Chapter Text
Every move Lex makes is calculated.
He leaves nothing to the element of surprise. He can’t be surprised.
Lex is able to predict what Superman will do before he even does it, for God’s sake.
He knows him better than he knows himself. He knows what drives Superman (his incessant need to ‘save’ people); he knows what angers him (not saving people). He knows particularly well what his face looks like up close. When his mask is on the verge of slipping and he’s about to show the whole world what he actually is:
An alien sent to Earth with the goal to enslave humanity.
Lex doesn’t find himself face to face with Superman again, not yet, anyway. But he can feel the vein in his forehead throb as the alien is seemingly hell-bent on destroying every single one of the robots Lex designed especially for him.
Maybe he’s grown smarter. As unlikely as that is.
“Alright, let's finish up.” Lex tells his team, who jump from their chairs and start shutting everything down, as if the order couldn't have come soon enough. He resists the urge to roll his eyes; his team is full of imbeciles, but they do good work.
Some do better than others, such as Angela. She’s looking at him with a glint in her eye, returning Lex’s nod. An inside plan shared by no one but them.
It took months to nurse her back to health after nearly every bone in her body was shattered in the fall with Superman, but he had the best doctors, and he needed his Engineer.
When Lex was in jail because of the alien and the failed Jarhanpur invasion, Mercy kept LuthorCorp on its feet and running, and later Angela when she could finally walk again.
“I want all cameras in Centennial Park and Metro Square. Make sure they get everything, or you won’t live long enough to see the footage.” Lex explains as he walks out of the room, not giving his team a second look. They know what they need to do.
“Be ready for it.” He tells Angela, pausing on the steps of his own T-Craft—LuthorCraft. Mister Terrific from the Justice losers had it, and Lex had to make his own. But better.
“I will be, Lex.” Angela nods, focused and with hatred in her eyes. She hasn’t forgotten how Superman almost killed her. Although, they all know she should’ve let go of him sooner and simply wasn’t able to.
Still, her hatred is good. And it’ll help him with his mission.
The situation at the park is…chaotic, to say the least. Most of his robots are destroyed on the ground; some ripped in half like a savage tore through them, others burnt to a crisp.
Even from his LuthorCraft, he can hear the distinct sound of Superman’s heat vision destroying more of his hard work.
Well, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that’s important, is that Superman is angry and he’ll be looking for him in a second, if he doesn’t already know where he is.
Lex leaves his transport near the edge of the park, where there’s little to no chance it’ll be damaged by debris from one of his robots. He enters the park on foot, ignoring the people who turn to look at him and whisper to each other.
The citizens of Metropolis weren’t very happy when he left Belle Reve only four months after he was sent there, but a few donations here and there got most people back on his side. The things money can buy.
Lex sits on a bench, arms draped over the backrest, head tilted toward the sky and sunglasses in place. He waits.
He doesn’t have to wait long for the alien to arrive with a sonic boom, somehow avoiding tearing a crater in the ground, though the shock still rattles Lex’s bones. It’s fascinating, and Lex hates every second of it. He’s also standing directly before him, casting a shadow over Lex.
“You’re blocking the sun.” Lex says, eyes still closed behind his sunglasses, even though every fiber in his body is telling him to open them and acknowledge the threat in front of him.
“Robots? Seriously?” Superman ignores his complaint and he doesn’t sound nearly as angry as he’d hope for. He seems…mildly inconvenienced.
Lex opens his eyes to find Superman looming over him like a giant shadow. At least there’s a few cuts on his face, so his robots weren’t completely useless.
“What’s wrong with robots?” Lex asks, and finds that he’s curious about his answer. Superman sputters and raises his hands, almost appearing human.
“Nothing is wrong with robots! I love robots!” The overgrown Boy Scout says, his voice getting higher with each word. Then, he sighs and places his hands on his waist. “But building robots to kill me? Really?”
“Yes, well. I don’t carry a clone of you in my pocket ready to unleash whenever I want.” Lex shrugs.
It’s with fascination that he watches the subtle change in Superman’s posture and face, as though he realizes that something is not right. Lex could bet his fortune that the alien is listening to his heartbeat, hoping to find something. He won’t discover anything except how calm he is, but maybe that’s all he needs.
“What’s happening Lex?” Superman asks, his voice dropping to a low tone that sends a shiver down Lex’s spine. He didn’t give him permission to call him by his first name, but he’ll let that one slide because he enjoys seeing him distressed.
