Are You Still There?

10. Lena

Summary: A little look into Lena's childhood at the Luthors' and Lillian and Lena join forces to try and stop Lex.

Notes: I will be switching to present tense because somehow that works better for me and it keeps the writer's block at bay. Sorry, if anyone finds this annoying but it works. Enjoy the next chapter!

Lena is sitting at her desk, Lillian opposite her. Lillian had decided to test Lena's smarts to figure out her strengths and weaknesses before incorporating her in the Luthor family business. She figured it would be best to assess Lena's capabilities at a young age in order to fix any flaws she might have. How could she turn this child into a Luthor?

She had set out five problems for Lena to solve; A corporate sabotage simulation, technological coding, a moral dilemma, a scientific experiment and a puzzle involving public manipulation.

Lena had flown through the first two, coming up with a plan to best a rival corporation and decrypting a simple piece of computer code.

For the next task, Lillian picks up a small cardboard box and places it on the table in front of Lena.

"Open it." Lena gestures towards the box.

Lena carefully lifts the flaps open and peaks inside. A small, ginger kitten is looking up at her. She slowly lowers her small hands into the box and pulls the kitten out. She gently places it onto the table and strokes its tiny head.

"This is Bartholomew." Lillian says, "Now, Bartholomew is going to die soon."

Lena's eyes grow wide in horror as she looks back up at Lillian.

"He has a congenital heart defect, so he won't survive long on his own. My question to you now, Lena, is what will you do about it? You could either work tirelessly trying to find a cure for him even though there is a high chance that he will die anyway. Or, do you give him away to a caring family for him to, without a doubt, die quicker in order for you to focus on more important tasks?"

Lena looks back at the small kitten. Her bottom lip quivers slightly. "I want to help him..." She whispers.

"Speak up, child." Lillian raises an eyebrow at her.

"I don't want him to die. I want to help him!" She holds him close to her chest.

Lillian rolls her eyes and sighs. "Too sensitive." She jots some notes down in a booklet.

Tears start rolling down Lena's little cheeks.

"Stop that." Lillian forcefully wipes the tears away. "You are a Luthor. We will be having none of that."

There's a soft knock on the door and the housekeeper carefully steps into the room. "Mr. Luthor would like to speak with you, ma'am."

Lillian takes the kitten back and puts him back in the box. "We will finish this later." She gets up. "Remember what I said, Lena."

Lena nods slowly and tries to bite back her sobs.

Lillian sweeps out of the room, leaving Lena alone. Her sad sniffs echo throughout the room.

***

Later, there is a soft knock at the door.

Lena shoots up in her seat, adjusts her cardigan and quickly wipes away her tears. "Come in." She squeaks.

The door opens slightly and Lex pokes his head in. He quickly scans the room, before opening the door and walking in. He gently closes the door behind him and turns to Lena. He's holding the box. Lena looks at the box, back up at him, and then back at the box.

Lex walks over to the desk and puts the box down. He pushes it over to her and takes the empty seat.

Lena opens the box and lets out a small gasp when she sees Bartholomew. She smiles as she picks him up and gives him a gentle hug. She looks up at Lex, grinning, only to see his usual serious expression.

"Mother's right, you know? You are too sensitive. You can't cry whenever something doesn't go to plan. You need to look at things from an objective point of view. What makes sense? What is convenient? Don't let yourself get attached. You are a Luthor. You are cold, serious, discreet and success-driven. Understood?"

Lena nods. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise. Emotion equals weakness." Lex strokes Bartholomew's head.

"Ok..." Lena sniffs.

"Don't let Mother find out. Discreet, remember?"

***

"I have an idea." Lena turns to Lillian, who is hunched over an old spreadsheet.

Lillian cocks an eyebrow.

"Do you remember Bartholomew? From the assessment after my adoption."

"The dying cat, yes, of course I remember." Lillian sits up, intrigued

"Well, Lex realised my attachment to him and snuck him back to me after you had left the room to speak with Father."

"Yes, I had wondered where the little fleabag had gotten to." Lillian tilts her head.

"Exactly. You didn't notice Lex had taken him because of how discreet he had been. I remember him telling me that Luthors are discreet amongst other things. Perhaps, we could use that against him."

"You would like to sabotage the device." Lillian nods slowly.

"Yes. If we could create a way to send a discreet message to the DEO, we can shut this whole thing down before Lex even has the chance to start."

"You think it wise to work against your brother?" Lillian smirks.

"Considering what's at stake, I have no other choice." Lena shakes her head slowly.

"You were always the one to get attached." Lillian sighs. "Alright. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, for it to seem believable, we need to use the kryptonite. Since I assume Lex will be the one to use the weapon, we need the 'message' to be concealed in it." Lena starts typing away on a computer.

"No... What if the kryptonite is the message..." Lillian thinks out loud.

Lena turns back to her. "How so?"

Lillian points at the spreadsheet in front of her.

Lena gets up and walks over to the table and glances at it. "The lead dispersal bomb." She mutters.

"If we could reconstruct the kryptonite to bind in the air, in a way that only the DEO would be able to detect, we could get the message out." Lillian suggests.

Lena nods along. "That's going to take some time to get right, though."

"We all know you work well under pressure, dear." Lillian's gaze is fixed on the spreadsheet.

It may not be an outright compliment but Lena will take it. Her mind is already racing with possible ways to chemically, radioactivity or physically bind the kryptonite particles.

"Let's get to work." She nods.