INT. LEXCORP PLANT - LABORATORY
Lex, still tied to the chair, taps his foot impatiently as he spies a droplet of dribble run down the side of Mercy's cheek. He tries getting her attention.
LEX
::whisper:: Mercy... Mercy...
VICTOR FRIES
Your associate has enough tranquilizer currently coursing through her veins to sedate a small mountain lion. She won't be waking up any time soon.
Victor walks passed Lex, a clipboard in hand, and steps over to the Static Life Chamber where he opens up a large compartment in one of the computer consoles next to the main chamber. Inside the compartment, a glowing chunk of meteor rock sits in the center of a series of distribution nodes directly connected to the main chamber.
LEX
Meteor rock?
Fries takes down several readings from a nearby computer monitor, making several minor alterations to the Kryptonite nodes.
VICTOR FRIES
The radioactive properties of the rock allow for the subjugation of momentum on the sub-atomic particles.
LEX
Oh... Right.
He pretends like he knows what Fries is talking about.
LEX
I suppose my father supplied you with all you needed. He's somewhat of a meteor rock aficionado, as it were. He collects them... probably sleeps with them.
Lex stares carefully at Fries who, for the most part, seems to be ignoring him.
LEX
I don't know what my father promised you, but you can be sure that whenever he gets what he wants, and you're no longer of any use to him, he'll betray you... just like he's betrayed everyone else.
Fries remains silent.
LEX
Look at me. I'm his son for god's sake and look at what he's done to me.
VICTOR FRIES
Whether you know it or not, your father cares about you a great deal, Lex. He cares about what happens to you.
Lex scoffs.
VICTOR FRIES
It's true. You're all he ever talks about.
LEX
And what does my father say when he talks about me?
VICTOR FRIES
Oh, he speaks of how proud that he is of you. He says how his son, Lex Luthor, will do great things in this world, command great respect and power. And he speaks of how worried he is for you.
LEX
Worried? About me?
VICTOR FRIES
Why, yes. He feels you are soft. As you grew up, from just a small boy, he chose to learn you in his image. It was his desire to mold you into a man of strength, who could handle the responsibility of one day carrying on the Luthor legacy that he would leave behind... but, there is a part of him that feels he failed you in that regard. "My son is strong," he told me.
Fries finally makes a point of looking up from his clipboard and over at Lex. He speaks slowly and deliberately, making a point of pronouncing each and every syllable of each and every word.
VICTOR FRIES
"But he often lets his emotional attachments get the better of him. In a world where business is lethal, one cannot afford to allow personal regards to stand in the way of what must be done."
Lex and Fries stare into each other's eyes, a silent conversation between the two on top of the verbal one.
LEX
Is that what he said?
Fries nods.
LEX
Well... a man can hardly deny his feelings. Sometimes things my father would see as a weakness, such as compassion, can go a long way... even in business.
VICTOR FRIES
Indeed they can.
LEX I'm glad you agree.
CLANG!
The door at the top of the large metal staircase swings open. Lionel Luthor, ever the showman, looks down on the lab, and his son, a proud smile deeply engraved into his face. Behind him, Lieutenant Shull followed closely by his guards, steps inside.
LIONEL As you know, Lex, I am a man of many resources.
He makes a point of emphasizing the "-sources".
LIONEL
Allow me to introduce you to one of them.
Shull looks over the lab, surveying the occupants and equipment like he might a row of troops before a battle. He doesn't seem all that impressed either.
Fries and Lex share an anxious glance.
After escorting the men down the staircase, Lionel quickly steps between Shull and Lex in the chair.
LIONEL
Of course, I wish this meeting could have been under slightly more cordial circumstances. Nonetheless, it is nothing short of academic that one day historians from all nations will see this momentous meeting of the minds in the same light as the first acquaintance between Churchill and Roosevelt...
