The Birds Of Prey sat around lazily in their private apartment. Huntress, Black Canary, and Oracle knew they needed a spot to rest and recover without worrying about potential break-ins or other heroes intruding on their quiet time. Oracle's station was shrunken down to one laptop and a desk she purchased online. She was set up towards the end of the room against the wall across from two lumpy couches that her teammates were slumped into.
"Why don't we all just take a break today?" Barbara asked while stretching out the overworked muscles in her slender neck.
"What do you mean by take a break? The big guy wouldn't like that." Dinah Lance put her fingers next to her blonde hair, mocking Batman's mask.
"Even he take breaks every now and again. Don't worry. Let's just chat. Enjoy each other's company without focusing on work." Barbara removed her glasses and untied her ponytail.
"Sure," Helena Bertinelli sat up, finally turning her focus away from the match three game she was playing on her phone. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Do you think Brainiac is back?" Dinah immediately asked, despite Barbara's insistence on not talking about work.
"Dinah what did I just say?" Barbara sighed.
"It seems important." Dinah simply shrugged.
"I know, but that's way out of our league."
"It's also way out of our paygrade." Helena chimed in.
"Exactly. Besides, Superman's got it covered. If there's anything we need to know, Batman will be in touch on the laptop." Barbara leaned back in her wheelchair while casually blowing a lock of red hair from her face.
*
Superman tried with all of his might but failed to break free from the bonds of Brainiac. The hero was trapped on his ship, his arms and legs bound by strange metallic tentacles controlled by the villain. Superman grunted and struggled until Brainiac came back into the room. Superman fired his heat vision, but it was stopped by a telekinetic force field. The heat fizzled and died quickly. Brainiac simply clicked his tongue like a disappointed parent.
"You upset me, Kal-El." Brainiac's voice was somehow both cold and robotic yet menacing and powerful.
"My name is Clark!" Superman growled.
"No, it is not."
"What's your game? What do you want?!" Superman shouted in desperation. His strength was waning due to the lack of sunlight.
"Game? There is no time for games, Kal-El." Brainiac was being intentionally disingenuous. He was simply waiting for his trophy to give in. For the Man Of Steel to quit and bend to his will. No matter how long it took.
"Do you want to destroy the planet? Harvest its resources? What is it?" Superman begged.
"No. I want you to do what you should've done long ago, when you first discovered your powers. I want you to rule the world. Take control." Brainiac explained while examining Superman.
"I won't. It's my duty to protect them." Superman's voice grew more profound.
"You have so much raw power. Such astonishing strength and yet you use it to save lower life forms." Brainiac strengthened the grip the tentacles had against Superman's skin.
"They have a right to live."
"Kal-El, this is not a debate about whether or not those creatures deserve to live.. It's about you. What you can do. I want you to use your power for what it's supposed to be used for," Brainiac paused. "Conquest."
"Never." Superman spat.
"Hmm," Brainiac searched through the hundreds of billions of memory logs he had stored. "What about Lana Lang?"
"What about her?" Superman asked.
"When you two were young. She was especially fertile. Now not so much. You could have made powerful offspring." Brainiac said casually.
"What!? Why would you say that?!"
"You still don't get it do you? World domination is yours and you don't have to kill anyone. All you have to do is conquer. I won't interfere, and if I do you won't notice."
"Never. They are human beings, not breeding stock. I won't do it." Superman said.
"You will," Brainiac's hand moved up, and that motion caused a pink ball of light no bigger than a quarter to appear from thin air and float towards Superman's forehead, stopping right at his curl. "Last chance. You do it yourself, or I will make you do it."
"NEVER!" Superman shouted at the top of his lungs as he grunted with exertion to break free. The muscles in his neck and back were working overtime but to no avail. Brainiac pushed his index finger and middle finger forward, causing the pink light to enter Superman's brain, infecting his mind. On the outside, everything looked fine, but on the inside, there was one thing on Superman's mind. Conquest.
*
"So who's your Superhero crush?" Helena asked her friends while sloshing her now room-temperature wine around in the glass.
"I don't have crushes on my co-workers." Barbara answered dryly.
"Ollie. Obviously." Dinah said.
"Ladies, this is supposed to be fun. We're just having fun! Say whoever you want nobody will ever know. I mean seriously, Babs, there's got to be someone you'd ride like a bronco." Helena urged.
"Y'know ever since the accident, I doubt I'd be able to ride anyone. But since we're just having fun, if I absolutely have to pick someone it'd probably be... Martian Manhunter." Barbara giggled to herself.
"What!" Dinah nearly spat out her swig of non-alcoholic wine.
