Stryker's Island, Metropolis max security prison and where most if not all of Superman's rogues gallery ended up staying, including men and women like John Corben, Winslow Schott, Leslie Willis, and many more who couldn't be held at other prisons due to being metahumans that could not be held in other locations. That, and it being the first place Superman brought them in.
And yet, despite the good will of the one who imprisoned them and the efforts of the system to righten them up, none of them had nor really wanted to 'change for the better', as he called it, preferring to fester their hatred for Superman some more in some cases, capitalize on the fact they'd just be imprisoned again yet able to break out in others, and simple routine for the rest.
All sans one, who incidentally had turned out to be the one who hated Superman the most of them all less than a month prior... and then gave up everything he had to Bruce Wayne and his company before turning himself in.
Lex Luthor, formerly one of, if not THE richest and most powerful man in the world, was busying his day by reading a book that, incidentally, was about a man that had commited unspeakable evils yet managed to find redemption, if only after intense physical and psychological suffering. Not all that different from what happened to him.
"Only I actually got to live." Lex said to himself as he closed the book and set it on the table. Despite what many believed, he no longer had 'prison privileges', so to speak: his cell contained nothing more than a bunk, a sink, and a table, basically the same as everyone else in the prison. As for the interactions with the inmates themselves, aside from some jeering and mocking, and a punch then and there, simply welcomed him as one of their own instead of, say, giving the silent treatment, stabbing him with shivs or worse.
Despite the danger, though, he didn't really care about all that, and in fact wouldn't have minded it.
During these last weeks, he had been thinking, mostly about Doom Slayer and his decision to let him live. Sure, he had forced him to feel the suffering he had inflicted on others as a punishment, but he thought he'd also blow his head off after that just to make sure he wouldn't become a problem in the future, and given his past actions he'd be in the right. Granted, he HAD also told him his reasons, but still, Lex couldn't help but feel skeptical and dubious even after all this time.
"And it's not like I can do a goody two shoes act." He mused to himself. Doom Slayer may have spared him, and Superman may look forward to his rehabilitation, but he was pretty sure that the world would rather see him dead than out of prison, including himself. "Mph, I wonder how's Mercy doing. Hope Wayne let her keep her job, or at least make her his limo-"
Suddenly, Lex heard a explosion, followed very shortly by the cell shaking... and the cell's electric gate opening without no one at the other side. Then, half a minute or so later, began the sounds of shouting, fighting, and even gunfire.
A riot had broken out in Stryker's Island. But
"The hell was that?" Lex muttered as he, ignoring the survival instinct he had acquired throughout his life, stepped out of his cell to see what happened.
Lex saw as the inmates ran out of their cells and began to overwhelm the guards, who where trying their damnest to hold them back and away from the torn down walls, and not doing a particularly good job at it. Then again, they had never suffered this kind of mass breakout before, and in the few cases it seemed one would happen Superman would end up arriving to stop it. But Superman wasn't there.
"What the hell is going on?!" He didn't expect someone to answer, so a certain DJ-turned-villain doing so as he flew by surprised him.
"Breakout, richboy, breakout!" Leslie cackled before flying away.
Lex looked around, watching as criminals of all kinds ran out of their cells, before warily going back into his. There was no way he'd be leaving, and not just because he had promised he would. Besides, where would he go? The entire world hated his guts, and if the police didn't gun him down an angry mob would rip him apart, or some shady organization would try to capture him to pull every secret he had on his brain, someone would try to get their revenge on him...
And then he felt himself thumping against something heavy and metallic.
"I knew I'd find you out, you snake." A metallic voice with a british accent said from behind him. "Saying you've changed, only to try to escape like always."
Turning around slowly, Lex found himself face to face with a man who had half of his face ripped, showing a metallic, bronze-coloured exoskeleton, skull and fake skin included. If looks could kill, Lex would had dropped dead.
John Corben. Lex had never got to see him after coming to Striker's, and even before that given his life, but still remembered he was a dangerous man, one that could threaten Superman. The warden didn't to shut him off for the possibility he might stay like that for good. There was also something else about him, something that Lex couldn't really remember. Doom Slayer's 'session' had basically scrambled sections of his memory.
The fact that the light he emitted had somehow gone from green to red made it worse.
"Uh, I didn't plan on escaping, really." Lex meekly said, thinking that Corben was calling him out for being a lying bastard or something like that. "I just wanted to see what was happening."
