Luthor was overthinking again.
He didn't like to overthink things. He liked to stay in the background, receive orders, get in his boss' good graces, and bide his time.
Then, he'd leave the life he had behind.
It worked the first time with the Flathead gang, well, until he was attacked by Hawk Knight during his last assignment.
Then it was all downhill from there.
He was blackmailed into accepting another assignment from Flathead, one which led to him being captured by Mr. E and his son being mutated.
Luckily, he was saved by Jake Murphy and Milton. His son wears a special collar to keep his mutation in check. Luthor wasn't comfortable with it at first, but if Ivy can wear one and go on dangerous missions without any hitches, then his son was fine.
Now the boy and his sister can go to school without him having to worry about money issues or blackmail. He had a full-paying job working at Miltron Labs.
His wife finally felt proud to be with him again. This was his best life.
All he needed to do was keep it that way.
He arrived at Miltron Labs' main towers just a few moments after he left his. His brand new car was to thank for that.
He wore a black T-shirt and slacks. Very unassuming, just how he liked it. He didn't have a dress code or anything like that, so he was free to dress any way he wanted.
Just as he approached the tower, though, she appeared out of nowhere.
Stella. At least that's what he thought her name was. She made it her mission to block him from entering the building any way she could just to ask her insufferable questions.
Only for him to give her no answers.
"Hey, Mr. Luthor! Good morning!"
"I don't have time for this, kid. Go home." Luthor cut her off.
"C'mon, we do this every day! And I have a new batch of questions that might get your attention."
"Whatever," he said, trying to avoid her and enter the building as she continuously got in his way.
"So what's your job here?" she asked enthusiastically.
"This again? You ask this every time." He scoffed.
"Oh? Afraid I'll catch you lying again?"
"Ugh... I'm a janitor. Simple."
"Well, with the look of your new car, it's hard to believe you afforded that with a janitor's salary."
Oh great, she was getting suspicious.
"It was a gift from Milton. What can I say? The man likes a clean floor."
"Yeah. Right. I'm sure he's an exceptionally kind boss," she said, rolling her eyes.
"The man gave me a free car for cleaning his floors. What do you think?"
"Oh, what do I think? Either you're lying 'cuz he paid you or he's using you to throw me off."
Luthor finally had enough and pushed her to the side, causing her to trip and fall. He turned his attention back to his job.
"W-wait! Please! One more question! Just one, and I'll leave you alone for a day."
Luthor kept walking.
"A week! Please!"
For a reason unknown even to him, he stopped.
"Uh... thank you," she said, getting to her feet.
"Don't make me regret this. I..."
"What do you know about Jake Murphy?"
Luthor's jaw dropped for a moment. Luckily, he wasn't facing her so she didn't see it. What kind of question is that? How did she...
"W-who?" Luthor asked, not facing her. Now he was swearing a little.
"He's my brother."
Luthor was about to speak but paused for a moment. One wrong move could ruin Milton's whole operation.
"How do you know him?"
"He died in a bus accident not so long ago. Him and his girlfriend, Ivy Sonders. Soon after, the convenience store he owned exploded. I just want to know if..."
"Sorry, not ringing any bells. I did hear about that convenience store explosion, but it didn't cross my mind much. You know, this city has been a mess lately," Luthor said to her, turning to face her this time.
He got a good look at her and noticed she was holding back tears. She did a great job of hiding it, but he knew when a woman was about to cry. His gangster days taught him that much.
"Hey. My condolences, alright? Look, if you're looking for answers, this isn't the place to be. File a police report. Call the Super Society. Something. But don't come here. You're wasting your time and mine."
Stella nodded and watched him for at least a minute. So did he.
They looked at each other for a brief moment and parted ways. Once Luthor closed the glass door leading into the building, he let out a long sigh and walked to his office.
"Janitor. Hah." He let out a small chuckle to lighten his mood. Why of all the jobs he could've used, he picked that one? Flathead was right all those years ago. He wasn't very bright.
