(Lead) By Example

When he was nine, Lex Luthor was saved by a mysterious teen with green eyes in Smallville. At twelve, Lex runs away from home and meets Clark Kent in Metropolis. On the cusp of adulthood, Lex learns of the hero called Superman. Every time their lives cross, they are changed irrevocably.

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Inspired by the song An Act of Kindness by Bastille, and the following quote by Christopher Reeve, the original on-screen Superman. I'd also like to formally apologize to Batman.

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I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. – Christopher Reeve

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In the year 1989, a little town in the middle of Kansas named Smallville was known for producing high quality corn products. Fresh from the stalk. Creamed corn. Canned corn. Animal feed. Ethanol. Cornstarch. Anything that couldn't be made at the minor factories of Smallville was processed elsewhere but made from Smallville corn. They were very proud of their corn.

Then a meteor shower struck the town, the most devastating on record in the United States.

Entire fields went up in flames, the factories were damaged or destroyed, and many businesses and buildings that had been in families for generations were gone in a flash, as were many of the inhabitants of the town.

Rather than let the devastation defeat them, the Smallvillians simply rebuilt. And a family by the name of Kent adopted a son, a child found wandering in the smoking fields after the meteors hit. No one ever found his birth parents. And he grew up there, in Smallville, with the Kents as his loving parents.

But that was all something Lex would learn later, much later. Why would he care what happened three years before he was born?

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Visiting Smallville with his father was probably a punishment. That's what Lex decided while they were in the helicopter, flying over fields and forests and corn. His father was punishing him. Why else did they take the helicopter instead of a car?

"Stop shutting your eyes, Lex! Luthors are not afraid!"

Except he was afraid. Lex hated heights. His father knew this.

It took every ounce of Lex's willpower not to jump from the helicopter and puke as soon as they touched down. Instead, he moved inconspicuously to the side and took a long pull from his inhaler. A weak son, who needed help just to breathe. A coward. How was this boy a Luthor?

Lex watched his dad sweet talk the factory owners for awhile, really he did. Ostensibly this trip was so Lex could see how a Luthor acquired a new business. So Lex did as he was told. He watched. He watched his father promise the owners of the creamed corn factory a lot of money, from him and in future profits if they worked together. He watched them stand around in the midday Kansas sun and talk. And talk.

He was nine and he was bored.

His gaze drifted to the corn fields all around them. The factory stood in front of him, the parking lot-cum-helicopter pad stood behind, but everywhere else was just corn. As far as Lex could see, more and more corn. Lex had never seen corn that wasn't already on his plate to be eaten before.

There was a strange whooshing noise and the corn moved. It wasn't just the wind either. In the distance, Lex saw a clear cut through the corn as something – something fast and big – rushed through. The stalks stood upright again a few moments later, but Lex knew what he'd seen.

There was something in the corn fields.

Lex looked at his father and the factory owners, but they were caught up in each other and not paying him any mind. Then he quietly walked to the fence that kept the corn in the field and not in the parking lot and cautiously climbed over it. Within a few feet, all Lex could see was corn. It was a bit scary to not be able to see around you, but he moved on, even with his heart pounding.

"H-hello?" he asked, voice shaking.

No response.

He knew he was headed toward where he'd seen the corn move. Or rather, where he'd seen the corn moving towards. There was no point going where it had been. Whatever had moved the corn would be gone from there by now.

"Hello?" he called again, slightly less shaky and louder, as he got further into the corn.

Mid-day turned to evening in the blink of an eye. Lex turned to the sky and saw what had to be dozens, no, over a hundred meteors raining down. They were large, dark masses that crowded out the sun, on fire from their trip through the atmosphere.

"Dad," Lex breathed out. Then again, "Dad!"

If his eyes weren't being fooled, there was a meteor headed straight for this field. Lex turned and stumbled back toward the factory, but he was slow compared to the falling, blazing rock. He could hear the rumble of its approach, louder and louder, and the impacts of meteors all around, somewhere out of his view. The sound of a car alarm sounded from far away.

Lex tripped over his own two feet, or in a hole in the ground, what did it matter. He hit the ground with a sharp cry, both from pain and from terror. Turning over, Lex watched the meteor fall down upon him.

