Rudge's experiment
After leaving the charity meeting, the President dropped off of the map. While the public's attention was focus on the exiting motorcade, Lex made his way into the secret Gotham prison facilty. He was requested to observe a special experiment by William Rudge, the leader of a Sniper Cult and a master of brainwashing. To Lex the experiment was unimportant, what he wanted the most was the report from his spy in Metropolis. Slater had returned with a thick report that had immediately been classified 'Top Secret: For the President's Eyes Only.' by his Metahuman Affairs Cabinet, Amanda Waller. It was so important that it's contents were only to be hard copy and never scanned into a computer. In phone conversations it was only refered to as a 'catch', a non-descript term that could mean anything.
Lex entered into the cell room that had been converted into Rudge's labortory. All four members of Rudge's Sniper Cult were busy performing either some function, or standing guard by a chair. In the chair, a man was strapped in with his head tilted to one side exposing the ear. The youngiest female sniper stood by the round form of William Rudge, a small metal bowl in her hands. Once the President took his seat behind the plexi-glass wall, Rudge started his presentation.
"Good evening, Mr President. The reason I have asked you to come was to inform you of my progress, and give you an demostration of it's effectiveness." The President gave Rudge a mild nod merely to show interest. Lex's future plans depended on Rudge's work so this was not a complete waste, but his interest did not prevent him from looking at his watch. He was waiting to hear from Mercy on the progress with the penguin.
"This subject has a very detailed report on his behavior patterns", lectured Rudge, "and we know what his limitations are." Lex turned to look at the 'subject', a white cloth covered all but his right eye which stared back at him. It didn't matter to Lex, all that mattered were results. One of his Aide's put a stack of folders on his lap. Annoyed, Lex waved her off and she fled but not before putting the folders on a end table. "What we are going to do is use a small worm that has the ability to produce a mind altering chemical. It shuts off the moralistic side of our brains and makes the subject very impressionible. Very useful for your plans." Lex nodded again in agreement. "The first application is very painful for the subject as the worm works it way into the inner ear. Once there is will secreate thier chemicals directly into the brain for a period of two days until the worm dies." Rudge reaches for the small metal bowl with a lytex covered hand. Lifting out a tiny worm from the water, Rudge places it just inside the earlobe. Lex watches for a second as the worm slowly travels it way toward the earhole. Quickly he gets board and eyes the stack of filds on the endtable. After looking at his watch one more time, he reaches for the stack. "Curious, the worms has made it's way into the ear. The subject should be feeling an extreme amount of discomfort." Lex glanced at the eye under the white cloth, then started flipping throught the folder. The chair started to shake, leather straps strained against the subject's struggles. Lex flipped page after page of useless reports of democratic lobbists. The subject froze in the chair pushing against the restraints, then began a series of strong convulsions. Lex continues to read the reports, flipping each page with increased disatisfaction. The subject's struggles were preventing him from getting real work done. It was then that the last folder was revealed to him, the red stamp of 'Top Secret' covered the outside cover. He opened the 'catch' and began scanning the contents. At the moment the subject let out a tremendous howl of pain, that set Lex throught the roof.
"Shut him the hell up! I'm trying to read here!" Lex thundered. Rudge could only stand helpless to Lex's demand.
He turned away from Rudge and his macabe experiment, reading transcripts, reports, and photos. With in the pages of the report he found the one thing that could bring all of his designs together. He had to find his spy, he had to find Slater.
"Rudge," Lex bellowed over the subject's screaming, "Stop this experiment at once! Someone find me... you!" Lex singled out a prison orderly, "Where's Slater?!" Horrified the Orderly pointed to the subject in the chair. Lex spun on his back heel, the eye under the white cloth was the only man with the complete knowledge of the 'catch' and Rudge had been feeding his mind to worms.
Lex thundered into Rudge's lab, "Rudge, you get those worms out of that man's skull! God help you if his memory is not perfectly intect, because you will find yourself poured into the concrete of my next foundation!" Rudge protested and almost got to the part where he had free reign to experiment on Slater before Lex soundly hit him. The room filled with Secret Service intent on protecting the President. All Rudge could do was nod in agreement and find himself a pair of tweezers and an endoscope.
