A/N: This may be a controversial decision, but I decided to adapt the Nolanverse aspect where Lucius Fox knows Bruce is Batman. I must confess I haven't picked up a Batman comic since the 52 series, so if there is already something like this in the current continuity, then go ahead and ignore this note. If not,or if you're just interested for whatever reason, read the extended version at the bottom of the page for a detailed explanation of why I did this.

Just outside Metropolis

Clark crashed through the trunk of the thick tree with a sound like thunder. The tree groaned loudly before collapsing on top of him with an earth shaking boom that was heard several miles away.

The debris clattered to the ground and dust swirled around him as he pushed the broken trunk off of him with one hand, getting up slowly.

"So much for diplomacy." At least he had got the fight out of the city. Less collateral damage.

In the distance he could see the android flying towards him at great speed.

It flies too. Okay.

He held onto the trunk, waiting for the android to come closer. When it was a few feet away and contact was imminent he swung the heavy tree like it was a fly swatter-albeit a giant fly swatter-smacking the android aside as though it was a bug. The thick trunk splintered from the impact. The android spun wildly in the air.

Obviously not very intelligent. Fast though, he noted as it adjusted itself right back on its flight path.
He levitated slowly, his eyes glowing red.

"Look, I don't know what you want-"

KRAK.

Clark was pushed 10 feet back by the force of the blow. He clutched his jaw.

Enough talk.

He fired his heat vision in a wide arc, using just enough power to melt the android. It was a pile of jelly after a few seconds.

Well, that was easy. I should have just done that to start with.

He walked up to the mass of molten metal.

Metropolis, at the abandoned sewage treatment plant The room was deathly silent.

Lex stared at the screen, which was nothing but white noise now. Professor Ivo leaned back in his seat with a smug expression on his face. There was a bowl of pop corn in his lap.

"As I said Mr Luthor. It's not ready yet. It's strong, yes. It can fly too. But those features aren't enough. Superman's.. peripheral abilities are the wild card. The test run wasn't a complete failure though. We know a little bit more about him. He clearly has enhanced senses, he knew the android was coming. He intercepted it in the sky quite literally from miles away. We know he's almost indestructible-"

"We already knew that. He's bullet proof for god's sake. Stood up against everything from rifle fire and RPG's to anti-aircraft AND anti-tank missiles."

"Being bulletproof doesn't make him indestructibile. Even a bulletproof vest can be destroyed. As I was saying, we know his heat vision is capable of reaching temperatures high enough to melt even Promethium. That's valuable information, considering it was developed to contain him,and we thought it was indestructible. We'll have to find something stronger, alloy it to the Promethium. Luckily I know just the thing. A fascinating material, I believe it's from outside of this planet. They're calling it Nth metal."

"Nth metal? Where is it from?"

Ivo shrugged. "I haven't the slightest idea. Morrow came up with the name. He brought it with him when we poached him from S.T.A.R Labs. Lord knows how they get their hands on all that alien hardware."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that."

"Look Mr Luthor, I know you want to take down Superman the good old fashioned way, with earth technology. David slaying Goliath with a simple sling and a stone. The thing is even our most advanced equipment is woefully inadequate for the job. If you're really serious about ending his 'reign of terror', you should stop being so narrow minded. We have to fight fire with fire."

"All right Morrow. I'll give you another month."

"Very good, sir." He placed emphasis on the last word, mocking him.

Goddamn hobbit, Lex thought as he left the room. I want to beat his brains in with a big stick. I want to do it so bad... But I need him. He's almost as smart as I am, and I'm one of the smartest men on earth.

If not the smartest.

Gotham, Wayne Enterprises

"Slow down Lucius. What exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying we've been compromised. Robbed. Someone sold us out Mr Wayne."

"Ok. Stop pacing, have a seat, calm down."

The elder man stopped, sat down in the seat and fidgeted with his wristwatch. Then he took a deep breath and let it out.

"All right. Now, explain it to me."

"It's about Waynetech. You know, the.. special branch. The one that allows you to carry out your uh, 'extreme sports' activities."

"It's all right Lucius. We're safe here, you can speak freely."

"Some things have been stolen from your personal armory."

Bruce was silent for a few moments.

"What things?"

"The AI interface we had developed for the Batmobile. It's unclear how many units were stolen."

