Know Thine Enemy

Lex Luthor walks through his underground hideaway, microphone in hand. He announces his plans for a world wide holocaust to the people of Capitol City.

"Cancel the life insurance folks, because in 6 hours you're all gonna be dead! Y'see your uncle Lex has put the finishing touches on a nationwide network of nuclear devices. So big! So powerful! It makes the pentagon warhead look like a cherry-bomb!" Lex shouts over his special radio-frequency.

"And guess what folks! I'm gonna set the first one off right here in Capitol City! But not just you friends and neighbors! This is what you call your dirty bomb. The radioactive fallout from this rock-and-roll party is gonna create a gigantic cloud of death that'll circle around the globe and exterminate all life on the planet."

Lex ends his radio broadcast, and Darla realizes something is wrong.

"Lex, you forgot to tell them what you want. Your demands." she explains.

"Don't have any demands. Just gonna do it. Wake up and smell the coffee babe. This is the last day of the rest of your life!" he replies.

Meanwhile, across the city, a high-pitched signal cries out from inside an abandoned laboratory. Suddenly the roof seemingly collapses, but soon a pair of red boots comes down from above and lands on the floor of the lab. Wearing those boots, is none other than Superboy. He surveys the lab and heads toward a wall. Upon touching the wall, it seems to split in the middle, and opens like a pair of doors revealing a hidden room. Inside, Superboy steps up to see a strange robotic machine built in the shape of a human. Its mechanical arm reaches out and grabs his throat, but Superboy quickly tears off the arm and throws it to the ground. As he steps over to examine the arm, he discovers he has been followed. He finds Lana hanging from the ceiling at another entrance to the lab.

"So are you gonna help me down or what?" she says. Superboy puts her gently on the ground.

"You shouldn't have followed me here." he says.

"Look. If the world is going to end in 6 hours....I want to be with you when we go." says Lana.

Superboy replies "The world isn't going to end." Lana explains that it already seems like doomsday in Capitol City.

"People are crawling all over each other just to get out before the bomb hits." she says. "If Luthor does as he says...."

"I don't think he's capable of doing something like this." says Superboy.

"Can we ever know what another person is truly capable of?" asks Lana.

At that moment, Lana discovers something else in the lab that Superboy had overlooked. A computer system. A highly advanced one. Superboy steps over and finds a disc laying near it. The label reads "The Life and Times of Lex Luthor". Lana takes the disc and inserts it into the computer console. Suddenly, a hologram of Luthor appears in a holographic projector near the computer.

"Project Genesis. Progress report: Phase One. All of Luthor's memories have been transferred to psycho-disk." says the hologram in a machine-like manner.

Superboy reaches over to a head-phone like device near the machine.

"What are you doing?" asks Lana.

"Remember what you said? No one can ever know what another person is truly capable of? This can tell us."

"It could be a trap. Knowing Luthor it probably is a trap."

Superboy ignores Lana's warning and puts on the headset. Meanwhile, Luthor is watching from his hideaway. As he watches, Superboy activates the computer program, which Luthor calls the "psycho-disk". Suddenly, Superboy is immersed in a strange new world. A young girl runs up to him.

"Lex! Lex! C'mon Lex, you know how mad Dad gets when you're late." she says.

"Lex? But I'm not.....The machine. I must be living Luthor's memories."

Superboy is pulled over to a table where a man sits. Behind him, a woman takes a pan out of the oven and carries it to the table, cringing with fear. Superboy sits down at the table as the man looks at him.

"Late genius. Whatsa matter? They keeping you after school so they can give you more tests?"

"They're not giving him any more tests. Isn't that right? They say you're just a normal kid. Like everyone else." the young girl explains.

"Still in grammar school and already you think you're better than everybody else. Well, you're not. You're just a dummy." says the man as he stares at Superboy with evil, glaring eyes.

The woman behind him, still shaking with fear, enters the conversation. "Don't say that. Lex'll go to college. He'll make--"

"Shut up! You think money is some magic pill is gonna make everything better?" yells the man.

Superboy realizes that this man is Luthor's father and the woman is his mother. The young girl is Luthor's sister, Lena.

"Just because those big shots think you're so smart don't make you better than your old man." says Luthor's father.

Lena interrupts saying, "Lex never said he was better than--"

"I am not talking to you Lena!"

"Leave her alone!" yells Superboy.

