Ion Cortex
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Real Identity: Not Applicable
Appearances: Safe, Control, Fall, Darkness, and Reckoning
Powers/Skills: Energy Regulation
Voiced By: Not Applicable
The Ion Cortex is an invention of Wayne Industries. In their continued quest to advance the human condition through technology and innovation, Wayne Industries focused on addressing the nation's and the world's energy needs. Under Dr. Jason Burr, the Ion Cortex came to fruition. As a global artificial intelligence energy regulator, the Cortex would employ existing broadband networks to monitor energy production and usage in real time, eliminate energy waste, store surplus energy, and redistribute energy based on demand. According to early projections, it would produce a global energy surplus within five years of activation. An energy crisis would be a thing of the past. As the Cortex neared completion, a press conference was held at Wayne Industries headquarters. The League of Assassins sought the Ion Cortex and attempted to kidnap Dr. Burr but were prevented by Batman and Tatsu Yamashiro. When a second attempt failed, Lady Shiva, of the League, decided they would have to attain the Cortex another way.
Dr. Burr continued working on the Cortex and secretly finished a small prototype with a narrow range. He surprised Yamashiro with it and used the Cortex to project an image of her on a nearby building face. However, a power build up fried the prototype. Cypher was dispatched by the League of Assassins to glean the designs for the Ion Cortex from Burr's mind. Batman and Yamashiro defeated Cypher and rescued Burr. While suffering from synaptic residual corruption, Burr decided to join the League of Assassins and give them the Cortex when it was finished. Dr. Burr formulated a trap and called in Bruce Wayne to see a test of the Cortex. Burr outfitted his lab with explosives and worked with the League to move the Cortex with a Wayne Industries truck. Burr believed the authorities would be too busy digging up bodies to notice the Cortex was missing. While the bomb went off, the truck left Loading Bay 4. They managed to get to the Fallpoint Underground Power Substation and met with the rest of the League.
Under Ra's orders, Dr. Burr inserted the Cortex into the central grid hub and activated it. Batman and Katana intervened and convinced Burr to disable the Cortex. The League revealed themselves and immobilized Batman, Katana, and Burr. Ra's used the Cortex to black out all of Gotham City. He also planned to use to drain nations of their wealth and destroy them with their own warheads by using the Cortex and the Internet. However, the Cortex was still essentially just a computer. Thus, it could be hacked and destroyed. Batman used Bruce Wayne's access codes to open a backdoor into the Cortex and Barbara Gordon, who volunteered her hacker skills, was given access to take it down. Once she got enough signal strength, Gordon began hacking into the Cortex kernel but was interrupted by League ninja. The Gordons were forced to come up with a new plan. She hardwired her laptop into Fallpoint's internal network. They then entered the substation and she was able to get into the kernel. Gordon instigated a kernel overload. The Ion Cortex soon pulsated out of control and exploded. Gotham City's power was restored.