Marvel/DC Comics Presents #5

Brainiac 5

New York City, 31st Century

"Querl Dox, you are an idiot," Rond said to a less than enthused Brainiac 5.

"Rond, your use of colorful verbiage does not deter me from the chance of a lifetime," Brainiac 5 said. "Time travel is now a reality and one that now must be pursued for the good of knowledge."

Rond Vidar face palmed in frustration at his friend. Brainiac 5 was the most scientifically gifted of his people from the world of Colu. In addition, he was also a descendant of the equally gifted Coluan renegade, Brainiac. Over the centuries, the Brainiac family had given up their progenitor's villainous past and increased their intellect. Querl Dox is the 5th generation of the family and the most gifted. Despite Querl's 12th level intellect, Rond saw his friend as something of a reckless idiot in his scientific pursuits.

"Okay, granted that you have made one of the biggest discoveries of the last 1000 years. How can you deem what you are about to do as safe to use? This...this..."

"Time Bubble,"

"Time Bubble...this Time Bubble may not be safe for you to use yet. You might get stranded in a time period or have your atoms scattered across time or..."

"Calm down, Rond," Brainiac 5 said as calmly as possible. He could see the pale skin of Rond begin to turn red. "There's nothing to worry about. The Bubble is perfectly safe for travel. Besides, I've already used it."

"You what?!"

"Just a few hours at first. Then a few weeks, then months, then years, now I plan to try decades."

"I...what did...I don't know what to say."

Brainiac 5 smiled, "Have a little faith in me, Rond. Besides I will need your assistance for this next trip. I could use your help just in case I get into a problem that requires someone in our time period to get me out of."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Where, or should I say, when are you going?"

"Exactly 10 years in the past," Brainiac 5 said as he turned his attention to a console near him. "Now I'll need you to monitor this station here. You know my basic console strategy so it should be easily accessible for you to use. The Bubble is in constant communication with our time period through the beacon here in the lab. If it looks as though the Bubble is in trouble, I'll need you to recall it back. I didn't need assistance until now, because I need another pair of eyes I can trust to watch over me here and understand the basics of the controls. You will help me?"

Rond stared at his friend for a moment. Quickly, he weighed over the options and possibilities of whether to help or need not. "Okay, Brainy, show me the controls."

After a few minutes of going over the controls and the basics of the time travel gear involved with Rond, Brainiac 5 entered his Time Bubble. He gave a wave within the glassy sphere and winked out of sight.

The timestream as seen from within the Time Bubble was a sea of rainbow colors flowing not unlike a river. The Bubble was equipped with inertial dampeners to give a smooth ride through the stream. A screen denoted the destination time period that he was headed. A decade from the present in the past.

"Log entry: 225672: The chronometer is functioning within parameters. Time beacon reception is strong. The test is a pace. We should be arriving at our destination time in..."

The Bubble began to shudder. It sounded as though a constant thudding was happening outside the Bubble. Then the Bubble began to shake. Brainiac 5 tried to check his instrumentation, but could barely stand due to the rocking. He looked up and noticed an object in the far distance above him that was fast approaching.

"What is going on out there?"

Meanwhile Rond noticed that Brainiac 5's instruments panel were showing that the Time Bubble was in distress.

"Not good," Rond said to himself as he tried to understand what was causing the problem. "If I'm understanding this right, there is something large out there rippling through time. It looks to be headed toward Brainy. Time to bring you home Brainy." Rond placed the recall code into the system as he was told, but found it being rejected. He tried it over and over again in desperation.

"Come on, Rond," Brainiac 5 said to himself as he monitored the encroaching vessel. As it neared, the vessel became to take a more familiar shape. "Is that a face," Brainiac 5 said as he made out an anthropomorphic humanoid face that was on the front of the vessel.

A beam of light came from one of the eye sockets that hit the Bubble and stabilized it. Then it was joined by another beam of light from the other eye socket and the two joined together on the Bubble. Then the beam slowly drew the Bubble toward it.

"Tractor beams," Brainiac 5 noted. "Whoever this is has technology that... that...so sleepy...feelllll."

