Ch 10 – Foundation


"Hello?" Clark called as he entered the room. The emptiness that confronted him was unexpected. The last time he had been inside this office, it had been filled with globes, artifacts and high tech equipment.

"Kal-El."

Clark spun around at the words. Dr. Bridgett Crosby moved from the open door and walked toward him.

"My name is Clark," he replied, gravely. Remembering what Lex had said, he scanned the room again. "Where is Dr. Swann?"

Dr. Crosby sighed. "I'm sorry. Dr. Swann is… no longer with us."

Clark saw the sorrow in her eyes and guessed what she meant. "Wha… What happened?"

"He was a brilliant gift to this world. A bright star whose time ran out." She smiled softly, not answering the question.

"But with everything he knew, and all the contacts that he had… couldn't he have saved himself?" Clark wondered if his blood would have helped Dr. Swann's condition.

"For Dr. Swann, life was about the journey, not the length of the race… he's no longer in pain."

Clark mourned the loss of the man who could have helped him find the answers to so many questions. How could Lex have known?

"What was Dr. Swann's connection to Luthor?"

"Which one?"

Clark was taken aback at the question. He'd been aware that Lionel had approached Dr. Swann, but hadn't thought Lex had become involved as well.

His mother had told him about Dr. Crosby's visit to the farm that summer. He knew that his secret had been shared with others at The Foundation, but hoped that it went no further.

"I'm hoping that you can help me," Clark responded, uneasily. He wanted to trust Dr. Crosby, but it was hard to gage whether these people were a threat to him and his family.

"You must be referring to the incident that has placed the younger Luthor in prison."

At Clark's surprise, Dr. Crosby smiled and continued. "I have someone I think you should meet."

Clark followed as she moved toward the door. She stopped to take one last look at the room, a grieving look marring her expression, and continued down the hall.

They entered a stark laboratory and walked to the far wall where a man sat at a desk. He wore a skullcap and was bent over a number of papers. Maps and photos with scribbled notes on them covered the wall behind him.

"Clark, this is Edgar Manoux. He was Lionel Luthor's cellmate."

Startled, Clark stepped backwards. "But… he's supposed to be dead."

Edgar jumped up from his seat behind the desk and gave a nervous laugh. "Lucky for me, I'm not though, huh? I'm rather grateful for these Foundation folks. They got me out of there in the nick of time. Yeah, the nick of time. For a while there I was afraid that things were going to go south…he-heh."

"Edgar," Dr. Crosby interrupted, stymieing the flow of words that seemed to pour out of his mouth.

"I don't understand," Clark said, confusion clearly apparent on his face. "What's going on here?"

"The Foundation is here to protect you, Ka…Clark," Dr. Crosby ensured him. "The last time you talked to Dr. Swann, you came to ask him about his conversations with Lionel Luthor. He told you that his involvement with Luthor was in your best interest, and he was telling you the truth."

She laced her hands together and stepped closer. "When Lionel came to see Dr. Swann, we set into motion some measures to keep him under observation. It was obvious that he was too interested in you and your origins. Dr. Swann was able to feed Lionel certain bits of information to make sure he followed the path we wanted him to take."

"Information about what?" Clark asked, beginning to worry about the safety of his family.

"Information about where to find a certain ancient artifact. The Foundation has vast resources. We were able to stay one step ahead of Lionel, and even had things set in motion when he was sent to prison. Because of the information we gave him, he arranged for Edgar to become his cellmate."

"Yeah, I was set up," Edgar inserted, tugging on his ear. "They had an open and shut case with me embezzling 14 Million dollars from Princeton University. I'm a mathematician working on decoding the Dead Sea Scrolls… what would I need with 14 Million…"

"Then you knew he was out of prison? You knew he was going to switch bodies with Lex?"

Edgar fidgeted a bit before pulling a book off of his desk. "There was a theory about that… I really didn't believe it could happen. There's this ancient Mayan legend about body hopping. With the information that Dr. Swann fed Lionel, he had a team find the artifact at an underwater site off the coast of Honduras."

Clark was having trouble following the ramblings of the scientist.

"With Edgar's help, Lionel was able to decipher the writing on the artifact. What he didn't know was that Edgar was working with us. We were able to retrieve the artifact first and remove the crystal, only leaving a small piece of it for Lionel to have in jail," Dr. Crosby added.

Edgar motioned for Clark to move closer to the photos on the wall.

"See this?" he asked, pointing to a symbol. "It's the symbol for water. Water is the element of transference, so... That's what was on the crystal. Legend has it that there are two others."

The symbol that he had pointed out was at the top of a triangle. The bottom points held two other symbols, one of which Clark recognized from the crystal he had taken from Lex's airplane when Kal-El had controlled his body.

"This one is for Fire, and that one's for Air. They are the 3 elements," Edgar continued. "When all three are put together, they lead to a treasure of knowledge beyond all imagination."

"What happens to Lex? I… uh, the stone was destroyed after the switch at the jail."

"Uh oh," Edgar moaned, rubbing the top of his head. He turned to his desk and opened another book.

"Well, legend has it that the body hopping wears off. So… I guess you could just wait. Then again… Dr. Crosby has the rest of the crystal."

Clark turned to look at Dr. Crosby, who nodded.

Clark frowned. "Lionel has taken Lex's body out of the country. I don't think I'll be able to get them in the same room again. And Lionel's body is dying. They're not sure how long he will last. Lex could die in that body!"

"Well, that's a good thing!" Edgar exclaimed.

