Stopping By [Nina/Lex]

[Nina Stenet]

Having already expressed all the thoughts that she has on the cause and meaning of the accident, Nina opts to remain quiet and simply listens as Lex expresses his frustrations about how many failures occurred. She feels extremely uninvolved in that aspect of the matter. And, after all, exactly how much is her opinion of what they should have done worth? Regardless of what she may say about that, it still happened and they still have to deal with the consequences.

As he goes on to talk more specifically about the need for them to investigate the incident personally, a pensive frown comes easily to her face - she clearly doesn't like the thought at all that she might be so needed for this. Though when he turns the question of alternatives over to her, she sighs and says, "I'm a medical researcher, not a tactician. If you don't have any better ideas or can't hire someone with better ideas, then this is the best idea we're going to get."

The only alternative that she can think of is that she could try to 'look' down there with her gift, but she's enough concerned about her ability to navigate that far out of her sight without getting 'lost' that she doesn't think it's worth the risk of revealing her gift on such a long shot. And even if she did make it all the way down there it would take her an extraordinarily long time to do a proper search of the place, at least if the idea was to be thorough enough to catch something relatively small. And by 'relatively small' in this instance, it would mean anything an inch or two across - looking for something the size of a cell in that environment could literally take her whole lifetime, no matter where she was located at the time. There comes a point where even she would just sterilize everything and hope that does the trick.

Still, she's still obviously hesitant to say yes. In spite of his assurances otherwise, she doesn't believe that this situation is quite as dangerous as he does, but she knows Lex well enough to know better than to explain to him why. After all, Superman has proved to be capable of defeating the creature, so she expects a repeat would end the same. Perhaps several more hundred would die, but in the grand scheme of things several hundred aren't so many people and more would be learned. She hardly believes that this is a threat that would threaten all of humanity. Not while an alien of Superman's caliber is around, anyway. And she doesn't think that Lex's distrust of him is worth risking herself and all that she could do for humanity.

But that doesn't mean that not going down there is the obvious choice. After all, they don't know the odds that there is anything dangerous left down there at all. They don't know that something worse isn't down there, for that matter. So this situation is hardly cut and dry, and she lets herself stew over it for a little before she says, "Fine. But I reserve the right to change my mind at the last minute." Because if they reach that moment and she doesn't feel about as secure as she can be in that situation, she's still not going down there.

[Deleted]

"You never have faith in your own abilities, Nina. That's honestly your greatest weakness you know. I think you'd make a perfectly lovely tactician. You've got expertise, knowledge, intellect, experience. I know all about your interactions with Mr. Nigma and now Mr. Fries, Dr. Crane. . . you've survived quite a bit. I'd wager you could put the tactical expertise of even Ms. Graves to task, if you put your mind to it. Dare to be great, Dr. Stenet." He smiled faintly, but his heart wasn't in it. There were other things on his mind, and somewhere in the back of his thoughts there was the feeling of a world being torn apart. 

"But I think this might be the best we can do at this time, to keep us safe and to proceed forward. We can be in Metropolis in the morning. I'll pick you up early in the morning." He looked at her square in the eye saying "And yes, you can change your mind at any point in this. You're a free woman able to make her own decisions. But I hope you don't change your mind." 

-------


The helicopter had come at 3 AM, a quick transfer to a private Jet while Luthor was looking over some sort of holographic projection. He was dressed differently, a sleek turtleneck and cargo pant combination, the belt strapped to his leg had a series of pockets in them that seemed to scream "Utility Belt" although whether or not the Man of Tomorrow had been taking cues from the Dark Knight was hard to say. Luthor never seemed to share Gothamites obsession with the bat, and it's possible that he was simply moving towards practicality. The flight itself had very limited opportunities to talk except for a few minor details regarding the upcoming situation. The sun was just rising as the plane landed at Metropolis Airport after a minor bit of confusion from the traffic control, until the right clearance codes were read off. Traffic control was cut off at that point and the plane was able to land at the specialized terminal, although Nina and Lex did not get to go inside the airport as the helicopter was already waiting on site. In all, the entire trip took under two hours from pickup to delivery at the site. The advantages of having a comprehensive transportation infrastructure at your beck and call.

The sun kissed the sides of Metropolis' ultramodern and sleek buildings, the mix of steel and glass and concrete and clean lines and clear shapes had always given the city a very modern look. Metropolis was a well rounded city compared to Gotham. Cleaner. Fewer dark corners and fewer odd protrusions. The buildings looked like they were all up to code and built with a forward thinking aesthetic that seemed remarkably vibrant, as best exemplified by the giant L shaped building that dominated the skyline. Despite this push towards the ultramodern, however, even the older buildings had a sort of odd forward thinking vibrancy that gave a charm to the city. The Daily Planet's Deco construction gave a sort of retro charm to the town, still hopeful, despite everything, the golden planet atop the concrete structure positively gleamed in the first rays of the sun. Metropolis was the city. It was the big city. While Gotham festered and sat and clung and tried to survive, Metropolis thrived, grew, moved with a vibrancy of an entire world. It was the reality with which Gotham always had to compare itself, even its name meant City. A four color city with a vibrant hope for the future, and Lex Luthor was its prince. He felt comfortable here, even with the faint annoyances of the alien, this, more than anywhere else, was home to him. The skyline itself matched his aesthetic and his sense of the world. 

If he had his way Gotham might even grow to be more like it. That might not be a bad thing, honestly. At least the streets would be clean, the mass transit would run on time and there'd be a hell of a lot less crime. 

The square blocks around the Teaboro district had been quarantined again. Metropolitans had become used to these minor inconveniences although it did little to assuage rumors in the city of the horrific events that had occurred here. Where once Metropolitans had looked to the sky, they now were looking down on the ground for the horrors underneath. Even the everpresent overhead blur of the patrolling Man in Blue did little to calm the fears of most citizens, although there was a certain calmness that came when he flew overhead. He was far away now, though, disappeared somewhere in Africa for a time. 