As Lionel delivers his speech, Shull and his two guards walk passed Fries who pretends not to be listening. One of the guards steps particularly close to the open compartment with the exposed Kryptonite, its glow shining across some exposed skin under his rolled up sleeve. Curiously, under the soft green hue of the Kryptonite's shine, his otherwise pale skin appears almost black with several severe markings vaguely resembling scales. Once passed the compartment and exposed Kryptonite, however, his skin tone returns to its normal pastel peach.
LIONEL ...the first sail down the Nile between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra...
Shull and his guards come to a stop in front of Lex and Lionel.
LEX
...The first time Bonnie and Clyde robbed a convenience store.
Lionel clears his throat, looking up at Shull to gauge the man's reaction.
LIONEL
I should think that you would take this situation more seriously, Lex, considering the implications.
LEX
I do. It's you who I don't take seriously.
Lionel ignores the quip.
LIONEL
This is Lieutenant Pendleton Shull of the United States Department of Homeland Intelligence.
LEX
You'll forgive me if I don't get up.
Lex fidgets a little in the chair.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Release him. I will not speak to him like this.
One of Shull's brutish guards steps around the chair and unties Lex from the chair. Lex quickly gets to his feet, only briefly rubbing at his wrists. Just for fun he makes a move like he's going to throw a punch at Lionel, then, just laughs at him when his father flinches.
Lex offers Shull his hand to shake.
LEX
I like you already.
Shull keeps his hands at his sides.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That does not concern me.
LEX
::shrugs:: And what does concern you exactly?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Privacy.
They all look over at Fries, except Shull who would just as soon lend his attention to a fly on the wall. Fries quickly closes the compartment and gathers up his clipboard.
VICTOR FRIES
I am almost ready to begin. I should tend to Nora.
Victor leaves through a door hidden behind the Static Life Chamber. Everyone waits to hear the door shut behind him.
LEX
So, Lieutenant... My lunatic father here tells me that you think my best friend is an alien from outer space bent on world domination. I take it that nice little clip show he showed me was yours. Nice work. PowerPoint was it?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
The video your father showed you was obtained by one of my operatives.
LEX
Obtained? Would you care to be a little more specific?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
No, I wouldn't.
LEX
Oh, I see. Your operatives? And being a... Lieutenant... you would have how many at your disposal exactly?
LIONEL
I didn't ask the Lieutenant here to be interrogated, Lex.
LEX
Then, you shouldn't have asked him here at all. Clark is my friend and I don't take these accusations lightly, especially from some brass lackey. What's the matter, Lieutenant, your superiors get so comfortable sitting behind their desks, pushing all the pretty buttons, their legs atrophied to the point where they can't get their fat asses out of the chair? Or is it that you just drew the short straw at the office picnic?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
What you call accusations, others know to be truths.
LEX Suppositions... they require facts to back them up.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Facts? You require facts? Very well, Lex Luthor. A fact; every single night on this planet there are thousands of telescopes from all over the globe pointed in the direction of outer space. Some of them belong to scientists eager to etch their name in the heavens by being the first to discover a new universal body. Others are of the more amateur variety, an accountant, who bought one on eBay, taking a break from spying in on the co- ed in the apartment across the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of Saturn's rings, or a child playing with his new toy he got from Grandma. Regardless of who, what, or where the simple fact is that even with the vastness that is space, there is hardly a speck of dust that crosses the cosmic view that someone, somewhere, doesn't see. This is true today and it was even true fifteen years ago.
LEX The day of the meteor shower.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
This is why we know that the meteor shower itself was no mere random celestial mishap, a painful but decisive blow to one unsuspecting town in Kansas, but a calculated strike. This is why we know that Smallville was much more than simply ground zero... It was target zero.
It takes only a moment for Lex to process this new information.
LEX
You knew.
Shull's silence is answer enough.
LEX
But, there was no warning, no...
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Knowledge does not always precede warning. We tracked the course of the meteor fragments from when they first entered our solar system.
