Chapter 4
Four people entered the office, two men and two women, they were dress not in formal business attire,but that hipster clothing that the company's CEO wear. They shook hands and introduced themselves to Fox, Bruce and Diana. They all then sat around the table and removed laptops from satchel bags. When they were all settled they were quick to get to the point of the meeting.
"Mr. Wayne, as you know the CEO of our company has recently been arrested for some very serious charges." The first man said.
"While we feel that Mr. Luthor will be found guilty of these charges it is our job as members of the board to do all we can show the public that LuthorCorp not be held responsible for the action of its CEO." The first woman said.
"We have to show the general public and our affiliates that we are still profitable regardless of this setback." The second woman said.
"In order to show this we feel that new leadership is needed in the position of CEO." the second man said,
"What do you have in mind?" Bruce asked.
"We want you to be CEO of LuthorCorp,but only in a figure head role." The first woman said.
"Let me see if I understand you." Fox said. "You want Bruce Wayne your biggest competitor to act as a figure head of the company to show the general public that LuthorCorp can still be profitable?" Fox surmised.
"Exactly." The first man answered.
"I'm sure that you know that LuthorCorp is a publicly traded company with Mr. Luthor holding the majority share. I'm also sure that you know that LuthorCorp stock tanked this morning. With a phone call Mr. Wayne could buy those shares and then complete a takeover of the company before the day is out and install himself as CEO with real power." Diana chimed in. Bruce's poker face was nearly broken as he listen to Diana's knowledge of big business.
"If that were the case we will leave here and file a motion in court to stop this action." Women number two said.
"Ms. Prince is rather aggressive when it comes to these thing so let me offer a counter." Bruce said.
"Of course Mr. Wayne we would love to hear you offer." The first man said.
"As you know The Wayne Foundation, only this morning donated five million dollars to the victims of Lex's folly. Those funds will also be used to help in rebuilding the area."
"What, Mr. Wayne is asking, is how much is LuthorCorp will to donate to those in need thank to the actions of Mr. Luthor?" Fox asked.
"We feel that ten million is a good place to start." The second man said.
"What about future lawsuits?" Diana asked.
"We have our lawyers drawing up settlement paper so when the time comes we can compensate the victims of this tragedy." The first woman said. It was hear that Bruce lowered the boom.
"I'm sure that you know that Heroes Park was destroyed in the battle and is now known as Memorial Park. I think it would be marvelous if Luthor were to also pay for a memorial." Bruce said.
"Yes th" the first woman said.
"No, you are now following me. The memorial should be of Superman." Bruce said.
"I think that would be most appropriate." The first man said.
"Fine have your lawyer call mine and will get this settled. Now lets have drink." Bruce said.
They all stood and walked over the fully stocked bar in the corner of the office. With everyones back turned Diana slipped the hack device in to the one of computer and quickly joined them. Fox poured the drinks and handed out the glasses. Minutes later the chime of Fox's cell phone sounded. He pulled the phone from his pocket and read the display. It read download complete.
"If you all will excuse me." Fox said then walked over to the table gathered his thing and stealthy slipped the hack device out of the computer and slipped into his pocket the exited the room. Ten minutes later the LuthorCorp team was gone. Bruce closed the door and locked it. It was then that he took the drink that he had been nursing and tossed it down the sink not a drop he drank.
"How did you know about LuthorCorp stock?" Bruce asked.
"It is a long flight from Greece to America." Diana said.
"We're done here . Alfred will be waiting for us lets get back to the cave and start going over the data."
An hour later Bruce, Diana and Alfred were back in the Bat Cave. The computer was currently downloading the data and decrypting it. Finished just as Alfred entered the cave with tray of fruit and placed it on the cleanest work bench in the cave. Bruce sat at the computer and then Bruce typed Lex Luthor, private, and Meta-Humans. Files that matched these keywords were pushed to the front and arranged in order by the uses of the keywords in each file. Diana walked over and took a seat just behind Bruce. Her eyes quickly scanned the screen. She noticed a thesis paper written by Dr. Emil Hamilton. Both her and Bruce knew the name as he was remembered as a hero for his sacrifice during the Kryptonian invasion. Bruce then moved on to another file, this dealt with Luthor's own scientist opinion on Meta-Humans. The next file was Luthor's own work into the subject.