As he walked through the main corridor of the ground floor, he greeted the staff around him. All working hard to keep this company afloat. He wondered for a moment what they thought of him.
Of all this.
Not his business, he thought. He had bigger fish to fry.
As he walked on, he looked forward and saw the jittery, uneven steps of his designated assistant.
Surge.
He was an automated robot designed by Milton to assist him. He wore a cloaking device that made him look human, but it couldn't hide his jittery nature. Whatever reason Milton didn't fix him, Luthor would never know.
"H-hello sir! Are you ready for work? You have a... busy is the right word, right? Busy day today," he said with a smile.
Luthor nodded. As much as he found the machine strange, he also found him oddly endearing. In a way, he reminded him of his son.
And him many years ago.
"Well then, let's get going." Surge said and grabbed Luthor by the hand, leading him to a nearby wall.
"This is new. I thought this was on the first floor." Luthor said to Surge.
"Y-yes. The boss had a new one installed. I wanted to test it out with you." Surge said, looking away.
Luthor chuckled and nodded again.
Surge placed his hand on the wall and a bright blue line etched across it. Then the line glowed even brighter and split open to reveal a chrome elevator.
The two stepped inside and Surge pressed a button on a panel to his left. The elevator was soon sealed shut and the two descended.
The two were silent for a long while.
Luthor looked at Surge and noticed him shaking again. Maybe now was a good time for small talk.
"So I heard Max went out without permission again? What was that about?" Luthor asked the robot, which got him to stand upright.
And then go back to shaking soon after.
"Ah! Yes, good question! I was just about to brief you but couldn't find the words. Well, Jake and Ivy went on patrol and came across a bank robbery perpetrated by one of the members of the Kobra Klan. Opperculus."
Luthor had heard of him long ago, during his Flathead days. An Atlantean bounty hunter. He never got a good look at him, though. Flathead mentioned him as a reckless loose cannon.
"Bloodlusted asshole would get them captured by supers in 3 seconds flat." Seems he was right. Supers came after him not long ago. What Luthor didn't expect was him killing an entire team of them.
"Oh? And how did that go?"
"The two teamed up with Canman's new team, the Danger Squad. You remember them, right?"
"I remember their leader getting one-shotted by Jake." Luthor chuckled.
"Yes, that was very... uh... funny. Anyway, the group defeated him but there was a... uh... complication."
"Complication?"
"Their boss, King Kobra, tracked him down and rescued him."
King Kobra. A name he'd been hearing all too much as of late. Not even from his old surviving gangster friends. Even his wife mentioned him once. He's also been on the news once in a while.
"Well, then how did it go?" Luthor asked, now more interested in this than he thought he'd be.
"Kobra decimated them, unfortunately. It seems even Jake was ill-prepared to face him," Surge said with a sigh.
"So that's where Max came in."
"Yes. Max held his own and defeated King Kobra quite easily. He also tracked him to his base. Once he told Milton, he devised a plan to not only take Kobra down but his entire gang as well."
Luthor smiled. "So that's what this is about. So me, Jake, Ivy, and Max are gonna ambush him and take him out, right?"
"Well, not exactly," Surge said with a smile.
"Oh? What's up?"
Before Surge could answer, though, the elevator doors opened to reveal they had reached their destination.
Milton's secret base 500 feet below his tower.
"Ah, Warzone! You're here! Have a seat. We have much to discuss," Milton said to Luthor with a broad smile across his face.
Luthor's eyes weren't on him, though. They were on the three new members that stood before him. He remembered them from the meeting at the warehouse.
The Danger Squad.
They were standing together a few meters to Milton's left, looking away from him. To his right were Jake and Ivy. She seemed to be massaging him.
Max was nowhere to be seen.
"What the...? Milton? What is this?"
"Ah! I see you've met your new teammates," Milton said with a small chuckle.
"New teammates?"
