Date: Friday, May 6th, 2011, 12:24 PM
Location: Lex Mansion, Metropolis
It had been a week since I had officially adopted Zoe as her guardian, and it had been a challenging transition for both of us. The pristine, almost clinical perfection of my mansion felt less like a home and more like a high-end prison to Zoe Lawton. She'd traded the constant vigilance of street life and the worry about daily safety for the suffocating silence of unimaginable wealth. The stale scent of disinfectant, usually unnoticeable, now seemed to cling to every polished surface. Her dirty combat boots lay discarded near a sculpture that cost more than all of her belongings, and the half-eaten remains of a pilfered convenience store burrito and pizza boxes sat precariously close to a first-edition comic book. The only sound in the vast living room was the muted, insistent beat of a pop-punk song thrumming from the headphones she'd painstakingly acquired before being 'rescued.'
I stood in the doorway, observing her with Mercy right beside me.
Mercy's eyes held a flicker of something akin to pity as she looked at Zoe. "She's not adjusting well," Mercy murmured, her voice a low, sympathetic purr as she rested a hand on Lex's arm. Her sympathy for Zoe was palpable, and it resonated in the room.
I sighed, "It's understandable. I did put her father in prison." I said matter-of-factly, not as an excuse, but as a statement of fact. "She needs time." I knew this was going to be a long, uphill battle.
This new guardianship was certainly frustrating for me as well. Becoming a guardian to a 14-year-old wasn't what I had in mind since I took over this new body. I didn't even have children of my own in my old life. I pictured myself living life as a billion-dollar celebrity and maybe even a hero. Yet here I was, playing uncle ever since I sent Floyd, also known as Deadshot, to jail.
He was currently serving a life sentence in Blackgate Prison. However, he was going to receive an offer that would work out in my favor. He had promised to work for me, and in exchange, I now had a hormonal teenager dirtying my sofa with crumbs and soda stains all over my million-dollar couch. This went against every instinct of the original Lex Luthor, but I couldn't leave a kid, especially one whose life I had directly altered, out on the streets. So, here we were.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to hear me due to the music blasting in her ears, I walked in front of her to get her attention. She was on the couch, sketching furiously in a worn notebook she'd managed to keep from her old life. She was hunched over it, her brown hair falling over her face, obscuring what she was drawing. I approached cautiously, noting the fixation in her eyes as she focused on the page. She merely glanced at me and continued drawing while listening to the music on her headphones. This annoyed me greatly.
"S.E.B.A.S, please shut down her phone and all the electronics that Zoe owns," I stated.
"Yes sir," S.E.B.A.S. merely replied, and I saw the small screen near Zoe turn off.
She took off her headphones, sat up, and demanded, "Hey, I was listening to Scare Tactics' new album, S.E.B.A.S., turn my phone back on!"
"I apologize, Ms. Lawton, but Mr. Luthor instructed me to have all your belongings shut off."
"Bald-headed asshole," I heard Zoe whisper under her breath, and from the slight smirk Mercy just gave, I assume she did too. "You have my attention now, Lex; what do you want?" Zoe asked harshly as she didn't look up, her pencil scratching angrily across the page, the sound surprisingly loud in the quiet room.
Feeling that I was going to end up in an argument with her, I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to relax. "Zoe, I have enrolled you in Gotham Academy. Classes start Monday," I stated calmly and softly as possible.
"I don't care. I ain't going," Zoe shot back, looking up and glaring at me with a ferocious intensity in her eyes.
"You didn't like the private tutors I have hired to teach you; in fact, they have even reported that you've been skipping out on lessons. Mercy has advised me that you might perform better if you were in an environment with children around your age."
"I ain't a kid, and I ain't going to some stuck-up rich school to be with some stuck-up jerks," Zoe argued back.
"Zoe, you need to get an education," I pressed, trying to keep my voice from rising. "It's important. It provides options. A future."
"A future of what?" she spat, finally looking up, her eyes blazing with resentment. She slammed the sketchbook shut, and I saw a quick flash of a detailed, almost photographic drawing of a familiar-looking assault rifle. "So I can be a corporate stooge like you? Or an assassin like Dad? Which one do you want me to be, Luthor?" She threw the pencil onto the couch, where it bounced and rolled to the floor. "You think shoving me into some fancy school with a bunch of rich snobs is going to fix everything? You think that makes up for sending my father away?"
I felt a familiar pang of frustration, but I pushed it down. "No, Zoe. It doesn't make up for it, and I don't expect it to. However, your father's choices led him to where he is. My choices led me to try and provide you with a different path. You don't have to be anything I want you to be. I want you to be whatever you want to be, Zoe. But you can't do that if you don't have options." I paused, choosing my following words carefully. "Running away and living on the streets isn't an option anymore, and frankly, neither is following in your father's footsteps, if that's what you're thinking. You're here now, and I intend for you to stay here and to make something of yourself."
She glared at me, narrowing her eyes, a silent challenge in them. "You can't make me do anything."
"Perhaps not," I conceded, a flicker of something almost like amusement in my gaze. "But I can provide the environment. The rest is up to you." I left her to her angry silence, the vast apartment feeling heavier than ever. I understood her anger, but I also knew I couldn't let her self-destruct.
