Is the world too much, or is it just me

by TempestDash

Summary:

In the aftermath of Lex's trial, Lena Luthor is determined to turn LuthorCorp into something better. First task: find all the people working on research for Lex and make sure they're not operating secret labs crafting superweapons to use against aliens. All that seems straightforward enough until she finds a request for data on Kryptonian biology from a National City University graduate student named Kara Danvers.

or

Kara chooses to embrace her Science Guild roots and help Earth though science rather than super-heroism, unfortunately the world has other plans. Covers the emergence of Supergirl and the stress this puts on Kara's life from the POV of Lena who is initially unaware of Kara's dual identity.

Chapter 1: The Graduate Student

Lena Luthor concluded, while staring at the twenty-eighth stack of irregularly sized files, that she had perhaps bitten off more than she could chew.

She shouted over her shoulder to the woman she was sure had her head buried in one of the banker’s boxes on the conference room table in LuthorCorp’s penthouse offices in Metropolis.  “And you’re sure none of these are in a database somewhere?”

“As sure as I was the last twenty-seven times you asked, Lena,” replied the woman, who sounded like she was facing away and didn’t even bother to pick her head up. “Lex did not like these things recorded in systems that aliens could hack.”

Lena sighed and picked up the next file off the stack. “No, why bother deploying security protections when you can be paranoid and inefficient instead.” The yellow faded folder revealed the results of a series of experiments on Superman’s hair, including fanciful speculation on how it could be used to clone the kryptonian using a ‘genetic matrix.’ Lena scoffed and flipped back to the front of the file and looked at the author, a scientist named Konner.

Three more files were dropped onto the top of the pile of folders and Mercy Graves then patted Lena on the shoulder. “Admittedly, security was my side of the formula, but still, Lex had likely memorized all of these.”

Lena reached up and touched the back of Mercy’s hand once before she closed the file and pushed it over to the discard pile. “No luck here, this work is both dubious and ancient.  What do you have there?”

Mercy picked the three files up again and moved them closer to Lena. “Some newer records, incomplete files. Probably leads that were never followed up on. Not likely to represent some secret skunkworks project but better safe than sorry.”

Lena leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. “Sorry is mostly what I feel right now. So many of these people were just dangled out there and who knows what happened to them.”

“Likely nothing,” said Mercy. “These files weren’t digitized, nobody other than Lex probably remembered and he was too busy with other pursuits.” She nearly spat the last two words and Lena felt even worse.

She turned and faced the ex-LuthorCorp Security chief. “Thank you for helping, Mercy, I had no idea where to even start after the trial.”

Mercy made a small smile. “I helped him long enough, I owe more to these people than just testimony at the trial last month.” She shrugged. “It’s a shame I haven’t been able to turn up any of these people, though.”

Lena shook her head once and placed a hand to her chin. “I just don’t understand that. Some of the people seemed active when I looked them up, but they just vanished when you arrived.” She paused. “Someone’s doing the same thing we are.”

“He had enough enemies,” agreed Mercy. “And without Lex, it’s only a matter of time before the vultures pick apart LuthorCorp.”

“No,” Lena said sternly. “This is my company now, and I can’t lose control of everything it did or it could be catastrophic to the world. The projects being done in the light of day were dangerous enough, these secret labs across the country are even worse.” She waved at the files spread across the table. “We may not be able to keep Pandora's box closed, but we have to keep more than hope contained.”

Mercy looked at the files she had just brought over. “Perhaps these newer ones will prove more fruitful.” She turned and headed towards the door. “I’m going to check in with Otis and then head out to find the next three contacts you identified.  Let me know if you find more.”

Lena hoped Mercy would be more successful this time.  Turning LuthorCorp into something that actually helps humanity will take a herculean effort, but it was worth doing. She just wished she had some idea if she’d be successful or not.

Reaching out to flip open the top file Mercy delivered, Lena was shocked to discover it had only a single page in it. She checked the tab on the edge of the folder but it only contained a single name on it, the same name that was on the paper inside. It appeared to be a record approving disclosure of research material to a graduate student at National City University.

Lena pushed the file aside and reached for her tablet, logging into Index and running a search, muttering to herself.

“So what, exactly, did you need Kryptonian DNA Sequencing data for , Ms. Kara Danvers?”

 

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

 

Lena checked the number on a small slip of paper she was carrying against the doors she was walking past. She had no doubt what it said, she could have memorized a number ten times longer in less than the time it took the elevators in this building on the National City University campus to cross between floors. But she was nervous, and when she was nervous she double and triple checked her data.

She chose to follow up on this Kara Danvers person herself, without telling Mercy, and she was still wondering if that was the right idea. Something fishy was going on, Lena was sure, but she didn’t like what it implied. Someone was going after these non-employee LuthorCorp assets – someone other than Lena – and that meant someone had access to the same data.

The obvious answer was Lex, of course. He was in jail now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be in  touch with someone doing his dirty work. Lena had been reviewing his visitor logs weekly, but it could easily be another prisoner passing messages. Or a guard. Or the warden.

Another answer was Mercy herself, but Lena was skeptical. She had just testified against Lex and was key in getting him imprisoned. And she had confessed to Lena before the trial that she and Lex had not been close at some time now as his obsessions with Superman became intolerable. Lena wanted to believe this meant she was on board with Lena’s mission to reform LuthorCorp, but she was no fool. People lied to her, often repeatedly, and she knew better than to trust anyone anymore.

Mercy’s brother Otis was also a possibility, maybe without Mercy’s knowledge. They were close, as siblings went, perhaps so close that Otis could be using Mercy’s knowledge and selling it to someone else. An unfortunate possibility, but one she wouldn’t voice unless she was more certain.

One way of getting more certain was to handle this contact on her own and see if she encountered more success. Of course, that was a great idea until she realized she wasn’t even armed and could encounter just about anything on the other side of door 233. Kara looked mousey enough, unlikely to be armed in a university, but she was in Lex’s files, which meant there could be more.

Lena’s deliberations took her all the way to the door in question and she stood there, frozen, unsure whether to enter or not. She chided herself for her indecision but that didn’t make the answer any more apparent to her.

Fate took the choice away from her, however, when the door opened on its own a stack of boxes walked into her.

“Rao!” came an alarmed voice from above Lena, who was now on the floor with a box of books on top of her.

“Who?” Lena groaned as she tried to sit up.

“Are you okay?” the voice repeated. The collection of books and boxes on top her were quickly picked off and placed to the side and she was face to face with who appeared to be Kara Danvers.

“Ms. Danvers?” asked Lena as she was pulled back onto her feet with somewhat surprising ease by the only slightly taller girl. She looked almost exactly like the picture in the university listing, big glasses, collared shirt, blue cardigan. The only deviation was the white, oversized labcoat that currently hung askew as she steadied Lena with a hand.

“What?” the girl squawked first, then appeared to flush. “Yes, I mean, I’m Kara. Kara Danvers.” She paused a second then held out a hand.

