October 7, 1989
Jonathan and Martha Kent drove into the town of Smallville with their almost four-year-old daughter Hope. They parked the truck on Main Street before the three of them walked into the local flower shop, Nell's Bouquet. Martha held the hand of her young daughter to prevent her from leaving her sight.
"Afternoon, Nell," Jonathan greeted the owner, who was behind the counter.
"Jonathan!" Nell said with a sexy tone in her voice and a smile on her face but becomes disappointed when she sees Martha and Hope with him, "Martha. Hope. What a surprise. What brings the reclusive Kents to town?"
"Tulips," Martha answered as she and her daughter walked up to the counter, "Red ones if you have them."
"What about a tiger orchid?" She asked slyly, gesturing to a bouquet behind her.
Jonathan joins them and puts his arm around Martha, "No, thanks. Martha has her heart set on tulips."
"Yes, well, they are a very... uncomplicated flower," Nell said as she went to get the flowers.
Jonathan and Martha give each other an ironic look. Hope saw her friend Lana and walked over to her after freeing her hand.
"Hi, Lana," Hope greeted her friend with a hug.
Martha walks over to Lana and her daughter before she kneels next to them, "That is a beautiful dress, Lana. Are you a princess?"
"I'm a fairy princess," Lana replied.
"Hey, where are her parents?" Jonathan asked Nell.
"They're at the game like everyone else. I'm being the 'good aunt'." Nell smiled as she handed the flowers over.
"Do you want to make a wish?" Lana asked Martha.
"I would love to make a wish," She replied.
"Okay. Abracadabra," Lana extends the wand towards Martha's head and touches her brow.
Outside of the flower shop, Jonathan puts the bags in the back of the red pickup truck as Martha places Hope in her car seat in the middle. Martha and Jonathan got into the car with Jonathan behind the wheel and Martha in the passenger seat. Martha looks down at Hope dreamy-eyed.
"I know what you wished for," Jonathan said to his wife.
"I see another little face. It's all I ever wanted. To give Hope a brother or sister," Martha said wistfully. They kiss and are interrupted by the blaring of car horns and cheering crowds all around the truck. A car full of cheerleaders went past, waving pom-poms and banners that read 'Smallville High' 'Let's Go Crows! Caw! Caw!' and 'Welcome to Crow Country!'.
"Hey, looks like Smallville won again," Jonathan smiled pleased, looking at the car parade before he started the engine. They drive off under a banner that says: Let's Go Crows!
The Kent's red truck was headed down a lonely, two-lane rural road out of town. A fireball came out of the sky to crash in the field next to them destroying the Smallville sign just seconds after they passed it, leaving only a smoking stump behind.
"What's happening, Jonathan?" Martha cried out, scared, staring behind her, her eyes widening in fear, and tried to soothe a crying Hope.
But before Jonathan could respond, he looked back in front of them to see a fireball streak across in front of them, and he stomped on the brake. They skidded through the thick black smoke that billowed through the air, so thick they couldn't see, and felt the truck go through a fence as they swerved. The car overturns in a ditch, the adult Kents were held in their seats by their seatbelts, and Hope was held in by her car seat. Martha and Jonathan, hanging upside down, slowly come to. Jonathan looks over at Martha, who is clutching her head, her red tulips scattered all over the roof of the truck before Jonathan managed to get out of the car before helping his wife and daughter out.
"Are you alright, Martha?" Jonathan asked, looking at his wife searching for injury," Is Hope ok?"
"I think so," She replied, kneeling as she checked Hope for any injuries but only found a very small scrape or two, "Hope just has a few scrapes."
Jonathan looks out at the field and sees a naked little boy, "Martha?"
Martha turns her head away from her daughter and sees the young before she and her husband look at each other in shock. Hope waves and smiles at the young boy and he returns with a wave and a smile, too. to look out the driver's side window. They look at each other in shock.
Jonathan and Martha walking through the debris. Martha is holding the little boy wrapped in a blanket and her daughter.
"Kids don't just fall out of the sky, Martha," Jonathan said in exasperation.
"Then where did he come from?" Martha wondered.
"I don't know, but he must have parents."
They soon found a small round ship covered with a charred, scale-like shell laying among some wreckage.
"Well, if he does, they're definitely not from Kansas," Martha commented.
"Sweetheart, we can't keep him," Jonathan said placatingly, "What are we going to tell people we found him out in a field?"
"We didn't find him. He found us," She told him cryptically before they looked up at the sky.
Martha stayed behind with the children while Jonathan went to find another truck for them. A while later, Jonathan returns with a blue truck. Martha stands next to the blue truck with the boy and Hope in her arms. Jonathan struggles to push the ship onto the bed of the truck. With a huge effort, he finally gets it onto the truck and covers it up with the tarp. Martha watches, hugging the children close. Jonathan looks at them, and Martha looks at him hopefully. Jonathan just sighs and continues covering the ship with the tarp.
