Lex welcomes a third guest to his office building.

Wonder Woman nodded, then entered Mercy’s office behind Lois. The billionaire followed them inside, noting that Mercy had already opened the elevator hidden in her room and that Lois was inside.

Mercy stepped forward to him and lightly held up her hand between them. “Are you sure about this?” she asked in a whisper.

“I am,” he said, not caring to keep his voice low. “We don’t need to be concerned.”

Assuaged, she lowered her hand and the two of them joined the others in the elevator. Mercy pressed the button for the eighth level, the gates clanging shut. The thin floor- unaccustomed to the extra weight- shook even more than usual as they made their descent.

The authorized personnel elevator came to a noisy stop after a wordless journey. Mercy opened the voiceprint authentication box with a push of another button. “Graves: 09014.”

The gates reopened, allowing Lex to lead the others out and into the dimly lit room. There were three armed guards in white suits standing behind a bound man on his knees with a hood over his head. It had the same sight as the last time he had visited this room, but Lex neither knew nor cared if the guards were the same as those that had been present then.

The hooded-figure did not react to Lex’s approach; either he had heard the elevator and had not cared about whoever was coming to see him, or he was too disoriented to notice. He similarly did not move very much when Lex pulled the hood off of his head.

Shawn’s eyes were closed when his face was revealed. They were bloodshot when he separated his eyelids, framing his haggard appearance to indicate that the man had not had much rest since their previous encounter. His focus darted around the room before finding the three women behind Lex, upon which Shawn’s lips parted and he exhaled anxiously.

The CEO of LEXCORP rolled his eyes. Whatever works best, he thought.

“Is that… Wonder Woman?” Shawn asked.

“I thought I made it perfectly clear last time,” Lex sternly recounted. “I ask the questions and you answer them.”

Shawn’s eyes glazed over briefly, trailing away from Wonder Woman and over to Lex. His arms bent behind his back as his expression morphed into anger. “You won’t get away with-”

“Enough!” Lex snapped. “It’s time for you to tell me what I want to know.” He dropped the hood onto the floor in front of his captive. “Who is your partner? Where did he go?”

“I… I...” Shawn trailed off, his head bending down.

Mercy appeared to his right, moderately surprising him; she usually did not interrupt in situations like this one. Moving her left leg, she slid her foot over to Shawn’s knees.

He slowly responded, opening his knees slightly to Mercy’s even slighter touch. Her shoe did not travel any further, however, leading him to try to bring his head forward to catch her. His restraints stopped Shawn shortly before he could reach his goal.

She bent her knee slightly, putting it even closer to his face. “Answer him,” she ordered.

Shawn groaned, contorting in frustrated agony. When she maneuvered her other leg around his left knee, he tried to reach for that one too. The pants’ material wasn’t exactly clinging to her leg, but Lex had a feeling that it was the promise of what hid underneath that provoked Shawn.

Ignoring the three guards and himself, Lex could see how the makeup of the people before the captive might put him in such a state of distress. A dark-haired woman of Amazonian descent dressed in a breastplate that exposed two-thirds of her body, another black-maned woman in a cocktail dress, and the blonde woman in a tight business attire that clung to her body... all of them stood right in front of the man on his knees, all of them pressuring him to the point of breaking.

But break, he did not.

Shawn looked back up at Lex, a rancorous defiance in his eyes. “I’m not telling you shit,” he declared, spitting out the last word.

Mercy barely had the time to turn to face Lex before he found the corners of his mouth tugging downward. “Mr. Luthor, please,” she said, the words quickly tumbling out of her mouth. “Just give me a few more-”

“Your time is up,” Lex replied coolly, the dissatisfaction forcing his fingers to cool. “You failed.”

Mercy’s face fell. Those were words he had never told her before. She shuddered visibly, but she hastily tried to compose her reddening skin. It didn’t work fully, but she kept her features from shuddering further. She stood stiffly, awaiting what might come next.

Lex took a look at Wonder Woman. She was focused on the man on his knees, but unlike how she usually would, she didn’t at all look inclined to help him. In fact, she seemed nearly as frustrated as Lex. Instead of concern, he found something akin to anger. Could she have been convinced of the dangers so soon?

“Ms. Prince?” Lex called, garnering her attention. “Would you be so kind as to use your rope on this man?”

She frowned. “Are you sure this man is who you think he is?”

“I am,” he answered, nodding. “He was found by police in Carolina after a massive shootout. And we believe that Deathstroke attempted to free him.” Nothing he said was untrue; there just happened to be more that was true that he didn’t say.

Diana nodded back to him. “Then allow me.”

