Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox strode into the lobby of Grey House, the headquarters of Grey Enterprises Holdings. All of his prior dealings had been with Ros Bailey, Christian Grey's VP, but this was his first time meeting Grey personally. To have amassed a formidable empire, at not even thirty years old to boot, was impressive. His remarkable business acumen almost put him on par with Bruce Wayne. Taking his visitor pass, Lucius entered the last elevator on his right and was whisked up to the twentieth floor.
Two weeks earlier
Wayne Enterprises Headquarters
Gotham City
Bruce Wayne followed Lucius to the elevator as they left the Wayne Enterprises Applied Sciences division. "So Lucius," the elevator doors quietly slid shut and began its ascent, "what, if anything, do you know about this Christian Grey?" Lucius Fox's brow furrowed as he pondered Bruce's question.
"He's CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings, mostly concentrated in telecommunications." Bruce rolled his eyes in a "besides that" kind of way. "Orphaned, adopted at age four, dropped out of Harvard. Went on to become the wealthiest man in Seattle. Investors' Business Daily has dubbed him 'Lex Luthor 2.0'."
Bruce raised a wry eyebrow. "So, you're saying he's a good kind of ruthless?"
"They also wrote, 'if Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor had a lovechild—'" Bruce cringed as he quickly silenced Lucius with a wave of his hand. "Did. Not. Need. That. Image. Clever, but no."
"You have been looking to expand operations into Seattle, and he's financing crop rotation and soil sciences studies at WSU. Sounds like the perfect excuse to throw around more of that STEM initiative. But we both know you already knew that."
Bruce furrowed his brow pensively. "Have a proposal put together, whole nine. Be as thorough as we can. Present it to Grey and see what happens."
"Always wanted to go to Seattle."
Turning toward the opening double doors of his office, Christian shrewdly eyed the African-American man entering.
"Lucius Fox, I presume?" Christian approached him and extended his hand to the man striding into his office.
"Christian Grey," he gave him a firm, authoritative handshake, "you have an admirer in Bruce Wayne."
"The feeling is mutual, Mr. Fox. Please," he gestured to his couch, where they both sat down. "May I offer you any refreshment, Mr. Fox?"
"Lucius please, and no, thank you Mr. Grey. In regards to your relief efforts in Africa, I've been told to pass along the regards of David Zavimbe." Christian did a double take. Rare was the moment when Christian Trevelyan-Grey was caught off guard.
"Detective David Zavimbe?" Christian straightened up. "He oversaw the deployment and distribution of several of my company's cargo shipments in the Congo. Actually recovered one of our missing shipments a while back. Refused, and never accepted, any form of payment."
"He's also shown up on our radar, having recently done work for Wayne Enterprises as well. He spoke very highly of you."
"I appreciate your telling me, Mr. Fox. Now, to business," Christian leaned forward, "I've been considering joint venture proposals from other companies, but Wayne Enterprises' was one of the most thorough and comprehensive. Also, Mr. Wayne's STEM education and jobs initiative made it all the more attractive. In all seriousness, Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp were the two finalists."
"Somehow that always becomes the case, Mr. Grey." Lucius said. "At any rate, Mr. Wayne is very selective about who he goes into business with, and he wanted to make sure that you knew what you'd be getting yourself into."
"Well in addition to what Ros has told me, my legal department and I looked everything over, forwards, backwards and every single direction and, the only question left is, what would be the next step?" Christian struggled to keep his enthusiasm at a simmer. Lucius leaned forward with a glint in his eye.
"Well hopefully, come to Gotham, Wayne Enterprises headquarters and finalize everything. Face time with Mr. Wayne."
"When? I'm anxious to get started as soon as possible."
"I'll notify Mr. Wayne. He likes to arrange those types of engagements personally." Rising from the couch, he again extended his hand. "Here's to hopefully the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Grey Enterprises Holdings and Wayne Enterprises."
