The Plant, Part 1

     The Luthorcorp fertilizer plant stood like a flat, gray, boring monument, entirely hidden from Smallville's view by trees and hills.
     Clark and Lex stepped through the front door, promptly greeted by the plant's manager.
     The manager clearly had no idea why Lex felt the need to personally perform a "surprise inspection" all the way out in Smallville. Knowing the reputation of Lionel, it stood to reason that Lex was here because he was unhappy with the plant.
     The manager led Lex and Clark through six gigantic rooms filled with hundreds of workers and large whirring machines. They seemed to be traveling along a somewhat zig-zagging path, weaving between rooms via dozens of small hallways. Lex would frequently request that they stop and check one room or another. Although Lex didn't explain why, Clark knew that Lex was merely checking all potential hiding spots—large rooms that were used for "storage," especially with easy access to the outside; smaller hallways that led off into other areas, etc.
     It was at this point that Clark began to realize something about himself: he was looking into rooms before they walked inside them. If he focused, he could mentally will his vision to "move forward," directly through solid objects. More than that, he was seeing things he'd never seen before. Light that passed straight through the building walls, made of colors that went beyond the normal spectrum. A faint glow from the internal antenna of every cell phone; another from a walkie-talkie strapped to the manager's belt. And on top of all that, Clark found he could selectively "cycle" through his vision. If he only wanted to see certain types of light, that's all he'd see. Like a switch being turned on and off.
     Clark swept his gaze across the entire building, taking it all in. Despite being one of the most colorless, mind-numbingly boring places someone could be, to Clark it was suddenly vivid and fascinating. The whole plant was a swirl of rainbow-light—all except for a large, rectangular chunk of the building at the far side. Not only was it devoid of all color, but Clark couldn't see through it at all.
     The group walked into the last large room. Clark stared at the opposite wall; this was the one he couldn't see into.
     "What's that wall made out of?" Clark asked.
     The manager and Lex turned and looked at Clark quizzically.
     "Well," the manager said, "that wall is the same as all the others—though it was made with a concrete/lead composite."
     "Why just that one wall?" Lex asked.
     "It's not just the one wall; it's all four walls surrounding that chunk of the building, as well as the ceiling and floor. It's to keep the rest of the building from being irradiated."
     "Irradiated?" Clark and Lex both said in unison.
     "Yes," the manager replied, nervously stiffening a little, "we use radiation to treat some of the fertilizer to make sure it's safe for use."
     Clark pulled Lex aside.
     "Lex, he's lying," Clark whispered. "Irradiating fertilizer would make it useless."
     Lex nodded and turned back to the manager. "Let's see what's in there."
     The manager didn't do a great job of hiding the fact that he was trying to think of good reasons not to go in. Before he could get a word out, Lex interrupted him.
     "Let me stop you before you say something stupid. Take us in there."
     The manager shook his head. "No, sir. I'm sorry, it's just too dangerous."
     Lex practically sneered at the manager and tried to shove his way past. When the manager stopped him, Lex kicked the man in the stomach and stepped past. Clark followed.
     They approached a door, seemingly-unimportant, hidden in a corner of the large wall. Lex tried to unlock the door using his personal code on the keypad lock; it wasn't working.
     Clark grabbed the doorknob and pushed. It cracked in half.
     "Lex; it's broken."
     Lex raised an eyebrow. "That's not a good sign."

     Inside, they found along hallway with a label on the wall:
     HAZARD WARNING: RADIATION. MORE THAN TWO HOURS OF EXPOSURE MAY CAUSE PERSONAL HARM.
     "Well," Lex said, "I guess we're not staying for more than two hours."
     They continued down the hallway, reaching a second door. Stepping through that, Clark and Lex found themselves in a dark hallway made of glass, staring directly into a cloud of green-brown fog. It was actually one gigantic room, with glass walls that reached all the way to the ceiling. The walls divided up the room into hallways where passersby could observe the interiors of the fog-filled rooms. This seemed like a testing facility... or a demented zoo.
     Clark suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and a tingling sensation on his skin. There was kryptonite in this room—a lot of it. Was that why the fog was green?
     Clark didn't want to simply run out of the room; he wasn't about to leave Lex alone here. He pulled out his phone and dialed Diana. Help would be nice right now. Clark felt his stomach sink a bit more as he realized that he had no cell reception in here; the walls blocked it out.

