Chapter Text
National City, California - United States
October 18, 2053
Lori Luthor awakens with a loud gasp leaving her lips, and heartbeat in her ears. In the deep darkness of her bedroom, the only thing she can see is the faint glow of the chandelier above the bed, and in the silence, only her own heartbeat. The seconds drags on as she calms herself, and slowly her senses began to return; despite the early hour, 06:03, the building below her already hum with life, the nighttime guards leaving and the morning guards taking their places, the janitors starting the cleaning, workaholics scientists and engineers working on their projects, Liz making breakfast on the neighbor kitchen, Liam and Lily on their apartments a floor below, water filling a bath at one and on the other an torrent of curses on a plethora of languages. Beyond the Luthor Tower, National City was awakening as well, the waves calmly meeting the seawall on the other side of the road, people and their dogs walking and running on the park nearby and the waterfront, coffee orders being yelled and honking horns along the streets.
Deciding that it was already time to get out of that cold bed, Lori gets up, and without turning on the lights she walks to the bathroom. There, the lights turn on automatically, and she looks up to her own reflection in the mirror. Her face is the same, almost unchanged by the time since she turned twenty-one. She looks, unequivocally, like her Mum, features, colors and lines, except for the eyes, bright blue, passed from parent to child in the House of El for thousands of years. In the last ten years, one month and nineteen days, it is both a comfort as it is a torment.
"One more day, Mum.", she whispers, so low she doubts any of her siblings heard. "One more day."
She takes a deep breath and starts her morning routine.
"Good morning, Lorelai."
Hypatia greets Lori when she enters the living room. The curtains had been drawn open, and Sol was shining faintly on the blue morning sky above National City coast. A beautiful day ahead, it seems.
"Good morning, Hypatia.", Lori says as she puts the ring on. "Did something important happen?"
"No.", the AI answers. "Alexandra asked me to remind you that the dresses are going to be delivered after noon."
"After noon? When, exactly, after noon?"
"Alexandra did not specify."
"Alright. Tell Amira to send one of her lackeys to Lexa. Did…"
"Mrs Luthor did not send any message in the hours of night, Lorelai. I am sorry."
"Thanks."
Lori slams the door behind her and crosses the hall to Liz's house, entering through the open door without announcing herself - not that she needs to, anyway. Unlike the penthouse Lori is currently using, her twin sister's penthouse is a real house, where a family, as small - yet - as it is, lives; the layout is the same, but the decorations of the penthouses put them in many completely different places: in Liz's house the furniture is dark wood, with the walls and upholstery in different shades of blue, and there are photos scattered everywhere. As she passes through the living room towards the kitchen, Lori stops momentarily by the fireplace, and takes a second or two to admire one of their latest family photos.
"Maidin mhaith, ie."
Lori smiles as she hears the mixture of Irish and Kryptahniuo, and finally reaches the kitchen. Liz looks like she's done nothing but brush her teeth since she woke up, given the messy state of her hair, and had probably just put on the first thing she saw when she got up, a oversized pastel blue National City Lakehawks jersey; she's using one hand to flip pancakes, and the other is clutching a mug full of coffee. Lori kisses her on the cheek.
"Maidin mhaith, ie.", she says, peeking into the oven. "Normal pancakes?"
"I also made chocolate and blueberry ones. Could you set the table, please?"
Lori moves through her sister's kitchen with ease, more muscle memory than anything else.
"Didn't Asha arrive last night?"
"She'll be here around lunchtime. And I'd rather fuck my wife after two weeks without seeing her, but that's no reason to skip lunch, Lorelai."
"I'll ask Kaya to make a reservation at Il Palazzo for me and the kids."
"Take Esme too."
"Why are you three half naked?"
Lori rolls her eyes when she hears Liam's sudden question. Her brother is yet to dare step outside his apartment nothing but all primped up; Liam's sense of fashion is oddly reminiscent of their mother, although he favors the dark colors like Mum, a perfect mixing of them in his black slacks, white Oxford and navy sweater, clean-shaven - Liam hates facial hair - and hair as tidy as Uncle Kal's; Lilith, however, couldn't make a starker contrast to their brother even if she'd tried, looking like shit on a oversized gray Caltech sweatshirt.
