10. Annabeth

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We drove for about an hour before the car finally stopped, I spent most of that trying to stay still and think of a plan to get us out. And figure out who the hades took us. My group kept pretty silent after Jaime had nearly got shot for trying to say something. The woman across from us was staring at each of us in turn and giving me the creeps. I stared back at her when she turned her gaze to me. I wouldn't look away first and normally, I won.
"Where are we?" I asked when the car slowed to a stop. The windows were dark but I could still make out the sight of a building outside.
"You'll remain silent-"
"If you wanted me dead I'd already be dead." I said "Where are we?"
"A few miles outside of Los Angeles" The woman answered
"And why are we?" I asked
"You'll find out soon enough" came the answer then the door was opened and the woman disappeared
'Do you have a plan Annabeth?' Megan asked through the telepathic link
'Im working on it' I grumbled 'but we have to figure out what's going on and get out of here.'
'What if this is where everyone's being held?' Raquel asked 'They obviously had this planned out and are armed well. With tech that can block Megan so...'
'That's what I'm worried about' I frowned 'Jaime is the beetle picking anything up'
'Uh life signatures but nothing specific' Jaime said 'I can bust us out as long as La'gaan can help'
'We can all help' I reminded him  'I'm not helpless without gadgets and neither is Raquel'
'Well yeah....but...I'm just gonna stop now'
I rolled my eyes and lay back waiting. Waiting for a plan, waiting for answers, waiting for help. I prayed to the gods that at least one of those would come.

We were escorted inside by the masked robotic men once the brown haired woman reappeared. The building was made of brick and only had two sliding glass doors in the front with no other windows. On one side of the lobby were public restrooms, at least they weren't completely inhumane. On the other side was a set of water fountains, above that was a large L. I frowned and studied it.
"Lexcorp" I mumbled
There was the Lexcorp tower outside of Manhattan with the same logo, I passed it every time I went to camp. That meant that Lex Luthor had to be involved in this, it didn't surprise me he tended to be a scumbag.
"Mercy!" I said "Mercy Graves!"
The woman looked over her shoulder at me when I said her name.  Mercy Graves, Mr. Luthors personal bodyguard. A pain in the butt. Anyone involved with the Luthors was a pain in my butt.
"So Cadmus is involved?" I asked
Mercy didn't answer but I did get a nudge from behind pushing me forward.
"Did you take the others? Batman and Zatanna and-"
"That's enough questions" Lex Luthor droned from the doorway of a nearby office "Mercy if you would please take them to conference room C while I finish up in here"
Luthor was dressed in a business suit and tie like he usually was. He didn't look particularly dangerous but he could fill up a room in presence alone, more than any other mortal I knew. And when you looked at him, really looked you could pick up details. A scar on his cheek from a fight with Superman, the small handgun he wore at his side, his calloused scarred knuckles that told me he could pack a punch, and his eyes. They bore into you and I knew that behind them, his mind was at work.
"And kids, I wouldn't try anything. You wouldn't want anyone to get hurt." He called out behind us
"Just you" La'gaan growled
Lex chuckled as we were led into the large room ahead.

We were left alone but I had no doubt the room was being watched. The only thing furnishing the room was a large table surrounded by chairs and a smart board at the front for giving presentations.
"Now what?" Jaime asked out loud
I looked to Megan who shrugged then looked around the rest of the room to find all eyes on me. "I'm trying to figure something out."
No one said anything and after a moment La'gaan flopped down on a chair with a sigh. I glanced at him then set to walking around the room, studying it.
As I suspect in the corner, above the smart board was a camera and the blinking light on it showed it was filming. I waved at it then turned around back to the room. The wall opposite of me was made of darkly stained wooden panels to contrast the rest of the room which was painted a cream color and had regular walls. Directly opposite of the camera, up against the wooden wall was a plant. I strolled to it and felt the leafs. A fake plant then.
Other than that and a clock above the door, there was nothing in the room, either to help us escape or to help us figure out what this was about.
My hand went to the ring that was attached to my necklace, my dads college ring. I spun it around the necklace anxiously and I leaned back on the wall waiting. I figured we wouldn't have much time before someone came in to 'speak to us' as Luthor put it. But if we were left in here after that for a while I could probably take apart the camera or use the smart board to contact the Cave or Babs or Dinah.
Dinah. Last time I had talked to her had been a couple months ago after seeing Luke...not Luke? Kronos? I didn't know what he was anymore.
I had finally gone through with my phone call and talked to her a bit about that and I began to tell her small bits of the assassins. She hadn't tried to push or pry and she hadn't even said much about it, she just listened which I guess was nice but then we started talking about my dad which led to her contacting him. She said something about letting him know I was talking to a counselor, which I guess was fair and I was okay with at the time. But then that led to an argument as he got all defensive about 'why couldn't I talk to him?' And things like that. I hadn't talked to Dinah since. Dad said he was okay with it but it had to be someone he knew or something like that. I denied it and said I was fine. I was fine.
No I wouldn't contact Dinah unless I absolutely had to. I know it's dumb but I didn't want to for fear of I don't know what. It just wasn't on my agenda. She knew too much about me for how little I knew of her.
'I have a potential idea' I thought hoping Megan still had the telepathic link up
'Good' Megan answered 'What do I need to do?'
'Um are any of you good with electronics?'
All four of them shrugged. 'Most your tech is a lot different than Atlantan.' La'gaan said
'Same with Martian.'
'Beetle can help' Jaime said
'I'm not bad either. Depending on what your goal is' Raquel said
'Okay let's just hope they keep us in here yeah?' I thought 'and La'gaan try not to make Luthor kill us'
La'gaan rolled his eyes at me 'I won't'

