Footage from the cameras had leaked to the media rather swiftly, proof of what happened, of what nearly happened. Proof of what Clark had done, how he saved the life of his brother. Some late night host had publicly snarked that it was almost heroic considering the act was made by a Luthor in defense of a Luthor along with comparing them to sharks. The running joke after that had been Clark's adoptive status. No one usually brought up the adoption, more so considering Lionel would almost have been doing a good deed by adopting a poor orphan. Now it was the running joke of the nightly news.

Someone else had gone so far as to suggest Clark had been adopted just so they would have a ready bodyguard on hand at most times. People made jokes about what had happened and Lex hated them all for it. It was not funny! They had not seen the pain in those green eyes, had no watch helplessly as he began to slip away. They had not felt helpless and lost.

Publicly, Clark was still considered in critical condition but the removal of the bullets had drastically improved the situation. The wounds were healing but no one was allowed to know that. Even Oliver did not fully know and he had been closer to the situation than most, staying several hours, staying through the surgery. Once they knew the bullets were out Tess and Lex breathed easier but Oliver did not have the knowledge to feel so much more at ease. It was strange to see anyone but the two of them worrying over their brother, it was surreal.

They talked in a huddle, excluding Oliver to enter their own world. Both knew who was responsible for what had been done but the why was yet to be revealed. Kryptonite bullets were not something to be happened upon, it was only acquired, only created for a reason. It was equally telling that Lionel had not shown up at the mansion yet, though it was sure that he would soon enough. They needed to get rid of their guest as tactfully and kindly as possible.

Together, as a united front they thanked Oliver and tried to offer him money as payment, tried to give him cars and were turned down as flat as roadkill. Tess tried for seduction and that went over with even less grace regardless of how polite the gritted words of rebuff had been. In her red dress, silk glinting in the light of stained glass windows, red head of glossy uniform curls still unruffled from a sleepless night she might have seemed more succubus than human anyway. It would not have been the first time she had been called that, nor even the Luthor boys called an incubus. Out of options and getting desperate Lex had nearly tried to flirt himself before deciding against that, offering some business propositions instead.

Oliver was incensed and quietly livid, "I didn't help so I could get in on some new venture!"

Tess and Lex must have given him the same blank stares judging by the returned look of bafflement, but Tess composed herself enough to say, "Then what do you want? Lex and I will give it if we can. You have our gratitude for what you did to help save our brother."

Oliver had never looked more shocked or insulted, "I don't want anything! I want the same thing you do and that's to see him survive this."

Tess' full lips curved into a smile that was too sad to be seductive, "He'll come out of it now that he's here. He's survived worse." A gravity entered her voice, "But you should leave before Lionel arrives. He would not be pleased to see you here. We can have the pilot return you to your own home, or we can have a driver provided."

"You're still afraid of him, aren't you?" Oliver almost did not seem to expect an answer, so they did not offer one, the silence was answer enough, "May I see Clark before I go?"

The siblings exchanged worried glances, not at all sure how grand an idea that would be. "No one is really... allowed in that portion of the house." Tess finally answered.

"That big locked room that leads to some kind of basement? What exactly is down there?" Oliver was fishing, seeing what he could get them to say when they were vulnerable.

Lex shoved his hands as deep into his pockets as he could to hide the fists, "Clark has some special health conditions, has since he was a child. It is really best he be sequestered at times for his own health." The lie must have been more obvious than expected, the bitter taste of it on his tongue must have showed.

"Why such elaborate locks?" Oliver was watching them intently, "Is it really to keep germs out, or is there more to it?"

"When we were younger, we..." Tess was trying to decide what to say, but Lex was not expecting to hear what she offered, "Clark used to try to run away so..." It must not have been very well thought out, "What I mean is-"

"No, I think I get exactly what you mean!" Oliver shook his head and closed his eyes, "God, how long has that door been there? How long has this been going on? Do you even know what happens behind those doors or do you never ask? Are you just thankful it's not you down there?" He was getting angry, starting to make hand motions, "How does anyone, even with all this money, get away with locking their adoptive child in something like that? Why did you never tell anyone? Where the hell have social workers been? Did no one ever check anything?"

