Chapter Text
“Do not make this any harder than it already is.” His father hisses into the icy silence of the limo. Lex does not, will not, look at him. Instead he keeps his gaze trained out the window, surveying the hollow shells of what used to be the homes of the poorer residents of Metropolis. No one lives here any more, all but the most powerful of the cities citizens have been rounded up by the Kryptonians. Those who were perceived as authority figures were made prisoners in their homes and told that if they submitted to their new leaders they would be allowed to remain as figure heads, if they did not submit they would be killed. This was all apparently a part of the plan of someone named Jor-El, who wanted the remainder of the invasion to involve as little blood shed as possible and thought that would be best accomplished by gaining control of Earth’s leaders. Lex wished that he had been more surprised at how little bending it took before his father broke, but Lionel Luthor had always been a coward at heart.
“I’m sorry,” he says with absolutely no inflection in his voice. “Here I am so caught up in my own feelings that I didn’t give a single thought to how much pressure pimping your own child out to suck up to your new alien overlords was putting on you. How selfish of me.”
“You think I want to be doing this!” Lex feels Lionel’s hand on his arm.
“I don’t think you’ll lose any sleep over it.” He finally turns and fixes his father with his most spirit withering glare. Lionel’s face contorts with something remotely resembling human guilt for a fraction of a second before he goes on the defensive.
“I’ve been assured that you won’t be harmed and that you’ll be well treated.”
You're taking your enemies at their word?” Lex scoffs. “You really are desperate, aren’t you?”
“Lex!” Lionel's grip on his arm tightens and he shakes him slightly as though to make him come to his senses. “The world has changed, it’s not going back and this...gesture of good faith is going to help secure our family a comfortable place in that new world order.”
“You think that for me a ‘comfortable place’ is under some alien brat?” He jerks his arm out of Lionel’s grip but doesn’t break eye contact.
“We ALL need to do what’s necessary, we can’t fight this, all we can do is survive it.” He delivers that last line in his ‘this conversation is over’ tone and then it’s his turn to fix his gaze on the decimated landscape outside the vehicle.
“Has anyone else been asked to make a similar ‘gesture of good faith’?” Lex presses and then Lionel snaps the way he always does when Lex presses.
“I TOLD you to let me do the talking! I TOLD you that I didn’t even want you to be present during the negotiations but YOU insisted on being there! If you'd just done as you were told for once in your GODDAMNED life you would never have caught the boys eye!”
At this Lex goes silent, partly because it’s true and partly because his fathers voice cracks at the end with what sounds like a barely suppressed sob...and he’s never heard his fathers voice do that before. Lionel looks out his window and Lex looks out his and they don’t say anything for the rest of the ride.
What Lionel had referred to as “negotiations” had actually been Jor-El sending his son Kal-El to the Luthor estate to tell them what the terms of their new “arrangement” would be. Lionel had told Lex that he didn’t want him there because he thought he might “say something stupid and get us killed” but Lex knew that the real reason was that his pride was hurt, he didn’t want his son to see him groveling before someone who didn’t even look old enough to drink. Lex thought that maybe Jor-El had sent his teenage son to conduct business with them as an insult but then decided not.
The way the boy conducted himself made it clear that he wasn’t new to diplomatic relations. Everything in his manner was entirely professional...except the way his eyes lingered on Lex and the way he smiled when Lex asked questions. Lex had been the only one asking questions as his father seemed to have lost the ability to say anything other than “yes, sir” and “of course, sir.” Once the boy had left Lionel had gone off to nurse his wounded pride with a bottle of brandy and Lex had gone and taken a scalding hot shower in an effort to wash away the violated feeling the entire interaction had given him. He had spent the next few days trying to put the entire thing out of his mind, as much as one could put the knowledge that ones father was now complicit in an alien invasion out of ones mind, and had nearly succeeded until three days later when a Kryptonian messenger had arrived.
The messenger had demanded to speak to his father alone and they had gone into Lionel's private study. Lex waited outside for twenty grueling minutes until his father emerged looking both troubled and contemplative.
“What was that about?” Lex pried when his father showed no signs of being about to volunteer the information.
“Well, son,” Lionel took a deep breath. “Apparently you made quite an impression on Jor-El’s boy when he came here the other day.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, apparently, the boys fifteenth birthday is coming up and...apparently, it’s customary for upper class Kryptonian parents to mark the occasion of their male children’s fifteenth birthdays by granting them the gift of their first ...concubine.” When Lionel showed no sign of continuing to speak, Lex furrowed his brow.
“Well,” Lionel sighed as though he genuinely did not want to say the words that were about to come out of his mouth. “You apparently left such a favorable impression on young Kal-El that Jor-El has decided that the...honor of being the boys...'birthday present' should go to you.”
