Chapter 51
Lena growled as the scrolled through the messages on her phone she had ignored all day while hanging out with Kara and Carter. One of the underlings in the business and finance section of L-Corp had bungled the merger paperwork for a small tech firm she had been dealing with for the past few months. She had purchased the business, allowing them to remain mostly independent under that L-Corp holdings, but some of the paperwork was missing signatures needed to finalize the deal.
“Why do they always have to fuck up on my night off?” She groaned out. Grabbing her purse again, Lena left her apartment without changing her clothes and made her way back to the office. “Every time, it never fails, these fuckers fuck up on a colossal fuck-up and I have to fucking fix their fucking work.” Lena grumbled the entire way to the office, her large shirt pulled tightly around her and her baseball hat shoved firmly down on her head. If the fashion magazines saw her now, her new ‘fashion forward’ trend would be splashed all over the pages before she could change her shirt.
She arrived at L-Corp a few minutes later, and left her car in the underground garage before heading up to her office. “File, file, where would Jess keep the file,” Lena mumbled to herself as she rifled through the hard-copy files her secretary kept on hand in her office. The myth that she, Lena Luthor, was organized was one that was perpetuated by the organized people in her life who instilled enough sense in her to keep her files in a semblance of order. “Aha! Found them!” Lena scanned over the sheet, signed the paper, and faxed the document over to Lightstream Agriculture for the final signatures.
“How did I know that you’d be here- what are you wearing?” Lillian’s voice echoed around Lena’s office, causing the younger woman to whirl around.
“Hello Mother,” Lena said, pushing some hair back off her shoulder. “Should I call you mother though? Maybe just Lillian, though you’ve always been annoyed at having to be a mother to her husband’s bastard child, so maybe I should call you mother. So, Mother, how can I help you, did you misplace your coffin, should I alert the police?”
“I see your wit has decreased in quality along with the company you keep and your wardrobe choices.” Lillian sniffed as she looked down at Lena’s clothes. “You actually went out in public like that?”
“All day, and it was amazing,” Lena replied. “I was comfortable, didn’t have people following me around, I was able to relax, spend time with my friends. It was a nice day, I had a lot of fun.”
“Yes, your ‘friends,’” Lillian sneered. “That assistant that you befriended in school and a teenage boy, yes great friends you have there dear.”
“I’m surprised you know who I befriended in school, it didn’t have anything to do with Lex, so why would you even bother paying attention to me. I mean, you did ship me across the country to boarding school as soon as you could.”
“That was to increase your potential, make new contacts.” A sneer crossed the older woman’s face. “Of course if I knew the kind of people you would come into contact with at that school then I would’ve sent you abroad.”
“Good thing for me you’re oblivious to everything other than the sun shining out of Lex’s ass.”
“Do you even know the kind of people you’re associating with?” Lillian returned, a sneer on her face. “The status of the people you’re interacting with.”
“Alive hopefully, I don’t do zombies or vampires.”
Lillian looked at the younger woman critically. “Perhaps you are as oblivious as you usually present yourself. It doesn’t matter, soon those people will be out of your life and you’ll be free from their influence, the whole world will be free.”
“That’s starting to sound like some serious Jim Jones shit coming out of your mouth, do I have to worry about the kool-aid?”
“Did I raise you to spew such vulgarities out of your mouth?”
“You would have had to raise me to instill such virtues mother.”
The older woman frowned at Lena’s words. “But dear, I did raise you, it might not seem like it, but everything that I did, or will do, it’s all to keep you safe, to provide everything for you to succeed.” She gave the younger woman an assessing look, “Perhaps this is something you should witness first hand though, so you can see people for as they actually are.”
“What do you mfpfh-” Lean jumped as she felt a hand clamping around her mouth and another around her waist. Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out the lurking form of Cyborg Superman looming behind her. She ignored the urge to roll her eyes and just huffed as she was pulled from her office. Lena didn’t bother screaming, it wouldn’t have served any real purpose, now she just wishes that she hadn’t been feuding with her girlfriend about being too clingy. Her secret ex-assassin, ninja girlfriend was at work and wouldn’t be hanging around to see her get kidnapped, and her best friend was at home having dinner with her mother and brother. Kara would come get her eventually, but really, the whole deal with getting kidnapped was getting old. She was completely over being the damsel in distress, she has never considered herself a damsel and the only distress she felt at present was the fact that the brute jerking her around was messing up her hair.
