AU! Sixteen years ago, Lex made a choice and set the world on a much different path. Now with his father's passing, Conner Luthor learns of his last joke in the world. That he had raised the son of his worst enemy.
Notes: The World Is Still Beautiful is being worked on. The next chapter should drop sometime in the next few weeks.
Illuminate
Chapter One: A Single Ray
Conner adjusted his tie, the silk material feeling like a noose on his neck. Despite growing up with his father's expensive tastes, he had never been one for monkey suits, even when they cost more than several people's salaries. Glancing at the mirror that Mercy gracefully handed him without prompt. The almost sixteen year old youth made sure not a single black hair was out of place as the town car finally stopped in front of Lexcorp, currently surrounded by hundreds of press and onlookers impatiently waiting for him.
Conner let out a deep sigh. If he was a normal child, he would have time to grieve, time to mourn. He would have time to act like a child who had lost his parent.
But he was a Luthor.
There was no mercy in the world for their kind.
And only just a month after tragedy hit, he had to take the reins of his father's legacy in order to project stability.
Taking a breath, he took a moment to properly observe himself in an attempt to prevent any early criticism. But his dark suit was tidy; his short black hair was neat. The only thing that was of any note was his eyes. His normally bright green eyes were now a bloodshot red. Slipping on a pair of designer sunglasses, to cover the blemish on his appearance Conner Luthor made his way out of the car to a barrage of camera flashes.
Striding purposefully towards the LexCorp doors as the two women in the car flocked him, he ignored the volley of questions lobbed his way.
"Mr. Luthor! What are your plans for Lexcorp!"
"Mr. Luthor, what do you think of people claiming you are too young to run the company?"
"Conner, what do you have to say to your father's killer?"
Conner stopped in his tracks just as he was about the wrap his fingers around the door. Turning to face the parasite that dared speak, Conner saw a weedy, balding man with a Metropolis Enquirer badge around his neck, eagerly awaiting his reaction.
"No comment," he said coldly, before turning in and slamming the door behind him.
"Blacklist him," Conner told Mercy as soon as she and their other companion entered after him. "He and his newspaper are banned from anything Lexcorp affiliated."
Mercy nodded as she filed it away on the tablet she had managed to grab without him noticing. The brown haired cyborg was the epitome of professional. "I did a headcount of those who arrived. Only the Daily Planet refused to show," Mercy supplied helpfully. "I'll make an appointment for them to get the exclusive rights to talk to you."
"Good," Conner said as the trio made their way to the elevators, ignoring the speculative looks of the employees who wanted to take a peek at their new boss. "Get security. Get these vultures off my property."
His father's office was a familiar sight to the boy. Conner had always called his second home, considering the fifty year old billionaire had practically lived at his office compared to their penthouse across town. It'd be the first time he'd be here since the incident.
He had thought momentarily of picking a different office to work from, but he could hear his father berating his weakness if he didn't.
Opening the large oak doors, Conner saw that for the most part the office remained the same. Not really sure why he had expected different. The couch that he would always find his father sleeping peacefully on was still against the right wall, the groove firmly in place. The bookcase of rare tomes was still on the left. The first thing Conner noticed that changed was the plush carpet had been removed to reveal hardwood floors. Glancing at the cyborg, she instantly understood his inquiry.
"I removed the carpet….I didn't want..." Mercy trailed off, the rest of the sentence left unspoken.
I didn't want you to see the bloodstains.
"Thanks," he offered. It was a small gesture and didn't feel quite enough. But it was all he could offer at the moment.
The cyborg woman placed a hand –her real hand— on his shoulder, a rare gentle expression appeared on her stern face and squeezed his shoulder in a comforting manner. Conner patted it in support and took a step forward.
Making his way to the desk, Conner noticed the faux-mahogany desk that his father had always used had survived the attack without even a scratch although a new computer had taken the place of the old one. Taking a seat in his father's leather chair that now seemed much larger than he had remembered ever being, he brushed the wood-like material of the table which was still smooth to the touch. It wasn't surprising. Conner had seen it handle dozens of attacks without flinching.
Not that it helped his father in his final moments.
This room was the place his father died.
His father, the man who had grown up in Suicide Slums and managed to make himself one of the richest men on earth with nothing but his own two hands. The strongest man he knew had been taken in the building that he loved so much.
