Lena Luthor has learnt to do many things in her short life. She has more degrees than the average person and she has interests in every corner of the academic world but there is a new topic for her to study, one that she's been putting off for too long and now. She needs to take the bull by the horns and take it head on.
She needs to learn how to be a normal person.
After spending way too long standing in the shadow of her psychopathic family, she's finally taken the leap. She's quit Luthor Corp, for good. She's packing to move away from Metropolis and is aiming for a fresh start in National City, now she's got to figure out what she's going to do when she gets there.
She has no money of her own, used to using her personal card connected to the Luthor fortune that has now been cancelled so she has no access to those funds. She has one account in her own name but it doesn't have much money in it, just enough to get her to National City and cover her first couple of months' rent on a cheap place, and she can't afford to be picky about the apartment.
Her first goal for when she gets there is to find a job, something to pay her rent after those couple of months, keep her living anywhere but in one of the many Luthor properties, somewhere that is hers and hers alone.
The one thing she's always dreamed of it's finally moving away and leaving her wretched family behind but she's never had the balls to do it, to make take the leap and decide that enough is enough and she wants nothing to do with them anymore.
Well, last night she finally did it, she officially resigned from her position in the science labs in Luthor Corp after finding out that Lex was manipulating her designs and experiments to use them to make weapons to kill aliens and selling them on, all whilst leaving the designs under her name, setting her up to take the fall if it ever gets discovered.
That was the final straw. In the moment that she stumbled across Lex rooting through her filing cabinets and conducting his shady business late last night when he thought she had already left, not knowing that she had an incredible idea for a new piece of medical equipment earlier in the evening that spurred her to stay late.
The words left her mouth before she even thought it through. "I quit. You can keep this cesspit of a company to yourself."
Lex didn't even put up a fight, just let her know that everything that she had designed up until that point is considered the intellectual property of Luthor Corp and to leave her key card on the front desk on her way out.
She did exactly that, clutching her little succulent off her desk to her chest on the way out, her head held high.
Thinking back to that moment just a few hours ago, she wishes she had thought it through, exposed Lex for what he was doing or made a better exit strategy for herself so she wouldn't be left scrambling to land on her feet but what's done is done.
She has her plane ticket already booked with built up airmiles she's accrued going to science conventions and she even managed to book a couple of time slots to view some potential apartments, tiny ones that are clearly not on the good side of town but she needs cheap and she doesn't want a roommate so she isn't going to complain about the size or lack of style.
Lena's really hoping to find a job right away so she can get some money behind her and then move to a better place, trying to be careful with her money but that's where her problem lies: she has no idea how to deal not having enough money, she doesn't want to use a credit card because while she has one, the Luthor's financial advisor has always been very clear on how to use it and she's heard horror stories from him about poor people getting into debt that they can never pay back, she's not going that route. Lex probably had that card cancelled as well anyway.
She's really glad that she has her own account to fall back on, it hasn't been touched in a couple of years, designed for when she planned her first escape from her family that she never went through with so she only ever made two deposits into.
Now, with all of her most important things packed up into just three suitcases, she's spending her last night in a fancy penthouse before she jets off to a life of normalcy, a life of freedom.
Her eyes blur as she stares at the spreadsheet open in front of her, trying to come up with a budget to live off of but she doesn't even know how much groceries cost so it's proving difficult. She's just going to have to play it by ear and pray that she'll be able to muddle through somehow.
When it all becomes too much, the numbers all swirling across the screen and her head feeling too heavy for her shoulders, she closes her laptop and sinks her head down into her hands, it's time for one last suitcase check to make sure she has everything she needs and then it's time to try and get a couple of hours sleep before she has to leave for the airport.
Lena notes that while her body numb, and her brain is tired, there is a newfound sense of freedom that she's never had before, a weight off her shoulders that she'd never fully acknowledged the existence of until she shook it off.
Of the three suitcases she has, one and a half are clothes and the other one and a half are full of her important documents, books, electronics and keepsakes she has been given over the years from Sam and Jack. She'll miss them but knows that they'll be overjoyed when she calls them from the airport in the morning, unwilling to call them at three in the morning and interrupt their sleep.
She looks over the cases and then at her desk before smuggling her succulent amongst her clothes is, the one thing that has touched Luthor Corp that she'll be keeping because she named him Antonio and has gotten too emotionally attached to leave him behind.
Just as she is zipping up her last suitcase after confirming that she has all of her documents a last minute thought pops into her head. She should probably pack some food, just in case.