LEX
::shakes head:: No, you can't do that. You don't have the technology.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Sixty years ago, we didn't have the technology to level a city with a single weapon of mass destruction. Do not presume to tell me what I do not have.
Lex shifts in place.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We tracked the course of the meteor fragments until they reached Earth's atmosphere, at which time our experts calculated the point of impact to be a location just north of Kirov.
LIONEL
Russia.
LEX
I guess that kind of calls your experts' expertise into question... unless you're trying to tell me that they somehow miraculously changed direction in mid-air.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That's precisely what they did.
LIONEL
Something free falling rocks aren't normally capable of on their own.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We determined that the meteors altered course once they reached our atmosphere and were somehow guided to their landing point... Smallville. Agents were sent to investigate. After several days, they came upon a meteor crash site in a field off one of the main roads. They were, however, surprised to find that there was no meteor rock at the site, simply a smoldering crater in the ground. A full investigation ensued, at which point it was determined that it could have only been caused by a vessel which had crash landed there and then been removed from the site shortly thereafter.
LEX
Well, of course, because that's the only natural conclusion that any rational human being might come too.
Shull ignores the sarcasm.
LIEUTENANT SHULL From that day on, Smallville very literally became a hotbed for what one might describe as strange and abnormal activity. Reports of instances in which people, who were at target zero during the meteor shower, demonstrated remarkable abilities, well beyond that of any normal human being, began surfacing. The threat of possible alien invasion loomed and the military took the necessary precautions.
LEX
In other words, you locked them up and dissected them.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
After an intensive series of experimentations, we determined that these individuals were not, in fact, invaders and that the nature of their abilities could be attributed to their exposure to the meteor rock itself during a time of intense trauma.
LIONEL
Fear of death.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That did not, however, rule out the possibility of alien influence. We focused our investigation on the meteor rocks themselves. After several years it was determined that their low-level of radioactivity was the direct cause for the heightened abilities. It was also determined that the meteor rocks themselves could only have taken on these radioactive properties during an event of cataclysmic proportion, such as a supernova or other massive celestial explosion.
LEX
What does any of this have to do with Clark?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
While direct and prolonged exposure to anyone would certainly be detrimental to their health, to any being of similar native origins as these meteor rocks any exposure at all would be toxic and potentially fatal within minutes. Therefore, a method was devised to use the meteor rocks as a type of beacon, a way to test the population for possible alien influences. An antidote was tested successfully for treated humans, but any exposure to an alien being would prove disastrous. Upon infection they would almost immediately grow deathly ill from radioactive poisoning.
Lex's eyes widen.
LEX
Westmorland Food Distributors... The soybeans...
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We monitored the hospitals and medical centers.
LIONEL
All that was left to do was to sit back and wait.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
If there were alien beings living among us, we would find them... or they would die.
LIONEL Either way you look at it, a profitable venture.
LEX
It doesn't prove anything. We all got sick. Even I found myself bent over the porcelain a few more times than I'd care to admit.
LIONEL
But only Clark became deathly ill so quickly. And when Doctor Hackman distributed his so called antidote, no one else's condition improved. No one was cured, except Clark.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We decided to assign one of our agents to the boy and had him followed. That was when we obtained the video your father showed you.
LIONEL
Don't you see, son? The pieces finally all come together. Tell me you haven't been suspicious of Clark Kent from the very beginning. Ever since the car accident, you've been obsessed with finding out the truth, the truth about what really happened that day. Well, now you know. Now, you know the truth. He betrayed you, betrayed your trust, lied to you.
LEX
And what do you call what you've been doing? You knew about this!
LIONEL
And I wanted to tell you, son. It pained me like you couldn't possibly imagine to have to keep this from you, but I had to know for sure. You trusted Clark, believed in him for whatever reason, and... our relationship has always been tenuous at best, strained to say the least. I had to have proof of this duplicity before confronting you, or risk losing you all together. You have always been quick to the opposition.
