The Die Hard: Welcome to my madness! Glad you like the cross-over mix. We will be seeing a few more visiting Highlander characters but this will remain Smallville centric.

Basically, it comes down to circumstances. The Weaver 'dresses' for success, in every case (on Earth, the Weaver has been female, in other incarnations, on other planets) due to external circumstances the Weaver has felt a male had a better chance. In the first three this was definitely due to sexism in the societies in question (The Celts might have accepted a female war leader a la Boudicca but they had been Romanized enough the Weaver didn't want to chance it). This time it's more to blend in at Belle Reve. While we know that Belle Reve has both male and female patients the only women we saw in Lex's 'ward' were a nurse and Dr. Foster so I'm assuming Belle Reve keeps it's male and female patients separate. The Weaver could have 'joined' the staff but there are less of them and their 'population' is probably more stable which would have made it harder to blend in and would have necessitated some sort of paper trail which 'Gregory' was trying to avoid leaving in Belle Reve.

Kem-El wanted a Segeeth for his Naman, since he's decided to lay claim to Clark and to MAKE the prophecy come true. He picked Lex due to a combination of opportunity (wrong place, wrong time for little Lex), native ability, and resources. And, yes, Kem-El is also an attempt to 'fix' the show writers horribly bi-polar Jor-El. And as professionals they deserve to be slapped for their complete inability to be consistent or internally logical.

Cats RULE, dogs drool. So, do your cats agree? Or do they just want you to open that can of tuna?

The old witch is a Highlander character who happens to have trained Genevieve and I'll leave it at that. Personally, I heap most of my character hate on Lana so I don't have too much left for anyone else. Commas and I have a very strained relationship but I'll try.

Oya: Not too much longer – I can't take much more of the place.

Squeaky Piggy – Well here's another installment. You'll have to let me know if it lives up to expectations.

In the Hands of Fate: Chapter 11: Betrayed with a Bishop

Owww. I rubbed the back of my neck as I levered myself into a sitting position with the other arm. Quiet on all fronts (not surprising since it was 3:48 AM). Lex was a light enough sleeper that he woke almost as soon as I did. I found myself on receiving end of one of his weighing looks. I glanced down at the board and grimaced, apparently I COULDN'T play chess in my sleep, at least not against Lex.

"I am a Luthor" Lex said with a shrug but to eyes that had watched him since birth he was also a little worried about my reaction. Thanks to Lionel, Lex tended to plan far more than was probably healthy for a twenty-three year old male human but he was still a twenty-three year old male human with all the hormonal challenges that came with it, which means in spite of the fact that he didn't want to alienate his only ally or take advantage of a 'friend' but he was also intensely competitive. I'd ended every game we'd played in stalemate. Lex had seen his opportunity to win and had seized it but he was also aware of the fact that he was taking unfair advantage. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he was ashamed but he was certainly…uneasy. How should I react? From the 'heroic' perspective it certainly wasn't 'fair' but given that I had watched the game played since its inception I had a rather unfair advantage as well. And from a purely realistic point of view it was what any good predator would do. They culled the herd keeping it strong. That was what Lionel wanted Lex to be, the ultimate predator. It was also what he'd tried to make himself into. To date he'd been more successful with himself than Lex though there actually was a sliver (a very SMALL sliver) of humanity left in Lionel. I didn't want to encourage the predator but Lex wasn't Kal-El either. There would be times when he would have to deal from the bottom of the deck. Even if everything turned out EXACTLY as I hoped Lex's world would always be more gray than Kal-El's but this, like so often with Lex, was a test. (Kal-El had no idea how many times he'd been tested, and failed, but Lex wanted a friend so badly he came back anyway)

"Only as much as you want to be" I challenged.

He picked up one of my knights "We could start over." He offered cautiously.

"But the game isn't over" I countered.

He looked at the board and then at me like I was out of my mind. He hadn't delivered the coup de grace, yet, but as far as Lex was concerned the game was over. It wouldn't be easy to wiggle out of the corner Lex had me in and nearly impossible for me to force another stalemate. But lost causes were my specialty. Time to teach that to Lex.

For the first time we played in silence fully and exclusively focused on the game.

"Son of a bitch" Lex muttered when I finally managed to stalemate the game with only three pieces left.

"That would be difficult considering I don't have a mother."

When I stonewalled Lex on Clark's biology he had clearly assumed my own was off limits as well, now he glanced with that curiosity of his fully pricked.

"No mother? So how do your kind reproduce?"

"We don't."

That earned a longer pause "Then where do you come from?"

I shrugged "We are."

A swallow, "How old are you, not Gregory, the real you?"

"We are…outside of Time, thus age is irrelevant. We are."

"So are you really male?"

"Gender is a function of biology. Gregory is male, but in my native state biology is irrelevant thus gender is non-existent."

"No sex?" Lex asked with a smirk "No wonder you take vacations."

"If I was here for carnal pleasure I can think of better places to be."

