Immediately after the disappearance of Lex Luthor in the Arctic, Tess Mercer comes on board as acting CEO of LutherCorp. Tess is obsessed with finding out the whereabouts of Lex and also rekindles an old relationship with her ex-lover Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow ). As it was with Lex, Tess immediately becomes intrigued by Clark Kent (aka Kal-El) and learning his secret. Clark does his best to hide his super-human abilities from Tess but she eventually finds out about his Kryptonian heritage. After much conflict, Tess and Clark become allies and oversee the Watchtower Program. To her shock, Tess eventually discovers that she is the daughter of the late Lionel Luthor.