Superman Batman Ch 3: Enter Luthor
Clark had never been to Gotham before. It was a stark contrast to the Metropolis that Lois had brought him to several months ago. Before the attack by General Zod that had crippled the once beautiful city, it was truly a beacon of technological advancement and sophistication. However, upon traveling south across the bay, they entered a dark gothic city full of old brick buildings and stone architecture that emulated a cold dim cellar wherever you looked.
"How far away are we from this place?" Clark asked Lois as they passed through part of downtown.
"Not far," replied Lois, "Once we get away from the shadow of the city we'll be close to the fabled Wayne Manor."
"Have you been there before?"
"Sort of," Lois responded. "I tried to interview Bruce Wayne a few years back at Wayne Tower about his failed energy project that bankrupted his company, but he never showed. I wasn't all that surprised; he was a bit of a recluse by then and had a reputation for being a huge prick. So I showed up at his house to try and get my answers, you know me, I take rejection poorly. But I wasn't even able to get past the butler."
"That doesn't sound like you," replied Clark.
"Right?" She shouted. "For an old British guy he was tough as nails."
"So what did you do?" Asked Clark.
"I talked to the CEO, Lucius Fox, and got my story," she answered. "I always get my story."
"What ever happened to Wayne?"
"Well he went into hiding for several years until he lost all of his money in the stock market and apparently died during the Siege of Gotham."
"The Siege of Gotham?" Clark looked confused.
"Wow, were you living under a rock?"
"I was kind of in and out of civilization," Clark said smiling, "I mean I spent as much time as I could away from normal people."
"Right, well a hulking terrorist named Bane put the city on lockdown and kept the government out by threatening to detonate a megaton bomb that would have even reached Metropolis."
"What about the police?" asked Clark.
"That's the craziest part," she responded, "He had been using the sewers beneath the city as his base of operations and by the time the police went down there to flush him out, he set off carefully placed explosions to trap them all down there."
"All of them?" Clark said astounded.
"Well, most of them. The commissioner was in the hospital and most of the higher ups were topside, but they didn't stand a chance against what happened next."
"What happened next?"
"Bane beat the Batman."
Clark's gaze didn't move from the road.
"You have heard of the Batman, right?" Lois asked tilting her head judgmentally.
"Of course I've heard of the Batman," responded Clark. "He was that crazy vigilante guy who dressed like a bat and ended up killing the city's DA."
"He was also the crazy vigilante guy who broke up the mob, saved the city from countless terrorist attacks, and nearly erased petty crime entirely. Which for Gotham is a lot of crime," she giggled. "Anyway, with Batman out of the way, Bane took control of the city with little resistance and almost succeeded in destroying it. But…"
"But what?" Clark said still looking forward.
"The Batman came back and defeated Bane, found the bomb, and flew it out of the city just in time to save it; sacrificing himself to save millions."
"You're kidding," Clark's gaze finally turned to Lois.
"Nope, the whole thing was like a scene out of a movie," she said in disbelief. "Now they revere the Batman like a god here, and built a huge statue to honor the sacrifice he made to save them. Oh wait turn here; this is the place."
As they passed through the gates toward Wayne Manor, Clark's mouth instantly dropped. Before him stood a castle of epic proportions, dark and gothic, yet lit up and festive for the party.
"Are you sure this Wayne guy wasn't the duke of something?" He asked. "This place could hold a hundred families."
"In a way it does," Lois said. "In his will, Wayne left his entire family's estate to the orphaned youth of Gotham."
"Imagine that," Clark muttered, "A rich guy with a heart."
"Well that's what happens when you don't have any heirs, you begin to wonder how your legacy is going to be remembered. Pull up over there, it looks like they have a valet," said Lois as she leaned forward to get a better view.
Clark pulled up to the curb with their rented car, which was a newer model but comparatively looked like something out of the Stone Age. Handing the keys to the boy behind the counter, he could swear he heard a giggle as the boy ducked into the driver's seat and sped off.
"Wow, look at all the famous people in this place!" Lois exclaimed as they walked through the front door. "Oh right, look who I'm talking to."
"Yeah I don't know any of these people," Clark replied.
