"I must admit, I never thought I'd find you of all people in this position," Kal-El said nothing keeping his eyes glued on the computer screen, while Lex watched smugly as his security team surronded him. "At least not so easily caught," Lex sighed happily "It truly is the most wonderful time of the year."

Kal-El slowy backed away from the computer, Lex's men quickly training their guns on him, glancing at Lex from the corner of his eye. "I understand you've been having some memory problems. Allow me to fill in some the blanks," he offered "We were close once, you and I. Friends. You once said I was like a brother to you."

"So why is it that now you look at me like you can't stand me?" Lex asked. Truth be told, he was as surprised to hear that he and the alien had once been close. He had always felt familiar, but he had never expected them to once have been friends. "What happened to us?"

"The one thing that always destroys even the strongest of friendships. A girl." Kal-El whipped his head around and let out a gust of air, his super breath hurling Lex and his men into the air and slamming them into the wall. Lex groaned as he rolled over to his side, his vision clearing to show Kal-El standing over him. "You know the worst part of it all is Lex? You were like a brother to me too." Kal-El reached into his coat and pulled out a small glass medallion in the form of the mark of the House of El. Lex paled as it began to give off a brilliant pearly light. "I'm sorry, old friend," Kal-El said in sincere, honest voice "but as you once said: It has to end this way."

As the light reached a dazzling peak, a single arrow soared through the air and hit it out of Kal-El's hand, sending is skidding across the floor. "Back off," the Green Arrow ordered "Now."

Kal-El chuckled. "Still trying to put the fear of God into your enemies I see. And you," Kal-El gestured toward Clark, dressed in his Superman attire "I thought I told you to stay out of my way."

"And I thought you said you weren't here to cause trouble."

"I was trying to help you. Trust me when I say this," Kal-El advised "You have no idea of what Luthor is capable of. Please, walk away."

"Not going to happen." To prove a point, Oliver quickly fired his bow, sending a kryptonite arrow straight for Kal-El's chest.

Kal-El staggered, the color draining from his face as breath became ragged, the kryptonite now clutched in his hand. With sweat dripping from his brow, Kal-El fired his heat vision, sending a small concentrated burst at the arrow head, turning it to dust. "Lot of people that want to kill me on my world. Wearing lead lined coat makes it a little more difficult." Kal-El tossed the shaft on the ground as his breath began to level out "Tell me Superman, have you learned this trick yet?" Kal-El raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the tiny motion causing the entire room to tremble as it unleashed a sonic boom. The windows shattered, and the others were sent flying back. Clark slowly rose to his feet and checked on the now unconscious Oliver. Out cold, but fine, and turned a spiteful glare upon Kal-El. He smiled. "So that's what I look like when I'm angry. You still have some blue kryptonite in your system," he warned.

"And you have green in yours."

"I'm covered in lead. Reduces the effects and speeds the healing process. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"What do you think?"

"I think… that we should take this outside?" Kal-El took off, soaring above the tallest buildings of Metropolis with Clark right behind him. Kal-El paused and faced Clark, daring the younger Man of Steel to face him.

Clark charged Kal-El at full speed, his fists clenched as he fired a powerful left hook right at the commander's face. Kal-El barely dodged it, the blow just grazing the edge of his jaw as Clark flew past. "You're faster than I thought," he complimented. "But being able to outrun a speeding bullet won't get you out of this one."

"We'll see about that!" Clark charged him again, only to have his next blow blocked and countered with an ear-ringing punch to face that rang out like a cannon, followed by a blow to the ribs with the voice of a sonic boom, forcing Clark bend over and groan as the air was brutally forced out of his lungs.

"You just don't seem to get it do you?" Kal-El whispered into Clark's ear "You chances of beating me are as slim as you losing a fight to that clumsy, earthbound kid we were back in Smallville." To prove a point, Kal-El grabbed Clark by the base of his cape, sending him to tailspin as he spun Clark and a launched him into the roof of a nearby parking garage, the impact from Clark's rapid descent leaving a massive crater and setting three level's worth of car alarms. Clark groaned as he slowly rose to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as Kal-El softly landed behind him "You should've let me take of Lex. I would've been doing you a favor."

"You were going to put him in the Phantom Zone."

"Do you honestly think that there isn't a prison on any Earth that a Lex Luthor can't lie, buy or threaten his way out of?" Kal-El asked angrily. "Putting him in the Phantom Zone is the only way to make sure that that madman doesn't kill any more innocent people."

"So what? You just go around imprisoning anyone the police can't reach?" Clark argued "Playing judge, jury and executioner?"

"Don't you dare stand there and defend Lex like he's some common criminal!" Kal-El snapped. "You and I both know that he is anything but. The man that you saved on the bridge all those years ago is gone," Kal-El emphasized "he can't be saved. And if you don't accept that, soon you won't be able to hind who you really are behind tripping over your feet and a pair of glasses for much longer. No matter how many second chances you give him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why do you think I stopped being Superman? Lex told my secret to the entire world!" Kal-El shouted "After everthing that monster put me through, I gave him second chance. And in return, all he did was ruin my life."

Clark was surprised. "If your Lex is as bad you say, why did you even give him a second chance in the first place?" he asked "Why let him into the League?"

Kal-El's answer was simple and straightforward "Tess. She thought she could save him. When Lex came back after the Fortress collapsed, she tried to do for him what the League did for her." Kal-El's voice broke as he became touched with grief "After she died, Lex fell back into his old habits." Kal-El swallowed a growing lump in his throat "The Lex Luthor I know would've died a thousand times for his sister if given the chance to spare her from even the slightest pain. Yours stabbed her in the stomach and left her to die," he reminded sharply "Don't you understand? Whatever good is left in that man, Lionel buried it so deep, no one can reach it."

"I don't believe that."

"Which is exactly what makes you so naive," Kal-El scoffed. He turned his back on Clark and marched toward the edge of the roof. "I'm only going to say this one more time," Kal-El warned just before he disappeared into the winter sky "stay out of my way."