"You don't want her beaten?" says Mr. Luthor as he stand up and walks around the table toward Superboy. Suddenly, Luthor throws out his fist and punches Superboy in the jaw.

Meanwhile, back outside in the real world Lex and Darla discuss the bomb plot. When Luthor is asked when he's going to ask for the money, he replies, "What is money? some kind of magic pill that cures everything?"

"You want them to give you Superboy. Is that it?" Darla asks.

"I've already got Superboy" relpies Lex as he watches Superboy and Lana via a hidden camera in his other lab.

Back at the other lab, Superboy's body jumps. Lana sees this and asks the Luthor hologram if he can be pulled out if something goes wrong. It replies by saying that access is denied. Lana begins searching for info on the computer, while we are whisked back to the world of Luthor's memories. Superboy has now completly forgotten that he is Superboy. He now thinks that he is Luthor and that the world he is in is real. He and Lena sit on a bunk bed in their room. After a short conversation about Lex making millions of dollars someday Superboy (Lex) moves Lena's hair from her face and sees a bruise on her cheek.

"Did he hit you again?" Superboy asks.

"Its okay." Lena says.

"No, its not okay. but one day I'll be big enough and then..." before Superboy can finish his sentence, Luthor's father steps into the doorway.

"You guys talkin about me?" he asks.

"No..." says Lena with fear in her voice.

"You're always talking about me aren't ya?" says Luthor. He grabs Superboy and oulls him away. Lena watches on in horror as Luthor beats Superboy continuosly.

In the real world, a tear runs down Superboy's cheek. Lana sees it and tries to take the headset off of him. She grabs it and it sends an electrical shock through her. She falls backwards onto the ground stunned. She stands up and once again asks the hologram how to turn off the psychodisk machine. It replies again with "Access Denied".

"Why did Luthor create this thing anyway?" Lana asks.

"The psychodisk was created to transfer Luthor's conciousness to an android host." answers the hologram.

Lana points toward Superboy and says, "But he's not an android."

"Then there will be no transfer of conciousness. However, if disconnect is not achieved in ten minutes, he will absorb all the information on the disk. He will be trapped in a loop of Luthor's memories."

Lana realizes what she must do. She picks up the second headset and enters Luthor's tortured world.

At Lex's other lab, Darla tries to convince Luthor not to set off the bomb. Luthor tells Darla that he doesn't love her. He then tells her there was only one person in the world he ever loved, but she died last week. He jerks out a newpaper with Lena's picture on the front. The headline above reads: Alanville Woman Killed in Crash.

Back in the world of the psychodisk, Superboy and Lena sit at the table while Lex's mother pours some tea. Superboy sees that Lena has been beaten again. He looks at Mrs. Luthor.

"Why don't you do something?" he asks. "You stupid cow! I've had enough of this! I've had enough!" he jumps up and pushes the dishes off the table and looks over into the darkness. Lana appears suddenly. She looks at him and reaches out to him, but quickly fades away like a ghost. Later, Superboy is in the basement of the Luthor home working on a special project. Lena comes down to see what he is working on. Superboy tells her not to stay at home tonight and makes her promise she won't stay at home.

Meanwhile, as Lex arms his nuclear bombs, he decides to show Darla his latest creations. He opens up a rotating panel in the wall to reveal an android dupicate of himself that has his consiousness thanks to the psychodisk. He tells Darla that it will do what even Superboy can't. It will survive the nuclear holocaust. Then Luthor opens up another panel in the wall. It reveals an android duplicate of Lena at 12 years old. Luthor programmed it with everything he remembered about her. He descirbes how it and the Luthor android will live together in happiness for all eternity.

Back in Luthor's memories, Superboy throws a bomb down onto the table in the Luthor kitchen. Luthors parents are tied up next to the table.

"You better let us go boy, or I'll--I'll kick your butt boy." says Mr. Luthor as he stares at the bomb.

"Oh no you won't. Not ever again." says Superboy. "I flip this switch, and in 3 minutes, bing-bang-boom! The whole house goes up. I really should thank you for the money."

"What money?" asks Mr. Luthor.

"The money from the life insurance policy I took out on the two of you. It'll really make it wonderful for the two of us." (himself and Lena)

"Lex, how could you do this to me? After everything I've done for you. Everything I've given you...." says Mrs. Luthor.

"C'est la vie. That's french, in case you didn't know." says Superboy.

He looks over at his parents again and sees Lana appear behind them.