“...and you said no, right?” Lex asked knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.
“Well, the messenger framed it as Jor-El asking my permission but he also made it clear that my giving my permission was now one of the terms of our alliance and that refusing to do so will be seen as an act of hostility.” Lionel laughed bitterly. “And we’ve both seen how these..creatures react to hostile gestures.”
“And...” Lex struggled to speak as his brain struggled to process what he was hearing because he COULD NOT possibly be hearing what he was hearing. “And Jor-El doesn’t feel the need to ask my permission before making me into a sex slave?”
“No, apparently rather or not you consent is irrelevant.”
Lex groped in his mind for something, anything, to say but there simply were no words.
“I’ve been informed,” Lionel went on, his tone deliberately even and steady. “That in two weeks time, on the boys fifteenth birthday, I and some others are to go to the Kryptonian stronghold just outside the city to sign what they call an “official declaration of alliance.” If by then I’ve...decided to grant Jor-El my permission I am to bring you with me and before I’m allowed to sign the declaration I’ll be...asked to sign an additional document relinquishing you into Jor-El’s custody...”
“Custody?” Lex cut him off “I’m twentythree!”
“Yet another thing that is not a factor here.” Lionel smiled humorlessly and continued. “When that document and the declaration have been signed, I and the others will take our leave and then Jor-El will officially present you to his son and....and that will be that.”
“I’m not going.” Lex could hear how juvenile he sounded but sincerely couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“What good would that do?” There was a rare hint of sympathy in Lionel’s voice. “If I show up without you, they’ll kill me and then hunt you down and kill you...which we both know would require virtually no effort on their part.”
“So...so you’re just going to LET them...”
“Let them?” Lionel’s eyebrows rose. “Are you under the impression that I have a choice in the matter?”
Lex could only gape, unable to remember ever being quite so at a loss for words.
“Jor-El is quite the doting father and is determined to give his son what he wants.” Lionel’s look of genuine pity burned Lex like acid. “I...I’m sorry, son, I really am.”
“Sorry?” Lex clenched his jaw and told himself that those weren’t tears he felt prickling at the backs of his eyes. “You’re...sorry?” Something in Lex snapped and he lunged at his father, who was lucky enough to be just far enough away that Lex couldn’t get to him before his personal bodyguards swarmed on him. Lex was dragged kicking and screaming to his room and locked inside...and not let out for the next two weeks. The next time Lex saw Lionel he was flanked by two armed security guards, he informed Lex matter-of-factly that they would be leaving for the stronghold in an hour and told him that he was to bathe and dress.
There were many choice words that Lex would have liked to say to his father but he knew that none of them would change his fate so he stomped off into the en-suite bathroom, feeling more defeated than he ever had in his life. When he returned to his bedroom, his best suit had been laid out for him...pretty wrapping paper for the birthday present, he thought hysterically and was so surprised by his own laugh that he quickly clapped his hand over his mouth. With his mounting anxiety he began to feel the familiar sensation of something inside his head...coming loose. He closed his eyes and took long deep breaths until his heart rate slowed, forcing himself to be calm. It would probably reflect very poorly on his father if he brought an imaginary baby with him to the stronghold.
Lex dressed slowly, partly because he was stalling but mostly because focusing on simple things helps to calm his nerves. Just as he finished buckling the watch his mother gave him, there was a knock on the door and when he answered it he was surprised to find not his father but both the armed bodyguards. They flanked him as he walked to the car where his father was waiting. In response to his raised eyebrow Lionel simply said: “Wouldn't want to risk you doing anything foolish.”
“Thought we’d already established that there’d be no point in me trying to run?”
“Yes, well that’s why it’d be foolish.”
One of the body guards opened the door to the back of the limo and Lionel gestured for Lex to get in first. The security guards followed and sat on either side of him and then Lionel got in.
________________________________________
The stronghold looks like an enormous observatory designed by H.R. Giger (Lex would eventually learn that nearly all Kryptonian architecture looks that way) and as they come closer Lex sees an assortment of other vehicles looking out of place among the Kryptonian aircraft...of which there are thousands. There are a number of tall, statuesque men and women in battle armor lined up near the entrance seemingly watching the others who have come to sign the declaration which other tall statuesque men and women in battle armor rifle through the vehicles, checking them for weapons. Given the things he’s seen them do, Lex wonders why they need aircraft or weapons or armor and the only conclusion he can come to is that they’re used to fighting things that actually pose a threat to them and he shudders at the thought that there are things like that out there somewhere in the universe and suddenly feels very small and very weak. The limo pulls in beside another limo and they get out. The armed security guards remain on either side of Lex as he and Lionel approach the group. As they’re thoroughly checked over Lex notices that the Kryptonians don’t even glance at the guns the bodyguards are carrying, of course they don’t, as far as they’re concerned those may as well be water pistols. That makes Lex wonder what exactly they’re being checked for.
