Chapter Text
„Still no lead on Brainy?“
Lena shakes her head.
„How is that even possible?“ Alex‘s voice leaves no doubt that she is close to breaking point. Just like the rest of them. “It has been over a week! How can we not have any leads? Did Nia dream something?”
Kara shakes her head. They had sent Nia home to make it as easy as possible for her to conjure her power and focus on Brainy. But it didn’t work. Not yet.
“Most likely he is hiding from Lex. He doesn’t want to be found. I’m sure he is alright.” But as hopeful as they all had been a few days ago, Kelly’s words now don’t convince anyone. The room goes silent. Even Kara and J’onn don’t know what they could say and stare at the ground.
Lena tries to hold back a yawn. None of them had slept more than two hours a night since Kara had managed to shut down the simulation.
“We can’t go on like this”, M’gann finally says. “We’re all exhausted.”
Alex shakes her head: “I am not leaving here until we find him.” Kelly puts her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder: “The program doesn’t need us to be here to continue its search. And it won’t do Brainy any good if we’re all too exhausted to save him once he is found.” She looks at the others for support.
J’onn nods silently. Kara sighs: “Kelly is right. We need a break.”
“We can’t just abandon him!”
“We’re not”, Lena replies instead of Kara. “My program is going to run until it finds Brainy. And once it does it’ll send all the information to our phones.”
That takes the wind out of Alex’s sails. She can barely keep herself upright anymore. J’onn nods towards M’gann and they leave the lab with Kelly and Alex. “We’ll check on Nia and then we’ll fly you home.”
Lena turns her chair back towards the screen. Her program scans the whole city for any unusual, Brainy-like, transmission-codes.
“How do you get home?”, Kara asks.
Lena doesn’t turn around: “I am not going home. I have to make sure that everything works.”
“Absolutely not!” Kara breaks down the distance that she had established between the two of them ever since Lena knocked on her door a week ago. “You need to rest.”
“I can take it, Kara, I-“
“That was not a suggestion.”
Once again Lena is mesmerized by the force Kara can put into her words. She never used to do that. Supergirl had, of course, but not Kara. Not her best friend. But things change. People change. A year ago Kara would have joked that she would drag Lena out of the lab if she didn’t leave willingly. Lena would have laughed and told her to try her luck, which would have resulted in Kara poking Lena’s side- her only ticklish area – until she would have given in.
Today Kara just stares at Lena, her arms crossed in a way that is so untypical for her but so fitting for Supergirl. Lena sighs and stands up.
Together the two women step into the elevator. Both are too exhausted to start a conversation that would have to end at the front door of the L-Corp building anyway. Despite Kara accepting Lena’s apology, things weren’t the same. As much as Lena tried to please and convince Kara to let her back in, to trust her again, things moved slowly.
Especially with Lex still on the loose.
“Good night,” Kara says as they reach the limousine that would take Lena to her apartment. “Good night”, the dark-haired woman replies and wishes she could hug her friend.
But they aren’t there yet. Instead, she watches as Kara nods towards her before lifting off the ground and vanishing somewhere in the dark sky.
Lena bites her lip, shakes her head and gets into the car. “Home, please, Aaron.” Without a word, the driver steers the car onto the empty street.
They drive in silence, as usual, until Aaron takes a wrong turn.
“Is the road still blocked? The road works should’ve been finished –“ Lena stops. She doesn’t even remember which day it was. “—a few days ago.”
Her driver doesn’t answer. Lena frowns and leans forward to get her drivers attention. “Aaron? Is everything ok?”
He stops the car without a warning. Lena is thrown forward, her seatbelt the only thing that keeps her from crashing against the front seats. “Aaron, what the-“
“I am sorry, Miss Luthor”, Aaron's voice is barely more than a whisper. “But he threatened to kill my family.”
A split second later a sharp pain erupts in Lena’s neck and the world around her descends into darkness.
When Lena regains consciousness the room around her is spinning so fast that she would’ve thrown up had she eaten anything within the last 24-hours. She coughs and almost chokes on her saliva. Only when the room stops spinning she is able to sit up.
Lena wipes the tears from her eyes. Her head whirls as if she had been hit repeatedly. Methohexital. Lex’s drug of choice.
Carefully and slowly Lena stands up. The blood rushes through her body and after a few minutes she can think again. She looks around. The room is fairly small. There is just enough room for the small bed, a toilet and a sink. “So you plan on keeping me here…” The room doesn’t have a window. Lena lets her fingers run over the wall that is coated in a thin layer of lead. Lex is too smart to make it that easy for Kara to find her.