Lena looked at it for a moment too long before gently shaking it. “Lena Luthor,” she said. “If we’re doing full names.”

Kara laughed quickly, like something she was trying to hold in but couldn’t. “Ah, I mean, I’m used to people just calling me Kara. My mom and sister went here and typically if someone is looking for a Danvers, it's them.” Her gaze seemed to go distant for a second then her eyes went fully wide. “Luthor. You’re Lena Luthor! You’re her .”

“I think I just said that,” said Lena, bracing herself for what she knew was coming, what always came when people recognized her as the brother of Lex Luthor.

The next laugh from Kara sounded almost like relief. “Your work on autonomous systems is revolutionary! I was just reading your thesis from MIT and I can’t believe you never took it further than the early trials, even though they weren’t fully successful.”

Completely unprepared for this response Lena felt her mouth hang open for over a second until she remembered to speak using it. “Uh, yeah. That’s funny. Not fully successful is a far too kind way of saying failure.”

“Oh, no, there’s no failure in science,” Kara shook her head wildly and waved her hand once from left to right. “We always learn, right?”

Lena blinked. “We?”

“Scientists,” Kara said with a toothy grin that showed such exuberance for a simple concept that Lena began to feel self-conscious. The term ‘wide-eyed and bushy-tailed’ sprung unbidden into her mind and she began to blush.

“Right,” nodded Lena as she tried to find somewhere else to look other than at this girl who seemed so innocent that it was almost inconceivable that she had anything to do with Lex’s criminal activities.

“Can I ask you some questions about your work?” Kara said, clutching her hands together. “I’m doing some similar studies and would love to pick your brain about signal methods in hive systems.”

Lena paused and took a breath to center herself. She was only here in National City to follow up this lead and since it was rapidly looking like a bust, she might as well make the best of it. She could take her jet home to Metropolis at any time, but ideally it would be overnight given how much time lost in coast-to-coast travel.

“Sure,” said Lena with a shrug. “Do you want to talk here or can we get a coffee?”

“Coffee!” burst Kara. She smiled kindly at Lena and it gave her a funny feeling in her belly. Suddenly Kara looked stricken. “Wait, were you here looking for me ? Why?”

With a shake of her head, Lena bent down and picked up one of the boxes – heavier than she expected – and motioned her head back towards the elevators. “It doesn’t matter, I was clearly mistaken.”

Kara frowned but grabbed the remaining boxes and walked alongside Lena. She made a small smile before speaking. “Not fully correct, then?”

Lena laughed. “Yeah, but I learned something from it, so it’s okay.”

“That’s good,” said Kara.

 

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

 

Lena was going to direct Kara to the nearest National City Beanery but the graduate student waved her off and instead they crossed Market St and entered a small diner. When they entered, Kara waved to a short, older woman in an apron with nearly white curly hair behind the counter, and sat them both at a table between the door and the corner. Lena took it in stride but couldn’t contain her curiosity longer than it took for the same server to deliver two mugs filled with black coffee.

“Okay, what?” Lena started with and then froze as the aroma of the cup in front of her hit her nostrils. She breathed deeply then took a sip that nearly burned her mouth. “No. What?”

Kara giggled. “Nel and Georgio are obsessed with coffee – I mean, who isn’t? It’s a college town – but they are constantly travelling looking to create new brews and try new things.  What do you think you’ve got there?”

Lena smelled deeply of her cup again. “Some kind of Yirgacheffe blend, I’d guess.”

“Ethiopian beans, right? But grown right here at NCU.” Kara motioned out the windows. “There are a few dozen undergrads in the agri programs that are working on some really specific growing condition simulators and Nel has been the recipient of the trials.”

Again, Lena felt thrown for a loop but tried to find a way back. “But how do you know that?”

“Oh,” Kara chirped and then looked embarrassed. “I’ve been here till closing so many times I practically live here.”  She carefully blew over the top of her mug and took a sip before continuing. “When I was working on my masters I was doing late night trials on self-assembling systems – nothing to the scale you’re used to, I’m sure – and all the National City Beanery cafes close at 10. Only Nel stays up in this part of the city and it’s a beacon to students. She probably knows more about my research than anyone else. I don’t know if she understands any of it but she seems happy to listen when I’ve hit a wall.”

Lena tried to file all this information together in her head and felt it was a little ridiculous that the folder back at LuthorCorp only had a single page dedicated to Kara Danvers when clearly this woman contained multitudes.

Eh, Lex’s loss.

“Self-assembling systems?” Lena prompted.

“Right,” Kara said before taking a breath. “So, I was reviewing the work you did with Jack Spheer on nanite therapy, and I saw that you had reduced the logic center of each of your micro-robots to such a degree they couldn't operate fully autonomously anymore.”

Lena nodded along. “It’s the only way for systems this small, we’re running into the limits of our fabrication processes. We can't spare the space for full processors and storage, and quantum processing isn’t ready yet to take over.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath there,” said Kara, dismissively. Her nose wrinkled as she shook her head. “But I do think there are potentially other avenues to consider for shrinking processing. But that’s not what I wanted to ask about.”

That funny feeling was returning in Lena’s abdomen as she watched the cute crease between Kara’s brows as she spoke.

“The problems I’m looking into have to do with signaling,” continued Kara. “Nearly all wireless communication we use today is impractical at this size, the device is at times smaller than the wavelength needed to be received. How did you approach coordination issues without a wireless approach?”

Lena was immediately conflicted by the fact that there were two answers to this question, one of which she wasn’t allowed to tell. She really, really wanted to give the real answer, but she just met this girl an hour ago and she’s known Jack for ages.

“It’s not wireless, or rather it is wireless because it’s using the body as a medium,” said Lena, giving the safe response to this fascinating stranger. “Much like the body uses fluids to communicate, we leverage those existing mediums to carry our messages between bots. The distance is often inconsequential, so it’s not like it has to go far, but the salinity of blood is enough to transmit a current.”

Kara studied her cup as she nodded absently. “I was afraid of that.”

“Obviously our problems arose because those signals began to interfere with normal bodily functions when they reached sensitive areas like the brain,” said Lena, carrying on her thought. “We never got to human testing as you know, the seizures we triggered in mice were enough of a deterrent. Jack’s still picking away at it but I moved on.”

“And he hasn’t solved the rejection problem?” asked Kara, looking up.

“No,” said Lena at first then paused. “Rejection?”

“Right, he hasn’t solved it yet?” said Kara.

“What do you mean when you say rejection?” asked Lena.

Kara shrugged. “The body rejects the nanites.”

“They’re not a prosthetic, Kara,” said Lena.

“They act like one,” said Kara.  She used her finger and flicked the edge of Lena’s mug, causing ripples across the surface. “You said it yourself, the body uses those mediums for communication, it’s why you’re hijacking them. But your signals are meant for machines, so the body doesn’t know what to do with them. When it gets weird signals suddenly, what does it normally think?”

Lena was staring at her hands, gripped around the cup with the waves within. .=She was only partially listening at this point as her mind was turning around Biomax in her head in a way she hadn’t before. Still, she was more than capable of having a conversation with only part of her brain engaged. “Mutation,” she said in response.

