Anyway, what was I saying?
So you did bring me in here to work?
Right - work.
You need to stop blabbering to the world that I am writing the Lex Luthor exposé.
It's the biggest story of the year.
I- I just thought we agreed that our dating life would be off-the-record.
We're hiding in a storage closet.
What more do you want from me?
It didn't cross your mind that inquiring minds might wonder why a...
rooky basement dweller is writing this story?
It has nothing to do with us.
Well, if I'm gonna keep our - this a secret,
I need to make sure that the only part of my body earning me stories...
is my reporter's nose.
I didn't give you the story.
Lex requested you.
What?
Clark? Hi. It's your daily freak-out call.
Seriously two weeks with no callback. What's going on?
Lana said you guys smooth everything out before you went to the fortress,
I'm getting tired of lying about you being in Minnesota.
I can get really angry or really scared.
Hey, was that Clark?
He said he would fix our satellite dish two weeks ago.
It still looks like Jack Frost puked all over the TV.
He's still in Minnesota, spending the holidays with Kara.
Well, when he returns from those 10,000 frozen lakes,
I would rely like my "daily show" back.
In the meantime, happy holidays.
I had the printshop compile all my research on LuthorCorp,
so there you go - 101 ways to make Lex Luthor squirm.
Thanks, cuz. You're actually my first legitimate source.
Thank me for convincing you to break it off with Grant.
Now no one can say you didn't land this one fair and square.
Did anyone lose their phone?
Hello?
You've been ignoring me.
Uh, you got the wrong person here. It's not my phone.
I know. But it's not easy getting your attention, Lane.
You erased my e-mails. You tossed my letters.
I'm trying to help you bring down Lex Luthor.
Hey, I appreciate that, but when it comes to LuthorCorp conspiracies,
a lot gets tossed in the "crazy" bin.
See if this gets me to the top of the pile, Lane -
There's a bomb on your cousin.
If you try to get help,
if you so much as whisper a single word to anyone,
Chloe dies.
Do I have your attention now?
When I suggested a dinner meeting, I was hoping to consume calories, not burn them.
Well, technically, I should be stringing popcorn at a suicide slum's nursing home,
but then I wouldn't have the pleasure of beating you two bouts to one.
In that case, I'm afraid you've traded one business event for another.
I want you to ask someone else to write your exposé.
Lois has a mysterious way of diving for a penny and coming up with the Holy Grail.
Well, I appreciate your brotherly concern, but I don't have anything to hide.
Well, that's certainly a cavalier approach to a murder accusation...
and a public divorce.
Lois knows what she wants, Lex. She'll get to you.
Or, more importantly, get to you.
You know, for someone who claims to have broken it off with her,
you certainly sound concerned by what she uncovers.
I'm not the one Lois has a vendetta against.
I thought you would have learned by now.
I always find a way to win in the end.
Slow down, Adrian.
I'm not exactly Mozart on the keyboard.
I got everything up to you being an escaped clone from LuthorCorp.
With a body aging on overdrive.
I'll be dead any day now.
Well, you'd think Lex Luthor would have kinks like that work out.
I know. It sounds crazy, but you need to believe me.
It doesn't matter what I believe. I am printing this to protect my cousin,
and take it from a fellow Lex-hater...
The Planet won't print anything without proof.
Just write the story.
In a couple of hours, every newspaper in the country will be begging for it.
Come on.
DELIVERY FAILED!
What?
You don't think I covered bases? Don't try anything cute.
Are you nuts?! What are you doing?!
I saw you staring at me.
Yeah, so? You're a babe.
Great. You're a terrorist and a pervert.
Deactivate the bomb!
Bomb? W-What bomb?
Very funny.
"Office America. How may I help you?"
Oh, crap.
What the hell's going on?
I am so sorry. I thought you were someone else.
You need some serious help, lady.
I'm getting security.
Great.
Pull yourself together, Lois.
Hey, man. I told you I was sorry.
I told you to shut your mouth.
Now, you're gonna walk out of there and finish this story like nothing happened.
I'll clean up your mess.
You killed him.
And next time, it'll be Chloe.
Lana.
Clark.
Oh, my god. You've had me so worried.
Were you in your fortress this entire time?
Time is so different there, I didn't realize how long I was gone for.
Did you find Kara?
There was nothing I could do.
I think it's time I accept the fact that she's gone and move on.
Kind of a tall order these days.
Well, I'm back, and you're here. That's what matters now.
Clark... as much as I have missed you,
I think maybe being apart was good for us.
I had some time to think, to evaluate my priorities.
I'm dropping my fixation on Lex and all of his projects.
I had some time to do some thinking myself.
I may know a way for us to get back on the same page.
