(Notes: this is a short chapter because it takes place before the flash back. I figured I needed to introduce Milton Fine before the flashback chapter so it did not seem as forced.)

The Men who look down on the world

Chapter Eight

"This is a waste of time." Mercy Graves mutters to herself. She does not know how Lex managed to talk her into this job. How was she talked into going with Kent Luthor to meet up with five released criminals at the marina? "Anyone could have done this job."

Kent shakes his head as he walks down the marina to the gated and fenced entrance to the Strykers Island dock. The boat is not in port yet but Kent can see it though the fog using his Kryptonian eye sight. "I like to be there to help." He says.

"You would." Mercy does not like Kent's savior act, the man is an idealist who sees the best in everyone and truly wants to help. Normally she thinks people like him are full of crap but not Kent and to Mercy that makes it worse. Mercy Graves knows how to read people, it was part of her CIA spy training. Kent is the only person who has never lied to her and she hates him for it. Something is not right about Kent Luthor. "Still do you need to be here every time?"

It was a good question, as Kent Luthor does show up to the docks every time a ship from Strykers Island Penitentiary makes it's way to the dock with prisoners set to be released. Okay he shows up when one or two of those criminals are being released via the Luthor Criminal Rehabilitation program. "These men are going to be the newest employees of Luthor Media. I like to greet new employees personally."

Mercy gags under her breath, the way Kent talks is sickeningly pure and unnatural. She often thinks to her self 'How can this man be Lex's brother?' Kent and Lex could not be more different from each other. "You can do what ever you want Mr. Luthor but is it safe? They are criminals?"

"They are criminals who have done their time and have earned a second chance. My father created the criminal rehabilitation project so that people can have a new life. So that they can make up for their mistakes and live their lives as free men contributing to the community." In reality Lionel Luthor started the program as a tax write off and really let it fall to pieces. He did not care what criminals were accepted and what talents they had. It was Kent who saw the true potential of the program.

Mercy smiles but it is a sinister smirk, Lex sees the program the same way Kent does only for different reasons. Now Mercy can get behind Lex's goals. Lex sees the rehabilitation program as an endless supply of talent he can get his hands on. There are countless criminals in Strykers and other prisons across the country with various skills that Lex can exploit. Giving these people a second chance is not important, using their talents is. Milton Fine is a prime example. Fine is a brilliant computer programer who using the name "The Computer Tyrant" took over Metropolis entire computer grid and held the city hostage. He was only stopped thanks to Superman otherwise he probably would have gotten billions in digital funds. "That is what Lex sees in the project too."

"I know I can't tell you how happy I was when Lex expressed interest in the project." Though some of Lex's choices are strange to Kent, Some of the people Lex released for the program are murderers. Still Kent believes Lex had the best intentions in mind. Still Milton Fine is a strange choice. "I'm surprise Lex would give Dr. Fine a chance, I mean that man has a grudge against Lex."

"That grudge is against your father." Mercy say coldly. "Your father was still in CEO back then. He was the one who ultimately rejected Fine's offer and bought out Fine IntellaSoft from underneath him."

"Yes but Dr. Fine announced his revenge against everyone who was responsible for his downfall, including everyone with the last name Luthor. Strykers Island had explicit orders to keep him away computers and anything he could hack into and now Lex plans to release him as a computer consultant? It seems risky to me."

"Your brother is all about risks Mr. Luthor." Mercy says shaking her head, "You know that."

Kent nods his head, yes he does. Lex clearly offered Fine something he wanted. Lex knows how to get what he wants. "Well I hope Lex knows what he is doing."

"Lex always knows what he is doing." That is why Mercy works for Lex, he is a man with a vision who always gets what he wants. He wanted her on his side to give her life for him and Mercy respects him for it. Lex Luthor is the only man who has managed to intimidate her, he is the only man she will ever work for.

The boat from the prison island slowly moves out of the fog bank as it drifts closer to the shore. At first the ship seems normal, the lights are still on, the engine is moving steady. To Mercy and Kent the movement seems normal. Then as the ship is suppose to steer closer to the prison transfer dock but it's starting to turn away. "Something is wrong." Kent mutters.

"What?" Mercy says looking at Kent.

"The ship it's moving away from the dock."

Mercy looks at the ship closely, "You're right Mr. Luthor." She takes out her radio she was given by the prison staff stationed at the Marina, "Is there something wrong with the ship?"

There is static and then an answer comes in, "Yes, we had a call from the ship, the prisoners took it over, killed the captain and crew and then communication went dead. Police are on their way stay calm."