"Superboy! You're not a killer! You're not Lex!" she says as she fades away yet again.

Outside, the Luthor hologram announces that the memory loop is closing and that only one minute remains until a complete psycho-meld is acheived. Both Lana and Superboy will be trapped in a never-ending loop of Luthor's memories.

At Lex's other lab, Darla walks up to Lex.

"Lex, honey. You can't do this to me. After all that I've done for you. All that I've given you......" she says.

Lex flips some switches on a piece of machinery nearby and presses a button. A mechanical voice says: "Detonation in one hour, twenty minutes."

"C'est la vie. That's french, in case you didn't know."

END PART ONE

PART TWO

Darla hits every button and switch on the machine that activated the bomb trying to stop the countdown, but nothing works. She begs Lex to stop the countdown but he doesn't listen. He is holding the hand of the Lena android and talking to it as if she were his true sister. Darla steps over to Lex and pushes his hand away from the android.

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind? She's just a dummy!" she yells.

"You are the dummy, you arrogant twit. She's more alive than you've ever been." replies Lex as he grabs Darla by the neck.

"You don't love me. You never did."

"How perceptive."

Back at the other laboratory, the Luthor hologram announces that there are only 30 seconds until a complete psycho-meld will be acheived. Lana and Superboy are still in Luthor's memory program and will soon be trapped in a loop of Luthor's memories. In the virtual world of Luthor's memories, Superboy, in the identity of Luthor, has prepared the bomb that will kill Luthor's parents. He says that once he flips the switch, in three minutes the bomb will go off and he will be in line for a lot of insurance money. Just as he reaches for the switch, Lana appears again and grabs his hand.

"You can't do this. It goes against everything you are." she says

"You don't know what I am." replies Superboy.

"I don't care what these people did to you. But you can't kill them like he did. You're not Lex."

"Yes I am!"

"No, you're not."

Finally Superboy realizes that none of what is happening is real. Only Lana is real. Suddenly, the computer shuts down and the memory loop is broken. The Luthor hologram announces that the psycho-meld has been averted. Superboy walks to the hologram generator and shuts it down, disabling the Luthor hologram.

"The life he had. All they put him through. No wonder he turned out the way he did." says Superboy as he adjusts to being back in the real world.

"You lived it too, and you didn't become a killer." says Lana

"It's not the same. Before I ever went in there, I had a good life. And even while I was in there, I had you. Who did he have?"

"Lena."

Lana begins looking for information on Lena in Luthor's computer. After searching she discovers a newspaper article, the same one Luthor had in his other lab. When Lana sees the headline: Allanville Woman Killed in Crash, she realizes the only hope of stopping Luthor's mad plan is gone. Back at the other lab, Luthor continues to talk to the Lena android as if she were alive.

"You see my darling, the day I read you died in that horrible crash, my world ended. So now I'm taking out the rest of the world with me. And then the two of you (Lena and Luthor androids) can have it all to yourselves."

"Stop it Lex." Luthor turns to see Darla holding a gun aimed toward him. He laughs.

"Please Darla. You're not gonna shoot me. You worship me remember? C'mon nitwit gimme the gun." he says.

"I've given you everything I've got Lex. I've done things for you that I never thought I could do. But I am not gonna stand by and let you wipe everything out!" says Darla, still aiming the gun at Luthor.

"Somewhere in that dim conciousness there lurks a nobel soul? You're like a dog Darla. A street mongrel. You just take it and take it and take it."

"I loathe you!" she shouts as she pulls the trigger, shooting Lex in the shoulder.

Lex slowly slumps into a chair with blood covering his shoulder. Darla walks over to Lex. She tells him to stop the countdown. Lex says he can't do it because once it's started there is no way to stop it. A computer voice says "Detonation in 55 minutes."

Superboy and Lana read over the details of Lena Luthor's death. Lana realizes something is wrong. Lena's car went off a bridge, but no body was found. Not only that, but all her utilities were turned off the day before she died. Superboy thinks this could be more than a coincidence. Suddenly, Superboy hears a high-pitched signal, much like the one that led him to this lab. He flies off in search of the signal's point of origin. He finds that it is being emitted from a device in Luthor's new lab. He shuts it off just as Darla steps out. Darla tells Superboy she wanted to signal him without Luthor knowing. At first Superboy thinks this is another trap, but Darla convinces him that it isn't.