The LexCorps were stationed nearby, the security perimeter around the locked off area of the Metro Genetics underground facility entrance was thorough, tents and airlocks had been established and the entire area looked like some sort of thing out of a science fiction movie. A Lex Luthor production. LexCorps in full body suits, disinfectant spray closets, astrolabes, the ground covered with a thick material that was hard to identify. Nina could tell that the quarantine was thorough. Not even a microbe could get out of the area without proper clearance. They'd been moved through in the suits to one of the clean rooms, and then to the area nearby. A crane had been moved into the area, along with some sort of other large . . . thing. It was larger than a shipping container, gleaming white with panels on the sides. It looked like a pod of some sort, or a UFO. It certainly was futuristic looking, the LexCorp logo on the side was gold and visible and otherwise the sides appeared featureless except for the paneling. 

"This is a LexPod. The interior allows for approximately 300 to 600 square feet of space, depending on the model. They're modular, and can be shifted and transformed to merge together with others to create a larger structure. The exterior is well protected by a Titanium alloy that is meant to withstand pressures from the extremes of the depths of the ocean to the vacuum of space to the weight of a cave in." He touched the side as the panels shifted revealing the interior. The interior itself was largely empty, sleek white but with a glowing gleam from the walls. 

"The interior is filled with holographic emitters and the most advanced 3D printing hardware that LexCorp has ever developed. The idea is that the interior can shift, reshape itself, and construct anything that it has the pattern for, no matter how complicated or simple.  The entire thing is powered by a miniaturized nuclear reactor, although it can also draw energy from alternative sources including solar power and kinetic energy. They are designed for portability, sustainability, connectivity and protection. I am honestly quite proud of the design. Care to come inside?" 

He walked inside, displays popped up on the walls, a workstation rose up from the ground as panels moved out of the way. Chairs formed in the corner. It was spacious enough, it could likely be used as a small lab or a large bedroom or small studio apartment. The walls themselves appeared to be very thick, thick enough to provide solid quarantine at least, and the walls themselves seemed strong enough to take a solid blow from . . . well, from Superman. The interior was shaping itself into a comfortable but modern work area, the white glowing panels in the walls opened up to what appeared to be windows, with technicians walking outside but that was clearly a projection of some sort of the walls themselves. As the windows opened up there was a faint smell of the world outside, a faint breeze perhaps? It smelled faintly of fresh grass and spring mornings. 

"The laser drills will be attached to the exterior of the pod, along with the drones. We'll be able to control them from inside here. Holographic displays and haptic feedback will allow us to have direct and clear control over the drones, that will respond to our own movements and our own function, the sensory feedback will be displayed as haptic feedback will let us feel . . . like we're really there, without ever having to set foot outside into the dangerous quarantine area. If we could get the connection through the 30 stories of solid rock, we'd do it from the surface, but we can't, so the pod will be lowered into the area, and embed itself into the wall at the entrance to the lab using the drills. When completed, the exterior will magnetize and utilize a combination of pulleys, magnetic levitation, internalized ionized rockets and robotic arms to climb to the surface. If those all fail, the retrieval system on the surface will be able to fetch us, once we've ascertained that the area is clean and quarantine can be suspended." 

He looks at Nina as he smiles "Do you have any questions?" 

[Nina Stenet]

At Lex's attempt to convince her that all she's survived proves that she's better at tactics than she thinks she is, Nina's lips purse slightly. Her success in those instances were far too much a matter of luck than she'd feel safe to rely upon. "Perhaps I have enough tactical expertise to avoid overestimating myself," is all she says, not without a slight hint of sarcasm. To compare her to Mercy Graves is laughable in her opinion - she may not know the woman very well at all, but from what she understands she's as good as if not more so than Hope Taya and she's gotten to know that woman perhaps even better than she'd like to. And one thing is for certain: Hope is much better at that sort of thing than she could ever be.

---

Nina is rather quiet during the trip to Metropolis. She does speak when spoken to, but other than that she seems to be distracted by her thoughts. Which shouldn't be that surprising given just how reluctant she was to agree to this. She's dressed for comfort today - of course, what counts as comfortable is in the eye of the beholder: in her case it comes in the form of a pair of dark gray knit slacks, a rather plain loose-fitting half-sleeve blouse of solid baby blue, a pair of comfortable black slip-on flats, and her naturally curly hair is simply pulled back into her standard ponytail. And she's traveling light today: the briefcase that she usually carries with her everywhere is conspicuously absent.

Spending most of the trip looking out the window, when the sun rises over Metropolis she's looking but she's not seeing. Yes, it's a beautiful city to look at, but it's not one she's much more fond of than any other large city. She's much more fond of, for example, Tokyo - and she's only been there a couple of times. Of course, Gotham doesn't make it very high on her list of favorite cities either. It falls significantly higher than it might have, thanks to the fact that she's been living in it and it's a home to her, but it's a city with a lot of problems. Metropolis, by contrast, feels like a place where there isn't enough for her to do - Gotham needs her more.

When they're finally arriving at their destination she pulls herself back to the present. And immediately yawns - she woke up quite a bit earlier than she's used to. Of course, she'd made sure that she'd gotten plenty of sleep the night before so that she'd be ready for the activities of the day, but her circadian rhythms are still a bit off. But she hardly has to worry about remaining alert - the atmosphere around the landing site is full of energy, and within moments of arriving there any trace of tiredness in her eyes has been replaced by a certain intense seriousness.

She's quiet as Lex shows her the LexPod, observing the features as he points them out, though her attention lingers overly long on the exterior wall before she moves on from that. Following him in when invited, she curiously asks him, "Did you personally have much of a hand in its design?" While she thinks that the whole thing is a bit excessive in many respects - as is the problem they're attempting to solve and likely the experiment that led to this - she does have to admit that it's a very impressive combination of technologies. Good enough to keep her safe if they're attacked by another monster like the first? That's harder to say. If only she had a tissue sample from it - then she'd know for sure. Hopefully she never gets one - that would be ideal.