Lionel puts his hands on Lex's shoulders.
LIONEL
Son, you must admit, often times it took little more than my vested interest to spark the revolutionary in you. Well, now it's time to put all that aside. We must put it behind us, Lex. Now, it's time the union between father and son be mended, healed, in time to not only save our relationship, our family... but our very way of life.
LEX
What role can I possibly play in all this?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
There is a war brewing and Earth will serve as the front line. Thanks to your father, we are prepared to fight it.
LEX
The airline?
LIONEL
The official report we've released to the press, as I'm sure you've thoroughly analyzed, is that the LuthorCorp Private Airline has served as a secret underground research and development facility for the United States Armed Forces since our partnership began more than seven years ago.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
While the government has significant funding at its disposal, even more so now after the events of 9/11, it also has an exorbitant number of eyes watching very carefully where those funds disseminate. By taking out a classified defense contract with LuthorCorp, we assured ourselves... minimal scrutiny.
LIONEL
In the interest of national security, LuthorCorp was not only privileged, but honored to do its part.
LEX I take it that the balance between the R and D on your contract is decisively towards one end of the spectrum.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We supplied your father with the necessary design specifications and raw material.
LIONEL
While LuthorCorp supplied the hardware and manpower. When young Clark's friends come, we'll be ready for them.
LIEUTENANT SHULL But, in the meantime, the threat to global security grows greater every day. The longer the alien operative is permitted to live among us, the more he learns about our society, the greater the threat becomes.
LEX What do you want me to do?
LIONEL Lex... You can get close to him. He trusts you, but he is not your friend. Clark Kent lied to you and betrayed you, son.
Lionel pulls a chunk of Kryptonite out of his pocket and holds it out for Lex to take it.
LIONEL
It's time to return the favor. It's time to strike back.
Lex stares at the green crystal rock in his father's hand, a decision that would change the world staring back at him.
Lex, still tied to the chair, taps his foot impatiently as he spies a droplet of dribble run down the side of Mercy's cheek. He tries getting her attention.
LEX
::whisper:: Mercy... Mercy...
VICTOR FRIES
Your associate has enough tranquilizer currently coursing through her veins to sedate a small mountain lion. She won't be waking up any time soon.
Victor walks passed Lex, a clipboard in hand, and steps over to the Static Life Chamber where he opens up a large compartment in one of the computer consoles next to the main chamber. Inside the compartment, a glowing chunk of meteor rock sits in the center of a series of distribution nodes directly connected to the main chamber.
LEX
Meteor rock?
Fries takes down several readings from a nearby computer monitor, making several minor alterations to the Kryptonite nodes.
VICTOR FRIES
The radioactive properties of the rock allow for the subjugation of momentum on the sub-atomic particles.
LEX
Oh... Right.
He pretends like he knows what Fries is talking about.
LEX
I suppose my father supplied you with all you needed. He's somewhat of a meteor rock aficionado, as it were. He collects them... probably sleeps with them.
Lex stares carefully at Fries who, for the most part, seems to be ignoring him.
LEX
I don't know what my father promised you, but you can be sure that whenever he gets what he wants, and you're no longer of any use to him, he'll betray you... just like he's betrayed everyone else.
Fries remains silent.
LEX
Look at me. I'm his son for god's sake and look at what he's done to me.
VICTOR FRIES
Whether you know it or not, your father cares about you a great deal, Lex. He cares about what happens to you.
Lex scoffs.
VICTOR FRIES
It's true. You're all he ever talks about.
LEX
And what does my father say when he talks about me?
VICTOR FRIES
Oh, he speaks of how proud that he is of you. He says how his son, Lex Luthor, will do great things in this world, command great respect and power. And he speaks of how worried he is for you.
LEX
Worried? About me?