Elsewhere, a young woman answers her door. This woman is Lena Luthor. Her visitor is Lana, who says she needs Lena's help. Lena slams the door in Lana's face while Lana pleads for her help to stop Lex.

Meanwhile, Lex has bandaged his shoulder and sits awaiting the end of the world. There is a knock on the door and suddenly the door falls flat on the floor. Behind it are Superboy and Darla.

"Darla, you are full of surprises today. And who says they can't teach an old dog new tricks?" says Lex.

Superboy walks over to Lex. "Okay Luthor, party's over. Disarm the warhead!"

"And you actually escaped from the memory loop. Very impressive. You know you're the only opponent I've ever faced who's near worthy of me. You're not. Not quite. But close. So I think its only appropriate that we be together when the world goes poof!"

Superboy grabs Luthor's foot, which is propped up on a desk, and squeezes it. "Disarm the warhead." he says as Luthor winces with pain.

"The countdown can't be stopped. Even if I wanted to. Which I don't."

Suddenly, something grabs Superboy's neck. Superboy turns to see the Luthor android staring him in the face. Luthor watches and laughs as the android throws Superboy across the room.

Meanwhile, Lena has let Lana in. Lana shuts the door behind her.

"Turning off the utilities the day before you died was one thing. But leaving your return address on the work order. If I could find you that easily, don't you think Lex could?" Lana asks.

"It would never occur to him, not even for a second, that I would do something like that. He wouldn't even bother to look for clues. Why would his adoring little sister stage her own death? Do you know what its like to be haunted by a ghost that follows you everywhere. 'Last name's Luthor! Any relation to that maniac?' They always find out. And then its time to move again. Find new friends. Make a new life. But it never works. People look at me like I'm a freak. The police are always watching in case he shows his face. And he keeps writing to me! Letters full of fantasy. About how the day will come when we can be together again. Happy and free. Thats why I thought if I could just kill Lena once and for all...."

"But when you killed Lena, you killed Lex too! That's what has driven him to this! Pushed him over the edge!"

"Oh, I pushed him over the edge? No. No one is going to blame me for this. He killed our parents! He...oh whats the point? Soon it will all be over with. And the Luthor legacy will live on, until the end of the world."

Lana tries to convince Lena to help her find Lex, while at Luthor's lab, Superboy is fighting the crazed Luthor android. The android stops beating Superboy, saying that he will be dead soon enough. A computer voice announces that there are 3 minutes until detonation. Superboy runs to the control console with super-speed and prepares to disable. Luthor stops him, saying if he smashes that, the bomb will go off now. Lana comes down the stairs into the underground laboratory. When Luthor asks how Lana found him she replies "It was in your letters."

"Letters? What letters?" he asks.

"The ones you wrote me." says Lena as she steps into the lab. "The place you begged me to come to. Your haven. Lead-shielded underground where not ever Superboy can find you." Lena sees the android of her on the other side of the room. "What is that?"

"Thats..you." replies Luthor. Lena tells him to stop the countdown.

"Lena, tell me what happened. Who did this? Who wanted me to believe that you were dead?" Luthor asks.

"I did. I hate you Lex. Don't you understand? I hate you. You're a disease. You're a cancer. You're like a cancer on my life! Everything you touch you kill! Everything you love! You only love yourself and death!"

Luthor, on the verge of tears, looks at Superboy "You made her say this!! Make her stop!! Make her stop!" He breaks down and begins to cry.

"No one controls me! Not father, not you, no one! I wanted my own life, free of all of you!" exclaims Lena.

Luthor looks up. "No one talks to Lex Luthor like that! No one!"

"You're not Lex. You're as much a machine as that thing is."

The computer counts down from 10 seconds. "Well then you can just die the same as everyone else." says Luthor.

Suddenly, the android comes to life again. "No! Code Genesis LX-666 abort!" The computer says the countdown has been aborted. The android looks at Lena. He tells her he loves her and will never hurt her. He says he can be good. Luthor quickly yells another code "Code LX-0 terminate!" and the android shuts down.

"You said you couldn't stop the countdown!" yells Darla.

"I lied." He looks to Lena. "Leave. The party's over folks. Could you just get out? You always were such a brainless little twit. Just like the rest of them. I never loved you. I never loved you......"

Lena leaves. Superboy walks over to Lex. "Let's get that arm looked at."

"I never loved her..." insists Lex

Lana walks over to the frozen android with the same loving expression it had when it tried to make Lena stay. "Sure Lex. Whatever you say."

THE END

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