Big Trouble!-3 by Lynceus What makes someone a hero? A villain? Is there some line that divides the two extremes? Is it random chance, or is there some event that could drive someone from one extreme to the other? I'd often wondered, but I thought I'd never know. And then they took my Lena from me.

Disclaimer: I make no claims to any character or image owned or under copyright by another party, nor do I intend on profiting in any way from their use. The Comics Retcon Universe concept is the creative property of Lilith Langtree.

My name is Lena Thorul. Well, actually it's Luthor, but Mom thought it would be cute to use an anagram when she changed my name. It's a toss-up as to who I despise more, her, or my father.

Actually, to be honest, Dad, in the short time I knew him, treated me like I was royalty. No real surprise, given the way his mind works. To Lex Luthor, some people are just inherently better than others. Given that he's one of the smartest humans on the planet, I can understand his line of thinking, even if I don't agree with it.

Dad thinks since he's smarter than everyone else, he should naturally rule over us 'lesser mortals'. While I can't argue that there would be some merit to this, Dad is too much of an egomaniac; if he were to, say, run for President, I can tell you exactly what would happen.

He'd run on a reform platform, using his big brain and business savvy to demonstrate how he'd get the country back on track. Solve the national debt, halt the current economic downturn, and probably toss the tax code out the window. Luthor needs no puny legal shenanigans to turn a profit!

He'd get into office by a landslide, and a lot of people would shake their heads. And at first, he'd do a lot of good. But it's in his nature. Eventually he'd start flexing his muscles. Getting overconfident. Using the vast powers of his office, he'd find new and interesting ways to get what he wants. Eventually he'll get caught and there'll be a huge scandal.

Or maybe he'll get into an argument with another head of state, and start World War III. It's hard to say.

Despite the fact I understand his nature very well, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I love my father.

And believe me when I say loving Lex Luthor is not an easy thing to do.

-

I'd realized quickly that, for all her power, even with the assistance she could wrangle out of Jade and the others, Doris can't keep me safe. It was a sobering thought, and one I kept to myself. It would break her heart. And hurting Doris would be like cutting off my own arm. Except it would hurt more.

I don't know exactly when our relationship changed from simple infatuation to the kind of love that you only read about in Sherrilyn Kenyon novels. I'd tried to keep people at a distance; it's a bad habit I share with my old man. Sometimes, even with very bright people like Doris, everyone around seems like they're thinking at a snail's pace, plodding from point A to point B like they're trapped in a time warp.

Meanwhile, I'm already at point D, contemplating points E, F, and beyond. Now I'm not going to say I'm as smart as Dad, but I am a genius, by just about any yardstick you'd care to use. A lot of times, I feel like I know what other people are going to say before they do.

Hell, actually I feel like I know what other people are going to think before they do!

But it's different with Doris. Somehow knowing what she's going to do makes me feel more secure. I know when she's going to hug me. When she's going to say she loves me. And I know that when she says it, she means it. She'd die for me, and that's a problem.

Because I understand this is a once in a lifetime sort of thing. If I lose Doris, that's it. I'll never know a love like this again. And worse, I'll use her as a yardstick, no, a damn slide rule, to judge everyone else by for the rest of my life. She fills something empty inside of me. She inspires me. I'm a better person in every way because of her.

I'd rather die than lose that.

So I decided to take the initiative and contact my old man.

-

Despite the fact he's smarter and more cunning (not to mention with a lot more resources on hand), I'd done a pretty good job of covering my tracks. Sure, he knew that I wasn't far from Doris, and Dori, well, she's pretty much the definition of 'high profile'. Even without her powers, she's a tall red-haired goddess of a young woman.

I could dress her in a burlap sack and put a bag over her head, and she'd still stand out in a crowd!

So I knew the only real reason Daddy hadn't found me was he couldn't spare the resources. You don't get to be where he is without having to watch a lot of pies in a lot of ovens, all at the same time. So, predictably, I figured he'd set his goons to collect me.

For some reason, the vast majority of Dad's minions are sneaky, ambitious, and not very bright. They tended to botch things up more often than not; I swear his Director of Human Resources puts Catbert to shame!

Which is why I decided to break my silence and sent him an email. To his private account. On his own company server.

Ok, I'll admit it, while cute, that's a bit beyond my abilities. Luckily, I had the assistance of my new roommate, Ariel the Little Cyberspace Mermaid. Typically, even she doesn't realize how scary her knowledge of computer security is. It used to be a job for her, day in and out, and, of course, she was focused on stopping the kinds of shenanigans that I live for. Oh and she used to be a clueless guy.

But I can't hold that against her. Pretty much all of my female friends these days, including the love of my life, were clueless guys. But they're pretty quick learners, all things considered. Just proof that everything is better with a second X-chromosome!

I won't go into the contents of my email. But he responded pretty quickly, and we got to talking about things. He tried to apologize for being a bad parent, and I told him to drop it. The past is the past; he made mistakes, Mom made mistakes, it's time to be adults and move on.

