Chapter Text
Lena Luthor had long since lost any idea of what time it was as she bent over the schematics strewn across her desk. The design was the only thing occupying her mind at the moment. It was perfect. Flawless even.
So why isn’t it working?
Lena leaned back in her chair for a moment, giving some respite to her aching neck by rubbing her fingers into the base.
The prototype technology was a contact lens designed to receive visual stimuli and transmit the corresponding image to an implantable receiver capable of reproducing the image within the brain. Essentially, high enough prescription lenses to give the blind back their sight.
Except it’s a pipe dream. Lena scolded herself.
Lena wasn’t religious but she supposed her attempt at healing the blind was considered a sacrilegious endeavor at playing God. That wouldn’t stop her from trying, of course.
The sun had dipped beneath the horizon, painting the white walls of her office with a soft orange light that began to turn to something darker. But it wasn’t the change in lighting that had signaled the current time to the L-Corp CEO. It was instead, the appearance of her assistant Jess who popped into her office, honorably attempting to convince the brunette to at least try and get an acceptable amount of sleep that night.
“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Lena nodded absently, barely offering her assistant her full attention. “You enjoy your weekend, Jess.”
To which Jess responded with an amused look “It’s Monday, Ms. Luthor. The weekend has already passed.” She found it admirable that her boss got so passionately wrapped up in her work that she would lose track of anything else, but she also found it sad. Knowing Lena had probably spent the entire weekend moving between her lab and her office, hardly giving herself a break to get any decent amount of rest.
“Right, sorry Jess. I’ll see you tomorrow then I suppose.” Lena sighed as she leaned back over the diagrams before her. Maybe I need to recheck the calibration for the sensor? Lost once again in the project, Lena missed her assistant calling out goodnight as she re-closed the office door on her way out.
Lena couldn’t help how her brain was wired. Once she set her mind to a project she had to follow it through, whether it ended in success or failure. She simply had to explore it fully. Her curiosity was boundless and her mind thrived on the challenge. There had been a time when she was younger when she had wondered what it would be like to be not so different from her peers. But even compared to the other students at the fancy private boarding schools that her mother had sent her away to- the ones that claimed to only accept exceptionally gifted academic students- she still stood out at the top. It was a very lonely way to grow up. Every once and awhile she would fall back into those memories, and in her head she would hear the voice of her mother, chastising her for the absurdity of sentimentality. Work had always been a distraction from her loneliness, so she embraced it. It had also been the only way that she had been able to get any positive attention from her adoptive family. It had been ingrained in her throughout her childhood. Be the best. Anything less was not acceptable, to the Luthor matriarch especially.
So for all her life Lena had chased the acceptance of the people who had taken her in and the respect of her adoptive brother.
That was, until her brother tried to turn the sun red.
After that she stopped trying to prove herself to her family. She was too busy trying to prove herself to the rest of the world now, thanks to them. Her last name had anchored her to their stigma of xenophobia. So Lena decided to change that stigma. Starting with Luthor-Corp. But she couldn’t do it from Metropolis. Her family had already done too much damage there. The citizens weren’t receptive to a rebrand of the company, not yet anyway. So Lena left to rebuild the company- her company- from the ground up in National City. And she would use it to be a force for good. Despite her family’s heritage.
Lena had never felt more alone than when she had first arrived in National City. Everyone had already formed their own opinions of her. She was a Luthor. What more did they need to know about her to judge her? In public Lena ignored them, slipping on the mask of feigned indifference that she had become so used to wearing. Privately, she drove herself into her work to prove her worth through actions, not words. Words were merely vibrations through the air. Rarely did people convey their true meaning through them, so Lena didn’t trust them. Not until she met Kara Danvers.
When the blonde reporter had stepped into her office for the first time, Lena had been her usual guarded self. Always on defense, prepared to be roped in with the rest of her family and accused of lunacy. After all, Kara Danvers was a reporter. A natural enemy to her by this point. But she had agreed to the interview for the good of the company. She was re-branding the company: L-Corp. Hoping to drop some of the negative connotations that had become adhered to the Luthor name. But as the interview progressed she found her guard slipping. Kara was the most earnest person she had ever met in her entire life. It was refreshing. Those sparkling blue eyes had reflected no judgement of Lena’s past, only encouragement and understanding. In truth it had unnerved her how quickly this complete stranger had managed to disarm her without evening meaning to it would seem. After the article was published Kara stopped by her office with a copy for her.