     Lex walked toward a concrete-reinforced room in a corner. Inside, he found a wall of computers. A hand-scanner sat on a desk beside them. It was a Luthorcorp scanner, one of their more famous inventions. It could almost-instantaneously read someone's DNA to within a 75% accuracy margin. Only the designated subject or a close blood relative could activate it. Lex put his hand on the scanner. Three seconds later, the computers booted up.
     "Luthor, Lionel: Recognized," one of the smaller displays read.
     Clark walked in after Lex.
     "Are you okay, Clark?" Lex asked. "You look like you're about to throw up."
     Clark changed the subject. "What is this?"
     "I'm about to find out."
     Lex quickly sorted through the computer's unique operating system. Luthorcorp's research computers all used a unique OS, each one tailored to center on exactly what needed to be done. All the computer's commands and information lines fed directly into its primary function like a funnel. At the core of this particular system, Lex found a series of files organized by project and date. He quickly opened one text file and scanned it in two seconds, moving on to the next, and the next.
     Clark was having trouble focusing; he couldn't keep up.
     "Are you actually reading all that?" he asked.
     "Don't need to read it all," Lex replied. "Just find the key words and extrapolate. Once you know the language these research scientists use, you don't need to..."
     Lex sat in his chair, stunned.
     "What is it?" Clark asked.
     "...Luthorcorp has been experimenting with the meteors that fell here in 1997."
     "Yeah. I can tell."
     "But not just the meteors themselves; they've been testing the meteors' radioactive effect on plant life, animals, and... humans."
     "Humans?"
     "Yes. Humans."
     "...What did they do?"
     Lex turned away from the computer. "I don't think I want to know."
     "Lex, there could still be people here."
     Lex slowly turned back to the computer and looked through the list of entries.
     "It looks like the last entry was in December... right after my father died. This must have been a project closely tied to him."
     "Does it say what happened to the test subjects?"
     "Looking... it says they were put into 'stasis.'"
     "Stasis? What, like frozen or something? Drugged?"
     "It doesn't say. Without reading and watching every entry, I can't tell."
     "If they're still here, we need to let them out. Now."

     It wasn't often that Clark found himself wary of anything, but this was one of those rare times.
     Clark nodded towards the door they came through. "We should go back outside for a minute to call someone, just so people know where we are."
     "Good idea."
     As Clark and Lex approached the door, however, they saw the handle completely melted by some type of green acidic glowing liquid. As it dripped from the handle, it burned holes in the floor. Clark felt kryptonite radiation seeping out of it into the air; he couldn't touch it.
     Lex looked up towards the ceiling, trying to find where the liquid had fallen from, but the ceiling was completely obscured by darkness and brown fog.
     Clark looked closer at the door; it had deep claw marks running upwards along its surface.
     "Lex... I think this door was sealed shut on purpose. There's something inside here, and it doesn't want us getting out."