“Right,” she heard Kara say. “So it attacks, and nature decides who wins.”

Lena looked up from up and into Kara’s eyes. “We can’t use blood as a medium, it was never going to work.”

Kara looked uncomfortable and bobbed her head slightly from side to side. “I don’t know about never, but you definitely needed to solve the rejection issues.”

Lena rubbed her face with palms. “I worked on this for years, Kara.”

Kara looked even more uncomfortable now. “Sorry?”

Lena sighed loudly. “It’s not your fault, I’m just embarrassed for not having seen it. How did you see it? Your degrees are in material science and physics.”

“I like to dabble,” admitted Kara. “And my sister’s doctorate is in bioengineering, she helped a little. Also I have some friends at S.T.A.R. Labs though my cousin, who really didn’t work with me on this, but they sometimes say things that give me ideas.”

“Is there anyone you don’t know?” asked Lena, flabbergasted. Next this girl was going to say she knew the president.

“Lots of people,” Kara said, defensively. “I didn’t know you before today.”

Lena tried to hold it in, but she began to laugh anyway. Kara seemed a little put out at first but then began to smile.

“Okay, well, now that you know me , I guess you’ve reached everyone,” Lena said between laughs.

Now Kara was pouting. “I didn’t say that.”

Lena continued to laugh.

 

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

 

Coffee somehow became dinner, at least after some awkward arguing about the paltry bill at Nel’s place. Kara insisted on paying, while Lena insisted that she could buy the diner and the entirety of NCU if she wanted, so it would be better if she paid. Kara said it was on principle she had to pay since she picked the place, and if Lena wanted to pay she had to pick.

So Lena picked dinner. A place so nice that Kara’s white lab coat stuck out like a sore thumb but everyone knew better than to question whoever Lena Luthor brought to dinner. It was almost like a dare, and Lena got a kick out of every person who looked strangely at them as they passed.

“I have no idea what any of this is,” said Kara. “But I feel like I’ve been talking for hours and I’m famished. Can I order a few things?”

Lena opened her hands wide. “Order the whole menu if you wish.”

Kara’s eyes lit up and Lena felt the joy of a new dare coming on. “Really?”

Lena licked her lips. “By all means.”

A second table was needed to hold the dishes Kara ordered. By this point, Lena felt like she was in some sort of bizarre, but wonderful dream. Yeah, she was eating with someone who absolutely had no place in this restaurant but at the same time she was having a thrilling conversation about many different disciplines of science and was now convinced that Kara was absolutely the most fascinating person Lena had ever met in her life.

“Where have you been hiding,” Lena mused aloud before she could help herself.

“Excuse me?” asked Kara as she was making her way through a second plate of scallops.

“I’m guessing you’re not from National City,” Lena said. Strangely, this comment caused Kara to pause and think hard for a few seconds.

“Midvale,” said Kara before taking another bite. “I grew up there before attending NCU.”

“You still have family there?” asked Lena.

“My parents are still at home. Alex is here in National City.”

“Alex?”

“My sister,” clarified Kara. “She does some government work, I’m not entirely sure I can say what.”

Lena picked up on the odd phrasing in that reply, but made no outward sign. “A whole family of scientists then? You said earlier your sister and mother attended NCU.”

“Yup,” nodded Kara with a bright smile. “I’m the last one to get my doctorate, but once I’m done we’ll all be the Doctors Danvers.”

Lena smiled. “That sounds like an in-joke.”

Kara giggled.

Lena was in such a good mood she opened her mouth and spoke without thinking. “You can ask about my family, you know.”

Kara froze.

“I don’t mind,” said Lena.

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to,” said Kara in a small voice. She put her knife and fork aside to give Lena her full attention.

Lena shrugged. “There probably isn’t much mystery anymore.”

Kara seemed to pick her words carefully. “Were there any of them that you were close to?”

“I thought,” Lena’s voice hitched suddenly and she swallowed to gain control again. “I thought I was close to Lex, but it turned out we didn’t understand each other at all.”  She looked away quickly in case she began to tear up. Grabbing her napkin with one hand she rubbed it gently over her lips to give herself something to focus on.

Kara’s hand resting on top of hers almost startled her. She looked back to see her looking upon her sadly.

“I know what it’s like to disagree with family,” she said softly. “They’re still your family but it hurts to see such distance between you.”

Lena could almost feel the empathy flowing off of Kara like waves, threatening to drown her. “Doesn’t sound like the Doctors Danvers have these problems,” she said sharply.

Kara nodded slowly. “I have other family,” she said. “I mentioned my cousin before, and while I love him, he can be a bit overwhelming sometimes.”

“Nothing like Lex, I’m sure,’ said Lena, clearing her throat and starting to feel more together.

“You’d be surprised,” Kara nearly whispered.

 

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

 

Eventually Lena realized she was going to have a hard time getting out of National City if she didn’t leave soon. A personal jet was fine and good as long as you had runways to takeoff and land at.

“Thank you for the evening,” said Lena as they were preparing to part, standing in front of the tall tower the restaurant was in.

“Thank you ,” said Kara. “You paid, after all.”

“That doesn’t matter to me,” said Lena. She bit her lip briefly. “Thank you for treating me as a person and not just a member of my family.”

Resolve steeled itself in Kara’s expression. “That’s the least anyone should do for you. You’ve already been through enough.”

Lena let that go without comment.

“So why were you looking for me this morning?” askd Kara.

Lena could barely believe that was how this day started. “It really doesn’t matter,” she began. “But I was looking into anyone who requested alien-related research from LuthorCorp, to make sure they were using it for… well, I’m not worried.  But, I am curious.”

“Curious?” asked Kara.

“Why?” asked Lena. “Why did you need that data?”

Kara studied her shoes for a half second before answering. “You’ve heard of Loch Ness?”

Lena blinked. “The monster?”

“Well, yeah, but mostly the lake, in Scotland,” said Kara.

Lena nodded and Kara proceeded. “There are, like, millions of people who believe there’s something in there, and those people are constantly sending vessels into the lake to do scans or studies, anything to confirm there’s a monster in the lake. Humanity knows more about what lives in and around Loch Ness than any other body of water in the world, and they’ll continue to learn even more so long as no monster is ever found.”

“Okay?” said Lena.

Kara smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Your brother has spent more money researching aliens than any other organization in the world. He was looking for weapons,” Kara frowned deeply before continuing. “But he also discovered incredible knowledge about how the universe and its people work. He may not care about any of it, but I do. And it saves a lot of time to go to LuthorCorp for data even if I’d rather go elsewhere.”

Lena considered this. “But why did you need that DNA data?”

Lena was almost shocked to realize Kara was refusing to look her in the eyes. “I would prefer to keep that private,” Kara eventually said. “Please.”

Lena blinked and a coldness settled in her that seemed so heavy she needed to escape. “I see,” she said. “I guess this is goodnight.”  She turned and began to walk in the hope she would get some distance between them before she began to cry.

