Endless Legacy (DC Comics)

As he begins making his way through the test, sat there at the table, Lucien finds himself reflecting. He’s not stupid. He’s never BEEN stupid. Ultimately, it was always his sickness holding him back in his past life. Now that he’s no longer suffering from chronic pain and weakness, he can finally call upon the full range of his intellect.
 
He’s most certainly Lex Luthor’s son, because not to toot his own horn, but he’s pretty confident he’s a genius. However… that doesn’t mean he necessarily wants to show off that genius to the man who’s belittled and looked down upon him for the last sixteen or twenty-four years depending on how you wanted to look at it.
 
In fact, Lucien feels like he knows Lex better than most in spite of the man being something of an absentee father. He knows enough to know that Lex Luthor is not the type of man who appreciates being challenged, not even by his own flesh and blood.
 
In the end, Lucien’s only choice is to excel… but not to the ludicrous degree he feels like he’s capable of. He’s not trying to pick a fight with his father. Not here, not under these circumstances. Instead, he focuses on subtly downplaying his new intelligence while still managing to blow his previous benchmarks clear out of the water.
 
He knows this will still draw Lex’s attention, possibly in a negative way, but that cat is sort of already out of the bag. The hours of testing that Lucien had been put through ahead of this would reveal the changes he was already making to himself even if these two tests did not. Maybe he should have held off. Maybe he should have purposefully failed. But a strange kernel of pride that he hadn’t known existed had revealed itself. Lucien wanted recognition. He wanted his father’s acknowledgment.
 
Honestly, the hardest part of the test in front of him was downplaying it and even that wasn’t too hard. Instead, Lucien spends most of the next little while considering his relationship with his father. Lex Luthor might have been the sperm donor, but WAS he really his father? Unfortunately, Lucien was forced to concede that he was… after a fashion.
 
Until the age of eighteen, Lex had seen fit to make sure Lucien was taken care of. He’d done the absolute bare minimum, and Lucien couldn’t exactly give him any Father of the Year awards, but there was still something to be said about putting your money where your mouth was. Lex sheltered, fed, and clothed him, and also protected him.
 
He still threw Lucien out on his ass at the age of eighteen with nothing of course, and truth be told, it was a wonder that Lucien had survived six more years before keeling over and dying in his previous timeline. Though, those six more years were more to do with the governmental programs that he swallowed his pride and applied for, ones designed to help the sickly and disabled survive far past what some might consider their proper ‘expiration date’.
 
This time around, Lucien wouldn’t need to go on welfare. He wouldn’t need to rely upon government mandated healthcare barely keeping him alive while companies like his father’s developed miracle cures and entire body replacement and shit like that. He could be whoever he wanted to be… and so he would. The only question was… did Lucien want to be a Luthor?
 
It wasn’t a question he could answer now, honestly. His feelings in regards to that as well as his father were a right mess. Luckily, it also wasn’t a question he HAD to answer right now. Right now, he only needed to make sure his results were good… but not a challenge to Lex Luthor’s massive inferiority complex.
 
Then again, Lucien very specifically hadn’t picked the Kryptonian Package, so at least he shouldn’t trigger his father’s soul-deep hatred for Superman and all that the incredibly powerful alien was capable of.
 
Coming to the end of the written test quite abruptly, Lucien doesn’t even try to hide it. He immediately straightens up and clears his throat, setting down his pencil.
 
“I’m done, Father.”
 
To his mild shock, Lex steps past him and wordlessly picks up the thick sheaf of papers, before beginning to go through the test himself. Lucien couldn’t help but be dumbfounded, seeing as this was not something that his father had ever done before, in either timeline.
 
After a moment of this, Lex looks at him and sneers, thrusting a hand towards the physical obstacle course dominating the vast majority of the large room.
 
“Well? Quit wasting my time, Lucien. Get to it.”
 
