7.19 Confession (Part III) by TW and JG

as retold by Bill C

KK: I...I'll be right back. [exits]
MR: Where's she going?
TW: Probably to call Dawn again. [snorts] Her dime.
ED: She started this.
AoT: She's good at that.
AM: I'm still surprised Dawn agreed to--
TW: It...was more of a blanket thing. I'll explain when we're done with this.
JG: We come back from commercials to a shot of Lex sitting at his desk at LuthorCorp, looking at his computer monitor. Cut to a shot of the screen, which is showing what appear to be schematics for a battlesuit with the title "Version 1.5."
MR: Yes! Iron Lex lives!
ED: What, now powered by HoYay?
AoT: With all the accumulated HoYay from this show? Lex could actually destroy the universe.
TW: We pan up from the screen to show the office door, as a secretary comes through it with an attractive brunette carrying a large case on her heels. "Mr. Luthor? Dr. Bennett."
MR: Tell me this is making up for the Lanabot thing.
TW: It's not.
MR: Oh, come on!
JG: The secretary leaves, and Dr. Bennett sits down in a chair in front of Lex's desk with the case by her side. "I got your phone call, Mr. Luthor. I understand something has changed?"
TW: Michael, care to read for Lex?
MR: Yeah, sure. "I was standing over her body again. I still didn't see it happen--something kept my attention on the desk until after I heard the noise--but...but there she was, dead on the floor."
ED: Lex's dream again? He's talking to a shrink?
JG: You'd think he'd have one on speed-dial after all these years.
MR: Quiet, old man. Iron Lex is talking. "But for the week I've been having this dream it's almost always ended with me just seeing the body--seeing Lana's body--and maybe hearing this...this sound. Sort of like a gust of wind. But last night I actually saw two other people in the dream and heard a voice."
JG: Cut to Bennett looking thoughtful. "I see. Who did you see in the dream, and who did you hear?"
MR: Back to Lex. "I saw two people. A man, and a woman...Chloe Sullivan."
JG: Bennett perks up at that. "Subject C36?"
AM: In-house psychological counsel? Progressive.
MR: "Yes, her." Lex pauses for a moment, considering his words. "They didn't say anything, at least not while I was looking at them. But Chloe said 'You know what happened' before I saw them. And when I did see them, Clark...the man I saw...he picked up Chloe and then they both just...vanished, and I heard the gust of wind again. And that was when I woke up."
JG: "That's interesting. You've never seen them before in the dream, from what you told me two days ago."
MR: Hold it. Lex has been seeing a shrink in offscreenville for a week?
TW: She's not an ordinary shrink. We're getting to that.
MR: Okay, okay. "I want you to check me again, Doctor. I need to know if anything has changed."
JG: Pan across from Lex to Bennett as she leans over, opens the case, and pulls out some fancy high-tech widgets...a tablet PC...and what looks like a futuristic metal headband with a big cable coming out of it. She then gets up, walks around the desk, and puts the headband on Lex's head--
ED: Bald men with headbands. Scary.
AoT: It could be worse. It could be young Lex with a headband.
MR: Even I wouldn't do that to that kid.
JG: Bennett then connects the headband cable to one of her widgets, and that in turn connects to the tablet PC. She then taps the PC's touchscreen, though we can't see what's on it, and the headband starts humming. "Close your eyes, Mr. Luthor, and relax."
AoT: And then she electrocutes Lex. The end.
MR: How long does Iron Lex wear this stupid headband?
TW: About fifteen seconds, through some faintly creepy music and two cuts back and forth between him and Dr. Bennett. Then the humming dies off, she takes the headband off Lex's head and studies her tablet PC for a bit.
JG: And finally she says, "Mr. Luthor...there is a slight, but marked, increase in brain activity over the previous readings. More so than could be explained by the usual things like being lost in thought or so on. What's strange is that it seems...familiar somehow."
MR: Lex looks suitably puzzled. "Familiar how?"
JG: "Honestly, sir, I'm not sure yet. I'd like to run a more in-depth test, if that's all right. Immediately."
MR: Lex looks down for a moment. "If you must."
JG: "Good. I'll get the CT scanner ready."
TW: Bennett packs her case and leaves, and Hope walks in just as she's going out. "Lex?"
MR: Lex rubs his temples, where the headband was, for a couple of seconds. "Yes, Hope, what is it?"
TW: Hope places a manila folder on Lex's desk. "A full account of the materials stolen two nights ago from Complex 5, sir."
MR: "The short version?"
TW: "Some high-energy field gear that was in development, about two hundred pounds of advanced alloys, and a pound of ultra-depleted uranium that was in storage."
MR: "Ultra-depleted How serious is this?"
TW: "The complex supervisor said it was about as radioactive as the glow-in-the-dark hands on your watch, sir. It's harmless, but very dense--they were experimenting with it for ablative armor for the new battlesuit."
ED: I love fake science.
AM [after a few seconds]: ...I can't go there. I don't know why, but I...just can't go there...
MR: You're slipping in your old age, Allison.
AM: Yeah? The Mack says know your role and read your lines.
[MR snorts at AM]
ED: Huh? Go where?
MR [chuckles]: "Let me know of any developments, Hope. And while you're at it--we might as well push up the beginning of the security audit I ordered for all LuthorCorp facilities--this includes the mansion."
TW: "Yes, sir."
JG: And on that we cut to a through-the-window shot of Lionel's office. Lionel is standing at his window, looking out over the city, and Otis is in front of his desk.
TW: Otis: "Mr. Luthor, none of my contacts have been able to turn up either Lobo or Mr. Ferret. They seem to have--"
JG: Lionel, as always, speaks thoughtfully. "Disappeared off the face of the Earth, Otis? That may very well be the case."
TW: "Should I continue having our contacts search for them?"
JG: "No, at least for now. I seriously doubt we'll hear from Lobo again, after he failed in his mission. And Ferret is strictly a middleman...he's not a threat."
TW: "Right. Moving on: you've seen the list of materials stolen from Complex 5?"
JG: "Yes, Otis. By now I imagine my son and Hope have seen it as well."
MR: Come on, Tom! Lionel is getting information again before the head of the company?
AoT: It's a recurring theme, Michael.
MR: I hate recurring themes.
TW: Otis goes on, "No doubt he has, sir. But with the government project that dropped in his lap--"
JG: Lionel snorts. "Oh, yes. Athena. I suppose it's only fitting that the hero of Metropolis"--I'll need to punch up the sarcasm there--"that the hero of Metropolis gets to officially move up, as they say."
MR: Hell yeah.
TW: Otis is sharp, of course. "Which means he'll be unable to run the day-to-day operations of LuthorCorp."
MR: Wait, what?
AM: The more things change...

