Chapter 2

Getting Lex off his back was easier than he originally imagined, in fact it was as if he wanted Terrance to head to Gotham. It wasn't surprising in the sense that Lex had been trying to advertise him last night in every sense of the word. He would be idiotic to think speaking so highly of an executive in front of other foundations wouldn't backfire against him. If anything, he had it coming.

Terrance still felt like he owed Lex for the life he had now, but he wasn't his friend, at least not anymore. Ever since Superman fell out of the sky Lexcorp had shifted to more military-related deals and less on helping Metropolis grow.

He flinched at the mere thought of Superman. He had no idea why. He hadn't seen a doctor because it didn't seem medical, but more instinctual. It started months ago when the Superman monument had been completed, but it had never reached the point that it had last night. He had no hard feelings for Mr. Kent, but when he first laid eyes on him he almost lost control. Maybe he should talk to Bruce about it.

No. This is a business trip and Mr. Wayne doesn't have time to deal with his mental breakdowns.

He stood at the front edge of the ferry with Gotham City approaching, and was on the verge of finally docking. It had been 10 years since he stepped foot in Gotham City. He was but a high school graduate with a full ride to Stanford University back then and no regrets. Now he was happy to finally be back home.

As soon as they docked he caught a taxi up front, not wanting to take any longer to arrive. He looked down to his watch that read 5:07, which was actually faster than he thought he would get there. The interior of the taxi was not as nice as those in Metropolis, but he didn't mind the change.

The radio had a radio show talk going on. "We're talking about a being that challenges our own sense of priority in the universe," Terrance quickly recognized the topic of Superman. "You go back to Copernicus, where he restored the Sun in the center of the known universe, displacing Earth. And you get to Darwinian Evolution and you find out we're not special on this Earth, we're just one among other lifeforms. And now we learn that we're not even special in the entire universe because there is Superman. There he is, an alien among us. We're not alone."

He looked away and lost interest after he finished, watching the road fly by him. They did eventually reach Wayne Enterprises, and he made sure to tip the driver before he exited the vehicle and headed up the stairs to the entrance. The lobby was large, and stretched to be about 3 stories tall, and was certainly one of the better looking buildings in Gotham.

He came up to the reception desk. "Name?" the woman asked before he could say anything.

"Price, Terrance Price," he answered.

The receptionist then looked through her computer screen and typed in a few things that he didn't care to figure out. Before long, she was finished. "Ok Mr. Price. Head to the 60th floor for your appointment." The small gate unlocked and he made his way through to the elevator. He was already getting the feeling like there was more to this meeting than he originally thought.

It took about a half minute to reach all the way up to the 60th floor, and the door opened to a smaller room that simply led to a door that read "Conference Room". He modestly opened it.

Bruce Wayne sat alone, looking out across the bay to Metropolis, the sun giving its last rays of light to the blue water. "Mr. Price," he acknowledged.

"Mr. Wayne," Terrance replied. "You wanted to see me?"

Bruce nodded, still looking out the window. "Does Lex know you're here?"

He still stood next to the door. A question like that was tricky. "I'd be ignorant if I told you it wasn't a possibility."

Bruce rose to his feet. "Good enough," he then shook hands with Terrance and offered him a seat at the large conference table. "Now, I'm going to warn you that what we discuss now must not be revealed to anyone outside of this room."

Terrance's feelings were confirmed right there. There was something else going on here. "Done. Whatever is necessary."

He got right to business. "The reason I called you here today has nothing to do with business. I need you to help me obtain something from Lex."

Terrance nodded. "Alright, what is it?"

Bruce then paused. It was trust, and Terrance was sure of it. Bruce had already taken a big risk telling a Lexcorp executive he wanted to take something from his own company. "I need you to be ready to betray Lex if necessary."

That was a little unexpected. Lex had done a lot for him in his life…but then again Lexcorp was up to something that he was uneasy about, and maybe finding out about it would give him peace. But he had himself to think about here as well. "I need reassurance that I won't be double crossed in this deal."

Bruce smiled. "Of course. I'm offering you a spot at Wayne Enterprises if you take this deal."

That was it. This was his dream, and helping Bruce Wayne was an added bonus. He nodded in approval. "Alright…what do you need?"

