NanoSteps Brainstorming 3 - And a Step to the Right

[Bob Schroeck]

After dismissing his underlings, Lex returned his attention to
the screen built into his desk, intending to review the latest
status reports for the company's current priority projects.
But before he could even open the first, a male voice said,
"Well, so much for that idea."

Casually drawing his hand past the "panic button" sensor built
into the desk, Luthor turned his swivel chair with deliberate
slowness to face the speaker. There, perched on the low granite
sill of one the office windows was a man in gray leather
clothing and a motorcycle helmet, also gray. Within the opening
of the helmet were a pair of solid black goggles that hid much of
their wearer's face. It went without saying that he hadn't been
there a few moments earlier, and that he didn't *belong* there.
*Someone* in Lexcorp's security division was going to get fired
before the day was over, Lex swore to himself.

"I beg your pardon?" Lex said calmly, as he furiously thought.
The defenses on his office were such that neither the alien nor
any of his allies could simply appear in it without warning or
notice -- so how did this stranger manage it? "And what idea was
that?"

The helmet tilted slightly. "You have a reputation as the
smartest man in this version of Earth, and I was hoping I could
ask you for help."

Interesting phrasing. "This version of Earth?"

The helmet nodded. "I'm a dimensional traveler, and I'm lost,
looking for my home timeline. It's very similar to this one --
it has metahumans, too, which I've found in my travels are
actually quite rare across all the versions of Earth out there.
So our worlds have that in common. But our organizations,
prominent figures and politics are quite different from yours."

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"

He caught a flash of a grimace on what little face he could spy
around the goggles. "Well, for one thing," the man in gray said
with obvious disgust, "Amanda Waller's little fiefdom would never
be tolerated."

Hm. The so-called "Suicide Squad" program based in Belle Reve
had been dragged kicking and screaming out of the shadows by
multiple press outlets just the week before, and Waller was
already being roasted by a Senate investigating committee. "I
presume you were responsible for their recent... publicity?"

A shrug. "I may have accidentally kicked over an anthill here
and there while looking for someone to help me. Speaking of
which, I was pointed at you, and I've been watching you for a
while now." He made a vague gesture. "You seemed promising, but
after what I've seen, I'm going to have to say 'thanks, but no
thanks'."

Lex smirked. "I'm hurt. What made me unacceptable?"

The helmet tilted again, and Lex got the impression he was being
studied for a long moment. "Seriously? You're as brilliant as
I was told you are. Easily more intelligent than I am, and
that's no small compliment, given I'm one of the smartest people
in my home timeline. But you've hobbled your intelligence, your
potential, so much so that you're useless to me."

He frowned, not liking the sound of that. "Hobbled? How?"
Lex wondered where Mercy and his security team were -- they
should have stormed the office by now.

The man in gray paused, as if debating with himself, before
replying. "You've wrapped yourself so tightly in your prejudices
and preconceptions that you can't accept anything that doesn't
mesh perfectly with your worldview. If I've learned anything
about dimensional travel in the century or so I've been searching
for my home, it's that researching it requires an open mind and a
willingness to accept the unexpected and counterintuitive." He
shrugged again. "You just don't have the ... *flexibility* to
help me." Lex thought he saw a smile flash across the man's
mostly-hidden face. "Your subordinates know this, by the way.
They've learned not to present you with ... unacceptable facts
and conclusions. They've realized that doing so often costs them
their jobs. You should do something about that, it's a
disastrous trait for a CEO in the long run."

He hopped to his feet. "Well, that's it, I guess. I could've
just left without making myself known, but I thought you'd want
to hear that. Thanks for letting me waste your time, Mr. Luthor.
Don't bother getting up, I'll see myself out." With a flick of a
finger he slid open a panel on the side of his helmet that Lex
hadn't noticed earlier.

"And where will you go next?" Lex growled as the man in gray
tapped several keys revealed by the sliding panel. "To talk to
the alien?"

The other man stopped with his finger hovering over a key, and
tilted his head quizzically. "Who? Oh, you mean
what's-his-name... Superman. No, he's the one who sent me to
you." He made a gesture halfway between a salute and a wave.
"Thanks again. Bye." Lex surged to his feet but by the time
he was standing the man in gray had vanished.

Spoiler

DC Comics