Through the Looking Glass - SuperCorp

Chapter 18: Homing Rockets? Not Cool Lena!

<Author note: This takes place in the other dimension with the characters from our dimension.>

"Hey, Le," came the voice over the phone to Lena, "How are you feeling? How's the head?"

"It's fine, Lex," Lena replied, sitting back in one of the comfy chairs in a corner of her lab. She stared across the room, watching people who looked so much like ones she knew but were so alien to her. They ate, spoke, smiled, all obviously friends. The body language between Alex and Maggie was intimate, loving. At this moment, Lena envied it. Looking at a woman who could have been her wife were she born on this world, but who wasn't, it tugged at Lena's heart.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Lex asked.

"Nothing I...I just wanted to hear your voice. I was missing my big brother, and you had a lunch meeting cancel, so I thought I'd jump on your schedule. So, how are things in Japan?"

"LeLe," Lex said, his voice gentle and loving but stern and commanding at the same time. "Don't you lie to your big brother. I know you much too well for that. You and I may have been able to fool our parents, but we've never been able to fool each other."

"I don't know about that," Lena said, a smile on her face and in her voice. "I seem to remember being able to outfox you in quite a few games of chess."

"Oooh, you were always so good at chess, even as a little kid. I was good, really good, but you were better. I explained the rules, showed you how to move the pieces, and the board was yours. I was planning four or five moves in advance, but it was like you were..." Lex's voice fell off. "And you just did it to me again. I'm trying to find out what's bothering you, and in twenty seconds you have me talking about us playing chess as kids. How do you do it?"

Lena chuckled. "Some things you just can't teach."

"Okay, then the more important question, why am I running the company instead of you, Chess Master? We both know you'd make a better CEO of Luthor Corp than I do. Why not just take the helm, LeLe? I'll be your right arm, run international affairs, and you can be in charge of all things domestic. This company would be stronger if we truly worked together. What do you say?" Lex asked.

"What I always say. Rich, old, white businessmen like seeing your face, not mine, across a table. That's a negotiating tool I'll never have. Plus I love R&D. You know me. I'm not a negotiator. I'm just a geek at heart. Let it go, Lex."

"Sure...until next quarter," Lex said, his smile also drifting across the line. "So, if you didn't call to lift the burden of leadership from my shoulders, why did you call?"

Lena sighed heavily, looking over at Kara again. Her heart ached like it never had before. She'd called just to hear her brother's voice. Lex was always such a comfort to her. Even as children, when she'd first come into the Luthor home, he'd smiled at her immediately and told her he was her new brother. From that day forward he'd been her guardian, mentor, and friend in a strange new world. He'd encouraged her curious mind, never talking down to her or being envious when a much younger child seemed to pick things up so quickly. He took pride in her accomplishments and could heal with hugs and pet names the stings of their mother's words. He was her first hero before adorable Kara Danvers had come into her life.

"It's...it's Kara," Lena admitted hesitantly.

"Kara?" Lex's playful tone was gone, concern in its place. "What's wrong with Kara? Is she all right?"

"Yes, she's..." Lena realized she didn't know the answer to that question, and her voice caught in her throat. So far her panic had been at the thought of never seeing her wife again because they were stuck in different worlds. Now she realized she knew so little of this other world, didn't know what dangers awaited her wife, and didn't even know if her wife still lived. What did it matter if she gathered the data and pieces needed to recreate the events that had transferred people between worlds? If Kara wasn't still alive, what did any of it matter?