ooOoo
Clark Kent was far from the only person to arrive in Metropolis with a pocket full of lint and a head full of dreams, but his dreams were a little bigger than most. Sure, he wanted to make it in the news business, but his real reason for moving to the big city wasn't to find a career: it was to find his destiny.
Clark found out early on that he was different from most kids. Lifting the family tractor over his head when he was nine was a big clue. When his parents sat him down and explained that he was not only adopted, but that he had in fact been born on a planet orbiting a distant star, home to a race with powers beyond anything humans had produced... on one level it was a shock, but on another level it had just confirmed something he already knew.
He had spent years learning to control his powers, learning to fit in, learning right from wrong. Now he was finally ready to strike out on his own and start using his gifts to help people.
His introduction was everything he could have dreamed of. A massive airliner lost both engines shortly after takeoff and was headed for certain disaster until Clark flew up to gently guide it to the ground. It wasn't even heavy-the hardest part of the rescue was finding a spot to support the plane that wouldn't lead to too much structural damage. He saved hundreds of lives, and was hailed as the biggest thing to hit Metropolis since, well, since the city was founded.
Clark's next public appearance came when he foiled a bank robbery. He had been shot before, of course, but absorbing carefully measured assaults from his father on the firing range couldn't begin to measure up to the thrill of standing unharmed while some gangster unloaded an entire magazine at him from point blank range.
Within a month of his debut violent crime in Metropolis fell to more or less nothing. For the first month after that Clark was thrilled with his accomplishment. Over the next couple of months he started to get a little bored. He didn't have much of a social life as Clark Kent since he wanted to keep his evenings free for superheroing, but with no crime to foil he was spending most evenings at home by himself. He was ready to help out should there be some kind of natural disaster or another airplane crash to prevent, but those just didn't come up that often.
It was a Monday night, after an entire week of absolutely nothing to do in his caped persona, when Clark came to a decision: he was going to go check out his neighborhood bar. He had never been big on the social scene back in Smallville, but he was going to go crazy if he didn't get out of his apartment one way or another. After months of constant vigilance and countless lives saved, Clark figured he deserved to have a little fun.
It only took a half an hour for Clark to realize that he wasn't having any fun. Sitting at a bar by himself, nursing a glass of whiskey-the alcohol didn't have any more effect on him than any of the other poisons that he had tried, but claiming a bar stool without ordering a drink just seemed rude-watching other people have a good time with their friends was, if anything, making him feel even more isolated. He was about to give it up as a bad idea and head home when he heard his name being called out from across the room.
"Clark! Hey, Clark!"
Clark turned to see who had spoken just as the man approached the bar. He was not quite so tall nor so broad as Clark, but was still solidly built. He was also completely bald. He had a friendly grin on his face that was somewhat belied by the sharp intelligence in his eyes as he examined Clark. The grin faded slightly as the man took in Clark's lack of recognition.
"If it helps, try to imagine me with a full head of hair."
Clark squinted slightly as he mentally replaced the shiny dome he was seeing with a more normal hair style, then felt his eyes widen in realization.
"Lex! What happened?"
"The thing is, Clark, that a bald spot makes you look like a doofus, but going completely bald is a choice," Lex explained, clapping Clark on the shoulder as he took the stool next to him at the bar. "Buy me a drink, will you?"
Lex had been Smallville's resident rich kid, and something of a hellraiser. They had never really been close back home, but Clark found that here in Metropolis that Smallville connection was enough to make Lex feel more like a long lost friend than a distant acquaintance.
"As if you can't afford your own."
"That's not the point, Clark," Lex said, shaking his head. "Could you maybe pretend to act normal, just this once?"
Clark sighed, but signaled to the bartender to bring another glass. Once Lex was properly outfitted with a drink in hand, Clark turned to face him expectantly.
"So what are you doing here, Lex?"
"Come on, Clark, I was always too big for that one stoplight town," Lex replied. "Really, I should be asking you that question. What could possibly lure the world's biggest farm boy to head out for the big city?"