“You should start a scrap book.” The reporter had smiled, adjusting her glasses higher on her nose. “You’re going to do amazing things for the city, not to mention the world. It would be a shame to miss a moment of it.”
Lena couldn’t remember the last time someone had made her smile so hard that her cheeks ached.
But in true Lena Luthor fashion she had implemented her fail-safe of maintaining a professional distance from Kara afterwards. Having weighed the potential outfall of that friendship against the benefits, she found it was a risk she was unwilling to take. And it had worked for a while. Until Kara asked for a follow up interview some weeks later and she found herself agreeing. As much as she tried to deny it to herself, she wanted to see those eyes again. Those eyes that regarded her as more than her family’s legacy. Eyes that saw her, making a name for herself in world that had already written her off.
Each subsequent interview sent Lena’s fail-safe plan crashing into the ground. Apparently Kara had been roped into helping cover the business and technology sections at CatCo Worldwide Media on top of her usual workload.
“I’m almost certain that there are more sources aside from myself you could go to for information.” Lena had casually mentioned after the third time Kara had set up an appointment with her to gather some background research.
“I should tell you, once a journalist gets a good, trustworthy, and truly knowledgeable source it’s hard to let go of it.” Kara chuckled. “It’s a rarer find than you might think.”
“Well then, I suppose I’m stuck with you.”
It was meant to be a joke but the flash of guilt in Kara’s eyes made Lena regret her words. Lena Luthor, who directed meeting after meeting with groups of the most influential people in the world, always seemed to fall short in casual one on one conversation. It’s why she didn’t have many friends…any friends really, if she was being honest with herself.
“I’m sorry to bother you, I could-“
“No. You don’t bother me.” Lena interrupted. “I’m happy to be your source, really. After all, if you weren’t asking these questions to me you’d be asking people like Maxwell Lord. And well, I wouldn’t be able to sit idly by and watch CatCo publish the utter nonsense he spews.”
Kara laughed. That infectious giddy chuckle that Lena had come to enjoy hearing so much that she nearly craved it. Nearly.
She still held herself back. A few months in National City and dare she say she had made a friend in Kara Danvers. They exchanged numbers and soon enough they would meet for lunch ‘interviews’ which would turn out to be just informal lunches, and then coffee. And then the real test… Game Night. Kara had to reassure the brunette that her competitive nature would make her an excellent addition to Kara’s team and was not the negative drawback that she had expressed it to be. After that there were dinners and movie nights and sleep overs and there was no going back. Lena found herself, for the first time in her life, with a true friend. Someone that she could confide in when projects failed or bounce ideas off of when she needed something new to work on. If she was being honest with herself, Lena would admit that she had become quite enamored with the blonde reporter, but she didn’t dare act on it. She had come to cherish their friendship too much to put it in jeopardy. So she pushed away the feelings and simply enjoyed their closeness.
At least until the issues with Supergirl began…
Hours had passed by unnoticed until her desk phone rang, startling her out of the calculations she was reworking. Her irritation at being interrupted quieted itself as she noticed the call was coming in from building security. She pressed the speakerphone button to accept.
“Yes?”
“Ms. Luthor, sorry to bother you but there’s been a package delivery.” Tony, her trusted head of night security informed her.
“At this hour? I haven’t express ordered anything for the labs.” Lena’s brow furrowed.
Lab equipment orders were not something that she forgot. She might lose track of the days but never lab equipment, if it was essential to the project she knew exactly when to expect it.
“Right, I checked the log of expected deliveries and came up with nothing myself either. I went ahead and ran it through the security checks and it came back clean. Do you want me to bring it up?” Tony was by now well-versed in the strict security protocols that Lena had insisted on within the building. And he didn’t blame her for them. He knew first hand that the Luthor last name had attracted its fair share of- well, enemies was a strong word- but yes, enemies.