Later that afternoon, I was reviewing the guest list with Mercy for the upcoming charity gala that I was hosting. The money was intended to help establish our orphanage, specifically to help reduce future crime rates in both Metropolis and Gotham. I was inspired after meeting Zoe and wanted to help out more kids like her.
More importantly, it was also my carefully orchestrated introduction to the key players in this bizarre, magnificent world. I had already met both Superman and Batman, as well as the future Green Arrow. However, this gala was a first step in meeting other members of the Justice League.
"Mercy, are the invitations to Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent confirmed?" I asked, not looking up from the holographic display of the gala floor plan.
"I have recently received their RSVPs," Mercy replied, her voice calm as she sipped her coffee. "Mr. Wayne seemed quite eager to meet with you. I guess you knowing that he is Batman unnerved him. Wayne Enterprises has even offered to contribute to the silent auction."
"Well, I am quite eager to meet with him as soon as possible as well," I mentioned. Ever since that day at Star City, I have wanted to meet with him, but the past couple of months have been hectic. Thankfully, we could now. I knew that our first impressions of each other were not the greatest, but if I wanted to work together with him in the future, I needed to put aside our differences.
"So am I; who knew that Gotham's most eligible bachelor was the Dark Knight, and those nights he was out partying were just an excuse to go fight criminals and supervillains," Mercy stated.
I smirked, "How about Clark? How did he react when he got his invite?"
"I'm still upset it took you this long to tell me that he was Superman, and the fact you said it so nonchalantly, like the weather is a bit cloudy, was even more annoying," she replied, frowning at me. "He RSVP'd and also asked if he could bring a plus-one."
I then answered her question, "Yes, he can bring someone with him; I'm pretty sure you and I already know who it's going to be. Also, he is literally just wearing glasses. I thought that of all people, you would figure out his identity immediately," I said, shrugging.
"Why, Mr. Luthor, are you calling me dumb?" Mercy said, smiling, but I could tell she was actually annoyed with my statement.
"Not dumb, just not observant," I chuckled, which earned me a tissue box flying right at me. I easily dodged it and resumed our conversation.
"So how about Ms. Queen and this person and Diana Prince? I get why you are inviting Ms. Queen since you did say you wanted to mentor her, but not to sound disrespectful, but Diana Prince does not seem someone of note." Mercy questioned.
"Trust me, Mercy, Diana is someone we are going to want to be good friends with in the future. As for Thea, this would be an excellent way to build more connections with other people and establish some new ones. If she is to be my CEO of Queen Industries, she will need more connections than just those with musicians and athletes."
Mercy still looked at me but shrugged it off. She knew I would let her know eventually. I didn't want to bring up her whole backstory because then she would wonder how I knew all of this. What was I supposed to tell her, 'I'm reincarnated, and now I inhabit the body of your boss.' Also, since I did not know how Diana of this world was, for all I knew, she could be a supervillain in this universe. Meeting Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman wasn't about dominance; it was about understanding, about finding my place in a world where gods walked among men.
A knock on his office door interrupted my thoughts. It was Zoe, still in her worn combat boots, her backpack slung over one shoulder. She looked less angry today, more… guarded.
"They brought my stuff from the safe house," she said, her voice flat, almost an accusation, as she dropped her bag with a thud. "My sketchbooks. Thanks."
I nodded, a flicker of hope in my chest—a small win. "You're welcome, Zoe. About Gotham Academy…"
She cut me off with a dismissive wave of her hand, a sigh escaping her lips. She paused, her eyes narrowing, a flicker of internal debate crossing her face. "Look, I'll go," she conceded, the words sounding like a heavy admission after a moment of consideration. "But don't expect me to like it. And don't expect me to make friends. It's just... school. A place to pass the time until… whatever happens next." Her gaze drifted to the glittering cityscape of Metropolis, her expression unreadable, a flicker of resignation in her eyes.
I looked at her, reminding myself that she had gone through so much for someone so young. A little reward was in order since she was being cooperative. "Well, since you're agreeing to the school, how about a small reward? Tonight, we can order anything you want, and we can all watch any movie of your choosing."
She turned around and looked at me. "Anything?" she asked, her voice and expression flickering with excitement, surprise, and happiness, which she quickly tried to conceal.
"Anything. Also, no interruptions from my work the entire time. Just me, you, and Mercy spending some time together," I said. I looked at Mercy, and she was gently smiling, with a look I had never seen on her before.
I looked at Zoe, and I could tell she was trying to figure out what to eat tonight and what movie we were all going to watch. That's when she looked up and smirked and said, "I want Chinese, but nothing fancy from your chefs or S.E.B.A.S. Also, I want to watch a really bad horror movie called Night of the Living Llamas Six: The Dalai Llama Returns."
My eyebrow twitched, and she laughed, "You promised you can't back down now."
"Yes...yes, I did," I chuckled. "Fine, let's go. Mercy and I have done enough for today."
Zoe walked out of the room, and I could tell she was looking forward to this, even if she was trying her best to hide it. When I first got Zoe, I wondered if I had made the right decision. Seeing her like this made me feel I did.