And then suddenly his vision was overtaken by green eyes. "I've got you."

The world exploded around him.

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Smallville Regional Medical Center was not Metropolis General Hospital. It was smaller, the walls were creamier colored, and louder. Well, the noise and activity level were probably because of the meteor shower that had just half leveled the town, but it still made for a lot of chaos that Lex wasn't prepared to handle.

He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a small whine of noise, curling up on his bed. He wasn't injured, the doctors said. He wasn't hurt. No one could tell them why he'd lost all his hair. And though he had no headache, no aches on his body at all, the world simply felt like too much. It was too much sound, too much light, too much action. Too much. Too much.

He opened his mouth to call for his dad, but no sound came out.

Whimpering again, Lex wondered if he'd get in trouble for pulling the covers over his head, or if he got out of the bed entirely to hide underneath it. His dad was being really really nice to him, considering the circumstances, but Lex still wasn't sure if that kind of behavior was acceptable.

"-fine. I bet all it takes is a shower and a night's sleep."

Lex opened his eyes as the familiar voice drifted in through his open door. That was the voice of the man who'd…who'd saved him. Lex didn't know how the guy had done it, but he'd sheltered Lex. In that field of corn, the teen with the green eyes had covered Lex's body just before the meteor landed on them, and somehow….they were alive.

"I don't know. You've never been this weak before," a woman said in concern. Lex saw her enter the view through the window and open door. Red hair and pale skin, just like Lex's own mom, but in a way that hinted at small town grace rather than uptown poise.

There was a sandy haired, sun tanned man with her, pushing a wheelchair, and in the wheelchair was a young teen with shaggy dark hair, broad shoulders, and legs too long for the chair.

"We'll figure it out, Martha," the man said. "Like we always do. Together."

Lex sat up in his bed as they passed out of sight. The teen spoke again while their voices were lost in the din of noise coming from the rest of the hospital. "It's a weird feeling, being so weak, but I don't know, mom, I don't think it's permanent. And who knows, maybe I'll be even stronger after this. I think-"

Lex was still staring at the hallway beyond his door when Lionel Luthor strode in. His face was stormy upon entry but lightened, with visible effort, upon seeing Lex sitting up.

"Son! How are you feeling?" he asked, coming over to wrap Lex in his arms for a hug.

For a few moments, Lex's mouth opened and shut without a sound. His dad pulled away and watched him, clearly not sure if he should be upset at the lack of voice or not, at this sign of weakness. But the strange teen's words were still ringing in Lex's ears. Lex was weak right now, but it wasn't permanent.

"W-who…," he managed, and his throat felt sore with it. "Who saved me?"

Lionel shook his head, still holding Lex by the shoulders as if worried Lex would collapse without them for support. "It's a miracle you're not dead, Lex. You were lucky. Hell, even the helicopter was destroyed in the shower."

Shaking his head a little, Lex asked, a bit more earnestly. "No. The, the guy with me…in-in the field. He saved me. Who…was he, dad?"

"I didn't make it a point to find out," Lionel told him. "Getting you to safety was more important. Now, how do you feel?"

Lex's eyes trailed down to his hands in his lap. Dad hadn't given the other guy a spare thought. That shouldn't have been surprising, but it still hurt. Lex had so many questions. How had they survived? Was the other guy okay? He'd been in a wheelchair, so he must've been hurt, but he didn't seem upset about it. How did he do that? And did he know what had made the corn move, just before the meteors fell? Had he seen it before he'd come to Lex's aid?

"Lex?"

Lifting his eyes again, Lex nodded. He hummed out a positive answer, that he was okay, but didn't say another word.

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"Did you know all your friends only like you because they think you have cancer?"

Lex narrowed his eyes at the young, blonde man across from him. "No they don't, Oliver."

They were sitting in a library in the Queen family mansion in Star City. Oliver Queen, twelve years old and feeling superior, was leaning on the rolling ladder against the wall, looking at a book. He wasn't actually reading the book, though. It was hard to read a book that was in Latin, even for Lex, especially when it was upside down. Lex himself had the latest issue of Warrior Angel in his hands.

"Yes they do," Oliver said, like this whole conversation was an afterthought. "They told me so."

