Tess Mercer

**Tess Mercer** (born **Lutessa Lena Luthor**) is Lex Luthor's former protégée and younger half-sister, and Lionel Luthor's illegitimate daughter with Pamela Jenkins.

Shortly after Lex's disappearance during a private expedition to the Arctic, Tess was given control over all his projects and his finances, inheriting the role of acting CEO of LuthorCorp and publisher of the *Daily Planet*. In her quest to find out what had happened to Lex, she began to realize that there was something very unusual about Clark Kent. Tess Mercer had her own metahuman agenda and an unusual approach to saving the world.

With the help of remaining records left by both Luthors, Tess managed to discover Clark's secret in less than a year. Unlike Lex, however, she began to see Clark as a hero and savior rather than a threat to humanity. She diverted some of the devotion that she'd had for Lex onto Clark, despite using unconventional methods to prove it.

### Powers

As an artificial intelligence, Tess is able to manifest some abilities mostly associated with Watchtower's technology systems. Tess, in her new form, has many characteristics of a computer system substituting those of a human, like instead of going to sleep she goes on a standby mode, although it is stated that she may dream while she is on standby. Her thoughts also appear as options on screen.

* **Technology Interface**: She had been able to control the doors at LexCorp, remotely locking them whenever she wanted and manipulate some information through the computer systems at Metropolis' hospital, meaning that her control over technological systems does not end within Watchtower's walls. She has also being able to watch through cameras placed in almost every building in the city.
* **Electronic Manipulation**: Tess is connected with almost all the city's computers and prove to be able to control any electrical object anywhere. She took command of a helicopter and a crane arm in Metropolis and a robot at S.T.A.R. Labs.

* **Holographic Projection**: She also has the ability to move from a place to another through the system in seconds and appear as an hologram through projectors, which are at some certain places. This is may possible due to Tess being connected to the network of the place she wants to go. She is also able to create her own holographs of other objects.
* **Longevity**: Since Tess is an A. I., she is incapable of aging.

With her new robotic body, Tess has now gained some additional abilities:

* **Superhuman Robotic Physiology**: In her robotic body, Tess is faster and considerably stronger and more durable than any human, though the exact degree was never seen.
* **Aerokinesis**: She is now capable of creating bursts of cyclone-force winds and high speed forward velocity through her arms and legs, that enable the creation of storms. She can also create tornadoes and twisters with destructive winds.
* **Flight**: By channeling these cyclone-force winds through the lower part of her body, she can fly at incredible speeds or hover in one place.

### Season 8

Four weeks after Lex Luthor disappeared, Tess went to the Arctic to take command of LuthorCorp and search for signs of their missing CEO. She turned out to be the successor designated by Lex to guard all his interests in case something happen to him and immediately took control of the search project, but was forced to leave the area when they were ambushed by Oliver's team. She then made her way to Smallville to take up residence at Lex's mansion and in the process had her first encounter with Lois Lane. Tess began to look insistently at clues about the Lex's whereabouts and finally ended with a box containing the Crystal of Knowledge and a photo of a footprint that does not belong to Lex.

Tess took possession of all Lex's business, including the *Daily Planet* and on her first day, she was saved from the burning remains of a bus explosion by her new employee, Clark Kent. After she introduced herself to him, Tess showed herself to be flattered for meeting him, revealing that Lex told her a lot about Clark.

It became apparent that it was no coincidence that Tess was in the bus at the time of accident because she was chasing a girl with metahuman powers to recruit her for her new team of heroes that she was putting together and finally intercepted the prison bus in which the girl was put after Clark caught her.

After Oliver falls poisoned mysteriously, it was revealed that Tess and Oliver knew each other from before and that the two had maintained a relationship in the past. Tess helped to cure Oliver and later he questioned her about how much she had changed and about her alliance with Lex. Tess showed continuing resentment towards him for having cheated her, but however revealed to him that Lionel killed Oliver's parents.

During her research about the crystal she found in the Arctic, Tess tracked down one of Lex's scientist for help and was reluctant to believe that the crystal was an alien technology, but when an experiment on it, sent a beacon attracting an alien princess to Earth, she began to believe it. After the crystal was stolen, Tess became suspicious of everyone who knew about it and later received an email saying that she wasn't ready yet.

