Claire sat in the passenger seat of the white Rolls Royce as Lex drove, feeling strangely apprehensive at the thought of what on Earth he could be showing her that could prove anything. Moreover, she wondered why, if she felt so apprehensive, why she came - but the answer to that question was a simple one. It was Lex Luthor, and when it came to Lex Luthor, whether Claire could admit it or not, the possibility of her answer being 'yes' was always on the table. When it came to Lex Luthor, Claire could never truthfully say that the door was shut.

They pulled through the private back entrance to LexCorp's headquarters - the rear access point that led to the private, secured elevator which Claire knew led to all of the things Lex didn't want anyone to see. Wordlessly, she followed him into the elevator as he allowed the security devices to scan his handprint for authentication. There was a buzz and a brief set of clicks before a steel panel on the elevator wall slide back to reveal an additional row of buttons. Lex reached over to hit a black button labeled Sub-Level 4.

Sub-Four. Claire recalled when headquarters had been broken into, this was the level he had said mattered the most. There was something here - something big.

Claire found her hands growing clammy as the elevator smoothly, slowly descended, reaching a stop after what genuinely felt like hours, even if it was really on a matter of seconds. Lex shot her a brief smirk before the elevator doors slide open, revealing a single hallway that led to a large steel door. He walked ahead of Claire and again used his palm on a scanner, leading another panel on the wall to slide back and reveal a keypad. Lex punched in a long string of digits, and after a brief pause and the sound of pistons pumping, the steel door slide back to reveal yet another dark room.

"After you," Lex said with a grand gesture into the darkness. Hesitating, Claire gritted her teeth before striding into the darkness.

When the door closed behind her and she found herself submerged in total blackness, realizing that she was now stranded without escape on a sublevel of LexCorp headquarters, the possibility that maybe trusting Lex Luthor without question was a mistake first dawned on Claire. She felt Lex's hand close over hers and pull her forward a short distance as though he could see in the dark. Then, his hand suddenly left hers, leaving her standing in the darkness without an idea of what was around her or where she should go.

"Lex," Claire hissed into the blackness. "This isn't funny. Where are you taking me? Lex -"

"Down, down, down," Lex recited in a sing-song voice, and Claire tensed when she realized the sound of his voice was circling her. She flinched when she felt his hand graze over her back, where he knew her tattoo would be. "I wonder how many miles we've fallen by this time -"

"Lex," Claire interrupted, her hand reaching out in the darkness and unconsciously seeking his. "This isn't funny." Claire was frozen in place, unwilling to take a step for fear that she had just walked into a trap. When the sound of a throaty chuckle directly in front of her cut through the darkness, Claire's fears were not assuaged.

"I brought you here to show you something that I'm... quite proud of," Lex chuckled, and Claire felt the hairs on her arms stand on end as she realized that even if she could not see a thing, she could tell how close Lex was. "But before I show you, a question. How," he asked, and Claire flinched when she felt the tip of his finger tap the tip of her nose, "does one defeat a god?"

Now, Claire's entire body tensed - the discussion of defeating gods meant only one thing. Lex Luthor had not moved past his obsession with Superman now that he knew Clark Kent was still alive. He was showing her something that had to do with trying to be greater than Superman. She opened her mouth to make some feeble attempt at reasoning with him, only to be beaten to the punch by Lex, who began making a ticking sound with his tongue.

"Times up!" he said brightly. "The answer is -"

"To turn him human?"

"Wrong!" Lex chirped. "Tried that one already. Nice try, though. The correct answer is..."

Lex paused, and Claire felt his hand close around her again in the darkness, gently pulling her forward until her steps fell onto what felt like a metal grate - a platform that swayed ever so lightly under her feet.

"...to become a god yourself."

Claire couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter as Lex precisely timed the lights along the metal walkway they stood on coming on, but the laughter died from her eyes when she realized what she was looking at.

It looked something like a suit of armor or an exoskeleton housed in a large glass display case at the end of the platform. It was made of a strange, unfamiliar metal that Claire had never seen before, a metal that looked a deep shade of forest green when the light hit it. The core areas - the abdomen and chest, the inner legs over the femoral arteries, and a few other areas, were made of a different, opalescent material that looked almost royal purple in the light, clearly made to be flexible but reinforced for protection of the wearer's vulnerable places.

"You've been busy," Claire said feebly, unable to find anything else to say under present circumstances. How was a person supposed to respond, she wondered, to being shown something like this? Lex was a genius. He was good at what he did. There was no denying that Lex Luthor could meet and exceed nearly any intellectual challenge placed before him, but it was now placed in harsh perspective that he could - that he would and always had - been a rogue as far as what he used his genius for.

