Chapter 22

Clark didn't think. He just acted. Swinging one powerful arm, he punched the probe. There was a shower of sparks as his fist crushed the metallic body. Then, the thing exploded.

Clark and Chris ducked as parts flew every-which-way, before vanishing into nothing.

"Wow," Chris said, obviously impressed. Eyes wide, he stared at where the probe had been. Then, he grinned, and patted Clark on the back. "Nice."

"What was that?" Clark demanded, still not quite sure what had just happened.

"It was probe," Chris said. "They're pretty common in my time."

"But this isn't your time," Clark pointed out. "So, what was it doing here?"

"I'm not sure." Chris frowned thoughtfully. "I think…Well, you know how I took you into my mind just now, and you were able to see my memory?"

Clark nodded, still stunned over that event.

"Well, I think that, when we came out of the memory, we brought the probe with us. It's the only explanation I can come up with."

"Oh," Clark said, trying to bring his thoughts into some kind of order. "Well, that makes sense."

Smiling, Chris patted him on the back again. "I know it sounds weird. That's how most things are when you deal with magic every…"

Suddenly, that humming, whirring sound returned. Only louder. Much louder.

All around them, flashes of golden light appeared. And every light materialized into another probe.


Martha heard the truck pull up. But when several minutes passed, and Chris and Clark hadn't come into the house, she started to wonder why.

Frowning, she opened the front door…and gasped with horror. Clark and Chris were surrounded by these mechanical…things. They were floating menacingly in front of the two young men, who were backing hurriedly away from them.

"Jonathan!" Martha called over her shoulder as she ran out onto the porch. "Jonathan!"

Drawn by the fear in her voice, Jonathan soon appeared beside her…along with Piper, Paige and Phoebe.

"Oh, my God," said Piper.

"Clark!" Jonathan called, as he started down the steps.

Clark glanced back at them. "No! Stay there!"

Jonathan staggered back up the porch steps. Not necessarily because Clark told him to, but because one of those creatures was flying straight towards them.


The probe flew towards the house, covering the distance with alarming speed.

Piper knew what it was. Chris described the probes to her, during one of those rare moments when he let something slip about the future.

Stepping in front of Jonathan, Piper threw up her hands. And the probe froze in place.

"Thank God," she muttered, blowing out a relieved breath. But her relief was short-lived. A strange vibration passed through the probe's metallic body. The air around it warped, like ripples across water. And, just like that, it was in motion again.

"Wait!" Piper exclaimed, stunned. "It shook off my freeze? How did it shake off my freeze?"

"Uh, Piper," Phoebe said, sounding decidedly nervous as the probe came closer and closer.

"Oh. Right," Piper said, getting back to business. She flicked her hands at the thing, calling on her other active power. And the probe exploded.

Piper nodded with satisfaction. "Now that's more like it." Looking around, she focused on the probe that was flying towards Chris's back. Eyes narrowed in determination, she flicked her hands at it. But nothing happened. "Great! I must be too far away." Worried for her son, she called, "Chris! Watch out!"

"Piper!" Phoebe said, pointing to another fast-approaching probe. "In-coming!"


When he heard his mother call his name, Chris didn't even stop to think. He just orbed.

Orbing back a few feet away, he saw a probe flying towards the spot where he had been just seconds before.

Chris threw up his hand, catching the probe in his telekinetic grip. He flung it away from him, straight into the path of another probe. As the two collided, exploding into a cloud of twisted metal, Chris sensed another probe behind him. He orbed again, seconds before a laser beam would've sliced into his body.


Clark glared at an oncoming probe. As he narrowed his eyes, a wave of distortion burned a path from his gaze to the mechanical monster. As his heat vision slammed into its body, it exploded into a cloud of debris.

Blinking away the spots left by the glare of the explosion, Clark glanced. Chris was doing fine, telekinetically flinging probes into each other, orbing away before he could be cut down by lasers.

Their families seemed to be safe on the porch, with Piper standing in front of everyone, blowing up any probe that got within range.

Suddenly, Clark flinched. A probe had managed to sneak up on him, its laser beam hitting him in the chest.

"Ow!" he cried, startled. The laser stung. A lot!

With an angry burst of super speed, Clark ran at the probe. The thing almost seemed surprised when he appeared a few inches in front of it. Spreading his arms wide to either side of it, he slammed his hands together. The probe crumpled between his fists like an aluminum can, sparks arcing across its metallic body. Then, finally, it vanished from his grasp.

Clark shook his hands, which were kind of buzzing from the electric charge.


Feeling somewhat useless (her powers weren't much help in situations like this) Phoebe studied the scene around her.

Piper was blowing up probes left and right, which was pretty much expected. And Chris was doing some damage, which was also expected. But what she didn't expect was Clark…

Clark Kent was zipping from place to place, a blur of motion almost too fast for the human eye to see. He was punching probes out of the air, crushing them in his bare hands like tin cans. And, seemingly, making them explode just by staring at them.

"Well," Phoebe breathed, impressed. "I guess there's more to Clark Kent than meets the eye."

"See?!" Paige exclaimed, smacking her on the arm. "I told you there was something weird about this family."


Finally, the last probe exploded. As it vanished into nothing, just like all the others, an eerie silence fell over the Kent farm.

"I think that's all of them," Chris said, gasping for air. All of that spot-to-spot orbing had taken a lot out of him. Putting his hands on his knees, he took a deep breath and looked up at Clark. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Clark said. Frowning, he glanced down at the burn-holes in his shirt. "But this shirt is history."

Amazed, Chris just shook his head. The guy had just taken at least a dozen laser hits like they were nothing. Instead of lying bloody and bleeding on the ground, he was annoyed because his clothes had gotten messed up.

Chuckling softly, Chris stood up. As he heard their names being called, he turned towards the house to see the Kents and Halliwells hurrying towards them.


"Are you okay?" Martha asked. Grabbing Clark's arms, she looked fearfully at the burns in his shirt.

"I'm fine, Mom," Clark assured her. "Just a little singed."

"What were those things?" Jonathan demanded, eyes darting around as if he expected more probes to appear.

"Chris, are you alright?" Piper asked, giving her own son the once over.

After that, the scene dissolved into chaos as everyone tried to talk at once. That is, until Paige suddenly shouted, "Phoebe! Look out."

As one, the group turned to see another probe flying towards Phoebe's back.

"Whoa!" Phoebe cried. Flinging her hands up over her head, she levitated straight into the air, so that the probe passed harmlessly beneath her feet.

"Wow," Clark gasped, staring up in amazement at the floating Phoebe.

"Probe!" Paige yelled, waving a hand at the mechanical beast. The probe dissolved into something that looked like an orb. As Paige brought her hand down with a sharp chop, the orb was snatched down, too. The orbing lights re-materialized into the probe, which slammed into the ground, exploding into a shower of sparks.

For one long moment, no-one spoke or moved. Well, except for Phoebe, who gently floated back down to the ground.

Finally, Chris said, "Okay, I think that was all of them."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Are you sure?"

Chris shrugged. "As sure as I am about anything that happens with my family."

"Now that you mention it," Piper said, looking towards Clark. Hands folded gently in front of her stomach, she gave him a pleasant, innocent smile. "It looks like ours isn't the only unusual family around here."

"Yeah," Phoebe chimed in. She waved vaguely in Clark's direction. "What was with the thing. And the thing. And the…thing."

Sighing, Clark dropped his head. Well, he said he was okay with them knowing his secret. Now, it was time to put his money where his mouth was.

(TO BE CONTINUED)