Lucien is vaguely aware that Themyscira doesn't allow male visitors except under the direst of circumstances. And while Wonder Woman does seem to be in quite the rush, she doesn't seem overly panicked or afraid. Even still, maybe it's everything they just did together, but Lucien figures he might as well offer anyways.
"Would you like us to come and help?"
Pausing, the Amazon Princess turns to regard them both for a moment. Her lips thin as she looks between him and Claire.
"I… cannot allow you to join us on Themyscira, Lucien Luthor. It is not permitted. But Claire's presence would certainly not go unappreciated…"
There's a brief pause before Claire scoffs.
"I'll stay here, thanks."
Far from taking offense to the hybrid clone's caustic tone, Diana just smiles, looking like she almost expected Claire to rise to his 'defense' after her rejection. Bobbing her head in an easy nod, the superheroine rolls her shoulders.
"Understood. And… thank you for the offer. But we Amazons are strong. It will be fine."
That last part is directed at him and it's the last thing she says before Diana is gone. Lucien doesn't even get the chance to respond, left blinking before glancing to Claire with a frown.
"You know, you didn't have to stay on my behalf Claire. If there's something happening on Themyscira that even Diana is needed for, your assistance would have probably been helpful too…"
Claire huffs, pouting a bit as she shrugs her shoulders and averts her gaze.
"I don't want to give them the impression that I agree with all of their ways. Sure, there are bad men out there like the Professor. But there are also good men too… like you. I'd rather be here, spending my time with you, then be on Themyscira helping women who hate you solely for what's between your legs."
Lucien smirks as Claire outright reaches out to grab his cock at those last words, stroking 'what's between his legs' quite liberally.
"Diana didn't seem to hate me or my genitals all that much…"
But Claire shakes her head.
"She and her proteges are exceptions to the rule. The majority of the Amazons over there… they act like every man is the enemy, like not a single one can be trusted. It was difficult to hear them talk about men sometimes and not rise to your defense. I was really only able to ignore them because they weren't talking about you specifically… and because they were always happy to let me beat them up in the ring for the sake of a 'spar'."
Humming, Lucien slowly nods. With a tug, Claire pulls him towards her even as she gets on her back. She spreads her legs nice and wide for him, but rather than immediately thrusting into her as she probably expects, Lucien reaches down and grabs hold of those legs, lifting them high into the air and leaning forward to begin pressing trailing kisses into her gorgeous thighs.
Claire gasps oh so cutely from this, even as his cock rises back to full mast in the process. He just loves her thighs and soon he's placing little love bites in between the kisses, nibbling at her flesh in a way that has her bucking her hips and moaning throatily in the process.
At first, it's obvious she's trying to hold herself back. She's trying not to be too needy. And so the minutes drag on as Lucien continues to tease her, the two of them having a battle of the wills until it's been almost half an hour of him worshipping every part of her legs. Almost a half hour since Wonder Woman has departed. But finally…
"… P-Please…"
Lucien pulls away when Claire breaks at long last, his mouth leaving her flesh and his eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Oh? What do you want, gorgeous? You've given me such a wonderful gift tonight, you know. I never would have thought you could wrap up Wonder Woman of all people and hand her over to me like this. Not in a million years. You've exceeded expectations I didn't even know I had, Claire. So tell me… what do you want? What reward can I give you in turn?"
Panting heavily, hanging off of his every word, Claire stares up at him with wide eyes and parted lips. When she finally parses his last question, her tongue traces out to lick said lips and she begins to speak.
"Please… I want-"
KRAK-THOOM!
Whatever Claire might have asked for, even if Lucien had a pretty good idea of what it would have been… is lost to eternity as they're both distracted by a large, booming sound outside the penthouse.
Whipping away from Claire, both of them are off the bed in a mere fraction of a second. Lucien races to the balcony, the hybrid clone on his heels and they both step out onto the terrace at the same time. What they find waiting for them outside… seems almost incomprehensible at first.
"Testing, testing. Is this working? Hmph, it had better be."
Covering the night sky is what can only be described as a massive projection. At first, it's just a face. Feminine, with grey skin, red eyes, black hair… and sadistic cruelty writ large in the toothy grin spreading from ear to ear.