When prompted for questions, she answers his smile with an extremely flat, serious look as she asks, "How much longer until everything is ready?" She's still not completely sure whether she's asking how long she has to wait or how long she has to change her mind, though as time has passed she's found herself to be drifting very gradually in the direction of being more certain that she should do this. While she's not exactly sure why, a certain determination has begun to fill her. Whatever they'll find down there, she's determined to at the very least survive the experience and even better come out of it being able to declare the situation safe for Metropolis. Though a part of her wonders if that confidence is because she subconsciously has more reason to believe that they'll find nothing.

[Deleted]

“Not long, we simply need to complete the calibrations and the final systems checks. Make certain the drones are connected and that you’re oriented to them, and then we can descend.”

He stood at one part of the floor and then looked as the interior of the LexPod transformed, turning clear. A seat rose up from the ground underneath Lex, and then another one near Nina. The seat secured itself around Lex’s legs as he let them slip into the indentations. Lasers played over Lex’s body and a light shone down from numerous angles. They would do the same to Nina once she sat down as well. “The feedback should allow for simple remote controlling of the drone.” He placed what appeared to be one of those monocles over his right eye and then handed one to Nina as well. “Put this on over your ear and your eye, there will be a holographic display that should allow for immediate feedback. The drone will work using haptic feedback from your legs and your arms, we’ll practice before descent.” An image projected in front of him and surrounding him 360 degrees.

“And yes, I did have quite a bit to do with the construction of the LexPod. It’s remarkably simple, surprisingly. Just a connection of a few already established technologies, in terms of storage use, 3D printing, holographic and computational software, a few independent energy sources. They’re still in refinement stage, although LexCorp has been utilizing several of them for laboratory space and forward development spaces for the US Military. They’re designed to be put into the field, you see. If you recall the Direct Operations Observation Module it was constructed with similar principles, although this is a lot more simple. DARPA and the Pentagon are very interested in this technology, although this is somewhat more advanced than the ones they’ve got at the moment. Although I’d imagine that will change once the design is made more cost efficient." 

The systems check was simple, as Nina let herself enter her own rig the illusion was rather complete. A full 360 degree feedback, haptic systems feedback let her feel sensations on her skin, there were smells and there were sounds. They stood in a lab, technicians walking around them. If Nina were to look down at herself, she'd see her own body, her hand, her feet. Lex was standing next to her as well. "The visual feedback is based on the body scan that the machine just made of you. We felt it was less disorienting for the operator to look down and see themselves, rather than the actual probe. The predictive software is meant to read your body language and then perform as similar an action as possible. 

He reached up, grabbed a microscope from a table, turned it over in his hands, then put it back on the table. "Of course, this is a machine, so it's good to remember that we have certain tolerances now that we wouldn't before." He reaches over, picks up one of the tables one handed, holds it over his head, then places it down carefully. "Give it a try."

He'd give her the opportunity to try out the rig for a while until she felt more comfortable with the drones. "The sensor arrays and extra information can be called up verbally. Just request what sort of sensor you want or outcome you want. Infrared. Microwave analysis. Spectrum Analysis." Different hovering squares moved in front of Luthor's face. "Discontinue" They disappeared. "In addition there are cutting lasers and a suite of other environmental arrays. If you need information, it's programmed to give information based on context and upon request." 

After the testing of the drones, Lex walked to the LexPod into one of the small closets on the side, and let the door close over him. The drone was stored away safely, another closet remained open for Nina's drone.

------------------------------------

Lex remained out of Drone form as the pod descended into the ground. The walls were transparent now as the lights illuminated the numbers as the descent occurred. The walls were marked and scarred and scabbed from the work of the creature as it pushed its way upwards. Machinery ripped out, doors broken, Lex was scanning the walls visually looking for something "I've set the sensor array to look for any sort of biological signature. I don't see any highlights of anything, which suggests to me that whatever went up there, absorbed all of the components along the walls as it climbed, that's a very good sign as it meant that it's not likely to have split up too much."

He took a sip from the LexCorp mug and typed in a flurry of instructions to the keyboard with his offhand, then raised his hand disrupting the holographic display of boxes, symbols and sigils, a strange mudra that the less initiated might see as the physical component to some sort of spell. Sufficiently advanced science and all. It was always interesting to watch Lex Luthor work directly with his strange systems and personalized structures. They were often obscure and hard to follow. He didn't worry so much about ease of feedback or understandability of use when developing or designing systems for himself to use. Lex knew what everything did, he understood what the feedback meant, and he found this structure better suited to quick intervention and assessment. He wasn't even looking directly at the feedback, except for a few glances now and again. 

The coffee steamed nicely and had a good taste to it, and Lex felt he might need a lot before he rose to the surface again. 

"Unless there's something microscopic in the air that the sensors aren't sensitive enough to pick up, the descent shaft seems to be clean. We might be in luck."

The thing descended for a period of almost 30 minutes, slowly, slowly, the crane lowering it seemed to be taking its time. After 31 minutes and 24 seconds, the pod came to a stop on the floor of the entrance hall of the facility. Overhead measures would be taken to seal off the entrance. Lex Luthor cracked his knuckles and said "Well then. I suppose we'd best get to work." He turned the chair around and then started to craft something in the air, pushing a few buttons and then shaping something from light as it appeared in front of him, aimed at the solid rock wall behind him. He pushed his hand through the circle in the air and the wall began to shake, then glow, beams of light seemed to come from Lex's hand and blast into the wall. Of course this was a visual feedback to what was really happening. Lex was blasting a hole in the wall away from the entrance. Once that was completed, he he flipped his hands over, then placed the middle two fingers of each hand against the pod. Cables twipped out from the sides of the transparent LexPod into the back wall, as Lex pulled his arms backwards, almost as if tugging on the Cables. The LexPod moved again, now into the hole in the wall, slowly, carefully, it settled into place. Lex exhaled and then turned the chair around as he flicked his hands to the side. 