“Yes, go ahead.” Lena ended the call and turned to her computer, pulling up her access to the security feed.
Receiving packages this late at night wasn’t completely unusual, even if she hadn’t been expecting them. There had been a handful of them in the past, nothing ever harmful. Usually they had been from colleagues, gifts of thanks and tokens of appreciation for her help with a project of theirs. But somewhere in the back of her mind, flags were being raised.
Everything on the security video recording seemed normal when she replayed the arrival of the delivery man. No shifty behavior there, and no extreme professionalism either, which in itself could have been a sign of something more organized. She fast forwarded to present time and watched as Tony pushed a delivery cart into the elevator. On top of the cart rested a black case. It wasn’t large enough to warrant the use of a delivery cart, so it must be quite heavy despite its appearance, Lena figured.
Her wariness grew.
Still she cleared off her desk and moved to open her office door, allowing Tony to wheel the cart up to her desk and lift the box, with some effort, onto it.
“Thank you, Tony.” She dismissed him, her eyes locked onto the crate now. It was about the size of a regular brief case and examining the side that faced her, she could make out a handle that supposedly retracted into the siding of the case.
So the casing itself must be thick for the handle to retract. She observed.
“Are you sure Ms. Luthor?” Tony was also eyeing the case, his face showing obvious suspicion.
“Yes. You can return to your duties.”
If it is a bomb, there’s no sense in vaporizing the both of us when I open it. She mused to herself, only mildly concerned that the object truly was some type of weapon of mass destruction.
As Tony left, she gave herself the time she knew it would take him to reach the ground floor lobby where, if an explosion does occur, she hoped he and the other security guards will be able to vacate the building before it collapsed. While she waited she circled her desk slowly, eyes never leaving the case as she expertly examined the exterior. Besides her initial observation regarding the thickness of the case, her next conclusion made was that the material, while darkly metallic, appeared to have a coating. Daring to scratch her fingernail along one corner she confirmed her suspicion as the dark paint gave way to reveal the true metal beneath it. Lead.
The realization sent her thoughts immediately to the resident Kryptonian of National City. Whoever sent this package had taken deliberate care to make sure that Supergirl would not be able to see whatever was inside of it.
Well that can’t be good.
Lena could now practically smell the involvement of her mother and brother on the case sitting on her desk. Whatever was inside probably wasn’t meant to kill her. Despite the bad blood between them, Lex had never tried to harm her, even after she had testified against him in court. And being that her mother had never come after her for it either, Lena inferred that he had ordered Lillian not to. Her mother, who never let her forget even for a second how she had betrayed the family that took her in, would have only offered her mercy if Lex had asked for it on her behalf.
Still, if they were sending her a lead case, she couldn’t imagine anything beneficial being inside of it.
She contemplated calling Kara immediately. But decided against it, not until she knew what was in the case. Her gut was already telling her what she would find, and if she was right, she wouldn’t want Kara anywhere near this thing.
Upon Lena’s arrival in National City, Supergirl had waited a full three days before she arrived on the balcony of Lena’s office one night. She had waited patiently for Lena to open the sliding patio door to allow her in.
“I was wondering when you’d show up. But most visitors have to make an appointment, you know.” Lena had greeted her and instantly regretted her words. She probably should have been showing the upmost kindness to the superhero in order to distance herself from the bad blood of her namesake.
“Sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting your evening. I just thought I should introduce myself.” Supergirl’s cautious smile had been tinged with guilt.
Lena had scripted an entire conversation for this moment before she had even come to National City. She had planned for this inevitability. She would be gracious but not spineless. She had done nothing wrong and would refuse to act as though she was a criminal.
“I don’t suppose you mean to tell me your actual name?” It was meant to be a joke, something to break the tension that was already building in the air. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to settle that way. She caught the tightening of the muscles around Supergirl’s eyes and before she could gracefully backpedal the Kryptonian was raising her chin in a mightier-than-thou stance.
“No, I won’t be, Ms. Luthor. And I hope that won’t become an issue between us.” Supergirl’s tone was firm but not accusing.
Lena regarded the super for a moment. The symbol of her family crest displayed proudly from her suit. A family legacy that she should be proud of. One of truth and honor and all things good.
