"Lex Luthor, you are under arrest."

"You're sure I'm Lex? He doesn't sound so nice."

The sheriff grabbed Lex's shoulder and pushed him outside towards the police car. Lex sighed. The doctor had confirmed his amnesia was from being hit on the head adding, "at least it wasn't poison." Lex did not like the sound of this, it sounded as if he was poisoned a lot. There was silence in the car on the way to the state prison. Once there he got a change of clothes and was assigned to a cell.

As he sat in jail, the man next to him smirked, "Couldn't get out of it the cops this time, eh rich boy?"

The jabs were getting worse ("had to follow your fathers footsteps huh?"), and so was his headache. Exhausted he went to bed early, wondering what it was he had done so wrong in this…place? No, wondering what he had done so wrong in this world, it seemed like practically everyone knew him. On his cot he tossed thinking again of that farm boy (Clark was it?) who seemed so protective of him. Had he done something good and saved his life?

Finally sleep came, but it was not without dreams:

'I hate you dad!' he was in that room, that office and the dead Lionel was in front of him alive. 'You don't understand son!' were they really related? Lionel sounded like a big meanie.

Then there was some popping noise, a gun with a silencer? Lionel was dead, or mostly. Lex turned around, slowly, to face the attacker. He saw a brown bottle coming down toward his head, and then the attacker's face was slowly coming in view, if only the image would clear for a minute more, and…

"STOP SHOUTING! I UNDERSTAND YOU HATE YOUR FATHER!"

Lex sat bolt upright. His cellmate was holding the pillow he had just used to hit Lex. The man glared. "Dude, you killed him, it's over!"

Lex looked around. Maybe his memories were coming back like the doctor said. If only they made sense!

------

"if only this made sense!" Clark shouted punching one of the beam supports of the barn.

According to his own special 'investigation' there was hair at the scene- green hair, bright neon green, a fistful in Lionel's hand. There was also a syringe hidden away at the bottom of the desk, empty, just like the paperless folder on top of it labeled 'Project: Mutation; canceled.'

It seemed like just the thing Lex would know about. It was definitely on his list to go see the bald man again.

---

Jail sucked. Period. Lex decided that maybe he didn't hate himself so much if he had managed to stay out of jail. What he was supposed to go to jail for he couldn't speculate, but all these people in suits were coming to talk to him about someplace called LexCorp. Something like filling him in on himself. He hated it, all that business crap, he really needed a parent to tell him who he was, but at the same time whenever he saw a spread sheet he naturally double checked all the math. Some sort of freaky talent he had, like he was a natural genius. Why would someone waste that sort of talent on bad stuff?

Slowly he was remembering bits and pieces of what happened, only in his dreams. During the day the vision would repeat itself. The other night his dream was the same as before except when he saw the shadows of his attacker, the person was also whispering, "I want to destroy you!" Over and over the phrase was coming to him, and now his cellmate had him scheduled to see a shrink for saying it in his sleep.

Why would he need a shrink? It's not like he had any traumatic childhood accidents—actually, he was bald, and he didn't know what that was about. He feared that one of the suits was just going to say to him, "oh? yes, you're bald because you stuck your head in an oven." Or, "You're bald because when your dad said 'shave the dog' you well, uh, you shaved your head."

But there were more important things on his mind as he lay in his coat. He feared having that dream again. Also that kid-Clark- had seen him today. Had even asked if he knew what 'Project Mutilated' was. Well not mutilated, maybe mother, or muslin, mutation?

Mutation. That stuck a chord on a violin that hadn't been played in a long time. Did he play the violin? He felt more like a piano man… He shook of his thoughts and drifted into a reluctant sleep in his now empty cell (his friend had left after the last night's little 'I want to destroy you').

'what the hell!' he dropped his scotch to face a beast with wild neon green hair. 'I hate you dad!'

The monster was shaking. 'You don't understand!' the monster advanced. he was pinned against the wall and then there was that popping noise.

Tonight though, the noise was much louder, engulfing him, he snapped awake. There was a large whole in the side of his cell. There was the smell of explosives, and he heard a voice that sounded a lot like that of his dream attacker. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

----

Lying on his bed, half asleep, Clark thought back to the conversation earlier with Lex.

'Does Project Mutation ring a bell?"

Lex's eyes popped wide open. He froze as if in a trance and weakly said in a hushed tone, "…no, no, no…."

"Lex?"

For a moment Lex looked, Lex like, like he knew who he was again, and he growled, "back away." Then his chin dropped down to his chest, and when he looked up again, he had that same blank stare. "what the hell? he said slowly.

It wasn't a 'no I don't know' no, but a memory of what had occurred two nights ago. Had Lex been on the offense but beaten when he had said those words, as if his plan hadn't gone right? Gah! That just sounded confusing, there had to be something logical to this! There was something fishy about this, ah fish…red hearing! Clark snapped his fingers. There had to be a third angle!

That's what scared Clark. That creature, and in this town neon green meant one thing. He shuddered under his fuzzy blue covers.

TBC…