After delivering that 'it had better be' however, the alien woman pulls back, revealing more of her surroundings by the moment… and showing things that make Lucien's eyes widen in shock and Claire gasp in horror.
"Greetings, insignificant gnats."
Lucien has never been to Themyscira obviously, but through context clues alone, he's able to guess that the grey-skinned woman is contacting them from the Island Nation's Throne Room. It's rather obvious given that there's a throne just a few dozen feet behind her, with a blonde woman wearing golden armor and a golden circlet sat upon it.
Only, the woman in gold, who Lucien can only imagine to be Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons… is already dead. There's a smoking hole in her forehead and her eyes are lifeless as she lays there, slumped upon her own throne.
"I am Grail, Daughter of Darkseid and the Amazon Assassin known as Myrina. I have come to this world to test your strength, starting with my mother's people. So far… I have found you all wanting."
At his side, Claire suddenly lets out a strangled whimper.
"Cassie… Donna… no…"
Aside from Hippolyta dead upon her throne, the entire room is filled with bodies. At Claire's horrified whisper, Lucien is able to identify those of Wonder Girl and Troia, Wonder Woman's proteges. Both are still breathing at the moment. Both are also trying to crawl forward with broken bodies, attempting to get to Grail. Almost contemptuously she looks down at them and…
It happens too fast for normal human eyes to track. Which means Lucien sees everything given his own enhanced senses. Grail's red eyes glow bright and flash, two lasers exploding out of them. But these… eye beams don't act like what a Kryptonian can do. Instead, they seem to zig-zag through the air for a moment before orienting downwards and striking both Amazons with pinpoint accuracy in the back.
""No!""
Claire's cry of anguish at watching two of her friends die is only matched by Diana's as she's forced to witness her proteges' cold-blooded murder.
"Should have been stronger, whelps."
At that point, the only other living being in the throne room aside from 'Grail' is Wonder Woman herself, the entire reason that Cassie and Donna were trying to crawl forward in the first place. Grail holds Diana up by her hair and though she's clearly been beaten badly in the mere half an hour since Lucien and Claire last saw her, she's still trying to fight back, still trying to struggle… albeit to no avail.
Humming, Grail pulls Diana further up by her hair and delivers a punishing blow to her midsection, one that makes the Amazon Princess cough up blood onto the ground and go limp for a moment.
"… I really thought that my mother's people would be the strongest this pathetic mudball had to offer. It would seem I was wrong though. Surely this cannot be the extent of your strength. Surely there must be others."
Despite the organ-pulverizing nature of the blow, Diana manages to speak through bloodied lips, her voice nothing but a whisper.
"You… will not… prevail villain. Others… will stop you."
Where was the Justice League? Probably still scrambling at this point, especially if the Amazons hadn't bothered letting anyone else know they needed help due to their pride. Lucien's lips thin out as Grail's lips curl into a wider and wider grin.
"Oh? Is that so? Then I suppose I don't need you anymore, do I?"
Just like before, Grail sends out two red eye beams. Just like before, they orient onto Wonder Woman… and drill right through her chest, into her heart. Diana's last breath comes out only halfway before she slumps, dead as every other Amazon in the room.
"NO!"
Beside him, Claire's scream is heart wrenching. A moment later and she's gone and frankly it's a wonder that she waited this long. Lucien is too stunned to stop her, too stunned to do anything but watch as she explodes off of the balcony, shattering the reinforced concrete and steel in the wake of her breaking the sound barrier with the speed she flies.
He knows where she's going, of course. He knows she'll be there in mere seconds. And he knows he should follow her right now, to back her up and support her.
… But at the same time, Lucien can't tear his eyes off of the projection of Grail standing there in the throne room with the rictus of a grin on her face, surrounded by the dead. One of which he'd quite literally been in bed with less than an hour ago. How could he not wonder if there wasn't more that he could have done?
Instead of chasing after Claire, Lucien reaches inward… and abruptly finds himself somewhere else. Not in a nice, lovely little meadow like he would if he were asleep and dreaming. No, this place is dark. Void-like, even. But she's there all the same. She's there for him. Always.
"Hello, love."