He of course wanted to help me with money. I told him how much I was currently worth, and he was suitably impressed. Of course he thinks I should move to New York, and get away from Doris, but I told him that wasn't an option. If he wanted a daughter again, I could handle that, but it was going to be on my terms.

Oddly enough, he agreed that it might make more sense for me to stay out of sight; and after he told me about old man Queen, I had to agree. No matter how powerful you become, if you have someone you care about, you have a weakness.

Odd to hear him sympathize with Queen though. I know for a fact Dad hates the old bastard with a passion. They're just too much alike, I think. It's the mark of a successful CEO; you can't resist taking charge of any situation you come across. Trying to make order out of chaos is simply your nature.

So you start moving people around like chess pieces. The problem is, some pieces won't, or can't, be moved. And both men were a couple of very stubborn Kings.

I was about to make a joke about one of them being a Queen, but seeing the old man in a dress would scar me for life.

So Dad and I came up with an agreement. He felt I was wasting my potential, which, granted, is true to a point. But I'm not even sixteen, I can afford to blow a few years of my life. Anyways, he promised to give me space, if I promised to visit him in a few months.

Of course, Doris is a real touchy subject. He doesn't know for sure that she's Damon Zeul, but he suspects. And I know Doris; she won't want to make nice with the man who tried to kill her.

And I won't even get into Stefani and Alyssa; it's hard to love an evil man.

So with all that in mind, you can imagine my surprise when some guy grabbed me on the street, pulled me into an alley, and stuck a needle into my arm. I was out faster than you can say 'betrayal'!

-

Richard McGuire was a patient man. He prided himself on that fact. In the past, he'd let Luthor intimidate him into rushing in before he was ready. That's how he'd lost to that red-haired bimbo last time. No, now he was going to do things his way.

The hell with going after 'Giganta' directly. He was hunting juicier prey. Something Luthor would kill to possess. It wasn't some scientist, or some super-serum. No, just a fifteen year-old girl. He'd watched her for days, getting a feel for her routine. She was intelligent, but it was obvious she'd inherited the famous Luthor ego. Walking alone, out in the open, by herself. Knowing full well how powerful her father was. And what kind of enemies he had.

She was a pretty thing, obviously she hadn't gotten her looks from the old man. A shade over 5' tall, with short black hair, the bangs worn long. She'd gotten some sun since her last photo was taken. Ditched the piercings and the Goth look in favor of a powder blue sun dress. A very pretty girl.

He stepped into her path and grabbed her so quickly, she didn't have time to yelp. She bit at his hand, tried to kick him, but her tiny frame lacked strength. “Sorry little girl, but you're about to make me very rich.”

He injected her with the sedative, and she went limp. Three minutes later, she was secure in the trunk of his Charger, and he got behind the wheel, putting the car into gear. Reaching for his cellular, he made the most important call of his life...

-

Mercy was no longer the meek office girl she had once been. But her employer scared her when he was angry. And he was about to become very angry. She did not want to be the one to give him this news. Her only consolation was that she would not be the target of Luthor's anger.

“Sir.”

Luthor looked up from a pile of reports, and noted that Mercy was holding the phone. “This had better be important.”

“It is, Sir.” She walked up and held out the phone. “McGuire.”

“Hm.” He took the phone. “Richard, you had better not be calling to tell me you...” Luthor trailed off. His eyes got very wide, and then narrowed.

“Listen to me you arrogant bastard, you harm one hair, one hair on her head and I'll...!” The most powerful mortal man in the world set his shoulders. “Very well. Of course. Oh you'll get it. You'll get everything that's coming to you. I want to speak to her...!”

He slammed the phone onto his desk, cracking the plastic. “That bastard! That son of a whore! He's a dead man! You hear me? Dead!” Without even slowing down, Lex went to his mini bar, and, his hands shaking slightly, poured himself a cognac.

He turned to Mercy. “He wants ten million dollars. We should be receiving a fax with the account information. Take it out of petty cash. Hire whoever you need to. Jack Marshall can handle tracking him down. But the actual extraction...I want a specialist. Someone good. Someone better than good.”

He finished his drink. “Get me the Catwoman. Money is no object.”

-

I came to in a dark room. I live in an old warehouse, so I know what they smell like. This one had been abandoned for some time, given the dust. I was sitting on an old wooden chair, and rather expertly restrained. Unfortunately, unlike most of my friends, I don't have super powers, so they needn't have bothered. I'd be lucky to punch my way through a paper bag, let alone escape!

I was still near the river, so, ironically, I probably wasn't very far from home. The door opened, and a man I didn't know stepped into the room. But he matched a description Doris had given me, so I decided to guess.

“McGuire. You really screwed this up.”

His eyes widened, but then his face twisted into a sneer. “Oh, is that a fact?”

“Dad promised to lay off, so if you're bringing me to him, he's going to be pissed.”

He laughed. “Stupid little bitch, I'm not on his payroll anymore.”

Oh shit. “You're holding me for ransom?” Please, God, please let this guy not be a waste of DNA!

“You got that right. You're my meal ticket, so as long as you play nice, you might just live a little longer.”

I just stared at him. “Mister, you are so dead.”

