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[b]LexCorp Building, Metropolis[/b]

Lex Luthor muttered under his breath as he watched Jonathan Corben marching his way through Metropolis on the television screen. Someone had broken into LexCorp for the second time and this time they had gotten away with much more. Corben was Lex’s most prized possession, it was his ability to channel the meteor rock energy that powered Luthor’s generator, and now he was gone. Luthor was going to do whatever it took to change that. From beside Lex, Mercy Graves watched on nervously, the seriousness of Corben’s absconding from the generator room not lost on the bodyguard. She looked to her employer with a concerned look.

[color=ed145b]"What do we do, sir? If word gets out that Corben is the product of a LexCorp exper-"[/color]

Lex scowled.

[color=39b54a]"I am the most intelligent man on Earth, Mercy, do you not think that might have occurred to me?"[/color]

An exasperated sigh left Luthor’s lips and he held his bald head in his hands for a moment as he formulated a plan of action.

[color=39b54a]"We need to get Corben back. If he were going to tell the world what was done to him, he would have already done so. [i]Someone[/i] set him free. We need to get him back and figure out who it was. The generator won’t run for long without Corben there to power it. Once we have Corben back and the generator is stable again, we’ll make him talk and make whoever set him free pay with their lives."[/color]

Mercy smiled.

[color=ed145b]"I like the sound of that."[/color]

Luthor ran through the roster of the Justice League in his head. None were privy to Corben or what Lex had done to him, Lex made sure to keep that part of his work away from them, so it would require careful choosing on Lex’s part. He’d worked too hard to put the League together to have it undone because some agent provocateur had decided to let Corben free.

[color=39b54a]"I can’t risk sending Rogers on something like this. Corben is far too powerful and he seemed too chummy with the so-called Man of Steel for my liking. He might get to asking questions. We cannot afford that."[/color]

Mercy nodded in agreement.

[color=ed145b]"What about Captain Marvel?"[/color]

[color=39b54a]"No, she’s too inquisitive, too curious."[/color]

A smile appeared on Mercy’s face as the right candidate popped into her mind.

[color=ed145b]"You need someone to which [i]everything[/i] looks like a nail in need of hammering."[/color]

Lex glanced up at his bodyguard and grinned.

[color=39b54a]"Exactly that. Get in touch with Thor and tell him I want him in my office, would you? I do believe the Odinson’s unique blend of brawn and bravado make him the right man for this job. And do try to be as discrete as possible, it simply won't do to have the others knowing about this."[/color]

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Mercy nodded and left the room to track Thor down. Lex waited until he heard the door click shut behind his bodyguard before letting out a heavy sigh. As the sigh tailed off a red-blue blur on the television screen caught Luthor’s attention. There looming over Corben was none other than Superman. Lex’s blood began to boil at the mere sight of him. Superman had turned him down, turned down Luthor’s Justice League, and spent years trying to undo the work Lex had done to repair his once dirtied reputation. His presence complicated things some. Apprehending Corben was one thing. Doing it without arousing the suspicion of Superman was another thing.

[color=39b54a]“The ever-present white knight appears just in the knick of time.”[/color]

Perhaps Corben would do Luthor a favour and kill Superman. Lex wasn’t sure how he’d feel about that. He’d always imagined the Man of Steel felled by his hand but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t make much difference. Whatever happened Lex needed Corben back and he needed Corben back soon. Otherwise his vaunted generator would wipe every human life in Metropolis out.