Her superhero best friend would come get her eventually, Lena just didn’t know if she could listen to the shit coming out of her mother’s mouth that long without wanting to jab a pencil in her ear. Whether it would be her ear or Lillian’s, she was unsure at present. When she was finally pushed into the back of the waiting car, the hand clamped around her mouth let go, just as she was about to give into the temptation to bite the offending appendages. “Where exactly are we going?” Lena asked when she was shoved down in the seat across from her mother.
“I told you, we’re going to free the world from the infestation that has been plaguing Earth for years. You, my daughter, are going to have a front row seat and see what kind of ‘people’ you’ve been surrounding yourself with.”
“Delightful, wake me up when we get there, I’ve had a long day and you grabbed me before I could get dinner.” Lena leaned her head back against the car seat and closed her eyes, completely done with her mother’s bullshit. She wasn’t too concerned with what Lillian had planned, it sounded like she was still referring to the Medus virus and operating under the assumption that the technology she hijacked with L-Corp could help her with her goals. The brunette was a bit concerned what would happen to her when Lillian found her plans wouldn’t succeed but Lena knew that Kara would show up to find her eventually. If not Kara, then her girlfriend who she really has to apologize too for her recent behavior, it would seem that Sara had a reason to be concerned.
The car jerked to a stop and Lena was hauled out of the backseat like a sack of potatoes and pushed in the direction of the docks by the creepy cyborg while her mother walked ahead of them. “Hands off the merchandise,” Lena groused, glaring at the cyborg. “This is one of my favorite shirts.” It was a faded National City Renegades jersey that she had purchased the first time she and Kara had attended a game. Threadbare and worn it was, but it was broken in and comfortable, and Lena didn’t want to have to break in a new shirt just yet. She’d probably have to sit through another soccer game.
“You really need to learn to watch your mouth,” Henshaw growled as he continued to push her forward.
“Never really was something I was good at,” she grumbled out. Her nose scrunched as she caught whiff of the smell around her. “Rotten fish and wet wood, how nice, I should’ve guessed that your evil headquarters was at the docks, all evil headquarters are either in mountains or at docks. Lex had the mountain thing covered so might as well use docks.”
“Do try to limit on the snarky comments right now dear, they’re very unbecoming,” Lillian called back. “Especially since you’re meant to be observing this moment of triumph.”
“What moment exactly?”
Lillian hummed and gestured for Henshaw to let go of the younger woman, waving him towards the large crate waiting on the docks. The overgrown tin man hobbled over to the crate and immediately started prying it open, revealing a large missile inside the box. “You’re going to shoot a missile at the city,” Lena deadpanned, looking at her mother unimpressed. “Yes, this is a great mission to save all of Earth, blowing up one of the top metropolis districts in the world, yes great improvement. Less people, save the world, very environmentally friendly of you mother.”
“Do cut the dramatics Lena,” Lillian rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a missile, this is a Cadmus operation that is only possible due to innovations made my Luthor Corp in the last few years.”
“L-Corp,” Lena correctly automatically. “And I wasn’t aware of such a partnership, it would have been nice to have been informed.”
“It’s good to be supportive of family endeavors Lena.”
The brunette hummed, “I feel like there are also rules, both written and unwritten, about not kidnapping your family members, trying to blow them up, kill them repeatedly, things like that.”
“I’ve been trying to protect you dear,” Lillian replied. “You’ve got yourself caught up with the wrong sort of people and as your mother, I’ve taken in on myself to show you the truth about who you surround yourself with and free you from your ignorance.” She walked over to the missile and removed a canister from the center of the device. “This is the Medusa virus, a biological weapon designed to kill all alien life forms. Lex managed to retrieve a sample when he foolishly thought that humans could be friends with those creatures, when Superman claimed to be his friend before betraying him by sending him to jail.”
“I feel like the hundreds of people Lex killed has more to do with him being sent jail mother.” Lena hummed as she looked at the canister. “And if Lex got this from Superman, who is an alien, wouldn’t it also kill humans because we would be considered aliens to them?”
“All of these things have been accounted for Lena, not to worry.” A tight smile crossed Lillian’s face as she placed reconnected the device to the missile. “With the isotope liberated form L-Corp research and development, it will cause the virus to spread across the whole city.”
“How do you even know that the virus works?”
“Some alien lifeforms that were guests of Cadmus volunteered their services to test the virus, worked like a charm.” Lena’s blood ran cold and a sinister smile crossed Lillian’s face. “Unfortunately I don’t have enough to gas the world, but National City will have to do, 60% of the alien population that live in the country resides in this city afterall.”
“So, just to clarify, you’re going to kill all of the aliens that live in National City, and you’re totally fine with that?”
