John bellowed as bolts of green erupted from his ring, yet Brainiac simply held out his hand and intercepted the bolts with ease. John growled while constructing a massive machine gun that he aimed right at the machine's head, yet by Brainiac's will the tendrils grabbed hold of the Lantern and slammed him into the deck.
"Do not bother with any theatrics, John Stewart. You are in my home. What can you do?" Brainiac asked as paneling slid back and a massive, silver chair rose out of the floor. Brainiac sat down upon the chair and slightly turned his head to take in the two younger Lanterns, who had already gone back-to-back and pointed their rings at him. "Hmm, a dragon and a unicorn. Interesting."
"Who are you? And why are you collecting Lanterns?!" Spike demanded as he and Sweetie combined their powers to unleash a blast of green and blue towards Brainiac, yet before the blast could reach him dozens of tendrils intercepted the blast for their master. Another dozen tendrils emerged from holes in the wall and began to attack Spike and Sweetie, though the two were fast enough to construct a shield around themselves that protected them from the attacks.
"If you must know before you are terminated, I am Brainiac," Brainiac introduced himself again as he rose out of his seat and walked over to the shield, the tendrils moving out of the way for him while he did so. "I was tasked with gathering all knowledge in the universe and keeping a record of it, so that, even once the species that held the knowledge fell, their knowledge would live on. You can say that I am the keeper of all knowledge in the universe."
"Yeah, but once you gain that knowledge you destroy the planet and race of people that held that knowledge before you!" John roared with fury before he broke free of his bonds in a burst of green light. "You're a murderer who has slaughtered whole universes!" With another roar he hurled himself at Brainiac with a green infused fist, but with speeds faster than the younger Lanterns could fathom, Brainiac slapped John across the room and through one of the walls.
"If Kal-El could not defeat me permanently, I fail to see how you reasoned you could do so," Brainiac pointed out before looking back to the younger Lanterns. "And knowledge is far more valuable if there are fewer beings that know of its existence. As for the other Lanterns..." Brainiac turned as the floor opened up again and six tubes rose out of the floor, each tube holding in it a different colored Lantern. Spike and Sweetie recognized the Blue Lantern and Larfleeze, but the other ones were mysteries to them.
"It did take a while to collect them all, especially as the Blue Lanterns are so few, but eventually I managed to secure each of the seven spectrums," Brainiac explained as he looked at the Lanterns with his hand's behind his back. "Larfleeze was the easiest to catch. I just promised him that there was something I had that he didn't, and he came running. The others put up more of a fight, but fighting me is a pointless venture, as John Stewart discovered."
"But why?! Why kidnap the Lanterns?!" Spike snarled, wishing he could fight, but he couldn't take the risk.
"Because the rings interest me. How they channel will, hope and other emotions and turn them into weapons that rival the most advanced pieces of technology," Brainiac said as he pulled out a Green Lantern ring and gazed at it. "It was quite the endeavor, trying to crack the code to these rings. The hardest part was getting around the feature that only allowed the wearer to wield the ring. But they are still based on technology and all technology succumbs to me," Brainiac said as he tightened his grip and crushed the ring within his fist.
"So you rebuilt the Manhunters and poured the power of the Lanterns into them," Spike stated, getting a small nod from Brainiac.
"Yes. At first it was just an experiment with a Green Lantern's ring, but after seeing the Manhunters' increased power as a result of such an experiment, I fueled them with different Lanterns' colors. The results were...interesting," Brainiac stated as he walked over to the violet and indigo Lanterns. "Manhunters infused with these powers became the most rebellious, became troublesome. They tried to flee, tried to warn the galaxy of my plan. It did not work. Far away from me they might have been safe, but when the Manhunter that brought you here entered my sight it was mine once again. The rest were dealt with, and the remaining five Lanterns were used as a power source."
"Wait, I only see seven...yet according to our reports over a dozen Green Lanterns went missing," Sweetie pointed out, and her words caused Brainiac to turn around with a thin smile upon his face...as over a dozen mechanical monsters all wearing the Green Lanterns' symbols came floating down behind him. Sweetie placed a hoof over her mouth as she and Spike realized what the mechanical monsters were...or who they used to be.
"While my plan only required one Lantern from each Corps, I will admit that there was some...trial and error in learning and breaking the power rings," Brainiac admitted. "So I needed more Lanterns, ones that I could experiment on and learn more about how the rings work. The Green Lantern Corps has the largest number of Lanterns, so I never ran out of test subjects. And while they may have lost their lives in the pursuit of knowledge, they attributed to finalizing my goals."
"And what would those be?" Spike asked as he glanced over to where John had landed, doing everything in his power to remain calm as he slowly looked back to Brainiac. Brainiac's smile faded while he turned back towards the captured Lanterns, seeming to take more interest in them than the living Lanterns behind him.
