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Thread: Ends and Means - R *Now Complete* w/ PDF Posted

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    Demented Detective Senior Member newbatgirl's Avatar
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    Ends and Means - R *Now Complete* w/ PDF Posted

    Title: Ends and Means
    Author: newbatgirl
    Rating: R to be safe
    Pairing: Chlex
    Disclaimer: Time Warner/DC can have them back when I’m done.

    Summary: Set ten years into the future, Chloe is an insurance investigator with uncanny instincts and a near perfect record of ferreting out the truth. She is sent to find out if a costly explosion at a client’s manufacturing plant was not an accident. The “client” turns out to be a joint venture between Wayne Enterprises and Luthor Corp, whose respective CEOs are less than thrilled to see her. Largely AU since I stopped watching SV regularly early in season 4. Assume the events up to the S3 finale occurred but that Lionel died in prison. The rest of the history will be explained in the story.

    A/N: The inspiration for this came from a number of sources, which I must acknowledge here. The joint venture in robotics between Wayne Enterprises and Luthor Corp. is actually “borrowed” from episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. The rest of the story was loosely inspired by the movie The Thomas Crown Affair. Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox and Jim Gordon are “borrowed” from the comics. The other unfamiliar characters are my own creations. Also, the characterizations were not influenced by the recent Batman Begins movie (but you should see the movie anyway because it's good!)

    Thanks to Zannie and Kit Merlot for their unwavering support with this fic so far. You gals are the wind beneath my bat-wings! Hugs also to June, Lark and all the other Bruce-aholics out there who've responded to the teasers for this fic. I will try not to let you down.

    MOD NOTE
    : Here's a new live LINK to download this fic in PDF format. Please, make sure you leave the author feedback on this thread once you're done reading the story.


    Prologue

    Wayne Enterprises Manufacturing Complex, West Gotham City…Building C

    Bruce Wayne adjusted the collar of his custom tailored shirt. A shirt that, given its cost, had no business being uncomfortable at this given moment but still, there it was. True to his reputation, Bruce was normally cool and unflappable in almost any situation. He rarely sweated, seldom paced, and almost never fidgeted.

    “You’re fidgeting,” came a deep voice from his left.

    “I am not.”

    “Yes, you are.”

    “I don’t fidget, Lex,” replied Bruce icily, his tone a cue to Lex to drop it.

    “Fine, have it your way,” replied Lex.

    Lex studied the expression on his friend’s face for some clue as to what was going on his head. After a few seconds, he conceded to himself that it was useless exercise. Bruce was a master at concealing his thoughts and emotions. While Lex himself was schooled in doing so as well, Bruce’s demeanor was unique in how much it differed from his public persona. When out socially or among people he didn’t know very well, Bruce was rarely seen without a smile or amused expression on his handsome face. He laughed, joked, and flirted with relaxed ease. Privately, or at least with small groups of people who knew him well, that jovial nature fell away leaving…almost nothing behind.

    The private Bruce was quiet, almost solemn. His face was typically devoid of emotion. To an outsider, it would have seemed creepy but of course, outsiders didn’t see it. Lex was used to it, so he brushed it off as another of Bruce’s quirks. Lord knew that he had enough of those on his own; he didn’t need to obsess about Bruce’s.

    The two men were standing in an alcove off one of the main production floors of a large Wayne Enterprises plant. Just next door, a small army of journalists were awaiting the press conference formally announcing a joint venture of the two corporate giants. Rumors of an alliance between Luthor Corp and Wayne Enterprises had been circulating in the business community for months.

    If this press conference went well, the stock prices of both companies would soar by the time the closing bell sounded that very day. Wall Street analysts would be scrambling to figure out the implications of what they learned. Competitors would be scrambling even more to figure out if they stood a chance.

    And Lex and Bruce would be holding all the cards. Or so they planned. The problem was, things rarely worked out exactly as people planned them.

