Endless Legacy Ch. 64 (DC Comics)

A/N: Finally time for Lucien to sit back and relax...

-x-X-x-

Its… Mercy of all people. Brow furrowed, Lucien gives Blackfire a look and answers the call, putting the phone to his ear.

“Mercy? Hello?”

“Lucien, I don’t have much time. I dug too deep.”

Lucien’s eyes widen and his world slows down to a near-standstill as he hears those words from his father’s right hand woman. Mercy sounds breathless and, for the first time in any life he’s lived, she sounds afraid. Seeing his reaction, Blackfire stiffens and straightens up, brow furrowing in confusion and concern.

“What’s happening? Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“It’s too late for that. Lucien, you need to know, Lex has been replaced. Properly replaced and not of his own volition either. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I found out who. It’s-!”

And then the call cuts off. Just like that.

“Mercy? Mercy?!”

But there’s no answer. Lucien stares blankly ahead for a long moment in disbelief before slowly bringing the phone down and staring at the disconnected call screen. Then, he curses under his breath and immediately places another call. As the phone is ringing, Blackfire comes closer, crossing her arms over her chest.

“What’s happening?”

Giving her a look, Lucien grimaces.

“Mercy is in trouble. She found something she wasn’t supposed to find and whoever is playing games with my father’s persona got to her.”

Grimacing right back, Blackfire bites her lower lip.

“… What are you going to do?”

Maybe it wasn’t Lucien’s place to care about Mercy Graves. Maybe it wasn’t his place to worry about her safety after everything. And yet… when he looks Blackfire in the eye and answers that question, he means every last word of it.

“Whatever the fuck I have to do.”

Before Blackfire can respond, the person he’s calling finally picks up on their end and the distracted voice of Barbara Gordon comes through loud and clear.

“Lucien? Now is really not a good-!”

“I need to get in touch with Batman. And probably Superman as well. You said as Oracle that you have connections right? I know you can talk to Batman for me, but… can you get me Superman? It’s an emergency.”

There’s a long, pregnant pause on Barbara’s end of the line. Too long for Lucien’s taste. Finally, she responds with a question.

“… What is the nature of this emergency?”

Lucien scowls, unable to help the way his face twists up in response to that question. Because really, he knows how it might sound to them. Oh, the hardened bitch of a mercenary that his villain of a father employed might be in trouble and need some help. Sure, they’d get riiiight on that.

… But he can’t lie. He’ll tell the truth and if Barbara can’t help him or decides it’s not a priority, then he’ll do it himself.

“Mercy Graves just called me with information pertaining to the situation with Lex Luthor. However, before she could tell me what she’d found out, the phone call went dead. Something moved to silence her. I don’t know if she’s still alive or not, but we need to find her. We need to find out for certain.”

There’s another pause on Barbara’s end, though thankfully for Lucien’s nerves, this one is far, far shorter in length before finally…

“Standby. I’m sending someone to get you.”

Wait, what? Lucien barely has time to process that before someone literally appears in front of him and Blackfire in a flash of light and a swirl of red and blue. For a brief moment before he finishes blinking the light out of his eyes, Lucien thinks Barbara actually sent Superman his way. But then his vision clears and he realizes their visitor is a lot more diminutive than the Man of Steel.

With a bright, sunny grin, the cute blonde Supergirl stands there with her hands on her hips.

“Hey there! Heard some things about you through the grapevine, Lucien Luthor! C’mon, I’m your designated official League Transport up to the Watchtower.”

She was… he was… what the fuck was happening? Over the phone, Barbara’s voice speaks crisply and in a no-nonsense tone.

“Go with her, Lucien. Take your ‘friend’ too so long as she doesn’t cause trouble. This is an all-hands on-deck situation. Sorry, but I’m needed elsewhere… we’ll speak again soon, hopefully.”

With that, the line goes dead leaving Lucien positively swirling with questions but no answers. And of course, Supergirl is still standing there with a bright grin and her hands on her hips. Swallowing, Lucien exchanges a quick glance with Blackfire to make sure she still has his back… and is pleased when she gives him a slight nod. With that, he really only has one question for Supergirl at this point.

“… Do we have time to change?”

Supergirl blinks, taking in their appearances for a moment as her grin falters and she looks slightly chagrined.

“Err… yeah, if you’ve got something less casual, that’d probably be for the best.”