“They’re not humans Lena dear, they’re monsters, creatures that don’t belong here as they lord over us with their powers, abilities, and freakishness.”
A thumping sound came from behind the two women and look over to see Supergirl walking up to them, a curious look on her face. “‘Freakishness?’ Is that even a real word? Can it be used in scrabble?”
“The poster child for the alien menace,” Lillian sneered. “You think that you can stop me from exterminating all of your kind?”
“Most of my species is already gone Lillian, we did it to ourselves,” Kara replied. “I’m just trying to do what I can to help others so that the same thing doesn’t happen here.”
“How noble, just tell me this, how long until you make us bow before you, turn us all into your slaves as you, your cousin and your kind rule over her.” A hard look crossed her face and she brandished the remote control device in her hand, “I’m not going to let you corrupt the world, my daughter, any more.”
Kara moved to prevent Lillian from launching the missile but Cyborg Superman appeared in front of her and knocked her back with a sharp punch to her chest. The blonde heroine righted herself and charged at the cyborg, attempting to subdue him but he matched her for every punch. She could feel the presence of kryptonite in his metal limbs and it was slowly leaching away her powers but she pressed forward. The loud boom caused by the missile launching halted their movements and the two stopped to watch the missile ascend into the sky.
Supergirl flew up away from the ground towards the missile but was unable to reach it before it exploded, sending fragments and gas through the air. She quickly scanned the air with her x-ray vision, checking for traces of the virus that might have escaped the unstable isotope stolen by the Luthor matriarch. “She’s still alive,” Lillian murmured. “They’re all still alive, how?”
Lena snorted, “That isotope you stole from me was unstable, that’s why it was in the rejected project section.”
“And you didn’t think to mention this before now?”
“You know I don’t really agree with your beliefs on aliens, they’re too close minded, too judgemental. Plus I don’t like you.”
“You really disappoint me Lena, of course what can I expect from inferior genetics from your mother. I really should’ve just raised you myself in hopes that nurture would outweigh nature.”
“I am extremely grateful you didn’t bother raising me yourself and sent me away for school, I made some lifelong friendships because of that.”
Lillian’s eyes narrowed and her gaze flashed up to the blonde heroine floating above them. “Ah yes, your ‘friends,’ a one Kara Grant correct? You went to school with her, even stayed at her house. I can’t help but wonder if she’s told you the truth.”
“What truth exactly?” Lena asked. She didn’t think that her mother knew who Kara was, who Supergirl was, but even though a xenophobic, racist terrorist she may be, Lillian Luthor was not an idiot.
Supergirl landed on the ground near the arguing women and Lillian’s hate filled eyes fell on the hero. “That she and National City’s resident superhero are one and the same, that your best friend, Kara Grant, is nothing more than a lying, deceitful alien.”
Lena gasped and looked over at the blonde. “You’re an alien and you didn’t tell me, how dare you sir! All of the sleepovers and shared food, you could have infected me with your extraterrestrial cooties!”
“That was clearly my evil plan, infect you with my cooties and then take over the world!” Kara countered, belting out an evil laugh.
“No no, you’re doing it wrong, you have to project the laugh more, pull it from somewhere deep in your diaphragm,” Lena instructed. “Laugh with your gut, right now you sound like some sort of demented girl scout.”
“Girl scouts are not demented, they bring happiness and joy with boxes and boxes of girl scout cookies.”
“Says the one with the alien metabolism that allows her to eat as many boxes of cookies as she wants.”
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” Kara quoted, winking at her friend.
“So your alien metabolism is what you consider makes you great? I should’ve known.” Lena shook her head. “Why have I put up with you over all of these years?”
“No one else will put up with your crap?”
Lena nodded, “That’s fair.”
“You knew?” Lillian accused, drawing their attention. “This whole time, you’ve known this whole time that she was an alien, a kryptonian?”
“Floating over the bed during sleepovers was kind of a major giveaway,” Lena answered, shrugging.
“So you really have turned against the family, against what we stand for, what we fight for. How dare you betray your brother in such a way, to befriend the cousin of the one who put him in jail!” Lillian’s words were biting as she threw them at the younger woman.
“Lex sent himself to jail by killing hundreds of people, that has nothing to do with Superman or Supergirl. He did that to himself by being completely psycho, which you didn’t help by coddling him all of his life and convincing him that he was a god!”
