Chapter Text
The rumors pertaining to the Mermaid of Metropolis started at the beach where members of Luthorcorp were stationed, about 10 miles away from Luthorcorp proper. Reports would cross Lex’s desk about some beautiful creature appearing in the water, though those reports never came with pictures, or any other means to verify their claims. All just hearsay and speculation. When Lex read the reports, he believed his employees were shirking their duties and blaming their failures on some ephemeral phantom. After receiving enough reports to create a veritable stack on his desk, Lex reprimanded the offending parties and demanded no further mentions of the spectre.
Lex was, however, unable to forget about the creature. Its presence was unspoken, but undeniably still out there. His employees would chatter about it, but shift or outright stop their conversations when Lex appeared in earshot. When Lex visited the beach, his employees would try to subtly move him away from the water. It was patently obvious they still believed in its existence.
His own investigation, namely stealing a few glances to look at the water, came up with nothing. If something was out there, it didn’t show up for him. Perhaps it wasn’t the right circumstances. The reports he received were often about encounters when the beach was nearly empty, save for one of his employees, and the spectre in the water.
Regardless, the natural conclusion to come to was that something needed to be done. The creature was becoming a distraction, no doubt cutting into productivity. But more than anything, its existence simply irked Lex. It was like a fishbone caught in his throat. Maybe the whole phenomenon would pass, but Lex was the kind of man to ensure success himself. He wouldn’t simply hope for things to change.
To find the creature and capture it— or even outright kill it— both were ideas Lex had considered, but he ultimately decided on being thorough. He would still find the thing, but he also wanted to tag it with a tracking device. Study it, determine its intentions, and then perhaps kill it. Assuming the creature truly existed, of course.
The tag Lex made for the creature was made out of a recently discovered material called kryptonite. It didn’t exist naturally on Earth, but traces of the stuff weren’t actually that difficult to acquire. Easy for Lex, at least.
Kryptonite went through various tests at Luthorcorp, and was found to be quite resilient. As for Lex, he happened to like the color. It was a deep green, and glowed faintly. The sample used was a beautiful gem about the size of a marble. It was incorporated into the tag, which was fashioned to look like a pin or earring. If the mermaid was as beautiful as reports claimed, the tag wouldn’t end up looking garish on it.
All that to say, Lex held the tag in one hand, firmly between two fingers. He rolled it around, amused at how the sunlight glinted off the stone. In his other hand were his shoes. He had taken them off, opting to walk the beach barefooted, though the rest of him remained well dressed. He had on dark slacks with a matching waistcoat and tie, along with a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
The evening sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, fiery oranges in the sky being traded in for a deep purple. A light breeze would occasionally drift by, but the beach itself remained warm. It was quiet, the only noises he could hear aside from the waves were the sounds of his footsteps. Lex was alone. There would be no interruptions; he would either find the creature, or return to civilization unsuccessful.
Perhaps it was a task he should’ve delegated to somebody else, but something deep inside Lex demanded he search for the creature himself.
Based on reports, which he had nearly memorized at that point, Lex was quite aware how the thing looked. Big and blue were two words that came up most often. Beautiful, and other descriptive words that indicated its attractiveness came up less often, but frequent enough that Lex decided it was probably accurate. The word fast was used a few times as well. Faster than a speeding bullet; the implication that one of his employees attempted to shoot at it not going unnoticed by Lex.
As for his own investigation, Lex could hardly say much about it.The ocean seemed to be as barren as the beach was. The ebb and flow of the tide washed up nothing onto the shore. The section of the beach he walked was fairly flat, allowing for a similarly barren view. Lex knew finding a spectre would be near impossible, so it was an expected, albeit disappointing, sight.
He continued to walk the beach’s shoreline, moving further away from where Luthorcorp employees set up camp. The spot on the beach was chosen because of its flat terrain, but now it seemed like a detriment. Of course a creature wouldn’t show up somewhere it couldn’t hide. Even fairytale creatures needed shelter.
The terrain changed the farther he walked away from the tents, at least. There was a slight incline which ultimately led to the top of a cliff. The ground became more rough, and the few rocks jutted out of the land around him. It was a nice spot that overlooked the water. If he had no objective, the cliff he found himself on would make a great spot to look at stars. He was far enough away from Metropolis that light pollution wasn’t an issue, and a whole gaggle of stars were speckling the sky.
Still, Lex was, in fact, standing on top of a cliff. It's not like he could walk any further. He stepped down, careful not to cut himself on one of the rocks.
Lex had brought girlfriends to the beach in the past. What did they like about it? Something about how it felt. They liked the water, he vaguely recalled. Swimming didn’t sound ideal. Certainly, a mermaid would most likely be in the water, but he wasn’t dressed for it. But maybe his past girlfriends were onto something.
