Chapter 49: The People vs. Lex Luthor
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
18 months ago
Lex Luthor sat in his cell and watched television. Pretty much all the news channel only knew one topic, one that interested him tremendously as well. Superboy! The son of Superwoman! The alien had an offspring, one that apparently shared all of her tremendous powers. The world was ecstatic, celebrating the debut of the teenage superhero.
Lex, on the other hand, was certainly not celebrating.
It all made sense now, he guessed. Why Superwoman had gone to such lengths to destroy him. Why she had stepped up her efforts against him. Why she had availed herself of the help of that masked vigilante from Gotham and that other alien, Wonder Woman (whom Lex was certain was yet another member of that same alien species Superwoman hailed from. Greek myths, ha!)
In a strange sort of way, it was vindicating. Superwoman had wanted him out of the way before introducing her spawn to the world. It showed him that she considered him a danger to her agenda. It showed him that he was on the right track. She feared him. Which was a satisfying feeling, certainly, but couldn't entirely banish the rage and embarrassment he felt.
Sitting in a jail cell for weeks on end had certainly accomplished one thing: it had given him time for self-reflection. It had led him to a rather sobering epiphany, namely that he had gotten complacent. For years upon years everything had always gone his way, everything had always worked out as he had intended it to, and it had made him sloppy. The idea to trap Superwoman had been a good one in theory, yes, but he should never have gone there in person and he most definitely should have run some sort of trial first.
He had mused on why the Lexonite hadn't worked for weeks and weeks. The laboratory experiments had been conclusive, it should have worked. Which really just left two alternatives: one, Superwoman had found some way to shield herself from its effects, or two, someone had somehow managed to switch out the Lexonite with a harmless replica. The Batman certainly seemed capable of the latter, while Superwoman certainly seemed smart enough for the former.
Either way, he had quite clearly lost this battle. Yet it was just a battle, not the war. The war had only just begun.
He had been denied bail, called a flight risk. Well, he certainly WOULD have left the country had he been able to, so he could hardly blame the judge for that. Sadly being stuck in jail left him without quite a few of his less-than-legal resources, as everything he did and said in here was tightly monitored. Being cut off from most of his funds meant he couldn't bribe people to the extent he would have wanted to and the number of loyal employees on the outside had dropped drastically. No one wanted to be seen backing someone who was going down.
Well, they would all learn. It would take time. He probably wouldn't be able to avoid jail, given the evidence, but that didn't matter. He had once been a penniless kid from Suicide Slum in Metropolis and had built an empire from nothing. He could do it again. He was smarter than just about everyone else on Earth (careful, he reminded himself, hubris is part of what led to your imprisonment) and there were always means.
For now, he would let the Superwoman think he was out of the picture; that she had won. He would be back and he would get even, there was no doubt about that.
His musings were interrupted by the guard telling him that he had a visitor. Curious as to who it could be, he found himself smiling when he saw the man entering the visitor's room.
"Hello, Paul," he greeted his former business partner, one of the few who had emerged from a business deal with Lex Luthor both alive and richer than before. "What brings you to my humble abode?"
Paul Westfield was an utterly unscrupulous piece of work, even from Lex' point of view. The old saying about being willing to sell one's own mother would certainly apply to him. Lex knew that Paul was every bit as obsessed about Superwoman as he himself was (yes, he did recognize it as a form of obsession), though in a different manner.
Paul had approached him about Cadmus years ago, but Lex had ultimately declined involvement. The technology simply wasn't there yet, the possible returns too nebulous when compared to the very high risks. Not that Lex had anything against doing illegal and unethical things, far from it, but there needed to be a concrete gain from it, not a vague idea of somehow creating super-powered minions at some point in the distant future.
"I heard you currently have some time on your hand, Lex," Paul replied, giving him a superior smile. Well, it was to be expected. If one fell from the heights Lex had fallen from, a lot of people were just bound to be smug about it, even those that were almost something like friends. Lex had smiled that exact smile more than once, after all.
"And what if I have?" he asked. "Did you bring me some captivating reading material?"
Paul put the leather briefcase on the table, flipping it open. The guards would certainly have checked it for anything dangerous and conspicuous first, so it was hardly surprising that it contained nothing but papers. Right on top, though, was something that immediately caught Lex' interest. A set of blueprints.
