Chapter 20: A Well Deserved Vacation
The construction of the towers were ahead of schedule. It was fantastic. Every progress report Luthor had received on his landmark 'broadband tower project' had put a smile on his face every time he heard one.
For a man accustomed to coming out on top, the thrill of victory subsided after a while. All of the hostile takeovers, ruining his rivals both in and out of the business world... eventually, it all began to run together. There was little satisfaction in it any longer. It was expected.
Now, the thrill of revenge, that was something else entirely. Righting the wrongs done against him by the ignorant parties responsible... when it was done right, and on a large enough scale, it was better than sex.
And he could think of no revenge greater than what he was about to achieve. It was all a matter of time now. Everything was in his hands, and when Superman and his detestable Kryptonian ilk were all gone, there would be no one with the sheer might to overcome his intellect.
Luthor's bodyguard Mercy stood watching the city below them from the window of his office. Her arms were crossed sternly as she watched the people below scuttle about like ants around the nest, "A lot of companies are seeing the activation of the towers as an opportunity," She said, "Did you mean to make this such an event?"
While for most people, trying to do things under the radar was the best approach, for Lex, there was no such thing. He had gotten on the wrong side of the law so often that there was no way he could keep eyes off of him for too long. Not unless there was something more dangerous approaching that required everyone's attention. Sadly, there was no such thing at the moment.
Even so, in situations such as this, he could find other ways to go about his business. Hiding his activities in plain sight was child's play. He ran a legitimate business, and he knew how to mask the more illicit aspects with daytime activities. If everyone was already looking at something in and out to begin with, how much deeper would they think they could search?
"Of course," Luthor said with a sly smirk, "This is going to be a landmark week. As a man of progress, I say, why should LexCorp be the only one in the spotlight? Who knows? Something worth my interest may just pop up."
"You really think so?" Mercy asked, assuming that he wanted her to go find out of there really was.
"I never said that would necessarily be a good thing for whoever it was," Lex said, "Let me know when you find something useful. I'll tell you what I want done from there."
There was so much that needed to be done before his big moment.
XxX
(With Max – Gotham City)
Ah, school. As Max walked through the halls, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, he thought to himself just how good it was to be back.
...Actually, no. No it wasn't. Getting suspended was like getting a 10 day vacation. The only problem was that he had to put in more work to pull his grades back up. Still, he'd been knocking on the door of straight-As before, so it probably wouldn't be too difficult.
If nothing else, it was a welcome change of pace from people trying to kill him or take advantage of him in some way.
However, he couldn't enjoy the return to normalcy for long, because he wasn't allowed to have nice things. There was always something else that came up. In this case, the something else wasn't dangerous as much as it was just distracting.
Upon sitting down at his station for his lab course and greeting his partner, he received a sideways glance and a turn of the head. Most of his time looking in her direction, all he got for his trouble was a big look at long red hair. She would barely even face him.
Barbara had given him a rather cool reception upon his return. Not that Max hadn't expected some level of disappointment from her, as she didn't seem to be the type that would be excited by watching him get into a fight (policeman's upstanding niece and all that), but he hadn't thought that it was so bad.
It wasn't like he'd just cold-cocked some poor bastard out of nowhere. The guy he'd fought had been rude, confrontational, and had gotten in more punches… that Max had let him land… for all the good they did him in the end.
Either way, Barbara only spoke to him in one word sentences through class, and only to communicate something or another that related to the lab work they were sharing responsibility for.
That might have been it. Maybe she was just pissed that he'd left her alone to do the lab work by herself for a week?
"I'm sorry I was gone," Max said out of the blue near the end of class, "If it makes up for it, I'll do all of the experiments for the next week and a half myself to make up for it. Does that help?"
Barbara spared him half a glance before ignoring him once again. Okay, so it wasn't about having the entire workload dropped onto her shoulders. That meant she really was upset by him getting kicked out for fighting. Had she thought that he was above that sort of thing?
…Hell. There had actually been someone who had a fairly high opinion of him, and he'd gone and shattered it.
Why did that feel so familiar?
Max let it go and went on about his business until the end of class. As the bell rang, the teacher at the head of the class stood up and spoke to all of the students, "Before you all run out of here, remember to get in your permission slips by Wednesday. The trip is Friday, so we need a good count of who's going by then."
Max spoke to Barbara again, momentarily forgetting himself, "What permission slips?" He blurted out, again getting no answer, "Okay, so you're going to stay mad at me until... when exactly?" Silence, "Fine. I guess we're back to square one where you think I'm useless."
He started to raise his hand to ask the teacher instead, when Barbara stopped him with a hold on his forearm. She had a good grip, but it lasted for only a moment before it softened, "It's the science department's upperclassmen semester trip," She saw a look of realization on Max's face, "Yeah. Three days in Metropolis."
The upperclassmen trip was 20% of the reason Max had started working his way up the tree of classes offered in the science department at his school. They were always to somewhere cool, with plenty of activities planned to keep their attention. Metropolis was probably the best destination the school had planned yet.
"Alright. Sounds good to me," Max said, feeling himself get excited, "I can't believe we're going there though."
"I think it was supposed to be somewhere else originally, but because of the whole widespread broadband tower project by LexCorp, it was switched," Barbara continued to explain, "Invitations were extended, and I guess our school jumped all over it before the guest list was filled."
"Why? Invitations for what?"
"The ceremony before they're being activated is open to educational institutions," Barbara told him, sounding wholly unimpressed by the idea, "Lex Luthor is going to speak, throw the switch to activate the towers nationwide, take pictures, shake hands. You know, the whole public appearance dog-and-pony show."
Max snorted, bemused at the idea of the big, bad company holding a ceremony for something like this. It was a big deal, but still, not so much that they would make a big show out of it. Only LexCorp, "Well, that'll be the most boring part of the trip, probably. But at least it's just one part."
Barbara frowned at Max. He had clearly been expecting her to go on the trip. That was unfortunate, "Mmm. You'll have to tell me how it goes."
Surprise was etched on his face, "You're not going?" He asked, "Is something wrong?"