"There were no social workers," Tess shrugged and smiled darkly, "the adoption was through a dummy company that only handled two adoptions. Lucas and Clark. No one ever checks on things. Are you really so idealistic? You just assume anyone checks?" She stepped forward and that was when Lex realized she was angry, that something hit a nerve, "And yes, we've all spent time down there as punishment, even if it was just to watch what was happening to each other.

There was fire in her eyes like she was the one with those powers, "We know exactly what happens. Lionel has never been a kind sort of father, if you couldn't guess. He put me in an orphanage that experimented on their children to turn them into assassins and the only reason he pulled me back out was because he realized it might be dangerous to leave me in a place that might teach me how to act on my hatred of him."

Oliver looked decidedly ill and inhaled sharply, "I wish I thought you were lying," he muttered under his breath.

There was a long silence where no one spoke and no one moved. Tess seemed to be regretting her laps of judgement and trying to regather herself even though he wondered if part of her had always wanted to blurt that out to someone. It was all true, they had all been down there and had even spent their own turns under study for one reason or another. Lex was tested first for his loss of hair but then it was because he never got sick and he healed abnormally fast. After Milton Fine got a hold of him his healing had heightened even more, so he was examined more. Fine was in a lab now, far away and unable to do much of anything. Lionel was ruthless enough to hold back the return of Zod, a world killer; what did that say about a Luthor?

"I'll take you up on that driver, I guess." Oliver shoved his hands into his pockets, extending his chest and watching them.

Tess lead the way like a royal lady escorting him, leading their guest away to safer paths in hopes than their father never need know he had been there at all. Lex slunk away to crawl into the hospital bed with Clark. He still looked ashen, worse still against the white sheets and pillow. The heart monitor was beeping too fast, indicating clearly that there was still pain even if he was healing rapidly. Having that poison inside him was not easy on his body even once it was finally out. After some time passed Tess crawled in on Clark's other side and the three of them just laid together in silence. After a few minutes the heart monitor beeps slowed and evened out into a normal rate.

Once Lionel had arrived he chased both of them away; they returned once it was safe and found Clark with a blue kryptonite ring on his finger, ensuring his healing rate would not be able to overcome his wounds with his usual speed. They dared not touch it because something worse might follow if they tried but it did not mean they had to like it. Clark was moved upstairs and kept healthy by the nurses and doctors, the ones not usually involved in punishment but healing. The ring stayed for a week, long enough to display Clark to the media and get shots of him looking poorly in a bed with all the monitors around him. Kat Grant and her cameraman had looked a bit shell shocked and grim when they left but Lex never knew why, he could only suppose Lionel had done something to put them off.

A week and a half later and it was time for more cameras. Lionel brought them both out to the set. The Daily Planet had branched out into television a few years before and it was thriving per expectation. When they walked in one of the first people they had seen had been the perky blonde and she had looked at Clark rather sadly which made Lex wonder again what exactly had happened in that publicity stunt. When Lois' usual dour look was tempered though, he knew something drastic had happened that he was yet to be made aware. Perhaps Oliver had told them something. They had given him the ammunition after all.

Though Oliver never had looked at them with quite the heat Lois did. There was hate, but then those eyes would flit between Lex and Clark, noting the stances and the close way they stood, and a softening would filter into the look. It was sympathy brought out by something Queen had discovered years and years ago when they all went to school. They were not absolved in his eyes by any means but Lex had heard Lois and Oliver talking once almost a year ago to date.

"How can you defend them? They are scum! Worse than scum! They are the lowest of the low, Ollie!" Lois was vehement in her usual way.

"I'm not defending them, it's just... you don't know them like I do. I went to school with them."

"Yeah, I heard they were no picnic in school either. Luthor's to the bone, born bad."

"I don't think they were born that way. That kind of thing... it's taught, learned, beaten in." Oliver sounded sad and it was strange to hear.

