The evening sun slanted through the shaded windows of the Luthorcorp
office. It shone on the expensive carpet, and showed that nothing could
keep dust away from the pile. Not even the fact that the carpet graced the
75th floor office of a billionaire.
A billionaire who was sprawled on the expensive carpet, leaking blood into its extravagant pile, in a crooked formation of limbs and awkwardly surprised face—frozen in the absurd—forever.
Until the worms changed that configuration.
'Con-figur-ation. Configuration.' The titter rose high and was silenced by the quiet.
Then the door opened.
'God! What did you do?'
'He was broken.' The girl slowly got up and dropped the knife on to the blood soaked carpet, where it fell with an obscenely wet thunk. She trailed bloody footsteps to the middle of the office, and then back, undecided—the edge of the room was too far away, the dead man's desk too near.
'My father, Lex. He died a broken man after he fired him. Debt-ridden and diseased. His daughter, his daughter who was supposed to work at the Planet and win a Pulitzer works at a rag. He did it. He destroys lives. Mine, Dad's, Lana's. I did right. I know I did right. Right? He destroyed your life too.'
She looked up with large eyes, from which dripped desperation and resolve. no tears. And the knowledge of sanity breached. He knew that look.
Chloe sagged to the floor, legs sticking out in a weird parody of the corpse before her.
'Foe!' she cried, pointing with one red-stained hand.
Lex looked away from the arresting and indecent spectacle of madness before him, averted his eyes from the perversion of the loss of normal rationality. He knew how the radiance of madness could blind.
' I will take care of it.'
She looked uncomprehendingly at him, still rocking to the compelling music of her own trauma.
He got out the sanitizing unit and vacuumed up the bloodstains. Moved the body onto a priceless Anatolian kilim from the other end of the office and rolled it up into a less offending, more disposable bundle. His father flopped over was far more pliable when dead, and easily flopped into position.
He opened the vault with the override code he had acquired after months of painstaking research. In the temperature controlled cryo environment of the inner vault, he also found what he had suspected he would find there. He dragged Lionel's body into the now steaming interior of the vault and pushed it into narrow space between the cryo-cubicle and the vault walls, and laid the murder weapon atop the body. He closed both doors behind him and finished cleaning the blood from the carpet. Chloe's footprints, even the inoffensive dirt went into the sucking vortex of the cleaner. Lex was certain this was not the first body of evidence it had sucked up.
He turned finally to the girl still rocking silently on the floor.
'Go take a shower. You will find some women's clothes in the cupboard on the right.'
She got up slowly, and he guided her to the bathroom door.
'Strip'
She did. Everything came off--shoes, skirt, top, undergarments, and he put everything into the maw that led to the incinerator on the roof. She meanwhile, made her way to the shower cubicle and turned on the water. He closed the door behind her and went to examine the office again for evidence.
'Lex? '
If he was surprised at being seen in his father's office with a cleaning system humming in his hand, his face did not show it. With deliberate ease, he switched off the device and laid it in its particular niche, activated the 'incinerate contents' option and closed the concealing hatch.
The renewed silence highlighted his walk to the large desk, his languid donning of his jacket. Lois fidgeted in place and then burst out.
'Where's Lionel? He was supposed to meet me here at five.'
'On a Sunday evening? What would you have with you that would make him cancel golf with the German ambassador?'
If Lois was nonplussed, she recovered quickly. Only Lex could have noticed the imperceptible tightening of her fingers over her quilted Chanel bag.
'What are you doing here?' She bluffed instead, trying to remind herself that she no longer worked for him.
His blandness was unimpaired.
'Visiting my father. I believe you should answer that question.'
'I have business. With him.'
He sauntered slowly towards her. ' Perhaps to form an alliance against me?'
He was very close now, and it took all of Lois's will power not to back away.
'Not everything is about you.' she said through clenched teeth.
He backed away, as if suddenly advised of the correctness of her position.
'I concede that. Yet, this is definitely about me. Reports on Cadmus to be exact. Now, I don't know if this is a personal failing, but I really, really dislike that.' His voice was smooth as silk, and Lois felt all the hair on her arms and neck stand up on end.
' I don't know what you are talking about.'
He just looked at her with that diabolical smirk, and she longed to punch it off his face.
'I'm going to wait for Lionel.'
'I think you will give me that report. Now.' He advanced towards her, hand outstretched in natural command.
She held the bag clutched before her, and then drew the gun out.
'I don't think so. Just stay away from me.'
'Hand me the disk. I know you have not been able to copy it or read it, so I won't hurt you.'
'I will shoot if you come any closer'
'Go ahead. I ...'
There was no report. Only an inane 'phut' as the little pellet drove itself into living tissue and made it dead.
The evening sun slanted through the shaded windows of the Luthorcorp office. It shone on the expensive carpet, and showed that nothing could keep dust away from the pile. Not even the fact that the carpet graced the 75th floor office of a billionaire.