It wasn’t fair, Lena found herself thinking. That her family had stuck her with this aura of guilt and Supergirl’s had bestowed her with one of pride.
But life isn’t fair, is it? Not for anyone. So stop being so prideful and suck it up, Lena.
“No, of course not- I…” Clearing her throat, Lena gathered herself. “Please accept my apology. I didn’t mean to start off this way. I know that my family is responsible for many things. Horrific acts that targeted your cousin. And although I never played a hand in those acts, I know it’s only natural for you to be suspicious of me. I hold nothing against you, Supergirl. But I will understand if you hold my name against me. I only hope that in time, you’ll find that I am quite different from my family.”
There, it was all out in the open. Lena brushed off the lingering shame, thinking of how her mother would have disowned her for such a display of submission. Meeting Supergirl’s eyes once more, she had found surprise there, and then guilt.
“Ms. Luthor, I believe we might both have made assumptions to start us off on the wrong foot here. After all, I should have made an appointment.” The Kyrptonian’s lips pulled into something of a half-smile. “Perhaps it’s not too late for us to start over?” The blonde reached out a hand which Lena grasped with her own and in the back of her mind Lena had marveled at the fact she could not detect a hint of the true strength the woman before her was capable of.
“Hello, I’m Supergirl. I’ve heard of the amazing things Luthor Corp has been doing since you’ve taken over as CEO. I have every confidence that your success will continue.” The half-smile transformed into a full and bright one.
“Thank you, Supergirl. I’m Lena Luthor, and I look forward to us both doing our part to help National City prosper. You’ve done some great work here already.” Lena responded, feeling somewhat silly about having restated her own full name.
After their first meeting they had given each other space. Each respecting the other’s work from afar for a while before they gradually began to work together. It was small things at first. Supergirl would show up at her office with a hypothetical question regarding the cababilities of certain types of alien technology. Then the hero began to ask Lena to analyze some alien technology that had appeared on the black market, or help her track the chemical signature of an alien gone rogue. Lena never asked for anything in return. She simply enjoyed the exposure to foreign technologies that she was receiving, broadening her knowledge and inspiring future projects.
Then the DEO found out about the Luthor kryptonite stash. And everything began to spiral.
An incident involving red kyrptonite had sparked her retrieval of the compound from her underground storage bunker just outside of the city. She didn’t want to use it, truly. But if the situation got any worse, she would be forced to. She prepared for the worst, as anyone should do so in a catastrophe, and crafted a laser gun designed to harness a concentrated dose of kryptonite into its beam. Just enough to only disarm the Kryptonian. She had entrusted it to Agent Danvers, the only DEO operative she believed would act responsibly enough with the weapon as she knew her to be Kara’s adoptive sister. And if Kara was friends with Supergirl, then her sister would be sure to take care of the hero and not harm her any more than what was necessary.
It had worked perfectly. Knocking Supergirl unconscious just in time to stop her from hurting any innocent people. The DEO then confiscated the laser gun and demanded that Lena surrender any remaining kryptonite. She refused, unwilling to allow a clandestine government agency take complete control of such a substance. When Supergirl awoke, she had sided with the DEO. Wanting the kryptonite to be under the guard of the organization. For the second time, Lena was forced to swallow her pride. She was right and she knew it. But she also knew what would happen if she didn’t comply. She would be branded a “Luthor lunatic” just like her brother. Supergirl had lost trust in her already just from her revealing the hidden kryptonite. She couldn’t make it worse by refusing to hand it over. Even Kara had sided with Supergirl on the issue. Lena should have realized then what that meant. If she wasn’t so blinded by her emotions she would have.
But regardless of her convictions, Lena surrendered the kryptonite.
As she had stood at the mouth of her storage bunker, watching the DEO vans drive to who-knows-where with a compound that had unexplored potential, Supergirl had thanked her for her decision. But Lena had shrugged off the hand that the super had placed on her shoulder. She was tired of forcing herself to be small just to prove she wasn’t a threat.
