Chapter Text
The room was cold but Lena was used to it. She spent most of her days inside that room, her office. She found comfort in the emptiness and coldness of it. Lena also liked noticing how different people reacted to that environment. The curious ones would look around trying to find a book, a painting, something that would give them some information. There were also the ones who immediately would feel uncomfortable, they would leave the room as soon as they could. And of course, there were the ones that just like Lena, actually found it very pleasing.
Lena was looking through the files of her last case. Another case of adultery. Pathetic. There were photos of a man kissing a woman and then him with her in a car. Lena looked at the pictures wondering how men were this dumb. She sighed taking a sip of whiskey. Lena always had a cup of whiskey on her desk. It was like the drink was part of her work.
She had been doing this for years now, she enjoyed some parts of the job but the worst were the people she needed to work for. Usually rich people that wanted an easy way to solve their lives. Lena hated the cases that involved rich families drama or any adultery case, but she made a lot of money with that. Her favorites cases were the ones that involved more than money, she had investigated attempts of murder, kidnappings, disappearances. These were the jobs that didn’t require a glass of whiskey on the table.
Unfortunately It had been a while since Lena had an exciting case. Her last weeks had basically consisted of following the steps of an unfaithful man. So Lena wasn’t in her best mood.
Lena was finishing to put away the files when her assistant, Jess, knocked at the door and then entered her office.
“Miss Luthor, I’m sorry to bother you. Morgan Edge is here, he is refusing to leave. Should I call security?” Jess said with a nervous tone. Morgan Edge was the guy from the pictures, the man Lena had exposed a few days ago.
“It’s okay Jess. Send him in.” Lena said very calm. She was already used to this type of situations. Her job didn’t exactly attract friends.
Jess nodded and after a few minutes Morgan Edge, a man around his 40, entered the room. He walked with anger stopping a few meters from Lena’s desk. She was just standing and staring his angry face.
“Lena Luthor. You ruined my life!” He screamed at her face.
Lena was actually feeling a little sorry about how pathetic this man was. “I just did my job, you are the one that ruined your life.”
“You are messing with the wrong people.” He pointed his finger at her. “You are going to learn to not mess with me.”
Of course the usual threat. If he only knew how many times she had been through that same talk. “Save your words. This is becoming even more pathetic. It was nothing personal.” Lena said. “Now if you excuse me, different from you, I have more important things to do with my life.”
He was about to say something but then he stopped. He sighed and walked out of the office. Lena was so tired of these types of men, it wasn’t personal but it did feel good to expose him.
Lena sat down waiting for her next client to arrive. She looked at her agenda in her computer, searching for the name of the next client.
18h - Samantha Arias.
Lena red the name three times to be sure she was reading it right. Sam had studied with her, they used to be friends a long time ago. What would she want? Lena was honestly not in the mood to find out. She immediately got her phone wanting to ask Jess to reschedule this meeting.
Jess answered. “Miss Luthor, I was about to call you. Miss Arias has arrived.”
Shit. It was too late to run away. “Thank you, send her in.”
Lena took another sip of her whiskey. She was going to need it.
Sam entered the room immediately looking around. She looked the same as Lena remembered. Brown long hair and very confident.
“Lena!” Sam shook Lena’s hand before sitting down. “It has being a long time.”
“Yes, I’m sorry for not keeping in touch. I’ve been very busy.” Lena remembered the amount of missing calls and texts Lena had never answered from Sam.
“Don’t worry, I imagined.” Sam smiled and then her face changed to a sadder look. “I’m sorry about Lex.”
The mention of her brother gave Lena shivers. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to think about it. It was in the past.
“Well, what can I do for you?” Lena asked. Sam changed her position on the chair, Lena could see she was nervous.
“I would like to make an offer to you. I mean, I was sent here to make an offer. The director of the FBI wants you to join one of their investigations.” Sam said looking at Lena.
The FBI. Lena almost laughed. “I’m sorry Sam, I don’t work with them.”
“Lena, you used to say working for the FBI was your dream.” Sam said and this time she made Lena laugh. Everything had changed since that time.
“I was young. Naive.” Lena remembered all the talks they would have about working in their dreams jobs. She remembered how they would go around the neighborhood solving cases they would invent. “I’m not going to work with them.”
“Look, I know that you quit their program, but..”
