Chapter 9

"Luthor's Tunisian Playground"

Following a long flight across the Atlantic, that greedy ex-boyfriend of mine landed in Turkey and after a brief visit at one of his plants in Istanbul, he was soon on his way to Tunis and from there, it was down to business. Then again, Lex's business mindset was making the lives of other miserable, especially my own and Superman's.

"They're waiting for you, Mr. Luthor," said a Lexcorp employee as he walked into his building.

"How many in attendance?"

"About 20, sir."

"Good," he chuckled evilly and walked into one of the many conference rooms of his new building. The entire room fell silent upon his entrance. "Well, aren't you going to welcome me? Your friend, Lex Luthor? The man who helps you pay your bills?"

"Sorry, Mr. Luthor," replied a board member. "We just were intimidated by your…"

"Don't bother, Jaffer, I'm not intimidating unless I have to be. Now, there is a reason why I called you all here this morning."

Immediately, everyone at the table began to take notice.

"As you know, we all here have two goals in mind: to make Lexcorp the greatest company ever built and to come up with a way to rid the world of Superman. Have any new hires showed interest in joining the ranks of ISIS?"

"About 30 over the past few days, Mr. Luthor," remarked another board member. "Some of whom have already been sent to Syria for training."

"Paid training?"

"Yes, Mr. Luthor."

"Good, because its very hard to find good help and pay them good money to carry out the will of the company. Now, the events in Belgium have been considered in my view, a very successful test run for what we need to do. Lexcorp shares the goal of ISIS in making the world a better place and the only way to do that is to rid of anyone who doesn't fit with the perfect world Lexcorp is trying to create."

And Lex slid a document to the center of the table getting the attention of all the board members. On the document were two pictures: one of Superman and one of me.

"Who is the girl in the document?" asked yet another board member.

"Someone who has been a constant thorn in my side for many years, Mustafa," he answered, sitting back in his chair. "This is Lois Lane, the Daily Planet's star reporter and my ex-girlfriend."

Many of the board members were surprised to hear this, but then again, anyone who has had encounters with me knows just how much of a pain in the rear I really was.

"She looks beautiful," whispered a young board member only to be met with a glare from Lex, causing him to jump back in shock. "Um, excuse me, Mr. Luthor, I'm sorry."

"Lois Lane is a pest, Jamil," he snapped. "Pests aren't beautiful, they're just that, pests! There is nothing beautiful about a pest especially if that pest is named Lois Lane!"

Jamil meekly obeyed Luthor's intimidating command upon hearing this.

"Now, does anyone wish to make any more compliments about this pest?" Luthor asked the rest of the board, who didn't respond for fear of retribution. "Good, now don't say anything more unless you wish to be fired."

And no one did.

"Now, back to the business at hand. We need to have ISIS carry out another attack over the next few months and I feel like it should be done in North America to give a sense of fear to Superman and Lois that they are just as vulnerable as anyone."

"Mr. Luthor, you do know that it is very difficult to carry out an attack in the United States," remarked a board member. "Why not perhaps try Canada?"

"Canada may not be a bad place to try an ISIS attack on North America. As a matter of fact, I've been considering to test out a new weapon that we have recently managed to create."

Lex then pressed an intercom and ordered that the new weapon be brought into the conference room. A few moments later, the doors opened and a pair of men in white lab coats walked into the conference room holding out a high powered rifle.

"Gentlemen," Lex presented, showing off his new toy. "The Lexcorp Model .94 rifle."

"It's very impressive, Mr. Luthor," said a board member. "But, don't you think we should test it out here or in Syria before sending it to North America?"

"Yes, I agree," chirped the rest of the board. "The weapon must be tested."

"The weapon will be tested in North America," Lex said in a commanding voice. "And I want it made clear by all of you that you will support my decision. If you refuse to support, there's the door."

And to prove his point, Lex pointed towards the doors.

"Good, you all agree with me on this decision. Is there any ISIS member living in Canada?"

"One sir. A young man named Michael Bibeau, who had been fighting in Syria for the past few months."

"Then, I want him to sit down with me for a one on one interview," Lex said, writing down the man's name on a piece of paper. "Bring him here for a meeting with me in the next two days, is that understood?"

Soon, Lex began to scheme of ISIS' next plan of terror.

Meanwhile, two days after my visit with Twitter and Facebook, I was on an Amtrak train heading for Washington, DC and to the Tunisian embassy. During the ride, I began to wonder if it was really a matter of time before the next attack would be carried out. But, my train of thought was interrupted when my phone rang.

"Lane?" I asked.

"Lois, it's dad," I heard my dad say into the phone. "Are you heading to Washington?"

"Yes, I'm on the train heading down to meet the Tunisian ambassador to the US. Just another step in trying to stop Lex and ISIS. Any more details on that guy who attacked the Jewish museum?"

"Apparently, he's fighting extradition to Belgium. They want to try him on terrorism charges, but he wants to be tried in France."

"Why France?"

"Search me, but it's going to be a mystery to everybody for a while. Listen, Lois, I'd like to see you after you meet with the Tunisian Ambassador. Do you have any time between now and…?"

"Yeah, I've got some time and if I need to stay longer, I will. In fact, I've been thinking about seeing you as well."

"Well, at least we agree on something, Lois. Call me after your visit. Love you."

"Love you, dad."

Hanging up the phone, I absorbed the fact that my dad and I were getting together as the Amtrak train neared Washington, DC and towards my visit with the Tunisian ambassador…