“Nothing I did was wrong. I never had any intention to use the kryptonite against you in any situation accept the one that just occurred. My brother was wrong about a lot of things. But not about everything. No one should be invincible, it’s too dangerous to leave power unchecked. Look at what just happened, Supergirl. You nearly destroyed National City! And I know you didn’t mean to. But the point is that you’re capable of it. And if someone gains control of you like that again… Well you better hope you can trust the DEO to make the right call about how much force to use against you.” Lena could hear the bitterness in her own voice. Could practically taste it on her tongue as she spat those words. She didn’t give Supergirl a moment to respond, although it seemed as though the hero wouldn’t have been able to muster a suitable response if she’d had the time. Lena had stalked back to her car, not bothering to look back as she called over her shoulder. “I hope this favor was worth it, Supergirl. Because it’s the last one you’ll have from me.”
The radio silence that had ensued between the two lasted for several months. During which, Kara had tried repeatedly to console her.
“I think you both made choices you regret.” The blonde told her one night as they shared a bottle of wine. “And I think, if you gave her a chance, she would really like to make up for what happened. Supergirl trusts you Lena.”
“No she doesn’t.” The brunette scoffed before tipping her glass back and draining it just a little too quickly. “If she trusted me, she wouldn’t have had an issue with me keeping the kryptonite. Instead she sided with the DEO.”
“Lena, did you ever consider that maybe it wasn’t you that she didn’t trust, but other people?” Kara’s eyes probed hers.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, things get stolen, Lena. And I know you must have so many safeguards in place to protect your technology, but don’t you think that, just maybe, the DEO has more protection for it than you? It’s the same reason she doesn’t tell anyone her identity. I think it’s her way of protecting you…What if someone wanted the kryptonite to use it against her? If they found out you had it, they’d come after you for it. I know you won’t want to hear this, but I’m glad you don’t have it anymore. I don’t want you put in danger for Supergirl’s problems. If something happened to you- I- well, I’d be a mess.” Kara had given her hand a small squeeze but didn’t meet her eyes at the admission. For her part, Lena felt as though she was practically shaking and she worried Kara would feel it, so she slowly withdrew from her grasp, leaning back into the couch with a sigh, shaking her head. Emotions were exhausting. She had let herself become too attached to things recently. She was losing her ability to view things objectively. She had found herself uttering the words she spent her entire life avoiding.
“I don’t know… I just- I don’t know anything, I guess.”
Approaching the case with conviction, she unclasped the top and flipped it upwards before she could lose her nerve. Her fear was confirmed as she was met with the sight of the green compound that had been carefully secured within. The kryptonite mirrored the lights of her office, casting green reflections dancing across the walls. Next to the kryptonite rested a small notecard.
Hold onto this for me, won’t you? – Lex
Even if he hadn’t signed it, Lena would have recognized the neat penmanship of the madman. She examined the alien mineral now that she had confirmed its sender. It appeared no different than the kryptonite she had worked with before. The same dark emerald green hue and crystallized structure, it had no obvious markings of having been tampered with. It glittered beneath her scrutinizing gaze before she snapped the case closed briskly. Lena’s eyes darted to the large windows behind her desk. See-through walls really. Her eyes scanned outside but could pick up nothing unusual in the darkness and no detectable difference in the twinkling city lights. Still, she reached for the button that would bring down her black-out privacy shades. Not that she would be staying in her office, but perhaps if someone was watching-which she wouldn’t put it past Lex to have someone doing just that- they would assume she had stayed. Shoving the heavy lead case back onto the delivery cart she headed for her private elevator. Swiping her keycard for access, punching in the 14 digit code, and submitting to a retina scan to verify. She had to take this to her personal lab. It would be safer there. And there were tests to be done.
Eventually, Lena had asked Kara to get in touch with Supergirl for her. Besides the fact that her sister worked with Supergirl, as a reporter, Kara had managed to snag exclusive interviews with National City’s superhero, she was perhaps one of the only people in the city that knew how to reach the Kryptonian, along with her government agent sister. Her best friend had been right. She had been blinded by pride and self-importance.
By the time Supergirl landed on her balcony that evening, Lena had prepared her speech. Carefully she would eat her words, saving as much face as she could along the way. What she had not been expecting was for the Kryptonian to offer her an apology first before she could begin her own. Supergirl’s explanation of her actions had been exactly what Kara had predicted.
