[ Dr. Kent told me that I had a guess. I can only assume it's someone who has invested interest in me. The list is likely short, but definitely more than one. We head down to the 1st floor together via one of the flavors. ]
With a 'ding!', the elevator comes to a stop at the selected floor. The iron doors peel open to allow both Dr.Kent and the artificial young man clad in decorative black to step out onto the floor, as well as the field of vision of their guest–
"Mr. Luthor. In the flesh, I presume?" Dr. Kent greets them as they meet the opposite party at the center of the large lobby room. Raising a brow from behind her glasses to go along with her semi jest.
"Heh. Oh, I certainly am, Ms. Kent. I just had to see your handiwork with my own eyes…" Lex responds with a grin plastered across his lips. Then, his eyes shift over to the subject of interest. The solemn visage of his commissioned kryptonian. He steps closer, coming to stand just a meter away from the clone as he studies it with critical eyes.
"You'll be glad to know that he was a tremendous success, Mr. Luthor. I had him undergo some tests. Subject 13 is functional, genetically stable, and possesses just about all of Superman's powers. Or so I assume. For the time being, only flight, super strength, heat vision, telescope vision, and x-ray vision are confirmed. I imagine he'll learn to utilize more abilities with time." Dr. Kent explains, gesturing toward the clone while also placing a hand upon his shoulder.
"I see!" Lex enthusiastically muses, briefly looking her way as he does. His focus settles onto the clone again right after.
"So tell me, my dear boy, do you have any idea who I am?"
"Lex Luthor, the head of Lex Corp. and the prime benefactor of my creation. Also the most renowned name in Metropolis City." The clone answers with no emotion behind his tone. Gray and smooth.
"Adequately informed. Adequately informed, indeed. Excellent work, Dr. Kent. Now, I won't beat around the bush here. I have a… inconvenience that needs to be confronted. Nipped right in the bud, in fact. I've received word that there may be a raid of some sort on a S.T.A.R. Labs facility that I have an involvement in. I have other other means of handling it, but since our Superman here is up and active, I want to test his capabilities on the field. I need him to guard the researchers and their device. Make sure it doesn't fall into unfavorable hands, and I need that done today. Are you up for it… Superman?" Lex was quick to cut to the chase with a bit of a tall order for a technical newborn.
"I am. I'm ready to prove myself." The clone responds, determination gleaming in his eyes and radiating from his clenching fists. Beside, Dr. Kent adjusts her glasses with somewhat of a concerned expression on her face.
"Technically, he's ready to learn and adapt, but we've barely scratched the surface of simulations to teach him." She forewarns.
"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine. You heard him. The young man says he's ready, and I'd like to see if he's worth every last dollar I poured into him. We leave immediately. To keep your presence under wraps, I'll have a means of transportation ready for you that'll take you there through an underground entrance." Lex explains.
"Wait. Do you… mind if I accompany him?" Dr. Kent prods rather sheepishly.
"With all due respect, Dr. Kent–" Lex begins, but she's quick to cut in with an argument for her suggestion.
"I only wish to make sure he's able to perform and obtain a desirable result that doesn't possibly involve leveling a city block, let alone a building. You could call it moral support, honestly. I know better than to get in his way." She explains.
"Fine. Makes no difference to me either way. Your ride will arrive shortly after my departure. While I was eager to see the subject, I still have a busy schedule ahead of me today. Nonetheless, I'll be watching. I bid you two a good and fruitful day." Lex obliges her wish, then proceeds to take his leave. The security guards at his flank follow behind and toward the limousine waiting outside the building.
"Well, looks like you're getting that live experience sooner than I thought, Subject 13." Dr. Kent comments, exchanging a casual stare with the artificial lad.