The initial feel of grogginess and body aches were the first thing Brainiac 5 felt as he opened his eyes. Three walls and a side with seemingly antiquated metal bars was were he found himself. He felt as though he was being watched and sought the need to watch his movements carefully.

"Coluan, you're Coluan, aren't you?"

Brainiac 5 slowly rose to his feet. He glanced downward and took note that his mysterious captor had not taken his belt which could project a force field around him. He also took note that the decor was reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian style from Earth. The air of hidden machinery damaged and in disrepair was apparent.

"Yes. Yes, I am," Brainiac 5 responded to his shadowy captor. "I can't see you, stranger."

"Stranger," the voice of his captor repeated in astonishment. "I suppose I am now." The voice in the darkness drew closer to the cell. Brainiac 5 was astonished to see a man dressed in Egyptian style attire wielding a futuristic gun pointed at him. "My name is Nathaniel Richards and I'm trying to go home."

"If I may ask where or should I say when is home for you? Why are you dressed in Ancient Egyptian garb?

"I'm from the 31st century. The rest is none of your concern. You've traveled through time as well. Perhaps you can be of better use to me right now. You will help me fix this time ship or you can stay here and I can strip your ship for useful parts. What will it be Coluan?"

Brainiac 5 conceived various scenarios in his mind as to how to proceed. His 12th level intellect conceived of ways to make his escape since his captor did not take his force-field belt from him when he was unconscious. In seconds he decided to find out more about his captor and the time technology he utilized. Why is a man from the 31st century dressed like an ancient Egyptian in a time machine?

"I'll help you," Brainiac 5 said. "Is there a name that you wish for me to call you so I can address you correctly should I need information to better fix your time device?"

After a moments hesitation, he answered, "Call me, Rama-Tut."

"Excellent," Brainiac 5 said with a slight grin, "let's get started."

Rond's worry for Brainiac 5's began to spill over into panic. He finally caught himself and tried to approach the situation in a calm and logical manner. He decided to switch from bringing Brainiac 5 back to homing in on his Time Bubble's temporal transceiver. The transceiver served as a homing signal to the Bubble's location in time. The signal was abruptly cut off from being picked up by the Time Beacon. If he couldn't bring him back to the 31st Century, he could at least boost the sensitivity of the Time Beacon to locate him and then bring him home.

In a few hours Brainiac 5 had managed to ascertain the majority of the systems of Rama-Tut's time machine which was shaped in the form and body of an Egyptian sphinx. Nearly all the while his captor, Rama-Tut had him at gunpoint.

"You Coluans are a smart race, I'll give you that," Rama-Tut said as he continued to hold his pistol at Brainiac 5 as he worked on a console. "And yet, an Earthman beat you to time travel by a thousand years."

"Is that so," Brainiac 5 said not looking at him as he examined the console before him.

"It is," Rama-Tut said with a smug glee. "The great ruler, Victor Von Doom, of the old nation of Latveria created this time travel device a thousand years ago."

"So you found it and used it for what exactly? Scientific exploration?"

"At first it was for pure research. Then I realized the gift and power of what was in front of me and decided to make history instead of study it. I became Rama-Tut and ruled over Egypt with a firm and steady hand."

"No doubt using our century's technology to help you," Brainiac 5 said with a disdain for the deliberate use of future technology in such an unseemly and criminal manner.

"Save your disdain for me and do your work, Coluan."

"The damage is spotty but effective to the time equipment and its peripherals," Brainiac 5 said as he switched from repairing the console to a panel across from it. "Take this panel unit for instance. It looks partially melted. The heat to have caused this would have to be intense and localized to not have caused this kind of damage."

"That is not of any concern of yours," Rama-Tut growled. "Suffice to say, those responsible for this damage will be dealt with once you finish the repairs. I am a ruler and I will reclaim my kingdom or start anew in another time."

With that, Brainiac 5 put the panel that was in his hand back in place. "I think I heard enough," he said as he faced Rama-Tut and crossed his arms. "

"What are you doing Coluan?"

