Author's Note: If you've made it this far, I commend you. Not that I don't want people to read, it's just a lot of information in a short amount of time. If I had the time to really delve into this story, there would have been a lot more to it and it probably would have been a lot longer. With that said, I hope you enjoy this last chapter to the story. There is some closure on Lillian Luthor, and some additional information on the healing cut of last chapter. The idea was semi-inspired by a quest in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. See end notes for more.
Happy reading. :D
Chapter 7 - Who is Lena Luthor?
After several months, they found every single member of the order, including all of the zealots and ended their reign. The majority of them chose death, but a couple chose life and the hidden ones were able to provide them with a life outside of The Order. A life filled with love, rather than constant torment.
The last remaining members were Lillian and Lex Luthor. They were the leaders of the Order, and Lena had decided to leave them to the end. Since power was so important to Lillian, Lena wanted to see what was left of the woman after losing everything. Her entire reign was built on having power, and controlling those around her, so what would be left of the Queen without it?
That was what Lena wanted to know, and see for herself.
Within two months of them finding and killing members of he order, the Luthor Kingdom had been abandoned. No one wanted to protect a Queen that had ordered so many innocent people to their death. Lillian and Lex went into hiding. They had to if they wanted to live.
It took some time, but eventually they were able to determine that Lillian had been seen in a cave on the outskirts of a small fishing village, so Kara and Lena set out for that cave.
They wanted to end this, and that meant confronting the one person that caused everything. Lena finally knew the truth about the order, but she wanted to understand why Lillian chose not to tell her. Lillian had said power, but Lena was sure there was more to it than that. The only person that could explain it was Lillian, and she wanted the truth.
She would get it one way or another.
Since they overthrew Fulke, Lena had customized her armour to fit her overall abilities. The gold filigree was a bit much, so she replaced it with a deep forest green color, over the existing black armour. She had built a custom bow for Kara, and had taught a few members of the brotherhood on how to create this type of bow for anyone else that wanted it.
She hadn't yet made up her mind if she would join the brotherhood or not. Her biological mother Patty had joined the brotherhood, and so a part of her wanted to join for that reason, but was that enough of a reason… She wasn't sure.
Lena wanted it to be her choice to join, not because of some obligation that her mother had.
It didn't take long for them to locate the cave that they were directed to, and once they did they entered it with their weapons in hand. They weren't sure what kinds of defenses the Luthors might have and wanted to be ready for anything.
Once in the cave, they found Lillian holding a bow with an arrow nocked, ready to let the arrow fly into the person entering the cave unannounced.
As they rounded the corner, the arrow let go, it bounced off the shield Kara held up as they came in.
Lillian picked up another arrow and was about to nock it when she recognized one of them, "Lena?"
"Hello Mother," Lena answered dryly.
"Oh thank god, have you finally come to your senses dear? You can help me rebuild the order, and rid this world of the hidden..." Lillian stopped speaking as the other person dropped the shield, revealing one of the hidden ones she'd had so many problems with in the past. "You…"
"Didn't expect that, did you?" Kara asked, wanting to see what kind of reaction she could get from the former Queen.
"Actually, if anyone had a hand in trying to get rid of the order, it only made sense for it to be my daughter," Lillian answered, trying to hide the fact that she was surprised that they had found her. "I am sure you helped some."
"That's enough Mother, I have spent the last months hunting down your people, just so I could come here and face you. Before we get to your ruling, I want to know why?" Lena asked. "I want to understand why you had my biological mother killed, and why you hated me so much?" She added, clarifying her question. "Before you say you had nothing to do with my mother's death, I know you did. There was nothing that went on in this region that you didn't know about."
Lillian smirked, "You are right about that. I did have my hand in everything. That was up until the two of you meddled into things you did not understand."
"Help me to understand then," Lena pushed, as she wanted to understand.
"Unfortunately Lena, you have never been one to enjoy the fruits of power that one can hold," Lillian added, feeling some of that power she once had come back to her. She had a way to hold it over Lena, and she wasn't going to let this moment go too soon. "I may be living in a cave, because the two of you have dismantled my kingdom, but I still have more power over you than you can imagine."
