Free Super: Origins by Palladian

been necessary. He had a large envelope in his hands, and he followed Lex down the entrance hall.
    When they got to the living room, Lex turned around to face him. “I’m not exactly sure how this is supposed to work,” she said uncertainly. “Will you be staying long enough for some tea?”
    He smiled then, but it came and went so quickly that Lex felt unsure it had ever actually existed. “No, Ms. McKilliam, but we can sit for a few minutes while I go over some things with you.”
    Lex sat on the couch, while the man chose a chair not far away. “Please, call me Lex,” she said. “What’s your name?”
    Again, his disappearing smile shone out and vanished. “Carl Palmer. Nice to meet you.” After a pause, he dropped the large envelope on the coffee table in front of Lex. “First things first. You’ve received an offer from the M Agency for a spot on their team. In front of you is a set of all the paperwork you’ll need to read and sign before starting your new position.”
    Lex took up the envelope, folded the lip back, and felt her jaw drop as she saw a sheaf of papers inside that measured about an inch thick. She stared back at Carl with dismay in her eyes as she let her thumb fan through the stack. He remained stoic despite her gaze and continued on.
    “There are a good number of papers there, so we don’t expect you to have them all reviewed by the end of the day. Get through what you can, and you can finish the rest off tomorrow if you decide to accept. The most important thing is that I’ll be back here today at five for your response. If you decide not to join, please fill out the first set of papers in the stack, which constitute a confidentiality agreement, and give that back to me along with all of the rest of the documents.”
    He caught her eye then and gave her a hard look. “Make sure all of the papers are there whether or not you decide to join the team. Each one will be accounted for, and if any are missing, that would not be good.”
    Carl continued after a pause, his eyes moving to the side slightly, as if he didn’t quite want to look at Lex. “In order to make your decision, please at least read the summaries. We’ve organized the contract into sections and at the front of each one there are a few summary pages that highlight the agreements or rules detailed within the section. That should give you enough information to decide what you want to do.”
    Looking at Lex again, Carl asked, “Do you have any questions?”
    “Not at the moment,” Lex responded, “but what if I have some when I’m going through the paperwork?”
    “You can mark them and ask about them tomorrow, if you like. No one will be available to answer you today, so you’ll just have to factor any questions you have into your decision.”
    “Is it possible to get these reviewed by a lawyer?” Lex asked curiously.
    Carl looked at her through slightly narrowed eyes and then sighed. “We don’t recommend it.” He took a piece of paper out of his inner jacket pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to her. “Here’s our list of lawyers who are approved to review this documentation, since it’s highly confidential. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t going to be able to turn this around for you today.”
    Lex pretended to look at the paper, but she already knew that she wasn’t going to consult any of them anyway, since she didn’t have the money and she’d rather take her chances reviewing the contract on her own than to ask Kurt or his family for a favor. After all , she told herself, I’m not sure I’m taking the job at this point . But she couldn’t stop herself from biting her lip nervously.
    “All right, thanks. So,” said Lex, looking at her cell phone, “it’s about quarter after ten now, which doesn’t give me all that much time to get through these. I guess I’ll see you back here at five.”
    Carl again smiled one of those almost nonexistent smiles. “See you then, Lex.”
    After walking