35 3.7

11:30 AM, 19th April, 1989.

Location: Metropolis

"Hello, I'm here for my eleven thirty appointment?" I politely offered, straightening my formal wear. Time to relax and enjoy myself.

"Ah yes, Mister Magnus. Mr Luthor will see you now." A woman with a prosthetic arm announced from a reception area.

She stood and quickly lead me down a hallway to a large office. Expensive, yet modern and tasteful décor. Lex all the way… if it wasn't for the fact it was '89 and people don't have taste in this time period, as all the mullets and parachute pants I see walking through town are clear proof.

Of course it is Lex so he's bald as a cueball. Thankfully. He's standing at the window, and turns to meet me as I enter, Mercy or at least who I assume is Mercy closes the door behind me.

"Hello Mr Victor Magnus, Hero of France and Internationally known as Bubbleboy… what an unexpected meeting. I'm most curious what a man with your affiliations and talents is doing in my office right now." Lex offered taking a step closer.

"I'm here to make the both of us extremely wealthy." I replied.

"Oh? I must say you have peaked my interest. What is your proposal?" He asked, eyeing the manilla envelope I held.

I place a set of designs into his hands and naturally he understands almost instantly what they are.

"This is… a mobile telephone? But smaller, sleeker and more powerful than anything I could have imagined possible..." He mused.

"Yes, I'm offering you access to these designs and in return I want a share of any profits." I smiled. Baited the hook.

"But, these designs… I don't believe we have factories that could be retooled to produce them in sufficient numbers… or access to the materials required for the basic components." Lex replied.

"Not yet. But how difficult would it be to produce a cheap derivative form of the device with modern components? Something which I would still expect to be significantly lighter than the brick sized phones I see people using in cars." I asked.

Lex's eyes started to widen. "You intend to corner the market and then slowly upgrade by generations while Lexcorp builds updated factories for higher quality and more advanced designs? That'd make us… billions long term."

"All while your experts design operating systems and devices based on the original… for example a notepad sized device to view movies or play interactive video games? Or a larger device to sit on a desk to replace a typewriter, by adding a peripheral printing machine and a program designed to edit documents. No more spelling or typing errors from average people. But perhaps the big thing is the ability to make all of these devices wirelessly interconnected, by using the transmission frequencies of the phone system. Imagine a world where everyone has global news or local events at nearly real time speed, or places where people can gather to simply discuss their favourite topics or debate. Give the world a place to store all their hopes and dreams and the world is our oyster." I smiled as Lex looked like he had reached nirvana.

"What is your price?" He asked.

"I hold the sole rights to these properties, with them you get a huge jump start…" I thought about it. "Twenty percent of profits from all derivative tech."

"Why not just cut my throat and take my wallet, if you want to rob me." Lex groaned.

"Because it is more fun watching you squirm. You saw what my device means. Domination of the market for years to come. Decades or more if you play your cards right." I shrugged. "Seventeen percent."

"Three percent. All the hard work, all the production and designing will be done here at Lexcorp." He replied.

"The software doesn't need to be. Make it modular, programs than can be added, created and sold by the user, such as games, stockmarket reports or places to share photos of babies and kittens. Don't forget a camera built into the device when you can. Everyone with a phone having a camera..." I smiled. "You get regular people catching some more interesting things. Celebrities committing crimes, people getting incredibly lucky and just occasionally the best people at their worst."

Superman, acting out… I'm sure Lex is thinking.

"Six percent." He said through gritted teeth.

"Ten." I replied.

"Seven."

"Ten."

"Nine."

"You have a deal, Mr Luthor." I smiled.

"Please, call me Lex. After that little sparring session, I've grown a healthy new respect for you. How did you come to possess such business acumen at the tender age of thirteen?" He queried.

"Past life experiences." I shrugged.

"Very funny, Mr Magnus." He replied drolly.

"Please call me Victor." I replied. Because I truly beat you today.

"Very well, Victor." He moved to his desk and pulled out a bottle of cognac, pouring himself a large glass and drinking it. "I'd say this is a cause for celebration. Are you busy after this meeting?"

"No, I am currently being a dreadful, boring tourist, to the best of my talents." I replied.

Lex pushed a button on his desk. "Mercy, cancel my twelve o'clock with the Senator and get me a table at the Golden Palace." He turned to me with a smile. "Finest Chinese Sichuan cuisine outside of the Great Wall."

"Sounds like a plan, Lex." I laughed internally. Eating out of my hand...

"Good. I'll get my lawyers on the contract, have it typed up for you by tomorrow." Lex said cheerfully.

The following hour was luxury car rides, fine food and surprisingly good conversation. Lex Luthor is nothing, if not a charismatic savant in every field he tries his hand. Too bad he's also a sociopath.

He'd realised I was a lot more cutthroat than my reputation suggested but still underestimated me. When I finally received the contract I asked a friend to read it over very carefully, fine print and all.

"Well, I'm no expert in contract law…" Kal El remarked, having speed read the fifty page document in a second. "… but it seems to me that this line here about holding your share in trust until you're twenty one is not part of the agreed upon deal."

"Curse you Lex Luthor!" I responded in a joking tone, shaking my hand at Lexcorp tower from our seat on the Daily Planet's roof. "Nice catch. I knew he'd try to screw me over, somehow. It's his nature. But regardless, he is the epitome of a business man… when he isn't trying to kill your many incarnations like the second coming of Ahab."

Superman glanced at me. "Should I be worried that you're befriending my mortal nemesis… apparently?"

"Don't sweat the small stuff. He's basically hardwired to be your opposition, regardless of how you act. But if he's too busy running a multi-national corporation, he can't spend his time building warsuits to use to punch you to death with kryptonite knuckles and blast you from orbiting satellite lasercannons. At most he'll just try to ruin you with publicity or mercenaries he hires on the sly. Just… don't give people some of your DNA, okay? He likes trying to clone replacements of you he controls."

"Okay, now I really am worried." Kal El laughs.

"Hey, if a clone of you pops up a few years down the track and it isn't a psychopath… just treat him kindly, ok? You don't need to adopt, just be there for him and show him the ropes. I'll be sure to behave in a sane manner if the same happens to me, which is entirely possible in this mad world." I replied.

"Okay, ouch. That is a nasty possibility. Anything else to sucker punch me with?" Kal El asked.

"Well, you have a biological cousin who was launched in a pod at the same time as you were from a neighbouring planet. She's Kara Zor-El. She may be delayed or captured en route to Earth. She was older than you when sent, but won't age on the trip, arriving little more than a teen. Time distortions, stasis and such." Kal froze. "So when you get access to a space ship make sure to search for her on the path to your destroyed homeworld first chance you get."

"A cousin?!" He yelled with force enough the entire city heard him.

Oops. I think I broke him.