Chapter 3
Alex closes the door softly as she steps out of Lex's Lair—that was what Lex likes to call it, I'm best friends with a psychopath fucking hell—and then she stops at her tracks. She caught Lena stepping out of her room as well. Alex tried to greet her like she normally did, "Hey, ALeeGator."
The two of them had never been that close. But one incident pushed them two together. Lex and Lena fought that day and it had ended badly. Kara found her best friend and her sister—her most favorite people in the entire universe—curled up next to each other that night.
Lena ran to the Danvers' but Kara wasn't home, instead it was Alex in the living room she had stumbled upon. Alex immediately jumped into action when she saw her baby sister's best friend's tear-stricken face. Alex let the younger girl vent out to her; seeing how smart her arguments were and finally understanding why her sister was so taken by Lena. They talked about science and rock bands and that one time that Lena bit Lex in retaliation when they were kids. Alex had promised Lena that she would do more than bite Lex if he ever treated her wrongly again.
Thus, an alliance and a new nickname was born.
"It's been 3 years and it still sounds as awful as it had been the first time, Alex." Lena says, fighting the urge to bolt and run. She hasn't seen the older Danvers for quite some time. Purposely avoiding her, knowing that Kara tells Alex everything and if that was the case then she would already know how Lena had hurt her sister. She really wasn't ready to face whatever Alex has in store for her. Alex was the epitome of overprotectiveness. Lena knows this from firsthand experience; how fierce Alex gets. She vaguely recalls that one night when Alex had punched a guy for her, she was drunk and the guy kept touching Lena. He ended up with no girl and a broken nose. She didn't want to know what it is like to be on the opposite end of Alex's overprotectiveness.
"Haven't seen you in a while kiddo, you been busy?" Alex starts, as they take the stairs down together. Lena had always thought the varnished grand staircase had always been a bit overkill, but well, that's just what being a Luthor is.
"Yeah, uhm got a new project in the lab." She answered, although what she really wanted to say was-
No not really that busy, I'm just too occupied with avoiding you and your sister. Oh, wait right-I'm avoiding my feelings as well.
So all in all? Yes, guess Lena has been busy.
"I miss you. Maybe we can hangout sometime soon? Show me your project?" Lena was a bit taken aback by the offer. Huh, seems like the Danvers sisters doesn't tell each other everything after all.
Alex was smart.
She realized the moment that Lena seemed to freeze in her tracks at the hallway that the Luthor was trying to avoid her. Maybe she thought that Kara told Alex the truth and that she'd come after Lena. She had a reputation to uphold after all. But Lena was a good kid, and she's her friend.
And really, deep down Alex knows that if she does something to Lena, Kara would come for her neck. Hell, with almost every night that she's spent over at Kara's bed Alex feels like Lena was more of her sister than Kara, really. Alex wouldn't do Lena dirty like that, even though she was a bit disconcerted about the fact that Lena lied. But she and Lex were going to get at the bottom of that, no need to cause Lena further emotional damage.
What the girl needs is a friend.
"You know? Just us minus the annoying dorks that we call siblings?"
Right, the annoying dork that Lena was in love with.
She doesn't know how Alex did it, but Lena was now smiling and nodding along to Alex's plans. Maybe Alex was right, maybe she does need some time off from the annoying dorks.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
"Great! See ya, later ALeeGator."
"It's an awful nickname and you know it."
"I know. Why do you think I keep using it?"
It feels good to laugh again.
Phase One (Actually Executing It...)
It was a Tuesday. Alex had no shifts at the hospital and Lex had found an excuse to get out of shadowing his Dad's conference calls.
"Are you really sure this is gonna work?"
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
"If you keep answering me with Star Wars quotes, you're gonna be doing this on your own."
Lex just gives her an eyeroll. They were sitting in Lex's car, in front of Jack Spheer's house. It was an elegant modern house and even from their position you can see flashes of light that could only be caused by welding from the windows atop the garage door.
"What's the play here?" Alex asks, turning back to Lex. "Well, we go in, we interrogate him, if he doesn't comply we use threats. There you go, that's a plan right there."
"That is the stupidest thing you have said today. You're supposed to be a genius, right? Are you seriously telling me we're just gonna barge in there and he'll give us answers right away?" Lex gives her a nod that could also be interpreted as 'duh' "We need leverage." Alex points out.
"You know what, Alex? Sometimes the best plans are the simplest ones."
"And your father is really trusting you with his company huh? Goodluck with that."