“Quit? Oh Sam, they expelled me after my brother was arrested.” Lena interrupted Sam with anger. She could see the brunette had no idea.
“That’s so unfair. But Lena, there is a new director now. Her name is Alex Danvers, she is amazing and you are going to like her. The main detective of the case is also wonderful, and you will get to work with me too.” Sam continued. But Lena was not showing any change. “Please. Just consider it.”
Sam got up and she put a folder that was inside her bag on Lena’s desk.
“Take a look at it. If you change your mind give me a call.” Sam gave Lena a card with her phone number. “Take care, Lena.”
Sam walked out of the room leaving Lena and her thoughts. Lena took a deep breath. The FBI now wanted her. After they rejected her just because of her last name. She lost all of her faith in those institutions after that.
Seeing Sam also brought back a lot of memories Lena desperately tried to avoid. A moment in her life where she was happy. Lena started packing her stuff to finally go home. She really wanted a hot shower and her bed. She put Sam’s folder in her bag. If Lena had time she would take a look. But not now.
Her apartment was big and it felt as cold as the office. There were no photos, only some paintings and books. Everything was a shade of gray or black. After Lena showered and ate dinner, she decided to take a look at the files Sam had given to her. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look.
She opened the folder and there two were pictures of murder scenes. In the first picture there was a decapitated head next to a candle, a flower, and a compass, on a table. Lena immediately recognized the reference. Vanitas Still Life, the painting by Pieter Claesz. The second picture was also very shocking. The victim was staged as the statue of Dyng Gaul.
Lena looked at the images. This was the work of a serial killer. A serial killer that wanted to make death an imitation of art. Lena had never seen anything like it. She was mentally cursing Sam for not giving her more information, because now Lena knew she would need to go to the FBI. There is no way she could just forget about it, she was too interested now. Sam’s plan had worked perfectly.
Before going to sleep, Lena decided to do some research about what she was about to get involved with. She looked up the murders in the internet, but she didn’t find a lot of information about them. It was clear the FBI was keeping information away from the media.
Lena also decided to search information about the people she was going to be working with. Alex Danvers, Lena found out she actually served the army before joining the FBI and she had been in several operations around the world. She was curious, and a little worried, to know who was the detective Sam had mentioned. Lena had several encounters with police detectives when working in her cases, and they were usually very rude and full of themselves. When it was around 1am Lena finally decided to let her tiredness win, so she went to bed.
In the next morning, after her morning routine, Lena decided to call Sam. She dialed the number of the card. Sam told her that she should come to the FBI as soon as she could. The director was waiting for her.
Lena couldn’t help but to feel a little nervous. She called Jess, asking her to cancel all her plans for the day. And then she headed to the FBI.
Lena had already been at the building a few times, so she was pretty familiar with it. However, she didn’t like the memories it brought back. She spoke with the secretaries and soon she was guided to the director’s office.
The door had a sign written “Director Danvers”. Lena knocked at the door and after a few seconds a woman with short brown hair opened it.
“Please, come in.” The woman said and Lena followed her to the interior of the room. It was different from Lena’s office, there were plants and warmer shades of colors. Lena felt very out of place. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” The woman shook Lena’s hand.
“The pleasure is mine, director Danvers.” Lena said with a small smile.
“Please call me Alex.” The director sat down on her chair and Lena sat down in front of her desk. “So, I believe Sam explained why you are here?”
“She mentioned that you want me to join an investigation. She showed me some pictures of the crimes scenes.” Lena explained. She could tell Alex was trying to read her.
“It’s one of our main ongoing investigations. We have a team working on it and we would like you to join them.” Alex spoke with a more serious tone than before. “It’s a complicated case, if you saw the pictures I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course. I can see you are also keeping the media out of it.” Lena pointed and honestly she didn’t like the way institutions like the FBI would hide so many things from people.
“Yes, that’s why I also can’t give you more information about it before you sign our contracts.” Alex gave Lena some papers from her desk.
“Who am I going to be working with?” This was the first Lena should know before deciding to join this whole thing.
“You are going to be working with a team of specialists, and of course Detective Danvers.” The director said and Lena was a little confused. Danvers again? Alex definitely noticed the confusion in her face. “Kara Danvers, she is my sister. One of the bests detectives. I’m sure you will get along.”
Lena found a little suspicious the fact that the main detective of the case was the director’s sister. There was no guarantee this detective was actually good for the job.