Mercy looks a little panicked, well it's as panicked as she gets but she still looks perfectly calm. "Okay Mr. Luthor I have to get you to the limo." She says as she turns around to look at Kent, however he is done. "Kent?" She never uses Kent Luthor's first name so she is worried. She thinks for a second and stays calm, Kent Luthor is a wuss he probably returned to the limo or found a bathroom to hide in, Kent always runs in the first sign of trouble, another reason she likes Lex, Lex Luthor is afraid of nothing. "Sigh maybe he's at the car." She mutters heading off to look for Kent but not caring if she actually finds him.

Kent Luthor sped off the moment he overheard the radio conversation. He quickly slipped into the nearest bathroom and quickly changed into Superman in a flash. In a blur of red and blue he is outside again and above the boat, "Lets see what we got here." Using his x ray vision Superman looks into the boat. He sees five prisoners with guns holding the living crew and the the prisoners hostage. Laying on the floor near the bridge is the body of three guards and the captain. Behind the wheel of the ship is another criminal, one Superman knows, he has a cold smile on his face and is laughing, "Prankster."

Oswald Loomis aka the Prankster, he was being transferred from Strykers to Arkham Asylum after his latest psych report came back, that and he killed two prisoners when he was working in the cafeteria and gave three others third degree burns when he threw a boiling pot of chili in their face. His reason, "They laughed at me not with me."

Prankster is mostly harmless and Superman could take him out in a second, same with the other five prisoners. Superman takes a closer look at the five with the guns and sighs in relief when none of them are the ex-cons who are part of the rehabilitation project. It would hurt the project's reputation if something like that happened. Even Milton Fine is just sitting there scared. Two of the five criminals holding up the ship were being released today while the other three were being transferred to other prisons.

Also Superman sees that the Prankster has a switch in his hand, there are bombs all over the ship and the Prankster plans to take everyone out with him, using his super-hearing he can overhear Loomis muttering to himself, "I am not like those freaks, no no you are not sending me there. I am sane and I will show you all even if I have to kill us all."

How was Loomis able to get these other hardened criminals to follow him? Loomis clearly has a death wish right now and is insane, something is wrong with him. "Loomis was never that bad before, he was just a little wacky."

Superman knows what he must do, he makes sure all of the bombs are placed on the outside of the ship, which three of the five are and then quickly removes those bombs and disposes of them safely. He then uses his super speed to grab the bomb at the rear of the boat destroying it with a tight grasp. The final bomb is in the captain's control room with Loomis. Superman flies over there and picks up the bomb, "Hi Oswald." He says as he throws the bomb up and down.

The Prankster twists his head around at Superman, "YOU." He says with a whinny voice, "This is all your fault. You are the reason they are sending me to that mad house." He holds tightly onto the bomb switch his finger twitching over the red button.

"Always blaming others for your problems Loomis, never yourself. Think about it Oswald, do you want this?"

"Yes." He presses the button and nothing happens, he presses it again and again, "Nooo, no why won't it blow? Why won't it blow?"

Superman coughs, "Ah hum." He smiles throwing the disarmed bomb up one more time and then throws it at Loomis feet, "Me." Superman moves over to Loomis and grabs him by the collar of his prison garb, "Now come quietly."

Loomis smiles and shakes his head, "Not my style." He slips under his prison jump suit and is wearing a striped green and orange suit underneath, he holds in his hand a bottle of water, "I don't give up Super Duper Pooper." He sprays the water at Superman.

Superman just stands there and laughs, "What was that Loomis? I mean really spraying me with water? That's weak even for you."

His smile fades, "Even your eyes are super! That's prison chill powder mixed in that water. Your eyes should have been irritated long enough for me to escape." He drops to his knees, that was his back up plan because he did not expect the bombs to fail. "I don't want to do to that mad house. I don't wanna."

Superman grabs Loomis again, the Prankster is a joke. He's quite smart as he was able to construct bombs in prison some how but he's no match for Superman. Walking over to the door of the ship to the main area Superman opens the door and throws Loomis at the feet of the other convicts. "Your escape failed, blame him."

A large tattooed man looks at Loomis and then Superman, "We still have the guards, the other prisoners and the guns. So what if you stopped the Jokester."

"That's Prankster." Loomis mutters under his breath.

"Who cares." The large man kicks Loomis in the back. "Ali Sterling is not being sent to Bell Reve."

"I see." Superman shakes his head, "Now I am fast enough to stop you from killing anyone even in this confined space. You know that." Superman knows that if they want to live and they know the situation is hopeless most criminals will give up. As long as they are not nuts like Loomis here. "You can try to fight back anyway or you can just drop your weapons." Superman looks at the other four armed criminals, all who look scared. Clearly Ali is in control here and they are following him.

One of them, a large black man with a shaved head drops his weapon and sits, he has ran into Superman before and knows how hopeless the situation is, "I want no trouble man."

"Louie really?" Ali looks surprised. "The boy scout has you spooked?"

"He can stop us at any time. Superman likes to play around." Louie mutters.

"Can he?" Ali points his gun at Superman, "Then do it, stop us."