"I certainly hope so. Thank you for your time Mr. Fox." Christian pumped his hand enthusiastically and escorted him to the lobby and waiting elevator. Buoyed by the successful meeting, Christian strode back to his office. Andrea smiled slightly, noticing the extra spring in her boss's step. Once in his office, Christian sent off an email from his BlackBerry:
From: Christian Grey
To: Anastasia Grey
Subject: New Ventures
The meeting this morning went exceptionally well. Hoping to hear back later today about final arrangements. Will see you tonight.
Christian Grey
Embarking on new ventures CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings
A few minutes later, his BlackBerry pinged, announcing a new email:
From: Anastasia Grey
To: Christian Grey
Subject: re:New Ventures
So happy to hear. Looking forward to hearing about how it went. Teddy and I miss you. Have a great rest of the day. See you tonight Daddy.
Anastasia Grey
Proud of her husband CEO, Grey Publishing
Central City
Barry had no idea why Captain Singh called him to his office. Joe and Eddie had no idea either, giving him equally quizzical looks as he passed them. "Barry," Captain Singh motioned for him to enter his office, "have a seat." Barry complied hesitantly as he watched Captain Singh lean against the edge of his desk. "I'll make this brief, Mr. Allen." Barry swallowed as Singh leaned in closer to him. "You are obviously one of the brightest forensics techs to ever grace this department. That being said, I think you have a lot to learn, Mr. Allen." Uh-oh. Barry swallowed hard as Captain Singh continued. "There's a forensics conference in Gotham City next week, and I think it would benefit all of us if you went."
"Wow," Barry finally managed to say after finding his voice, "thank you Captain."
"Thank me when you get back. And take notes." After leaving Captain Singh's office, Barry met up with Joe and Eddie and told them about the upcoming conference. All that was left was to straighten things out at STAR Labs. Looks like Central City would be without the fastest man alive for a few days.
Upon arriving at STAR Labs, Barry heard enthusiastic chatter between Cisco, Caitlin and Hartley. Something about modifications to Barry's Flash suit. "Barry!" Cisco said excitedly as Barry entered the lab, "you have got to check out Hartley's new suit upgrades." Upgrades? This cannot be good.
"What did—?"
Hartley looked up from his workbench. "Sonar modifications in your cowl."
Barry looked at him quizzically. "Sonar?"
"His suit modifications are very impressive. Also, in all honesty Barry," Professor Wells chimed in, "not even you can see in the dark."
"When the sonic pulse emitters in the cowl are activated," Caitlin explained, "the pulse bounces off of everything in the room and sends the echo back to you. You should have an 180˚ field of vision."
"Um, OK," Barry was enthusiastic but skeptical. "Hoping I won't need them though. Do they even work?"
"It's called field testing, Barry." Cisco said with a hand on Barry's shoulder. Oh boy.
"By the way guys, I'm going to a forensics conference in Gotham City for a few days. Should be back next week." Professor Wells turned to Barry as he came up behind Caitlin. "While I'm sure we can manage without you in that timeframe Mr. Allen, I've taken the liberty of planning some contingencies." The last word piqued Barry's curiosity.
"Contingencies? Not going to use the accelerator on Cisco, are you?"
"That. Would. Be. Awesome!" Cisco was ready to jump out of his chair.
"I wouldn't mind getting back in the field." Hartley said as he looked up from his workbench. "Not that I don't mind sitting on the bench, but willing to get back in the game."
"While as ever, your enthusiasm doesn't go unappreciated Cisco, I was thinking more along the lines of—" Professor Wells gestured toward the entrance as two very familiar faces entered the lab.
"Barry, it's been a long time." Ronnie Raymond said, extending his hand as Martin Stein flanked him.
"Ronnie, hey! Professor Stein," Barry greeted both men warmly. "How have you been?" he asked after everyone else got their greetings out of the way.
"We were doing special research in Walton Mills with one of Martin's friends," Ronnie explained.
"But how could we say no when an opportunity to come back to Central City presented itself?" Stein finished the sentence, "plus we could spare a few days away to fill in for you."
"But I don't think 'the Burning Man' will ever replace 'The Fastest Man Alive'." Ronnie chimed in.
"As we've already established it will only be while Mr. Allen is in Gotham City." Wells added. "And to that point Mr. Allen, I and the rest of us wish you a safe flight and productive visit to Gotham City."