"You're standing here in a cave, with a bow and arrow, how do you have any power over Lena?" Kara interjected, wanting to understand what Lillian was going on about.
"Come now Kara, do you truly believe that I wouldn't keep certain pieces of information all to myself. Maybe the details of Lena's mother, how she died, even why she died," Lillian answered, her mouth moving up into a smirk.
"I know how she died, Fulke killed her," Lena said, remembering that moment like it was yesterday.
"True, she did kill your mother, but you don't know why or how, now do you," Lillian baited, tossing it in front of the two of them. She wanted to see just how far she could take this before her inevitable end. She didn't think she'd be making it out of this cave, so she wanted to play just one more mind game before she did.
"Fulke killed her, that's as much of the how that I want to know," Lena said, holding onto the hilt of her dagger just in case her mother tried anything.
Lillian dropped her bow, before she turned around to lean against a table she had brought into the cave, "Let me tell you a little story."
"We don't have time for your games," Lena interrupted, stopping Lillian from continuing.
"You are going to want to hear what I have to say," Lillian pointed out, knowing that Lena would be too interested in learning the truth.
Lena exhaled annoyed, "Fine."
"Years ago, before you came to live with our family, I had found out that my husband was cheating on me. This wasn't news to me, he had always had others on the side, but this one in particular, she was different. She wasn't from around here, so to speak," Lillian said vaguely. "First I had people track her movements, and what they found was odd. She wasn't like everyone else, she could do things others couldn't. She could survive things most others wouldn't. She piqued my interest. If she had a way to live forever, I wanted to know how."
Kara looked at Lillian confused, "Live forever? That's not possible."
"Oh sure it is. There have been people throughout the millennia that are able to live for centuries, I just never thought I'd find one," Lillian mentioned. "Your mother was one of these people, and when I had Fulke capture her, it only became more clear. Fulke tortured her for days, weeks, even months, and each time she'd survive it."
"Enough!" Lena pulled her dagger out holding it up to Lillian. "Get to the point mother."
"Fine, I'll leave out the gorey details," Lillian answered with a smile. "When you first joined our family it was because your father had learned that your mother had disappeared, but as time went on, you stayed so that we could learn from you."
"Learn from me how?" Lena wanted to understand.
"After Fulke figured out how to kill your mother," Lillian took her pointer finger and ran it across her neck from one side to the other, indicating that she had chopped off her head. "We wanted to know if it was genetic. Could this ability have been passed onto her daughter. So I had Fulke train you as you got older. As I pushed you away, she pulled you closer so that you would trust her. So that when she trained you, and pushed you, it didn't come across as anything."
"Are you saying all those times I dislocated my shoulder, or almost lost a limb from her sword training, it was you trying to figure out if I was like my mother?" Lena asked, as anger in her boiled up to the surface.
"To put it plainly, yes," Lillian answered without a shred of regret. "Unfortunately, you never showed any signs of immortality so I am afraid the gene did not pass on to you."
Lena knew differently now, as she'd been hurt over the course of the last several months and the injuries had healed at an exponential rate. Lillian didn't need to know that though. "This was all just a game to you, then." She made the realization as she looked upon the woman that had taken her in.
Lillian shrugged, "You could put it that way, but on some level, I did love you Lena, just maybe not in the way I should have."
Lena clenched her jaw, wanting so much to end this all right here and now, but she needed something else first. "Where is Lex?"
"Lex is dead," Lillian answered without any hesitation. "He was caught in one of our last hiding places, and was put to death."
"You are so heartless. You don't feel anything for anyone, do you?" Lena surmised after hearing Lillian brush off Lex's death like it was nothing.
"If it doesn't benefit me somehow, why should it matter?" Lillian pointed out. "One doesn't get to the position I was in by being soft."
Kara turned to Lena, "What do you want to do here?"
