Once the Elder bracelet closes on her wrist, Lena's mission becomes a waiting game.
Testing her credentials against the secure servers would only arouse suspicion, so for now she lays low, and explores the new avenues Lex introduces her to. Member files productivity statistics, and efficiency data for the compound as a whole, as well as the other publicly known facilities sponsored by LuthorCorp.
Lena gets an unprecedented look at just how expansive LuthorCorp is-- and just how insular their little community is. She knew that LuthorCorp was important, and that their technology and resources were made accessible to the outside world, but never realized how much LuthorCorp profited from it.
It turns her stomach, to realize that their organization isn't as altruistic as she thought, but not illegal. And when she learns the extent of LuthorCorp's philanthropy, the weight of the revelation eases.
As she bides her time, she continues her personal projects, and begins to check in on some of the others. A few have the potential to be integrated with existing systems, and she personally oversees the application of a new aggregative program in the organisation's online records designed to detect patterns in academic and social performance to optimize members' efforts in the community.
It occurs to her somewhere in this period that she's been back at LuthorCorp for a year, a realization that sends her to the furnace room without Jack, where she wills tears to form but nothing comes.
The next morning, she returns to work as though nothing has changed.
Some of the parameters of her new program can be quantified as early as 8-months old, and Lena jumps at the excuse to spend time in the daycare center. Surrounded by the simplicity of young children-- minds who want what they want, and hate what they hate-- and the delight of their unassuming laughter lifts the burden of her year and the months to come.
For the first time since her return, she leaves the compound on fieldtrips into the city, to the outreach centers and the charity daycares sponsored by LuthorCorp.
If Lex sends more men than practical for an outreach visit, Lena pretends not to notice.
If anyone notices the way Lena scans the crowds, they assume wary apprehension of potential threats.
They never imagine that she's hoping for a glimpse of a familiar face.
That face doesn't appear, but a new one appears in its place.
A little girl at the daycare center steals Lena's heart, somehow seeming to recognize Lena despite being all of one year old. She grins the moment her eyes land on Lena, and sits contentedly in Lena's arms for the duration of Lena's visit. She's sweet and giggly and so, so smart. Though the numbers aren't in yet, Lena senses her potential.
Her name is Ruby, and Lena loves her with all her heart.
Visiting Ruby becomes a bright spot in Lena's loneliness, and when she finally risks prodding at the more sensitive files, Lena's one regret is that she'll lose Ruby's smile when she goes.
It's been so long since she last spoke to the FBI that she isn't sure exactly what she'll find when she gets through the final firewalls. As it works, she goes about her life-- as an Elder, as a leader, as a potential herself.
Her relationship with Lex grows deeper. He asks her opinion and heeds it. He confides in her... but not about everything.
Not with the information that the Elder band around her wrist is a tracking device. That she learns for herself, when she discovers the tracking schematic on the network, and sees herself and every other Elder as a blinking dot on a global map.
Nor does Lex share that the band can't be removed. Attempts to do so rewards Lena with a painful shock that leaves her tingling for days-- a shock she explains away as a shock generated by one of her projects, and not the cuff.
Whether Lex believes her or not, Lena isn't sure. But if he doesn't, he believes it a result of curiosity, not subterfuge.
Lena assumes she has time to figure it out before the time comes to leave.
She's wrong.
Six months after she first meets Ruby in National City, Lena hears a familiar laugh of delight as she passes through the compound's children's dormitory.
"Ruby?"
Lena ducks low over a playpen, and laughs when little arms reach for her with grabbing hands.
"Oh my goodness!" she coos as she hefts Ruby into her arms. "What are you doing here?"
Ruby babbles in response, but it's a caretaker who explains.
"Her mother is among tonight's inductees. They'll be staying the summer here in the compound. I heard from the center that this one's partial to you."
Lena nods, dodging the tiny fingers that reach for her braids. "It will be nice to see you every day Miss Ruby. Yes, it will! Yes, it will!"
Ruby squeals when Lena blows a raspberry against her neck, and Lena carries the warmth with her the rest of the day, until she returns to her console that night and pulls up Ruby's records.
This time, she looks not to Ruby's future-- her scores and potential already being calculated-- but to her history.
For the first time, she learns Ruby's surname.
Arias.
The name jolts Lena to her core. It can't be...
No father of record.
Mother: Samantha Arias.
Tears spring to Lena's eyes. Sam is here. Ruby is-- she can't believe it.
She surges from her feet-- to scoop Ruby into her arms, to find Sam, she doesn't know. But before she gets more than a step, the program running in the background of her console dings.
Lena turns back, clicks into the hidden file attached to Ruby's record and finds... everything.
Over the course of the night, she spirals into the whole of LuthorCorp's underbelly, starting with the program Ruby's been earmarked for-- one that would see her separated from her mother and added to an intensive development program-- to the program's longevity-- spanning decades, long before Lex took over-- and all the cover ups tied into keeping it secret.
Bribes and lobbies and agents in government child welfare departments, who feed them children who show potential.
