Dried blood, as well as urine and vomit, stained his soiled clothing. He had no idea how long he'd been in this room, for the only way to mark the passing of time were Jason's visits and even those were sporadic.

He'd finally fallen into some semblance of slumber when the door flew open, slamming into the wall. Clark groggily opened his eyes. The rocks pulsed with their eerie green glow from the corners of the room, reminding him of his helplessness.

"Are you ready to talk, Clark?"

"I've got nothing to tell you," he protested stubbornly.

Jason pulled out another needle. Clark cringed when he saw there was more fluid inside this time. It hurt worse every time Jason injected him with it and Clark wasn't sure he was strong enough to handle it anymore.

Jason placed the tip of the needle right at Clark's neck. "You sure? Cause this is really gonna hurt."

"Jason, please, I don't know anything!"

Jason shoved the needle into him, ripping a scream from his lungs. The all too familiar feel of fire consuming him resonated throughout his body. He couldn't breath and he thought his head just might explode.

It might have been hours or it might have been minutes, but the feeling finally subsided and he was left panting. His feeling of weakness increased.

"Is it worth it, Clark?" Jason asked, his tone deriding.

"I've got nothing to tell you," Clark repeated. It had become his answer for everything.

Jason was about to say something when his phone rang. Swearing softly, he pulled it out and his eyes went wide at the sight of the caller ID. He looked up at Clark, who was watching him through half-lidded eyes. "You've got to be kidding!" he declared with a laugh.

Clark continued to watch him. He didn't really care about who was on the phone.

"It's Lex Luthor!"

Suddenly he cared. Raising his head, he asked, "What?"

"Don't get all excited; it's not like he's going to rescue you or anything," Jason assured him with another laugh as he answered the phone. "Now why would you be calling the cell phone of a dead man, Lex?" he asked in greeting.

Clark strained to hear Lex's reply. Naturally, since his powers were gone, he couldn't.

"What makes you think that?" Jason laughed. "Yeah, I suppose that their eyewitness account of me holding them at gunpoint would tend to make you think that, yeah. So may I ask what you want if you're so convinced I have Clark Kent?" The delighted, yet incredulous look on Jason's face chilled Clark to the bone. "You're serious? Apparently what they all say about you is true!" His face returned to a more passive expression. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Clark felt like his breath was stuck in his windpipe. What was Jason talking about?

Jason suddenly smiled. "You've got a deal. Uhuh, old abandoned warehouse on Fifth Street in Metropolis. And if you are lying and you call the police he'll be dead before they even enter the building. Excellent."

Jason hung up the phone with a smile. Looking at Clark the smile turned to a smirk. "You know what he wanted, Kent? He wanted to work with me on you. Guess he wasn't the friend that you thought. You would have been better off just telling me what I wanted to know."

Clark's mouth dropped. "You're lying. Lex wouldn't do that to me."

"You don't think so? Let's see if you still hold that opinion when he gets here in a couple of hours." Upon seeing the shocked look on Clark's face he added, "Yeah, he's coming, but it sure isn't to rescue you." Jason was about to turn and head for the door when he glanced at the syringe in his hand. "You're different, aren't you? A meteor freak possibly?"

"I'm not," Clark denied.

Jason shrugged. "Lex has deep pockets. We'll see."

Clark couldn't hold down the bile in his throat as Jason left. This couldn't be happening.

----------------------------

Lex entered the warehouse and headed down the first set of stairs that he saw. Jason hadn't given him specific directions, so he could only assume that he was going the correct way. His actions proved correct, as Jason met him as he went around a corner. "Guess it takes more than just falling off a cliff into a river to kill you," Lex said coolly.

"Yeah, apparently so. But enough with that, I want to cut to the chase."

"Which is?"

Jason beckoned for Lex to follow him. "The stones, for one. But I also think that Clark Kent could be...unique. I plan to have his blood tested."

"I can get my people on it," Lex offered, his face emotionless.

Jason laughed. "Do you think I'm that stupid? If you think I'm just going to blindly accept that you've really turned against your best and only friend then you're not as smart as everyone says. No, I have some connections thanks to my father being a lawyer. I will have the blood tested."

Lex only nodded, thought inside he was screaming. "Fair enough. How soon can it be done?"

"I've got to take a sample first."

"Were you planning on doing that soon?" Lex inquired, giving off the aura of annoyance.

"Now actually. I've got some equipment that I was able to get a hold of while I was waiting for you to get here," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Excellent. I want to see Clark as well."

"Whatever, but don't try anything."

After another minute or so of descending the stairs, they came to a door. Jason placed a key in the lock and the door squeaked open.

At first Lex was left aghast at the situation. The only light came from the glowing green meteor rocks at the edge of the room, which were pulsing slightly. Apparently he had found Clark's weakness. Jason switched the light on and Lex saw Clark for the first time.