    The two men had known each other nearly half their lives; they had alternately fought tooth and nail and saved each other’s skins from boarding school up through their impressive business careers. They knew each other better than virtually anyone else in the world. However, with these two particular men, that really didn’t mean much. There was a lot that each didn’t know about the other and that was the way they wanted it. It was probably why the friendship had lasted so long.

    Right now they could have even passed for two very expensive bookends, save the absence of hair on one of the men.

    Truth be told, there were some other minor differences. They were about the same height, though Lex was of a slightly leaner build. Bruce’s bulkier frame was well-concealed in his own custom tailored suit, which was only a shade or two darker in color than Lex’s. Both men had pale blue eyes. Lex was completely bald whereas Bruce sported head of wavy dark brown hair that was just tad longer than one might have expected of a CEO.

    Through the door, Lex could hear Bruce’s second-in-command, Lucius Fox, welcoming the media and getting ready to introduce them. He turned to Bruce.

    “Ready for this?”

    “Of course. We can the handle the press, Lex. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

    “We’ve been working on this for a year, Bruce. There’s nothing to worry about.”

    “There’s always something to worry about,” countered Bruce, setting his jaw.

    “Well aren’t you the eternal optimist? Where is this coming from?”

    Bruce glared at Lex for a beat before responding. “Doesn’t matter where, it’s still true.”

    Lex placed one hand on the door handle and one on Bruce’s shoulder to get him moving. “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it. Later. Right now, we’ve got a job to do.”

    Through the door, Lex heard Lucius say their names. His first. He looked at Bruce. “Follow my lead,” he said.

    There was scattered applause and camera flashes as the two men reached the raised platform facing the crowd. Behind them hung a huge white curtain emblazoned with the Luthor Corp. and Wayne Enterprises logos.

    Lex stepped to the podium without hesitation, his earlier discomfort now invisible.

    “Good afternoon, Ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the talented teams from Luthor Corp. and Wayne Enterprises who have worked many long hours to bring us to this point, I thank you for attending. We are proud of what we have to show you and at the risk of sounding immodest, something I am rarely accused of being…”

    Lex paused to let the audience snicker at their cue and for more cameras to flash.

    “…we have a great deal to be proud of. What this joint venture between Luthor Corp. and Wayne Enterprises is going to do is nothing less than revolutionize the field of robotic engineering.”

    The curtain raised behind him revealing dozens of gleaming robots in various sizes. They were not robots in the humanoid/popular sci-fi sense of the word, but rather manufacturing machines designed to perform specific tasks.

    “Utilizing the latest materials, power sources, and artificial intelligence, our two companies have developed the prototypes you see here. These prototypes are capable of performing hundreds if not thousands of tasks in many different atmospheres and environments, from the extreme pressure in the deep ocean to the unforgiving atmosphere on the surface of Mars…”

    Lex paused as the cameras flashed and the crowd strained to get better look at the robots. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bruce smiling for the cameras, his earlier stony expression gone.

    “…And,” continued Lex, “our accomplishments are made all the more satisfying because we can say that they were driven by engineers working at two American corporations, right here on American soil. Make no mistake, the next revolution in robotics beings today, on this side of the Pacific…”

    The audience reaction was immediate, the applause nearly deafening as they surged forward even more at Lex words, snapping pictures and shouting questions nonstop.

    Satisfied at the response, Lex stole a look at his own friend and wasn’t surprised at what he saw. Bruce was still smiling, or course, but his eyes were an icy shade of blue staring straight at him. Lex had deviated from the script, even if it was only slightly. Bruce didn’t like it and they both knew why.

    *****

    Meanwhile…a busy downtown café…across town…

    Chloe Sullivan took a bite of her sandwich as she scanned through the thick file in front of her. She tuned out the noise around her in the busy café. She sat alone at a table near the window of the café. Around her, the sounds of the midday rush of business people grabbing their lunches before heading back to the office. The café catered to the busy downtown area. In addition to quick, tasty meals, the owners of the cafe had installed several big screen televisions and tuned them to news and finance stations so their customers could stay in touch with the latest stock prices and headlines even while they ate their noontime meal.