"Yeah, those silver spoons must have been tough to eat with."

"I remember... how they stood whenever Lionel was around. Like toy soldiers, afraid to breathe wrong."

"I'm crying on the inside." Lois huffed.

"Lois," he was almost stern, "you're not getting what I'm saying. I saw more than enough of what he did to them when he knew people might be around. I don't want to think about what he did when no one could see. I'm not saying what they do is right, I'm saying... I know why they turned out like they did."

"You had a hard life and look how you turned out!" Lois sounded sentimental, "You're a good man."

"I didn't get beaten half to death for tripping, Lois. I didn't grow up waiting for someone get rid of me if a better version came along. Even though my parents were gone I knew they loved me, still cared for me to the end. They grew up in a whole other kind of darkness."

It was quiet a minute but Lois finally said, "Maybe, but they didn't fight the darkness that hard."

"I think... maybe they did. They just lost."

For the first two years at Excelsior Lex had been alone, the target for every joke and every cruel prank. Oliver was a leading force in the bent of hate toward the defective Luthor son. People suspected Lionel of being involved in the Queen's plane crash and that probably had a good deal to do with the hate, though Oliver had never been particularly friendly when they knew each other before that. Every single boy in the school seemed to be in on the plot to make Lex want to die. He was the freak among rich, entitled brats that watched their parents make other people's lives not worth living, so they knew how it was done.

The first years were a living hell, third year changed everything because Clark was moved to Excelsior. Lex no longer worried what was being done to Clark at home because they were both out of that house and that was a lot like peace. Plus, the bullying stopped very swiftly once Clark was in the picture. Even then he had been taller, broader then most others though he was younger by far. Lionel had aged him up from what they believed his true age would be, but he had always been too advanced in many ways for them not to age him higher to avoid problems.

People were wary of challenging two Luthor's at once, particularly one that looked like Clark. Those who had been cautious were proven right only a week into classes. The first time Geoffrey, one of Oliver's friends, tripped Lex on the outside stairs, Clark whirled around, snatching the kid by the scruff of the neck. At first Clark just glared, demanding an apology, but when he was met with nothing but cutting insults the coldness had taken hold.

Kal smiled wide at the insults to the family name, his not well talked over adoption, suddenly all sharp edges in his every aspect, and dangled the other boy over the balcony by one leg. As if speaking of the weather, Kal had explained in great detail how fragile the human spine really was, how easy it was to destroy with a fall hitting just so. Lex had not been absolutely sure Kal would not kill Geoffrey but he had not said a word, just wondered what their father would do if someone was killed publicly. To be fair, no one did anything other than watch.

When the shaking mess of a boy had found solid ground again, Kal smoothly suggested he retract each of his previous statements, which was met with instant compliance. Then, with one hand on Geoffrey's head, Kal forced him to look at Lex and beg forgiveness. No one had ever begged Lex to forgive them like that before, but terror was a great motivator, and Lex could tell Kal's grip on a thin boned wrist was tight indeed and the hand on that head had clearly not been gentle either. Lex accepted, finally gathering himself enough to tell 'Clark' to let things go. Having someone beg was not gratifying the way he expected, it was just sickening.

The cruel look in those green eyes had been Kal's but almost the second he let go, he was slowly slipping back into Clark, "Sure, Lex, if you say so." No one really challenged either of them again. Oliver hated them both a hundred times more, but even he was careful how far he took things after that.

Things changed with Oliver though, around their fourth year.

Lex had been hunched in on himself, watching the football team practice. Lex himself was in polo and archery with no interest in football but Clark loved it with a passion. Even if Queen was also on the team. Though honestly, he was also in archery so they could hardly keep away from him even outside class. Lex was a ball of nerves watching his brother today though, just waiting for the worst. The blue ring still would not come off. They might have to use green Kryptonite to get it off, or a tub of oil, something.

Clark threw the ball but his range of motion was so limited it missed the mark by a mile. The coach roared like a wildcat and both Luthor's flinched.