"There, if anything is to come at us, it'll be from one direction, and it'll have to dig through the entirety of Troy Island to get to us from any other direction." He exhaled as he leaned back, letting the drone hookup start to work. They were safe, partly buried. Lex Luthor let the drone step out of the LexPod and stood in the entrance of the facility. Ahead, a broken door where the large elevator would have landed. The shaft itself was large, well over 50 feet on each side, a square. The door itself appeared to be about 15 feet tall, broken and shattered as it was, the metal remnants of it bent and torn asunder. A sign appeared on the wall unscathed "METRO GENETICS FACILITY 110:" Hastily stenciled underneath "A LexCorp Subsidiary" 

[Nina Stenet]

Nodding, Nina simply says, "Okay." She doesn't think that she likes the idea of it being so fast, but on the other hand perhaps it's better if they get it over with. And perhaps if the drone is as easy for her to get used to as Lex keeps indicating that it will, that will settle her nerves. At least she knows that the walls of the pod are satisfactory - and to say that she has very high standards for it are putting it mildly.

Though when she sees the chairs appear out of nowhere and scan Lex, she finds the idea of sitting down to join him just a little bit intimidating. As a scientist, she prefers things that she understands. And it's not that she doesn't understand the basic principles behind most of what she sees, but in the face of so much obviously new technology being presented to her at the same time, she has a few questions. Questions like: has all of this been properly tested? Individually or all put together like this? Only under ideal conditions? But the fact that Lex himself has gone ahead and gotten started without hesitation gives her an answer. Not a completely satisfactory answer - it tells her that according to his opinion it's just fine, but she'd prefer to see something more along the lines of a peer-reviewed study on the subject as she trusts those when she believes that the indicated methodology is sound - but perhaps it's the best answer she can expect to have that wouldn't delay everything more than she thinks ought to be necessary.

And so she sits. And takes the offered monocle, wondering what she's gotten herself into and not for the first time. Listening to his explanation of the system, she does draw some comfort from the knowledge that the technologies involved aren't fully new. Still, it would be more comforting to see the actual data about that on paper. Fortunately, once the feedback system kicks in and she begins to see the world from the drone's perspective instead of her own, that's extremely distracting.

Also, it's a little bit frightening - her first reaction is a sudden look of fear on her expression, though that fades quickly. She look around at herself, a bit bewildered, looking at her hands - or more accurately the projection of her hands. "This is surreal..." she comments, slowly seeming to grow more comfortable with the experience. However, even as she gets over her initial fright, she seems a bit on edge. And that doesn't go away as she experiments with a few movements, though she's the type to be more interested in making requests of it to tell her what she actually wishes to know rather than to test it out physically. Like to list for her what types of sensors are available, and to inquire about a few specifics of the drone's limitations - such as whether or not it's waterproof. If she's going to use this thing she'd like to know going in what it's features are so that she can be aware that they're available and, on the flip-side of things, what things she shouldn't assume that it's capable of.

Eventually she deems herself to be as familiar with it as she needs to be and as comfortable with it as she's going to be and moves her drone into the remaining closet provided for it.

---

During the descent, Nina is visibly pensive and looks uncomfortable, though not as uncomfortable as she was while operating the drone. Still, she didn't raise any objections to continuing - if anything, she simply appears to be unhappy that this seems to be the best choice for this situation. Enough that she's out of her seat and unconsciously pacing a little, glancing up periodically to watch the damage from creature going past. "Let's hope so," she replies, as it would be ideal if the creature didn't break up into any pieces at all - that would mean that the entire thing is now in the sun.

Of course, when he mentions that there might yet be something microscopic she's tempted for a moment to do her own 'scan' of the air - she's probably more accurate with her gift than whatever he's using. On the other hand, if the sensor doesn't detect anything then it would probably be hard for her to detect whatever may be there and she, unlike a machine, gets tired and knows that this is going to be a hard day and possibly a long one - better to spend this time resting.

When the pod touches the ground, she can be heard quietly sighing and whispering to herself, "Finally..." The wait had been surprisingly taxing on her. She sits back down, though when Lex announces that they'd better get to work, that seems to be mostly him at first. Which is just as well - even if the interface makes using the pod's various tools is simple, that doesn't mean that she's confident in her ability to use them properly. It's mostly a matter of knowing what the best practice is. She wouldn't have thought to dig themselves into a one-way tunnel, for example. She might have thought to seal the entrance, but she questions to herself whether or not she actually would be able to do it - intentionally seal herself underground, possibly with an incredibly dangerous creature.


But soon she's back to interfacing with the droid, this time exploring a drastically different environment. One that doesn't seem to be entirely unfamiliar - she may never have been here before, but the stark, straight lines of the design of the place and the easy-to-clean surfaces on all sides is extremely familiar. The visible damage gets a rather wary look, but then she turns to Lex and asks, "So how do you suggest that we proceed? Do we split up?" The question is actually meant ironically - thus far they're already in a situation that would make for a very excellent horror movie, so why not go even further by making the classic first mistake? Hopefully the answer will be something different, but given her luck today...

[Deleted]

Lex smiled at her, he had a roguish look on his face. By God, he seemed to be actually enjoying himself. Could it be, that underneath the cold sociopathic Technocratic exterior beat the heart of an adventurer? Some sort of benighted thrill seeker? How uncomfortably human of Mr. Luthor, to be driven by something so base as mere adrenaline. Then again, perhaps it was the intellectual challenge, the challenge. He was a self made man, the Orphan Billionare, the lovechild of Ayn Rand and Nietzsche turned Ubermensch. Needless to say, there was a smile on his face, and he seemed oddly relaxed in tactical turtleneck and slacks. 

