John's fist collided with the torso of the Man of Steel. The hero grunted before countering with his own fist. Unfortunately John's metallic body was not as strong as a Kryptonian's. The punch created a dent in John's armour. Then another fist collided with John's shoulder. And another, and another. John's metallic exo-skeleton was heavily damaged, even torn in some places. But that didn't matter to John. He was Metallo, a cyborg pawn of Brainiac. No thoughts occurred in John's consciousness that weren't spawned by Brainiac's programming. But in John's subconscious his mind remained, screaming out against being a soldier in Brainiac's war with Superman. He was tired of being someone else's soldier. Even his time in the army had led to nothing but pain and the eventual loss of the majority of his body.

Now Superman was destroying his new body. John lashed out with a swing of his right fist only for Superman to sever both arms with his heat vision. John backed away; his only defence now was his Kryptonite heart. He activated the opening procedure for his torso where the rock was stored only to be teleported back to Brainiac's ship.

“Metallo, you are to report to deck three for repairs,” commanded Brainiac.

John's body complied but his subconscious fumed, waiting for the day he could be free of Brainiac's control.

~*~

The memory ended as John awoke strapped to a slab with only his head activated.. Initially he was disoriented but other memories flooded back to him. His continued servitude to the alien. Lex Luthor freeing him, only to disown him in front of the authorities. His imprisonment in a military facility, being shut off once they admitted him. And now he was on a plane. John looked around and discerned that he was on a plane of some sort.

He turned to see an armed guard across from him who said, “Good you're awake.”

“Who are you? Where are we going? Why is the rest of me shut off?” questioned John.

“Slow down Metallo, give me a chance to answer. I'm Agent Strauss with A.R.G.U.S. We're on our way to Bialya where you are to rendezvous with your new team. And you're shut off until while a program is working to prevent you from shutting off the compliance bomb located in what's left of your head.” stated the guard.

John took it all in quickly. So it seems the government had use for him again. Some pleasant memories of his time in the army returned, but so did the pain and time as Brainiac's slave. Either way it was going to be interesting.

~*~

John's body reactivated shortly before landing, meaning the program had taken effect and he couldn't remove the bomb. Agent Strauss let him off three miles from the rendezvous point which apparently was some rickety safe house. While on route John looked over some body modifications done by A.R.G.U.S. Mainly his exo-skeleton was now a denser metal meaning more protection but slower speeds. The only other notable thing was that he could generate a layer of synthetic skin to pass off as just a really big human. John assumed this would be relevant to whatever the government was having him do.

When John made it to the safe house six people were already inside. The first one he saw looked like Superman. Anger swelled in John but a second later realized it wasn't Superman. He knew Superman well and this was not him. The others were a not-Batman, a flaming skeleton, one guy in a parka and another with a trident, and finally a fellow mechanoid. As they didn't say anything to John when he entered he decided not to say anything either.

John was checking over his upgrades again when another group entered the safe house. There was a speedster, two matching assassins, and one guy with boomerangs and another dressed as a cat. What the hell kind of team was this. Then the display screen came to life and a voice told them their mission. So the US was getting involved in another backwater dictatorship. As John was processing this the not-Superman demanded to know who everyone was.

John was about to speak up when a fight broke out between the assassin and not-Superman. It ended with them revealing there names. He didn't recognize any of the names. The following mention of an event known as Forever Evil was lost on John. He must off been shut off when it happened. Sure enough another fight broke out, this time with the not-Batman. The man with the boomerangs, Digger Harkness he introduced himself as, interrupted the brawl as did the female assassin.

John was getting tired of this bullshit. His time in the army was in stark contrast to the crap and lack of command that this group was pulling. So it was no surprise when more crap came from the so-called Catman and the guy he called Atlantean, who John did not hear his telepathic message as there isn't enough left of his biological brain.

After the Captain introduced himself John finally decided to speak, “I'm former US Armed Forces Sergeant John Corben, but the media has branded me Metallo. I don't care what you call me I just want this over with.”