"I'm innocent, it was my evil twin. Honest." Smallville rec

How could Lex do the things he does? Why, of course, because it's not Lex. It's his evil clone, can't you tell?

I've always held the suspicion that I am my own evil twin. Which represents remarkable efficiency on the part of the universe, packaging two souls into a single physical form. But it lacks the "get out of jail free card" power of having an actual physical twin who can be implicated in nefarious deeds performed while I am demonstrably elsewhere.

Lanning Cook took the "Lex couldn't do these things, therefore this can't be him" idea and turned it from a short story into a marvellous epic, with 9 installments so far.

The dynamics of the Clark/Lex relationship are very well done. Clark is Lex's balance-- when Lex is trapped in the "Luthor" mindset, Clark forces him to stop and see that there are alternatives. That Lex doesn't have to play his father's games. And Lex is equally fierce in his dedication to protect Clark. Clark and Lex wind up saving each other, which is as it should be.

The stories aren't perfect-- in the first long story (Divergence) Jonathan Kent's motivations seem to flip/flop back and forth. The character Eli evolves from intriguing to (nearly) unbelievable, and over the multiple stories the author seems to change her mind over just what Lex's long term plans are for dealing with the threat posed by his father and the clone.
But these are nitpicks that shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment of these stories.

A classic h/c saga. Angst abounds, and references to crickets.


The Identical Series by Lanning Cook
Clark/Lex Slash
http://lanning.slashdom.com/