Unfortunately, Corben wasn't there to call him out.
"Well, not anymore." Corben said menacingly, apparently having not heard Lex greeting him, or more likely not giving a damn going by the grin he had on his human face. "I can finally pay you back for the 'kindness' you showed me all those times: sending me to a suicide mission, trapping me on a cold, lifeless body..."
Lex's eyes widened in horror when what he remembered from Corben finally hit him: the man utterly hated him for what he had done to him, to the point he only hated Superman because he had always foiled his plans to kill him.
And in this particular occasion, Superman wasn't there to stop Metallo.
At this, Lex did the only thing he could do: run.
"Yes, that's right Luthor, run, run from the metal monster you created and who will have his sweet revenge on you for the torment you inflicted upon him!" He heard Metallo half scream. half laugh from behind him.
All Lex could do was run as fast as he could, because he knew that if Metallo caught him, he'd be dead, or would end up wishing he was. Dodging both inmate and guard as he ran, Lex made his way through the prison, not really know where to go and getting even more frantic as he heard the heavy, metallic stomps of Metallo from behind him.
And then, after a chase that seemed to last over an eternity, he entered into the laundry room of the prison, one that only had one door. He had just unwittingly trapped himself! All he could do was to close and dock the door, hide inside a washing, and pray that Metallo couldn't find him.
"Got you now, you bald rich bastard!" Metallo screamed as he barged into the room and, after seeing no one, began tearing it apart to find him. "You think I'm stupid?! I know you're hiding here somewhere! No money, no guns, no power... and no stupid good-natured alien to save your sorry ass from me!"
'Oh God, oh God, oh God...' Lex had never been a particularly religious man, and even less after Superman and other superpowerful entities made their appearances on Earth and casted doubts about the existance of God, but after meeting face to face with Doom Slayer
Didn't save him when eventually Metallo reached his hiding spot and pulled him out by the neck.
"Found you, you snake..." Metallo whispered as he began crushing his throat.
Lex tried to breathe, to pry the cyborg's hands off of his neck, but the hold was simply too strong, and he was growing weaker and weaker with every passing moment.
And then a white and red blur bursted through one of the walls and slammed into Metallo, sending him flying back and freeing Lex, who after falling to the ground promptly began to gasp.
"Of bloody course..." He heard Metallo growl as he stood up, only to receive a faceful of broken machinery. "One of you had to come at the last second and stop my fun."
Lex, busy as he was coughing and caressing his throat, didn't see an open hand hovering over him.
"You okay down there?" Said the voice of a young girl. "Sorry for being late, this isn't the only prison hit."
Looking up, Lex saw it was Supergirl, Superman's female companion, who was smiling down at him.
"You?"
Supergirl huffed, but in a good-natured manner. "Where you expecting Superman? He's a tad busy keeping the others from reaching the docks."
"If I can be honest with you, I wasn't expecting anyone." Lex replied as he grabbed her hand, letting her lift him effortlessly. "What happened? I mean the explosions."
"I've no idea either, Superman just told me and Steel to come here to Striker's." Supergirl explained.
Metallo chose that moment to stand up from the pile of rubble he had been under.
"Lassie, if you step aside I promise I'll come in... but only after I rip his bloody head off his shoulders." He said as he slowly advanced towards them, a manic half grin on his face, or rather a full grin that coulnd't be fully shown because of his exposed skull.
"I'm sorry, but do you really think I'll let you murder Luthor? Besides, you're smiling. I've learned that in bad guys, that's a telltale sign they want to rip someone else's head next after their original goal. Oh, and one of those was you. Did you hit your brain or something?"
Metallo sccoffed. "At least I tried. Still, do you really want to save this bastard? Oh, what am I saying, of course you would! That flying brick has indoctrinated you!"
It was Supergirl's turn to scoff. "Why do some bad guys call a good set of morals 'indoctrination'? And besides, how can you even move? Thought the warden would keep you shut off, and we have all the kryptonite on a safe place."
The metal villain just laughed, this time rather derangedly. "They gave me an alternative, new energy source to keep me active, and thought that leaving me with nothing to power me would be tantamount to murder, as stupid as it sounds. It may not be poison to you, but it at least gives me enough strength to kill you, just like last time!"
