𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐨
Ⅱ 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 . . .
Lex Luthor Tower
THE ELEVATOR TO LEX LUTHOR'S PENTHOUSE CHIMES AND STARFIRE AND VENOM STEPPED INTO THE HALL. "Hey!" A man shouted. Hazel flicked her hand and a vine pulled him back against the wall.
"Alpha two. I have a breach Top-level," A man spoke into his walkie. Kory kicked his knee and slammed her fist across his face. A set of men ran forward and Kory kicked him and threw him into another room. Hazel grabbed the other man's arm and pulled him back. She let go and kicked herself off the wall and sent a kick to his back.
A man walked out with a knife and Kory caught his wrist and twisted until he let go. Hazel grabbed the one that ran from behind and shot a flare into his eyes. Kory and Hazel threw the men together and they fell to the floor.
One rounded the corner and Kory punched his stomach. A man ran from the left and clicked his gun. Hazel grabbed the weapon and it rippled it to sand. She kneed his sternum and a vine came up to hold his arms down.
Another pair ran out and Hazel kicked one back, smashing him into the piano. Kory punched one in the torso, making him double over in pain. Hazel threw a vine out and it stabbed through one's shoulder. Kory grabbed the last man and threw him into the table next to Lex.
Kory took a breath and gave Hazel a nod. "Sorry to disturb you at lunch hour," Hazel hummed, walking over to Lex.
"I would have beamed a message into your head, but this seemed like more fun," Kory added, fiddling with her gold gloves.
Lex nodded and stood, using the black napkin to wipe his face. "Well, what a pleasure to meet you, Starfire, Venom," Lex spoke formally. "Or may I call you Koriand'r? and Videl?"
"You can call me Kory," Kory smiled. "Lex."
"May I offer you some Spaghetti Puttanesca?" Lex offered, pointing to the table. "Or perhaps a glass of wine?"
"No, I'm okay. Thank you," Kory nodded.
"Miss Lillis?" Lex spoke.
"Hazel, please. And I wouldn't mind," Hazel corrected.
Lex nodded and took a new glass and bottle. "I understand there've been some changes on Tamaran," Lex spoke as he poured the glass. "Komand'r has now rightfully taken the throne?"
"That's right," Kory confirmed.
"And now, she possesses the power you've always thought of as your own," Luther continued and passed Hazel the large glass of wine.
"Yes, yes, but, you know, it's for the best, really," Kroy nodded. "She's- She spent her whole life feeling denied. Overshadowed. Less than." Kory paused slightly and met Lex's eyes. "But of course, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Lex laughed softly and buttoned his suit. "We have much to discuss. This way, please." Luther motioned ahead and the girls followed.
Hazel swished the wine and her eyes took in the suite. "The view from here is amazing," Hazel commented. "Chose well I see."
Lex nodded, "Allow me to show you around. May I give you a tour?"
.
"So far nothing," Tim sighed, pushing himself off the boxes he and Cole had stacked to rest the computer on.
Dick took a breath and glanced at the two boys. "Just give them some time," Dick instructed, his eyes looking up at the Luther tower.
Daily Planet Archives
"WELCOME TO THE DAILY PLANT ARCHIVES," THE MAN CALLED. He led Gar, Rachel, Conner and Terran through the tall aisles of stacked boxes on metal shelves. "Outsiders usually don't get access to this kind of stuff, but considering it's you guys, I'll make an exception."
"Thanks," Gar said with a nod.
"Every single issue dating back to our very first day of publication, November 2nd, 1775," The man continued.
"This is insane," Rachel commented. "How do you find anything?"
"Ah, it's all catalogued," The man shrugged. "Well, most of it. We're digitizing as fast as we can. The Luthor section is just down there."
"According to Dick, Lex Luthor never tips his hand," Conner relayed. "So, we need to see what cards he's showing and then try to figure out what he's holding."
"TLDR, we need everything you have on Lex," Terran cut in.
"Everything? I mean, that could take months to go through," The man said in amazement.
"Don't worry. He's a fast reader," Gar chuckled, glancing back at Conner.
"I mean, I believe you, but still," He scoffed softly. "Can we narrow it down? I mean, we got a lot on the guy. We got felony arrests, felony convictions, capital crimes, crimes on the high seas, space-based crimes, philanthropy."