“I trust you and I deeply value your contributions to the missions of the DEO and myself, Ms. Luthor. You’re too valuable to me for me to place you in danger. I’m sorry I didn’t explain that before.” And then Lena noticed Supergirl reach for her face, playing it off as brushing some hair behind her ear, but Lena saw it for what the action was. A nervous habit she was all too familiar witnessing. Supergirl had been reaching to adjust her glasses.
Glasses that weren’t there anymore.
The Kryptonian’s next words were lost to her as her mind reeled hidden behind her well-practiced mask of indifference.
Kara Danvers is Supergirl. Supergirl is Kara Danvers. She stood shell shocked before the woman in front of her. How had she not seen it before? How blind had she truly been lately?
You saw what you wanted to see, didn’t you Lena? And you know exactly why you wanted to separate the two of them…
Now her mind was racing backwards, combing over every interaction she and Kara ever had. Every happy moment, every shared secret, every second when she had relished the feeling of belonging- of not being alone. She hadn’t wanted it to end. She’d noticed the similarities between her favorite blonde and the hero of National City, but she’d ignored them all.
Because if she hadn’t, she would have lost everything. Kara would have pushed her away, whether it be for Lena’s own safety, or her own desperation to keep her identity a secret. It all would have been swept out from under her. And it still could be, she realized when she came back to herself. She felt the wetness that had built in her eyes and she turned away from the blonde, unable to meet those earnest blue eyes any longer.
“Le- Ms. Luthor?”
How could you have ignored that voice? The one you’ve started to hear in your own head all day?
“Ms. Luthor, I hope I haven’t made things worse between us. I just- I wanted to explain-“
“No. It’s me who has made things worse now.” Lena’s voice was hardly above a whisper but she was sure it was picked up by the alien’s super-hearing. She cleared the hoarseness from her throat before continuing. “It’s me that should be sorry. I’ve been acting like the petulant child that my mother always believed me to be. I didn’t like the decision you made but I understand it now. I’m not used to anyone worrying about my protection. Kara Danvers… our mutual friend… has helped me understand the concept only recently. I’ve always been a little bit selfish. Having to look out for yourself in the world will have that effect. And I’ve been acting selfishly lately. I hope you can forgive me.”
Only once Lena had gathered her emotions back in check did she turn again to face Kara. Finding a sad but hopeful smile on the blonde’s face.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Ms. Luthor.” She insists. Lena nods but her body remains tense. A new found weight has settled on her shoulders. It was her responsibility to keep Kara safe now. And she vowed not to fail her. “But Kara Danvers would disagree with you, and so will I.” Supergirl added. “Kara Danvers thinks you’re the most selfless person she’s ever met. She’s told me so, multiple times. And she’s right. You help and fight for those who can’t do it for themselves, that’s one of the most admirable things someone can do. It’s the opposite of selfish.” Those shining blue eyes pierced her once more.
Lena didn’t have a response. It was getting increasingly harder for her to keep her mask in place. One slip and it was over for her. So she let Kara turn away, cape swirling behind her, as she made her way back out to the balcony.
“She cares about you, you know?” Supergirl called back to her from where she was preparing to lift off. “Kara Danvers. She really, really cares for you. You’re not alone here… Goodnight, Ms. Luthor.”
In a flash of blue and red the Kryptonian was gone and Lena finally allowed herself to collapse. Tears streamed relentlessly down her cheeks and she struggled for breath. There was a pain in her chest but she couldn’t discern its origin. Betrayal, fear, panic? Where did one end and the other begin?
It took a few minutes but eventually Lena pieced herself back together. Wiping her face and setting her jaw with resolve.
Kara was wrong, she’d decided. She was selfish. If she wasn’t, she would have let Kara go. She would have put distance between them in order to protect her. But she was determined not to lose the happiness she had found. So she wouldn’t admit to the knowledge she had. If Kara could carry this burden then she could carry it too. She would carry it. The alternative wasn’t acceptable.