Superman is gone, he moved so fast the people in the boat did not see him. In a fraction of a second the guns are out of Ali and the other convicts hands and in a pile on the floor. Then they are chained up securely locked. "How's that?"

"See, that is why I told you you if I see Superman I'm out. I was not being a wuss I was being realistic." Louie says smiling.

"Shut up you wuss." Ali snarls at him not caring that he's locked up, "You better hope I never see you at Bell Reve."

Superman looks at Louie, the man does look slightly familiar Superman deals with so many criminals every day that their faces tend to get lost in rotation. This man has some common sense he has to be looked into maybe he can be reformed. Now that the criminals are captured again Superman frees the guards and staff of the boat, "Can anyone pilot this boat?"

The crew shake their heads, "The captain and co captain are dead, they are the only ones."

"That's no problem. I got this." Superman flies out of the boat and dives into the water. He then sets his hands down on the bottom of the boat and lifts up. The Boat lifts up into the air and he flies it over to the docks. He then sets in down where armed guards are waiting. Superman still wait with salt water looks over at the guards, "There are six dead, the captain, co captain and three guards and a prisoner. The rest of the guards will fill you in with who was responsible." Superman then flies off before they could respond to him and give him their thanks.

Mercy was waiting from the shore as the incident unfolded. She was let into the prison docks thanks to her authority in Lex Corp and was talking to the guards. "Seems Superman has the situation underc control and just left." One of the guards tells her.

"Superman huh?" Mercy scoffs, she is not a fan of Superman. She walks over to the gate and looks out, she sees someone walk out of the wash room and look around at his surrounding. The man has a confused look on his face. Mercy has a cold smile on her face, "He hid in the bathroom? Man is he pathetic." She then calls out, "Kent."

Kent Luthor walks over to the gate, "What's going on? Is the conflict over?"

"Yes." Mercy says as a guard opens the gate to let Kent Luthor in. "The guards are dealing with the criminals right now. The people for the rehabilitation program are being interviewed first and then will be released in our custody." Mercy is happy Kent shown up when he did she does not want to deal with any ex con but Milton Fine, the one she has to deal with.

"I saw the boat lift in the air at the end. Did I miss Superman." Kent says with interested voice.

Mercy frowns, of course Kent would be a fan of Superman, they are both boyscouts who are too good to be true. "It was not much. Everything is so easy for Superman. He's boring to watch."

"Yeah but he makes Metropolis safe, isn't that worth something?"

"He makes people soft." Mercy says again. She really does not want to get into this again, she is trying to get away, "Let's focus Kent, here come our criminals."

"That is not how we should look at them. They are trying to make a better life for themselves."

"They are criminals." Criminals with useful talents like Milton Fine there but criminals non the less. Frankly if Lex did not have use for him Mercy would rather see him dead. She still remembers how be brought chaos to metropolis less then a year ago.

Milton Fine is walking behind a couple armed guards and there is a third guard behind him. There are three other released criminals, the ones Kent came for right behind him. These guys are just going to be janitors and file clerks in low positions at Luthor Media. Kent thinks small. Now Lex thinks big, Milton Fine has special talents and he knows it. Even in prison orange he walks with dignity his head is held high with a face too good looking for a computer geek. He has light green eyes and light yellow hair. Milton is a tall man and well built. He sees Mercy and smiles, "You are as stunning as ever Ms. Graves. I am so glad Lex sent you to retrieve me. It was a surprise offer I might add. I am intrigued to see what job Lex has for me."

The guards release Fine into Mercy's custody who nods, "Thanks." She glances at Fine and then looks away, "The job Lex has for you is worthy of your unique skills."

Kent offers Fine his hand, "I am Kent Luthor."

Milton Fine shakes Kents hand, "Charmed Mr. Luthor." There is a tint of hatred in his voice that is well hidden. His feelings toward the Luthor family is pretty negative. He does not care about Kent Luthor one way or the other, the man does not even deal with computers. It's Lex who has a deal for him and it's Lex he has a special hatred for. He loves that Lex Luthor is stupid enough to give him a chance to extract a personal revenge on him. Sure it was Lionel that ruined Milton Fine's life but Lex was part of the board of directors that destroyed his company and he will stop at nothing to destroy Luthor Corp. What Lex is offering him will make his revenge so much easier. Miles looks away from Kent removing his arm, "We should get going." He says to Mercy.

"Yes." Mercy walks out of the gate with Milton Fine following her. "Lex is not one we should keep waiting." She starts to head over to the parking lot then stops. She turns around to the gate where Kent is dealing with the other released convicts, "Mr. Luthor if you and those men do not hurry I will leave you. I was told to take you with but Lex gave me no order to drop you and them off at Luthor Media. So the offer is for a limited time only."

"Sorry sorry." Kent smiles and winks then leads his men over to Mercy. "Please don't leave us."