"Oh, definitely the pirate-"
"Philanthropy," Conner cut in, stopping Gar.
"Okay," The man nodded and slid the box from the shelf. "Let's head to my office. We can pull it up on the server."
.
Kory and Hazel looked up at the large oil painting on Lex's wall and Hazel turned the wine to bourbon. "Powerful, isn't it?" Lex questioned as he handed Kory a small glass of liquor. "Gautier 1762. I acquired this bottle at auction. It was found in the sealed-off compartment underneath Jean Paul Marat's bathtub."
"It tastes like it," Kory commented, smacking her lips, and making Hazel chuckle.
She swapped her wine glass with Kory and Hazel sipped the gold liquor. Hazel sipped it and spun the glass. "Impressive," Hazel muttered.
"To new friends," Luther toasted.
"We'll see," Kory hummed. As he sipped from his drink, Kory let her hand drop and she released the small flying chip.
"I have so many questions for you both," Lex spoke. "So much I want to learn about your planets, history, your abilities."
"We have a few questions for you, too," Kory mirrored.
"Why do you want to meet with Conner?" Hazel questioned.
"Doesn't a father have a right to meet his son?" Lex countered.
"A desire doesn't equal a right," Kory fought.
.
"It worked," Cole called, looking over his shoulder at Tim and Dick. "Unbelievable."
"The unbelievable thing about Bruce's toys is never that they work," Dick commented. "It's what they do."
Tim rushed to Cole's side and read over the screen. "I got personal, medical, financial, schedules, calendars," Tim read. "Hell, I've even got his Twitter account. What do you want?"
.
"I want Conner to stay with me," Lex finally said. "Here in Metropolis."
Hazel laughed softly in shock and Kory shook her head. "No, no. That's- that's never gonna happen."
"It might. After all, it is his decision," Lex reminded.
"He knows who you are," Hazel spoke up. "What you are. All of it. You can't offer us a good bottle of liquor and have all that go away."
"That's exactly the point. He doesn't," Lex snapped and he started to wander to the window and the telescope set up. "I wanna give him the benefit of my knowledge and guidance. And I want him to be prepared to one day take over as President of LexCorp."
"You know what I think?" Kory called and Hazel took a step back. "I think what you really want is to own the thing you created. You consider Conner your possession. He is not. He has compassion, empathy, moral intelligence. All of which make him far stronger than you. In every way. You want him to be your personal weapon. He will never be that."
Luther walked to the telescope and looked through it. "Isn't that exactly how you're using him, Richard?" Lex spoke. Dick stepped away from Cole and Tim and looked up at the top floor of LexCorp. "Hasn't Bruce taught you any other way?" Lex waved and the boys could see the silhouette in the window. "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine." Dick stepped away and Tim grabbed the Bo staff. "Remember, Richard, this is me being gentle."
Dick looked back at Tim. "Tim, stay down," Dick ordered and Cole made him step back. A dozen Ninjas ran from behind the white boxes and Dick sighed. "Ninjas."
.
Lex walked to his computer and removed the chip, cutting the audio connection between Dick and the suite. "I do really wish to speak to you Hazel," Lex repeated.
Kory gave Hazel a looked and she nodded. "If you're not down in an hour, I come back for you," Kory compromised before walking to the elevator.
"They seem to trust you by yourself," Lex observed as poured another set of drinks.
"I'm dangerous," Hazel shrugged. She took the drink from Luther and he took a step by. "Why do you really want to speak with me, Mr Luther?"
Lex sipped from his drink. "I suspect you empathize with Conner? The absence of a parent is harsh. Having one die in front of you, I can't imagine that pain."
Hazel chuckled softly. "I didn't know you could feel emotional pain," Hazel joked. "Why am I still here? I suppose you want me to relay this information to Conner, you want him to stay here a few months, you want an answer soon."
"Six months and an answer by tonight," Lex confirmed.
"Any person with a brain could have guessed that," Hazel commented. "And you could have informed Korriand'r or Richard with this information, so why am I... here?"
"I know what you did you Scarecrow," Lex started. "I also know after the disaster of the CADMUS operation, you went back to the building and killed everyone inside."
Hazel nodded. "Well it was your operation, I was well aware you knew that," Hazel confirmed. "So what? You want revenge? Retaliation? Recruitment?"
