Luthor family’s new world order

chapter 8: the executive order (part 2 of 2)

“Boy, boss, you sure are humane!” Otis grinned approvingly, and Lex’s mood was dampened again.
“I know,” he deadpanned, voice flat and irritated. “I’m a Luthor, and a US President, how much more diabolical can you get?” he slouched tiredly in his seat.
“Gee, boss, I don’t know!” Otis answered.
“That was a rhetorical question,” Lex snapped at him.
“A what?” Otis scratched his head. He was never one for big words, that was always in Eve and Lex’s field.
“Just get out and go do as I ask!” Lex snapped again, pointing an angry finger towards the door.
“Yes boss!” Otis replied cheerfully, then he followed in Eve’s footsteps, off to tell the world that Lex wanted to see and record every alien dissection ever completed.
In the months to follow, as other, smaller elections took place, Lex’s dissenters finally became vocal. Lex’s approval rating plummeted while members of the other side slowly began to garner support. Sadly, though, it was still not enough. Lex’s approval ratings had not fallen far enough and, once again, all of his opposers were left in the dust.

Candidates: Olivia Marsdin and Lex Luthor
Party: Democrat and Republican
Home state: New York and California
Running mate: Cat Grant and Otis Graves
States carried: 15 and 35
Vote Count: 87,843,000 and 204,967,000
Percentage: 30% and 70%

Lex cackled to himself as the votes were tallied, and he made a mental note to watch the recording of the grand reveal later just so he could screenshot Olivia’s crestfallen face and set it as his phone’s background. It was just too hilarious and precious! That stupid little girl thought she could challenge the mighty Lex Luthor! Well, didn’t her numbers disappoint? No one messed with a Luthor and survived. No one could topple the king of the world! The numbers spoke for themselves! The Luthor’s new world order was only getting stronger!
ooo
Kara's “prophetic dreams” continued alongside Lex’s reign of anti-alien terror. This time, though, Kara actually saw him face to face in her nightmares.
“Why hello there, little Kara,” he crooned as he leaned over her vulnerbal, terrified, shaking form.
“Mr. Luthor!” she whined up at him, whimpering.
“Ah, ah, ah!” he waggled a finger mockingly in her face. “That’s Mr. President to you!”
“What are you going to do to me?” Kara whimpered again.
“What do you think?” Lex replied, then he turned away from her.
“MISS TESCHMACHER!!!” and Kara suddenly heard a high-pitched squeak of metal wheels being rolled along the floor. What arrived was a cart chock-full of horrific metal tools, each of them sharp and glaring in the harsh white light. Eve Teschmacher, in a nurse’s outfit, was the one rolling the tool table in.
“Mr. Luthor!” she sing-songed as she handed him a scalpel, then Kara heard no more as she began to scream and cry and panic, begging for mercy, or help, or even death. As long as it was an escape, she didn’t care what she begged for. This time, she was able to move. She was still strapped down and rendered immobile that way, but she was not paralyzed in this dream like she had been in the last one. Now, she was free to squirm and to scream, but if anything, that only made the terror and horror and agony of the situation that much wore. Her squirming made every cut into her body jagged and awkward and her screaming did nothing but cause her to feel even more panicked, creating a vicious cycle of panic and pain and pain and panic.
Suddenly, though, Kara was aware of three more screams echoing her own. She craned her head back and squinted through the pain.
“Alex! Mom! Dad!” and sure enough it was, tied down tight and forced to watch the dissection was Kara’s own foster family. She began to scream and cry again, but this time she begged for her family to be spared, both from the same torture she was enduring, and from having to witness it at all, but Lex only shook his head teasingly down at her as he continued to dissect her piece by piece. She sobbed as she heard her family screaming, and it made her spilling blood run cold as she realized that she could pick out each scream. She sobbed at the injustice of it all, and wailed in pain. This nightmare seemed like one that would never end.
“Kara! KARA!! KARA!!!!” Kara could hear them scream, screaming for her, screaming her name. She heard Lex’s thunderous laughter echo above her head, then he grabbed at her and began to shake her violently, tormenting her and teasing her as her blood and guts continued to spill out of her body. Faster and harder he shook her until she was no longer screaming, but gasping, gasping for air. All around, she could still hear her family screaming for her, but she could no longer scream back. She could only lie helpless as Lex shook her over and over again, nearly slamming her head into the operating table on which she was strapped.
“Kara! KARA!!!! KARA!!!!” the screams of her family faded into one voice: Alex’s. And Kara felt Lex’s hands soften and shrink until they were almost gentle, though they continued to shake her violently. Then Kara’s eyes finally shot open, not to the glaring light of a camera, but to the peaceful blackness of a dark room.
“Alex?” the young alien croaked, then she said no more as she launched into her older sister’s arms and wept.
The next day at school was no better. The group of students who had worn the Nazi costumes on Halloween were officially rallying outside all of the Midvale school buildings. They had since been attempting to sue the school for violation of free speech and although it still hadn’t gotten very far, with anti-alien sentiments on the rise, some of the court members were starting to see the upstart students in a more pitiable and favorable light. As the students themselves had said, they had committed no crimes or acts of violence while wearing their outfits. As such, it was unconstitutional for them to be punished for wearing such clothing. It was still a crappy argument that quite a few people disagreed with, but because they were not technically wrong, their case was supported. And again, with Lex in power, a victory for them seemed more and more likely every day.
It was not the sort of thing Kara needed to see while returning to school after a stressful and lonely winter break. It was during times like these when she wished she could have just died on Krypton with the rest of her family, or followed Kal into the depths of space forever. She was almost glad now that he had not come to Earth, because he was only a baby, but who knew what the likes of Lex would be willing to do, even to a harmless, little child? Kara shuddered to think about the hell Kal would’ve suffered, had he made it to Earth. Maybe it was better that he was dead. Now, if only Kara could have followed…
“Just ignore them,” Alex wrapped a protective arm around Kara’s shaking shoulders, but it was hard to do when all she needed was to look out a window in order to see older angry faces peering in at her, signs high and uniforms on. Even if they weren’t yelling at her specifically, it certainly felt that way, and it made her blood feel colder than the ice outside. She did her best not to sit by any windows that day. At least until the volatile group could be escorted off the property by police. But even when they were gone, it did little to appease Kara’s nerves. Her entire family and half the school were in the exact same boat.