Barbara looked confused before waving off any misplaced concerns, "No, nothing's the matter. I guess I just don't feel like it," She said, "It doesn't sound like my idea of fun. If I want to go to museums and stuff, I would do it on my own."
That made sense, for the most part. Barbara was a smart girl. She'd probably seen all of the intellectual spots around Gotham. And some people just didn't like to travel. Any excuse Max could use to get out of the cesspool that was his hometown, he would take. Not everyone was the same way though.
Well, that was okay. He would just have to enjoy himself enough for the both of them.
XxX
(Later That Day – Max's Apartment)
With the calamity of the frame-up job over with and done, and Max making his way back to school at the end of his suspension, Rose was left alone at the apartment throughout the day again. It was something she had become unaccustomed to and had to readjust for.
Those hours had been filled by making preparations and doing research for her biggest job yet. When that wasn't a thing, she spent the rest of the time lazing around in her underwear. It wasn't like she had to really get dressed until three in the afternoon when Max would show back up. It was all just so boring.
Even though she had the freedom to go where she wanted and do as she wished all day long, it was a pretty empty experience.
Since coming to Gotham City, she realized just how much time she had spent with a revolving cast of people in her life.
From her mother and the women at the brothel that she originally owned, to the Teen Titans, to the family that had adopted her for a spell, to Deathstroke, and now to Null.
For someone who had such antisocial personality traits, she certainly wasn't on her own very often.
However, it was annoying to get in all of that introspective thinking. It made her want to break something... and if she did that, Max would throw a fit when he got home about keeping a low profile and respecting his property. Blah-blah-blah.
Speaking of which, Rose jumped up when she heard the honk of a horn outside. Looking outside of the window, she saw Max sitting on the hood of a car, looking up at the apartment, "What the hell is that?" She asked.
Max grinned and quickly ran inside, scrambling up the stairs and entering the apartment excitedly. Rose just sat on the windowsill and looked his way, "That's mine," Max finally answered.
Bemused by Max's positive temperament, Rose responded with her most readily available social tool – sarcasm, "Thank God. I was waiting with bated breath on your answer," She said, getting barely more than a snort for her efforts, "I'm guessing that's why you're later than usual... and why there were a bunch of auto trader magazines on the table until today."
"Correct. Now your prize is, pick somewhere you want to go, and Maximilian Gabriel will make it so," He hadn't meant to make it rhyme, but considered it a happy accident.
Rose stared at him for several seconds before realizing that he was, in a roundabout way, asking her out. That was adorable. So hilariously adorable, "Are you trying to take me out tonight?" She asked, poorly trying to keep from laughing.
Max wasn't offended at the humor that was evident all over her face. On the contrary. He had expected it, "I have a car. You are a fine lady," He reasoned, "It would be a waste to not put either of those things to good use right now."
Rose chuckled and looked back out the window at Max's new ride, "You're talking about that car like it's a Jag or something. Don't get me wrong, it's good for a 'My Little Teen Wheels' starter ride, but let's not get carried away here."
"Oh, you are just a ray of sunshine," Max said, dropping his schoolbag in the floor, "Anyway, put some damn pants on. We're going somewhere," He said, gesturing in the direction of the room, trying to prompt her into getting dressed, "Not Ravager pants. Regular, not-stabby, girl pants. Shoo."
Rose blew disheveled silver hair out of her face before replying, "We don't go on dates, Sparky. Don't mistake something hormone-driven for anything more," She made out with him and let him touch her boobs sometimes because he knew what he was doing. That was all, "Besides, it's gonna be kind of hard to go do anything with this," She punctuated, pointing at her eye covered by the patch.
"Who cares about that?" Max said. He knew she wasn't so self-conscious about the eye injury itself, so it had to be about her identity, "No one knows what Ravager looks like under her mask except for superheroes, and none of them come out in this city while there's still light outside. Come on. This is not living."
To that point, Rose had a counter-argument, "You know what else isn't living? Jail. That's not living. And that's where I'll be going if a tip about me gets out," She said, "Besides, I still have work to do."
Max dropped down on the couch where Rose had been sitting. He went boneless on the comfy furniture and let out a yawn, "Right. On this mysterious mission of yours that you don't want to tell me about, yet continue to do research on at my kitchen table."
Rose looked at said table where she still had some evidence of said research lying around. Thankfully, Max wasn't the nosy type. He had a sense of self-preservation that was too strong to allow such a thing, "Let's just let those sleeping dogs lie, shall we?" She warned.
Max would let it go, kicking his shoes off and placing his feet up on his coffee table, "You said I'd owe you later. I presume it's for this. I'd like to know what it is so I can prepare. You know, physically, mentally, emotionally."
Rose thought about it before quickly banishing the idea, "...This is going to be a tough favor to ask for," She told Max, "I don't even want to."
"Are you sure that's not just because you hate asking me for anything, ever?" He replied, "Spit it out, already. The worst thing I can do is say no."
"No, there are plenty of things you can do worse than saying no," The mercenary's daughter said obstinately, "You could say no and then stooge to someone who'll go after me. Hell, you could stop me when I try to do it by myself."
Max was extremely skeptical of that. As long as whatever she was doing didn't affect his own bottom line, he more than likely wouldn't have cared about it. He hadn't so far, "It can't be that bad. In case you've forgotten, I'm a criminal."
Rose walked over to Max and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips, "I'm really not kidding when I say that it could be the worst thing I've ever thought of doing."
That was quite the statement to make. Max had seen her handiwork. He had also heard about some of her more gruesome feats that he hadn't been present for. Some more recent than others, "You've got to be kidding," He said, "You killed a guy. You killed ten guys. Like, just the other week."
She'd told him about the Maxie Zeus thing that she'd done while he'd been trying to clear his name. Gleefully told him, in fact. And had pantomimed throughout her entire story, swinging a crutch around Max's apartment while she'd been doing it. It was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen, or would have been, had she not been telling a story about how she had eviscerated a man and his entire security detail.
Rose stepped closer and lowered herself down a bit closer to her roommate's level, "I'm not fucking joking, Sparks. Were I not an awful bitch, I would be having second thoughts," She pointed a sharp finger directly into Max's face, "And since you are,for the most part, a decent excuse for a human being, you definitely will."