I need you to show me everything you have on Lex.
We'll get him together.
This isn't exactly hot chocolate on the boardwalk.
What are we doing here?
Look what I drove you to do.
If this is some attempt at a guilt trip,
I haven't been watching Lex for weeks.
Lana, it's time I face what I did to you.
What you did?
What I didn't do.
Let you open up about how much Lex hurt you.
I wanted to just move on, forget it ever happened, but you couldn't.
You hid your feelings, and you hid your research.
You must have known I felt responsible for everything...
Lex did to you while you were with him.
Everything he did to you while you were protecting me.
Lex is the villain here, not you.
I know. That's what I'm saying.
Lex needs to be put behind bars, Lana. You were right.
I think you hold the key.
Scion?
Or what's left of it.
That vial, I must have destroyed it when I wrecked Lex's lab.
Before you showed up, he was talking about some alien invasion.
Do you think that this has something to do with it?
Lana, if this is alien technology, you didn't destroy it.
Lana, what is it?
If you really want to partner with me on this,
then I think it's time you see everything that I found on project scion.
Any outgoing?
Yeah. Right here.
Come on, lady.
Oh. Thanks.
Hey! So, good news. Clark is back from the twin city,
so I'm just gonna drop off my rewrite then head over and, uh, say hello.
Great. Cool.
So, I'll, uh...
send him your warmest?
I'm sorry. I'm just busy prepping the interview.
You sure everything's all right?
Yeah. Just peachy. See you later.
If we're taking Lex head-on, there's no point in sugarcoating it...
I think scion might be more live than we thought.
I take it Lex doesn't know you found it.
Not so much an "it" as a "her."
While you were gone,
Casey Brock, a LuthorCorp lab tech working on scion, was found...
half-conscious in an alley.
She was exhibiting random, incoherent speech patterns and was suffering from...
toxic levels of metal poisoning.
So you had her quarantined.
What other choice did I have?
When I heard about Casey's strange symptoms,
I had my contacts at the Isis foundation have her transferred down here.
So, this... this isn't exactly official.
It is extreme, but if she had something to do with scion,
then I couldn't have the other patients exposed to whatever was in her bloodstream.
What do you mean "was"?
Overnight, the metal content in her body dropped dramatically.
My team could find hardly any trace of zinc, magnesium, or iron.
So whatever it was siphoned her body's natural minerals and moved on.
She's been doing that since she was admitted.
No one understands what she's saying.
I'm not surprised.
She's speaking Kryptonian.
Jimmy.
You know, I'll just, uh, grab the next one.
Don't be ridiculous. There's plenty of room.
Yeah, uh... you know, the thing is is that I'm - I'm going the other way.
We're in the basement. Travel options are kind of limited.
Right.
- You going to the Christmas party later? - Nah.
I think I'm gonna pull my Scrooge card on this one and stay home.
I heard Susan from H. R. Is bringing mistletoe tonight.
I know. I'm all about the amusement factor.
If I remember correctly, there was mistletoe
last year. It... didn't seem to stop you.
Yeah, well, that was different. I mean, I already had my sights set on...
you.
Oh, my god.
We're stuck.
With a bomb.
I got to say - much cuter in person.
Adrian.
Draw attention to yourself,
and I'll decorate that elevator with your cousin.
Where's my story?
Now, I haven't exactly read "C-4 for dummies,"...
but I'm guessing that if we' babysitting a bomb, it'd be somewhere in this pile.
- This is, uh... - Not supposed to be in there.
Jimmy, I seriously doubt my secret Santa planted a b...
Oh, wow.
I have the worst secret Santa ever.
It's all in there.
"LuthorCorp's first functioning clone."
Something tells me you wouldn't go this far if it weren't the truth.
My body won't hold out much longer.
I'll be dead by Christmas.
Celebrate Christmas, Lane?
Yeah.
We used to send out the Christmas portrait every year.
Me in an ugly sweater,
mom with her fake smile, and dad...
missing his football game.
Then you must know how it feels when one of them is in danger.
You'd think.
After I escaped from LuthorCorp, I went looking for them -
My parents, my Christmas memories...
it's all a fiction some scientist downloaded into my brain.
Yet, I remember them like they're real.
And come tomorrow morning's early edition,
the world will now what Lex did to you.
Now, please, let my cousin go.
The deal was - I write the story, you give me Chloe.
Not quite.
You need to force Lex to confess what he's done.
Don't make me remind you what's at stake.
If you can hear me, we're in the center elevator at the Daily Planet with a bomb.
Hurry, please, Clark.
Clark!
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
You waste your one phone call on Clark?
I didn't realize we had so few flares.
Regardless, you called Clark before you dialed 911.