VICTOR FRIES
Why, yes. He feels you are soft. As you grew up, from just a small boy, he chose to learn you in his image. It was his desire to mold you into a man of strength, who could handle the responsibility of one day carrying on the Luthor legacy that he would leave behind... but, there is a part of him that feels he failed you in that regard. "My son is strong," he told me.
Fries finally makes a point of looking up from his clipboard and over at Lex. He speaks slowly and deliberately, making a point of pronouncing each and every syllable of each and every word.
VICTOR FRIES
"But he often lets his emotional attachments get the better of him. In a world where business is lethal, one cannot afford to allow personal regards to stand in the way of what must be done."
Lex and Fries stare into each other's eyes, a silent conversation between the two on top of the verbal one.
LEX
Is that what he said?
Fries nods.
LEX
Well... a man can hardly deny his feelings. Sometimes things my father would see as a weakness, such as compassion, can go a long way... even in business.
VICTOR FRIES
Indeed they can.
LEX I'm glad you agree.
CLANG!
The door at the top of the large metal staircase swings open. Lionel Luthor, ever the showman, looks down on the lab, and his son, a proud smile deeply engraved into his face. Behind him, Lieutenant Shull followed closely by his guards, steps inside.
LIONEL As you know, Lex, I am a man of many resources.
He makes a point of emphasizing the "-sources".
LIONEL
Allow me to introduce you to one of them.
Shull looks over the lab, surveying the occupants and equipment like he might a row of troops before a battle. He doesn't seem all that impressed either.
Fries and Lex share an anxious glance.
After escorting the men down the staircase, Lionel quickly steps between Shull and Lex in the chair.
LIONEL
Of course, I wish this meeting could have been under slightly more cordial circumstances. Nonetheless, it is nothing short of academic that one day historians from all nations will see this momentous meeting of the minds in the same light as the first acquaintance between Churchill and Roosevelt...
As Lionel delivers his speech, Shull and his two guards walk passed Fries who pretends not to be listening. One of the guards steps particularly close to the open compartment with the exposed Kryptonite, its glow shining across some exposed skin under his rolled up sleeve. Curiously, under the soft green hue of the Kryptonite's shine, his otherwise pale skin appears almost black with several severe markings vaguely resembling scales. Once passed the compartment and exposed Kryptonite, however, his skin tone returns to its normal pastel peach.
LIONEL ...the first sail down the Nile between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra...
Shull and his guards come to a stop in front of Lex and Lionel.
LEX
...The first time Bonnie and Clyde robbed a convenience store.
Lionel clears his throat, looking up at Shull to gauge the man's reaction.
LIONEL
I should think that you would take this situation more seriously, Lex, considering the implications.
LEX
I do. It's you who I don't take seriously.
Lionel ignores the quip.
LIONEL
This is Lieutenant Pendleton Shull of the United States Department of Homeland Intelligence.
LEX
You'll forgive me if I don't get up.
Lex fidgets a little in the chair.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Release him. I will not speak to him like this.
One of Shull's brutish guards steps around the chair and unties Lex from the chair. Lex quickly gets to his feet, only briefly rubbing at his wrists. Just for fun he makes a move like he's going to throw a punch at Lionel, then, just laughs at him when his father flinches.
Lex offers Shull his hand to shake.
LEX
I like you already.
Shull keeps his hands at his sides.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That does not concern me.
LEX
::shrugs:: And what does concern you exactly?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Privacy.
They all look over at Fries, except Shull who would just as soon lend his attention to a fly on the wall. Fries quickly closes the compartment and gathers up his clipboard.
VICTOR FRIES
I am almost ready to begin. I should tend to Nora.
Victor leaves through a door hidden behind the Static Life Chamber. Everyone waits to hear the door shut behind him.
LEX
So, Lieutenant... My lunatic father here tells me that you think my best friend is an alien from outer space bent on world domination. I take it that nice little clip show he showed me was yours. Nice work. PowerPoint was it?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
The video your father showed you was obtained by one of my operatives.