    Chloe, however, was more interested in the stack of files she had brought with her than the screens. If she had been interested, she would have noticed the fact that the Luthor Corp/Wayne Enterprises press coverage was currently the lead story on CNBC on the screen just above her head. Above the headline which read: “Luthor and Wayne Put Japan on Notice?” There was footage of Lex and Bruce shaking hands and posing for the cameras in front of their machines.

    There was a time when Chloe Sullivan might have wanted to be one of the reporters clamoring for quotes from the two business titans but that time was long gone. She had other pursuits these days. Headlines were only of passing interest to her now.

    Sitting alone at her table, she looked like any other well-to-do career woman. She was dressed in a charcoal gray pant suit and white blouse. Her blond hair now hung well past her shoulders and framed her face with slightly side swept bangs. On the seat next to her were a simple black briefcase and purse. People who knew Chloe Sullivan at 16 would have never believed that she would dress so simply. For the person she was now and the work that she did, there wasn’t room for funky clothes and flashy jewelry. She accepted that.

    Not tearing her eyes from the documents in front of her, she took a long sip from her drink only to choke a bit as she felt a hand on her back and a voice in her ear.

    “Hey, CJ, why’d you start without me?” said the voice.

    Sputtering slightly, Chloe glared at the man who slid into the empty seat at her table.

    “Gee, Danny, maybe because you’re a grown man who hasn’t mastered the art of telling time yet.”

    Danny, aka Daniel Pena, one of Chloe’s coworkers, gave her a carefree grin as he reached over to swipe some of her French fries.

    “I’m not that late, calm down. I’m here now, aren’t I?”

    “You’re…” Chloe consulted the thin gold watch in her wrist, “twenty-three minutes late and you’re eating my fries. Give me a reason not to kill you.”

    “You need me?” said Danny loftily, waiving to a waiter. “You can’t figure out the financials in whatever case you’re working on without my extensive knowledge.”

    “Oh, get over yourself, you’re a CPA, not an astrophysicist. There are plenty more where you came from.”

    “But I’m your favorite.”

    “Correction, you’re available and easy to boss around, that’s why I asked for you,” retorted Chloe, pulling her plate of his reach.

    “Ah, that’s not what my boss told me, he said you requested me because you said that I was your ‘favorite assistant investigator’ from the department.”

    Chloe wrinkled her brow making a mental note to go over the definition of “confidential” with the head of Forensic Accounting.

    “Fine, so you’re my favorite. Don’t let it go to your head. Being the least annoying of a group of people who keep copies of the tax code under their beds for light reading is really not that hard. Watch your step, Daniel. Piss me off and I might not request you anymore,” she warned with a glint in her eye.

    That quieted him. Danny was a little on the cocky side but he knew he was lucky to be working with Chloe Sullivan on any of her cases and aside from some flirting and teasing, he wouldn’t want to do anything that might piss her off.

    Chloe was a senior investigator at one of the country’s top insurance companies, Allied Insurance. Her job was to investigate the loss claims of their clients for signs of fraud or other criminal behavior, or to look for ways to reduce the amount of the loss. Sometimes that meant investigating the client and other times it meant going undercover to recover a lost or stolen item from the black market.

    In spite of her relatively short career and young age, Chloe Sullivan was very good at what she did. No one was quite sure just how much money she had saved Allied Insurance since she had started as a junior investigator right out of college but the figure was rumored to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

    As a result, she had her pick of cases and rarely worked on anything with a potential claim value of less than a million dollars. Chloe generally worked alone, as was her preference, but on cases that required specific expertise, she was given her pick of lower ranked investigators to assist her. And, since Chloe’s cases never failed to attract the attention of senior management and the industry at large, there was always competition to work with her.

