Building Tomorrow, Today [CK]

Participants: Lex and Chris Kent
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Around town
Time of Day: Mid
Weather: Sunny
Summary: Lex Luthor seeks audience with a certain Kryptonian.

It was all over the news. By this point it was wholly inescapable, everywhere you turned it was being reported on. It. Another one of those flying imbeciles with a Kryptonian symbol on their suit. This one a winged creature instead of the typical S. This Kryptonian wore a suit of armor, just on the surface level this new alien looked like more of a threat than the Man of Steel, original edition. But of course the city responded positively to such a being, they seemed to always have nothing but open arms for aliens from another world. Even after the whole ordeal with the Kryptonians declaring war on Earth. It was the S no doubt, the symbol spoke volumes and anyone with it brazenly displayed on their torso was at least given the benefit of the doubt. Preposterous!

With all of this being fact and the sudden re-emergence of Lex Luthor into the public eye, one would not have to perform much of a mental stretch to assume the billion would have a certain skewed sort of view of the newest hero hailing from Krypton. However, things did not always play out as one might assume or expect. The news of this new Nightwing was a thrilling sort, it was news to rejoice about certainly. Who could disagree after all?

"...and that is why I've decided to hold this banquet. For all that this brave new hero has done for this city we should welcome him, and properly so! He has done things the right way, without all the posturing and public damage that others who have worn that familiar S seem to come featuring." The crowd offered up a soft chuckle.

Most in attendance were honestly ignoring Lex, these were the type of people who only came to such lavish events for the chance of elbow-rubbing and the accompanying feasts that were often laid out. Lex didn't mind though, none of this was done for the people who tripped over themselves to arrive. This was to gain the attention of one person, one who probably would not even attend. However, curiosity was a strong thing and not even Kryptonians were immune to its seduction. Luthor smirked at the press that gathered around him, his eyes drifting to the world beyond the windows as he stared off into the blue sky.

His parents were going to kill him. Or rather, they wouldn't kill him but they were certainly going to ground him. Or try to - Could he be grounded? He was technically an adult now so he really didn't know. But if his parents hadn't noticed yet, they were bound to soon. Lex Luthor had taken some sort of interest in him and that made Chris both curious and uncomfortable. This was the same man who had helped the military turn the sun red, a feat Thara had given her life to undo. He didn't know how much of that had been Lex and how much had been the military but this man was also his adopted father's arch-nemesis which was enough in itself to tell the young man to be careful.

Now this wasn't Chris' first time doing heroics in Metropolis but the last time had been during very strong anti-kryptonian sentiment and rhetoric. And he and Thara hadn't stuck to just Metropolis. In fact they'd only been in the city a couple times. So it made sense that he was still seen as quite new to the citizens of this city. But Chris hadn't expected anything out of his heroics, out of continuing his work as Nightwing. Clark didn't expect anything from being Superman so he knew better. Which was why hearing about hearing about some gathering, some sort of party, in his honor had been confusing and had piqued a childlike curiosity in him. Hearing it was being led by Lex Luthor had brought in some caution, but not enough to keep him away.

His hearing picked up the tail end of the words being spoken as he flew closer. He frowned faintly, fairly certain that was a backhanded compliment if there ever was one. Attempting to compliment him while insulting the rest of his adopted family. He came to a steady hover just a foot off the ground in front of the main entrance, arching an eyebrow as security just opened the door for him. Okay? That was... Weird, right? Was he expected? Yeah it was apparently in his name - which was weird in itself - but he didn't recall getting a formal invitation.

Still he flew gently and cautiously into the building, landing on his feet once he was in the same room as Luthor and his speech. He could feel eyes quickly turn to him and tried hard to resist the urge to fidget under all those gazes. Had he ever been this close to Lex Luthor before? He didn't think so. Maybe it was all of Clark's stories, knowing how many times the two of them had clashed, that made being in the same room as the older man intimidating. It was entirely the memory of Thara flying toward a red son that had one of his fists tightly clenched.

"Sorry I missed your speech," he said out loud, putting on his best Kent worthy smile. "Hope I'm not too late."

Yeah, his parents were going to kill him.

---

504 words
Lex Luthor

The press greedily ate up all of Lex's words, as they typically did, he was great for headlines and they were mere pigs eager to ingest anything that fell before them after all. Did they fully believe him or trust the angle that he was operating based off of? That much couldn't yet be ascertained so easily, but that also was hardly of interest to Lex, it was the future that his mind was focused on. Always.

As it was to be expected there were many news outlets in attendance. Correspondents from all over the country were lined up to print and broadcast the words of the infamous former President Luthor. Though, noticeably missing was perhaps Metropolis's most famous outlet, the Daily Planet. It was no secret that the Planet and Luthor had bad blood, thanks most significantly to Lois Lane's countless exposés, and so there was a bit of red tape involved with getting those employed by the Daily Planet passes to this joyous occasion, meaning they weren't getting any at all. Instead, this prestigious coverage was going to Cat Grant of CatCo, no doubt that would annoy Perry White and his pet Lane. Small victories.

Lex politely pardoned himself from the answering of questions from the press and moved on to entertain the room, a glint catching in his green eyes as he noticed the man in blue. His guest of honor. The banquet had been one thrown out of respect, Luthor had made it abundantly clear that he was not forcing or expecting the hero of the hour to show, but of course, that was merely bait and by the looks of it some damn good bait. He had caught his great whale. Lex knew how to play to the needs of heroes who claimed to be the selfless sorts, but if you talked about them enough they were quick to show up and affirm their true self centeredness. Luthor stifled a chuckle and moved closer to the young Kryptonian. The billionaire had been expecting this turn of events and the men guarding his tower were given strict instruction not to hinder Nightwing's arrival in anyway, in fact they were to roll out the red carpet for him.

A gust of wind carried Luthor quickly over the floor of the hall, he met Nightwing with a hand thrust outward. It would make for amazing headlines to have a picture shaking the hand of the underling of the man who worked so hard to prove the distrustfulness of Lex Luthor. Another small victory. "Not at all, not at all. Please, do make yourself at home." An arm snaked its way around the younger man as Lex attempted to guide him across the room and away from the undecided eyes. There were still those who Lex's former Anti-Kryptonian campaign had worked a little too well on, they still harbored those ill feelings toward all those of Krypton. Lex needed to place Nightwing closer to the bleeding heart types, those who would marvel at any god who came down from their cloud to mingle with the humans.

"This is a Thank-You, a bit grand I know, and please forgive me if it seems a bit theatrical but -" Lex paused for a moment, his green eyes swimming from Chris to the crowd, and then back to Chris. "Do not doubt the sincerity and genuine appreciation we have for you and all that you do. It is an honor to have you at all, you could never be too late." Some of the party-goers at the event nodded in agreement with Lex's words, some even offering their own words of support as the two men linked arm-in-arm passed them by. "But, please, this is your moment..." Lex trailed off as he gestured to the maskless hero, who now stood the dead center of the entire banquet, masterfully placed by the orchestrator of the event.

Chris Kent