Max let out a snort as he tried to look past the girl in front of him at the television, "You say that like you're gonna be helping the Joker commit mass murder or something," He said, trying to be outlandish with his exaggeration. It was only when he noticed the silence from Rose, and her change in body language that he felt a sickness in his gut, "No. Noooooo," He said, fear slowly creeping into him, "Rose, fucking no-."
"I'm not helping the Joker kill anybody!" She eventually snapped. She knew he would react like this if he so much as got a hint of what she was doing! He wasn't even on the money, but it was close enough that she knew she had been right in holding off on telling him, "He doesn't hire people for that! He does it himself!"
This time, Max pointed at her, accusingly, "You're helping him do something! You flinched! You don't ever flinch!"
"I'm not!" Rose continued to protest, before relenting under her breath,"...Directly..." Before Max could raise his voice again, she cut him off, "Should we really be having this conversation here?"
Anything to stall. If they had to go all the way to the hideout just to have the conversation, it would still give Rose a little extra time to come up with a way to spin her story and make it sound better. Sadly, however, Max wasn't having it.
Max stared at Rose, and without taking his eyes off of her turned on his Playstation, started playing music off of the hard drive, and cranked the TV up loud enough to mask their voices from outside, "Talk."
Being tough with a threatening demeanor was always her last go-to defense, "Don't tell me what to do," She seethed, trying to get Max to back down and leave it alone.
If she had tried that months ago, it likely would have worked. Now though, Max had been through enough that Rose's temper didn't automatically put him in flight mode anymore. Granted, an angry Rose Wilson was still something for him to beware, but he liked to think that she wouldn't lash out at him so readily. He felt that now they were too close for her to just do that on a whim any longer.
Max sighed and stood up, going nose-to-nose with Rose, standing half a head taller due to his height advantage, "Listen to me," He said calmly as the music provided background for them, "I keep a list, and I figured you would have too, of people to never do anything with, for, or against. That guy is at the top of that list. So if what you're doing has ANYTHING to do with him, I am not only obligated to wash my hands of it completely, but I would be the worst friend in history if I didn't do everything in my power to convince you to do the same."
Rose almost seemed insulted that Max felt he had to tell her that much. She had been doing illegal things for longer than he had, "I'm not helping the Joker, or anyone else directly," She said, trying to set him somewhat at ease, "I'm just letting inmates out of Arkham Asylum."
Oh. Just letting the bad guys out of Arkham. And not a specified number either. Because that was so much better. Actually, as long as the Joker wasn't one of them, it was.
"Why?" Max asked, trying to keep his cool. He needed more facts.
Rose shrugged, "Intergang's boss wants it. Chaos in the city, and all that jazz. Or something. I tuned out once he started droning," She had gone to see Bruno Mannheim for guns and shiny sharp things. Not a piece-by-piece breakdown of whatever he was plotting and scheming.
Max inhaled and exhaled sharply through his nose, "Can you cherry-pick? Like, not letting the real, true-blue psychos out?" He asked. Because there were a few people he would rather keep inside and as far away as possible.
Rose smiled at him wryly, "You know I have to let some of the actual names out," She said, "Just letting out the jabronies isn't going to get my debt to Mannheim repaid. It'll just piss him off. He armed me so good, Sparks. Soooo good," She trailed off, remembering just how many armaments Intergang had been stockpiling for various and sundry reasons.
Noticing he was losing her, Max snapped his fingers in front of her face to keep her from spacing out, "Hey-hey-hey! Focus up!"
She was able to return herself to the real world and swatted Max's hand out of her face, "Yeah, but it's not like I'm going out to do it tomorrow. This whole thing needs to be laid out delicately."
That didn't exactly fill Max with a good amount of comfort. The two of them were very different, and her idea of delicate was significantly more dangerous than his. At least he had some time to either change her mind or find a way to modify what she was going to do. There would be plenty of time for that on his school function.
It was a sad day when he considered a field trip a vacation.
XxX
(A Few Days Later – Metropolis)
Ah, good old bright, sunshiny Metropolis. Not that Max didn't love Gotham City, but sometimes, he just had to get out of that place and reset.
…
Okay, he absolutely hated Gotham City. He hated it with a passion. It was the worst city in America, period. He oftentimes wondered why he hadn't moved away the moment he had enough money to finance it.
Be that as it may, it didn't change the fact that his trip to Metropolis was temporary. Max's trip to Metropolis, not Null's. That was key to note. He was not suiting up and bringing down the wrath of Krypton onto his own head.
There wasn't even a reason to anyway. He wasn't there to steal anything. It was for a school function. There would be no criminal escapades here. Just good times that he could look back on as a joyless adult reminiscing of times that had passed him by.
God, the process of growing older was depressing.
But enough about that! There was plenty of time to bum himself out at home in bleak, drab, pessimistic Gotham City. This was Metropolis! There was plenty of opportunity, plus education and culture for all to enjoy! The City of Tomorrow, they called it!
And as such, because of this major achievement by LexCorp, it was to be known as a week of innovation. All kinds of companies were bringing the designs and ideas for their new innovations to show off and get people excited. The site of one of these expos was the field trip destination for Max's group on this particular day.
There had been a lot to take note of. Plenty of active products were being shilled, while in some cases, prototypes were being displayed. One in particular had Max's attention.
"THE ONLY TRUE PERSONAL FLIGHT VEHICLE OF THE 21ST CENTURY, THANKS TO THE INNOVATION OF KORD INDUSTRIES. THE FUTURE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH. WE'RE CURRENTLY TESTING OUR PATENTED GRAVBOARD."
Max found himself enraptured by the display. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. What an awesome ride.
It wasn't even finished yet, apparently. More than likely, it would never go into production. Mostly because there was no possible way to ensure that anyone could safely, comfortably stay on it while it was moving at its higher speeds. It could apparently reach speeds higher than 155 mph, but before they put it on the market, they would have to cap the speed somewhere low. And that was just one of the safety bugs that needed to be worked out.
This was never going to hit the market, even in its terrible, watered-down safety-first form.
...And yet, he wanted it.
"No," Max said to himself, despite lingering behind to stare at the piece of technology before him, "Stop it. Leave it alone."
