Sabotage

Lana delicately places the pad of her finger atop the biometric lock, leans forward to let the system scan her iris, and waits. It only takes a second for her credentials to be authenticated, and the heavy doors unlock with a soft hiss. Annabeth's eyes linger briefly on the intricate security as she follows Lana through the open doors.

"Welcome to R&D," Lana calls out over her shoulder, somewhat dramatically.

It does deserve the theatrics, Annabeth observes, despite the fact she cannot see any of the individual labs. Dozens of windowless doors line the hallway, each shut tightly against intruders, and guarded by their own security scanners. A scientist bustles into view, pressing the card on the end of his lanyard against a black rectangle. When the light flashes green, he quickly slips inside. Annabeth thinks she catches a glimpse of fire from inside, but the employee pulls the door closed behind him before she can confirm it.

It's bright and early on Monday, the start of her third week at LexCorp and second week of her plan. What can she say, Annabeth moves fast. It's a weird little thing ingrained in her since childhood, both a blessing and a curse.

On today's to-do list is this tour of LexCorp's R&D labs that Annabeth had coaxed Lana into offering her.

"Where are all the cameras?" she says to Lana, furrowing her brow.

She's gotten used to seeing one, if not more, at every corner on the floors she usually works on and the bare ceilings here are a startling change.

"Luthor doesn't want to risk anyone hacking into the feeds," Lana sighs like this is a consistently sore topic to discuss.

"And you don't agree?" Annabeth asks mildly, keeping her gaze on the laboratory doors as they walk by.

"The projects we work on are heavily safeguarded, and I understand his reasoning, but having eyes on what goes on in the labs is important too," Lana explains, "Now, why don't we actually go inside one of the labs. I've been talking your ear off about everything, and you haven't even gotten to see any of it."

Annabeth thinks she understands. It's a mixture of paranoia and overconfidence. That Luthor is so incredibly wary of outsiders, but also so prideful in his own company that the thought of anyone on the inside being the source of betrayal to him is ludicrous. Annabeth mentally rolls her eyes. Makes her job easier, she supposes.

Lana scans her own id card at one of the doors labeled B351a and directs them inside, smiling pleasantly at the people inside. When the lab employees catch sight of Annabeth in Lana's shadow, they settle back into their work, recognizing that their supervisor isn't here for a surprise evaluation, but simply a tour. Annabeth keeps her eyes wide and curious as she drinks in all the projects on display.

Despite Lana's promise to minimize the flow of information, she picks back up again, going into heavy detail about the revolutionary hearing aid the engineers in this particular lab have been developing. The numbers she spouts are quite impressive, and Annabeth doesn't even have to fake her surprise. She hadn't known about this side of LexCorp.

"Why didn't you bring these projects up to the board?" Annabeth asks once they've returned to the main hallway, "Those implants could really make a difference to a lot of people."

Lana's face pinches in the way that Annabeth's come to notice means that she's unhappy but not willing or able to articulate why.

"Projects like those don't really generate a lot of revenue. They're expensive to make and logically speaking, we won't sell enough units to make largescale development financially worthwhile," she explains.

Annabeth can tell they're not her words.

"That's why we focus on the big things," Lana continues, "Government contracts, projects that make the media go crazy, you know the type. Speaking of..."

She watches in anticipation as the woman scans into another lab, SS02. Annabeth slides her fingers down to smooth her jacket, pausing at the carefully concealed bump in her left pocket.

"The Sky Sentry," Annabeth breathes.

It's the big project that the office has been buzzing about for the last few days. The brand new, revolutionary, missile-deterring technology that LexCorp is planning to sell to the government, that's capable of knocking out the guidance system of any moving projectile.

Lana nods proudly.

The machine itself isn't in the room, and Annabeth assumes that it is locked away in SS01 being prepped for its big unveiling on Thursday. There are blueprints, however, large and plastered across the wall, scribbled and scratched over. Along the left side of the room, there are a few compact servers, audibly whirring away, and an enormous computer monitor with a man typing away at the keyboard.

"This is where the bulk of the Sentry's code is held," Lana gestures to the servers, "And this is Garett Prescott, chief programmer."

The man swivels around in his chair at the sound of his name and stands, holding his hand out to Annabeth.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Chase," he greets, a blank smile on his face.

"You too, Mr. Prescott. Are you still preparing for the demo?" Annabeth asks, out of politeness, like she doesn't already have the schedule memorized.

