Chapter 19 – The Ego, the Ghost, the Super
“We bring you this morning, live at Merritt Island, Florida, the scheduled launch of the joint team project, from the finest of the LexCorp brightest engineers and NASA’s collaborative work to open their long due project for commercial spaceflight. The launch will be the first--...”
Television broadcast from all of U.S.A. all broadcasting the scheduled launch of LexCorp spaceflight project and their collaborative work with NASA. America is extremely enthusiastic with this piece of news, simply because this project signifies the American superiority.
To be the first country to finally realize an actual spaceflight for commercial purposes, to finally be able to bring mankind beyond the limit of space, to beat the other countries in the race for dominance over space, America will surely celebrate upon this great progress.
But the one most delighted with this news is the sole owner of the LexCorp.
“Sir, we will be arriving to the space center in five minutes.”
Inside a luxurious private jet sat a bald man dressed in an expensive brand of black suit. He picked an intricate patterned glass of champagne and took a sip. He then nods to the young and attractive female assistant sitting beside him as he puts the glass down.
“I see. Please see to it that everything is in order as I arrive.”
“Yes, Mr. Luthor.” The assistant replied with a nod.
Lex Luthor smiled as he looks outside the window of his private jet, looking at the scenery. He was excited for the long awaited spaceflight project, and he has further plans to continue forward after the successful launch of the spaceship.
‘The launch will make the world to see me as the greatest of minds. Hmmm, maybe someday I’ll have my own country to rule over.’
Luthor is a true intellectual genius; his level of intellect extremely high, and he’s considered to be the world’s smartest man. He is also an ego-centered man; to be above everyone is his main pleasure. This is what drives him launch a spaceflight project. He plans to perhaps one day dominate the space; a territory currently untouched by no one.
{Mr. Luthor, please fasten your seat belt, we’re ETA thirty seconds to land} the pilot of the jet plane announced via the com.
Luthor fixed his suit and his gold patterned tie, and stood up from his seat. His assistant stood up and prepared her phone and notebook within her hands like a true professional assistant.
The jet plane lands, the engine stops; Lex Luthor waits in front of the jet plane’s doorway as it opens. Luthor preps his lips to give a smile for the reporters waiting outside. He gave one last check on his suit, and then he walks out of the jet plane.
“Hello, good afternoon--” Luthor starts speaking to his audience as they gave him a warm welcome. Luthor assumed his gentleman manner, and continued, “--there will be time for an interview after the launch, please be patient...”
...
“As I expected, Luthor is in Florida right now.”
Matthias is currently sitting on top of a tall building next to the LexCorp Tower in Metropolis. He’s fully dressed in his newly upgraded getup, and fully prepared as well. He’s holding a phone tablet in his hand to monitor the news.
Matthias has been monitoring the news about Lex Luthor, the owner of the LexCorp. It has been years since the news of Lex Luthor’s spaceflight project, that even in Gotham, Matthias has been monitoring the progress from several news sites.
Lex Luthor is currently at Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. NASA is collaborating with Luthor in the pursuit to realize a true commercial space travel. Matthias has been waiting for this moment when Luthor is not in Metropolis.
“LexCorp Tower, huh... like my brother’s multi-billion company, this Tower is the LexCorp heart and center.” Matthias mused to himself as he observed the LexCorp Tower. He liked the fact that just like the Wayne Tower is the heart for the whole Wayne Enterprises, the LexCorp Tower is to the whole LexCorp. “Hmmm, maybe I’ll make my own business and have my own Tower as its center.”
Matthias then puts away his tablet and stood up. He warms up his arms and legs, and then took his grappling gun from his utility belt.
“Well then, let us proceed...”
*Psshh!*, the silent sound of the magnetic propeller of the grappler launching through the air as it shoots towards the edges of the LexCorp Tower rooftop. The claw of the grappler extends with a *shing!*, and safely stuck a grip on the building’s edges.