He had been at the other side of the country at school when the attack had happened. By the time he had arrived, a battered and bruised Mercy had taken care of the arrangements. Making the funeral, closed casket. "For your sake," she had told him when he arrived. The normally stoic woman was leaking tears like a faucet in front of him. "You don't want to see him like this."
Between the police and the members of the league who had investigated the incident, the agreed upon cause of death was an unknown metahuman after disabling and knocking out Mercy had managed to stab the billionaire on the top floor of his company. It was the only way to explain how in spite of multiple cameras on every floor, no one had managed to see the assailant.
His father's enemies were numerous so there was practically an infinite amount of possible suspects in this world. But even so, Conner tried to remain optimistic that he would be caught and tried.
Or in a better world, so that Conner could kill them himself.
Some had suspected Mercy, but it was quickly dismissed when they had realized it was impossibility for her injuries which included her prosthetic arm being smashed into dust to be self-inflicted.
Conner glanced at Mercy, her arm now replaced by a superior model that had been kept in storage. She felt his gaze and looked away.
"I'll get everyone. They'll want to talk to you." she said making an excuse to leave the room. She turned her attention to the woman who had remained silent thus far and sent her a pointed look. "Do your job and watch over him."
"Yes, ma'am," The woman mock saluted.
Conner glanced at the Vietnamese woman meant to be his bodyguard, well used to this behaviour.
He had long known Jade was never someone you looked to for compassion.
Jade Nguyen had been with him for nearly six years. After a failed kidnapping attempt had nearly stolen the child from the best private tutors in the country when he was only nine years old, his father had looked high and low for the very best bodyguard imaginable. Ex-CIA, ex-military, and the very best the protection racket had to offer. But Jade, a Vietnamese runaway living in the streets of Metropolis at only the tender age of thirteen had put them all to shame.
His father had hired her on the spot.
When he was young, Conner had grudgingly admired the way the young girl managed to dance between blows like everyone else was in slow motion. So when she was bored and had nothing to do she taught him the basics of how to fight, though he lacked the grace that she casually exuded, he managed to stand his own.
For years, he had thought he would never catch up to her.
Everything had changed when puberty hit.
While he had already been much smarter than most children since birth, learning to read by the time he was one, taking college courses by the time he was ten years old. Conner grew stronger, stronger than any normal human, faster too, he could hear from miles away and sturdier as well to the points that bullets couldn't even pierce his flesh.
He had turned out to be a metahuman.
But by then, he'd become…he wouldn't say attached—Jade would mock him mercilessly if he did—but he was too used to her presence to fire her. And his father agreed that it would be in their best interests to not let his enhanced status out. That it'd be best a surprise for the next unlucky bastard that thought they could kidnap his child easily.
Jade waited until Mercy was completely out of sight before throwing herself onto the sofa. Taking her phone out of the pocket of the pantsuit she was wearing and started to fiddle with it. He hadn't paid much attention to her appearance earlier but the clothes obviously didn't match her. Most likely Mercy, had probably bullied her into it in an attempt to make her more presentable to make him look better. Even her normally large and wild hair had been slicked back into a sleek ponytail.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Playing Cape Crush," she said her voice nonchalant as always as she poked her screen vigorously. "I'll stop if someone looks like they try to kill you, okay?" Despite her blasé attitude, Conner noticed her eyes wandering around the office, casing any possible point of her entrance.
Letting out a small smile at the gesture, Conner prepared himself for a long day of work.
Conner had heard his whole life the humble beginnings of Lexcorp. His father was nineteen when he started the company which had been only a small aerospace engineering firm, from the top of floor of what was now the Daily Planet building.
The only thing his father had always lamented was his lack of resources. Otherwise, he claimed the company would have started at fourteen and that he expected even better results from him. It was a speech that Conner could recite nearly in his sleep. It was always bright up when he claimed anything was particularly challenging.
But he had managed to turn that small firm into one of the largest conglomerates on the planet. LexAir, LexNews, LexOil, LexMedical, LexComp, were just a few of the many subsidies that he had acquired over the years.
And Conner had to meet with the heads of all of them.
Now Conner was never what one would call a people person, in between his lack of normalized schooling in exchange for a more advanced curriculum. He had always lacked a certain amount of social grace that his father casually exuded. He was clumsy and rough with his words. So he admitted he probably put a lot of them looking for the next Lex Luthor, ill at ease.
But for the most part the heads fell into two groups, saying roughly the same platitudes.
