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Tim’s first observation upon waking up was, well, that he was waking up. The last thing he remembered, he’d been sitting down to get some work done—suit-and-tie work, not kevlar-and-melee-weapons work—in his home office, just him, a pot of coffee, and a stack of quarterly reports he’d been prevented from reading on time by an Arkham breakout.
His second observation was to note, with less confusion and more dread, that his wrists were bound. His whole body, in fact, was being held down on an uncomfortable stainless steel chair, in a plain concrete-walled room, by thick straps around his wrists, thighs, ankles and chest. It was a good job, too—if he’d been suited up, it would probably have taken five minutes and at least one dislocation for him to get free.
“Sleep well, Mister Drake?”
Third observation: He wasn’t alone. And he recognized the voice.
“Lex,” he acknowledged, wracking his brain for anything he might have recently done to merit an out-of-costume kidnapping as the man himself emerged from behind him, “I do have a secretary, you know. She’d have been happy to set up an appointment.”
“I have no doubt,” Lex agreed, smiling so amiably that Tim was now certain that something horrible was happening, “however, I try not to make a habit of bringing personal matters into the office. Terribly unprofessional, wouldn’t you agree?”
Tim hummed. “Unprofessional, maybe. More courteous, though.” Especially when Conner wasn’t on Earth to follow Tim’s heartbeat.
“You’re absolutely correct, and you have my sincerest apologies for the imposition. I’m afraid I tend to lose sight of my manners,” Lex grinned now, all teeth, “where family is concerned.”
Ah…shit.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Tim blurted out in a tone that he knew full well made it obvious he was lying. Goddamnit, they’d been so careful.
“Well,” Lex said understandingly, “we can’t have any confusion. I’ll cut right to the chase.” He leaned in. He was no longer smiling.
“Exactly what are your intentions with my son?”
Fuck fuck fuck, how did he know? There was nothing publicly tying Tim Drake-Wayne to Conner Kent. And Cardinal and Supernova were never anything less than professional out in the field, a precaution they’d both agreed to from the start.
He considered, with terror, the possibility that Lex could know, that one or both of their identities was now in the hands of mankind’s greatest megalomaniac. That wasn’t just bad, that was leave-the-planet-and-never-step-foot-in-this-solar-system-again and…
…and Lex was holding up a photograph. “I do try to keep an eye on him, you know. And when one of my people noticed Supernova flying around Antwerp, well…”
Shit. Antwerp. Where Tim had been for a tech conference last month. Where he’d waited for Kon on his hotel balcony. Where they’d spent a few very enjoyable hours together before sunrise.
Well, at least the picture had been taken while their clothes were still on.
“Now, Timothy, I hope you can understand my concern.” He tucked the photo in his jacket pocket. “Kon-El hasn’t had the best track record with partners, the poor boy. Between that cradle-robbing reporter, and the alien psychopath, and, well, you’ll forgive me for bringing up your own family’s…reputation,” he threw his hands up, “a father worries. And all the secrecy…”
Tim had a few choice words for exactly how much Luthor’s ‘worries’ were worth, either to Kon or himself. He quite frankly thought he deserved a medal for keeping quiet about it. “Well,” he offered, with as much innocent confusion as he could muster, “he thought we should keep it quiet. You know, after what Lois Lane went through when people thought she was dating Superman? He didn’t want me,” he nodded down at the restraints, “getting into trouble with anyone.”
“Understandable,” Lex conceded. “Still, indulge my curiosity. How did the two of you even meet?”
“He rescued me,” Tim answered, maybe a little too quickly. Hopefully this wasn’t being recorded. “He happened to be in Gotham on the same day some creeps tried to grab me for ransom. Pulled me right out of their van.” This, at least, had actually happened, right after Kon had picked out his new name and costume. Lex would see a handful of stories about it if he bothered to check. “Afterwards he flew by my apartment to check up on me.”
Lex’s eyes narrowed. “Hardly typical behavior. He rescues a great many people. Why check in with you ?”
“He, ah, said I was cute.” Tim bit his lip, averting his eyes. He hoped he was coming across as suitably bashful about all this. “I thought the whole flirtatious thing was just something he did for the cameras.”
“No,” Lex sighed wearily, “he’s just like that.”
Tim nodded. “Anyway, we got dinner a few days later, and hit it off, and just…kept agreeing to meet.” He waved his hand as best he could with it still tethered to the chair. “Just dating, y’know, like normal. Only, one of us is a superhero and one of us is the majority shareholder of the largest tech company in the western hemisphere,” Lex’s eye twitched at that, “so maybe not that normal, I guess.”
Lex just looked at him, and Tim could practically see him doing the calculations on whether or not it would be worth it to shoot Tim where he sat.
Whatever considerations Lex might have had were presumably upended when the wall on the right exploded inward.
The world around Tim blurred as he felt the restraints tearing away as he was yanked, gently but very quickly, out the chair and the room both. When he had his bearings again, he was floating a dozen or so feet over Metropolis’ South River, held close against a chest clad in very familiar blue, spandex.
“Are you alright, Tim?” Superman asked him, not taking his eyes off of Luthor.
“Yeah, I’m fine. He just asked some questions.”
“I heard,” Superman glared at his nemesis. Lex just shrugged.
“Clearly you already knew about this,” he said pointedly. “I have to keep track of my son’s life somehow.”
“If Kon-El thought it was any of your business, he’d have told you himself,” Superman countered.
“Bah,” Lex waved him off, “I won’t be lectured on boundaries by an alien invader. Timothy, am I correct in assuming you’ll be in Las Vegas for CES next month?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess?” Lucius had been after him to do more PR stuff, and apparently events like that were ‘good for the brand’.
Lex nodded thoughtfully. “I have a penthouse overlooking the strip. I’ll expect you and Kon-El for dinner.”
Tim shot him a flat look. “I’ll tell him you mentioned it.”
“That’s all I ask,” Lex replied pleasantly. “Have a good evening, my boy.” He then turned and exited through a door in the still intact wall. Superman muttered some decidedly un-Super things under his breath as he took off in the direction of New Jersey.
“Sorry about that,” Clark offered apologetically. “He waited until Conner was off-world. I’m not sure how he knew.”
Tim shrugged. “They don’t call him a genius for nothing. Still…” he said thoughtfully.
“...not as intimidating as Ma and Pa.”