Later in the afternoon, I decided to stop by the University Library, where the microfiche archives provide me with more information on Luthor. Edge had told us to be thorough in our critique of the book…and I was never one to disappoint.

Ever since I had first come to know Lex, he had been something of an enigma to me—always hiding his true nature in some manner or another—never telling me what exactly he was up to. His earlier erratic behavior concerning Morgan Edge was…unsettling. A man with Lex's power, with his intrigue, was not to be taken lightly in any respect. I had heard…stories. About how he offered some nondescript waitress a million bucks just to live with him. About how he…faked his own death and went to Hell to serve on something Tim Drake called a 'council of super villains'. And there were more generic stories—spun by scandal-hungry media flies like Jack Ryder. How, after Superman died and returned, Lex was fueled by unrestricted hate and anger.

Many of them were simply too outlandish to believe. Others seemed too close to call. In any event, I strode with great caution around Lex's history. He didn't like talking about it, and I never brought it up unless absolutely necessary. I respected his privacy, and he respected my thirst for knowledge. On some level, he must have known that our paths would cross someday. In a very dangerous way.

The question on both our minds was: how far out was the world that was coming? The world where Lex clashes with all his enemies. From the looks of his broiling rivalry with Edge, the world was getting closer.

Tim…Tim Drake told me once to be wary of Lex whenever he does something nice…usually, it means something bad for someone else. I took that to heart, against my better impulses.

I only wondered what possible negative effect Lex's beneficence would have on…anyone.

So there I was. Reading Lex's book and contemplating the man's dark side. After all, everyone has one. There's no use in denying it exists, or even squelching its power. Lex's dark side, I suspected for some odd reason, was especially nasty.

The microfiche confirmed this. Over the years, Luthor's temper was displayed most excellently through his corporate takeovers. The owner of over a hundred smaller subsidiaries other than LexCorp, ranging from weapons manufacture to aerospace engineering and beyond, Lex's takeovers had been Napoleonic in scope—a shaking demonstration of his ego and willingness to succeed.

However, self-made billionaires—even the most antiseptic of them—don't climb the ladder without leaving a few skeletons behind them. The trick is finding those skeletons.

Edge was going to get his paper. If it killed me, I was not going to be a failure in the eyes of anyone—least of all some pious professor/billionaire who thought he was God's gift to every female student on campus. After leaving the library, I headed back home to finish the book. Three hours later, I finished it. It's what I expected: egotistical par excellence, and sanitized to the point of disparity. And that's when it came to me.

There were…holes in his narrative. I could feel a darkness creeping between the craft of the typeface. His family…is mentioned fleetingly, as if they never existed, or were a nuisance that he sought to expunge early on. After they died, he wrote, he supported himself.

I found myself opening the book and re-reading passages hat already made sense to me. The more I read, the more I felt ill at ease. There's something amiss in the pages of Lex's book. Potholes in the road. Or more. I focus in, or try at least…and still I miss it. All I hear…is fuzz. All I've ever been hearing, for the past few months. Fuzz. Smoke. Distortion. Lies.

Like pieces of a puzzle, I put them together…and I realized something.

"Something's not right."

"What?"

"I'll say it again, Allen," Edge dictated wearily, yet sternly to me. "This paper…seems rushed, like you pulled it out of your ass at 3 in the morning."

"Dr. Edge, believe me—"

"I do…but I'm saying this isn't your best work. And I know you can do better."

"So you're not failing me?"

"No," Edge said. He pulled a business card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me. "That's the address of the GBS Building. My office, tonight. 9 p.m."

"What do you…?"

"Just be there. Or I really will fail you."

So I went to Dr. Edge's office that night. And I took Lex with me. On some level, I subscribed to the age-old idea of 'strength in numbers'; I figured Lex, demanding presence that he is, could fill that criterion quite well. He made his disdain fro Edge quite clear. Come to think about it, Lex didn't like any of the other so-called 'billionaires' in town: Edge, Colin Thornton…and there were others, but the point was: the only person Lex really thought highly of was himself. I was on his list, yes…but chances were I was very close to the bottom.

This was not Edge's office at the university. No, he told me to go to the GBS building—which I did—and see him in his top-floor office there.

By any stretch of the imagination, Edge's office was less grandiose than Lex's—much less grandiose. But what it lacked in identity, the office made up for in ostentation. Edge's office was decked out in the motif of the roaring 20's. Fluorescent green-lighted lamps in every corner illuminated the ceiling and gave the illusion of space, and the whole room was dimly lit in shades of ebony and green. Glass panes formed the northern corner of the office, staring out at the Byrne Bridge into Queensland. Edge's steel-and-glass desk was situated at an angle in the corner, the gleaming city existing quietly behind him. And it was all immaculate. As if a maid had just been in to tidy it up. Whether this was Edge trying to make himself look presentable or more signs of his creeping Obsessive Compulsion…I didn't know.

I didn't bother knocking, but rather pushed my way in gently, quietly testing the water. "Dr. Edge?"

Edge was working on his computer, whittling away at God-knows-what; probably entering in a gigantic failing grade for the quarter under my name. A small post-it note was stuck to the front edge of his desk. It read 'Godfrey—10 dollars'. I regarded it for just a moment and looked back up at Edge.

