How?
Among the surge of shock that had just overtaken Lena at the sound of Lex's voice the root of all her questions permeated her thoughts.
How is he alive? How is he on Earth? How could he have hidden from me for 20 years?
"We cannot allow the sacrifice of our slain halfbreed, our fallen Thalassa brethren be in vain," Lex continued on, provoking fervent approval from his audience.
Lena felt Kara's gentle hand on her back as the Nodei tried to focus. She needed to hear the speech and listen for some semblance of a plan, a reason for all the chaos, because Lex always had a reason. At the very least she needed to keep it together so she didn't blow their cover.
"It's time," the charismatic halfbreed leader announced, "to come out of 'the cove' and claim our new planet. And if the humans resist?" He scanned the audience with dark eyes. "They can join the ranks of the departed Sao."
Lena felt the non-existent wind rush out of her lungs. Before the brunette knew it, the blonde was guiding her upwards, careful to keep them shielded from the eyeline of the raucous crowd below. It wasn't until the two had reached the suspended mouthpiece from which Kara took massive inhales that Lena realized how long her girlfriend had held her breath. Giving the blonde a moment to recover, the brunette translated what they just witnessed. Despite the entire speech being delivered in Nodei, it was clear to the Luthor that Kara understood the severity of the situation.
"It was Lex. He was the first Nodei you fought that first night, like, three months ago. Wasn't he?"
Kara nodded, her eyes wide as she silently put the pieces together.
"He's…" Lena explained, still not quite believing her words, "he's orchestrating a rebellion. Striking soon. As you probably guessed."
Kara nodded gravely.
"I need to get to L-Corp," Lena explained. She was attempting to fight off the onslaught of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her and think critically. The best way to do that was to act fast. "We need more sensors to alert us at the first sign of attack. We'll have to fight some of this battle on land. The bay, this whole perimeter, has become their turf. You head to the DEO to brief the team. J'onn will need to mobilize."
The Kryptonian looked as though she would protest if she could speak. Lena swam closer to her, intertwining their fingers.
"I'll be safe," she assured Kara, briefly replacing the mouthpiece with her lips. As they ended the kiss, the blonde cupped the brunette's face in her hands, still appearing unconvinced. However, she eventually nodded in reluctant acceptance before the two ascended to the surface.
"Welcome back, Ms. Luthor!" Jess greeted as Lena rushed through L-Corp's main lobby, making a beeline for her office. The assistant scurried to fall into step with the CEO as she hurriedly pressed the 'up' button.
"I have your briefings for…"
"I'm so sorry, Jess. Now's really not a good time," Lena cut her off, masking her panic with an apologetic grimace and a just-flustered-enough laugh. "There's an urgent matter I have to attend to."
Her assistant nodded vigorously and smiled understandingly as Lena stepped into the elevator. Her crestfallen glance wasn't lost on the CEO as the doors closed between them. Lena felt a little guilty for brushing Jess off, seeing how excited the assistant was about whatever she was going to announce, but there was no time to dwell on it. The Luthor was already running through the calculations in her head - how many sensors to activate, how to disperse them as quickly and effectively as possible, preparing defensive weapons - all of which came to a complete stop when the doors opened to her office reception area.
"Hey, Sis." Lex greeted, donning a well-tailored suit and leaning against Jess' vacant desk. It was as if he had been waiting there for hours..
"Your spying was abundantly obvious this morning. I expected better sleuthing."
"I…" Lena trailed off, still unable to fathom the day's events. "You were gone, I saw it. But you've been on earth this entire time?" She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, going back to the only question she could think of.
"How?"
"Ah ah," the elder Nodei replied as he brought her in for a hug. She cautiously wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as if confronting a phantom.
"Perhaps a conversation better had in private, hm?"
The CEO swiftly ushered him into her office, opting not to lock the door should she need DEO backup. Lena observed Lex's every move as he surveyed the space. Twenty years had harshened her brother's features, the angles of his face more sharply defined than the 24-year-old of her memory. His beard, formerly jet black, was now faintly tinged with gray. What was once an almost imperceptible indent above Lex's right eyebrow - which used to make him look like he was squinting in the sun - had grown into a frown line. Despite this permanent, angry punctuation mark, he appeared mildly impressed with the Luthor's setup.