Right. Of course. Flushing, Lucien quickly stands and has to resist the urge to try to ‘accidentally’ touch his father’s skin. There just wasn’t a good vector to brush against him from without it seeming very obvious. Instead, Lucien bites his lower lip and moves over to the start of the obstacle course, sensing Mercy Graves at his back as his father’s ever-present assistant follows him.
 
When Lucien stops at the starting line and their eyes meet, he can’t help but wince a little bit at the look Mercy is giving him. By all accounts, he’d pretended to still be sickly and frail with her just a couple hours ago and now he was fine. Of course she would wonder what the hell was going on.
 
And yet… the blonde shows her consummate professionalism by not calling him out on it. Instead, she brings up the wrist that has a watch on it and gives him a single nod. Lucien gets ready, even as Mercy counts down.
 
“Three… Two… One… Go.”
 
Lucien breaks off, beginning to make his way through the obstacle course. Quite rapidly, he discovers that he doesn’t need to hold back as much here as he did with the written test. He might no longer be as sickly or frail as he was a day ago in both timelines, but he’s still far from up to par. He’ll need to procure more biomass before he can build out his body into something approaching strength, and even then he’ll need to be careful to do it slowly if he wants to avoid drawing TOO much attention.
 
For now, he’s healthy and his frail and sickly body is well on its way to being repaired, but he’s not strong. Not yet.
 
It still makes a world of difference though. For instance, struggling through the physical obstacle course each year tended to result in multiple broken bones at times. Early on, his efforts to impress his father usually resulted in him being stuck in several casts for weeks on end after his birthdays. Later, once he got older and a little smarter, he began to learn his limits and didn’t try quite so hard. However, that just meant his progress got worse year after year, rather than better. And there was still a good fifty-fifty chance of him breaking something, no matter how hard he tried.
 
This time around? His bones were probably the toughest part of his new biology by the time he makes his way over the first climbing wall a third of the way into the course, a feat he’d NEVER managed before. It was a little wild to be seeing the other two-thirds of the course from the inside for the first time in his life, but it wasn’t exactly difficult.
 
Still, in the end he’s quite glad he decided to underplay things and not try to go for broke. If he had, if he’d gone and made some big deal out of his sudden good fortune, he would have struggled to really impress on the obstacle course, and might even have hurt himself… or revealed more than he intended to the sharp eyes of his father and Mercy.
 
As it is, he still blows past all of his old benchmarks for the physical as well, but he doesn’t feel pushed to the brink like he would have if there was more on the line. Just managing to finish the obstacle course for the first time in Lucien’s entire life was good enough for him.
 
Panting heavily, perspiring at the end of it all, Lucien finally finds himself standing in front of his father and Mercy, the both of them looking at him with… interesting expressions on their faces. Suspicion is the most prominent emotion that the two share. Interest is a close second. But of course, Mercy is just the servant. Lex is the one who actually voices that suspicion.
 
“You will explain, Lucien. Now.”
 
The sharp tone sees Lucien standing straight at attention. Obviously, if Lex thought he was some sort of plant or agent replacing his son, they wouldn’t be having this conversation. The Physical Exam alongside Lex’s own surveillance likely would have confirmed that Lucien Luthor was precisely who he’d always been. And yet… there was still something clearly off about this and the most obvious first step was to interrogate Lucien himself.
 
… He’s glad he chose Biological Manipulation for his powers, because in this moment, Lucien doesn’t know how good of a natural liar he would have been. Especially when faced with his father’s stern visage. Luckily, he doesn’t NEED to be a good natural liar… because his powers are tailor-made for letting him cheat. A lot.
 
He doesn’t shut down all biological reactions to Lex’s stare… that would just be more suspicious. But he does carefully craft his reaction, showing worry and concern but not fear or deception. He presents the picture-perfect visage of someone who has spent his entire life weak and frail… only to wake up and experience a miracle. Because that, as ludicrous as it might sound, is exactly the cover story Lucien is going for. Refuge in sweet, sweet audacity. That’s the plan.
 