It didn't work. He didn't keep moving on with the rest of his group for the remainder of the tour. It was like he was transfixed.
He could have it. Absolutely he could.
But he didn't need it. He had money. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he was set for a good, long while as long as he lived within his means. Any thievery at this point would only be meant to satiate his base desire for some sort of adrenaline rush. The kind of risk-reward feeling he had become accustomed to whenever he had done anything in-costume.
This was exactly what he hadn't wanted to have happen when he began his criminal career. It was quite the opposite, actually. The plan had been to suit up because he needed to, because he needed to obtain something to keep his personal funds in the black.
It was starting to get to the point where he still needed to, but not for monetary gain.
'You're smarter than this, old boy,' He thought to himself, trying to convince himself to leave well enough alone, that it was more trouble than it was worth, 'Just... let it go. There's no reason for taking it. Who would you even sell it to?'
That answer was simple. He wasn't going to sell it. He was going to use it for himself because he thought it was cool. That was his criteria for wanting the Gravboard.
Why, oh why did he bring the Null suit? In case of an emergency. What emergency? The uncontrollable desire to try and steal something for the fun of it? He needed something big. A scorched earth thought that would keep him from doing something consciously stupid.
'You want to pull off even a semi high-profile heist in Supes' town, you idiot?' He thought to himself in a last-ditch effort to reason himself out of ripping off something during such a high-profile time period.
That had done the trick.
The prospect of attracting the attention of Superman, any of the Kryptonian ilk, or really any of the heroes who called Metropolis their stomping ground threw ice cold water all over his boner for crime. With a shiver of fear, Max peeled his eyes away from his would-have, should-have, could-have prize and went on his merry way.
Superman was on the list. The list of people you didn't screw around with. Simply because there was no path to victory for Max, and there was no reward worth the risk of tangling with the man. It was safe to say that there was nothing in Metropolis that could convince Max to tempt fate in that manner.
There were plenty of other displays, exhibits, and demonstrations to get to. Lots of things to get his mind off of the sweet, sweet board that was just ripe for the taking.
"Nope..." Max mumbled to himself, walking away quicker every time he turned his head back to look at the Gravboard again. There was a feeling of longing in the pit of his stomach, "Clean slate. Not worth it."
Maybe if he said it to himself enough times, it would become true.
XxX
(Later That Day – Metropolis – Avenue of Tomorrow)
Metropolis was a city of innovation, and at its core was the Avenue of Tomorrow... or as Max found to be much more accurate, "Try-Hard Avenue".
The best and brightest in every field of science imaginable, all gathered in one long stretch of road. So many research centers, and all of them were open for the general population to take a look at.
It was a little portion of the field trip that Max felt was designed to make them all feel like underachieving idiots for not knowing even half of the science that went into how most of these people did what they did. As far as a 'you students all suck, so do better' portion of the function, it ranged in effectiveness, depending on who they were dealing with.
For Max, it didn't work as intended. All he could see was stuff he could find a use in stealing, either for himself, or to sell for various and sundry sums of money. After telling it to himself all day, he still had to keep stopping himself from looking at everything in terms of the value he could get for fencing it later on the black market.
"Screw stealing," Max muttered to himself as he typed away on his phone, "I've got work to do."
Inside of Max's phone was an open document where he was keeping notes on what he was seeing. Because he was there on a school trip, there was little doubt in his mind that when he returned to class proper, at least one of his teachers would have wanted him to write some kind of paper on whatever struck their fancy.
When he stopped to look down at what he'd done so far, his work left him less than pleased.
He had taken little cursory notes, as expected. Then afterwards, he left a small mark at the end. It wouldn't have meant anything to most people looking at it, maybe that it was a note of importance to his studies, but to Max, it was an indicator that what he had been looking at might have been worth stealing.
He hadn't even meant to do that. It had been subconscious. The only thing that stopped him from going back and deleting them all was sheer laziness. Also, the fact that it could have been useful somewhere down the line.
'Damn it, no!' He chided himself, 'No stealing from Metropolis!'
In an effort to curb his apparently budding kleptomaniacal tendencies, he left the technology displays and went outside to get some air and natural light before heading to another building to see what they had to offer. There were still exhibits inside of the next place he chose, but fortunately there weren't as many nifty toys to pique his interest.
Instead, there were functional experiments and day-to-day lab work put on display for a day to show the general population how workers in particular labs did their thing. It was interesting to see how smart people went about their jobs, some working with dangerous materials, others tinkering with some incredible machines. It was fascinating, like seeing how the mechanical sausage was made. Now, he could actually take some real notes.
Most of the displays were in rooms with one-way viewing windows. As he looked through the material at some of the more volatile displays, Max hoped that the windows were made of something significantly sturdier than glass. He had seen enough weird things happen to fear something dangerous going off in his presence.
All of the presentations had schedules, so while some were happening, others were either getting set up, or had absent staff entirely.
It was during this time for one of the displays that his thief's eye saw someone slipping out of one of the display rooms. With what he was now a seasoned hand at doing, he could notice when something was out of place.
It was so nonchalant that it was too inconspicuous for anyone else racing to see other active exhibits to see. And yet, he did, because the person who left was familiar.
The long, plaited blonde hair, the sharp features, the fact that she was more put together physically than most women Max had seen.
It was the lady that tried to shoot him up at the docks a month or so ago. Max never forgot a face when it had been attached to a body that had tried to kill him. You didn't need to have a bang-up memory to recall things like that as clear as day.
Fortunately, he wasn't dressed up like a punk-ass costumed thief, so it wasn't like she would come after him if she saw him there.
Still, what did she want? She definitely wasn't any kind of scientist. Not the kind that would be caught working on anything on the Avenue of Tomorrow.
"Whatever," Max said, distancing himself from the situation, "This is not my problem."
Keeping one's nose clean meant not getting it bloodied getting involved in the business of dangerous people.
XxX
"It's set, Mr. Luthor," Mercy said over the small headset wirelessly connected to her phone, "When it goes active, it will put out at maximum power."
