CHAPTER 4: SAM LANE AND LEX LUTHOR
Today was not General Sam Lane's best day as he sat in his office looking over files on his computer screen. While some would say that Superman defeating Mammoth was a good thing, it was a reminder that Aliens were living on Earth. Aliens, oh how Sam hated them. All through out his life, Sam thought that they were fascinating, but then came the Invasion. Twelve years ago, alien beings came from the stars seeking to destroy the planet. All because they were scared of Earth's growing metahuman powers. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of superheroes and various governments of the world, the planet was saved. While everyone else was breathing a sigh of relief, Sam and a lot of his fellow soldiers took this as a wake-up call. Aliens weren't just friendly beings like Superman and Martian Manhunter. In fact, most of them were more powerful than people of Earth. It was time for a real arms race and metahumans were the key. Together with the help of some influential people, he started getting his plan into action. But then he had to go and die. He died saving his daughter Lois from another Alien invasion, and if not for Lex Luthor, he would still be six feet under. With Luthor's money and scientific genius, his plan to create a breed of genetically enhanced humans would finally be complete.
Suddenly, the buzzer on Sam's office phone went off, no doubt a message from his secretary which caused him to grumble irritably as he didn't want to be bother right now. However, he also knew that it must be something important, and thus pressed a button to answer her. "Yes?"
"General," said the secretary, sounding like a woman in her mid-twenties. "Mr. Luthor is on the mainline for you."
After letting out an aggravated sigh, Sam nevertheless picked up the phone, and pressed the mainline button to speak with Luthor. "What do you want, Lex?"
"Nice to hear from you too, Sam," Lex replied on the other line in a jovial yet sarcastic tone.
Hearing, Lex's voice made Sam's skin crawl. For all of Lex's money and power, he lacked any real sense of humanity. When he was still operating as a public figure, he showed his true colors when Sam's wife Ella was poisoned from working at one of LexCorp's subsidies. Instead of simply curing his wife, Lex set up a payment plan that would have made getting he cure a slow painful process. If it wasn't for his daughter Lois and her husband's contacts at Wayne Enterprises, his wife could have been dead. Ever since, Sam had been planning on returning the favor.
"I just wanted to let you know that we have three new metahumans that look promising for our team," Lex reported, but his tone seemed to change from that of a more stern one as he continued. "I've also heard that you've captured Mammoth, and along the way, you spoke with a certain 'Alien' that wears a red cape."
Sam knew that Lex would hear about Mammoth's capture, as well as Clark's involvement. Once more, he knew that Lex would not be the least bit happy about it. Still, he nevertheless answered his 'partner'. "Yes, but to his credit, he was cooperative and allowed us to take Mammoth into custody," Sam replied truthfully, leaving out a few details on how Clark did most of the work in beating the brutish villain senseless before he and his team got there. Not to mention the fact that the Alien that Lex hated so much was his own son-in-law! He knew Clark's secret identity for a while now but decided to best keep it in his back pocket just in case he needed it. As such, Sam reluctantly kept the conversation by looking at one particular file and asking Lex this. "So, did you hear about Pierson's encounter with Batman?"
"I did," Lex replied. "But it's no major loss, Pierson had outlived his usefulness anyway. His notes and research should be more than enough."
"Good," Sam responded nonchalantly as he looked over his flies on his computer. Along the way, he came across one which was a report of Amazing Woman's assisting Diana against Cat Eye and Cheetah. "Also, it should interest you to know that Amazing Woman succeeded in bringing in Cat Eye and Barbara 'Cheetah' Minerva. But as far as offering Wonder Woman membership, she said no."
"No surprise there," Lex replied. "But it's not like we need her help anyway. Besides, she can't say we didn't offer her a chance to be part of the winning team once we have our team's unveiling to the public."
Hearing this only annoyed Sam further. For the purpose of this team was to protect both the country and the world, not be celebrities. "Just so we can show the American people that were a team they can trust, Luthor, not so we bring more news and coverage to feed your ego."
"Oh please, Sam, have a little faith," Lex retorted. "Like you, I just want what's best for the team. And showing them off to the American people in a positive way is a good start for earning their trust."
Just make sure you keep that in mind," With that said, Sam hung up the phone and turned back to his computer to look at files. However, he soon caught a glimpse of a picture of himself when he was young, roughly in his early thirties, and posing with Lois when she was six years old. He soon let out a somewhat depressed sigh, as he knew that his allegiance with Luthor would probably strain his relationship with Lois even more. "But, you get yours Luthor," he said to himself angrily. "I promise you that!"
Meanwhile, inside his large, lecherous office in LexCorp, the bald headed, middle aged, tailor suited Lex Luthor himself hanged up the phone and went back to looking at a picture of his team's symbol drawn by people in his art department, which was that of a stylized 'A'. All which gave Lex a very pleased smile. "You're time to shine is near…my Argonauts!"