"You seem somewhat put off, Dr. Stenet. Think of this as a well paid and unique vacation. I mean, there's an interesting challenge, the decor is unique and nothing we're facing wants us dead personally. It's honestly a very delightful experience."

He moved forward into the hallway, looking about. Sensor relays picking up as he approached the first metal doorway, this one appeared to be sealed, although it appears to have buckled from the pressure of something impossibly strong. "There are no assassins down here, no snipers tracking us with satellite relay, very clear schedules for a prolonged period. Really, from a certain point of view, this is even better than a tropical getaway. After all, no one is trying to pick our pockets or sell us anything."

It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not, he seemed greatly amused by something as he looked about saying "We could split up to save time, but honestly, time is not particularly pressing, and it might be better to remain close to each other in case of potential difficulties. Not to mention, I've no real desire to recreate any horror tropes this evening, I've had more than enough of that in my previous interactions with Dr. Crane." He touched the door for a moment, closing his eyes as information came in front of him. The door appeared to go clear as the room beyond became visible, the wall vanishing. X-ray vision, perhaps? No. It appeared to be some sort of fiber optics or camera work moving through a gap in the door. The interior of the first room appeared to be an armory of some sort. There were bodies on the ground, a few scientists, security. The room itself appeared to have been a locker room, and from the looks of the bodies on the ground they appeared to have suffocated.

At least that's what the blue faces appear to suggest. Airways cut off by biomass at the door, the vents shut off. The people inside appear to have died terrified.  

"I don't see any signs of conflict in here, they appear to have died with little violence, I put the time of death as approximately four hours after the initial incident, although there appears to be no rot. No decay at all. Perhaps there were no microbes to begin the process of rotting? Should I open the door or should we move on?" 

He looked up at the map that floated next to his head "This would have been a decontamination alcove and locker room. Beyond this room showers. Living quarters would be further down the hall, and then labs past that." 

[Nina Stenet]

Deep within the heart of Nina is a woman who craves discovery, not adventure. In some cases the distinction between the two can be very fine, and in those situations she'd be just as enthused about the whole thing as Lex is now. But this situation, though not devoid of the opportunity for discovery, is far too dangerous for her thrill for discovery to be her dominant emotion. Instead this is something she does only because of the combination of the fact that someone clearly needs to investigate this situation and the fact that she's quite possibly the best person for the job. If it weren't for that she'd be all too happy to forego the opportunity for discovery and let someone more adventurous tackle it.

"I am not being paid enough to do this," she replies, "And all things considered I'd rather be in my lab." She looks around as well, shadowing Lex and letting him take the lead, and though she's doing her best to be thorough in her inspection of their surroundings she appears to be distracted. She's beginning to suspect that she might actually be more comfortable with this situation if controlling the drone wasn't such a seamless experience - she doesn't feel like she's safely within the pod, she feels like she's wandering around a potentially dangerous place and without her gift, and that's rather frightening to her, actually. In fact, that she appears to be merely distracted is a sign that she's handling the situation extremely well. Given how much she relies upon her gift as the basis of her confidence, if she wasn't a rather tough woman she would have bailed out of the situation by now. Instead her lips only purse at the mention of "Dr." Crane - she's... not a fan.

They reach a door, and Nina waits for Lex's verdict on it. At his description of what's inside of it, her expression goes flat, and it takes her an unusually long time to answer when he asks for her opinion, at least for her. Normally she seems overly quick - two steps ahead of everyone, but now she's slowed first by her sudden realization that her gift would be incredibly useful right now. Though after a moment she realizes that perhaps she doesn't need her gift for this one - she does, after all, still have her skill for analysis. After all, though her gift made it much easier to be who she has become, she would never have amounted to very much at all if she hadn't developed a few secondary skills to go with it.

Of course, even after she has these two realizations it still takes her a moment to think over her answer. "The monster absorbed the flesh of those it came in contact with. So it stands to reason that where there is flesh that hasn't been absorbed the monster hasn't been. Because our most important goal is to determine whether or not that threat still exists, this mystery can be saved for later," she says calmly. Of course, there's some faults to that logic - assumptions are being made - but they're reasonable assumptions given the available information.

[Deleted]

"If you're asking for a raise, I can more than accommodate for hazard pay." He was  smiling, this was a more playful side of Lex Luthor: Science Adventurer. "The lab can be quite interesting, but honestly. This is where discovery happens. In the field, in applications. I suppose I've never been much of a scientist at heart, although I am somewhat gifted at it. Dr. Sivana used to tell me that I had a mind for science, but not a heart for it. Too much of an engineer at heart. Applied sciences have always been my love. Finding ways to take the disparate knowledge, and to take it in my hands, to twist it, to manipulate it, to push it against the world to see what happens. That's always been more interesting to me." He listens to her opinion, then nods again. 

"Those are reasonable assumptions. I suppose we'd best move on, then." He pulls his hand away from the door. The wall becomes opaque again as he starts to look around the interior, the steps moving onwards, there's sounds of thunking coming from a doorway ahead. Past the living quarters, it appears that there's one of the labs. The paint on the wall suggests that it is Lab A, the door is closed off, sealed, bending slightly. It looks as if some sort of security response occurred and this room was able to be sealed off, although there doesn't appear to be anything on the exterior. It's cleaned, scraped, but solid, a last remnant of power seems to be powering something along the side that hums quiety.  Lex approaches it and then carefully puts his hand against the door. It's not turning transparent, but there is a strange outline and shape. A silvery model of tables, chairs, monitors, a torn apart room, all in silver and black. "

Some sort of massive blob, about the size of a person pushing and pressing against the sealed door, as it hits the door, it starts to shiver and change shape and most of the interior goes wobbly too. "It appears that the magnetic locks are still in place, I'm using soundwaves to try to create a sonar picture of what's on the other side. It's not complete, but I don't want to try the fiber optic trick again, just in case this thing can do something microcopically. But . . . I think there's a sample on the other side. If I had to guess." 

