Isshiki directly into Firestorm, and Flash ran away as the Supernova finally went off. The explosion that ensued was many times bigger than the one Flash witnessed in Metropolis, and it lit up everything in sight, erasing all shadows and evaporating every cloud in the sky. The explosion showed no sign of slowing down, and Flash spotted all the other heroes huddled up. Hal waved him over frantically, "COME ON!!"
He didn't hesitate to join them, and everyone who could put a barrier around themselves did. Raven, Hal, Soranik, and Lobo all made their own layers of bubbles.
The explosion reached them and assaulted the protective bubbles. Raven groaned, holding up her shaking hands, but it ultimately shattered her spell. She flew backwards, but Cyborg got her, "You did good, Raven."
Thankfully, the worst of the explosion passed, and the Green Lantern's shield held strong with only some cracks in it until it was over.
Through the energy constructs, it was hard to see anything in any direction. Whatever had happened, the effects on it had no end in sight, poking through even the atmosphere, and Flash asked, "Is it safe to walk out there?"
Cyborg answered. "Firestorm has really advanced control over his radiation, so yeah, it should be fine. I can't tell where he is, though."
Manhunter stepped forward. "I can; I'll retrieve them."
The Lanterns dropped the barrier, and Hal made a large fan while Manhunter disappeared into the smoke. "Great, let's just clear some of this so we can see where we're going." As some of the dirty haze cleared, they got a clearer view of the scorched black earth that stretched on in every direction. Some places had even become glass.
Lobo whistled, "If that didn't kill that bastich. Then I don't know what would."
Cyborg replied, "It should have. The whole surface of this planet is hot as hell right now."
Hal glanced down at a withered plant that crumbled into dust, and he frowned. "A plant… Do you think there was life on this planet?"
All of them besides Lobo stared down at it for a long moment, and Lobo stepped on it, yawning and walking past paying no mind to what he said.
Black Adam cleared his throat, "I doubt that demon from space harbored a planet with much life on it… Either way it serves none of our minds to ponder on this."
Manhunter's voice rang in their minds, "I've found Firestorm and Doomsday. They're alright. It's done."
Their reactions were a mix of sighs and fist pumps while they recovered, and Cyborg calibrated his boom tube tech on his arm, "Great to hear. We can't waste any more time here, though; let's go help the others." As they moved, Hal's eyes lingered on the newly formed glass after everyone else had moved on.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Back in Brainiac's ship, Starfire and Superboy tore through the drones with ease while Brainiac used all of his efforts to keep the other heroes at bay. Despite his earlier words, he had difficulty backing them up and was forced to stay on the defense as more and more blows landed on him. One blow by Supergirl in particular made him unconscious for a split second, and his body made a small crater in the floor.
A moment after this, they all heard Manhunter's voice in their heads, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"
Kara smiled and replied, "Yes! We can hear you! Wait, how are we hearing you right now?"
Batman explained, "The pressure we're putting on him must be messing up his connection to the ship. The shields must have fallen!"
Superman clenched his fist, "Good! Let's keep this up then!"
Wondergirl cheered, "Alright!"
While they continued their assault, Manhunter informed them, "You're all quite far, but we'll make our way over to you!"
Batman acknowledged him, "Got it."
Brainiac popped a vein and held up his shield against the Kryptonians' combined heat blasts. "What?! If they broke free, then... that should be impossible! None of you should be sufficient enough to take down my sentinels!"
Wondergirl jeered, "Calculate this!"
She axe-kicked down on his heated-up shield and shattered it, following up by stomping on his hand and drawing back her sword. He tried to blast her head off, but she narrowly weaved to the side of it, only charring the ends of her hair before she sliced off the arm.
Brainiac cried out in pain, "SHIP! BRING THEM ALL!"
The last reserves of drones and tentacles came to his rescue and forced everyone away. Grabbing up some heroes even. He shuffled backwards while tending to where his arm was missing and forced out, "It appears I have... severely miscalculated how events would turn out. I would like to propose a new deal."
