Chapter Text
Don’t make it personal. That was a rule a lot of businessmen claimed to follow. Lex Luthor had heard so many millionaires claim it over the years and the truth was… it was nonsense, utter nonsense. He had never met a single rich man, a single powerful man, a single person who felt a fraction of the weight on his shoulders who didn’t use that power at least a tiny bit to settle a score. Not even the mighty superman was beyond that, for all his ‘truth and justice’ he spouted from his pearly white teeth (No one had teeth that white… did he drink bleach?) he still would apply more force when people or things he cared about were in danger and Lex… he was not above any of that.
He sat on the chair as he looked over at the three who were setting up their presentation even as he grumbled about his arm in a sling and for the tenth time ran his hands up to touch the bandage covering the stitches in his head. It would not scar, he would not let it. He told himself this even as the two doctors and the security guard finished setting up in his office and Lex gave thanks he had gone for max comfort rather than style on his chair as his aching body throbbed. Mercy stood nearby looking concerned still but he ignored it even as the three made eye contact from their chairs.
Dr. Lorraine Taylor, his head medical doctor and the best general doctor money could buy. She was his own personal doctor and he always appreciated her cold unattached professionalism. She was not an attractive person, too baggy eyes, too thin face, too thin hair… too. She was always too was the best way to describe her but she was good at what she did and her movements were graceful and purposeful as she started up the slide show.
Next to her was Dr. Daisy Redd, she was the best child psychologist he could find on such short notice and while the subject of her studies was a bit older than her usual fair Dr. Taylor had insisted she did good work despite being ‘flighty’. Lex had taken into consideration ‘good work’ from Lorraine was a nobel prize, an oscar, and pulitzer prize all rolled up and cut up into two words and had called the woman at once. She was much the opposite of Dr. Taylor, a curvy heavy set woman whose mouth seemed made for either smiles or sympathetic frowns she seemed capable of great effort of holding still and only with great effort… unless someone was talking in which case she seemed to put her entire being into listening which tended to make people want to talk more. Lex had seen interrogators who could learn a thing or five from what he had to admit to himself.
Finally besides Mercy Graves, his assistant and bodyguard who was in the back corner of the room leaning against the wall there was his chief of building security of the Lex Tower and the man sat ramrod straight in his chair. Lex wasn’t sure why the doctor’s had asked him to be there but there he was, a security uniform that was tight and flattering on the form of a man who had kept in shape despite retiring from the military. His mustache was huge and fluttering as he talked but there was a hardness to his gaze that drew the eye. Lex was proud of nabbing him up before anyone else could and he ran his security team with ruthless efficiency.
Dr. Taylor couched as a slide show started, showing a picture of Lex’s overturned limo from a traffic camera, a crate of metal in the side and men approaching with intent and weapons drawn. “... Sorry Mr. Luthor but if you do not mind I will start from the beginning.” He inclined his head and she started. “Two days ago as I am sure you remember you were attacked. They picked a good time, when superman was out of town…” She looked at Lex. “Yes I know how you feel about him but he would have come and we both know it.” before continuing. “And so was Mercy. They came knowing your limo, it’s defenses and with not a single thing on them meant to capture someone alive.” A man cut through the roof of the limo with some kind of energy blade as they watched even as the Chief of Security talked. “Leaks have been dealt with as per the company’s informal guidelines.” Which was his way of saying the leakers would never get a chance to do it again. “Quite” Was all Lex responded as he watched this footage once again.
There had been a girl on the sidelines, a thin waif of a girl wearing a flannel shirt far too large for her, tattered jeans, and shoes that seemed more tape then shoe. Lex had looked at her pictures a thousand times now, various angles, various ways they had tried and failed to backtrack her. Still there she was on the side looking at the men approaching and as the roof fell open and one man drew his gun Lex was there again. The ache of his bones, the smell of burning metal, the spinning room as his head bled and the look on the man’s face as he brought a military rifle to bear and that thin waif of a girl was suddenly there.