She got ten paces before a voice shouted from behind her. “I think I can fix Biomax.”

Lena stopped mid-stride. She turned her head just enough to catch Kara in the corner of her eye.  Kara was haltingly walking towards her but slowed before crossing half the distance.  “I don’t really want to work with LuthorCorp, though.” She looked up briefly. “Or Spheerical.”

Lena tried to find a point in any of this and couldn’t. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so instead she faced forward again and was about to continue walking.

“I want to work with you .”

Lena didn’t lift a leg.

“Can I work with you?” Kara asked, sounding closer now but Lena didn’t dare look back. “Without LuthorCorp involved?”

Lena took a deep breath.  And then another.

 

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

 

Lena sat in her plane waiting for her takeoff window to arrive. Her pilot was rambling on about air conditions or something but Lena had tuned it out. She felt mentally exhausted in a way she hadn’t outside of late-night brainstorming sessions with Jack.

Jack Spheer. What a strange person for all of this to be circling around. Jack was her partner in creating BioMax but they both agreed it was a failure. Now Kara wanted to replace Jack as her partner and frankly there was something about the girl that made Lena…

Well. It made Lena feel several things, none of which made this an easy decision to make. Kara was undeniably beauti– intelligent. She was intelligent.  AND beautiful, but that had no bearing on anything, and why was she even thinking about it?

No, this was about being partners. Research partners.

Lena heard no end to the stories Lex told her about how brilliant he was and how the rest of the world failed to measure up. It was a massively egotistical thing to be caught up with but it was never far from his thoughts. Lex, the genius, without compare. Lex the lone hero holding back the night. Lex who never felt challenged by the people he world put in front of him, at least until it put an alien in blue tights there.

Regardless, the annoying thing was that Lena could, sometimes, and just a tiny bit… sympathize. She also felt like she was a step ahead of most of the people she worked with. She didn’t know everything, and Lex’s superhuman ability to memorize data was a skill Lena could only compare unfavorably to, but she did know a lot, and she knew a lot about a lot. And she did find it a little challenging to work with someone who wasn’t operating at her speed.

Jack did, at least for a while. He became obsessed with BioMax and it started to be less fun, but there were the early days when he was vibrant and challenging. And just a little bit too charming for Lena to resist.

It faded, though. It didn’t last, and Lena wasn’t sure anything like that would come by again… until Kara. Kara who seemed to know no bounds between scientific disciplines, who took a holistic approach to science, who seemed to be able to jump between research with ease. She challenged Lena easily and made her wonder if for once Lena would have to be the one to keep up in the relationship.

Relationship . The word tickled her strangely, even as she recalled Kara’s response to her question about the Kryptonian research.

“We’ve got the go-ahead to take off, please keep your seatbelt on, Ms. Luthor.” The pilot announced over the speakers and Lena politely regarded him before returning to her thoughts.

She wished this could be easy. She wished Kara could have just answered her question. Now she had to wonder. What was she doing with that research? Was it innocuous, or something more sinister. Kara was animated about how much she disliked what Lex was doing, but was that just a smokescreen? A lie to cover her own research?

She could have lied, Lena did realize. Kara didn’t have to ask for her work to be private, she could have made something up. Lena certainly laid the groundwork for her to do. Embarrassingly, she realized she nearly begged Kara to admit the research request was for nothing.  And yet, she didn’t, she didn’t lie, she didn’t complain about Lena’s question. She just asked for privacy.  Did that mean something? Or did Lena just want it to mean something?

In truth, the best way to figure out the answer to her question would be to work with her. The rationalist approach would say the answer is yes no matter what Kara’s motivations were, because either way it allows Lena the opportunity to gain more information. She just considered rationalist responses to be a little hollow-feeling.

The plane suddenly lurched and Lena saw the bulkhead coming straight at her. Her head collided with the paneling beside her window and she saw stars for a moment. Then her stomach turned as the plan began to spin and fall.  Lena reached out and braced herself against the window and looked out only to see smoke and flames engulfing the wing.

Her mind went blank and she screamed as she was thrown against her seat. They were crashing. Lena could barely put together a thought. This was it, she was going to die in a stupid plane with Lex’s name on the side of it. What a waste.

Almost as abruptly as the fall began the plane seemed to quickly slow and right itself. The pressure Lena felt pushing her into her chair relented and she could lift her head up again.  She turned to look out the window again and saw the wing completely engulfed in flames. They certainly weren’t flying on that wreckage, so what was causing them to slow?

A few moments later the plane splashed down roughly into the harbor and Lena was flung in her seat again but avoided smashing her sore head against the bulkhead a second time. She tried to take more than shallow breaths but failed and instead gripped her head and bent over at the waist to try to get her jack-hammering heart under control.

The plan wobbled once as if something just pushed it from beneath, followed by wet sounds of something landing on metal nearby. With the scream of twisting metal the emergency door across from Lena’ seat was pulled open from outside. A figure, surrounded in smoke was holding the door in front of them, almost like a shield, masking all features. The strange figure waited by the door for a second, then backed away into the smoke, dropped the door on the wing causing a grinding and tearing sound, and leapt into the sky.

“S-superman?” asked Lena when the ability to form words returned to her. She unbuckled her seat belt and then raced to the cockpit to find the pilot there, unconscious but still alive. After making sure he had no injuries she could see, she returned to the emergency exit door and looked out.

Boats with flashing lights were coming from the shore and she could see the spotlights of helicopters from the sky. There were no men in blue-tights anywhere around, no heroes she could see. Whomever saved her – or whomever attacked her? – simply had left after opening the door, leaving no trace.

Lena looked down at the wing the stranger had landed on. She saw two small dents where it seemed someone would have been standing to pull open the door but they were featureless and could have been left by anything.

She looked to the remains of the emergency exit and saw the grip pattern on the edges. The hand size was roughly similar to Lena’s, probably smaller than superman. And the angle of the marks their fingers left implied someone less broad than the barrel chested Superman.

A fluttering of white caught Lena’s eye and she saw the emergency exit had landed on something that was now trapped against the wing.  She levered up the exit door while reaching for the white scrap and freed a small piece of slightly burned white cloth with a 90-degree corner on one end, like the edge of a shirt, tablecloth, or coat.  She spread the piece of cloth with her fingers but couldn’t figure out which of those three options were more likely based on this tiny scrap.

As the harbor police’s boats pulled up to the wreck, Lena palmed the white cloth tightly and swore to herself she wouldn’t let a single person take it from her. She didn’t know what had just happened, whether she was saved or assaulted, but she was going to find the answer.

Notes:

Lena's perspective is definitely given little consideration in the series. Considering how she was brought into the show, this isn't surprising, and the whole Arrowverse/Berlanti-verse contains terribly, terribly immature plotting at the best of times. I'm going to try to give Lena a better shake here by doing this whole thing from her POV. Lets see if it works out?