Lillian growled and before Lena could blink, the older woman had pulled out a gun and fired. She screwed her eyes shut and braced for the pain of the bullet ripping through her, but all she felt was a gust of air moving around her. Lena cracked open her eyes and saw her best friend standing in front of her, but something was wrong, the blonde was hunched over slightly, her hands clutching at her abdomen. Kara crumpled to the ground and Lena followed her, sucking in a sharp breath at the sight of the bullet hole tinged with green.
“The fabric was supposed to be bulletproof,” Lena stated unthinkingly as she pressed her hand against the darkening wound.
Kara let out a strangled laugh. “Obviously you need to-” she winced a little as her words pulled at the wound “- need to speak with your R&D head about defective material.”
“Obviously I didn’t take into account bullets made of kryptonite,” Lena retorted, pulling out her phone with the hand she didn’t have pressed to the wound.
“Obviously.”
“Don’t sass me while I’m trying to save your life, and no dying on me either.” She dialed Sara’s number first but cursed when it went straight to voicemail, remembering that her girlfriend was at work that night. “Where is a vigilante or superhero when you need one,” Lena mumbled as she scrolled through her contact list. “Surely someone noticed that explosion.” She hit another name on the phone and waited for the woman to answer.
“Sawyer,” Maggie’s voice came through the speaker.
“Detective, it’s Lena Luthor.”
“Luthor? Look, can’t talk, there was an explosion and-”
“Yes I know, I’m kind of in middle of it with a certain blonde bleeding out on a dock. I need a little assistance getting her back to my lab to take care of it.”
“Shit,” Maggie replied after a few moments. Lena could hear her typing at something before the woman came back on the phone. “Kane is on her way, and I’ll get my team to get down there to check things out. You might want to consider calling Danvers as well, at the very least to let her know what’s going on with blondie there.”
“I’m a little more concerned with getting blondie here off the ground and back to my lab where she can be patched up.”
“I’m right here you know,” Kara interrupted but winced when Lena poked her around the wound site.
“Hush, the adults are talking.”
“Danvers also has access to those nice big, black government issue vehicles, perfect for transporting a downed superhero. She might be able to get there before Kane, I don’t know, but you have to do something.”
“Fine fine,” Lena huffed before hanging up. She flipped through her contact list again and found Alex’s name and number, information that she lifted from Kara’s phone. “Well, Kara, I guess it’s time to call the wifey.”
“So it looks like those two are getting along,” Kate commented to Kara as she glanced over to where Lena and Alex were discussing something pictured on one of the screens in the former’s lab.
“They argued for like fifteen minutes about who was going to go in to retrieve the bullet while I was just lying here on the table bleeding.” She rolled her eyes and dug into the gallon ice cream container that Kate had brought her. “It was ridiculous, they really need to sort themselves out. I can’t have my girlfriend and best friend hating each other.”
“Girlfriend?”
Kara blushed and shrugged, “It’s what we decided on that we could work with. Neither of us are really ready for the ‘wife’ title even though we both know it’s there. We’re dating, getting to know each other.”
“And sleeping together,” Lena interjected, looking back at her friend. “Don’t forget to tell her how I found you both tangled up in another ‘sleeping together after only one date’ incident.”
“It was not one date, technically it was like two or three dates if you count kicking bad guy ass and going out for breakfast,” Kara retorted while Alex attempted to melt into the wall to escape the situation.
“Damn Danvers,” Maggie said strutting into the lab. “I knew you had it in you.” She walked over to Kate and pressed a kiss to her lips before dropping a soft kiss on Kara’s head. “How are you doing blondie?”
“Fine, despite the best efforts of those two,” she said, jerking her thumb towards the arguing brunette and redhead. “I swear they’re trying to kill me.”
“I doubt it, they’re both scientists, they would find a more interesting way to kill you,” the detective replied. She turned away from the prone blonde and her lover hovering over Kara’s shoulder to the two bickering women. “Hey, Luthor,” she called, drawing their attention. “What was your mother trying to do down at the docks?”
“Lex lifted a super virus from Superman’s fortress, something that would kill all aliens, and Lillian got a hold of it. She attempted to use stolen L-Corp technology to launch it from a missile to spread across the city, her arrogance caused her to fail in this endeavor,” Lena answered, crossing her eyes. “She then proceeded to try to destroy Kara and mine’s relationship by revealing who she actually is, but when she found out that I already knew, she tried to kill me but Kara got in the way. Honestly though, I think she would’ve found it a success if either one of us had died, preferably both.”
“Do you know where she went? Everyone had cleared out by the time we got there, and I need to know if you saw anything before she fled?”
“I was too busy trying to keep Kara from bleeding out, I wasn’t really paying attention to anything else.”