"What's wrong with you? First you cost us the game yesterday and now you can't throw? You never throw that bad!" He grabbed Clark on either shoulder and gave him a shake, "Get your head in the game!" The unchecked gasp of pain stopped Simmons cold, making him frown and drop the hold, allowing Clark's instinctive shuffle away, "You hurt, Luthor?"

Clark smiled brightly, shyly, "Just ran into a door is all."

"Wow!" Oliver jerked off his helmet, staring incredulously at Clark, "Is that what they call it these days? That really is the most over used line!"

Clark's smile turned instantly wary and he took another step back, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Oliver looked angry, but oddly it really did not seem to be directed at Clark himself, "I saw, that's what that means! I saw your dad beat the hell out of you last night after the game! He was yelling at you for tripping and blaming you for his lost bet. I saw it! He broke his cane he was hitting you so hard!"

The wariness turned to fear but Clark kept smiling, trying for flippant as all eyes focused on him, "That's ridiculous!"

"He hit your knees with his cane to get you down, then he beat you with it till it snapped!" Oliver was snarling, stepping closer, "I saw him twist your arm behind your back so hard I heard the pop from behind the bleachers!" He motioned to Clark's arm, "It was either your elbow or your shoulder."

Clark shook his head, smiling desperate now, "That's just not true. I have no idea what you're talking about!"

It wasn't though, it was so very correct, Lex just never realized anyone had still been on the field to see it. Lionel had been furious, cornering Clark alone after he came out of the lockers after a shower. Even though there was nothing he could do to stop what he expected was coming he could not leave Clark alone, so he joined them near the benches. Clark was afraid so it was Kal with a cavalier grin aimed at their father, "Oh, come on, father! I have to slip up some times otherwise people will think I'm on drugs."

"Maybe you should be! It would at least be an excuse for costing me a substantial bet tonight! If you were high I might not be as disappointed." Lionel grinned, wolf fangs showing, "You knew I made a bet, didn't you? This was just one of your childish attempts to challenge me."

Kal's shoulders tensed when he heard the word 'disappointed' and only stiffened further, "I didn't throw the game intentionally! I don't know what happened, it was like I tripped on air."

"What do you expect?" Lex slid in at his father's side, moving past his father's men so he could glare better, "It would not be natural if he never made a mistake!"

Lionel spared Lex a glance, "Ah, yes, human error! The folly of man kind... but that is why I told you that you were allowed one mistake per game. I never said that mistake was allowed to cost me a game! That's something I can't stand for."

"It wasn't his fault! You can't pin the whole game on him!" Lex protested rather loudly but it fell on deaf ears.

"This requires punishment." Lionel purred, smiling.

Kal lifted his chin, eyes hard but accepting, waiting and ready for a verdict. Lex could only protest further, unsure what he had said once his father smacked a pair of leather gloves into his hand, "What are these?"

"They are for you to put on when you beat your brother." Loinel said simply, as if it were obvious before he tugged a blue ring from his pocket.

Clark just looked even more resigned but Lex dropped the gloves on the ground with a snarl, "No! I won't!"

"Do it or I will." An ultimatum delivered in a roll of that reptilian tongue.

"No! Just leave him alone! He won't make any more mistakes!"

With nothing more than a snap of Lionel's fingers, Lex was subdued by gorillas, the dropped gloves forced between his teeth to keep him quiet while their father sauntered toward Clark, twirling his brass handled cane in one hand, fiddling with the blue ring in the other. Clark, Kal really, did not flinch when the ring slid onto his finger, did not cry out when the cane handle cracked into his ribs. He was relatively quiet through the whole long beating. Lex was more vocal gagged than Clark was without; toward the end he cried out a little more often.

Faced with his team now, a secret threatening to spill over, Clark looked small and helpless, like a fawn facing down the wolves. He looked worse than he had face down in the dirt. Secrets were what kept Clark alive, they all knew the world as a whole would be even more unkind to the adopted alien son of a Luthor. There was nothing they could do but stay silent. Clark would not stand a chance of being free of Lionel without his time in a lab becoming less of an awful occasion and more of a final resting place.