At first, Annabeth had been livid on Lana's behalf when Luthor had rudely taken over the demonstration of the Sky Sentry, the project that Lana had developed, and overseen from start to finish. But then it had presented her with an opportunity that Annabeth couldn't just not take advantage of. It's beginning to seem like every time Luthor opens his big ugly mouth, he drops a gift box directly into Annabeth's lap and all she has to do is tear open the wrapping.

"Some last-minute testing for bugs," Prescott nods, pale eyes flitting back to the screen, "Only a precaution, the Sentry's pretty much good to go."

Annabeth nods thoughtfully and very discretely glances at her watch. Should be any second now...

Lana's phone buzzes intermittently, and the woman brings it up to her ear. Annabeth can hear a voice chattering rapidly on the other end. Lana places her palm over the speaker.

"Sorry, I have to take this," she informs them, "Garett, could you walk Annabeth through some of the early blueprints, I think she'll enjoy that."

Sending her a quick smile, Lana slips out the door, and back into the hallway, leaving Annabeth alone with the man. As soon as her supervisor is out of sight, Prescott's face seems to lose some of its blandness. He takes a few steps over to the planning wall, but Annabeth keeps her distance, choosing to stand near the servers.

"Back when we first started developing the Sentry, it was actually supposed to be a tracking device, but then I came up with the idea of giving it interference capabilities," Prescott lectures, tone turning boastful as he gestures across the blueprint.

Annabeth slips her hand into her pocket.

"I thought Lana was the one who suggested incorporating the magnetic beam technology," she points out, frowning.

Prescott scowls immediately, and it rings early warning bells in her head.

"Like she even knows what she's talking about," Prescott mutters, turning his back to her.

Annabeth's fingers close around the flash drive. With a quick glance backward, she slides it into the main server, and shifts to position her body directly in front.

"As chief technology officer, I would assume she does."

When Prescott turns back around, his polite façade has fully dropped, and he scoffs.

"Pretty faces," he says, disdainfully, "That's all any of you are good for."

And Annabeth wishes she could even be slightly surprised at the quick change of demeanor, but unfortunately, she's not. She had picked up on his ego the minute she had shaken his hand, and it seems like the second his boss is absent, he was willing to display it. What did it say that even monsters manage to conceal their true nature better than the men she's met at LexCorp so far?

At least now she doesn't have to feel the slightest bit guilty for what she's about to do.

Prescott takes a step towards her, and Annabeth tenses, prepared for anything, but at that exact moment, Lana enters the lab again. He stops and schools his face.

"Sorry, Annabeth, looks like we're going to have to cut this tour short, I'm needed back on my floor," Lana frowns, apologetic, but Annabeth thinks the timing is perfect.

When Lana glances over at Prescott to tell him that she'll be back later for an update, Annabeth reaches behind her and pulls the flash drive out, subtly tucking it back into her jacket pocket. She falls in step behind Lana, and right before the lab door closes, she shoots Prescott an unreadable stare.

LINEBREAK

At the end of a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Annabeth stays behind to chat with one of the more talkative project managers. Deliberately taking longer than usual to sort through her documents and pack up, Annabeth starts the conversation.

"I hear the Sky Sentry is supposed to be LexCorp's next pride and joy," she comments, "I'm really grateful Ms. Lang is letting me attend the demonstration."

The man's eyes light up at the compliment—Annabeth knows his team was responsible for perfecting the magnetic beam technology—and he pauses in gathering his own papers.

"Yes, it's all very exciting. To see almost a year and a half's worth of work come to fruition..." he trails off, nodding proudly.

"Who else is coming to the demo?"

"Just department heads and military generals," he says, "You're very lucky to be included, Miss Chase."

"No press?" Annabeth asks innocently.

The project manager makes a small noise of confusion.

"I would've expected Mr. Luthor to have reporters there," Annabeth continues like she's talking more to herself than him, "To show everyone what the Sentry is capable of, even if we're selling it to the government."

"Oh, well—that's—yes, the press will be there," he stumbles through the declaration.

Annabeth knows he's going to take the idea directly to Luthor and claim it as his own. After all, he's the man who she went to when she wanted to become Lana's intern, and he's so wonderfully predictive.

LINEBREAK

Thursday is unusually chillier than most summer mornings. Annabeth keeps her blazer on and buttoned, as she follows Lana around to greet the military. The generals are dressed in their best uniforms, army green, and ironed to perfection. Their carefully buzzed scalps peek out just barely from under the hats that declare their rank. Annabeth glances over to the other side of the room where the reporters and their cameramen are all huddled around each other.

Although Luthor's office resides on the penthouse floor, there's another section of the building, for events such as these, that rests at the topmost part of the LexCorp tower. The ceiling above her is tall and shaped like a dome, made of slabs of metal that are separated by dark lines. Several rows of chairs line the room, a walkway cutting through the center, and before them is an elevated platform with a podium.