To be honest, this was not the story I intended to write. This idea came to me in a rush and I had to write it down. So here it is, all drafted in one night, with an outline for at least 10 more chapters, but I'm not sure if I'll ever write them. I have a bad habit of coming up with these ideas and never finishing.

Originally this was supposed to be from Kara's perspective, and I have a ton of backstory and conflicts between her and Superman while she was a child growing up with the Danvers that I now realize I have no avenue for Lena to learn about so I guess that'll be some extra scenes after the end of this series. Whoops.

Chapter 2: Post Trauma

Lena was rapidly flicking through files on her tablet when the door to her temporary co-working office was slammed open and a very frustrated-looking Mercy Graves was standing in the doorway.

“Are you okay?” Mercy demanded as she stalked up to the desk between them. She looked dressed for war. Or war between office buildings as she still had stylish heels on but her dark gray jacket moved stiffly around her shoulders as if reinforced.

Lena put down her tablet and raised an eyebrow. “I told you I was fine on the phone.” She stood up and did a quick spin in place, showing off her dark blue suit jacket and matching skirt, and no injuries. “See? All parts intact.”

“You could have died,” insisted Mercy as she put one hand on her hip. “Did you see a doctor?”

“Yes,” insisted Lena as she dropped back into the high-backed chair and reached for her tablet again. “I got banged up just a little but otherwise fine considering I was in a plane that fell out of the sky.”

Mercy crossed her arms over her chest. “Very well,” she seemed annoyed. “Who did it?”

Lena shook her head. “Police aren’t sure,” she admitted, and returned to flicking through records on her tablet. “Something blew up the engine and set fire to the wing. Could have been a maintenance issue but I’m thinking not.”

“You think it was an attack,” concluded Mercy, and Lena nodded. “Definitely possible. I don’t recall you taking a trip since the trial, this could have been their first opportunity to get you out in the open.”

“That’s reassuring,” groaned Lena. She tapped her tablet screen and adjusted the search parameters before requesting new results.

“Is that why you haven’t come back yet?” asked Mercy as she looked idly around the office. “Police worried whoever it was won’t try again?”

“Something like that,” said Lena with a bit of a grumble. “They also somehow got it in their mind that I could be responsible and told me not to leave.”

“What.” Mercy frowned.

“Yeah, I’m not sure of the logic there either,” admitted Lena. “If I was going to do something nefarious I think I’d pick something less convoluted than bombing my own jet while I’m in it.  And for what gain? Suicide? Please.”

Mercy was quiet long enough that Lena slowly lowered the tablet to see what happened. The distant, contemplative look Mercy had on was not encouraging. Lena tried to guess what she was thinking and only realized after the latter had begun talking and could no longer be interrupted.

“I’m going to put a guard on you,” Mercy said quickly.

“You can’t do that,” said Lena quickly, sitting up in her chair. “You don’t work for LuthorCorp anymore, you’re just helping me with these files.”

“I’ll call my brother,” Mercy continued.

“No,” Lena said flatly. “I do not want Otis following me around like a puppy all day.”

“You aren’t safe,” explained Mercy.

“I will never be safe, I’m a Luthor,” said Lena. “Surely you know this.” She waved her hand to the side. “I have a security detail, you know, they just don’t go everywhere with me.”

“Not much of a detail, then,” Mercy said forcefully. “Let me escort you to Metropolis.”

Lena bit her lip and looked back at her tablet. “I’m not ready yet.”

“You don’t have to be afraid.” Mercy slowly came around the back of the desk. “Now that we know someone’s after you we can take better precautions.”

It was seconds before Lena decided to answer. “You know I think I like it here.” She peeked over her tablet again. “National City. I should open a division here.”

“Uh,” started Mercy. She frowned and glanced out of the window before putting her hands on her hips and shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“I’ll need to find something more permanent and better equipped than this coworking space,” said Lena. “I’ll have one of my people find me an apartment in the meantime.”

“You’re… not coming back,” said Mercy, looking more serious now.

“Not for now,” said Lena. “Too much to do.”

“To do?” Mercy took a loud and labored breath. “I can’t stay here forever.” She pointed back towards the door she entered from. “And what about going through all of Lex’ contacts?”

Looking up, Lena faced Mercy directly now. “Did you find someone?”

“I didn’t get very far when I heard you fell out of the sky!”

“You didn’t have to come here, I was fine,” insisted Lena. “I told you I was fine.”

Mercy made a face. “You’re awfully cavalier for someone who could have died.”

“I didn’t,” said Lena. “It’s not valuable for me to go to pieces right now.’ She got up from her chair and put a hand on Mercy’s shoulder. “Look, I do need to track down all of Lex’s crumbs but that’s the past, it’s not the only way to repair the company’s name. I need to do new things, new research, new products. I can’t be tied to Metropolis all the time.”

Mercy screwed up her face like she’d seen something repugnant. “But National City? They don’t even have a good ball team. The Sharks are crap.”

Lena laughed. “I could probably help with that too.”

Mercy seemed troubled again. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

Lena hesitated. She still wasn’t sure what was going on with Lex’s contacts vanishing and what Mercy’s role in that was, but when Lena herself went to follow up on a lead they didn’t vanish! Kara was right where she expected her to be. 

On the other hand, she was attacked and nearly died. Did that mean it was more likely Mercy wasn’t involved or less? The years Lena spent under Mercy’s care weighed heavily on her but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up.

“I need to do something to show LuthorCorp is different now,” said Lena. “National City might be a good place to do that.”

Mercy looked sympathetic and came around to sit on the edge of the desk. “It’s just an office building.”

Lena scoffed. “And micro-manufacturing, and labs, and testing, storage–”

“Whatever you open here will just be an office,” interrupted Mercy. “East coast or west coast is not going to matter. I’m sorry for what Lex did to you, I wish I had done something earlier. But what’s different now is you . Wherever you are, you will be what makes LuthorCorp different.”

Lena wished it was that simple. Mercy always was a little blind to the reality of marketing.

“What about Jack?” asked Mercy, and Lena scowled.

“That’s none of your business,” Lena snapped.

“He’s not a reason to stay?” asked Mercy, then she paused and frowned. “Or is he the reason you’re leaving?”

“I don’t need this from you,” said Lena.

“Maybe you do,” said Mercy. “Maybe this was what Lex needed and I ignored it.”

“Mercy–”

“I'm just saying, opening a company here is a big choice and it’s not something you want to do based on emotion–”

“We’re done,” Lena shouted, and Mercy quieted.  Lena breathed heavily. “Jack and I are done, there is no Jack and I anymore. And you and I are heading that way if you don’t drop it.”

Mercy crossed her arms but said nothing.

“If you want to help me,” said Lena slowly. “Find some of Lex’s paper contacts, and not just ghosts.” She watched as Mercy seemed to stew over that for a moment. “Okay?”

Mercy said nothing but nodded, then she stood up and headed out the door.