He had a gift for stating the obvious, he was looking over something at the edge of the doorway now, wavy lines appearing in front of his eyes as he looked over the frame of the door. "Tensile strength is maintaining and it appears as if the magnetic lock is intact. I can't tell whether or not it's perfectly hermetically sealed, though. If it is outside, I wouldn't be able to detect it, as it wouldn't effect the drone at all." The thing inside is moving spasmically, throwing itself at a table. It doesn't appear to be trying to get out, just throwing itself randomly. 

[Nina Stenet]

"What would I even do with more money?" Nina replies, indicating the depth of her disinterest in actually getting more money out of this. She's already a multi-millionaire with no desire to live to a standard any higher than middle class, and while the security for her apartment and the supplies for her laboratory aren't cheap, she still has a lot more income than she has expenses, even after buying everything she wants. She simply doesn't want very many things.

At least not things that one can buy with money. She very much wants to be somewhere else doing something else, but she wants to make sure that Metropolis and the rest of the world is safe from a repeat of that situation even more. Still, she seems to be immune to Lex's enthusiasm. In fact, after he speaks of his love for applied science, she comments, "If it weren't for the pure sciences, you wouldn't have anything to apply, would you? The reason I love my work in the lab is because I'm well aware of the applications for what I'm doing. But I see no reason why I have to be the one who fully develops the principles that I discover." True, she develops some of them more than others, but when the science stops and the engineering begins, her attention quickly wanes.

At the first sound of something else that's actually alive down here, Nina stops in her tracks for a moment, only moving forward once Lex is a bit further ahead of her. Unconsciously, she's pretty sure that if something happens here it would be the first person who gets into trouble first, not the person in the back. It's just unfortunate that since there's only two of them she can't be in the relatively safe middle of group. But when Lex forges ahead unharmed, she can move ahead with a bit more confidence. Still, when she identifies door as the direction from which the sound, and therefore presumably the possible danger, is coming from, her eyes lock on to it and refuse to look anywhere else.

As Lex examines the door, Nina hangs back at a 'safer' distance, watching him in silence. She doesn't realize it, but she's breathing a bit harder now, and when she finally peels her eyes away from the door, she turns to the side. She shudders, her expression indicating an emotion that Lex has probably never seen on her face before - she's extremely intimidated. "I...I...can't..." she starts, clearly shaken, but after those words her mouth clenches shut.

[Deleted]

He was smiling at her refusal of money and gave her a wink. "See, a love of the science, that's what I admire. A keen mind and a love of discovery.  You simply must meet Dr. Sivana." Yes, the legendary Director of Research at LexCorp, reclusive and insane, yet brilliant. The Wizard of Troy Island, he smiled as he said "It's amazing, though, money. Some people think that it's money that influences people. Some would even say I'm obsessed with money, but I'm not, you see It's very pedantic, and nobody is really truly inspired by money. No, what inspires people are . . . possibilities. Money represents that, you see. It's a blank slate for dreams of a better life. Safety, security, freedom, power, the ability to shape the world to their liking. You might not believe me when I say it, but really, money itself is of little interest to me. Anyone can make money, you see, anyone can have money and hold onto it, it's simple for anyone with the right mindset and the willingness to do certain things. I admit, I do enjoy having it, I've spent quite a bit of my life acquiring it, but then again one you get enough money, it becomes easy to make more than anyone knows what to do with. And that's the trick, knowing what to do with it. I don't respect people who are driven by money, Dr. Stenet. It shows a tremendous lack of imagination." 

He smiled a bit as he said "You, however, I think hardly lack for imagination. It's one of the things I respect the most about you." He listened into the room, paying attention to the thing as it moved around, Dr. Stenet was starting to falter, "Stout heart, Doctor Stenet. Keep that scientific detachment, it's what keeps us going in situations such as these. You're a scientist first, so, we observe, we hypothesize, then we test those hypotheses. What can we observe here?" 

The thing was still moving within, blindly, thrashing an moving around, there were sounds of screaming from within. It was screaming in agony, thrashing about. Lex Luthor looked at Nina, looked at her face and then furrowed his eyebrows as he said "Nina. . . detach from the drone for now. . . take a breath and step back. The subject will still be here after the break. The drone can record things on its own."  He actually looked somewhat concerned at the discomfort on her face, he left his hand there but his face turned blank for a moment. It was very disconcerting as he stood there, for all intents and purposes emotionless, free from the spark of life, standing there as his arms appeared simultaneously robotic and human, his blank and neutral expression a contrast to the horror that was visible on the other side of the wall. 

There was a sound to her left, her real left. Lex had detached himself from the drone, moving into her field of vision. Lex looked into Nina's eyes for a moment as the holographic and auditory feedback cut out. They were back in the LexPod and Lex was looking over her, putting a hand on her shoulder and saying "It's alright. Are you alright, Dr. Stenet?"

[Nina Stenet]

The just slightly glazed look that comes over Nina's eyes at the mention of Dr. Sivana's name speaks volumes about what she thinks of the man and how much interest she has in meeting him. He may be a legend in the world of science, but that doesn't mean that she appreciates his form of science. And as Lex goes off on the subject of money, she lets him speak without interruption. Partly because attempting to stop him would be more trouble than it's worth, and partly because if she had any comments to voice on the subject, she's a bit too preoccupied by the thing moving around in that sealed room to think about much else.

And simply telling her to have a stout heart isn't enough to calm her nerves. Though she's normally be able to draw upon her scientific detachment, right now she feels like she's mere feet away from a creature that happens to be about the most horrifying thing she can imagine, and she feels completely defenseless against it. She can't even verify for herself that the room it's contained in is as secure as it's supposed to be. Is this what it feels like to have no gift? It's awful!

Fortunately, Lex has seen her distress and the advice he gives is the right course of action. That's right - she's controlling a drone, and isn't actually here. She knows that, but it doesn't feel like that - the stupid thing is too good at making it all seem real. She disconnects herself from the drone with a gasp. Now, she's a fan of technology in general - it's very useful, and greatly improves the world, but there comes a point where it becomes a problem. And for her at least, perhaps these drones are a problem.

Finding herself seemingly back in the LexPod, though in fact she never left it, she's quick to try to wave off the hand on her shoulder. "I...I will be... I just need a moment..." she says hastily. Which means that no, she's not all right. She isn't even aware that she's shaking, or that her breath is coming out in panicked gasps. But she's not lying about just needing a moment - she closes her eyes and almost instantly her breath becomes controlled and deep. Her ability to calm herself after a fright is on par with meditation experts and the like, at least when she tries. She cheats, of course, but that in and of itself is soothing - being able to use her gift when she'd hardly been able to use it a moment ago is quite calming on its own. A few breaths and she almost looks relaxed. ...Almost, there's still a great deal of worry in her eyes, but that's not something she's going to stop feeling any time soon.

[Deleted]

Luthor reached to the side of the chair and pulled out a small bottle of water, unscrewing the top he handed it to her and said "It takes quite a bit to get used to the drones sometimes. Sometimes there's motion sickness, or disorientation. If I'd had the choice I would have given more time for orientation in it. Although this is a stronger response than I'm used to seeing." He actually looked concerned for her wellbeing. How odd, Luthor concerned over someone?

A secondary screen had lowered from the ceiling showing the camera angle from both drones, the first one was still showing the thing inside the room moving and thrashing about, pulsing, growing and shrinking slightly as it moved in an amorphous squamous mess. Luthor ignored it and paid attention to Nina. 

"So there's still a sample down here. Do you suppose we should try to collect some of it? Leave it in place, or just . . .destroy it? I'd imagine heat would do the trick, if the Alien's heat vision was able to damage it so. " He sighed as he considered things for a moment, then reached into an alcove and pulled out a protein bar, breaking it in half and offering half to Nina, chewing on the first half himself, thinking for a moment. 

"Is the problem the motion sickness? if so, we could have you control a drone remotely using manual controls, rather than the haptic feedback. Or you could just monitor the single drone and then advise me as I move it in by myself." He looked up at the monitor now, the thing was still moving, trying to bash its way into a wall, flopping on the ground now, screaming continuously. Really, it was a pathetic sort of thing. He did something with the controls to Nina's drone, and then looked at her for a moment. 

"What's really bothering you, Nina? It has to be something important, I've never seen you like this, and it doesn't look like mere motion sickness.." He seems to look through her, looking deeply into her eyes, concern and focus. They were alone down here, at risk, and spoke with genuine concern. 

[Nina Stenet]

It isn't until she opens her eyes again that Nina notices the water being held out to her. There's a moment of hesitation - would that help her or hurt her right now? Deciding that it would help, she takes it and immediately takes a couple large swallows. Yep, that helps. Not much, but she'll take what she can get from something so simple and external. She isn't quite sure what to say about her reaction, so she simply says, "Sorry..."

Glancing up at the screen, she doesn't bother trying to suppress a slight shudder - that thing is something straight out of a nightmare - but even worse because she doesn't need to just wake up in order to make it go away. "If we simply destroy it then we won't learn anything about it. Which would be fine, if you ask me, except that we'll be back to the original problem again - we don't know if it's safe. We don't know that there isn't a third. It would be foolish of us to not find some way to take advantage of what appears to be a safely contained sample," she states, taking the half of a protein bar and holding it for a moment as she forces her scientific detachment onto the situation. That helps more than the water.

Still, when Lex asks her again what's wrong, she gives a miserable frown. "I shouldn't have come down here - I should have known that this would get to me. Everyone has those things that stir their imagination in a bad way - heights, public embarrassment, certain animals. One of mine is any sort of living amorphous thing. Which isn't exactly something that I've ever had to deal with until today," she says, shaking her head and then going quiet as she eats the rest of the protein bar. It's a pleasant reprieve for a few moments, since she obviously wouldn't be expected to speak much while she's eating.

When she's finished she sighs, and her lips purse as she's obviously mulling something over. No matter how she may feel, they have a job to do and it wouldn't be safe for them to leave until it's been done. Which means that if she wants this all to be over, the only decent option is to see it through to the end. Fortunately, this seems to be the sort of situation where, while urgent, it's more important for them to make the right choices about what to do than it is for them to rush - she can afford to take the time to get her thoughts in order.

Finally she asks, "I have a question for you, Lex - hypothetical." She shifts a little in her seat to look at him more directly. "If you desperately wanted me to do something, but I completely refused to do it, do you think that you could get me to do it anyway?" she asks, her expression and tone indicating curiosity and little else.

[Deleted]

"That's a complicated question, Nina, and I won't insult you by giving you the canned or charming answer I'd normally give in that circumstance. You asked me once to be honest with you, and I've endeavored to do so to the best of my ability. As one colleague to another." He sighed and thought for a moment, stroking his chin as he stared into space. 

"I think that it depends on the request. It's a bit of a non-answer, so I'll elaborate. If you truly, deeply, and at your core didn't want to do something, there isn't a power on Earth or as far as I know in the rest of the universe that could force you to change your mind. You're singularly stubborn, bull headed and tenacious in a way that both serves as one of your greatest weaknesses and again one of your greatest strengths. I admire bull-headed tenacity, though, so don't take it as an insult. The tenacious and the strong willed are the only ones who ever really make lasting, meant changes on the face of the world, whether they want to or not. While many people in history have been moved like driftwood and influenced the flow of the world, to do so intentionally requires willpower and strength of mind, things you have in an abundance that would make me tear my hair out if I had any left to tear. So no, there is no way I could force you to do anything you didn't want to do, and if I could you wouldn't be the woman you are." 

