6.15PM, Metropolis

Lex Luthor walked around the massive metallic structure before him, an 8 foot tall robot. It had a vaguely humanoid appearance. The sleek metal was a dull bronze. The face was featureless save for two eyes, which were a dull glassy red. It looked like what it was, an expensive and dangerous android. This was as close to a Terminator as mankind had ever come.

"So it's done?"

"Yes sir. Power core is stable. AI systems are online. Weapons systems fully operational. Conventional weapons consist of wrist mounted energy repulsors that can be adjusted for concussive,electrical or heat energy. The whole thing is powered by nuclear power cells. I've added a few modifications to the AI which I think you will like very much. The android can now replicate natural abilities and metahuman abilities. I call it the A.M.A.Z.O.'

"Amazo?"

"Its the system that gives the android its peripheral abilities. Artificial Metahuman Ability via Zonal Observation. The AI processes all data during combat, adapts to strategy used against it and replicates abilities, metahuman or otherwise, by use of nanobot technology and synthesized Nth metal in the surface plating."

Lex nodded.

"Why does it look so different from the last one?"

"Well sir, thats something new I worked on. We have managed to synthesize some of Nth metals baser qualities using nanotechnology, but its just a start. Nth metal in its natural state resembles polished bronze."

"This is very good work, professor. Revolutionary."

"Thank you sir. Although I do wish I could have done more. I would have liked to go further in unlocking the secrets of Nth metal. I really do believe we've scarcely scratched the surface of its potential. And I'd like to calibrate the system so it can replicate abilities and counter battle strategies just by viewing them. As it is the android has to have direct interaction for the AI to process the information as required."

"All in good time, Ivo."

"I expect you'd like to deploy it immediately?"

"You know me too well. But no, not just yet." Lex said with a small grin.

"As you wish sir." He began fiddling with numerous switches and dials on the control panel before him.

Lex studied the short professor. His red hair was just starting to recede, and there were wrinkles around his eyes and mouth. His fingers hammered away at a keyboard, then he walked across the room to unplug some thick cords, then he went back to the keyboard, then back again to a control panel.

He had built a bigger and better android from scratch within a matter of weeks. Here was a man with drive. The kind of man Lex liked to have in his pocket. There would be great use for people like Ivo in the future.

Ivo flicked a final switch and the dull glassy eyes of the android glowed red like hot coals. It gave the android a much more predatory countenance.

Lex felt a curious fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach. Superman was about to have his reckoning soon.
After years of convincing the right people,spending millions of dollars,countless hours spent researching,periods of trial and error,of desperation, of stops and starts, the world would finally see that he was a false god, that he was not the great hero they thought he was.
He would finally get rid of him.

Lex felt something else too. He couldn't place it. He couldn't shake it. Couldn't shake the feeling that this, whatever this moment in time was, was going to change everything. He didn't know what 'everything' meant,he only knew it felt like he was witness to history in the making.

As he watched the hatch in the ceiling open and the android fly out into the blood red skies streaked with clouds of orange,he was as sure of this feeling as he had been the day the world met Superman. The dawn of a new age, and he was determined to be a part of it.

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

'Momento mori.' He said quietly.

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A/N: Momento Mori simply means "remember that you will die", which I think is the perfect embodiment of guys like Lex. Always looking to outdo themselves, hoping their name goes down in the annals of history.
One of the lines from the Ballad of the Frogman(better known as 'that poem Shane recites in Lone Survivor') that really resonates with me is "Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards."

Batman follows this rule and turns it up to 11. Lex follows it too, although his motivations are more self-serving when compared to Bruce's more noble(if a little insane)motivations.

I picked Bruce and Lex to be the one's who experience and share this premonitory feeling for a reason. They're both human, and they're two of the smartest people in the DCU, although I've always felt that when it comes to raw intellect, Lex is smarter but Bruce knows more. It's kind of like Lex is a really sharp knife, but Bruce is a Swiss Army knife. Now sure, a sharp knife might be better for you in some situations. If you're say, fighting a bear, but in comic books we've seen who wins time and time again... Versatility done right kicks sheer ability/force in the balls everytime.

Anyway, regardless of what you think, you've got to admit that these two are perhaps DC's greatest (human) chessmasters. Before they do anything they always consider the long-term effects.
If anyone is going to foresee the much deeper ramifications of Metahuman activity on Earth besides property damage,cheesy codenames and colorful costumes, its these two guys.

Also, I couldn't find anything on the abbreviation for A.M.A.Z.O, but I just couldn't leave it like that. Sorry if its too cheesy.