Prepare to Be Bored

     Seven-thirty in the morning on a Saturday. As usual, Jonathan and Martha were already out working on the farm. Clark sat at the kitchen table, contently eating a bowl of cereal. He heard a loud metal scraping sound from the other side of the barn; apparently Jonathan hadn't fixed the tractor yet.
     Diana walked into the kitchen and reached for a bowl, her bare damp feet quietly smacking against the wood floor. Clark glanced up at her; she was wearing only a bathrobe and her hair was still wet from taking a shower. This was the fourth or fifth time she'd done this. Clark sometimes wondered if she was trying to be provocative on purpose, or if she was just naive enough not to realize what she was doing.
     Diana sat down across from Clark and poured herself a bowl of cereal. As far as Clark could tell, she was just oblivious. He thought about telling her she should, perhaps, wear a little more clothing, but that definitely wasn't a topic he wanted to delve into. He wished someone else were here to pull her aside and have that conversation, but who? Martha? Sure, Martha could—wait, no, bad idea, BAD idea. Don't need to have mom walking in and seeing a hot half-naked girl in the same room with her teenage son. Bad idea.
     "Clark?" Diana said. Clark was relieved to have the one-way tension broken, though the look in Diana's bright blue eyes was a bit concerning. "Why are you being so nice to Lex?"
     "...I think he can use a friend right now."
     "I know, and I think that's great of you to try and be a friend for him, but... this is Lex we're talking about. Just last year, we were doing everything we could to stop him and his father. Bruce used to tell us stories about how twisted Lex was."
     "Yes, but that was before he found out about Lionel's crime empire."
     "That's what he says, but... Clark, I don't think we can trust him on that."
     "What do you mean?"
     "It's all over his face. He's a jumble of half-truths and lies. And now that his father's dead, I think he's lost. There's no telling what he'll do."
     Clark shrugged. "All the more reason he needs a friend."
     "I know, I'm just saying... be careful."
     Clark was surprised. Diana didn't show this level of concern often, if ever.
     "Are you worried about me? You know I'm bullet- and car-proof, right?"
     Diana's voice softened. "No, you're not. Not if those meteors—"
     "Kryptonite."
     Diana sighed. "...Kryptonite... is nearby. You nearly died in that garden fighting one girl... And I couldn't help you either."
     Clark smiled. "I guess we need to keep Chloe around to save the both of us."
     "Clark, I'm serious. There's kryptonite all over this town, so if circumstances are wrong, Lex could be really dangerous."
     Clark paused for a minute to think. "My dad says that doing the right thing is almost always hard, and that being a good friend can sometimes be the hardest thing in the world. But at least with friends, you don't have to go through it alone. Lex is going through about as hard a time as anyone can. If I can help, I want to. And as long as he's willing to let me, I'm going to."

     A knock at the door jolted Lex awake. He glanced at the clock, saw it was 9:37 AM, and groaned. Who on earth would be bothering him this early in the morning? He looked out the window of his hotel room. A town full of early-to-rise farmers, that's who.
     Lex walked to the door and opened it.
     "Hey, Lex. Did I wake you?" Clark said.
     Lex rubbed his eyes. "Just a little."
     Clark shifted uncomfortably a little bit. Lex could tell he had something he wanted to say, but it was awkward saying it through a half-open door in a hotel.
     Lex opened the door and stepped aside. "Come in, I guess. How'd you know where I was staying?"
     "This is the nicest hotel in the city," Clark said as he walked inside. "And my dad knows the owner."
     "Of course," Lex said with a mental eye-roll. Everyone here seemed to know each other, and Lex was a mysterious stranger to be poked and prodded with questions and obvious stares.
     "So, Lex, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."
     Lex raised an eyebrow. "You finally thought of something you want so I can alleviate my guilt over nearly killing you?"
     "Um... sort of. I work for the Smallville High newspaper, the Torch."
     Lex nodded. "Right, yeah. You're a journalism student."
     "Yeah. And I was wondering... could I come with you? When you go to the Luthorcorp plant?"
     Lex snapped out of whatever weariness he still felt.
     "Clark, these people are dangerous. Do you have a death wish?"
     "Do you?"
     "That doesn't matter. This is for me to do. It's my father's company—"
     "And it was my girlfriend who died trying to bring him down. She'd want this seen through."
     A long, silent moment passed.

     Lex sighed, sitting down on his bed and hanging his head in mock-defeat. "Fine. You can come. There's basically no chance anything will happen anyway, though, so prepare to be bored."