Lucien lets out a shuddering breath as Death of the Endless gives him a sad little smile.
"This… what is this? Who is she?"
Death sighs, a flick of her hand creating a facsimile of Grail between them. Just an image, nothing more.
"She told you along with everyone exactly who she is. The Daughter of Darkseid."
Lucien frowns. He knew of Darkseid. It was kind of hard not to know of the biggest threats in the galaxy when you got to where he'd gotten. Even if he'd still never been off planet at this point, he'd nevertheless made sure to get up to speed, educating himself on the threats out there.
"I didn't even know Darkseid HAD a daughter… so what, she's like his herald or something? This is another Apokolips Invasion and they're trying to weaken our defenses by killing off the Amazons first?"
Death's smile becomes a little sadder as she shakes her head.
"Not quite. The situation is more complicated than that. But… I'm not allowed to interfere as much as I would prefer, given your involvement. You have a choice to make, Lucien. Just like you always do."
Lucien flinches, his hands curling into fists at his side.
"… If I follow Claire right now, can I save them? Can I bring them back to life and fix this without… without going there?"
Death shakes her head mutely. Somehow, even if he's not sure how, Lucien had already known that. Something about those eye beams that Grail wielded felt… incredibly final. Somehow he knew it wouldn't be as simple as 'healing' them, resurrecting them from the dead. But that meant there was only one way he could bring them back to life. Lucien's lips twist as his face contorts in a grimace.
"I don't want to lose even a single second of time with you."
Death's smile becomes a little less sad and a bit more genuine at that. She moves forward, crossing the distance between them in a single step and takes him in her arms.
"I know, beloved. And yet… I know you. I know the connections you've made even in spite of all the suffering you've endured. I've been glad to see you find love with others beyond just me, knowing that I couldn't be by your side every moment of every day. I will have you for nearly all of eternity… they won't."
Lucien's breath hitches on the word 'nearly'. Because that's the fucking rub of it, isn't it? He could go back in time right now and try and fix this. But it would come with a cost. Every use of his power, every 'death' he had, was one less life he got to live. Death of the Endless was infinite. HE was not.
And yet… at the same time, he knew that it was the equivalent of trading a second of his time with Death for the entire lifetimes of the three women that his Claire come to care about. Diana, Cassie, and Donna were all dead, permanently, unless Lucien did something about it. Unless he made this sacrifice, right here and right now.
It wasn't his fault this time at least. It wasn't like back with Trigon. But at the same time, was he really going to just sit on his thumbs and do nothing?
… No. No he wasn't. His choices all boiled down to the same thing. Action. He knew, even with this little detour to talk to Death, that he could catch up to Claire and even beat her to Themyscira still. He was just that much faster than her, than even Superman, even if nobody knew it.
Or he could do what only he could do. He could end his own life in an instant and go back just a little bit, to before Diana left them, to before she turned down his offer.
And ultimately, he already knew what he was going to do anyways. Lucien had never been much of a hero. But he'd always been rather selfish. Looking at Death, he grimaces.
"I'm sorry."
But she just reaches out and caresses his cheek, leaning forward to press her lips to his lips before resting her forehead against his forehead.
"You don't need to apologize to me, Lucien. I love you. All of you. Including each and every one of your choices whether they be selfish, selfless, or anything in between."
Lucien flushes a bit before letting his eyes drift shut. For a moment he just luxuriates in Death's presence. And then he does something he's never done before… he makes the choice to end it himself, going back for the first time completely of his own volition and not because someone or something killed him.
…
His eyes open a moment later with Claire's mouth on his cock and Diana bound in her golden lasso and covered in his cum, resting on the bed. Immediately, Lucien's gaze darts over to the communicator. Just as it's starting to beep, Lucien is already moving, cleaning himself and Claire up and getting them both dressed in under a second.
By the time Diana has easily freed herself from her bondage and grabbed the communicator, Lucien and Claire are ready to go, though Claire looks rather bewildered. So does Diana as she looks from the message to him with a furrowed brow.
It's then that Lucien realizes he doesn't actually have a plan for how to convince Wonder Woman to let him come along. Just offering his aid hadn't worked last time… and he's not letting Claire go with her alone either…
Well… hm.