"Dabney Donovan had some brain storms recently," Paul said, shrugging. "I was hoping you'd give me your expert opinion on whether he came up with something viable."
Lex had never met Dabney Donovan in person, but he had heard of him. A crackpot, certainly, but a genius one. Probably the world's leading expert when it came to genetic modifications. Still, what Lex was looking at right now wasn't the work of a crackpot. And he doubted it was really the work of Danbey Donovan, either, no matter what Paul said.
Studying the schematics for a cloning cylinder at least 50 years ahead of anything Earth science should be capable of producing at this point, Lex couldn't help but smile.
"This looks promising," he said. "You got a pen?"
12 months ago
"We, the people, find Alexander Joseph Luthor guilty on all charges!"
There was a lot of rumbling from the peanut gallery, but Lex paid it no mind. After the way the trial had gone, he had expected nothing less. Oh, not because he actually believed that Superwoman had somehow influenced the jurors or anything, that had just been for the press. No, the investigators had been despicably thorough, no doubt aided by the Batman, and the outcome hadn't really been in doubt for quite some time.
That he had put out a hit on the Batman, one that had failed and been traced back to him, hadn't exactly helped things, either. Not one of his better ideas, he had to admit. He was working on his anger management, too.
Anyway, it didn't really matter at this point. While he didn't have the means to buy himself free currently, he had spent what little money he did have access to wisely. He knew which prison he would end up in and he had prepared things accordingly. Quite a few employees of said prison would be willing to turn a blind eye now and then for proper compensation. He would have access to far more means of communication than your average inmate would. Several long-time inmates of the more brutal kind had already been paid very well and would ensure that he came to no harm.
It wasn't an ideal situation by any means, but he would deal with it. For now, he would simply go to prison and be a model prisoner until everyone had forgotten about him. He would bide his time. There were numerous things he could work on, even as being in prison gave him a perfect alibi.
He couldn't wait for the newest updates from Cadmus, for example, given the recent success. A custom-made Superwoman, ready to be sold to the highest bidder, was Paul Westfield's dream come true. Of course Lex' dreams were a tiny bit different and much grander in scope. The last thing he wanted was more super-powered people running around, after all. But it was a good proof of concept and if it worked, well, then it was but one more step to creating super powers in normal humans. Well, not 'normal' humans as such, of course. Just one human, who was anything but normal.
Earth deserved a human champion with super powers, not some alien who set herself up as a benevolent goddess and kept bringing more and more of her ilk to HIS planet. Lex Luthor was the only man worthy of that kind of power and he would have it, sooner or later. Then they would all pay.
Some of the reporters wondered why Lex Luthor was smiling even as he received a sentence that would see him in jail for decades. Not that he cared what they thought in the least.
9 months ago
There were days when Lex Luthor wondered whether the universe was comprised entirely of idiots. Or maybe there was some underlying force to the universe that somehow elevated idiots to positions of power automatically, while the genius few had to work for it. It was the only explanation he could currently come up with.
He had, of course, kept a close eye on Superwoman during his entire time in prison. It wasn't hard, she was in the news all the time. He also still had a sizeable network on the outside. Nowhere near as extensive or capable as before, but still. So he kept apprised about her activities and, more importantly, about her allies. Who seemed to be growing in number all the time, a worrying development all in itself.
He had quickly dismissed the man in the red and white rocket suit, just a normal human availing himself of technology, advanced though it may be. The green-skinned so-called Martian was clearly yet another member of Superwoman's alien race, simply disguised somehow. The vigilante called Green Arrow was barely worth any consideration at all, really.
And then there was the so-called Green Lantern, who currently challenged Lex Luthor's understanding of the universe.
Oh, it wasn't the fact that he utilized a clearly alien weapon of tremendous capabilities. It might appear like magic to the rabble, but Lex had long ago decided that any technology that was distinguishable from magic (by the common idiot, at least) was insufficiently advanced. Oh, how he would love to get his hand on that ring, which could apparently create solid light constructs of anything its wielder could imagine. Lex could imagine quite a bit.