“There is one last thing I wish to know. Why me?” Lena asked wondering why they hadn’t chosen some detective from the police or even from the FBI itself. Lena couldn’t help but to also worry about the fact that maybe they were just interested in her because of her brother, if you grew up with a criminal you should understand them, right?
Alex seemed a little surprised by the question. “You had the best score ever seen in the admission exam. And we wanted someone who might bring a new perspective to the case. I know the cases you work are not exactly like this one.”
Lena was very surprised by the answer. She nodded and started signing the papers. Maybe she would regret later? Maybe. But Lena was felling like she had to do this, she was feeling it in her gut.
She signed the documents about the disclosing of the case and some other documents accepting the fact that she would be putting her life in risk. She finished signing the pile of papers and then she gave them to the director.
“Very well.” Alex said and then she started getting up of her chair. “It’s time for you to get to know everything. Come on, I will show you around.”
Lena followed the director through the building. They walked through a lot of offices and then Alex showed her their laboratory. Which was really impressive. After that, they went into a big room with some desks, computers, a table and a board filled with images and information that Lena realized were from the case she was going to work.
There were a few people inside the room. The first one Lena noticed was Sam. She was wearing a lab coat.
“Lena!” Sam noticed her entering the room. “I’m so happy you decided to join us.”
Lena smiled, she never thought she would be spending time with Sam ever again. Lena would never admit it, but she missed all the time they used to spend together.
“I know there is no need to introduce you two. But in case you don’t know, Sam is the one responsible for all the lab work of this investigation.”
Lena nodded. Of course Sam would end up spending all her time in a lab, that was what she always dreamed of.
“Oh, you are Lena Luthor.” A guy walked from his desk towards them. He had a curious look in his face.
“Brainy, this is detective Luthor. Lena, this is Brainy. He is the tech guy. Anything you need with tracking, hacking, anything from computers you can ask him.” Alex introduced the two of them.
“Nice to meet you.” Lena shook his hand. Lena noticed another woman in the room was walking towards them.
“Hey! I’m Kelly. I’m a psychologist specialized in profiling. I’m also really happy that you are joining us. If you need anything you can always come talk to me.” The woman said with a warming smile. Lena noticed the way she looked at Alex, they were definitely involved or something.
“Thank you.” Lena said with a small smile.
The door of the room opened and a young woman entered the room. She was caring a lot of coffee. She put them at the main table. “Hey guys, coffee for everyone as promised.” She said before noticing Lena. “Oh, you must be the new detective. Hi!” The woman shook her hand.
“This is Nia Nal, she is an agent assisting with the investigation.” Alex told Lena.
“Coffee?” Nia offered one cup to Lena, who refused it with a thank you.
“Where is Kara?” Alex said looking around. “We need to start this meeting.”
“I believe she still isn’t back.” Brainy answered and Lena could see Alex wasn’t happy.
“I told her to be here. I swear I’m going to kill her the next time she does this.” Alex said shaking her head.
“She is going to be here soon, don’t worry.” Kelly spoke and then she put her hand in Alex’s shoulder. Okay, they were definitely involved. Lena was actually surprised by how close everyone seemed to be. It was in fact a little worrying. She thought the FBI was a lot more professional than that.
And also, Lena was now more worried about what kind of person her partner was going to be. Apparently this Kara Danvers wasn’t good in following orders.
“I guess we will start without her. We have a lot to show you.” Alex said and everyone nodded. “Brainy.”
“Oh yes.” Brainy got a remote control and after clicking in some buttons, a screen with a projector showed up in the wall. The pictures that Lena had seen of the murders were being projected.
“The first body, well not really body since we only found the head, but anyway, he was found 5 months ago.” Brainy spoke while the picture of the first murder was being project.
“His name was Maxwell Lord, I’m sure you heard of him.” Alex continued.
“The owner of the logging company, right?” Lena indeed had heard about him. She actually had met him once in a gala she had to attend for one of her cases.
“Exactly. His decapitated head was found in his desk inside his home office. And well of course you can see the reference to the painting Vanitas Still Life.” Alex continued while different pictures of the crime scene were being shown. “Maxwell Lord was supposed to be in a business trip, however he never got in the plane.”
“When was he last seen?” Lena asked.