Even watching it on the camera slowed down it was hard to track her. It wasn’t super speed, or teleporting, she just moved in such a way she seemed to fly across the ground using cover and then she had reached that first man. His weapon in an instant was flying out of his hands even as her open palm shattered his nose, Lex remembered that sound even despite his ringing ears. The man opened his mouth to shout only to find a fist was hitting under his jaw and shattered it and certainly the man’s smile. His Security man narrated this part. “Sir… I have watched this footage over and over and the closest videos I have found even approaching this level of skill and sustained violence are videos taken from Gotham.” He said as she spun into the man with the energy swords, too close for him to swing them and ended his knee’s ability to hold him upright and a flick of a kick sent him from the world of the conscious to unconscious with one strike.
Lex watched it even as he continued. “She hits each one with mostly the minimum amount of force, those whose shots or weapons endangered people seem to be dealt more harshly with.” He said even as she dislocated a man’s arm with a twist and then a palm thrust shattered the man’s collar bone before she took his knees as well but left him conscious to scream. Lex out of curiosity asked. “How would you take her on?” The black hair on the girl’s head unfurled behind her in a knotted mess even as she continued onto the next foe without even taking a breath, as if she knew exactly what to do and had known for days. “... is an airstrike an option sir?” Lex blinked. “Sir these men were well trained, almost as well as my own. Weapons on par, even armor on par… and she made this look easy and didn’t kill a single one.” Lex nodded as the next two fell and Dr. Taylor paused the video in mid strike.
Lex looked at Mercy, a question he had asked before at his lips but she cut him off. “No, there is no sign she was planted there. Back tracked her as far as I could via camara and not a single sign. I think you might have just gotten lucky, Lex.” Lex made a face but turned back to the doctor who indicated the psychologist. “Now sir I have been asked to do the talking at this point. Dr. Taylor says she believes there is a chance you will be distracted by the results of Cassandra’s intervie~” Lex cut her off. “... Cassandra? You were able to discover her name?” Dr. Taylor of all people blushed a bit. He had never seen her flustered and blinked in surprise. The doctor was quiet and under Lex’s gaze admitted. “No… I have a cat and when I found the young lady climbing my cabinet~” Lex blinked at this but let her continue. “I yelled at her like she was my cat and… she listened better then ‘hey you’ so it stuck.” Lex was quiet for a moment and asked. “Did you name a cat after the seer who was never believed?” “... You never owned a cat have you?” Lex just… made a note to process that later and the ‘climbing my cabinet’ comment later and gestured at Dr. Redd to continue.
She did so with a nod. “As I was saying I interviewed Cassandra and to keep it brief I will not go over everything but will say as you have no doubt noticed she is mostly non-verbal, she seems to have dyslexia, her reading skills are far behind her age as is her verbal skills~” “What would you call her age.” Dr. Taylor was the one who informed him. “Scans show about eighteen, maybe as young as sixteen.” He nodded and Dr. Redd continued. “But while she may lag behind in those regards her emotional and physical intelligence…:” She paused to think how to put it. “Your practical and book intelligence are considered some of the best on the planet Mr. Luthor… I would put her ability to read people’s emotions and intentions as well as her ability to perform physical tasks on par with that. Mr. Watson~” She indicated his chief of security whose name he certainly had not forgotten… “Showed her videos of Nightwing doing acrobatics on tik tok… within thirty seconds she was flawlessly mimicking them.”
Lex blinked at this, the compliment was standard but for someone to be compared to him like that was… well it put things in perspective and he had seen exactly how good Nightwing was. He looked at Mr. Watson and asked. “Which video?” “The one where he does the triple flip onto a car and salutes that cameraman.” Lex nodded, he had seen the video. Dr. Redd continued. “She… okay to speak frankly I see signs of things Dr. Taylor will touch on. Signs of physical abuse, signs she was surviving on her own on the streets for a long time… and I do not mean raised on the streets, I mean she was surviving on her own. I am not going to bore you with terms Mr. Luthor but instead say she is half feral. She will defend herself violently if needed, will avoid fights, and I am putting money on enough trauma in her past that you could fill the hallmark channel with specials just about her if I am speaking frankly. She has a phobia of needles, a habit of eating whatever is available and is unsocialized and without a care for her peer’s discomfort.” “... meaning what?” “I caught her eating food out of the trash… pizza crust. She also will eat banana peels, apple cores, and just about anything barely edible. She needs to be taught better, she needs to feel safe, she needs to be cared for. Not like a facility but a home.”