Instinctively Lena reaches for the watch Kara had given to her in what feels like a different life. Despite everything that had happened she had always kept it close – she had known from the beginning that Lex would betray her. But her pocket is empty. Of course. Just as the first curse words start to come over her lips Lena freezes. She looks down. A smile creeps onto her lips.
Maybe her dear brother is not as smart as he’d like to think.
Hours go by but Lena waits patiently. She’d waited weeks for Kara to finally tell her the truth, she could wait a few hours for her brother to choose which hideous speech he is going to give her.
When the door is finally opened Lena stands up and crosses her arms: “A kidnapping? You wanted to see me that badly?”
Lex looks bigger than Lena remembered him to be. Granted, he has bags under his eyes from not sleeping enough – he never does when he is working on one of his homicidal plans – but other than that he seems to be stronger than ever. As if working on destroying the city and killing millions of people makes him thrive. On second thought… it does.
“Don’t be so pedestrian.” Lex returns in the same way he always does. “You chose your side.”
Lena shakes her head: “I chose not to stick around to watch how you turn my invention into a murder weapon. But-“ She stops herself.
“Now who would’ve believed it. The Kryptonian’s favorite pet is having second thoughts.”
“I am no one’s pet.”
Lex takes a step towards her: “No, I suppose you are too smart to be a pet. Brilliant, in fact.” He is attempting to reel her back in. He’s going to have to try a lot harder than that. Lena lifts an eyebrow as he continues: “You just never know how to use your brilliance. Abandoning me for her… I’ve expected more from you, sis.”
Lena bites her lip. This is neither the time nor the place to fall into his trap again. As he makes another step towards her Lena realizes that the door is still open. She won’t get a better opportunity. Gripping the metal in her hand ever tighter she slowly walks up to Lex, her eyes fixated on his, but her shoulders slouched over.
“I know.” She finally says to Lex’s and her own surprise. “It was a mistake to leave. I am sorry.” These words leave a bitter taste on her tongue, yet she continues. “Something is wrong with the world and I thought Supergirl could fix it. I was wrong.”
“You called me a monster”, Lex reminds her.
She nods: “Leave it to a Kryptonian to twist your thoughts until you see monsters in everyone but them.” Lex stares at her with an intensity that almost makes her back away from him. For the first time since he had entered the room, Lena lowers her eyes. She can feel the sense of power this gesture sends through his body. Good. Let him think he has already won. “And leaving wasn’t my only mistake…”
“No”, he replies. He doesn’t have to say anything else. Lena knows he wants to hear her struggle. A smirk appears on her face, too small for Lex to notice, but big enough for her to collect all her strength and courage. The adrenalin rushes through her veins.
“My biggest mistake was to let you live.”
Before Lex can make sense of what she’d just said, Lena launches forward and pushes him against the wall opposite from the door. Within fractions of a second, the blade in her hand starts to cut through skin. Just as the first drops of blood drip down his throat, Lex grabs her hand with a force that Lena had not anticipated. A short glance confirms the worst-case-scenario. Lex is wearing the gauntlet of his Lex-O-Suit. He laughs full-heartedly as Lena tries to escape his grip.
“I was wondering when your little tool would come into play.” He knew. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. You didn’t think I’d kidnap you without scanning you, did you?” Lena breathes heavily, still struggling against him. How could she have been so naive? “Drop it”, Lex orders but Lena isn’t done yet.
She pulls her knee up but it only connects with his thigh. “I said: Drop it!” Lena flinches as he screams. His grip around her arm grows stronger with every passing second. Tears stream down her face as she finally lets go and the small knife hits the ground with a soft .
“Very innovative.” Lex taunts without loosening his grip. Lena tries to pull his hand away from her but she doesn’t stand a chance. The pain is almost unbearable and she knows it wouldn’t take more than a second for Lex to snap her wrist, break her arm or dislocate her shoulder.
“Lex”, she pleads, not caring anymore that she’s showing weakness. The pain is too much. “Please!”
He spins her around with ease and forces her to her knees, one arm twisted behind her back. A high pitched scream escapes Lena as she hits the ground and Lex presses his free hand against her neck to keep her down. “A knife in a heel – 12-year-old me would have been proud of you.” It sends shivers down Lena's spine how casually Lex continues their conversation.
