I would just like to point out a couple things... The first is that we have never once said that Tommy or any of the power rangers are stronger than Superman nor will we. Tommy was able to take down Clark in the cafe because Clark was trying not to hurt him he didn't know what was going on and didn't resist as much as he could have. We both love Smallville and we know that the heroes have been though a lot that is not an argument that you will get from us. However the Power Rangers have also been facing against aliens for years so they aren't stupid either. As far as Chloe "letting" them hack watchtower she was trying to get into their systems and by doing so you leave yourself open to them, if they know what they are doing and Hayley does. She is older than Chloe and has a few mote years experience. As i said in the other note we are writing more to this and the JLA will be much more centered in the story but for the way it turns out they need to know that there are other groups around that can stand up to them. I am sorry if it's not what you are expecting but it is the way that we see it happening and because neither Clark nor Oliver would really want to hurt the Power rangers not knowing what they are truely able to handle and underestimating them. Thank you for reviewing and please keep letting us know what you think.

Disclaimer: We do not own Smallville or the Power Rangers. Which is probably a good thing considering what we have done to poor Oliver...

Twenty minutes later Oliver finally stumbled back into the lab. Chloe turned around to ask what had taken so long and froze.

"Are you ok?" she exclaimed, hopping up to help him in. "You look terrible."

Oliver was covered in dirt, blood, and bruises. During his walk back to the lab, he had collected a myriad of new cuts and bruises. Chloe reached a hand out to help, but hesitated, not sure where it was safe to touch him at. Oliver just held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't," he said. "And we're going back to Metropolis as soon as we have Lois back. Once we're back I don't want to see another tree for at least a year."

He turned around to face Clark.

"And you!" he accused. "Why on earth did you leave me standing in the middle of a dark forest by myself? There are tree roots and rocks and I swear they move themselves. And the trees. The trees are alive and have some kind of grudge against me. I can't count how many times I got slapped in the face by tree branches. And I swear, if you ever do something like that again no one will be able to stop me from emptying my entire arsenal of kryptonite arrows on you."

"Sorry," Clark mumbled. "I'm just worried about Lois."

"Ok boys," Hayley interrupted. "Oliver, why don't you take a seat? I think you'll be more comfortable that way. And Clark, relax. We're going to do everything in our power to get Lois back. But if you can't control yourself, we might run into more problems than necessary. Now let's get started."

"But where's Tommy?" Chloe asked. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"Oh, right," Hayley said. "No worries."

Without looking, Hayley jabbed one elbow backward as hard as she could. A grunt came out of nowhere. Oliver, Chloe, and Clark jumped in surprise as Tommy appeared, one hand to his rib cage.

"Great aim, Hayley," Tommy said with a grimace, sitting down in a nearby chair.

"Well, how many times have I told you that when you enter the lab you are to be visible at all times?"

"Sorry," Tommy said, a smile playing across his face.

"You were invisible the whole time?" Oliver asked. "What were you doing? Following us?"

"Yep," said Tommy with a grin, still holding his ribs. "Let's just say I've had a lot of practice moving quietly. Oh, and sorry. But some of those tree branches were me. I was trying to keep you from falling in the lake at one point and I was afraid if I suddenly appeared in front of you that I'd scare you into the water instead of keeping you out of it, and I really didn't want to come in after you."

Oliver glared at Tommy and opened his mouth to reply, but Tommy didn't give him the chance. He turned to talk to the kids.

"You all did ok today," he said. "But not great. Clark and Oliver aren't the kinds of people you usually fight, and you underestimated them."

The kids started grumbling to themselves, still upset that they had been beaten on their own turf.

"Kira, you let your anger get the better of you. It doesn't matter what an opponent might say during a fight, you have to keep your head focused on what you're doing. And if they do insult you, you'll feel much better if you actually beat them."

"I'll try, Dr. O," she said.

"Ethan, great start, bad finish. Your armor is just that, armor. It won't make a hit from the forearm stronger than a punch to the jaw. I think if you had punched Clark, rather than bashing at him with your arms, that you may have actually succeeded."