The President sat back down behind the plexi-glass wall, brooding over this latest unfortunate event. The Top Secret file left open on the endtable showed a picture of Billy Batson and a trascription report reading "...it's me. I mean, I'm Captain Marvel."
Lex entered into the cell room that had been converted into Rudge's labortory. All four members of Rudge's Sniper Cult were busy performing either some function, or standing guard by a chair. In the chair, a man was strapped in with his head tilted to one side exposing the ear. The youngiest female sniper stood by the round form of William Rudge, a small metal bowl in her hands. Once the President took his seat behind the plexi-glass wall, Rudge started his presentation.
"Good evening, Mr President. The reason I have asked you to come was to inform you of my progress, and give you an demostration of it's effectiveness." The President gave Rudge a mild nod merely to show interest. Lex's future plans depended on Rudge's work so this was not a complete waste, but his interest did not prevent him from looking at his watch. He was waiting to hear from Mercy on the progress with the penguin.
"This subject has a very detailed report on his behavior patterns", lectured Rudge, "and we know what his limitations are." Lex turned to look at the 'subject', a white cloth covered all but his right eye which stared back at him. It didn't matter to Lex, all that mattered were results. One of his Aide's put a stack of folders on his lap. Annoyed, Lex waved her off and she fled but not before putting the folders on a end table. "What we are going to do is use a small worm that has the ability to produce a mind altering chemical. It shuts off the moralistic side of our brains and makes the subject very impressionible. Very useful for your plans." Lex nodded again in agreement. "The first application is very painful for the subject as the worm works it way into the inner ear. Once there is will secreate thier chemicals directly into the brain for a period of two days until the worm dies." Rudge reaches for the small metal bowl with a lytex covered hand. Lifting out a tiny worm from the water, Rudge places it just inside the earlobe. Lex watches for a second as the worm slowly travels it way toward the earhole. Quickly he gets board and eyes the stack of filds on the endtable. After looking at his watch one more time, he reaches for the stack. "Curious, the worms has made it's way into the ear. The subject should be feeling an extreme amount of discomfort." Lex glanced at the eye under the white cloth, then started flipping throught the folder. The chair started to shake, leather straps strained against the subject's struggles. Lex flipped page after page of useless reports of democratic lobbists. The subject froze in the chair pushing against the restraints, then began a series of strong convulsions. Lex continues to read the reports, flipping each page with increased disatisfaction. The subject's struggles were preventing him from getting real work done. It was then that the last folder was revealed to him, the red stamp of 'Top Secret' covered the outside cover. He opened the 'catch' and began scanning the contents. At the moment the subject let out a tremendous howl of pain, that set Lex throught the roof.
"Shut him the hell up! I'm trying to read here!" Lex thundered. Rudge could only stand helpless to Lex's demand.
He turned away from Rudge and his macabe experiment, reading transcripts, reports, and photos. With in the pages of the report he found the one thing that could bring all of his designs together. He had to find his spy, he had to find Slater.
"Rudge," Lex bellowed over the subject's screaming, "Stop this experiment at once! Someone find me... you!" Lex singled out a prison orderly, "Where's Slater?!" Horrified the Orderly pointed to the subject in the chair. Lex spun on his back heel, the eye under the white cloth was the only man with the complete knowledge of the 'catch' and Rudge had been feeding his mind to worms.
Lex thundered into Rudge's lab, "Rudge, you get those worms out of that man's skull! God help you if his memory is not perfectly intect, because you will find yourself poured into the concrete of my next foundation!" Rudge protested and almost got to the part where he had free reign to experiment on Slater before Lex soundly hit him. The room filled with Secret Service intent on protecting the President. All Rudge could do was nod in agreement and find himself a pair of tweezers and an endoscope.
The President sat back down behind the plexi-glass wall, brooding over this latest unfortunate event. The Top Secret file left open on the endtable showed a picture of Billy Batson and a trascription report reading "...it's me. I mean, I'm Captain Marvel."