"Yes. I hoped Surge has briefed you on the gist of the Kobra attack. You see, everyone here except Max was pretty injured so I brought them here for recovery. After a talk with President Bump, I decided to add them to our team. I hope you don't have any problems, right?"
Luthor looked across the room for a moment and nodded.
Milton turned his attention to his new recruits. Two of which were frowning and looking elsewhere, that being Green Guardian and Obsidian, while the Atlantean, Sharkwoman, was smiling from ear to ear looking at something. He turned his attention to where she was looking at and saw she was watching Jake.
Ivy was massaging his left arm while stroking his horn. Jake must've been too intoxicated by her to notice the "fish" ogling him.
"Disgusting." He thought for a moment but ignored his thoughts and called her over. She obliged as quickly as an obedient dog, much to the dismay of Green Guardian.
Seems he wasn't so keen on joining even after their little talk.
"How about you introduce yourself, eh, Stacy?"
"It's Stacya, friend Milton." She said with a sharp-toothed grin.
"Ugh..." He whispered under his breath and smiled back at her. "Yeah, sure, Stacya." He said and pointed her to Luthor.
She ran over to his side and extended her scaly white hand.
"Hello. My name is Stacya. What is your name, friend?"
Luthor looked at her for a moment. He recognized her from the failed robbery he tried a while ago. He didn't really hold a grudge but also didn't know how to react to her.
"Aren't you gonna shake his hand, Luthor? Or are you gonna stand there looking silly?" Jake cut in from the back, getting a scoff from Ivy in response.
Luthor smiled and shook her hand.
"Maybe I am a little silly. Hi. I'm Luthor."
"Nice to meet you, friend Luthor. Don't worry. I'm a little silly myself."
Luthor's smile grew even wider.
"Oh. Well, then I'm sure we'll get along."
She smiled again, revealing rows and rows of sharp white teeth. Surge was shaking more intently, and Luthor couldn't blame him. Even he was spooked.
Stacya ran back to her friends with the glee of a schoolgirl, and Luthor couldn't help but see his daughter in her. Despite her skin and teeth, she was pretty endearing.
"Are all Atlanteans like this?"
Milton walked over to Luthor and welcomed him inside their meeting room. He then pointed to Stacya's teammates.
"Well then, I'd like you to formerly meet Obsidian and Green Guardian."
Luthor gave a friendly smile and waved at them. A wave only returned by Obsidian. Green Guardian still looked away. The expression on his face showing he's not happy to be here.
Feeling a slight awkwardness in the room, Luthor decided to turn his attention elsewhere.
"So, uh... what's today's business?"
"Well, I'm glad you mentioned it, Warzone. Thanks to Max, we've tracked King Kobra down. Tonight, we're taking him and his whole organization down right at their base. The Super Society has had trouble with this group for a while; taking them down could boost our clout exponentially, way more than that Dragon Clan member we took down."
"Whoa. You're right. A stunt like this could put us on the map. Might get us closer to rivaling the Super Society. Wait... speaking of which, where's Max?"
"Running reconnaissance near their base, seeing what's up before we attack. Now get your suit ready. Tonight we strike."
Luthor nodded and headed towards his office, Surge following not so far behind. He gave a quick look at Jake who gave him a friendly nod.
Luthor almost frowned at him.
Seeing him like that. The man who saved his life.
Now a horned monster.
It hurt in a way Luthor himself couldn't believe.
He ignored his thoughts for a brief moment but they returned when he looked at Ivy. He respected her way more than even his own wife. How she could stay with and love him despite him looking like... that. Well, if he were in her shoes he wouldn't know if he could.
He returned the nod and waved at Ivy who waved back.
He gave a glance at his new teammates, Green Guardian and Obsidian. Guardian was still scowling while Obsidian was whispering something into his ear. Probably trying to convince him that joining Milton was a good idea.
Luthor couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Milton was a good boss and a good guy with good connections who provided good pay. How this guy could bitch about all this was beyond him.
Now wasn't the time for all that, though. Now he needed to get his suit ready.
For his greatest battle yet...
To be continued...