"I saw them execute you."
"You saw them take me away," Lex corrected Lena, glancing out at the balcony before turning to his sister. "What you didn't see was the prison siege that ensued. Thanks to a few of us on the inside, guards and inmates included, we managed to wipe out every last Sao in the building. The war had begun everywhere."
"And Dad?" Lena's pulse raced.
He bowed his head, eyes closed, crushing his sister's momentary hope.
"It wasn't without sacrifice," Lex lamented. The younger sibling sat down on her pristine couch, perching on the edge as she felt her legs trembling. Her brother crossed the room, pouring himself water from Lena's crystal decanter.
"We made it as far as the pod fleet at the Capitol when the compound was blown to shreds." He paused to take a sip, solemnly, as if drinking something stronger for 10am. "He was caught in the explosions. I escaped, along with 73 halfbreeds that day. Not a day goes by without me wishing he'd joined us."
"Seventy-three," Lena repeated slowly, her brow furrowing, eyes tracing the patterns on the carpet as she processed the new information. "Seems like no accident that so many were able to escape."
"Anyone could see that total demise was coming. We knew the exit strategy when shit inevitably hit the fan."
Lena fixed her brother with an intense gaze.
"The Capitol was destroyed days before Nodeisi's demise," she recalled. "You left Mom. And me. You left us behi-"
"Not. Without. Sacrifice!" Lex barked, his water glass slamming on Lena's desk. Shaking his head emphatically, he returned Lena's stare with equal ferocity.
"Two pods," he said through gritted teeth. "I made sure there were two pods procured for you, but one must've been stolen or destroyed. I ordered our friends to stay behind. To help you escape home. To direct Mom towards the fortress. I tried everything!" His voice cracked, eyes watering.
Lena's jaw clenched.
"It's the hardest thing I ever did, not staying to help," the elder Nodei admitted quietly. "But Lena, make no mistake, it was because I was trying to protect you both. With Dad gone and the target already on my back…I thought it was your best chance of survival."
The CEO crossed the room to her desk, just a few feet away from her brother. She gripped the back of her chair as Lex brushed his thumb across the corner of his eye.
"So you realized your plan half worked when I landed on earth," she summarized coolly. "You and seventy other halfbreeds were already there, waiting."
"I was," her brother acknowledged. "But half of us arrived on earth immediately. Some found their way to us after skewed coordinates sent them to other planets. Some didn't survive the trek. For those of us who did, we were exceptional at laying low and finding each other. Over time, we grew, started families. We resorted to sub-par earth technology because none of our own survived the trip. But the sting of staying in the shadows was simply too keen this time around."
"Which somehow justifies terrorizing humans," Lena narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Like psychopaths."
"Insults are pedestrian, Lena," Lex scolded before continuing his story. "Soon after my arrival I started looking for any trace of my baby sister. Then an article about the 'Benevolent Luthor Moguls' adopting a 'promising, unidentified young woman' crosses my path."
"Did it ever occur to you to follow that lead?" The Luthor pressed harshly. "To find me?"
Lex moved determinedly toward Lena, clasping one of her hands in both of his.
"I could only watch from a distance," her brother emphasized. "Knowing you'd be safer. I had a community of Nodeis in need of a leader at the time. And after everything you'd been through?" He paused, shaking his head and biting his lip. "You'd experienced enough hardship for a nine-year-old. Don't you think you were due for a small reprieve?"
Lena silently cursed the dull pang in her chest, the acute resonance of Lex's words. He squeezed her hand, glancing out onto the balcony again.
"Imagine my delight, five years ago, when I read about my baby sister taking over one of the largest corporations on the planet," her brother whispers. It's the first time Lena has detected a reverence in his voice when addressing her. It did not, however, make her less skeptical of his saccharine rhetoric.
"If that were actually true, Lex," she chuckled mirthlessly. "You would actually support my alien-inclusive proposals, instead of resorting to violence and domination. You're against everything I stand for."
"Have you no sense of nuance?" The elder Nodei asked condescendingly while releasing her hand. "Don't mistake support for subscribing to naiveté," he stated, crossing his arms over his chest and throwing his head back in a laugh. "This is irony at its finest!"