"Got it. Armor doesn't make hits harder."

"Trent, you can't just hide from a fight. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, but Oliver and Clark are both used to fighting like this. And you were winning until you decided to retreat. Next time, give them the benefit of the doubt that they knew what they had gotten into, and don't hold back."

Trent just nodded.

"Finally, Conner. Good way to get Clark out of the way, but you got way too cocky. Just because someone doesn't have the same abilities as you, doesn't mean they can't beat you. It's all about strategy and using someone's strengths against them. Like Oliver did to you. You've got to pay attention to what you're doing."

"I know," Conner said.

"And for the four of you as a team. Can any of you tell me what your biggest mistake was?"

The kids looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged, not sure what Tommy was getting at.

"Clark and Oliver worked as a team," he said. "And none of you did. I never said you couldn't work together. And had the four of you worked as a team like they did, you may have won in the first hour. You are a team and you need to fight as one, not as individuals on the same field."

"Sorry, Dr. O," the teens chorused.

"Yeah, great," said Clark, interrupting. "Can you please show us what you found now?"

Hayley looked at Tommy. He nodded, so she hit the play button. The video was fuzzy, but it showed Lois walking down an alley, texting on her cell phone. She froze, ducking behind a dumpster. A few Tyrannodrones appeared in the alley, looking around. They didn't see Lois and headed further into the alley. Looking around, Lois jumped up and followed.

Clark groaned.

Lois rounded a corner and Hayley switched cameras. This one showed Lois coming around the corner after the Tyrannodrones. There was a flash of green light and Lois and the Tyrannodrones were gone.

"I guess it is safe to assume now that Mesogog has Lois," Hayley said. "I looked, but I can't find her on any cameras after that. She may have left the alley, but it wasn't on foot."

"So she's on this island, then, right?" Clark asked. "Where is it? I have to go get her before they hurt her."

"It's about 175 miles off the coast," Tommy answered. "And they'll be alerted if someone comes within twenty. If we set off those sensors, who knows what will happen."

"She could be dead already!" Clark yelled. "Who cares about the sensors, we need to go find her!"

"Calm down, Clark," Tommy said. "You are completely out of your element here. If you go running off without thinking, someone could be seriously injured or worse. Mesogog hasn't hurt anyone before. He's far more likely to use her as bait, which is why we have to move cautiously. As long as we're careful, we shouldn't have any problems getting Lois out safely."

"Dr. O's right, Clark," said Kira. "Mesogog is evil, but the only ones he really wants to hurt are us."

"Although he does have that wicked looking life-extractor that he tried to use on Kira and Dr. O," Conner blurted out.

"Life extractor!" Clark exclaimed. "Chloe!"

"Conner, be quiet," Tommy ordered. "Besides, she's a normal human and wouldn't have nearly enough power to be useful. Now everyone sit down so we can plan."

Everyone except Clark took a seat. He continued to pace back and forth, unable to relax enough to sit still.

"Now the easiest way for us all to get to the island is to hijack an invisi-portal," Tommy said.

"Unfortunately," Hayley added, "They've started monitoring the activity on those even more closely since the last time we used one. If we try hijacking one from here, they'll know and they'll be waiting on the other side. You'd walk right into an ambush."

"Then what can we do?" Chloe asked. "We have to get out there."

"We hijack it from inside their lab," Tommy answered. "Mesogog and his minions will be looking for someone hacking it from the outside, not from the inside."

"But how are we going to get someone inside?" Chloe asked. "You said yourself we can't get within twenty miles of the place without alerting them."

"Well, that's partially true," Tommy said. "The whole group wouldn't be able to slip in, but one person swimming might. If they were that paranoid to set their parameters so small, then alarms would go off any time a big fish swam by. No, a single person could swim in and infiltrate the island undetected."

"Then I'm going," said Clark, heading for the door.

"Wait, Clark," Tommy said. "You might be able to get in unnoticed, but how will you get out again? Lois will slow you down and you can't fight all of the Tyrannodrones on your own."