There was no opportunity for sleep between tests. As diagnostics were being run by the system for one, Lena was already queuing up the next. She couldn’t afford to leave any stone unturned. Any possibility left unexplored. Lex had a devious mind. And a creative one as well. But each consecutive evaluation brought nothing unusual to light. What was Lex playing at? Surely he would have somewhere else to hide this on his own? Even if he was in prison he was still capable of moving it elsewhere, that much was obvious by the fact that it had made it to Lena in the first place. Being a billionaire, even one that’s imprisoned, meant you could find ways to get what you wanted. But why send it to her? Was he setting her up to take the blame for some impending scheme? Did he think that it would turn Supergirl against her? He couldn’t be under the delusion that she would actually help him in any plot against the hero? Not after she had testified against him for his crimes?
Morning found her sitting once again behind her office desk, having locked the kryptonite within her office wall safe. She was surrounded by the accumulated data of last nights frenzied lab session. The kryptonite was normal. Which left Lena struggling to piece together Lex’s plan.
She should call Kara. She should handover the kryptonite to Supergirl in the hopes that the DEO could hide it out of Lex’s reach.
Or maybe that’s what Lex was waiting for… It wouldn’t come as any surprise to Lena to find that Lex had knowledge of an under the table government organization, nor would she put it past him to already have someone on the inside of it. And since Superman had heard about the DEO collecting the kryptonite, he had personally come to retrieve every last crystal of it and take it to the Fortress of Solitude. A place where Lex could not get inside, certainly. So perhaps now, Lex would assume she would turn the compound over to the DEO and finally his inside mole could get their hands on it…But then again…why send it to her at all? Why not directly to his inside man?
In the many years that Lena spent on the other side of a chess table from her brother, he had always managed to employ a strategy that surprised her. He had a masterful way of misdirecting attention. Yet there were times when he used none at all, allowing Lena to delude herself into seeing moves that weren’t coming, distracting herself with her own paranoia.
He could be waiting for her to contact Supergirl, watching L-Corp and lying in ambush.
Or maybe his was the long game. Setting her up to take the fall, hoping she would be found kryptonite-handed.
The longer she sat, the more possibilities she concocted in her mind. And that’s how Jess found her boss when she strolled into the office at 8am.
“Ms. Luthor? Did you stay here all night?” She noted the blouse and slacks of the CEO were the same from yesterday, although wrinkled now and the darkened shadows beneath her eyes indicated she had not slept at all.
“Cancel my appointments for the day, Jess. Something has come up.” Lena didn’t move her eyes from the data sheets.
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m handling it.” Lena insisted, dismissing her assistant. She sat for a moment longer, looking from the documents before her to the spot on the wall where she knew the alien toxic compound lay in wait for her decision. Exhaustion had truly set in now. She had done her best to think of each possible plot and its contingencies but she had no real way of knowing what Lex was planning. So she would make the best move on the board that she could for the time being.
Picking up her phone -which she had scanned last night, along with her entire office for bugs of any kind- she dialed Kara’s number.
“Good morning, Lena.” The Kryptonian’s voice was bright and cheerful as usual. “I’m thinking Angelo’s for lunch today? They have all you can eat breadsticks this week!”
Lena found herself smiling tensely at the comment. She thought briefly of how her news was about to impact Kara’s day. But it had to be done.
“Kara, as nice as that sounds, I’m not calling to make lunch plans. I need you to contact Supergirl for me. I need to see her as soon as possible.” Her weariness was apparent in her voice.
“Is everything okay?” Kara’s tone immediately shifted to one of concern. “What’s going on? Are you safe?”
Lena felt tears brim at the concern in Kara’s voice. If anyone should be concerned it should be Lena for Kara, not the other way around right now.
“I’m fine-“
“No you’re not.” Kara called her out gently. She knew the blonde could hear the tremor in her voice.
“I meant I’m safe. I’m exhausted, yes, but otherwise unharmed. And I can’t tell you what’s going on just yet, I need to talk to Supergirl first. Just please tell her to come to L-Corp but tell her to be careful. I think- I think I’m being watched. I can’t be sure.”
“I’ll be right- I mean I’ll call her right now.” Kara stuttered and once again Lena smiled despite the current situation.
