A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story! I also have an announcement about my Patreon at the bottom of the post! Please read it!
Looping Kara in for better or worse.
-x-X-x-
In the end, Lucien realizes that Blackfire is right. As entertaining as it's been to let Kara play her little undercover games and 'investigate' him and LexCorp in between the sheer metric fuck ton of work he's been piling onto her… at some point it's only going to blow up in their faces if they don't end it on their own terms. Or rather, if he doesn't end it on his own terms.
Truth be told, he has the perfect opportunity to bring Kara on board and read her in on everything they've uncovered before she somehow finds it out for herself through her snooping. Letting that opportunity pass him by isn't just moronic, it's downright foolhardy.
… It really was a shame though, Lucien can't help thinking as the Lord Gala continues. It really had been amusing as all hell, giving Kara the run around. He would have to ask Galatea and Match if they were up for this first of course, but if they were… well then, it would be time to have a private meeting with one Ms. Danvers.
-x-X-x-
As guilty as she felt over trying to use Lena Lord to potentially get one over on Lucien, Kara can't help but feel like it might just be working as she stands in the elevator and tries not to get too antsy as it rises and rises up the building. Or at least, something was finally paying off because here she was, being invited to Lucien's penthouse the very next morning.
Despite being his personal assistant, this would be the first time that she would even see his actual home. It was a level of trust she'd begun to wonder if she would ever be afforded… and now here she was, about to get a glimpse into the belly of the beast.
She's not worried about him trying anything untoward, of course. After all, Kara is a Kryptonian and while she knows full well that Lucien is more than a mere human and Blackfire is a pretty powerful alien fighter in her own right, she also has full faith in her ability to escape and get reinforcements if the situation calls for it.
Finally, the elevator arrives at the top floor and dings before opening up to reveal the somewhat spectacular but also stereotypical view of a rich CEO's skyrise penthouse. Everything is in a minimalist design while looking unquestioningly expensive.
Blackfire is waiting for her on the other side of the doors, causing Kara to pause for a microsecond in surprise. She's not surprised by Blackfire's presence, but she is a little confused about why the woman is waiting for her instead of being with Lucien.
"Right this way."
There's also the look that Blackfire gives her, sending a shiver down Kara's spine. Biting her lower lip, Kara follows all the same, using her X-Ray vision to take a quick peek ahead as they make their way across the common area. She very nearly stops dead in her tracks when she sees whats waiting for them in Lucien Luthor's private office… but then she finds herself hurrying forward, all but rushing to the point where she almost overtakes Blackfire as the other woman leads her in.
Lucien is sitting behind his desk of course, but that's not who suddenly has Kara's focus. No, her focus is on the two women standing on either side of Lucien's desk. One of them is a little taller than her but shorter than Lucien, blonde, with blue eyes and a… robust figure. The other is taller than the first, however, with her own figure clad in a black leather jacket and pants.
They both stare Kara down knowingly, causing her to gulp in response. Because if she can see them for what they really are, then obviously they can see HER for what she really is. And both of these women… are Kryptonian.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Where had they come from? What was-
"Kara. Please take a seat."
She's not sure that's a good idea, no matter how Lucien's commanding voice makes her react physically. Her pulse jumps, her thighs clench and she tries not to think of her dreams in that moment, instead focusing on the utter disaster this has rapidly become.
Before she can take a step back and maybe flee the office, however… a hand falls down on her shoulder and clamps there with shocking force. Kara's head whips around and she stares at Blackfire, baffled by the other woman's strength.
This was not the physical strength of a normal Tamaranean… not by a long shot. And yet, the same markers that let her see the other Kryptonians for what they were… were not present in Blackfire. Everything looked normal to Kara's X-Ray vision.
"You heard him. Sit down."
Oh she was so fucking fucked. Kara wants to put up a fight as she's frog marched across the office and pushed firmly into the chair, but she knows better than to do so when the other two Kryptonians would just leap into the fight as well. And three on one is… not good odds.
Lucien offers a slight smile as he leans back in his chair, looking as carefree as can be despite the tense situation.
"Let's start from the beginning, Kara. I've known who you really were since the first time you stepped foot in LexCorp."
