Work Text:
Project: Ad Meliora
Test subject: 1348
The following is a text transcript from test subject 1348. Investigator made contact with subject 1348 at approximately 12:38 AM on August 2 and communicated until 2:23 AM on August 2. Confirmed correct timeline. Project Ad Meliora successful.
Lena Luthor
Hello, this is going to sound weird, but did you have a boyfriend named Taylor who suddenly stopped talking to you out of nowhere?
Subject 1348
Is this Taylor? How did you get this number?
Lena Luthor
No, it’s not. Just hear me out. You found out as an adult that Lillian paid him $14,000 to never speak to you again. Only you and Lillian know that.
Subject 1348
Who are you, and what do you want?
Lena Luthor
I’m you. Sort of.
Subject 1348
That’s not possible.
Lena Luthor
You killed Lex. With his last words, he revealed Supergirl’s identity. No one else knows that but us.
Subject 1348
Well, other people do know that. Not many, and they’re all trusted. So who are you?
Subject 1348
Why can’t we trace your number? I have an entire government organization trying to trace it, as well as Supergirl, and there’s nothing.
Lena Luthor
Supergirl? She’s helping you?
Subject 1348
I’m only going to ask you once more. Who are you, and what do you want?
Lena Luthor
Okay. I’m sorry. If what you said is true, you’re the first one I’ve found in the right timeline. I’ll explain. Hold on, it might be long.
Subject 1348
Fine.
Lena Luthor
I’m you, from another universe. Our most vivid memory of our biological mother is her doing magic in the kitchen while we sat at the table. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone that, because I barely believe it myself.
Lena Luthor
I’m you. I figured out a way to contact myself across different universes. You’re the fifth Lena I’ve communicated with.
Lena Luthor
I just…needed to know if it works out in other universes.
Lena Luthor
I fucked things up badly, and I need to know that some other Lena out there is better than me.
Subject 1348
If what you’re saying is true, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Subject 1348
How did you manage it? Contacting other universes.
Lena Luthor
[redacted]
Subject 1348
[redacted]
Lena Luthor
That’s correct. It was the simplest way to make contact without actually having to travel to another universe.
Subject 1348
That would work, theoretically.
Subject 1348
Say you are me. So, you went and found a way to contact other universes so you could, what? Pass judgment on me?
Lena Luthor
No, not at all.
Lena Luthor
I’m sorry, I know this is weird.
Subject 1348
Brainy just traced the signal. You’re at LCorp. Top floor office. In another universe.
Subject 1348
Fuck. You are me.
Subject 1348
I’d think you were Lex playing some psychological game with me if I didn’t know he was dead. Being me seems like the most logical conclusion at the moment.
Subject 1348
What happened that made you want to contact me?
Lena Luthor
It’s a long story.
Subject 1348
I have time. While we continue to monitor your signal and make sure you don’t do anything that warrants a response. We actually do have people we can contact who can travel to your universe, just so you know.
Lena Luthor
That’s not necessary. I just want to talk.
Subject 1348
Go ahead.
Lena Luthor
Okay. You said you shot Lex, and he told you Supergirl’s identity. That happened to me too. I’m guessing our timelines diverged sometime after that.
Lena Luthor
After Lex, I decided to start a new project. Project Non Nocere. It was supposed to prevent people from hurting each other.
Subject 1348
Do no harm. Yes, I worked on that, for a bit.
Lena Luthor
You did? Did you steal Myriad from Supergirl?
Subject 1348
I tried, but I wasn’t successful.
Lena Luthor
What happened?
Subject 1348
What happened in your timeline?
Subject 1348
You contacted me, right? You wanted to find out if I’m better than whatever you did. I’m not, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t help you.
Lena Luthor
I stole Myriad and tried to use it to deploy Project Non Nocere. And it failed. Supergirl stopped me from using it.
Lena Luthor
She was right to stop me.
Lena Luthor
I’ve ruined everything, lost everyone. I’m no better than Lex was.
Subject 1348
So everything fell apart, and you decided to put the space-time continuum at risk to find out if in other universes, you make a different choice? That’s how alternate universes work, Lena. Surely you know this.
Lena Luthor
Well, when you put it like that.
Lena Luthor
Am I always this condescending?
Subject 1348
Well, now at least you’re learning something about yourself.
Lena Luthor
This was a mistake.
Subject 1348
Okay, okay, I’m sorry.