Supergirl struggled against the tentacles and shouted, "Don't think we can come to a peace deal now after what you've done!"
"You should think about this. It would be mutually beneficial to us all. Despite my Sentinels being taken down, I have positioned multiple beta drones around this planet ready to detonate and destroy this planet's atmosphere at any moment! So I suggest that you stop!"
The drones stopped attacking, and the tentacles let go of the heroes. Brainiac stated, "I will return Central City... and leave this planet. Allowing you to keep the Kryptonians. All you have to hand over to me is the anomaly and the Magician. Two lives against millions, this should be easy arithmetic."
Batman telepathically asked, "Manhunter, can you all hear this through the comms?"
"We all can, yeah. What should we do?" Cyborg replied.
He muttered, "Don't come here. Try to find where those drones are located."
Wondergirl looked around at everyone else who stopped fighting and gripped her sword tighter. "Are we seriously about to listen to this?! After what he did? Now he's acting like he doesn't want Clark and Kara all of a sudden!"
Starfire and Superboy clenched their fists, "We shouldn't!"
Superman held up his hands, "Wait! Whether we want to listen to him or not, we can't be too hasty if he's telling the truth."
Brainiac followed up, "I suggest that you listen to the Kryptonian. I can see by this point it is unrealistic to obtain the Kryptonians, so I shall make do. And from my understanding, it seems like many of you were planning to take down the Anomaly and the Magician soon because of this."
On cue, a holographic map that was a copy of the one Batman showed earlier appeared above their heads. Superboy's brow scrunched. "What is this?"
Starfire turned to Batman. "You were planning to take down Itachi and Zatanna? Why?"
The three titans looked around at the other heroes who remained silent with stern stares. Brainiac straightened up and informed them, "It appears you're out of the loop. Let me inform you then. The anomaly, with the assistance of the Magician for the past month, has been using genjutsu on thousands of elites and innocent people around your planet. Not just CEOs, but trafficking victims to make sure they give false testimonies that the mind-controlled elites will go along with, even if they did nothing to them."
The three of them froze up, and their faces strained. Starfire shook her head, "You have to be lying..."
"I do not lie, I calculate. There's no benefit to deceiving you people by this point. Consider among yourselves, for the moment I shall be patient."
Wondergirl's grip on her sword loosened, and she turned to the other heroes, "He's gotta be lying, right? There's no way they did that! Right?"
Her head turned rapidly between them, and Batman replied, "No, it's true. All of it. That's why I had the league gathered this morning. To address the threat they present to everyone."
Wondergirl took a few steps back, but before anyone else could say anything, a portal opened and the sound of Zatanna casting a spell filled their ears. Despite Brainiac's resistance, he was forced to make eye contact with Itachi's Mangekyo as the two flew out of the portal.
He felt like a flashbang went straight off in his eyes; his memories flashed through his mind forcibly as if they were being ripped from his head. He saw multiple planets he destroyed in the past, and the planet with the most focus in his mind was the one he obtained his Sentinels from: Momoshiki fought Naruto and Sasuke, he ambushed everyone when they were weakened, used them to subjugate the rest of the planet, gained control of Isshiki, then finally traveled to a separate dimension to obtain Kaguya.
After it ended, he blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the brightness around him, but it never disappeared. Eventually he forced himself to open his eyes, and he blinked a few times. The heroes were gone, the ship was gone, everything was gone. There was nothing. Not even a visible floor beneath him. Everything was a blinding white canvas. "Brainiac."
He jolted around and saw Itachi. It was then that he noticed he had his arm again, and he gulped, "This is a genjutsu..."
"Yes. Tsukiyomi." Itachi's voice was missing its earlier rage, but gained a sense of finality in its place.
Brainiac walked around and noticed that his feet didn't make a sound no matter how hard he stomped on the ground. An old instinctual feeling he hadn't felt in thousands of years began to bubble up in him, and he commented, "Yes... I heard of this from the one known as Kakashi..."