"Just wanted to see something new, I guess," Clark said, shrugging.
Lex laughed.
"Well, you certainly picked the right time to come here," Lex said. "What are the odds that Superman would show up so soon after we moved to town?"
Clark chuckled, but it sounded a little strained even to his own ears. "Lucky us."
"Yeah," Lex said, then stood. "Come on."
Clark picked up his drink and followed Lex as he weaved through the crowd toward the back of the bar. One of the pool tables there was open, and Lex pulled a couple of quarters out of his pocket, filling the coin slots half way to what would be needed to start a game before looking at Clark with a challenge in his eyes. Clark grinned before fishing out two quarters of his own, dropping them in place, and shoving the mechanism in to release the pool balls.
Lex gathered up the one through nine balls and racked them in a diamond formation, nodding at Clark to take the break.
"You been in the city long enough to pick up nine ball, farm boy?"
"I think I understand the basics," Clark said, chalking up his cue stick.
The game was simple enough: each turn the cue had to strike the lowest numbered ball remaining on the table first. Sink any ball and you get to keep playing, and the winner is the player who pots the nine ball.
Execution was also extremely simple for Clark. Moving the cue stick in the right direction with the right level of force was child's play compared to the effort he had to put in not to leave fingerprints behind every time he turned a doorknob. With his superior senses, judging the proper angle to strike the cue in order to produce the result he wanted was pretty much automatic.
Clark sunk the five ball on the break, then took down the one, two, three, and four in quick succession. He glanced at Lex as he lined up his shot on the six. Lex was watching with anticipation, obviously eager for his chance to play. Clark felt a mild sense of guilt at the realization that he wasn't just playing by himself, and missed the shot on the six. He did make sure to leave the cue ball sitting behind the eight, cutting off any chance for Lex to do anything productive.
Lex just smiled at him before lining up for his shot. Coming in at a sharp downward angle, he jumped the cue over the eight. The cue caromed off the six, struck a rail, and curved neatly into the nine ball, dropping it into the side pocket. It was the most ridiculous shot Clark had ever seen in person.
Lex barely reacted as the shot played out, only smiling slightly as the cue ball rolled to a stop and secured his victory. He then fixed Clark with a surprisingly serious look.
"Not bad, farm boy, but you're going to have to bring your A game if you want to beat me."
Clark accepted the implicit challenge and headed over to the change machine to break a dollar bill. He didn't hang out in pool halls much back in Smallville, but he understood the ground rules: loser pays, loser breaks.
Clark ran the table in the second game, methodically sinking each ball in order.
In the third game, Lex sank the nine ball on the break.
"Two shots, two wins," Clark said. "You're pretty good at this game."
"Legacy of a misspent youth," Lex replied. "I have to admit, I'm a little curious about where you honed your skills. I don't remember seeing you out much in Smallville."
"Well, I've always been a good student of geometry."
"Hmm," Lex hummed noncommitally, then shrugged. "Well, I know how to quit when I'm ahead. We're probably getting close to your bedtime, anyways."
With that Lex clapped him on the shoulder and headed out of the bar. Clark just smiled as he tidied up around the table. He'd had a good time hanging out with his friend, and-he spun around, using his x-ray vision to take a quick look over Metropolis-no violent crimes had been committed while he'd been enjoying himself.
Clark was willing to call this outing a success, even if he did have a losing record at the pool table.
ooOoo
The next day Lex caught up with Clark as he was on his way to the bar.
"Evening, farm boy," Lex said, nodding at Clark before continuing to walk in the opposite direction.
"Not interested in a rematch?" Clark asked, a little disappointed.
"To be honest, our games didn't seem particularly interactive," Lex said. "Besides, it's a nice night for a walk, isn't it?"
Clark took a look around, then shrugged. There wasn't much cloud cover tonight, but it wasn't like you could see the stars in Metropolis anyways. The temperature did seem pleasant enough, although Clark was always a little unsure about that sort of thing, being immune to the effects of cold and heat as he was.