With a sigh, Lex tossed his shoes to the side and rolled his pant legs up to the knees. He carefully entered the water, determined to walk around the cliff. The water wasn’t too deep, but the land beneath him was uneven. It felt slippery, like a combination of rocks and seaweed. But more than anything, it felt empty.
It was as if he entered a pocket dimension. All Lex had really done that evening was look around, take in the atmosphere, and listen to water’s movement. No, that wasn’t quite true. There was one other thing he could try, to go from passively looking around to actively seeking it out.
“Hello?” Lex called, feeling a bit ridiculous. What he was looking for was nothing more than a rumor. It didn’t exist. He was squandering his free time, shouting at nothing.
What a wasted effort it felt like. He may as well start making demands like ‘come out or I’ll pollute the waters,’ or something to that effect. Not that it’d make a difference. Lex pinched the bridge of his nose and whispered “Really, what am I doing here?”
Unsuccessful. That was the only way he could describe it. Lex turned around, and began walking back to the shore, but tripped after making a few steps.
Irritating. That was his amended opinion. Now his clothes were all wet, and he could feel it cling to his body. His back suddenly hurt, too. Whatever he tripped on, be it seaweed or what else, he decided he was going to take it with him and burn it.
He stood up, stumbling a bit, and looked down at what was beneath him. What he had tripped on was a groggy, shirtless being beneath him. If Lex wasn’t aware of the rumors, he may have initially thought a man had fallen from the cliff and knocked himself unconscious, but he knew better. The moonlight revealed that what Lex was looking at wasn’t a man at all.
In the water was the Mermaid of Metropolis. Their upper half looked human enough, but everything below the torso was fish. A long, blue tail curled out beneath him, glistening in the moonlight. It was around two yards in length, and didn’t have a single blemish on it. Nothing on the creature looked like an injury for that matter. And yet, its face looked a bit scrunched up, like how a human would express pain.
Lex knelt beside his tripping hazard, suddenly aware that both his hands were empty. He had dropped the tag when he tripped! Lex groped around, becoming increasingly more aware of the significance of his discovery. It was temporarily stunned, he decided. Lex needed to act fast. Quickly, he looked for anything glowing green in his immediate vicinity, finding the tag just to the side of the creature’s tail. He picked up the tag, an action then followed by touching the creature. Lex was overcome with academic curiosity. He had to examine it.
In response to his touch, the creature started to laugh, presumably. It could’ve been wheezing, but it also could’ve been ticklish, or even laughing at Lex, maybe.
“Stop that,” said Lex, pulling his hand off, having turned away from the creature. The thing’s scales were smooth.
“Are you… alright?” went the creature. Evidently, it was capable of speech.
“Of course I am,” Lex responded. “A spill like that isn’t going to do me in.”
“Oh, good.”
The creature seemed to be straining itself as it forced a smile. It spoke slowly, and it appeared to have trouble moving.
“I take it you’re not well yourself.”
“I’ve never felt like this before,” it answered.
“Hm. I’m sure you’ll get over it soon enough,” said Lex. A thought occurred to him then, he had nearly forgotten his objective. He wasn’t there to socialize with the creature at all.
Lex sat on top of the creature and leaned forward, locking eyes with it. The thing’s eyes were a sharp shade of blue. Even obscured in the darkness, the damned thing looked blue.
“W-what?” it breathed.
“Nothing, don’t worry about me,” said Lex.
He brought his hand to the creature’s cheek and traced along its chin with its finger. The creature’s face looked incredibly human. It had a black mop of wavy hair, and its smile indicated it had teeth like a human’s. Either way, once his finger reached the creature’s ear, Lex quickly pierced the skin with the tag and firmly secured it into place. The creature flinched, and a short whimper escaped from its lips.
“I didn’t—”
“You’re fine,” Lex answered.
Lex leaned back as he pulled out his phone from his breast pocket. The surface was a bit wet, but it worked just the same. He turned it on, confirming that the tracking device worked. On the center of his phone screen was a pale blue dot, blinking at their present location. At the bottom of the screen were their coordinates.
The creature tried to weakly scratch at its ear, but Lex put a stop to it. He grabbed its hand, briefly noting how much larger it was compared to its own, before interlocking their fingers. Its hand had more webbing than a human’s, Lex also noticed.
“It’s alright,” Lex purred, putting his phone away. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“No?”
“Consider my gift a sign of my protection. People have already tried to kill you, have they not?”
“What are you planning?” it softly asked.
“That’s—” began Lex, separating their hands and standing up again. What was his plan? Study the thing? He didn’t need to answer it, regardless. “Confidential.”
The creature sat itself up and looked at Lex. It seemed to be fascinated by Lex, even attempting to grab him. Lex took a step back, so the creature’s arm never reached him, instead returning to its side. It looked away for a moment, before looking back up at Lex. “You’ll be back?”
It was a question, but to Lex it sounded more like a request.
“If I have the time,” Lex answered.