Maggie nodded, “That’s understandable, I just wish we knew where she was and what she was planning next. So far all of her plans have been thwarted with the deportation and then this mass genocide, those kinds of failures usually lead to someone making rash decisions.”
“What could be worse than trying to kill all alien life in National City?” Kara asked, causing the women to look back at her.
“Let’s hope we don’t find out,” Kate answered for her girlfriend.
The blonde hummed and pushed herself into a seated position. “Can I go home now? I need to check on Krypto and has anyone called my mother?”
“I called Cat and told her that we were going to take good care of you, and not to worry,” Kate told her. “Though you might want to stop in and see her before you head home. Your aunt was distracting her, but you know how well that works.”
“Depends on what exactly she was doing to distract her,” Kara sighed. “And I don’t really want to know.”
“How do you feel about your mother and aunt dating?” Kate asked, looking at the younger woman.
“It’s fine, I’ve talked about it with my mom, they’re both adults, and it just means that my family is coming together.” She shuddered, “I just never want to walk in on them again, I might be thoroughly traumatized from that.” Kara hopped off the table and stretched, “I’m going to go talk to my mother, anyone willing to give me a ride? I don’t feel like flying right now.”
“I will,” Alex demanded, stepping away from the other women. “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
Kara looked at the woman curiously and was about to start walking out of the office when Lena stopped her. “Wait, wait, you can’t go out looking like that you idiot.” She waved at Kara’s uniform. “You have to change!” Rifling through her drawers, Lena pulled out a change of clothes for the blonde.
“Why do you have clothes for me in your office?” Kara asked after using her super speed to spin into the new clothes.
“I have a lot of your stuff just lying around from when you take off in your super suit, figured they come in handy at some point.” Lena shrugged, “Now go away, I want to go home, fuck my girlfriend and then go to sleep.”
“Fine fine, I’m leaving.” Kara rolled her eyes and hugged Kate and Maggie before walking out of the door. When they reached the parking garage, Alex pushed Kara into a dark corner and tugged her head down, fusing their lips together in a near bruising kiss. The blonde let out a squeak of surprise but melted into the kiss, opening her mouth to the agent’s insistent tongue.
Alex slowed down the kiss from one of desperation to slow and languid, tasting every inch of Kara’s mouth, before backing away with soft slow pecks to her lips. “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” the redhead whispered, her eyes closed as her lips brushed against Kara’s again. “I was so, so scared.”
“It’s okay Lexie,” Kara murmured, brushing her thumbs against Alex’s face to wipe away the tears that the agent just realized were streaming down her face. “I’m okay, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The other woman let out a barking laugh, setting her head down on Kara’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t be this upset, I’m a trained special agent, I’m used to things like this, stuff happening out in the field, but this… I just, we just…”
“I know, this happened just after we started to be something,” the blonde replied. “And I’m sorry, I should’ve done something more to prevent this.”
Alex shook her head. “The only one to blame for this is Lillian, not you, never you. I just, we really have to get these bastards, I don’t like that they think they can shoot you and get away with it.”
“Are you going to protect me?” Kara teased but Alex just nodded.
“You’re my girlfriend, it’s part of the job description.”
Kara smiled and pressed her forehead to Alex’s. “My hero.”
“Lena has disappointed me,” Lillian sighed, her arms folded across her chest. “I didn’t think she knew the truth about the alien that she let into her life, but she’s known all along. She knew who she was even before her cousin dared to do what he did to Lex, my darling boy.” Her right hand reached out for the glass of whiskey on the table next to her and hurled it at the wall, enjoying the sound of glass shattering on impact.
“So what are we going to do now?” Henshaw growled out. “It’s proven that she won’t be any help.”
Lillian just hummed and moved over to a small briefcase placed on the desk, pulling out a small vial. “Luckily, I always have a backup plan, one that Lex kept in storage for just the right moment.” She held the vial up to the light in the room and watched as it glowed a sickly yellow-green.
Henshaw’s eyes widened as he caught sight of the vial. “Won’t that level the entire city?”
“National City has become a breeding ground for aliens, a safe haven for that demon to lord her powers over the rest of the world. It has become a stain on this earth. Originally I thought that Lex was overreacting with his desire to level Metropolis but I see now the wisdom in his plan. When a tree is infected, do you not cut of a limb to save the tree, even if parts of the limb are healthy?” Lillian hummed again and looked down at the vial. “National City will be cleansed from the face of the earth in order to save the rest of the world, starting with the city’s precious protector.”