Place: Luthor Mansion
Lana sat primly at the end of a long dining table, drinking her morning coffee and staring into space, a troubled look upon her face. A newspaper blaring headlines of disaster and disease lay upon the table before her, but her mind was on other, more urgent, matters. Her face was scrunched up in a serious frown, but it lightened abruptly when she heard the sound of a familiar tread in the corridor outside the dining room.
"Lex!" she cried out, rising from her chair and rushing into his arms when he entered the dining room. He mechanically embraced her back, and then his attention turned to the newspaper upon the table. He calmly picked it up, a look of satisfaction spreading across his face as he read the disaster-ridden headlines.
"The wretched humans of this planet shall soon pledge their undying and eternal devotion to me." Lex said calmly, "As their planet crumbles into disorder and chaos they will come to me and I shall give them my protection. In order words, I will allow them to live! And then they will kneel! They will kneel before-"
"Lex," Lana interrupted, clutching his sleeve. "I really think we need to talk."
"Did I give you permission to interrupt me, human? You will pay for your insolence. You shall KNEEL before me! You shall kneel before-"
"Lex, it's too early in the morning for that, and I'm really not in the mood." Lana sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Lex, we need to talk about where our relationship is heading. I just…I feel like you're pulling away from me lately. Like you've been keeping things from me. I just wish I knew why you've been so secretive around me. It's like it was with Clark when our relationship was smothered by secrets and lies. It hurt my relationship with him and I don't want that to hurt us too. I don't want secrets and lies to get in the way of our love."
Lex stared down at her. "Worthless human, do you think that I care about this petty "love" of which you speak? YOU WILL KNEEL-"
"Mr. Luthor! Mr. Luthor!" a chubby, elderly man in a security uniform hobbled into the room on a walker. "Mr. Luthor, there's trouble in the east wing!"
"And who are you, insolent slave, who dares to interrupt your glorious ruler Z-"
"Mr. Luthor, I'm your head of security." The old man interrupted him, beaming. "Don't you know who I am? I've been the head of security here at the Luthor mansion ever since you were a little boy. Why, I remember-"
"Lex, we really need to clear up what's wrong in our relationship." Lana said seriously. "I just can't help thinking that there's something going on that I don't know about and that you're keeping things from me."
"But Mr. Luthor, the whole east wing is being attacked by vandals!" the old man sputtered, coughing into a handkerchief.
"I will deal with these vandals and make them feel my wrath for daring to attack me. They will die for daring to defy me." Lex then turned to Lana, "And then I will graciously allow you to speak to me, worthless slave."
Lex hurried from the room, his head of security wobbling quickly after him. Lana stared after him, then sighed sadly. How was she going to ever get close to Lex if he kept pulling away from her?
The love affair of Lana Lang and General Zod shall be continued in the next chapter…..