Mercy could imagine Lex smirking as he looked out of the windows of his office at the city underneath his feet. The man believed technology was wonderful. Not only could it make wonderful things happen, but most of the time it was made from things that already existed, which meant it could be sabotaged with cursory knowledge of how it worked. And speaking of which, "You were able to obtain the blueprints?"
Of course. She knew what she was doing. It was almost offensive that he had asked, though Mercy knew he was just being thorough. She had done that before she had ever even made it to the building, "They were easy to obtain. Abernathy stole this idea from one of his colleagues in the first place."
That was nice, but for something this intriguing, Luthor wanted more, "I want to see what it can do, Mercy," He told her, intrigue coloring his tone, "It never hurts to have... contingencies."
Mercy listened in as she disposed of her disguise, "There are lots of people in the building watching. It could be dangerous."
"It would be a shame. But sacrifices often have to be made for progress."
Such a cold, heartless man. But he paid well, so it didn't matter to Mercy. As long as none of this affected her directly, she was fine with whatever. That clearly made her a detestable person as well, but being nice didn't keep oneself fed.
As she left, she made direct eye contact in passing, presumably with one of the students there for Luthor's Innovation Week. For a moment, she froze in place, 'Crap. Did he make me?'
She could swear the boy had been looking at her. Such a thing wouldn't have been a problem normally, Mercy knew she struck quite a figure, but this was different. He wasn't looking at her for any aesthetic reasons. He was observing her.
There was no way he had seen through her disguise. She had gone in entirely covered, and had come out on the other side of the exhibition room. She'd blended with the people before she rounded the corner where they spotted each other.
Little man must have been sharp. Too sharp for his own good. That was a crying shame. Now she would have to do something about him.
Mercy prepared to come up with some way to deal with this little variable, when just like that, the boy looked away and shrugged. Made a concerted effort to look away, even.
…Did he… did he just brush her off? Or was he washing his hands of the situation? Either way, it looked like he was ignoring that he had seen anything.
Well, if that were the case, there was no need to dispose of him.
Max just kept to his own business as the Amazon chick that had almost strangled him to death at the docks left the area. Fighting someone that had previously done a good job of beating the crap out of him hadn't been high on his list of things to do that day.
Besides, he'd already won against her, so there wasn't even a revenge reason for trying to get in the middle of her business.
His attention was forcefully yanked from his dilemma with a previous foe by two scientists clad in white jackets having a row with each other. The crowd their argument attracted the Amazon woman too much cover to disappear into.
Whatever. He had already decided he was going to let her leave. It was over with. How bad could what she had done really be?
One of the scientists screamed at the other, clearly the angrier of the two, "You can't do this, Abernathy! That's my research! My work! You can't just claim it for yourself! You're a thief!"
The second scientist stood tall and proud with slick black hair, almost turning his nose up at the first man, "And you're simple-minded. Your research didn't go far enough. And you clearly didn't have the mind to make it something worthwhile," He said smugly, throwing a lab coat over the protective suit he wore, "Why do you think I received the grant so quickly, when your notes have been public for the last year?"
The first scientist clenched his fists and went to punch Abernathy, but was too slow as the door to the exhibition area closed. Bare hands would never come close to opening that thing. All he could do was helplessly bang on the heavy metal barrier, "You fraud! Come out here and face me!"
Abernathy shook his head, still smirking before turning his attention to the actual audience of investors and other members of the scientific community that had gathered to view his display, "Ladies, gentlemen, and esteemed colleagues. We as a whole have been overlooking the power of Kryptonite. It is more than just a simple exotic mineral. We very well may have the future of renewable energy in our hands. Today, we take the first step down the road of discovery. Allow me to show you just how much power can be harnessed with ingenuity and the radioactive properties of one green stone."
When the green stone was presented and placed in the middle of the machine, Max's teeth clenched so hard there was an audible click, 'Fuuuuuuuck,' He thought before speaking aloud, "Leave," He said to others, "I'm not kidding. Get away from this place, like, right now."
He was ignored in favor of the bombastic speaking and presentation of the experiment.
With his spiel complete, Abernathy began directing his assistant around the temporary laboratory, turning on the machine that connected to the device that Abernathy spoke of.
Inside of a heavy see-through container, a set of lasers centered to aim at a piece of Kryptonite the size of a human head. The amassed spectators began to chatter as the bright lasers simultaneously fired at the green rock.
The electricity reached out to Max. It almost spoke to him. Just from looking at the device inside of the exhibition area, he could tell that it was putting out a dangerous amount of power. More than the frame of the machine it was in was built to contain.
He slowly began to edge away from the scene, but kept his eyes on the display as though it were a dangerous animal that would victimize him the moment he let his guard down and made himself vulnerable. However, that level of wariness didn't prevent anything from going wrong.
The lab assistant visibly began to panic, not long after the experiment began, "Dr. A! I-I can't control-! The laser won't power down!"
"Jared, don't be a fool," Abernathy said as he kept the bulk of his attention on monitoring the level of radiation and energy emanating from the piece of Kryptonite. The lack of concern for his assistant's plight was evident, "You know this was set up for the isotope enhancer to operate at full power."
"The output is higher than 100 percent!"
Abernathy looked up to see the unstable beams firing from the laser into the piece of Kryptonite. This was not what was supposed to happen. And yet, he kept himself from hitting the kill switch. Everything looked like it was holding up. This was his moment. He would be seen as a genius when this all worked. Results were all that mattered. He was right, and he knew it.
By now, everyone could tell that something was wrong, but not exactly what.
Max could feel the output of energy, even from behind the 'safety' of the observation hall. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, to the point that a stray bolt of visible static ran between two strands. He couldn't stay there anymore. Max wasn't a genius, but the words 'isotope', 'enhancer', 'Kryptonite', and 'can't control' did not go together.
"Run-run-run-run-run!" Max shouted as he ran for dear life. Everyone else moved away as well, but they were too slow. Too intrigued by what they were seeing to realize that they were staring at their own deaths.
The explosion that happened wiped out every living thing in the hallway. Max had made it out of there and into another corridor before the blast, but even then, it still sent him flying thirty feet, smashing him into a wall with enough force to knock him unconscious for a moment.
When he came to, the place looked like a war zone. Fire, destruction, alarms, people screaming. The portion of the building he was in had been ruined. He had to move some of the rubble from the blast off of his body just to stand back up.