"It's not even seven in the morning, Liam.", Lilith grumbles like a child. "Some people don't get dressed at a horrible hour like this. Lizzie, is there any coffee?"
"On the counter."
Lilith groans pathetically and bangs her head on the table. Lori rolls her eyes; Liam, with a heavy sigh, puts coffee in a mug and pushes it towards Lilith.
"You're a gift".
"We'll have lunch at Il Palazzo with the children and Esme so Liz and Asha can fuck without risking being overheard."
"Comhlán!"
"Don't be a baby, Liam."
Liz brings the pancakes to the table and they sit down, a pale reminiscence of their childhood, of the good times when Mum and ieiu were alive and the family would get together every morning for breakfast; on Sundays, ieiu would make pancakes, and Liz continued the tradition after her death, but over time the Sunday pancakes turned into Friday pancakes. They talk as they eat, a reminisce of their childhood mornings, telling of their nights: Liam had pulled an all nighter and finally finished his next article, Liz started a new book, Lori didn't wake up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare and actually managed to get some hours of sleep, Lilith put out no less than three fires between two and four, and their plans for the day: Liam and Lilith are planning to spend the morning in their labs, and Lori and Liz have mountains of paperwork to brave through so they will spend their morning locked in their respective offices. Once they have all satisfied themselves, they break apart, and Lori returns to the penthouse across the hall.
She decides to get ahead of Casual Fridays and swaps her silk camisole and robe for a casual slip dress and heels, picking up her favorite leather jacket and sunglasses for later. It was a blessedly quiet morning: from seven-thirty to ten-forty Lori read the reports from Labs 304 and 401, scolded three different idiots in three different languages, told Kaya to have the driver pick up the kids at the airport at ten and make a reservation at Il Palazzo for eleven-thirty, mentally cursed National City's inability to behave every time she saw Lilith fly by, loudly cursed all the incompetent idiots at the Labs in Oslo - and made a mental note to send someone to see what the fuck is going on there - and then not so silently scolded a fourth idiot in a fourth different language. And in between all these things Lori did while missing her wife; one of the disadvantages of being a multitasker and a Tenth Level Intellect is that her brain can do too many things at once.
The photo on her desk had become a taunting tool over the last two months. Even in its plastic artificiality, Lori could see perfectly well the sparkle in her wife's eyes and smile, reserved only for Lori, who, with her eidetic memory, could perfectly remember every detail of her wife, from the smallest to the largest. The sound of her laugh and her voice, the wicked cadence of her words, the twist of her lips and eyebrows, the feel of her possessive hands on her skin. Lori wasn't ashamed to admit that she was more than a little obsessed with her wife. It's how the Luthors love. They're always a little obsessed with the subjects of their affections, sometimes too much.
Lori sighs and closes her eyes, laying her head on the back of the chair. She lets the sounds in. L-Corp didn't truly ventured in real estate, but back when Lori was a kid Mum decided to build a new headquarters to the company and so she developed a new center at National City, building the Luthor Tower in the city's coast, just across the seawall, the promenade and the street, next to a wonderful park; the tower is a massive building of one hundred and twenty floors, ten of which are underground, with two penthouses on the top and six apartments equally divided in the two floors below; the Tower also houses hundreds of offices, conferences rooms and laboratories - all serving L-Corp, its subsidiaries, divisions and branches -, two auditoriums, three restaurants and, in the lawn outside, a large and beautiful garden. She was about seven, nearly eight, when the Tower was completed and they moved out of the building in Midtown; Lori had grown up there as much as she was in their home outside the city and in Argo; many of her days were spent there with Mum, in conferences rooms and that very same Throne Room from where she now rules her mother's empire.