Jonathan is driving down the road, with Martha, Hope, and the boy next to him. Jonathan watches Martha cuddle the children close, and smile at him. Suddenly, Martha glances up at the road ahead.
"Jonathan, watch out!" Martha cried out.
Jonathan looks up and slams on the brakes. As the truck skids to a stop, a man emerges from a field, waving his arms frantically.
"Stop! Please! Help!" He yelled frantically. The truck stops, and Jonathan quickly climbs out of the truck.
"Are you alright?" Jonathan asked.
"My son…" The man began saying in a panicked voice.
"What about him? Is he hurt?"
"He-he-I-I can't…"
"Mister, Mister calm down!" Jonathan said urgently before speaking slowly, "Where is your son?"
The man turns toward the field behind him and points, "He-he's in there."
While the man stands rooted to the spot, Jonathan rushes out into the field. The man then follows slowly. A minute later, Jonathan returns with an almost bald boy in his arms wrapped in his jacket with the man close behind. They got into the truck and began driving to the hospital. Jonathan is driving, and Martha sits next to him, Clark and Hope on her lap. Next to Martha sits the man, with his son gathered in his arms. The boy is floating in and out of consciousness.
"Can't we go any faster?" The man asked with frustration.
"We're doing the best that we can," Jonathan told him.
The man glances out the back window, "What are you carrying back there? It's slowing us down."
Jonathan and Martha ignore the question. Hope glances over at the boy, and smiles at him. The boy opens his eyes slowly and looks back at her. She reaches over and touches his head, running her fingers down the side of his face in curiosity. He gives Hope a tiny smirk, and then his eyes roll back in his head as he passes out. Hope just smiles wider and settles back into her seat.
12 years later….
Hope sat at the kitchen table eating her breakfast before she and her brother had to leave for school. Her brother, Clark was still upstairs in his room.
"Where's your brother?" Martha asked her daughter.
"He's still in his room," Hope replied as she ate her breakfast.
"Clark Kent, you're going to be late for the bus!" Martha shouted up the stairs.
"Coming, Mom!" Clark yelled from upstairs.
"Now sweetie, I want you to be careful with your arm today at school," She told Hope, "It was just cast last week and the Doctor said that you need to be careful."
"I will mom," Hope said.
Hope had injured her right arm when she was on her skateboard because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Her arm was now in a cast for the next five weeks.
Clark comes down the stairs and walks into the kitchen before opening the refrigerator. He pulls out the milk and drinks from the bottle.
"Uh-Uh," Martha said to Clark and grabbed the milk away from him.
"It tastes better out of the bottle," Clark reasoned.
"Where'd you learn your manners?" She asked him.
"On a farm," Hope replied, jokingly, for her brother.
Jonathan Kent enters through the front door. He has on a flannel shirt and jacket. He takes off the jacket.
"Well, good afternoon, sleepyhead," Jonathan greeted his son.
"Oh, and don't forget I have class tonight so you two are on your own. And don't order pizza. There's plenty of food in the fridge," Martha told her husband and children.
Martha passes Jonathan a mug, and Jonathan grabs the milk and drinks out of the bottle. Clark is sitting at the table next to his sister and is looking at a piece of paper.
"Hey, what you got there, Son?" Jonathan asked Clark.
"Permission slip. It's for the football team. A couple of spots opened up and they're having tryouts this afternoon," He answered. Jonathan takes the slip, looking concerned, "Come on, Dad. You played football in high school."
"That was different, Son," Jonathan told him.
"Why?" Clark asked.
"You know why," He responded.
"I figured I'd run at half speed and I won't hit anybody," Clark tried to reason with his father.
"A lot of things can happen in the heat of the game, Son," Jonathan told Clark.
"Most new guys hardly even play. Chances are I'll ride the bench half the season. Dad, I can be careful," He said in a serious tone.
"I know that you can be careful but what if there's an accident? Look, uh Clark, I know this has got to be really hard for you but you got to just hang in there, like you promised," Jonathan said to Clark, placatingly before he pats his son on the shoulder.
"I'm sick of hanging in there. All I want to do is to go through high school without being a total loser," Clark said, frustrated. He picks up his things and leaves.
"I better get going," Hope picks up her things and kisses her parents on the cheek before leaving, "Bye!"
Hope catches up to her brother and they see the school bus pull off in the distance. The two then jogged toward the road. Clark is standing in the road thinking and then comes up with an idea.
"Want to race?" Hope asked her brother.
"You bet," Clark replied.
"Care to do the honor?" Hope held out her left wrist to her brother.
On that wrist is a large wristwatch, primarily black and grey, with a grey and black faceplate in the middle, like a watch face, which has a green hourglass shape on it. The wristband has a diameter of forty-five mm. The band had the colors grey on the outside, then black that surrounded the faceplate, a white streak that resembled a half tube. Clark pressed the small green button on the side of the dial and the faceplate popped up. As he turned it, silhouettes of different aliens before stopping on a certain alien and pushed the faceplate down.