Eventually Jor-El emerges from the stronghold, with Kal-El and General Zod (a man who, by now, is known and feared in all corners of the Earth) trailing close behind him. When Kal-El’s eyes fall on Lex for a moment there is such unrestrained anticipation in his gaze that Lex actually blushes and then curses himself for it.
“Greetings.” Jor-El smiles far too genuinely for an extra terrestrial monster. “I’m pleased to see that so many of you have chosen to see reason and it is my hope that our diplomatic efforts here, in addition to the negotiations in which we are currently engaged with your president and the leaders of the rest of your worlds nations, will help us to establish an arrangement that is mutually beneficial to both our peoples and in time all Earthlings will realize that it is in their best interest to become a part of the Kryptonian, intergalactic empire. I also hope that you realize that I do sincerely regret every human life that it has been necessary to take thus far, which is why I have made it my highest priority to render conditions as such that no further bloodshed will be necessary in the future. Now, if you’ll follow me inside, we can cement our new found friendship and usher in a new era of mutual cooperation between Kryptonians and Earthlings.”
As Lex follows the group in, it dawns on him that he really hates Jor-El...he hates Jor-El more than he’s ever hated anyone. Zod may be a monster to but at least he's honest about it, he doesn't hide behind a veneer of good intentions and feigned compassion. They enter a stadium sized room filled with what Lex assumes is scientific equipment...not because he recognizes it as such but because he can’t think what else it could possibly be. There are men bustling around attending to the equipment and it takes Lex a few seconds to process that they are all the same man, a tall lanky man with short, wavy brown hair, high cheek bones and keen, bright eyes. He has only a second to try and figure out what he’s seeing (clones?) before the group is ushered into a smaller chamber in the center of which is a long table surrounded by chairs. As they all begin to sit, Lex realizes that there aren't seats for him or Kal-El. Kal-El looks questioningly at Jor-El, who nods and smiles. Kal-El walks over to him and, taking him by the wrist, begins to lead him from the room.
“It’s alright.” He smiles, sensing Lex’s hesitation. “We don’t need to be here for this.”
The body guards look questioningly at Lionel but it's Jor-El who speaks up.
“Gentlemen, I assure you he’ll be perfectly safe with my son.” He then redirects his attention to Kal-El. “Go on.”
Kal-El nods and continues pulling Lex from the room, he glances at Lionel as they leave, whose attention is firmly focused on his own hands. Kal-El leads him into a room that’s been converted into a makeshift greenhouse and for a moment the scientist in him wants nothing more then to closely examine all the strange alien plants he sees. Kal-El notes his curiosity and smiles indulgently.
“These are samples from all over our home planet, we’re trying to determine which of them adapt best to your atmosphere.”
Lex attempts to walk closer to one of the plants but is stopped by Kal-El grip on his wrist, for the first time he realizes that it’s as solid as an iron shackle and is suddenly reminded of how easily Kal-El could kill him. He cringes slightly which, of course, the alien notices.
“You don’t have to be afraid.” His tone is gentle as he slowly slides his hand off of Lex’s wrist.
“I’m not.” Lex lies and forces himself to meet the boys pale grey gaze.
“Good.” Kal-El says and Lex listens for mockery in his voice but doesn't hear any.
They lapse into awkward silence for a moment that feels far longer than it actually is during which Lex notices that they’re just a little too close to each other but for some reason feels that he can’t move away. He flinches when Kal-El reaches up and takes a hold of his tie.
“Why do powerful men on this planet wear nooses around their necks?” He begins untying it and Lex shivers when cold fingers brush his throat. “It seems like contradictory symbolism to me.”
“I wasn’t aware I was brought here to discuss fashion.” Lex hopes that his biting tone distracts from the fact that he’s blushing but knows it doesn't.
“Have to kill the time between now and tonight somehow.” Kal-El’s tone is slightly teasing and he steps just a little further into Lex’s personal space. Lex abruptly backs away leaving Kal-El standing there holding his tie.
“I don’t know.” He walks over to a plant that’s in what appears to be a climate control chamber examines it intently. “Why do powerful men from Krypton wear capes?”
