This page is for Dominic Lanse, the post relaunch Brainstorm. For Alex Storm see Brainstorm.
Brainstorm made is presence known by manipulating a local resident in Los Angeles. Edgar Holowitz was enjoying his meal at a local diner until he was overwhelmed by other worldly force. First, he insults a waitress then he walks out into the parking lot and murders a vagrant. The LAPD apprehend Holowitz but after being in a cell for an hour, Holowitz dies from an aneurism. As the cops cart off Holowitz's body to the morgue, they notice something peculiar written on Holowitz's cell. The LAPD call in Mister Terrific because Holowitz has written mathematical equations on his prison cell. Mister Terrific points out to the police that Edgar's equations are so advanced that they would stump some of the world's greatest astrophysicists.
As he drove to a fundraiser at the Conscientia Institute, Mister Terrific continued to ponder as to what could have caused an ordinary man like Holowitz to go awol. At the fundraiser, Mister Terrific greets Senator Gonzalez who is interested in Michael's latest technological wonders. Senator Gonzalez is hoping to implement Michael's Crystalline Electromagnetic Energy Node. This device is designed to stabilize a building in case of an earthquake. Unfortunately, Michael's will is overcome by the same high pitched noise that took hold of Holowitz.
Michael is then forced to reverse the polarity of his device which will cause a tremor rather than preventing one. Afterwards, Michael gets this sudden urge to kill the senator. Michael realizes that someone is controlling his actions as he tries to resist the temptation to murder Senator Gonzalez. The entire foundation begins to shake but Michael's assistant Aleeka managed to evacuate everyone from the building. Michael regains his consciousness by performing a synaptic reboot with his T-Spheres.
After overriding Brainstorm’s control, Michael was faced with the difficult task of averting the impending earthquake. Michael’s girlfriend Karen Starr tells Mister Terrific to use his Bose-Einstein condensates which can create a density inversion or sonic black hole thereby cancelling out the ultrasonic waves. Michael rips a pipe from a wall then flash freezes the condensates with the liquid nitrogen. By doing this, Michael can contain the event horizon of the sonic black hole in a frozen force-field and counter the tremor. The plan was a success but the senator’s confidence in Michael’s devices is shaken.
Michael realizes that if Brainstorm can make Mister Terrific have sociopathic tendencies then no one is safe. To make matters worse, the board members of Holt Industries are requesting that Michael name a successor to his company in case the senator decides to press charges against him. Michael knows that this request was initiated by an ambitious board member named Donald. Donald hopes to win Aleeka's affections and sell Holt Industries to Michael's competitor Circle Revolution.
Meanwhile, off the coast of San Francisco, Brainstorm can sense Michael’s unhinged resilience and deems his experiment a complete success. Brainstorm can now feed off the minds of those he has under his thrall and with each person under his sway, he is one step closer to the “all-mind' which will supposedly make him an intellectual god who will bring about a new dawn of creation.
Michael retreats to his T-Sanctuary in the Ninth Dimension in order to understand how Brainstorm can invade someone's mind and how he can stop Brainstorm. Michael's AI unit Nola performs a diagnostic on Holt's cerebral patterns. Nola surmises that Brainstorm's manipulation over his victims has a side effect which causes a spike in person's intelligence. Michael managed to prevent his mind from overloading but how now he must figure out a way to use this side effect against Brainstorm.
Suddenly, Nola picks up a low level radiation spike that is similar to Brainstorm's sound wave at the Greenery Mall in Los Angeles. As Michael transverses from the Ninth Dimension to the mall, he figures the low-level radiation is the catalyst that delivers the irregular but cognitive neuro-cycling initiators in the human mind. When he arrives at the mall, Michael uses his high tech sunglasses to scan for irradiated airborne particles thereby tracking down the source of the radiation. Michael follows the trail of particles to a mass of mall patrons who are going insane.
Michael uses his T-Spheres to create a dampening field in order to cancel out Brainstorm's sound wave. Brainstorm's manipulation on the patrons' initiators is disrupted and the fatal spike in intelligence is averted. Michael's determination angers Brainstorm to the point that he takes control of T-Spheres. The dampening field is lowered and the crowd once falls prey to Brainstorm's will. Brainstorm introduces himself to Michael then he makes the crowd believe Mister Terrific is a psychopath who must be stopped. As he makes a hasty exit, Brainstorm announces that these mind games of his are just beginning.
Michael escapes the mind controlled mob by disarming or paralyzing them then he races after Brainstorm. At first, Michael thinks he can overcome Brainstorm but the villain takes advantage of the situation by unleashing a mass of cables from his body which attach themselves to Michael's head. Like a leech, Brainstorm begins to feed off Michael's cerebrum. Fortunately, Nola orders the T-Spheres to come back online and save Michael from Brainstorm. The T-Spheres send a 200 db blast of white noise into Brainstorm's ears to knock out his concentration.
The T-Spheres transport Michael back to the Ninth Dimension and Brainstorm is left belligerent. F ortunately, Michael managed to pick up some disturbing info about who Brainstorm is. Brainstorm was once Dominic Lanse, an elusive member of the Silicon Syndicate in Platinum Flats. Dominic was working in the field of artificial intelligence and trans humanistic interfaces. In short, Dominic is on the verge of developing a method that can download a person's intellect into a machine. Dominic succeeded with this process but at the same time, Dominic could use the process to ingest intelligence from any human or machine just so he can get closer to the "All-Mind".
Elsewhere, Brainstorm exacts his revenge by using the extent of his mental capabilities to hold the entire city of Los Angeles hostage. Michael decides there is only one chance to stop Brainstorm and that is to turn Brainstorm's mind-leeching on himself. Michael programs his T-Spheres to interact with Brainstorm's technology. Brainstorm underestimates Michael's T-Sphere strategy as a desperate attempt to save the city. Brainstorm hacks into the T-Sphere by via wifi and Michael's plan falls into place. Brainstorm goes into shock as his own tech begins to feed off him.
Brainstorm starts to experience mental regression as his mind slips from adulthood to infancy. The influx of this reversal causes Brainstorm to spill out his inner most secrets. The most horrifying of all these secrets is Brainstorm's indirect responsibility for the death of Paula Holt, Michael's wife. Brainstorm's first mind-harvest attempt caused an electro magnetic pulse in the area where Paula was driving. The malfunction in her car caused her to crash into oncoming traffic. This revelation angered Michael to the point that he began to beat Brainstorm within an inch of his life.
Michael's violent act on the catatonic Brainstorm is televised by the local news and thousands of children are shocked by what they have just seen. In the end, Brainstorm has forgotten everything including Michael's secret identity, the people's faith in Mister Terrific is uncertain and Michael has stepped down as CEO of Holt Industries by naming Aleeka as his successor.
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