“Nothing; it’s a beautiful day, actually. Why?” Lex tilts his head slightly, an amused grin tugging at his lips as Superman grows restless.
“No, you—you’re lying. Tell me what’s happening. What did you do?” Superman asks again, taking a step closer to Lex. And that is, decidedly, too close for him to remain seated. So, he gets up, and finds himself face to face with Superman.
Lex takes his sunglasses off. Superman’s eyes are so expressive.
“You already destroyed an entire fleet of my robots. Why would there be anything else?” He’s sure Angela is already in position. She’s just waiting for rush hour to start.
He’ll get a ping on his phone when she’s ready so he can authorize it. All in all, it would be better if Superman was on the other side of the world, but he doesn’t want him to miss the show. Superman shakes his head, and Lex’s eyes follow the little curl falling as it falls over his forehead.
It’s annoyingly perfect.
“No, I know you. I know when you’re not telling the truth.” He insists. Lex opens his mouth to respond, but he only has time to see something falling from the sky at a high speed before he’s shoved and sent tumbling to the ground.
It knocks the wind out of his chest, and Lex lies on the ground gasping, eyes wide, and feeling out of control for the first time that day. When he looks to the side, he sees Superman fighting two of his robots, tearing through their components.
He pushed him out of the way.
Lex feels—he doesn’t know what he’s feeling, but he’s seen Superman pick people up and fly them away from danger, so the push was deliberate, and it makes him clench his jaw. Not that he wanted to get picked up by Superman.
Lex manages to get up on his knees, coughing up the bits of grass that went into his mouth. When he touches his face, his fingers come away bloodied from a small cut on his cheek.
He made him bleed without barely moving a finger. Lex’s heart skips a beat in his chest at that realization.
In little time, his robots are dust on the floor and the ravenous creature is making his way to him. Then, Lex’s phone pings with what he knows is a message from Angela.
He wasn’t the only one who heard it. Before Lex can blink, Superman is standing in front of him, grabbing the collar of his Armani shirt and stretching it. Lex doesn’t have it in him to be upset about a shirt, not when Superman looks to be seconds away from losing his composure.
“What was that, Luthor?” His voice is low and tight, as if it’s taking him all his willpower to not snap. Lex can only lick his lips, tasting blood from a small cut as Superman quickly traces the movement with his eyes.
Lex looks up at Superman, a grin spreading across on his lips as he stares at what many consider a god. He’s the one on his knees, but he feels all the power as Superman looks down at him with his fist clenched. Lex wonders then what a punch from him would feel like.
“You win.” It’s what Lex says, his voice rough but calm, as he sucks in a sharp breath when Superman tightens his hold on his shirt. Lex’s knees are no longer touching the floor.
“What did you do? Lex! What did you do?!” Superman shouts, yet, he shakes him softly, much gentler than Lex deserves. The alien values human life, after all.
“You’re too late.” Lex whispers, voice too low for the cameras to capture. Then, everything that happens next, Lex sees it in slow motion.
Superman pulls him up even higher, holding his weight effortlessly while Lex makes no attempt to support himself. His lips part as though he’s about to speak, but Lex sees his eyes widen instead. He heard something, Lex surmises. Angela.
Superman doesn’t push him again. He doesn’t let him fall, slamming his knees on the ground. Instead, he sets him down gently, too fast for Lex to see, but he doesn’t toss him to the side even as the faint sound of bullets rings out near Metro Square.
Somehow, his kindness hurts even more than the expected brutality.
Lex stays on his knees for what feels like hours as the people that were at the park run away, even though no bullets will get to them. After a lot of trials, Angela had managed to clone herself. Multiple clones, actually, that stemmed from her body.
This—today, had been made to show the world how Superman couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. Not in the way some describe him as being omnipresent. From the way Lex can hear far away screams and Superman’s heat vision in action, he thinks he achieved that.
So, he gets up and goes to his LutherCraft. Although there’s a smile on his lips at how he’ll once again prove to the world that Superman is a fraud, he’s still not happy that it came at the cost of the death of Metropolis’ citizens.
Oh, well. They chose their god, they can handle the consequences.
In the end, Superman managed to save everyone from the explosion. Even a damn dog that was pissing on some car.
Lex’s hatred grows, but he feels something in his chest he hadn’t felt before when a child talks about Superman’s rescue with a twinkle in her eye. He turns the TV off and throws the remote at it as a scream builds in his throat. The vein in his forehead throbs more than it ever did before.
He won’t fall for Superman’s deception.