At the same time, Oliver tried to rekindle his relationship with Tess and invited her to dinner but however, despite sleeping together, Tess told Oliver that she was not interested in a romantic relationship and rejected him.

Tess continued her recruitment of special people and her search to find out who took the crystal from her. She hired Sebastian Kane to help her find it by questioning Lois since she was her prime suspect and also sent her men after Jimmy, as he was her second suspect.

When the crystal was eventually used, Tess tracked its energy pulse reading to the Kent Farm, where she questioned Chloe about it and started to suspect more of her and Clark. After meeting Faora while she was possessing Lois and learning a bit about Krypton and Kal-El, she called Clark into her office and revealed to him that she knows he was the last person to see Lex alive.

Finally, it was revealed that Tess had made contact with Lex at some point after her arrival in Smallville and that she had been keeping in touch with him through emails.

After Lana Lang returned to town, Tess was approached by her and confronted with the knowledge that Lex was alive and that Tess knew where he was. Tess denied that statement and after she learned that Lana had stolen information about a secret survival project of Lex denominated Project Prometheus, she confronted Lana and started a fight. Lana won the battle and exposed to Tess the nano-transmitter that Lex implanted in her optic nerves. Feeling betrayed, Tess decided to repay Lex by closing his bank accounts and offered Oliver the chance to merge with LuthorCorp.

When Lana went missing, Tess revealed to Clark everything that happened to Lana after awakening from her alien coma. After being confronted by Lex's right-hand man, Regan Matthews, who was revealed to know about the transmitters in her eyes, they got into a fight and Tess managed to killed him. Keen to prevent Lex from getting his hands on the Prometheus suit, Tess tracked it down to Dr. Groll's laboratory and was prepared to kill Lana in order to destroy the suit. However, Lana managed to defeat her and then tried to convince Tess to let go of her desire for vengeance against Lex.

Lex tried to get his revenge on Tess and the other LuthorCorp board members for switching their allegiance to Oliver Queen by hiring Winslow Schott to set a bomb to kill them. However, Tess was out of town to see a surgeon to remove the nano-technology that Lex had inflicted her with.

After returning to town, Tess started to become more suspicious about Clark´s secret and devised a plan to force Clark to expose his powers aboard a jet, and even confided to Clark her deepest secret hoping that in return Clark would reveal his secret to her, but her plan was not successful. After they returned to Smallville, she thanked him for saving her and tried to convince him that he could trust her, stating she isn't Lex.

Tess finally managed to get hold of Lionel's journal and by reading it, surmised that two Kryptonian boys fell to Earth on the day of the meteor shower and soon came to the conclusion that Clark was the one who Lionel called *"The Traveler"*.

Thanks to Jimmy's note, Tess discovered that Davis Bloome was killing criminals and realized that he was the other Kryptonian and attempted to kill him although he survived and then she took him back to the mansion to explore his past with the Luthors. Tess confessed that she believed that Clark and Davis were destined to kill each other and keen for Clark to embrace his destiny but he ignored her.

It was revealed that Tess was in possession of the Kryptonian Orb that Lex deposited in the console of the Fortress the last time and following Clark's refusal to accept his destiny, Tess began to publish articles revealing Davis as the serial killer and began a manhunt against him, knowing that many will die in the process.

Still keen to defeat the threat of Doomsday, Tess found the perfect opportunity to use her team of heroes and sent them after Chloe and Davis, who were on the run. Tess sent her shape-shifting assistant, Eva Greer, to infiltrate Clark's life disguised as Chloe to learned more about him and using the recovered Kryptonian information relayed from Eva, find and destroy the Black crystal to force Clark to confront his destiny and kill Doomsday.

It was revealed that Tess had been taking orders from the Orb who tells her that she will be the savior of Kandor after Clark kills the beast and when Tess returned to the Luthor Mansion after work, she found the Orb missing and that the vault was busted open from the inside and then instructed all of her staff to find it. When Tess discovered that Lois had been in her office, she immediately suspected her and confronted Lois at the Daily Planet basement. Lois accuses Tess of trying to bring an alien nation to conquer Earth but Tess claims she only wanted to save the world. A fight is quickly developed and Lois managed to defeat Tess by knocking her out.

