Investigations

   Every time Lois rode the private elevator to Bruce's penthouse, she felt slightly unworthy.  It was as though she was ascending into a wood-paneled heaven, and Bruce was her angel.  A quiet, brooding angel, but an angel nonetheless.
   The sliding doors opened, and Lois stepped out into the room.
   Bruce's penthouse took up the entire top floor of Wayne Enterprises' Metropolis branch, and was furnished to a near-opulent degree.  Bruce had no interest in such material grandeur, but the penthouse was made to resemble Bruce's childhood home, Wayne Manor.
My boyfriend owns a manor. Lois often reminded herself of this fact, which greatly added to her already-impressive level of confidence.
   "Good evening, Miss Lane."  Lois turned to her left to see Alfred standing in wait for her.  "Hello, Alfred," Lois kindly said.  Lois was not normally one to fully pronounce the word "hello"—she much preferred to rely on a casual "hey"—but she couldn't help but be somewhat more formal and respectful in Alfred's presence.  Alfred, a man in his late sixties, had been the Waynes' butler for several decades.  After Bruce's parents were killed, Alfred became Bruce's legal guardian.  He was literally the only family that Bruce had left, and he was completely unwavering in his loyalty.  On top of that, he had a British accent, which Lois found humorously stereotypical.
   "Master Bruce is in his study, I believe," Alfred said.  "Thank you," Lois said with a smile.
   Bruce's study was dimly lit, and lined with books along every wall. In the center of the room Two large leather chairs sat facing one another.   It was completely dark except for Bruce's laptop computer, which shone a pale white light upon his face.
   Lois stood in the doorway, staring at Bruce in amusement.  He seemed completely focused on his computer, oblivious to his surroundings.  It was in moments such as these that Lois thought to herself, "Will I ever be able to get inside his head? Can I ever really know what he's thinking?"
   Bruce looked up and gave Lois a half-smile. "Hey."
   Lois was surprised. Did he know I was here all along? "Hey, you."
   Lois walked over to Bruce and sat down in the chair opposite him. "So why did you want to know about the Luthors, exactly?"
   "I think Lex may be trying to bring create some sort of corporate alliance against me."
   Lois was intrigued. "Really... How do you figure that?"
   Bruce's face was grim. "He's been spreading rumors about me to his friends."
   Lois stared at Bruce for a few seconds, completely blank-faced. Slowly, she began to sink her face into her hands.
   Without looking up, her voice muffled through her hands, she asked, "you think that he's creating a corporate alliance because he spread a few rumors? God, Bruce, this is high school. People do that all the time. If I had to count the number of times Cat Grant said something about me, I'd—"
   "This is different, Lois. Lex may be arrogant, but he's not petty. I didn't notice it before, but every time he's tried to make a joke of me, it's been in front of the other students at Excelsior who have monetary connections."
   "Isn't that basically everyone at your school?"
   "No. Well, yes, but not to this degree. The ones he's been spending his time around are the ones that will likely inherit massive amounts of capital or company power. Ollie and I were talking yesterday, and—"
   "Ollie? Bruce, Ollie blames corporations when he stub his toe."
   "Wait... you know Oliver?"
   "Of course I know Oliver, Bruce. I've done two interviews with him for the Star. You know he actually plans to reorganize Queen Industries into a non-profit organization?"
   "So I've heard... why exactly were you interviewing him for the Star?"
   "Well, he may or may not have promised to donate a rather sizable amount of money to the Star."
   "He told you that? Was that in the same sentence where he asked you to call him 'Ollie?'"
   Sarcasm lit up Lois's face.
   "Bruce! Might you be jealous?"
   Bruce was not amused.
   "He doesn't even know we're dating, Lois."
   "Well, now you can tell him."
   Bruce paused to consider this, and grinned. "Yes... I think I will."
   Lois returned to the main conversation.
   "Okay, so, all high school drama conspiracy theories aside, the Luthors are bad news. They're ruthless, but have a decent enough PR department to keep the general public mostly oblivious. What's really bad, though, is what I've heard about what they've been doing in Metropolis. Apparently, they're not just into technology anymore. They've been systematically buying up every local business in the city. Hardly anyone realizes it, but about thirty percent of the city's economy belongs to LuthorCorp. As if that weren't enough, they also own about forty percent of the buildings in Metropolis"
   Bruce's eyes went slightly wide. "They own forty percent of the city?"
   "Yeah. And from what I hear, they're only a few moves from getting a lot more. In less than three months, they'll own Metropolis."