"Speaking of better places?"

"Patience is a virtue, Lex" a virtue that I was starting to run thin on myself. In all honesty I wanted out of here every bit as much as Lex did and the place was beginning to wear me down. This was my first, last, and only incarnation in a mad house. The orderlies were making rounds. I picked up the board and pieces and gave the wall a weary glance. I was also getting tired of phasing through the damn things.

I smothered another racking cough. It wouldn't do for someone to wonder why the ventilation system had a cold. Bloody kryptonite mutated viruses, bloody Rules of Engagement. I'd given Gregory a perfectly normal human immune system with a normal range of acquired resistance which did not include strange chimeric viruses. The Rules of Engagement didn't allow me to custom tailor for things like this. Part of the idea was that you faced the same risks as everyone else. The good news was when it had swept Belle Reve a couple of months before no one had died; the bad news was a third of those who came down with it got secondary pneumonia and spent as much as a month flat on their backs in the infirmary. I didn't have time to spend three weeks ironed to a bed. I guess the nasty little bug had lingered. The only reason Lex wasn't hacking up a lung was his hyperactive immune system. Speaking of Lex it was long past time for me to go his cell. I laid my head back on the folded blanket I was using as a pillow. I didn't particularly want to go but Lex would fret if I didn't. Of course he would probably fret if I did too. I picked up the chess set and headed for the cell.

Lex ended up supporting most of my weight as I half fell through the wall.

"Damn, you're still burning up."

"It's a cold, Lex. I know you don't have much personal experience but I'm ill not dying. You should write Kem-El a thank you note."

"It must have gotten lost in the mail" Lex retorted.

"Undoubtedly it's filed next to your father's wedding invitation in the dead letter bin" I said as I started to set up the board. Lex withdrew a bit at oblique the mention of Helen (now THAT had been a truly odd relationship but then Lex didn't seem to HAVE any healthy relationships. I would have to work on that.).

He stopped me with a "Not tonight. Greg, you need professional medical care."

"Lex it's a cold, as in a virus. There's nothing the doctors could do for me. Mrs. Kent's chicken soup would actually be better. It'll run its course in a few more days."

Lex looked less than convinced before he produced something from out of his shirt "I'm afraid the cafeteria is incapable of producing anything remotely that good but eat this."

I gave the pudding cup a chary glance. "I must confess I was wondering why you started a brawl at lunch."

I got another searching look "When was the last time you ate?"

Damn my agreement to tell the truth "Sometime yesterday." The cook was highly superstitious and too observant for my own good and I really hadn't felt up to tip-toeing around the man today. And in all honesty between the fever and the feeling that someone had poured a bag of quick-set cement into my lungs I hadn't been terribly hungry anyway.

"I may not have much experience with being ill, but I'm reasonably certain you still need to eat."

I took the pudding cup. It wasn't worth the effort to argue with Lex over it and I did need to eat.

"Sorry about the lack of proper silver ware" Lex said with just a touch of his trade mark smirk "But this facility doesn't pride itself on table manners."

"Lex" I nearly choked on the combination of a building cough and a swallow of chocolate pudding "The last three times I was human you hadn't invented silver ware" I'd been practicing with some so I wouldn't embarrass myself later "table manners weren't exactly a priority." I gave the unpleasant stuff a sour look "And Belle Reve's kitchens have me missing having to hunt down and kill my own food."

"Obviously you never spent any quality time on that island of yours."

"I dropped you in a paradise you could have lived comfortably in for the rest of your life, Lex. It's not MY fault your father's tests were more centered on surviving corporate raids than tropical islands. You should try shooting wild aurchos on horse back on the Anatolian plains."

"Apparently you missed one."

"Idrimil never missed a shot in his life. There was a little volcanic problem one year and the Priest King Artatama used it as an excuse to give one of his more problematical sons as a sacrifice. The only problem was Arsilis was my Chosen."

"So you took his place" Lex didn't even bother to make it a question but I nodded since I was too busy coughing to speak. "Where does the aurchos come into it?"

"Because one of the Mitanni major deities was a bull and they liked a little sport out of their sacrifices."

A moment's thought "Bull dancing?"

"Bright boy, I knew there was a reason I like you."

He rolled one of the pieces in his hands "What's it like?"

"Bull dancing?" I closed my eyes. Kanisumnili had been the largest city on Earth 7,652 years ago. It boasted a population of 6,917 (give or take). And Smallville thought 45,000 was small town – no sense of history or perspective at all. Idrimil had always gotten good turn out. He was the best and the crowd had adored him.

"Greg, no body should look that happy remembering their death."

I glared at him "I wasn't. I was a bull dancer for over two years, best of the best" as well I should have been, just as Gregory was crafted to blend into the back round, Idrimil had been the ultimate gymnast. "They were the 'rock-stars' of the 'ancient' world. Live hard, die young, and leave a good looking corpse. The roar of the crowd, just you and the bull" I sighed "it was fun."

