It is a surreal experience, to work side by side, every day, with one of your oldest friends, be among the select group he calls confidants and know all the while you are the proverbial snake in the grass. The viper lying in wait. His own personal Judas.

It is a surreal existence but Jack Bristow is accustomed to having a surreal existence. Welcomes it, even, and knows, in a peculiar way, that Lionel does the same. He, like his friend, has grown accustomed to a surreal existence and with good reason. LuthorCorp's stock and trade is surreal. A conglomerate which deals in illegal cloning experimentation, commerce with terrorists and financing international conflicts because war is good for business, and then there is Lionel's own personal quest for immortality...all of which was launched by the tiny little business it had been. Selling fertilizer.

He sometimes wonders if perhaps Lionel is aware of his betrayal. If, somehow, a contact in Langley has revealed the CIA has placed a double agent in the billionaire's ranks. However, Jack knows logically that Lionel does not know but...he still wonders. Wondered the most when Lionel's eldest child began romancing his only daughter but Sydney and, oddly enough, Alexander himself put those worries at ease. Lex, as most refer to him, makes no secret of his contempt for his father and Sydney revealed it is largely due to Lionel's treatment of his mother, Lillian. Jack can remember Lillian as she was then, knows how difficult that time was for all concerned, and allows Lionel a moment of sympathy for it. Her illness left a great impact, and deep scars, on the lives of the Luthor men. It shattered their family in truth. Lionel is alone. His sons have deserted him . Lex, long gone, has founded his own corporation and dominates Metropolis...a fact he seems to delight in reminding his father of.

His younger brother has gone even farther. Julian is an international terrorist, has even done business with his father's company if only to thumb his nose at the old man, has changed his name and severed all ties. He does not look back but, like his brother, delights in twisting the knife when he encounters Lionel.

It is enough to evoke more sympathy in Jack but the feeling never entirely crystallizes. Blocked it seems by the memories of Lionel's crimes. His many sins. When Jack recalls these, the loyalty of friendship, the emotions, and especially the sympathy dissipates with the knowledge that, whatever pain Lionel feels...he brought on himself.

Jack may be traitor to his friend but he is so willingly...knowing in the end, he is the traitor that very well may save Lionel from himself.

Finis

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