Tess woke up and returned to the Luthor Mansion and after Doomsday was defeated, Tess saw a glowing light outside the mansion. As she approached it she saw the Orb send a burst of light into the ground, out of which came a man standing on the Mark of Zod.

### Season 9

Having released Zod and his troops via the Orb, Tess was held prisoner for three weeks in the Luthor Mansion. During this time, she was savagely interrogated by the soldiers and after meeting their leader, General Zod, she discovered that the Kandorians did not know how they came to be on Earth and that they are powerless.

When suddenly the whole army left the mansion, Tess revealed that letting herself be caught was only part of her plan to discovered more about them.

Tess started her search of Zod and his troops, which led her to an abandoned laboratory with stolen technology from LuthorCorp. Tess realized that the kryptonians were trying to get their powers in any possible way and after Tess's team recovered the remains of the kryptonian experiment, they revealed to her that Kryptonian symbols had appeared across the globe since the day that Zod arrived on the mansion. Tess then saw the House of El symbol in a picture and someone lying on it.

During her search, Tess investigated the disappearance of twelve sailors on a Luthorcorp facility until was attacked by rabid zombies that infected her with a strange virus. When Clark and Lois visited her to ask what had happened she aggressively attacked them turned into a zombie and was placed in quarantine to be studied in detail, as the doctors believed she was the center of the infection.

After being cured, Tess tracked Oliver down to Mexico and had him brought back to a shareholder's meeting in Metropolis at the Ace of Clubs. She made a "deal" with Toyman at his prison cell by giving him Metallo's kryptonite heart and enlisted him to discover how it worked.

As Tess displayed her twin solar tower to her meeting of LuthorCorp executives, she was ambushed by Zod, who congratulated her on her accomplishment. When Zod asked her to help him find the "Blur", she denied any information about knowing who it was. However, she did ask him for equal partnership, but he told her that no human would ever stand with a Kandorian. Not trusting Tess, Zod sent Non to kill her but instead she killed the soldier and returned his medallion to Zod, letting him know she is a force to be reckoned with.

Finally, Tess and Zod formed an alliance, although her primary motivation was to prevent Zod from finding the "Blur." Tess kidnapped Jor-El and convinced him to tell Zod that he was the Blur so that Clark could continue saving the world and when Clark learned that Tess had imprisoned his father, he threatened her by grabbing her neck and forced her to tell him where Jor-El was. She was happy that Clark had finally revealed his powers to her but not the way she expected. When she showed the location of Jor-El, Clark realized that Tess let Jor-El be kidnapped so that she could discover where the Kandorian army was.

Intrigued by the mysterious disappearance of Lois weeks ago, Tess kidnapped her in order to examine her memories of the missing three weeks. Tess requested the use of Summerholt technology to enter Lois's mind and saw the Solar Tower completed, realizing Lois was in the future. Tess connected her mind to Lois's mind and after discovering that she will be killed by Chloe, Tess began to question her allegiance to Zod.

One night, Tess went to her office at the *Daily Planet* and was shocked to find a chess-set piece on her desk. Tess then met with Amanda Waller at the Checkmate headquarters, who addressed her as "Agent Mercer" and said they had a lot to catch up on.

With the solar tower near completion, Zod decided to terminate his relationship with Tess and threatened to kill her. Then Tess tried to enlist Chloe´s help and suggested that they work together to stop Zod but, when Chloe refused. A Gemstone-kryptonite-infected Clark wanted to get his revenge on Tess for killing Jor-El and Tess pleaded with him for her life, saying that she did not kill Jor-El and reminded him that she had not revealed his secret to anyone. Chloe saved Tess and later Clark learned that Tess was telling the truth.

Tess angrily confronted Oliver about the destruction of her Solar Tower and embezzlement that she discovered within the company. She sent an agent to follow Oliver and discovered that he and Chloe had an arsenal of weapons. However, before she was able to get to them, Oliver had hidden them.