"Fun?" Lex licked his lips and shook his head "You have a frightening idea of fun. Or is this your shark cage?"

It was a quite insightful analogy really, "Your father went swimming with the sharks solely to prove his courage and provoke you. At least grant me slightly nobler ambitions than teasing great whites and yanking your chain."

"So you're an adrenaline junky with a messiah complex?" Lex challenged.

I didn't dare laugh for fear of coughing "Not exactly." That particular designation belonged to one of my 'cousins'. I was so tired. I was in no shape to engage in a battle of wits with Lex.

"I bet you were a big fan of the Coliseum and the gladiators, too."

That angered me and I let it show "Never. Outside of sacrificial dances life threatening injuries were actually rare. They capped the bulls' horns most of the time. It was a religious experience not a premeditated slaughter to distract the masses from the political situation."

"And where did all of this take place?" Ah, so we were back to trying to catch me in a lie where we? Or maybe he just thought I'd let more slip because of the fever.

"The people called themselves the Mitanni, the city was Kanisumnili. It was both an obsidian trading center and a pilgrimage site. You would call it Catal Huyuk. After the old King died Arsilis had me buried under his own floor."

That gained me a little ground. My head was pounding. I laid in on the cool metal bed. Lionel's obsessive interest in archaeology (particularly anything linked to strange Kryptonian symbols) had guarantied that Lex also stayed abreast of recent finds and their relative importance. There was only one city on Earth big enough to draw anything resembling a crowd over 7000 years ago. The bull motif was well known in Catal Huyuk and while the people of Catal Huyuk had left no written records no archaeologist would be surprised if they were the forefathers of the Hittities (which was true) and the names I'd supplied were remarkably similar to later Hittite names. The habit of burying your loved ones under ones under your own floor was one of Catal Huyuk's trade marks. If I was really just a mad man (and Lex still didn't seem to be quite sure of me) then I was a well educated and logical one or if I wasn't then I was probably telling the truth.

"What does Idrimil mean?"

"Graceful."

"You said 'we' earlier how many of you are there?"

This was a question I wanted well away from "Of me? Just one."

Lex nearly ground his teeth. This was hardly the first time I'd intentionally taken a question too literally so I could give a non-answer. "How many of your kind?"

"That depends on how you count" was my largely useless reply. I decided to give a little more though that was dangerous with Lex. The boy really was too smart for everyone's own good sometimes "We are One and many simultaneously. Even when I am here I am also still there because a part of me always remains with my…'kin'. So We are One but We also have separate thoughts and lives so We are many. In many there is One." I shrugged "We are as We have always been." That was too long a speech for my battered throat and I spent several minutes coughing. By the time I was done I was gasping for a breath that I couldn't quite seem to catch. I just managed to snag the hem of Lex's pants and had nearly tugged them down around his ankles before he stopped.

He squatted down so he could look me in the eye "Greg, you need medical attention." I shook my head hard enough to make it swim. He laid a hand on my forehead. It was so cold I nearly flinched and then leaned into the touch relishing the cool for the few seconds it lasted. As if that was some sort of signal I began shivering again. He was going to start yelling for the orderlies. I could see it in his eyes and I didn't have the strength to stop him. Damn, instead I scooped up the chess set and vanished through the wall leaving Lex to mutter curses in my wake. He picked something up off the floor and tucked it into his shirt. Oh, the pudding cup I thought as I curled up in my blankets.

I jolted up gasping and coughing later. Something was out of place enough to wake me from my fitful sleep. Son of a MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! It hadn't been the pudding cup Lex had retrieved from the floor it was one of the black bishops which he was giving to Dr. Foster!

"Where did you get this Lex?" she asked sternly as I started frantically gathering up the few creature comforts I'd colleted over the past few weeks. I sagged against the wall in the throes of another coughing fit.

"From the gentleman I've been playing chess with every night for the last few weeks."

"Then why give it to me?" Dr. Foster is no fool herself.

"Because he's sick and I'm afraid he won't survive without help soon." Damn it Lex – I'm NOT dieing right this instant!

"If he's a patient in this facility then you can be assured"

"He says he isn't a patient." He nearly shouted as he cut her off . "He walks through walls. I think he's living in the ventilation system." Lex swallowed "Please, Dr. you have to find him before it's too late."

"Lex" she cupped his chin "I had hoped we would have been able to help you more by now."

"Don't patronize me Dr." he spat "look at what's in your hand and tell me what you see."

"A black bishop."

"Take a good look Dr. Foster. Does that look like something you issue to an inmate in a mental ward" he all but sneered at her. "Does it?"

She glanced down at it and up at him in surprise. Damn, she believed him I had to get out of here. "The ventilation system?"

"I suspect so. Please hurry." As she strode off intent on finding me Lex whispered "I'm sorry, Greg but you're sicker than you realize." Regardless I was in no shape to teleport. I gave the corner I'd been calling home one last glance and set about executing my escape.