LEX
Obtained? Would you care to be a little more specific?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
No, I wouldn't.
LEX
Oh, I see. Your operatives? And being a... Lieutenant... you would have how many at your disposal exactly?
LIONEL
I didn't ask the Lieutenant here to be interrogated, Lex.
LEX
Then, you shouldn't have asked him here at all. Clark is my friend and I don't take these accusations lightly, especially from some brass lackey. What's the matter, Lieutenant, your superiors get so comfortable sitting behind their desks, pushing all the pretty buttons, their legs atrophied to the point where they can't get their fat asses out of the chair? Or is it that you just drew the short straw at the office picnic?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
What you call accusations, others know to be truths.
LEX Suppositions... they require facts to back them up.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Facts? You require facts? Very well, Lex Luthor. A fact; every single night on this planet there are thousands of telescopes from all over the globe pointed in the direction of outer space. Some of them belong to scientists eager to etch their name in the heavens by being the first to discover a new universal body. Others are of the more amateur variety, an accountant, who bought one on eBay, taking a break from spying in on the co- ed in the apartment across the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of Saturn's rings, or a child playing with his new toy he got from Grandma. Regardless of who, what, or where the simple fact is that even with the vastness that is space, there is hardly a speck of dust that crosses the cosmic view that someone, somewhere, doesn't see. This is true today and it was even true fifteen years ago.
LEX The day of the meteor shower.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
This is why we know that the meteor shower itself was no mere random celestial mishap, a painful but decisive blow to one unsuspecting town in Kansas, but a calculated strike. This is why we know that Smallville was much more than simply ground zero... It was target zero.
It takes only a moment for Lex to process this new information.
LEX
You knew.
Shull's silence is answer enough.
LEX
But, there was no warning, no...
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Knowledge does not always precede warning. We tracked the course of the meteor fragments from when they first entered our solar system.
LEX
::shakes head:: No, you can't do that. You don't have the technology.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
Sixty years ago, we didn't have the technology to level a city with a single weapon of mass destruction. Do not presume to tell me what I do not have.
Lex shifts in place.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We tracked the course of the meteor fragments until they reached Earth's atmosphere, at which time our experts calculated the point of impact to be a location just north of Kirov.
LIONEL
Russia.
LEX
I guess that kind of calls your experts' expertise into question... unless you're trying to tell me that they somehow miraculously changed direction in mid-air.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That's precisely what they did.
LIONEL
Something free falling rocks aren't normally capable of on their own.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We determined that the meteors altered course once they reached our atmosphere and were somehow guided to their landing point... Smallville. Agents were sent to investigate. After several days, they came upon a meteor crash site in a field off one of the main roads. They were, however, surprised to find that there was no meteor rock at the site, simply a smoldering crater in the ground. A full investigation ensued, at which point it was determined that it could have only been caused by a vessel which had crash landed there and then been removed from the site shortly thereafter.
LEX
Well, of course, because that's the only natural conclusion that any rational human being might come too.
Shull ignores the sarcasm.
LIEUTENANT SHULL From that day on, Smallville very literally became a hotbed for what one might describe as strange and abnormal activity. Reports of instances in which people, who were at target zero during the meteor shower, demonstrated remarkable abilities, well beyond that of any normal human being, began surfacing. The threat of possible alien invasion loomed and the military took the necessary precautions.
LEX
In other words, you locked them up and dissected them.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
After an intensive series of experimentations, we determined that these individuals were not, in fact, invaders and that the nature of their abilities could be attributed to their exposure to the meteor rock itself during a time of intense trauma.
LIONEL
Fear of death.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
That did not, however, rule out the possibility of alien influence. We focused our investigation on the meteor rocks themselves. After several years it was determined that their low-level of radioactivity was the direct cause for the heightened abilities. It was also determined that the meteor rocks themselves could only have taken on these radioactive properties during an event of cataclysmic proportion, such as a supernova or other massive celestial explosion.
