ilia

Just a snippet of something that might be the beginning of something--in its own time, when I'm not procrastinating mightily.
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His phone was ringing in that distinctive tone programmed specifically for a single person.

“Lucius.”

“Mr. Wayne?” Lucius Fox greeted.

“I’ve been looking over some very interesting proposals from R&D.”

Lucius restrained a sigh. It wasn’t as if he was dreading the topic that Bruce Wayne might have cause to address--it was just inconvenient

Batman had been occupied the past week and Lucius had used his own initiative to contract a certain employee for R&D knowing that his boss might not completely approve. It had been a matter of hiring the man or letting LexCorp snap him up.

“Doctor M. Rodney McKay?” his tone held no inflection, it was completely neutral.

“He’s a genius,” Lucius answered levelly, not adding various other adjectives that were not so kind to his description of the man though he was tempted.

“He hasn’t published in a decade.”

“He’s been working with the government.”

“In projects so classified he’s not allowed to even publish?”

“He came to us first.”

“Did he?”

“He said it would be a waste of his valuable time and effort to deal with the minutiae of building his own company and that Wayne Enterprises was suitable.”

“Suitable?”

“He did not term it so politely, Mr. Wayne.”

“I see. I pulled up his contract--We‘re paying him how much?” Bruce asked though he could see the printed amount perfectly well.

“A five percent raise from his government wage. Plus his own lab, a passel of minions, a bodyguard, private transportation, and a confidential place of residence.”

“He’s that good?”

“Better.”