“I don’t know.” Kal-El laughs as though they’re just two people sharing a joke and Lex is nearly overwhelmed by the desire to punch him right in his deceptively angelic face, but reminds himself that breaking his own hand won’t do him any good. He’s seen one of these things stop a moving train just by standing in it’s way. Kal-El comes and stands next to him, again just a little too close, and Lex wonders if he’s doing that because Kryptonians are one of those cultures who have no concept of personal space or if he’s deliberately trying to remind him that he’s allowed to touch him whenever he wants. Out of the corner of his eye he notices that Kal-El is still holding his tie, winding it between his fingers like he’s savoring the texture of the fabric.
“So, you’re fourteen?” he has to ask because the boy looks young, but not THAT young. Then again maybe Kryptonians mature faster than humans.
“Not any more.”
“Right, fifteen.” Lex swallows. “You do realize that I’m...considerably older than fifteen?”
“Yes.” He can feel that Kal-El is looking at him instead of the plant but he doesn't turn his head. “I like that.”
“I don’t understand how you decided you...wanted me after just that one meeting with me and my father.”
“It wasn't just that.” Kal-El laughs as though the answer should be obvious. “Don’t get me wrong, that got me interested, but I learned a lot about you after that.”
“How?” Now he does turn to look at Kal-El but immediately wishes he hadn't when he sees the hunger in the aliens eyes.
“I asked Brainiac.” When Lex’s only response is a blank stare Kal-El elaborates. “The Brain Interactive Construct. By now he’s absorbed most of your planets information so there are pretty much no facts that we don’t have access to.”
“Brain Interactive Construct?”
“Yeah, my father made him. We were surprised at how much he gained control over just by connecting himself to your...um...internet.”
“No ones been able to access the internet since...” Lex is hit with a sudden realization.” Since about a month before you arrived.”
“Right.” Kal-El seems happy that Lex has finally caught on. “When we come to a planet we send Brainiac ahead to do reconnaissance and prep work.”
Lex thinks back to a month before the invasion began. Despite the seeming impossibility of such an event, the internet itself had somehow “crashed” (for lack of a better term.) Computer screens had all filled up with seemingly random code and then, gradually, all over the globe, communications systems had spontaneously shut down, electrical grids had failed, everything that was in any way connected to the internet had gone haywire and the world had been plunged into chaos by what could only have been some sort of super computer virus. In some places weapons of mass destruction had detonated without warning...many, many people had died. The truth was that Earth hadn’t stood a chance because by the time the Kryptonians had shown up most of the world had already been blind, deaf and crippled. Now Lex knew the name of the infamous “super virus”: Brainiac. Lex is pulled back from his revelation by Kal-El’s voice.
“So,” he reaches up and places a hand on Lex’s chest. “When I returned from the meeting with you and your father I asked Brainiac to tell me about Lex Luthor and...the more I learned the more I liked you. You’re exceptional. If you’d been born Kryptonian you’d be a true force to be reckoned with.”
“If I’d been born Kryptonian?”
“Yes.” Apparently Kal-El didn’t hear the bitterness in Lex’s voice, because he smiles and moves closer until they’re pressed together. “But as is you’re a more than worthy prize.”
Lex opens his mouth to say something but is silenced by Kal-El’s kiss. He tries to pull back but Kal-El snakes one incredibly powerful arm around his waist and brings his other hand up to cradle the back of his head and he can’t even move, he can only wait for Kal-El to stop kissing him. He’s saved when someone over by the door clears their throat. Kal-El abruptly separates from him and they both turn to see the one man of which Lex had seen hundreds when he first entered the stronghold.
“Sorry to interrupt.” He smiles a congenial smile that does not reach his unnaturally clear, sharp eyes. “Your father’s asked me to see if the younger Luthor would like to say goodbye to the older one before he leaves.”
Kal-El looks inquiringly at Lex who nods and then clears his throat.
“Yes, yes please.” He doesn't particularly care about saying goodbye to his father but he suddenly very, very badly does not want to be alone with Kal-El any more.
“Very well.” The man smiles a little wider and inclines his head toward the hallway. “If you follow me I’ll take you to him...oh and, Kal-El, your father is waiting for you in the ceremonial chamber.”
“Thank you, Brainiac.” Kal-El spares on last look at Lex and then leaves through another door on the opposite side of the room. Lex follows in Brainiac’s unsettlingly soundless footsteps back down the same hall through which he and Kal-El had come. He tries to stay behind him but Brainiac deliberately slows down so that they’re walking side by side.
“So, you two seem to be getting on well.”
“I suppose.”
“Very good.” Brainiac sounds like a grade school teacher commending a particularly dim witted student. “As an outsider you probably don’t realize this but you should be honored that Jor-El chose you.”
“Should I?” Lex begins wondering why the Kryptonians bothered to program their hyper advanced computer to make small talk.
