Oh, I'm glad you posted, Anna - I hadn't realised that the first half of the story was yours until I came here and read your post. It didn't occur to me to go check back to the actual challenge before reading the story.
Well done to both of you then!!
The first scene was great <g> with Luthor at his smug and slimy best. And the set-up was ingenious.
And for Nqoire's addition:
He glanced ruefully at his door, which now held a rather large dent from where he had kicked it. Then he decided he didn’t care.
Oh dear. <g> The poor boy is depressed, isn't he?
Hmmmmmmmm...with a start like this maybe we have a double act to rival Wendy and Tank for dual-author challenges.
LabRat