Wait… what?! Kara's eyes bulge out of her head, her heartrate speeds up tenfold, and she would have probably leaped from the chair then and there if Blackfire wasn't still holding her by the shoulder. Still… how?!
"You underestimated LexCorp's defenses and screening systems, my dear. Even before you were hired, I already knew you were Supergirl. I hired you anyways and even promoted you to my personal assistant specifically because I had nothing to hide."
He… that was… this bastard! Did he really expect her to believe that?!
"You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But I hope you'll hear these two ladies out. They need your help… they need the Justice League's help."
The blonde thrusts out her chin at that.
"They called me Project Galatea. I go by Tea now."
The other one clears her throat, speaking up next.
"I was codenamed Project Match. I've decided my new name is Claire."
Projects? Codenames? For a brief moment, Kara feels a fury ignite in her chest over the thought of some of the only other living Kryptonians being captured and experimented on by mad scientists. And then she thinks for a second longer and realizes it's far worse than that, isn't it?
"You two… you're clones, aren't you?"
Tea and Claire exchange a look at that before turning their focus back to her.
"We are."
Kara swallows thickly, eyes darting back and forth between them. But she doesn't direct her next question at either of them… she directs it at Lucien, who is still sitting there behind his desk looking entirely relaxed.
"Whose clones are they, exactly?"
Lucien just raises an eyebrow at that.
"If you've figured out that they're clones this quickly Kara… I think deep down you already know."
Kara snaps. Yanking herself out of Blackfire's grasp, which has definitely loosened considerably, she launches herself forward. A casual flick of her wrist sends the desk between her and Lucien flying out of the way and slamming into the office wall, and Kara is on Lucien in a flash.
Or rather, she tries to be. Tea and Claire hold her back, the other two Kryptonians grabbing Kara before she can reach Lucien and get ahold of him. They restrain her even as she struggles, spitting and snarling in his face.
"You bastard! You don't have the right! I knew you were just like your father, I knew you couldn't help playing god!"
… Truthfully, she's not just angry about the clone thing. She's also mad about the whole 'knew who she was all along' thing. He'd drowned her in work, knowing all along that she could only handle it because she wasn't a normal human to begin with! Kara had barely survived that damn workload, and now she found out that while she was slaving away for him all that time, he'd been making clones of her and Clark?!
She was going to eviscerate him! She was going to-!
SMACK!
Kara's head snaps to the side as Tea slaps her across the face with an open palm. Before she can fully recover, the bustier blonde has her by the jaw and is forcing her to look into her own blue eyes.
"Listen to us, you stupid bitch! Did we SAY Lucien created us? He didn't! He SAVED us, for fuck's sake!"
… Wait, what? Kara blinks rapidly, taken aback by Tea's words. Claire nods along with them, looking down at her with a dark frown. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Lucien rescued me from a fate worse than death, a half-life I will never ever go back to. If you try to hurt him, I will stop you. If you insist, I will kill you."
Even Tea raises an eyebrow at Claire for that one, but Kara… Kara can tell that the clone is completely serious, deadly so in fact.
"Ladies. Let's all calm down a little bit, alright? You didn't even let her touch me. No harm, no foul yeah?"
Funnily enough, the most forgiving person in the room… is Lucien himself. Kara can only scowl as he rises from his chair, giving her a smile.
"As they've said, I didn't have anything to do with their creation. They were Cadmus Projects, both of them."
Kara's eyes widen at that new information. Cadmus was a secret organization that had long made it their business to fuck with her and Clark as much as possible. They did other nasty shit too to other people, but it was like it was their personal mission statement to poke and prod the only two Kryptonians left in the universe as much as they could get away with.
… She can believe that Galatea and Match would be two of their Projects, though the idea of them managing to make full fledged clones of her and Kal-El was… gross. Incredibly gross. Kara had never felt more violated.
But that didn't mean Lucien was off the hook or anything!
"Cadmus… Cadmus was funded by your father and his company… and it's run by the government that his clone now resides as President of!"
Lucien gives her a look at that.
"Was, yes. That's the key word on both counts. Alexander and I cleaned up LexCorp, Supergirl. You may not believe that, but it's the truth. In doing so, Cadmus' funding was cut and their numerous unethical projects and experiments were to be shuttered and wound down. Once he became President, Alexander made sure to repurpose what remained of Cadmus within the government into something better and more useful. Not… this."