________________
[ Nearly 30 minutes pass by the time we reach the S.T.A.R. Labs facility and its sub-level laboratory. So far, it's been awfully bright and loud for the most part. The constant crackling of electricity drowns out everything else for me. Voices, the sound of footsteps upon steel, and even the whirring machinery. Whatever it was this team of researchers were working on, seems to require quite a lot of power to… mold? Adjust? Activate? I'm not sure what it was they were trying to do. I just know they referred to it as "The Cube". Dr. Kent seems mildly interested, but she doesn't poke her nose in their project. ]
While the S.T.A.R Labs scientists are left to their own devices, Subject 13 and Dr. Kent dwells within a corner of the spacious room. The clone standing upright with his arms folded across the illuminating crimson 'S' upon his chest. His associate and technical creator leans against beside him, hands tucked away into the pockets of her lab coat.
The two have completely given up on trying to converse over the roaring electricity and loud devices, standing in silence while waiting to see if the info Lex was given was any good. For the first two hours or so? All was well and orderly. Then, a thunderous rumbling cuts through the buzzing filling the room - one with a tremble that quakes the ground beneath everyone's feet. All eyes shift upward at the metallic ceiling, where the source seems to have come from.
DHOOM.
Another tremble shakes the room, and the impact is louder. Then another, and another. Each one is more violent and louder than the last. Panic spreads among the workers, but Superman trains his intense glare at the ceiling in anticipation. His hands balling into fists, ready to attack whatever is on its way down to them. Beside him, Dr. Kent maintains her calm and indifferent composure. Her eyes submerge in monochrome as she stares at the ceiling. Or perhaps… through it?
"Okay-okay. Superman, remember to be mindful of innocent bystanders, all right?" She reminds him, raising her voice as loud as she could to be understood. Even if the clone wanted to respond, there was no time left to do so. In the next moment, something loudly punctures through the surface overhead. From it, rubble of metal and rocks fall. With widening focused eyes, Superman takes off with a leap, transitioning into flying as he jabs the largest rock away and toward a vacant side of the room with his right hand, and just barely catches a fracture beam with his left. Everything else falls safely to the floor and structure the scientists were making use of, even if with noisy clanking of steel being struck. As he tosses the large piece of metal far off, and the workers scurry off somewhere safe, two individuals descend from the hole above. Both capable of flying and sharing other unfavorable similarities. The two were none other than Metallo & Kryptonite-Man. Both were eyeing the cube that sits at the center of ongoing active electricity.
"I got this." Metallo smugly proclaims, swooping down to push beyond the threshold of the live power. His mechanical body absorbing and deflecting the excess energy as he eases in on the gleaming object at its center.
THWACK! Just as he was about to make contact with it, the kryptonian cuts him off with a burst of abrupt speed, penetrating the field of electricity with gritting teeth as he delivers a left hook that sends the man-turned-machine crashing against the wall meters away.
"K-kuh…!?" Wincing from the coursing electricity, the clone takes a moment to ease his way out of the space of voltage. Sighing in relief once its grasp on his body is no more. During, K-Man observes with skeptical curiosity. All it takes to find clarity is the sight of that all too familiar bold red S. He thrusts his right hand outward, discharging a neon green blast.
"GUUAAGH!!??" Superman growls out, the side of his face struck with a stinging sensation that induces a snarl from him. Nothing that'll put him down, but definitely something that catches his attention without fail.
"Well, kooky what we have HERE!!" K-Man exclaims as he follows up his attack with a rushing punch that finds the kryptonian's jaw. While the clone certainly flinches from his kryptonite laced blow, it's just barely enough to send him reeling a short distance away. An annoyed expression settling upon Superman's face as he rubs where he was hit. By now, Metallo was returning to the fray.
"Tough guy, huh? Superman's little brother?" Metallo asks dumbfoundedly.
"No. I am Superman." Subject 13 corrects sternly.
"No fooling? Well then–" Metallo trails off, taking aim with the weapons emerging from his arm.
"You can die just like 'em!" K-Man finishes, simultaneously taking fire beside his accomplice.