I do not own any part of the canonized DC Universe except for my own characters.

Chapter 1: Bottled

Josh Alewife was nervous. Scratch that; Josh Alewife was panicking. He was sitting in the lobby of the legendary Daily Planet building in Metropolis for a job interview with the editor himself; Perry White.

Apparently, White had seen Josh's work for his college newspaper. Had it really only been a week since he had gotten the call for an interview request? He wasn't sure. He really couldn't think straight at the moment.

A beautiful woman with black hair was dragging some poor shmuck with thick glasses through the lobby. "Damn it Clark! I told you I wanted that NASA story!" As they reached the door, the man, Clark evidently, passed Josh and gave him a sheepish grin. Josh tried to respond with a smile of his own, but his central nervous system didn't seem to be working at the moment.

The phone on the receptionist's desk rang once before she answered it daintily. Josh gulped audibly as she nodded and put down the phone. "Mr. White will see you now." She said. She smiled reassuringly at Josh as he stood up. His fingers were wrapped so tightly around the handle of his briefcase that his knuckle bones were protruding. He thanked the receptionist as he walked towards the elevator. It was already on the bottom floor and opened as soon as Josh pressed the up button. White's office was on the penultimate floor.

Josh began to breathe in and out slowly as the elevator doors closed a trick his therapist had taught him. Luckily, the elevator was express and it only took a few seconds for the small box to climb 70 stories. The doors opened with a ding.

He took one final breath. "C'mon, man," he whispered to himself, "You can do this. It's just the most important interview of your life, no pressure." With that reassuring pep talk, Josh stepped into the main news room of the Daily Planet.

. . .

Ariel was leaning against the wall of the Daily Planet building. Her thick, black hair hid her face from the passing crowd.

An angry woman passed her with a geeky-looking man in tow. "I specifically told you I wanted the alien story." She raged as they went by. Ariel ignored them just as much as they ignored her.

She checked her watch. 2 PM on the nose. She looked at the door to the Daily Planet building doors, hoping her mother would finally come out. Her shift was supposed to be over at 2, but she usually worked later than that. Unfortunately, the girls from the exclusive Metropolis Preparatory High School always passed by at 2:05 exactly. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a gaggle of tittering, stereotypical teenage girls in blue school uniforms appeared around the corner.

"Well, well, well," giggled Tatyana, the platinum blonde leader of the clique, "If it isn't the attention junkie, waiting for mama as always. How are you doing today? The spotlight too bright for you?" Ariel lowered her head, letting her hair fully engulf her head. One would think that what she had been through would be cause for sympathy, not ridicule, but some people were just downright cruel. And when those people happened to be the captain of the cheerleader squad, then they had the strength of numbers on their side as well.

The girls kept talking, but Ariel ignored them. All she needed to know was that they were there and that they hated her. Finally, the girls shut up, meaning only one thing. Ariel raised her head to see her mother come out of the building and walk towards her with a smile.

"Hi girls," she said brightly, "How was school?"

Tatyana grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, it was the usual. Not as interesting as Ariel's day though. From what she told us, she had a very interesting day."

"Good!" Ariel's mom patted Ariel on the back, "Well, see you girls later!" The girls walked away, giggling in tandem as Ariel's mother led her away. The parking garage was a few blocks away, and Ariel knew her mother would talk the whole way there.

A car passed by and a small ball flew out the open window. It bounced passed Ariel as the car stopped. A young boy poked his head out of the window and looked mournfully at his lost toy. Ariel sighed and pulled away from her mother.

"Ariel? Are you okay?"

Ariel nodded. "I'll be right back." The ball bounced against the Daily Planet building where Ariel caught it with one hand. That was when all hell broke loose.

. . .

Devon coughed into his raggedy sleeve. He was leaning on the Gotham City Courthouse while his father handled things inside. At eight years old, Devon wasn't sure what that meant, but the nice police officer had told him that his father was going to be alright. He just had to wait outside until the trial (whatever that was) ended.

Devon coughed again. He might be coming down with the flu. He did every year; his father couldn't afford the shots and their box wasn't thick enough to protect them from the cold.

Devon sighed and scratched his rash. From somewhere in the city, a church bell rang twice. 2 in the afternoon, the trial was supposed to be over by now. The officer told him it would only take an hour, and that was at noon. Devon suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly pulled away and looked up at his attacker, raising his fists at the ready.

