Growing Pains - Chapter 6

Lex Luthor was many things. Rich. Intelligent. A ruthless businessman with a keen instinct. Yet, there was one aspect that he prided himself in above all others.

Being able to manipulate the masses at whim.

Right now he was watching the challenge to the Alien sent by the Saiyan child. Like everything, it was simply another situation he could twist to his favor. The only question remained, what would be the best move at the moment?

Unlike most of the things that made the news, this wasn't something he knew was coming in advance. It was sudden, spontaneous. And it wasn't like this child had any contacts or subordinates he could spy on or recruit to keep tabs on her. No, this was a rare opportunity with a small window to take advantage of it before it was too late.

Many plans of action whirled through his mind, each carefully evaluated before being refined or discarded.

He could push for a military response, through several proxies naturally, and have them attack the site of this duel. If they managed to kill off the Saiyan then it would be one less alien thinking they could come in and take over because they were physically superior. Of course if they failed he was sure he would be able to convince several people in both the military and the government to increase sales and funding for L-Corp weapons.

It was a tempting plan, but one he ultimately had to push aside. It would have worked if the invader didn't look like a child. While people were scared of the Saiyan's power, they weren't so scared they would be willing to be attached to an operation gunning after a twelve year old. While his more pragmatic contacts would have no issue with the deed, they would be crucified by public response.

No, that option was out.

He could always hire a mercenary to attack both of them…

No, the timeframe was too short for anyone competent.

Very well, it seemed direct action was off the table this time. But Luthor did not make it to where he was today by being unable to adapt his strategies. If being direct wouldn't work, he would be indirect.

He pressed a button on his desk that opened the intercom to the lobby outside his office.

"Come in."

Luthor leaned back in his chair as his right hand woman, Mercy Graves, walked into the room.

"What can I do for you, Lex?"

He gave his favorite henchwoman a rare natural smile. Her absolute loyalty to him and her competency were just two of the reasons he relied on her as much as he did. Her ruthlessness and willingness to follow orders instantly just made her even more useful.

"I've decided what we are going to do about our visitor's little challenge." He said slowly. "Get a few camera crews out to the location specified. As many stations as possible. We are going to make sure the whole country sees this."

"Yessir, right away."

Instant obedience. How refreshing.

Yes, this was the best move he could make right now. If the Alien won, and Luthor could easily admit it was likely he would, the country would be witness to their beloved idol of justice beating on a child. If for some reason he lost, then he was no longer the unbeatable symbol they held him up as and his influence would wane. Of course if the camera crews happened to be killed…well, that just goes to show how dangerous it is to let these aliens run loose where normal people could get hurt now didn't it?

-o-

When I first picked the place for my rematch with Superman, I thought about recreating the tiled floor seen in the World Martial Arts tournament or the Cell Games but couldn't due to the lack of giant mountains I could carve up for tiles. I mean I also wasn't strong enough to just whip up tiles like I remember Cell doing, but the thought was there.

Instead I settled for a wide flat patch of ground far from pretty much everything. It would be fine if we spent most of the time flying right?

So imagine my surprise when I found nearly a dozen different news crews converging on my location minutes before my scheduled fight. These people did realize I was about to fight Superman right? That the whole reason I moved the fight from the city was because I didn't want squishy people getting in the way? Were they suicidal or just dumb?

Well I still had some time to kill…

"Heeyyy! What are you guys doing here?" I called down to them once I flew over. "And can you leave? I have a fight in a few minutes and I don't want us getting distracted."

I definitely took them by surprise because most of them jumped, some of them fumbled with the equipment they had been unloading, and one unfortunate guy dropped a camera lens down. I winced at that last one. That was probably expensive.

Of course the reporters didn't just instantly jump to obey me, that would be too easy.

"Excuse me, miss, I'm Danny Demaris; reporter for Channel 7. Would you mind a short interview?"

Was there something about being a reporter that required getting up close and personal with things that could kill you? The other guys at the news station seemed the same. Maybe it wasn't a Lois Lane thing, but something that all reporters did and she only survived it because of Superman…

Actually, that reminded me.

"I guess I can talk to you for a bit if you don't mind answering a question first?"

The reporter checked to make sure his cameraman was recording before eagerly nodding his head yes.

"Can you only be a reporter if your name starts with the same two letters?"

"...I…what?"

"I mean, I didn't really go looking for a bunch of reporter names but there's Lois Lane, Vikky Vale, and you're Danny Demaris. All of you have names that start with the same letter. I guess there's Clark Kent too, but his names only sound similar. Is he not a very good reporter then?"

Hah, take that you Big, Blue Bully! Even if I can't physically beat you up yet, I can still make fun of your alter ego.

"..." Donny took a second to recover before giving me a strained smile and attempting to move on. "I'm sure Mr. Kent is a fine reporter and it has nothing to do with his name. The alliteration of the other names is just coincidence."

"Isn't that when a word sounds like the sound it makes?" I knew what alliteration meant of course, but I had an image to sell.

"No, that's onomatopoeia."

"Oh…"

"...Anyways, there have been a lot of scared people since your arrival asking what exactly your intentions are with the planet."

I waited for him to continue with a question, but he just looked at me expectantly. Was I supposed to respond to that?

"Okay…?"

"What is your response to those people. Any clues to your motivations, that might explain why you are here?"

"I'm here to take over the planet by beating your champions." I repeated the public reason I was doing anything.

"Yes, but why? Is it for resources? For territory?"

Going by my original mission it would be to exterminate everything on the planet and sell it off, but I wasn't about to say that on TV! Time to use the politician's second most popular trick in the book: blaming someone else and changing topics.

"I dunno, I was just sent here to take it over. It's taking longer than I thought it would but I've been having fun! You have some interesting things here, even if most of you are weaklings."

Donny looked a little annoyed at my response but kept his tone polite. "Aren't you worried about people getting hurt though? Your first appearance did quite a bit of damage to Metropolis."

I shrugged. "A little? I don't want to hurt people who aren't fighters but I can't stop people from being stupid. I mean, I tried to have my rematch out here away from anyone else and you guys followed me anyway. Seems kinda dumb to worry about getting hurt if your gonna go looking for it."

Now the reporter was definitely annoyed. I could see him clenching his jaw at my comments to not blurt something out.

"Well, what can I say? Channel 7 has a good medical plan." He tried joking.

I tilted my head 'innocently'. "Wait, does this planet not give people the same level of medicine for everyone? Do only certain people get healed?"

"No, of course not." Donny backtracked. "Everyone in the country can get the same care at a hospital. My company just lets me not pay for it as much-"

"You have to PAY for a hospital?!" I exclaimed, 'shocked' at this revelation. "That's so weird. How do you stop people from making things super expensive for no reason, or not curing diseases because they get paid more if people stay longer?"

"We have a very good system in place to make sure everyone gets the care they need." Donny assured me, not very well considering the stiff looking smile he had on his face.

"If you say so. Anyway, it's time for my fight. If you guys don't wanna risk getting in the way you should go home." I gave them one last piece of advice before flying back into the air and looking at the direction I could sense Superman coming from.

Okay, round two!

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