He decided to follow Lex mostly out of curiosity about what he was up to. Lex didn't seem to mind the company as he set a meandering path through the city. He didn't speak for almost half an hour.
"You know what's amazing about life, Clark?"
"I don't know," Clark said, "lots of things, I guess."
"It all starts with chaos and vicious competition. Trees fight each other for sunlight. Insects battle over every last scrap of nutrition. And people compete for money. There's no guiding hand, nobody setting any rules," Lex said, turning to face Clark. His eyes were alight with enthusiasm. "And yet, out of all that chaos comes such amazing things. The beauty of a flower. The sweetness of a honeycomb. And human civilization. All born from that desperate chaos.
"The question is," Lex continued, "what happens when somebody stifles that creative energy and imposes his own vision of the proper order of things?"
Lex turned and kept walking along the street. Clark took a moment to process what he said, then scrambled to catch up. The effort didn't tax him physically, but his voice was a little sharp when he finally spoke.
"Are you saying you have a problem with Superman?"
Lex took a sidelong glance over at Clark. "Interesting that that's what you jump to."
"It was pretty obvious what point you were driving at, there," Clark snapped. "And you didn't answer my question."
Lex paused in thought for a minute, carefully considering his words.
"The thing is, Clark, that humanity does all its best work when it's free."
"I don't see what that has to do with Superman," Clark replied.
"How free can you truly be when some kind of alien superbeing is out there telling you what to do?"
"When he intervenes to stop violent crimes, you mean," Clark said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"The way I see it, either you're free or you're not," Lex said. "And if you're not free to make your own mistakes, well..."
Lex hefted his right arm up to chest level for emphasis, and Clark's eyes widened as he noticed for the first time that he was carrying a cinder block. Clark looked around, taking stock of where they were. They had wandered into the financial district, which was completely deserted at this time of night. A construction zone down at the end of the block must have supplied the cinder block in Lex's hand, and the two of them were standing in front of a lunch place that catered to the business crowds. It was shut down now, but the large plate glass window still stood out in the moon light.
"Lex... what are you doing?"
"Spreading a little chaos," Lex replied, dropping the cinder block down to his side and beginning to swing it back and forth.
"You shouldn't do this."
"Why?" Lex asked, suddenly looking Clark straight in the eye. "Is Superman going to show up and arrest me?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
Clark looked down. He couldn't reveal his secret identity. Even if Lex seemed to have guessed it, he couldn't possibly have anything more than suspicion to go on right now. Hauling him in would confirm everything he thought he knew. More than that, Clark didn't really want to arrest his friend. He racked his brain, trying to think of some way of talking Lex out of this, until his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crashing glass.
Lex let out a joyous whoop, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Clark glared at him, ready to say something until a light came on in the window above the shop, accompanied by muttered curses that had to have come from the store's owner.
Lex took off running and Clark chased after him, mortified at the thought of being caught at the scene of a crime. The two of them raced through mostly deserted streets, not slowing down despite the total lack of any pursuit. Clark found himself impressed with Lex's stamina-despite his past as a general ne'er-do-well Lex was maintaining a decent pace and didn't show any signs of slowing down. He finally ended their flight by ducking into a bar that looked a little more upscale than the kind of place Clark would usually frequent.
Clark waited until they had secured a booth and a little privacy to lay into his friend.
"Are you crazy? Why the hell would you do something like that? What's the point?"
Lex just grinned in the face of Clark's anger. "The point is to live a little, farm boy. Speaking of which..."
Lex stood, his attention apparently captured by something over Clark's shoulder. Clark turned around and saw a beautiful woman sitting by herself at the bar. He automatically stood up and followed a few paces behind Lex, but stopped dead when he recognized Lois Lane.
"Hello there, Lois," Lex spoke up as he settled into the seat next to her. Something in his tone of voice packed a sense of danger and intrigue into the simple greeting.