LEX
What does any of this have to do with Clark?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
While direct and prolonged exposure to anyone would certainly be detrimental to their health, to any being of similar native origins as these meteor rocks any exposure at all would be toxic and potentially fatal within minutes. Therefore, a method was devised to use the meteor rocks as a type of beacon, a way to test the population for possible alien influences. An antidote was tested successfully for treated humans, but any exposure to an alien being would prove disastrous. Upon infection they would almost immediately grow deathly ill from radioactive poisoning.
Lex's eyes widen.
LEX
Westmorland Food Distributors... The soybeans...
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We monitored the hospitals and medical centers.
LIONEL
All that was left to do was to sit back and wait.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
If there were alien beings living among us, we would find them... or they would die.
LIONEL Either way you look at it, a profitable venture.
LEX
It doesn't prove anything. We all got sick. Even I found myself bent over the porcelain a few more times than I'd care to admit.
LIONEL
But only Clark became deathly ill so quickly. And when Doctor Hackman distributed his so called antidote, no one else's condition improved. No one was cured, except Clark.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We decided to assign one of our agents to the boy and had him followed. That was when we obtained the video your father showed you.
LIONEL
Don't you see, son? The pieces finally all come together. Tell me you haven't been suspicious of Clark Kent from the very beginning. Ever since the car accident, you've been obsessed with finding out the truth, the truth about what really happened that day. Well, now you know. Now, you know the truth. He betrayed you, betrayed your trust, lied to you.
LEX
And what do you call what you've been doing? You knew about this!
LIONEL
And I wanted to tell you, son. It pained me like you couldn't possibly imagine to have to keep this from you, but I had to know for sure. You trusted Clark, believed in him for whatever reason, and... our relationship has always been tenuous at best, strained to say the least. I had to have proof of this duplicity before confronting you, or risk losing you all together. You have always been quick to the opposition.
Lionel puts his hands on Lex's shoulders.
LIONEL
Son, you must admit, often times it took little more than my vested interest to spark the revolutionary in you. Well, now it's time to put all that aside. We must put it behind us, Lex. Now, it's time the union between father and son be mended, healed, in time to not only save our relationship, our family... but our very way of life.
LEX
What role can I possibly play in all this?
LIEUTENANT SHULL
There is a war brewing and Earth will serve as the front line. Thanks to your father, we are prepared to fight it.
LEX
The airline?
LIONEL
The official report we've released to the press, as I'm sure you've thoroughly analyzed, is that the LuthorCorp Private Airline has served as a secret underground research and development facility for the United States Armed Forces since our partnership began more than seven years ago.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
While the government has significant funding at its disposal, even more so now after the events of 9/11, it also has an exorbitant number of eyes watching very carefully where those funds disseminate. By taking out a classified defense contract with LuthorCorp, we assured ourselves... minimal scrutiny.
LIONEL
In the interest of national security, LuthorCorp was not only privileged, but honored to do its part.
LEX I take it that the balance between the R and D on your contract is decisively towards one end of the spectrum.
LIEUTENANT SHULL
We supplied your father with the necessary design specifications and raw material.
LIONEL
While LuthorCorp supplied the hardware and manpower. When young Clark's friends come, we'll be ready for them.
LIEUTENANT SHULL But, in the meantime, the threat to global security grows greater every day. The longer the alien operative is permitted to live among us, the more he learns about our society, the greater the threat becomes.
LEX What do you want me to do?
LIONEL Lex... You can get close to him. He trusts you, but he is not your friend. Clark Kent lied to you and betrayed you, son.
Lionel pulls a chunk of Kryptonite out of his pocket and holds it out for Lex to take it.
LIONEL
It's time to return the favor. It's time to strike back.
Lex stares at the green crystal rock in his father's hand, a decision that would change the world staring back at him.