Max wandered back to the hall where the explosion went off, but he quickly wished that he hadn't.
"Holy shit..." Max muttered to himself.
There were charred bodies all over. The spectators that had not thought it prudent to flee when everything started going wrong all lay strewn about the area. The smell in addition to the sight was horrendous. Max quickly left before he could vomit.
He followed a trail of destruction and the sounds of sirens and screams through the building to finally make it outside. Things didn't get much better once he did.
Out on the street, the Avenue of Tomorrow was in panic. In the middle of it all, a man wearing the protective suit that had been on Dr. Abernathy with green skin, as well as eyes that released destructive radiation blasts from his eyes.
"I..." Max said to himself, taking in the scene of destroyed cars, building fronts, and fire. Things weren't going to be as simple as just linking back up with his school group, "I think I need my suit."
XxX
Everything hurt.
Dr. Abernathy had not been behind any lead protection when his isotope enhancer had malfunctioned and gone off. In fact, he had been the closest to it. Then again, that may have been a blessing. Had he been, the way others were, he might have been killed in a similarly gruesome manner.
Compared to what happened, however, that might have been preferable.
"IT BURNS!"
Because, as previously mentioned, now everything hurt, badly. And there was no relief in sight, whatsoever, at least, until Abernathy spotted a truck containing liquid nitrogen.
What he considered doing, logically amounted to suicide. Letting any of that substance touch him was an awful idea. He was a scientist, he knew this. And yet, when he saw it, all rational thought went out the window. He was burning alive, or at least he felt like it. His entire body felt like he was standing on the surface of the sun. And with the feeling of extreme heat, he needed the opposite in extreme measures.
Stumbling over to the truck containing the liquid nitrogen, Abernathy dug his fingers into the hull of the tanker itself, melting through the metal and ripping a massive hole inside of it. The material spilled out over his body and all over the street, freezing everything it touched – except him, "It still burns!" It simply wasn't enough, "MAKE IT STOP!"
With one hand, he swatted away the useless tanker. It had done nothing to help him. In Abernathy's pain, anger, pain, and desperation, green beams fired from his eyes, blowing out the front of an entire building.
And just like that, the pain was gone. Unleashing that blast of raw energy had been like utilizing a release valve on an overtaxed pipe system. Before it could burst, enough pressure had been relieved to stabilize the entire thing.
"I..." Abernathy said, his head clearing out. He looked around and then down at his hands. He could feel the power coursing through him. He could see the power all around him, "...I feel good."
This was the scene that Null, of all people, arrived to.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, man. Just calm down," Null said, trying to talk the formerly hysterical man down. From what he had seen before running off to change, Abernathy just needed to stop and think. Admittedly, that was hard to do when you were burning all over, but at a certain point, rampaging about it wouldn't be enough to serve any purpose of relief, "I know you're green, and... radioactive, but I think there are people that can help with that."
He didn't know that for sure or not. But hey, there were superheroes and all sorts of scientific geniuses that did this sort of thing for a living. It just sounded like the thing to say. He wasn't much for providing other people comfort. Null was far too self-centered to do something like that. He just needed this to end before a stray blast blew him up as he tried to get past, or before a hero with a grudge showed up and decided to double-up and get a piece of him too.
Abernathy looked up and regarded the boy in the ragged hood and the absurd outfit regarding him warily. Smart. Smarter than the way he was dressed, at least, "I don't need any help," He said, "I can see the radioactivity around me. Isotopes that have yet to be discovered or harnessed. Primordial radioactive power inside the earth and air. Inside people."
Null felt himself growing progressively more cautious as Abernathy spoke. Something about this man rubbed him the wrong way, even before the lab accident, "Okay, so you're good now?" He said, "Cool," If he was calm now, that meant he could get out of there before something went wrong.
"Yes. Cool," Abernathy said, before turning his eye blast onto Null. Paranoia for once paid off, and Null was able to dodge the blast, allowing it to hit a target farther down the street. If nothing else, it didn't go off on him.
Instead of being fixed with mortal fear, Null instead slowly turned his head away from the epicenter of the blast to glare at Abernathy, "That was a mistake," He glowered angrily, his voice low.
Abernathy ignored the ire he had earned from his noticeably younger adversary, instead marveling at his newfound abilities, "I've been trying to show the world for years the power contained in Kryptonite!" He exclaimed, clenching his fists, feeling the power flow through him, "Now I can! And you, my busybody little superhero, are going to help me. After all, I need a test subj-!"
Before he could finish, Null magnetically reached out and hit him across the head with a moped. Abernathy went flying down the street, bouncing off of the ground from the force of the blow. As he tried to shake off the blow and stand up, the same motor vehicle smashed down on him from above, repeatedly.
With a wave of his fingers, Null kept hitting Abernathy with the scooter, aiming for the head. Clearly, the man could take it, so there was no need to hold back. Not that he necessarily would have to begin with. All bets were off the first time Abernathy had tried to kill him with his radioactive blasts.
Continuous use and training had done wonders for the control of his powers. He felt like he was taking leaps and bounds in knowing what he could do, how he could use his powers, and just how much power he had. At this point, he definitely had enough of all of those things to make someone pay for thinking he was nothing more than an interestingly dressed victim.
"That's what I get for trying to be nice I guess," Null said, continuing to beat down his foe with the heavy metal object he had procured, "So here's how this is gonna work now. I'm gonna beat you until you stop moving, or until my karma balances back out. Whichever one comes first."
Karma? Really? Goddamn it, Rose. It was a good idea, buying him the whole InFamous set so he could steal new ways to try and use his powers. Helpful too. He didn't need some of the game's vernacular bleeding over into his own speech, though.
"ENOUGH!" Abernathy shouted, his eyes exploding with power. The blast broke Null's control over the moped and sent him flying back. He was able to flip through it and land on his feet, but by then Abernathy was standing once more, visibly angry, "I will not have the greatest fruits of all my hard labor undone or overlooked by a child!"
"Well you shouldn't have picked a fight with one who kind of knows what he's doing!" Null shot back, before pausing, "Wait, that didn't sound as cool as I thought it would have."
