Braedey Martin: Unlimited

Ch 34: The Great Brain Robbery

Secret Society HQ

Lex Luthor was not a happy man; then again, he was rarely happy even at the best of times, but this day was particularly annoying. After taking over the Secret Society from Grodd, he'd located the piece of Brainiac that the ape had secreted away; since then, he'd worked tirelessly to try to revive his other half, but nothing had worked. Still, Luthor had determination and the intellect to get what he wanted.

"Brainiac," he whispered to the fragment, "you're in there; I can almost feel you. Abasing myself before Grodd, then running this unwieldy super-gang... it's all been worth it if I can just free the only piece of you that remains."

Luthor then felt a pair of arms encircle him from behind and mentally sighed; ever since taking over, Tala had been invading his personal space far too often. It wasn't that he didn't find her physically attractive, but she was obviously only interested in the power and authority that he commanded. Then there was the fact that she and Grodd... Luthor tried his best to block out that disturbing image.

"Lex," Tala cooed, "don't talk to the rock; why don't we..."

"Stay out of this, witch!" Luthor snapped, pushing her aside; he knew what she was like and wanted no part of it. He might catch something.

Luthor placed the Brainiac fragment into a device he'd finished building yesterday, then activated it. The device bombarded the fragment with beams of light, but nothing happened; Luthor punched the wall in irritation.

"It makes no sense," he said as he sat down, not noticing that Tala had begun massaging his shoulders, "The smallest scrap of Brainiac should be sufficient to reconstitute him."

"Don't worry, darling," Tala said soothingly, "I'm sure it will be..."

"Unless Grodd is somehow preventing it," Luthor said, ignoring Tala, "I'll just have to fix that."

~*~*~

A few minutes later, Luthor and Tala arrived at what the other supervillains had nicknamed "the Dungeon". While the Secret Society wasn't in the habit of taking prisoners, Luthor had decided to keep Grodd alive, and had constructed a special prison just for the telepathic ape. He was glad that he'd had the foresight to imprison Grodd, in case his former boss had anything useful to share.

"What do you want, Luthor?" Grodd demanded, unable to move, thanks to the shackles that bound him.

"How do I unlock the Brainiac code?" Luthor asked without preamble.

"You're a genius," Grodd said, a bit of smugness returning, "figure it out."

Luthor's patience, already wearing thin, was at its breaking point. "Tell me, you leering, manipulative, knuckle-dragger..."

"Oh, Lex, Lex," Grodd said, shaking his head and grinning, "You can't expect me to give up my only bargaining chip; what's in it for me?"

Luthor sneered. "When this is over, I'm going to sell your body for dog meat!"

Luthor stormed out; Tala moved to follow him, but Grodd spoke again.

"It must pain you to see me like this after what we've been to one another."

"My taste in boyfriends has evolved," she said, before catching up with Luthor, "Lex, wait. You're the leader now; you don't need to lock horns with him."

"The only thing that matters now is a speck of information locked somewhere deep inside Grodd's thick skull," Luthor snapped.

"Yes, okay," Tala said, an opportunity to get into Luthor's good books flashing into her mind, "So we break open his head and take it."