The Batwing silently lifted off the ground and sped away, barely visible in the darkening sky. Bruce Wayne was sat in pilot's seat and put it on autopilot. He looked at his passenger briefly, then turned his attention back to the controls. The small craft's stealth capabilities would stop them from being picked up by radar, but if Ultraman caught wind of what had happened before they were out of the city, they could be in trouble.

Several minutes passed in silence before Lex said, "Bruce, I'm afraid I have to say it. This whole bat thing? It's kind of weird."
Bruce didn't say anything. He expected that Lex would know his identity- they'd known each other a while back. They hadn't gotten on, as LexCorp were his competitors (and he thought the guy was annoyingly arrogant) but still, Lex was smart enough to figure it out. Especially given that they'd had some communication since Ultraman had come around, with him as Batman.
Lex continued, "I know a guy. Really good, if you want someone to talk to-"
"If you'd prefer to walk, I can let you out any time."
Lex smiled and said nothing for a moment. Then, "Thanks for rescuing me. I know you're big on abiding by the law, other than smashing the faces of criminals."
Bruce replied, "We should think of our next-"
A light shone on the dashboard, and Bruce pressed a button. A corner of the windscreen showed Alfred Pennyworth, his butler. "Master Bruce, I have news regarding Mister Luthor's situation. His assets have all been frozen, and the facility where he was researching the Kryptonians has been, shall we say, appropriated, by the government."
Bruce responded, "Thanks, Alfred."
The window closed and Bruce told Lex, "The government is terrified of Ultraman, and that's making them sloppy. They're trying to make weapons, like us, but at the same time they're too afraid to use them. And there are some in the government that are supporting Ultraman for the promise of power."
This time Lex stayed silent. After a while, Bruce told him, "I'm sorry about your friend."
Lex didn't respond. He just waited until they got to wherever they were going.

When they got to the Batcave, Lex finally spoke. "You're a billionaire. And you live in a cave. You really should consider my offer."
As they exited the small craft, Alfred came up to them. "Mister Luthor, a pleasure to meet you."
Lex gave him a small smile and returned the pleasantry while Bruce led them up a flight of steps to a room with a computer that had a fair amount of equipment around it, and several monitors. Bruce sat down and logged in. "I've been tracking all the shipments of Kryptonite you've been gathering. I was hoping to grab some myself, but never got the opportunity. I've been trying to keep a low profile."
Alfred told them, "Ultraman is sure to be trying to find you now. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes to Gotham. And the police will likely be less than willing to help."
Bruce continued, "We'll have to be careful."
He got to what he was looking for, and then said, "This could be a problem. They got all of it. There was a shipment from a museum in Central City that I was hoping we could get it from, but they've already been stopped by the CCPD."
Lex replied, "Ultraman will be trying to have it destroyed."
Bruce put a news broadcast on a monitor. It was showing that Patrick Harris had won the Senate race for his state. Bruce told them, "I suspect he'll prefer to use his proxies in government to do it."

The US midterm elections were always a time of excitement for anyone involved in politics. This one was different. And insane. People had gotten used to the idea of Ultraman being there. It shook up the last election, for certain. People were ashamed at their politicians for having cowed to Ultraman's demands, even though they knew there was no choice. There had been a massive shift towards the Democrats. But now people seemed to going completely the other way, ever since Reverend Patrick Harris had announced that Ultraman was, of all things, the Second Coming. A completely daft idea, to most.
But to a small minority, they began to think. And they began to think harder when the religious establishment started to come to agree. Opinion polls among those who described their very as "very important" showed that almost forty percent were buying what Harris was selling.
To most, it was just a mind-boggling idea that so many could believe in something so absurd.

But, of course, it started to have an effect. Politicians were being elected, mostly in Southern states, that agreed. They were still a minority, but they were significant.
Trent Warner, whose talk show Political Capital was one of the most popular in the country, was constantly reeling now. And as he introduced his guests, he was both excited and appalled. "The results we're seeing are pretty shocking, we can all agree. A few years ago this would have been unthinkable. Who knew that Americans would vote like this?"
One of the guests, Tom Routh, was from a group of secularists. "The answer to that," he said with a smile, "is that we did. We've been saying for a long time that if you believe one crazy idea, you can believe another. It's not hard to go from, 'God brought this guy back from the dead' to 'God brought this guy back from the dead again'. People really believe this stuff. So when something out of this world happens, they go, yeah, that makes sense."
Another guest chimed in, "I don't really think that's fair. This isn't the fault of religion. There are a lot of religious people in America and only a small fraction of them believe what they're being fed. This is entirely for political expediency. Republicans want someone in office who will give them what they want. They were already dissatisfied with the last administration when Ultraman showed up, and see this as their chance to make radical change."
This was what Trent loved. These kinds of conversations were fantastic. It went on for a few more minutes before Tyler brought on the head of a megachurch that had been preaching about Ultraman being Christ. That would give them some understanding of the mindset.

It was a great day to be involved with politics, but a terrible day to be American.