"Die!" Abernathy fired another powerful blast from his eyes, but this time, Null was more than prepared to handle the straightforward attack. He sprinted at his enemy, maneuvering around the beam whenever it got too close to him.
Null ran past him, stopping right behind him. Before Abernathy could turn, Null grabbed him by the back of the head, swept his legs out from underneath him and slammed him face-first into the warped pavement. His eye beams simply dug a deeper hole for the out-of-place thief to shove him into. He reached back to try and swat at Null, but by the time his arm swung, Null was gone.
Abernathy pulled himself out of the hole only to stare down a 4-door sedan as it slammed into him at 40 miles per hour, courtesy of Null. His body slammed into the side of a building, followed closely by the same car that lifted off of the ground and drove him through the brick wall he found himself stuck inside of.
"For a guy who's supposed to be so smart, you sure fight stupid," Null taunted from the street below, shaking out his hand. Just touching the man radiating with the glow of Kryptonite burned him through the supersuit. He could only imagine how bad it would be if his flesh touched him. Thankfully he had only done it once, "You had enough yet? Because the way I see it, we're only two cans of the way through this six-pack of asswhooping."
The car flew back out of the building at Null, coming to a stop in the air before it could hit him.
"Not good enough," He taunted, "If that's the best you've got, you might as well put your hands up and surrender right now."
Abernathy did no such thing. Instead, a stray radiation blast shot out of another part of the building and hit the car. The vehicle blew up roughly 20 feet away from Null. Close enough to do him harm.
Null flew through the windshield of a city bus. He smashed against the pedestrian pole in the center of the vehicle, bending it with a hollow 'clang' before hitting the floor.
"Oh... my back," Null whispered, fingers and toes trembling in pain. At least he could still feel them, "That hurt so much."
Back on the street again, Abernathy grinned viciously at the damage inflicted on his foe, "You're going to burn, boy," He charged energy to his eyes, staring at the bus that housed his target, "Goodbye, and good riddance."
The green death beams from his eyes blew the bus sky-high. Screams and sirens filled the air, leaving Abernathy with a pleased feeling. Having so much power at his fingertips was intoxicating, and there was an admitted thrill to vanquishing obstacles in one's way, crude though it was.
Null hadn't been vanquished however.
The thief in question looked down at the Kryptonite Man laughing to himself about the potential. Oddly enough, Null hung in the air, supported by a delicate pair of arms that were deceivingly strong.
Null curiously patted the blue fabric of the sleeves covering the arms and turned his head to find the bright blue eyes of Supergirl looking back at him, "...Hi," He said.
"Oh. Hi!" Supergirl greeted back.
Well then. This certainly wasn't an awkward meeting.
"What took you so long?" Null asked her with a tired smile. He hadn't planned on doing anything strenuous today, "I thought you Superfolk could be anywhere just like that."
"Sorry!" Supergirl apologized brightly, despite the situation, "There were lots of people to get out of here! Besides, you were doing well... right up until you got cocky."
Null didn't need the reminder. Even though Abernathy had more raw power at his disposal, he fought like a scrub. Null had an easy time of it until he let him come back, "He's a lab nerd. He's probably never thrown a punch in his life," Which made it all the more worse.
Supergirl laughed at Null's clearly bruised ego, "He didn't punch you. He shot at you," She pointed out cheekily.
At that moment, ring bells went off in Null's head. He was ready for round two, "Alright, that's it. I'm going back down there and finishing this, "He said, trying to worm his way out of Supergirl's arms, to no avail, "Hey, come on, would you just let go already?"
"Whoa there," Supergirl said. He tried to pry her grip loose, but with his strength compared to hers, it was like a child trying to fight its way out of an adult's grasp. She eventually did set him down on the edge of a building, "Just hold on tight. I'll go kick his butt and that'll be that."
Fair enough. Metropolis was her city, not his. And he wasn't a hero. He just wanted revenge for being made to look silly, not because he wanted to keep anyone safe, "Just don't touch him. I think he's got some kind of Kryptonite thing going," He warned before she could depart.
Supergirl looked down and cringed. If that was indeed the case, this was going to be very unpleasant for however long it lasted, "Now that you mention it..." Abernathy's skin glowed Kryptonite green, and the energy he generated was clearly radioactive, "Thanks for the heads up. I'll be right back."
Null watched Supergirl fly down to handle the power-mad scientist. It was fun to watch a Kryptonian deal with a supervillain. Definitely more fun than having to do it himself.
"Okay, let's just all calm down here, friend," Supergirl said, lowering herself to the ground, "No need for this to go any further. After all, he was kicking your butt," She gestured her head up to Null who was standing back and watching, "If I were you, I would think about my chances here."
"And if I were you, I would think about yours," Abernathy rebutted, taking the chance to fire his eye blasts at Supergirl, "I am your weakness. Let's see just what I can do!"
Take a punch, apparently, because it was all that he wound up doing.
For what it was worth, even hitting him Abernathy once still hurt Supergirl, "Ow!" She exclaimed, shaking out her fist. Her knuckles glowed with green bruises. He really did share certain properties with Kryptonite. For her, it felt like a regular person punching a bed of nails, "Null was right. Cripes, that hurt!"
"Told you!" Null yelled down from the rooftop, "He's just walking Kryptonite! How would you deal with a regular piece of the stuff that wasn't cursing at you and shooting green eye lasers?"
"They're not lasers!" Supergirl shouted back. But Null had a point. The strange mutant powers were what made Abernathy dangerous. Aside from that, and it was a big aside, he was as threatening as any other untrained adult male, "Alright, let's wrap this up."
While Kryptonite did do her harm, there were ways to get around that. Namely, the lead in the nitrogen truck. It was intended to be used as an added layer of protection to prevent exposure to hazardous material. That would do nicely.
While Abernathy was still reeling, Supergirl grabbed him and hurled him in the direction of the tanker, sending through the original hole he had ripped in the container. He was clearly tough enough to take a bit of a thrashing. Fighting Null and taking a punch from Supergirl proved that.
Eventually coming to, Abernathy readied himself to keep fighting, when he felt the creep of melting lead run down his arms, chest and neck, holding him in place, "This won't hold me for a moment, Supergirl!"
