Chapter Text
It’s an ordinary day when, without warning, Lex Luthor hacks the teleporters and comes storming onto the Watchtower.
He’s in one of his customary suits, though Clark is surprised he wasn’t wearing his high-tech armor. He has never seen Lex look so furious, barely restrained violence in his every move.
“You!” He roars.
The league had all sprung into action as soon as Lex had appeared, weapons at the ready.
“How dare you keep this from me!” He screamed as he waved a datastick in the air. “You goddamned alien bastard!”
“Lex,” Superman holds up his hands in a placating gesture, “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you lie to me, Clark.” He growls threateningly, carelessly revealing that he was aware of Superman’s real identity. “I know Batman spies on everyone. You know what I’m talking about!”
Superman swallows down his panic at the reveal of his name and turns to the dark knight. “Batman?”
Batman shakes his head negatively. “I don’t know what he could be talking about.”
Lex growls. “Cadmus. I’m talking about what those bastards at Cadmus did. I know you watch them.”
Batman grimaced. “Not any time recently. We had our hands full keeping Darkseid from invading and there was a mass breakout at Arkham. I still haven’t found all the Rogues.”
Lex blew out a deep breath, an obvious calming technique. “You don’t know. You don’t know what they’ve done.”
“Tell me, Lex.” Superman implores.
Lex tells him. “We have a son.”
“What.”
Lex takes a seat in the empty chair where Batman had been sitting during their meeting.
“Two weeks ago, a research facility just outside of D.C. went up in flames. A stray firework, they said. But I found out it was a Cadmus facility so I was curious. I went digging. This is what I found.” He held up the datastick in his hand.
“Cadmus somehow got a hold of your DNA. They tried to clone you for a while but it never worked. Then they got the bright idea to combine your DNA with another donor in hopes of making a child. They used my DNA and it worked. It’s a boy.”
Clark shakily collapsed into the chair beside Lex, eyes wide and shocked.
Lex had tears in his eyes as he continued. “They experimented on him, Clark. He’s only four months old but they weren’t willing to wait for him to grow up, so they induced artificial aging. He’s physically a teenager now. They used kryptonite on him and forced him to use his powers and…”
Lex shuddered and drew in a shaky breath. “But our boy’s smart. He escaped and destroyed that whole fucking place when he did.”
He leaned forward and gripped one of Clark’s hands. “I thought he was with you. I hoped he was. But if he’s not… Clark, Cadmus is looking for him. If they find him before we do, they'll kill him. Please. Please, help me find him.”
Clark swallowed roughly, mind reeling with the information he had just learned. “We will, Lex. I - is that everything you found?” he gestured to the datastick. “We’ll need to look at it.”
Lex hesitates. “If you look at this, it will break your heart. It did mine. The things they did…”
Clark nods and takes the stick.