Episode 1: FULL DISCLOSURE

Morgan Edge was dead. Slumped over the wheel of his car, a clean bullet hole adorning his newly reconstructed face. With his life snuffed out, his foot slams on the gas, sending the car careening down the brick driveway towards Lex, crouched frozen in fear, on the mend from being drugged, with no escape. As the vehicle approaches, his life flashes before his eyes. Beatings. Emotionless parties. Struck by a meteor, left forever bald. Lonely birthdays. Falling off the bridge, getting saved by Clark. Mom. Strangely, he feels a slight relief, reflecting on his time in Smallville and how he was happy for the first time. The car closes in faster and faster as Lex braces himself for impact. *CRASH* The sound of impact echoed throughout the estate. '…' "What the…?" said Lex, surprised that he wasn't a stain on the wall.

In front of him stood the enigma, his closest friend, Clark Kent, with his shoulder lodged in the car's hood. Clark began to stand up, seemingly unscathed. He then tossed the car back as if it were a can of soda.

"C-Clark?" Lex gasped, understandably freaked out, "How did you do that? You tossed that car, like, like it was a toy!" Clark remained silent as he began to turn around and look at Lex.

As Clark tosses the car back, he turns toward Lex and sees that he's safe. Relieved, he sighs but then freezes. But then reflects on how far Lex has come in the last couple of years and is overwhelmed with regret. 'Ever since I saved Lex from the car crash three years ago, he's been a good friend. I see this enormous urge to do good in the world. Damn it! I wish I could've explained this to him out of choice, but it looks like that option has gone out the window.' He turns around and looks at Lex.

"Lex, I know you have a million questions, and I will answer each-and-every one of them," Clark says.

The young Kryptonian was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of approaching cars. He uses his enhanced sight to see black vans pulling up in the distance.

"Just not here. It's too dangerous." He grabs Lex and speeds away to the caves using his super speed.

Lex looks around, confused, and dazed, as he sees drawings on familiar damp walls: a man with two heads, one human, one snake; a man shooting fire from his eyes; and multiple symbols, still foreign to him, but all too familiar. "We're in the caves? H-how? We were just at Edge's place," Lex stutters out, utterly baffled at what just happened, and he looks to the source of his confusion, "CLARK! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Lex," Clark says. "I need you to calm down, so I can explain."

"Oh yeah, sure, Clark, explain to me how you collided head-on with Morgan Edge's car without so much as a scratch on you; and how we're at his estate one second, and the next, we're in the caves."

Clark takes a deep breath, "My name is Kal-El. I come from a planet called Krypton, and as far as I know, I am the last surviving member of my race."

Lex pauses, thinking he's finally gone mad, then putting the pieces together. "I always knew something was up with you, that you were one of Chloe's so-called meteor freaks. But you mean to tell me that not only was I right… but you're not even human? You're what, some alien?" As Clark tries to approach him, Lex points the gun at him. "Stay back, Clark! Kal! WHOEVER YOU ARE!" he shouts.

Clark puts his hands out, trying to calm his friend down. "Lex, that won't work on me. Put the gun down, so I can explain this to you."

Lex hesitates but then lowers the gun to his side, "Fine, but only because of our friendship."

"Okay, good. Yes, Lex, I am an alien. Due to my heritage, I have extraordinary abilities: super strength and near invulnerability, which is how I took the crash. I can also run at super-speeds, which is how I brought us here."

Lex stares at him for a few seconds and finally says, "Oh, and I suppose you can fly too, Clark?" in a sarcastic tone.

"Actually, no, but I do have heat vision and X-ray vision," Clark said as he lit a nearby pile of wood aflame with his heat vision.

"Jesus, Clark, I was kidding." Lex sighed exasperatedly. Clark then walked over to a pile of rocks and picked up a small boulder; from behind it, he pulled out two cases of soda. He put two sizeable rocks down as chairs and motioned to them, "I spend so much time in these caves… I have a little system in place. Come, sit. It's a lot to process."

Lex drops the gun and sits, his head in his hands. Then he realized something: "All those times I was faced with certain death, but I always came out unscathed, you were always there, just in the nick of time." Lex said. "I don't know how I can thank you, Clark, but I know words alone won't do," Lex said as he digested the information. "So, what's it like having all these abilities, Clark? Or should I call you Kal now?" said Lex, having, at last, calmed down.