    Danny didn’t kiss her ass, though, that’s probably why Chloe liked to work with him. He knew how to push her buttons but he didn’t push too far.

    “So what do you need?” Danny asked, after the waiter took his order.

    Chloe tapped the folder she had been looking at before Danny arrived, “Remember that building collapse near the river a few months back?”

    “Yeah, I think so. Happened during construction. It was supposed to be a garage or something but the builder rushed the job and by the time they got to the fifth floor, the lower floors weren’t stable enough to hold the weight. Whole thing came crashing down. Don’t tell me we insured that job?”

    “No, thank God. We did, however, insure the building next door. Apartments. At least a dozen tenants are claiming damages amounting to just under $10 million. That’s not counting the millions that we’ve already paid to the agency that owns the building.”

    “Well, look at the neighborhood, those apartments have to be pretty upscale,” Danny pointed out as he finished Chloe’s fries. She had long since ceased to care and he had pulled the plate back.

    “Some of them, I guess, but most of the tenants have been there for years so they’re not paying full market. The agent on the claims didn’t feel right about it. She and I worked together before so she sent it to me to see if I could find something and I did.”

    “What?”

    “I read the descriptions of the damages and they’re all the same.”

    Danny did not look convinced. “CJ, I trust your judgment, but claims usually sound the same: water damage, broken furniture, yadda yadda. There are only so many ways things can break. How is that a red flag?”

    “I mean, they’re really all the same, down to the same language on the claim forms, they used the same adjectives to describe how their belongings were damaged. I have twelve forms here and it seems everyone’s floors and walls cracked in exactly the same way, causing specific damage to their belongings. Also, seven of the twelve forms claim damages to ‘load bearing walls.’ Most people who live in apartments wouldn’t know what a load-bearing wall is, let alone know how to identify one. It’s not right, Danny. Someone either coached these people or prepared the forms for them. I’m guessing the latter.”

    “OK, but getting help with the forms isn’t really a crime, is it?”

    “Not if the damages are real but I don’t think these are. There’s something else going on here. You don’t see this kind of uniformity unless there’s a larger scheme in play. Believe me.”

    Danny chewed thoughtfully for a minute. “So what you need me to do?” he asked finally.

    “We start with the company that manages the building. Always start with the common denominator, right? And if that doesn’t pan out, we look for another one. I have their financials for the last three years, including the most recent quarter. I need you to comb over these and tell me if you find anything weird. I’ve going over with our architect to look around and to interview some of the claimants.”

    Chloe pushed the pile of folders towards Danny and began placing the rest back in her briefcase. In the middle of the process she felt Danny’s eyes on her. She looked up, blowing her blond bangs out of her eyes.

    “What?”

    “I’ve worked with you on at least a dozen cases over the last year and half and I realize that all I know about you is that you have got really good instincts. Scratch that, really scary instincts. What’s your story?”

    Chloe averted her eyes from Danny’s gaze. “There’s not much to know. I got hired, moved up the ranks. As for the instincts, I guess you just get a feel for these things.”

    “No, that can’t be it. You’re at least ten years younger than the other investigators at your level, CJ. And, you clear more cases than any two of them put together. How do you do it? How did you even get here?”

    How did she get here? How did Smallville’s legendary ‘girl reporter’ end up working for an insurance company of all things? That was a million dollar question.

    She looked a Danny for beat, wondering what he would think if she ever told him how much Chloe Jeanine Sullivan, CJ to her current coworkers and friends, had lived before moving to Gotham. How close she had come to dying. And the promises she had made to herself.

    They probably wouldn’t believe it.

    “Does it matter how I got here?” she asked. “I’m here now.”

    *****
    Three weeks later…Wayne Enterprises Manufacturing Complex…Security checkpoint

    “Time?” asked the young security guard, as he cricked his neck to relieve the weariness.