It was the police officer who had reassured him earlier. He held up his hands in defense. "Easy, son, it's just me." Devon relaxed; his father had taught him to trust the police. Even the bad ones were once good people, he always said.

Devon looked around. "Where's my dad?" he asked.

The officer cringed and knelt down to Devon's level, taking off his cap. "Look, kid," he said, scratching his head, "The jury, they found him guilty." Devon didn't really know what that meant and turned his head to the side. "It means your daddy isn't going to be here for a while."

"Can I see him now?"

"I'm really sorry, son, but he's already on his way to…where he's going."

"Where's he going?"

The officer hesitated. "A…nice place where he can be alone for a little while."

Devon sniffled, "He doesn't want me with him?"

The officer sighed. He was really botching this. "No, no, he wants to be with you. But it's not safe for you to be around him right now." Devon started to cry and the officer pulled him in for a hug. "It's alright, kid," he whispered to him, "The Wayne Foundation has a place for kids just like you. It's a nice house, you'll have fun there."

Devon looked up, tears running down his face. His eyes snapped open and he gasped. "What's that?" he asked.

The officer looked up and his jaw dropped. "Oh my God."

. . .

Josh walked into Perry White's office with a confident gait. His face betrayed none of the utter anxiety that he was feeling, a trick he'd picked up from a roommate who majored in theater. His adrenaline level was almost record breaking, but he let none of it show. He had prepared a formal greeting that he hoped would give Mr. White a good first impression of him. But once he stepped in the office, his speech went out the window, almost literally.

Mr. White was staring out the glass panels at the massive, floating craft that was hovering over the building. Josh slowly walked up next to him as the unidentified flying object lowered, until it was only a few meters above the signature globe atop the building. Both men were totally flabbergasted and speechless.

Four blue lines shot down from the craft, engulfing the entire building and the surrounding block in a blue light. Josh stumbled backwards in surprise. He tripped and fell over White's desk. Before he could recover, there was a flash of orange light and everything went black.

. . .

Ariel grabbed the ball just as the force field slammed down behind her. She turned around and cried in surprise. Her mother banged on the force field from the other side and started screaming, but Ariel couldn't hear her. She touched the blue light and recoiled from it. It felt like she was freezing and roasting at the same time. Around her, people were screaming and assaulting the barrier in panic. There was a flash of light and everything suddenly went black.

. . .

The officer shoved Devon away just as a force field erupted around him. The officer was split entirely in two as the wall went straight through him. Devon screamed in terror and ran. He didn't know where he was going, just that he needed to get away from the madness.

His hands felt wet. He looked down to see the red blood of the officer across his chest and arms. Devon looked away from his hands, afraid. There was a flash of light and everything went black.

. . .

Miles above the Earth, Captain Atom, Batman, and Wonder Woman stood in the Watchtower.

"Do you think Luthor was telling the truth?" Asked Wonder Woman. Batman grunted and folded his arms.

"Of course not," said Captain Atom, "The day any Luthor tells the truth is the day that Batman tells us his secret identity."

Batmen glared out the large window before them. "Well, he was right about one thing." Hundreds of Brainiac warships filled the entire atmosphere, with thousands of drones emanating from each. Every hero that could survive in the vacuum of space and even some villains were engaging as many ships as they could, but numbers were not on their side.

Behind them, the teleported activated and Superman emerged in the room. "Sorry, a…friend kept me waiting."

Batman grunted, "Luthor told the truth."

"How do you know?" Wonder Woman asked.

The Martian Manhunter phased through the floor. "The scans are complete." He announced, "There are microscopic particles of Brainiac technology in the air on Earth. I don't know how long they have been there, but from what the Atom, Cyborg, and I can figure out, they do resemble the 'exobytes' that the future Luthor told us about."

Wonder Woman glared at Batman. "I swear someday I'll figure out how you know things before anyone else." The caped crusader said nothing, content to watch the celestial fireworks. Power Girl flew past the window and managed a brief wave before she returned to pummeling a Brainiac Overseer.

Superman sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We need to get Brainiac out before-" an alarm cut him off and a red, holographic screen appeared in front of the window. The screen showed images of various buildings around Gotham and Metropolis, as well as other cities, being bottled. "That," finished Superman. Wonder Woman growled angrily as she saw and image of a police officer in Gotham sacrificing himself to save a little boy from being killed by the bottle. "Soon, he'll start digitizing the contents of those bottles for their data and destroy them, including the people inside them." Superman flew over to a panel in the wall and opened it. "This means war."