"Clark is fine, Lex; I'm still the same guy who you hang out with, who helps you with anything you need. As for the powers, they're great and all, but despite these abilities, I would give anything to be normal," said Clark.

Lex stares in shock, "But why would you want to be a normal man, Clark? People would kill for your powers. Most would try to conquer the world or abuse that power for personal gain, but Clark, you use your abilities to save people from tragedy and catastrophe. Our beacon of hope from the stars."

Clark sits in silence for a few minutes, digesting Lex's words. "Thank you, Lex. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"What are they like? Your people, the Kryptonians?"

"Honestly? I have no clue. The only reference I have is a disembodied voice of what claims to be my father. But it's so narrow-minded in its objective… its hurting people close to me. To get me to follow this 'destiny,' either as a savior or a conqueror. I can't imagine what they're like in person, and, at this point, I don't ever want to know."

"Huh…Small universe."

"What?"

"It's funny. You may be from a galaxy far, far away, but you're just like us, just like me. Burdened with a future of greatness from our fathers, not allowed to make our own lives. Your destiny must be big if yours haunts you from the grave."

"Well, you seem to be doing a lot better. Your humor's back."

Lex looks at his hand, slowly opening and closing his fist, and checks his pulse, "Yeah, I don't feel as antsy or paranoid. I think the drugs wore off."

Clark pauses, 'Can I do this? Should I disclose everything to Lex...? No, Clark, you're in too deep now. You can't second-guess yourself now; plus, omitting information now will only make you seem shady.' "Okay, any more questions?"

Lex sits and ponders, "The meteor rocks. What are they? I mean, what are they really?"

Clark then steels his resolve, "According to the data I gathered, with Dr. Swann's help, we discovered that the meteors are radioactive remnants from the planet Krypton, my home. We named it Kryptonite."

Lex sat against the cave wall, amazed, "So we know that this, Kryptonite, was it; gives ordinary humans different abilities, but that raises the question, what does it do to you?"

Clark takes a breath, "Essentially, it's like an extremely potent and volatile poison. But there are different colors, each with distinctive effects. So far, I've only encountered two types of Kryptonite, Green and Red. Green Kryptonite, the poisonous one, as you said, gives humans abilities, but when I'm around it, it makes me feel nauseous as if poison is pumping through my veins. As far as I know, Red Kryptonite doesn't affect humans, but when exposed to it, it feels like all my inhibitions vanish, and I act on pure instinct alone. It's terrifying, in all honesty. I hurt people, so I try to steer clear of it."

The two stand up and make their way to the opening. "Clark..." Lex says as he stands up, "I want to thank you for being honest with me; I mean that. It may shock you but being a Luthor doesn't get you many friends without ulterior motives." Lex and Clark smile at this. "You're a much-appreciated change of pace, Clark," Lex says as his voice cracks, and he embraces his best friend in a hug as a tear drops from his eye.

"Thank you, Lex. It's nice to know I can keep my secret safe with you. Let's go home; I'll run you to the mansion," Clark says as he tightens his grip and uses his super-speed, zooming through the woods as a blur back to the Luthor mansion gates.

"Woah...!" Lex laughs, looking around his estate as he catches his breath. "Amazing!"

Clark smiles at Lex. "I'll see you later, Lex; thank you for being there for me," he says as he speeds off, and Lex makes his way to the mansion, neither aware of the tiny camera, no bigger than a computer chip, hidden on the gate's lock, capturing the whole scene.

We follow the connection to see the video played on a computer screen as a silhouette watched from a dark room, "I knew I was wise to keep an eye on you, Mr. Kent." muses the shadow, "After all these years, and you were right under my nose." The shadow says as it chuckles menacingly.

Lex walks into the study a few minutes later as his father stands up and walks toward him. "Lex? Are you okay? Where have you been?" Lionel asked his son, whose demeanor and appearance had significantly improved over the last few hours. "I'm fine, dad. There's no need for doctors or any therapy. After all, I'm a Luthor. We don't have the luxury of breakdowns."

Lionel chuckles smugly before plastering a fake smile, often used in business dealings to assuage the other party. "Right you are, Lex, right you are." Lionel hugs his son, Lex tensing up in response before pushing him off, revealing a sedative needle, knocking him out.

"It's going to be okay, son. I'm going to make you whole again." Lionel states as Lex fades in and out of consciousness.

End of Chapter 1