Lex was doing his best to give all his attention to his comic, but Oliver was being supremely distracting. "You don't even know my friends."

Oliver attended a prep school, Excelsior Academy, on the east coast. One day, Lex would probably join him there. For now, Lex simply attended a private school in Metropolis. There was no way Oliver knew his friends, few though they were.

"Allison Carver. Jeremy Mackelson. Nelson Rudgers," Oliver listed lazily, flipping a page in the book.

Lex's fingers stiffened on his comic book. No. How did Oliver know those names? And if he knew those names, did he really know Lex's friends? And if he did, did Lex's friends really only put up with him because they thought he had cancer? Was Oliver right?

"They think you're dying."

"I-I told them about the-"

"That's how they think you got cancer," Oliver said dispassionately, shutting the book and setting it aside, not in its proper spot. He met Lex's gaze. "Everyone knows those meteors were radioactive."

Lex was shaking. The Warrior Angel comic was crinkling slightly in his hands, though he did his best to hold it still. He glanced at the door to the library. Their parents were busy with meetings about something or other. That's why they'd been left alone together. What if Lex-

Scoffing, Oliver asked, "What? Gonna go run to your daddy?" he teased cruelly. "Because someone finally told you the truth?"

Softly, Lex said, "You don't know the truth."

The truth was that no one looked at Lex the same way anymore. He was ten, and he only had three people that he might be able to call friends. Everyone else stared at Lex like…like…well, like he was dying of cancer. They treated him like glass, if they were an adult, or treated him like shit, if they weren't.

The truth was that, even with three people who treated him like he was normal – or as normal as the son of a billionaire businessman could be, Lex was a pariah. He knew two languages fluently and was learning a third. He could tell when a classmate's family was about to go bankrupt before they did. He excelled in math and reading and science, and often couldn't help but try and correct the teachers when they got something wrong, which just ended up with him in trouble. He was no good at the arts, at piano or guitar or singing or painting, but everyone else at the school was at least passable at one of those, if not more. He was the dying, billionaire, talentless genius; the know-it-all who couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"I know that you like that stupid comic because the hero's bald, just like you," Oliver snapped, coming over and snatching the comic from Lex's hands.

"Hey!" Lex cried out, standing up. "Give that back!"

Lex had paid for that with his own money, earned by doing small jobs for his mother. It was his first personal purchase.

Oliver waved the comic around in the air, just too high for Lex to grab it back. Lex cursed being short, reaching for the comic with all his might and failing. After a few tries, he stopped, realizing that he looked pathetic. Luthors don't look pathetic. Luthors don't show how you've upset them. Luthors don't let others take their things. Luthors don't-Luthors don't-

"Aw, gonna cry, baldy?" Oliver sneered. He held open the comic and read from it. "Don't worry, I've got you. No harm will come to you as long as I'm around." He scoffed. "I can't believe you like this garbage."

Then, before Lex could reply, Oliver ripped the comic in two, and then four, before letting the scraps fall to the library floor. Lex's heart stopped in his chest. Heat burned behind his eyes, his face screwing up with the effort not to cry, and he clenched his fists. Oliver noticed everything.

"Gonna cry? Or are you gonna punch me?" he asked, derision in every word. "Go ahead. Take a swing. I bet I don't even bruise. I bet you're as weak as everyone thinks you are, Cancer Boy."

Lex wasn't a fighter. Anyone could look at him and know that. He was so small, hadn't had a growth spurt like Oliver. And he'd never taken any sort of martial art, not even for defense or exercise purposes. Lex knew that if he threw a punch at Oliver, Oliver would punch back, and when Lionel found out about it he would be disappointed. It wouldn't be disappointment that Lex fought someone else. It would disappointment that Lex hadn't won, that Lex had let someone else bruise him, that Lex's failures as a Luthor were so clearly on display.

So instead of fighting, Lex turned and hurried from the room. He would've liked to say he didn't run away, but it would be a lie. He ran down the hallway, to the back door of the mansion, and out into the gardens. Oliver didn't like the gardens, or the outdoors at all, so he wouldn't follow Lex here. Lex ran until he found a secluded area, under the shade of a tree to keep the sun off his head, and then collapsed into the grass.

