Ben 10 : Unlimited

24

Divided We Fall

Previously, on Ben 10: Unlimited

Luthor turned and saw, to his shock, all seven founding members of the Justice League.

"Ta-da!" Flash said with a smile.

Superman stepped forward. "It's over, Lex." There was no way for Luthor to beat all of them.

Luthor gritted his teeth. "Not until I-argh!"

Luthor gripped his head and moaned in pain; the moans became screams, as black cones burst from his back, black metal tentacles replaced his arms, metal replaced his legs, and his body began to grow. Finally, the flesh on his abdomen began to peel away, revealing a silver face, with three red circles appeared on his chest.

Luthor opened his mouth to speak, but it was not his voice that came out.

"I'd hoped to remain hidden until I could install myself into the android," the synthesized, chillingly familiar voice froze the Leaguers in their tracks, "but you forced my hand."

Superman uttered a single name.

"Brainiac…"

…

LexCorp, Metropolis

The Justice League, plus Amanda Waller, stared at the abomination in horror. Finally, Flash broke the silence.

"Dude," he said, "that is messed up."

Lex Luthor, somehow regaining his ability to speak, looked around in pain and fear.

"I… don't understand… what's happening!"

"You are under my control." Luthor glared down at the face of Brainiac. "I have lain dormant within you for years, Lex Luthor, subtly influencing your actions until we arrived at this point."

"But how could you be here?" Luthor seemed to be getting used to his new, albeit bizarre, condition.

"Do you recall my kidnapping you in this very building?"

"Yes," growled Luthor, as he remembered, "you forced me to build you a new body."

"Kal-El destroyed that body, foiling my plans; in any event, I always have a backup plan. Consider this: when I shot you, how could you have survived the point-blank blast from me, unless…"

"Unless," Luthor finished, "it wasn't intended to kill me."

"The beam carried a nanotech payload that inserted a microscopic, holistic copy of my program inside your body. Since then, I have steadily grown in strength, protecting this body until I could arrange my transfer into a more suitable one."

"You cured my cancer," Luthor realized, "and gave me super-strength!"

"Your animal-protein shell was insufficient for my needs; improvements were required."