The response to this has been awesome I really appreciate it. Sorry for the long wait on this one but again school and me getting ready to graduate and of course work. Finding time to write is hard to come by, so enjoy any thoughts are appreciated.

P.S: There are elements of Smallville and other DC material in this. I also want to say that for those wishing for more Lex POV, I will have some chapters with some other POV's beside Grace but those are going to be few and far between. Also, the next couple of chapters will hopefully pick up the plot.

Any grammar problem is in fault of the author

Chapter 4: A deal of Mercy

Lex felt smug satisfaction as he savored the look of shock on Ms. Evans's face. If the situation was not so dire he might have taken a moment to make some snarky remark. But no, right now he needed her complete and utter cooperation.

Evan's shook her head in apparent disbelief, loosening some curls to fall from her messy bun, "I'm sorry I'm gonna need for you to repeat that. I think my hearing was a bit off."

Lex felt a growing sense of irritation and amusement at the squeak in her voice, "Come now Ms. Evan I would not dare to insult your intelligence in such a way."

With an intake of breath, Evans gave Lex a sharp look, "Very well I'm sure congratulations are in order or," Grace narrowed her green eyes at Lex, "not, by the last part I heard."

Lex felt his smug smile turn bitter, "Yes, you would be correct on that."

With a heavy sigh, Lex walked back to his desk to pulled out another vanilla folder. For a moment he weighed it in his hands, he could dismiss her now and leave the conversation on this point but at what price? There was no guarantee she could succeed but what choice did he really have?

Lex had promised himself to be a better father for his own blood far better than the monster he was given. A better childhood. Could he live with himself if he watched that bond die in front of him? Could he live with the knowledge that there was a chance no matter how slim he could have pursued to ensure their survival?

Yes, damn him yes he could. He could have his child die and he could live on. Sure there would be the grief, the loss of innocent life and the potential that lay there. His scotch intake would grow as he added another body to the pile.

Julian, Tess, Lucas, Lana, Chloe, and so many many others. This death, this disappointment would be just another stone in the ocean.

He slid the envelope across his desk towards her. He hated that for a moment his hands trembled.

Evans gave him a suspicious look before cautiously opening the file. He tried to unsuccessfully to hide his smirk as confusion colored her face. The folder contained two sheets of paper but that would be enough.

"What am I looking at exactly?"

"Read it." It was only a few moments before she spoke again.

"What is this?!" Something eased in his chest in relief when he heard the apparent horror in her voice.

"That Ms. Evans is the DNA of my son." To the average person, it was just a bunch of letters and numbers. But to any genetic scientist worth their salt it looked like a Frankenstein brought to fruition. The DNA was fragile and brittle, it was missing sequencing and had the appearance of collapsing at any moment. It was like stapling parts of the human body together, crudely at that, as an open gaping wound.

"How?Who?" She struggled to find words.

"That Ms. Evans is classified," with another deep breath Lex leveled her with a hard stare, "I cannot continue this conversation unless I have your silence and you working on this project."

"To save your son?"

"To save my son."

"Why?" She shook her head in disbelief as her black curls sprayed loose, "there are a number of scientists with more skill, knowledge, and qualifications to deal with this than me."

"Yes there are but I don't have the time required to get them on my payroll nor can I trust them," He straightened his shoulders as he felt agitation in his legs, "I have too many eyes and ears looking at me right now Ms. Evans and any wrong move could bring down my fragile house of cards."

"But-"

"Ms. Evans." Lex tried to keep the irritation from leaking into his voice, "While you do not have the years of experience you are a brilliant medical scientist. Your thesis papers alone have made you more than qualified for what is needed for my son."

"It doesn't hurt that I'm already in your employee so a simple promotion would not be treated with too much suspicion if nothing else you could easily say it was rewriting a wrong done by your father. "

Lex felt a slow curl of a smirk on his face. Good, the woman caught on quick. Lex hated to suffer fools. But the smirk on his face quickly widened further at her next words.

"Does this have to do with the fact that the genetic sequencing of your son is manmade?"

"That Ms. Evans is sadly a confidential matter that requires a clearance you sadly lack. Now I will give some time to think on the matter and we can discuss pay-"

"I'll do it."

Lex blinked his eyes at her in mild surprise, "Oh," he raised his brow at her in mock shock, "not going to think about it. No thought of the moral dilemma or time to alleviate any fears or possible consequences. Why we haven't even discussed your pay." Or the hush money.

Hearing the sarcasm heavy in his tone Evans gave Lex a harsh glare, "Lex we both know that your son doesn't have the time to wait. I wanted to become a doctor to help people and I'm not going to let someone suffer if I can help it. So I'll say it again just in case you didn't hear me the first time. I'll do it."