Guilt and Twisted Conscience

      The sensation of falling, combined with the kryptonite radiation getting closer and closer, made Clark feel like he was being drugged—with the distinct impression that once he fell asleep, he wouldn't wake up.
     Clark landed alongside the car in the river. Now several feet under, he reeled against the feeling of irradiated water against his skin, but shoved the pain out of his mind as much as possible. Someone was trapped inside the car, and it looked like he was unconscious.
     Clark grabbed hold of the car door. As he pulled on it, his muscles screamed at him, as though he were tearing his own arm off. Clark looked through the window; the driver was going to die. Clark pulled as hard as he could manage; the door ripped off its hinges instantly. The car immediately filled with water; Clark snapped the seatbelt off the driver and pulled him out.
     "Flying" through the water to the shore felt like it took forever. When they were out, Clark was thankful to see that the driver was still breathing.
     "Thanks," the driver said weakly as he coughed up water.
     "No problem," Clark said, breathing heavily. He hadn't felt this tired since he was five years old. Fortunately, the river was wider than the bridge was tall, so he was plenty far from the meteors. He felt himself getting stronger every second.
     Clark looked at the driver for the first time clearly: he was young—about Clark's age—well-dressed, and bald. Clark was stunned when he recognized him.
     The driver held out his hand: "Lex Luthor."
     Clark slowly shook Lex's hand. "We've... met."
     Lex narrowed his eyes, thinking. "...Oh. You're... you were Lois's..."
     "...Yeah."

     An ambulance sat atop the bridge; paramedics tended to Lex's cuts and bruises while Sheriff Miller interviewed him.
     "It was my fault; I was distracted and driving too fast," Lex said. "I could have sworn I hit Clark, but I must have just missed him. I was barely conscious, but I remember him pulling me out of the car when it sank."
     Jonathan, Chloe, and Diana arrived.
     "Son, are you okay?" Jonathan asked Clark.
     "I'm fine. There were some meteors in the river, but I got away from them before anything bad happened."
     "Where is he?" Diana asked, a slight rumbling fire in her voice.
     "Over there," Clark said, pointing to Lex. "But Diana, it was an accident."
     "He could have killed you!" she countered.
     "No he couldn't. I got hit, and I'm fine."
     "But he doesn't know that!" Chloe said. "It was dumb luck that he hit the only Kryptonian in existence. What if you were human, like everyone else?"
     "He deserves to be locked up in prison, at best," said Diana.
     "Hey, now," Clark said, "there was no harm done. Besides... I think he has enough problems. That's Lex Luthor."
     Everyone was visibly shocked. Chloe felt her reporter's fire shrink down, and she fell silent. Jonathan put his arm around her. "Let's go back to the car, Chloe."

     Lex and Sheriff Miller walked over to Clark and Diana.
     "Clark, Lex says he thought he hit you. Is that true?"
     Clark almost winced. He hated lying and wasn't even good at it. "If I'd been hit, would I be standing here?"
     The Sheriff was surprised at Clark's flippant response. Clark had always been such a respectful boy.
     "So... you dove in after him, and pulled him out of his car, is that right?"
     "Yes sir."
     "Clark, I didn't think you could swim."
     Clark thought about it. Technically, he couldn't swim. "I learned the Summer before last, sir," Clark said, thinking of when he learned to fly.
     Sheriff Miller didn't like this at all. He'd known the Kents all his life, but this seemed... off. But there wasn't a single concrete thing to point to, so he let the matter go.

     Clark glanced at Lex. Lex was still shaken from the crash, but there were much worse things going on than he would admit. Just from what Clark knew about Lex's life, he knew that Lex had to be at rock bottom by this point.
     "Clark," Lex said, "I really want to apologize again."
     Clark smiled. "Hey, don't worry. Everybody drives their car off a bridge sometimes."
     Lex and Sheriff Miller didn't even chuckle at Clark's stupid joke.
     "Actually, would you like to come over for dinner?"
     Lex was a bit unsure how to react for a second; no one had invited him over for anything before in his life. "Um... no, no, that wouldn't be right."
     "Come on. You wanna pay me back for almost hitting me with your car, come over and help us eat my mom's rhubarb pie. She always cooks way too much."
     Lex awkwardly shrugged. "Okay?"