Lex listened to her and then raised an eyebrow at Doctor Taylor. “Okay you have been holding back something and I get the feeling you believe it will upset me.” “Of course it will. It upset us.” Lex was surprised, he had never seen anything really upset the doctor besides patients not listening to her and he watched as she brought up a picture of the girl… Cass… wearing a hospital gown and eating an apple. He had last seen her in too big clothing and he was surprised by how skinny she looked, muscle stretched over bone and… he froze as looked at the picture.
“Ah yes. You see it. At least the start of it.” He looked at the much scarred knuckles, the blade scars on her forearms and what looked like cigarette burns on her upper arms. She clicked the clicker and a line art of her body with a myriad of dots all over her body below her neck popped up. “Each dot is a different scar, we differed color by type of trauma that would have caused it, the majority of them would have happened when she was still a child.” She pushed another button and lines over layed parts of her body, ribs, hands, and a few bones in her arms and legs. “These… are broken bones.”
Lex looked at the sheer damage that was on the chart and read one that froze him. “Bullet scars? Why so many and on her legs.” “.22 bullets is out guess. The only thing she said about them was ‘two for flinching’” “... Someone… did this to her?” “Her father.” Lex Luthor recoiled as if slapped. “What?” Doctor Redd stepped forward. “It seems from what we could understand of her that most of this damage was done to her by her father seeking to… teach her to be some kind of weapon.” Lex knew groups that did things like that, he had worked with them but this still seemed insane.
“So when you said issues…” “She seemed to have run away from home after something happened. He deliberately stunted her verbal skills just so she could read moves better. It has stunted parts of her brain perhaps permanently. She can understand what she wants to say, what you are saying… but getting the words out will probably always be a struggle as her body fights her mind. I recommend teaching her sign language as a work around for whoever is going to take care of her.”
Lex looked at the chart, he turned to a monitor showing her sitting and eating from a bowl of popcorn with a bunch of snack wrappers next to her. “... what is she doing?” “Watching cartoons. It seems she doesn’t like live action shows because ‘body says lies’ as she puts it, but cartoons are fine.” Lex paused and watched her, intently eating and pulling the snacks closer to her when someone walked by, body ready to go on the attack in an instant. “... she is going to need a lot of help isn’t she.” Doctor Taylor nodded. “Mentally, emotionally… physically as horrible as the damage is, she mostly needs proper food… and maybe some mild pain meds to help with aches she does her best not to show.”
Lex watched her for a moment, he remembered her rushing in for no reason, how blankly she had looked at his face when he expected her to recognise her, how tiny she seemed now that she was just eating. “... Mercy?” She pushed herself off the wall looking at Lex Luthor, her boss for many years and seemed confused by the expression on his face. “Tell my lawyers to get familiar with adoption paperwork stat.” As those present looked at Lex with surprise on their faces. “She needs help, she saved my life… and…” Only Mercy saw it, the slight clench of his fists as he looked at the chart of past injuries but instead he sat back in his seat in a way she thought of as ‘Drama Lex’ as he told the two doctors. “What kind of man wouldn’t take care of someone who saved his life. This is my chance to repay it in kind.” Dr. Redd seemed moved… while Dr. Taylor seemed dubious even as Mercy started to type things on her phone and the gears started to go into motion.
With care, and with sheer effort of not making a single noise as he stood in great pain he looked at the three. “Where is she, I want to talk to her.” Dr. Taylor nodded and gestured for him to follow her. To her credit she didn’t slow down for him nor speed up to humiliate him. She walked at her normal slow efficient motions which allowed her to think as she walked as her feet carried her towards the room they had Cassandra in, where she was still watching cartoons with a mountain of trash in a can next to her and still eating. He saw the scars and grimaced to think someone else’s father would treat them like that, raising them as a tool from birth… It was something he tended to think only of himself and he forced himself not to think about Superboy and his own hypocrisy even as he limped over to the young girl who turned to him and waved.