Maybe she’ll fly here on the bus again?
“Thank you, Kara.”
“Of course. Just, you be careful too, okay? Until Supergirl gets there? Promise me?”
A sudden warmth spread in Lena’s cheeks. No one had ever expressed such worry for her before. Not since her biological mother had passed away when she was little.
“I promise.” She agreed softly. Hanging up and sinking back into her office chair.
Only minutes passed before a knock came on her balcony window. Turning she found Kara, in full Supergirl uniform, standing on the balcony. As she so often found herself doing these days, she analyzed any semblance of ‘Karaness’ that she could find within Supergirl. This time, as in many others, it was the look in those earnest blue eyes. One of unsettled determination.
“Kara said you wanted to see me?” The blonde mentioned as she crossed the threshold into the office once Lena opened the sliding door.
“Yes. There’s- well, something happened last night. I received a delivery…one that had been arranged by my brother.” She noticed the narrowing of the Kyrptonian’s eyes at this news.
“What kind of delivery?”
“The kryptonite kind.” Those narrowed eyes widened now.
“I thought all of Lex’s kryptonite had been seized?”
“So did I. Until a lead case showed up at L-Corp last night containing approximately 8 pounds worth of the compound. I ran some tests on it, here’s all the lab results if you want to have Agent Danvers or Winn check them over. I couldn’t find any alterations to the compound. I tried everything I could think of.” Lena handed over the file she had compiled. “The kryptonite has been secured in my wall safe. It’s still encased in lead so you shouldn’t have any issues transporting it to the DEO…but Supergirl, if I may… I don’t trust the DEO. Organizations like that, with so many people… you can run all the background checks you want but people can be corrupted. That’s not my paranoia talking, it’s statistics. And statistically speaking, not everyone working there is doing it for the right reasons. I fear Lex may have a mole in the DEO. He’s a billionaire genius and it would hardly be a stretch of the imagination for him to pay someone off on the inside for access.”
Lena’s theory hung in the air between them for a long moment. Supergirl’s face gave nothing away now as to her thoughts. And Lena turned, moving to the wall of her office and preparing to open the safe.
“Don’t.” The Kryptonian called out when the access panel was revealed.
“It’s contained, I swear. I would never bring you within a mile of this stuff if I wasn’t sure of that.”
“I know that, Ms. Luthor. I trust you completely. Which is why I won’t be taking this to the DEO. And I won’t be telling them about this either. You’re right. It’s naïve to think that the DEO is incorruptible no matter how much I wish that was the truth. But I believe that you are. So I’ll leave it in your care, should the time come that you ever need to use it… But if Lex asked you to keep it, then he’s planning something, and he’ll be coming for it somewhere down the line. Are you sure you want to be in that position? It’s a dangerous one.” Supergirl pointed out.
“I can handle my brother.” Lena insisted. “I’m not afraid of him. Even after I went against him and my mother he’s never tried to hurt me before. I don’t think he would take extreme measures against me. That part of him is the only thing that still makes him human I think.”
“Only if you’re certain, Ms. Luthor. And if you ever change your mind I’ll come back and hide it somewhere else. Just let me know.” Supergirl asserted.
“I am sure. And I’ll keep you up to date if Lex tries to reach out again.”
Supergirl nodded solemnly.
“Thank you, Ms. Luthor. I appreciate your trust in me.”
“You’re the one trusting me with kryptonite.” Lena pointed out, arching an eyebrow.
“But you’re the one who brought it to me in the first place. Our kryptonite fallout was only a few months ago. I made the wrong choice then, but I know I’m making the right one now.”
“You had your reasons. And I understand them now. But for the record, I’m rarely ever wrong.” Amidst all the heavy tension of what Lex might be scheming, Lena couldn’t resist smirking.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Supergirl smiled.
“Oh and Supergirl!” Lena called out as the Kryptonian walked back out to the balcony. “Tell Kara thank you, for getting you here so quickly.”
The blonde nodded although Lena caught the guilt in the bright smile she flashed before she took off.
A weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders. Despite what she had told Kara, only time would tell if she had made the right call here today and months prior. She hoped to whatever God there was that she had. For Kara’s sake above her own.