Superman: Mythos #4 "Exclusive Interview With Metropolis' Savior: Lex Luthor"
Lois put the pedal to the metal in her Nash Rambler, speeding up the abandoned streets of Metropolis. Jimmy skittishly clutched onto the edges of his seat as he rode shotgun beside her. He peered up through the windshield to see the sky carved with swift colorful streaks left by various super-men as they flew by. His body was then suddenly jerked forward, nearly causing him to choke on his seatbelt, as Lois was forced to make an abrupt stop. In the intersecting street before them, a giant mass of purple flesh went barreling destructively across their sightline, kicking up the concrete as it soon careened into the side of a building.
"It's Parasite!" Jimmy cried, grabbing his camera while Lois began steering away from the monstrous villain.
"And it looks like he hasn't been watching his diet," Lois said, maneuvering the vehicle around the dozens of potholes left in the beast's wake as well as older ones from prior super-powered battles. Then, while cautiously crossing the intersection, a sonic boom went off on their left-hand side. Jimmy again looked up through the windshield and saw an impossibly fast blur of red and blue soar directly over them, shattering windows and kicking up debris in its wake. Lois quickly lost control of her steering as a result of the blast, causing them to skid headfirst into a street crater. As Lois struggled to back them out of the crater, Jimmy managed to follow the flight of the blur until it collided with Parasite at the end of the street. The impact sent ripples across the building Parasite had been thrown into, followed by smaller ripples from the now slowed blur. Jimmy could, at last, make out what it was, a man. Or rather, a boy, a
"Superboy…" Jimmy said beneath his breath, zooming in with his camera lens to confirm as such.
Through his lens, Jimmy watched as the furious Superboy laid punch after punch into the jiggling purple flesh of Parasite. Though the monster only shook it off, and after an inhuman series of laughter, he reared back his meaty purple fist. Jimmy closed his eyes, but heard the booming crack of Parasite's fist against Superboy's entire body, sending the teenager flying back up the street and smashing into the top floor of a skyscraper. "Um… Miss Lane," Jimmy began, watching as Parasite turned his piercing yellow gaze towards them. The creature smiled and licked his rows of razor-sharp teeth before starting a lumbering galop in their direction. "Might want to hurry it up a bit…"
"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Lois snapped, throttling the engine in reverse but to no avail, the tire's rubber merely burned on the edge of the crater. Now Lois too saw Parasite barreling towards them. "Run Jim," She said, promptly unbuckling her seat belt and opening her door. Though when she went to step outside the car, her heel met nothing but air.
"Little help?" A cheery voice called out as their car began to float up out of the crater. Lois gasped, jolting back into her seat as the ground got further and further away from them. Soon Parasite arrived at the crater, but they were already tens of feet above him. The creature roared and clawed at the sky, but soon lost interest and left to resume his fight against Superboy.
Both Lois and Jimmy turned to peer out the back windshield to see the mustached, smiling face of a burly man carrying their vehicle through the sky with ease. Once they were out of relative danger, the super-man placed the car back down onto the street. Jimmy was quick to spring out of it and snap a picture of their rescuer. "Whoa, thanks mister! We would have been toast back there!"
"Now, now, no need to thank me. I'm just doing my job," he said, walking over to the front of the car. His costume was ridiculous, even by wanna-be Superman standards. He wore nothing but a futuristic red vest, matching short shorts, and thigh-high yellow boots.
Lois slowly got out of her car with a skeptical look and crossed her arms before the super-man. "And who are you supposed to be exactly?" She questioned, clearly not impressed with his presentation, especially the amount of body hair on display.
"Vartox! Champion of the planet Valeron!" He proclaimed proudly, assuming a heroic stance. "Though when I heard the news I-"
"Thought you'd get a shot at replacing Superman?" Lois interrupted.
"No," Vartox said, folding his beefy arms back at Lois. "I thought I'd lend a hand. You see, Superman helped me and my people out in the past. I thought it'd only be fair to return the favor."
"Right…" Lois said, still not convinced. "Come on Jimmy. We still have the real Superman to find." With that, she hopped back into the driver's seat and started the engine back up, slamming the door shut behind her.