-

Rena looked up as Doris began to pace in the kitchen. Idly brushing a stray lock of dark hair out of her eyes, she wondered what was up. It wasn't like Doris to be nervous, but she sure looked upset.

“Hey, what's up?”

Doris stopped and turned to face her roommate. “It's Lena. She's late.”

Rena considered that, glancing at the clock on her laptop. “Woah, wait a minute, she's like, two hours late!”

Doris nodded. “I know! And...I don't know what to do about it!”

“Ok, where is she likely to be? I can start making calls.” Better to take charge; Doris was a bright girl, but she had a huge weak spot where Lena was concerned.

“Um..she had to go to the library, then the comic store, she had to pick up some computer parts, and then she said she'd pick up ice cream on the way home.”

Rena pulled up a map of the city on her laptop, and considered the distance involved. “Ok, so she takes the bus, that's a lot of walking.”

Doris nodded. “I should have gone with her!”

“Hey, you lost the toss, I remember, your turn to make dinner.” A dinner which was now quite cold.

“Why do I feel so helpless!” Doris slammed her fist against the wall, which left a rather sizeable dent in it. “Oh God, now look what I did!”

Rena gulped. If Doris couldn't control her powers when she was upset, that was a big problem! She made a few calls, while Doris became more and more agitated.

“Ok, that's it, I'm calling in the big guns, and we're going to go out and look for her.” Rena held up her hand and addressed the ring on her finger.

-

“Hey guys, I hate to bother you, but I think we have a serious problem here.”

Jade paused in mid-flight over Boston. She'd been hearing rumors about some new heroes in the area, and had been hoping to catch sight of them, without any luck. “Jade here, what's going on?”

Rena sighed. “It's Lena, she's missing, and Doris is pretty upset.”

Doris and upset were two words Jade didn't really care to hear in the same sentence. Not unlike herself, Giganta had too much power, and she had to work really hard to control herself. If something had actually happened to Lena, well, some people talk about moving Heaven and Earth to save the ones they love.

Doris could actually do it. In fact, some of the projections her ring had made about Giganta's true potential had been enough to give Jade more than a few restless nights!

“Ok, on my way, can anyone else help out?”

“Barbara here, already en route!” Good, Babs could cover a lot of ground, quickly.

“Alena here. On my way.” Jade frowned. Something had been wrong with Alena lately. She hadn't seemed to be her usual self. It might have something to do with Alison being in England, but she couldn't be sure. She'd have to have a talk with the younger girl later.

“If anything happens to Lena, I'll murder the bastards!” Stefani broke in.

“You'd have to get in line, Stef. Don't worry, we'll keep everyone updated.” Which brought up a very good point. If someone had hurt Lena, how was Jade going to prevent her little army from tearing the city apart?

-

Jack Marshall sighed as he ran the trace. McGuire hadn't stayed on long enough for a standard phone trace to work, but then again, Jack had never done anything by the book. It wasn't hard to follow the guy; he'd made a lot of transactions lately, on a LexCorp business card, no less!

He idly scanned some of McGuire's field reports. They were hopelessly out of date; why Lex kept this jackass on the payroll to begin with...but that was irrelevant now. Richard McGuire was dead, he just didn't realize it yet.

He wasn't sure when his boss had walked into the room, but when he turned his chair, there he was. Lex was a pretty big guy, and Jack was, well, a glorified computer nerd. Luthor wouldn't need super strength to rip Jack in half!

“Ok, I can't guarantee anything, and I know that's not acceptable, but here's what I got.” He hit a button and a wireframe image of an old warehouse appeared on his monitor. “The place was originally built in the 20's, it's been abandoned, but it's still in pretty good shape. The owner has been trying to sell it for months now. It was originally a two-story structure, but the upper story was removed. There's a security fence around the property, designed to be unscalable, and only two serviceable entrances on the ground floor.”

He pointed. “Here, a metal security door with a passkey code. The previous tenants were moving some very illegal stuff through here, so they upgraded the security. Then they got busted, leaving the actual owner of the property with a heavily secured warehouse nobody wanted.”

“Get to the point, Marshall.” Luthor nearly growled.

“Right, ok. The main doors were replaced with reinforced steel ones that can be kept shut by a series of locks; you'd need a tank or an RPG to get them open. Now even though the second story is gone, there's still a ladder leading to the roof, and this structure here makes for a perfect sniper's nest. One guy with a decent rifle, and say, five others, and this place is a damned fortress. There might be a sewer access, but Chicago's a mess of old tunnels, I couldn't even begin to find out how to get you in that way.”

“Alright. Get me all the information you have on a disc, then delete everything. I'm hiring an expert to handle this. There's no time to do it in-house; within the hour Chicago is going to be crawling with metahumans trying to tear the place apart to find my daughter.” Lex sighed. “Normally that would be a good thing, but if Richard gets spooked, he may simply kill Lena and run for it.”

Jack handed his boss the disc.

“Good work, Jack.” Lex nodded and left.

Jesus. You know Luthor is upset when he actually compliments you! Jack sat down and started cleaning up. “Richard McGuire, I would sure hate to be you!”

To be continued...