Chapter Text
“I've chosen my first official proclamation. I've decided that the children on Arkham Island be given a chance to live here in Metropolis. Every time I look out to the island, I feel like they've been abandoned.”
“Lena, this is perfect! And they specifically asked for you. Honestly, I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d done it myself,” Lex said, the first proper smile on his face that Lena had seen for a while. Two years, in fact.
“How so? I’m being forced to move to a different school in fucking Metropolis of all places. What if I don’t want to go?” Lex’s features hardened.
“You don’t have much of a choice, Lee.”
“Yeah, well I don’t want to go. I’m not going to a school filled to the brim with prissy superheroes in stupid capes,” Lena said, a little sulkily. It was not her proudest moment.
“You’re thinking small, Lena. It’s all about world domination,” Lena’s adopted mother said from across the room. Lillian’s tone was condescending and if there was one thing Lena hated more than anything, it was being mocked. She was not this… this child that they could order around. She was a Luthor, goddammit.
Lex stood up then, easily towering over Lena’s much smaller frame. There was a reason Lex was one of the most feared supervillains on the island and this right here was why. He was rarely ever rough with her, but when he was Lena was scared. She looked away and he grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet her eyes.
“The reason we are stuck on this island and not ruling the world is because of them and that infernal witch, Zatanna. You will get me her wand, Lena and you will bring it to me so I can bring down the barrier forever.”
*** *** ***
Metropolis was exactly how Lena expected it to look. Disgustingly shiny and just so clean that it made her shiver in disgust. She couldn’t wait to turn it all to dust.
“Everyone is smiling. What is wrong with these people?” Winn whispered from beside her. Unlike Lena, he was eyeing everything around them a little in awe. Figures. She probably would as well were she the size of a hobbit. He was probably impressed at seeing fully grown trees for the first time.
Their driver didn’t said much to them, beyond the predictable ‘Don’t steal anything’ warning. Lena had rolled her eyes at that because she was very much above stealing, thank you. She preferred intimidating people to get what she wanted and it always worked like a charm. Nowadays she didn’t even have to throw around the Luthor name to get what she wanted and Lena wanted it all.
No, the warning was very much directed at the two thieves sat opposite her, Roulette and Kyle. Kyle was already a bit of a household name on Arkham, stepping out of his mother’s shadow to become a renowned thief in his own right, what with his catlike agility and Cheshire grin that Lena, personally, found a little unsettling and that was saying something. Roulette on the other hand, while being the spitting image of her mother, preferred to dabble in multiple ventures as opposed to strictly sticking to robbing the islanders blind. Winn was the one most unalike his villain parent and Lena, quite frankly, was impressed he’d lived as long as he had. Maybe it was his size.
The limo stopped just outside a fancy looking school - from its stone walls to its high towers it looked just like a miniaturized Hogwarts for muggles with a dork-ish crest to go with it. Needless to say, Lena was not at all impressed, especially when a marching band began to play this god-awful song that sounded positively dreadful to her ears as soon as the four villains exited the car.
When the song finished, a cheerful blonde stepped forward with her hands clasped together in front of her and wearing the brightest smile Lena had ever seen.
“Hi, I’m Princess Kara and it’s wonderful to meet you all,” the girl said, moving to shake each of the newcomers’ hands.
Lena was the last person in line next to a way, way too excited Winn. Whoever decided he should be a villain was dead wrong. The princess was wearing the same horrific uniform as the rest of the goodie-two-shoes, but instead of the traditional skirt and blouse, hers was a dark blue sundress that accentuated the girl’s figure in all the right places and hugged her hips in a way that made Lena want to rip it off of her. The princess was cute, only a fool wouldn’t be able to admit that and Lena was no fool.
Lena shook the girl’s hand tightly, delighting in the way the princess’ cheeks flushed when she met Lena’s green eyes.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Lena Luthor,” Lena said. Whispers broke out at the sound of her name and Lena took satisfaction in the fact that even years later the name ‘Luthor’ could still strike fear into the heart of her enemies. Because that was exactly what all these people were to her: enemies.
“Lena,” the princess repeated, curling over each letter in the word. Lena liked the way she said it and it was something she wanted to hear her say over and over again.
Maybe she was… wrong. No, that didn’t sound right. Lena was never wrong. Maybe she had… misjudged - yes that was a much better word – Metropolis. Maybe she could have some fun while she completed her mission and manipulating the crown princess, well, that would be the icing on a very nice cake.
Lena’s eyes were still boring into blue when an arm wrapped itself around the princess’ waist, pulling her closer to a boy not much taller than her. Her gaze narrowed in an instant, and this was who exactly?
“Oh, sorry. Ehm, this is Mon-El. He’s my-my,” Kara said, her stuttering becoming more pronounced.
“Boyfriend. I’m the heir of Daxam,” Mon-El interrupted. Lena didn’t like him already. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She highly doubted that, but she shook his hand nonetheless, enjoying the way he squirmed under her piercing gaze.
Her brother, her brilliant older brother and the rest of the villains on Arkham were defeated by the likes of him and his lot? Seriously? Stealing Zatanna’s wand was going to be a piece of cake. Hell, she could be home by dinner.