With a sigh, Lena collapsed back into her chair and stared at her tablet containing the list of possible matches to whoever helped her last night. She had been trying to figure out how to approach these people when Mercy had burst in. It would be even more dangerous than when she went after Kara Danvers as at least she didn’t have superpowers. These people all did and few of them looked like they would be happy to see a Luthor.  Lena tried to imagine a future where she was successful in rehabilitating her name and worried all her justifications were worryingly irrelevant.

Well, a superpowered person who was willing to stick their neck out to save her was a great start. She just needed to find a way to keep her own neck safe as she tracked them down.

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

Getting off the elevator at NCU Lena immediately heard angry, but indistinct shouting coming from the hallway ahead of her. With a frown she stepped forward and heard her high heels echo loudly. The shouting almost immediately died away and Lena rolled her eyes at her own mistake.  Unable to reverse time (yet) she continued onward towards the lab she’d visited yesterday.

Just before she got the door it opened again, but this time a very different person stepped out.

“Lena Luthor,” said the dark haired woman in what looked to be a tactical outfit. She eyed Lena intensely and, to Lena, unwarrantedly.

“Yes?” said Lena, tilting her head. She wasn’t sure what was going on here but she figured she should play dumb.

“Keep yourself and your family’s trouble away from my sister,” said the woman abruptly. She put her arms on her hips and thoroughly blocked the doorway with her somewhat petit frame.

“Sister?” Lena’s mouth dropped slightly open as she tried to spin though the likely scenarios. Seeing Kara walking towards the door from behind the woman allowed it to all come together.

Lena snapped her fingers. “You’re Alex,” she said, now smiling. “Listen, I didn’t mean to get attacked last night, but if I could avoid trouble–”

“Attacked?” said Kara loudly and she just simply appeared beside Alex, nudging her sister aside with little difficulty. “I thought your plane was damaged.”

“Both happened, it seems,” said Lena. She turned her smile to Kara, remembering their dinner last night, and found her cheeks aching a little as she tried to smile more, as if that was possible. Turning her head back towards the imposing (but currently being sidelined) Alex, she relaxed her expression. “As I was starting to say, I have no intention of getting Kara mixed up in anything to do with my family. We were just discussing yesterday how LuthorCorp would be left out of anything we work on together.”

Alex had adjusted her stance after being pushed aside and was now crossing her arms. “Uh-huh,” she said. She looked absolutely unamused. Lena was not surprised to find people who hated her on principle, despite meeting them for the first time. But she was curious exactly what this family of scientists had against her. Had she interfered with some research of theirs before?  What did Kara say Alex’s specialty was last night?

“I understand you worked in Bioengineering?” offered Lena.

“Not since university,” said Alex, and offered nothing more.

“Ah,” said Lena. Then she looked around, noticing Kara’s sympathetic look. “Well, I don’t intend to do anything underhanded, but I did intend to talk to Kara today so, is, uh, that okay?”

Alex’s eyes narrowed and then she found herself nearly toppling over when Kara bumped her with her hips.  “Yeah, fine,” she begrudgingly said after righting herself. “But I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” She turned and headed back towards the elevators, her black boots occasionally squeaking against the polished floors.

“Oh my god, Lena,” Kara said in a rush. “I saw on the news what happened to you, but I didn’t realize you got attacked as well, what happened? Are you okay? Come in.”  Kara grabbed Lena by the arm and gently tugged her towards a stool in the lab. Lena let herself be guided with an amused smile until she was seated across from Kara and had her hands on the lab table.

“I’m really not sure what I should say,” said Lena. “The police are looking into it and I’m really allowed to disclose details until they catch the person who did this.”

“Oh,” Kara sat up. “I guess that makes sense.” She pulled roughly on the collar of her lab coat and Lena noticed how it cinched around her tan cardigan awkwardly, apparently slightly tighter than expected. Kara looked like she was wearing almost the same outfit as yesterday but in a different shade.

“Your coat looks a little tight today,” said Lena.

“Yeah,” Kara gave Lena a lopsided smile. “My coat was unavailable so I took another from the shelf, I think it's sized for a very young undergrad.” She shrugged.

“As far as the attack goes, I can’t say anything,” reiterated Lena. “But that doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?” said Kara, clearly offended.

“No,” replied Lena. “What matters is who saved me.”

Kara blinked at her and seemed to freeze in place. Probably just as surprised as Lena had been to be saved. “Saved?” asked Kara slowly.

“Yes,” nodded Lena. She leaned forward on the table. “Someone – someone with powers – kept my plane from falling out the sky.”

“Oh, Superman, you mean,” said Kara with a laugh.

“No,” Lena shook her head. “It wasn’t Superman.”

“Oh, how-how do you, uh, know?” said Kara, looking anywhere but at Lena.

Lena sighed. “I know it sounds crazy, but someone did save me last night, and Superman was definitely in Metropolis. Lane published another AAR this morning and it puts him near the Metropolis harbor when I was crashing.”

“AAR?” asked Kara.

“After Action Report,” said Lena. “You know those blow-by-blow breakdowns she does, somehow?” Lena pivoted back slightly on her stool and crossed her arms. “I think she gets them direct from Superman, like the spin room or something. How else is she so better informed than any other reporter other than her husband?”

“So, he was busy,” said Kara, getting right to the point. Lena felt awkward going off on a tangent.

“Yes,” said Lena. “So it couldn’t have been him, which is why I came to you.”

Kara began coughing and Lena jumped up and grabbed a beaker from a shelf of cleaned ones and offered it to Kara after filling it up. She took the glass and downed it quickly then nodded to Lena carefully.

“Thank you,” she croaked, her throat a little raw. “So, uh, w-why did you come to me?”

“‘Cause you know everyone!” announced Lena, with a small laugh. “Or at least you said as much last night.”

Kara frowned but then one corner of her mouth twisted upwards. “No, you said that.”

“One of us said that,” agreed Lena. Kara giggled in response. “And, honestly, I’m hoping you happen to recognize at least someone in this list so I can learn a bit more about them before I go confront them.”

“List?” frowned Kara. “What list? What do you mean, ‘confront’?”

“I need to know who saved me,” said Lena. “They didn’t identify themselves last night so I’ll have to track them down.”

Kara stood up and began pacing a little. “Maybe they didn’t identify themselves for a reason,” she said. “Maybe they want to remain hidden.”

“They pulled a door off my plane, I’d like to know why,” said Lena.

“To save you!” Kara seemed a little exasperated.

Lena held up a hand, then reached in her bag and pulled out her tablet. “I know. I hope that is the case too. But I can’t just assume. Especially not with the people I’m seeing here.”

Kara huffed and sat down again. “What is this list, then?”

Lena placed the tablet and opened the list of candidates. “This is Index, it’s a semi-intelligent search assistant I created to help digest everything I’ve found inside LuthorCorp in the last few months since Lex was arrested.” She shook her head. “That said, there is a disgusting amount of information stored on paper that I’ve yet to digitize, but this is at a good percentage of what’s out there.”

Kara tilted her head. “Okay?”