As if to regain her full attention Lex twists her wrist a little further. Lena cries out as a crackle echoes through her whole body. Tears fall to the floor as Lena gives in and crumbles.
“Oh my. So vulnerable. So easy to break.” Lex leans down, his breath brushing Lena’s cheek as he whispers: “You should have tried a pink knife.”
A sharp pain erupts in Lena’s neck but before she can even open her mouth to scream her senses are flooded with honey and she drifts off into the darkness.
Lena cries out and her eyes snap open. Immediately her fingers shoot up to her neck. But instead of skin, they touch metal.
“No…”
She sits up a little too fast in the bed and white points dance before her eyes. While trying to get her breathing back under control her fingers identify the object around her neck: a metal collar with a little box at the right side.
“You sick bastard.”
Lena pulls at the small lock at the back of the collar, but nothing happens. Of course not. Lex is neither careless nor an idiot. But at this very moment, Lena wished he was.
The modified dog collar vibrates for a split second and gives Lena just enough time to realize that it has been activated again before the electric shock renders her motionless for a few seconds. She can barely breathe.
Just as she starts to feel her fingertips again the door is opened.
“Good morning, Sis, I am sorry to wake you this early. I hope you slept alright in your new environment”, Lex says as if Lena had not tried to kill him a few hours ago. Only the small red line on his throat proves that it has really happened. And the dog collar, of course.
Lena wants nothing more than to wipe that self-indulgent smile off his face with a good punch. But she is not stupid either. With the sweetest smile on her face that she can conjure up she leans back to hide that her hands had started to shake uncontrollably.
“You just made the single most stupid mistake in your life, Lex.” He just stares at her. “We had no clue where you were but now… Supergirl is going to rip you apart.”
“No, she is not.” The smile on Lex’s face sends shivers down Lena’s spine. “The Kryptonian and her little friends were never any danger to me. All it takes to keep them at a safe distance is a sound-proof room that is lined with lead.” He gestures to the walls. “You on the other hand… Well, we both know that you are the only person that could stop me. And I can’t let that happen.”
Lena scoffs: “So you brought me here, to you, where I can stop you with a single blow? Well, I don’t know who the Monitor brought back from the dead, but you are way too stupid to be my brother.”
Before Lena can even move a muscle, Lex stands in front of her and yanks her to her feet. Lena grabs his hands and tries to break free.
“Let go of me!”
Lex pulls her to the left and shoves her against the wall. A sharp pain erupts in the back of her head, but Lena has no time to even think about that. Her brother presses his left forearm, covered in the Lex-O-suit sleeve, against her chest and pulls out a small remote with his right.
“No!”, Lena manages to cry out before the electricity races through her whole body, Lex’s grip the only reason she stays upright. Her eyes start to water as she tries to get air into her lungs, but her body doesn’t seem to react to any orders her brain is sending out.
As hard as she tries, she can’t move a muscle. She stares into Lex’s eyes. There is no emotion in them. As if she were an inanimate object. A falling vase, about to crash into a million pieces. And he ready to catch it the second before it hits the floor.
Just before Lena can’t take it anymore her body comes back to life. When Lex feels her knees buckle, he lets go. Lena falls to the floor, gasping for air, every muscle in her body shaking uncontrollably. She curses the second she got into the limousine. How could she have been so stupid?
“We have been at this point before, Sis.”
She coughs and tries to breathe in as deep as she possibly can.
“You don’t get to taunt me.” Lex’s voice is cold and cruel. Calculating. “You don’t even get to speak unless I ask you to.”
Lena pushes herself up against the wall to look her brother in the eyes as she replies: “I don’t play by your rules anymore.”
From the corner of her eyes, she sees his leg rear back. Her muscle memory kicks in and she blocks his foot with her shaking hands. The impact still knocks her against the wall, but it could have been much worse.
“Oh, I see”, Lex taunts. “There is that Irish fighting spirit. You’re going to need it.”
He turns around.
“Why don’t you just kill me now?”
“Why would I do that? You are a resource, Lena, one that I intend to use up to the last bit.”
She looks up at him and wonders how she ever could’ve loved this horrible man. “I’d rather die.”
“Well, dear, that is not your choice anymore. From now on your life and comfort are in my hands.”
The door falls shut with a loud bang. Tears stream down Lena’s face as she brings up her knees to her chest. She prays for Kara to hurry.
Because his nightmare has just begun.