    “Eleven fifty-one. Few more minutes. We have to wait for Abbot and Costello to arrive. Hope they’re on time. They were late last night,” replied another guard at his side who was slightly older and heavier set. “I don’t like getting off shift late just ‘cause they drag their feet. Ain’t fair.”

    “You got that right,” agreed the first guard.

    The two men were standing out side the box-like security booth at the gates of the Wayne Enterprises Manufacturing Complex. The complex was guarded twenty four hours per day with one guard here at the gate and another guard circulating the complex in a small vehicle. There were a total of five buildings in the complex, identified by letters A through E. The two guards on duty on any given time usually took turns circling the complex, if nothing else to stave off boredom.

    The two men on duty now, Sanders, the younger and Welman, the older, were both anxious to be relieved of their duties that night. It was a Friday and the weekend beckoned.

    The both breathed signs of relief when the second security vehicle pulled up to the booth, with the two guards for the next shift, Peterson and Markofsky, inside.

    “Nice of you guys to join us, tonight,” called out Sanders.

    “Aww, just can it, kid. We’re on time tonight. You’ll get home in plenty of time to slap the salami and whatever it is guys like you do on a Friday night.”

    “Kiss my ass, Peterson.”

    Welmen ignored the exchange as he punched codes on the computer inside the booth to clock him and Sanders out.

    “Anything going on?” asked Markofsky as the two new guards stepped out of their vehicle.

    “Is there ever?” replied the old guard. He tapped another screen in the booth that showed the views from various security cameras around the property. “Quiet as usual, this time of night. Buildings A and E are the only ones working this shift. Others are locked up tight. If you get a chance, there’s a birthday thing in A for the shift foreman. Oughta be some cake left.”

    Peterson elbowed the portly Markofsky, “You think this guy needs more cake? Any more and he’s not fittin’ in the booth anymore.”

    “What kind of cake?” asked Markofsy.

    “Chocolate chip pound, I think.”

    Markofsky opened his car door again. “I think I’ll take the first round about, Petey.”

    “Now there’s a shock,” grumbled Peterson.

    Shaking their heads, Sanders and Welmen stepped towards their own vehicle.

    “Have a good night, guys. Try to stay awake,” called Welmen.

    As he turned away, there was a horrible rumbling from the other end of the complex, followed by a huge thunderous explosion. All four men turned in time to see huge plumes of smoke rise up towards the sky, with raw red and orange flames obscuring the deep blue of the night.

    “What the ---?”

    “That sounds like it’s coming from C!”

    All four men were frozen in place for several seconds as the smoke clouds billowed in the distance and the fire reached higher and higher in the sky

    Finally someone, probably Sanders, broke the silence.

    “Which…uh…which one of us is calling that in?”


    End Prologue.
    Last edited by lexie; 3rd February 2018 at 17:08.

  2. #2
    NS Full Member Krysia's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Intriguing begining. Plus the story has both Lex and Bruce, so I'm hooked allready Please write more.

  3. #3
    An Accused Heretic Senior Member Kit Merlot's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    NBG, Awesome beginning

    But I of course need more!
    KATHY

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    Spunky Chick Senior Member hfce's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Oh interesting more please....


    Hope
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  5. #5
    I don't ship. I captain. Christy January's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    More, More, More. Did I mention that I wanted more?

  6. #6
    NS Full Member Louie's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    hmmm interesting, that would be a hard job in Gotham, things are always getting blown up or banged into. more soon please

  7. #7
    NS Full Member
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Interesting, can't wait for the answer to 'the million dollar question.'

  8. #8

    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Well, I'm hooked. Great start!

  9. #9
    Insane Troll logic girl lexchloe's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Ok you got me interested, now I need more, more more to feed my new addiction!!! Really great start, can't wait for the next one.
    I tried to drown my sorrows, but the little buggers learned how to swim.

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  10. #10
    Fairy Dust Bitch welshy's Avatar
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    Re: Ends and Means - R - Prologue 6/24

    Interesting beginning, I hope there's going to be more

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