Act V

Act V, Scene i

The parking lot of the LuthorCorp fertilizer plant in Smallville.

Finally, Lex was able to leave the plant. It had taken longer than he'd hoped, but not as long as he'd expected. Not that he was in a hurry to leave Smallville, but he'd promised himself he wouldn't call Clark until he was situated in Metropolis; any sooner, and Clark might well talk him out of it.

But he had a good feeling about this. Maybe it was only the dream he'd had late that morning, but he felt sure that leaving was definitely the right thing to do at this time. He mused, as he approached his car: "If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep, my dreams presage some joyful news at hand. My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne, and all this day an unaccustomed spirit lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I dreampt that Clark had come and found me dead – strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think! – and breath'd such life with kisses in my lips, that I reviv'd , and was an emperor. Ah me! How sweet is love itself possess'd, when but love's shadows are so rich in joy!" Then he shook his head sharply. "I really do wish I'd stop talking like that. In fact, when did I start talking to myself at all?"

But that train of thought was abruptly derailed when his cell phone rang. Damn. He'd meant to turn it off on leaving the building. Feeling amiable, he answered anyway.

As usual, that was a mistake. It was his father.

"Lex... Son, you're needed back at the mansion."

"What are you doing at the mansion?"

"That's not important right now, Lex. Something's happened."

"Is someone hurt?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. It's your friend Clark."

"Clark? Hurt? I don't think that's possible. What exactly is going on?"

"He's not moving or breathing, Lex. There's no pulse. I'm not sure what happened, but –"

"I'll be with thee straight."

Lex hung up without waiting for a reply. He slid into his car, opened the glove box, removed his gloves and pulled them on, then removed the revolver and laid it on the passenger seat. He buckled his seatbelt.

Safety first.

Act V, Scene ii

The mansion

Lionel cursed his lack of restraint. Why hadn't he stuck to the original plan? Lex was as good as gone, and without Lex's interference, Lionel would have had Clark in his lab in a matter of days. Give him controlled amountsof the serum, chart his reactions. That had been the plan. He'd been unthinking and reckless – most unlike him.

And now Martha. She'd seen far too much. How could he silence her? If both Clark and Martha disappeared, with at least two servants having seen them at the mansion – and who else knew they were here? Who might be looking for them right now? Surely Jonathon knew where Martha was, at the very least. And if the whole Kent family disappeared – that didn't bear thinking about.

Martha was distracting him, still blithering over Clark's body. He glared at the back of her head.

Had he been wrong to call Lex? No, if Martha got out of this alive, Lionel would need to appear as concerned as possible. And if Lex walked in on this without warning, it could only make matters worse. The boy could be far too rash.

He noticed Martha was making an attempt to pull herself together. She asked for his cell phone, and he handed it to her and moved farther away, trying to think. There had to be a way out, even a way to turn this to his own advantage. Could he convince Martha and Jonathon to let him have Clark's body? Almost definitely not. Steal it, then?

Why did every project involving Clark Kent have to turn into a disaster, even without Lex?

Act V, Scene iii

Outside the mansion

A pickup truck was parked outside the mansion when Lex pulled up. Not Clark's. He ignored it.

"Thou detestable maw!" he yelled at the mansion as he strode toward it. "Thou womb of death, gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth!" Still out of range, he aimed his gun at the door. "Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, and in despite, I'll cram thee with more food!"

"Lex!"

It was Lana, barreling toward him form the truck.

"Lex, what are you doing with that gun? Put that away!"

Lex whirled on her. "Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man! Fly hence and leave me. I beseech thee, Lana, put not another sin upon my head by urging me to fury!O, be gone!"

"I do defy thy conjurations!" cried Lana, making a grab for the gun. Lex backed away, but she was too quick. When the shot rang out, they were both holding the gun, but only one was bleeding.

"O, I am slain!" gasped Lana. Numbly, Lex lowered her to the ground. "If thou be merciful, take me to Clark..."Shedidn't say anything else.

