A/N: I don't own Smallville or any characters and places in the DC universe. Nor do I own the episodes that these chapters are based on and contained from.
I also don't claim to be a writer. My inspiration is simply to get a creative outlet going.
I only own Tyla Nevin and what pertains to her character story.
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Tyla rubbed her eyes as she turned back to her computer screen. A list of projects waiting for her approval was glaring back at her. Some were in their finishing stages; others were just coming to fruition. What she didn't expect was that Lionel was taking over the projects for himself. He had sent a few "courtesy" emails, but she already knew that meant he had already taken over and claimed them as his own while she was mending from the events of Dark Thursday. She scowled, taking an inventory of the projects that she needed to oversee again into her planner. How much damage was he doing being Lex's back? She started to scribble down all the names of the projects when she heard the door open.
"Lex, did you know about this?" She asked, not bothering to look up from the book. She knew that it was him. No one else would walk into her office while the door was closed. Mercy would have seen to that.
A fleeting moment of questionability passed through his eyes before he turned to the guest that had followed him in. "Dr. Groll. This is Tyla Luthor," he introduced, extending his hand towards his wife.
It was then that she looked up. He had large, speckled glasses which almost covered his already large face. His brown hair was swept to the side. It matched his dark cherry brown suit. "Mrs. Luthor," the man nodded before he adjusted his glasses. He was carrying a large grey suitcase. Much like the ones that LuthorCorp dolled out.
Tyla looked from Lex to Dr. Groll. Lionel dipping into her work would have to be dealt with later. She got up from her desk to walk over to shake his hand. "Dr. Groll," she greeted. "I wasn't aware that we had a meeting set." She glanced over to Lex as if to ask him, what if she were in a meeting.
"We didn't but I feel like you should know about this," Lex explained as he paced towards the large ceiling-to-floor windows that looped around her corner office. He glanced over to her computer. An email sent by his father was on the screen. Her planner, written with project names. He looked back up and nodded towards the doctor.
Dr. Groll gulped and moved to Tyla's coffee table at the far side of the room to open the suitcase. Tyla held back a gasp. It was the key, the disk that Zod used to power the world back and something that she never thought she would see again. Up until now, she thought that when the satellite case melted, the key went with it. She reached out to take the piece from his hands. It looked to her that a piece of that key had broken off before meeting the same fate. There was still writing on it, but it was no longer gold. It was a solid black etching.
"Where did you get this?" She traced the object with her hands, squinting at the etchings to try to understand what it meant.
"I found it," Lex replied, smirking. Her interest was peaked, even if she was trying to capture a professional demeanor. "It was among the debris from the damage of our home. I asked the good doctor to figure out what it was." He nodded towards Dr. Groll before he sat at her desk, watching the two of them. "Dr. Groll, Tyla here has done extensive research about the.... lore of this before I signed you on. Ty, do you know what it says?"
Tyla palmed the piece in her hand. There was no humming. It was as if it was dead. What was worse, she couldn't decipher the letters. It was as if not only the powers had left but the knowledge that came with it. She was about to say that she could reach into her contacts, but she forgot that she couldn't lean on Clark anymore. He wouldn't help Lex through her. She sighed and looked at Lex apologetically. He seemed to know that she too had lost her connection to the higher powers. He gave a slightly disappointed look to her and leaned back against the chair.
"I know that this is a key to something," she added, careful not to say that it almost allowed the destruction of the world. She then flipped the piece from one hand to the other and showed Dr. Groll the smooth edges of the piece. "See the angular plane?" She asked, tracing her finger over it. "It's chiseled like our own keys to things."
Groll made a sound that seemed to show that he was impressed. He took the piece from her. "It also has some kind of power source that's beyond anything that's been developed here on Earth," he said. "If we could understand the technology, it could potentially solve the planet's energy crises."
Lex smiled; it was a new project of his but one that he needed Tyla on board with. She was rather hesitant when it came to anything alien since that day. But the doctor looked more worried than he sounded. "Well, for someone on the verge of saving the world, your enthusiasm seems tempered," the billionaire frowned.
"Well, if it is a key, then the power could be a risk if it fell into the wrong hands..."
"You think it can be harnessed as a weapon too." Tyla turned to Lex as if she knew the route that he was going to take. "You want to beat the rat race on this?"
"As always."
"There is also one thing," Dr. Groll added, causing the two Luthors to look over to him, puzzled. "Someone else knows I've been working on this. Assuming that you want me to keep working on it, I need absolute security."
Lex didn't like the fact that it sounded like negotiations. He stood up, ready to issue a threat. "Who?" But he feared for the answer.
"Lionel Luthor, and he didn't look happy."
