Chapter 3
Lucius Fox
In the business world, a major storm was being forecasted as one of the biggest enterprises in the world held its Board meeting.
And so, he found himself sitting in the very Board Room he had helped build and then had been removed from, as the man who had fired him paced nervously as they waited for the main protagonist of the day.
William Earle paced nervously as the whole board sat there quietly, waiting for the young who had called this meeting to show up. However, apart from a few people, including the current CEO and his faction, which had become extremely small, the rest weren't really bothered.
"This is it. This has gone on for long enough. I will not let him make a mockery of this Board," the man shouted as he moved and sat down in the only empty seat in the room rashly, his eyes narrowing towards his side of the table.
Though not at him. But at the woman sitting beside him, dressed in a woman's suit, though Luciius had an inkling that this Selina Kyle usually wore a somewhat different dress, one which he might have even had a hand in creating.
"And who even are you, Miss Kyle, and where is that blasted boy?" he questioned in anger. Though, Lucius
"As I said earlier," the woman began slowly, her voice prim and posh, as she sat there wearing a simple black dress.
"I am his secretary, and Master Wayne is on his way. His car broke down, and he had to get it repaired," and a few beside him chuckled.
And why wouldn't they? Did Thomas Wayne lack cars?
"Is that a joke? The Wayne's have a whole fleet of cars," Earle complained, and the woman beside him had the audacity to reply with a simple smile.
"It's his lucky car," she replied, and Earle chewed his lips before he straightened up and uttered.
"That is enough. As CEO of Wayne Enterprises, I call this meeting into session," he announced, and Lucius simply raised a brow as the doors to the meeting room were closed.
Perhaps he should have been worried, but the smiling expression of the woman beside him told her that there wasn't anything to worry about. And in the time he had spent with Thomas Wayne, he had come to understand that the young man was not one to give a person like Earle any chance, especially now that next week, the young man was going to have the first launch of his own subsidiary.
And what a launch that was going to be, he thought as he looked towards the two prototypes placed there behind him.
"And for the first motion of the meeting, I call for the removal of Lucius Fox from the Board," Earle spoke up as he turned to glare at him. The man thought that it was him standing behind young Thomas Wayne.
However, it was completely the opposite.
"Do I have a second," he questioned, and his VP raised his hand, and with a nod, the motion was moved forward. He looked still and sat without moving an inch as the young woman turned to look at him with a raised brow.
Then it happened: the doors to the conference room were opened, and the young man they had all been waiting for walked into the room.
"And the motion is denied," he announced before the voting could even begin, and he saw Earle flush in rage as Thomas Wayne walked into the room.
The young man gave him a small nod as he moved towards his seat. The young woman who had been sitting there stood up, and he didn't miss the way her eyes narrowed at him, nearly chiding the young man.
She wasn't his secretary.
"And how can you say that you control only forty percent of the shares," Earle shouted, and Thomas took his seat, ignoring the man as he gave him a nod before he finally decided to speak up.
"Now, that would have been true a week ago, but I went ahead and bought another eleven percent of Wayne Enterprises using my own funds so that essentially gives me absolute power in this company," the young man said before he took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses as he added as an afterthought.
"Or is it my company now?" he shrugged as Earle paled at that, for this meant the boy now single-handedly controlled the entire company. Not that there was any doubt about that previously, yet Thomas had been willing to let Earle enjoy the power until the man had actively tried to move against the young man and tried to shut down the projects his own father had begun.
That had been crossing a line. A line that Earle had only realized too late he shouldn't have crossed, and now that was going to cost him his very job.
"Now, I believe we all know what this means," and this time, there was none of that cheer in his voice as Thomas Wayne looked at Earle with a narrowed gaze, and Fox felt as if he was looking at Patrick Wayne, the boy's grandfather the man who had taken Wayne enterprises to new heights.
Earle's eyes widened as the man realized that he had lost. Thomas could essentially remove him singlehandedly. The man flushed yet stood up and rushed out of the room.
"I believe we can take that as his resignation," Thomas commented, and the whole room quieted down as he stood up, slowly walked towards the empty seat, and spoke up once again.
"Now, Thomas Wayne, present the motion to make Lucius Fox the CEO of Wayne Enterprises," the boy said before as he looked over the Board.
"Do I have a second," he questioned, and a couple of hands went up at once. And the young man smiled as he turned to face him.
"Congratulations, Mr. Fox," the boy said, and Lucius stood up and spoke up for the first time.
"Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Wayne," he said and shook the hands of various members as he made his way to the CEO seat. A position he had never thought would be his.
Thomas had now moved and had sat down once again. His so-called secretary sat beside him.
"Now, there will be time in the future for speeches, but today, I have the opportunity to tell you that Wayne Enterprises will be entering an entirely new segment," he said as he pointed towards Thomas.
"Technology. At the Wayne expo organized for next week, our head of Technology division shall be presenting our first products to the world," and he didn't miss how the young man boy's eyes widened.
After all, that was not the plan. It was he who was supposed to present it at the expo. Not Thomas.
"But shouldn't it be you doing it, Mr. Fox? After all, you are the CEO," the young man was quick to quip, but Fox was not going to let him get away.
"I believe we should have someone young present. After all, this is your brainchild, isn't it, Mr. Wayne," he said as he turned to face the other Board members.
"Wouldn't you agree?" he questioned. Thomas may have the shares, but he had spent years with these people. Most of them chuckled and nodded, egging him on.
"Yes, of course."
"He is right."
They all spoke, and he saw Thomas Wayne glaring at him. The young man wasn't fond of this stuff and stood up with a huff.
"Alright, but don't think its over old man. I will get you back for this," the young man complained as he came to stand by his side. Few members of the Board chuckled. Most of them were already used to his antics. Thomas Wayne was usually quite jolly, that was until the man was not.
And when he was mad, he was a menace. He would rip through you like tape. Yet the man had patience. He had given Earle a year to change his ways, and only when the man had refused to budge had he moved against him.
"Alright, gentlemen and gentlewomen, about a decade ago, IBM and Intel changed the world when they opened up new avenues, bringing the power of computing to our homes. Now, I plan to bring it to your pockets," the man said as he reached for the prototype.
"I give you the first ever true smartphone!"
And Fox smiled as the young man showed them the device, which was no larger than his palm and had no buttons. And though Fox had helped design it, Thomas himself had done most of the work.
"And you use it with your own freaking fingers!"
The boy said as the screen lit up, as a single stylized 'W' glew up, the logo for Wayne Enterprises.
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