"There is no point in telling you. The three of you will be dead soon and I have humored you long enough," Brainiac decided without emotion, yet as if an order had been declared the mechanical Lanterns began to float towards the pair of Lanterns. "Though it is a little disappointing that there will not be anyone around to see my plan come to fruition. But you heroes must be exterminated quickly or else you become troublesome. Farewell."
"Until we meet again!" A giant fist slammed into the mechanical Lanterns and hurled them across the room, giving Spike and Sweetie the chance to lower their shield and fly over to the now conscious John Stewart. "Time to get out of here you two, we need to get back to the ship and get to the Guardians before we get killed!" John floated next to Sweetie to increase his ring's power before cutting through the wall once again to create an escape route, leading Spike and Sweetie out of the room as Brainiac turned to watch them leave.
"Annoyances. They truly believe they will escape. Such a pitiful emotion, hope," Brainiac observed before pressing a button on his wrist. "Manhunters. Find and kill the three Lanterns that are trying to escape." He then turned back to the seven Lanterns that were being held within the tubes, another thin smile creasing his face. "The final preparations are finished. And even if those Lanterns were to warn the Corps, there is nothing they can do to stop me."
At that very moment the three Lanterns were doing their best to fight off the hundreds of Manhunters that were crawling out of the woodwork to get at the three. John blasted a red one off of Spike before Spike returned the favor by impaling another green one into a wall. Sweetie stuck close to the both of them, aiding them where she could and fueling their power when a Green Manhunter showed up.
"It was Brainiac all along! I can't believe I never thought that he could be the one behind all of this!" John roared with frustration as two Manhunters tackled him to the wall and began to punch the shield that surrounded his body. Spike wrapped two emerald claws around them and hurled them into the other Manhunters before shooting a blast into their guts for good measure.
"Any idea what this master plan of his could be?!" Sweetie asked as she turned herself into a drill and tore through the chest of one Manhunter before ripping off the head of another. "He mentioned that his plan was finalized, but he tried to kill us after we asked what it was."
"I managed to download most of his plan's information into my ring, but even then I only got a glimpse at his plan," John called to them while constructing a jet that he crashed into a number of the Manhunters that were following them through the base. "I have no idea how he plans to do it, but Brainiac wants to take-"
A massive fist burst through the wall and slammed into John, hurling the Lantern through the metal tubing and out into a large room that was filled with a number of spacefaring ships. John crashed through several of them before he tumbled to a stop in the center of the hangar, where he pushed himself up to find a giant, almost bestial version of Brainiac glaring down at him.
"Terminate Lantern," it stated as it lunged at him with one of its fists, forcing the Lantern to roll out of the way before the fist crushed him. The bestial Brainiac punched through the floor of the hangar as John rolled to his feet, firing numerous bursts of green light at the creature's eyes. The monster was hardly phased by the attacks, and with speeds faster than John thought possible it whipped its tail around, slamming its limb right into the side of Stewart and chucking him into the reinforced walls. He collapsed to the deck with pain burning across his chest and back, making it hard to breath as he pushed himself up.
"Ring? Did I break anything?" he asked before flying to the side to avoid being crushed underfoot.
'Two ribs and your shoulder were broken by that attack,' the ring replied, getting a frustrated growl out of John while he constructed a battle suit to strengthen his defenses, while also preventing anything else from being broken. The giant Brainiac was about to slam its fist into John again before twin blasts of green and blue struck it in the back, causing the mechanical terror to double over as Sweetie and Spike flew over to John.
"Are you alright?" Sweetie asked as she started to heal his wounds, but John pushed past her and unleashed all of his ring's power into the machine.
"If you have time to worry about me, then you have to take that thing down!" John ordered as the machine started to stagger back. Spike and Sweetie added their own powers into the mix and with their combined strengths, the mechanical nightmare was blasting apart into scrap metal. The three then looked around the room for any other threats, but for the moment they were safe.
"Need to...keep moving," John grunted in pain as he started to stagger forward, but his will gave out for a second and he collapsed to the deck.
"You need to let me heal you!" Sweetie demanded as she started using her power to heal John's wounds, but once again the senior Lantern pushed her away with a growl.
"We need to escape. Warn the Corps," John panted in pain between breaths. "Brainiac...he's after the home planets of the Lanterns. I think...he wants to destroy them!" Horror took hold of Spike and Sweetie as those words sunk in, neither of them knowing what to say as John pushed himself back up.
"Can he...do that?" Sweetie asked in horror.
"Before I learned what I did, I would have guessed that maybe he could destroy the Blue Lanterns' home, but the other worlds were too well defended," John growled in pain as he struggled to move. "But after seeing that army of Manhunters he has...we need to warn the Lanterns and make sure that he doesn't get the chance."
"Alright then, we need to move now," Sweetie began as she looked at the hangar door with a smile and started flying towards it. "I'll cut us a way out of here and then we can get back to the-" Her words died in terror as Brainiac floated down before her, gazing at the Blue Lantern with no emotion for a moment, before he slammed his fist into her face and hurled her across the room.
