Chapter 6

Megan shook her head at the scandalous pictures she held before her. The first manila folder, which contained very incriminating photos of a secret LuthorCorp laboratory where many meteor mutants were being held and experimented on, some against their will, had really been no big surprise. It wasn't news at all to her that Lex Luthor was a scumbag-in-training. The contents of the second parcel, however, were slightly more shocking. Part of her wanted to beat the crud out of Jason for treating her mother like that, but another was grateful for his blatant and unabashed infidelity. It was, after all, that blatant disloyalty that would surely give her mother more than enough reason to end the relationship she was never meant to have in the first place.

Of course, it didn't make it any easier that Megan would have to be the one to somehow deliver the evidence and, with it, the news of Jason's betrayal to her own mother. Her mother would certainly be hurt, and she hated to be the messenger that caused it, even if it was in secret. "I'm sorry, Mom," she said, almost wishing Lana could actually hear her, "But I promise there's a lot more that you'd miss out on if I didn't do this." Sighing, she briefly restacked the photos and closed the folder. She then picked up the other parcel and, looking around the loft to make sure there would be no witnesses, used her heat vision to set aflame the blackmail that had kept Lex Luthor quiet.

She held the pictures as they burned. There was no inflammable container in sight, and the floor of the loft was made of wood planks. Thus, she just let the parcel turn black and eventually crumble to ashes down to the corner where her fingers gripped it. There, the fire burned itself out upon contact with her impenetrable and inflammable skin. She used her thumb to muff out the last of the flames before she let the tiny corner that remained fall to the floor.

It was now little more than a matter of how to get the pictures in her mom's hands. The unwritten rules of time travel mandated that, if one absolutely must influence surrounding events, that one does so in the most indirect way possible. Personally delivering the evidence to her mother was out of the question. There had to be an intermediary; someone to whom she could anonymously give the photos who she knew would pass them along to Lana.

Yet therein lay another dilemma. Any such intermediary would become an unwitting target for the men who were working to prevent her existence, and her conscience wouldn't have that.

Sighing once more, Megan ultimately resigned herself to the lesser of two evils. She would leave the pictures in her mother's home for her to find, perhaps with an anonymous note saying something like, "I'm sorry, but you should know the truth."

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Megan turned to find Martha Kent climbing the last step to the loft. "Megan?" said her unknowing grandmother.

"Yeah, Mrs. Kent?" replied Megan.

"I just came up to tell you that dinner's ready if you're hungry."

"Thanks," Megan smiled. "I'm starving, actually."

"I suppose it takes a lot of energy to work against time travelers who are plotting to practically wipe you off the face of the Earth," Martha observed with a sad smile. "Are you making any headway?"
"I think I am," Megan nodded. "It's just…not going to be easy leaving these for my mom to find. She's going to be crushed."

Martha's interest intensified. "Why? What'd you find out?"

Megan pursed her lips and handed her a manila folder. "Lex Luthor had one of his guys spy on Jason. It turns out fidelity isn't exactly his strong suit."

Martha opened the folder, and her eyes widened at what she saw. "I should say so," she remarked, looking disapprovingly at the pictures as she flipped through them briefly. "Poor Lana."

"I really hate that I have to do this, but this is the only way I can think of to get my mom to break up with him on her own. I can't just walk up to her and say, 'Hi. I'm your daughter who's traveled back in time. Your boyfriend is really from the future, and he's part of a plot to keep me from being born by keeping you from getting back together with my dad. So you need to break up with Jason and marry my dad.'"

"Why didn't Lex tell her?" asked Martha.

"The guys that are after me got some really good dirt on him and basically blackmailed him with it."

Martha scowled regretfully. "Lex is basically a good guy. I just wish he wouldn't get involved in all this shady business."

"Don't hold your breath," Megan said. "By the way, where did my mom live when she was the age she is now?"

"She lived in an apartment above the Talon," said Martha. "I could drive you there after supper if you want."

"I think I'd better drive myself. You making a trip you otherwise wouldn't have might have repercussions." Plus, it would be faster just to super-speed there, Megan thought to herself.

"Good point," Martha agreed. "I'm not sure if she'll be home or not. You might have to wait until some time when we know she's gone somewhere."

"I'll snoop around. I'm good at being sneaky," Megan smirked, inwardly knowing that sneakiness was a cover-up for her x-ray vision.

"You sure?" Martha asked.

"Yeah. Trust me. I've had experience."

"Alright," her grandmother nodded. "Let's go eat before dinner gets cold."

Martha turned back towards the stairs and began descension, and Megan followed. Halfway down the steps, a thought struck Martha. "You said 'back together'?" she remarked.

"What?" responded Megan.

"You said you couldn't just tell your mother to break up with Jason and get back together with your dad. Has Lana dated your dad before?"
Megan stopped dead in her tracks, a mild panic showing on her face. "I really shouldn't have said that! Mrs. Kent, could you please just try to forget I said that?"

"I guess I shouldn't have asked," Martha admitted. "I'll do my best to forget it."

"Thanks," Megan said sincerely, not entirely convinced that her slip wouldn't come back to haunt her.