"I'm leaving," Brainiac 5 replied. He turned and started to walk away. Rama-Tut jumped in front of him with his gun ready to fire.

"You're going no where but back to work, Coluan ," Rama-Tut barked at him. "You leave at my pleasure when the work is done."

"Then I can leave then."

"What are you talking about?"

Brainiac 5 stopped and stared at him before answering, "Your time stabilizer, internal temporal dampener, and your computer's damaged drives connecting it to key systems to journey through time are repaired. In fact you could have gone home an hour ago. I just wanted to be sure of your intentions before leaving."

"You...you were stalling all this time? I could have gone home by now?"

Angered by this knowledge and the smug attitude of Brainiac 5, Rama-Tut pulled the trigger of his gun. A white hot beam came forth and shot forth at Brainiac 5. Just inches away from hitting him, the beam suddenly hit some unseen barrier and deflected away from him. The suddenness of it caused Rama-Tut to drop his gun. Just as he went to grab the gun from the floor, Brainiac 5 punched him and knocked him out.

"Not bad for a 'Coluan', " Brainiac 5 said in mocking.

A brief scan of the timeship's schematics, Brainiac 5 made it to the hanger area where his Time Bubble was located. As soon as he brought the systems online he saw on his console where Rond had been trying to recall the Bubble but to no avail.

"Rond is no doubt worried at this point. Rama-Tut's timeship seems to be blocking the Bubble's signal for Rond to call it back. We'll have to get out to get home."

As soon as Brainiac 5 got the Time Bubble free and into the timestream, Rond's voice started coming through the communicator, "Brainy? Brainy?

"I'm here, Rond," Brainiac 5 replied. "Think you can give me a lift back to the 31st Century?"

"Give me a few seconds, Brainy, and we'll have you home," Rond said relieved.

As the Time Bubble continued to drift away from Rama-Tut's timeship, Brainiac 5 noticed that it began to show signs of movement as it angled itself in his direction. Then the Sphinx-shaped vehicle sped up and vanished from the timestream.

"Standby," Rond said over the communicator to Brainiac 5.

In the blink of an eye, the Time Bubble was back in Brainiac 5's lab. From within, Brainiac 5 could see a smiling Rond Vidar beaming from the other side.

After putting away the Bubble and taking stock of the telemetry from the trip, Brainiac 5 told a worried Rond about his ordeal with Rama-Tut.

"So let me see if I got this straight , a man from our century, finds a time machine built a thousand years ago, uses it to go into the past to become an Egyptian ruler, at some point is driven away with his time ship damaged from some fight, finds you and forces you to fix his ship so he can come home to our century?"

"I think you got it," Brainiac 5 replied.

"And you let him go? What were you thinking?"

"I didn't exactly let him go. While I was repairing his systems I studied them and managed to make some modifications to his return journey. There was no way I was going to let someone who misused temporal travel to get away that easy. He'll be bouncing around the timestream until his ship runs aground in a harmless pocket of time. I think we've seen the last of Rama-Tut."

The journey through the timestream was tempestuous. Rama-Tut's Time Ship was damaged further in the chaos. He managed to undo some of the Coluan's tampering, but the Sphinx-like time ship crashed a thousand years off course in the 41st century. Now with the ship more heavily damaged than before, Rama-Tut left its confines and found himself on a war torn landscape. He walked onto a small hill nearby and looked over the lay of the land. In the darkness he could see flashing lights flicker and hear the sounds of war in the distance.

"Stranger," a voice called from the darkness.

Rama-Tut turned and saw a man in rags carrying a makeshift club. He was accompanied by a few others that looked as unkempt and ragged as himself.

"Who wants to know?"

"We are no one, sir," the ragged man replied. "Just wandering people looking for a place to call home while everyone wars. We saw your star fall from the sky and came to see if a god from the legends fell to us. Who are you? Are you a god?"

Rama-Tut smiled at the ragged man and his people. "I suppose I am a fallen god to you. I will be more than happy to help your people and raise you up to near godhood. You may call me, Kang."