The Know-It-All

Outside the Iceberg Lounge's largest conference room.

The elevator doors slid open.

Lex Luthor straightened his suit cuffs and stepped out.

Macy followed close behind, carrying a case.

They had barely taken two steps when a dark dagger barred the corridor.

Lark, dressed in a business suit, blocked their path without expression.

Her gaze passed over Luthor and settled on Macy. She lifted her chin slightly.

"He goes in. You stay."

Macy frowned and reached behind her waist.

Luthor raised a hand to stop his chief assistant.

He undid a button on his jacket, his expression composed.

"When you're on someone else's turf, you follow their rules. Macy, wait outside."

Macy gritted her teeth, lowered her hand, and stepped back.

Luthor walked down the corridor alone and pushed open the double wooden doors.

The spacious conference room's main lights were off.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, rain stretched across Gotham.

Chu Men wore loose gray loungewear and lounged deep in a leather executive chair.

His legs were crossed and propped casually on the conference table.

He held a peeled purple grape in his left hand and gazed out the window.

Luthor stopped at the other end of the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

He folded his hands on the tabletop and sat with his back straight.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chu Men." Luthor's voice was deep and smooth. "I take it my introductory gift was to your liking."

Chu Men tossed the grape into his mouth and glanced at the bald man opposite him.

"Not bad. You, baldy, have a little more going on upstairs than the guy in tights."

Luthor took no offense at "baldy."

He was used to filtering out meaningless provocations and focusing on what mattered.

"Clark Kent is just a farm boy. He has the power of a god and the heart of a mortal." Luthor tapped a finger lightly on the table. "His head is full of saving people, morality, and lines he won't cross. A man like that has no idea how to use power properly. He sees it as a responsibility. I see it as a ladder."

Chu Men said nothing, watching Luthor's performance with interest.

Luthor lifted his left hand and pressed his thumb against his right cufflink.

A miniature holographic projector emerged from a seam in his watch.

Blue beams wove together above the broad conference table, quickly forming a complex three-dimensional model.

Dense arrays of numbers, frequency bands, and energy-analysis graphs surrounded it.

"This is your power." Luthor pointed to a dark red energy waveform in the projection. "You were at a disadvantage against Superman. But at a certain threshold, your energy surged, breaking the limits set by the laws of physics."

Luthor's eyes blazed with excitement as he leaned forward.

"You evolved during the fight."

Chu Men shifted in his chair.

"So?"

"So you're the perfect specimen." Luthor spoke faster, his words pressing in. "This world shouldn't depend on aliens or leave its fate to random genetic mutations. Humanity should become gods through its own efforts."

He swiped across the projection.

The image changed to a map of LexCorp's global holdings, lists of politicians, military partnerships, and vast underground money flows.

"You control Gotham's underworld now. But when you get down to it, that's just one city's gutter."

"The U.S. military has mobilized three air bases. Two carrier strike groups are stationed offshore from the East End. A.R.G.U.S. has even aimed a tactical nuclear submarine at this building."

Luthor spread his hands, as though he had everything under control.

"You're powerful enough to shrug off conventional weapons. But can you shrug off a global economic blockade? Endless political assassinations and nuclear strikes? Killing alone has never been enough to sustain a reign."

Chu Men yawned and picked up another grape.

Luthor pressed on despite Chu Men's indifference. He laid out his final offer.

"Agree to cooperate with my research. Let me extract your cellular data and decipher the mechanism behind that energy leap. In return, you'll have full access to LexCorp's highest-level systems. My global political and business network, my control of the media, my military resources—they'll all be yours."

The hologram shifted again, becoming a rotating Earth.

"We can establish a new order. You provide the foundation of power; I provide the means to rule. Together, we'll write metahuman genes into the history of human evolution. The entire world will roll out the red carpet for you."

The conference room fell silent.

Luthor watched Chu Men, a confident smile curling his lips.

He understood human nature. Someone who had just gained absolute power and grown drunk on it would crave status and recognition to match.

He had offered global supremacy—something no tyrant could refuse.

Chu Men swallowed the grape and wiped his hands on a nearby towel.

He lowered his legs from the table, leaned forward, and rested his elbows on his knees.

Luthor's smile deepened.

He'd taken the bait.

Chu Men looked at Luthor's gleaming bald head.

"Finished?"

The muscles in Luthor's face stiffened. That reaction...

"Perhaps you haven't fully understood my terms—"

"I know what you mean." Chu Men cut him off, his tone casual. "You want to draw my blood, carve off my flesh, and copy my power into yourself or your piles of scrap. Then you'll dress it up as humanity becoming gods."

Chu Men stood. The air around him grew thick.

"Do you think you're a genius?" Chu Men walked around the table, his footsteps echoing through the empty room. "Do you think politicians, the military, aircraft carriers, and nuclear bombs give you leverage over me?"

Luthor's breath faltered.

He forced himself to stay calm, pressing his back firmly against the chair.

"This is how the world works. You can't make an enemy of the entire world."

"How the world works?" Chu Men laughed.

He had spared Superman so the man could gather allies. Crushing them all together later would be far more fun.

But this smug bald man talked of nothing but deals and calculations. It turned Chu Men's stomach.

He hadn't gotten to use Spiritual Imprint last time. Now was the perfect chance to try it on the bald man who supposedly represented the pinnacle of human intelligence.

Chu Men vanished from where he stood.

Luthor saw a gray blur flash before his eyes. Agony shot through his neck.

Chu Men lifted Luthor out of the chair by his throat with one hand.

The 160-pound man was as light as a rag doll in his grip.

Luthor's feet dangled, and the confidence on his face crumbled completely.

He clutched Chu Men's wrist with both hands, trying to pry his fingers loose.

"Who do you think you're bargaining with?" Chu Men tilted his head and studied Luthor's reddening face. "You think I need your resources to rule the world? If I want something, I'll take it myself. If anyone gets in my way, I'll crush them. Simple as that."

Starved of air, Luthor's mind began to fog. Trembling, he pressed a hidden button inside his left cuff.

It was his last trump card, the reason he had dared enter the conference room alone.

LexCorp's top-secret project: the S.H.I.E.L.D. personal energy generator.

A high-strength blue energy shield burst from a miniature device at Luthor's waist, expanding around his body.

The shield exerted a powerful repulsive force, designed specifically to withstand extremely intense physical impacts.

In theory, it could briefly withstand a direct strike from a tactical missile and even deflect half the force of a straight punch from Superman.

As the shield expanded, an urgent distress signal pierced the rainy night and raced toward LexCorp headquarters in Metropolis.

Chu Men felt a vibrating repulsive force against his palm, trying to push his fingers away.

"Well, look at that." Chu Men eyed the blue glow. "No wonder you dared come here alone and tell me what to do. Is this what you were counting on? A turtle shell?"

Inside the shield, Luthor gulped air. His Adam's apple bobbed, and cold sweat slid down his bald head.

His voice came out hoarse. "Let go. This shield is linked to my vital signs. If I die, every core LexCorp database will automatically self-destruct. You'll get nothing!"

"Really?"

Chu Men's grin widened, baring stark white teeth.

He ignored Luthor's threat entirely.

Chu Men slowly tightened his fingers.

Bzz—bzzzt—

The blue shield shrieked.

Its once-smooth surface began to warp visibly.

Luthor's eyes widened, blood vessels webbing across them.

He watched the crowning achievement of his technology—the shield that could withstand a missile—cave inward under Chu Men's raw strength.

Chu Men's fingers sank into the shield bit by bit.

Faint ripples spread through the surrounding space where the two forces pressed against each other.

"You think far too highly of yourself," Chu Men said softly.

Crack.