Lex stopped and looked at him quizzically. "Parent problems?"
"Sort of," Clark said evasively. "Where's your car?"
Lex shook his head and walked back to Clark. "Given my track record… guess."
"You crashed it?"
"No, I drove it into a ditch. My dealer can't send in a new one till tomorrow, and no offense, but I'd rather not drive a tractor all day long. It would send the wrong kind of messages." He grinned.
Clark grinned back. "I think this is a sign that you should start driving safely."
"What? And stop giving my dealer heart attacks? Every time I almost die, he almost loses half his business. On the other hand, every time I crash a car he sells another. He loves my driving skills. Thinks very highly of them." His sardonic smile cheered Clark, until it faded. Lex looked at him seriously. "I wanted to ask you some questions about when you saved my life, Clark."
Clark looked down. His feet were moving monotonously, as if he wasn't even telling them to walk.
"Clark. Are you listening?"
For a moment he wanted to tell him everything. I can fly, Lex. I can see through walls, I can pick up cars. I can run faster than the speed of sound. "Yeah, I'm listening."
"My team created a computer-simulation. Very interesting, what they found. The exact trajectory of the roof when it came off suggests… that it was torn off."
Clark stopped walking. "By what?"
Lex looked him straight in the eye. "You tell me."
Clark scoffed lightly. His stomach roiled. "How would I know?" He swallowed in the following silence.
Lex seemed to be trying to think. "Clark, I've gone over that day a hundred times in my head. I've thought about it, and I've thought- hell, Clark, I've even had dreams about that day. It's stuck in my head and I can't figure out why I lived." He stared at Clark. "The only variable is you."
His heart was pounding. Lex had come closer than anyone else to discovering his secret. He was the only person Clark had ever come into contact with who wouldn't let it go. He was too close. "So- so what are you saying, Lex… I tore the roof off your car?" He injected as much ridicule as he could into the phrase.
Lex didn't laugh. "What I'm saying is that you're holding something back," he said seriously. "You're not telling me everything."
His words hung solidly in the air between them. Clark could see each one, each letter, each tone they were uttered in. He couldn't dissemble. Tonight was the wrong night for Lex Luthor to ask questions. "Let it go, Lex," he said. "Please."
"No," Lex said. His tone had taken on an edge. "You just confirmed it. I won't stop, Clark. I don't care who I hurt or what I uncover. I will find out how I lived. You have to understand, Clark, it's become an obsession for me. I can't let it go." Each word was spit out like he was forcing them from his gut, and Clark was suddenly frightened.
"Lex, if you stay on this road…" Clark said in a near whisper. "You will hurt people. I guarantee it. I'm not saying," he said quickly, "that I'm hiding anything. And Lex, if I was…" he tried to phrase his words in a way that would not hurt his secret, not hurt Lex, not hurt anyone. "Then if I thought I could tell you- anyone," he corrected himself, "I would." Lex said nothing. "Believe me, I would."
"Fine." Lex's tone had become bitter. He knew he had lost. Clark suddenly had visions of Lex as a young child, throwing a game board across the room because he didn't win. Lex started walking backwards and turned as he talked, away from Clark. "I'll find out with or without your help," he shouted. He was already fairly far.
Clark realized suddenly that he was walking towards his own house. "Don't tell them you saw me!" he shouted on a sudden impulse. Lex was angry, but his confusion mingled comically on his face as he disappeared into the blackness. "Please," Clark sighed. There was no help for it. He had to go home to warn his parents. Taking a deep breath, he took off at a dead run, giving Lex's path a wide berth.