There is just enough space in her suitcase for her to jam in a couple of boxes of mac and cheese. She's not even going to touch the canned food in her cupboards, she's already going to have to pay more than she wants to for the weight of her books in her luggage, she doesn't want to add to that.
She zips her suitcase up once she's successfully jammed the food in, happy that she'll have something to eat for at least a couple of days if everything goes awry.
She crawls into bed and closes her eyes, spending the last few minutes of wakefulness imagining the life that she's about to step into, a life where she can be anyone other than another evil Luthor.
For the first time in her life, Lena slept in a motel. It really wasn't as bad as she expected it to be. Sure there was stains on every surface and she had to shove a chair under the doorhandle because she didn't trust the lock, but overall, it wasn't as bad as she was expecting.
She got off her early morning flight and headed right for the motel, having already replanned where to go while she was waiting in the airport for her flight. She stored her luggage there and freshened up before catching a bus, also for the first time ever, across town to look at some vacant apartments.
Lena isn't really sure how they can be classified as apartments since they are little more than a kitchen, bathroom and one extra room that you could just about fit both a bed and a couch into so it doubles as a living room and a bedroom. She put a deposit on the second one she looked at on the spot and was told that she can move her things in two days later and get the keys.
The only reason she passed up on the first one and chose the second one is that while they are essentially the same, the second one has a bathtub with a shower installed instead of just a shower cubicle so small that she won't be able to turn around in it.
When she wasn't out sorting her future (hopefully temporary) home, she was trawling through job sites, sending off her resume and in between job searching she was scrubbing at the unidentified stains on the motel surfaces to take her mind off of everything. She raided the supply closet down the hall from the reception area since it was unlocked and took everything she needed to get it cleaner than it has been in what is obviously years.
Despite spending all day every day in the motel room applying for what few jobs there are in her field, she still hasn't heard anything back from any of them even with her impressive list of qualifications. Not so much as a peep.
And now she's sat in her mostly empty new apartment, still on her laptop trying to find more jobs to apply for. She may just have to look for something out of her field. Lena has to admit that she never imagined herself thinking of applying for a coffee shop gig but it might just come down to that, she can only afford one more months' rent, especially after she went out earlier to buy herself a mattress, and bedsheets, it was way more expensive than she ever thought it would be but call her snobby all you want, she's not sleeping on the floor.
Since there's only the mattress and her suitcases in the whole place, the tiny apartment actually looks a decent size, for now at least but with no couch or chairs, Lena has no choice but to sit herself down on the mattress on the floor to continue with her search.
Lena stares over at Antonio, who she perched on top of her stack of books that she unpacked then rolls onto her stomach and focuses her eyes onto her laptop screen then she refreshes the job site for what must be at least the tenth time today with her fingers crossed.
Nothing new shows up so with a heavy heart she goes to the search bar to find other jobs that she could take in the meantime. Lena's emerald eyes scan through the suggested list of positions to search for and land on IT.
While she has never specifically worked in IT before, she is proficient with a computer and is excellent at coding, although none of her qualifications directly match up with the role, she might be able to find something to get her by until she can find a better gig elsewhere.
With a steady finger she clicks on the little tab and scans the new list containing all the IT jobs going in the area.
Lena clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth rhythmically as she scrolls the page down to take a better look at what's available. There's not much but definitely more than what she was looking at before she widened her search.
After a brief glance at the listings she begins her applications, sending off her resume and filling out any questionnaires that are required in order to apply, as pointless and boring as some of them seem to be.
There is one particular listing that catches her eye though, one that she isn't too sure about but is going to apply for anyway. She rereads it a couple of times, not entirely sure about it because it seems a little bit sketchy but she goes through with it anyway.
They are advertising an IT support position but in the description it states that any experience in engineering and/or mechanics would be helpful.
That alone certainly jingles her bells because it would suit her well but the company is listed for is titled: John Jones, Private Investigator.
What is that PI doing that would require him to need an IT support that has a background involving engineering or mechanics? It makes sense for them to need IT support, most companies do, but the other things? Is the boss just really into his cars or something?
The questions are not stopping her from sending off her resume with a click and listening to the little swooshing sound her laptop makes as it sends. Maybe if she hears back from them she'll get a few answers.
Her thoughts are brushed aside fairly quickly in favour of applying to the rest of the jobs she's found, around ten or so different ones, and then putting her laptop aside so she can get some rest for her busy day tomorrow where she'll be…applying for more jobs, or if she's lucky, she'll be doing some research on how to impress during a job interview.