A/N: My greatest gripe with Smallville was most definitely the excessive overuse of kryptonite, but that's not all. It always bothered me that as smart as Clark was, he seemed frequently unaware of the fact that kryptonite is ALL over Smallville and has been used for many purposes. That said, I wrote this as a way of showing how Clark could get around his weakness by displaying his intelligence and experience.
DEFENSE
Clark speeds into the woods at night to confront Marcus Reigns, a blonde meteor freak in his late thirties with control over light-energy.
"You need to stop this, Reigns." Clark sternly demands. "It's not worth people getting hurt over."
"I know you've got a hero complex, Kent, but if I were you, I'd start worrying about myself!" Reigns shoots Clark with a powerful blast of sustained light energy!
Though the force knocks him back, Clark's invulnerability enables him to withstand and survive the energies. He then responds by blocking the energy with the palms of his hands and speeding towards Reigns. Once directly in front of him, Clark grabs Reigns' hands, which causes them to explode with light energy and send Reigns sliding across the ground in a deep ditch and in pain.
"Give it up, Reigns. You can't win." Clark advances towards Reigns, but then, "Agh!"
He stops where he is and backs up a little due to an exposed chunk of kryptonite that is sticking out of the ditch Reigns made. Reigns regains his composure and notices that Clark looks sick and is staring right at the glowing green rock. Catching on quick, Reigns gets up smiling,
"What's wrong, Goliath? Hate stones?" Reigns picks up the kryptonite and looks as if he is about to throw it,
Clark, knowing what the kryptonite could do to him, runs a safer distance away from Reigns, who laughs, "Ho! Ho! This is gonna be fun!"
At the Kent Farm, Clark sits in the barn with a defeated look on his face just as Pete walks in to speak with him.
"So, what's the deal, man of steel?" Pete shrugs curious.
"I can't believe how stupid I've been, Pete." Clark replies, "The whole town's infected with kryptonite and I'm running around trying to stop guys like Reigns like I'm invincible."
"Stuff came up again?" Pete sits down on a haystack.
"Yeah." Clark continues, "What's worse, Reigns knows. Pete, how am I supposed to help anyone if I can't even help myself with this stuff around? Greg, Coach Arnold, Tina, those jock guys that hung around Whitney, and now Reigns have gotten off because I didn't look before leaping."
"Hmm." Pete looks down and thinks for a minute. "I got it! X-ray vision!"
"What?" Clark shrugs confused.
"You could stand over the windmill in Chandler's Field and X-ray the whole town and find all the kryptonite." Pete suggests. "Then, me and some other guys could spend the day digging it all up and burying it all down in one place like we did with the stuff Eric Marsh and his guys had."
"It's a great idea, Pete, but the only people who know about me besides you are my parents and I don't think they'd be able to dig as fast as you." Clark points out.
"Oh, yeah. Good point." Pete sits down to think again. Clark looks down again,
"Lead!" Clark stands up in realization.
"What?" Pete shrugs confused.
"It's the only thing that can protect me from kryptonite." Clark states. "If I can get enough, I might be able to make something with it really fast."
"But that green crap is all over town. Where can you find that much lead?" Pete wonders.
"Remember the old distillery where Greg's treehouse is?" Clark reminds him; Pete shakes his head and smiles knowingly, "I'll drive."
Meanwhile, a convoy from Belle Reve is carrying two restrained meteor freak prisoners, Black-American man Tyrone McCarthy and red-haied Donald Peck, to said place when…
SHOOM! A mysterious, but powerful force strikes the side of the vehicle before it tumbles over and skids down the street; sparks generate as a result. Just then,
"Anybody up for a hit-and-run?" Reigns blasts open the truck doors and destroys the cuffs restraining his two comrades, which allows them to walk out smiling and free.
"Don't let 'em out!" The injured, but living guards pick up their guns and aim them at the meteor freaks, but…
"We're already out!" McCarthy uses his dark-energy powers to turn one of the guard's shadows into a ball of dark energy and fires it straight through his chest from behind; this kills him instantly.
"Please!" Peck uses his sonic powers to create a loud and powerful shockwave that kills the other guard.
"Agh! No!" The driver, injured but alive, has witnessed the meteor freaks and attempts to escape out of fear for his own life. Sadly,
"Missed one!" With just two fingers, Reigns unleashes a beam of light-energy and kills the driver, who falls dead on the pavement.
"So, what's the game this time, Reigns?" Peck asks. "We still gonna rob Smallville Bank and head out of the country?"
"Yeah. After we deal with Kent." Reigns replies.
"Did he knock you harder than Mike Tyson?" McCarthy scoffs. "We can't even make him blink, much less end him. Besides, he's got too much on us, anyway."
"Not this time." Reigns holds up a chunk of kryptonite. "We dig up more of this stuff, and throw everything we got at him, no pun intended…he's gonna buy the farm."
At the Farm, Clark, having found the lead structure from when he fought Greg, is now using his heat vision and super-strength to make something of it. Pete is behind him listening to the radio for signs of trouble as he watches Clark works.
"Looks like shop class is still paying off for you." Pete notices.
"From the guy who said to "stick to candle-making basics", that's high-praise." Clark smirks.