A green light engulfed Hope and when it was gone, Hope was transformed into XLR8. An alien resembles a semi-armored Velociraptor. She has black orbs on her feet and wears a black cone-like helmet with a sliding protective visor. Her face is blue, she has green eyes with stripes running under and in between her eyes, and she has black lips. She has five blue stripes on her tail and wears black pants and a turtleneck-like shirt with a white stripe on the center. Her watch's symbol is in the center of her chest.
"Last one there is a rotten egg," XLR8 said before her visor slid down. The two took off at super speed. Clark ran through the cornfield behind the 'Welcome to Smallville' sign by the school bus.
Before the two knew it, they were at school. Hope hid behind her brother to change back to normal. They saw their friends, Chloe and Pete, and walked up behind them.
"Hi, guys," Clark, holding up a stack of books, and Hope greeted.
"Uh , didn't you just. Weren't you ," Chloe stammered in confusion.
"We took a shortcut," Clark told her, disingenuously.
"Through what? A black hole?" She asked incredulously.
Pete puts his arms around Clark and Hope and begins to walk away from Chloe, "Clark, Hope, you'll have to excuse our intrepid reporter. Seems as though her weirdar is on DefCon 5."
Chloe catches up and steps in front of them, "Okay, just because everyone else chooses to ignore the strange things that happen in this leafy little hamlet doesn't mean that they don't happen."
"Now, you know we'd love to join you and Scooby inside the Mystery Machine for another zany adventure, but we got to hand in these permission slips before homeroom," Pete told her.
"Actually, Pete, I'm having second thoughts. I don't think signing up for the team is such a great idea," Clark said.
"Clark, listen, this is the only way," He reminded him.
"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait," Chloe said with amazement, "You two are trying out for the football team? What is this, some sort of teen suicide pact?"
Pete grabs Chloe, pulls her to the side, Hope and Clark follow, and in an intense whisper, "We're trying to avoid becoming this year's scarecrow."
"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked, before raising her voice mockingly, "And why are we whispering?"
"It's a Homecoming tradition. Every year before the big game, the football players select a freshman and take him off to Reilly Field," Pete explained.
"And strip him down to his boxers and then paint an 'S' on his chest," Hope added.
"And then string him up like a scarecrow," Clark added.
"Jeez, that sounds like years of therapy waiting to happen," Chloe commented.
"Why do you think we're trying out for the team? Figure they won't choose one of their own," Pete said.
Clark looks around and sees Lana Lang across the yard, "I'll see you guys in class," he then walks off in Lana's direction.
"Bye," Hope gave a small wave to her brother.
Pete pulls out some money, "Give him ten seconds."
"Five," Hope said.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ," Pete counted, and then Clark fell to the ground, scattering his books everywhere. Pete turns to Hope and asks, "How'd you know that would happen?"
"Because he's my brother," She replied as she took Pete's money. Hope looks back at her brother, he picks himself up off the ground. Lana begins talking to him and hands Clark one of the books he dropped. Whitney, Lana's boyfriend, then joins the two. Hope then noticed that her brother wasn't looking well as he eased himself into a sitting position on the low rail of a fence.
"I'll see you guys later," Hope said to Chloe and Pete.
"See you later," The two returned before they walked into the school while Hope walked over to her brother.
"Dude, are you feeling all right?" Whitney asked Clark, "You look like you're about to hurl."
"Yeah, Clark," Hope, standing next to her brother, agreed with Whitney, "Do you want to head to the nurse's office?"
"I'm fine," He replied. Lana and Whitney turn to walk away. Whitney picks up a book from the ground.
"You forgot one, Clark," Whitney tosses the book to Clark. Clark moves to catch it, dropping all the rest of his books and ending up back on the ground in the process. Hope helps her brother pick up the book. The school bell rings and they rush inside the school.
It was later that day, after school. Clark and Hope were standing on a bridge, looking over the railing down at the water. Hope could tell that her brother was upset that he couldn't try out for the football team. Suddenly, a car runs into Clark and through the metal railing. Hope was sent flying back by her brother who had managed to push her out of the way before the car hit him. The car and Clark go flying off the bridge and into the water. Hope quickly runs to the railing and waits for any sign of her brother. A few seconds passed before he and the man, who was driving the car, came up to the surface in his arms and unconscious.
Hope runs over to the bank by the river meeting her brother. She saw that aside from the cut on his cheek the man had no other injuries. Hope checked for a pulse before she held her ear over his mouth and looked at his chest for any signs of breathing. She tilted his head back, opening his airway, pinching the nose shut, and taking a deep breath placed her mouth over his and blew in a lungful of air. Clark then started compressions since Hope couldn't do it because of her arm.
"Come on, don't die!" Clark said.