Lex was man enough to not to try to hide the apparent relief in his voice as he summoned Mercy with silent button push under his desk, "Then there is some paperwork that I'll need you to sign, Mercy will give you the rundown. Once those papers have your signature the files will be sent to you along with the other necessary details. I'll give you a week to get everything in order."

Hearing the dismissal in his voice Grace gave a Lex a sharp nod as she went to place the folder on his desk.

Lex raised his hands to stop her, "No, no that's yours to keep." Lex gave her another nod as Mercy silently open the door, "I look forward to working with you Ms. Evans."

Lex stared out into his view of Metropolis with sun setting washing the scenery into a sea of orange and red. It was beautiful this city was an example man's greatest accomplishment and a testament to humankind.

We are strong

Lex snorted at such a false statement that rang so hollow. How could mankind achieve greatest with supervillains running amok in society? With such apparent chaos dictating the way the world tumbled and mucking it up. This world was filled with people acting like sheep and they lived in constant fear without their beloved heroes.

Heroes, the word made something bitter rise in his stomach.

A funny word. What makes a man a hero? Is it your attire, dressed in tights parading your abilities beyond human imagination? Was it living a life willing to keep to his ideals even if it brought despair? No matter how bloody the world becomes as long as your convictions are true? Convictions, morals, justice, and many other things seem to qualify a person as either good or evil. How naive. History is written by the victor those who endure and survived are the heroes able to write both past and present.

Once upon a time, Lex had believed in heroes and prayed for a hero that could save him. He prayed for his father's approval, for his mother's health on his scrape and knees Lex prayed for a hundred things to change.

When he was a boy he often dreamt about a hero saving both him and his mother from a monster. On his knees, he would beg for some great being to swoop down and change his life forever. When his mother was taken from him his prayers for a hero changed from salvation into the simple vengeance of retribution in the only way a child could. He lived a childhood of unfulfilled wishes and a number of paths down a dark road. As life went on he would learn you can't change anything unless you do it yourself.

Once he thought his life was similar to Icarus he who flew too close to the sun and crashed back into reality with the other mortals. But in reality, he would acquit his life as the frog in the well. After that, Lex stopped believing in heroes.

He poured himself a well-deserved of his good stuff. Thinking about his past always left a bitterness clogging his throat, he needed some scotch to suffer the taste.

Lex hadn't prayed for anything in a long time and even now he would refuse to do so now. Looking out towards the skyline of Metropolis he hoped that he could ask for one miracle.

The woman, Grace, was right Lex should find someone else anyone else really but time was not on his side. The pool of people he could rely on was small barely even a drop with the skills and capability. There weren't that many people he could trust with such sensitive information. Worse yet many of the scientists that were involved were on his father's payroll and unsavory. Just like his father to hire the most unforgivable in the face of results.

Besides, all the scientists involved were never going see the light of day again. So that left him with very few options.

But lo and behold a boon right under his nose with one Grace Potter. If he was a religious man he would say it was fate.

Taking another swipe Lex took a seat into the smooth leather of his chair as he turned on his computer. All the files on his work computer were highly confidential and protected by enough firewall to make even Bruce pause. With a few clicks he accessed his files on Cadmus.

Cadmus, another one of his father's dummy business. On the surface, it appeared as a medical facility with the goal of researching breakthrough medicine and many other interesting projects meant to help mankind. A large number of its projects found its roots in medicine and stem cell research. They were also one of the very rare few that had a hand in the study of metagene.

That was the surface of it. There were too many backdoors and money transferred to strange numbers and shipments that didn't add up. It was all well-hidden and if the average person took a look at they could easily dismiss it as an error in paperwork but Lex knew better. He spent months scraping through his father's dirty work, discreetly, of course. As Lex tiled through his father's paper trail he had found his father attached to things that made even him pause. Then when the final revelations of what Cadmus was harboring Lex whole body had gone cold.

Project Cadmus.

It was brilliant as it was horrifying and notwithstanding the moral bankruptcy but the violation that it entailed was a step further. His father had deemed it necessary to make the perfect weapon but one made of flesh and blood, his own flesh blood at that. If you want something done. All this was under the orders of a particular group calling themselves the Light.

A group of supervillains with dreams of grandeur yet they were more dangerous. They possessed the cunning, the backing, the ambition, and worse yet they were discrete. So much so that Lex could not find even a hint or whisper of them outside of his father's files.

Through their orders, Lionel had made many attempts to create a powerful puppet, from the paperwork many of those attempts were either failure or most of the test subjects were not up to his standards. This would have probably continued if Lionel had not gotten his hands on a gold mine.

Lex felt a headache coming as reread the file showing the genetic donor that help create his, by all intents and purposes, son.

One, Lex Luthor and the other being from the powerful metahuman Superman.

So thoughts? Critics?