"Do I know-Smallville?" Lois said, obviously surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Clark felt his heart sink. Over the last few months he had spent a disproportionate amount of his time at work trying to woo Lois, and had experienced a disheartening lack of progress. The one thing he had used to justify a sense of hope was that she had taken to calling him by what he chose to believe was an affectionate nickname. To hear her call Lex the same thing was disheartening.
It made sense, in a way-Clark was hardly the only person from Smallville-but it hurt to realize that he apparently didn't have any kind of special place in Lois's heart.
"I'm from a small town," Lex said, disrupting Clark's train of thought, "but that doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun."
Clark felt an uncharacteristic spark of anger as he observed Lois's reaction. Her pupils were dilated, her heartbeat had picked up... she was actually attracted to Lex Luthor.
"Now you're making me wonder what your idea of fun is."
Lex responded with what could only be described as a cocky grin. "Play your cards right and you might find out."
Clark had seen enough. He turned on his heel and walked right out of the bar, dumbstruck by the shock of seeing the woman he was falling for-a woman he genuinely respected-fall for a smooth talker like Lex. He didn't really pay attention to where he was going, wandering the streets in a haze until he found himself in front of his apartment building around the time he usually went to bed.
His alien constitution would carry him through the day despite the lack of sleep, but it couldn't do anything about a broken heart.
ooOoo
Clark didn't even start to walk home until long after the sun had gone down. He had had a truly awful day, and he was in no mood for company. Still, he automatically stopped and turned when he heard a familiar voice call out.
"Clark! Sorry about ditching you last night. But," Lex paused, and his expression shifted from something mildly apologetic to a full on shit-eating grin, "it was totally worth it."
A sudden image of Lois flashed into Clark's mind, hair plastered to her face by sweat as she threw her head back and howled at the ceiling-he shook his head, trying to dispel the thought.
"You're such an asshole, Lex."
It had been tough, watching Lois flit around the office with an extra spring in her step and near-constant grin on her face, but that hadn't been the worst part of his day. Lex's little act of vandalism, which five months ago wouldn't have even made the paper, managed to make the front page. That sparked a wave of crime as everybody assumed Superman had disappeared, which in turn sparked a wave of questions about why he was stopping some crimes and not others after he rounded up all of the crooks. All in all it was a frustrating experience, and dealing politely with the source of his problems was beyond him at the moment.
"You say that like you didn't already know that about me," Lex said, before raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, hey, I got you something, to make up for it."
"You can't just buy your way out of everything," Clark replied, but found himself automatically following Lex down the street. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Lex reached into his suit to retrieve an object and toss it to Clark. He caught it automatically and stared at it for several seconds, waiting for things to make sense.
"A pine cone?" Clark finally asked.
"One of nature's little miracles. It's sealed shut so tightly that even a strong man would have a hard time prying it open with his bare hands," Lex said, giving Clark a significant look, "But the resin inside melts when it's exposed to a high enough temperature. When fire rages through a forest, amidst all the terrible destruction it causes it also spreads the seeds for the next generation of trees. If somebody could stop forest fires from happening... they'd ultimately cause the extinction of the pine tree."
Clark stayed silent, thinking over Lex's words as he followed him to the back of a derelict warehouse. It wasn't the kind of place he associated with Lex-glancing around, Clark confirmed they were in one of the more sketchy neighborhoods of Metropolis, rendered safe by Superman's presence too recently for any but the most desperate citizens to move into the area-but Lex approached the door with confidence, opening it up and striding inside.
"The forest service fights fires when they threaten people's lives, you know," Clark commented as he stepped inside.
"They try," Lex said, walking further into the room, "but they're only human. It's a little different when some alien force makes human agency irrelevant, isn't it?"
The warehouse was dark, though Clark could of course see perfectly clearly. Lex pulled a book of matches from his pocket, striking one and casting his face into sharp relief in the firelight. He then touched the lit match to the book and dropped it as the whole thing blazed up. He did the whole thing so smoothly that Clark just stood and stared in shock, dimly processing the strong smell of gasoline as the flaming book of matches fell to the ground.