After four compressions the man jerked and started to cough up the lungful of river water. Hope helped him roll to his side to help get the water out of his lungs. Regaining consciousness Lex opened his eyes, it took a second for his eyes to refocus and he found himself looking into a pair of wide hazel eyes. Then he saw the rest of the face of the woman who had just saved his life.
The sun was casting a halo behind her as she leaned over him. For a brief moment, he thought he was dead, that he was in heaven and she was an angel but then he was brought back to reality by his soaking wet and cold clothes. The man laid on his back staring up at the girl, he noticed that there was a boy there as well. He then realized that they were the ones on the bridge and the boy was the one that he had hit.
He looked up at them in a mixture of dazed bewilderment, disbelief, and confusion. He coughs and gaps, "I could've sworn I hit you."
Clark panted and hesitantly says, "If you did, I'd be dead,"
The two looked behind them at the bridge and the mangled broken railing.
After calling 911, there were now people working on the scene. The troopers had called Clark and Hope's father. As Clark sat down on a rock with a red blanket over his shoulders, a paramedic was checking Hope out and only found some minor scratches and a bruise. When Jonathan arrived at the Bridge he was in a panic. He got out of his truck, skidded down the embankment, and spotted his children.
"Clark! Hope!" Jonathan called. The two look up as their father runs up to them and puts a hand on each of their faces, "Kids, are you all right?"
Clark nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Just a few scratches and a bruise, but I'm fine," Hope replied.
"Who's the maniac who was driving that car?" Jonathan demanded in a yell while looking at the trooper.
"That would be me. Lex Luthor," Lex, with a red blanket wrapped around his shoulders, stood up and extended his hand to Jonathan to shake but Jonathan looked him up and down and ignored his hand.
Jonathan ignored the offered hand and took off his coat, "I'm Jonathan Kent. These are my children, " He wrapped his coat around Clark over the blanket.
Lowering his hand, Lex turned to Clark and Hope, "Thanks for saving my life."
"I'm sure you would have done the same thing," Clark said.
Clark and Hope get up and with their father turn and start walking away. Jonathan put a hand on the kids' backs and guided them up the embankment.
Lex grabs Johnathan's arm, "You have quite extraordinary kids there, Mr. Kent. If there is any way I can repay you. "
Jonathan took a deep breath, trying to calm down before speaking, "Drive slower."
Lex watches Jonathan, Hope, and Clark walk away for a second then turn back towards the river as the crane from the depths is raising his Porsche. It's completely mangled but the hood has been torn off. Lex looks speculatively in the direction that the Kents took.
The next day, Clark and Hope were coming home from school and were walking up to the house. Suddenly, they saw a brand new red and white truck parked outside of the house with a big blue bow on it. They are shocked and walk quickly over to it.
"Whoa," Hope breathed.
The two approached Martha getting on a tractor. Clark asks, "Hey, Mom? Whose truck is that?"
"Yours. It's a gift from Lex Luthor, " Martha dryly, and pulled out two small envelopes from her pocket.
They each took an envelope and opened it to read the card inside, it was monogrammed 'LL'.
"Dear Hope, thanks for bringing back my the dead, forever in your debt. Call if you need anything. 555-3274- Lex," Hope read.
"Dear Clark, Drive safely. Always in your debt. The maniac in the Porsche, " Clark smiled, looking at the truck amazed, barely able to contain his excitement, "I don't believe it. Where are the keys?"
"Your father has them," Martha answered.
Clark headed towards their father, and Hope followed him but was stopped when her mother grabbed her arm.
"This is between your father and brother," She told Hope, "Go up the loft and get started on your homework."
Hope sighed and went into the barn, but sat in the middle of the steps leading up to the loft and watched Clark speak with their father. Jonathan was feeding branches into the chipper before seeing his son walked toward him. He then stopped the chipper, removed his safety equipment, and left the machine knowing what was coming.
"I know how much you want it. But you can't keep it."
"Why not?" Clark asked in disbelief, "We saved the guy's life!"
"So you think you deserve a prize?"
"That's not what I meant," Clark said, getting slightly angry, "Look, how about you drive the new one and I'll drive the old one? Everybody wins."
Jonathan sighed, "It's not about winning."
"It's not like the Luthors can't afford it," Clark said, getting impatient with their father.
Jonathan sighed again, "Do you want to know why that is? Do you remember Mr. Bell? We used to go fishing on his property? How about Mr. Guy? He used to send us pumpkins every Halloween. Well, Lionel Luthor promised to cut them in on a deal. He sent them flashy gifts," He held up keys to the new truck, "Only once they sold him their property, he went back on his word. He had them evicted."
"So you're judging Lex on what his father did?" Hope butted in and asked in surprise, "You told us to judge a person by their actions and merits, not by what their families had done."
Jonathan sighed, "No, I'm not. I just want to make sure you know where the money came from that bought that truck."
At an impasse, Clark didn't respond, he realized that he was not going to win this argument against his father. Clark started to head to the stairs to the loft and Hope got up to go up the rest of the stairs. Jonathan turned away and then stopped.
