Last Night

Chapter 13

Kara turns and sees Lex, standing in the hallway looking, of all things, worried. She immediately tenses.
"No! Ma'am, you don't understand he did this to her!" Kara's seething with rage on the inside, but shes trying to hold back and stay calm for the sake of appearances.
"Miss I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse says sternly.
"He's going to kill her!" Her cry comes out in a whisper as security drags her out. She doesn't try to resist, knowing the damage she could cause in her current state. Once they've deposited her outside the doors, the guards return to their distant posts, which Kara finds to be incredibly careless, but she's got bigger problems to worry about.
"Didn't I just put you in jail?" She spits at Lex.
"Excuse me? I don't believe we've met," he says, his tone sounding confused, yet polite.
"I know you know who I am." Kara stands taller, taking on her hero stance. "You certainly know who my cousin is."
"I'm sorry I've really never seen you in my life... but you seem to know my sister, is she alright?" His concern sounds almost genuine, which only infuriates Kara further.
"Really? You're going to play this game? After I just took down you and your mother for putting her in here?"
"My mother...? Mother did this?" He says, jaw set in anger.
"And you." Kara crosses her arms and giving him a disgusted look.
"I haven't seen my mother in ten years." Lex says gravely.
"Oh don't pull this crap! Do I really have to spell out to you who I am? There's no way she didn't tell you, but she wouldn't have had to, you figured out Superman all on your own. Surely I didn't hit you that hard while bringing you in an hour ago." Her control is slipping, and she almost wants to let go of it completely.
"An hour ago I was on a plane from Antarctica, where I've been conducting research for the past decade." Lex says, with that note of confusion in his voice that keeps pushing Kara further from civility.
"I'm not going to believe you." Kara keeps glancing back at Lena through the window, ensuring that this isn't some sort of diversion.
"Is she going to be okay?" Kara just rolls her eyes at him and his fake concern. "What are you to her? A friend?" He catches sight of Kara's ring, "Oh! Congratulations?"
"No, not yet, that was just to distract the nurse, we're just dat- why am I telling you this?"
"Because you love her, and you know I do too."
"The Lex I know isn't capable of love."
"I'm telling you I don't know you! I left ten years ago to get away from my mother and to research climate change. "My only regret is leaving Lena alone with her, but I knew she could get out, Lilian could never quite control her.  She was stronger than I was." Now Kara's confused because she knows he's lying, but he sounds so genuine.
"You're disgusting. You're really gonna stand here and spout all these lies? all so you can, what? Get in there and finish the job? You've always made me sick, but right now..." Kara takes him by the arm and drags him down the hall. To hell with control. "Did you ever even love her, she says you did, that you were the only person who was ever kind to her, but then one day.. you just..." her hand trails down to his, and she takes hold of his index finger, "snapped." With a punctuating snap Lex's finger is bent back the wrong way.
"What the fuck? Ow god! Look... miss, Lena's girlfriend, whatever your name is- I did love Lena, I left because I hated our parents," Lex says, now cradling his hand and taking a step back from Kara, "they wanted to take things in a direction I wasn't comfortable with. So, one day I just left, without telling anyone, not even Lena. I took a new name so no one could find me. I'm only back here now because I've finally done something good."
"Something good?" Kara says her voice saturated with anger and disbelief. "What about the countless horrors I've seen you commit against innocent people? Against my own family? The hate and damage you inflict alongside your mother and CADMUS in the name of science... What about tonight? when I watched you hurt your own sister for trying to do something good. Do you really think I'm stupid enough... that one cute story can erase everything you've done... You hate what I am so much, hell im surprised you've stood next to me this long without trying something."
"I haven't been here! I don't even know what half those things mean! Here I have proof!" He reaches for his bag and Kara pins him to the wall before he can get to it.
"You Almost had me for a minute," she admits with a rueful smile,  "but I knew you'd never face me without a weapon." She holds the bag at arms length and scans it. "No kryptonite? That's a first."
"Kryptonite?"
"There aren't any weapons in here, what were you reaching for?"
"You didn't even look...? How the hell do you know that?" Kara shoots him a glare. "Right, I was just going to show you some things from my time in Antarctica." Kara gives him back his bag but doesn't let her guard down. Really she's only entertaining his story to keep him away from Lena, and to minimize the potential civilian casualties. "Well here's my plane ticket," he produces a real looking ticket from his bag.
"You can fake those."
"Some pictures?"
"Photoshop." Kara says without looking at them.
"This necklace I made with a penguin tooth I found,"
"Amazon." Kara dismisses every piece of evidence he shows her.
"What's it gonna take for you to believe me?"
"Hmm let's see.. maybe if you hadn't committed countless atrocities and made numerous threats on your sisters life?"
"I-what? I would never hurt Lena." Kara can see tears forming in his eyes and her resolve waivers, for a moment. "Wait you're saying that I, Lex Luthor, have been here, commuting crimes with my mother for the past ten years?"
"Yes."
"And this is exactly what Lex Luthor looks like?" He says gesturing to himself. Kara nods, while also looking at him like he's an idiot.
"God she truly has lost it... I think- I think my mother may have cloned me? Or hired a look alike, after I left."
"I'd say you're crazy but this is Lilian Luthor we're talking about..." Kara sighs. "Don't move." She commands as she walks a few steps down the hall and pulls out her phone. "J'onn, can you absolutely confirm that you have Lex Luthor in custody right now."
"Yep, I'm looking right at him."
"Great, can you come down to the hospital, I need you to do some mind reading."
———
J'onn leaves, after confirming that this Lex's words reflect his true thoughts.  
"I still don't fully believe you, but if you are telling the truth... you can't be here when she wakes up." He looks as if he's about to protest but Kara continues, "she hates you, or him, I guess. She didn't at first, but you -he?, took things too far. She needs to get better before she can know any of this."
"Okay, I understand... I'll stay in town until she's better."
"Uhh you may want to start growing a beard, maybe invest in a good wig... she's not the only one who hates you."