The carpet must have been soaked through with gasoline. It caught immediately, long streamers of fire racing in all four directions across the ground and then up the walls. Lex just watched the whole thing with a satisfied look on his face.
Clark raced across the room and finally gave in to the urge to punch Lex in the jaw. He held back enough not to take his head off, but the punch did send him staggering back to fall on the ground.
"Are you insane?"
Lex just threw his head back and laughed.
"This is your chance to be transformed, Clark," Lex said, spreading his arms wide. "Just turn around and walk away."
Clark stared down at him, momentarily tempted. Lex clearly had at the very least a strong suspicion as to his secret identity, and was obviously a terrible influence. He was no doubt also up to something that would break Lois's heart. What was worse, with the way the fire was spreading it would be almost impossible to save his life without giving away Clark's secret. Letting him die in a fire he had created would almost be poetic justice.
Still, in the end it was no decision at all. With a sigh, Clark knelt down to pick Lex up in a bridle style carry before dashing towards the exterior wall that was least severely on fire. Turning at the last minute, he took the brunt of the impact on his back as they smashed through the wall and out to relative safety.
Clark walked out and dumped Lex in the middle of the abandoned street before turning to evaluate the fire. It hadn't spread to the neighboring buildings, but it would soon if he didn't do anything. He was pretty sure he could put it out with his freeze breath, but it was a tricky balancing act. Too strong of a blast could do tremendous damage to the area, but too weak of a blast would just be feeding more oxygen to the flames.
"I did get you one other thing, Clark."
Lex's voice interrupted his mental calculations, but Clark didn't react. He could deal with Lex later. At least that was the plan, until a nauseous sensation came washing over him and set him to swaying on his feet. Lex walked around him into view, looking surprisingly unruffled for all that had happened. In his hand was a lead box, which he had opened to reveal a glowing green crystal.
"You see, Clark, when you came to this planet a few bits of your homeworld tagged along for the ride. Tremendously expensive stuff to track down, but I have my ways," Lex said, smiling genially, though his expression was a little hard to make out against the backdrop of flames. "It's fascinating, really. Rays from the sun hit most people and they get a tan, maybe skin cancer. They hit you and they make you, well, you. Meanwhile, the radiation from this little gem passes through most people with no effect. But when it hits you it cancels out all of those little extra gifts that lift you above everybody else. I call it kryptonite."
Lex suddenly hauled off and socked Clark in the jaw. In his brief career as a superhero Clark had taken bullets to the face and brought speeding semi-trucks crashing to a halt. Under the influence of the kryptonite, Lex's punch rocked Clark back like nothing he had felt before. He staggered backward several steps before losing his balance and falling forward onto his hands and knees.
He lifted his head and looked up. The fire had picked up, and Clark was starting to feel his super-senses fade as the kryptonite took hold. He had to squint to pick out Lex's form. The heat from the fire was intense, and little heat shimmers were distorting his vision in a way he had never experienced before.
"You must have wondered. Floating up there in the sky, looking down on all the people crawling around on the ground. The thought must have crossed your mind," Lex said, no longer smiling, "watching people struggle and work and bleed, competing against each other on a level playing field. Watching people deal with fear of hunger and fear of death and fear of tomorrow. You must have wondered: 'How would I do, if I were human?'"
Lex brought back his leg and shot a vicious kick into his ribs. Clark gasped, both at the pain and at the entirely unfamiliar sensation of a bone breaking.
"I have to say, Clark, you don't seem to be handling it very well."
Lex knelt down and pulled the piece of kryptonite out of the box, revealing that it had been attached to a chain. He wound it around Clark's neck, fixing the ends together to form a necklace. He then patted Clark on the cheek, surprisingly gentle.
"You really ought to be thanking me, you know. After all, few things are as valuable as self-knowledge."
With a grunt, Lex hoisted himself to his feet. He looked around for a moment before picking up a loose board on the ground that he swung with some vigor at Clark's head, mercifully rendering him unconscious.
ooOoo