At Clark's look, he fidgeted. "Not like that, I didn't mean good for your friend… but, well, the body switch thing can't last through death. The Mayans say that a soul is created for one carrier. It cannot stay in a foreign host beyond death."

"Did Lionel know about this? The death part?" Clark asked.

"No, I just figured that part out when I got here. It's all pretty theoretical, though… who would have ever thought these legends to be true?" Edgar muttered, mostly to himself.

"So you are saying that I should just let him die?" Clark looked at the two scientists, perplexed.

"Hmm. Actually, no," Edgar answered. "I would say that's the last resort. There seems to be some problems with that. When one of the bodies dies, that leaves two spirits to clash in the remaining body."

"Edgar, maybe you should tell Clark about the significance of the three crystals," Dr. Crosby prompted.

"Okay, sure. Look at this one," Edgar said, pointing out another photo. "The three crystals were said to have been distributed among ancient civilizations. These writings are some kind of ancient language. It showed up in Egypt, Central America, and even in some caves in Kansas."

Edgar glanced at Clark to see his response to the last bit of information. Disappointed that he didn't seem impressed, he continued his explanation. "Anyway, these crystals show up throughout history. One of the most interesting mentions is about a battle between two witches, one dark and one light."

"Does that mean one good and one evil?" Clark asked, trying to make sense of all the writing he was seeing on the wall.

"Oh, no. I don't think there was a good and bad part to this. The dark and light reference was more toward the ways they went about their magic. The light witch was a member of the noble class, so her influence took place in the government, whereas the dark witch was more of an outcast. They were both trying to get hold of the crystals because it was said that whomever united them would be a god among men."

Edgar leaned close to Clark, as if telling a ghost story. "The strangest stories about them say that they are able to come alive through their descendants. It's so they can continue their quest for the stones." Edgar let out a small chuckle. "I would say that it's crazy, but then again, so is the idea of switching bodies. Hmm." He turned back to the wall and studied it silently.

"The search for knowledge and god-ship has been the downfall of man throughout history. Some say that man doesn't have the capacity to withstand that much power or knowledge, and the quest drives them to destruction. Like the Tower of Babel. Mankind tried to exert himself against the Creator and was struck with confusion." Edgar moved closer to the wall and ran his fingers over the symbols.

After a few minutes of silence, it became clear that Edgar was done speaking. Clark turned to face Dr. Crosby.

"I'm going to need that crystal."

She nodded and beckoned for him to follow.

In another office, she pulled a small nondescript tin container from a safe.

"Dr. Swann said that there would be a day when you would come for this. You realize that this means you are about to begin the steps to embracing your destiny, right?"

Clark frowned at her words. He didn't like the ominous feeling that speaking about destiny brought.

"There's something else I want to ask you about," he said, taking the tin from her outstretched hand. "You gave my mother a piece of Black Kryptonite. Where did it come from? What can it do to me?"

Dr. Crosby smiled and sat on the edge of her desk.

"We don't know. Black Kryptonite is something we fabricated in the lab. For over ten years we have been trying to understand the composition of the remains that came from the planet Krypton. The closest we got to replicating it was that black rock."

"You gave it to my mother to use against Kal-El and you didn't know what it would do? Why would you do that?"

"Your mother was looking for answers. We felt that it was best to give her the rock as something tangible to focus her energy on."

"I don't understand."

"Kal… Clark. What Dr. Swann was trying to get you to understand was that your destiny is really a matter of will. For all we know, that rock had no power at all. It acted as a symbol of her love and humanity. That's what helped bring you back."

"She could have been killed! Kal-El could have killed her!" Clark exclaimed, angrily.

"You wouldn't have let that happen."

Clark rubbed the bridge of his nose. The more he learned, the more confused he felt.


"So that's the only advice you have for me? To wait it out?" Lex demanded from Clark.

Clark had gone to see him the day after he returned from The Foundation. As much as he felt obligated to help Lex get out, he knew that there was a lot of information he could not share with him.

"That's really easy for you to say. You're able to walk out of here when you want to. You come in here and tell me that this thing will wear off! I'm just supposed to sit here and hope that it runs its course before I die?" Lex spat, disgusted.

Clark grimaced. Lex was really starting to look bad. His eyes were sunken and drawn, and his skin was pale and blotchy. There really was no telling how long it would take before Lionel Luthor's body gave out. Lex's behavior was reminiscent of the time when Lionel had committed him to Belle Reve. Clark feared that this situation would put him on the brink of another breakdown.

Lex flew forward and grabbed Clark by the collar.

"Lex Luthor will never live in a cage," he whispered fiercely.

Clark blinked as spittle hit his face. A couple of guards noticed the exchange and began moving toward the table. As they neared, Clark gently pushed his friend back into the seat. He motioned to the guards that everything was okay, and they stopped advancing but continued to watch them warily.

"You're father left the country," he told Lex, softly. "We don't know where he is, and I don't think he's planning on coming back here anytime soon. But there's something else… something he doesn't know…"

Lex narrowed his eyes as he waited for Clark to continue.

"If this body dies, you get transferred back into the one that is rightfully yours."

"So I should feel better about the fact that I might die because I'll get my body back?"

"I didn't mean it that way, Lex…"

But Lex was no longer listening to him. "I think you should go," he said as he rose from the table.

Clark scrambled to stand as well. Lex walked toward the guards, signaling that his visit was over.

"I'm still trying to figure this out," Clark called to his back.

Lex turned around and faced him. As he put his arms behind his back to be cuffed, he shot Clark a look that he recognized as one of Lionel's cruelest and most manipulative.

"Never. In. A Cage," he sneered.

Then he was gone.


tbc... soon!
:)