"What can you tell me about the White Portuguese?"

He blinked a few times and thought hard. "It's a project file. Encrypted…the one thing Lex doesn't want anyone asking about. I don't know for sure."

Bruce nodded. "I thought so. Lex is smart," he then shifted in his chair. "Last night I copied data files that would've given me the answer, but they were stolen by the woman who drove off…you remember?"

"So that's what you were upset about," he discovered. "Do you have a plan for getting them back?"

"I've been able to figure out that she will be around in two days," he revealed.

Terrance chuckled. "Is playboy Bruce Wayne going to come out like the old days?"

Bruce shook his head. "No…you're going to get it back for me."

"This is not going to work," Terrance practically pleaded at this point.

"We've been over this. I'll help you do the talking," Bruce spoke in his earpiece. Terrance gulped and adjusted his bowtie. The woman who had stolen Bruce's drive was quietly observing some sort of ancient relic on display. "Tell her it's a fake."

"What?!" he shout-whispered. "You said don't be confrontational."

He could tell Bruce was getting frustrated. "Are you really going to argue with me about this?"

Terrance growled under his breath in annoyance and approached her. There was something else eating at him that wasn't her obvious beauty. Something was odd about her. The aura she gave off was…powerful, intimidating. It was beginning to have an adverse affect on his confidence.

Nonetheless, he approached. "It's a fake," he said just behind her. At this point when she didn't turn to notice him, he had not thought of what to say after.

"It was sold on the black market-,"

"I know," she finally said and then turned to him. "Mr. Price?"

He acted shocked, trying to get some sort of positive appeal. "Yes," and then realized that he again had not prepared another response.

"You're the Lexcorp executive that Luthor couldn't stop talking about," she recognized. "Are you his messenger boy now?"

"The drive Price," Bruce reminded him, but Terrance ignored him. Don't be confrontational he said. Forget that.

"You know Ms. Prince, I still can't wrap my head around why he invited you in the first place," Terrance fired back. "Everyone there had some sort of business connection or was a friend of his…and I know you're no friend of Lex."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

Terrance shook his head with a smile. "You'd be shocked what I do know…like how you decided that copying files from his secure server would go unnoticed."

She smiled and shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't, and that's fine because surprise, surprise, Lex has no clue that you did it. But that could all change unless you give me the drive right now," Terrance finished, holding his hand out.

The looked down at his hand and then back up to his face seemingly in thought. He could already taste victory. That is…until she started laughing. "Is this funny to you?" he asked, fear creeping up onto his face.

"What's happening?" Bruce asked through his earpiece, but Terrance couldn't answer.

She eventually stopped laughing. "You know what? For a moment there I actually thought you were telling the truth, but you can tell Mr. Wayne that his earpieces shouldn't have his logo on the side."

Terrance shook his head and shrugged. "Oops," he still held his hand out. "Can I have the drive anyway? He really wants it back." This was actually much more fun than he previously envisioned.

She chuckled a bit and then opened her purse, revealing Bruce's drive. "Tell him it's military encryption and I borrowed it," she said as she handed it to him. "Mr. Price," she bid farewell and left him to the display.

"Nicely done…" Bruce chimed in.

"I think she likes me," he said, placing the drive in his pocket.

"I think you're delusional."

"You're probably right," he admitted, but still felt pretty good about himself. "Well, I passed your test. What's next?"

"I'm sending coordinates to your phone," at the same time his phone buzzed, and he looked down to find an address that was not far from here. "Head there now."

The engine powered down for the Lamborghini Aventador that Bruce had allowed Terrance to borrow for his stay in Gotham. The coordinates that he had been given lead him to a forest area and now what looked like a lake, and a very fancy house stood at the edge. He figured this had to be Bruce's private residence, which was the safer place to send him since he now held in possession information that would get him fired and maybe killed by Lex Luthor.

A part of him felt bad for turning on Lex, since he did "make" him in a sense. But the idea that kept him pushing on was the fact that he knew if Lex ever had an opportunity to better himself, he would take it regardless of the repercussions. He knew Lex would've done the same thing.