     Dinner was slightly awkward, but the Kents had a way of making everyone feel like family that even Lex couldn't shake.
     "So... Lex," Martha said, "what brings you to Smallville?"
     "I, um... I came to see the Luthorcorp plant a few miles west of here."
     Everyone fell silent; no one wanted to continue the conversation about Lex's father's company.
     "Um, mom? Is the pie ready yet?" Clark asked, breaking the tension.
     "Not for another fifteen minutes or so," Martha replied.
     "Well," Clark said, "I think it'd be nice to get some fresh air before dessert. Lex?"
     Lex nodded. "Sure."
     Clark and Lex politely stood up and walked outside.
     Diana looked at Jonathan and Martha. "Do we... trust him? Lex, I mean?"
     Jonathan and Martha exchanged a look.
     "Well, we don't have a reason not to yet," Jonathan said.
     "But... he's Lionel Luthor's son," Diana said. "How do we know he's going to be any different than his father?"
     "Lex took a stand against his father when he tried to save Lois," Martha said.
     Diana didn't find that much comfort. Lex killed his father after Lois was already dead. The fact that the Kents were able to find a silver lining in that said a lot about their character.
     "But..." Jonathan added, "if you want to stay close by, I wouldn't be terribly upset."
     Martha stood up to take a peek at the pie, gently patting Diana on the wrist. "You might want to grab your bracelets."
     Diana smirked.

     Clark and Lex stood in the barn's loft, staring at the stars.
     "You know," Lex said, "I don't think I've ever actually seen the sky before. The stars, I mean. My whole life I've lived in big cities. Metropolis, Gotham, New York. I don't think I've ever been anywhere where there weren't a thousand lights filling the sky."
     Clark nodded. "Yeah. It's nice."
     Lex mentally drifted off, depression showing in his face.
     "Lex..." Clark said, "Why are you going to the Luthorcorp plant?"
     Lex rubbed his bald head, pushing away a stress headache. "I'm trying to stamp out all my father's old... 'business' ties. Most of them fell away from the company as soon as he died, but a few are still using Luthorcorp resources."
     "Isn't that a job for the police, or the FBI?"
     "Yes, but... I want to do it myself. Besides, I have easy access to every plant, factory, and office building, and I won't alert anyone like the authorities will."
     "But isn't that dangerous? Confronting crime bosses like that?"
     "Oh, I don't confront them. I just find out how they're using the company and how to find them. It's pretty easy, actually. I look through the books, check building blueprints, and make sure every room in the place is clear. I just say it's a surprise inspection and no one stops me."
     "You read blueprints and check financial records for the entire plant? That must take weeks."
     "Nope. Takes a day or two."
     "...How?"
     Lex turned to Clark. "Give me a math equation. Anything."
     "What's two thousand, three hundred seventy-one times seven-hundred ninety-two divided by the square root of two hundred eighty-nine?"
     "One hundred ten thousand, four hundred sixty point seven zero five eight eight two."
     Clark was genuinely impressed.
     Lex tapped his head with his pointer finger. "I'm a genius, or so they tell me. I use exponential statistics to find anomalies in the records, and I have a photographic memory, so I can recall every room in the building and check it against the original blueprints or vice-versa."
     "All in your head?"
     "All in my head."
     "That's... wow."
     Lex stared up at the sky again.
     "Why are you doing it, really?" Clark asked.
     Lex lowered his head. "I hate my father. I really do."
     A slow, chilled breeze flowed through the barn. Clark couldn't ever imagine speaking those words; he'd never had anything but a wonderful father.
     Lex stared at his feet. "I want to cut off every last bit of his twisted corruption and watch it die under my heel."
     "And what about when you're done?"
     Lex stared out across the horizon. "Then... I'll be done."
     Clark was a bit startled; he knew what Lex meant. Once his mission was done, he didn't have a reason to live. Lex was planning to kill himself.