Butoh, Dance of Darkness

Lex found the scientist watching the surf from the sidewalk just beyond the beach. The sun was about to set and the beach was deserted as it was winter and the sun was about to set. The sky overhead threatened rain.

He had tried to approach her as quietly as possible but the click of his shoes on the pavement and the fact that he was flanked by two bodyguards made her aware of him earlier than he wanted. She took one look at him and his entourage and started to run away. However, since she wasn't an athlete, she was easily overcome by the two men he had hired.

He walked up to her and said, "I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want some answers."

The woman slumped. "If I give you the answers, I might be killed."

"I'll protect you but you have to show me what I want to know."

The woman shook her head. "You're really not going to like the answers."

"Even so, I have the right to know. You're going to get me into that facility in Kyoto."

She closed her eyes in resignation.

The drive there had been quiet. She had kept her eyes closed and mouth shut as she sat between the two men. Lex briefly wondered what made her so quiet and resigned.

He had read Dr. Ozu's profile. She was a leader in the fields of cybernetics and genetic engineering. Not only that, her record was spotless. She didn't seem the type to be involved in anything underhanded . . . voluntarily.

The facility didn't look like much at all. It merely looked like a warehouse in the middle of the several identical warehouses. "You will regret finding out what the answers are," she said again.

"I'll be the one to decide that," said Lex.

She swiped her card then put her eyes to the security lock for retinal scanning. The little light on the lock went green and she walked through. Lex stepped in with her after telling his bodyguards to stay behind. He wasn't sure that he wanted his bodyguards to know exactly what his brother was funding. He took out a 9mm handgun with a silencer. He had no plans to use it, he just wanted to know the truth. .

She walked up to the elevator and put her hand on the scanner. The elevator door opened. They rode down the elevator together. She didn't say anything.

"Aren't you going to tell me what this is all about?" said Lex.

"You won't understand until you see it."

"My brother Julian funds this."

Pause."

"Yes, yes, he does."

"Why?"

"You'll see soon enough. What brought you here?"

"I was curious why he would funnel so much money into a facility in Japan and not tell me exactly what he was funding. Especially a project with a large amount energy bill in a foreign country that hires someone like you."

"He loves you very much, you know."

Lex frowned at the statement. How much did she actually know about us? He thought. "That's besides the point. We've grown up together. We share everything but this. Of course, I have to find out what this is."

The elevator stopped. She walked out of the elevator slowly, leading Lex through a maze of metallic corridors, occasionally pausing to flip the lights on. Finally, they reached a locked metal door. "You can back out if you like," she said.

"Just open it."

She slid her card through the lock then let the lock scan her retinas. The door clicked open.

"Walk in," said Lex.

She did so and flicked on the lights.

It said much about Lex that he didn't drop his gun when he saw what was in the room. There were several chambers showing several bodies that looked just like him suspended in liquid. One stood out as it was encircled by tunnel that reminded him of an MRI machine, wearing goggles and electrodes all over his head.

"What is the meaning of this? Is Julian cloning me?"

"Not precisely. You're the clone of the original," she said.

"What are you saying?"

"The machine scanning the original Lex Luthor is a ghost dubber. Ghost is a term we use to mean the quality that separates humans from androids or robots."

"You said I'm a clone."

"Five years ago, while Julian was away on business, an assassin shot you in the head. You were sent to the best hospital in the area but unfortunately while your body was alive, your brain suffered severe damage. You were in an irreversible coma. Julian . . . asked me to work on a project that would bring you back to life. This is the best I could come up with. We managed to copy the remaining neural pathways. Perhaps in the future, there will be technology that can help the original but not yet."

"So, I didn't just happen to miraculously recover . . . That's why there's so many gaps in my memory. It's not because of a head injury." Lex stared at the chambers and looked at a tearful Dr. Ozu.

"I"m sorry," she said. "I really am."

He brought the gun up and pointed it at her then shifted his aim towards the original Lex. The gun was snatched from his hands, bruising his fingers. The next second, he saw Julian standing in front of him, turning the gun into a small ball of metal.

"Julian, you lied to me. Why, why this?"Lex raged.

Julian wrapped his arms around him. "You and I promised each other that we'd always be there for each other, right? Remember you said that we had a destiny together. Ever since we were children, there's been nobody else for me other than you. I'm not spending the rest of eternity alone, my love," he whispered into Lex's ear. Then he gave Lex a kiss and he fell back, unconscious in Julian's arms. Julian held his brother and lover up with one arm while tenderly stroking Lex's scalp with the other like one would a very fragile child you didn't want to awaken.

Julian looked up to see the woman crying silently. "I apologize for what my brother did. He's always been like this."

"It's the third time he's come here. Even though you make him forget about all this each time."

"I know," he said with a smile that spoke of pride and admiration. "He's quite the genius." Then noticing her continued distress, he said, "I'm sorry. I can only imagine how scary it's been these past three years."

She snapped, "I'm not crying for myself. I'm crying for Lex. He's not a doll . . . You're not his puppet master!"

Julian narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to cut you some slack because you've been really great about all this and the fact that you're the best scientist for this project. But you have to understand, we are mother, father, brother, lover, master and servant to each other and I refuse to be without him for the rest of my life. You know a little of what I am capable of. Now just imagine what would happen if I became very, very unhappy and there was nobody in the world who could stop me."

She looked down. "Any way I can resign?"

"No."

"I thought not." She had been hysterical the first time this had happened. She was almost used to it now.

"Then let's get out of here. Take next week off. You deserve it."

The End