The Mightiest Mortals (not completed)

[lexluthor]

Players: Lex Luthor and Dick Grayson
Location(s): LexCorp Tower, Metropolis
Plot Summary: Dick approaches Lex to inquire as to malfunctioning LexCorp technology.

Surprisingly enough, Lex- despite his diverse, devastating and diabolical range of plans and plots running simultaneously across any countless number of strands, and operating on levels which the intellect of the little people couldn't comprehend- was not responsible for the latest deaths caused by LexCorp technology. Several advanced AIs designed for mining in South Africa had malfunctioned, resulting in twenty deaths to both miners and the troops sent in to deal with the situation. Lex, along with a little help from local government and the mine's American owners, was managing to cover up the situation quite well. But the fact was that these deaths were supposed to be impossible. Lex had never intended these robots to do any harm to anyone- whilst he might have built killer robots in the past, a man could put himself out of business if he built nothing but devices of death.

That didn't change the fact that the killings committed by the robots were unavoidably deliberate. They had suddenly ceased to go about their ordinary routines, and activated several of their mining tools in ways that should have been impossible in order to murder twenty one mineworkers. It had taken a full SWAT team in order to deactivate them, and several of the team had seen fatalities. Lex was furious. He sat at his ornate glass desk, alone in his office- which was lit only by the ethereal glow of his computer monitor. Lex did not have an ordinary monitor. His monitor was instead a gaseous liquid, suspended in mid-air, in which each individual particle could be illuminated as required to make an image. It gave out a limited amount of light at present, but enough for Lex's keen eyes to see by as he stared at his own fingers in deep thought.

Naturally, they'd assume he did it. One did not build up a reputation such as that of Luthor's and then avoid suspicion when machines you produced were responsible for murder. Yet the fact was that, for arguably the first time in his life, Lex Luthor was an innocent man. Or at least, for a given value of "innocent". Which meant that someone, someone phenomenally stupid, was trying to manipulate LexCorp, and by extension Lex himself, for their own purposes. Whether they were going to blackmail him, frame him, or something else, he didn't know. But he knew that he was going to destroy them for what they had done to him. No one played games with Luthor. Because Luthor did not merely win. He won absolutely. He won a victory on every comprehensive level. He was going to grind them down to their last grains of their essence. He didn't care if they were a child who figured out how to hack his robots. Lex was going to remove every aspect of their humanity, was going to show them the truest of pains, was going to desecrate their very soul. And then he would look them in the face, and adjust the tie of his five-thousand dollar suit, and smile.

As he sat there, considering the myriad hells which he could unleash upon the pitiful individual who had made the mistake of crossing Earth's mightiest mortal, all of the lights flashed on. Lex looked up, nonplussed, as if he had merely received a visitor. Which he had, in a manner of speaking. He stood, and addressed the figure who had been lurking in the shadows of his office, but now crouched in blazing light. He knew which one of them it was. "I do battle with Gods," He said, arrogantly. "Did you really think myself unprepared for a mortal?" He knew how to defeat every single one of the Alien's friends. Although he had to admit a sneaking regard for the Bat, this new one was...different. A new incarnation. It had happened before. The Flashes, for example. Yet Batman had always seemed so much more solid than that. Oh well. He would not grieve the loss of someone who had died because they picked the wrong side.

[Batman]

This wasn’t the type of news that Dick wanted to wake up to. He stood in his hotel room slowly buttoning his shirt as he watched the report unfold across the screen. Seven A.I. models owned by Lex Corp were responsible for the deaths of twelve civilians and eight SWAT officers who had tried to neutralize the situation. The crisis had been solved without the aid of a superhero though Dick wished he had been there when it happened. He had worked alongside Superman to protect the city from two criminals who had gotten their hands on weaponry that allowed them to manipulate the flame and Earth. Yet tragedy had struck again later that evening when A.I. bots had murdered innocent civilians. Dick felt nothing but regret and guilt even though Metropolis wasn’t his responsibility. One of the reporters had pointed out that Batman and Superman had been able to save the city earlier that day but had failed to save it again when Luthor’s equipment went rogue. That did little to make him feel better. Dick wanted to believe that Lex Luthor was responsible for this but logic told him that he had nothing to gain. So either he had created faulty equipment, he had decided to kill the citizens of Metropolis or someone else had taken control of his gear. It was one of the three and Dick knew the easiest way to figure this out was by asking him.


“So you’re that playboy from Gotham?” Mary the waitress that Dick had met while talking with Clark approached him with his tie. “Something like that...I’m his son...well adopted son.” He took his tie and quickly began to put it on. “Look, I’d love to sit around and chat but I have a meeting.” He also had to make sure a duplicate of his cape was imported from Gotham before nightfall. He was sure that Alfred had already arranged for it but he was also certain that Alfred hadn’t expected him to suit up. Strictly speaking Lex Luthor was Superman’s responsibility but Dick was going to play the detective role this time. “You can stay if you want. I don’t have to check out until this evening. Maybe if I wrap up early we can meet again.” That was a lie but Dick wasn’t exactly known for being honest when it came to women. “I guess I might be seeing you. I have today off.” She kissed him and Dick kissed her back. After five minutes of kissing Dick finally withdrew before he got distracted. “I’ve got to go.” He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Bruce would kill me if I let this proposal fall through.”


Several hours later and Dick was standing on Lex Corp brooding. The sun was slowly starting to set but he knew that Lex Luthor was still there. He had been able to get a hand on the man’s personal schedule and knew that he didn’t have any meetings for the afternoon. Dick figured that Lex Luthor was the type of man who would spend most of his time in his office than away. He was always scheming and plotting and his office was one of the most secure buildings on Earth. Dick was standing on the building and even he couldn’t eavesdrop without fear of detection. Though he was certain that he could slip in the man’s office without being noticed. That was an entirely different matter entirely. When he confronted Lex he would keep it short. He had a file of information regarding the robots that Luthor had helped create and those things hadn’t been designed to kill. The only way they could have been was through deliberately manipulating them into doing so. There were safeguards against that but whoever was responsible would be able to do so. Again the evidence pointed to Luthor but the man had no motives. He couldn’t think of any scientists on Luthor’s staff either. The man was evil, not the company. Luthor was too smart to hire villains. Dick found himself without answers to his questions and so he was going to do the source.

He was able to slip into Luthor’s office with the aid of air vents. In a matter of minutes he was standing in the man’s office directly behind the screen of floating gas particles. He would wait until Luthor noticed him. It wasn’t long before the lights blinked on and the brightness made Dick blink in surprise though his mask hid his surprise. He still had the upper hand, though. The cameras and audio devices in the office were effectively turned off and Batman had the evidence he needed to check Luthor’s facts. He had no accusations. Only questions. He stepped through the gaseous computer monitor and slapped the file on Luthor’s desk. “Seven SC-17 models designed for a diamond mining operation in South Africa went rogue and killed twenty people today.” He wasn’t sure if he was trying to use Bruce’s brusque manner. They didn’t have similar interrogation methods and Dick had to admit he felt odd. Yet this was one of those situations that demanded he be totally serious. Jokes and witty comments were designed to throw people off their game and that didn’t work quite so easily with Luthor. “I doubt you were responsible for orchestrating this disaster but I bet you know someone is.”