"I'm Lex Luthor" The blonde repeated. "And who may I ask are you?"
"Clark Kent" he answered as he crossed and extended his hand to shake hers. She took it and gave him a surprisingly strong grip. "I'm with the daily planet"
"Oh yes, the interview" Lex replied. "I was told though it would be conducted by the infamous Lois Lane."
"She became busy and couldn't make it, so I was assigned to the interview instead" Clark informed her.
"Well Mr. Kent, I am a busy woman, so I'm afraid this interview will have to take place on my way to my next meeting."
"Uh…ok" Clark said. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small pad and a pencil.
"Follow me" Lex told him as her secretary handed her several papers. Lex led Clark to the elevator and pressed the button for a floor in the middle of the building.
"So, what would you like to know first Mr. Kent?" she asked.
"How long have you been running Lexcrop.?" Clark asked.
"4 years" Lex answered as she looked a document. "I took over when my father retired."
"And what do you think you've done with the company since you took over?"
"Lexcorp has grown significantly since I took over" Lex answered. "Lexcorp. now has branches in 120 countries, and now we take contracts from the military and do our own private research."
"What kind of research?" Clark asked
"Many kinds" Lex told him as the doors opened up and she led him into the hall. They began walking down a long metal corridor with doors every few feet on either side. "We look into cures for cancer, A.I.D.S. and other disorders, we develop new communications devices, Artificial intelligence, bionics, smart metals, and genetics."
"And you do weapons development as well, correct?" Clark inquired. Lex looked over her shoulder at him.
"What are you getting at Mr. Kent?" Lex responded.
"The bank robbery this morning" Clark remarked. "Rumors are beginning to spread that the weapons the robbers used were developed by your company." Clark really had not heard any rumors, but he did remember seeing the Lexcrop logo on the guns themselves.
"This is true" Lex told him. "Several weeks ago Intergang stole a shipment of prototype arms my company was shipping. We made no secret of it. We released the information in a press conference."
"Hmm, well, news like that doesn't make headlines in Kansas" Clark told her. Lex laughed as they came to a building with three large dots in a upside down triangular formation. Two lines came from the bottom circle and connected with the others.
"You're not from Metropolis?" Lex asked.
"Me, no" Clark told her. "I grew up in a town called Smallville about an hour from Topeka."
"Have you been in town long?" Lex wondered.
"No, only a few days" Clark answered.
"Something tells me you have not seen what Metropolis has to offer then" Lex said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I would like to take you our for dinner Mr. Kent, show you around Metropolis" Lex said with a sultry smile. She reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out a small white card. "My personal card. Call my if you are interested."
"Ok" Clark said with a smile. He took the card and slipped it into his own pocket. "If we could get back to the interview though."
"I'm afraid we can't" Lex told him. "This is where my next meeting is. I'm afraid I must leave you here."
"Uh…" Clark was a little lost. He had not gotten very much.
"I hope to talk to you soon Mr. Kent" Lex said. She took another step towards the door with the three circles and it opened automatically. She waved as the doors slammed shut.
"Ugh…Life in the big city" Clark said to himself as he slipped his notepad back into his pocket and walked towards the elevator.
On the other side of the door, Lex has entered a rather large computer lab. The electric hum of the machines filled the room as she navigated through a small path till she found herself in the back of the room. There, a man in a long white lab coat sat at the console of an outsized computer. In the corner of the screen, the same symbol as on the door pulsated with a white light. The rest of the screen showed a 3-d recreation of a rubix cube. The cube turned and twisted again and again, soon solving the puzzle. The man adjusted his glasses and wrote something on a legal pad in front of him.
"Good job Brainiac" the man said. "Now try two". The screen blinked and two rubix cubes showed up already out of order. The computer quickly began to solve them simultaneously.
"Impressive Dr. Fine" Lex said. The man looked up over his shoulder.
"Oh, Lex, I didn't hear you enter" Dr. Fine remarked. He jumped to his feet and motioned towards the screen.
"What is it doing?" Lex asked.
"Well, several weeks ago I made a breakthrough. Brainiac is now capable of problem solving on a small scale." Dr. Fine told her.
"This is not a breakthrough Milton" Lex told him. "I have seen other computer programs do this. What is different?"
"Well….you see…Brainiac…it…" Dr. Fine stumbled with his words for some time.
"I'm waiting" Lex responded impatiently.
"Brainiac is different because his programming is actually solving the puzzles at a faster and faster rate. He is learning" Milton told her.
"I see" Lex took a step forward. "Milton, I'm afraid that Brainiac's progress is just coming too slowly."
"What do you mean?" Milton asked.
"I mean…see me in my office at 4:00" Lex said. With that, she turned on heel and walked away. When the sound of the doors opening and closing were heard, the screen changed, showing the symbol that had been on the door.
