Outskirts of Smallville

"Clark. Clark Kent is your cousin? He's from a different planet?"

"I don't know who this Clark is, that you speak of."

"Kal-El, that's what he told us to call him. He said his name was Clark."

"You have met him?"

"Yeah, I have actually, um…what did you say your name was?"

"I have not told you. Forgive me. My name is Kara Zor-El."

"Okay, Kara…so you're saying Kal-El is your cousin, you're both from a different planet, there's a power mad dude here with superpowers and there's no way to stop him?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Wow. This is…wow. So, what powers do you have?"

"My uncle Jor-El told me once that the yellow sun would give Kryptonians the ability to fly, x-ray vision, heat vision, imperviousness, great strength, enhanced hearing and sight, and an icy breath."

"That's a lot of abilities."

"The sun charges our cells. It is as if we are solar batteries, I believe would be a proper analogy."

"What about those meteorites?"

"I'm not sure. I felt pain when I was near them."

"Do you think those could possibly stop Zod?"

"They may. But first we must find Kal-El and then we can worry about Zod's army."

"Well, I think might have an idea of where we might find Clark. Sorry, I mean Kal-El."

"Then, please lead the way."

"Oh, crap. I can't. I'm supposed to be looking for my cousin. She's in the town where your countrymen are landing. I've got to make sure she's alright."

"Lois. I will help you find your cousin, if you help me find mine first. You have my word."

Lois reluctantly agreed. It would be nice to have a super-powered friend on her side, even if there were hundreds more like her on the other side.

"We'll take my car."

Kal-El was beginning to lose consciousness, when he heard the crunch of tires pulling over the gravel that lined the side of the roads. He heard his Earth name being called by a familiar voice but he was too weak to answer.

"Clark!"

He heard footsteps coming closer, the pace increased as if they were running. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Clark. Clark? What's wrong?"

"The meteorite. It's hurting me."

The hand left his shoulder and seconds later the pain stopped. He stood up, a renewed sense of energy coursing through him as he drank in the sun's rays. He turned to look at his savior and saw that it was:

"Chloe? What are you doing here?"

"After I left Met U, I hung around in Metropolis for awhile. I was trying to get information out of a few sources when I heard the news reports. Why are you on the side of the road?"

"Lois left me here."

"Lois? What did you do?"

"I was unsure of how to express the truth, so I concealed it."

"You mean you lied. To Lois."

"Yes," he replied ashamedly.

"Where is she now?"

"In Smallville. Looking for you."

"Wait, so you just let her go straight into a meteor shower?"

"There's no way I could have stopped her."

"You're a super-powered alien! Of course you could have stopped her."

"Frankly, she scares me a little bit. Have you ever seen her when she's angry?"

"You're right about that. But that doesn't explain why you let her go to Smallville."

"She was adamant about saving you. I didn't want to interfere. You are her family."

"But Clark, she—," Chloe was cut off midsentence as they heard a second car pull up behind them and Clark held up a hand to silence her.

They turned around to see Lois emerging from her car. But unlike when she drove off almost half an hour earlier, she wasn't alone. There was a blonde woman with her that Kal-El immediately recognized as his older cousin.

"Kara?"

Chloe gave him a puzzled look, "Kara?"

"My cousin. Kara Zor-El."

"Cousin, as in cousin from another planet, cousin?"

"Yes. I don't understand why she is here. Or why she is with Lois."

"Let's go find out."

The Kryptonian man and Earth woman made their way over to the other alien/human pair. The man arriving first pulling his cousin into his arms with a great big bear hug.

"Kara! I thought I'd never see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Kal-El. It brings me joy to see you too. It saddens me that I have arrived on Earth in such circumstances."

"Do you mean you've been sent here? By who? Your parents? My parents? Are my parents here?"

Tears filled Kara's eyes as she replied, "No your parents are not here. They were killed when Krypton exploded."

"Krypton…exploded? How? My father stabilized the core many years ago."

"Zod."