“I began searching Index for anyone with powers that matched the traits I found,” explained Lena. “I don’t think even Lex knew all of the aliens out there, but he knew a lot, enough that Index turned up over a dozen possible candidates.”  Lena scrolled through the list, showing their profile pictures. “A few of these are unlikely, given their last known location or current incarceration by the DEO – not impossible, but probably not worth focusing on right now.”

“You think I might recognize these people?” asked Kara, eyes wide.

Lena made a small smile. “No, not really. I just needed someone to talk to about all this.” She sighed and looked up at Kara. “Why not my new research partner?”

Kara’s brow pinched, highlighting a tiny scar between her eyes. “You don’t have anyone else to talk to?”

“Not many that aren’t wrapped up in my brother,” said Lena. She tapped her fingers against the table idly. “It’s better this way, I don’t know who might be lying to me, and I don’t think after I’ve gone through…” she looked to the side. Lena wasn’t sure what to expect, and wasn’t really sure why she was telling all this to Kara, other than she was so removed from everything that even Lex had nothing but a name in his secret files.

She really did want to go it alone, but she also knew that’s how Lex did things. Alone in his tower in his purple suits looking down on the world he probably never imagined himself part of. It was safer if you didn’t have to depend on anyone. She knew this. But if you didn’t care about anyone but yourself, then what was the point of doing anything?

Lena startled when she felt a hand rest on top of hers and looked up to see Kara looking kindly on her. “Even if I can’t do much to help you, I’m happy to be your partner.”

Lena pushed her tablet away. “Right, so, we should probably settle that, then. Our research agreement.”

Kara smiled brightly. “Okay.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you think you can fix Biomax?” asked Lena.

“Oh, is this an interview?” asked Kara. She shifted her posture in the chair. “Well, I don’t know for sure, much of your work wasn’t public, but after we talked last night I think I have,” she trailed off and squinted. “Three?  Yes, three ideas of how to overcome the rejection, and improve communication between nodes.” She pursed her lips. “And a couple more radical ideas if you’re not offended.”

“Ideas?” asked Lena. She wasn’t suspicious, really, but there was an atrocious lack of detail.

Kara looked at her hands as she wrung her fingers. “Alex wanted me to make sure we signed something before I said more.” She looked up with an expression so positively helpless Lena nearly laughed.

Instead she pulled one of Kara’s hands off the other to prevent her from breaking a finger or something. “Of course,” Lena said. “I was fully prepared for that.” And she was, because despite all the excitement last night, her interest in Kara’s ideas persisted. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded stack of papers. “It’s a little long, I’m afraid. Since I’m not the sole owner of Biomax there are pieces I simply can’t give you a license to use, but you can at least see everything.”

Kara took the pages from Lena’s hand and began reading. Only a few seconds later she turned the page. “You can skim it now,” offered Lena. “And read it in depth–”

“I’m reading it,” said Kara without looking up. She turned another page and murmured. “I’m a fast reader.” Another page was turned.

Lena nodded, impressed. 

After another half-minute Kara looked up. “I’m not a company.”

Lena shook her head.  “No.”

“I’m not sure I have the ability to go after LuthorCorp, legally,” said Kara. “We need an arbitrator.”

Lena’s mouth hung open for a moment. “Uh,” she sounded. Then blinked. “Well, this agreement is with me, and not LuthorCorp, but okay.”

“LuthorCorp and Spheerical are named here,” said Kara. “As original IP holders.”

“That… is true.” Lena crossed her arms. “Okay, we’ll amend to include initial arbitration on breach, and designate a mutually agreed upon arbiter at that time.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara looked pained to say it, and Lena simply chuckled.

“I wouldn’t imagine you to be a pushover in any circumstance,” said Lena truthfully. Reaching into her bag, Lena pulled out a pen and quickly scratched out over blocks of text and made notes. “I’ll send this over to Jess and get it formalized and we can sign.”

“Great,” said Kara. She pulled at her coat slightly, tugging it free from where it was pinching beneath her shoulders.  “So, when are you going back to Metropolis?”

“Actually, I was thinking I might stick around for a while,” said Lena.

Kara stopped fidgeting. “Really? I thought your company was in Metropolis.”

Lena shrugged. “Remote work is a thing.” Kara laughed in response.  “Also, I’m really trying to break away from my brother’s image, and I don’t think sitting up in his tower looking down at Metropolis is the way to do that.”

“Does that mean you’ll be working out of coffee shops for a while?” Kara said with a smile.

“There’s plenty of open office space in National City,” said Lena. “Just missing the right kinda name on them.”

Kara’s smile faded. “LuthorCorp?”

“Oh, definitely not.” Lena laughed.

-*-*-*-*- (SG) -*-*-*-*- 

Lena was just about finished signing papers for an executive apartment in downtown National City – not terribly far from the NCU campus, in fact – when a soft cough alerted her to an extra person in the small management offices. Lena looked over her shoulder to see a shorter, dark haired woman with a large overcoat standing in the doorway. She had an impassive look on her face that screamed law enforcement.

Lena returned to the contracts she was signing. “I don’t even live here yet,” she said aloud. “That’s some good work tracking me down. I’m going to go with… Detective .”

The woman’s feet shuffled but didn’t sound like they got closer. “Maggie Sawyer, NCPD.”

“Got it in one,” said Lena with a grin as she turned to the last page which she then dated and initiated. “What can I do for National City’s finest?”

“I’m now the lead assigned to your case. I have some information to update you with and I’d like to ask you some more questions,” said Detective Sawyer.

Lena nodded and then handed the contract to the older gentleman in a grey suit sitting across from her. “Thank you, Gus. Can I go up now?”

Gus held up a hand. “One moment, Ms. Luthor,” he said. He pulled out a tablet and tapped on the screen a few times, then held out a keycard. “This is your physical key, and if I can get your fingerprint and a picture for the biometrics.”

Lena pressed her index finger into the depression on the tablet and then smiled as it snapped a picture.

“Your key will always work,” said Gus. “But the cameras in the elevators and halls will identify you and grant you access to the penthouse when you arrive at your door.”

Lena turned the featureless white card over in her hands. “So do I even need this?”

Gus laughed nervously. “Sometimes the system doesn’t work right, so I’d carry it around just in case. We’d rather keep people out of your home than in, so when there’s any confusion it makes you use your card.”

Lena touched her chin. “Good to know, but we should talk some other time about this system. Maybe there’s something I could do to help to improve it.”

“That’s very kind, Ms. Luthor,” said Gus with a nod. He handed over a box wrapped in a ribbon. “Welcome home.”

Lena looked curiously at the box but then turned to Detective Sawyer and motioned behind her. “Shall we? You can see my new place.”

“If you wish,” said Sawyer. She stepped aside and then followed Lena as she headed towards the elevators. “We can confirm an explosive device was attached to the left engine of your plane.”

Lena paused before pressing the button to the elevators. She had tried to be calm and dismissive at the attempt at her life, covering over the fear with a mask of indifference. But getting it confirmed, knowing that someone did in fact try to kill her and nearly succeeded sent a spike of fear up her spine that settled in the back of her head.