"She doesn't mean it Mr. Vartox, sir," Jimmy tried to explain. "She's just still processing the big guy's disappearance. You see, Miss Lane and Superman have a-"
"Jimmy!" Lois snapped before reaching across the center console, grabbing Jimmy by the pant leg and dragging him back inside.
"No offense taken, friends. Like I said, just doing my job," Vartox said with a wink before assuming a ready stance. "Up, up, and away!" He shouted, blasting forth back into the sky.
"The audacity of these super-people," Lois muttered once they were back speeding down the streets of Metropolis. "I mean, who do they think they are? Him?" Her last word lingered, concealing a building sorrow.
"I don't know Miss Lane, Vartox seemed like a stand-up guy. Don't know if I can say the same for Superboy, but he's just a kid so…" Jimmy weighed in, while once again clutching the bottom of his seat due to Lois' blatant disregard for traffic safety.
Lois' nose sniffled and she managed to choke back a few tears from her watery eyes. "It doesn't matter," she spoke, regaining her composure. "We're here."
Lois parked the car up onto the curb, just outside the grand glass entranceway of LexCorp Tower. Jimmy got out onto the sidewalk, feeling dizzy upon looking up at the massive skyscraper. On top of his already uneasy stomach, on account of Lois' reckless driving, the sheer size of the building and the terrors that lay within only added to his nausea. Lois stepped out confidently onto the sidewalk, grabbing the stunned Jimmy's wrist as she pulled him along towards the revolving doors.
There was a peaceful quiet inside the granite-floored lobby of LexCorp, contrasting harshly with the rowdy chaos of the city just outside its concealing steel walls. At the end of the grandiose atrium sat a slender female receptionist behind an overly-large front desk. Behind her, displayed boldly across the wall, was a massive neon green L with LexCorp written along the bottom. The imposing sign bathed the gloomy space in its eerie green light.
The sound of Lois' loud heels clacking swifty against the polished floor cut through the silence. Her and Jimmy's arrival prompted the receptionist to glance up with shock before reaching for the phone on her desk. "That's quite alright, Summer," a calm voice from the speaker radioed in before she had even picked up the phone. The receptionist paused, then looked to Lois who was angrily holding up her Daily Planet press card while Jimmy was smiling awkwardly beside her. "The Press is always welcome here. We have nothing to hide after all… You may send Miss Lane up right away…"
The receptionist nodded and began, "Mr. Luthor will-"
"Yeah, we heard him," Lois said bluntly while wasting no time in making her way to the line of elevators on the far side of the lobby. Jimmy rushed to keep up with Lois' pace, having to briskly slide into the elevator she'd chosen just before its closure. The two rode up in silence, Jimmy staring at the ground, while Lois glared at the floor numbers as they rose, muttering heatedly to herself along the way. Finally, the digital green number flicked to 99, and with a cheery ding! the elevator came to a stop. The heavy metal doors slowly slid open and Lois promptly stepped out into the spacious office. The walls of the red-carpeted room consisted of fish tanks, filled with all kinds of exotic sealife, even a few sharks. The curved tanks eventually stopped at the far end of the room to give way to a large window that spanned the entire wall. From it, all of Metropolis could be gleaned from the highest point in the city. And looking out onto it now, sitting in his velvet chair, his back to his desk, was the man himself: Lex Luthor. Standing beside his desk, like a soldier in uniform, was his imposing female bodyguard, Mercy.
Lois marched up to his desk and slapped her hand down onto its polished wood, though still, he neglected to turn and face her. Mercy readied herself, but a subtle wave of Luthor's hand set her at ease. "Alright Luthor," Lois began. "What did you do? And what have you done to this city? The very one you claim to protect, might I remind you!"
"Miss Lane…" Luthor spoke, his voice deep, calm, and calculated, sounding almost disheartened by her accusations. "Since when does a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist such as yourself ask such leading questions? Hm?" Luthor finally spun around in his chair, showing them his defined facial features, strong brow, smug smirk, and of course, his shining bald head. He wore a trimmed black suit over his athletic physique, with an accompanying vest and matching white tie. "Please, take a seat," he gestured to the two empty chairs in front of his desk. Jimmy nodded and went to sit down, but stopped himself upon realizing Lois wasn't going to budge. Instead, she leaned in closer over Luthor's desk and planted her fist atop the stack of paperwork he'd presumably been working on.