"Yes. A reality of my own where I determine the conditions and time of everything." He put emphasis on the word time, and Brainiac looked up at him with a lowered head.
"You wish to interrogate me? About what remains of your world. About"—
"—I already know anything I could want to know from your memories. I saw how you used the Otsutsuki, Naruto, and my brother to subjugate my world and tear parts of it away. I saw you do the same thing to countless other worlds. And I saw how you'd destroy the world left over with all its 'worthless' people left on it. Because you couldn't stand knowledge existing outside of your collection, even if it's not as valuable." His expression hardened. "There's nothing left that you could possibly offer me. I know how to operate your ship and liberate the stolen cities. You can't bargain for anything with me."
Brainiac's dry lips pursed, and he forced his fists closed. "Then... why am I here?"
"Judgement."
"You wish to kill me?"
Itachi let out a small chuckle and smiled. "You'll spend a long time wishing for that... but no. That would be an easy way out for you. After seeing the trillions of lives you've destroyed and captured, it's confirmed for me that that isn't a mercy you could ever be provided in here."
A realization sank into Brainiac's hyper-intelligent mind. And that instinctual feeling he wished to never feel again rose to the surface, causing a cold sweat. His voice shook for the first time in his life, "Then what do you... propose? You're going to keep me here ten... a hundred years in this blank space? With nothing but my thoughts?"
Itachi didn't answer, simply staring at him for a long time. Brainiac waited and waited for an answer, but it never came, and he broke, "ANSWER ME!"
Itachi's expression was unchanged, and he finally spoke, "You catalogue everything. Taking every scrap of knowledge you can to add to your collection. I refuse to give you an answer for that. The only thing I'll tell you is that you should be grateful that you never killed Sasuke. If you did, then this punishment would go many times worse for you. So if you want to know how long you're going to stay here, then start counting."
Brainiac yelled and ran at him, but Itachi disappeared, and Brainiac yelled, "You infernal pest! I am a 12th-level intellect! I refuse to be defeated by the likes of someone from a 3rd-level intellect species! Do you hear me?!"
He stomped around trying to catch his breath. Sound wasn't normal here; there was no echo, no sound of footsteps, only his voice. There was no response either, and Brainiac stopped yelling, "I've gained a vast understanding of Genjutsu from when I was on that planet. I shall simply find a way to break out of here."
After a year passed, Brainiac lay on the floor, having given up on breaking out. There were no hints, no holes, no way out. He simply counted.
A hundred years passed; he had hoped it would have ended by now once he reached that marker, but he chuckled weakly when nothing happened and pinched himself, hoping to feel something, but nothing happened.
A thousand years passed, and he tried gnawing his own hand off, but it was like play doh, and it simply reformed without any wounds or pain. He recycled through the knowledge in his mind millions of times, recalling all the worlds he conquered, the knowledge he gained. But there was a flaw in his perfection that hadn't existed before. His memories began fading; the perfect recall and photographic memory he knew he had was no longer a trait of his mind. He grasped tightly onto his memories, trying not to let them go, but they ripped free of him.
After a million years, only the white was around him. The white, his arms, his legs, no stimuli, nothing.
A billion years, no sound, no mind, no colors, no sleep, no memories, no ship world conquest knowledge pain death revenge escape punishment no....
13 billion years..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
In the real world, Brainiac's coal-black eyes seemed to somehow lose what little life they bore, and his body mechanically waltzed past Itachi and everyone else.
They all stared at Brainiac, ready to fight, but he didn't register anyone's presence. Superman's brow furrowed. "What happened?"
Itachi answered, "Brainiac has been defeated. He'll no longer be an issue for anyone. Ever again... That's likely the least of your worries now though. Aren't I right?"
Itachi slowly turned to face them all with his signature blank expression. None of them spoke at first, lining up on the other side of the room with only Wondergirl standing ahead of them. She stared at the ground, "Was everything they said about you true?... Using... genjutsu on all those people?"