More than to follow in the footsteps of her lineage and be a scientist and engineer, Lori wanted to be Queen after Mum. As a child, she dreamt of sitting in that same chair she now sits, of running the same company she now runs. Jess was once jested that Mum was their queen and Lori their crown princess, and she had taken it to heart, fancied herself grown and wise beyond her years, being crowned by Mum as her ancestors once were, long ago. They had a plan. Lori was ten when Mum stepped down as CEO and remained only as President and Chair, decreasing her workload to spend more time with them outside the Tower, as she didn't want all their memories to take place on her workplace, and sometime along the years they had decided that Mum would retire in the following month after Lori and Liz's twenty-eight birthday, with Lori succeeding as President and Chair while Mum was alive to see it, to advise and help, as Lori so desperately wants now. Fate, however, has never been kind to either Luthors or Els. Mum died ten years before their twenty-eight birthday, and Lexa had to take over the reins in Lori's stead until she graduated from college and gained some level of experience; her cousin had her installed as President and Chair immediately after her graduation, but Lexa remained CEO for the last five years, and will continue in the position until next January, when she will pass it to Lori - and they all know that it should be Mum doing it, just like they planned.
The clock strikes eleven and Lori sighs, opening her eyes. She has siblings to see. She puts on her jacket and glasses, picks up her handbag and leaves the office; always efficient, Kaya didn't need orders to tell Dave she was coming down, so Lori got into the elevator without uttering a word. The descent was quick, and soon the doors opened into the lobby; with lunchtime approaching, it was full, employees of all kinds leaving the Tower, others heading for the restaurants, and almost everyone waved to her as she passed by; near the exit, Lori crossed paths with no less than five security guards carrying no less than ten suitcases between them, of different sizes, but all light pink and marked with a gold tiara and the initials LJL. The car was already waiting when Lori got out, and Dave quietly opened the door for her.
Along the way, Lori and the driver made small talk; she asked him about his eldest daughter, currently studying medicine at Stanford, and about his youngest son, who has been excelling on the football team at school, and in turn he replied with tales of both. National City's midday traffic was as hellish as ever, and perhaps even more so because of Lori; with the Luthor Foundation Gala taking place that evening, the city was flooded with America's elite, businessmen, socialites and philanthropists. On arriving at the restaurant, Lori heard her siblings inside at their usual table, and a little further on the street Lilith was handing over her car keys to the valet, who was staring at the shiny Aston Martin with wide-eyed admiration - it was obviously a new hire, not yet used to the cars used by the clientele of such a high-class restaurant.
"You're free until Monday, Dave.", Lori says to the driver. "I'll catch a ride with one of my siblings back to the Tower. Have a good weekend."
"You too, Dr Luthor."
Lori meets Lilith at restaurant's entrance.
"Did you manage to get anything done?", she asks as they follow the maitre. Lilith shakes her head. "If you were my employee, I would have fired you a long time ago."
"I think 85% of the Labs staff feel the same way."
Without delay, they arrive at the table. Liam, Leia, Luke and Livia are already seated at the six-seater table, menus open and idle talking; the children, noticing them, stand up, words spat out at a mile a second in a jumble of words that Lori wouldn't be able to understand were it not for her superior brain as they greet each other; eventually, the children calm down and return to their seats, Lori and Lilith sit down, and a waiter comes to the table. They order quickly, long used to the menu, and Lori, Liam and Lilith briefly discuss which wine they should order, finally deciding on a Cabernet Sauvignon.
"Wasn't Esme supposed to come with us?"
Liam asks, raising his eyebrows.
"Esme must be with whoever she's fucking these days."
Lilith replies. The children's eyes widen:
"Does Esme have a girlfriend?", Luke asks.
"I don't think Lily would talk like that if Esme had a girlfriend.", Leia says. "Is she a married woman? I remember you talking like that when Lizzie and Liam were fucking Lord's wife."
Liam chokes on his wine and Lilith starts laughing. Lori rolls her eyes.
"We don't know if it's a married woman, but knowing her, it must be.", she shrugs. "We don't even have a name, but Lizzie managed to find out that she works in Midtown."
"Interesting.", Leia muses. "She hasn't dated in a while. But enough about Esme, do you want to hear about my performance as a defense attorney in a mock jury? My client was accused of committing three first-degree murders."