Lena looked to Kara, appreciating that she was going to let her decide the fate of the previous Queen, "You are banished from this land, do you hear me? You cannot return to England, and if you do, you will be killed on sight."
"So you do care for your mother do you?" Lillian smirked, holding back her surprise that Lena wasn't going to kill her.
"It has nothing to do with caring about you, if you died tomorrow, I wouldn't feel anything. You ruined so many lives, and I don't think you should be let off so easily. We are going to leave this cave, and if I find out that you come back to England, I will personally hunt you down and kill you," Lena answered clearly. "Goodbye mother," She said before she turned around and walked out of the cave.
Kara looked toward Lillian, "What she said," before she turned around and followed Lena out of the cave.
Lena had walked away from the cave and was standing near the edge of a cliff looking out at the ocean, the sun starting to go down.
Kara followed her over to the cliff's edge, "I know I've said this a lot, but if you need anything, I'm here."
Lena nodded, "Thank you, I just need a moment."
"Then we will stand here until you are ready to go," Kara said, looking out to the water in the distance.
XXXXXXX
A few weeks later, Lena and Kara decided to check out the vault that Lena's mother had built for her. They stood in front of the vault door in Hamtunscire. Eliza was nice enough to direct them to where the door was. After a moment, she took her necklace and placed it into the open slot, and the door did the rest. It hissed, and screeched, as pieces of the door moved from the point of the key, it twisted around until the door rolled out of the way.
"What the…" Kara didn't know what she was looking at. She'd never seen such technology before.
She wasn't sure what she was walking into.
They stepped into the open doorway, and it was like the room sensed them as torches lit up lighting the room. It wasn't a very big room, just a giant square. The left wall was covered in different types of weapons, and armor, some that neither Lena nor Kara had seen before. The right side of the room was covered in books and scrolls. At the farside, from the entrance, there was a podium, with a handprint on it.
Kara saw it first, she walked over and placed her hand in the print, but nothing happened. "Hey Lena, come take a look at this."
Lena looked away from the books toward where Kara was directing her, "What is that?" She looked at it curiously, before she placed her hand on it.
A light illuminated the room, blinding them for a second. As the light dimmed, it revealed a hologram of a woman.
"Mom…" Lena said barely above a whisper.
"Lena… My dear daughter." The hologram spoke.
It was so life-like, so much so that Lena thought she could touch it. She stepped close, but as she suspected, her mother wasn't really there. She was created from light shining from the ceiling.
"I don't understand…" Lena didn't know how to process what she was seeing.
"Lena, you are my greatest achievement. I just hope that when you see this, that I'm standing there next to you," The hologram looked off to the side of Lena. "I hope that when you see this, you know everything that I'm about to say to you. Who I am, how I got here and why I chose to come to this timeline. And I hope that I've taught you everything I know. From the way I fight, to the way I hide in the shadows, I hope you've become one of the greatest Assassin's this world has ever known."
"An assassin…" Kara whispered, liking the name instead of Hidden One.
"In the more likely chance that I am no longer there, that you are here looking at this hologram alone, I am here to give you all of the answers you seek," The hologram looked toward Lena, as if she was staring at her directly.
Lena looked at Kara for only a moment before they looked back at the hologram that was once her mother.
"My people have been known by many names over thousands of years, but originally we were known as the Isu, a technologically advanced people that created the human race several millennia ago. While most of my people have since passed, I and a few others live among the human race in secret. We were caught in an experiment that left us immortal, unable to die. That is unless someone detaches our heads from our bodies. This has happened a couple times, but still we live on. We live on, to help further the human race," The hologram explained.
"The Isu?" Lena turned to look at Kara, who just shrugged.
"I chose to make myself known during this time because I knew I could push the hidden ones to truly accept who they were. To better understand themselves in their fight against the order. The hidden ones needed to continue their fight with the order, but in secret. For if they were destroyed, there would be no hope for the future," The hologram continued to explain. "What I did not expect was to fall in love, let alone have a child. I did not know that was even possible with my age, but it happened. Nine months later, you were born." The hologram looked in the direction of Lena, wanting her to know just how much she meant to her.