He exited the parked car and made his way to the front door, where he rang the doorbell. In the time it took for the door to open, it finally hit him that Bruce Wayne was maybe more than a businessman. All this trouble for secure files that no simple man would find worth in didn't add up.

The door opened to reveal an older man that Terrance had never seen before. "Mr. Price," he said with a British accent, which didn't catch him much off guard after his encounter with Diana earlier. "Master Wayne has been expecting you, come." He then turned around and expected him to follow him down the stairs.

"Thank…you," he said in confusion and followed Bruce's butler down stairs straight ahead, passing what seemed to be the normal home. As they progressed down the steps, the house became more of a cave in a sense, but lined with gadgets and other technical equipment. This must've been where Bruce did his own private work.

Sure enough at the end of the hall sat Bruce at the desk of one of the larger computers, waiting for him to deliver the drive. "Thank you Alfred, I'll take it from here." Alfred nodded and then seemingly went back to what he was doing before Terrance arrived.

Terrance pulled the drive from his pocket and handed it to Bruce. "As you requested…but can you at least give me a bit more information as to what you have planned, specifically my role."

Bruce turned in his chair and plugged the drive into his computer and then sighed. "I'll admit…I've been thinking about that…but there's so much you aren't aware of." He then began typing in commands to start the decryption.

Terrance flashed his eyes to the left in confusion. "What's…that supposed to mean?" Bruce finished typing and rose to his feet.

"Come on," he said, albeit with a little hesitancy. He could tell by his body language that he was doing something that he wouldn't normally do, but saw it as necessary. He followed him to another set of stairs that headed deeper into the cave that lead to another platform. He noticed things now, weapons, gadgets and tools, all black. He looked to his left and noticed a vehicle that was all-too-familiar.

Bats flew overhead as Bruce opened a cylinder-shaped storage compartment, revealing what was inside.

"I am the Batman," he revealed.

Terrance had no idea what to say. He'd grown up on the streets of Gotham, and Batman had been the symbol of a better future…for everyone. He cleaned the streets he lived on, and inspired him to better himself when he had nothing left…and he was standing right in front of him.

"Wow," Terrance said, which seemed to give Bruce some sort of relief. "All those years…it was you all along."

"Indeed," Bruce said, closing the compartment back up. "You said you were skilled in combat?"

Terrance nodded. "More or less. I practiced Japanese sword-fighting at the dojo 10 minutes from my foster home," he laughed as he reminisced. "I used to run down there every week."

Bruce thought for a moment before responding. "Maybe you can help me more than I originally intended." A distinct beeping noise then came from the computer. "Hold that thought," he said before heading back up the stairs and to the computer, which had finished the decryption. Terrance followed up behind him.

The file pulled up the Lexcorp database, and he wasted no time typing in "White Portuguese" into the search bar. After a few seconds of loading, a picture of a ship came up, named the "White Portuguese".

"It's a ship," Bruce realized. "Not a man."

"Lex did say he was pursuing an import license," Terrance remembered. "You don't think-."

"It's holding the rock dug up in the Indian Ocean…the one that can decay Kryptonian cells," Bruce revealed. "That's why I needed you in order to steal it."

Terrance narrowed his eyes when he realized what Bruce had planned. "Wait…you're going to try and kill Superman aren't you?"

There was a few moments of silence until Bruce finally said, "Yes."

Yes. It reverberated in his mind, and then felt an uncontrollable rage take over his mind. He must die, a more demonic voice said this time. He grasped the nearby table…hard. You must kill him!

"I must kill him," Terrance repeated stoically.

"Terrance!" Bruce's voice broke him out of his trance. He shook his head a few times to come back to his senses. "What happened to you?"

He looked down to his hand that was grasping the table. As he removed his hand from the table…he noticed a small imprint on the metal left there. He then looked down at his hands and felt power flowing through him like never before.

"How did you…," Bruce started, but then began to think about the possibilities.

"I-I don't know…but I do know one thing," Terrance replied as he closed his fists. "Superman must be destroyed for the sake of our race."

A small smirk creeped up Bruce's face. "Let's get you a suit."

So, a lot happened there. I hope you guys were able to follow along ok. I have to say I'm enjoying writing this so far, and I hope I'm interesting you all enough to stick around. Next chapter will have some action! Stay tuned!