The Heart of Luthor

Part 2

The next time Ruby saw Lex was at a fundraiser her little business had chosen to contribute to. Upon walking into the decorated hall, she immediately saw Lex across the room surrounded by reporters, each one eager to splash his face across a nice story about this philanthropist side of him. She also saw a petite brunette hanging off his arm, her big brown eyes, perfect smile, and figure that looked as if she had fasted all week suiting Lex's upper-class style so much more than Ruby cared to admit.

So, the top dog was at it again; doing enough good works to ensure the media and general populace kept believing he was a saint while those he paid off to keep quiet knew better. She was sure Lex had stolen that tablet, and had used her to hack into it, revealing the owner's secrets for a reason totally unknown to Ruby. She had looked up the poor victim's ID, and discovered she was just some reporter from such a small town that shouldn't even get on anyone's radar, let alone someone like Lex's. So what did he want to know from the tablet? What information did this reporter have that Lex so badly wanted?

"Good evening, Miss Hope," the voice over her shoulder nearly made her spill her drink. Speak of the devil.

"Hello, hey. Uh, how are you?" Ruby stuttered as she spun and came face to face with Lex himself.

"Fine. Just fine. You enjoying the fundraiser?" he smiled like everything was peachy.

"Whose tablet did you get me to hack into? What did you want to know from it? What kind of project are you really working on?"

"Relax, Ruby," his body language showed boredom, yet his eyes held hers intensely. "People like you shouldn't ask those types of questions," he leaned in and whispered quietly.

"Does it have something to do with the town of Smallville? I've heard there've been numerous unexplained occurrences there.....is that what you're interested in?" she ignored his veiled threat and tried her luck anyway.

He pursed his lips, "I have a team of scientists dedicated to helping people, people like you who come from towns like Smallville where a lot of evil events have happened. Now, how I go about doing my job is none of your business."

"Maybe I can help you," Ruby had no idea where that had come from, but deep down she had always wanted to do more for the world, and when she had worked for Lex those couple of minutes, instead of her usual program designing, she had felt a rush. Like she was serving a bigger purpose.

"Lex, honey, you ready? They're about to call you up," the brunette walked over and placed her perfectly manicured hand daintily on Lex's arm.

Lex smiled then nodded at Ruby, "I'll keep it in mind. Nice chat." And with that he mounted the stage and delivered a rousing speech meant to inspire the selfless Mother Teresa in all of them.

"I never grow tired of hearing him. He is such a good man," the brunette beside her murmured as she gazed at Lex adoringly. "Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Lana. Lana Lang," she offered her hand as her eyes sparkled with cunning masquerading as innocence.