The Bald Man's Calculations

Metropolis, LexCorp headquarters, ninety-second floor.

Lex Luthor stood before the floor-to-ceiling window.

The office's sensor-operated door slid open without a sound.

His assistant, Mercy Graves, walked in on high heels, carrying a tablet.

"Sir, your speech broke the all-time ratings record," Mercy said in her crisp, even voice. "The company's stock rose fourteen percent in after-hours trading."

Lex looked down over the glittering lights of Metropolis.

"As expected." Lex clasped his hands behind his back. "That's how people are. When disaster strikes, they look for a god. When that god dies, they look for the next thing that makes them feel safe. I simply gave them an option."

"General Smith called seven times." Mercy swiped across her tablet. "The White House chief of staff is also waiting on line two. They want to know exactly what LexCorp's so-called 'highest-level defense sequence' includes. The military hopes to share the technology to deal with that mutant in Gotham."

Lex turned around with a sneer.

"Share our technology? Those uniformed fools have mush for brains. All they know how to do is ask for funding." Lex walked to his desk. "Tell Smith that LexCorp is a private company. We have no obligation to defend the country. If they want the technology, they can buy it."

"Understood." Mercy made a quick note. "And the White House?"

"Let them wait." Lex pulled out his chair and sat down. "Tell them I'm holding an emergency board meeting."

"Now project all the public footage from Gotham tonight, along with everything our satellites captured."

Mercy nodded and tapped a few keys on her tablet.

The office lights dimmed. A vast holographic projection unfolded above the desk.

The display was divided into three sections.

On the left was high-definition footage shot from a helicopter. In the middle was an infrared thermal image. On the right, streams of data flickered past.

"Start with Arkham," Lex said, leaning back in his chair.

The image shifted.

Chu Men emerged from Arkham Asylum and flew into the sky, breaking the sound barrier.

Lex stared at the data panel on the right.

"Interesting." His fingers tapped against the desk.

The footage fast-forwarded.

Outside the Iceberg Lounge, three hundred fully armed Riot Police fired in unison.

The bullets stopped thirty centimeters in front of Chu Men.

"Kinetic energy absorption? No, that's not it." Lex leaned toward the holographic screen, watching the bullets fall. "This looks like the same field effect Superman uses."

"Sir, intelligence from Gotham's underworld just came in," Mercy added. "Oswald Cobblepot, Roman Sionis, and Harvey Dent were burned to ash by some kind of high-temperature beam half an hour ago. Every crime boss in Gotham has signed a contract of submission."

"Three idiots." Lex made no effort to hide his contempt. "They spent three hundred million dollars to send Deathstroke to his death. Gangsters will always be gangsters. All they understand are bullets and territory. They had no idea what they were facing."

Lex swiped a finger across the virtual screen.

An abandoned dock.

Chu Men faced off against Superman.

This was the main event of the night.

Lex's breathing grew heavier. His eyes locked on the holographic projection.

He knew Superman all too well. Over the years, Lex had collected data from every one of his battles.

"Softhearted fool."

The footage advanced to the clash of Heat Vision.

A pillar of red light collided with the beam from Chu Men's eyes in midair.

The energy-threshold graph on the right shot upward.

"Stop," Lex said.

The image froze.

Superman's energy curve held steadily above Chu Men's.

The boundary between the beams of red light was advancing toward Chu Men.

"Look here, Mercy." Lex pointed at the graph. "The mutant's energy output peaked at this moment. His cellular activity and energy reserves were lower than the alien's. The alien has had decades to absorb solar radiation. The mutant couldn't win a battle of attrition."

"But he won," Mercy said.

"That's the most interesting part." A feverish light gleamed in Lex's eyes.

He dragged the footage forward one frame at a time.

"Watch closely."

On the holographic projection, red light engulfed Chu Men.

Lex stopped.

In the image, the light in Chu Men's eyes suddenly turned dark red. It drove the opposing beam back and pierced Superman's defenses.

"Magnify the radiation spectrum and gravitational-wave data for this frame!" Lex ordered.

Mercy worked quickly. The stream of data on the right became a three-dimensional model.

"Spatial distortion." Lex stood and braced both hands on the desk, his face almost touching the holographic screen. "In that instant, he distorted the physical laws around him. This violates thermodynamics and every other known law of physics."

"What does that mean, sir?"

"It means he evolved in that instant." Lex's mouth twisted into a manic smile. "His power underwent a fundamental shift in the middle of the fight."

Lex circled the holographic projection twice.

"Interesting... Interesting..."

He stopped at the image of Chu Men crushing Superman's sternum underfoot.

Mercy saw the state her boss was in and did not interrupt.

"If I can figure out how he evolved..." Lex muttered. "If I can isolate that mechanism and write it into the human genome, or apply it to LexCorp's armor..."

He raised his head. His eyes shone with unsettling intensity.

"Humanity could become gods through its own power. We could write the rules of the universe."

The office remained silent for a full minute.

Lex returned to the floor-to-ceiling window. A smile touched his lips as he looked outside.

"Mercy, prepare a few gifts. I'm going to Gotham myself to meet its new king."

"Yes, sir."