Chapter 18 - Retrieval

Lex commissioned the construction of a room in the mansion, in the corner of Clark's testing room, with trace amounts of meteor rock in the walls. According to Lex's calculations, if Clark were to stand inside the room, it would render him powerless. Not in pain; not sick; maybe mildly uncomfortable; but certainly, as weak as a human.

Lex had no intention of letting Clark into it. It was for Eric Summers. The room was more a precaution than anything, but on the off chance he had to use it, Lex hoped to God that the transfer of powers from Clark to Eric had been seamless. Otherwise, Eric might be too strong, and overcome the room; or he might be too weak, and the room would hurt him. The latter wouldn't be the end of the world, as Lex didn't plan to keep him there for long. The worst case scenario, really, was if Clark's weakness didn't transfer to Eric along with his strength, and the meteor rock had no effect.

Lex had predictions about what was going to happen to Eric, though he hadn't shared them with Clark. Clark was only as well adjusted as he was because he'd had his entire life to get used to having his abilities. Clark's parents weren't perfect people, but they had also had quite a few years to get themselves used to their son's growing strength and speed.

Eric and his family had had all of a day to process the change. Eric was a teenage boy—he probably wasn't the picture of confidence or stability, and Lex had seen firsthand how difficult it was for Clark to keep his secret, even with years of practice. Just getting to share with Lex was obviously a huge release for Clark; Eric wouldn't have any self control. He'd show off. His parents would panic. It would spin out of control quickly. He might even be desperate enough to accept help from a stranger.

So Lex gave it a little time. He paid what it would take to get the prison room built in a couple of days, and he gave Eric enough time that things would run their natural course.

When the meteor room was ready, and when rumors started circulating around about a big fight at the high school, Lex parked his car outside the Summers's house.

He didn't have to wait long. The kid came trudging up toward his house with a terrified expression on his face. Lex rolled down his window and called, "Eric?"

Eric turned around and squinted at Lex. "Who are you?"

"I'm someone who can help you."

"Do I know you?

"Lex Luthor. Heard you were in a bit of trouble."

"Luthor? As in LuthorCorp?"

Lex made a guess, based on the tone of his voice: "Your folks aren't fans."

Eric winced toward the house, and Lex could see the fear and disdain in his face.

Lex took a chance. "What are your parents like, Eric? You think they'll be understanding about what happened at the school?"

Eric swallowed. "I, uh . . ."

"Eric."

The boy turned toward Lex.

"I can help you."

"You don't even know me."

"I know you're scared. You're in way over your head. You don't know what happened to you, and you know your parents won't understand, even though they're your last hope of getting help." Lex hardened his stare. "Until now."

Eric scoffed. "No way, man." He turned away from the car.

Lex sighed. He seriously needed to get better at talking with teenagers, if he was going to be helpful to Clark. Based on Clark's stories, most of the meteor mutants so far had been high schoolers.

Lex didn't want to hurt Eric—as far as he could see, the kid was mostly innocent in all of this—but Eric had also proven that he could be an unstoppable terror if no one took control. Lex couldn't just let him walk away to go terrorize someone else. He flipped open the lead box on the passenger's seat.

Eric stopped short and dropped to his knees.

"You can feel that, can't you?"

"W-what is that?" Eric slowly pulled himself to turn around and face Lex, grimacing in pain.

"It's your weakness. It's proof that I know what I'm talking about."

"I—I have a weakness?"

"You may not know what's happening to you, but I do. Get in the car, and I'll help you." Lex closed the box. "See? The pain's gone now."

Eric breathed hard, pulled himself to his feet, glanced over his shoulder at the house one more time—Lex put his fingers on the clasp of the lead box, ready to open it again if he needed to—and then got into the car.

"You're doing the right thing, Eric," Lex said, but Eric's face had gone completely pale, and he didn't speak as Lex drove.

There was a side of Lex that enjoyed wielding that power. Lex shoved down that dark elation as hard as he could. He wasn't doing this to exploit or manipulate or hurt Eric. Lex was saving the town from Eric's inability to manage these powers. More than anything, though, Lex was doing this to help Clark.