No, what really had him going was the man who currently wielded the ring. A man who could apparently not even be bothered to hide his identity from the public, seeing as he announced his name wherever he went. Guy Gardner. Getting a background on him had been disgustingly easy. A long list of minor criminal offences as a juvenile, but after his 18th birthday he had apparently gone straight, worked to pay for college, played football, and got his degree in education. Going by his record, Gardner sounded like a painfully normal man, certainly not someone possessing the sort of qualification necessary to wield an immensely powerful weapon of mass destruction.
Where exactly the weapon had come from was a mystery. It was clearly of alien origin, that much was easily apparent. Gardner had been overheard talking about an entire corpse of Green Lanterns, who apparently patrolled space. If that was true, then what kind of selection process could possibly bestow such a powerful tool upon someone who, by all accounts, was an abrasive idiot? What alien mind smart enough to create such a wondrous device would then give it to primitives like Gardner? It boggled the mind.
One thing was for certain: should there ever be a need to take out Superwoman's allies (and that day would probably come sooner or later), Gardner would be taken care of first. Not like it would be hard to find him, after all. And if that wonderful ring needed a new wielder then, well, Lex certainly had someone far more qualified in mind. His track record with green rings wasn't the best, granted, but he would certainly think of better things to do with such a tool than a stupid former football player.
2 months ago
Lex Luthor was really of two minds about the news he had just received. On the one hand, he was furious. So much effort had gone into Project Cadmus. Granted, mostly intellectual effort on his part, but still, it was the principle of the thing. The successful creation of a human-alien hybrid that displayed nearly all of Superwoman's wondrous abilities was a glorious achievement, which would never have been possible without his contribution (false modesty was not something he engaged in, ever). All the time he had invested into helping Westfield and Donovan perfect the technology that had somehow fallen into their laps had been vindicated by this success. And Donovan could protest all he wanted, but Lex knew that it hadn't been him who had come up with that cloning cylinder. He was still trying to figure out who had.
Anyway, the subject had performed above and beyond anyone's expectations... and then she had escaped. It caused Lex almost physical pain to think about it. He knew most people were stupid, but really, how hard could it be to understand that a girl with superhuman powers required security precautions befitting her strength levels? If one's intent was to create a human with the strength to tear metal doors apart like confetti, shouldn't one have also put some thought into how to contain said specimen once successful? Was he really the only smart person on planet Earth? He was working on his hubris, he really was, but situations like this made it really, really hard.
Well, as disappointing and infuriating as the entire thing was, there was one upside to it. A small one, granted, but still.
The superior, smug smile that Paul Westfield had sported every single time he came to visit Lex in prison was entirely gone.
"Any advice on how to handle this situation, Lex?" Paul finally asked.
"Sure," Lex replied, leaning forward and allowing a smug smile of his own to show. "Run!"
"What?"
"Your subject escaped, Paul. A teenage girl with super powers. Sooner or later she will attract the notice of Superwoman and her ilk and then Cadmus' days are numbered. Your days are numbered, Paul! So, run!"
Paul Westfield, seeming entirely out of sorts, quickly vacated the visitor's area of the prison, all but running already. Lex Luthor, despite the unfortunate setback to his own plans, just laid back in his chair and laughed. He had had worse days.
The Present
Lex Luthor awoke in an unfamiliar place, feeling the kind of sluggishness associated either with alcohol or drugs. And since prison inmates didn't usually get much of a chance to drink alcohol, well… it certainly looked like he wasn't in prison anymore.
The surroundings were, to put it simple, alien. Much of the room he was currently in seemed to be comprised of some form of crystal. Before he could take a closer look, though, a part of the crystal wall revealed itself to be some kind of monitor. An image appeared, comprised of three circles arranged in a V-shape.
"Greetings, Lex Luthor," a cold, emotionless voice said. "My name is Brainiac. I think we share a common interest."
End Chapter 49
Author's Note: I had originally planned a different chapter here with the Justice League on an outer space adventure, but decided to push that back a bit because Lex really needed to rear his bald head again. And, of course, the groundworks for the Brainiac-Luthor-Team needs to be laid, too. Those two had so many great team-ups in the Silver Age, never mind their brilliant team-up in the Justice League cartoon series. Hope you like it. Adventures in outer space coming up in the next chapter (aka our landmark, double-sized 50th Issue of the Adventures of a Super Family! Up, up, and away!).