Right. They were doing this then, he supposed. Lucien could only hope this meant they would be in time to save Mercy… if it wasn’t already too late.

-x-X-x-

When he’d asked if they had time to change, he actually meant different things for himself and Blackfire. Lucien had already transformed his physical appearance back to normal ahead of his date with Barbara, so that he was going as his real self instead of “Luke Maximillian”. Blackfire, however, had still looked like “Kamara Blackwater.”

But no longer. As they’re teleported up into space (and yeah, having Supergirl explain that that was where they were going had certainly been a trip) Lucien and Blackfire are back in their original forms… and their original costumes. Lucien is clad in his Remedy Alter Ego, while Blackfire is once again sporting her metallic purple outfit that shows off plenty of skin and leaves little to the imagination.

They get a couple of strange looks as Supergirl leads them through the Watchtower, perhaps because people know who Blackfire is, or perhaps because they don’t recognize Lucien. His stint as Remedy had been rather short after all, and thankfully so far he hasn’t seen the Titans anywhere around.

Finally, they arrive at a large room with a large table dominating the center of it. The room itself was breathtaking in its own way, but the people within it… well, that was on a whole other level.

There’s Batman of course, though Lucien is still surprised to see the Caped Crusader out of Gotham. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Superman is there too, looking pensive with his arms crossed over his chest. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. The Flash. Martian Manhunter. Hawkgirl.

It was commonly understood that Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman were the ‘Big Three’ of the Justice League. A triumvirate of leadership if you will. Knowing what Lucien now knew about Batman’s relationship to Bruce Wayne, it made sense. Batman offered a connection to deep pockets, Superman was the strongest hero in the world, and Wonder Woman was largely considered the strongest heroine.

But that was not to say the impact of the others should be understated. The rest of the main original roster, though the League HAD expanded in the years since it’s formation, were all powerhouses in their own right.

Lucien swallows as their eyes all turn towards him and Blackfire. Even Blackfire, badass bitch that she liked to pretend she was, stutter steps and quails a bit under the combined gazes of so many powerful men and women. Batman is the first to break the silence, stepping forward and speaking in a tone that brooks zero nonsense.

“Remedy. Aka Lucien Luthor.”

Nobody at the table looks remotely surprised, so Lucien guesses they all already knew exactly who he was to begin with. That was… fine. As previously mentioned, the Remedy identity wasn’t one he’d stuck with for long anyways. And he’d discarded it a while ago. It was just the only well-made costume he had access to.

With that in mind, he pulls off his mask and tries his best not to crumple under the weight of their combined gazes as he nods in acknowledgment. At this, Superman steps forward, looking imperious as all hell. Lucien… can’t tell whether the Man of Steel holds his parentage against him or not, truth be told. The look on Superman’s face is severe right now, but then, everyone looks rather serious.

Hell, even The Flash, who Lucien has watched quip his way through dozens of situations in dozens of funny compilation videos on the internet, is uncharacteristically quiet. No one says a word as Superman speaks.

“Son, what do you know about your father’s transformation?”

Transformation? Lucien furrows his brow in confusion and answers honestly with a shake of his head.

“I don’t. All I know is that the Lex Luthor I’ve interacted with this year is apparently a clone. Also, Mercy Graves just called me twenty minutes ago and told me she found out who was behind everything, only for the call to go dead before she could say anything else.”

There’s a brief pause as everyone shares meaningful looks at that. Lucien feels himself getting a little aggravated. His hands curl into fists at his side even as he discovers that being left in the dark is apparently the fastest way for him to get over any hero worship or fear of all of the extremely dangerous people arrayed before him.

“What’s going on? What do you all know?”

A couple of the heroes and heroines in the room frown at that, not looking pleased by his questioning of the situation. But before anyone can rebuke him, Batman speaks up again and his words seem to take them all by surprise.

“Show him.”

Batman willingly sharing information with an unknown quantity like Lucien? Yeah, Lucien can tell that that shocks everyone in the large meeting room to their core. Honestly, it surprises him as well, even as gratitude wells up in his chest. After a brief pause, Superman nods and the Martian Manhunter picks up a remote, turning on a large screen that blended into the wall so well when it was off that Lucien hadn’t even noticed it was there.

He blinks as a video starts playing… a video that is unmistakably his father. Except at the same time, not.

“Greetings to the Heroes of Earth. I am Br- I am Brain- I am- I am- We are Lex Luthor. And we have come to take our rightful throne.”