“You okay, Ms. Luthor?”

Lena shook her head and forced herself to press the button in front of her. The elevators opened immediately and she stepped in. When she turned around she noticed the only button lit up was the top floor. The security system Gus mentioned, she guessed. Not too shabby.

With a deep breath, she replied. “Yes, I’m a little concerned at how close this… assassin got to succeeding.”

“That’s what I’d like to ask you about,” said Sawyer. “There is plenty of evidence that a… for lack of a better term, ‘super’ individual, intervened in your crash and saved you. While we got no camera coverage, we have indications of flight – obviously – and superior strength.”

“And at least some knowledge of engineering,” said Lena as the doors opened on her new floor. She stepped out.

“Engineering?” echoed Sawyer from behind her.

Lena nodded, giving voice to something she’d been turning over in her head for almost a day now. “Have you ever read the early accounts of Superman in Metropolis? He was quite capable on the ground but in the air he had a lot to learn.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sawyer.  The two of them arrived at Lena’s door and the panel beside the knob lit up green. With a shove, Lena pushed open the double doors to reveal a marble tiled foyer with a crystal chandelier above, several polished tables, and a wide opening revealing a large living room with a white couch and two story windows looking out over National City.

Lena’s heels echoed loudly in the foyer until she reached the rugs stretching towards the living room. She walked up to the couch and then turned and leaned against the back of it to look at Detective Sawyer.

“Modern aircraft are designed as minimally as safety allows,” explained Lena. “Everything is designed and reinforced to endure the stresses of the expected tension and pressures the plane should encounter. Forces pushing wings up, flaps down, wind pressing backwards on the wings, the engines pushing everything forward. All with margin for error but nothing without need.”

“Okay?” said Sawyer. She walked to the side of the couch and looked up at the tall ceiling and colorful lights hanging along the stairs to the second level.

“First time Superman saved a falling plane, what do you think happened?” asked Lena. Sawyer glanced back and shrugged.  Lena continued. “He pulled a wing right off the fuselage. He applied pressure on the wing it was never expected to encounter so it failed.”

Sawyer stopped her inspection of Lena’s penthouse and turned back to face Lena. “There’s no damage anywhere not caused by the bomb or the emergency door.”

“Right,” said Lena. “So they either knew what they were doing, or knew enough about planes to be careful.”

Sawyer frowned. “That’s not definitive,” she said. “But it’s worth investigating.”

“Thank you,” said Lena. She took her coat off and laid it over the back of the couch. “What else?”

“Who else knew you were coming to National City?” Sawyer pulled a pad of paper out of her pocket and quickly flipped a page up. “You said it was a last minute trip.”

“Beyond my assistant?” said Lena. “Whom I trust implicitly, by the way. My security team knew, my coach, the pilot, the ready crew – I’m the only one who uses that jet – the travel agency that handles LuthorCorp executives. The people in the half-dozen meetings I cancelled.” She shrugged. “It’s hard for me to move without anyone knowing, there are always eyes on me.”

“Security detail?” asked Sawyer.

“Just basic stuff, making sure paparazzi don't swarm or clearing car entrance and exit areas in high profile areas. They don’t follow me everywhere, just places you might think the press would find me.”

“Places you’d be expected,” concluded Sawyer while scribbling in her notepad.

“Yeah,” said Lena.

Detective Sawyer held up a hand and gestured around. “And why are you renting an apartment here?”

“I like the location,” said Lena, petulantly. If the detective was going to ask a vague question she would get a simple answer.

Sawyer put her hands into her pockets roughly. “Are you planning on moving to National City?

“Is this relevant to your investigation?” asked Lena.

Sawyer growled, unexpectedly. “I would like to know when you plan on heading back to Metropolis again.”

“Probably not for a couple weeks,” said Lena. “Though I’m not sure. And if I was the assassin I would try the same trick twice.”

“No, I would imagine not,” said Sawyer. “Though it seems as though they’re here, in National City, so you are putting yourself at risk by staying here.”

“I’m at risk everywhere,” said Lena. “I explained that last night. Everyone wants a shot at me.”

Sawyer walked back up to Lena. “See, I’m confused, because Lex was the criminal, right? Not you? Shouldn’t everyone be happy that you helped put Lex in jail?”

“You’re forgetting that LuthorCorp is one of the largest employers in the world,” said Lena. She rested her hands on her hips. “And our stock corrected over 11% after my testimony.  To say nothing of the simply irrational hate a woman gets for replacing a man in America.”

Sawyer slowly smiled. “Alright, Ms. Luthor. I’ll let you enjoy your new place. Please be careful while we track down this culprit, I’m sure this isn’t over.”

Lena escorted Sawyer to the door and bid her farewell, again promising not to do anything risky unless absolutely necessary. Afterwards, she crossed her living room and opened a door onto a sizable balcony with a glass railing. A chill breeze blew past and she shivered, wishing she hadn’t taken off her coat earlier.

Leaning on the railing, Lena looked down at the lights below. She sighed.

“Whoever you are,” Lena said into the wind. “Thank you. But I think Detective Sawyer is right. This isn’t over, yet.”  She rubbed her hands on her arms. “I won’t assume you’ll come to rescue me again, I don’t even know why you chose to save me once, but maybe, if I manage to get in a situation I can’t handle again, could you please keep an ear out?”

Lena peered out between the buildings into the dark and tried to see if anything was out there, but found nothing.  Another breeze blew past and the goosebumps on her arms became unbearable. She retreated into the living room again and pulled out her phone to make a call.

“Jess?” she said when the other end picked up. “I’m sorry it’s late, but I need you to get some stuff for me and bring it to National City. Also, I want you to start setting up meetings with some people I trust.” She smirked. “It’s time to start cleaning house.”

Notes:

Two weeks is a little longer than I planned between chapters here, but I was tied up with my job preparing for and then being a speaker at a conference. Now that I'm finally free of that commitment I can spend my creative efforts here again.

Not too much advances forward here, though we confirm that Lena and Kara will team up, and I start the process of transforming LuthorCorp into L-Corp. Hopefully that doesn't result in some silliness at the opening announcement. But that's still to come.

I forgot that Jack and Lena were dating right up until the trial and Lena's takeover of LuthorCorp, so I allude to some strife between them in my little AU here. I really don't want to deal with Jack right now so I'm aggressively pushing him offscreen. I'm sure that won't come back to bite me later.

Oh! And here's Alex! Since we skipped Season 1 of the show, I'm making it that Alex still hasn't revealed to Kara that she works for the DEO. She'll be showing up more in the future, but right now she's off doing damage control over Kara's sudden super-ing, like she did in the original pilot. We won't see much of that, but we'll eventually get to see Kara's reactions to it all.

Finally, I wrote some stuff to help me form an idea of where Kara came from, knowing it wouldn't fit into this story since it is exclusively Lena POV. I decided to publish it anyway, so you can find it as another story called Unraveled in this 'series' which I have labeled Adrift.

Thanks for reading, see you in hopefully less than two weeks!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of Adrift