"A contract," Luther cut in. "When Conner agrees to my offer-"
"If," Hazel corrected.
Lex chuckled, "If Conner agrees, you return with him and you will listen to the contract and may agree or not." Hazel downed the drink and set it on the table.
"You want father-son bonding with a Super and a business contract with a god?" Hazel repeated and Lex nodded. "I'll inform Conner of your offer, but don't have high hopes of agreement for either of us." Hazel turned and made her way downstairs.
"Here you go. The Luthor Foundation," The man spoke up. Gar, Conner and Terran stepped closer to look at the monitors set up on the desk.
"'Just announced 18 months ago, Luthor Foundation recently broke ground on a dozen hospitals and schools'," Gar read from the screens.
"Scholarships, research grants, charities all over the world," Conner continued. "Funded at over a billion dollars. He seems serious."
"There's one thing I know about Lex. He's always serious," The boy nodded.
Terran looked back, pausing as she noticed a person missing. "Where's Rachel?" Terran asked, looking up at Gar. Gar gave a glance around the space before Terran raced off. "Rachel?" Terran called, looking down at the seemingly endless allies of sorted boxes. "Roth? Demon witch?"
Finally Terran spotted the girl, crouched in the middle of the hall. Terran raced to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Rachel?" As soon as her hand touched Rachel's shoulder, she jumped up panting before pressing herself against the shelves. "You alright? What are you doing?"
Rachel took a deep breath and shook her head. "I don't know," Rachel admitted, spinning the silver ring on her finger. "Terran, I think something terrible is about to happen."
"Of course, it is," Terran said with a long breath.
Rachel looked skeptically up at the shelves. "I need to get out of here. We should not have come back to Metropolis." Rachel started to make her way from the aisle and Terran huffed.
"Okay, agreed," Terran muttered and took Rachel's hand as they walked the halls.
.
Hazel walked between Dick and Kory through the halls of the Daily Planet. "Even bigger question," Conner started as he and Gar stood by the computer. "Why does Luthor suddenly have a charitable foundation, anyway?"
"Because he's dying," Dick said making Conner's head snap up to look at the three.
"What?"
"Lex Luthor has six months to live," Kory added.
"What are you talking about?"
"Lex wants you to stay with him, and learn how to LexCorp in his last couple of months," Hazel relayed.
"How do you know all this?" Conner questioned.
"Oh, I let one of these loose in his penthouse," Kory explained, displaying a small chip.
"It's a superbug from WayneTech," Dick went on, holding his hand out for Kory to drop it in. "It hacked into Lex's files and revealed multiple visits to medical clinics all around the world."
Kory's eyes drifted to the computer and motioned to the thin man in a suit. "This guy right here, his name is Arthur Holmwood. He's the world's leading expert in kryptonite poisoning. Luthor was diagnosed two years ago. And there's no cure."
"This changes things," Conner said in a low voice.
"It does. He asked Hazel to meet with him, have a contract in place," Dick started and Gar's head snapped up. "We think Lex wants to use you both as a way of saving himself."
"Holmwood created a theory," Kory continued. "It's called, um,
radical mass transfusions." The man at the computer typed the theory into the computer. "It's blood, organs, everything."
"You're the closest living genetic match," Dick stated. "Your body's obviously stronger than his. There might be a way he can use it to fight his disease."
"Okay. Uh... A blood transfusion," Conner mumbled. "People get those all the time, right? If that's all he's asking."
"Conner. You can't be serious," Kory snapped.
"Can we talk?" Dick asked with a breath. Conner nodded and the two stepped away.
"You're not seriously gonna go? Are you?" Gar questioned, making Hazel turn her head towards him.
"She's not," Kory said with confidence.
"If Conner goes..."
"No, Hazel," Kory argued and Gar's eyes dropped.
"I don't fucking like it either Kory, but if Conner goes I don't want him to be alone," Hazel countered. "Lex is dangerous and Conner needs good people around him."
"But what about us?" Gar questioned, pushing himself up. "Terran, Cole, Rachel... Me?" Hazel let her head drop as her stomach flipped.
"I'm not leaving for forever," Hazel muttered. Gar scoffed and turned away. "Gar. Gar!" Gar walked off down an aisle of boxes disappearing from Hazel's view.
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❝ you don't fuck with 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒔 ❞