Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night (Lex/Nina)

[alexanderluthor]

Stenet Labs was a small, privately owned and funded company, specializing in medical research. State of the art developments in biotechnology and nanotechnology, as well as research into influenza, AIDs, and even Cancer. All disguised in a small building in Gotham City West.

A little-known place for a little-known company to make little-known discoveries by a little-known ghost.

Lex had been watching her so closely. Her funeral, to watch for the presence of Mr. Nigma. Her apartment. Her office. Watched night and day with advanced LexCorp surveillance equipment. What was Lex watching for? He hadn't said. He hadn't told anyone.

But he hadn't been all that surprised when she came back from the dead.

And now, standing outside her new business, he wasn't phased in the least that he was looking at the work of a ghost almost a month after she had died. He was dressed warmly, with a deep amethyst-colored shirt, and onyx-colored leather gloves, with a stylish wool coat.

Lex' expression was serious and contemplative. In truth, he had suspected the puppeteer who had been hired to kill Stenet had failed, and for a number of reasons. Chief among them; the Riddler. Edward Nigma was smart enough to know that an asset like Stenet was both extremely valuable and forbiddingly rare. He would not have left her defenseless; Lex had that much faith in him.

And furthermore, Nigma had shown no negative emotions when they had talked about the supposedly late doctor. He had not reacted with any real emotion at all. Despite the fact that he had hid any true reactions very well, he would have said something to communicate his anger, and he had not.

So yes, Lex had suspected that Stenet was less dead than reported. And in truth, he had wanted that suspicion to be reality. For the same reasons the Riddler would have protected her, Lex intended to use her. She was brilliant; leagues beyond any LexCorp scientist in her field of study.

But first, Lex had to put the past behind them. After all, she was under the impression that he'd hired a schizophrenic, dissociative puppeteer to kill her. Lex had to 'bury the hatchet,' as it were. After all, it was nothing personal.

Lex stepped through the doors into the as-of-yet unopened medical research company. Doctor Stenet had undoubtedly been busy; returning from the dead and whatnot. Besides, building a company in a month was quite the accomplishment. Lex could do it in ten seconds with a phone call, but that was an unfair comparison; Lex was head and shoulders above the rest of humanity.

Nina was not in the first room Lex encountered, so he began walking around, looking for her, reiterating a poem by Emily Bronte to catch her attention. "Cruel Death! The young leaves droop and languish;
Evening's gentle air may still restore -
No! the morning sunshine mocks my anguish -
Time, for me, must never blossom more!"

Lex stepped into the actual laboratory, and thought he saw her inside. Stepping through the door, he continued.

"Strike it down, that other boughs may flourish
Where that perished sapling used to be;
Thus, at least, its mouldering corpse will nourish
That from which it sprung -"

Lex saw her, then, in the lab. And his smile was welcoming. "Eternity."

[Nina Stenet]

Nina has been very busy lately. After having spent a month unable to do anything that would show the slightest sign of her existence, she's spent the past few days rebuilding the scattered pieces of her old life into a new one. And this new life has many improvements over the old one: this lab, for instance. It would allow her to not only do more and better research than she had at Wayne Enterprises, but she would have full control over it. The price she had to pay for it was a loss of anonymity, but the value of hiding her talents has probably been lost at this point.

When she hears someone walking around she's about to send her assistant to go see who it is, suspecting that it might be another delivery, when she hears an unfamiliar man's voice reciting poetry. Disturbing poetry. As the footsteps come closer to the lab she remains where she is and simply waits next to the table where they were unpacking new lab equipment, while her assistant quietly leaves her side and positions herself next to the wall midway between Nina and the door.

Her assistant is a young woman, though how young is difficult to determine. At only 4'9" she could easily be mistaken for a twelve year old almost purely due to that even though she's actually nearly double that age. And when she recognizes Mr. Luthor her hand twitches toward the gun at her hip, hidden beneath her lab coat, though she's quick to stop herself. The man, generally speaking, may be a possible threat to her boss, but given that he's here in person and playing nice the odds are good that any threat he presents won't be direct. So instead she simply remains in place and watches him like a hawk, allowing her presence to fade into the background otherwise.

Nina, meanwhile, greets Lex's presence with a look of mild surprise. Even though Edward had told her that he settled things with Luthor, she actually expected that the man wasn't done with her yet - partly because Edward always seemed to make the mistake of overconfidence and partly because she knew that Lex would pay far more attention to her monetary value than he ever did. So it's not his mere presence that prompts the surprise, but the timing; she may have been planning this lab for nearly a month, but she only purchased the building and started setting up the place a few days ago, and there's still a lot of paperwork to be processed before it'll all be official. Which means that he must have been watching for her - and Edward won't be happy about the implications of that.

The surprise wears off quickly, however, and Nina's expression becomes dispassionate as she takes in that smile. She honestly doesn't know what to expect from him, though she suspects that she isn't going to like whatever it is. "I was wondering when I'd finally get to meet you, Mr. Luthor," she says, her tone as unmoved as her expression, "What do you want?"