There he is, Lena thought, relieving her childhood arguments with her brother. She would take the rovers over this any day.
"This company and all its clients, peers," Lex began counting on his hands to emphasize his point. "Your last name! It all represents failed relations between humans and aliens. And here you are, clinging to this delusional thought that maybe we can all hug it out. There's a reason you're publicly Lena Luthor. I'm willing to bet that you have never dreamed about outing yourself as a Laomedia."
The younger sibling remained silent, eyes glazed over as Lex's words skewered her.
"Even your girlfriend ," her brother challneged. Lena's head snapped up, prepared to kick his ass on the spot. "Who saves these ungrateful people regularly, has angry mobs at her door."
Lex approached her gingerly, hopefully.
"You have an opportunity in this position. We owe this to our family, to the halfbreeds who lived and died in fear. We could dominate here."
"Dominate and hurt innocent people," the Luthor retorted, recoiling from her brother. "The very same act of hostility that was committed against our people."
"Lena, it's no easy truth, but it must be understood that there is no progress without sacrifice. We can be the ones to make a hard decision now, come out on top. Or be victims in the cycle again."
"Bullshit," Lena scoffed.
His eyes grew dark. Not frustrated or emotional, rather determined and cold.
"Consider this your call to action. I truly hope you'll join, but we're proceeding with the plan regardless."
"So sorry to report that you'll be doing this without me. And we will take you down." Lena threatened, sporting a new, hardened resolve. "Now are you going to tell me how you got past security, or am I going to have to start looking for innocent bodies scattered around the building?"
A brief knock at the door, followed by the swift click of heels, broke the silence as Jess entered the room. She barely looked up at the CEO, speaking a mile a minute.
"Ms. Luthor, I'm so sorry to interrupt! I know you're swamped at the moment but you have a mess-"
Her ramble cut off as she noticed the room's other occupant.
"Sebastian!" She chirped in pleasant surprise, striding across the room to greet Lex with a kiss.
For a third time that day, Lena's heart stopped.
Sebastian…of course! Lex's nickname when he went through that Oscar Wilde phase. He would tape it to their chess pieces whenever they sent secret notes back and forth. Lena clapped a hand over her mouth, livid with herself for not seeing the signs. She rapidly composed herself as the couple pulled apart.
"Well I see you two finally had the chance to meet! Did he just charm his way into your office?" Jess asked, placing a playful hand on Lex's chest. The elder Nodei had suddenly assumed the role of jovial, doting boyfriend.
"I came by to drop off some flowers at your desk, then Ms. Luthor here comes out of the elevator and nearly knocks me down!" He laughed, glancing at Lena with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"She was so distracted, didn't even see me coming!"
Jess giggled. Lena forced a barely convincing laugh, pulse racing as she frantically considered her options for summoning backup.
"Ugh I know," Lena scoffed, trying to act playful. "Consider getting bowled over your initiation to L-Corp. It's a rite of passage." She smiled tightly.
"It's an honor," Lex played along seamlessly, then turned to Jess. "We were actually just spitballing some double date night ideas, so in the interest of keeping everything a surprise…"
"Oooh!" Jess exclaimed. "Don't let me interrupt any longer then! I'll be at my desk when you're out, babe."
Reaching another gear beyond her usually giddiness, Jess practically floated out of the room.
Lex was in Lena's face the second her office door clicked shut.
"There was one aspect of Nodeisi technology we were able to bring with us: surveillance," he explained smugly. "It enabled me to do some research on your little team here. Sliding into those DM's was too easy."
The CEO gagged, causing Lex's brow to twitch in anger.
"I also happened to discover the extensive weapon collection owned by L-Corp. You have 36 hours to deliver the location and codes to that stash, or I will make you witness Jess' excruciating death."
With that, the elder Nodei shoved past his sister and walked out the door. Spots filled in Lena's vision as her pulse pounded thunderously in her ears. Her mind was screaming at her to take immediate action, call Kara, the DEO, do something. Instead, she slumped down against the side of her desk, trying with little success to control her breathing. For the first time that day, she allowed herself to burst into tears.