'Birds of a Feather'
Lex sat in his office, monitoring Luthorcorp communications on his laptop. A bell rang at his
door. "Come in", he said. Into his office walked Tina Greer, the head
of his special task force.
"What have you found?", Lex asked.
"Nothing", Tina said bitterly.
Lex, who was equally disturbed at the disappearance of
"My agents have scanned this state, this country, this continent, this
entire globe and we've found nothing!", she said.
A look of understanding appeared on Lex's face. "What is your
explanation", he said calmly.
"It's her!", Tina said. "Molly Griggs!
She's made it impossible for my agents to track him!"
"Hmm", Lex sighed. "She's fallen in love with him. I was afraid
this might happen."
"You have to stop her!", Tina said.
"Please Tina. Be calm. Sit down and have a drink", Lex said, and he
poured her a glass of brandy.
Tina drank the brandy, exhaled, and sat back in her chair a little more calmly.
Lex said, "Let me tell you a little story about Molly. When I first met
Molly Griggs I was having a terrible day. I was making a big presentation to a
new buyer and my computer was infected with a virus. I lost a whole week's
worth of research."
Lex continued, "To double my misfortune my executive assistant never
showed up that day. It seems that he was hit by a car on the way to my office.
And so I went to Luthorcorp's IT department myself to
get someone to fix my computer."
Lex said, "I arrived at the IT department expecting to be greeted by some
dork with an Atari shirt when I walked in and saw Molly. At a first glance I
saw her determination, her ambition, her toughness. I
saw fire in the girl's eyes and I knew then that I wanted to work with
her."
Lex continued, "Since that time Molly's done some fine work for
Luthorcorp. With help from Dr. Helen Bryce she's done some amazing things,
helping me to control Bizarro, helping me to keep order with power-inhibitors,
and even augmenting some powers when needed."
Lex said, "But over the years she doesn't smile as much. She doesn't get
excited as much. The fire is waning in her eyes."
Lex leaned closer to Tina and told her, "The very thing that inspired me,
Molly's inventions, is the very thing that's tearing her apart. Everything that
she invents has a part of her is instilled in it. Like a mother she's attached
to it. And when it leaves her a piece of her goes with it."
Lex sat back in his chair and said, "The day is coming when Molly will no
longer be a benefit to Luthorcorp."
Tina interrupted saying, "Molly is dangerous. With these power-inhibitor
devices she could destroy us."
"Yes", Lex said casually. "I want to show you something."
Lex stood up and clicked a remote. A screen dropped from the ceiling over the
back wall.
Lex clicked on the remote again and a photo appeared on the screen. It was a
photo of a brain.
Tina said, "This is
"No", Lex said. "This isn't
Tina looked at the photo again, and was bewildered.
Lex picked up another remote from the table and tossed it to Tina. He told her,
"Pressing once will incapacitate her. Pressing twice will kill her. It
works from a range of thirty yards."
Tina, looked down at the remote and then back at Lex. She felt strangely calm
and shocked at the same time.
Lex stared at Tina darkly. "On my orders only. Do
nothing without my word. Is that understood?"
Tina composed herself and told him, "Yes, Lex...thank
you."
Lex relaxed and said to her, "Come. Sit down. We'll have another drink. I
want to know all about your day. Tell me everything."