He smiled at that last bit, then continued "That being said, there are times you take a stand that deep down, you don't really want to take, and while you tend to stick to your guns when confronted with force, when your better angels are appealed to. . . sometimes you don't so much change your mind, but rather you discover something that you needed or wanted to do the entire time. I'll admit, I have trouble understanding what those motivations or better angels are, and I'm very good at that. If I had to say I had one talent, outside of my little tinkering hobbies, I'd say I'm reasonably skilled at finding out what people desire, deep inside, and helping facilitate a path towards getting it. With you, I've always had trouble figuring out what you want, even when I ask. I'm no psychologist, though. I wouldn't attempt to interpret and try to read into whether you have conflicts of desire or what issues you're dealing with. That would be disrespectful, and you're very much a woman worthy of respect, although I have to wonder, sometimes, if part of the problem is that you think too little of yourself and your abilities, your gifts, your talents." 

He sat down in a nearby chair, pulling out another protein bar and taking a bite of it, then sipping some of his own water bottle. In the distance there was a sound dying down on the display, the thunking fading perhaps as the volume lowered, the robots kept in sentry mode, Lex appeared to be keeping it in the corner of his eye, a quick glance then back to Nina as he continued. "I've been talking to a gentleman, recently, who tends to feel that fear motivates all things, and if you have a deep and abiding terror of the sort of thing in that room, I assure you. . . you're not alone. It represents, in some ways, one of my deepest fears, although it might be more intellectual than that. The gentleman I've spoken with would say that the fear that we feel towards it is the primary driving motivator for us to shape our lives, that we are shaped, guided and born in fear and from fear with come and to fear we go. I tend to think we're more driven by our desires, but that's a philosophical difference. I do know that we are stronger than our fears if we allow ourselves to be. We can let ourselves be ruled by our fate and our fears, or we can surpass them. We are both frightened by what's in that room, you and I both, but I know that I can't stop to address it, because I can address it, and if I don't the consequences are too harsh to bear. That's the grim mathematics of my life, Nina. To look clearly, to see the cost of action and inaction, and knowing the personal price, to step forward anyway because it is necessary, and because the situation and the costs of inaction are too great for even me to comprehend fully." 

He smiles as he says "I don't know, I suppose I'm going into speeches again. No, Nina. I can't force you to do anything you don't want to do if you put your mind to it, but I do try to find things you want to do and help facilitate them, even if you aren't entirely certain what you want to do. I feel, sometimes, with you that you're conflicted, with your desires in balance, a conflict between independence, fear, anger and a desire to genuinely do good for a world that you owe nothing to. If you didn't have that deep desire to actually try to make things better, I don't think you'd be here now, although I might be wrong. There's quite a lot I don't know about you, Nina. You tend to keep yourself very hidden away from me. Considering our history, that's understandable, and I respect that choice. But that doesn't make you any less interesting, or me less interested in getting to understand you better. I don't know if that answers your question, although I'm curious what's on your mind."

[Nina Stenet]

As she listens to his answer, Nina's expression gradually takes on a mildly pleased expression. "So you're saying that do don't think that you can force me, but that you might be able to convince me," she summarizes before nodding to herself and saying, "Fair enough."

"That gentleman wouldn't happen to be Crane, would it?" she guesses, before adding as an aside, "He and I were in the same class in college for a while, believe it or not - a bio-lab course. I don't think that he remembers me, though." Back on topic, she says, "I certainly wouldn't say that I'm ruled by fear - that's too strong of a word to describe how I feel the vast majority of the time. I'm afraid of very little. Just a few things like our friend in the other room - and even then I rarely let that stop me. No, what I have is an overabundance of caution, but I have good reason for that. And I'd rather make the mistake of being too cautious than being too reckless."

Her face becomes thoughtful as she continues, "Power is a funny thing - some people dedicate their entire lifetimes trying to get just a small piece of it and fail. But I don't really care for it - it's just not in my personality to want to live large or in the spotlight or be in charge of grand things or do anything else those with power do. When life hands me anything like that I'd rather hand it right back. Or hand it over to someone that I trust to be responsible with it - something other than use it myself. But life has a cruel sense of humor - it's given me this personality, more power than I think anyone has any right to, and I can't give it away no matter how much I might want to. At best I could attempt to absolve myself of all responsibility by getting someone else to tell me what to do, but does that really work? Am I not still the one doing it?

"But the list of people who would love to be in my position or at least be able to tell me what to do with my power is endless. Fortunately, a large number of them would be well-meaning about it - but not all of them. And whether well-meaning or not, a large number of them would give up if I refused - but not all of them. And it would be one thing if they had someone else to ask, but there are things that - as far as I know - only I alone can do. Things that other people would literally give anything for - even those who already have power over other things. And what happens then if I refuse? If I find what they want of me to do to be something I could not do in good conscience? If they are willing to give up everything to get me to change my mind, I must be willing to give up everything to keep my mind unchanged. And if I do change my mind, I have to be extremely careful about it - to not let it be the insistence of another person but the weighing of the situation in my own mind. So of course I'm stubborn, bull-headed, and tenacious - I've known that I might need to be all of those things someday ever since I realized the true potential of the power I have, over ten years ago," she says, speaking quite boldly at the end.

In saying this she doesn't expect to be catching Lex too much by surprise by her words - he's surely aware that she's kept things from him - perhaps even so much so that he's guessed that she's some form of metahuman, though she doubts that if so he's gotten very far at guessing what form of metahuman she is. Her gift is a very subtle thing, and it's probably impossible to guess at the extent of it with how few examples of it that he's seen that would even be noticeable. So much of it is too easy to blame on something more mundane than a superhuman ability.

But then she seems to relax just slightly as she adds, "But of course, I'd rather avoid all of that. That's why I'm cautious. The only other way would be to give up the power that I have. But then a very rare gift would be lost to the world - wasted. I don't think I could do that in good conscience either, unless I had no other choice." She stops, and then she suddenly smiles to herself as she asks, "Have I satisfied your curiosity?"