Edge finally realized there was someone in his office, and rolled his chair to the front of his desk to see me.

Lex took a backseat, literally. Standing behind me with his trademark scowl, hands firmly crossed over each other, Lex's very figure conveyed a sense of supreme mastery and cunning. Edge narrowed his view and glanced scornfully at Lex, then back at me.

"Have any troubles finding the place?" he said tightly.

"It's the second biggest building in Metropolis, Dr. Edge. Hard to miss." I had to privately chuckle at my own ingenuity. Without really thinking about it, I had just insulted Morgan Edge and his 'pinch-hitter' status. Behind me, Lex snickered quietly as I sat in the leather chair before Edge's desk. Lex moved to stand behind my chair like a silent bodyguard, and he stared out the window, purposefully removing himself from the conversation about to occur.

"I wanted to talk to you about this paper."

"What's wrong with it?" I asked glibly.

"For one thing…I thought the assignment was to coldly analyze all aspects of the book. You did no such thing."

"I disagree," I said respectfully.

I saw the muscles tighten in Edge's jaw.

"Don't patronize me, Allen. I gave you this assignment for one reason: to be a better thinker. The fact that you did a poor job only tells me one thing."

I narrowed my gaze, as if peering into his soul, as Edge lit a cigarette.

"That you're either dumber than I thought, or you really don't care about passing this class. May I remind you that my class is required to meet sophomore standing?"

"That's not—"

"—Let me tell you something Allen. You were supposed to read that book and analyze it impersonally. You did neither. What you did was a sugarcoated hero-worship. And I'm getting tired of this. You can do better, and you know it. I don't like what Luthor's doing to you. You're heading down a dangerous path and I wanted to make sure I'd taken this step to….try and make you aware of it."

I wondered if Lex knew that he was the 'man god' in reference. Probably not. I reclined in my chair; my eyes began roving the office, analyzing everything from the marble elephant on the corner of his desk, to a small metal pillbox on the floor by the foot of my chair. It was probably as big as my hand, and there were small geometric lines and circles on it, and every few seconds, a metallic sound resonated from it; a continuous, barely noticeable 'ping-ping-ping'.

I exhaled laboriously and looked back to Edge.

"I understand," I said acutely. "Are we done?"

"No you don't," Edge replied dryly. He stood, wiped his mouth with the backside of his hand, and went to the window. Fifty-five stories below Morgan Edge, the lives of 6 million people went on in random synergy as the second-richest man in Metropolis observed.

"You don't understand, Allen," Edge wheezed.

I remained silent, but the truth was, I knew all too well. It was a feeling I had been experiencing with some regularity in the months since I had known Luthor.

"I'm…sorry," I offered feebly. Edge turned back to me with a disgusted scowl.

"It's fine," he said weakly. "You can go, Allen. Thank you for coming."

I looked at Edge uncomprehendingly, then over my shoulder at Lex, and then back at Edge. In the dark, I stood and slid out of the office.

I stopped and pushed the door shut, and sat in a nearby chair. For a long while, I just sat, twittling my thumbs. Then I realized the door was cracked open and I could hear Lex and Edge talking.

"What are you out to prove, Morgan?"

"The same as you, Lex."

"I find that unlikely," Lex said spitefully.

"Oh come on," Edge said agitatedly. "What's your interest in the boy?"

"More than you'll ever know."

"My interest is academic, Luthor. I want him to be a good student."

"Then," Luthor said, backing off. "You must be dumber than I ever gave you credit for."

After a baleful silence, Edge replied coldly. "I think you should go, Lex."

"Or what?" Luthor asked contemptuously, pushing Edge's buttons on purpose. "You'll hit me? You don't have the guts, Morgan."

"Don't push me, Luthor."

"No, Morgan," Lex interjected brusquely. "You've been in this city too long to realize what I can do. I could squash you like a bug."

"You need me, Luthor," Edge rebuffed snidely. "You know this. Everyone needs an enemy and you, my boy, are mine."

I inched my foot closer to the door, and nudged it open a bit more so I could see into the office. Angrily, Lex had thrown a chair aside with a raucous crash. Now, he towered over Edge's desk. I heard Edge gagging, and saw one of Lex's arms had left his side.

He was strangling Morgan Edge.

"Do you know how much I think of you, Morgan?" Lex growled harshly.

"This much!" Lex's voice spiked sharply and he held up his open hand with the thumb and forefinger held together. "You mean nothing to me, Morgan. You're a non-factor with no life and no future. I'm surprised you're still giving it a fighting chance."

What?

"Luh…Lex…" Edge muttered weakly.

"What?"

"If I don't matter to you…then what about….the boy…"

"Just like you said, Morgan. I'm out to prove a point, and you can't help me. Not anymore."

Lex released Morgan, and the CEO of Galaxy Broadcasting fell back in his chair, hacking and gasping for air. Lex brushed his hands clean and turned to the door. Hastily, I launched out of the chair and bolted down the hallway to the elevator. I pressed the button just as Lex came out of the office. I turned back to him with a smug grin and said, "So?"

"So what?" Lex said gruffly, adjusting his sleeves as he approached the elevator.

"What about…Edge?"

Lex said nothing.

And it was left at that, as the elevator came and Lex and I went our separate ways.