Xander stood at the base of the mountain. In the memories he had inherited the mountain had always been warm and welcoming. Now that he was here in person it looked imposing and cold.

Rising up from the ground Xander flew half way up the mountain before stopping. There, right where his memories said it would be was a door made of unearthly metals that could survive any weapon made by man.

Using his new strength, Xander forced the door open, and stepped inside. The passage way was long, leading into the very heart of the mountain, but Xander didn't mind. If nothing else, this proved that he had Superman's memories, if not the alien DNA.

After a while Xander entered a large room filled with machines that he only dreamed about as a sci-fi geek. The room cluttered, as if someone had been both working and living there the last time it had been used.

Slowly, almost reverently, Xander picked up a pair of thick glasses. He could remember how difficult it was to alter the lenses to distort his face when they were worn.

Shaking off memories of another man, Xander put down the glasses, and went over to the wall with a monitor. Pressing a sequence of buttons, Xander watched as the screen came to life.

"I lost them," came a voice from forty seven years ago. On the screen Superman appeared tired, almost beaten. "I wasn't fast enough to save them from Luthor's trap, wasn't strong enough to bring them back."

Then before Xanders eyes the face on the screen hardened with suppressed rage. "If I wasn't enough by my self, I'll build something that is," said Superman right before the screen went black.

Turning around Xander looked at the half completed machine that was supposed to save a mans wife and child. Idly, Xander wondered how things would have been different if Superman had finished his invention.

Deciding he had put it off long enough Xander opened a door and entered another room. This room contained only completed inventions, and two of them would be able to completely confirm or deny this last vision.

Plucking a hair from his head Xander set it onto the first machine. This one would scan his DNA to see if it was a match with Joel, Superman's son.

As Xander waited for the results he prepped the second machine. Even if the DNA was a match, that didn't mean that he was Joel. The magic could have been powerful enough to change his DNA. True, his DNA should be a match with Superman if it was only due to magic, but in this case Xander didn't think there was such a thing as overkill.

The crystal on the DNA machine began to glow, indicating that the testing was complete. Walking over Xander read the script of a race that had been almost extinct for eighty seven years, a script that said he was a perfect match for Jo-El, son of Kal-El.

A couple of months ago this would have been enough conformation for Xander, but not today. With all he had read about the uncontrollable nature of chaos spells after Halloween, he needed more.

Punching in the start up sequence in another consol Xander strapped a helmet on his head, and then waited for the chair he was sitting in to restrain his arms and legs. Superman had built this machine to recover lost memories of his parents, and Xander intended to use it for the same purpose. If he was just Xander, then he would only see Jessica and Tony Harris, but if he was also Joel Kent he would remember another set of parents.

Suddenly Xanders mind felt like it was on fire. Images of his past began to flash by at an alarming rate as the machine searched for his earliest memory.

Suddenly Xander felt safe and warm, like nothing could hurt him. Looking up Xander saw the face of Lois Lane, but a face he immediately associated with that of his mother.

In a moment Xander realized that the machine was working differently for him than it did with Superman. When Superman had used it the machine simply showed him his parents, like watching a movie. Now presumably because Xander was half human he was not only seeing things with his teenage mind, but was also experiencing the feelings he had had as an infant.

In an instant the feeling of safety was shattered by an explosion that caused his infant half to begin to cry out in fear. Thought the smoke and dust a bald man walked into the room.

Without breaking his step the bald man shot his mother and said, "I just shot your wife Superman. By the time the sound of my voice reaches you she will have five minutes before she dies."

"What are you doing Luthor," rasped Lois. The part of him that was an infant screamed at seeing his mother in pain, even as the teenage part of him cheered that he had a mother that would keep going even after being shot.

"You will find out soon enough," said Lex Luthor. "We still have a minute before your husband hears the shot, and two minutes before he comes to rescue you."

"He'll stop you," said Lois, even as her eyes began to close. Xander felt the anguish as his infant self wailed at the fact that he knew something was wrong, but didn't know what. Xander knew though, because of his father's memories, he knew that his mother was dieing as she held him.

The next thing Xander knew, he was surrounded by blackness and pain. The torment only lasted a couple of moments, but seemed to take forever to a mind that had only lived for ten months.

When the pain did end, Xander saw two figures standing over him and his mother's lifeless corps. He recognized the two figures instantly; after all he would live with them for the next sixteen years of his life.

"Oh Tony, look at him," cooed Jessica Harris as she picked up Xander for the first time.

"Don't touch him Jess, you saw how he appeared," growled Tony.

"Just because his mother is a drug addict doesn't mean there is anything wrong with him. Besides, we need this baby," said Jessica.

"Why do we need another mouth to feed?" asked Tony.

"Listen you know as well as I do that this marriage is falling apart, a baby can fix it. I can't have one myself because I'll loose my figure. The way I see it if we take the kid and give him a home we will be helping ourselves and him, but if you don't love me enough to do this just say so and we can leave him with his junkie mom," said Jessica in a frigid tone.

Tony seemed to inspect the young Xander before saying, "Okay we'll give it a try. The kid looks like he may be able to carry on the Harris name in sports when he gets older, but don't expect me to change his dippers."

Xander gasped for breath as the machine turned off, leaving him alone.

He remembered what his father felt as he entered the room just as the beam engulfed himself and his mother. He remembered his father's rage at loosing his wife and only son. His father had wanted to incinerate Luthor. His father probably would have if Luthor hadn't destroyed the machine and reminded Superman that Lois still had only three minutes before she bled to death.

In the moments it had taken Superman to gather the pieces of the machine Luthor had made his escape. Neither would meet until their final battle where they would both die.

Sighing Xander wished that Superman had finished his time machine and found him. Growing up with a hero would have been better then being the excuse two people used to stay together.

At least he had figured out his own mystery and could move on to the other members of the Justice Society. Next stop, Paradise Island to talk to an immortal.