He was an absolute mess. His clothes were soiled with most every possible bodily fluid, or so it seemed. As Clark squinted in the light, his eyes settled on Lex. "I didn't believe it, you know," he whispered angrily. "How could you do this to me?"

This would be the hardest role he had or probably ever would have to play. Preparing himself for an award winning presentation, he sighed. "Your secrets became too much."

Clark looked sick, and Jason looked pleased. "My father was right," Clark murmured, looking shocked. "He was completely right about you."

Lex forced himself to roll his eyes. Jason coughed non-too-subtlety. "What?" Lex asked curtly, turning away from Clark and towards him.

"I believe that we have some blood work."

Clark paled more, if that was possible. "You can't do that!"

"Who's going to stop me?" Jason asked, looking as thought Clark had just told a particularly funny joke.

Lex pulled from his pocket a rubber tourniquet with which to put on Clark's arm. Jason went around behind Clark and undid his arms as Lex moved forward to stand beside Clark. As gently as he could without appearing obvious, Lex turned Clark's rubbed-raw hands palm up, before chaining them back to the chair that way. Clark looked at him the whole time with an expression of one who has been purely betrayed.

Once Clark's hands were secured, Jason moved back out of the room and came back with a stand on which some tubes and bags of blood were hanging. Clark visibly swallowed.

Feeling like a completely terrible person, Lex secured the rubber tourniquets to Clark's arms and waited until a vein popped up, at which point he, as gently as he could, inserted a needle. Clark closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Just try to relax, Clark," Lex told him, trying to sound as soothing as he possibly could without giving away his guise.

Clark was gulping in breaths by the time Lex had gone to the other arm and inserted a needle there as well. "He really should be laying down for this," he said to Jason. "And if we want top scientific results some better conditions would be expedient."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Are you sure that's not just your attachment to him talking?"

Lex glared at him. "I'm positive. Believe me; I know how to get the most out of a subject." He watched, feeling inwardly sick as blood began to move out of Clark's arms, through the tubes, and into the bags. Clark looked terrified.

"How could you do this to me, Lex?"

"Just think of the good you'll be doing for mankind! You could advance research by years!" He hated the way he sounded.

"You're using me as a lab rat." He gave a jerk against the restraints. Lex laid a hand on his arm.

"Don't, Clark. If you pull the needles out I'll have to put them back in." He let his hand remain on Clark's arm, trying his best to give him any sort of comfort he could. Jason only watched with a smirk.

"How could you do this?"

Lex had the feeling that those words were to become frequent. He moved away from Clark and towards the door, calling to Jason as he left, "I've got to get something; I'll be right back."

Once he was gone Jason turned his smirk towards Clark. "So what were you saying about him not doing this to you?"

"He's-he's not-"

"He's not what? Because he just shoved a needle into both your arms. I'm not sure how even you can make that seem loyal."

Clark hung his head. It was clear that he really wasn't sure how to make the situation seem any different.

The minutes passed and finally the door opened again, and Lex walked back into the room with a wet washcloth in his hand. Pulling a chair up to Clark's side, he felt Clark's forehead, unsurprised to find it sweaty, as well as very cold and clammy. His face had become paler as well, and Lex knew that the loss of blood was making him weak.

"Lex-" Clark moaned softly as he began to feel faint. Lex felt sick. Clark still didn't really believe he'd do this to him. He still thought that Lex would help him.

"Shhh, you're going to feel weak and you're going to pass out. Don't fight it."

"It-it's too much," he whimpered as Lex began to wash the sweat off his face. Jason looked on, his expression cool. Both he and Lex's eyes often darted over to the bags that were filling with Clark's blood. They were nearly full and Lex thanked God.

Right before he passed out, Clark looked up at Lex. Clark's face was ghostly white, illuminating his green eyes even more and making the pain and anger in them all too clear. Lex wiped the sweat off his face once more before Clark finally passed out.

A minute or so after his departure from consciousness, the bag was finally filled. Lex turned off the machine and efficiently removed the needles from Clark's arms. "Let's get these to the lab," Jason said, his voice nonchalant.

Lex only nodded as Jason headed for the door. "He needs a bath and a bed, Jason."

Jason turned around and raised an eyebrow. "He had a bed before. It didn't work; he needs to be tied down."

Thinking quickly, Lex suggested, "Then get a hospital bed, but, believe me, if you don't get him something he's going to get sick and could possibly die. Even lab animals are usually treated better than this."

"Fine," Jason agreed coolly, seeing Lex's point. "But I don't have time for that, so you can have your men do it."

Lex only nodded and watched as he left. Looking back at Clark's unconscious form, Lex wondered how anyone could be so cruel to someone like Clark.