Oliver was deceptively calm then, nodding, "All right, prove it!" He lifted his arm vertically, holding it out level to the side, "Just lift your arm, shoulder high, then I'll believe it's not dislocated. We'll say I was wrong about what I saw."

The step back was as telling as anything from Clark, showing that he was beaten and he had known it from the start, "I don't have to do anything you say!"

"You could always lift up your shirt. You were late to practice so no one saw you suit up. If there aren't any marks that will prove it, fast and easy."

"I don't have to put up with this!" Clark hissed, taking that step back again, "You're not even the coach so why are you trying to order me around?"

"Lift up your shirt, son!" The coach's order was almost soft, like he did not really want to know but he had to ask.

Clark's eyes were wide when he looked at the coach, backing up a full two steps, distancing himself progressively, "What, you're just going to go along with that?"

"If he's lying, there is nothing you need to hide." The coach sounded like he wanted it to be a lie.

Lex had no choice but to step in, hurrying from the bleachers, "Clark, we need to go! We have an appointment."

Clark swallowed, looking at Lex like a ship might look to its anchor in a storm, "Right, yeah, almost forgot." And Clark was hurrying over instantly, latching onto the excuse.

"I saw you too, Lex!" Oliver shouted, jogging to catch them, "Those bodyguards held you down to keep you away! That means you know it's wrong, even for a Luthor! He got off on all that, didn't he? In what world is that right? How often does that happen?"

In what world? That was the million dollar question.

"Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Lex shot back, not even looking back as they finally got off the field and into the hallway that would take them away from that.

"What about what you said about when you go home? How Lionel thinks he can do anything to Clark because he's adopted? How you wanted to find a way to go somewhere else for break because you're afraid your dad will 'lock him in the basement again' because of this? Huh? What about that?"

That stopped Lex dead and he could not help the way he spun around, face likely ashen and betraying everything his mouth had not, "Don't!" It was not especially Luthor the way his voice cracked, "You'll make it worse! If he finds out what you-"

"Lex!" Clark jerked him forward and away, "We're going to be late!"

"He tried to make you do it!" Oliver was clearly outraged, almost unhinged, his sense of wrongness having been triggered, "Do you even see how twisted that was? Do you even understand the sick, sick-"

"Just let it go, Ollie!" Lex plead over his shoulder. "Don't ever say anything! You're just a kid, like us, you'd be expendable." Lex was not totally sure he cared if their father had Oliver killed but Clark would somehow end up taking the brunt of things once again and that could not happen. Their father wanted to keep them frightened. It was the only way he could be sure they would never turn on him. Condition them, terrify them into subjugation. Luthor's knew psychology and tactics, it's not like they could not understand what was being done to them. They knew, it just didn't stop it from working. It worked because they had no one to turn to powerful enough to save them.

Oliver looked suddenly bewildered, even lost, but most of all horrified. He did not stop jogging beside them though, "You're Luthor's! You're his kid! How does he think he can get away with any of-"

"Because he can! He can do whatever he wants... and even with us," Lex smiled, mostly because it wasn't funny but he had a bad habit of telling Oliver things he shouldn't when they were kids, or, well, little kids, seemed like he still did; before Clark, Oliver was as close to a friend as he'd known even if they basically were enemies, "he can always get more. Have another kid. We're not safe either, so you really aren't! Just don't say anything!"

"Shut up, Lex! You're older than me, you're supposed to know better than to let him bait you." Clark forced Lex to move faster.

Oliver never exactly said anything again, but he did manage to find the locked cellar door at the next charity function the Luthor's threw. The look of horror had been back even if he could not manage to get down any farther. It was nothing but confirmation of the frightened chatter Lex had been spouting while he dragged Clark's battered body back to the showers. He washed off the blood and found the medical kit so he could do what little an untrained kid knew to since he could not get the ring off. Oliver must have followed them that whole time, listening to Lex's wild babbling. Most of it would not have meant much to him, even when they were alone they never said anything direct, never used certain words. Oliver got enough to know it was bad at home.

