Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Supergirl is owned by CW, CBS, and DC COMICS respectively. I own nothing; I am just a humble fan.
Author's Note: Hello everyone, here we are with chapter three. Please read and review generously. I hope you will all enjoy it. I am starting a Lena Luthor Arc right now. She will have an interesting time up ahead. Stick along for the ride. Without further ado, let us begin.
To Guest BD and all the fans and readers and reviewers- This is the last time I am ever deleting any of my stories. I apologize for any of this, but this is the last time I delete and bring something back. Whether a story is trash, good, bad- it will be up.
Chapter Three- The AI: Hope
A month had passed since the Incident, the massive battle that tore apart National City. The government and media had been calling it that, since there was nothing else that they could call it. National City was not the same since that debacle. The world was on high alert, and things had become quite somber in nature. People did not smile as much, and the happy times had gotten smaller. People were looking for answers to their problems, as was she.
She was finally free of that accursed hospital. She was tired of being looked after by people, and spending a month in a hospital, listening to doctors, and eating boring, bland hospital food started to suck. She wanted out, and she got it. After signing her discharge papers, she knew exactly where she wanted to go, Big Belly Burger.
She was tired of chicken, rice, and broccoli. Eating the same thing for a month with fruit and juice had tired her more than her own wound. What she wanted at this moment was grease and meat and fat; things that made life worth living a little. Thankfully, the store was not destroyed in the carnage, and she desperately needed this.
She ordered greedily; an eight-ounce burger with all the fixings, a poutine, an order of onion rings, and a couple slices of cake. She took her order, as her driver took her to her home in the city; a small townhouse that she called home. Being a Luthor, and her father's only daughter granted her access to her own trust fund and money that she could use right away. As soon as she got through the door, she made herself comfortable and got to work with a singular purpose.
Grease and fat, not the most healthiest things in the world, but very delicious. She began to hungrily devour her food, finally happy at having the chance to enjoy something real and delicious, and not the same old crap she had to endure for a month.
After an hour of eating, she sighed in happiness as she patted her stomach. And then came reality, as it hit her in the face. While she was lying in the hospital for a month, she was not foolish. She kept an eye on how things were going in the real world, and how the world was trying to recover from all the damage of the Incident.
She had donated money quietly from her own trust fund to help with the relief efforts. The City would take time to heal, to heal from an event that no one would ever forget.
Now that she had some peace and quiet, she thought back at her hospital stay. After some of the damage had been healed, and many tests had been conducted and concluded; she received a horrible truth.
She was unable to ever carry a child to full term. If she ever did get pregnant, her womb would not be strong enough to keep the baby alive, and she would also endanger her own life in the process. There had been too much damage done to her reproductive organs, that even with time, the damage could not be healed.
Her stepmother had come to meet her in the hospital. It was for the first time that Lena saw compassion and pity in her eyes; something that she hated and something that she did not want. She hated being pitied. She was much stronger than this. It was shocking to her, as her mother came every day for an entire month to baby her stepdaughter. Lena swore she saw a slight tear in her eye that refused to fall, and anger in her eyes for what her daughter lost.
Lena sighed. It was the same argument again and again. Humans were good, and aliens and metahumans were bad. Lena saw the news, of metahumans committing crimes and being arrested and sent to God knows where. However, Lena was much wiser than people thought. She knew that the truth could possibly be something different. That while there were bad metahumans, there had to be good metahumans and aliens out there. They just needed to be found.
She had no idea if it were possible, but she would find a way to help these people. A place where they could call home, a haven of sorts. She had a purpose in life, and she would be damned if she let this chaos continue. Yes, she could not change the world all by herself, but she could make an effort to help.
As for her ability to have a child, well, that was something else. She had done all her crying in the hospital, and frankly she was done feeling sorry for herself and feeling pity as well for herself. In the hospital, she had time to think about procreation and children. That procreation was more than passing on DNA to the next children, it was also about passing on knowledge and love to the next generation.
In that blasted hospital, she dreamed of hope, of an AI, that would help her in accomplishing her dreams. She needed to help these individuals. She knew in her core that the government was doing horrible things to these individuals, and she shuddered to think what was truly going on behind the scenes. While her stepmother was jaded in what had happened to her, and thought that aliens and metahumans were a menace, she thought differently. Fear was not an excuse that humanity could use to hurt innocents. There was good and bad in the world; no one species or person held a monopoly on that.
Using her resources and fortune, she was able to purchase and create the equipment needed to make sure that things could work out properly. It was not easy, but while she was in the hospital, she had things delivered to her home and installed by those workers who were loyal to her, and not to anyone else. Even though she worked at LuthorCorp, a company started by her father and mother, she made sure to make her own connections and contacts.
She did not need her mother to ever know she made something like this. If her mother ever got an inkling, her AI could be taken from her and used for nefarious purposes. Besides an AI, technology needed to be made to allow innocents metahumans and aliens to stay hidden among the populace, and she had an idea of some sorts.
The First thing was The Incident. There was a blurry picture of the entire battle as it was all fast-paced and explosive. There was a picture of a blonde man covered in golden flames as he was cradling and mourning a black-haired woman. She needed to know more about this man, and what he was doing on this planet. Right or Wrong, he had a part in all of this. However, if she needed to protect him, then she needed to protect him. She had a feeling that there was more to him than meets the eye.
