Gotham had finally reached the most unbearable time of year. Some might wonder, was there ever a day in Gotham that wasn't unbearable? But while the things that happened in this Village of Fools were usually absurd and bizarre, even more absurd and bizarre was the fact that what defeated these tough men who could struggle to survive in the sewers of the universe was not some great catastrophe, but summer.
As Lex's project progressed, Gotham's efficiency in driving away the clouds became increasingly stable. It had gone from two hours a day, with two days off each week, to at least three or four hours of sunlight every day, guaranteed year-round without interruption.
Lex's personality was perfectly suited to Gotham. He was also from Metropolis and had grown up under the sun. He truly could not understand how people in a city could live in an environment with no sunlight all day long.
So, once the cloud-dispersal system stabilized, Lex went full throttle. Sunbathe. Right here. Soak up the sun for a full hundred and eighty days, until everything was delicious and fresh from the sunshine.
This truly nearly killed the people of Gotham. Most ordinary citizens who had never left the city had barely seen the sun since birth. They got their ultraviolet exposure almost entirely during the few hours before evening, when the sunlight could hardly be called intense—calling it bright was already a bit of an exaggeration.
Before summer arrived, the sunlight from noon to four in the afternoon had only made Gothamites marvel at how much brighter everything was. But once summer truly began, the UV intensity suddenly surged. Gothamites, long accustomed to cloudy shade and sea breezes every day, melted on the spot.
The clouds that perpetually hung over Gotham had kept the city's