Though it is daytime now, people will not be able to see Matthias, even when he’s shooting through the sky using his grappler. This is purely because people rarely look above them, and that Matthias’ body is too fast moving for people to focus on what the black figure looked like before it vanishes.
On the rooftop of the LexCorp Tower, Matthias began sneaking through the doorway and head downstairs. Matthias then looked at his phone tablet again, and began observing his surroundings.
‘Let’s find the security station to hack their surveillance cams, and then plant the bugs throughout this building, and lastly infiltrate Luthor’s private office.’
Matthias starts to increase his speed and agility, as well as his sneaking stats by sacrificing most of his unneeded strength for this mission. The ghost is now roaming within LexCorp Tower, and nobody will ever know.
~~~
Meanwhile, exactly three hours prior to Matthias’ infiltration to LexCorp, Clark Kent is standing on the Kennedy Space Center’s public attraction yard with his colleague and friend, Jimmy Olsen. Clark is wearing his cheap yet neat suit, and has a camera strapped on his neck, while Jimmy Olsen is wearing a neat shirt and has a camera strapped across his left shoulder.
“Hey,” Jimmy called for Clark, “I still can’t believe that Lois is being selected as the only reporter to be able to enter the rocket ship... Damn I really am jealous of her.”
“I know, right? Well, I guess it’s because she’s a beauty and a great professional, all in one, that she got selected to report the situation from inside the ship itself.”
Both Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen were talking about how Lois Lane is extremely lucky to be able to enter a rocket ship for the commercial spaceflight travelling project.
Though they are both very excited to be able to broadcast this news story for the public, Clark somehow felt uneasy. He has no reason to believe that the launch will end badly, especially since the project has been going on for years, and has been fully tested and proven safe in both the launching and the landing.
“Well, let’s go to the viewing tower, I don’t wanna miss this moment, gotta make sure everything is well documented and all the necessary shots are taken!” Jimmy tapped on Clark’s shoulder to signal him to quickly move.
Clark responds with a small laugh, and walked towards the viewing tower of NASA.
‘Let’s forget this weird uneasy feeling and do our job... nothing dangerous will surely happen anyway. Right?’
Clark shook his head lightly, and moved towards the observation tower.
Clark, along with Jimmy Olsen and several other reporters and television crews all entered the designated observation viewing tower. From the inside, everyone can see the space aircraft that is about to launch. The view is very clear, and people were getting more and more excited for the launch time.
The launch will be ETA four hours from now on, and the crews and reporters all started unpacking and preparing to broadcast.
Clark, in order decrease the boredom of waiting for the launch to begin, started using his super senses to enhance his eyesight to look for Lois Lane.
He found her, wearing a special white colored suit obviously looking too big to her that it looks baggy. She was obviously excited and happy to board the spacecraft and report things from the inside. Clark found this scene to be cute, and he silently chuckles.
Clark then looks up from the tower, and he saw a luxury jet flying above them. He observed the jet as it lands on the runway. It was then that Jimmy Olsen tapped on Clark’s shoulder to call for him.
“Hey, hey, you see that luxury jet, right? That’s Lex Luthor’s jet! C’mon! We gotta have an interview with him!”
Just like Jimmy’s excited voice, the other reporters are all getting up and are about to move towards the runway to meet with the genius behind it all; Lex Luthor.
“It’s gonna be hard to have an interview with all these reporters flocking around him...” Clark said to Jimmy.
“It’s worth a shot, and we also need a good angle to shoot a pic of him. Now you have a good physique, right? And you’re damn tall too, which means you’re the perfect candidate to tower against all these other cameramen and take one of the best pictures of him!”
Both Clark and Jimmy then moved, together with the other reporters to the runway to meet Lex Luthor.
Clark prepped his camera on his neck. Deep inside his mind, he's thinking if he should use some part of his power to take the picture of Lex Luthor.
‘Maybe I can float a bit to make myself taller than the rest. That way, I can take better pictures.’
Clark mused himself as he walk...
The future Super Hero did not want to misuse his power, but it doesn't hurt to use it once a while.