A/N - I'm so sorry that it's been so long! A pandemic, job and online school have taken the better part of these past few years, but hopefully I'll get to updating this more consistently. Thank you for those patiently waiting for updates!
"What did you do with Evan?"
"He's fine. I'm more concerned about you right now."
"Let him go."
"Too late for that. Listen, we cut a deal in your apartment already. Besides, your cousin's already giving us valuable information."
"What did you do to him?" Cal fought his restraints. While Kryptonite didn't have as much of an effect on him and Alex as it did with Kara since they were half human, Lex had still used enough to weaken him and his powers.
"Just a couple of tests. We'll let him go eventually, once we're ready to move you. But aside from all the information he's giving us, he's collateral. You pull anything funny and he dies."
"What are you going to do? Brainwash him like you tried to do with my aunt? Trying to get my brother and mothers on your side too?"
"No, of course not." Lex walked over to the other side of the dark room. "If I've learned anything from your grandmother's mistakes it's that brainwashing never works. No, we're going to do something better. Something far more interesting. We're going to make you even better." He pulled a vial out from his pocket. "This is a little lab experiment I've been working on. Hellgrammite's blood, mixed with some other things. We don't need to go through specifics right now."
"So you're going to weaken me until I can't use my powers anymore?"
"We just used it on your cousin, and we're seeing what it does to him, among other things we'll do. Who knows, maybe it'll give him superpowers like you. We've also found out that just like Kryptonite, this blood weakens Kryptonians. I've got a fifty-fifty chance it'll weaken you. It could even kill you. Or maybe it'll do something completely out of the blue. That would be interesting, wouldn't it?"
Calvin glared at Lex as he waved the vile around his face. "The four of them stopped Lillian years ago. What makes you so sure they won't try to stop you again?"
"I have a plan that will keep them busy."
"What, you're just going to kill them all off until you get your say?"
"Kill them? No. We'll start with Evan and see where my experiment goes. Break each of you kids down one by one, see what happens with each of you, and maybe you'll all even join my cause."
"We're never going to listen to you. You're never going to get all of us."
Lex knelt down to Cal's face before slapping him hard. "Listen kid, I'm Lex Luthor. I've defeated your super cousins and your mother before. And your other mother? She's a Luthor. You and Alex are both Luthors. We're meant to take on this world together."
Lex stood up and walked over to the other side of the room. "I'm not going to kill Evan, but wouldn't it be fun to tell your family that I did? It's time I reveal myself to them anyway, and show them I have you. Now enough with the questions."
Cal spit the blood out of his mouth. "And how do you expect them to listen to that? I'll just tell them the truth."
"You tell them that, and he'll actually die."
"So Evan and Cal didn't have trackers to begin with since they didn't work at the DEO. And their phones were at their house, right?"
"Right."
Winn was typing as Lena and Alex paced around. "And we still don't know for a fact if it's Lex." J'onn looked on to see what Winn was trying to figure out.
"Though I have a feeling it is." Jamie walked into the control room with a bag in her hand. Maggie and Kara were behind her as she laid it out on the table.
"When we looked at the heat mark again this came up. I couldn't make anything of it but Alex saw something in it." Maggie spoke as Alex walked over to the table to take the bag. She walked over to the lab to analyze it.
The older Alex motioned for Lena to look into the microscope. "Do you recognize this?" There were microscopic dots of red, which the others would have thought were just that.
"Those are red sun particles."
"Lex."
"So it's confirmed now. All we have to do is find out where he is." Winn stood in the corner of the doorway.
The group heard distortion coming from the control room.
"Hello, DEO."
"Winn, get tracking on that right now." Alex ran over to the center to see Lex taking over the monitors.
"I think you lost something. Or someone. Two actually. Should have been careful. And I know my sister is listening to this too."
"You son of a bitch."
"That's no way to talk to your brother, Lena. Especially in the presence of your son." Lex took a step back to reveal Cal in the shot.
"Cal!" Kara walked over to where Lena was.
"I have big plans for him."
"What did you do with Evan?" Jamie practically smashed the center panel.
"Oh, he wasn't needed, so I got rid of him."
The DEO went dead quiet. On the screen, Cal gave the camera a glare, something that caught Jamie's eyes. Kara, Little Alex and Lena were speechless while Maggie and Alex stared at Lex.
"Got rid of him how?" Jamie was now slowly breaking the computer.
"Do you really want to know the gritty details of how I killed your brother, Jamie?"
"You're lying."
"He's not." Cal looked like he was in pain. There was a green light emitting from behind him: Kryptonite. "He's not lying. I watched him die. I'm so sorry."
"Such a brave young man. I was only going to take him, but Evan volunteered to come for the ride. He didn't want Alex or Jamie to get hurt. If only he lived-"
"Tell me where he is."
"You don't want him. He's dead after all. You'll find me eventually. By that point though, your little Super boy may as well have grown up with me being the best influence there ever was on him."
Lex took a brief pause and looked over at Cal. "Look, I won't try to make any deals, but you'll hear from me soon enough. Until then, say bye-bye Cal!"
Cal glared back up at the camera, about to mouth something, before the screen went dark.
"What do you need right now?" J'onn immediately went over to Alex, who was still in shock about the discovery. Maggie was standing right next to her, while Jamie was still staring at the screen.
"I- I don't know."
"I don't believe him." Jamie walked over to Alex and Maggie. "There was something in Cal's eyes. Something that looked like he knew something that he couldn't say."