"Want to bet?" She asked before unleashing a gust of freezing breath that forced the lead to harden. She hovered in the air as the enraged scientist struggled against his improvised bonds, "You can pay up by going to jail for me."
Abernathy tried to fire a radioactive blast from his eyes, but wound up shooting it straight into the sky when Supergirl flipped the truck over. Abernathy couldn't move his head to do any real damage. All he could do was aim harmlessly into the air.
Null almost gave Supergirl applause. Seeing her beat up random goons was one thing, but fighting a superpowered bad guy was something else entirely.
"Not bad," Null told her as she flew to his level. She held the truck tanker above her head in one hand, "I personally would have hit him more. That's just me though."
"Well that's nice of you to say. Thank you for dealing with him until I could clear the area," Supergirl said gratefully. Clark told her to keep an eye out for anything strange in Metropolis. She didn't think she meant something like this though, "I know you're not a hero or anything."
Yes, but Null wasn't so sure he wouldn't have gotten involved one way or another. At least this way, he didn't have to explain how he didn't get pulverized as Max, "It was either try to get him to stop or sneak past him. I'm pretty sure either way I would have been in trouble," Null reasoned casually, "I'll take a freebie though, in case I do something bad while I'm here," He said, before realizing how it sounded, "...Which I won't."
"Oh, I'm so sure," Supergirl said, with no small measure of skepticism, getting a shrug from the boy in front of her. She then perked up, "Hey, I have to take this guy to Stryker's Island. Do you maybe want to come with me?" She suggested.
Kara wanted to kick herself for letting that desperate sounding lift into her tone. Yes, she did want to hang out with Null. But that was because he was the first friend she had that she hadn't been introduced to by someone else first. She just wanted to take some time to get to know him a little, that was all. Nothing to be bashful about.
The idea of getting anywhere near a correctional facility sent a shiver down Null's spine, "I don't think that's such a good idea. I'm a thief, you know. And I just got through clearing my name in Gotham. Some of the guards might try to bring me in," Then he would cream them, and run away, and begin the vicious cycle of becoming a fugitive all over again.
Supergirl looked a bit fretful, until she remembered the trouble in Gotham City had been foisted off onto Anarky instead of Null. It had taken a lot to keep from going around telling naysayer hero friends that she had told them so, "But you should be fine. The charges against you were dropped."
"I'm still not squeaky-clean here. And besides I have to get back before-," He was about to mention something about getting back to what he had been doing before he looked at the chaotic scene that was now the Avenue of Tomorrow. Emergency crews had moved in to begin their work properly. The whole place was going to be closed down for some time, "...Oh. Well, forget about that last thing."
His school's field trip staff would understand if he was a little late making it back to the hotel where everyone else was staying. Anyone around was probably still running for their lives. It would be a while before anyone started freaking out over anyone's absence. What could it hurt to go with her?
"Alright fine," Null eventually conceded, hopping up onto the tanker and taking a seat. The girl holding it up didn't even budge underneath the added weight, unsurprisingly, "I'm with you then."
"Great!" Kara beamed, not that Null could see it from how the tanker was angled above her. She began heading off to the south, "Dropping him off won't take long, don't worry."
"No problem," Null said, taking a moment to look down into the hole punched in the tanker, "It's actually kind of interesting to see someone else be arrested. How you doing in there, pal?" Abernathy fired up a radioactive blast through the opening, narrowly missing the target, "Whoa!"
"Null, come on. Don't antagonize him," Supergirl chided, shaking her head as she kept flying to Stryker's Island, "You've got to be careful. If you move around too much, I might drop you."
"Pfft, no you won't."
"Heh-heh. Yeah, you're right."
XxX
(That Evening – Gotham City)
Rose Wilson wasn't all about pandemonium and violence. Sometimes she could enjoy the peace and quiet just as well as anyone else. After all, peace and quiet was the best time to prepare for more pandemonium and violence. And with Max gone on his little kiddie field trip, she could do whatever she wanted without being bothered.
This evening called for a thorough cleaning of all of her weapons, and a binge-watching session of action movies on Netflix.
"Oh, come on," Rose kicked an empty bag of chips off of the table as she casually reassembled an assault rifle once her work on that particular weapon was done, "Pulling at that kind of angle would never break someone's neck. Get your shit together, Neeson."
Hollywood took so many liberties with reality just to make something look better, it was absurd. Then again, if they did certain things realistically, they would go through a lot more actors and stuntmen. Even so, there were so many things that stood out as fake to her, she couldn't suspend disbelief. Normally, she would just chime in about how something really would have gone down in a certain situation, but it wasn't as much fun with Max there to sound her opinions off of.
Did she actually miss him? No. Not a chance. He was just decent at banter... and making out... and that weak electro-shock stimulation thing he did with his hands. How did he even know how to do that before he got to her? If he had thought to test it on Rose first, she had to say congratulations on the ingenuity to come up with it as well as the balls to try it on her.
"Shit," Rose said, setting her reassembled weapon at her side on the couch, "I may actually miss that asshole. Huh."
And now she was wishing she had taken him up on the idea of the super-lame date he had proposed before he had left. He would have been a complete goober during it, no doubt, but it still probably would have been worth a laugh, if not an outright good time. Hindsight was such a pain.
Rose sighed and walked over to the window, resting her elbows on the sill as she looked out over the city. What a rotten place. As far as she was concerned there was only one reason to hang around, and he wasn't even there at the moment. An amusing thought passed through her mind, wondering how Max would react if she showed up during his field trip out of the blue. He would probably have a heart attack on the spot.
It put a smile on her face and got a chuckle out of her.
"Well, Rose, you're looking well."
The smile slowly fell from Rose's face, and a creep of fear passed through her heart, leaving behind a trail of frost inside that put goosebumps on her arms. She slowly turned left, and in her blindspot, sitting on the stairs of the apartment's fire escape was the blue and orange mask of the man who had taught her.
The very same man that had been responsible for bringing her into the world. Slade Wilson; Deathstroke the Terminator.
Words failed her for the most part, with the exception of the only thing she could think to say in that moment, "Hey, daddy.