Wonder Woman drew her Lasso of Truth from her hip, uncoiling it. Looking back at Shawn, the billionaire could see the man hadn’t even begun to tremble from his knees. There was no expression of fear on his face, as he appeared to be too exhausted to emote. Resisting commands had taken a lot out of him.

Mercy quietly stepped out of the way as Diana approached, the rope trailing on the ground behind her. Shawn’s head bowed, the man preparing himself to fight off the effects of her magic. Lex hoped that while the man was strong in his resistance, he had not been equipped to deal with something like the Lasso.

Stopping right before the captive, Wonder Woman looked at his bowed head. Upon a closer look, it appeared that he was actually staring at his own crotch. Diana followed his gaze, rolling her eyes after they reached their destination. “Typical,” she muttered.

Striking, the Amazonian lifted the slack of the rope off of the ground and whipped it forward. The golden material wrapped itself around the bound man several times, then began to glow brightly. Shawn grunted loudly, his body going rigid and his back straightening as the unseen **** attacked him.

Diana lifted her chin, adopting a more domineering tone. A true royal, as she was back in at her home island. “Who are you?” she demanded.

Shawn’s head twisted to the side in an abrupt jerk, his face contorting as he attempted to fight off the effects of the magical rope. It was a task only those of the strongest of wills could accomplish. Even then, the best most of those men could manage was a simple delay of the inevitable.

Shawn groaned, turning his head back to the ground. “I’m a...” another groan followed. “I’m a man.”

Lex smirked. It was one of the delaying tactics. On the occasion that Diana had once used the Lasso on him, he had tried to game her out of the answers she sought by giving answers that avoided the question. It hadn’t worked for very long; the interrogations could go in circles, but eventually, she would learn to ask which questions would give her the right answers.

Diana, however, was less amused. Shawn might not have had the capacity to lie while under her influence, but his elusive answers let everyone in the room know that he was at least able to think quickly. “Tell me your name,” she ordered next.

Lex stepped to the right to get a better look at the man. “Your full name, please.”

Wonder Woman gave him a quick glance and nodded. “Your full name,” she repeated in a less polite manner.

He shut his eyes, but his head tilted back to address her. “Shawn Kimble,” he said through his gritted teeth.

Lex waved a hand up visible to the women behind him. Mercy would record the surname and use it to look into his background, looking for anything they could use against him from his past in case they had to resort to more unsavory means than the Diamond Lights and the Lasso of Truth.

Wonder Woman glanced over her shoulder at Lex just as he put his hand down. “Does he speak the truth?”

Lex thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. “We didn’t know his last name, but he told us before his name was Shawn.”

A silent look of appreciation preceded her focus being returned to the bound captive. The Lasso continued to glow as she hefted her slack higher. “Who are you working for?”

Shawn grimaced, opening his eyes and glaring back at her. “I work for my boss.”

“And who is your boss?”

He snickered. “I don’t know, bitch.”

Diana’s jaw clenched visibly. “Wrong answer.” She lifted her free hand up to her opposite shoulder and backhanded him across the face.

Shawn- clearly stunned by the powerful blow from her unforgiving gauntlet- would have fallen over had Wonder Woman’s Lasso not caught his weight and held him awkwardly on his right elbow. The tug of the rope might have hurt more had he not clearly been in such shock.

Diana forcibly reset the bound man on his knees, his eyes all over the place. He might have suffered a concussion from the lone strike, something that would make it harder for him to think clearly enough to resist.

“Who is your boss?” the Amazonian demanded again.

“My boss?” Shawn replied, looking and sounding confused. “I don’t know.”

Diana’s fist reared back again, but Shawn’s eyes suddenly reacquired her and he cowered. “Wait, please,” he begged. “I really don’t know.”

She paused, lowering her arm but looking no less threatening. She turned back to face Lex, who shrugged lightly.

“How do you not know him?” she asked.

“I never met him,” Shawn confessed. “I don’t even know if it is a ‘him.’” He paused, his eyes trailing along the floor over to Lex. “I only knew to take the money to a place in… in… in the north.”

Lex raised an eyebrow, but cut off his own follow-up question when Diana wheeled around to face him. “What money?” she asked him.

The billionaire opened his mouth to defuse the remark as unimportant, but whether due to the Lasso, spite or a combination of both, Shawn spoke first. “The money Luthor gave me in exchange for a video of Batman and Poison Ivy,” he said loudly. “He paid a billion dollars in exchange for it.”

The three guards near the lights at the back of the room- all but forgotten during the interrogation- began to shift uncomfortably as Diana faced the billionaire fully. She loosely gripped the slack of the Lasso in one hand.