The next file went into a new direction and it was now about Alien lifeforms and could be on Earth. Luthor surmised that Alien life could be in far off galaxies or perhaps as close to Earth as Mars, yet mankind had not make the push to travel to the red planet. The next file was now about Superman and all the research the Luthor had put together about Superman's history, where he might have come from. The file also included information that Luthor has discovered that Clark Kent and Superman were same person and he had connection to both Lois Lane and Martha Kent. Bruce moved to the next file as soon as he opened it and it content filled the screen he pushed his chair away and stood enraged.
"DAMN IT" he cursed, then walked out of the cave. Alfred looked at the screen.
"My God, he did it." Alfred said. Diana studied the screen. It displayed the life history of Bruce Wayne. The file had his parents name, Thomas and Martha and details of their deaths. It included news articles about Bruce's sudden sabbatical after graduating from college. A gap of five year was missing in Bruce's life, then his sudden return. Then came the first reports of The Batman. Diana moved the next report it read that after the sudden death of the circus performers the Flying Grayson, he took in and later adopted the only survivor Richard Grayson. Next came the reports of Batman being aided by and young boy dubbed Robin:The Boy Wonder. The reports on Bruce ended with funeral of Bruce's ward named Jason Todd.
"Who is Jason Todd?" Diana asked. Alfred let out a sigh and removed his glasses.
"After Master Bruce and Richard had a falling out. Dick left wanting to be his own man, his own hero. He had outgrown Robin. Master Bruce found Jason one night and saw something of himself in the boy. He was trained and became the second Robin. However the boy had problems following orders and it cost him dearly. He was captured and brutally tortured and then killed by The Joker. Master Bruce considers it to be his greatest failure." Alfred said.
Diana looked over the display case with held the damaged Robin suit with the yellow writing "Ha Ha jokes on you Batman"
"That's the boy's suit?" Diana asked.
"Yes." Alfred said.
"Alfred please keep looking." Diana asked the followed Bruce.
She reentered the house and discovered that Bruce was not there. She walked out the house and down the road toward the remains of Wayne manor. She was nearly to the house when she saw him enter the mausoleum. She followed him and found him at the last tomb. She walked over the to him noticing and it was nearly the entire Wayne family entombed here. The final grave read Jason Todd.
"For what its worth I'm sorry about Jason." She said.
"He was good soldier, He honored me." Bruce said.
"Alfred believes that it was after Metropolis that its started, me taking my methods to the extremes in truth it was Jason and what the bastard Clown did to him. Then with Superman thats when happened. It was then that I decided that if I had to kill a few of them to, brand them, let them I was willing to do what was needed to stop them. Before Jason not what they did they lived they had their day in court. I was no judge, jury or executioner." Bruce said.
"It sounds like did not allow yourself to grieve for him." Diana said.
"You might be right, when I had my boot on Superman's neck, ready to drive that spear through his heart. I knew that if I did it. If I killed Clark, next time I faced the clown it that much easier to kill him." Bruce said.
"Why didn't you kill Superman?" she asked.
"There he was at my mercy and resigned to death and he begged me to save someone else. I thought of father lying on the ground dying and how only thought of my mother. I thought all the times I was near death I didn't care if I died. I just wanted someone to save my mother. That was why I couldn't do it. It was then that I realized that I was becoming the very thing I swore to destroy." Bruce said.
"Clark's death redeemed you, it reminded you of the path you had chosen." Diana said. She walked toward him took his head in her hands, looked into his eyes intensely then kissed him gently on the cheek. The she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her.
End of Chapter 4
A/N: Thanks you to everyone for reading and comments, if anyone would like to be a second set of eyes please let me know. Thanks again.