"Ok well," Lois pointed to a man nearby, "That guy with the white suit and black tie, his name is Roman Sionis; he owns the biggest cosmetics company in the entire eastern seaboard. What he makes in a week rivals what the Daily Planet makes in a year. Word is though that he is a scrooge with severe anger management problems, so no one will ever tell him 'no' and he always gets what he wants."
"The young guy over there," she said pointing to a man with a fitted black suit and an emerald green tie, "That is Oliver Queen; he recently became the CEO of Queen Consolidated after his mom almost helped to destroy half of Starling City. He's a bit of a playboy, but he did survive on a remote island all by himself for 5 years before coming back and taking over, so I'm sure we'll be hearing some more great stories from that family."
"The good looking man with the cute blonde on his arm is Thomas Elliot," she said slowy, "He's not really super famous or super rich, but he's the best damn plastic surgeon in the world which makes him very popular among the rich elite."
"What about that kid near the bar messing with a hologram coming out of his wrist?" asked Clark.
"Aha, good eye! That would be our target for the evening," Lois said grinning, "That's Lex Luthor."
"You're kidding," Clark said with astonishment, "I thought Lex Luthor was an old bald guy with henchmen and fancy suits."
"You're thinking of his father, Lionel," said Lois, "Lex is a computer genius who at the age of seven created PC hologram technology for his science fair. At the age of twelve he hacked into the FBI mainframe while in the middle of class and pinged the signal off of his professor's computer so that the professor would get arrested; all of which to impress a girl. A few years later he was writing entire algorithms that rewrote the framework of the internet and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard with doctorates in computer science, engineering, molecular biology, and business before creating a now billion dollar company humbly called LexCorp that deals in just about everything."
"He's so young," muttered Clark.
"Don't let his age fool you," Lois replied, "That's the man Metropolis has hired to rebuild half of the city since your skyscraper crumbling brawl with Zod." Lois paused, before adding, "And I don't think that rebuilding is his only agenda."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," she started, "Why use a Swiss Army Knife to spread butter on your toast?"
"You think there's something more to the story?" Clark was becoming intrigued.
"There's always something more to a story," Lois answered with a smirk, "Stories are like oysters; they try so hard to keep their pearls hidden, but I know that they have something shiny inside, and I can't wait to just show it to everyone!"
"I think you lost me," Clark said puzzled.
"Oh nevermind, let's go over now, he's all alone." Lois motioned for Clark to follow her as she crossed the room to where Lex was standing. When they reached him, he was receiving a drink from the female bartender and trying to flirt with her at the same time.
"When I asked for some sex on the beach, I wasn't really expecting you to give it to me in a glass, I was thinking more, you know, on the beach," Lex had a look of lust on his face that was obviously not being reciprocated.
"I hope you carded him, dear," Lois said jumping in. "Last I checked Lex Luthor was still only nineteen years old."
"Well you know, having money does inflate the age," Lex bellowed.
"And the ego," Lois retorted.
Lex let out a quick puff of air, Clark figured it was possibly his way of laughing.
"Lois Lane, I can see you've finally caught up to me," Lex said smiling. "I do love having beautiful women chase me; it's one of my favorite things."
"Oh come now, Lex, you can't expect to get one of the biggest contracts in the history of Metropolis and then not answer a single question to the press about it," she said quickly. "It might make people think there's something else going on."
"Miss Lane, I can assure you that this is just another lucrative contract that LexCorp is taking very seriously with the intention that the city will be back to form before you know it!" Lex answered diplomatically.
"So why then do you have the entire area blocked off by your own army of security guards?" She responded.
"Been trying to dig up carrots in the farmer's garden much little rabbit?" Lex chuckled. "The security is merely there to make sure no one accidentally walks into a construction area and gets injured, or worse killed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a party to enjoy." And before Lois could get in another word, Lex had disappeared into the crowd nearby.
"Well that went well," Clark spoke up.
"He's hiding something, that little weasel," Lois said while grinding her teeth.
"His answers seemed genuine to me, maybe he just wants to make a name for his new company."
"Clark, if he wanted to make a name for his company he would be welcoming any and all attention from the media. You know I've heard rumors that he's even been sneaking in top scientists from around the world to work on this project."
"Maybe he's just building a more scientifically friendly part of town."
Lois glared at Clark. "Well if you two are best friends already maybe I should just drop the whole thing."
"I'm just playing devil's advocate here, Lois. You don't always have to be right."
"Yes I do," she replied, "And I am."