With all the craziness surrounding the reunion and Duncan's astral projecting, no one got the chance to look for any more escaped prisoners from the Phantom Zone.

That changed when Chloe got her hands on some photographs picturing a crater on the far end of the country.

She and Emmeline rushed to the Kent farm to show Clark the discovery so they could figure out how to take down the next Zoner.

Inside his barn, Clark picked up one of the large enhanced photographs. "Oakland, California?"

"Local authorities determined it was made by a shooting star, but that was just wishful thinking," Chloe explained.

Clark looked at her flatly.

Realizing the unintentional pun, she added, "Sorry. It impacted six weeks ago, right around the time you fell out of the Phantom Zone. It gets worse. He's already killed once. Two boys went missing on the site of the crater. And all they found were human ashes and a basketball."

Clark sighed and walked away from her and Emmeline. "Sounds like heat vision."

"Not unless your heat vision comes with a radiation setting. The ashes were off the Geiger charts, and the next day, the nuclear facilities 20 miles away were hit."

"Any idea why the Zoner would be there?"

"Well, aside from giving the five researchers a premature cremation, the radioactive material that they'd been working with was sucked dry."

"It's almost like he was feeding off it."

"So like a radioactive vampire?" Emmeline asked.

"Basically," Chloe said.

"We need to check all the plants in the area," Clark stated.

"Hello? Um, have you met me?" Chloe retrieved her bag and pulled out some additional photographs and maps. "There have been a half a dozen incidents across the continent. The most recent one was just outside Metropolis."

"Chloe, these attacks form a straight line."

"Headed directly towards you."

"Chloe—"

"I'll make a list of all the possible sites within a 100-mile radius. I'll call you."

"Thanks."

Emmeline put her hand on his arm. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

She started to leave, but he quickly pulled on her arm. "Hey, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look exhausted."

"I'm fine. My schoolwork has just been running me ragged lately."

"Well, don't burn yourself out, okay?"

"You're one to talk."

Clark rolled his eyes with a smile and then added, "Maybe you should take off some shifts at your internship so you can get some more sleep."

"We'll see. I need as many hours as I can get."

"But your health has to come first."

Emmeline crossed her arms and playfully glared at him. "I hate it when you're right. I'll…see if I can take tomorrow off."

"Good."

With a smile, Emmeline followed Chloe out of the barn.

Emmeline bolted upright in bed with heavy gasps.

Once she had assessed that she wasn't laying in a shattered car, she fell back and glanced over at the clock. It blared '3:00 AM'. She rubbed her hands over her face, wiping away the sweat that had collected.

After a few minutes, her heart had managed to calm down, but unfortunately, she was now wide-awake and knew from prior experience that she wasn't going to be able to fall back to sleep.

She got out of bed and headed downstairs to make herself a cup of Martha's tea. It tasted incredible and she appreciated that Martha had gone to the trouble of making it for her, but so far, it hadn't done anything to dispel the nightmares.

Once she had finished making the tea, she sat herself on the couch and flipped between watching some infomercials and a Spanish soap opera because they were the only interesting things showing at this hour.

"Happened again, huh?"

Emmeline's father walked into the room and sat down next to her as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Yeah…" Emmeline admitted.

This was the fourth time they'd done this dance now. It started with the nightmare, then Emmeline would make some tea and watch television, her father would join her for a few minutes, and then she would always insist that he return to bed so at least one of them could get a decent night's sleep.

"Sweetheart…maybe you should consider…talking to someone about all of this," her father suggested gently. "There's no shame in asking for help. I'm sure any one of your psychology professors would be more than happy to listen to you."

Though Emmeline had some trouble talking to strangers, the idea of telling an outsider everything that was going on with her sounded like such a relief. But she couldn't. Because that would mean telling someone Clark's secret. And even patient confidentiality had its limits.

"I'm worried about you."

"Don't be," she told him. "I'm okay."

"You can say that as much as you want, but we both know it's a lie. You've been having these nightmares for two weeks now, and you look more and more exhausted every day. If you're not careful, something might happen to you. Don't you remember what happened when Clark had trouble sleeping three years ago?"

"That was different."

"How?"

"It just…was." Emmeline hated making him worry so much, especially after they'd lost her mother last year, but she didn't know what else to say.

"At least try a sleep aid for a little while. Maybe it will be strong enough to keep away the dreams for a little while."

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll pick something up at the store tomorrow."

"Well, as long as we're up, might as well see what's happening with Mateo and Elena, right? Are they back together yet?"

"I'm not sure, I don't speak Spanish. But I think Elena's mom is still in a coma and Ricardo's been putting the moves on her."

"Elena's too good for Ricardo."

"I like Ricardo."

"He literally just broke up with Isabel. He can't go after someone so soon like that, especially someone whose mother is in a coma."

"True, but Isabel was annoying and Ricardo deserved better. I'm glad he finally got up the nerve to dump her."

"Well, he doesn't deserve Elena."

The actress playing Elena left her mother's bedside and exited the hospital room to come face-to-face with the actress playing Isabel. After a few heated Spanish sentences that Emmeline couldn't understand, Isabel slapped Elena.

"Ooh, you're right," her father said. "Ricardo does deserve better than Isabel."

