Luthors Presentation to Congress

As the screen resets it begins to display images from the committee hearings. Colonel Nick Fury, Director Amanda Waller, Aldus Hilltop and Henry P. Gyrich each thank Belinda Koeing for her testimony. Respectfully she thanks each of them, stands, salutes to the Colonel and then exits after lightly straightening her dress uniform. The camera follows her to the door, pausing slightly as the door closes behind her. Shortly afterward the door re-opens and a tall bald man enters. Lex Luthor strides with a dignified gait; his tailored suit exuding professionalism. Once seated he immediately begins his presentation. “Good morning and salutations. As you know I am a business man and, as we are all aware, time is fleeting.” His speech was direct and clear as he pulled a small tablet from his inside jacket pocket. “May I borrow these screens?” Henry Gyrich, a man with dark eyeglasses and red crew cut hair nodded. “Yes you may.” “I want to thank the committee for their consideration.” As he rose from his seat Lex began to sound less like a businessman and more like a politician. “Before I share with you my plan I wish to make a brief statement that is germane to the mission of the committee.” “Very well,” Gyrich replied. “The committee recognizes Lex Luthor.” “Thank you.” He straightened his French cuffs quickly. “Lady and gentlemen, up for debate here is both the financial and ethical position of the League of Avengers. While the League has certainly been an agent of good will there are concerns that perhaps…just perhaps they have again come in need of restraint. Some across the globe and even here in the United States wonder just how much authority these…super human beings have as they gaze down upon us from orbit. Who are we to say that they are wrong? “Another concern is the drain on our economy. The United States government alone has to cordon off a significant amount of taxpayer revenue toward the upkeep of the Avengers Mansions in the United States, staffing, materials and oversight; certainly there is something here that we can trim from the budget to save the hard working taxpayers of this country. But an even larger impact is felt from the devastation of buildings, communities, lives. Property damage. Hospital bills. Theft. All of these and more have resulted in the need for government assistance and a much larger burden to the taxpayer.” He walked from behind the wide conference table and toward one of the screens. “But how do we change this? Who has answers? Certainly this is a dangerous world and we need heroes. I just think that the heroes of our world, the men and women who we can truly count on, shouldn’t wear masks.” Flicking his fingers across his tablet the screen began to show video of police officers. “I feel that I have the answers and I would like to present them to the committee now, especially in light of the unfortunate events last evening in Iowa.” Standing next to the large monitor his expression changed to one of sympathy. “These hard working men and women are from the Metropolis police department. One problem that all of our police men and women have is that they have been underpowered to take on a level of super powered criminals. I intend to change that.” The screen changed to a man and a woman wearing a contraption on their backs. Sleek and silver it had tubes running to both hands and feet, along with a matching full-face helmet. A small stick protruded from underneath each wrist, easily fitting into the palm of each figure. In a synchronized motion they each pressed a button on the right joystick in the palm of their hands. “Lady, and Gentlemen,” Luthor said triumphantly. “I give you the LexCorp LUK-E1 Police Helisuit. I call it ‘The Lucky One’ for short.” Each pilot on screen took flight as helicopter blades extended from each backpack contraption. They had a full range of movement allowing the pilots to fly face forward with their feet behind them as they flew through an obstacle course. For the next two minutes they demonstrated outstanding agility, significant firepower including tiny mini-guns and missile launching capability. Among the highlights of the film was when the each went into silent mode, entered a dark simulated office building and was able to fly from room to room…through doorways. The simulated SWAT assault ended with the two pilots exiting the building amid explosions while each carried a rescued ‘hostage’. “The Lucky One Helisuit is something that we designed with two things in mind. First, that most of the crime is fought by our local policemen and policewomen on the street every day. Second, we wanted to present this as an affordable option to most police departments across the United States. At a cost only marginally higher than most police cruisers I feel we have done exactly that.” He stepped away from the screen as it once again went dark. “Why am I showing this to you? It is part of a three point plan to reduce the need for the League to act. Lower tier Avengers, such as Mockingbird and Black Canary would feel less of a need to become involved, and local police would no longer have to feel like Avengers secretaries. They could be much more effective at living the motto: Protect and Serve.” Returning to his seat Luthor again tapped on his tablet, and then had a look of satisfaction when he apparently found what he was looking for. “There are some elements of crime however that require a more militant approach. While the FBI and CIA are working diligently to thwart threats that are both domestic and foreign there is one group that shoulders the burden for dealing with terrorists, including meta humans. The Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. Or, as we know your unit Colonel, SHIELD.”