"Don't tell me you forgot that you actually agreed-" Pete replies.
"Just 10 minutes ago, a convoy carrying criminals Tyrone McCarthy and Donald Peck, was attacked and not only did both convicts escape, the two guards and the driver were all killed. Police are advising all families to lock their doors and windows and a curfew has been placed for 8:00 p.m."
"Reigns!" Clark instantly knows and begins to gather his lead invention.
"Is that ready?" Pete asks.
"It's gonna have to be." Clark replies.
"But it's not just Reigns anymore, Clark." Pete reminds him, "McCarthy and Peck are gonna have some too!"
"Relax, Pete. I won't be all about defense. I got offense too, remember?" Clark nods before he super-speeds out of the barn with his lead invention in hand.
Just outside of town, in a bid to draw out Clark, the three meteor freaks have executed a strategy. Reigns has just now used his light powers to drain all of Smallville of its light...and power. With a clap, Peck has created a soundwave powerful enough to disable every communications device in the town (car radios, cell phones, walky-talkies, etc.). Lastly, empowered by the darkness surrounding him, McCarthy morphs into a giant shadow creature. Through this form, he is able to see all of Smallville.
"I don't see him! You think he doesn't know?" McCarthy wonders with a booming voice.
"Considering I, the guy with light powers, just killed the power and the lights and the fact that he's fast, I'd have to say no." Reigns insists. "Just wait."
"I hate that word. Especially what it means." Peck folds his arms.
"Do you ever not complain?" Reigns scoffs.
WOOSH! CHERZZZZZZ! WHOMP! Clark, as a blur, speeds up behind and super-jumps over the giant McCarthy before he blasts him with heat vision and lands with great force on the ground. It is now apparent that he has turned the lead he found into a lead-lined outfit; one that covers his entirely bare upper body and his head for insurance. He is wearing the rest underneath his jeans and boots, evidenced by the former bulging.
"OW!" In pain, McCarthy goes back to his normal, human form and size. He looks at Clark in anger as he is joined by Reigns and Peck, both of whom look confident and triumphant.
"I thought that skin of yours was protection?" Peck looks surprised.
Clark then proceeds to walk slowly and calmly towards the three meteor freaks, "This ends tonight."
"Got that right, boy!" Reigns grins. "That crap can't save you from us!"
Reigns, Peck, and McCarthy each hold up one chunk of kryptonite and use their own respective powers to create an energy barrier around them in order to strengthen their assault. Despite this, Clark continues forward unafraid.
"HIT HIM!" Putting their all into the energy barriers surrounding their respective kryptonite chunks, they toss them at the ever-approaching Clark before…
KA-BLAM! They impact against Clark with considerably high force, which creates a shockwave and dust cloud that leads into part of Smallville. As a result of using all of their power into one particular shot, Smallville regains all of its light, power, and to an extent, communications and sound advantages.
"Well, that's that!" Reigns smugly laughs, "Let's recharge, break the bank, and beat it!"
"Good! But while we're at it, let's steal some food, too. I'm hungry." McCarthy suggests.
"Why steal? Pretty sure they'll feed you at Belle Reve." Clark, to the absolute shock of the three meteor freaks, emerges from the smoke with the upper part of his lead suit completely destroyed, but is himself entirely unharmed!
"Thought you said that thing he was wearin' wouldn't protect him?!" Peck backs up in fear. He starts to run along with his comrades, but they are immediately intercepted by the far faster Clark; he proceeds to speedily, but carefully, tap each powerless meteor freak on the head, which causes them each to fall unconscious. Clark conveys a relieved, but small winning smile.
The following morning, Clark is sitting at the table eating breakfast with Jonathan and Martha when Pete walks in reading a newspaper,
"—as miraculous as it seems, shortly after the power stripped from Smallville returned, criminals Marcus Reigns, Tyrone McCarthy, and Donald Peck were mysteriously found unconscious in a cell at the Smallvillle Police Department. Sheriff Nancy Adams has declined to provide a comment."
"It worked, huh?" Pete shrugged.
"And nothing was basic about it." Clark jokes.
"What happens if they get their powers back before they reach Belle Reve?" Martha asks; slightly worried as usual.
"Guys from Belle Reve showed up last night and nerfed them when they were still sleeping and made triple sure they couldn't get out." Pete explains.
"Clark, son, were you able to salvage any lead from your fight with them?" Jonathan asks.
"No, they blew it all up. Everything but the pants." Clark replies. "Could probably use the rest and find some more and make an even better one. It's pretty handy."
"Glad it was." Jonathan taps Clark on the shoulder with his coffee in hand, "I'm gonna get to work."
"Hey, Clark. Wanna play ball?" Pete asks.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Clark follows Pete outside and they begin yet another truthfully one-sided basketball match (even if Clark does let Pete get some shots in).
A/N: Just like the show, I provided references to the Superman comics mythology in this story. The most obvious is Pete's "man of steel" comment, but the other is Clark's lead-lined suit of protection. In the comics, Superman had a lead-lined radiation suit built in order to protect him from kryptonite. The one Clark made can be considered a proto-version of it, especially when Clark spoke of using the remains to built a better one in the future.