Chapter Fifteen

Interlude Begins...

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," Lionel Luthor whispered enigmatically with a smile on his face, too, watching the group via security cam installed in his desk. He was always alerted when his son Lex was in Metropolis, and especially in the building. He knew why he was with that Hardwick girl and he'd have to tell him again HOW she created corporate mergers. It certainly wasn't for her business acumen.

But...it was the tall boy that interested him. Looking through Lex's corporate expenses, he found many a trail leading to a certain Clark Kent. Because Lex was looking into the person that saved him, an amused Lionel began a simple circuitous investigation. When the primary reports came in, Lionel was amazed: after Clark saved Lex, he began a heroic streak that belied his age. He saved a classmate, a young girl named Chloe Sullivan twice, another classmate, Lana Lang, and others in the town stuck in a cornfield, Smallville.

"Smallville," Lionel said softly and tapped the hairs of his well-groomed beard covering his chin. "I wonder..." He leaned back in his comfortable leather chair and thought back to the day he was in that tiny little quiet town buying a creamed corn plant the meteors slammed into it. Now, more often than not on Wednesdays for some odd reason, a new crisis seemed to pop up, all involving some weirdly ...powered human beings. And each time, they were summarily squashed by Clark...with help from that Sullivan girl.

Lionel rose from his chair and walked to a Van Gogh that hung on the wall. He pulled on the frame and typed in a sequence of numbers in the safe built into the wall. After opening the safe's door, He pulled out a dossier labeled in red 'Chloe/Clark (Chlark): Eyes Only'. He pulled from the folder pictures of the teens coming out of a theater laughing, emerging from the local library together, pictures of them walking around town enjoying each other's company. Reports indicated Kent and Sullivan spending quite a bit of time together. He looked at their school transcripts. 'Each subject is very smart and on the school's paper,' Lionel thought. 'Both looking for truth, justice, and for the facts,' Lionel wondered. 'Add in their investigative skills and courageousness, I foresee great things for them. Or horrific ends.'

He pulled out another paper and read how their families differed: The Kents were simple farmers and Sullivan's father..."Well, hello," Lionel smiled, reading that Gabe Sullivan worked for him at the Luthor Corp Fertilizer Plant No. 3. And Lionel read that the Kent's land produced organic fruits and vegetables; no toxins used on that farm. 'The ecology is the lifeblood to a farmer,' Lionel thought with a grin. 'Without a suitable environment...'

The intercom buzzed

"Mr. Luthor," Lee Holloway, the Secretary, said smoothly, "Your 2:15 meeting is here. Shall I send...him in?"

Smiling, Lionel placed everything back into the vault. "Yes, Lee. You may."

Outside, Lee nodded to the person waiting and purposely misspelled a word she typed; she could not wait to see Lionel's red ink corrections on the paper. Or the punishment for the misspell.

Lionel was behind his desk when his appointment entered his office. 'The term 'Mad Scientist' must have been created especially for this man,' Lionel thought. A five foot one, thin, bald, wizened old man in a white buckled lab-smock and pants, huge black boots, and absurdly thick glasses stomped to his desk.

"Dr. T.B. Sivana...How wonderful to finally meet such genius," Lionel said with perfect insincerity.

"I was nearing... thrilling scientific breakthroughs ...in My work," The little man said in raspy staccato bursts and drew closer to the desk. Lionel's finger was on the panic button, ready. "I was close... to accomplishing ...several goals. And you call me in... to tell me... that I am a genius? I KNOW THAT, LUTHOR! Get... To... The... Point."

"So brusque, so ...angry," Lionel said with a smile that hid his anger; no one before spoke to the Lion like that in his den.

"Don't forget to add 'so very dangerous'," Sivana said. "Talk, Luthor."

"I just acquired Cadmus-Katheryn NeoPharmecuticals. You know how they are becoming leaders in the field of bio-genetics," Lionel informed.

"Yes yes yes," Sivana said. He seemed to perpetually move, think, plan ahead. "Speak more."

"I want you to you to conduct your...experiments for me, using CKNP's labs and equipment," Luthor proposed.

"I see," Sivana said and actually stopped moving. His radical experiments were always done on the run, never conducted the same place for more than two weeks at a time. The idea intrigued him. "Build a lab in Fawcett City?"

"Alpha phase, yes," Lionel said; Fawcett City was to Sivana much like Metropolis was to Lionel. 'Except don't have to hide,' Lionel thought. "You will be safe and secure."
"Alpha?" Sivana looked at Luthor.

"Then the Omega phase ends in Smallville," Lionel finished. He explained his theories and they genuinely excited Sivana. "So, are we in agreement?"

"Yes," Sivana said. "I will cultivate the worms in Fawcett City. Then bring them to Smallville to flourish."

"I will fund everything," Lionel said. "But our names will not be involved and I will disavow any knowledge of you."

"Of course," Sivana nodded. "And you will clear any and all obstacles in our path? I seem to have acquired a rather marvelous nemesis..."

"Haven't we all, Sivana?" Lionel asked. He looked at his monitor and saw Lex, Clark, and the rest finally walk onto the first floor of the tower. "Haven't we all?"

They shook hands and Lionel was surprised at the old man's strong grip, even though he didn't wince. Sivana left, back to Fawcett city, back to his beloved city, back to own bio-chemical war zone.

"No obstacles and no threats," Lionel whispered. "That means gathering intelligence to remove barriers." He pressed a single button on his cell-phone. "Guten Tag, Fräulein Macher..."

Interlude Ends...