Poker Face | Bruce Wayne

thirty four

PRESENT DAY

"No, you listen to me, Elias. I announce we are working together at my next press conference, stir up some media attention, and then we covertly work on Wayne in the meantime. Not the other way around."

Meredith rolled her eyes, picking up the mug of hot tea in front of her and sipping it gingerly. She watched the man pace back and forth across the office, eyebrows wound tightly and hands behind his back.

"I disagree."

He made an exasperated noise. "That much I'm aware of."

She set down the mug, narrowing her gaze. "Lex, if you notify the public, there's no way Wayne won't get tipped off. And if he realizes what's going on then game over— we only get one chance to pull this off correctly."

Lex spun around, halting in the middle of the room. "You place too much faith in that absolute imbecile of a man. I could blatantly declare our entire plan and he would be too hungover from the night before to give a damn."

Meredith scoffed. She couldn't exactly come out and say well actually that imbecile of a man also masquerades around as the World's Greatest Detective and would most definitely notice so she had to find a different explanation. "Okay fine, maybe Wayne won't realize what's going on. But you're telling me that no one in the company will get suspicious? Does the name Lucius Fox ring any bells?"

"Hm." He pursed his lips. He rolled his neck back and groaned in irritation. "I suppose. Though, Fox is mediocre at best."

She sighed, tilting her gaze out over the Metropolis skyline. Luthor's office was exactly what one would expect it to look like— grand, cold, and void of anything other than showing off his money. Everything was done in glass, with large windows and doors and even portions of the floor. It felt like there was someone watching your every move— Meredith didn't know how the man could stand it.

"Why do you even want to be President?" she finally asked. "Do you not have enough media exposure as it is?"

The businessman turned around languidly, his stare hard and bitter. It was his turn to scoff. "Why does someone like me want anything, Meredith?"

She waited for him to fill the silence. She furrowed her brows. "Is that rhetorical, or...?"

"Power!" He sounded exasperated. "To right the wrongs cast upon society by our failure of a government. You of all people should know what it's like to want that— that's why I came to you."

She crossed her arms. "You're right, I do. But when have you ever cared about what happens to society? It sounds to me like all you're focused on is righting the wrongs cast upon yourself."

"Elias," he seethed. "You don't know a single thing about m—"

"What's your first action as President, then?" she interjected. "Convince me that you're not just in this for self-interest and then maybe I'll tell you what I think we should do about Wayne."

Lex's eyes were a terrifying shade of green, darting around her face so quickly that it made his pupils look almost akin to those of a snake. Snakeboy was what she and Bruce used to call him in high school. It was somewhat comforting to know that it still rang true.

He finally sighed, tapping a button on his watch and suddenly multiple holoscreens were appearing around his body, casting the room in dim blue light. "I want to take a proposed moratorium on fossil-based fuels to the U.S. Congress. According to my scientists, if we stop extracting 90% of coal reserves, as well as 60% of oil and gas reserves in the next thirty years, we can limit global temperature rise by 2.7 degrees. Not nearly where I want to be, but you know how politics are."