I mean, what's he gonna do, dismantle the bomb with his great hair?
Lois snuck me a note,
which mean at she's under surveillance by whoever's orchestrating this.
Now, how would it look if a swat parade trampled through the bull pen?
Smile at the nice people.
See? No one suspects a thing.
You have your bag?
My finger is on the detonator.
No confession, your cousin dies. Try to warn them, your cousin dies.
Let's go see the boss.
Everything Casey's been rambling turns out to be hex code.
Like a pattern of Kryptonian zeroes and ones.
Right.
Chloe once used a computer program to find a pattern...
in Kryptonian symbols that Lionel was scribbling.
Maybe she can translate this one.
Not if she's not here.
Here she is, right on time.
Mr. Luthor, you know Lois Lane.
Well, it certainly has been a while, hasn't it?
I haven't seen Ms. Lane since I caught her breaking into my office.
Yeah, a long time.
Shall we?
Please.
Uh, big story. Exciting.
Uh, Lois, maybe you should just ask your questions.
Right - questions.
Ask him about project Gemini.
Mr. Luthor...
perhaps we could start by discussing project Gemini.
Excuse me?
My sources tell me you run some kind of an ant farm,
except instead of ants, it's humans and instead of a farm, it's a lab.
- Lois! - Not that you're renowned for your...
eloquence, Lois, but... I have no idea of what you're talking about.
Human cloning -
The replication of a DNA sequence...
produced from a single identical ancestor.
My mistake.
I didn't realize you'd be pitching me a Hollywood movie.
Is this how you run your paper, Mr. Gabriel?
Tell him who's talking to.
Adrian sends his best.
Should that name mean something?
Now reach in your briefcase.
Oh, my god!
Aim it at Grant and get the truth.
It's time for the truth, Lex.
Lie again...
Grant Gabriel dies.
Lois, put down the gun.
Just answer the question.
Lane, what the hell are you doing?!
Getting the truth.
Lex, there's no time.
Why does Adrian have a memory for a life that doesn't exist?
I don't know who Adrian is.
Well, I wrote his story.
He grew up outside Philly,
played point guard for Homestead High,
got his first job on the obituary beat at the Liberty times.
That is where he first got noticed as the editor in Alaska...
first in sports, then in...
What are you doing?!
Someone was pulling her strings.
I took her out the equation.
So she wouldn't hear the truth?
Those were my memories, Lex.
You're the editor of a major newspaper.
That information is everywhere.
What about the time my mom got me a red and green dirt bike for my seventh birthday?
I rode that thing everywhere.
- I thought I could pedal until... - Until the chain wore out.
That's the one.
I saw your picture in the newspaper one
morning and realized we had a lot in common.
- Who the hell are you? - Lex, let him talk.
Ho do you have my memories?
Because Lex made me.
And when I didn't work...
he'd make you.
What he talking about, Lex?
Congratulations, Grant. You are the perfect clone.
He's insane.
You're me.
Same DNA.
Same backstory.
The only difference is that you worked and I didn't.
Lionel giving me up for adoption...
- My Harvard degree. - Harvard degree.
- The paper. - The paper.
It's all lies.
Am I even your brother?
Brother?
Who died when Lex was 12.
You created me in a test tube.
You kept me like some kind of freak pet so you could have a brother?
- Is that why you couldn't get rid of me?! - You're not my brother!
You're a mistake!
Oh, my god.
Help.
Help!
Help us!
Help!
It's no use. If someone could have heard us, they would have by now.
Jimmy, I don't think we're gonna make it.
You know, I'm not gonna cart my baggage through the afterlife.
Jimmy, there's something I have to share with you.
I always imagined this playing out to a sad Kelly Clarkson song,
not some "jingle bells" muzak.
- Chloe, time is sort of the essence, here. - Right. Ok. Look,
I didn't pull away from our relationship because there was anything wrong with us.
I mean, we were - well, at least you were perfect.
It was just me. I'm different.
I'm a meteor freak.
Some feedback would be awesome right now.
Okay.
If we're going out with no regrets...
Straight to her voice mail.
"CHLOE DON'T REACT. BOMB ON YOU" Oh, my god.
Clark, look at this.
Move it, holy field.
I need to find Chloe.
Security just pulled her from the elevator.
Unfortunately, your puppeteer, Adrian, managed to escape.
What about Grant?
He went to find you a medic, but I see you bounced back just fine.
Wish I could say the se thing about your career.
After the little ditty Adrian inspired,
I'm exposing your morbid science fair to the world.
Really?
With what evidence?
The word of some Belle Reeve runaway?
Look not that it matters, but you're no longer writing my exposé.
You'll have to take that up with my boss.
I am your boss.
Merry Christmas, Lois.
