Having been kicked out of Metropolis University for drinking, Lois now stayed at the Kent farm.

Though Clark was the one who had suggested it, he currently wished he never had.

He stepped out of the barn and saw Chloe's car approaching. Both Chloe and Emmeline hopped out.

"Hey, guys," he greeted.

"Hey," Chloe smiled. "Lois, uh, had her mail forwarded to my apartment. Is she around?"

"Yeah, she's probably still in the, uh, shower."

A golden retriever happily trotted out of the barn and joined the group.

Emmeline tensed as Chloe knelt down to pet it.

"Hi!" she giggled excitedly. "Who's the puppy?"

"We don't know his name," Clark answered. "Lois found him."

"She's bringing home strays now, huh?" She stood up while Emmeline kept a nervous eye on the dog. "How is the new tenant?"

"Lois? Well, she, uh, re-recorded our answering machine, uses all the hot water, oh, and she took over my bedroom. She's doing great."

"Okay. How are you?"

"I don't know. It's just kind of hard to be myself with her around."

"Yeah, but now you got this guy. You can be yourself around him, right?"

Clark smiled at her.

"And I'm always around." After a small pause, she quickly added, "Both of us are."

Chloe may have said both of them, but lately, Emmeline had been feeling that Chloe and Clark knew something she didn't. She tried not to let it bug her because she believed that if they had a secret, there was a good reason they hadn't shared it with her. But Chloe always told her everything, and not knowing what this secret was was starting to eat away at her.

"Ooh, it's cold," Chloe laughed. "I'm gonna go see if I can find her."

"All right. I'll be right in."

"Okay."

Clark looked over at Emmeline nervously eyeing his new pet. He smiled a little at her. "You okay?"

"Uh…I'm just not really good with dogs."

"What? But you're good at everything."

"As honored as I am that you think so, you are completely wrong. It's not like a had a traumatic childhood experience with them or anything, I just…I'm not good with them."

"This little guy won't hurt you."

"Unless provoked."

"So don't provoke him."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Emmeline said sarcastically.

"Relax. He's nice."

"Um, I think I'm gonna go inside now."

"Suit yourself."

Emmeline hurried inside, praying Clark would stop the dog from chasing after her if the situation arose.

Luckily, the dog stayed put and she made it inside unscathed.

Chloe laughed when she saw her. "I haven't seen you this nervous since I once asked you to interview someone. What's wrong?"

"I'm not a dog person, okay?"

"You don't like dogs? How come?"

"I don't know. I'm one of those people who is just somewhat afraid of them for no particular reason."

"At least you're not allergic," Lois complained with another sneeze.

The three girls headed outside and their eyes widened. Clark's tractor was now in the yard surrounded by a broken fence. Clark just knelt down petting the dog attached to the tractor seemingly unfazed by what had happened.

"What did you do?" Lois asked in disbelief.

"What?" Clark said as he quickly stood up. "Oh, I, um…it must have rolled."

"Through a fence?"

"Yeah, weird, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, weird," Chloe quickly put in. "But, I mean, it happens, you know? The emergency brake must've slipped or something. It's old, you know? It's an old tractor."

"It is old," Clark added.

Emmeline looked at friend strangely. Since when did Chloe come to his defense about the weird things happening around him? She was usually ready to dive into investigating the cause head first.

"Anyway, we're gonna get going. We'll see you guys around."

"Keep us updated on the owner search," Emmeline called as they walked back to the car.


Emmeline walked into the barn where Clark was aimlessly leaning against one of the wooden beams. "Um, is your dad okay?"

Clark looked up at her. "Yeah, he's gonna be fine."

"Does my unreasonable fear make a little more sense now?"

"I guess. Most dogs aren't attackers like that one. And I don't think that the one who attacked my dad is a bad dog either. Whoever the owner is is the one who's bad. You know, my dog actually defended my dad from the one attacking him."

Emmeline smiled. "Your dog?"

Clark laughed lightly. "You know what I mean."

"Where is he anyway?"

"He disappeared with the other one. I have no idea where he is now. I figured I would check out the shelter tomorrow and try to figure out where he may have gone. Then I can also see if I know who the owners are. I think there's a guy who works at the shelter who may be familiar with them."