It was kinda stunning the look she gave him. No fear, no judgment or greed. She had food, she was comfy, and she felt safe at the moment though he did notice she slipped a candy bar under a pillow on the couch as if hiding it for later. He made a note to have that couch checked for food stashes… and any room or vent she had been in. “So I hear you have been going by Cassandra now.” She smiled and moved her hands as she spoke haltingly. “Name good. Better then ‘you’” Lex blinked at her and then looked at Dr. Taylor. “I thought she didn’t know ASL?” The doctor shrugged as Cassandra pointed at a nearby guard who coughed. “... Samuel Forest was it?” Samuel nodded. “Um… yes sir. I was guarding her earlier and I had heard mention the idea of her learning and well my sister is deaf so I learned young so…”
Lex looked at him for a beat and then smiled. “I see… good job.” Truth was Lex supposed he would have preferred to bring in an expert but the man had taken the time to keep this high energy teen busy and help her communicate, not the job of one of his guards but he would not punish a man for thinking outside the box as long as he did not neglect his job. He turned back to Cassandra who was watching him intently. He took a minute to remind herself lying wouldn’t help here. “Do you want a home Cassandra?” She tilted her head at him and pointed at the floor and he shook his head. “No, I meant with me at my apartment.” Cassandra was to the point as she asked. “Why?”
He took a moment to think both how to respond and how to do it honestly. “For one I am grateful you saved my life, secondly you need some help and I do as well. My body is a bit broken and I could use someone I trust to help out a bit, three…” He curled his hand into a fist. “We have a lot in common. Your scars are on the outside that you got from your father, mine on all on the inside. Do you know why I named my corporation Lexcorp?” She seemed to be thinking for a moment while looking at him. “Spite.” He laughed, a loud bitter sound at how well she read him. “Yes. I didn’t want my father’s last name on it. It was going to be my legacy and not his.” Cassandra seemed to think for a moment. “Will leave if not like.” He noticed how smoothly her hands moved even as haltingly her lips did and he nodded. “Food free?” “Of course.” “Want pillow.” She said as if this was a big ask and she was negotiating with him. “... You will have multiple pillows on your own bed in your own room.” His counterpoint he supposed. “... deal.”
Doctor Taylor was shaking her head the entire time as the guard decided he would immediately forget anything he was overhearing even as he watched the CEO of his company shake hands and possibly just adopt the most potentially lethal person he had ever met that couldn’t chuck a building at someone. “... okay I can convert one of the guest bedrooms to something more permanent and we are going to need you clothing.” Cass blinked and looked around and then looked at Doctor Taylor. “... Where clothes came in.” “The incinerator. After we got you cleaned up I emptied the pockets of them and burned them.” Cass went… still. Lex felt something, an anger coming off her. “Mine. That was mine.” Lex coughed. “Trust me Cass the clothes we get you will be muc~” “Mine”
Her voice was growing more monotone by the second and the Doctor was growing nervous as she swallowed. “... Sorry Miss I was unaware that meant something to you otherwise we would have cleaned and returned them to you” Cassandra looked at her for a few awkward seconds before nodding as if that was settled and going back to looking at Lex who had to ask. “Were those clothes important to you?” “Were mine. Not have much mine. Guard it well.” That he could more than understand what he got he kept. He filed that away for later as he told her. “Well try not to damage my employees if you can avoid it. But first… Mercy, you mind finding Cassandra something to wear for our outing.” Mercy nodded and approached Cassandra who seemed to flick her eyes over her and give an approving nod before walking out with her and to the side Doctor Taylor let out a breath. “... I thought I was going to die.” Lex looked at her and she gestured with a cutting motion. “The only reason those thugs that attacked you are alive is because she chose that.” He rubbed his chin as he thought on that even as he took out his phone to look over some reports while he waited for their return.
The rest of the day as Lex’s legal team started their battle with Mercy looking over paperwork on her phone and sending various forms to Lex was an adventure of its own. Canceling the appointments of the day and claiming it was due to his injuries he had taken her on a few trips. She had been entranced by the limo and seemed to enjoy moving up and down the cabin, crawling over the seats and thrusting her upper half of her body out the sunroof only not climbing out onto the roof because Lex asked her not to. Then there was the hair salon which had been an adventure… Granted Lex had to get a reference for a good place from Mercy as Cassandra had charmingly put it. “Lex not need haircuts.” And he hadn’t failed to notice Mercy’s amusement at Cassandra grinning at his bald head. Other people would have been more than a little annoyed but her little grin, her giggle… it hadn’t felt like she was making fun of him more like she was making a joke with him. He hadn’t laughed… but he might have smiled a tiny bit.