One of the guards put his hand on the holster at his hip, ready to draw it if Wonder Woman attacked them.

For all the good it would do, Lex thought, quickly trying to search for a way out of this. Even Lois was looking at him expectantly, aggressively interested in his explanation.

“Lex,” Diana intoned dangerously. Shawn slumped forward with Diana no longer holding him up, the glow of the rope around him dimming into just a bland piece of twine. “What is he talking about?”

“I purchased a recording,” Lex began, “from an anonymous group that sent him as a delivery man. It was muted footage of what happened the night Ivy defeated Batman. I never meant for it to get out. I wanted to keep-”

“You should have told me right away!” Wonder Woman accused, pointing at him with her free hand. “You knew all along and said nothing!”

“Diana, you have to believe me,” Lex stalled, hoping beyond hope that her fury wouldn’t make her turn her Lasso on him and **** the truth out of him. “I had to hold it back; I had ****.”

“Why?” she shouted. “Katana and Stargirl are dead because you knew and said nothing! Tell me why!”

“Why?” Lois whispered. Lex had hoped she would be too swayed to ever question him, but it didn’t look that way.

“Because I couldn’t know who had recorded it, and I needed to find out who.” Lex held up his hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, but I needed to know who was involved first. I couldn’t risk tipping them off that you knew in case they tried to make a move with the money.”

Diana’s nose crinkled. “That makes no sense. Why wouldn’t you tell the Justice League about this mystery group and let us track them down?”

“I couldn’t. What if the person in charge was in the Justice League?” Lex looked her directly in the eyes. “Someone who intimately knew how to target both Batman and Superman. Who better to take them down than a trusted ally? You must believe me; this conspiracy is something big that will hurt all of us. Just ask Shawn.”

Diana wavered, her Diamond Lights programming fighting at the very front of her mind. Her attention seemed to drift off from him. “The Masterplan…” she murmured under her breath.

Shawn immediately perked up. “How do you know that name?” the bound man questioned.

“Something Fate said,” she stated quietly. She then returned her skeptical focus to Lex. “Superman didn’t leave until yesterday.”

Sweating, Lex nodded. “Yes, but Superman was acting strange even before then.” He lowered his voice so Shawn would not hear. “Remember his interview with the President?”

Wonder Woman’s eyes softened, looking at Lois tiredly. “You told him?”

“I did,” she replied. Then she added, “I trust him.”

Lex breathed out a silent sigh of relief. Lois failed to mention that she had just told him a few minutes ago. It was good to let her think that he had known for a while.

And it appeared Wonder Woman bought it. “I agree,” she finally said. “But you still should have told me.”

“I wish I had,” Lex apologized, feeling much more relief than he had moments before. “But please, don’t tell anyone else. Not even your friends in the Justice League. We can’t know who is involved.”

Diana paused for a moment. “Okay, Lex.” She calmed noticeably. “I trust you.”

And those were the magical words he needed to hear. Not even the master manipulator could suppress his own smile, though he quickly tried to pass it off as something other than what it was. “Thank you, Diana.” He sent a disarming glance over at the guards at the other end of the room.

“No!” Shawn cut in, glaring at Lex. “You can’t trust him! He’s a liar, a-”

“Stop!” the Amazonian commanded, spinning on her heels and gripping the now-glowing Lasso with both hands. “What did you do with the money?”

“I-” Shawn groaned in protest. “I gave it to my partner.”

“Where did he take it?”

“Nnnnnnnnorth…” The word just barely escaped from his lips.

“Give me a location!” Wonder Woman yelled, raising her arm again.

Shawn shied back from her, but his face displayed his mental turmoil. “He went… to…” He looked sick, as if suddenly ready to throw up on the floor, dirty as it was already. “The plan…”

“Tell me!”

“Detroit,” he finally said, broken from the effort.

“Detroit?” she echoed. A dawning realization crossed her face. “Coast City. For Green Lantern?”

Shawn slumped once again, resigned to his defeat from the magic of the Lasso. “Yes.”

“What did you do?” she asked, Lex leaning in. This part of the story was new to him as well. “What was your plan?”

“We were supposed to use the money to buy magical artifacts. The black market sold them in Detroit, and we were supposed to use them on Green Lantern and Aquaman.” Shawn looked over at Lex. “That’s all I know.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” the billionaire replied. “Ask him where- Diana?”

Wonder Woman retracted her Lasso and put it back on her side. “I have to go,” she decided. “I have to warn my friend-”

“Mercy will show you out,” Lex interrupted. He nodded over to the woman in question. “You’d better hurry, but please don’t break any more windows today.”

“Thank you, Lex,” Diana said.