"Take a look out there Luthor, the city's a mess," Lois said between gritting her teeth, resisting every urge to strike the maniacal billionaire. "And I know you. If you aren't behind this, you would have done something by now."
"I'm flattered you hold me in such high regard, Miss Lane," Lex said with a smirk. "And you're right, only Lex Luthor has the ability to save this city from itself. Even when Superman was around, such was the case." He turned to peer out the window once more, tugging confidently at his suit collar.
"Oh yeah, that's one other thing that just doesn't add up. This so-called disappearance of Superman I keep on hearing about. Despite the League confirming his whereabouts: space. I mean, it's not like he hasn't gone off for a few days before. So why then, is nearly every supervillain in the city out there acting like it's Black Friday?" Lois interrogated.
"Ha! Please, Miss Lane!" Lex laughed, having to pause and wipe his eye with his silk pocket handkerchief. "You of all people, believing them? The Justice League? Don't make me laugh. Though while the League's excuse is laughable, I wanted to make sure myself. And thus I was able to confirm that Superman is indeed missing, if not dead."
"Thanks to you I presume?" Lois snapped.
"Ha! You give me too much credit, though I don't blame you," Lex continued. "Unfortunately my many attempts to abolish the Man of Steel have never been quite as successful as whatever happened to him as of recent. You see I've been tracking our friend for a number of years now, 24/7-365, or as close as one can get. Through a very foolproof method, mind you. Only to have his tracking signature go completely dark just over three weeks ago. With no sign of any return. Then with a simple hack of the League's computer systems, I found they came up with the same thing. Gone, without a trace."
"And you thought that'd be a tasty little tidbit to toss around your little super-villain community, is that it? Give all those sickos the go-ahead to wreak havoc without any risk of consequence?" Lois accused.
Lex closed his eyes and smirked, before letting out a chuckle. "Miss Lane, I was merely exercising my right to freedom of speech that this wonderful country affords me. You most of all should understand that inalienable value."
Lois paused her next rebuttal, her eyes drifting behind Lex. Jimmy too had begun staring out the window in awe. Lex frowned, feeling removed from the center of attention, though raised his brow upon seeing a silhouetted shadow cast across his desk. He spun his chair around and looked up through his window at the spandex-clad teenager floating just outside the glass.
"Ah, the Supergirl," Lex said with a smirk, pressing a button beneath his desk. Soon the wide glass window slid open, allowing for Kara to enter the office. "I was wondering when you'd arrive. You may be faster than a bullet, but I guess the press has you beat." He joked to no one's amusement. He sighed before continuing, "these matters concern you as well I suppose. Why don't you float on in and we can all discuss together."
Kara obliged, but with a sour look on her face as she gently drifted inside. She set her feet down beside Luthor's desk, hands on her hips, glaring at the infamous businessman. Despite the possibility of that Kryptonian stare becoming lethal in an instant, Lex remained excessively calm.
"Luthor here was just admitting to the rumoring of Superman's disappearance," Lois filled in. "The one that's got the city in shambles. Knee-deep in supervillains and super-men alike."
"Rumoring or causing?" Kara questioned, folding her arms across her crest of El.
"Now, now, as I've already explained to Miss Lane, as much as I'd enjoy taking the credit for getting rid of your beloved cousin, I'm much too humble to do so," Lex said, his self-appraisal causing both Kara and Lois to roll their eyes in unison. "Fine, the proof then. Mercy, would you please." Lex snapped his fingers and his bodyguard promptly walked over to where a lever was situated on the wall. When she pulled down the lever the lights dimmed and a shade pulled down across the window. Then, projected onto the shade was a map of the world with a bright red S-pin over the area of Metropolis.
"Using access to all the camera footage in the city and beyond, I'm able to keep a live feed on Superman while he's active," Lex explained, while pointing to the S. "As soon as he's spotted in, say, Tunisia. I'll be the first in the States to know about it. Additionally, all thirteen LexCorp satellites are calibrated to recognize when a being of his biometric signature passes through our atmosphere. Suffice to say, according to my satellites, and the League's for that matter, Superman hasn't left the planet in the past twenty-seven days."