Subject 1348
We made a mistake, stealing Myriad, working on Project Non Nocere. When we get hurt, we isolate, and that isolation isn’t good for us. But we can still make different choices going forward.
Lena Luthor
I don’t think there’s any recovering from this.
Lena Luthor
It hurts so much.
Subject 1348
Stop fucking around, Lena. You know what would fix this.
Lena Luthor
She won’t forgive me.
Subject 1348
Well, at least now we’re talking about the real issue at hand.
Lena Luthor
Excuse me?
Subject 1348
We aren’t that different, it seems.
Lena Luthor
What are you talking about?
Subject 1348
The other Lenas you talked to, what happened with them?
Lena Luthor
Only three of them believed me.
Subject 1348
And? What did they say?
Lena Luthor
One of them didn’t kill Lex. Another did, but confessed immediately and never started Project Non Nocere.
Subject 1348
And the third?
Lena Luthor
That timeline was very different than ours.
Subject 1348
How so?
Lena Luthor
Kara confessed her identity to her years before Lex’s rampage. We…they… were married.
Subject 1348
Oh.
Subject 1348
That makes sense.
Lena Luthor
Are you in a relationship with Kara?
Subject 1348
It’s a little complicated.
Subject 1348
But, for our purposes, yes.
Subject 1348
How does that make you feel?
Lena Luthor
Why is it complicated?
Subject 1348
We’re working through our issues. We’ve been through a lot, hurt each other a lot. You didn’t answer the question.
Lena Luthor
Every other Lena I’ve talked to is with Kara. And I’ve fucked that up for myself. I’ve fucked everything up.
Subject 1348
Kelly would ask you if that’s actually true.
Lena Luthor
Don’t “what would Kelly say” me.
Subject 1348
That was Kara, actually. I’d say something entirely more self-deprecating. Something like “why can’t you just talk to Kara instead of spending millions on finding a way to contact other universes.”
Lena Luthor
Kara’s reading my messages?!
Subject 1348
Oh, um, yes.
Subject 1348
She was from the beginning, when I didn’t believe you.
Subject 1348
Lena?
Lena Luthor
Can I talk to her?
Subject 1348
Of course you’ll only listen to Kara. You’re me.
Subject 1348
Hi sweetheart this is Kara 😘
Lena Luthor
Hi.
Subject 1348
Kara Danvers believes in you! In every universe
Lena Luthor
You can’t know that.
Subject 1348
Lena!!! You just said that out of the three universes where you could talk to yourself, all three of them were with me
Subject 1348
Your odds are pretty good
Lena Luthor
I don’t believe in soulmates.
Subject 1348
Who said anything about soulmates
Subject 1348
I’m just saying the data shows that your odds are good
Subject 1348
You like data
Subject 1348
Probably more than you like me
Subject 1348
So what’s stopping you from reaching out to your Kara
Lena Luthor
Fuck.
Subject 1348
This is Lena again. You know what’s stopping you. You don’t think you deserve forgiveness.
Subject 1348
From yourself, from your friends, from Kara.
Subject 1348
Maybe we don’t deserve forgiveness for what we’ve done. But she’s willing to give it to us anyway.
Subject 1348
You need to talk to your Kara about this, not mine. If you let yourself be vulnerable for a goddamn second, you’d be surprised what might happen.
Lena Luthor
I was vulnerable with Kara. And she lied to me.
Subject 1348
But you still love her.
Lena Luthor
Yes.
Subject 1348
Why is it so hard to believe that Kara could still love you after what you’ve done, then? Could still forgive you?
Subject 1348
Look, this is your life, your universe. You do what you want. I’m just saying that you don’t have to be miserable. You have other choices.
Subject 1348
It won’t be easy, but you know it would be worth it.
Lena Luthor
How did Kara stop you from taking Myriad?
Subject 1348
She didn’t. I ultimately decided not to take it.
Lena Luthor
Why?
Subject 1348
Because I told Kara how I really felt, and we talked.
Lena Luthor
Fuck.
Subject 1348
You could contact a thousand other Lenas in a thousand other universes, and none of them are going to give you the closure you’re looking for.
Subject 1348
Only you can do that.
Lena Luthor
FUCK. Okay. Fine. Okay.
Lena Luthor
I’ll talk to Kara, if she agrees to meet with me.
Lena Luthor
The window is closing for talking to you.
Subject 1348
Go get her, darling.
End transcript.