The puff pad of the makeup brush running too close under his eye made him blink and nearly jerk away, ignoring the mumbled apology. He had never been a fan of the readying process for the cameras. It was annoying and arduous in its own way. They always put so much makeup on him, all over his face and head that a shower was always the biggest thing on his mind. He felt as fake as a bald Ken doll and it was never his favorite feeling, being objectified. They made him up down to the last detail, making everything perfect down to the creases in his socks. While he was normally immaculate it was all so much more exaggerated on screen that it hardly felt real at all. He was nothing but an image played up until he was a bastion of business and example of raw, mainly untapped power. Some people said it was a good thing, made him appealing, made him untouchable, even exotic. He still hated it and always would.

"I just feel bad for them, you know?" A feminie voice that sounded very much like Kat Grant filtered into his ear, "I mean, they're not good people but after seeing that I kind of get why they turned out so aweful."

A male voice scoffed, "They're Lionel Luthor's kids, what did you expect? You thought the old guy was secretly a teddy bear?"

"No, Jimmy, it's just... I'd never seen anyone be that heartless to their own child! As a mother it just doesn't make sense to me and he did not even seem to see anything wrong with it. I was just glad you were smart enough to catch it on tape even though he told you not to film until he told you to."

"No one's ever going to see it but us, you know that, it's not even damning evidence of any thing besides sadism. It's just something to tuck away in Perry's vault just in case."

"I still just-"

"Kat, their not stray cats, don't try to take them home and nurse them back to health, alright?" Jimmy must have walked away because the conversation seemed to be over.

Maybe the blonde air head had a brain after all. He never took the time to notice even though he partly ran the Daily Planet. He had no idea why half the honest reporters, editors, or even type setters worked for them; honest or kind people had no business working with a Luthor. While he knew exactly why the crooked ones stayed, or even the ones that were spies for Edge or any number of enemies stay, the honest idealists never made sense before. Everyone knew how utterly frustrated Perry White was with all the restrictions, but he had no choice other than blocking information, however Lionel could not touch him so long as he still had whatever evidence he had stashed away in some unknown location. Most likely it was a culmination of things like that tape the cameraman clearly managed to smuggle away behind the old man's back; underestimating the ones that seemed stupid might be his father's weakness. That might be why honest people still worked there, for Perry. It never occurred to him that anyone would dare try but maybe it should have. Enemies he understood all along, but now he might understand the honest ones too.

When he stood and strolled to the stage he wondered how much they had on their upstanding father. After all these years it might be substantial. Perhaps it was time to give the angels a little help from the dark side? It might just be worth the fallout to try. They would need t be careful and never let Lionel catch on but it was worth a try. The man would see it coming from a mile away if they tried to gather evidence themselves but he might miss it if they gave it away . Hubris might be Lionel's greatest flaw, a fatal sin.

Kal was already on stage, poised perfectly in the chair and looking debonair so Lex took the seat beside him. If he lead the charge Kal would follow, they worked well together that way whether it was Clark or Kal.

The interview progressed well with lot of the inital 'how are you feeling' with gleaming replies of 'never better' and they each turned on the charm. They were all more than capable, snakes of a rare breed that could charm a mouse right into its den willingly. Lex let things go on and progress nearly to a conclusion before he decided it was time to snap his jaws. It only took one side glance at Kal, one full of meaning for his brother to perk up and tune into him, waiting for the move that was sure to follow.

"Funny how our security is always around except when we actually need them." Lex mused, as if to himself.

Lionel smiled and chuckled a little, "Well, they no longer have their jobs so-"

"No, they don't," Lex agreed, feigning indifferent nonchalance, "but they're still on payroll, which is interesting." He rose his brows high, innocent look on his face as he shrugged.

Kal leaned forward just slightly, picking up where things were headed effortlessly, faux amazement in his voice, "And they make a lot more now than they used to! Guess it pays to leave us to die."

Their pretty little host fell absolutely silent, smart enough to see the beginnings of a battle brewing.

