In the darkness, Lex Luthor stood with his hands clasped tight behind his back. His green eyes gazed a burning hole through his floor length office window. The view from the top of the LexCorp tower was always exhilarating. The vantage offered him a bird’s eye view of his entire kingdom. Every twinkling light, every moving ant.
Except for the alien. He was nowhere to be seen.
This irked Lex. Metropolis was his city, his kingdom. He’d earned it, scrabbling his way to the top. Knowing whom to bribe, whom to threaten. Now, suddenly, this immigrant, this refugee from the stars had waltzed into Lex’s realm unannounced. And it was Lex who was threatened.
The people loved him of course. How could they not? He was everywhere with a wink and a friendly smile. The locals had taken to calling him ‘Big Blue’. That’s how he appeared to them. ‘The Last Son of a Dying World’ devoted to saving every man, woman and child that he could. It was cute notion, but naïve. Of course, how could Lex expect more than naiveté from those unwashed cretins.
Whoever this creature was, he certainly had an ulterior motive. Lex had seen it in the Planet’s photos of him. He looked like a man. But he wasn’t. Something lay behind those eyes. There had to be something else to him. Something darker.
All that aside: his dubious morality, his public friendly persona, his commitment to ridding the city—and the world!—of wrongdoing, what stung the most was that he had the audacity—the gall—to think himself more intelligent than Lex Luthor. That, above all, would not stand.
Lex spun around on his heel as the door to his office creaked open.
He was here.
Lex’s eyes narrowed as the alien emerged into the faint glow afforded by the city skyline.
“So, I see you received my invitation.” Lex feigned a comfortable smile.
The alien said nothing, just returned his stare.
“We haven’t met, officially, but I am Lex Luthor. And Metropolis is my home.” Lex continued the one sided conversation. “Would you care for a drink?”
The offer was rebuffed with silence.
“Please, sit down. We have much to discuss.”
Still nothing. The alien was toying with him. The worst part was that it was working.
“Speak, alien! You’ve done it before! All those interviews to Lane at the Planet! All those witty quips! And you refuse to speak to ME?”
Not a peep.
Lex’s bile rose in his throat.
“ANSWER ME, GODDAMN IT.” Lex slammed his hand onto his desk. “I AM LEX LUTHOR AND I RUN THIS CITY. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”
This got a response. The most enraging sort of response. A smile. A wide, mocking grin.
“Nice to finally meet you too.” His voice had a lilting, sing-song quality tinged with an unmistakable arrogance. Or perhaps that was just his accent. “Hullo, Lex. I’m The Doctor.”
dS-dF 