Chapter 1

Clark glanced at the passenger seat. His cousin Harmony, a fugitive from Edge City, had called his father when she was driven from her makeshift home on the streets of the crime-ridden town. Nearly finished with their three-hour drive, Clark and Harmony had said very little. Clark suspected she was angry with him that he hadn't used his powers to come get her. Unfortunately, his powers did not include mind reading, so he could not be sure.

Finally, they came within sight of Smallville. Harmony sat up straight in her seat, staring around her. She'd slept a large portion of the drive. Shaking her head, she sighed. "This is Smallville, huh?"

"Yep," Clark smiled. "This is it."

"Oh boy," Harmony slumped back down. "Well, at least the name fits."

Clark opened his mouth, but, uncertain what to say, closed it again. A thought occurred to him. "Are you hungry?"

"Sure," Harmony nodded. "Anywhere good to eat?"

"Well, a friend of mine runs a coffee shop, if you wanna check it out," Clark offered.

"Ok," Harmony agreed. Might as well, she thought to herself. Anything's better than Edge City. At least there's no Luthors around.

The coffee shop, called The Talon, was very quaint, much more inviting than Harmony had expected. It had an Egyptian feel, and was very open. Harmony found herself relaxing to the place very quickly. "I like it," she smiled up at Clark.

Clark grinned back, and Harmony was taken aback by his boyish looks. She stared at him, remembering when he had first come to the Kents. He had been such a sweet, adorable little boy even then, and it seemed nothing had changed. She looped his arm through his, glad to be in his company. For a time, her problems of the past few days were dissolved away.

She even began to enjoy herself when she saw the look on Clark's face at the sight of a small, dark-haired girl behind the counter. When the doe-eyed beauty looked up at him, Harmony barely contained her chuckles, disguising them in fake coughs. The girl caught on and blushed, looking down, but Clark was his ever-oblivious self. "Harmony, this is my friend Lana," he introduced her. "Lana, this is my cousin Harmony, from Edge City."

"Nice to meet you, Lana," Harmony held her hand across the counter, winking at the girl knowingly. She paused, staring at Lana. There was something very familiar about that girl. "I remember you!" she exclaimed. "Oh my goodness."

"What?" Lana asked, eyes darting between Harmony and Clark.

"I remember you. When you were a little girl," Harmony nodded. "Yeah. You used to live next door to my aunt and uncle."

"Yeah, I did, but how do you know me?" Lana asked, baffled.

"Well, I lived with the Kents before my dad moved us to Edge City," Harmony said. "I remember you from when you were a baby," her eyes wandered, remembering the tiny child, grown now into a beautiful young woman. "You've grown up."

Lana just smiled, unsure what to say. She didn't even know Clark had a cousin, much less one that had known her when she was a baby.

"Lana?" Clark broke her thoughts. "Can we just get a couple sandwiches and sodas? We gotta get back to the farm."

"Oh, sure," Lana nodded, glancing again at Harmony. She reached into the refrigerator for two pre-made sandwiches and began filling two sodas.

"Oh, shoot, I forgot my wallet in the truck," Clark said. "I'll be right back." He jogged for the door.

Harmony watched him go for a second, then turned back to Lana. "I didn't mean to startle you, Lana," she apologized.

"No, you didn't, I just-"

"Yes, I did," Harmony cut her off. "Let me explain. When I was a kid, Jonathan and my father ran the farm more or less together. Jonathan more, my father less. You were born when I was 4. Clark was adopted when I was 8. With Clark's arrival came a lot of issues between Jonathan and my dad. Clark and I were pretty close despite the age difference, but even then, he preferred the girl next door." She smiled when Lana blushed. "My dad decided that he and Jonathan were never gonna get along again, so he moved us to Edge City. No idea why. Until today, I haven't seen Clark since. No, I take that back. A few years ago, we did pay Jonathan and Martha a visit, when my dad tried to use the starving kid card to con Jonathan out of gambling money. That visit was only about 4 days long. I think Clark was about 13 at the time. I'd forgotten about you, so I didn't even think to ask how you were, and Clark didn't mention you. We talked about a lot of stuff, but somehow, your name didn't come up. At least not to my memory. I'm sure it would have if my dad hadn't decided in the middle of the night to hightail it back to Edge City without so much as a goodbye."

"He grabbed you and took off?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, just like the first time," Harmony nodded. "That time I was 17. I tried to resist, but he wouldn't have it. He just grabbed me, threw me in the truck, and peeled out."

"So what brings you back to Smallville?"

"Run out of Edge City by Lionel Luthor," Harmony sneered. "Picked a fight with some of his boys. When he found out I'm a Kent, he ordered that I was to be killed. Instead, they decided to run me out of town. There's a bounty on my head if I ever return. I was running a safe house for street kids. Luthor didn't like it, shut me down. All my kids old enough to work in his factories were taken away, the rest were put back on the streets. And I was run out. No where else to go but Smallville."

Lana shook her head. "That's harsh."

Just then Clark walked up. "How much do we owe you, Lana?"

"Nothing," Lana dismissed Clark's money. "It's on me."

Harmony stared at her suspiciously, but Clark smiled. "Thanks, Lana."

"Say hi to your parents for me," Lana nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Harmony."

"Yeah, you too," Harmony took her sandwich and soda. "Thanks for the food."

On the way out the door, they passed a very wealthy-looking bald man with intense, intriguing blue eyes. He stared at Harmony as he passed her, and Harmony couldn't help but stare back, momentarily mesmerized by the man. She paused at the door, prepared to back out, but couldn't quite break eye contact. Finally, the trance was broken when he turned away. Harmony shook her head, bewildered, and got into Clark's truck.

"Clark?" She asked her cousin. "Who was that?"

"Who was who?" he asked as he pulled away from the curb.

"That bald guy that just went into the Talon," she glanced back over her shoulder as the coffee shop slowly began to fade from view.

"Well, I didn't see anyone, but I'm pretty sure there's only one bald guy you could be talking about." Clark glanced over at Harmony. "That would be my friend Lex Luthor."

Harmony's head whipped toward Clark.