My Ghost

twenty-four

lex luthor, 1:30 AM

"What do you mean you lost her!" I yell, rising from the seat behind my desk and slamming my hands against the tabletop.

"The damned Bat got her! He teamed up with this Red Hood character and Nightwing, my men were unprepared."

"No, your men were imbeciles and so are you," I hiss, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. "You should have been prepared, Sionis. I put a lot of fucking money into bringing that girl back to life, I put a lot of money into you. You promised me Gotham in return, you promised me a hundred pounds of goddamn kryptonite!"

"The Hood got the kryptonite and you know that," Roman argues. "I can still get her back."

"You should've detonated the device in her head," I tell him. "They would've assumed she was dead. We could've recovered her from the site."

"They would've taken her and buried her."

"And we would've known where she was located," I snap, my anger beginning to become uncontrollable. "You don't think ahead, Sionis. That's your problem."

"Are you questioning my intelligence?" Black Mask asks, laughing. "Are you questioning how I run my goddamn operation? It was my idea to bring the fucking girl back and it worked! You're welcome!"

I watch as he gestures his hands wildly before shoving them deep into his suit pockets.

"I'm not thanking you for losing my investment," I state as calmly as possible. "Your idea- but my money."

"Get off your high horse," Sionis snaps. "I put money into her as well, you aren't the only rich guy with a lot of guns." I watch as his grip tightens on something in his pocket and I sigh.

"Don't even think about shooting me," I warn him. "It's not in your best interest."

"Not in my best interest my ass. You-"

The elevator behind Roman dings, and I lean my head slightly right to see past him. Out of the elevator runs one of my henchman, his left eye black and his right arm hanging limp at his side.

"What the-"

"Mr. Luthor!" he exclaims, cutting Roman off.

"What do you want?" I ask, annoyed.

"It's the girl, we saw her!"

"The girl?!" Sionis exclaims, turning to face the man.

"Yes, she showed up with the Bat to take on the Joker where we planned on the ambush," he hurriedly explained.

"Excellent, you have a starting point," I state, turning to Roman. "Now you know where to begin looking."

"If you think for one second that I-"

"That's not all, sir," the henchman once again interrupts the Black Mask. I smile amusedly as I watch his skull twist with anger.

"What else?" I ask, turning back to the intruder.

"She has..." he pauses, as if searching for the correct word, "...abilities."

"What kind of abilities?!" Roman instantly howls, grabbing the man by his collar. He turns to look at me, his eyes wide and body shaking.

"She's fast, nowhere near the level of speed as the Flash but faster than any other normal human. Her hands- they hold some sort of power as well. We unloaded a spray of bullets at the group and she stopped them simply by holding up her hand," he explains.

"Interesting," I mutter. So the serum did transfer to her some slightly altered powers, perhaps this was a worthwhile investment after all.

"Holy shit," Roman says aloud, turning to face me and we exchange a glance. "It worked."

"Not as well as we hoped," I reply, skeptical.

"She's still got more power in her goddamn pinky than any normal man," Roman snaps. "It worked well enough, Lex."

"Then go get her before she starts to use that against us," I return. "You're wasting time standing here."

"How in the hell do you propose I do that, huh?!" 

"Do exactly as I said the last time you dragged that damn girl in here," I growl. "You destroy everything she loves."

I reach into my coat pocket, drawing a pistol. Sionis immediately jumps into action, but rather than shoot the annoying bastard, I shoot the messenger instead.

"And kill anyone who knows but us, this is our secret."