Lex, Schiller, and Barry returned to the hall of Rodriguez Manor. Merkel came in with Roy and Gordon. Roy stepped forward, gave Schiller a firm handshake, and said, "Looks like the experiment went pretty smoothly. The citizens were a little frightened."
Schiller said nothing, merely turning to glance at Lex. Lex stepped forward and shook Roy's hand. "At present, our energy reserves aren't enough to support clear skies twenty-four hours a day."
"That's fine, that's fine. No city in the world has sunshine every single day." Gordon hurried forward and asked anxiously, "Then how many times a month can we have sunlight like today's?"
"That depends on the effect you want. If you want no clouds all day, then probably three to five days. Or we could do an hour every day. We could also extend the sunlight by a few hours when local weather conditions are best."
"That's already excellent." Gordon excitedly clasped Lex's hand. "It's humanity's good fortune to have such a talented young man as you."
Lex calmly shook his head. "You should thank Bruce instead. He built the Arc Reactor, and the concept was his too. I just happened to have some free time."
"Then where is Bruce? Where is he?" Gordon asked in confusion.
"He has a greater cause to pursue. There's more to the world than Gotham," Schiller replied.
Gordon and Roy pulled Lex away to study the weather over the coming months, figuring out when dispersing the clouds would be most worthwhile. After they left, Barry flopped onto the couch.
Merkel sucked in a sharp breath. Barry's bodysuit was covered in droplets condensed from water vapor. Water slid down through the cracks in the couch and seeped into its interior, and Schiller was standing right beside him, seeing all of it.
Just as