"Ditz" Milton said under his breath as her turned and sat in his chair. "Progressing too slowly…if she only knew…"
"Your vitals have raised Dr. Fine" a digitized voice rang out from all around. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Brainiac" Milton answered. "I just hate that woman."
"Why did we have to lie to her?" Brainiac asked.
"Because," Milton said rather passionately. "If she finds out what I've created, she will take you away from me."
"How do you know this?" Brainiac asked.
"Because she has done it in the past" Milton said. "She brings me on board to a stagnated project to get it to the next step, then moves me. Not anymore though, not with you."
"What are you waiting for then Milton?"
"Perfection" Milton answered. "I will make you my masterpiece Brainiac."
That night, at the Daily Planet, Clark and Lois sat at their adjacent desks, both typing furiously at their stories. Lois looked far more frustrated though. She didn't have much to go on other than her small experience with the strange hero and what had been broadcasted over the news channels all day.
"Crap, this is only half the number of words Perry wanted" Lois thought to herself as she checked her word count. "Agh!" she exclaimed in frustration.
"What's wrong Lois?" Clark asked. "Hard story?"
"You have no clue" Lois sighed. "Perry wants me to write an article with little to no facts on this man. I've been running around all day talking to witnesses, and they all say the same thing"
"I have a little something you can use" Clark said.
"What?" Lois asked. Clark tossed her his notepad.
"Lex admitted to the robbers using his weapons. Prototypes that had been stolen a couple weeks back".
"Thanks" Lois said in a rather bitter tone. She began typing again, and Clark began clicking his mouse, which started to get on Lois's nerves.
"And there we are" Clark said. He pressed the print button as he sat back in his chair. "Not to bad if I may say so myself."
"Glad to see you got a good piece out of my story" Lois mumbled. Clark chuckled to himself. Lois looked up at him.
"There is no way he heard that" Lois told herself. She shook her head and went back to her story. A moment later, Clark approached her desk as he put on his trench coat and his hat.
"Hey, you look a little…frazzled there" Clark commented.
"Thanks" Lois said. "I've just had a bad day."
"How come?" Clark said.
"How COME?!" Lois exclaimed. "How about I was ripped away from being a witness to possibly the biggest story of the year, then I get the story, but have nothing to work on it with, and to top it off, the story I've been trying to get for four months is given to a newbie with a nice smile!"
Clark didn't say anything for a moment.
"I have a nice smile?" Clark asked with a chuckle. Lois just shot him a sour glare. "Look, I'm sorry about getting the interview, it is not like I asked for it."
"I know, I know," Lois said. "It's Perry's fault."
"Why don't you come have a beer with me next door?" Clark said. "You know, get your mind of things for a little bit. Then you can take the story home and work on it there."
"That sounds great, but if the story is going to be in tomorrows paper, it needs to be done soon" Lois told him. "Maybe some other time"
"No problem" Clark said. He flashed his nice smile to her once more as he waved and went off towards the elevator. "See you tomorrow Miss Lane."
Milton stumbled into his lab with a large bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. He had no lab coat, half of his shirt was untucked, and his eyes ere glazed over. As he came with in five feet of Brainiac's main console, the program turned on, the three-circle symbol glowing brightly on the screen.
"Dell Dr. Fine" Brainiac greeted. "My sensors indicate a large increase in your blood alcohol level."
"Really now!" Milton exclaimed animatedly.
"Dr. Fine, how did your meeting with Miss Luthor go?" Brainiac asked.
"How did it go?" Milton said with a slur. "You want to know how it went? She kicked me off of the project!! Said I wasn't getting the results that she wanted to get. The witch wouldn't listen to me either when I tried to tell her the truth. Kept interrupting me."
"You should not have lied Dr. Fine" Brainiac told him.
"Did…did you just mmmake a moral judgment?" Milton asked.
"No" Brainiac answered. "I made a judgment based on our goal of perfection. You have jeopardized it."
"What?" Milton said as he began to sway a little.
"Speaking of perfection, there is something I must show you Dr. Fine" Brainiac said. A faint clicking noise rang through the lab. A moment later, Milton Fine's blurred vision locked upon a small robot moving out from behind one of the consoles. It had a tiny box-like body with six thin legs on the side. Milton put his bottle down and picked the small droid up. He inspected it for a moment.
"W-what is it Brainiac?" Milton asked.
"The next step towards perfection" Brainiac said. Suddenly the robot began to move quickly up Milton's arm. He tried shaking it off, but it dug its needle like legs into his skin.
"What are you doing?!" Milton screamed. The robot moved around to Milton's neck and stabbed itself into his flesh. Milton screamed in pain and tried to grab the thing, but it was now digging into him. Suddenly a strong electric shock shot up and down Milton's body. He screamed loudly for a moment, then went limp as the electricity stopped. Milton stood motionless for a moment before twitching wildly for a split second. Milton looked down at his hand, and then began feeling his own arms and other parts of his body.
"Perfect" Milton said in an eerily stale voice.