“Absolutely, as Kal-El’s consort you’ll technically be a member of the house of El, one of Krypton’s oldest and most prestigious families.” Brainiac beams. “And being acquired as a consort is the only way that a being of a lesser species can be assimilated into a Kryptonian household, so you’ve REALLY lucked out.”
“Thanks.” Lex says flatly.
“You’re welcome.”
Brainiac was apparently programmed to make small talk but not to detect sarcasm. They walk back through the stadium sized laboratory where the other Brainiacs are still hard at work and emerge back out where the vehicles are waiting. His father stands by the limo with a faintly worried expression and raises an eyebrow at Lex as he approaches, as though waiting for him to say something important.
“Bye, dad.” It sounds awkward even to his own ears.
“Son.” Lionel offers Lex his hand to shake (which is the most physical affection ever shown between them) and Lex takes it. Lionel pulls him closer to, pointlessly as Brainiac can undoubtedly still hear him, whisper in his ear.
“Everything will be fine if you just behave yourself.” Lionel punctuates by tightening his grip on Lex’s hand. “Can you do that for me?”
“I can do that for ME.” Lex disentangles himself from his father and takes a step back.
“Fair enough.” Lionel forces a thin smile and Lex doesn't think he’s ever seen his father look so exhausted and yet so relieved.
As soon as the limo has left the compound, Brainiac turns to him.
“Whelp, lots to do.” He heads back toward the stronghold but turns back when Lex doesn’t follow. “Coming Son of Luthor?”
“Yeah,” Lex hesitantly begins to follow, not used to being lead around this much in one day. “And you can just call me Lex.”
“Unless I’m wrong, which I rarely am, use of first names is an informal expression of familiarity.” He shoots Lex a questioning look.
“It’s fine.”
“If you say so...Lex.”
They cut back through the lab again and one of the other Brainiacs approaches, without missing a beat or even slowing down Brainiac extends his hand and the other him touches it and rapidly transformed into tendrils of some sort of black goo (like oil but thicker and more metallic) and is absorbed into the skin of the original. When they get to what appears to be a bedroom Brainiac turns to Lex and notices that he looks a little shaken.
“What’s the matter?” He smirks. “Squeamish?”
“Hardly.” Lex makes a conscious effort to smooth out his facial expression. “So you’re a...sort of...sentient cloud of nanobots?”
“Ah, scientific curiosity, I like that in an organism. It’ll give you and Kal-El plenty to talk about.” Lex can't help but notice that Brainiac didn't even pretend to answer the question. “Now, what’s going to happen in about ten minutes is that I’m going to bring you to the ceremonial chamber where Jor-El will conduct a simple ritual...I suppose the closest equivalent to it humans have would be a ‘marriage.’”
“Marriage?” Lex feels an instinctive tightening in his chest at the word.
“Well, in the polygamous sense.” Brainiac shrugs. “Upon completion of the ceremony, Kal-El will inscribe you with his name symbol...”
“Inscribe?”
“Oh, sorry, he’ll ‘brand’ you officially establishing you as his property. He and you will then proceed back here where you’ll be left alone for the remainder of the evening to consumate.” When Lex doesn't say anything Brainiac takes it as a sign that further elaboration is required. “You've had coitus before, yes?”
“Yes.” He sounds more insulted than he had intended. “Just not with someone who’s strong enough to tear me in half.”
“Relax.” Brainiac chuckles dismissively. “As I understand, Jor-El has educated his son on the matter quite thoroughly.”
“Jor-El doesn't mind his only son being...”
“I believe that your peoples charming colloquialism for it is gay.” Brainiac cuts Lex off. “And no, he doesn't. Since Kryptonians have evolved beyond the need for sexual reproduction, gender selection in romantic partners is regarded as purely a matter of personal preference... It’s just skin.”
“How do they reproduce?” It seems to Lex to be an obvious question but Brainiac is off guard by it.
“Listen,” his smile becomes strained with barely concealed irritation “as soon as I know how much security clearance you’re going to be granted, I’ll gladly answer any questions you have...as long as they fall within that security clearance, but until then you should probably keep the prying inquiries to a minimum.”
“Fair enough.” Lex says but doesn't mean it because that most certainly is not fair, if he's going to be indoctrinated into an alien harem he thinks he at least has the right to be told what to expect. They pass a few minutes in awkward silence (well, awkward for Lex anyway, awkwardness is probably another thing Brainiac is not programmed to detect...lucky bastard) before Brainiac inclines his head as though listening to something and then asks if he’s ready. He nods, not trusting himself to speak, and they proceed to the “ceremonial chamber.”