Miss. Morix

13

"Mira, darling, hello?" I felt a tap on my shoulder and raised my head from my folded arms. "Hi! You're up!" He sat next to me. "How was your sleep? What are you doing? Were you here all night? Dedicated indeed." He nodded adamantly. "Coffee, could I get you some coffee? Something else? My dad always said that Kentucky Mash was the secret to health." He laughed awkwardly.

    I looked around the room groggily. I had been here all night trying to get my personal projects together. I suppose I was overly motivated after such irritating conversations. I must have fallen asleep.

"I'm so sorry...I just, sorry." I began to straighten up my papers and books.
"No no no! Don't apologize to me. I'm curious. Speak to me! Intrigue me!"

I thought about it for a moment, maybe more. He waited, fiddling with small objects clumsily and moving his fingertips gawkily.

"I was trying to perfect it before pitching it to you."
"What? Perfect what? You've made advancements? I knew you would! Let me see."

     I handed him the papers, watching his eyes scan the paper intensely. He nodded occasionally, adding 'mms' and 'mhms' sporadically. His eyes suddenly enlarged, and an eerie grin slowly formed from cheek to cheek. Impulsively, he tossed the papers on to a nearby table.

"It's ingenious Miss. Morix! Phenomenally thought out! Perfect it? Ah. No such thing! Together we will start right away! I could kiss you! I really could!"

I waited for it, but he walked away from me with his hand over his mouth and free hand on his hip, brushing the lab coat behind it.

"But I won't. I shall not! Professionalism my dear, professionalism." He winked at me. I noticed his eye was caught on something. I glanced down. "What is that?" He asked annoyed. I followed his eyes; it was my brother's Policy and Law textbook; it was the gray and red book from inside the box that sits in my closet.

"Oh...it was uh, my brother's"
"Your brothers? And why exactly do you need it?" He stepped closer, gritting teeth. "Miss. Morix, are you planning a testimony against the company?" I swallowed hard.
"No Lex. Not even remotely." He didn't break our stare.
"I've trusted you Miss Mira, so I will ask you this once. Only once. Understand?" I nodded. "What. Is. It. For?"
"My brother...Mason...was studying law."
"Uh huh, continue." He began pacing near me, his gaze on the floor.
"He isn't now. He's been thrown in jail."
"For what dear?" My hands felt clammy. I looked at him and then to the floor. I could feel him studying me.
"Lex, I know your brilliant understanding of how Kryptonite effects Kryptonian cells. I've seen the research on other Meta-Humans, on the Meta-Human theory. It's all brilliance, purely intricate. It's admirable, really...But, have you studied its effects on humans? On us?"

He turned to me as I turned to him. His facial expression was quizzical. He stepped closer to me, stopping inches away from me. "Tell me more." He whispered. I yearned to move my mouth to his.

"My brother is a Kryptonite addict, Lex. There are people like him on the streets."
"Did he shoot it?" I knew he was asking because of my theoretical liquefaction plans.
"No. It was snorted. No one knew how to liquefy it in a way that kept the chemicals intact."
"And so you're working on that...why?"

I inhaled deeply, slowly, and exhaled steadily. His eyes fluttered closed. His mouth twitched slightly at a corner as he felt my own breath on his mouth, savoring it. 

"If I can liquefy iron, I can liquefy Kyrptonite."
"Iron?"
"My brother is anemic Lex. I helped with that problem. One down, one to go I suppose. Kryptonite makes a mess of cells in humans. I think it was responsible for making him anemic. I don't know if it is a consistent side effect. Human bodies don't know how to handle it biologically. But it is as addictive as any drug. I don't know why."
"So why liquefy it. To enable his—"

"No." I cut him off. I thought it'd make him angry, irritated. It didn't. Instead he bit his lip and constricted his eyes that were still locked on mine. "To ensure my brother could leave jail safely, without relapsing. I'd use it as a detox method. Mason is in jail dependent on a drug that Clark is afraid of. Because Clark is afraid of it." I was spitting words, tears welled my eyes. "He's in jail...in a gas chamber. He's so dependent; he lives in a gas chamber. Kryptonite in the form of a gas circulating through his body consistently...constantly."

Lex pouted his lip, raising a finger to my chin. He held it to the bottom of my chin, his thumb pad gently stroking my cheek. "Sounds terrible darling. It sounds like Superman thinks he's above the law. Perhaps it's time you make sure, with your brother's future detoxification methodology, Clark Joe learns what it is to be like everyone else." I nodded. "It seems you already have reflected upon that while researching if it would be lethal for him." I nodded again.

My eyes slid downwards, but Lex simply picked my head back up with his finger.  "I assure you as well that there is a loophole in that book there. I'll let you in on a secret I made sure I learned." He paused.

"One cannot be arrested for a crime that was committed before it was made illegal." I blinked and with it a tear dripped on to Lex's finger. He wiped it away.

Leaning in, he kissed my cheek lightly, gently, sending flashes of heat throughout my face.
"Mira, sweetheart, I promise you we'll avenge your brother."