The Heart of Luthor

Part 1

Dedicated to Links_Mink and emmy_dee

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Alexander 'Lex' Luthor. The man everybody knew, but no one who wasn't anybody wished they didn't. The man who everyone either loved or hated, but whose heart was hidden, unreadable by anyone who dared get close enough to catch a glimpse of it. If he even had a heart, that is.

That's what Ruby had made her mission to find out.

Ruby Hope, the girl who was everybody's best friend, who was always there for you with a hug, a thriller, and a bowl of popcorn no matter what you were going through.

When she first met Lex, he had breezed into her little programming office asking for some technical advice, and who better to give it than the city's leading expert on game programming and software design?

"I'm having some trouble with my tablet. You see, every time I try logging in, it freezes up like someone's been trying to hack past my firewalls," he flashed her his signature charming smile, and she couldn't believe that the Lex Luthor, the man forever in the tabloids over his outrageous expenditure on something frivolous or for his overwhelming benevolence towards those less fortunate, was standing in her office asking for her expertise.

"Oh, I'm sure I can sort that out for you, Mr. Luthor," Ruby smiled shakily as she took the tablet from his hands. Stop fangirling, missy! Do you want him to think you're just like those insufferable women who constantly throw themselves at old money whenever it walks past?

"Call me Lex," he said smoothly, again lifting the corners of his mouth in a way that made Ruby wish her hair was perfectly neat, her shirt was tucked in properly and her nails weren't too bitten off. I knew I should've painted them last night!

"Ok," was all she could manage as she tore her eyes from his handsome face and back to the task at hand. Plugging in the tablet to her Mac, she tapped away at her keys, the sound normally music to her ears, but right now she couldn't seem to hear past the erratic thumping of her heart. Stupid heart!! Just be quiet so I can get my work done, or find my voice so I can actually talk to Mr Lu- I mean Lex so he doesn't think I'm a silly teenager. "So when did you first notice any problems?"

"Excuse me?" he turned from his perusal of her messy office desk and cluttered pin boards.

"Your tablet. When did it first stop working?"

"Just this morning. You know how it is. You sit at your desk to get some work done, but something always seem to manage to draw you away."

"That must be frustrating. What are you currently working on?" I can't believe I just asked him that! So much for priding herself in not being a sticky-beak. But then, she did have his tablet and was bound to see some of his personal files anyway.

"Oh, a number of things. You probably know how I like to stay on top of politics and scientific discoveries. Always looking for ways to make this world a better place," he replies smoothly, and his voice is oh so beautiful.

"Cool, that sounds amazing!" She had no idea he was this nice in person!

She finally cracked some of the problem. The home screen flashed up on the tablet, and she just had a few more lines of code to decipher, and....what was that? Why was the name 'Chloe Sullivan' on the user heading? A picture of a cute blonde stared back at her instead of the man she had been expecting. Wait, was this even hi-

"Thank you very much for your services, Miss Hope. I'll send you a tidy fee for your troubles," he quickly took the tablet from her hands, yanking the cord out in the process, and tucked it in his satchel. "I'm sure you can keep this between you and me. We wouldn't want your mother to worry if you were late in coming home today...or at all," he smiled sweetly and walked out the glass doors, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

Did he - did he just threaten her?