"Clark, I know you're upset, son, but it's normal."
Clark stopped and then threw down his backpack on the stairs.
"Normal?" Clark repeated angrily, his frustration reaching the boiling point. Hope stayed silent; she didn't need to say anything, because she knew her brother had reached his limit, he would say all that needed to be said for both of them. Clark walked past Jonathan toward the chipper, flicked it on, he looked at his father, "How about this? Is this normal?"
Moving quickly, before Jonathan could fully comprehend his plan, Clark thrust his hand into the machine's churning mouth. Hope's eyes would have been filled with horror, but after what she had seen the other day they were only filled with shock by the sudden action of her brother.
"Clark!" Jonathan shouted in horror, racing over and grabbed at Clark's arm, pulling it out of the chipper. Panicked, he examined Clark's arm. The jacket sleeve was shredded into ribbons, but his arm didn't even have a scratch.
"I didn't dive in after Lex's car. It hit me at sixty miles an hour. Does that sound normal to you?" Clark said loudly in frustration and confusion, and then said, "I'd give anything to be normal."
Clark pulled away from his stunned father and jogged back up the stairs past Hope. Jonathan watched his son go. Martha appeared, also watching in concern, having witnessed the latest demonstration of her son's abilities as well as the argument. They looked at each other worried and torn. Martha gave Jonathan a small shrug and gestured with her head to the barn and he nodded slightly. Martha walked into the barn and stood in front of her daughter.
"Let's go to your room, Hope," Martha sighed, "There's something I need to tell you and something your father needs to tell your brother."
Hope gave her parents a confused look before she walked down the steps and followed her mother into the house. As Hope followed her mother up the stairs, she wondered what her mother wanted to talk to her about. When they entered Hope's room, they sat down on her bed.
"So, what is it that you wanted to tell me, Mom?" Hope asked, "Because if it's 'The Talk' you gave that to me when I was in middle school."
"No, it's nothing like that," Martha smiled, "What do you remember from the meteor shower from when you were a little girl?"
"Uh, I remember that the truck got turned over, we found Clark, uh, we almost ran into some guy in the middle of the round, a kid and his father got into the truck with us and then we were at the hospital," She told her mother, "Mom, why are you asking me this?"
"The day of the meteor shower was the day that your brother came to earth," Marth confessed. Hope's eyes were filled with shock from what she had just been told by her mother, "Clark had come to earth in a small spaceship during the meteor shower. Your brother came from outer space."
"This is sounding more like a sci-fi 80s movie than the truth," Hope scoffed in disbelief.
"I know that it may seem hard to believe, but it's the truth. After having you, my miracle baby, I wanted to have another baby so that you could have a brother or sister," Martha admitted, "To play with, and drive you insane when you both got older."
The two then heard a noise similar to the sound of thunder and knew what it was.
"Sounds like your father told Clark," Martha said.
"And it sounds like he didn't take it well," Hope added.
The next morning, Hope went up to the loft, knowing that is where her brother had to be, and when she was at the top of the stairs there he was looking up at the morning sky.
"Hey, missed you at breakfast," Hope greeted as she walked over to her brother. She brought over a nearby chair and sat down.
"Sorry, I kind of had a lot on my mind," Clark said.
"Yeah, I heard. When mom told me, I thought she was describing an 80s alien movie," She joked, earning a smirk and chuckle from her brother, "Besides trying to cheer you up, there's another reason why I'm here."
"What is it?" He asked.
"Dad wanted me to come up here and tell you that we need to return the truck to Lex today," Hope replied.
"Okay," Clark breathed.
After arriving at the gothic-style castle belonging to Luthor, Clark and Hope walk down a deserted hallway looking around trying to find someone.
"Hello?" Clark called out, his voice echoing.
They walk to the door of a room, and suddenly hear and see two people fencing. Clark and Hope watch with surprise. The female combatant pins the man to the wall. In frustration, the man throws his sword across the room, at the wall right next to where Hope is standing. The sword is embedded in the wall by her head. Hope looks at the sword by her head in shock. The man takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Lex.
"Clark? Hope? I didn't see you,"
Clark and Hope glance nervously at the sword in the wall by her head.
"We , uh, buzzed but no one answered," Hope told him. Lex walks over to them. He grabs the sword and pulls it out of the wall. Clark and Hope look at it nervously.
"How'd you get through the gate?" He asked.
"We kinda squeezed through the bars," Clark answered quickly, self-consciously.
"If this is a bad time ," Hope added.
"Oh, no, no. I think Hykia has sufficiently kicked my ass for the day," Lex walks over to her and tosses her his mask.
"This is a beautiful place," Hope commented as she looked around in awe and Lex walks past her and her brother.
"Yeah? If you're dead and in the market for something to haunt," Lex headed out into the hallway, and they followed him.
"I meant…. Old places like these are great. They have character, a story."
"It's the Luthor ancestral home, or so my father claims. He had it shipped over from Scotland stone by stone," Lex told them as he walked up the stairs.