Kara notes how he refrains from addressing her accusation that the President of the United States is a clone altogether. He doesn't try to deny it though, which is all the confirmation she needs. But then, she already believed it. The difficulty was convincing everyone else to believe it and even the rest of the Justice League, even Kal-El… had given up on trying to make that happen.
… If Lucien was telling the truth, then she supposed that WOULD put him and his father's clone in a relatively good light. And the clones seemed to believe him at least. Whatever he'd done for them, it was obvious they were both devoted to him. A shudder runs down Kara's spine as she finds herself picturing her clone and Lucien being intimate together in vivid detail for a moment. God, she needs to get a grip.
"Ladies, go ahead and let Kara go please. I don't think she's going to try to hurt us… and if she wants to leave, she's allowed to do so at any time."
Blinking, Kara is pulled from her thoughts by Lucien's command. Tea hesitates for a moment before letting her go, while Claire takes a second longer to follow Lucien's orders. As they both step back, Lucien offers Kara an apologetic smile and a shrug.
"Also, a bit of a point of order… Tea is a clone of you, but Claire isn't just a clone of Superman. She's a clone of Superman and Wonder Woman."
Kara's eyes bulge out of her head yet again from this latest bombshell. Kryptonian and Amazon combined? Holy shit, what a combo! While Diana wasn't quite as strong, tough, or fast as Kal-El was, she was still easily one of the strongest women in the world. And what she lacked in Kryptonian Physiology, she made up for in magic. Like her sword, which was magical and could therefore cut a Kryptonian's skin.
Before Kara can think better of it, she finds herself blurting out the first question that comes to mind.
"How did they even stabilize you?!"
Immediately, she feels like an idiot for saying it. Talk about putting her foot in her mouth. Claire's expression darkens immediately and she crosses her arms over her chest with a growl.
"They didn't. I was deemed a 'failure' by their standards. They locked me away, discarded me, and moved onto her."
Claire gestures towards Tea for a second and then gestures over to Lucien.
"HE stabilized me. He came for me, down there in the dark where I'd been all but forgotten and saved me."
Silence falls over the office as Kara stands there for a moment, a little gobsmacked. She doesn't… disbelieve Claire's words or anything like that, but at the same time… could she have been wrong about Lucien Luthor all this time?
Clearing his throat, Lucien speaks up then.
"When Alexander and I cut funding, Cadmus managed to hide Project Galatea and Project Match by moving from one piece of LexCorp real estate where they were originally allowed to operate to another piece of LexCorp real estate where they most definitely did NOT have permission to operate."
Kara blinks at that audacity, but Lucien isn't done explaining just yet.
"Along with Blackfire and Mercy, I was able to shut down that facility… and gather quite a lot of intelligence about Cadmus' current operations in the process. At this time, Cadmus believes the facility self-destructed and all data was destroyed."
Clasping his hands behind his back, Lucien straightens up and looks down at her in a way that has Kara very swiftly biting back the beginnings of a whimper. Stupid dreams.
"As CEO of LexCorp, I'm offering to hand over that information to you, Supergirl, as a representative of the Justice League. Likewise, I think both Tea and Claire here would benefit from an introduction to the League. They can both be proud defenders of Earth… so long as its on their own terms."
Well… shit.
-x-X-x-
The Vote:
[X] Kara is willing to extend a modicum of trust Lucien's way, though she's still not sure about this - 73%
[ ] Kara doesn't believe him still and says so, testing whether he'll actually let her go or not - 16%
[ ] Kara doesn't believe him still but pretends she does so she can get back to the League ASAP - 11%
-x-X-x-
About the Patreon:
Starting July 31st, I will be retiring my old lowest tier price of $3 and replacing it with a new lowest tier price of $5. HOWEVER, anyone who is already pledged to my Patreon at the $3 monthly price point when I make this change will get to remain at the $3 price for as long as they stay pledged to my Patreon.
As such, you can consider these next several weeks to be your last chance to pledge to my Patreon at the old price and then get to keep that price going forward.
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!