Inviolate

Inviolate is a completed fanfic written by Scriviner. It's difficult to summarize without giving away too much, but essentially Lex Luthor discovers that he has been manipulated in such a way that it calls into question everything he believes in and every action he has ever taken. He is not pleased. At all.

There will no doubt be spoilers below.

There are several sequel stories in progress, but none of them are posted as of yet.

Tropes used in Inviolate include:

• Abnormal Ammo: Lex's gun during the assault on Cadmus seems like it's just shooting ordinary bullets, until he admits that he specifically needed a large caliber weapon because the bullets have RFID chips in them that provide targeting for a disintegration weapon he had in his coat.
• Aborted Arc: Considering how often she showed up, it seemed likely that Batgirl was originally intended to play a larger role, but the author acknowledges that in an effort to keep the story on-track, he had to remove a few storylines focused on her and will end up having to use those ideas in a planned sequel.
• Affably Evil: It's a Lex fic, of course this applies.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Lex has been of this opinion from day one, and the fic pretty much validates it, once the big bads are revealed.
• Alternative Character Interpretation
• Badass Boast: Lex pulls a few of these and so do his antagonists. It's mostly of the jostling for dominance variety, as psychological warfare and an interrogation tactic.
  • "It's not as important to me as you'd think. I've got bigger fish to fry. I can and will wreck this country if you push me. You know I could. You worked for me and you know what I'm capable of. I'll do it and make everyone believe it was your fault. With the push of a few buttons, I can break you. Do not test me, Waller." A smile bloomed on his face as worry began to break out on her expression.
  • "Your men are dead. I killed them on my way here. Your cameras are under my control. This entire facility is set to self-destruct at my word. There will be no body for them to find, you have my word on that. There will be no investigation. No one will know what happened to you. My name will be clean, I will be praised to the high heavens. Your conspiracy will die in flames as I disassemble it." Lex cocked the gun dramatically. He spoke slowly. Deliberately. Menacingly. "There is no carrot. There is only stick. Answer me or die in agony."
  • This one was delivered by Paul Westfield to Luthor on behalf of the Manhunters: "Your race has been shaped entirely by us. What you are today was through our auspices. What you have achieved we have generously given you." Westfield's voice began to take on animation once more. "When Atlantis lay on the verge of taking to the stars. We were new to our task and overeager. We destroyed it entirely. We showed greater restraint when Rome reached the peak of its Empire building. We led the barbarians that sacked it. When the kingdom of Prester John stood poised to unite the African continent under a single rule and from there the world? We destroyed it so thoroughly it exists only in legend. We are why the Han conquered the Chinese. We are why the Crusades happened. We were in command of the Allied forces that toppled the Third Reich. Your entire race's history of trying to rise above it's station has ever been tempered by our hand striking you down."
  • Lex kicked the Negotiator in the side, pushing him into the wall, where Lex pinned him by keeping his foot on the being's chest. "Were you not listening when I explained who we've fought and beaten? I'm going to be busy dealing with the Oans first, but if you give me reason, I promise you I will make war upon you so costly that your Empire's economy will spend generations trying to recover from what I will do to you. You, personally, I will hold responsible. Your people will hold you personally responsible for bringing my wrath down upon them. With this data in mind, do a cost benefit analysis, Negotiator. Ignore your hurt pride. Look into my eyes. What do the numbers tell you?"
• Badass Normal: Lex all the way.
• Battle Butler: Mercy Graves.
• Bodyguard Crush: Implied that Mercy has one on Lex.
  • Implied, nothing. Both him and Eve hook up with Luthor in the epilogue.
• Bottomless Magazines: Lex's gun during the assault on Cadmus appears to have one. He claims that it's manufacturing the bullets from thin air, but is actually teleporting them into the bottom of the magazine from a warehouse in New Jersey, so justified and partly deconstructed.
• Dead Little Daughter: Lex's memory of Lena keeps coming back to him again and again, and is ultimately not only the clue that makes him realize his world is fake^[1], but is also his ultimate motivation for his What You Are in the Dark.
• Deadpan Snarker: Mercy does this on occasion, but mostly when she's "off-duty".