“First, I wish to give a demonstration of what LexCorp technology can do for infiltration. I present the Blink suit.” Luthor made more gestures across his tablet and the scene on the monitor switched to a young SHIELD officer wearing a darker field uniform with bright silver bands around the forearms and calves. Located in a background similar to the southwestern United States a small encampment could be seen in the distance behind him. “The Blink Suit,” Luthor continued, “allows for personnel to be inserted anywhere, anytime. Observe..!” The camera zooms in over the young officers' shoulder to a small box on a helipad, roughly ½ a mile away. Re-zooming out to normal the officer clenches his fists, the wrists and calves glow brightly, and he vanishes in a flash. Returning to a view of the helipad the SHIELD member is there, picking up an object from the ground. He returns to the same position, clenches his fist and flashes away a second time, appearing directly in front of the camera. After a quick zoom-out he is shown to have in his possession what appears to be the same small box. A quick cut is made to an action sequence. “The Blink Suit is more than just a teleportation device.” This next two minute video reveals that the suit has cloaking abilities, can communicate securely even when cloaked, and even has some limited anti-gravity abilities. Most of the presentation is structured around infiltrating a pseudo-terrorist camp, finding the weapons cache, planting an explosive device and leaving the scene undetected. After the resulting A-Team level explosion the screen returns to the three Officers. “Sometimes however you’re presented with a challenge that you can’t avoid. That’s when you have to take direct action.” Again taking control of the screen the scene shifts to a staged downtown intersection with a large, hulking man causing damage. “This brutish figure has skin that’s harder than concrete,” he said as the figure ripped up a section of pavement. “And he’s determined to destroy the town. What will we do?” A single SHIELD officer runs into view with an odd Cable-esque rifle. “You bypass it. I present the prototype LexCorp ME-16-X. Truly a versatile weapon.” As the soldier pulled the trigger, a translucent beam struck the pavement, causing it to bubble. The brute found himself stuck in the pavement but the soldier knew it wouldn’t stay that way. After ordering the brute to put his hands behind his head he took position in front of him. The scene quickly transitions to a laboratory shooting range. “Too often our officers are forced to deal with bullet-proof foes. Now we have an advantage with the ME-16-X.” Briefly a cross section of a statue is shown to reveal gel-formed organs inside. A marksman takes aim with a standard sniper rifle and the bullets bounce off. Next a SHIELD officer takes aim with the ME-16-X and does the same. The statue remains standing for a time but eventually the top explodes, spraying the range with gel. “Armored criminals have met their match,” the officer says toward the camera. “God Bless America.”
“Mister Luthor,” Aldus Hilltop began with a professorial cough. “Your three branched strategy is to manufacture helicopter suits, teleportation devices and armor-piercing ray guns, son?” “Not quite, Mr. Hilltop.” Luthor stood again. “The reason The League of Avengers has become such a drain on the economy and why they feel they can do…whatever they want is because we have become too reliant upon them. One hundred years ago we defended ourselves and today,” he motioned towards the audience. “Today we feel powerless against these threats. Both foreign and domestic. I’ve only shown the first two phases so far.” “I beg your pardon? I saw three devices Mister...”
“Please, call me Lex.”
“Lex, I don’t quite understand what you’re getting at.”
Slowly walking toward the monitor he resumed his presentation. “My…our approach here at LexCorp is to assist by addressing three levels of Law Enforcement. First we want to assist our local level, from State Troopers, to County and City Police departments. Next we want to assist SHIELD; they deal with hazards so often it’s in their name!”
Amanda Waller chuckled while Aldus Hilltop laughed. The other two gentlemen were not amused in the slightest.
“However let’s address the elephant in the room. Mutants.”
“Last night,” speaking again like a politician, “a terrorist mutant group attacked one of our facilities in Iowa. They were coordinated. Professional. Deadly. I want to take the time to thank the League of Avengers for their swift reaction to this situation. In fact let’s look at what Green Arrow had to say on the matter.”
Immediately the interview with Green Arrow played in its entirety, unedited. When it completed the screen went blank.
“I want to add myself and everyone at LexCorp to the list of all those who which Hawkeye a speedy and full recovery from his injuries. Sadly, my Boise facility was apparently attacked just a few hours ago, however it appears that no lives were lost. It does underscore the first two points that I’ve made. We must be able to defend ourselves from any threat at any level.”
The screen faded in, showing a Boba-Fett style helm from the side. As it turned toward the camera the helmet continued in the same theme as the one worn by the bounty hunter. “This…is my masterpiece.”
The camera widens out to reveal a segmented armor styled somewhere between an Evangelion and a Knight of the Round. Quickly it darted around a sand landscape as it struck targets placed in the dirt. It rolled on its side and a force beam projected from the outstretched right palm. Apparently it could fly as well as it traversed across the landscape at great speeds. Again it fired upon targets, hitting each directly, and then it landed with the sound of a crunch. The camera panned down towards the foot to reveal a half-crushed Hummer H2 under the right foot of the robot. If this was actually to scale the robot was several stories tall.
As if faced the camera, green lights illuminated themselves at the tips of the “T” on the front of the helm.
“I present . . . the Sentinel.” There was applause within the room for almost a full minute while the committee looked on. After a time had passed Gyrich raised a hand, quieting the crowd.
“Thank you Mr. Gyrich.” Luthor returned to his seat. “This is only the prototype model but we are ready for a full production run. The Sentinel system draws on everything that we’ve learned about combat, protection, electronics and automaton construction with a single goal. Removing the need to depend on the League of Avengers to defend us.”
He stood to face some of the audience. “The League has certainly been beneficent to many of us, but they are not our caretakers. The Sentinel is something that they should welcome. Now they can concentrate on truly the most perplexing of situations and the deepest mysteries while we defend ourselves from every credible threat in the galaxy. This is much more than just brawn as they are connected on a proprietary network to one another and can process data at an exponentially growing rate, so that if one is somehow defeated the rest will learn and develop ways to neutralize that threat. Self-repairing systems require almost no maintenance and the power source...”
Lex turned directly to the camera. “It uses a brand new system based on gravity. “The perpetual motion principle that powers my watch is mirrored with this project.”
He returned to his chair. “The network can also share information with other levels of law enforcement to coordinate attacks and ferret out crime where ever it may hide. Communications, again through the same proprietary network, can and will include information such as weather. A most wanted list. Current layout of the enemy. And all this can be shared with commanders who are safely shielded away from the battlefield.”
Walking toward the committee, Lex took a more humble tone. “The sensors on this project include sonar, x-ray, thermal, UV…and even G-wave.”
“G-wave?” asked Amanda Waller.
“Another one of my…our…advances. It can read the genetic code of a target to determine if they are already on any mutant registration lists. That is if your colleagues in congress are willing to see it enacted into law…?”