recovering from an ordeal

[slayers_desire]

Clark and April had stayed in her home universe. It had been a day since the whole ordeal with the kidnapping and everything. April was still not talking about anything.

In fact, for the last couple of hours, she had stayed in the guest bed that the others had given the couple.

Comments

[smallvillains]

"I guess I'll have to go through Lionel's other belongings and see if there's anything else dangerous lurking in there. There probably are." Tess does not particularly want to publicly claim her Luthor heritage. Her parents didn't want her, and she's gotten along just fine without them.

Although there is still a twinge of guilt, a connection where there wasn't one before, at least not one that she could name.

[slayers_desire]

April remembers how hard it was to know that her parents didn't want her. To find Drusilla and see her as the monster she was...

"Have you gone to their graves yet?"

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"No. Lionel's dead, and I'm fine with letting him stay that way. The Luthor legacy is mine now, and it's time it changed." Most of Tess's ire is reserved for her father. Her mother, who is also dead... not as much, but Tess still hasn't visited her grave either.

"You're making good progress in redeeming the company's name, at least," Clark says.

[slayers_desire]

"But how will you change it if you are uncertain about publicly claiming it?"

[smallvillains]

"I don't have to admit to being related to the Luthors to be the head of their legacy. Everything that Lionel had fell to Lex, which then fell to me. Their money and resources are mine to use however I want, and I want to make things better. For everyone." Including a certain small boy, whose existence still fills her with dread, which she locks away tightly whenever she's near April.

[slayers_desire]

April can sense that Tess is a locked box around her. She is not the type to break those locks either. Especially after being what she went through.

It frustrates her that there is another secret. One like that Mirror Box that could explode her happy life with Clark at any time.

But she needs to direct that frustration else where. Clark still trusts Tess to be working with the League and guarding Watchtower.

"Hopefully no one gets their hands on that other Mirror Box."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"It might only work for Kryptonians. The other Victor tried it and it didn't work for her." Though it's a good theory, unfortunately it's wrong. The only reason it didn't work for her is because there was already a switch in progress.

((bedtime))

[slayers_desire]

"So Clark Luthor can still work his..." And that freaks her out a little. But fortunately... she doesn't know that Clark Luthor has a PINpoint yet. And judging from her nerves right now, it might be adviseable not to tell her quite yet.

((late tag to say goodnight))

[smallvillains]

"It's still so strange to hear you say that," Tess says, shaking her head a little.

[slayers_desire]

"Well he might come back... so we all need to be ready."

[smallvillains]

"I'll start beefing up Watchtower's defenses. Are there any visual differences, or do we just have to hope he announces it?"

[slayers_desire]

"He didn't have Clark's tattoo. And I think there was a mark... a scar on his arm."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"A scar? What kind of scar?" Clark's had a few himself, though they've never lasted long. The scar from the star blade vanished when he was reborn as Kal-El, and the Mark of El disappeared when the AI stopped trying to control him forcefully. His counterpart should not have been able to scar like that.

[slayers_desire]

"It was a L-shaped scar." April finds a piece of paper to draw it out.

((painting today, so sporadic posting))

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"That looks like the Luthor family crest," Tess says once April is finished.

"Lionel branded him?" Clark asks, a little horrified by the idea.

[slayers_desire]

April shrugs, she doesn't know who made the scar. Just that it was the one thing that made them different.

"And he would act different too. He had a hard time pretending to be happy with a simple farm life."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"He was raised a Luthor. All his clothes probably cost more than I make in a year. Being on a farm is miles below that."

[slayers_desire]

"He acts like it too. You can see it... even if he tries to pretend otherwise. He was offended I asked him about breakfast." April is not sure any of this will help. She didn't spend much time with Luthor.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"So we can hope to trip him up by making him spend time with us 'commoners,'" Tess says. She doesn't sound very impressed by Clark Luthor.

"We could set up a kind of question to ask me every time we meet, that he wouldn't know the answer to," Clark suggests. "Actually... we should probably do that for everyone. There's no promise that he's the only alternate who might find his way here." And while April can tell the difference, if she's not around, or she's the one to get switched with an alternate, they would have no way of confirming their suspicions.

[slayers_desire]

"Maybe a codeword that we can tell all the Leaguers."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"Everyone should have their own codeword," Tess agrees.

"The only danger would be that if an alternate had telepathy, they could 'steal' that codeword and none of us would be the wiser," Clark says, thinking about the possibility of an alternate of April. Or J'onn. "But I can't think of a better solution."

[slayers_desire]

"Not if we all properly block the codeword in our heads. I can train the others, so they will know if someone tries to force that word from them."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"It's worked well for me," Clark agrees. "Looks like you have a project."

[slayers_desire]

"I will get on that. It will be best if each person chooses something their own word. Make it unique."

[smallvillains]

"I already know mine," Tess says. "Mercy."