"Are we seriously going to try to outsass each other right now? Or are we going to follow through with the plan?"
"What plan?!"
Lex takes a deep breath. "Fine, think of a leverage that will make him spill."
Alex pulls up her phone, "So, you know the Science For the People event at the Miescher Center for Genetics and Bioengineering?"
"Yeah that's on Friday. We're a sponsor of that, I think."
And then, "What about it?" Lex tries to peek at whatever it is that Alex was snooping around in, on her phone. It was a promotional picture tweeted by Jack Spheer.
"What? You think I should give him tickets to a panel?"
"No, you idiot. He wants his own panel."
"Oh." It was Alex's turn to roll her eyes. "Think you could pull a few strings?"
"Do you really think Jack would give up my sister's secrets in exchange for- a what? Talking in a lecture hall?"
"You just really want to push through with threatening him, don't you?"
Lex gives her a look, "Well, if you put it that way-"
"Nope. We're doing it my way." Alex quips, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car and slamming the door at Lex.
"Hey! Hey, just wait-" Lex scrambles his way out of his seatbelt, nearly trips by the car door and then jogs to catch up with Alex who was already marching onto the driveway.
Alex went directly to the front door before Lex stops her hand from pushing the doorbell.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to ask for Jack Spheer like a normal person."
Alex knows Lex wants to just barge in through the garage with fire in their wake. But her imagination is way tamer than Lex's; more sensible.
"You know when I called this, 'Phase One: Extraction' I had meant it to be much cooler than this. You suck Danvers."
"And you are delusional."
Alex gently pressed the doorbell and after a minute a maid opened up.
"Hi, uh is Jack here?"
The maid let them in. The interior of the house showed that the occupants were loaded. Although not as rich as the Luthors but there is still that air of wealth, in the way the house had a state of the art indoor communication system and the various high-tech gadgets littered like furniture.
"You have visitors, are you stepping out or am I sending them in?"
"Send them in, thanks Eva." Jack's voice filled the entire living room as the maid pressed a few buttons on the panel at the right side of the room. They were ushered to the garage which at first looks like an ordinary garage until they stepped in.
It was turned into a sophisticated engineering lab. Jack Spheer stood in the middle; hunched over one of the tables, tinkering with a gizmo with its wires out.
"Lex Luthor and Alex Danvers, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he greeted them, he posed to shake their hands but then halfway realized that his hands were greasy. Alex offered him a kind smile, she nudged Lex in the ribs when she saw Lex almost glaring at him.
"Is it safe to assume this is not a social visit?"
"No, this—we're here to settle, busi—some matters with you, actually." Alex tried to form the right words, Lex looked like he was about to roll his eyes for the nth time that day.
"Science for The People 2020, you want a panel." Lex stated, matter of factly with this air of intimidation, that now made Alex realize just how much Lex had already learned in the 6 months that he's been away at, on LuthorCorp business. Lex had always been a fast learner and a very aggressive businessman, it seems.
"Well, since I already made one correct assumption. Is it fair to try again? I'll assume you're here because of Lena and the whole fiasco she and Kara ended up in."
"Great. So everyone knows that there's something between them-"
"Except the two of them." Jack had finished for Alex. "I am also going to assume that you're here to bribe me into telling you details about what had happened."
"Aren't you just brilliant, huh?" Lex gritted out sarcasm dripping, whilst toying with a screw driver he had picked up on the side.
Jack looked at them cockily, "Well, it's just a matter of deductions, really. Lena had been hanging out with me more and more these days than with Kara who—let's admit it—is basically her other limb and then, Midvale's most notorious duo—who also happens to be the older siblings of aforementioned couple—shows up at my house. Therefore, it is only safe to assume that you are here to question me. I also wouldn't mind if you bribed me with it." He finishes, charming smile in place.
"Hm. Smart and has the guts to talk back to you," Alex says the last word as he jabs a finger into Lex's chest and walks over to Jack to lightly punch him on the arm, "I like this kid."
"Well, I don't." Lex bit back, looking irritated at how Alex finds this all so amusing. "Aw, you're just mad you didn't get to play bad cop."
"Shut up, Alex. Now, will you tell us why Lena brought home that bimbo?"
"Hey, I though we already talked about misogynistic language." Alex chastised, Jack chuckled and then said, "You do know that that 'bimbo' is bagging an MIT scholarship under her belt and it's only because she refused to take up Stanford law. Lena and I had been collaborating with her for some time now."