"I wish you'd stop calling it that. It sounds ridiculous."

Lucius allowed himself a brief smile. "It's nothing major,I've got it all set up so it will never come back to us. As it is the grease monkeys think were developing it for the automotive industry. But it could cause us problems in the future."

"Because someone sold them." Bruce said, nodding with understanding.

"Exactly. Corporate fraud. That kind of thing is dangerous for Waynetech. Whoever is doing this could sell other company secrets. That would be disastrous even if you weren't.. that guy."

"Really? 'That guy'? You can say Batmobile but you refer to him as 'that guy'?"

Lucius smiled again. "One can never be too safe Mr Wayne. You told me those words yourself." The elder man stood up, buttoning his coat. "I trust you'll take care of it?"

"Naturally. Always a pleasure Lucius."

"Likewise Mr Wayne. Have a good day now."

They shook hands before he departed.

Bruce sat on the edge of his desk, pondering his next move.

Who would sell those plans? It would be very hard to find the culprit. Very hard. There were quite literally millions of employees working at Wayne Industries, spread out among the parent companies subsidiaries. It was the proverbial needle in a haystack.

But it's my company. My responsibility. And I'm a detective.

He may not know who did it, but he was pretty sure he knew who bought it.

Just outside Metropolis

Clark held a piece of charred metal in his hands. It wasn't that big, no larger than a credit card, no thicker than his finger. He wiped the black ash from its surface. There were words etched into it.

MODEL NO. 375465, BATCH NO.7 ID NO. 3230900452 PROPERTY OF WAYNETECH, SUBSIDIARY OF WAYNE INDUSTRIES

"It was only a wall..." Clark mumbled.

A/N: I'm not quite sure how they comicsplain Bruce's heavy duty hardware. Usually they have these panels showing Bruce tinkering with his cowl or belt, or welding huge bits of metal together. It's the same thing in animated films/series. We know he gets it from Waynetech, but there is a huge gap between the 'he's going to get something' and the 'ok he's got it'. Picture this. The engine specs for a very advanced plane go missing mysteriously and some time later Batman has a fancy Batplane. No one puts it together? The employees of Waynetech are idiots if that's the case. Hell,there was even a time Waynetech got in trouble over some corporate issues, which came about because of Bruce's shady methods of getting tech for his use as Batman.

I just don't see how he can do it all by himself. By 'all' I mean maintain his extensive collection of equipment. Think about it, Bruce has a lot of toys, most of it is military grade at the very least. His utility belt alone is a marvel,as is his suit. Over the years his belt has done everything from self-destructing to acting as a GPS/Communicator to (almost) rocket propelling Darkseid into a boom tube. His suit has evolved from simple cloth to body armor with numerous electronic systems and its own security system. Not to mention his other gadgets('special' batarangs,grapple guns,various gizmos,just to name a few), his computer(obviously its way more advanced than a Mac), the Batmobile, and so much more that I can't list here. I think as his arsenal grows, DC will have to consider bringing in some kind of weaponsmith/tech geek for Batman. Oracle already fulfills part of that when it comes to computers, but if he keeps getting more stuff, Bruce will need a Hephaestus. Kind of like what Marvel did with the Punisher and Micro.

Sure he's smart enough to 'borrow' some stuff from Waynetech here and there whenever he needs something,say a tender for 5,000 pairs of gloves, without leaving any footprints. But who does all the bureaucratic,dotted line, pen and paper, number crunching stuff to hide it? Bruce? I doubt it. Can you imagine how long it would take him to do that for everything he currently owns? And while he could build himself some badass gear using his vast resources,he's not Tony Stark. He can't blatantly take stuff from his company and use it to build state of the art machinery. Someone will notice. I just don't see how he does it ALL by himself. You think he's going to sit on his ass for months, years even, working on everything by himself because "The Batman works alone."? Hell no. He'll look for a trustworthy person to do all that shit for him.

I know the whole lone wolf thing is a huge part of Batman's appeal, but it's just not that realistic anymore, hence the formation of the ever growing Bat Family. I also know how ridiculous it is to talk about realism in a world where a slouch,eye glasses and a self deprecating manner is enough to hide movie star good looks and the body of a Golden Age era bodybuilder. But that's a story for another day.

Literally.

As always, read and review.