"I should have known," Kal-El replied, clenching his fists. His blood began to boil again, but this time not from the pain of the meteorite. No he was angry. Sensing his anger, Lois moved forward. Although she was still mad at him, for both what he said in the car and not telling her that he was an alien, right now what he needed was to be comforted. His rage couldn't get the best of him, especially considering the possible no-win scenario the Earth was now facing. She reached him and touched his hand lightly, before enveloping it with both of hers. He looked down at her, his irises burning red in anger. It didn't cause her to back off; instead she just held his hand and looked into his eyes, waiting for him to see her and not his grief. Their staring match lasted for quite awhile before his eye returned to the cool shade of blue that she thought so mesmerizing. And seconds later, tears began to pool at the corners of those eyes before they fell. She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around him, silently communicating that it was okay for him to let out his sadness.

As they watched, Lois and Clark's exchange, Chloe silently introduced herself to Kara. She explained that Clark had told her everything about Krypton and that she was sad to hear of its demise. Kara accepted her condolences with gratitude but didn't continue the conversation. She was much too intrigued by the exchange between her cousin and Lois. While she knew this was not a happy moment, she could still see that Lois made Kal-El happier than she had ever seen him on Krypton.

"Um…I know this probably isn't the best time…but uh, who is Zod?" Chloe interjected.

The spell surrounding Lois and Clark suddenly broke and Lois stepped away from him, remembering her previous anger. Her brow furrowed and it was her turn for her eyes to glow a figurative red. In fact that's all she could see.

"How could you not tell me?" she yelled

"Lois, I'm sorry…I wasn't sure how you would react," Clark tried to explain.

"How I would react? To my friend…no, the guy I like, to being an alien? You weren't sure how I'd react?"

"No."

"Oh, well, I've accepted it with open arms. In fact, I think it's awesome. But what's not awesome is that you lied to me. Right to my face,"

"I'm sorry. I should have told you. Chloe said that…"

"Chloe? Chloe knows? You told Chloe?"

"I had to. She witnessed me talking to my father."

"She…what?"

"I received a message from my father, his name is Jor-El –"

"I know what his name is, Kal-El,"

"But how could…" Clark looked over and sees his cousin standing next to Chloe. "Oh, Kara. Right."

"Hey guys, I hate to interrupt this heart-to-heart or whatever, but I still don't know who Zod is and I feel like it could be important," Chloe interrupted.

"Sorry, Chloe. You're right, there are much more important things going on here. Now, Smallville do you care to explain who Zod is or should someone else field this one. I mean you've already lied once, who knows if you'll lie now."

"Lois, that's enough. He lied. He's sorry. He'll apologize later," Chloe scolded. "Now, Clark, tell me: who is Zod?"

"Zod is the one person you'd never want on the opposing team. He's power-hungry and he's ruthless. He'll do anything to get what he wants. And I imagine what he wants is Earth," Clark began to explain.

"That is exactly what he desires. Zod destroyed Krypton so he could create a new Krypton here on Earth," Kara interjected.

"But why would he want to do that? Why couldn't he just try and grab power on your planet?" Lois asked.

"My father. He was the one person who could keep Zod in check. I believe he may have taken his eyes of his old friend for too long and now he is dead," Clark replied.

"His old friend? Your father and Zod used to share a sandbox?" Lois asked incredulously.

"I'm not familiar with that phrase but yes, they were friends. Right until Zod betrayed my father and got him wrongly sentenced to the Phantom Zone."

"What's a phantom zone?" Lois asked.

"It's an intergalactic prison for the most dangerous criminals in the universe. It's where Zod belongs but he's been able to hide behind his military title up until now."

"Is there any way we can stop him?" Chloe inquired.

"If it were just him, maybe we, Kara and I, could…but I don't think he came alone."

"He didn't. He brought an entire army with him. He brought my father with him for his science. My mom and I were lucky to be brought along. But my father insisted."

"That's the nicest thing Zor-El's done in a long time."

"Don't be so critical Kal-El. He's just been bad tempered since your father escaped from the Zone."

"That was years ago."

"He holds grudges."

"Well, I don't know about all of you. But I think I have a plan for handling Zod and his whole army," Lois piped up.

"What?" the other three exclaimed.

"You can't be the daughter of a four star general without picking up a few tips. And I think I have the perfect plan. All we need is an army of our own to execute."

Kal-El glanced at Lois with appreciation filled eyes.

"What is your plan?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. But first we have to figure out where he's going to be gathering his troops."

"That's easy," Clark and Chloe said at the same time.

"Oh, yeah?"

"He's working with Lex."