"Yeah, dad told us the trucks rolled through town for weeks, but no one ever moved in," Clark said as he and Hope looked around.
Lex stopped as he ascended the staircase to the second floor. He turned back and looked down at Hope and Clark, who had been trailing along behind him and who were still on the first-floor landing, "My father had no intention of living here. He's never even stepped through the front door.
"Then why'd he ship it over?"
Lex shrugged and grinned, "Because he could."
The Kents followed Lex into a large, sunny room with gym equipment, a fire blazing in the fireplace. He pulled off his white fencing jacket revealing a black shirt, removed his fencing uniform to get otherwise organized, and asked, "How's the new ride?"
"That's why we're here," Hope said reluctantly.
Lex crosses the room and throws the fencing jacket. He places a towel around his neck and goes over to a table with beverages and fruit, and with his back to Clark and Hope, starts opening a blue bottle of water.
"What's the matter? You don't like it?" Lex inquired.
"No, it's not that. I can't keep it," Clark quickly told him.
Lex pauses as if vexed as if the thought of Clark saying no never occurred to him. He puts down the water and turns, walking over to Clark and Hope. He pulls up his sleeves as he looks them in the eye earnestly, then looking them up and down .
"You both saved my life. I think It's the least I can do. Your father doesn't like me, does he?" Lex asked them. Hope looked at the ground while Clark took a breath as if he's about to say something, "It's okay. I've been bald since I was nine," Lex reached up and rubbed his bald head and walked to the front of a full-length mirror, "I'm used to people judging me before they get to know me."
"It's nothing personal. He's just not crazy about your dad," Clark said, shrugging uncomfortably.
"Figures the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" Lex nodded while looking in the mirror, "Understandable, "He turned away from the mirror, back towards Clark and Hope, "What about you? Did you fall far from the tree?
They don't say anything, just look down, and then up at Lex. Lex smiles a little at them, coyly.
"We'd better go. Thanks for the truck," Clark hands Lex the keys. He and Hope turn before walking toward the door.
"Clark . Hope," Lex called out to them. Clark and Hope stop before turning around, "Do you believe a man can fly?"
Hope shrugged, "Sure. In a plane."
Lex shook his head, "No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about soaring through the clouds, with nothing but air beneath you."
"People can't fly, Lex."
"I did," Lex turns away as he speaks of the memory, "After the accident when my heart stopped. It was the most... exhilarating two minutes of my life. I flew over Smallville, and for the first time, I didn't see a dead end. I saw a new beginning," He turned to face them again smiling slightly, his eyes holding theirs with piercing intensity, "Thanks to you, I have a second chance. We have a future, and I don't want anything to stand in the way of our friendship."
At school, Chole and Pete caught Clark and Hope walking down the hall. Chole had told them that she and Pete wanted to show them something in the Torch office. When they arrived, Chole took out a yearbook from their school. She turned it to a page and pointed to a boy labeled 'Jeremy Creek'.
"His name is Jeremy Creek. This is a picture of him fifteen years ago. This is one I took four hours ago," Chloe pointed out the digital snapshot. The two pictures looked the same, age-wise.
Clark shook his head, "That's impossible. He'd be like twenty-six today. It must be a kid who looks like him."
Pete smirked, "My money was on the evil twin theory until we checked his 'missing persons'."
Chloe passed Clark and Hope a report, "Jeremy disappeared from the state infirmary a few days ago, where he'd been in a coma for twelve years. They say he suffered from massive electrolyte imbalance."
"That's why he hasn't aged a day," Pete added.
"So, you're telling me he just woke up," Clark said skeptically.
Chloe shook her head, "No, there was a huge electrical storm, and the hospital's generator went down. And when it came back on, Jeremy was gone."
"Electricity must have charged him up like a Duracell," Pete said.
"And now he's back in Smallville, putting former jocks into comas. Why?" Hope asked.
Pete answered, "Because twelve years ago today, they chose Jeremy Creek as the Scarecrow."
Chloe handed Clark a newspaper clipping and he read the headline, "Comatose boy found in field twenty yards from a meteor strike."
"The exposure to the blast must have done something to his body..." Chole said in a contemplative tone.
Clark was staring at clipping in disbelief. "No, this can't be right." He looked over at Jessica who looked just as stunned.
Pete looked at Chloe. "I think you ought to show them."
Hope looked at the two and asks, "Show us what?"
Pete opened the door into a dark room and turned on the light. The other three followed him in.
"It started out as a scrapbook and just sorta... mutated," Chloe said proudly.
"What is it?" Hope asked as she and Clark stared at the walls.
"I call it 'The Wall of Weird.'" Chloe approached the walls. She then turned to face them, beaming proudly of her work.