Lionel kept smiling, his lips spreading even more to reveal more teeth, "Are you trying to imply something?"

Clark cocked his head to one side, a confused frown creasing his brow, "What on earth is there to imply?" Then he smiled, mimicking the full teeth grin aimed at him, "I just hope your guards never realize how lucrative leaving a Luthor to die can be, dad! Might be best not to tell them."

"Is that a threat or a further, unfounded accusation?" Lionel dropped the smile at that.

Lex pursed his lips before speaking, "Actually, neither. We would need to be unsure to simply accuse. We're just curious is all. Wondering why you hired someone to kill us. We kind of wondered if you had another brother hidden somewhere to switch us with. I mean, you did hide Lucus very well even though you decided he was not company material." Lex leaned forward, pretending to lower his voice even though he knew he was still linked to the microphone, "Was it a test or were you really trying to kill one of us? If you were trying to thin the ranks, which one of us did you hope would die? If it was a test, I'm guessing I failed since I didn't take my chance to finish Clark while he was down, bullets in his chest. Not very Luthor of me, letting a prime opportunity pass me by."

"Cut the tap!" Lionel ordered, not bothering to make it seem like anyone had a choice, "If you two want to accuse me of something it would be nice if you did so in a more private location. Did you think we were filming live?"

Clark leaned back in his chair, relaxing and sprawling out a bit, "Of course not. You never film live if you can help it, it's just more fun this way."

"See how fun you two think it is when I take away those cars you're so fond of!" Lionel's intonation was very fatherly, scolding.

Lex kept his tone very light with a touch of petulance, "Of course we're fond of those cars! At least when we're behind the wheel we're not wondering if our driver is about to kill us."

Clark held up a finger and turned to Lex, "Oh, hey, I don't know about that, what with the way you drive, Lex! That's pretty scary."

Lex inclined his head, spreading his hands to concede the point.

Lionel jerked his sound box off, pointing a bony finger at them, "You want to see scary? That can be arranged if you pull a stunt like this again! You think I'm amused?"

"It is kind of funny since we both survived. You went to all that trouble for nothing." Lex shrugged, smiling one of his own darker curl of the lips.

Lionel leaned very close, "I don't know, boys... I think what was more amusing was watching your faces on the security tapes, listening to you both whine like pups, or it would hve been amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. I raised you better than that! You're right, neither of you were very Luthor, just weak! I don't have son's at all! Tess could have handled that more like a man than either of you!"

"You were pretty whiny when you lost your eyesight, dad." Lex pointed out simply, not conceding an inch of ground.

"Go home! I'll do the interview without you!" Lionel snapped as he rose and stormed off stage. "And do try to be safe out there, you've already seen how dangerous it can be," was the parting threat.

Lex looked at Clark, aware they still had a captivated audience, so he exaggerated a shrug and bewildered expression, "Was it something we said?"

Clark reached up and flicked that top button of his shirt open, "And I buttoned that for nothing. So much for show time, huh?"

They slid to their feet in a smooth glide, in perfect time with each other. They removed their sound equipment as they descended the steps, folding the wires neatly before setting them on a table. All eyes were still on them, flabbergasted, some mouths were still hanging open. The two Luthor's ignored it all, strolling out like they had not a care in the world, like nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. Nothing would ever hit the news but they made a statement and that was all they planned on. The funny part would have been if their father really had trusted them live.

Seeing Lois rushing to catch them should not have been a surprise, but the open look to her face was, as was the near lack of hatred in her eyes. She was as soft as either had ever seen her. Oliver joining them, that sad look magnified, was not very surprising.

"Did you mean all that?" She asked, hushed, "Did he really...?"

Clark smirked but Lex did not know where he found the fortitude, "Sure, Lois! I mean, who did you think it was? Wayne?" He pointed his chin at her companion, "Or Ollie? Even if the thought might have crossed their minds, aren't they a little too clean for that?"

"And your not taking this to the police?" She sounded indignant and it was enough to make Clark's laugh close to genuine.

