'Thanks, I'll try not to wear these out so quickly,' Clark said to the assistant.

'Don't worry about it,' the assistant replied, grinning. 'You're our best customer. You're sending my kids to college.'

Clark gave him an embarrassed smile, and tried to explain that farm work was tough on shoes. The assistant seemed to buy his explanation, so Clark bought the shoes.

Clark left the shop and turned down a side road. Cardboard boxes littered the gutter and steam poured out of an extractor fan on the side of a building. Leaning against a wall was a man wearing an overcoat. As Clark walked past, the man stepped out.

'Hey kid, got a light?' He said. 'Damn, hang on. I've used that one already today.'

'Sorry, I don't' replied Clark, still walking.

'Listen, kid,' insisted the man, manoeuvring himself in front of Clark. 'I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. Tomorrow afternoon at about…' He glanced at his watch, 'midday, in fact, you're gonna really piss me off.'

Clark looked at him quizzically. This man was clearly disturbed. In fact, as Clark looked more carefully, he recognised him as the man who had bought the drinks at the Talon that morning. He didn't have time to reflect on this, however, since at that moment the man pulled out a gun.

'I tell a lie,' said the man pleasantly. 'You're not gonna piss me off. Not this time around. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm gonna shoot you before you can inconvenience me again.'

Clark stood his ground. 'I wouldn't be so sure about that,' he said firmly.

The man pulled the trigger. A bullet made its way lazily up the barrel and emerged into sunlight. Clark considered ducking out of the way, grabbing the bullet, grabbing the gun, grabbing the man, throwing the man thirty feet, but finally decided on letting the bullet hit him. He hadn't been shot at for some time, and fancied the idea of watching the man's expression when the bullet bounced off his chest.

The bullet eventually reached him and, as expected, the man's face dropped like badly baked bread. He fired again in disbelief and Clark was just about to run forward and grab him when he heard a shout. He turned to see Lex and, curiously, the man he'd bumped into in the street earlier running towards him.

'Clark,' called Lex. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine, I'm fine. He missed me.' Clark turned back to face the gun-wielding maniac, but he had disappeared.

'Which way did he go?' insisted Lex's companion.

'I… I don't know,' stammered Clark, a little off-balance. 'I guess he went that way.' He pointed down the alley. The man ran past him and out of sight. Clark looked quizzically at Lex. 'What…?'

'I don't know, Clark.' Lex frowned. 'Something strange is going on. You sure you're OK?'

'I'm fine. Really. What happened to your eye?' Clark had buttoned up his jacket so no one would see the bullet holes in his shirt. He and Lex walked back out on to the high street.

'Listen. Let me drive you home. I'll tell you what happened to me on the way,' Lex offered. 'Don't worry, I'll drive carefully,' he added, after seeing Clark's expression.

'The man that shot at you,' Lex began, once they were in the car, 'Stole my briefcase outside the bank earlier. He had an identical accomplice. His name, apparently, is Justin Webb. The man you saw with me just now is Hugh Jameson. He has some connection to Webb. He found me in the Talon and told me he'd seen Webb attack me. He wouldn't give me much, but he said he's been tracking Webb since this morning. We were just leaving when we heard the gunshots. What did he want from you, Clark?'

'I don't know. He said I was going to do something to him tomorrow at midday and that he was going to stop me now, before I could.' Clark frowned. 'Lex. How could he know something like that?'

'I don't know, Clark.' Lex replied. 'I'd have said he was insane, but how could he have known about my briefcase?'

They pulled up outside the farmhouse and got out of the car.

'Was there anything important in it?' Asked Clark casually.

Lex paused for a moment then sighed, 'It probably doesn't matter if I tell you now. The news will be all over Smallville if that case is opened.'

They walked into the barn and up the stairs.

'Ever heard the story of the Phoenix?' Asked Lex as they sat down.

'The mythical bird that rose reborn from its own ashes?' Clark somehow doubted Lex's briefcase doubled as a birdcage.

'That's the one. I want to be a phoenix, Clark.' Clark raised an eyebrow. Lex smiled. 'Hear me out. After the crash I felt like I had been reborn. But now I want to rise. I want to do great things, but I can't do them under my father's shadow.

'I'm starting my own company, Clark. LexCorp. You once told me you can't change the past. But you can change the future, and I intend to.'

'So in the briefcase were…'

'Business plans, logos, financial data. Yeah. I was planning on leaving my father out of the loop on this one.' He gave a hollow laugh and stroked his baldness. 'If he found out he would do everything in his power to see that I failed.'

'Why?'

'He only wants to witness my success if it bolsters his own glory,' Lex said resignedly. 'He would see the creation of my own company as both a challenge and a threat, which frankly,' he said with a twinkle in his eye, 'it is.'

*          *          *