Princess Kara pulled a reluctant Mon-El along as she led Lena and the rest of the VKs through the school and the dorms, showing them where everything was and who to ask if they had any questions when she wasn’t around. Headmistress Grant made a brief appearance when Lena and Roulette were finally shown to their shared room and despite her best intentions, Lena took a shine to her immediately. She was no-nonsense and didn’t put up with Mon-El’s bullshit flattery – an added bonus. Ms. Grant handed them their schedules and left the villainesses to their own devices once she’d reminded them of the curfew.
Kara lingered in the doorway for a moment, mouth open as though to say something. Lena cocked her head slightly and smirked. This was just too easy and she barely had to do anything at all.
“Yes?” Lena asked, sashaying towards the princess. She made a point of purposefully swaying her hips and Kara couldn’t look away.
Kara shook her head and thought better of whatever she was about to say.
“It’s nothing,” Kara said, her bright smile returning. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“You bet, princess. Evil dreams!”
Closing the door behind her, Lena took her first proper look at her new bedroom, having been entirely too preoccupied with flustering Metropolis’ crown princess to truly care earlier. It was spacious, maybe not quite as grand as what she was expecting. The two single beds sat on opposite ends of the room with two desks perched against the far wall. Everything was coloured shades of pink and that right away put her off. But it was fine, she wasn’t even planning on staying one night in this gods forsaken place.
“Finally stopped flirting with the princess, have you?” Roulette said, casually twirling an errant strand of her hair. The brunette had already called dibs on the bed to the left and had dumped all of her stuff on the floor.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” They both knew she was lying and really there was no point in Lena denying it, but she smirked at the brunette and jumped on her own bed. It was far too comfy for her tastes.
“They’re really living it up here, aren’t they?”
Lena looked up then and was startled to see Roulette looking around the room a little wistfully.
“And that’s exactly why we have to make them pay for putting us on that island. You heard Lex. We find Zatanna’s wand, we lift the curse and we’re finally free.”
“Yeah,” Roulette said. “Free…”
Lena ignored her friend and went back to planning the heist. Everything was going exactly according to plan.
*** *** ***
This… was not going according to plan. Of course, Lena should have known better than to entrust the most important part of the plan to Roulette of all people. Distract the guard, she said. Keep him occupied, she said. Try to steal Wonder Woman’s cuffs, Lena never said.
Honestly. This was supposed to be an easy job. Break into the museum, steal Zatanna’s wand, lift the barrier on Arkham Island and rule the world alongside her brother. Must I do everything myself? The alarm was blaring loudly and Lena knew they only had a few more minutes at most before guards stormed the museum and sent them back to the island.
Lex would kill her if she returned emptyhanded and Lena was nothing if not determined. She was rotten to the core after all.
“Roulette, leave them. It’s not as if you can wield them anyway. We’ve got a job to do,” Lena said, tugging at her friend’s sleeve.
“You have a job to do. I didn’t promise my family anything other than annoying the hell out of preppy boy Queen and his brat.”
Lena rolled her eyes, but managed to drag Roulette to the next room where Winn was anxiously waiting for them. The alarm was still blasting around them and Lena cursed how much time they were wasting by acting like children.
“It’s down there,” he said and he pointed to the bottom of a spiral staircase. “But I don’t know how I’m going to power down the force field that surrounds it in just two minutes, especially if Cyborg and the Atom have done the circuits.”
Lena paused, looking thoughtful. The crease between her brows deepened. Fuck it, we’ll try again tomorrow.
“Ok, let’s abort. Winn, any chance you can pass the alarm going off as just a malfunction?” If word of a break in got out, the VK’s would no doubt get the blame.
“That I can do.”
Roulette wanted to protest, Lena could see it in her eyes, but the sounds of hurried footsteps quickly approaching made her rethink her challenge. The three of them ran down the hall, careful to avoid the guard and made their way to the back entrance.
Kyle was perched exactly where they left him, his catlike grin disappearing when he spotted Lena’s wandless hand. Lena held her hand up.
“Don’t. Just don’t. If someone had done what they were supposed to do instead of stealing, maybe we’d be back home by now,” Lena said, bitterness creeping into her tone. Outwardly Lena was calm and collected, the picture of coolness just like her mother had taught her; inwardly she was seething.
“Newsflash, princess, but you’re not the boss of me. Personally I thought the cuffs looked just wonderful on me,” Roulette said airily. Oh, Lena was itching to wipe the smile off her face. Winn stepped in before any real damage could be done.
“Ok, ok, break it up you two,” Winn turned to Roulette. “You should have stuck to the plan, Roulette. Lena’s right; we’d be home by now if you’d just done as we all agreed.” Lena was positively preening at the praise, but her gloating was short-lived. Winn soon pointed at her. “And you, you’re not in charge, Lena. You’re not Lex.”
Though Lena was loathe to admit it, that stung. She knew she wasn’t Lex. Her mother took great pleasure of reminding her of that at least once a day.
“Fine,” Lena huffed. “We’ll have to come up with another plan because clearly a bunch of villains can’t be trusted in a museum full of shiny and dangerous things.”