The haircut itself was an adventure as they had de-liced her but her hair was… well he realized he was going to have to show her how to take care of her hair and was googling that even as she had her hair washed a few times before the haircut began…. And had scissors taken away from her repeatedly. Mercy taking her phone out of her pocket and putting on some cartoons had finally settled her down but Lex noticed… she kept an eye on any sharp object near her in reflective surfaces and out of the corner of her eye. She was observant and cautious. He filed that way even as her shoulder length hair that was matted and gross was cut down to a neck length cut that framed her face well.
The next visit was replacing the too large pj bottoms and hoody she was wearing and Mercy had called in a security team to guard him in the limo as she pointedly told him. “Lex, she is going to need a whole set… that means she needs some private fitting.” and he wisely used the next few hours as a group of armed men watched over him to look into things that Cassandra might need or want. Cassandra had come out looking… much better and with a spring in her steps as she kept touching bags and looking at Mercy who confirmed. “Yes they are still yours.” She was wearing something simple, a black shirt with black jeans and a pair of military style boots. Mercy informed him “It was what she picked and we got her a variety of outfits including cuter ones but… she needs to learn how to wear some things and wouldn’t go near the dresses.” Cass looked up from a phone, one for her own use Lex had had brought to the limo and Lex was showing her how to use it and told him. “Get in way with kicking. Heels too. Though heels good stabbing and stomping.” and Lex made an appointment to get her fitted for a tux.
The rest of the day was a bit of a whirlwind. He made a lot of notes about things he noticed about Cassandra, the way she kept trying to sneak weapons, her never ending weapons, the fact she seemed wired to react if you somehow managed to startle her… and took a very dim view of someone who invaded her personal space in any way she didn’t want. The young man in the store had been quite loud about his broken nose till he noticed Lex’s guards walking his way and he made himself scarce. Lex felt no need to get involved as he noticed Mercy typing furiously and angrily on her phone after that only to smugly smile later. He… also noticed how skinny Cassandra was, how she would need to put on weight. How they would need to do this again in a few months once she got some weight on her bones though he strongly suspected it would mostly go to muscle. Lex found himself… amazed how fun the day had been and how much he had enjoyed the project that was ready by the time they got… home.
He led her up to the apartment as the guard team carried the bags to the door, knowing it would be safe there they took up locations even as Lex led her in. She was not impressed by things others would be. The priceless art? Her eyes glanced over it. The carefully chosen lighting… She seemed to be looking at the ‘swingibility’ and ‘climbibility’ of the fixtures. But the one room she did seem to be stunned with was her own. She blinked in surprise at what had been done while they had been running around. He had had little lights put in the ceiling so there was a starfield above, a large plush bed… of course a large tv with cartoons already playing but what made her stunned was the fact he had had the vent cover to the ventilation shaft removed and a rope ladder installed leading up to it. He told her “There is a sleeping bag up there, some snacks… I noticed well you like having a fall back location which is smart. Figured you would like that here too. If you do make any hidey holes you don’t have to tell me where they are… but I would like you to text me if you are in them and safe.” No reason to tell her about the tracker in her phone. She looked at the shelves, the drawers, the set up. “If you need any help organizing I can help and let me know if you need anything or even just… want something.” She was still silently staring and finally pointed at herself and he avoided sighing. He realized she needed to know. Needed it said. “Yes this is your room.” He looked in her eyes as he said. “You saved my life.. But you are my kid so I will take care of you, you take care of me… and if anyone messes with you they will know my full wrath.” He found himself… meaning every word and as she seemed to measure his every word she smiled and this feeling intensified. What he felt for her was this… parenthood? He realized even as she started to run and bring everything into her room that he was going to have to do so much research. He idly wondered if he should call Lois Lane, her and that idiot Clark had a kid he seemed to remember. Maybe she would have pointers. He thought on this even as he stopped to show Cassandra how to correctly store a suit and why.