"I cannot believe you did not do a background check on this girl." Alex grumbled at Lex, "Again, at the time, I thought she was bringing Kara home. Why would I think to run a background check on your sister? I wasn't aware she was bringing this Jillian-girl." he retorted at Alex.
"Oh, I should probably mention, her full name's Jillian Elizabeth S. Avery. S. As in Spheer. As in she's my dad's niece and she's-"
"She's your cousin." Lex tried not to laugh at his train of thought; Jack and Jill for fuck's sake. He wanted to ask if that was intentional, but right, they had other pressing matters.
If fixing your sister's love life is even considered a pressing matter, that is.
"That's right, and I should also mention that she's in a transaction with Lena." The way Jack had said made it look like there was something more to be implied and that's when it clicked.
"Wait—transaction as in, they're not really together?" Lex clarified, the cogs in his brain taking in what his sister's friend is telling him. Why Lena? Why would you engage in something as conceited and deceiving as this?
Alex gave voice to his thoughts, "And why the fuck would Lena do that?" See? This is why they work well.
"That's something that only she can answer." Jack told them. Lex knitted his brows in deep thought. There was something Lena wasn't telling any of them and Lex would be damned if he doesn't figure out what it is.
"I think our work here is done." Alex clapped her hands together, snapping Lex out of trance.
"Yeah. I guess I have to thank you, for telling us." Lex uttered sincerely holding out his hand for Jack to shake.
"You're not the only one who's rooting for this ship."
Alex had to laugh at that, who knew that the eloquent scientist knew what a ship is?
"Well, we'll keep you posted." Alex shook his hand next and just as they were out of the garage— "I can get my own panel by the way!"
The Transaction (From About Three Weeks Back...)
"Okay, let me get this straight-" Jill paused and then laughed realizing how any of this is not straight at all, "-you want me to go with you on a family dinner as your girlfriend on a Saturday, three weeks from now?"
"Yes."
Lena was impressed she wasn't slurring her words, they are after all, on their third bottle already.
"And care to tell me why exactly I should help you perpetrate this ruse?" Jill slowly takes a sip.
"Because I have a shit ton of blackmail material that I could use that would make you fall to ruin." Lena smirked, a challenging eyebrow raised.
"Are Luthors always this dramatic or is it just you?"
"I'm adopted."
"So they say."
"Look, are you agreeing or not?" Lena felt like using a glare now.
"Fine. I'll do it. But, I won't hangout with Kara. "
Lena felt herself stiffen at the mention of name. She hasn't seen Kara as much as she'd like these days. She knows it was her fault. They're somewhat in a rocky place after that whole 'incident' less than two months ago. See, Lena has taken to calling it the 'incident' because if she calls it something other than that, the sensation of Kara's lips on hers, rams through her full force. And really, she can't function like a normal human being if that's the everyday case. So Lena sticks to short precise emotionless terms. Everything is better that way. Take for example, this whole Transaction; emotionless and certainly not messy.
"It's not like I'm planning for the two of you to meet." Lena scoffs.
"Right. I'm forgetting that I'm only a pawn." she tries to ignore how those words make her awfully close to what Lillian is. Manipulating people and breaking hearts? Well done Lena Luthor. Give the girl a reward.
"You already know my price." Jill says as she smoothly stands up as if she isn't drunk and presses a chaste kiss to Lena's cheek and then saunters out of the bedroom.
Lena lets out a sigh once the door is closed. She lets herself fall back unto the bed, closes her eyes and hates that the last thing she sees before unconsciousness are familiar blue orbs.
Present Time...
"What do you propose we do now?"
"We plan for Phase Two. Which is-"
"Nope! I get to name Phase Two." Alex cuts Lex off before he spouts some nonsense. They were driving back to the Luthor Manor, now. Trying to come up with a plan with what to do with their newfound information.
"How about Phase Two: Operation Truth Serum?" Alex wondered out loud, Lex was trying to keep in his laugh. Alex elbowed him, "What?!"
"Nothing, it's just oh my god you are just as bad as I am."
Lex was guffawing now, "Operation Truth Serum." he repeated quite breathlessly as his laughter died down, whilst Alex openly glared at him.
"It's brilliant." Lex says before stopping and jumping out of the car.
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Truly brilliant." Lex chanted, walking backwards to face Alex behind him
"This plan will totally, totally work."
Oh, how they wished that they knew it wouldn't at that exact day and time. It would've saved all of them that time and trouble. But the universe, apparently, has other plans.