"What makes you say that?"

"When Lois and I took him there, he was really anxious around the worker. Almost like he knew him. And you know what they say. Dogs and babies are the best judges of character."

"That doesn't seem like enough to suspect him of knowing this dog."

"There's more. There's a man who's in a coma right now who was attacked by something that could break through a steel door."

"And this dog would be capable of that?"

"When we took the dog to the shelter, the ID chip showed he was owned by LuthorCorp. When I talked to Lex, it turns out they used to do experiments on dogs for military use. I guess these two dogs survived and now are being used to steal."

"That's terrible."

"The only reason my dad got attacked in the first place is because we had one of the dogs. Now since the only two people who knew about this dog were Lex and the shelter—"

"—then the guy at the shelter had to be the one who sent the dog after you guys. This is a lot to take in."

"I just hope I can find him before he gets hurt."

"I didn't know you liked animals so much."

"You may not be a dog lover, but I am."

"He did seem to like you more than the average dog would. It seems even strays warm up to you quickly. Keep me updated, okay?"

"Okay, Chloe."

Emmeline gave him a playful glare as she exited the barn.


As Emmeline drove home from picking up some of her mother's medication, she was confused to see a LuthorCorp armored truck drive past her. The way home was on one of the back roads and not a lot of people traveled on them, much less an armored truck.

What was even weirder was the large black truck following it.

Her mind went back to her conversation with Clark the night before. He said that people were using the dogs to steal. An armored truck for LuthorCorp was going to have a lot of money in it.

Against her better judgement, she followed the two trucks off a beaten path. She allowed the two trucks some distance so that whoever the criminals were didn't realize that she was following them.

She quietly got out of the car and hid behind a large stack of wood out of sight of the truck drivers.

The criminals got out of the black truck and released the two dogs from the back. The dogs mercilessly beat the guards driving the armored truck before the two men tied them up. Then they began getting the money out of the armored truck into the black truck.

Emmeline shakily got out her cell phone and dialed Lois's number, silently blessing Chloe for giving it to her even though she had been sure she would never need it.

"Hello?" Lois answered.

"Lois?" Emmeline said quietly as she leaned against the wood stack. "Is Clark with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I found the two guys who own those dogs."

"What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"Um…I'm around—"

"What do you think you're doing?!" the blond criminal exclaimed as he closed the cell phone and pinned her against the stack. "Who are you?"

Emmeline breathed raggedly as he held her in place, unable to answer him.

"Who were you calling just now? The police?"

She quickly shook her head.

"I don't believe you."

Emmeline had no time to brace herself before the man's fist met her face. She crumpled to the ground in pain. He then kicked her twice in the stomach.

"Josh, what are you doing?!" the other man yelled when he realized where the first had gone.

"She's seen us, Zack. Either we take care of her or this will all have been for nothing."

The blond one known as Josh put his arms under Emmeline's shoulders and dragged her to the black truck.

"Wait, we can't do this," Zack said fearfully.

"It's her or us, little brother."

Zack watched as his brother hefted the girl up into the truck between the two cages that held Einstein and Hercules.

"Get the rest of the money! And hurry up! Whoever she was talking to is onto us now."

Emmeline groaned as she held her stomach. Despite being in between two dogs, she was in too much pain to be afraid of them.

Black spots began to dance across her vision. The last thing she remembered was the golden retriever whimpering near her head.


While Lois checked on the injured guards, Clark quickly opened the back of the black truck. His eyes widened when he saw Emmeline unconscious in between the two cages.

"Em?"

He hopped inside and checked for a pulse. A large bruise had formed on her cheek.

He'd get her out, but he needed to get the dogs out of the cages first.

"Don't worry, buddy, we'll get you out of here," he said to the golden retriever.

He pressed a button to open the cage door. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the kryptonite vials sitting on top of the cage. When the door opened, the contents of the vials splashed onto the floor.

Clark immediately felt the effects of the deadly poison. He weakly fell against the other cage, the dog inside regarding him curiously.

The retriever looked up inside the truck to Clark as if questioning why he wasn't following.