Leia goes into a tangent about how she absolutely destroyed the prosecution in her mock jury, and then Luke talks about his new telescope - which he built himself - and a new project for one of his Architecture classes, and finally Livia talks about the miniature spaceship armed with lasers that she recently built.
"And where is Tara?"
Luke asks, as soon as the desserts have been left on the table. Leia, always in sync with her twin, adds:
"You haven't mentioned her all lunch, by the way."
"Tara's in New Krypton.", Lori replies. "She's the Chief Engineer in charge of the new space station."
"Ah.", Leia says, not sounding very convinced. "Has the High Council decided on a name?"
"Not yet.", Lori sighs, remembering the long discussions in the Hall regarding that subject. "Zal-Lar and Kor-Van kept coming up with the most ridiculous suggestions imaginables, and Lor-Zod tried to make a joke by suggesting Sword of Rao as a name."
"General Don-Vex must have loved it."
"You have no idea how much."
"And she's coming today?"
Lori barely holds back a swearing when Livia asks; she looks to the youngest, who had an unknown sparkle on her green eyes. She and Leia are sitting side by side, their faces so alike Mum's as Lori and Liz's, the only amongst the seven of them who inherited Mum's eyes, whilst the rest of them inherited the eyes of the House of El.
"Perhaps.", Lori gives, not believing in herself. Livia nods with the head, only once, and Lori narrows her eyes. "You didn't say much, Livia."
"There is not much to be said.", Livia shrugs, forcefully casual. "There is not a big deal of people my age at MIT."
"Of course.", she says, don't believe in the youngest sibling. She briefly muses about asking more, but she honestly doesn't want to pick a fight with Livia today of all days. "Luke! Leia said to me that you are dating one Brookline STEAM girl."
"Leia!", Luke yells. "You aren't supposed to tell Lori!"
"And why not?", Leia smirks. "Are you afraid she will give you a second talk?"
Luke's cheeks turn red, and Lori smiles fondly.
"Luke doesn't need a second talk. He remembers very, very well of the one we already had, doesn't you, golden boy?"
"Perfectly!", Luke replies hastily. "With richness of details."
Hours later, after the night fall over National City, Lori founds herself on the penthouse's master bedroom, three different outfit in front of her; Leia, already dressed, is laying in the bed, watching with curiosity, and Lori is painfully remained of when she was a little girl laying in her mothers bed, admiring Mum while she dressed to a gala or date with ieiu.
"Which?"
She asks her little sister. Leia crooks her head on the pillow, green eyes wandering between the outfits: a teal three-pieces suit and white shirt; a black silk dress, sleeveless with a deep cleavage and a slit on the thigh; and another black dress of silk, sleeveless and backless, with a deeper cleavage and higher slit on the thigh.
"The Yves Saint Laurent. With Louboutins.", Leia points to the dress with less cleavage. "Tara is really not coming?"
"I don't know. Thanks for the help, sweetheart."
"Anything for you, ie'te.", Leia rolls off the bed and grabs her own pair of Jimmy Choo. "Can I drink?"
"Only wine and don't let the cameras catch you. And don't get the others drunk, Leia."
"Have I ever told you that you are the best sister?"
"Have I ever told you that you are truly an ass-kisser?", Lori smiles and kisses the girl's head. "Go ahead, and fix ue'kah tie, Rao knows the odhyb doesn't knows how to make a knot right."
"Zhi, ma'am."
Leia smiles as she leaves, Mum's smile, dimples and all, and as soon as the door closes behind her, Lori lets out a sigh. She puts the dress first, then the shoes, and lastly the previous picked-up jewelry: her second favorite set of diamond earrings and necklace, her engagement and wedding rings and the Luthor signet, and her wedding bracelet, and the tennis bracelet Mum gave to her on her sixteenth birthday. Lori caresses her wedding bracelet, lightly passing her fingertips on the carved crest of the House of Ur. Her wife had forged the bracelet as tradition dictates, spent hours upon hours in her lab blending the traditional starsteel with Nth Metal, coloring it on the royal blue of El and cerulean of Ur, a perfect union of Houses.
