12901/Lexhub: A consultation with a Witch

Lexhub: A consultation with a Witch
Date of Scene:	27 March 2021
Location:	Lex Luthor's Office - LexCorp Tower
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Lex Luthor, Scarlet Witch

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Lex Luthor has posed:
It's a late afternoon for one Lex Luthor, whom was busy with the aftermath of the industrial accident in Metropolis recently. He has the look of a tired man, even as he sits behind his desk and deals with last minute details. Mercy is at his side, dressed on full bodyguard weapons and a suit of exo-armor. Hope, on the other hand, is at the elevator, starting another patrol of the office floor as the minute of the appointment with the Scarlet Witch comes up. A quick glance to a digital watch on his wrist has his frown, then turn off the display built into the desk as he stands up. "Hope, turn off the anti-magic defenses. I wouldn't want our guest to think we meant to trap her." Lex orders.

Hope heads to one side of the room, slides open a concealed panel, and hits a few buttons. There's an audible humm as /something/ turns off, and whatever was in place is removed.

Lex stands there, behind his desk, hands folded behind his back as Hope moves to Lex's side. Both bodyguards have all the tension of waiting for the other shoe to drop... and already a squad of Team Luthor troopers is hidden in the express elevator itself, just waiting to open into the office penthouse as they await their guest.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Chances are, even if the anti-magic defenses were on, they wouldn't be able to entirely stop Wanda Maximoff. The Scarlet Witch. People fear her, and some are right to do so. But others? They have no need to fear her. Lex Luthor is one such. Afterall, he's been most cooperative.

Wanda Maximoff has superb timing. Or equally superb luck. Or perhaps it's a combination of both. Not ten seconds after the /something/ turns off, a red mist appears, roughly centered in the room. That red mist turns into something that looks like fire but isn't hot. And then she is there, within the scarlet flames that slowly disappear.

"Mister Luthor," she says, jade green eyes finding the man in question. "It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you in the flesh." If she knows about the squad of troopers in the express elevator, she doesn't say anything. There's a chance she knows. There's also a chance that she doesn't.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"It usually is." Lex notes with a smile as he moves around the desk and almost regally walks over to Wanda, offering a hand for a handshake. "I hear I have you and two others to thank for responding to the core explosion before my containment team could get there."

Mercy and Hope both remain three feet away from Lex behind him, and have all the grace of two lionesses waiting to strike if the need arises. They eye Wanda openly with controlled suspicion.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff shows no hesitation at all whent he hand is offered. Nope, her right hand comes up and grasps his. Her grip is on the firm side, but without any attempt at all to squish his hand or challenge him that way. "Well. Right place, right time. In addition to your safety measures, there is now a spell in place to both alert me if something goes wrong again, and to contain the sphere."

For her part, Wanda, after greeting Lex, offers nods to both Mercy and Hope, though neither approaches them nor tries to speak with them. The suspicion doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest. If positions were reversed, she would probably feel exactly the same way.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"So I hear. I admit, I don't know anything about... spells." He sounds as if he's tasting the word, but there's a hint of a sneer in there. Not a fan, it seems. "Once I was informed about it, I had Mercy focus on securing the area. Lots of press wanted in. You know the drill." Then, he raises his voice. "Harmony, bring up the latest site estimate." A hologram of the industrial site suddenly appears in the middle of the room, just above Wanda's head, and Lex looks up to it and nods to it. "If you'd care to see the latest estimate in cost, injuries and the like for the accident."

There is no response from 'Harmony', but it's very familiar in the way Tony speaks to Friday. This is probably Lex's version of an assistant AI.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff doesn't react to the hint of a sneer. It wouldn't be the first time. "Spells are simply tools that some people can use. Just like technology." Wanda grimaces and nods. "Yeah. I know the drill. The media is a pain." Wanda glances up as the display appears over her head. She steps back beside Lex and looks over what is being indicated. "How many people did you lose?"

Despite the question, Wanda continues looking over the latest estimate. As the address of 'Harmony' is somewhat familiar from her experiences with Tony, she doesn't look around for whoever, or whatever, it might be.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Only the engineers closest to the core." Lex points to four pictures. "The blast chamber the core was contained in kept the blast from killing anyone else, though we do have a few seriously injured. They're all covered under our in house insurance plan, so they will be well taken care of. Only two robotic limbs will need to be made. All in all, it could have been a lot worse."

