I don't mean to nitpick, Tom, but is this really your plan?

Thanks for the detailed comments. I see exactly what you're saying. I'm not sure I want to set it in the Metropolis era, but I should make clear that it's not second-season Lex either. This is Lex near the end of his time in Smallville, when he's learned a lot more from Lionel and forgotten most of what Clark was trying to teach him. I do think it's pre-Rift, because in my megalomaniacal cosmology Lex is doing a lot of bad things before Clark finally admits that to himself, triggering the Rift.