Chapter 54: Lex Luthor

“So. Do we have an ID on this ‘Lex Luthor’?”

Batman asked again.

Batgirl shook her head and spoke.

“It isn’t Clayface. He is still in prison. And yes, I triple checked.”

“Maybe someone from another Earth?”

Superman asked.

This time, it was Black Canary who shook her head.

“That’s not possible either. I’ve already consulted the Flash team and they said that this ‘Lex Luthor’ has our Earth’s frequency.”

“Is it magic?”

Diana asked.

“Can’t say yet. We’ve been trying to track John Constantine regarding this but...we can’t find him yet.”

Robin explained.

As the rest of the Justice League began to throw in ideas and theories, Captain Atom was still confused.

Clayface? Another Earth? Magic?

To someone who had just woken up from a deep slumber, he really had no idea if the world had turned strange or was he the strange one instead. Maybe both.

At the side, Lex listened to their discussions and sighed.

“Enough. There’s no use talking about this. I think I know who that man is.”

“You do?”

Flash raised a brow.

Lex hesitated for a moment and sighed again. Then, he removed the wristwatch he wore in his hand.

“This is not an ordinary watch. It's a device I made that allows me to mask my own frequency to match that of this world.”

“You mean…!”

“Right. Originally, I am not the Lex Luthor of this Earth.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

Lena frowned as she asked.

“What...do you mean? You aren’t my brother?”

Lex smiled wryly.

“To be honest, I was surprised to know I had a sister here in this world...you see, I used to have a little brother. But...he passed away.”

“...When did you replace my brother?”

Lena asked once more.

Seeing everyone so tense, Lex rolled his eyes.

“Calm down. I mean you all no harm. I came to this world 5 years ago.”

“5 years ago? You mean…”

“Yes. During Darkseid’s first attack. You see, I came to this world to flee from mine. Didn’t think that upon entering this world, I would be met with an apocalypse instead...thankfully, Lucas was there and Earth was saved. When I came to this world, naturally, the first thing I did was to find myself. Surprise surprise, I saw him dead. He was unlucky enough to be hit by a falling debris from the parademons’ attack.”

Hearing his explanation, everyone became even more confused.

So their Earth’s Lex is already dead? Then who's the one shown in the news just now?

Lex sighed.

“I really thought he was dead. He didn’t have a pulse and his limbs were broken. I thought to myself that I was lucky and I could easily replace him. Slowly integrate myself as ‘this Earth’s Lex Luthor’ instead.”

“But you miscalculated. He’s still alive. And he’s now part of the Injustice League.”

Batman coldly said.

Lex frowned.

“It wasn’t a miscalculation. He didn’t have a pulse. I burned and buried him...Savage must’ve found him and somehow revived him.”

“With the Lazarus Pit? That might be possible...which means, the League of Assassins is also in league with them.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Lena!”

Lena shook her head and ran out the hall.

Right now, her mind is a mess and she didn’t know who to trust.

“Lucas...what do I do…?”

‘Yo! You called?’

“!!!???”

Lena’s body jerked when she heard a sudden voice in her head.

Looking around, she found there was no one beside her.

“...Lucas?”

‘Hey. Sorry, I must’ve surprised you. Anyway, I can feel your worries through our connection. What happened?’

‘Connection...is it when you granted me powers as well?’

‘Yup! I am a God now after all! I am naturally concerned about my loyal subjects!’

“Pft-!”

Lena chuckled at that.

Smiling, she felt her mood lift up for a bit as she started to explain the situation.

Soon, Lucas got the gist of what had happened.

‘I see. So the Lex that we know is actually a Lex of another Earth and there is this world’s Lex now causing problems on Earth...did I understand it right?’

‘Yes…’

‘And now you are confused about what to feel about this...Lex of another world and the enemy Lex which is this world’s Lex...right?’

‘Yes…’

Lucas sighed as he scratched his head.

This matter is so complicated. It feels like whoever thought of this plot is a damn sadist!

Author: …

Lucas shook his head and asked Lena.

‘Well, let me ask you this. Which one do you prefer? The old Lex or the current one?’

‘I...I’m not sure…the old Lex was there when I grew up. But he was always distant, cold, and…’

‘Arrogant?’

‘...Yeah.’

Lucas chuckled.

‘I remember that baldy from the field trip in Smallville. He was really annoying back then. He also kept messing with me when I took control of Wayne Enterprise before. It was really irritating.’

‘...’

‘Ahem. Sorry about that. You were saying?’

Lena didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Lucas’ antics. But she was definitely not so depressed anymore.

‘Well, compared to the old Lex, the current one is...well, basically the same. However, he would pay attention to me more than he did before...back then, I thought that his attitude had changed after Darkseid had attacked. Now it seems it was because he was a different Lex...’

‘I see.’

‘...I think I understand now. Thank you, Lucas.’

Lucas was surprised to hear that. He just said ‘I see’ and was thinking hard what to say next to console Lena but before he knew it, Lena already thanked him.

Though he wasn’t really sure what Lena understood...well, for now, he’ll just nod!

‘That’s good. Don’t worry, I will soon be back on Earth. We can talk more about it later.’

‘Alright. Be safe.’

‘You too.’

‘...’

‘...Umm, this isn’t really a call you know. Just stop thinking about me so we stop communicating.’

‘Hehe, no way~’

‘...’

Lucas was speechless.

In the end, he sighed and simply accepted hearing Lena’s voice in his head from time to time while he was talking with Blackfire.

It took a while but he finally managed to convince her that he will come to visit Tamaran from time to time. With that, he left for Earth.

Back in the Watchtower Hall.

Lex explained his circumstances to the rest of the League.

“I came from what you call...I guess Earth-3. Just like any parallel Earths. My world was much like this one. Only...things were different.”

Lex turned to Superman and continued to speak.

“In my Earth, your counterpart, Kall-ll, is also Kryptonian. However, his biological parents were criminals who killed just to get him in a pod to escape Krypton. He then crashed on Jonathan and Martha Kent. He gained power from your weakness, Kryptonite, and forced Jonathan and Martha to be his parents until he was seven years old...then killed them and burned their farm to the ground.”

“...”

Superman’s face paled as he heard Lex’s story.

Lex sighed.

“He called himself Ultraman. The most fearsome villain of my Earth and leads the Crime Syndicate along with Owlman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Deathstorm, Atomica, Sea King, and The Martian.”

The members of the Justice League looked at each other uneasily.

“Are they...”

“Your counterparts, yes. Well, to some extent.”

Lex nodded to confirm their suspicions.

“It wasn’t like there weren’t any heroes. However...there’s simply too few of us that we couldn’t win at all. In the end, I can only flee our world as I couldn’t stand to watch them burn it to the ground.”

“...”

Lex chuckled in self-mockery.

“I know. Cowardly, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Gh-!?”

Lex nearly choked when he heard the blunt answer.

He recognized the voice and knew it was Green Lantern who spoke just now. Glaring at him, Lex opened his mouth to refute but froze.

He sighed and didn’t say anything.

Everyone fell silent as well and didn’t know what to say.

Suddenly, Batman spoke.

“...Owlman? Seriously? Owl?”

“...”