Brainiac's request sounded perfectly reasonable, and Lex Luthor didn't suspect anything.
He didn't overthink it—he simply nodded.
> "Leave it to me."
Since he and Alex were "working together," Lex had plenty of chances to meet him.
With his cunning, getting a small biological sample without alerting Alex should've been trivial.
Brainiac—disguised as Professor Finn—added gravely:
> "And one more thing. Since the last lab was exposed, it's best you don't contact me unless absolutely necessary."
Lex opened his mouth to reply—
But another familiar voice cut in, cold and unhurried:
> "You won't be getting that chance."
Both Lex and Brainiac froze where they stood.
That voice… neither of them could forget it.
Homelander.
Alex.
> "H–Homelander… what are you doing here?"
Lex turned pale, staring at Alex as though death itself had walked into his home.
But Alex didn't even glance at him.
His attention rested solely on Brainiac.
> "Brainiac.
You really thought you could plot against me from the shadows?"
Brainiac's eyes narrowed.
Lex instinctively turned toward "Professor Finn," stunned—
So the man he'd been working with all these years… wasn't even human?
> "Homelander, you are… troublesome," Brainiac admitted.
"But what can you do? Kill me again? What would be the point?"
Alex smiled.
> "The point is—this will be the last time."
He flipped his hand over, revealing the crystal Jor-El had given him.
Brainiac's face instantly shifted.
He recognized it at once.
And he understood what it meant.
Jor-El's intellect was legendary.
If the old scientist crafted a kill-switch, then—
It could actually end him.
> "—!"
Brainiac didn't waste another second.
His form blurred violently as he activated super-speed and bolted away.
DUANG!
He slammed straight into an invisible barrier.
He didn't even bounce back—he simply stopped, pinned in place by overwhelming telekinetic pressure.
Alex curled a finger.
Brainiac's body was yanked toward him like a puppet on a string.
SHHHK!
The crystal pierced straight into Brainiac's chest.
His body convulsed—eyes wide, mouth stretched, data streams flickering across his pupils like corrupted code.
BZZZT!
CRACKLE!
SSSSSS!
The spasms lasted a good ten seconds.
Then Brainiac's systems overloaded—arcs of energy snapping across his body, wisps of smoke rising from burnt circuits.
And at last—
THUD.
He collapsed onto the floor, motionless.
Lex stared, stunned.
> "He's… not human?"
He had worked with "Professor Finn" for years on meteor-mutant research—
yet never once suspected the man wasn't even alive.
In an instant, Lex realized how thoroughly he had been used.
It burned him inside—he who prided himself on manipulating others had been reduced to a pawn.
Alex finally turned toward him.
> "Lex," he said coolly,
"I thought you were smarter than this.
It seems I overestimated you."
The words were soft…
but the pressure behind them was suffocating.
> "Homelander—listen—" Lex tried to explain.
Zzzzz—!!
A beam of searing heat slit through the air.
Lex's scream tore through the manor as his left arm fell to the floor, blood spraying across the polished tiles.
> "AAAHHHH!!"
Even with all his willpower, all his discipline—
he couldn't stop himself from howling in agony.
Alex spoke calmly:
> "You still have three limbs left."
"That means you have exactly three more chances to try something stupid."
"Use them wisely."
WHOOSH.
He vanished.
Leaving behind a trembling, one-armed Lex Luthor who finally understood the truth:
He should never have provoked Homelander.
---
One Month Later
At Luthor Manor, a noticeably subdued Lex reported:
> "Homelander, we've located twenty meteor mutants so far.
Most were found in towns surrounding Smallville. But recently, our search areas have run dry.
There may not be many left."
Alex nodded.
For Lex to still find twenty after all these years was impressive enough.
> "Good. Begin the next phase."
Alex continued:
> "You and I both know meteor mutants awaken because of kryptonite energy—but the energy inside their bodies isn't the same as raw kryptonite."
> "Your job now is to extract that variant energy directly from kryptonite."
The ability to absorb kryptonite energy was Alex's ultimate secret.
He wouldn't risk revealing it.
Lex bowed his head.
> "I'll begin immediately."
The memory of losing an arm had humbled him completely.
Until he found a guaranteed method to defeat Alex, he wouldn't dare step out of line.
And Alex knew—
That day was a long, long way off.
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