Lena didn't know how to feel about any of this. What did it mean for her? Was she also a part of this civilization?
"What does this mean for you? I have no idea. You are only half Isu, so I have no way of knowing if you will live forever or not. There is a chance that you will live a normal life, or maybe you will get to a certain age and stop aging, or you will age very slowly. I have no way of knowing which it will be, and if I am there now, I hope that I am able to give you an answer. Otherwise, I am sorry, I do not have a better answer for you. You are only four, at the time of this projection, so it is unclear if you will develop my ability or not. From my experience, one does not stop healing until they are much older, so it could be later on in life, or not at all for you. For some, the wounds heal almost instantly, while for others it can take several minutes depending on the wound." The hologram tried to explain. "If I were to cut myself right now, it would probably heal by the time this projection was over. But I suspect that you have already experienced this phenomenon by now."
Lena touched her cheek remembering what happened months ago in Fulke's lair. The cut that had disappeared within several minutes. In normal circumstances, it would have taken days to heal.
"My dearest Lena, I built this vault for you. It has all of the knowledge of who the Isu were, the technologies that exist in the world, and weapons and armour built using that knowledge. I trust this vault to you, and I hope you can find some comfort in knowing where you came from. While I suspect that you are viewing this alone, just know that I will always be with you. When the rain comes from the heavens, or when the wind blows through the trees. I may not be there in person, but I will be with you from this point on. I hope to see you again," The hologram stared into Lena's soul one more time, before disappearing.
Lena stood in place, confused and shocked by everything she was just told. Her mother was part of an ancient society, and because of that she may live forever. She thought she'd find some trinkets, some books, maybe a drawing, she never expected she'd find all of this.
"How do you feel?" Kara asked, not really sure what to say at this moment.
Lena shrugged, "I have no idea. How would you feel if you learned you might live forever?"
Kara shook her head, "I have no idea, but it does explain what happened in Fulke's lair."
"It does," Lena agreed. "The one thing this did solidify for me though was my path."
Kara looked at Lena curious, "What do you mean?"
"She wanted me to be an assassin, a hidden one. I have to uphold that legacy, and continue in her footsteps," Lena answered, as she felt a sudden sense of duty. For the first time since the truth came out, she felt like she had a purpose. She knew what she was here to do. She wanted to do what her mother tried to do.
She would make the world a better place. If that meant making this time period safe, or thousands of years into the future, she would do it. She had to do it.
That was her legacy. Her truth. It might have taken her a while to learn who she was, but it was about the journey. Her journey to the truth.
"If that is your decision, then I will be there by your side, Lena, for as long as I can" Kara said, looking into emerald green eyes.
Lena nodded, wrapping her arms around Kara's neck, "I would love that," She answered, before she leaned in connecting their lips.
They went down into history as one of the best duos to grace this Earth, working for the Hidden Ones in the shadows to defeat those that tried to cause the world harm. Lena helped to build up the bureau with her technology, she found all information she could on the Isu to further understand her heritage, but most of all, she did this all with Kara by her side.
While their story was a rocky one, if one thing can be learned from all of this, it isn't how you were raised that makes you who you are, it's how you hold yourself after all of it.
THE END
End Notes: YAY! You finished the story. Congratulations. I would appreciate it if you left a review.
Now... Usually I don't like writing in end notes that I have an idea for a sequel because if it doesn't get posted, then I feel bad, but when I came up with the overall end concept of this story, it was because I actively want to write the sequel. Using the idea that Lena is going to live for centuries, my idea is to write a sequel set within current Supergirl using the Assassin's/Templar storyline on top. Think about this: Every couple hundred years, your soulmate is reborn, so Lena falls in love with Kara over centuries of time. So a couple hundred years pass by and Lena hasn't found another Kara, when she finds out there is a hero in National City that is going by the name Supergirl, but Lena recognizes the face, and immediately knows who it is. Does that sound interesting?
