"Magic again," Clark Kent said with a weary sigh as he lowered Billy Batson to the ground outside his farmhouse.

"You've encountered magic before?" Billy asked, surprised.

"Yes. It wasn't all that long ago that the girl I loved was possessed by the spirit of a long dead witch. I found out the hard way that magic could affect me."

"A few months ago if someone had told me that magic existed I would have laughed in their faces," Billy admitted. "Now … now it seems to have taken over my life."

"Billy, in spite of the magic, you're just a kid. You shouldn't be risking your life like that. That man—"

"I don't know if you can call him a man any longer," Billy interrupted. "He was a Champion, gifted by the Gods themselves with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He fought to save the Earth from the Sky Lords. Sha—the old man told me that they would have won if not for Adam and the other Champions."

"The Sky Lords," Clark murmured. "Ancient Kryptonians. Yet another reason that I'm glad I was raised here in Smallville."

"You're one of them—a Sky Lord? A – what did you call it? Kryptonian?"

"Krypton blew up. My father, Jor-El, sent me to Earth to save my life when I was just a toddler. I was raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent."

"Are there more of you?"

"Not any longer. Not here." Clark sighed. "So what does Adam want? Why did he come to Smallville?"

*****

Lois Lane drove down the road with the semi-conscious old man in the seat beside her. "You're saying that guy—that Black Adam—is looking for a magic bug?"

"A blue beetle," the wizard groaned. "Adam is still gifted by the Gods. I cannot take that power from him once it was given to him. The beetle was the totem of power of another Champion. If Adam should possess it then his power will become so great that none will be able to stand against him … not my Champion, not the Sky Lords themselves … he will lay waste to this world and nothing will stop him!"

"Look, I can see that he's bad news—that he's tough, but he can't be invincible. He's got to have a weakness. Everything has a weakness. What can stop him?"

"He is immortal. He does not need food or water or even air. No mortal weapon can pierce his skin. He is indestructible as long as he---"the Old Man groaned. "I am too weary—must sleep—"

"Sleep? You're about to tell me how to stop this guy and you decide to take a nap?! Old man! Wake up!"

But the old man did not stir.

"Typical Lane luck." Lois gritted her teeth. "Well, I can't take him back to the hospital. That'd be signing his death warrant. I need help."

She pulled her car to the side of the road and pulled out her cell phone. "Chloe? It's Lois. I'm in a bit of a bind, and I need your help. Where can we meet? At Clark's?" She bit her lip. "I don't think that'd be a good idea. How about your place at the Talon? Great. Thanks. I'll be there ASAP."

She pulled back onto the road. "This is real Wall of Weird stuff. I hope that Chloe's not lost her touch."

****

Adam growled deep in his throat in frustration. The old man lived. He could still feel him breathing. The old man lived. His new Champion lived. And the Sky Lord … he was unlike any Sky Lord he had ever seen, but he was a Sky Lord.

Deep in his gut, the need to destroy the Sky Lord threatened to overcome his desire for power. He had been created to protect the Earth from the invaders—and even now when he had his own agenda, he could barely repress the urge to drop everything to seek out this infection and destroy it once and for all.

"I will destroy the Sky Lord," he whispered to himself in the ancient tongue of his people. "I will not allow him to threaten the world I was born to rule. But first … first I must have the Scarab. Armed with that power in addition to my own, not even the old man's Champion and the Sky Lord combined will be able to stop me."

During the long years of his imprisonment, when the gods had refused to deliver him from his torment, Adam had learned to still their voices in his head. Now … now he opened himself up to them in hopes of hearing some solution to his dilemma.

And much to his surprise, one of them did answer.

"You cannot threaten the owner of the Scarab, but there are other ways to coerce him into doing what you wish. He has something you want. Take something that he desires, and a trade can be made that will give you what you seek."

"Take something the Luthor boy wants," he murmured to himself.

The answer was not long in coming.

"His woman," Adam decided. "I will take his woman, and he will give me anything that I ask for …"