Chapter 45 - Destiny

The estimate Dr. Long had given Lex for how long it would take to get the message from the other ship turned out to be optimistic. It was weeks before Lex got the call. Ultimately, it was the day after Christmas when he finally sat down with the transcripts. He considered this project development to be significant enough to warrant a trip down from Metropolis, so Lex was in his study in the mansion in Smallville when he opened the envelope.

Of course, the message was indecipherable, as Dr. Long had promised. It was in Kryptonian.

Dr. Long had apologized all over himself when he'd handed over the results. He clearly feared that Lex would fire him. Lex neither chastised him for the disappointing nature of the results, nor comforted him that it hadn't been his fault. In truth, he didn't want to give away his own satisfaction.

Because back when he'd been working with Clark, Clark had unwittingly given him a translation guide. Admittedly, an incomplete translation guide, but over the time they had worked together, Clark had translated enough materials for Lex to pull together the language on his own.

There were gaps in Lex's knowledge, to be sure. Words he didn't know. It took him a lot of time to pour over the information he had, to compare it to the new message, piecing together one word at a time, filling in predictions, scratching out guesses and starting over.

Throughout his work, his weakness was silent. In truth, he hadn't heard from it at all since he'd learned what happened to Julian. He suspected that in the same way he had once fed on anger and pain, his weakness fed on hope. If both of his biological parents were vicious murderers, hope that he might be anything else was more than scarce. The best he could do was to ensure that, if he committed crimes, the ends justified the means.

The Kents had never been the type to understand that kind of thing. The Kents, with their antiquated notions of absolute right and wrong. They might sympathize with the thirst for knowledge that had driven him to hack into the space ships, they might even have supported Clark seeking the stones of power if they believed it had to do with his lineage, and of course, they'd fall for his well-rehearsed lines about saving lives with his medical research—because they were more or less true.

But experimenting on meteor mutants? They'd never understand that. It didn't matter if he told them he was treating them better than Belle Reve had, and much better than prison would. It didn't matter if the mutants were a danger to themselves and to others, or that the knowledge his work brought could potentially defend the human race against whatever other terrors Kryptonite had unleashed on the world. It had already made dozens of people into murderers.

Of course, the Kents would hyper fixate on the fact that Lex was doing it all to ensure that, if a war between planets ever came to pass, he'd be the one in power. Which was true as well.

The Kents cared far too much about inner motivations. Lex wasn't like them. He couldn't think that way. Couldn't afford to. Even his weakness didn't waste much time arguing with him about any of his projects.

It was nearing three in the morning when he was finally able to piece together the translation in a way that made any sense:

On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies.

Lex read the transcription over and over again, frowning. Maybe he wasn't the only one with no choice of who he would become. He'd seen the signs, over the years he'd known Clark, but Clark also seemed to be fighting it well.

Well, Lex would have to keep an eye on Clark, too. Maybe Kryptonite wasn't the only danger that meteor shower had brought.

At three thirty in the morning, his phone buzzed. He let it ring; no one needed to be calling him at this hour. But when it rang again, he glanced over to see the caller ID.

It was his head of security at the lab. "Hello?"

"Mr. Luthor. We have a potential breach. But it seems . . . impossible."

"What happened?"

"Sir . . . we believe someone may have been attempting to approach from underground."

Clark. "Did they make it into the building?"

"It appears they stopped just short."

"Did you find anyone?"

"Just the tunnels, sir. Should I send a search party?"

"That won't be necessary. Double the perimeter of security coverage around the main buildings. I want all hands on deck, is that understood?"

"Of course."

Lex threw down his phone and stood to pace. He threw a stack of papers off his desk and leaned on the space he'd vacated, hanging his head. The Kents couldn't just leave well enough alone; they had to pretend to care, pretend he was still his other half, the half they cared about, the half he couldn't be—

When he looked up, Milton Fine stood in front of his desk.

Lex grabbed his phone. "I'm calling security," he said.

"Naturally."

Lex hit the speed dial key for mansion security, but there was no reply. It didn't even ring; it was as though the number had been disconnected. He stood and walked around to the front of the desk. "Okay, Fine. What do you want?"

"You were a disappointment, you know. I was promised more. The great Sageeth!"

Lex swallowed and hardened his stare. Sageeth—Fine knew about the cave paintings, then. What else did he know? "Where did you hear that name?"

Fine went on as though Lex hadn't spoken. "Yet your projects. You think so small, even having been raised the way you were. Even after everything you've seen."

"You came here to tell me that?"

"But it had to be you. Your resources, your connection with Kal-El . . ."

For the first time in a long while, Lex felt his weakness, and it didn't feel so weak. It seemed to cry out in a protective rage. On the outside, however, all he said was, "You don't work for me anymore, Dr. Fine. Your advice is no longer requested."

"You have no idea, do you? The human mind. So limited. So small."

Lex darted back to the lead box on his shelf and opened it, turning to hold out the piece of kryptonite out in front of himself.

Fine only stood, unmoved, staring as the green light shone in his face. "You're close. But I'm not one of them. I was only created by them."

Breathing hard, Lex lowered the kryptonite. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

"Believe me, Lex. If it were up to me? Nothing at all. But I have my orders."

Lex didn't have time to take a step back before Fine was right in front of him, raising a hand to strike the side of his head, and he knew no more.