Only ten more minutes passed when Luthor, Mercy Graves, and two of those masked guards entered the room. Those ten minutes seemed like much longer. Probably because we were all anxious to figure out what was happening. I kept switching between the two empty seats that were left and couldn't sit still the whole time. Megan seemed the most calm of the five of us but that wasn't an accomplishment.
"Miss Chase if you would take a seat?" Luthor asked
I was standing at the back of the room, against the wood paneling but didn't bother moving.
"You can see the presentation much better from your seat." He insisted
"Presentation?" I asked "About what exactly?"
I was ignored and instead Lex turned back to the smart board which was now displaying a Google Slide presentation.
"Oil." Lex said "the worlds modern cash crop"
Displayed on the screen was a cheesy clip art photo of an oil barrel.
"Luthor just get to the point" I snapped
"Sit. Down Ms. Chase we will get there soon enough."
"Or we could get there now?" I asked
"I agree with her." Jaime chimed in "you might want to hurry Lex, beetle is getting impatient too."
He moved on to the next slide. "Multiple companies all around the world own their own oil drill however the USA owns the most. Their top donators are corporation such as: Catco, Lex Corp, StarLabs, and Wayne industries." As he said each of these names their logos popped up on the screen. The last one being a photo of Bruce, Dick, Percy, and Cass standing in front of a building, I remembered that day. Percy had invited me to the opening of a Wayne lab opening. Bruce and I at the time had been arguing so pettily I declined his offer until Bruce would apologize. Now I didn't even remember what the argument was about and Bruce was nowhere to be found.
"Although protected against, the US government has created its own oil monopoly, the large companies involved ensure no lawsuit will be made." Lex continued "One of the companies however has noticed this and has made it their mission to end this."
"Alright we get it, oil monopoly, corrupt businesses." Megan said "what does this have to do with us and the other heroes I'm assuming you took?"
"The world governments are corrupt. Reform must happen and I intend to make it." His chest puffed up with pride.
"So you plan to take over the government or make it collapse or..." I questioned
"Ah" he tapped his temple "I'm not stupid, child. You'll have to wait and see. So I'll give you this option: I have to taken to a hotel where you stay for say a week."
"And is that our only option?" I asked
"You won't like the other one." He smiled
"I don't like hotels" I said back
Luthor looked around the room to all five of us obviously trying to gauge what we thought.
"I suppose that means you're taking option two?" He asked
"I'd rather have none of your options." La'gaan said
"Luthor just tell us where you're holding everyone and we won't make it hard on you." Megan tried to take a diplomatic approach
"You're not in a place to make bargains Martian."
"Funny." Jaime said "seems to me like Ms Martian and I are the ones with the fire power here."
"Mr. Reyes I'd rather have you not attack, I'd hate for someone to get hurt." The door to my right opened with Mercy in the doorway behind her were two masked silhouettes I could see, likely more. The only weapon I had was a dagger that would do nothing to anyone here and my hat if you counted that. Jaime could take out a few and Megan and La'gaan could help as well. If we could stay away from those weapons Raquel and I could do a fair amount of damage but I couldn't completely judge their numbers.
"Lex you can leave. We'll give you five minutes to get out then we won't wait and trust me we'll do plenty of damage." I threatened
Luthor sighed as he made his way to the door. "unfortunately you won't have five minutes."
Mercy grabbed him and pulled him out the door at the same time one of the masked men stepped forward and tossed a small grenade looking object in. Then slammed the door shut. Luckily the object turned out to not be a grenade. Unluckily a smoke started dispensing into the room.
"Keep away from that!" Megan shouted as we all backed away
"Good luck sidekicks" Lex laughed before we heard his footsteps disappear down the hall.

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I'm so sorry this took to long to update. My family has been sick and I haven't had energy to update till now. The next chapter will be out sooner hopefully by the next 3 weeks if school doesn't get bad. Thanks so much for reading!  Let me know what you think

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