*****
"Well, I haven't seen you since the world was falling down around us," her father-in-law said oh-so-casually as she stood in the middle of Lionel's office, waiting around for him to finish his meeting. "And I hope you don't mind that I have brought my personal assistant. It's not that we don't trust each other. But...mmm, well we do not."
Tyla couldn't rid of the shock on her face as she turned around to see Lana Lang quickly running into the office with a notepad and a pen. She stopped short from her friends and looked around uncomfortably.
"Lana?" Tyla asked in disbelief. "You hired Lana Lang!?"
"Seeing as you have taken two of my assistants as your own, this would be appropriate," he said. "Not that you have been keeping me updated, considering the last time you and I spoke, we were discussing which one of us was going to kill Lex."
"What?!" Lana exclaimed.
"I'm glad you decided against it," Lionel continued, ignoring her. Instead, he turned around to pour Tyla a glass of water.
Tyla took the glass in silence but she didn't make a move to drink it. "You know as well as I that that's not what happened," she said, darkly. For someone who also knew Clark's secret, it was very clear that he was keeping it close to his chest for his advantage...against anyone.
"So Lex..." He gestured over to his leather armchairs. "Please, sit down. Lex wasn't obsessed with a piece of alien technology once again in which he really had no knowledge about? And here he is with another piece of technology-"
"Mr. Luthor," the blonde interrupted. She hesitantly walked over to the couches and sat down. "Don't think for a second that I don't know what you're doing. You have constantly tried to pit me against Lex because you disapprove of our relationship."
"Oh no, that would be wildly inappropriate!"
"But if you think, seizing my projects and Lex's is some sort of protection then you are sorely mistaken." She watched as he moved to sit across from her. "I married Lex for the same reason I decided to work with him on this. It's very tempting to be on the other side of the coin, one that I can guide him away from and I have been."
"All due respect, Tyla but although you are his equal, watching over him is not enough," Lionel leaned over.
"Well, I'm not going to do what you are doing. Stop merging yourself with my projects, or Lex's. I will uncover what you're working on."
"Tyla, I will say this nicely. If you do any Miracle work here, I will not look at this kindly."
She scoffed, putting the glass down on the table, and then got up. "Threats like that won't work on me anymore." Her voice was much lower than before. It was almost deadly if it weren't for the confidence that there was more to Lionel than his concern. It was a pattern that she was intent on breaking. She turned to Lana before she walked out and shook her head. "Be careful, Lana," she warned. "I mean it. As a friend, you don't know what you're walking into." With that, she turned her heel and walked out of the office, leaving them to discuss whatever business that they had. It worried Tyla. The girl had a hatred that carried on since Clark and her had broken up, something that if Lionel knew, he wouldn't hesitate to exploit.
****
Tyla drove down the road from Metropolis in her second Lexus. The first car was completely destroyed during Dark Thursday and a painful reminder that her track record with cars was starting to dwindle. As the car sped through the dark, she was deep in thought, trying to maneuver how to get back control of her projects. She barely spoke to Lex after their impromptu meeting but with her phone ringing, it sounded like it was grating on him too. With a swift sweep of her hand, she flipped open the phone, put it on speaker, and dropped it on her lap. "Tyla Luthor speaking."
A chuckle reverberated through the phone. "I never tire of hearing that," Lex said.
"Well, it's not going away," she quipped back. "Are you done already?" She thought it would take a little more time for Lex to finish up his own work.
"No, I.uh...I just spoke with my father."
The uncomfortable look that he must have had on his face wasn't hard for Tyla to picture. "Look, whatever he said, it's not like I haven't been looking out for you since the beginning." She started to say. "But it really confirmed for me that we shouldn't be looking at Queen for any threats. We need to look inward."
"Actually, Ty, I'm impressed. I've never had anyone try to protect me like that." Although she was right, he was being protected by her since they first met. "You went straight for him as soon as you found out he was looking into the device."
"Well...no one knows about ulterior motives like he does," she mumbled. "I'm just trying to figure it out."
"He's afraid of what I'll do," Lex answered for her. "He thinks my hunger for power is growing."
"Is it?" There was silence on the other end. "I don't mean it like that, I mean. Did the idea of it being a weapon entice you more than the energy route?"
"No." It was the truth. "I was tempted but I've been keeping it back. I...Tyla, I'm worried that something like this will happen again."
Tyla thought about it for a while. "You mean the alien stuff?" If she wasn't driving, she would have slumped in defeat. "Lex...would it be too much to ask to trust me that there are people at work for this?"
"Like the FBI?"
"Huh."
To Lex, it sounded like agreement. "You have faith in your contacts," he said. "Well, I'll help if I can but if you say it's handled."
"Let's just focus on looking internally into the company before we look outward into the world," she bit her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if faith was the right world, but she hoped she wasn't wasting it.