justprompts What drives you?
A young man named Alex, usually. He's quite an excellent chauffeur.
- Be serious, Lionel.
I'm being very serious. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find someone who is not only a good driver, but also knows how to keep his mouth shut? Still. What would you like me to say? Fear? Well, there it is. Fear. I do what I do because on some level I'm... mortally afraid of becoming my father. Of scratching out an existence in the gutter. Is that what you'd like to hear?
- I'd like to hear the truth.
That is the truth. If you had been in my situation - if anyone had been in my situation - they would say the same thing. Growing up with nothing, I knew I'd do anything to have something, to get into those Metropolis skyscrapers rather than stealing pennies in the Suicide Slums and buying beer and calling it a life.
- So instead you execute hostile takeovers and buy expensive whiskey and call it a life?
... You're a little confrontational for a psychologist, aren't you?
- I would have thought that you would have enjoyed confrontation, Lionel.
I enjoy winning.
- And that's not the same thing?
Of course it isn't.
- So explain this to me. Why is your life now so much different, so much better than it would have been if you'd stayed in the Slums, if you'd worked in a print shop most of your life and never had much ambition?
That's a pointless question. I don't believe in hypotheticals as they relate to the past. I have done what I have done because, for me, there was never any other option. I was never Lachlan Luthor, doomed to live out his life as a petty thief with nothing better to do than abuse his son. I was never Morgan Edge... Morgan was a smart man, but he was happy with being king of the Slums. He never really saw how limiting that was. There's little point in living your life afraid of both the police and your rivals.
- And who are you afraid of?
I'm not afraid of anyone. Everyone loves Luthorcorp... even if they don't, they're usually intelligent enough to realize that a life without Luthorcorp would be far less comfortable. Take Smallville, for example. Without my substantial investments, that little town would have vanished from the map years ago.
- Is it important, then, for you to be loved? Is that what you want?
If love had been what drove me, Doctor. If it had been what I wanted... Well. I would have been going about it the entirely wrong way, wouldn't I?
- Would you?
[the patient smiles]
--End of Session--
- Be serious, Lionel.
I'm being very serious. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find someone who is not only a good driver, but also knows how to keep his mouth shut? Still. What would you like me to say? Fear? Well, there it is. Fear. I do what I do because on some level I'm... mortally afraid of becoming my father. Of scratching out an existence in the gutter. Is that what you'd like to hear?
- I'd like to hear the truth.
That is the truth. If you had been in my situation - if anyone had been in my situation - they would say the same thing. Growing up with nothing, I knew I'd do anything to have something, to get into those Metropolis skyscrapers rather than stealing pennies in the Suicide Slums and buying beer and calling it a life.
- So instead you execute hostile takeovers and buy expensive whiskey and call it a life?
... You're a little confrontational for a psychologist, aren't you?
- I would have thought that you would have enjoyed confrontation, Lionel.
I enjoy winning.
- And that's not the same thing?
Of course it isn't.
- So explain this to me. Why is your life now so much different, so much better than it would have been if you'd stayed in the Slums, if you'd worked in a print shop most of your life and never had much ambition?
That's a pointless question. I don't believe in hypotheticals as they relate to the past. I have done what I have done because, for me, there was never any other option. I was never Lachlan Luthor, doomed to live out his life as a petty thief with nothing better to do than abuse his son. I was never Morgan Edge... Morgan was a smart man, but he was happy with being king of the Slums. He never really saw how limiting that was. There's little point in living your life afraid of both the police and your rivals.
- And who are you afraid of?
I'm not afraid of anyone. Everyone loves Luthorcorp... even if they don't, they're usually intelligent enough to realize that a life without Luthorcorp would be far less comfortable. Take Smallville, for example. Without my substantial investments, that little town would have vanished from the map years ago.
- Is it important, then, for you to be loved? Is that what you want?
If love had been what drove me, Doctor. If it had been what I wanted... Well. I would have been going about it the entirely wrong way, wouldn't I?
- Would you?
[the patient smiles]
--End of Session--