negotiating a contract ((for Clark Luthor))

[slayers_desire]

After a lot of thought, and conversation with Jake in the Nexus, and Ed in his apartment, April has come to a solution for her need of Kryptonian blood right now.

And the solution does include a return to the universe of Clark Luthor.

Instead of calling ahead this time, April uses her PINpoint to appear in a closet in the LuthorCorp building, and steps out when she knows no one is around.

She is dressed in a business-like attire. And starts to make her way up to the office of Clark Luthor, ready to discuss an agreement with him.

Comments

[clark_luthor]

Clark is in his office, on a conference call to one of LuthorCorp's many subsidiaries. While it might be a bit far to suggest that he's grown complacent in his power, without Lionel there to watch his every move, he isn't as vigilant as he used to be.

Most of his employees are either loyal in their ignorance, choose to be loyal out of fear, or simply have no other choice. But sometimes desperation drives people to do desperate things.

To almost anyone else, the man looks like he belongs there, in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. But to the hyper vigilant, or to someone with senses like April's, he's nervous and afraid for his life, but determined to see this through. He has to.

[slayers_desire]

The man with the business suit does get April's attention. And she shifts to shadow mode to follow him. This could be serious.

[clark_luthor]

Every time he passes a security guard, the man's nervousness spikes, afraid that he's going to be caught. He knows that he'll go to prison for this, or probably disappear, never to be seen again. But he can't let that happen... not yet. Not until he's done what needs to be done.

The briefcase hangs heavy in his hand, giving away a weight that doesn't quite fit with the small size. Almost as though it was lined with lead.

He takes the stairs instead of the elevator, making his way up the tower.

[slayers_desire]

Easily in shadow-form, April follows him up the stairs. Noting the heavy briefcase, she gently touches his mind.

If it is Kryptonite... she needs to know now. And what kind.

[clark_luthor]

Inside the briefcase is a gun, loaded with green kryptonite bullets. Rumor has it that the Luthor heir can only be killed by such a weapon, but no one's ever succeeded. And there have been so many assassination attempts...

The man with the briefcase has nowhere left to turn. A company rival has promised to provide for his family if he succeeds in killing Clark Luthor. He just lost his job at LuthorCorp, blacklisted for embezzling funds to support his family, and feels he has no other choice. Even if he goes to prison, or dies... at least his family will be taken care of.

[slayers_desire]

Damn... green kryptonite. It is just as dangerous to her and the baby as it is to Clark Luthor.

Your family would miss you. They need you more than money She attempts to change his mind.

[clark_luthor]

He's had those doubts before, running them over and over again in his head. This is the only way... I'll never get another job again. He climbs higher, trembling in the knees at what he's going to do. He's never taken a life before.

The sound of someone taking the stairs is not nearly enough to draw Clark Luthor's attention, and he continues the conference call, oblivious to the approaching danger.

[slayers_desire]

You can find another job. There is always a choice. Your family wouldn't want you to do this

[clark_luthor]

Not with word from Luthor... not something with good enough pay to support them. He's sad when he thinks about his family. He's going to miss them.

Only a few floors away now.

[slayers_desire]

Don't you think Luthor would go after your family? They could get in danger

[clark_luthor]

That thought fills him with fear. He honestly doesn't know what Luthor would do to them. I have to believe I've covered my tracks well enough...

[slayers_desire]

The office is videotaped... you need to think about your family

[clark_luthor]

I am thinking of my family. And that's why he has to do this.

He reaches the top floor of the LuthorCorp building, and tries to steel himself. He's still trembling, not full of the kind of resolve a person needs to kill someone in cold blood. But he doesn't see any other way out.

[slayers_desire]

Are you sure it is loaded? She needs to be more hands on.

[clark_luthor]

He obsessively checked and double-checked before coming here, but what could one more time hurt? He looks and listens hard for anyone else in the stairwell before setting the briefcase on the floor and crouching down to open it.

[slayers_desire]

April applies her mental abilities around the briefcase. Ready to make it look like the gun is missing.

[clark_luthor]

He panics. There's little room for anything else in the briefcase, but he paws through the few other things there to make sure it isn't somehow hidden. "Where is it?"

[slayers_desire]

April uses her PINpoint to teleport the gun away now. She stares at the man who is so desperate to kill a man. For money.

This is a darker world.

Leave before he finds you. Take your family and move away. Start a new life.

She reaches out with her voices, to find a place where this man and his family can find success.

[clark_luthor]

The LuthorCorp of this world has a far longer reach than the one she knows. While it's formidable back home, Clark Luthor's inherited company has its tendrils in every level of infrastructure in this country, and dominates the global market. There are very few places this man could go where the word of a Luthor means nothing. And nowhere at all to hide if Luthor learns this man's identity.

His only hope is to move somewhere small and isolated, and get a mundane job somewhere out of the country. It will be difficult, but there are very few paths available to him.

[slayers_desire]

She gives him the faint hope of moving far away, to Corn Island, a small unknown island near Nicaragua. In fact, if he looks in his briefcase again, there is enough money to move his family there. Relocate. And start fresh.

And she hopes he takes this offer. That he can escape.

[clark_luthor]

He doesn't look, blindly grabbing at the briefcase and bolting down the stairs, his heart racing in his panic. He can't be anywhere near here if someone comes looking. And without a weapon on hand, he's absolutely terrified of the man in the top floor office.

Who is just now finishing his call, and is listening to the racket the man is making as he flees.

[slayers_desire]

April waits a moment, then opens the door and walks into Luthor's office. She knows he had heard a racket in the stairway.

"Hello Mister Luthor."

[clark_luthor]

He turns to face her, and raises an eyebrow. "Terrorizing my employees, are we?" It's his best guess on what happened, since most of the conversation was only through psychic means.

[slayers_desire]

"Actually... I was preventing an assassinations attempt."

[clark_luthor]

His expression darkens, and he automatically tunes in his superhearing to track the man as he runs. "Were you, now?"