"Right, because that would go so well, huh? It would just mean I'd get a bullet it the head rather than two in the chest. Be real!"

"He's your father!" And it seemed she was honestly struggling with that aspect.

"I'm adopted." Clark shrugged, "And Lex..." but he refused to finish that.

Lex did, "I'm defective. It wouldn't be a real loss for him. He could just remarry and try again or dig up some other kid he has hidden away. Maybe one with hair, a nice lionmane to match his."

Lois almost looked desperate or ill, "You have to tell someone! Take this to law enforcement! They could protect you! We have all that on tape!"

"It will be erased within the hour." Lex interjected without any heat, just certainty.

"Not if I made a copy! Perry would-"

Clark laughed more loudly, "Oh, oh, right! Because you, or anyone really, is going to risk your life for a Luthor!" And Clark just kept laughing, and after a moment, Lex could not help joining his own bitter laugh to it. For just a moment they were almost hysterical, leaning shoulder to shoulder, because the idea really was funny, though they calmed quickly and made for the door.

"Hey," Oliver had not said a word through the exchange, and maybe that was why they both turned back to look, "If you need a place to sleep for the night, lay low, you could always come to my place."

The residual smiles dropped from both their faces and they just stared at Lane and Queen like those two were the ones from another planet. Lois looked as sad as Oliver did, like she understood that little piece of things now, the reason her lover had spoken of. The Luthor curse was a terrible thing and it could not be broken.

"I don't think you want to get mixed up in this, Ollie." Lex might have looked a little sad too, too shocked to mask his emotions well enough. "It's a Luthor problem after all. It's got nothing to do with you."

"I'm offering. We're just old friends from school. No reason you can't crash with me." He was sincere and it hurt just... more than expected.

"Luthor's don't have friends, old or new." Lex managed to smile but he had a bad feeling it held nothing but resignation. "It's not how the world works."

Oliver moved a little closer, "I should have offered a long time ago."

A look at Clark revealed that he was not smiling anymore, he looked almost spooked, almost terrified, "We... we'll remember that if we... ever..."

Clark, well, not really, it had been Kal with him all evening, "We aren't allowed." There was a flatness to that voice, "What Lex means is, Luthor's aren't allowed to have friends. No one wants that kind of trouble parking on their lawn, and even if they did, which is not possible, Lionel encourages us not to. It would be weak, you know." The last part was said with more inflection, starting to be playful, "Can't have that. He's not overly fond of his own children being friendly with each other, he'd rather see us fight to the death, winner take all. We're already in trouble because we didn't try to get each other killed when we could have blamed it on a hit."

"God, you're not serious, are you?" Lois half whispered.

That was the thing about truth said in a joking tone, people tended not to believe it.

It was true enough to be funny and Lex found himself laughing with Clark once again, "You have no idea."

They turned for the door again but Lex's feet brought him up short, though he did not turn around, "Thanks... for the offer anyway, Ollie And for... everything before."

Peryy White was watching them when they walked out and Lex knew that tape would actually end up surviving. Not to help them, no, but to take own Lionel Luthor one day. They did not have friends but they had more than enough enemies to go around. It would always be that way. So long as it meant Lionel fell one day he did not totally mind.

Kal shot Lex a dark glare as he eased into the passenger side of the Ferrari, "What was that in there?"

"The interview?" The deepened glare was answer enough, "Just a little experiment."

Kal jutted out his jaw in a display of anger. "I backed you this time, Lex, but don't ever spring something like that on me again or you might not be pleased with the results."

"Fair enough." Lex nodded, "But how about you bring Clark back now? It's over now so you don't really have any reason to stick around."

Kal looked at him for a long minute before he smiled, "Always Clark. Lionel is right, it's your emotions, your sentiment that will be your undoing, Lex, your greatest weakness."

"You're quoting him now?"

"Tess accepts this part of me, you know, that this is Clark too. Why can't you?"

"Because I know there is a difference."

"Maybe it's just what you want to see." But he looked away and after a moment the posture relaxed and the eyes that turned to him were gentle and open, "Lex..." He breathed.