"Hypatia?"
"Yes, Lorelai?"
"If my wife passes by, say that the dress is for her."
"I will."
"Thanks."
The absence of her wife is as obvious as it's irritating, and if it wasn't for this, then the evening would be as pleasant as it should be, so Lori is considering it a success - for now. The night it's still young, and both sides of her family are known for attracting problems, mainly attacks, especially in such events. Even so, between the mild preoccupation and the absence of her wife, Lori was enjoying it as much as she could. The sky is delightfully clear that night, not a cloud to hide the glow of the stars and the moon, the breeze coming from the sea wasn't too cold for the humans, and the guests - businesspeople, politicians, scientists, philanthropists, the elite of the city and half the country - are enjoying quite a lot her expensive champagne and gorging themselves on her exquisite hors d'oeuvre.
Her siblings were spreaded across the garden, each engaging in their own parts as hosts. Liz has Asha on her arm, their matching dresses of steel blue and white, and they are chatting with John Henry Irons, a long-term associate of Uncle Kal's and also one of Liz's most esteemed subordinates. Liam - and Lori is happy she had chosen a dress, as her brother is in a three-pieces midnight blue suit, Brook Brothers but close enough - had surrounded himself with several surgeons of their many hospitals, and they are talking about a new and apparently fascinating surgical technique. Lilith, to Lori's annoyance, is on the bar, and had clearly fooled Lori into believing she wouldn't spend the night drinking because of that three times cursed break-up - which had happened three months ago, so the bitching and moaning had turned into pathetic long ago, specially because absolutely everyone had told Lilith to not date fuckass Mar'i Grayson of all people. Leia and Luke, predictably, were with the other adolescents in their own corner, drinking wine; Livia is with them, or, well, close to them, brooding. Lori, for her part, is making the rounds, now and then pulled into a brief - and in some cases long - conversation with some guest or another; Lisa Langstrom from Langstrom Biopharmaceuticals gave excuses about her brother Dr Langstrom's absence, Geri Powers from Powers International shared her opinion about the recent renovation of the Arkham Asylum, CatCo CEO Tam Fox spoke about the new issue featuring the Foundation anniversary, and then she crossed with Jenny Kord, and her friend convinced her to drink something stronger than champagne.
"What's going on with Lily?"
Jenny asks, glancing over at Lilith on the other side of the bar. Lori sips her whiskey before answering:
"The break up."
"Still?", Jenny sounds surprised. "That was months ago!"
"I am surprised you even know about it."
"It was the League's hottest gossip for a few weeks, and you know how Jaime is."
Unfortunately, Lori can't stay long with Jenny, but before Lori returns to the crowd they agree on meeting for breakfast tomorrow. It's when she is saying her goodbyes to the NC Children Hospital Chief of Medicine that Lori sees her.
Unconsciously, Lori smiles. It was probably the largest, brightest and happiest smile she cracked in over two months, and if it had been possible, her facial muscles would probably hurt. Her eyes devour her as she approaches, black silk sliding provocatively on soft skin, jade eyes shining as they devour Lori, too. Suddenly, everything is better. The stars are brighter, the champagne colder, even the breeze softens, as if the mere presence of her wife made the Universe itself better - and Lori has no doubt, it does. Has ever existed a more beautiful being than Tara?, Lori wonders everytime her eyes meet her. The answer is always the same: no. There is no one, in all corners of the universe, that can be compared to her. To her jade eyes and white hair, her jaw and nose, the softness of her lips and skin.
"Ehrosh:bem, :zrhueiao."
Lori wraps her arm around her wife's waist, appreciating the dress' silk, and even more the skin underneath.
"Ehrosh:bem, zrhemin.", Tara kisses lightly on her cheek. "I am not terribly late, am I?"
"Just in time for the family pictures and my speech."