"Then what do you suggest?" Clark snapped, spinning back around. "I'm tired of sitting here, waiting, while Lois is held captive or worse."

"I'll go," Tommy said calmly. "I've swam it before, and my invisibility will be an asset. Plus, once I'm in I know how to use the invisi-portals and I can open one for the rest of you."

"You?" Oliver snorted. "But you're just a science teacher. Sure you can turn invisible and all, but that's not going to make this easy."

"Oliver," Chloe scolded, smacking him on the shoulder.

He winced but Chloe didn't apologize. She just glared at him.

"Anyways," Tommy continued. "Carter from Lightspeed Rescue owes me a favor. He can drop me off just before the sensors and I can swim the rest of the way. Once I'm in, I'll activate an invisi-portal for the rest of you and let Hayley know via communicator where it will be opening up. Can we all agree to that?"

"I think it's our best option," said Hayley. "I'll get a message to Carter and have him ready to meet you in an hour."

"I don't know about this," Clark said. "Twenty miles is a long swim."

"Oh, don't worry," Conner interjected. "He's swum further than that before."

"And that was after being blown up," Ethan added. "And without his ranger abilities."

"Blown up?" Chloe asked. "Do you mean when your lab exploded years ago? I thought you evacuated."

"Oh. Yeah," Tommy said, "well, I did evacuate. Kind of. But it was into the ocean."

"He was quite literally blown off the island," Hayley said drily. "And then I spent a good portion of the next week searching for him."

"It wasn't that bad," Tommy said, shrugging. "I wasn't in the hospital nearly as long as when that big fighter—what was his name?—put me in a coma for three days after taking that cheap shot slamming my head against the cage. Or even after Schwartz clipped that car, bouncing them off the wall and on top of my car."

"Yeah," Hayley said. "It almost took longer to put you back together than the car."

"Race? Fight?" Oliver said. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry," Tommy answered. "I wasn't always a science teacher, you know."

"He was a race car driver," Conner said. "And then a fighter. Actually, he was kind of both at the same time. While he went to school. Man, Dr. O, you were busy."

"Wait. You mean—wait a minute!" Oliver exclaimed. "You're T.T.O.! I knew you looked familiar. You were in the MMA!"

"I've done a lot of bouncing around," Tommy said with a shrug.

"Not to mention all of the ranger teams you've been a part of," Kira said. "And that doesn't even include this team."

"Wait a minute," Chloe said. "You mean you're actually a ranger on this team? I thought the invisibility was another part of the green ranger thing. You're a Power Ranger right now?"

"Yes," Tommy said. "I'm the current black ranger."

"Then why weren't you at the fight where we first saw the kids? I know I didn't see a black ranger there."

"Oh, that's because I usually let them do the fighting on their own. I only step in if it is an emergency."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes more sense. Especially since you said the green ranger abilities are draining, and you've been invisible almost all evening."

"We get the point!" Clark yelled, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "Now can we please focus on getting Lois back?"

"We'll get her back, Clark," Chloe said softly, placing a hand on his arm. "She'll be back soon enough, nagging at you for one thing or another and constantly poking her nose where it doesn't belong. You'll see."

Clark finally sat down, putting his head in his hands. Chloe stayed next to him, one hand resting on his shoulder. Hayley and Tommy shared a look. They both knew that, despite everything they had told Clark, he still didn't really believe Tommy or the kids were capable of rescuing the woman he loved. The only thing holding Clark here was his ignorance of the area and the possibility that getting to close to the island could get her killed before he could find his way inside.

"Hayley," said Tommy said quietly to her. "I'm heading out to make sure I'm there to meet Carter. "I'd appreciate it if you'd try and boost Clark's moral a little bit. I know he's used to being able to rush in and save her, and it can't be easy having to wait."

"Not a problem," she said. "And you be careful."

"I always am," he said with a grin.

"And that's what I'm afraid of," she said, shaking her head. "Please don't make me come scrape you off the beach again."

"I'll be fine. Just be ready when I give the all clear."