The wall was entirely covered in photos, clippings, and papers. There were close-ups of clippings of a man with fingers appearing and disappearing on his hands, of glow-in-the-dark geodes, and tabloid headlines "AREA MAN GAINS FINGER IN LEFT HAND – LOSS ONE ON RIGHT" "RIVER DREDGING REVEALS BIZARRE GLOW-IN-THE-DARK GEODES".
"It's every strange, bizarre, and unexplained event that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. That's when it all began - when the town went schizo." Chloe smiled amused.
Clark continued to eye the wall wearily and growing horror as he saw that everything had happened to Smallville because he landed here.
"So what do you think?" Chole asked.
Clark looked at her and asks slowly, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
Chloe raised an eyebrow, not liking his tone, and spoke with annoyance, "Do you tell me everything that happens in your life? We all keep secrets, Clark."
Clark's eyes scanned across the various stories on the wall before stopping on a Time magazine cover with a young Lana Lang on it in her princess outfit, crying. The title says ' Heart Break in the Heart Land'. Clark stares at it in shock.
Clark looked closer at the picture, "Lana? My fault. It's all my fault. Clark rushes out. Chloe and Pete stare after him in confusion."
Clark began to feel guilt consume him for being responsible for the death of Lana's parents. He turned and left the room. Chloe and Pete stared after him, confused. Hope stood there with them and felt bad for her brother, being the only one who knew what he meant.
Late that evening, Hope arrived at the school as XLR8 and turned back behind a dumpster. She was walking to the gym where the dance was being held. Hope had wondered where her brother had been but thought that he was trying to find some way of apologizing to Lana for what happened years ago. Her hair was done up in tight space buns, one on each side of her head, with strands of loose hair framing her face. Her dress was a vintage one that her mother had found and that she loved.
The dress is a Betsey Johnson 50s style dark blue tiered lace party prom pinup dress. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt, black Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Hi Sneakers, and a black suit jacket. Hope was almost at the gym when she overheard a conversation between Whitney and his friends. She only had little makeup on her because she did not need much due to her natural beauty.
"Let's see how spending a few hours as the Scarecrow will teach Kent a few lessons," Whitney said, earning laughs from him and his friends.
It then dawned on Hope why she had not seen her brother since he left after Chole had shown him the weird wall. She rushed back to the dumpster and turned back into XLR8 before she took off to where she knew they had put her brother.
When she arrived at the field, she timed out and turned back to normal before she ran into the field. Meanwhile, Lex was leaving the Luthor Fertilizer Plant No. 3 in his car. Lex sees Jeremy jumping over the fence, exiting the cornfield. Lex stops and stares at Jeremy, who looks back at him. Lex flashes back to his ordeal in the cornfield as a child. He gets out of the car and looks, but Jeremy is gone. He goes to get back into the car. Then suddenly, he hears a low voice.
"...Help me…"
Lex was struck with a sense of déjà vu. He grabbed a flashlight from his car before walking into the field. He came upon the clearing and saw a boy tied to a post, a red S on his chest. Shining a beam on his face Lex realized who it was. Clark.
"Clark?" Lex said in astonishment. Clark's head is hanging down. When Lex says his name, Clark looks at him in pain, "Aw, jeez," Lex rushes over to Clark, starts trying to get him down, "Who did this to you?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Clark!" Hope appeared behind Lex making him jump. She didn't pay him any attention as she ran towards her brother, "Oh, thank god, are you okay?"
Hope quickly helped Lex pull the ropes free and Clark fell from the pole and landed in the dirt, the necklace falling off his neck. Freed from its effects, Clark stood up fully recovered with Hope holding his arm. He looked at himself briefly in amazement and then grabbed his clothes from the ground.
"Clark, you need to see a doctor," Lex said in concern.
"I'll be okay. We need to go," Clark grabbed Hope's hand and ran into the field.
Lex called after them, "At least let me give you a ride!"
But the Kents were gone. Looking down, Lex spotted the green gem pendant on the ground. He squatted down and picked it up and examined it curiously with his flashlight.
When the two arrived at the school, they saw Jeremey open the sprinkler system box outside the building.
"Jeremy. You need to stop this."
Jeremy stops in surprise and looks behind him. Clark and Hope standing off in the distance. Jeremy abandons the box and walks toward them, "I don't know how you got here but you should have stayed away."
"We won't let you hurt our friends," Clark told him, warningly.
"Those people in there aren't your friends. The sprinklers will get them nice and wet. I'll handle the rest."
"They never did anything to you," Hope tried to reason with him, "The people who hurt you have already suffered."
"I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for you and for all the others like us," Jeremy told them.
"What happened to you was my fault. I can understand your pain," Clark said.
"I'm not in pain. I have a gift, and a purpose, and a destiny," Jeremy turns away but Clark is in front of him again, using his super speed. Hope stayed in the background while her brother was about to take on Jeremy.
"So do I."
Jeremy reaches out and attempts to electrocute Clark. Clark throws him into a car. Jeremy gets up and looks at Clark angrily.
"Give it up, Jeremy."