"Maybe he's just on vacation," Jimmy piped in. "You said you can't track him while he isn't active right? Maybe he's taking a break out of costume for a while. I mean, who could blame him?"
"For this long?" Lois questioned. "He'd never."
"Right," Kara agreed. "Besides, I'd know about it if he did."
"While your feelings may be correct ladies, let us take a look at the facts," Lex began, pressing a button on his keyboard which prompted the map screen to begin moving. Superman's S began dotting around the country and outside of it, while digits displaying the dates went by in the corner. "Here," Lex pointed to the S as the screen paused at the aforementioned twenty-seven days ago. The pin hovered over the islands of the Aegean Sea in Greece. Lex then pressed another key on his desk and the dating of the map slowed to hours. The S bounced from island to island until finally vanishing over a seemingly empty patch of sea. A blinking red circle then flickered over the area. "Based on his trajectory, he's right there," Lex said with a smile, sitting back down in his chair and tapping his fingers together, amused by their varying reactions.
Kara gasped, knowing exactly where he must have gone, and by the look on his face, Lex knew it too. Meanwhile, Jimmy's face was steeped in confusion so he looked to Lois for answers, but she seemingly had none to offer. Lois looked at the map, the empty sea, then down at the desk with a frown. She too had a sneaking suspicion of where he might be, a suspicion Lex was all too happy to confirm.
"Give up?" He asked the group with a smile. "This spot, this one right here, is the estimated location of the rogue ethnostate known as Themyscira."
"Hey!" Kara butted in, pointing vehemently at Luthor. "Themyscira is not like that. They're the ancient protectors of women the world over!"
"Believe what you like about the so-called Paradise Island, girl," Lex continued. "The fact of the matter is that all signs point to Superman being held there. Or, perhaps he and the Amazon are on one of their secret little rendezvous up on Olympus, that would certainly explain why he's gone off radar…" As he spoke, his narrowed eyes passed over to Lois, imagining such a hypothesis would upset her the most. In a way it did, Lois turned away from his arrogant stare and sheepishly held the elbow of her sleeve.
Kara, sensing Luthor owning the room, tried to take it back, "And why should we trust you? I mean, why would you be telling us this unless you had something to gain?"
"Yeah Lex," Jimmy added, "Aren't you the guy who's always trying to get rid of Superman, now you're helping us get him back, what gives?"
"I suppose, you can't trust me," Lex admitted, "but this is the one and only lead you have. As for my own benefit, well… I want him back just as much as you do, if not more so. You see, Superman will not be bested by anyone else but I, Lex Luthor. And I shall do so in the theater of this great city, where once and for all, the people will see their false-god fall! They will realize the folly of their ways and they will not look up, but beside them, to Lex Luthor, their true savior!" Lex had risen from his seat and raised his hands to the ceiling while proclaiming his fateful triumph.
"You're a sick man, Luthor," Lois said, turning her back from him. "When we get Superman back, you can have your little go at him. And we all know how that story ends. Come on Supergirl, Jimmy, we've got an invisible island to fly to." With that, she made her way back to the elevator, with Jimmy in-toe. Supergirl took one last glance at the map, then a quick glare at Luthor, before following her as well.
As soon as the elevator closed and the three were out of sight, Luthor wiped the maniacal grin off his face. His expression turned deathly serious as he sat back down in his chair, pressing the button on his desk to begin retracting the map screen. He spun around to look out upon the city once more.
"They appear to have bought it, sir," Mercy spoke, though she kept her body unnaturally still and staring directly forward.
"Of course they did, I told them the truth," Lex said, crossing his legs and tapping his fingers together. "Well, enough of the truth to get them out of my hair… figuratively speaking, of course."
"Indeed," Mercy replied. "With the variables absent, shall we initiate operation Antinous, sir?
"Hmm, not yet Mercy," Luthor said with a smile, watching as an explosion went off in the upper-east side and a fissure formed downtown. All of which were spurned by the multitude of metahuman clashes all over the city. "The ungrateful people of this city shall suffer a while longer. It will serve to make their liberation by my hand all the more sweet…"