Tess arranged a meeting with Zod at the Kent farmhouse, where she shot him to prove that he had powers. She used green Kryptonite to weaken him and after talking of the superiority that some have over others they end up kissing and in bed. Zod asked Tess how she had weakened him in the barn and she told him they both have their secrets.

After Tess was summoned for a Checkmate operation to capture Green Arrow and later blamed when Green Arrow escaped, Amanda Waller threatened to kill her if she did not sort out the problem. When Tess discovered that Oliver was actually Green Arrow and helped him and Clark to shut down the power at Castle so they can save "Watchtower", Tess plead with him for help but Oliver showed no sympathy for Tess, as his trust in her had ended. Tess then revealed that she is "going underground", to prevent an assassination attempt from Checkmate

Tess resurfaced to retrieve John Corben when he escaped, and was discovered by Chloe who wanted to discovered how Clark became infected with red kryptonite. Together, they used their resources to stop Clark and Zod new partnership sending Corben to the Fortress of Solitude and as a desperate attempt to win support, Tess tries to manipulate Zod and informed him of some of the Kandorians betraying him to serve Kal-El, saying that she was the only one he could trust.

Tess returned to LuthorCorp only to find Chloe in Oliver´s office, hacking into the Swiss National Bank. She reminded Chloe that although she might be underground, she still ran Luthorcorp. The pair discussed Tess's alliance with the Kandorian army and Chloe commented on Tess's partnership with Zod, telling Tess that she'll run out of people to betray quickly and warned her about her decisions.

Tess came to the conclusion that Chloe was Watchtower and went after her, demanding all the information she possessed about the Kandorians. However, the two become trapped inside the building after the security system was activated by a Checkmate's protocol to access the system and both had to work together to try to escape alive. Tess revealed she has a GPS strip in her flesh that allows them to hack the computers and that burrows deeper into its host when threatened with extraction. In the midst of a touching conversation, Tess opens herself to Chloe and advises her about her relationship with Oliver. After making their way to get out of Watchtower, the two headed to Metropolis General Hospital knowing that Checkmate was following them to try to shut off the GPS strip. Chloe tells her the only way was killing her, and Tess accepted and put her trust in Chloe, knowing that she would let her die. After deactivating the chip, Chloe resurrected Tess, much to her surprise, and Tess then agreed to keep Chloe's secret as a form of compensation.

While being held hostage by Maxwell Lord using his telepathic abilities, Tess was accused of being the Red Queen and was required to disclose the location of the Book of Rao. However Tess escaped and went to find the Book of Rao she stole and hid in the wine cellar. Tess was later approached by the Red Queen, who was actually Martha Kent, and was forced to hand over the disc to her. Martha warned Tess about the bad choices she has made in her life and threatened her to stay away from Clark.

When Zod declared the war to the earth, Tess revealed she used a tracking device on John Corben to find the Fortress of Solitude and visited it, where Zod was trying to mess with the console. Looking for redemption for everything she had done, she attacked Zod with kryptonite brass knuckles and damaged his face. However, Zod managed to heal and attacked her with heat vision, burning half of her body.

Clark found her and rushed her to the hospital, where she told Clark about the crystal console the Kandorians built and how he could use it to activate the Book of Rao as her last chance for redemption. Later, she had a violent attack from her injuries, resulting in her death.

Once the doctors pronounced it and left the room, a mysterious old woman entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

### Season 10

Tess awakened in Cadmus Labs, mysteriously returned to life, with her face completely healed. She met "Alexander" (a conscious pre-pubescent clone of Lex), who told her how she survived. Tess discovered a multitude of clones engineered from Lex's DNA, and accidentally released an older psychotic clone, who incapacitated and imprisoned her in the facility, knowing that Clark would soon come to rescue her. When Clark eventually appeared, Tess relayed the clone's message to meet at Riley Field and later, when she returned to the Luthor Mansion, she took "Alexander" to live with her.

With seemingly minimal difficulty due to her wealth and with Checkmate dismantled by Zod's attack, Tess was able to return to normal life of being the CEO of LuthorCorp and manager from the *Daily Planet*.

Continuing in her effort to gain Oliver and Clark's trust, Tess revealed that she helped Chloe to reset the systems of Watchtower at Chloe's request and also provided Clark with information regarding the assassin Deadshot, in order to help him to protect Cat Grant.

