Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental multi-fandom project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 30 December... It's been an... interesting ride...
In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."
Disclaimer: "Smallville" and all associated characters are the property of Warner Brothers and DC and are used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. Minor "Batman" crossover by way of certain characters...
Explanation: I have housemates who watch "Once Upon A Time". At one point, I walked in the room when the scene this is based on was playing and, while I don't care one way or the other for the show itself, I like the scene. It's just so defining. And while I was brainstorming for today's story, I came across a link to the scene in my favorites and watched it and ended up thinking to myself that Lex could easily be in Regina's place. And so...
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"No Regrets"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
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Lex Luthor looked over his shoulder at Clark Kent, both of them bound to the same concrete pillar by meteor rock-mutated vines, "When we get out of this, remind me to institute some kind of mandatory check for superpowers in my employees - this is getting ridiculous."
The third person bound to the pillar had his own words for Lex, "You realise that this will definitely affect further discussions for any deals between Wayne Enterprises and LexCorps, right?"
Despite the weakening effects of the meteor rock that had altered the vines that held him, Clark rolled his eyes, "Both of you, this really isn't the time. Not when we're being held hostage by a metahuman botanist who thinks she's 'Mother Earth' incarnate."
"You'd be surprised how often this happens in Gotham," Bruce Wayne commented lightly.
"In case you haven't noticed, Wayne," Lex retorted, "This is Smallville, not Gotham."
"It's not that out of place here, either," Clark pointed out, "I guess you don't have any meteor rock-powered plant killer anywhere, Lex?"
"Nope, experiments with plants and meteor rock were Lionel's doing," Lex answered, adding, "And you remember how that turned out... Come to think of it, that was the first time I was held hostage here in the plant. Seems to be a habit now, doesn't it?"
"Hm," Clark pondered the thought a moment, "Except there's a problem; this time, I'm here with you instead of outside and able to come to the rescue."
Lex rolled his eyes now, "Clark, one of these days that 'Saving People Syndrome' of yours will get you in trouble."
"Who is to say that day hasn't already come?" A female voice interjected itself as the speaker entered the room, riding on a walking venus flytrap, "Along with nature's judgement. What do you 'boys' think of my newest babies?"
As the labcoat-and-little-else wearing redhead slid down from the 'neck' of her venus flytrap mount, Lex answered, "They're a little clingy for my tastes, actually."
Doctor Pamela Isley smirked at her prisoners, "I call them 'Penance Vines', they're special, slightly empathic. They sense regret and attack it. Some might call it cruel, but cruelty for cruelty. They are quite the good way to make humans suffer for their cruelty to nature, wouldn't you say?"
"What I'd like to say isn't fit for Clark's innocent ears," Lex retorted, "So I'll just tell you that you're nuts. completely and utterly insane, and I'm sure Belle Reve will have a nice room for you when this is all over."
"'Insane'?" Isley scoffed, "Humans are the ones who are insane! Insane to think that they have any right to move in, infest an area like insects and destroy plants that have been growing there for thousands of years - this world is so much older than humanity, the unmitigated gall it must take for humans to think as they do..."
Isley reached out with her hand and caressed Clark's cheek, "Lex Luthor's best friend, there's enough known about you to know how callous you are - farmers, always slaying acres upon acres of wheat and corn with no regard for their feelings, their lives..."
Pulling back her hand, Isley harshly slapped the very cheek she had been caressing only seconds before, "Disgusting!"
"My father was a farmer," Clark corrected, not having actually felt the slap, "I'm a reporter."
"Your life was built on the deaths of innocents!" Isley spat back, "It doesn't matter if your hand didn't wield the scythe that cut them down, you still benefited from it, that makes you just as guilty!"
"Let him go, Isley," Wayne said firmly, "It's Luthor and I you wanted."
"Perhaps I should," Isley sashayed over to the side of the pillar Wayne was bound against, "After all, you're even worse - how many plants died because of some new Wayne Enterprises facility being built? How many innocents are trapped in your steel-and-concrete edifaces cursed to serving as mere decorations for their existance? How many 'urban renewal' projects did you fund that murdered helpless greenery that was only seeking to reclaim what your precious humanity had abandoned?"
"How does it feel," Isley leaned in close to the Gotham businessman, "knowing that supporting your friend the District Attorney's precious new jail, you contributed to the extinction of a species?"
On the opposite side of the pillar, Lex sighed, "Are you finished?"
Isley pulled away from Wayne and hissed as she stepped back to where she could see all three of her prisoners, "Last words from a man whose family fortune was made by subjecting poor plants to harsh chemicals? Perhaps a dying confession from someone who has the most to regret of all?"
"Yeah," Lex looked around the room before his eyes settled on Isley, "There's one problem with that... I did back experimentation on meteor-infected and other metahumans; I've bribed, blackmailed, lied, stole, and murdered; I broke a friend's trust on so many occasions that I'm sure the only reason he comes anywhere near me is the whole 'keep your enemies closer' concept..."
Clark looked over his shoulder at Lex, wondering where the other man was going.
"I should be overflowing with regret," Lex conceded, his expression slowly turning to a triumphant smirk, "But I'm not."
Suddenly, Lex snapped the 'Penance Vines' and broke free as easily as Clark would a normal rope and with two steps had reached Isley while the other two former-prisoners were still shocked by their escape.
"Because I would give anything, do anything, to be where I am today with Kara by my side," Lex finished dropping Isley to the floor with an unexpected right cross before she could react. When the flytrap gave a screeching sound and turned its 'head' towards Lex, the bald man reached down and grabbed Isley by the wrist and gave it a pull, sending her sliding across the floor towards a nearby railing and the drop on the other side.
"Us or her," Lex sneered at the flytrap, "Your choice."