Zatanna stood close to Itachi and frowned, closing her eyes. He answered, "Yes, it's all true."
Cassie was so stunned by what she heard that she made eye contact with Itachi. Her jaw dropped, and she shook her head. "I... I... I trusted you! We trusted you and you... You!"
She turned to Zatanna, "Zatanna, please say you were mind controlled, or he held something over you! Or or... Just something!"
Zatanna gripped her arm sleeve so hard that it threatened to tear a hole into the fabric. She forced herself to look up at her and shook her head, "I've known. I chose this, and I won't pretend otherwise."
Her gaze fell back down, and Cassie scoffed, dropping her sword. The sound of it hitting the floor echoed through the room. The other titans and Superman flinched when they heard the sound, and Cassie's vision became blurry. Itachi and Bruce held their cold stares while Brainiac stared absently at nothing.
Bruce announced, "That confirms it. Everyone, prepare for"—
"—Bruce." Itachi's gentle voice cut off his order, and he continued, "Before you give that order, tell Ray to stand down."
Bruce tensed up, "... What?"
"You gave Ray a mission to shrink down and enter my brain this morning. To put a little kill switch in my head that you could activate at any time. It was a good plan, but I've had him under genjutsu ever since President Pierce's speech. He's in your head, Bruce. Not mine."
He pointed at him, and Bruce shook his head. "That isn't possible. I have chakra sensing built into my tech; I would have noticed if you put anyone under genjutsu! That's ignoring the fact that we know not to make eye contact!"
"That would be the case if everything I told you about genjutsu was the whole truth. You remember what I said to the League, don't you?"
Clark answered, "Years ago, you told us that to put someone under genjutsu you need to make eye contact with the sharingan… And that's how you've always used it the past seven years, no exception."
"I lied." He let the information sink in before continuing, "While it's true for my strongest genjutsu, I can manipulate any of a person's five senses or mind with a mere point of my finger." He pointed at Supergirl to demonstrate, and she drew in a sharp breath. "I anticipated this day might come eventually, so I planted suggestions in every single one of you beforehand. Even if you can sense chakra, it's to a juvenile level. You won't be able to sense chakra I purposely try to keep hidden."
Supergirl looked around, "So right now... we're all..."
"Yes, you are. So if any of you try to attack me, I will stop you. I've never wanted to fight any of you; that hasn't changed, but I won't let you interfere."
None of them attacked, and Bruce gritted his teeth. Losing his composure while trying to wrap his mind around his next move. Cyborg muttered through the comms, "This is messed up, man..."
Cassie wiped tears from her eyes. "Why did you do it, Itachi? I can understand corrupt leaders... but trafficking victims?! What the hell were you thinking?!"
Zatanna clenched her eyes shut, and Itachi replied, "I know it was wrong, but trafficking is only one of the many degeneracies the elites would participate in. I couldn't be partial in my cleansing; it had to be absolute and swift, and this was the quickest way. I've seen too many cases over the decades of victims giving testimonies and receiving no justice. All because the trail led toward people with too much power and too many protected names attached to them, so the system did what it always does: protected names instead of the innocent. It happens incessantly all the time. Because the system isn't glitching, it's working exactly as intended. I knew it was wrong, and I'll never be proud of it. But the only way to achieve the better future ahead of us now was to remove the system in its entirety all in one blow. You're all welcome to hate me for my choices, but I've made peace with that. My mind won't be changed."
Cassie didn't respond, and Clark took a step forward with a relaxed, friendly posture. His voice was low. "Itachi. I need you to hear something, and I need you to actually hear it, not just wait for me to finish talking." Itachi didn't interrupt, and he continued
"I did this, not this exactly, but I stood where you're standing. I remember when I saw that the system failed, thinking I could replace it with something better. I told myself what ends were clean enough to justify the means and used that for five years. But you helped me see how wrong I was." He took another step. "You helped me become someone I'm proud to be again. I know you remember that conversation in my old cell. I know it meant something to you, because it meant something to me too."