At precisely nine o clock, a spotlight audibly clicks on, shining down on the podium. Everyone spurs into action, quickly taking their seats. Military generals on the front left side, reporters on the right. Annabeth and the high-ranking department heads sit towards the back.

Lex Luthor himself walks onto the stage with a slow, controlled gait. When he positions himself behind the microphone, before he even says a word, he claps his hands twice. The crisp sound echoes throughout the room before it is drowned out by a much louder one.

Annabeth looks up and watches as the ceiling opens itself to the sky, folding in on the dark lines between the metal. The reporters chatter excitedly and point their cameras at the moving parts. Surveying them, she catches sight of a head of dark and perfectly coiffed hair and allows herself to fully settle in her seat.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Luthor announces, and every head swivels back to him, "Thank you for joining me on this beautiful summer morning. As I speak, two sidewinder missiles are being fired toward this very building."

Several military officers stand with angry shouts. The reporters all gasp, horrified, and the ones with better functioning self-preservation skills—which is not many, Annabeth observes dryly—jump out of their seats and try to make a break for the exit. Unfortunately, the doors to the elevators are sealed shut.

From beside Annabeth, Lana tenses, hard.

"What is he doing?" the woman hisses, angry and scared to Hades.

Annabeth watches the dark-haired man from before share a few words with a fellow reporter.

"Quiet please," Luthor speaks into the microphone, an absolutely hideous smirk on his face, "The missiles will never make it here, thanks to..."

He gestures behind him. The floor of the stage opens, and a large machine rises into view, sleek and grey like everything else Luthor makes. Two large prongs extend from the front, with a circular sensor between them. Garett Prescott sits in a chair at the top of the machine, in a distinctly scientific white lab coat.

"...This. The LexCorp Sky Sentry."

Annabeth has to fight to hold in her smile. She had an inkling that Luthor would try something like this. Based on everything she has researched and learned about him, she had known he would have something up his sleeve the minute he took the demo away from Lana. It's too bad for him that Annabeth has already accounted for it all.

"Its high energy magnetic beam is designed to knock out the guidance system of any incoming missile," Luthor explains, and a few people calm down.

A majority, however, remain skeptical and more than a little nervous.

The large screen behind Luthor beeps out a warning sound, and two flashing red dots become visible, moving steadily toward the tower.

"Activate," Luthor commands, looking at Prescott.

The engineer types rapidly into the Sentry's control system and turns a switch. The motor inside the machine whirrs, as the twin prongs light up, a bright light building.

And then the Sentry powers down.

Panic flashes across Luthor's face and disappears so quickly that if Annabeth wasn't watching for it, she would've thought she imagined it. Rage replaces his expression instead.

"I said, activate," he growls at Prescott.

Unlike Luthor, the terror on Prescott's face is as clear as day. He fumbles, pressing the buttons for all the contingencies he can think of, but nothing gets the Sentry working again.

"It's not responding, sir," he calls out shakily, face paling, "The field setting's been reprogrammed."

Annabeth looks over to Lana, her face taking on an expression of fear.

"Is this supposed to happen?" she asks, voice trembling.

Lana shakes her head, mute, and stands up, but freezes like she's unsure of what to do next.

If people were scared when Luthor first announced the missiles, the group now was in complete chaos. Military generals shouting into their phones, trying to inform their higher-ups of the situation, LexCorp employees trying to open up the elevators, and reporters looking up into the sky to spot the missiles, with their cameras still rolling.

"That's impossible!" Luthor yells, pulling Prescott off the machine by the collar of his coat to get a better look at the screen.

Annabeth surveys the scene she has carefully constructed, pulse racing. After what feels like a few seconds too long, she realizes that she cannot see the dark-haired reporter anymore.

Annabeth relaxes again.

The missiles come into view on the horizon, tiny pinpricks at first, but they steadily get bigger and bigger. The demo attendees around her scream in terror, and Annabeth contorts her face to join them, never tearing her eyes away.

Three, two... she counts, as the projectiles get closer and closer.

At one, a figure in red and blue shoots across the sky, getting under one of the missiles and pushing upwards. Superman repeats the motion with the second, and both of the deadly projectiles pass harmlessly over the top of the tower, close enough, however, for Annabeth to see the metal grating on their undersides. They pass over the crowd and directly into the harbor at the edge of Metropolis, far out enough for the resulting detonation to settle before the waves hit the shore.

"Get it offline and store it in sector six," Luthor mutters angrily, and storms off while everyone is still occupied watching the explosion and calming their racing hearts.

