Starfire

Scene 23: A Hero's Welcome

Some time after the two Tamaranians had left the scene of the battle, Lex Luthor and Victor Payton had driven back to the rubble of Slade Industries to see what had happened to the company's CEO. It took them no time to find his body.

Luthor slammed his fist on the hood of Payton's car. "Blast! We've lost all our momentum now! Even if we found Starfire again, we would still have no way to use her for me to gain presidency. This was the only building where the War Suits were being built, and now there's nothing left."

Payton shook his head. "Mr. Luthor, with all due respect, how can you think of trying to capture Starfire now? Your friend just died. Aren't you upset by that at all?"

"Of course I am!" shouted Luthor. "Don't you realize what this means? Wilson Slade was the only mind brilliant enough to create the War Suits. Now that he's dead, we can't use his genius to create what he thought of."

Luthor might've talked some more about how big a blow Slade's death was to his plans, but he was deprived of the chance by Payton. While Luthor had his back to him, the latter grabbed his hands and forced him to the ground.

"Wrong answer, Luthor."

"Hey, what are you playing at, Payton?" demanded Luthor. "What's the big idea? We're on the same team!"

Payton shook his head as he took out a pair of handcuffs. "You thought wrong then, sir." Payton was sure to place all the contempt he could into the word 'sir.'

"Did you really think we wouldn't have noticed you making regular trips to California, particularly to Jump City? We've always known you were old friends with Slade. Did you really swallow the same story I shoved down his throat about quitting the government? That was just the cover we needed to get an inside man to Slade Industries."

It was all too much for Luthor. All this time, Payton had been one heck of a liar. He had tricked him, Lex Luthor, and if he could do that, he had had Slade eating out of the palm of his hand. Looking up, the would-be President could see Payton smiling humorlessly.

"Lex Luthor, I'm afraid you're out of the running for this election. In the back of my car right now is a black box full of documents of illegally purchased supplies Mr. Slade used to build the War Suits, as well as dozens of recorded conversations between you and Slade.

"I think Congress will particularly enjoy listening to you and Slade planning to experiment and dissect a girl, alien or not. They'll see just how far you were willing to go to scrap the Alien Integration Act. The public will be outraged, the Act will get passed into law, and your reputation will die.

"I hereby arrest you for assisting and plotting conspiracy against the United States government, ordering kidnap, and attempting murder. Adding to the list of charges on a personal note, you dented the hood to my car, so you'll hereby be charged for damaging a government vehicle."

All of this was too much for Lex Luthor, so he did little to resist being forced into the back of Payton's car and being sent into the maelstrom that was to come.

***

One week later. . .

All the public could talk about for the next few days were two things: attack by Blackfire (which expanded to Starfire, a boxer star in the making, being her sister) and the conspiracy between Wilson Slade and Lex Luthor to overthrow the government (followed by the Alien Integration Act being passed into law).

Both stories were covered in every form of media. They were being discussed on the radio, reported on the news, and being posted on thousands of websites.

Surprisingly, very few articles were printed about how Alexander Hawkins had covered up how Lexi the Flexor's replacement was actually an alien. On the contrary, people were talking about Starfire more and more for her heroic act of battling her sister and saving the lives of Jump City pedestrians. Witnesses from the Plasmus fight commented they had no doubt Starfire would come to help them.