Jeremy gets in the car and attempts to run Clark over. Clark gets smashed into a wall that has an emergency hydrant attached to it. The car, with Clark in front of it, bursts through the wall, busting the pipe. Water leaks into the car, electrocuting Jeremy. Clark pulls the door off the car and saw electricity running all along Jeremy's body. Then the electricity shorts out and Jeremy looks up at Clark and Hope, now standing next to her brother, in confusion.
"Are you okay?" Hope asked.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Jeremy questioned, dazed and confused. Clark and Hope stared at him realizing that what had happened to him since he woke up is now gone from his memory.
"I'm Clark Kent and this is my sister Hope. And you're in Smallville," Clark said in relief.
"I want to go home," Jeremy told them. Clark and Hope nod.
After waiting with Jeremy till the paramedics came they went inside to stand on the landing overlooking the dance as the music played. Lana and Whitney were still slow-dancing, gazing into each other's eyes. Clark saw Lana and Whitney kiss.
Hope could see the sadness on her brother's face, she smiled at him and rubbed his arm, "Come on. Let's go home."
As they left the building, they passed a row of trucks belonging to Whitney and his buddies. Clark stopped and turned to look back at them. He got a mischievous smile on his face and turned to look at Hope, who also had a mischievous smile on her face. Hope, with the help of her brother, turned into Four Arms.
Four Arms is a humanoid alien that is approximately twelve feet tall, has well-developed muscles, two pairs of four-fingered arms, red skin, and black hair. She wore a white T-shirt with a black line going down it, black pants, and fingerless gloves. She has four eyes: the main pair, and a smaller pair below them. The watch's symbol is on her upper left shoulder.
The dance had ended and students were leaving, Lana and Whitney came outside, arm in arm, happy. Around them, students were laughing and pointing at something. Whitney runs over and sees that his truck, along with two other trucks piled, one on top of the other.
"Who did this to my truck?" Whitney yelled furiously as he turned to the crowd while Lana just looked at the pile, astonished.
Clark and Hope walked away unnoticed after they had stopped to look back at the spectacle, smiling self-satisfied, and shared a grin.
Late that night, as Hope slept, she dreamt of a memory of when she and her brother were 10. Their father had taken them camping in the woods that were not far from the farm.
Hope and Clark went out to get firewood while Jonathan got things ready that night. As the two walked through the woods collecting firewood, Hope spotted a shooting star.
"Look, Clark!" Hope pointed out the star for her brother.
Suddenly, the star changed course, aiming right for Clark and Hope. The meteor crashed right behind them as they ran away, causing smoke and debris in the air. As it clears, Hope looks on at it, getting to her feet for a closer look.
The ground beneath Hope and the crater crumble. Hope screams as she falls in. As She gets to her feet again, she looks at the pod, with its opening to reveal the ominously glowing and strange-looking watch.
"A watch... What's a watch doing in outer space?" Hope questioned.
"Hope, don't go near it," Clark warned his sister, "We don't know what it is."
"Well, it looks like a watch so we have a pretty good idea of what it is," She said.
Hope steps closer to the pod, outstretching her arm to pick up the watch. As she does it leaps from the pod and onto her wrist, latching itself to Hope.
"Ahh! Get off me! Get off, get off!"
Hope struggles with the watch on her arm, falling over, and climbing out of the crater. Clark tries to help his sister get the watch off her arm. He grabs a stick to try and pry it off before it breaks. Hope presses the button on the watch and a faceplate pops up.
"Woah," Hope breathed before a silhouette appeared, "Cool!"
Hope looks down at the watch, and her eyebrows raise before pressing down the emblem. Hope was engulfed in a blinding green light. And when it faded, she and her brother saw that she had been transformed. She was now on fire and her body was covered by dark red or brown volcanic rocks. Her feet have a slight oval-like design with only two toes and one back toe.
"Your on fire!?" Clark breathed in shock.
"You bet I am," Hope said, standing in a power pose. Her stance was wide and her hands were on her hips. She then realizes that she was actually on fire, "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!"
Hope had almost caused a widespread forest fire that night with an alien that would soon be named Heatblast by her and her brother. Her parents were shocked by what she had told them that night but were accepting of what their daughter could now do.
About a month later, a small 5-inch grey alien named Azmuth arrived at their doorstep. He explained that the watch stuck on Hope's wrist is the Omnitrix, a device that is a portable library of intergalactic genetic data that allows the wielder to alter their DNA at will and transform into a variety of different alien species, each with their own unique abilities. He said that the purpose of the Omnitrix is to promote inter-species understanding by allowing other beings to experience different ways of life. He had sent it out into unknown parts of the universe in fear of it handing up in the wrong hands.
Hope accepted the power that she was given and would take hold of the responsibilities. Azmuth then told them that he would check on Hope's progress with the Omnitrix and would occasionally bring her to Galven prime for training if need be. First a brother from outer space, and now a watch that could turn her into aliens. Hope's life was never meant to be normal.