Miss. Morix

14

"Excuse me. Mr. Luthor?" I turned to see the short haired woman standing in the doorway. "There is a call for Miss. Morix on hold, line 2." I must have appeared rather confused, because I certainly felt rather confused. Who in their right minds would be calling me here?

"Thank you Miss. Mercy! She'll be right on it!" Lex told the short haired woman without looking at her. Mercy, her name was Mercy. Good to finally know.

     I peeled of my rubber gloves after handing Lex a syringe. He didn't smile, or acknowledge I was off to take a phone call. He continued doing what he was doing. He was zoned in, and exponentially concentrated. I smiled anyway. It always made me feel some ridiculous, kind of ambiguous, feeling to see him at work. But despite it being ambiguous, it felt encouraging, and wasn't an apprehensive ambiguous.

"Hello, Dr. Morix. How may I help you?"
"Hello. This is Alfred Pennyworth. I am calling to speak to you on behalf of Bruce Wayne."

My mind began racing, and my hands felt sweaty. I shifted the phone as I took a chance to wipe them on my lap coat.

"Well, what can I do for the two of you."
"Mr. Wayne would like to meet with you, here in Gotham, at your earliest convenience."
"What for?"
"He asked that he tell you when you arrived."

I debated it momentarily and then decide it couldn't possibly hurt. He seemed like an honest man. Nonetheless, he was Batman. I most likely wouldn't be harmed during my stay.
"Sounds cryptic enough." I chuckled.
"There is a hotel by the name of Obsidian, your name will be registered for the next three days. We will be notified when you check in."
"I...okay."
"We hope to see you soon Dr. Morix."
"Have a nice day then."
"You too."

     The line went dead but I held the phone to my ear in disbelief. How was I getting to Gotham? The tone held out, finally piercing my skull enough to have me hand up the phone. Shaking my head, I walked back to the laboratory. Lex was still working just as he was when I had left him. I met him, pulling gloves back on to my hands. He was holding materials delicately between his fingertips. I watched in silence as he worked diligently. A few moments later his head slowly, crisply, turned to me. The corner of my mouth turned slightly.

"What was all that about?...Hold this for a moment would you? Thank you...The phone?"
"Mr. Wayne has invited me to Gotham. He wants to speak to me."

     Lex stopped what he was doing and place what was in his hands down gently and with the utmost care. He eyed me up and down once and nodded. Times like these I wished I knew what he was thinking. No, not true. I usually wished I knew what he was thinking.

"You should go." He finally said. No stuttering, no babbling. Just a single nod twards me.
"How will I—"
"I'll send you on a helicopter...we have—Did he say where you were to go?"
"Obsidian?" I was hesitant, hoping it rang a bell to him.
"Ah! Yes, right. Beautiful hotel that is. Mhm. I will go speak to who I must, you get ready to leave in a few hours."
"A few hours!?"
"Of course. Wouldn't want to keep Mr. Wayne waiting! We'll be in touch, I assure you. I wouldn't leave you to go without contact. What do you take me for? Nothing will happen to you."

     There was a pause that was only compensated for with deep contemplations as we stared at each other. He let out an awkward laugh. "You're much like me, aren't you? Your mind always on third gear? Don't overthink it. We do it for a living, don't do it in between shifts as well."

"Lex, you know, I've never been on a helicopter?"
"Hah! Never been on a helicopter? Never been to Gotham? What a life!"

     He kissed my nose and then patted me on my lower back to urge me to leave the lab to 'get ready'. As I walked through the lobby, I noticed Mercy was giving me a rather uncanny side glance. I looked her way until she smiled. Something seemed off. So I decided to walk over and ask her if there were anything I could help with. We don't socialize much, so this seemed as good a time as any to speak with her.

"Hi, Mercy, yeah?" She seemed surprised I had approached her.
"Mercy Graves." Her tone was edgy and I instantly began to regret walking over here.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine." There was an awkward pause. "What do you want Miss. Morix?"
"I just...I wanted to say hello I guess."
"Well, hello. Now get back to working with Lex, would you?" I'm no therapist, but she sounded incredibly bitter.
"Is something wrong Miss Graves?"
"Wrong? What could be wrong?"
"You seem—"
"Annoyed? Of course I do. To be nothing but clear with you, I am."
"I didn't realize you—"
"Stop. I like company. I like speaking with people. I don't like speaking with you. To be perfectly honest I don't like looking at you." I began to feel sweaty.
"Why? We've barely said two words to each other since I began working here?" The tips of my fingertips began pressing individually on to my thumb. It's a nervous tick, if you will.
"I'd like to keep it that way." She stopped shuffling the paperwork she had been sorting to look at me. "Do you know what my job was before you had come along?" I shook my head. "I was Mr. Luthor's personal assistant. I went with him everywhere."
"Must have been so tough Miss Graves." I said sarcastically.
"Tough? No. But I enjoyed it way more than sitting at some stupid desk. Besides, Mr. Luthor--Lex as he gave you permission to call him, is something else."
"So you're not annoyed, you're jealous?" I matched the edge in her voice and peppered it with some slyness.
"Jealous? I have no reason to be jealous of you. If time came you'd lose your job before I did. When you do, I'll be back where I started. Just Lex and I." She shrugged.
"Why would I lose my job?"
"Accidents happen." She smirked and went back to her paperwork.