"Hey, I'm on my way to see Jimmy," Chloe told Emmeline as her friend walked up to join her at her work desk. "I'm afraid my fearless boyfriend may have gotten himself mixed up in something he shouldn't have."

"What is it this time?"

"I'm not sure, but it has to do with the Luthors which usually doesn't end well. He showed me some pictures he secretly snapped of Lex getting into a car with a briefcase and leaving without it. He wasn't very happy with me when I told him it didn't mean much."

"And you think he's not giving up so easily?"

"Unfortunately, yeah."

They reached the door to Jimmy's photography room and slowly opened it.

"Hey, I've sent you like 10 text messages," Chloe told him as she stepped inside.

"Really? I must have missed them," Jimmy said without looking at her.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown off your conspiracy theory about Lex. I just wanted to make sure that you knew what a shark he is."

"I know. You're right."

"So you're dropping it?"

"No, I meant that you were right that I needed proof. So I pulled a little 'How about a little free publicity for your pet charity?' with Luthor the Lesser, and I got my foot in the door and took a look around."

"Wow, you must have been pretty persuasive. Lex doesn't usually take interviews."

Jimmy looked at her awkwardly. "Yeah…actually, I may have dropped your name."

Chloe gave him a sharp glare.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I had to. It was so worth it. Take a look."

Jimmy went over to his computer and enlarged one of the pictures he had taken. To Chloe and Emmeline's disbelief, they quickly recognized the picture as Kryptonian symbols.

"Oh, man…" Chloe muttered.

"You see those symbols? They're like hieroglyphics. Do you know that this means, Chloe?"

Both girls felt like they were about to explode.

"Lex is working with the Egyptians."

Despite the quite large problem this discovery presented, Emmeline couldn't help but want to laugh. She quickly pressed her lips together to hide any trace of a smile.

"You know, I think you're right," Chloe said.

Emmeline admired her friend for being able to say that both very convincingly and with a totally straight face.

"Why don't you make a bunch of copies of these, and I'll call the embassy and see what I can dig up?"

"Hey, now, that is my girl."

Chloe snatched the hard copies of the pictures Jimmy had taken and she and Emmeline quickly left the room.

"Well, this is a problem," Emmeline said. "Why am I not surprised that Lex is the instigator?"

Chloe whipped out her cell phone. "Yeah, and why does my boyfriend have to be so good at his job?"

After a few rings, she took the phone away from her ear and called again.

She did this three times, but when they made it back to her desk, Clark was already there along with another woman they didn't know.

"Hey, I've been trying to call you," Chloe told Clark. "Where have you been?"

"Racing around. Chloe, Em, this is Raya."

"Oh, Raya. Wow."

"It's nice to meet you," Emmeline said.

"You as well," Raya smiled. "Clark speaks very highly of the both of you."

"You're Kryptonian too, right?"

"Yes. I was an assistant to Clark's father on Krypton and helped him construct the ship Kal-El arrived in."

"So I assume by racing around, you mean…"

Clark's eyes glimmered happily. "Really racing around."

"It's nice to know something good finally came out of the Phantom Zone, especially since we have a big problem," Chloe said as she handed Clark the pictures.

"Chloe, this is what Zod was gonna use to wipe out the Earth," Clark told her. "Where'd you get this?"

"Jimmy took it. It was on Lex's desk."

"I thought I destroyed it."

"I know this design," Raya said. "It's part of the Brain Interactive Construct."

"The what?" Chloe asked.

"Brainiac. This box is its power core. A Kryptonian energy source exponentially stronger than anything here on Earth."

"Baern," Clark said.

"What's Baern?" Emmeline asked.

"The name of the Zoner who's been feeding on radioactive sources."

"If he gets ahold of this, it'll give him enough power to fuel him indefinitely," Raya explained. "And kill us both."

Using his father's crystal, Clark was able to pull Baern from the body he was possessing and restore life to the Fortress after Fine had destroyed it last year. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop Baern before he blasted a hole in Raya's chest.

It seemed that every time someone who could truly understand Clark came into his life, something else snatched them away before he could even enjoy it. Emmeline admired him for not letting all of the loss he endured completely destroy him.

Two Zoners down…who knew how many more to go…

Emmeline walked into the Planet and over to Chloe's desk.

Her blonde friend looked at her in concern when she noticed her. "Geez, you look terrible. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I've just been having these really crazy dreams lately," Emmeline answered.

"Crazy how?"

"It's the same thing every time, and they keep getting more and more vivid. But the weird part is that it doesn't feel like a dream. It feels more like a memory."

"Well, it's possible. Sometimes repressed or forgotten memories will try to come back to us through our subconscious."

"But that's just it. It can't be a memory."

"Why not?"

"Because in the dream…I die."

Chloe's heart skipped a beat. "Um…okay. Tell me what happens in the dream."

"Some of it is still really blurry, but the end is almost always the same. I'm in a car on the passenger side but I can't tell who's driving, and I reach over and yank on the steering wheel. The car crashes, and the windshield shatters directly into me. That's when I wake up."

"That's pretty intense. I'll see if I can find anything that might give us a reason as to why you're having that dream repeatedly. In the meantime, the break room has a lot of coffee. Why don't you go grab a cup?"

"Yeah, sure. I could use that."

Once she was gone, Chloe quickly dialed the phone. "Clark…we've got a problem."