Inside was a small, red button. Hesitating, Superman looked back at his fellow heroes. Batman nodded and Superman pushed the button. All across the globe, heroes with any relation to the Justice League were contacted. Alarms rang through Titans Tower on the west coast while the blares from the Hall of Justice could be heard all over Washington. Deep under the sea, Atlantis was told of the arrival of the alien menace while far off in the galaxy, the gods of New Genesis were asked for assistance. On the island of Themyscira, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta received a request of support and in the center of the universe, the Guardians were told of the injustice of the Brainiac invasion.

Superman turned back to the group. "So, what now?"

Batman unfolded his arms and cracked his knuckles. "There will be thousands with new superpowers, maybe millions. If we're going to war, we're going to need an army."

"And we'll get one." Agreed Wonder Woman, "But right now, our main priority is to keep Brainiac's main forces from reaching Earth and to help those trapped within the bottles."

Martian Manhunter nodded. "I'll send all leaguers on the surface to assault the nearest bottle. Maybe they can find a weak spot." With that, he phased through the floor once more.

Batman activated his communicator. "Oracle, see if you can hack any of those Brainiac landing ships. We might be able to contact someone inside to get people out of there."

Miles below, in the clock tower of Gotham City, Oracle nodded. Then, realizing that Batman couldn't see her, replied, "You got it." She began typing away at the supercomputer in front of her, lines of code flying before her eyes, none of them missed.

"Hera help us." Murmured Wonder Woman, preparing to join the fight in the atmosphere herself along with Captain Atom. Superman and Batman went to the main teleportation pads for Metropolis and Gotham respectively and went home to defend their people from the onslaught.

. . .

Deep under the swamps of the Louisiana Biyou, Circe giggled. She was watching a loop of a Gotham police officer being split in two by a Brainiac bottle.

Next to her, Thalia al Ghul rolled her eyes. "You've been watching that for almost an hour." She said, "Can't you think of something better to do? Or at least watch that somewhere else than here?" they were standing in the Command and Control Center, watching global alerts for the tell-tale signs of Brainiac. Circe waved her hand at Talia. The assassin floated three feet in the air and zoomed backwards into a dashboard. "Was that truly necessary?" Talia muttered as she rubbed her shoulder. Circe ignored her and went back to her video. Behind them, Lex Luthor and Metallo teleported in from Metropolis.

"Are you seeing this?" demanded Metallo.

Circe summoned a bag of popcorn with her magic and began to munch absentmindedly. "Yes! Isn't it hilarious?"

Metallo rounded on her. "Hilarious! Are you kidding me?" he looked up and saw the video she was watching. He watched through a few loops before continuing. "Okay, that is funny. But this is the end of the friggin' world!"

"Relax, Metallo," sighed Luthor. He stood next to Talia and watched orange lights ignite all over the holographic globe in the center of the room, signifying the presence of Brainiac.

"Relax?" demanded Metallo, "Relax! Did you not hear the 'end of the world' part? What are you seeing that I'm not?"

Luthor gave a small smile. "Opportunity." He said softly. He looked around and frowned. "Opportunity that I'm surprised to see the Joker isn't taking advantage of."

Circe crumpled up her empty popcorn bag and burned it away. "Oh, he's probably just working an angle from Gotham. You know how hard it is to tear him away from that damn city."

Luther nodded grimly. The last time the Joker had been forced to leave Gotham for more than an hour, he'd thrown a hissy fit that nearly brought down the Hall of Doom. "Nevertheless, we need to prepare." He said, "We need to gather our forces."

Circe looked away from her screen. "Why? To fight Brainiac?"

"No," said Luthor, steepling his fingers together, "Well, yes that. But mostly to take advantage of the chaos. Oh, and we'll need to enlarge the Hall."

Talia glanced over. She more or less ran the Hall of Doom's everyday functions, but she hadn't seen a reason to expand. "Why?" she asked.

"Because," Luthor drew from his pocket a small cylinder. It was filled with spare exobytes, given to him by his future self. "I have a feeling we'll have a lot of new friends on our hands." He glanced up at Metallo. "Tell Calculator to start hacking into Brainiac's systems. I want eyes and ears everywhere, especially on the inside." Metallo nodded and walked off to find the nearest communicator. Luthor pocketed the cylinder once more. This was going to get much more interesting before it was over, and he wanted to be around to enjoy every second of it.