"It did."
"Then let me say this as someone who's walked the road you're on now, instead of an outsider. Every justification I had felt airtight while I was doing it. God help me, every single one. But after I saw things from the other side, only then did I see just what I was doing for what it really was. I didn't have anyone tell me that at the time, but I'm telling you now."
Itachi's eyes softened only a little. "I appreciate that, Clark. But you stopped because I made you face what you'd already done. I already know exactly what I've done, and I've already accomplished all my goals that are of this world. You can't talk me out of something I did with clarity, I never lost sight of it to begin with."
Clark held his gaze for a long moment, searching for something that might still open, and found the door already closed.
Itachi closed his eyes and stated, "Now here's what's going to happen. I'm the only one that can operate this ship, and only I can liberate the cities Brainiac captured. I'll restore Central City, Oa, and eventually every other city Brainiac captured... alone. I've dropped all security measures on the ship, so you can all go home now."
They stood there glancing at one another anxiously, and Batman glared daggers through Itachi, "After all of this, you really think we're just going to walk away?"
"It's either that, or I control you all and make you go home, so yes. You'll do what I want either way."
Clark tried one last time, "Itachi"—
"—Our time as allies is done, Clark. I'm genuinely grateful for everything we've all done over the years, but that part of our lives is over. So goodbye."
Itachi was the first to turn his back on them, and he began walking away. Then not long after, the other heroes one by one went in the other direction with their heads down. After Bruce nearly broke the bones in his hands from how hard he clenched them, even someone as stubborn as him left. And finally, only Zatanna and Cassie were left in the room.
Zatanna looked up at her as tears ran down her face, and she felt a pull both toward and away from her. She settled on approaching her and pulled out a handkerchief, wordlessly handed it to her.
Cassie made eye contact, and Zatanna could see that there wasn't any hate in her eyes, just exhaustion. She mumbled, "Is it really all said and done already?"
"Yes... Cassie... I really am so beyond sorry for how things ended up... is there a chance we could ever"—
—Cassie held up her hand, and turned away. "Not now... Take care, Zatanna..."
Her voice was weak, and she trudged out of the room. A mix of thoughts went through Zatanna's mind, and she went in Itachi's direction.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
In a more tame room compared to the chaotic throne room, Itachi and Zatanna observed different bubbled civilizations. Zatanna kept her mind occupied by looking at Central City, but Itachi's was much more personal.
10 distinct locations he was connected to lay in front of him. Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, Shikkotsu Forest, the Valley of the End, the Rain Village, and the five great villages, including Konoha, sat in front of him in the palms of his hands. "Depending on how the future goes, we might end up having to be permanent residents of Konoha. Never thought my first time visiting your home would end up that way."
"We shall see. But I think your Mansion will be safe."
"What if Bruce develops a technology that makes people immune to genjutsu?"
"If that's even possible, then by that time they'd have to fight the whole Shinobi world with me. Which I doubt they'd want to do."
He leaned in, looking down at Konoha, feeling the familiar chakra that radiated from it. Zatanna raised a brow, "You think they'd all side with you?"
"Considering that my brother was pardoned despite betraying and committing terrorist acts against the world for years, I think they would."
Zatanna stood up and examined one of the nature realms of his old world. "Hopefully. Can you bring them back safely? I always wanted to try the famed Ichiraku Ramen."
He smiled and lightly placed his forehead on the dome of Konoha, "I'll bring them all back. Every last one of them. There won't be any complications."
Zatanna leaned over and asked, "Where do you wanna put your villages?"
Itachi answered quickly, "I've thought about it all day... there's a lot of empty islands in the world. A lot of Australia is empty. Maybe we could establish some cities in Antarctica... I haven't fully decided yet... but either way, I'll be seeing you soon, Sasuke."
