Supercorp- One shots

Praise

When Alexander Joseph Luthor goes mad, he leaves behind three things.

The first is a long list of sins, acted out in self-righteous vanity and pride, leaving a wake of debauchery and destruction that tarnishes the once good Luthor name. The second is his company, which suffers in both stock and image in the public eye, ready to collapse at the slightest moral provocation. The third is his sister, young and slightly bewildered, having been wrenched from the bottom rung of the business in Research and Development and shoved into the spotlight unceremoniously and with little guidance imparted unto her.

It's that fresh-faced younger sister who takes to the podium during the first press conference nearly a month after his descent to darkness. The press wants to eat her alive and she feels it, like being pulled apart to expose her insides for what might be the shadow of her brother's deeds. No stone goes unturned in their dissection of her character, tearing into her with their teeth, trying to find similar veins of sin and madness between her and her brother.

The irony isn't lost on her, after all. Before Lex was caught, she was just a name in a byline, sometimes even less than that: Adopted Sister, Lena Luthor. Who knew all he had to do was face God as he walked backward into hell for the press to drop the qualifying moniker of Lena's origins. Lex Luthor's sister, Lena Luthor, Takes Over Disgraced Company, they began to write.

His sins leave a stain on everything she is or attempts to be as soon as he disappears.

She doesn't expect him to ever come back.

So, she ditches the lab coats and safety goggles and starts donning fresh makeup and putting her hair up and her body into modest pieces of formal work wear. She plays the part of an innocent little sister thrown to the wolves by her gluttonous brother's selfish pride.

Some people buy it, though not nearly enough to save the company completely. She ends up rebranding it, strips its facade of her brother's grim shadow and begins the arduous task of scrubbing it clean. She feels like maybe she could do it. Two dirty hands rub together to rinse themselves of debris, after all.

Lillian is no help. Instead, she laments the monster the media turned her sweet boy into, finding fault in everyone else but him. Especially in Lena. Always, especially in Lena. Somehow everything terrible Lex ever did is instantly some ploy of Lena's, something he was taking care of for Lena, something he took the fall for, for Lena. She wonders if that's why she was adopted-a placeholder, a scapegoat should the family ever need it.

Lena's always tried to be perfect because of that fear. But there's darkness inside of her, too. It's something she harbors deep within herself, shoved as far down as she can get it, pushed into the well of her heart so that it sees no light. She keeps it at bay, mostly, especially in the wake of what her brother left behind. She hides it, that part of herself she knows is wrong . She understands human nature, knows that she resides in grey gradients, despite the world's need for stark black against severe white.

Rebuilding and rebranding is slow work-meticulous work that feels like every time she takes two steps forward, there's a media whirlwind that places her one step back. But she does it, somehow. She manages less a 180-degree about-face and more a careful navigation of a sinking ship to safe waters.

She comes out of the other side exposed and raw. The media still doesn't trust her and treats her as a ticking time bomb. The worst conspiracy theories are the ones that say she's hiding Alexander, bearing accomplice to his list of crimes. They crave a slip up. Any casual mistake will do; they'll pick it apart and spread it so far and so wide, her original mishap may never be truly uncovered or acknowledged.

Despite all of this, Lena presses on. She continues in her sisyphean task of maintaining her image, curating a persona both bland and intimidating. Luthor Corp turned L-Corp turns a profit. Lena's charitable contributions start to see returns. The woman herself receives a printed compliment in a reputable publication. But still. The shadow of her brother lies in wait, somewhere. She fears the day he might rear his ugly head and ruin what she might like to call her own after all the work she's put into it.