After helping Clark and Oliver stop a goddess who possessed Lois, she proved be useful for their team and they welcomed her into their team, permitting her control of Watchtower.

At the same time, worrying about Alexander, Tess hired a therapist to diagnose the child's mental state and was warned about his possible mental instability due to his high intelligence. After rejecting the treatment for Alexander that the therapist had suggested, Tess decided to keep the child with the hope of saving him and started to show some affection toward him and develops a mother-son relationship with him.

Tess was doing her best to insure that Alexander Luthor didn't evolve into the evil Lex that everyone knew, however it had seemed that it would eventually be inevitable. After Alexander reminisced about the memories that Lex had with Clark, Tess tried to convince him that Lex was evil, but he refused to believe her and reminded Tess about all the darkness in her heart, forcing Tess to vent her anger by hitting him. She regretted what she had done and begged him to let her help him but Alexander refused Tess’s help again and reclaimed the name of his "birthright": Lex Luthor. This made her realize that Alexander was beyond saving and decided to lock him in the mansion, waiting for his apparent death.

With her knowledge of computer science and Veritas secrets, Tess became a keen information breaker and chronicler in information that concerned The Darkness that was written for the Traveler to defeat.

Tess began to devote herself to her new role at the Watchtower and made some modifications to make it a more pleasant place, to the dismay of Oliver, who wanted to keep Chloe's memory in it. After she helped the team to discover the plan of Rick Flag and the Suicide Squad, Oliver finally decided to start trusting Tess and welcomed her to his family.

After Tess started to have nightmares about being a child and a music box that mysteriously appeared in the mansion, she told Clark and they tracked it down to an orphanage run by Granny Goodness. After Tess saw a photo of herself as one of the orphanage's prized alumni, Tess discovered the truth about her past and Granny revealed that she was the one who took her from the hospital when she was declared dead because she was her favorite girl and will need her in the war that was coming. Tess and Clark made their way out from the orphanage and later Tess went through her file from the orphanage and was shocked to discover that her real name was Lutessa Lena Luthor, the daughter of Lionel Luthor and Pamela Jenkins.

She worked along with Clark, Lois and AC to discover the truth about the Vigilante Registration Act and rescued Oliver after he was enlisted and later learned about the darkness that was coming to earth.

Finally, Tess began to take her position as legitimate heir of Lionel and was given to her a Kryptonian device that belonged to her father. When Clark discovered that Tess had been helping Alexander and began to question Tess's loyalty, she tried to explain everything to him, including that she was a Luthor, but failed because Clark disappeared in front of her eyes. Tess was ambushed by an alternative version of Clark from a parallel earth, but after the real Clark reappeared, sending back the evil Clark to his world, Tess finally revealed that she was Lionel's daughter and Clark supported her by saying that she should be thankful for not having been raised by him.

After hearing about Clark and Lois's engagement, Tess held a party for them at Watchtower. Later, Tess was escorted away by a government agent for questioning about the vigilantes. Tess was interrogated by Lieutenant Trotter about her relationship with Oliver and his team, and when she wouldn't give up any information, she and Emil Hamilton were taken to a warehouse to continue being interrogated but were saved by Clark.

When Tess found that her long lost father had returned to reclaim LuthorCorp from her and Oliver, Tess immediately recognized that it was the Lionel from the alternate universe. After Lionel tried to reach out to her, seducing her with the idea of being the family she never had, she learned that he wanted to find Alexander and informed Clark about Lionel’s arrival. After arguing with Clark about what to do with the Luthors men, the two were faced off by Alexander and Clark was able to convinced him that Tess really loved him. Tess resumed her relationship with the boy to help him and knew that the only way to save him was by killing him. Tearfully, she tried to inject Alexander with a dose of cyanide, as a mercy killing but the needle was bent when touched his skin and Tess was shocked to learn that Alexander was invulnerable.

Under the influences of a magical champagne, Tess got drunk, with the rest of the gang, and lost all inhibitions that she possessed. She mounted a show with Dr. Emil at the karaoke of the Ace of Clubs and also begun to forge an emotional bond with him, especially since the two had sex while drunk.