It doesn't take long for people to notice that he's gone and even less time for them to start demanding answers, shouting at the remaining employees to explain themselves. Among all the confusion, Annabeth locks eyes with Lana and gives her a look. Lana understands immediately, steeling herself as she takes the stage and grabs the microphone.

"I'd like to offer my deepest apologies for what has just occurred," she starts off, gaining traction as she continues, "Our equipment had been tested several times. This was not supposed to happen and as such, we will conduct an extremely thorough investigation of this incident. In any case, LexCorp should not have put your lives in danger in this manner and the company will take full responsibility."

Although much of the outright anger dissipates, the apology satisfies few, and as Lana walks off the podium, reports and military generals alike all call out for Luthor's blood.

Lana ignores them all, unable to provide them with what they want, and steers Annabeth off the roof.

LINEBREAK

Hours later, Annabeth slinks into the break room on her floor to make some tea and gather some information. As she pulls the tea bag in and out of the boiling water, as if that helps it steep better, a few employees join her, forming a line in front of the coffee machine.

"You were at the demo today, weren't you?" a woman asks, eyes wide.

"Yeah, it was scary," Annabeth shivers, "I really thought I was going to die."

The others nod sympathetically.

Annabeth has feared for her life many, many times, and somewhere in her mind, she has a list. This incident, however, doesn't even make the top twenty.

"I heard they caught the guy responsible," a guy whispers, and Annabeth's ears twitch.

Already?

"That engineer, something Prescott, they say he messed with the programming right before the demo."

"I heard it was because he didn't get recognition for his work."

"The Sentry was largely Ms. Lang's idea, so why would he?" Annabeth points out.

The employees raise their eyebrows and scoff at the absurdity of it all.

"He must be delusional, then," someone says, shaking their head, "To put everyone's life at risk like that."

The rest of them nod their agreement but quiet down when a manager pops in to grab something from the fridge.

"But also, maybe, it wasn't the best idea to fire missiles at your own building," Annabeth drops casually, once the manager leaves.

The employees want to agree with her, she can tell, but they share hesitant expressions and turn back to their own devices.

LINEBREAK

By the time the weekend rolls around, Annabeth has finally started to get a handle on her schedule. When she goes grocery shopping, when she does her laundry, when she works out, when she researches Luthor's heinous past; it's all starting to come together.

That is, until, Percy visits and completely wrecks her carefully planned-out Saturday.

He barges into her apartment with a spare key, arms full of leftovers from Sally, and demands they visit the summer carnival or else he'll flood her bathroom.

Annabeth has missed him so much.

"So," Percy says, tearing off a piece of blue cotton candy, "How's the big bald baddie? No, wait, I meant big bad baldy."

She snickers at the descriptions, both of them.

"He fired a missile at us on Thursday," she informs her boyfriend.

"What?" Percy demands, said boyfriend choking on melting sugar.

"Two, actually."

Annabeth takes a long sip of soda and enjoys the fury on his face, before fully explaining what had happened, deliberately leaving out the part she played. She and Percy don't keep secrets from each other, but she's too careful to tell him out in the open like this. At the end of her story, Percy closes his eyes in exasperation.

"And my mom thinks I'm the one that she needs to worry about leaving unattended," he huffs, and then looks closely at Annabeth, "You're okay though?"

The concern warms her heart, like it always does, and she nods away his worry.

"I've got it under control."

And that sentence, make Percy whip his head back over to her.

"Piper mentioned that you might be scheming," he accuses, now knowing that she's leaving out important details, "You are, aren't you?"

"Tattletale," Annabeth laughs softly, smiling.

She laces her hand in Percy's and drags them both over to one of the game booths. Like a scene out of a cliché movie, Annabeth asks to play a round, raising the toy gun and rapidly picking off the targets one by one without a second thought. The man behind the counter sighs, muttering something about freak teenagers, and gestures to the row of prizes.

The smile on Percy's face when she hands him the stuffed starfish could bring armies to their knees, she thinks.

Later, after they've just gotten off their third consecutive ride on the main coaster, Percy turns to her, frowning like he's just realized something concerning.

"What if Superman hadn't known what was happening?"

"Oh, he did," Annabeth grins, switching over to Greek because she knows what the hero is capable of, "He definitely did."

LINEBREAK

Let it be known that while working at LexCorp is boring, there are always things to get done. This week, the entire office is bustling around, completing last-minute reviews and sales pitches for the new planes that the company has just finished building. The two fully revamped jets for commercial use that are being handed over to Jada Airlines at the end of the week. As such, the office is back in business. It's almost as if last week's Sky Sentry fiasco never even happened.