• Deflector Shields: Both the personal kind and for use as fancy privacy curtains/room dividers. Lex loves the things.
• Continuity Nod: Bunches of them.
• Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Played with and justified.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Lex's conclusions about Batman in Chapter 15.
  • To sum up: Lex (quite accurately) concludes that Bruce Wayne is far more brilliant than he appears and is funding the entire Bat-Family while also acting as its chief strategist. He then goes on to 'deduce' that the Batman costume has been filled by a series of disposable flunkies, that the first two ended up becoming the Joker ('That's why he's so obsessed with Batman. He wants to be the Bat again!') and Two-Face respectively, and that the current occupant of the costume is a mercenary lowlife named 'Matches Malone'. Also, that Nightwing is Malone's equally lowlife son ('I believe he's working with your son the policeman down in Bludhaven'), that Robin III is a reformed petty criminal named 'Alvin Draper'^[2], and... well, at least Lex actually got the identities of Batgirl I, Batgirl III, and Spoiler correct.
• Genius Bonus: The author uses a lot of references back to canon comics continuity, even though the story has struck out into its own territory. In many cases there are references to events and characters from comics from the 40's onwards.
• Heel Face Turn: Technically this happens, but the reason behind it is pretty cynical.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Eve Teschmacher, Luthor's secretary and then later Executive Assistant shows signs of this, mostly because Lex is so focused on his schemes that he doesn't have time to actually run his company.
• Lotus Eater Machine: Lex goes through sixteen subjective years of increasingly 'perfect' realities as his mind pushes itself to its limits trying to make him escape.
• Magnificent Bastard: Lex Luthor. Oh, so very much.
• Man Behind the Man: What gets revealed in chapter 13.
• Mistaken for Gay: Deadshot briefly misconstrues Lex's relationship with Metallo due to an overheard conversation. He's corrected rather quickly by Mercy.
• Mundane Utility: A good example shows up in the first chapter when Lex is talking about his sonic weapon: "I've never actually hit anyone with it at level ten, but I tried it on a steak once. Vibrated the thing so hard the meat not only cooked to medium rare, but I ended up with quite possibly the most tender cut of beef you could imagine as the connective tissues and bones were practically liquified." A gruesomely amused grin crossed the man's face. "I could cut it with a plastic fork. Can you imagine what it would do to a human body?"
• No Hero to His Valet: Mercy has pretty much seen Lex at his best and worst.
• Oh Crap: Occurs multiple times as the situation conspires to really mess with Lex's plans, but most noteable in In Chapter 19: Lex could only scream in frustrated horror as his carefully laid plans to end the Guardians of Oa cleanly and quietly went up in flames and plasma bursts.
• President Evil: Lex's stint as President is referenced and events from it are put into use.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Deconstructed, justified then later averted (or trying to do so).
• Revenge: What drives the plot.
• Screw You, Elves: That is, Screw You, Guardians.
• Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: Lex puts a defeated Manhunter's AI in a Teddy Ruxpin Expy.
• Secret Identity: This is an essential part of Chapter 15.
• Shout-Out: Aside from the various references to DC comics, there's also a few other shout-outs here and there, most notably the heavily-40k and Dune-inspired fake reality.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lex delivers one each to Bruce Wayne and to Superman, but delivers it in a way where he is trying to encourage them to do better, albeit mockingly in Superman's case. It leaves the heroes rather baffled.
• Villain Teleportation: Played with and played straight. Lex does have some access to teleportation and it's better than what the nominal good guys have, but it has its own limitations.
• What You Are in the Dark: Played very straight at the end. In Chapter 25, Lex is alone in a collapsing parasite universe. He has an opportunity to attain absolute God-like power, but it will result in the destruction of his home universe. He chooses to not only give up the power, but to sacrifice himself to save everyone else.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Lex is this all over, as unforeseen events keep wrecking his initial plans and he's forced to adapt to new circumstances (circumstances that have included nudity).

Add more tropes as they get spotted.

1. ↑ (a la For the Man Who Has Everything)
2. ↑ The joke is that both identities are, of course, Dick and Tim's own equivalent of "Matches Malone".