Lex then points to a circle graph, "From what we've put together, someone was running an unauthorized test of a new coolant. For legal purposes, I'm not at liberty to divulge the identity of that person, but suffice to say, that was not scheduled. This core is a highly expensive prototype for the project as a whole. This chart shows the original formula results versus the new formula that was being tested. As you can see... the results were unstable."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
"That is good," says Wanda. She glances to Lex and then to the four pictures he points out, looking over each one carefully and in turn. As she's looking, she listens to what he has to say. "Sounds like your in house insurance plan is worth signing on for." She sounds impressed. "Think you're right. I'm glad it wasn't any worse." She looks at the circle graph and nods thoughtfully.

"It's okay. I don't have any particular need to know who it was. I trust they were taken care of?" She frowns a little bit. "Do you have any idea /why/ they ran an unauthorized test on this new formula?"

Lex Luthor has posed:
"LexCorp is the best corporation to work for in this day and age. We have strict requirements for the plan they were using, but high value assets are worth the expense when you're maintaining a competitive edge on the modern market." Lex explains as he waves his hand at the air, and the holograms dismiss. "We're working on that. Our best guess is a deadline was coming up and they didn't like the schedule. I do encourage initiative when it comes to new projects, but I would never have approved testing on a massive scale project like this one."

Lex looks to Wanda, then. "We were due to unveil the mainstream aspects of this within a month or two, depending on how fast the engineering components were able to be made. Who knows? Maybe you might have insight." He looks up to the ceiling again, "Harmony, bring up the Lexhub promotional image."

In the air, above Wanda, comes an obviously CGIed grouping of domes and squares. Then, in comes stars and the black of space, "Project Lexhub, our first commercially operated and owned private space station."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff doesn't speak as the man is explaining things. Mostly she looks at the charts, but occasionally she looks over at Lex. "That makes sense. I guess I can understand why they did what they did, in that case. If it had worked, they would have seemed a savior being ahead of schedule." Her jade green eyes meet Lex's emerald greens. She has to look up to do so, but she seems to be okay with that. Most of the men she works with are taller than she is. She tilts her head curiously, red hair falling lower on the one side as she does. "Perhaps."

She goes quiet while the image comes up above, and looks it over. "What am I supposed to be having insight on?" she asks after a few moments, voice curious. Her eyes remain on the CGIed space station.

Lex Luthor has posed:
"Do you see anything in the general layout where your spells might be useful? I'm not above using every asset I have at my disposal, if you are willing." Lex informs her, then, his hand gestures towards each of the station modules in turn, "Crew quarters, airlocks, reactore section, refinery... I know nothing about.. magic... but I'm willing to listen."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff starts to walk around the image. Her expression is thoughtful as she studies the model from as many angles as she can. "If it will keep people alive and healthy, I am willing," she says gravely to his informative words. She walks in turn to each of the areas mentioned. "Around the reactor for certain," she says. "Possibly around airlocks as another layer of defense. Something similar, but on a smaller scale, than what I put around the reactor to contain it if it goes badly again. Refinery... not sure. Anywhere there is a potential place that could crack or break. Especially anything that could melt down."

Jade green eyes finally turn from the rendition to look at Lex again. "You should put out a request for assitance from witches and wizards. Bring them onto your team. They might have better ideas or knowledge than I do."

Lex Luthor has posed:
"More eyes means more potential ideas." Lex replies, his hand gesturing to the refinery section. "This will initially be about handling the scrap in orbit. We plan on cleaning up the debris belt around the planet and making a profit doing targetted salvage missions. We can also put up satellites on our own easily from it. Like most of my colleagues, I loathe the idea of relying on superhuman assistance to handle work like this." Lex looks to Wanda. "No offense, but you and yours will not be around forever, nor will you be available every time we need you. This-" Lex nods to the station image, "-is a means to handle all of it by human means."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda Maximoff nods. "Yes. That. And for something like this, the more ideas the better," she says. She looks to the refinery section. "Ah. That makes sense." She chuckles and shakes her head. "No offense taken. If it can be handled by normal methods, it should be. Things that will become normal, eventually. Not all of us can handle vacuum. And you are right. We might be busy with another emergency. And you are right again, that we won't be around forever. Though those who come after us probably will be."