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‘No! Lena, please don’t do this!’
Kara struggled vainly with the chains that held her in place, the red sun lamp over her head more than a match for her increasingly feeble efforts as she hurled herself against them again and again.
Lena laughed, and the sound was harsh and mirthless, the laugh of a supervillain that grew ever more inhuman as it echoed off the polished dark marble walls and distant vaulted ceiling until it seemed to fill Kara's head with black despair.
‘Why shouldn’t I? The world has been telling me for years what a villain I am, and I kept fighting against it, bolstered by my best friend’s belief that I could be more than my genes.’
‘Lena, I’m-’ Kara tried to apologise again, but Lena didn’t let her, raising her voice and adding in an extra spike of venom as she continued her monologue.
‘Turns out you were just like all the rest: two faced. Deceitful. You never trusted me, I was just easier to handle if you kept me on a leash. A tame Luthor pet. How you must have laughed behind my back all those years.’
Kara shook her head, fat crocodile tears spilling down her cheeks oh so appropriately as Lena pressed a button on the console in front of her.
A trapdoor opened in the ceiling to release two bound figures, each of them writhing and struggling against their ropes like bait on a hook as they began to descend towards the specially built enclosure below. Inside it six large crocodiles perked up at the sight of their next meal, grunting in excitement and gathering with jaws agape directly beneath the squirming bodies.
Lena surveyed them with an air of detached indifference, then turned back to where Kara was once more flinging herself uselessly against her bonds.
‘Lena, PLEASE, this isn’t you, I know it isn’t you!’
Lena surged to her feet, newly acquired robes swirling satisfyingly around her as she glared down at her former friend.
‘Don’t I? I know exactly who I am. I’ve finally embraced what it means to be a Luthor, and that’s all thanks to you, Supergirl. You can cry and beg and spout all the false platitudes you like, but just know that this is your fault. When these people die, it will be because of you. I am what you made me.’
With that Lena flipped two switches in rapid succession. With the first, the tethers holding her prisoners suddenly dropped them towards the waiting beasts below, and a second later the lights went out, plunging the pit into blackness.
Lena waited for the sounds of splashing and screaming to die away before she turned to the single remaining source of light in the room: the dim, ruddy glow of the red sun lamps. Beneath them Kara was limp in her chains, sobbing feebly. Lena had to push aside a brief, instinctive urge to go to her then, to wipe away her tears and wrap her arms around her. It was a vestigial response: as useless to her now as impacted wisdom teeth in this new version of reality, so instead of giving into it Lena simply stared down at Kara with a forced smirk on her face.
‘I believe now we understand each other. Goodbye, Supergirl.’
Right on cue Kara’s posture slackened from one of abject despair to the boneless slump of unconsciousness as a sedative dart shot from the concealed pipe in the wall and sank into the back of her neck. Lena waited a minute to be sure it had done its job, and then at last let her gloating posture drop into something more natural.
She stepped quickly into the pool of red light and pressed two fingers to the pulse in Kara’s neck, then released the chains that held her in place, easing her gently down to the floor. Now that her enemy was unconscious and unable to read into it, she unfastened the cape pinned to her shoulders (longer and more daunting that Supergirl’s little red security blanket: this was a proper cape, heavily draped and trailing and worthy of Maleficent herself) and flung it over Kara’s supine form. Just for the sake of tidiness, not because it was damp and chilly in this underground hide out, and without her powers Kara was as susceptible to the cold as any human.
That done, Lena turned the lights back up, bringing the crocodile pit and its victims into full view.
She tsked lightly at the sight of one of her crocs with its jaws stretched wide around a booted foot.
‘Careful, it would be a shame to ruin Italian leather on those teeth.’
‘Sorry Miss Luthor,’ victim number one replied sheepishly, leaning forwards to prise open the jaws holding him in place and easing his foot our carefully.
‘I couldn’t resist having some fun with it. They’re so life like!’
Lena finally let slip a small, genuine smile.
‘Thank you Billy. And I must say your screaming was excellent – very convincing. And Dora: that choked off bubbling thing you did at the end? If I hadn’t known better I’d have sworn you really were being dragged down to a watery grave.’
Dora beamed as she uncoiled the last of the rope that was "binding" her and stepped over one of the now inert crocodiles to reach the edge of the pit.
‘Thanks! I’ve been practising all week, my sister came busting into the bathroom to rescue me twice. I’m gonna have to be careful not to drown for real any time soon or there’s no way she’ll believe me.’
Dora laughed, and Lena nodded faux-seriously.
‘Better stay away from crocodile infested waters for a while then. The two of you are free to go now if you’re ready – just see Jess on your way out and she’ll sort out your payment. Get in touch any time if you need references, okay?’
The two young actors nodded and thanked her effusively, then made their way towards the exit, chatting happily about their good fortune in getting these parts. Lena smiled fondly after them. She loved drama students: even when the role was a two minute scene of violent death, she could always find someone up for taking on the job. It probably didn’t hurt that she paid extremely well for their acting and their discretion, but it was worth it, and she was all for supporting the arts.
Once they were gone she made her way back to the ridiculously ostentatious throne she’d had set up for herself and pulled out a tablet from the pocket concealed in its back (something so mundane ruined the whole vibe she had going here), then sent out the message that the scene was complete, and Supergirl could be taken to the pre-prepared safehouse where she would be monitored until she woke up and went on her way. While she was at it she pulled up her encrypted server, just to check that the shell corporations she’d set up were in place and that funding to the children’s hospital would continue uninterrupted once she callously and publicly withdrew her donorship next week.
Yes, everything was ready, and once that was done Lena had a few more evil schemes up her sleeve just waiting to be unveiled.
If Kara was going to treat her like a villain, Lena was going to act like one.
She’d always looked good in black.