… What? Lucien stares at the transformed visage of his father in disbelief. Lex Luthor is still very clearly there, but he’s been buried under alien-looking technology and a skin tone change. He’s blue now for some reason, and his eyes look like they’ve been replaced by cybernetics. The smile that spreads across his face though… that’s entirely his father.

Lifting up a hand covered in a thick metal gauntlet, the cybernetic Lex Luthor looks it over almost casually.

“Brainiac picked me up around a year or two ago. I’m aware that he left a frankly shoddy clone in my place. Nobody noticed my disappearance though, not even my supposedly loyal right hand woman. Nobody came to my rescue while I was at his tender mercies either.”

Suddenly, he clenches that hand into a fist, grinning savagely at the screen.

“It matters little. Lex Luthor does not need to be saved. He does not need to be rescued. But the fact that you did not even realize I was replaced… that insult will not be allowed to stand.”

There’s a twitch on his face then, a tic that goes for a few seconds before his expression smooths back out.

“The Earth belongs to me. It always has. I just needed a broader perspective to realize it. But despite what you all might think, I am not a monster. I will give you all one opportunity to stand down. To surrender and submit to the rule of Lex Luthor. You will do so… or you will all perish for your impudence.”

And with that, the recording ends, leaving a dark pallor over the room. Obviously, everyone aside from Lucien and Blackfire had already heard the message by this point. But even still, it leaves them all pensive and tense. Makes sense why they were all so severe and brooding.

Superman, despite the frown on his face, at least has the good decency to provide some context to Lucien.

“Brainiac, in case you didn’t know, is a hyper-intelligent being who constantly seeks out knowledge from across the universe, seeking to bring all under his umbrella so that he might learn everything there is to learn. We’ve… encountered more than one version of him over the years, but this is something else. Lex is right. None of us knew he’d been taken. And from the look of things, he’s managed to somehow dominate Brainiac by sheer force of will and take control.”

Lucien grimaces.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

That gets him some looks, which is why he’d grimaced in the first place. But all the same…

“My father isn’t exactly winning parent of the year awards. For the entirety of my life, he’s seen me only once a year on my birthday to run me through a barrage of tests and see if I’ll finally live up to his expectations or not. This year was the first time I managed to do so, largely because I developed metahuman abilities that did away with the generally sickly constitution I’ve had my life. But… even then, his clone didn’t do much about all of that beyond show his approval.”

With that said, Lucien shrugs.

“Even still, and you can correct me if you think I’m wrong because you probably have more experience with my father than I do Superman… but does this really strike you as very Lex-like? Sending us a message announcing his plans? Telling us exactly what he’s going to do before he does it? My father is a schemer, first and foremost. And now he’s given us time to prepare before whatever army he’s bringing gets here.”

Green Lantern clears his throat and speaks up at that.

“You’re wrong, at least about that last part. This message was sent our way only AFTER this unholy union between Luthor and Brainiac arrived in-system. There is a fleet of ships currently orbiting Mars right now, preparing to attack. Our time to ready ourselves for what comes next is fleeting at best.”

Ah. Well. Damn.

“… Lucien is right about some of the other bits though. This isn’t how Lex would usually operate. Either he’s so confident in his own superiority this time that he’s willing to just tell us his plans, or Brainiac is allowing whatever remains of Lex to act as his mouthpiece in order to throw us off and leave us confused.”

Superman shakes his head a moment after he delivers that particular puzzle.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter. We’re not just giving up Earth. The Justice League and every affiliated hero within it is in the process of mobilizing. We won’t just lay down and surrender without a fight.”

Damn. As far as rousing speeches go, it was pretty basic. And yet, coming from someone like Superman’s lips? It was honestly shockingly inspiring. However, that shock is nothing compared to the shock that follows when Superman unwinds his arms from his chest and takes another step forward… before offering Lucien his hand. His exposed, uncovered hand.

“You’ve proven you’re not your father, Lucien Luthor. And if Batman trusts you, so do I.”

From the look in Superman’s face, he knows exactly what he’s offering Lucien right now. They might not know where his powers come from, but Batman has definitely figured out what Lucien can do with skin to skin contact and passed that on to his contemporaries.

Silence falls over the room for a long moment as Lucien stares down at that hand. Was this a test? A trick? Was he supposed to reject the power of a Kryptonian to truly prove himself? Or was this really the offer it seemed to be? All that power… at his fingertips.