Waking a Miracle - Part 31

The night air was crisp, but delightful. The slight scent of rain tickled his nostrils, and humidity brushed across his face like the cool hands of a sated lover. He leaned closer to the edge of the balcony and smiled down at the lights below. Lights like a thousand villagers with torches, all gathering below his magical tower. Always a gorgeous view. Always. Power was always about the view.

And he had power.

Lots.

"You look happy, sir," the stiff voice of his English assistant said behind him.

Lex Luthor turned and shrugged. Nigel stood there, a bottle of Dom Perignon clenched in one hand, two champagne flutes tangled in the fingers of his other hand.

"The Messenger launch failed. I'm on top of the world," Lex said with a fulfilled sigh. "I trust Samuel Platt was taken care of since I haven't heard about any disturbances?"

"Yes," Nigel said with a slight, graceful bow. "We apprehended him shortly before he reached the Daily Planet on Monday. He's been... taken care of. Antoinette was also properly dealt with."

Lex let his grin spread like an infection, betraying his true elation. He had gotten away with everything. Again. "Good!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together in a jaunty little motion.

Nigel quirked an eyebrow. "A toast, sir?" he asked, bringing Lex's attention to the champagne bottle he held in his hands with a slight inclination of his head.

Lex gave him a regal nod, and the Englishman set the two flutes down on the railing. He poured the Dom Perignon into the shining crystal flutes, and handed one to Lex with a sly, twinkling smile. The crisp air ruffled Lex's hair and sent his suit coat fluttering up a bit. The wind smelled of change. And triumph.

"A toast! To wealth, and power," Lex exclaimed with a slight tilt of his head.

Nigel tilted his head in kind. "To wealth and power," he replied, though slightly less intoned.

The glasses clinked together like the sound of choir bells, and Lex leaned back against the railing to breathe in the smell of victory once more. But the smell was bittersweet, at best. "Ahhh, Nigel. Sometimes I do feel though, that there lacks a challenge in this. Something... Something is missing, Nigel."

"But, sir." Nigel quirked an eyebrow upwards after taking a sip of his champagne. "No one looks down on you. You're a king in your tower, and no one can touch you."

Lex looked up at the sky, noting a small blinking light that traveled along the sky scape. A lone firefly buzzing along in the bleak world overhead. He saluted the departing plane.

"Only until someone learns to fly, Nigel. Only until then..."

FIN