Lena finds evidence of blackmail, to keep key players silent, which leads her all the things the FBI warned her of.
Weapons production and export.
Illicit espionage technology.
Social surveillance aggregators.
Murder.
And at its heart is Lex. There are countless strings, both old and new, and they are all pulled by Lena's brother.
Lena's plan forms in an instant.
It's still deep night when Lena slips into the dormitory, and rouses Sam from her slumber. There's no time for reunions-- Lena leads Sam to the furnace room and tells her to wait there.
A few minutes later, she returns with a sleepy Ruby in her arms.
"Lena, what's going on?" Sam asks. The joy of seeing each other has vanished in the wake of Lena's urgency. "Have you been here all this time? Everyone misses you--"
"You aren't safe here," Lena tells her. "Lets go--"
"I'm not going any where until you explain--"
"They're going to take Ruby away from you." Lena's throat locks around the words. "And if they do you won't ever see her again."
Sam stares at her, horror dawning as she instinctively hugs Ruby tighter.
"Agent Jones with FBI, the Danvers-- they can help you hide. Both of you. But we have to get you out of here first."
Lena leads them to the greenhouse-- at the edge of the property, it's poorly guarded, and boasts a window that opens out onto the field beyond the compound walls. Just before Sam crawls through, Lena presses a USB drive into her palm, along with a scrap of paper with a phone number scribbled on it.
"This is Agent Jones' number. He'll protect you."
Sam grips her hand tightly, eyes wide with quiet fear. "You're not coming with us?"
Lena shakes her head. With the Elder band still locked around her wrist, she would endanger anyone she comes into contact with.
"Give him the drive," she continues, glossing over the fact that there had been no way to hide her tracks. That Lex will know what she's done. "Tell him it has everything he asked for, and more."
When Sam nods her understanding, Lena holds Ruby as mama crawls out the window, and then hands the baby through after her.
"She's beautiful, Sam," Lena whispers. "Truly."
"Lena..."
"Tell Kara I--" Lena's throat locks. She blinks back her tears, and forces a smile. "Will you tell her I'm sorry?"
Sam nods again.
"Go," Lena urges. "Stay off the roads, and don't stop until you make contact with Agent Jones."
She watches from the window until Sam disappears into the shadows. When she returns to her bed, she lies awake and waits sleeplessly for morning to arrive.
Alright, so I wrote the thing. Original posts that got this going here and here
Let me know if you want to be tagged in future stuff and I hope you like it!
The alarm sounding out through the city distracted Dante for a second, but he shrugged it off when he saw the citizens moving off the streets. One less thing to worry about. Dante found the demons he’d been hired to take care of soon enough. A few scarecrows and a frost or two. Nothing difficult.
.... Which is why he still wasn’t sure why he’d been told to take Nero along. Not that he particularly minded, he liked the kid and they got some friendly fun fights in on the way to Paris. They took out the demons in record time, but they were still surprised when they turned around to see two kids dressed like animals and wearing masks staring at them. The kid in black had cat ears and was holding a baton - wait no, that’s a staff now - and standing in a defensive position while the kid in red was swinging something that looked suspiciously like a yo-yo so fast it blurred.
The two pairs stared at each other for a long moment, taking each other in. Dante shrugged and willed his sword back to wherever it went when he wasn’t using it. The kid in red blinked and stopped spinning her weapon. Yep, it was a yo-yo. Nero and the kid in black followed suit and put their weapons away.
“Where did your sword go?” Red asked, “And why is his arm glowing blue?”
Dante laughed, deciding he liked this kid if that was her only reaction to everything going on.
“What were those things?” Blackie asked, narrowing his eyes.
“They weren’t people if that’s what you’re worried about.” Dante stood aside so they could see, “People don’t usually evaporate into nothing when killed.”
Red stared at Dante and he could see the gears turning in her eyes. He wanted to make a joke about thinking too hard, but decided not to, sketching a silly little bow instead.
“I’m Ladybug,” she said eventually. “This is my partner, Chat Noir. We protect Paris.”
“Just you two?” Nero asked, frowning. “You seen awfully, uh, small to be doing something that big on your own.”
“We get help when we need it,” Ladybug answered smoothly, “who are you two? And why are you in Paris?”
“I’m Nero, this is Dante. We’re here on a job.”
Ladybug raised an eyebrow, silently prompting one of them to elaborate.
“We hunt the things that go bump in the night.” Dante noticed a few civilians coming out now that the sounds of fighting were gone. “Say, your city seems mighty prepared for things that go bump in the night. Why is that?”
Ladybug sighed, “Because ours don’t go bump in the night, they go crash in the day.”
She seemed to consider something for a moment before speaking again. “If you’re planning to stay for a while, meet me on top of the Grand Paris Hotel tomorrow. I’ll fill you in on why Paris seems so prepared then.”
Dante nodded. This seemed interesting enough, and it wasn’t like an extra day or two in Paris would hurt anyone.Morrison would find a way to contact him if he was needed.
Ladybug gave them a small smile and waved to the civilians before she and her partner vaulted away from the hunters.