For the duration of the drive back to the mansion, Lex tried to convince himself his motivations were right. That Clark would be happy. Clark didn't have to know all the details about how Lex had convinced Eric to come with him, anyway.

Lex walked Eric into the mansion, then down to Clark's testing room.

Eric's eyes widened as he walked among the equipment. "Whoa. What is this?"

"It's where we're going to wait until my friend gets here. He's the one who can help you, not me." Lex realized he didn't really know how much to share with Eric—he wasn't sure how much Eric already know, or how much Clark would want him to say.

"Are—are you going to experiment on me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"No!"

"Then no. You're safe here." It was worth trying to set the kid's mind at ease. Now that Eric was here, he wasn't really a threat to anyone. He was just an innocent kid who had gotten caught up in something bigger than he was.

Lex's phone buzzed, and he took it out of his pocket. A text from Clark popped up: Going to be late. I'm at the hospital.

Lex typed a reply: Everything okay?

It took a couple of minutes for the reply: Yeah. Tried to stop Eric today. Nothing broken, but ribs are bruised. Doctor says it's going to hurt for two weeks! Is that normal for humans?

Lex seethed.

Eric had hurt Clark. Suddenly he didn't seem so innocent anymore.

"Come here, Summers." Lex picked up the lead box with Lana's necklace and held it under one arm in case Eric tried to get away, then used his other arm to guide Eric toward the meteor room.

"Where are we going?"

"A place for you to wait."

"But—but I don't want to—"

Lex gave Eric a little shove into the room—it occurred to him that the only reason the shove had any effect was probably reflex—and slammed the glass door, locking it.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" Eric didn't seem to be in pain, but the glass didn't shatter when he beat on it with his fists—Lex's calculations had been correct.

"I will. But I can't trust you right now. You hurt my friend."

Eric shouted and raged. One half of Lex felt guilty for essentially kidnapping the kid; the other half of him felt pleased that his plan had gone off without a hitch, so far. Of the two halves, he wasn't sure which side it was that was simply focused on making sure Clark, and no one else, had his powers—too focused to worry about what was going to happen to Eric after all of this was over.

Lex had about a half an hour to stew in it and develop an increasing sense of dread about how this would all turn out, before Clark arrived.

"Lex? Are you in here?"

Lex stood from the desk he'd been sitting at. "Hi, Clark."

"Oh, there you are. Hey, uh . . . I thought maybe from now on, we could just meet in the study. This room is kind of depressing for me now, you know?"

"About that. I've, uh . . ." Lex swallowed. This wasn't happening the way he'd hoped. "I've got something for you."

Clark smiled. "Really?"

Lex nodded and walked him over to the far side of the room, then gestured into the meteor room.

"Really? Clark?" Eric cried, staring at Lex. "He's your friend who's supposed to help me?"

Clark had gone pale. "Lex. What have you done?"

Lex frowned and walked Clark a few steps away from the glass door, out of Eric's hearing range. He spoke in a low voice. "Your powers can be transferred with electricity and a meteor rock."

"I—maybe! I don't know how it happened, Lex!"

"Well, let's find out. I want you to have your powers back"

"Yeah, but . . . you kidnapped Eric?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, how did you even get him to come here?"

Lex winced. He'd been planning to say that Eric had come willingly in response to Lex's offer of help, but Clark would never believe it, now that Lex had locked Eric in a cell. It had all spun out of control so fast—Lex had been distracted by his conflicting motivations and he'd shot himself in the foot. "It doesn't matter. What matters is—"

"What do you mean, it doesn't matter? You kidnapped Eric!"

"You want your powers back or not?" That came out as a shout.

"I . . ."

"He can't handle them, Clark. You've seen that. Taking them away from him—that'll be a mercy."

Clark's jaw pulsed. "What happens to him after?"

"We call a hospital. Better yet, we call Belle Reve. That's the best we can do for him at this point. He's never gonna recover from this, but we can save him from doing anything worse." Lex took out the lead box from under his arm and opened it, holding it out to Clark. "What do you say?"

Clark flinched when the box was first opened, but swallowed hard and snatched the necklace. "This conversation isn't over."