"SWEETIE!" Spike cried after her as she slammed into the wall and slumped to the floor like a ragdoll. In a moment, Spike was at her side and had a finger on her neck, letting out a small sigh of relief when he felt her pulse. With the wrath of dragons burning in his soul, he quickly turned back to Brainiac...only to find that there were now dozens of Manhunters floating in the hanger around them along with Brainiac.
"It seems that my large vessel is still not up to acceptable standards," Brainiac stated as he looked down at the giant pile of scrap that had been the monstrous Brainiac. "I thank you for testing it for me. In return, I will make your demises quick." The Manhunters began to move in as Spike floated over to John, cradling Sweetie in his arms while trying everything to keep himself from panicking.
"John, please tell me that you have a plan," Spike asked the senior Lantern who was struggling just to stand, but as John looked up at the sheer number of Manhunters as well as the being that could rival Superman floating behind them, he felt his own hope fading.
'I can't let us die here! We have to warn the Guardians! Warn all of the Corps of what Brainiac's up to!' he raged in his mind as he desperately thought of a solution, but nothing came to him. The Manhunters began to swarm the pair of them, forcing John to protect both himself and Spike as laser fire flashed all around them. The two of them were eventually pushed back to the hangar door, placing their backs against it as the Manhunters closed in. But amidst all the chaos and fighting, an idea came to Spike...an idea he did not like.
"John, if we can get out of here, how long would it take to get to the Interceptor?" Spike asked as he and John combined their powers to keep the Manhunters back.
"A few minutes, tops! But at this rate we won't even get the chance!" John stated as he blasted back another Manhunter. Spike gritted his teeth as he raged within, trying to decide what he should do. And then he looked down at the unconscious Sweetie Belle, and the rage faded as his decision was made for him.
"John! Take Sweetie for a moment!" Spike demanded as he held out the sleeping mare to him. John looked at Spike with confusion for a second before grabbing hold of her, but the moment he did Spike turned around and created his strongest barrier around the two.
"Spike! What the devil are you doing?!" John demanded through the barrier as he attempted to break through it, but something in Spike's eyes made him stop.
"John...you guys have to make it back. You have to tell the Guardians what you know so they can prepared for Brainiac," Spike informed John with what almost sounded like acceptance in his voice. "But if we all tried to go, then Brainiac would have no trouble catching us. The only way you two can escape is...if I stay behind to distract him."
"No kid...dammit Spike, if you stay behind you'll die and I will not let that happen! I'll hold off Brainiac while you two escape! That's my duty as your senior, to give my life so you don't have to!" John bellowed as he prepared to bring the shield around him down, but Spike cut him off again.
"In the shape you're in, you wouldn't last long enough for us to escape! And only you have the information about what Brainiac plans to do!" Spike bellowed through the shield before turning and driving a blade through the chest of a Manhunter, which he then hurled to the side as he turned back. "Sweetie can't do it and you're the only one with the information we need! Can't you see...I'm the only expendable one."
"But you'll die!" John roared, but all his words did was gain a smirk from Spike.
"I'm not afraid of dying, John. Not at all," Spike said before he gazed off into the unknown for a moment and turned back to John. "But despite being a Green Lantern, there are things I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of failing to save the day. I'm afraid of not being able to protect the lives of those I care for...I'm afraid," Spike began as he looked down at Sweetie with a sad smile. "Of losing her. So please John...as my last request...go inform the Guardians. Save the galaxy. Don't let my fears become a reality. Please."
John wanted to argue. Deep in his soul he wished that there was some alternative, some solution, that could convince Spike not to do this and for John to sacrifice himself instead. But as he looked past the dragon to see even more Manhunters, including more of the yellow and red variety entering the battle, he knew that the time for talk had run out.
"Spike...I'm sorry," John whispered before he turned and pried open the doors with his ring, giving him just enough space to fly through before Brainiac's will crushed the construct and shut the doors. Spike let out a small sigh of relief when John and Sweetie got clear, before he turned to face the now hundreds of Manhunters and the being that could rival a god.
"Sacrificing yourself to save your teammate and the one you love. A pathetic gesture," Brainiac said with no emotion. "When I am done with you they shall be the next to die." Spike didn't waste time replying. Instead, he reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out his power battery, but instead of charging his ring, he rather constructed a massive warhammer around the battery--with it being the hammer. He then constructed a suit of his strongest armor around himself before he gazed up at the hundreds of foes with the will to fight in his eyes, just as the hundreds of Manhunters lunged at him.
'Power levels at one hundred percent...but I do not think that will matter,' Spike's ring said to him. 'Seems you've gotten yourself into quite the pickle. What do you have to say for yourself?'
"Just this. Against fearful day and raging night, I shall never again lose my will to fight. And though they may be stronger and wield unspeakable might, none shall ever extinguish," Spike said as he brought back his hammer and prepared to swing. "My Green Lantern's light."