She cleared her throat and took a step backwards before looking over at Lex, the contours of his face illuminated by the lights lining the walkway they stood on. Her brow wrinkled as she regarded Lex, then finally took a few hesitant steps towards the suit suspended in the glass case at the end of the walkway. She stopped once she had finally stepped past Lex, but she could still feel his eyes on her. "Why are you showing me this?" Claire asked, glancing over the exosuit. "It's - it's amazing. Everything you do is amazing. But I don't understand why -"

"Because," Lex said, and judging from the sound of his voice and the sensation of his warm breath practically down her neck. "You're you. Because you're mine and I know you won't betray me. This," he said with a wide gesture of his arm towards the exosuit, "is how I win. I realize now, there will always be men in the sky. They always leave out part of the story of Icarus, you know."

Lex's movements and his breaths grew a little more erratic, almost as though he had been waiting to tell Claire all of these things. "His father told him not to fly too high - but we always forget that he told little Icarus not to fly too low," he said with a wag of his index finger. "And that was the answer, Claire. We don't fight men in the sky with our feet on the ground. We meet them in the clouds."

Claire froze, her eyes still trained intently forward. So this was it - this was Lex proving that he trusted her as much as he always did. This was the way the game was going to played. She gulped hard and drew her posture up straight. It was undeniable that whatever this was in front of her, whatever Lex's reasons were for creating it, it was impressive and amazing, and Claire expected nothing less from him. "I - I shouldn't be here," Claire said weakly.

"But you are."

Finally, Claire wheeled around to face Lex, her expression fierce and disbelieving as the weight of this revelation seemed to settle on her shoulders. "Why can't we just - just stop this?" Claire asked, shaking her head. "I'm not a part of this. Why can't you leave me alone?"

"You know exactly why, Claire. You tested me. You challenged me," he said matter-of-factly, striding past her with his hands in his pockets before again spinning on his heel to face her. "And I accepted your challenge. Now, it's your turn. You're here because you love me, and you know that I love you. Because you know we're stronger together."

After a long, nonplussed silence, Claire laughed in disbelief, throwing her arms out to her sides and looking up at the ceiling. "You're unbelievable," she said, taking a step back. "This is insane. All of this is insane. You're supposed to be happy when someone says they love you, but all I can think of is how crazy all of this is, Lex, and -"

"What would you have said?" Lex interrupted, his voice suddenly quiet and his eyes narrowed as he took another step closer to Claire. At this point, it was almost as though they were doing some kind of dance on the walkway. "Just before the Mother Box. You're too smart, Claire. I know you know."

Lex was, Claire hated to admit, correct. She knew and remembered what their conversation had been leading up to before Darkseid's arrival. She had even been, perhaps, mentally already rehearsing an answer. She knew completely what the question was and what her answer would have been.?

"What would I have said if you'd asked me to marry you?" Claire asked, affirming his suspicion that she had all this time been aware. "I would have said yes. I would have said yes, without a second of hesitation, and I would've never looked back."

But there was no joy in the revelation, and no finality. It was simply a fact that Claire was stating that had no bearing on their present circumstances, and Lex could her it in her voice.

"You would've been happy."

"Yeah," Claire said feebly. "Yeah, I think so."

"You can still be happy. With me," Lex said matter-of-factly, tucking his hands again into his pockets. "Your choice. Always has been, Claire. Or you can let them have control of your life. Your choice."

Choice. For whatever reason, the concept of having a choice had felt foreign to Claire for a long time. Everything for a good while now had been dictated by a sense of duty. She had to stay away from Lex. She had to learn how to use her powers. She had to make the right choice, every single time. For perhaps an entire year of her life now, as damaged as it had been, Lex had been the only one to present Claire with the possibility of choosing her own fate.

What if, Claire wondered, she didn't need to choose between being one of the good guys and one of the bad guys? What if it was, as she had said over and over again, bigger than that?

"I can't believe I'm even considering this," Claire murmured, shaking her head and looking down at the ground as she paced a few times back and forth across the narrow walkway.

"I don't think," Lex began, taking Claire by the crook of her arm and gently tugging her towards him, stopping her pacing momentum, "that there's been a moment in the past few months that you haven't considered it."

With another short tug, he had pulled her to himself and kissed her again, though he couldn't help a brief flinch of surprise when he found that there was no pause before she reciprocated. He'd expected to have to play cat and mouse a little longer. He hadn't genuinely expected her to choose him so quickly. He briefly pulled away and glanced over Claire's face with a scrutinizing expression.

Claire realized, then, that somewhere deep and dark, he had not expected her to choose him at all. Lex had grown so accustomed to having to negotiate for his allies, to have to play games in order to avoid being alone. There was a desperation and a loneliness in him that Claire connected with, and whether she admitted it or not, that she would give anything to keep him from feeling.

The realization was simultaneously unsettling and freeing. A smirk played at her lips as she cocked her head to one side.

"I'm in."

It wasn't until her lips were again soundly pressed against his that Lex realized that Claire - his Claire - was finally back.


A/N

Short chapter, but I know I've had a lot of questions about when this was going to happen as far as Lex and Claire getting back together. The next couple of chapters will focus on Lex, Claire, and company coming to terms with what it means for Claire to play both sides - a little fun before we deal with the story's bigger fish to fry. As always, I appreciate all of you, and the time you take to read, review, and interact with me, even if I am sometimes not the best at responding promptly. Until next time, cheers!