Livia watches her eldest sister walk towards the pulpit, a champagne glass on her hand and the ever-loyal Kaya by her side. The crowd has their eyes on Lori as she climbs the few steps, all of them hypnotized by the graciousness of her walk and the sliding of silk on her body. Most of the crowd is made of either L-Corp or the Foundation employees, business partners and associates, philanthropists, scientists, socialites, politicians and family friends, and most of them Livia had known her whole life. The 120th anniversary of the Luthor Foundation is a very important occasion, and thus many of their aunts had flown to National City; now all of them are gathered near the front row, looking at Lori with pride shining in their eyes, as always. Livia looks around the garden, satisfied that it is not only the aunts who had their attention fixed on Lori, but her siblings and cousins as well - and after that, on themselves.
She goes by the stairs instead of the elevator, speeding to the penthouses; Livia enters the one Lori is using, for unrevealed reasons that Livia thinks has everything involved with the obvious absence of Tara for the most part of the evening. On the guestroom given to her that afternoon, Livia exchange her dress and shoes to a simpler assemble of clothes, and in a whim she goes to the master bedroom, where Lori sleeps; there isn't much that says that's Lori bedroom, but the packed closet with Lori's shoes and clothes gives Livia's theories about Lori and Tara strength. Livia grabs the leather jacket on the wardrobe - the jacket is black and over a decade and a half older than Livia, with golden buttons and zippers, and had belonged to Mum long ago - and returns to the guest room. There, Livia removes her rings, leaving both on the nightstand, and grabs the device on her way out.
Livia stops right in the middle of the living room, and right there, when, all the way to the garden, the crowd toast, Livia presses the button - and leaves 2053.
National City, California - United States
October 18, 2023
As far as Wednesdays goes, that day has been overly ordinary.
Until, of course, a girl materialized out of the blue and crashed into Lena's living room, right on Lena's rug, inside Lena's penthouse.
That wasn't the strangest or most intriguing thing to happen with Lena Luthor, who had traveled to an alternate alien witch dimension once, but the fact that there wasn't a hole on her ceiling was curious, to say the least. After seven years living at National City, Lena had become used to bizarre occurrences, and a random girl crashing on her penthouse without tearing a hole in her ceiling wasn't not even close most bizarre than the time aliens invaded the city, or the time the multiverse exploded, or the time her long-term friend hosted a world-destroying alien entity.
Until now, Lena had a miraculously peaceful day. National City was in a good-luck streak, it seemed, and two weeks went by since the last time her girlfriend was repeatedly ripped from her embrace to save lives or put a stop on a robbery; therefore, for the fifteenth consecutive morning, Lena woke up in Kara's marvelous arms, with her head lying beneath that delicious neck, and they had enjoyed the marvels of a early morning together, which included a great shared bath, breakfast straight from her favorite restaurant in Paris and many, many goodbye kisses before they part ways. The good day went on L-Corp: none of her properties were attacked, invaded or robbed, she didn't lose hours of her day on boring and useless meetings, non emergency happened, and lunch came and went without a single threat of kidnap or death. After a long and delicious lunch - Kara feed her with Thai food and then fucked her into two organs at the couch - her day continued in its glorious ordinarity: she received two calls, the first from the French CEO and then from the Japanese CEO, and after a idiot from Metropolis called her she had to call Dr. Andrews from the Metropolis Labs and tell him he had to control his subordinates better, and then, Lena went home, spent a whole hour in her tub, and made dinner.
Lena was drinking a glass of wine while waiting for Kara to come home when the girl crashed on her rug. She stayed on the couch, not wanting to risk anything.
The girl didn't seem to be more than sixteen, and she looks younger than Ruby, one of the few teenagers she knows - the short list includes Conner, her clone nephew, and some of Bruce's brats. For what Lena can see, the girl shouldn't be taller than Lena; her hair is as dark as Lena's, and her face is quite pretty, a bone structure that will make her a quite attractive woman in some years, matched with thick eyebrows, full lips and a small nose. She's familiar. And even more familiar is the jacket she's wearing.
The girl suddenly opens her eyes, and Lena is taken aback by how green they are, and how it seems that they can look straight into her soul.
A smile cracks on the girl's face, and then
she faints.
Smiling.
"What the fuck was that?"