"All you need to do is focus on the bigger picture and leave the little things to us." some said, which for the most part that translated into them demanding their branch be left alone. They were the ones angry they had been skipped over for him. They were the patronizing who didn't quite thing he had the capability. They were the ones that didn't quite believe that their boss was probably younger than their own children.
"I'll do my best to make this transition as painless as possible for you," others had offered. They were the ones who knew their boundaries and how not make waves. They were the ones who pointedly told him they weren't going to hold his hand as he adjusted. They were the ones who decided to treat him the same as any other CEO. They were the employees, Conner liked.
Unfortunately, his COO and CFO were of the former variety. As soon as he finished talking them, he had caught wind of them scheduling appointments with the board for an attempt to oust him and take control of the company until he was a, "little older," they claimed..
Enhanced hearing was a very useful ability sometimes.
Now it was well known to him that his Chief Financial Executive and Chief Operating Officer were both corrupt. He had spent many nights, hearing his father complain about how sloppy their attempts at corporate espionage for Metropolis' other largest company, Morgan Edge's Galaxy Communications.
His father wanted to take care of them by stringing them along, feeding them false information until he found a proper opportunity to destroy them for scheming against him. And if possible for Galaxy Communications taken from Edge in the name of interest for trying to sabotage him.
Conner had wanted to at least keep them around for a few weeks to project a certain amount of stability before getting rid of them.
But he was not his father who could let this coup attempt stand until the time was right, he was a teenager put in charge of a multibillion dollar company.
And he did not have time for this.
"Conner, my boy," his Chief Financial Officer said with a pseudo-charming smile as Mercy escorted himself and the Chief Operating Officer back to his office. "What is it? Do you need help with something? We'll give you with anything you need.
"You're fired," he told them effortlessly, leaning into his chair. Mimicking the body language
"I apologize, Mr. Luthor," The COO said with a touch of smugness. It seemed he thought he could intimidate the younger man. "But you can't fire us quite so easily. We have a contract. And unless you would like a particularly long lawsuit for wrongful termination, I think-"
"You broke the terms of your contract by working with Morgan Edge and against this company," Conner said smoothly, ignoring the horrified expressions of both men that they had been caught at their shameful back-dealing. Whatever words they wanted to say died in their throat as soon as they saw the stern expression on Mercy's face, their eyes flickering to her prosthetic arm and the weapon that was embedded inside. "You're lucky I am not pressing charges. Now please leave. Security will escort you out of the building. We'll send you your things later."
The duo aware that they had no way out, shambled out of the office defeated.
"Your father had some replacements already lined up for when he planned to do this," Mercy said typing on her tablet. "They're clean and they keep their noses above board. I'll call them to meet with them all tomorrow."
Conner nodded, letting out a yawn. The day was even far more exhausting than he thought it would be. Mercy sent a dirty look at the now sleeping Jade and kicked the girl awake, causing Jade to jolt upright before making her exit.
"What happened?" Jade asked blearily, her ponytail having been undone in her sleep, revealing her usual lion mane of hair. She yawned. "Oh, we're still here?"
"I just need to check some emails and then we can go home."
Scratching her belly, as she slowly stood. "I'm going to grab some food from the cafeteria. If someone tries to kill you. Scream loudly."
Conner skimmed the reports and offers for what looked important until he saw a particularly strange email hiding in the bunch.
To: Conner Luthor
From: Lucius D Tommytown
Conner paused for a moment when he saw that name. It was all too familiar to the boy. That was his father's secret alias when he didn't want even a chance of anyone else but him to read it. But even more strangely the email was dated today. A rush of hope suddenly filled the boy and he clicked it eagerly. Hoping for a minor miracle, that would reunite the two, he was instantly let down after he read the first sentence.
My dear son.
If you are reading this, I am no longer with you, that my enemies through cleverness or foolish blind luck have finally managed to best me.
I wished to keep you ignorant, to keep you innocent and by my side forever. But my poor, poor boy. This world is far darker than you know and I am no longer here to protect you from it.
I am not a man of platitudes, but you were perhaps the only thing in this world I have ever managed to care for. The only thing I have ever managed to love. And if I am gone I refuse to let you follow me into an early grave.
Which is why only in death, I shall tell you the truth that I denied you in life…
End Chapter
I liked Serina's idea and am trying my own spin on the, "What if Conner was raised by Luthor" idea. I hope to make it distinct enough from My Father's son. Added Jade because there is a startling lack of interaction between her and Conner.