I just bought the Daily Planet.
If you wan to split early I think today qualifies as on-the-job stress.
I was just finishing up.
Um, but I'm - 'm glad you're here, actually.
About the kiss in the elevator...
I do this thing when I think the world is ending,
and I-I grab the first guy I see and...
sort of end up in a lip-lock.
Yeah. Me too.
I mean, girl - not guy, obviously.
An obviously, there's Kara.
Yeah.
But this wasn't about her.
Chloe, more than goodbye was said in that elevator.
I just - I wish it didn't take a near-death experience...
for you to feel comfortable telling me the truth.
I know.
Trust me, Jimmy,
I've been struggling to tell you about my meteor infection for so long.
What did I do to make you think that I wouldn't accept you?
Nothing. I mean, I guess I always knew that you would.
The real battle was accepting myself.
Well, I hope this means that you have.
So,
can I assume that special ability has something to do with that,
supersize brain inside your head?
No.
My nerd is all-natural.
Oh, my god.
Can you fly?
Here, Jimmy.
Just watch.
I didn't...
really think..
Where we you in 9th-grade rugby?
Believe me, no golden trophy is worth these side effects.
- Are you okay? - Yeah, I'm fine.
Can you just, uh,
promise me that we'll keep this between me, you, and my Neosporin?
I promise.
You're still the same Chloe.
The last of the acquisition documents. Come midnight, the paper's yours.
Give me the names and bios of everyone on staff.
It's time get rid of our deadwood.
Congratulations on the Daily Planet.
Wonderful.
One more piece of my life you can control, starting with my creation.
I can't believe you let that lunatic sneak his ideas into your head.
You're my brother.
No, Lex. I'm an experiment.
Beneath all that arrogance, your cracks are starting to show.
Did you really think you could keep this a secret?
Or you're so desperate to mean something to someone, it was worth the risk?
You can't punish me for wanting a family.
How am I supposed to feel,
being the product of a man who's destroyed everything he's ever touched?
No.
You're different Julian.
If I didn't love you, you wouldn't be here.
I'm living proof you've forgotten how to love.
But if you want to play god, you might want to remember his greatest gift -
free will.
Let me live my life.
Oh, great. I'm fired, aren't I?
Well, luckily, I just finished putting the bells and whistles on my résumé.
I would hire me in a second.
Lois, you're not fired.
Lex actually asked that you specifically remain on the team.
Me?
Great.
Can't wait to watch him dull his shredder with my stories.
You want to bury the truth, buy the media.
But the fact that you showed up on my doorstep...
means somebody's ready to spread good news.
Does this house call mean we're coming out?
Actually, it means we're breaking up.
Oh.
Today was just an example of why it's not a good idea...
for us to be together and work together. It's too complicated.
And I didn't even drag you to all the places I usually ruin a relationship.
Well, when you do decide to take that trip...
he's a lucky guy.
Whoever he is, we sure as hell aren't gonna work together.
So, how are we going to liquidate.
You'll take the elevator and I'll take the stairs?
Don't be ridiculous, Lane.
I'll take the stairs.
I had to rev my geek into fifth in order to crack that hex code.
Just think of it as a thank-you for channeling...
your inner Bruce Willis yesterday.
I'm sorry it took till the last second for me to get there.
I don't know where I'd be without you.
Thanks.
Did I mention that I missed you?
So, this pattern, it made sense?
Well, to me, not so much, but to a computer, it's scripture.
The numbers represent an error message that high-tech systems encounter...
when they can't boot up.
And's repeating, because the computer keeps trying to start.
Exactly.
I think the sequence is actually learning from its mistakes...
and getting closer to successfully loading.
That's not my favorite look.
Chloe, this started as a metallic fluid inside a vial.
It's now evolved into technology that's willing to kill.
It's the brain-interactive construct.
Clark, you think that this is Milton Fine?
But you turned off general Zod's PDA...
after he spread that computer virus across the world.
If any part of him was left behind to regenerate,
then Fine could be out there.
Chloe. Hey.
- I didn't now that you were... - Just leaving.
You want to stay? I kind of overloaded on Danishes.
No, thanks. Lois is actually taking me out for breakfast.
She's deemed it "national Chloe Sullivan day" or something.
I'll... I'll call you.
What's the occasion?
Your safe return from the fortress.
Christmas came early this year.
I've missed that smile.
Me too.
To be honest, Clark,
after everything I shared yesterday, I was...
worried that I'd scare you away.
But I've never felt closer.
I realized something when I was gone.
That feelings, good or bad, they don't just disappear,
no matter who you are.
Are we still talking about Lex?
I'm talking about us.
Yesterday, when I saw you in the barn,
it was like I felt in love with you all over again.