“5 days before we found the body. We have some footage of him at the airport. However none of him leaving the place.” Brainy answered while showing some pictures captured from the security cameras of the airport.
Lena took a deep breath, this was a lot more complex than she imagined. This murder had been planed and calculated. This wasn’t just a random killing.
“He was dead before being decapitated. And we found evidence of GHB in his blood, the sedative that produces drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, unconsciousness.” Sam continued to explain.
“We found no finger prints or DNA material in the crime scene.” Nia spoke this time. “The only thing that was found was a card with a note.”
“A note?” Lena asked trying to absorb all the information she was receiving.
“Mimeses.” A voice spoke from behind making everyone turn to the door with surprise. A tall woman with blonde hair was standing there. “That’s what she calls herself. She signed the murder.”
“Kara, that’s so nice of you to finally show up to the meeting I asked for you to attend.” Alex said with an ironic tone and the blonde woman gave her an apologetic smile.
“I was busy. I’m here now.” Kara spoke making Alex roll her eyes. The blonde walked towards Lena. “You must be detective Luthor.”
So this was the new partner Lena was going to have to work with. The first thought in her mind while looking at the blonde woman was how beautiful she was. She was wearing a white sweater under a brown blazer that went really well with her glasses. Honestly, Lena was feeling a little intimidated. Being around pretty women had this effect in Lena.
“Please, call me Lena. It is nice to finally meet you, detective.” Lena shook the woman’s hand. She could tell Kara was looking her up and down. Everyone in the room was looking at their interaction, which made Lena suddenly very uncomfortable. “So, how do you know the killer is a woman?”
“Brainy, can you please show her?” Kara asked and Brainy put a video on the screen. A woman from behind, dressed as a maid and carrying a big bag, entering what Lena assumed, was Maxwell house. “The doorman was drugged, but he remembers a maid getting in the house the night before the head was found. We asked the other workers and no one recognized the woman from the video. They also confirmed that no one was supposed to be working at that time.”
“There is also no other footage of the woman. She hacked the cameras of the place. All the cameras but one.” Brainy said surprising Lena.
“So she wants to be seen. To be noticed” Lena commented and everyone nodded.
“She is doing this to draw attention, she wants us to credit her for the murders.” Kelly explained this time.
“The fact that you are keeping this away from the media must be driving her crazy.” Lena pointed and Kelly agreed with a worried face. “What about the second victim?” Lena asked still trying to understand everything. Kara looked at Nia and then she nodded, like she was giving permission for her to speak.
“Her name was Leslie Willies. She is also a millionaire, an heir of her family fortune. She was last seen in a rooftop party. Her friend said she saw Leslie entering a room with a woman wearing a blue wig. This was three days before we found the body in front of Leslie’s mansion. The body had wires making it look like The Statue of Dying Gaul Murder.” Nia explained while pictures of the crime scene and the victim were being shown. Again, Lena recognized the woman, she had seen her in some parties. She was one of the richest people in National City.
“So this Mimeses, she is going after rich people, kidnapping them for 3 days and then killing and staging the body as a replica of an art work?” Lena asked just wanting to confirm that she was hearing everything right.
“Not a usual case for sure.” Brainy commented.
“You still can back down if you want, this case is not for everyone.” Kara said in a tone that Lena considered almost defying. “We need someone who will be fully committed, it is a hard case.”
Lena understood why Kara was making sure she was still up for the job. But she didn’t like the way Kara asked, like Lena wasn’t good enough for the job.
“It is true. You can still walk away.” Alex spoke looking at Lena. “But we really would appreciate your help.”
She could just refuse this opportunity and go back to her boring office to deal with stupid cases. That was the safe and comfortable option. Lena looked at the image of the crime scenes again. She knew she wouldn’t be able to let this go. She wanted to catch Mimeses.
“I want to help.” Lena said and she could see almost a disappointed look at Kara. At least Alex and the others were smiling. “This killer, she won’t stop until she gets what she wants. We need to do everything we can to stop her.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Alex said with a smile and a nod.
“Welcome to the team!” Sam spoke with enthusiasm making Lena smile.
Lena is going to have to work with a team. Something she hasn’t done in a long time. She is so used to being alone, the idea of working of a group of people every day scares but also excites her. Everyone seem to be pretty nice and easy to handle. Well, everyone except her new partner, Kara, who is going to be the person Lena is going to be spending most of her time with. Good luck to Lena.