Finally, Tess told Clark that Alexander was renamed Conner Kent after it was discovered that he also possesses Clark's DNA and powers and as a way to protect Alexander from their father, she showed Lionel the “remains” of Alexander, but was unsuccessful in her deception. Trying to put an end to Lionel’s controlling influence, Tess managed to discover that Lionel overlooked her adoption paper at the orphanage and was able to prove that Lionel was not who he claimed to be. After had Lionel liquor traced with nanoscopic tracking devices, Tess confronted Lionel, regained control of LuthorCorp, and had him escorted from the building.

While trying to sell the remains of the Luthor Mansion, Tess was ambushed by Clark Luthor who returned to kill Lionel and wanted her help to locate him. Tess was placed on a pedestal of having to choose between giving in to her instincts and desires or do the right thing, revealing that she had feelings for Clark and wanted revenge on Lionel for abandoning her. After hesitating for several moments, Tess finally chose to protect Lionel because he was her father and when she was about to be murdered, was rescued by the real Clark. All of these events led Tess to put into question again her side on the battlefield.

After Tess learns that General Slade was found unconscious on a street corner, she informs the league and send Clark and Oliver to the Phantom Zone to investigate of what is going on there. Tess was approached by Lois to get an update on what was going on and Tess began to be reluctant about sharing information. After Lois discovered that Tess had planned to destroy the gateway of the Zone from the inside, she threatened Tess with a gun to stop her plan as Tess did not hesitate into let her friends trapped under the guise of the greater good. Tess then revealed that she was only following Clark´s orders and once the two had returned, Tess helped Oliver on his quest for finding the Bow of Orion and provided him with information.

When Stargirl was controlled by a mysterious device, Tess analyzed the mind control diode at the Watchtower and discovered that it was created by none other than the Toyman, Winslow Schott, for the villains of Marionette Ventures. Later, Tess and Clark received news from Courtney that their transportation to Stryker's Island was ready, just as a super-powered, mind controlled Lois arrived at Watchtower and attacked Clark. Tess, in a panic, counted down the seconds to sundown when Clark would get his powers back, hoping that he could stall Lois until then.

One morning, Tess was at the remains of the Luthor Mansion seeing the plans for the new project she would build on the site to help ease the Luthors history in Smallville when she was approached by Granny Goodness in a last attempt to recruit and *"save"* her. After refusing again to serve the dark, saying that she had decided to stay in the light, Granny reveals that Apokolips was approaching to earth and sadly gave her blessing to Lutessa.

Tess went to the Watchtower to see if what Granny Goodness had told her was true, but was surprised to discover that she could not access the satellites of the team. After investigating what was happening, Tess found that Oliver had disconnected the satellites to prevent them from noticing the arrival of Apokolips. Using the cameras of the space station that John Jones has just donated to the team, Tess discovered that Apokolips was above them and immediately went to tell Clark.

On her way to Smallville and because the communication signals were interrupted by Apokolips descent, Tess could not reach Clark and then she began recording a video to him, but in the process, she was hit by several armed men who kidnapped her.

Tess wakes up very confused in a laboratory and discovered that was Lionel who kidnapped her. He informed her that he had found a perfected clone of Lex, who was compromised with the parts of the flawed clones and revealed that he planned to use her heart as the last piece to resurrect Lex. Tess was quite scared when Lionel told this and try to escape but was stopped by Lionel's thugs.

Before beginning the surgery, Tess begged for her life again but without success and before breaking free of her restraints, shooting her "father" in the chest before escaping.

After investigating the laboratory where she had been captive and finding no traces of Lex, Tess returned to LuthorCorp only to meet him in her office.

Lex reveals to her that he knew they were siblings from the beginning and that's why he was so confident in her. Tess revealed that nothing of that mattered now because she had not yet found her redemption. Lex stabs her in the abdomen after telling Tess he loved her. As she dies in her brother's arms, Tess touches Lex's face, affectionately at first, then wipes a neurotoxin on his cheek, a biochemical that removes all of Lex's memories up until that point. Lex told Tess that he was saving her from becoming like him, though Tess proclaims that Clark already has. Tess then died, finally achieving the redemption she'd always wanted.