The truck started up and took off. The door to the back slammed shut, effectively trapping both him and Emmeline inside.

When the truck finally came to a stop, Clark grimaced when he bumped into the cage again which sent another wave of hot pain through his body.

One of the back doors opened, but he barely noticed.

"Where's Einstein?" Zack asked.

Josh angrily opened the other door and discovered Clark leaning against the dog cage.

"It's that guy from the animal shelter."

Josh smirked. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone has some explaining to do." His brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait a minute, did that girl call you?" He looked over at his brother. "Why didn't she call the police?"

"I don't know," Zack answered.

"Whatever."

The blond climbed up into the truck and forced Clark into Einstein's cage. With the kryptonite still glowing beside him, Clark was powerless to stop him.

While Zack got the money out of the truck and into their car, Josh poured gasoline all over the truck.

He came to the back and smirked at Clark again. "Well, you just had to be a hero, didn't you? Sometimes heroes get burned."

If he didn't get the kryptonite away from him soon, things weren't looking good for him or Emmeline. But now that he was trapped in a cage, he had no idea how to get himself out much less her.

Josh and Zack continued to get all of the money out of the truck.

Meanwhile, Einstein, who had followed the truck's path, ran up to it and jumped inside. He pushed one of the buttons with his nose and Clark fell out of the cage. Einstein grabbed his jacket and pulled him out of the truck onto the ground.

The pain slowly began to leave him now that he was a good distance away from the horrible green liquid. He tried to get up, but his legs buckled and he collapsed against the side of the truck.

Einstein came next to him and licked his face.

Clark took a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

Josh lit up a flare and smiled. Then he tossed the flare onto the gasoline covered truck and watched with satisfaction as the flames quickly began to engulf the black vehicle.

His smiled disappeared when he and Zack turned around and saw Clark standing in front of them.

"Going somewhere?"

With no effort, Clark picked up the two men and tossed them into the side of the house.

He frantically turned at the sound of barking. The other dog had been released from his cage, but Einstein was trapped inside the truck with Emmeline. Her jacket collar was in the dog's mouth as if he had been trying to pull her out but couldn't now because the flames blocked his way.

Clark ran over to the truck, realizing how high the flames had become. He sped inside, skillfully avoiding the fire, and picked up the dog.

He gently but quickly dropped him outside of the truck.

"Run!" he ordered.

The dog obediently raced away from the flaming vehicle.

Clark quickly hefted Emmeline into his arms and sped outside of the truck.

With seconds to spare, the truck exploded in a fiery blaze.

Clark covered Emmeline with his body to protect her from the blast.

When the fire died down, Clark held her in his arms and looked her over to confirm that she hadn't been injured beyond whatever pain Josh had inflicted upon her.

"Emmeline?" he said as he gently put his hand to her cheek. "Em?"

The golden retriever came up to her and licked her face. The action slowly helped her begin to regain consciousness.

"Hey," Clark smiled. "You're gonna be okay."


"Have I thanked you for yet another save?" Emmeline smiled as she walked inside the barn.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Well, that blond guy certainly can pack a punch. But I'll survive."

"Do you remember anything?"

"I was going in and out so what I do remember doesn't even make sense. I can tell you that I remember your little friend trying to help me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he tried to pull me out of the truck, but by that point, the fire must've been too much. So…I guess he can make an exception in my book."

The golden retriever slowly approached Emmeline. She cautiously knelt down and pet his head. The unreasonable part of her brain kept expecting for him to bite her hand off, but it obviously never happened.

"He's not so bad," she confessed.

"You're looking at a perfectly normal dog."

"What?"

"I guess whatever made him strong was only temporary. They probably had to keep dosing him. But now that it's out of his system, he's back to normal."

"That's good news." She slowly stood up again. "How exactly did I get out of there?"

"I pulled you out."

"Yeah, I figured that, but how did you not get any burns or anything?"

"I got a couple. They were just minor."

"This is why I stay out of things. It always comes back to bite me…and you."

"There's no way you could've known all this was going to happen."

"I guess I was just lucky that you were there."

"I'll always be there."

Emmeline smiled at him. "I know you will."