"Like Lex was making him keep a secret." Lena chimed in.
"What are you saying?" Alex wasn't listening, already grieving, but Maggie stared attentively at Jamie.
"He's not dead. I'm telling you guys, there was something in Cal's eyes. He knows something we don't."
The younger Alex stepped forward. "There's a certain look my brother does when he knows someone's not telling the truth. Lex wasn't. I saw it too, that look in Cal's eyes. Evan's not dead, we just have to find him."
Kara stared at the two while trying to comfort the older Alex. "Why don't you two go home, okay? We'll let you know if we see anything." She motioned for Maggie to come with her.
"Are you okay?"
"I believe what Jamie and Al are saying, but I can't be hopeful right now. What if Lex was telling the truth, Kara?"
"We have to hope. Look, Maggie, this whole family is based on hope. You and Alex, Lena and I, we got through to Cadmus before. We've faced Lex before. We're going to get through this. Stronger together, right?"
Maggie stared at Kara, trying to form the words to say.
"Just take her home for now. We're going to figure this out. You need to be there for her until we get this settled, okay?"
"Okay." Maggie gave one last look at Kara before Jamie nodded to her.
"Come on, let's go home. We're going to rest, okay?"
"I need to find our son."
"What you need to do right now is leave it to us. Mom, we're going to be fine." Jamie walked up to Alex and pulled her close. "We'll bring my brother back. I promise."
Alex held onto her daughter, though wouldn't meet Jamie's eye. Maggie gave Jamie a nod before walking Alex out. Jamie looked over to J'onn.
"So what now?"
"Well, we need to find Lex. Figure out where he's keeping both of them."
"Winn, did you find anything while he was on?"
"No. All of the signals are encrypted, I couldn't even get a trace."
"J, those red sun particles you found, any way to track them?"
"I don't know. Mom was the one to analyze them. Aunt Lena, can you do anything about it?"
"I'm trying to think of any places L-Corp may still own and have left behind. I have access to all of those records, but it can be hundreds of locations."
"That's too obvious anyway." Kara chimed in. "I mean, even if it was something you would have gotten some trace of anything."
"What about that bunker where that giant ship was?" Jamie and Alex looked over to Kara, who seemed to be shocked about the idea.
"No. We're not going there."
"But what if-"
"No."
Lena looked over at Kara as J'onn looked down. "When Alex first encountered your grandfather, the very first time we thought we took down Cadmus, that's where Alex got stuck on the ship. She was about to be shot to the other side of the galaxy."
"We know that but what else?" Jamie looked at J'onn, confused about the situation.
"Then there was another time. It was actually the night your mother was supposed to propose to Maggie."
"Jeremiah saw Alex, convinced her to go there, then put her into a coma." Kara reflected on the day. "She didn't want to scare you."
None of the kids ever knew the part of the story where Alex was put into a coma. They knew about Jeremiah and Maggie's brainwashings, but Alex had always wanted to keep that part of the story hidden.
"Mom almost died?"
"We saved her. We saved both of them." Kara looked over at J'onn again.
"And now we're going to save your brothers. Jamie, Alex, we're going to get to work on tracking those particles." J'onn walked over to Lena, who was already looking into the microscope.
"If we can trace where these are coming from, we'll find our boys. I don't even know where to start though."
"Knowing Lex, he could be anywhere."
Maggie walked Alex into the house. Alex didn't say anything the whole drive home, trying to figure out what Jamie and Alex were saying about Cal.
"Sit down, Alex." Maggie motioned for Alex to sit, grabbing her a glass of wine.
"Do you believe what they're saying? That Evan's alive?"
"We just have to hope. We're going to get our son back either way."
"And what if we never do? What if he is alive and he's on Lex's side now, or they put Cal and him against each other? He's only human."
"Which is exactly what makes him stronger. He's a smart kid, Alex. I mean, he's our son after all. Did you really think he'd give up like that? Look, Luthor's putting thoughts into our head. If there isn't a body, we still have hope. I think Jamie's right, he's alive."
"I hope you're right."
"Let's just relax for now. We'll even watch Terminator if you want."
"Alright, only if you make the popcorn."
"Of course."
"Well that was quite the show, don't you think?"
"I wonder if they even believe you killed Evan."
"Maybe your aunts are grieving. But see, your mothers are smart. Your brother and cousin? Even smarter. I'm sure they're already looking for him. They'll find him eventually."
"Where is he?"
"Still in his little coma. It's interesting. He hasn't woken up yet but his body seems to be healing at incredible rates with everything we've done to him. But enough about him, I'm more interested in you." Lex walked to the corner of the room, grabbing a metal case from the shelf. He opened it, revealing two different syringes.
"First is liquified Kryptonite. It obviously works on you to some extent outside of your body, but I'm curious what it would do if we injected it into you."
Lex paced around as he held the syringe up."This is about sixty percent potent, the same amount that the Kryptonite is emitting now. Even twenty percent would be lethal to your mother of course, but this sixty percent will be an interesting first experiment for you before the Hellgrammite, which is the other syringe." Lex walked up to Cal and held it up to his face.
"And if your experiment kills me, then what?"
"We have ways to bring you back. Why would I kill my nephew?"
"Because you're insane."
"We're family. You're a Luthor. I'm going to keep telling you that. We're meant to work together. I give you my word that you're not going to die. For now, say goodnight."