And then, there was that blonde-haired woman. Her savior who saved her life. She had no idea still how to feel about her. She saved her from dying, but in the end, she lost her ability to have a child. It was a steep price to pay to keep her own life, but it was a price that she was willing to pay, and she did. She hoped that one day she could meet the woman and have a face to face with her; she wanted to know where she came from and who she really was. Lena could tell that the woman who saved her was a force to be reckoned with.
And then, there was her birth mother. All she could do was just stand there and hold her hand as she expired. She hated the feeling of being so powerless. She blamed herself for her mother's death. If she never insisted on meeting her mother, if she just never insisted on her coming to the city; maybe her mother would still be alive to this day.
She felt her body shake, as she wanted to sob and scream, and just curl up in a ball and cry. She calmed herself and reached for her bottle of medication in her pocket and gulped down two pills to stabilize her heartrate and keep her calm. Her mother was never coming back, and she was stuck with Lillian Luthor as a mother now. Perhaps, she needed to move forward and accept that things are the way they are.
She was not ready to say goodbye and attend a funeral, but somethings had to be done. She was shaken out of her musings when she received a call on her phone. It was the funeral director who gently told her that she could come later today to speak her peace, as she was being buried today. The director had apologized for her loss. She thanked him and decided to go.
She heard a knock on the door and got up to see workers from LuthorCorp who came with the supplies and materials she requested. This was a project that was off the books and needed sensitive handling. The workers quietly brought in the materials and placed it where it needed to be in the basement and gave their condolences before leaving.
After the Incident, LuthorCorp had spent quite a bit of funds to help National City get back on its feet. This resulted in many workers being out of jobs, and even laid off due to cost-cutting and such and such.
Lena refused to allow something like this to happen. Using her own funds, she had managed to get these workers their jobs back and threatened war with the company and Lillian to make sure the workers kept their livelihoods. They had families and they needed their jobs. Lena did not know it, but she had earned real loyalty that day. All these workers whose jobs she saved chose to be loyal to her and would keep her secrets.
Lena placed her head in her hands and sighed as she walked into the bathroom and took a shower to wipe off the stink of that blasted hospital.
After putting on her clothes, she called her driver and decided to go bury her mother in peace. The driver watched from a respectable distance as he saw his boss cry gentle tears. Lena thanked her mother for always being there for her and being the best mother that she could be, and that she would never forget all the things that she did for her.
After she said her peace, she went inside the car, as the driver dropped her home and admired for her resolve and strength. Tonight, she would rest and mourn. Tomorrow, she would start a new chapter. It was time to strengthen her resolve and be the woman she was meant to be.
XXXXXX
"Arrgh, I…, I cannot get it right."
Lena threw a small table to the ground as she yelled in frustration. The making of the AI seemed much harder than she thought. Six months had passed since she started on her attempts in her basement laboratory to no avail.
The prototype AI's were missing something, something that she did not know what. They were too robotic, too cold, some were even shutting down and breaking down.
She calmed herself as she took her medication and relaxed. She did not need her problems to get any worse than they were. After calming herself down, she worked again with a fresher perspective.
In these moments she remembered her childhood, how her mother took her to the lake as they enjoyed the silence and serenity of those peaceful moments. She missed how innocent her childhood was, and those tender moments she shared with her mother were some of the highest and happiest moments of her life.
Some days, she wished she never was part of the Luthor Clan. She may not have all this money or opportunities, but maybe she would have been happier if Lionel Luthor did not discover her. Maybe, she never would have come to National City and her mother would still be alive. Alas, it was what it was. She could not hold on to the Ghosts of the past, she needed to move forward for her own sanity and peace.
That's when it hit her. Perhaps, the AI did not need to be business-like. Perhaps, it needed to be playful, kind, innocent, full of life and gentle. That is when it her. It needed to be like a child. Perhaps, modeled after herself, from her own childhood, minus the certain sad bits.
And so, with renewed optimism, she tried again. She mapped out a 3D model of her brain and created a clone-like AI version of herself, a clone of sorts. This clone would have a much happier life than she did and would not have the sting of the painful parts of her childhood. She decided to rest a little to recharge her batteries.
She had no idea how much time had passed, as she was woken up by a gentle hand. And there in front of her, Hope was born.
The AI was right in front of her; an innocent child covered in white clothing, which gave her an angelic appearance. She had black hair and piercing green eyes, as she looked at her "sister" with a smile. Yep, she had done it. An AI in the shape of her younger self.
"Hi, sister." The AI spoke to her so gently and kindly.
In such a long time, Lena shed happy tears, as the AI nodded at her. Perhaps, step 1 had now been complete. Perhaps now, she was close to her goal.
Chapter End
Well everyone, this is the chapter. Please read and review generously. I hope you all enjoy it. This is the start of Lena Luthor's Arc of chapters. Possibly five or seven chapters in total, and they will vary in length. I apologize if this chapter is short, but the next one will be longer.
I want to thank Time Paradox for all his help in crafting the story; he has been a tremendous source of information and inspiration.
Stay safe everyone and see you in the next chapter.