“I… confess I don’t rightly know, father. I don’t know what’s going on. Only that… this morning I woke up and felt like a new man. My sickness was gone. The pain… gone. With it, my frail nature as well as my foggy mind. It’s as though a cloud has been lifted from my thoughts, father. I had no idea people could think as clearly as this until today.”
 
Wide-eyed, earnest excitement. That was how Lucien presented himself. Lex Luthor was a genius… but then, it was precisely that genius that Lucien was relying upon. A lesser man might have decided Lucien was lying just because it was what made the most sense. But Lex Luthor was not a lesser man. Staring Lucien down, the bald, super-intelligent CEO looks for any sign of deceit, even the smallest shred of a lie… and finds nothing.
 
And in finding nothing, he convinces himself that Lucien is not the problem. Oh, Lex’s suspicion is far from gone… but it’s no longer directed at Lucien. In the end, his father even graces Lucien with a smile, albeit one that doesn’t reach his eyes, and places a hand on his shoulder in the first sign of fatherly affection that Lucien has ever received in his entire life. Of course, then the egomaniac opens his mouth.
 
“Perhaps you’re not the failure you appeared to be after all, Lucien.”
 
Lucien doesn’t hesitate. He takes the opportunity to reach up and grab his father’s hand as though the emotion of the moment has overcome him. His eyes water on command, even as he gets a blueprint of everything that makes Lex… Lex. Though there is one oddity that Lucien notes, even as the moment passes and his father withdraws his hand.
 
… Why is there a foreign object in Lex Luthor’s skull? Its smaller than the naked human eye can see, but very clearly a microchip of some kind, emphasis on the micro… hell, it might be better to call it a nanochip, that’s how small it is. Lucien only caught a glimpse of it with his power, he would need protracted contact with Lex’s skin to figure out more, but even still… what the hell?
 
Unaware of his sudden inner turmoil, Lex pulls back and hums as he clasps his hands behind his back.
 
“Of course, there will need to be more tests, I’m afraid. But if today turns out to not be a fluke, I’m sure that that won’t be a problem.”
 
Right. Pulling his thoughts away from whatever the hell is in Lex Luthor’s head, Lucien focuses back on the present. He can’t help himself, really. After everything… surely this isn’t too much to ask, right?
 
“Father… would you say I’ve earned a birthday present?”
 
Lex’s eyebrows lift at that, and he looks distinctly unimpressed for a moment before smoothing over his expression. He almost comes across as slightly genial as he tilts his head to the side and hums.
 
“Oh? Perhaps. And what sort of present do you think you’re entitled to, Lucien?”
 
He doesn’t have to even really think about it. He wants things that will help him with his powers, but he can’t exactly go and expose said powers to Lex. Not this early in the game. Perhaps not ever if he can help it. No, rather… he needs to disguise his true purpose as the sort of thing a sixteen year old son of Lex Luthor might ask for. Something he could never have before, something it would have been stupid to let him have when he was weak, sickly, and frail.
 
“A pet, father. I would like to have… a pet.”
 
Lex almost scoffs at that, but the man is a genius. Clearly, he catches on quite quickly, the first flicker of amusement appearing in his eyes as he smirks ever so slightly.
 
“Oh? Not your normal pet, I’d imagine.”
 
There’s a hint of warning in Lex’s voice, making it clear that if Lucien does make the mistake of asking for something as simple as a housecat or a dog, he would not just be disappointed, but very displeased. Which… fair. The son of Lex Luthor deserves an exotic animal, right? Lucien is happy he and his father are in agreement on that front, even if it’s for two VERY different reasons.
 
A million different ideas run through Lucien’s head. He has all sorts of thoughts on what sort of animal he might want as a pet. It needs to be something that isn’t TOO ridiculous though, lest he draw Lex’s suspicions back to him. It has to be exotic, but not… insane. That still leaves plenty of ideas for pets that would advance Lucien’s pursuit of expanding his powers and strengthening his own biology.
 
But in the end… there’s really only one option that makes sense in this moment.