JG: Cut to an in-office shot as Lionel turns to face Otis. "And that job will fall to me, as it always does. I suppose it's the natural order of things."
MR: Oh, that's a low blow.
ED: Like there's another kind for Lex and Lionel?
MR [to ED]: I really hate it when you have a point.
TW: Otis starts to say something, but he's interrupted by Lionel's telephone ringing. Quick pan as Lionel picks it up...
JG: "Yes? Yes...I see. Thank you." Lionel hangs up. "That was the assistant head of security. He contacted me about something my son had been looking into--apparently one of the servers for the security cameras and sensors had been erased entirely a few months ago, apparently after there was a minor security breach. Considering everything that's happened recently, it was...forgotten."
AoT: Nothing like an interstellar invasion attempt to screw up your to-do list.
JG: "They're finally doing a systems integrity check, and I would like you to supervise the check and report back to me."
TW: "What about your son, sir?"
JG: "He can get his own report."
TW: "Yes, sir." And Otis leaves the office.
JG: And we cut to a tracking shot of Lex walking through a familiar hallway and going through the main entrance to Vault Black.
MR: Where's Lex going?
AM: Just guessing: to get his head scanned?
TW: Exactly. Lex goes through the room with the pools in it we saw in Revolt, only we're zoomed in on him so we don't have to show the pools...
AM: Budget cut?
TW: Budget cut. He then walks into a sort of cul-de-sac, where a huge CT scanner is sitting in the middle of the floor with two technicians attending to it. Dr. Bennett is nearby, and looks up as he comes in. And we cut to a closeup of Lex as he says, "All right, Doctor. Let's get this over with," and then goes to lie down on the platform for the CT scanner as the techs set everything up.
MR: Well, that's different.
TW: And we go to commercials on Lex being inserted into the thing.
AM: While thinking about Clark.
MR: Oh, shut up.
AoT: That's a strange place for a commercial break.
ED: This episode is kind of boring.
JG: Yes, and...yes. This is what happens when you don't have money, Erica.
ED: Yeah, but still.

Continued...