A billionaire was sprawled on the expensive carpet, leaking blood into its extravagant pile, in a crooked formation of limbs and awkwardly surprised face—frozen in the absurd—forever.
A billionaire who was sprawled on the expensive carpet, leaking blood into its extravagant pile, in a crooked formation of limbs and awkwardly surprised face—frozen in the absurd—forever.
Until the worms changed that configuration.
'Con-figur-ation. Configuration.' The titter rose high and was silenced by the quiet.
Then the door opened.
'God! What did you do?'
'He was broken.' The girl slowly got up and dropped the knife on to the blood soaked carpet, where it fell with an obscenely wet thunk. She trailed bloody footsteps to the middle of the office, and then back, undecided—the edge of the room was too far away, the dead man's desk too near.
'My father, Lex. He died a broken man after he fired him. Debt-ridden and diseased. His daughter, his daughter who was supposed to work at the Planet and win a Pulitzer works at a rag. He did it. He destroys lives. Mine, Dad's, Lana's. I did right. I know I did right. Right? He destroyed your life too.'
She looked up with large eyes, from which dripped desperation and resolve. no tears. And the knowledge of sanity breached. He knew that look.
Chloe sagged to the floor, legs sticking out in a weird parody of the corpse before her.
'Foe!' she cried, pointing with one red-stained hand.
Lex looked away from the arresting and indecent spectacle of madness before him, averted his eyes from the perversion of the loss of normal rationality. He knew how the radiance of madness could blind.
' I will take care of it.'
She looked uncomprehendingly at him, still rocking to the compelling music of her own trauma.
He got out the sanitizing unit and vacuumed up the bloodstains. Moved the body onto a priceless Anatolian kilim from the other end of the office and rolled it up into a less offending, more disposable bundle. His father flopped over was far more pliable when dead, and easily flopped into position.
He opened the vault with the override code he had acquired after months of painstaking research. In the temperature controlled cryo environment of the inner vault, he also found what he had suspected he would find there. He dragged Lionel's body into the now steaming interior of the vault and pushed it into narrow space between the cryo-cubicle and the vault walls, and laid the murder weapon atop the body. He closed both doors behind him and finished cleaning the blood from the carpet. Chloe's footprints, even the inoffensive dirt went into the sucking vortex of the cleaner. Lex was certain this was not the first body of evidence it had sucked up.
He turned finally to the girl still rocking silently on the floor.
'Go take a shower. You will find some women's clothes in the cupboard on the right.'
She got up slowly, and he guided her to the bathroom door.
'Strip'
She did. Everything came off--shoes, skirt, top, undergarments, and he put everything into the maw that led to the incinerator on the roof. She meanwhile, made her way to the shower cubicle and turned on the water. He closed the door behind her and went to examine the office again for evidence.
'Lex? '
If he was surprised at being seen in his father's office with a cleaning system humming in his hand, his face did not show it. With deliberate ease, he switched off the device and laid it in its particular niche, activated the 'incinerate contents' option and closed the concealing hatch.
The renewed silence highlighted his walk to the large desk, his languid donning of his jacket. Lois fidgeted in place and then burst out.
'Where's Lionel? He was supposed to meet me here at five.'
'On a Sunday evening? What would you have with you that would make him cancel golf with the German ambassador?'
If Lois was nonplussed, she recovered quickly. Only Lex could have noticed the imperceptible tightening of her fingers over her quilted Chanel bag.
'What are you doing here?' She bluffed instead, trying to remind herself that she no longer worked for him.
His blandness was unimpaired.
'Visiting my father. I believe you should answer that question.'
'I have business. With him.'
He sauntered slowly towards her. ' Perhaps to form an alliance against me?'
He was very close now, and it took all of Lois's will power not to back away.
'Not everything is about you.' she said through clenched teeth.
He backed away, as if suddenly advised of the correctness of her position.
'I concede that. Yet, this is definitely about me. Reports on Cadmus to be exact. Now, I don't know if this is a personal failing, but I really, really dislike that.' His voice was smooth as silk, and Lois felt all the hair on her arms and neck stand up on end.
' I don't know what you are talking about.'
He just looked at her with that diabolical smirk, and she longed to punch it off his face.
'I'm going to wait for Lionel.'
'I think you will give me that report. Now.' He advanced towards her, hand outstretched in natural command.
She held the bag clutched before her, and then drew the gun out.
'I don't think so. Just stay away from me.'
'Hand me the disk. I know you have not been able to copy it or read it, so I won't hurt you.'
'I will shoot if you come any closer'
'Go ahead. I ...'
There was no report. Only an inane 'phut' as the little pellet drove itself into living tissue and made it dead.
The evening sun slanted through the shaded windows of the Luthorcorp office. It shone on the expensive carpet, and showed that nothing could keep dust away from the pile. Not even the fact that the carpet graced the 75th floor office of a billionaire.
A billionaire was sprawled on the expensive carpet, leaking blood into its extravagant pile, in a crooked formation of limbs and awkwardly surprised face—frozen in the absurd—forever.