Lex stared at her. Had he really come here to kill his father? He didn't even know. He felt as if he were waking up from a nightmare, but finding reality even more horrifying now that he was clear-headed enough to see it. What was he doing? He didn't know that Clark was really dead, or that Lionel was necessarily responsible, and if both were true, another death wouldn't solve anything. He didn't know if he had really meant to kill Lionel, but Lana... he'd never have hurt Lana. She'd only been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now she was gone.

Clark had loved Lana once. He should have stayed with her, like Martha and Jonathon had wanted. None of this would have happened. Lex might still be pining for Clark, but no one would be dead. Or in a coma, or in the hospital with broken ribs.

Tucking the gun into the back of his belt, Lex lifted Lana's body easily and carried her into the mansion. Somehow he knew, and never doubted, that Clarkwas in the Meteor Room.

He found Clark, Martha, and Lionel outside the room. The door was open, but Martha and Lionel had their backs to it, and Clark was lying still on the floor.

When she saw Lex, Martha dropped the phone she was speaking into and screamed. The phone was still emitting a tinny version of Jonathon's voice: "Martha? Martha! What is it?"

"Good god, son, what happened?" Lionel demanded.

Lex didn't speak to them, but laid Lana's body down next to Clark's. He touched Clark and found him cold. His skin was faintly greenish, and as Lionel had said, there was no breath and no pulse. "Why art thou yet so fair?" he asked the inanimate body. "Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous, and that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear that I will stay with thee, and never from this palace of dim night depart again? Here, here will I remain. Here will I set up my everlasting rest."

Lionel pulled Lex to his feet. "Lex, what are you doing? You're talking as if -"

Lex pulled out the gun and pointed it at Lionel's face. He held his aim steady as Lionel backed away from him. When Lionel was far enough away, Lex tilted his head back and fired the gun up through his own jaw into his medulla. He didn't live long enough to see the blood spatter over the dead bodies and Martha Kent.

Silence rang through the mansion for a long moment. Then Martha faced Lionel. "You did this. Somehow, you did all of this."

Lionel only stared back at her. He hadn't been even remotely prepared for this. He needed time to think. "I didn't..." was all he managed.

"... mom...?"

Martha spun. Clark was slowly sitting up. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, Clark!" Martha threw herself down next to Clark and flung her arms around him. 'Oh, honey, I thought you were -" she sobbed.

Lionel started to move quietly away, but Clark saw him and struggled to his feet. Doing so, he got a better look at Martha. "Mom? Why do you have blood..." He looked around him and saw Lana and Lex. Lex had fallen on his back. The entrance wound under his jaw wasn't terribly large, but the amount of blood that had spread out from the exit wound... Clark used his X-ray vision to be sure. A large part of the back of Lex's skull was gone. The heart wasn't beating.

"Honey..." said Martha.

"Who did this?" said Clark, without emotion. He stared at the gun in Lex's hand. His gaze traveled to Lana. Martha and Lionel both moved toward him, but Clark shrugged them off. He went to the mysterious room, moving too fast for their human eyes to track. He glanced around uncertainly, then focused on the case of green glass. He drove his fist through the case, fragmenting the meteor glass. The noise called Martha and Lionel into the room. Clark didn't look back at them before he plunged a long shard of Kryptonite glass into his chest.

The rest was silence.

A glooming peace this ending with it brings;
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk on these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, others punished,
For never was a story of more woe
Than this the town of Smallville came to know.

Now don't you get your knickers in a twist;
I've still a smidgen more to write on this,
And once I've run the tale in to the ground,
You'll see some Sondheim lyrics will be found.
For those who still are puzzling over quotes,
I've written quite substantial author's notes.
If, after that, I still have more to say,
I think I'll have to wreck some other play.
The sound you may hear as I click on "save"
Is William Shakespeare turning in his grave.
And if you think my rhyming is too cheap,
Well, I have this pentameter to keep.
But if you're int'rested in my two pennies,
I do think that five iambs is too many.
And now before I log off for the night,
I only have the epilogue to write!

exit Crossbow