“No, thank you, Diana. We could never have done this without you. Just remember not to tell anyone about this.”

“You can count on me.” She turned to face Mercy. “Let’s go.”

Without another word, the blonde businesswoman turned and beckoned for the Amazonian to follow her back to the elevator. The elevator rattled on the way down to the lower level.

Lois looked at him with longing in her eyes. She trusted him still, even if it seemed unnatural to her. “What will you do now?” she asked.

“I think that is enough for now,” he said, motioning for the guards to retrieve Shawn and return him back to the safehouse where he had been stored. “I will wait for Diana to return to do anything else.”

“Yes,” the reporter agreed. “That is a good idea.”

Two of the three guards grabbed Shawn from behind, unclipping him from his binding to the ground but not removing his handcuffs.

Lex turned his back on his captive, going to hold Lois. “We will get through this, I promise. We will.” He held her cheeks within his palms. “I just need you to have faith in me.”

She smiled. “I always will.” She reached up with her right hand and gently wrapped it under his chin, fingers tickling his lower jaw. He smiled back at her, the sensation from her fingers on his skin sending a kindling warmth flowing across his body.

A thud drew both of their attention back toward the prisoner. Lex was shocked to see that Shawn had managed to get back to his feet and knock down one of the two guards attending to him.

Quickly, Shawn spun around and gripped the guard’s belt with both hands from behind his own back. Leaning to the side, he stuck out his leg and tripped the other man over it, the belt snapping off as the guard fell with a shout.

Acting quickly, Shawn rolled down on top of the guard’s prone body. When he came out of his roll, his handcuffed limbs were now in front of his chest rather than behind his back. Swinging the leather belt around, Shawn clubbed the first guard he had knocked down with the gun holster right on the chin, knocking him out with a cracking noise.

“Clear the line of fire!” the third guard at the back of the room shouted. He raised his pistol on the bound prisoner.

Lex instinctively shoved Lois down behind him and shielded her with his own body.

Shawn retracted the holster on the belt and quickly drew the gun. Lex swore he could hear both safeties being disarmed at the same time, but there was no question as to who fired their weapon first since only one of them fired at all.

Lois screamed as the guard at the far end of the room fell with a red hole in his head. She screamed again when Shawn spun and shot the guard he’d tripped while he was trying to stand up. She went deathly silent when he turned the gun on them. No flash emerged from the barrel of his newly acquired pistol yet, but the end smoked a little from the previous two shots.

“Did you really fucking think,” Shawn demanded in panting gasps, “you could hold me? Huh? Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Please, Shawn,” Lex tried, preparing to throw himself in front of the bullet. “Don’t hurt her.”

He swayed a little, but fury soon recaptured his gaze. “I’ll do whatever I want you son of a bitch.”

Lois screamed again with another gunshot. Lex flinched and stumbled, nearly falling on top of her.

It took him a moment to register that he felt no pain. Stunned, Lex examined his white suit. Not even a hint of red across his suit. Confused, he looked back up at Shawn.

The trained killer’s gun wavered in his hands, then fell out of them.

What?

The bound hands sprang up to Shawn’s jugular artery, jumping on top of a fresh slice across his neck. Shawn gurgled something out behind the mouthful of blood, but Lex couldn’t understand it. It might not have been anything at all.

Slowly, the two men looked down to Shawn’s left. There lay the guard that both of them had thought **** from the blow to the jaw, aiming his own pistol at Shawn’s head. The barrel of his gun was smoking for just a moment.

Shawn gurgled again, then fell directly on his front, his arms too busy trying to contain the bleeding to break the fall. The amount of blood still leaking through his fingers indicated that it was a losing battle.

Remembering the woman behind him, Lex turned from the dying man and knelt down to prevent Lois from watching. “You’re okay,” Lex insisted fervently. “You’re okay.”

Lois, however, shuddered and shivered on the floor. “No, he- you-”

Shawn’s gurgles became quieter and less frequent.

Lex forcefully grabbed her wrists and held her still. From behind, Lex could hear the lone remaining guard shuffling to his feet. “Never learned to confirm your kills, did you?” the guard mocked in a deep voice clipped by his jaw injury. “That’s twice in four days I got you.”

“Get him out of here!” Lex shouted at the guard over his shoulder. “NOW!”

Taken aback, the man nodded and raised his arm in a hasty half-salute. “Yes, sir.”

Lex turned back to the shuddering Lois. He enveloped her in his arms and pulled her in a tight embrace. “Everything will be alright,” he soothed, trying to comfort her and still her before her shock could turn into panic and sobs. “Everything is fine.”

Shawn’s gurgles ceased.