28th February
15:17 GMT +5:30
Dr Munro looks at me dubiously.
"Have you asked Lex about this?"
"Of course not. If I talk to Lex about it, they'll start to think that I'm
actually trying to kill them.
"
"Why would they think that?"
Ah… Yes. The 'legitimate businessman' problem. Coming from Earth Prime, the fact that Lex Luthor is the bad guy is well known. Even amongst Earth 16 superheroes it's-. Well, amongst the better-connected ones, it's known in the same way that it's known that Racer X is Speed Racer's brother. Everyone watching knows, no one in-universe knows. But amongst people out of the loop, they genuinely believe that he's a legitimate businessman. Maybe a bit sleazy or corrupt, but that's due to the job and not due to his actual personal characteristics.
How to break it to one of his project leads?
"Because he's a supervillain.
"
"I'm… I'm sorry?"
"Yeah, he…
" I bring up a construct showing the sub-levels of LexCorp I flew through during the Young Offenders' attack.
"He's attempted to have Superman assassinated on multiple occasions, he was one of the people behind the Roanoke Island Event, he backs all
sorts of-.
"
"Wait wait wait." He shakes his head. "Wh-? You're the one who told him to hire me!"
"I told him about the Danner Formula because I thought he could be rehabilitated if I proved that he could fulfil his objectives in other ways, because he's very good at disguising what he does and finding evidence hard enough to get him convicted was prohibitively difficult. It.. didn't work. I still don't fully understand why.
"
"I-." He looks around at the laboratory complex. "We're making
super guard dogs for him. Do you not think you should have told me about this
sooner?"
"I didn't -and still don't- have proof I'd feel comfortable relying on. A few winks and nods, a few remarkable coincidences. Because if I
did have proof, he'd have been arrested by now. And the work you're doing is very useful to human civilisation and Ted Kord didn't have the same sort of resources.
"
Though he's getting there
now. I wonder if Lex regrets his decision after seeing how much KordTech's share price has gone up? I only know about
that aspect because the commercial law firm which arranged my purchases wrote to me about it. And given his behaviour regarding that part of the business I could easily believe that Ted doesn't know at all.
"So, yeah, that's why I don't want him knowing about this exercise. Are you in?
"
28th February
19:33 GMT +9:00
Colonel Park frowns faintly.
"I do not understand what agreeing to help the Justice League will entail."
"Well, that depends. We're assigning roles blindly, so there's a good chance that all that will happen is that the people working at the site-
" I point to the file concerning one of North Rhelasia's research and development hubs.
"-will just have to carry around cards with 'No Information' written on them for a day, and they'll probably never see a member of the League. There's a small chance that one of them will have a role in the exercise, probably something along the lines of 'conceal this information' or 'conceal this object'.
"
"You do not want us to fight the Justice League."
"Of course not.
"
"Even as an exercise, using rubber bullets and dummy explosives."
"The League is… The League wants to avoid implying that they're training to destroy national militaries. This exercise is designed to simulate their response to a well-networked supervillain. While there
will be combat segments, I'll be handling those with my own resources well away from civic infrastructure.
"
"And how long will this take?"
"Assuming that the site is even
involved, the League would be on site for… Maybe an hour? The people on site would have the possibility of a visit hanging over them for a week or so, but as I said: they don't need to actually
do very much.
"
"Why was this site in particular chosen?"
"Because it's hard for the League to reach, and the laboratories there are sophisticated enough to credibly play a role in the plot. Part of what I'm doing is creating a thread of evidence that the League can track if they find it. There wouldn't be much point in implying that certain parts came from somewhere which they couldn't have come from.
"
"What do you know about what happens at that site?"
"Most of what I know is available from publically accessible sources. Of course, I also have access to the 'high risk locations' file your government provided the League.
"
His eyes narrow. "That was supposed to
only be shared with Justice League members."
"Actually, the agreement which your government signed includes anyone deputised by the League, as the League didn't want to define a formal recruitment process at the time. If you feel that the North Rhelasian government was misled about that, I can only apologise. If you wish to make a formal complaint, you will have to address it to the League.
"
He appears to decide to let it go.
"Would you need to meet with the people working there?"
"If they're selected for participation, a brief meeting would be helpful. I'm afraid that I won't be able to schedule it in advance, as I'm trying to avoid the potential for metagaming.
"
"Can you select a time during which they will need to be available, and then simply not arrive if they are not required?"
"Yyy.. es, that should work.
"
"Will there be a public announcement after the exercise is complete?"
Meaning a PR opportunity with members of the League.
"While the fact that an exercise is happening isn't a secret, there isn't any plan to make public announcements about how it went. Obviously, that sort of information is exactly the sort of thing that a supervillain wanting to take a swing at the League could benefit from. If they end up being involved, I would like the opportunity to thank the participants in person.
"
Which doesn't exactly thrill him. I'm not much of a PR coup, and some of his colleagues are still annoyed about the whole 'bringing traitors back from the dead' thing. I suppose I'm just lucky that the forest Euanthe made hasn't killed anyone yet.
"Will facilities in the South also be participating?"
"I have made such a request. The government gave me their tentative approval, subject to the directors of the facilities in question giving it theirs.
"
A
mild twitch, and I strongly suspect that I've got him. If I
just asked the South, his government would moan about it. If I just asked the North, they could turn it down with no loss of face.
"I suppose that it is more likely that the South would consort with supervillains." He nods. "You will have my decision within two days."
"Thank you, Colonel. You've been most helpful.
"
29th February
20:53 GMT
Evan McCullock cautiously raises his pint glass in my direction.
"Aye, well, yer payin' fer it, pal. I'm yer man soon as the cheque clears. We'll no' be doin' anything
illegal, aye?"
"Not at all. Nothing could be further from my mind.
"