Annabeth knows better, however. She sees the reports piling up on Lana's desk every time she goes into her office. The woman is actually handling it well, despite the media slander and the fact that the government contracts had fallen through. Since Luthor had been the face of the demonstration and much of the blame had fallen on him, Lana wasn't being treated with the same hatred when she reached out to pacify the public. She wasn't excusing her own mess, she was graciously cleaning up someone else's, and that made all the difference.

A little before lunchtime, Annabeth pops into Lana's office once again and tells her that she's completed the progress reports on the teams she had been assigned at the beginning of the week.

Lana stares at her.

"It's Tuesday, Annabeth."

Annabeth mentally winces. Maybe she could've taken an extra day. Outwardly, however, she looks perfectly sheepish, and Lana sighs, rifling through the stack of papers to her right.

"Here," she holds a stapled bundle out to Annabeth, "Safety reports for the new planes. You're welcome to look through them, but technically they're restricted to senior managers and above so keep that to yourself. I'm a little swamped for the rest of the day, but I can get you another assignment tomorrow."

Annabeth nods, thanking her, and hurries back to her own desk. As she flips through the report, she's not surprised to see everything in pristine condition. The materials used for construction, the results of the various hazard tests, and every single commercial airline compliance that's been met, it's all there and with perfect scores.

Which, naturally, means something has to be wrong.

It's a good thing that Annabeth doesn't actually have any work to do for the rest of the day. She takes an early lunch, holing up at a café a few blocks away, and pulls out her personal laptop, delta symbol gleaming in the sun. Resting her translation glasses in her hair because finally, she's reading real, honest to gods ancient Greek, Annabeth looks up the company responsible for conducting the safety reports.

Two and a half hours later, she returns to the office, head positively swirling with newfound knowledge, and nobody has even noticed that she's taken the longest lunch known to man.

LINEBREAK

On Thursday, the clock barely strikes noon, when Annabeth packs up her belongings. She stuffs her work laptop next to her personal one and wraps up the charger cord and important documents. She grabs her lunchbox from the break room fridge and places it neatly at the bottom of her backpack, directly on top of her invisibility cap.

With the backpack slung over her shoulder, she knocks on Lana's door and waits for permission to enter. Her supervisor takes note of her state and raises her eyebrows.

"Could I leave early today?" Annabeth asks, "I have a personal matter to attend to, and I've already finished my work."

"Even what I gave you on Tuesday?" Lana then visibly waves off her own question, "Don't answer that, of course you have. Yes, you may go. See you tomorrow, Annabeth."

LINEBREAK

When the elevator doors open on her floor on Friday morning, the office is in complete and utter disarray.

Annabeth blinks.

She walks through the chaos like everything's in slow motion. Employees are running around, desk to desk, there's paper plastered all over the ground, previously important documents now forgotten and trampled over, and the worst of it all, the office landlines won't stop ringing but there's no one free to answer the phones.

She pulls aside a woman she knows from many lunches spent in the break room.

"What's going on?" Annabeth whispers, dropping her jaw slightly at the sight of a man screaming into a phone receiver before slamming it back down.

"One of the planes exploded. Jada Airways is supposed to get custody in a few hours and one of their planes just exploded in the hangar," the woman moans in despair before whirling away to attend to a, hopefully metaphorical, fire.

Annabeth flags down Lana as her supervisor makes her way through the floor.

"Lana, what—"

Lana holds a hand up, effectively silencing Annabeth's question.

"Why don't you just go home for the weekend?" she suggests, looking desperate, "Honestly, we're a complete mess right now and I don't think you'll be able to do anything productive."

And she's right. In much nicer words, she's telling her that she'll just get in the way, and Annabeth isn't even offended because she knows Lana's right. There's nothing for her to do here at the moment.

Lana's expression relaxes by a fraction as she takes in Annabeth's understanding nod but tenses up again after she reads the message she's just received on her phone. Lana groans and stalks back into her office, leaving Annabeth standing amidst the slowly devolving workplace.

Looks like Luthor's lack of proper safety measures has finally caught up with him. After all the costs cut on proper, study equipment, and all the bribes and payoffs to keep the safety report spotless, there was always a chance, no matter how small, that something was going to go wrong, Annabeth reasons, smiling, as she walks out of LexCorp's large glass doors and onto the city streets.

All she did was give it a little push.

A.N.

annabeth is That bitch

also, the sky sentry thing is inspired by the episode 'Ghost in the Machine' from Superman: The Animated Series

speaking of superman...well you'll see

as always, i'd love to know what you thought about the chapter and if you enjoyed it!