Supergirl merely smiled. "Bring it on, then! I'm not scared of some-"
Neither her nor Luthor expected Metallo to pounce on her fast enough to generate a small shockwave; even the kryptonian had trouble seeing him jump so quickly!
"Whatever they gave me is better than some rock from space!" Metallo shouted as he began pounding Supergirl, shattering the floor beneath her with each hit. Sparks came of out fists, but he didn't seem to care despite noticing it. "It makes me strong enough to dent the alloy of my body1
The attacks, while hurtful, didn't stop Supergirl from uppercutting Metallo, sending him flying off of her.
"Supergirl!" Lex exclaimed as he ran to her and helped her up.
"Don't worry, it just stings a lot." She reassured him before looking back at Metallo. "You think you'll kill me by just punching me?" She said after spitting blood. "I've been punched, kicked, slammed and even bitten by worse guy than you!"
Instead of replying, Metallo jumped at Lex, who would have died if not for Supergirl shoving him away before ramming Metallo, both falling to the ground in a lock. However, rather than using just his hands, he placed his left arm around her neck and pegan to press.
"Y'know, I may not feel the hold crushing your pretty little neck, but I can hear the bones snapping." Metallo growled. "Be happy, others would do far worse given your beauty. I just want to kill you and show it to your brick of a friend, then kill Luthor. Don't care if he rips me apart for this, all I care is killing the bald bastard. And you had to get in my way..."
Supergirl tried to say something, anything, but all that came from her mouth was hacking and coughing as she tried to breathe.
All the while, Lex could do nothing but watch, out of fear and because he knew he couldn't do anything, and that he would be next, blaming himself for being so helpless.
At least until he heard a voice in his head.
'Don't just stand there and let that metallic baboon kill her, you fool! She saved your life! Do something!'
'But what?!'
"You created his body, didn't you?' The voice retorted. 'Don't tell me you lost IQ points by turning over a damn leaf! Hell, this could be a great opportunity to remind yourself the reason you were Superman's worst enemy, someone to be feared!'
The voice made him think. Metallo's endoskeleton had a weakness on his neck he had placed deliberately in case he turned rogue, but never used for various reasons, chiefest among them the lack of interactions they had had in the past.
So, against his better judgement and survival instinct, he did the one thing he never thought he'd do.
He jumped on a robot that could match Superman one on one and wanted to tear him apart limb by limb, and tried to shut him off. Even if he died, Supergirl would get to live.
"Get off of me!" Metallo screamed when he felt Luthor's weight on his back, his rage and desire to kill him increasing tenfold when he realized the object of his vengeance was literally straddling him and hitting his neck for some reason. "Nevermind, stay there so I can rip your damn head off!"
Lex knew he was mere seconds from dying, but he refused to stop know, knowing that he had just put himself into harm's way for the possibility of stopping Metallo.
And then his hand pressed something that gave in, and both he, Metallo and Supergirl heard something snap inside the last's body.
As the glow on his eyes died out, Metallo's body fell to the floor in a heap, motionless.
"You know, just because I left THAT life behind doesn't mean I've been rendered harmless." Lex told Metallo as he gasped, even though something told hime he had only been able to shut down Metallo by sheer, pure luck and quick thinking. He was also fairly certain that what he just said was corny at the very least, but if Superman could do it, so could he, no? He didn't have to make it sound heroic or anything. Then, he tended to Supergirl, who aside from some bruises didn't seem to be worse for the wear. Didn't stop him from asking "Are you okay?"
"I think so. I said it, I've been punched by worse things than some Robocop copy." She said as she wiped the blood off her mouth. "Still thanks for the asssistance." She then perked up, as if she heard something. "Have to leave you, Big Blue is calling me. Oh, and thanks for the assist, too!"
And with that Supergirl left, leaving Lex alone with his thoughts, an inactive John Corben, and a strange yet welcome combination of accomplishment, joy, and fullfillment, even though he didn't fully understand why.
That still left him having to drag a three hundred pound cyborg back inside by himself, for some reason he still didn't get.
So, new Lex seems to have accommodated to his new life rather smoothly. Sorry for the rather abrupt ending, my head is now being filled with Sonic the Hedgehog because I've started YET ANOTHER story, Rise of the Eggmen. Don't bother reading it, it's just one chapter long. That, and trying to get out of my novel's writer block to finally surpass the 100k words (and a few other things I don't think you have to know about).