He gasped, unused to running so far, and rolled over onto his back. The sun was shining down through the leaves, creating a dappled effect on everything it touched. It was calming, but only insomuch as it allowed Lex to let his tears out rather than hold them in.

Warrior Angel wouldn't have run away. Warrior Angel was strong and saved people. No one thought he was weak or worthy of bullying just because he was bald. Why couldn't Lex be strong like that? Why was Lex such a weakling?

"Being so weak, I don't think it's permanent. And who knows, maybe I'll be even stronger after this."

It didn't take a superhero to be strong, and good, and save people. The guy who'd saved Lex during the meteor shower wasn't a superhero with super powers – or maybe he was, who knew – but he'd been brave and good. If Lex could be brave and good like the guy who'd saved him…maybe he'd become stronger too. Maybe he could become strong enough to make his baldness not matter.

Maybe he could be a hero too.

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"Where is it?" Lionel demanded. Lex shook his head mutely. "WHERE IS IT?!"

"Father, I—"

Lionel advanced on Lex, and it was only a moment later that Lex found himself stumbling to the side from the force of the slap. "You've been going through my things. Is it not bad enough that you can't accomplish even the simplest of tasks? Now you have to become a thief as well?!"

The office was in disarray. Papers were scattered on and around the desk, knickknacks and baubles were knocked over, furniture wasn't where it was meant to be, books were tossed from the shelves without care for where they landed. And Lionel Luthor's briefcase was upended, everything inside of it lying around it on display.

Lex tried to meet his father's eyes but couldn't, instead focusing on a button halfway up his father's shirt.

"I didn't take anything," he mumbled, chin wobbling.

"Do not lie to me," Lionel said like a threat. "For heaven's sake, you can't even look me in the eye while you speak to me? You're being so obvious," he lectured. "If you can't look someone in the face when you lie to them, you shouldn't do it at all!"

With effort, Lex lifted his gaze. He made it to his father's nose, which he figured was better than nothing. Voice shaking, he said, "I didn't take anything."

Lionel gave a harrumph. "Pathetic."

A brief flare of indignation lit in Lex. He hadn't stolen anything. He knew better than that. "I didn't come into your office, and I didn't steal anything. I swear to God, fathe-"

The second blow was unexpected and sent Lex to the floor with a sharp cry of pain. When he looked up at his father in shock, and not a little bit of horror, there was a glare so fierce on his face that Lex's entire body trembled.

"Do not swear to God with me," Lionel hissed. "You take responsibility for your own faults, or so help me, I'll make you regret it."

"Lionel!"

Lillian Luthor hurried into the room, her voice appalled. Lex looked up at her from the floor. From this angle, her enlarged stomach seemed gigantic. When his little brother was born, Lex had decided, Lex would protect him. He wouldn't let his father act like this with Lex's brother. Lex would protect him.

"Lionel, you can't keep doing this," Lillian told him, pleading. "We have another child coming into this world. You have to stop."

Lionel frowned. "And will having a little brother change our current son from a thief?" he asked. "Will that make Lex successful?"

"Yes."

Both parents turned to watch as Lex pushed himself off the floor. Lex squared his shoulders and met his father's eyes, even as his cheek burned from the earlier slap.

"I'll be successful," Lex announced. "I'll be successful in protecting Julian. I'll protect him from anyone who wants to hurt him, including you!" He'd shield Julian from Lionel as effectively as that kid in Smallville had shielded him from the meteors; like Warrior Angel protected the Guardian Realm from Devilicus.

For a moment, Lionel looked proud of Lex's bravery and gall. Lillian certainly did, if also sad that such a statement had to be made. Then Lionel narrowed his eyes at his son.

"Do you think you're some sort of hero, Lex?" he asked derisively. "You read too many comic books."

He had more to say, and so did Lex. Lex would've said something about the countless Greek mythology books – heck, all mythology books – that his father foisted upon him every day, all the history lessons and math lessons and business meetings Lex had to attend in order to learn what was expected of him. He had countless words building up, countless grievances to lay before his father and demand he own up to his own faults. From the look on Lionel Luthor's face, he had quite a few of his own to air.

But neither man got a chance to say them, for at that moment, Lillian's water broke. Lex's baby brother was coming. Now.

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tbc