Martha and Jonathon began closing window blinds and shades. Clark and Rhone were nonverbally instructed to sit at the dinning room table. The two of them were seated next to one another, waiting. Rhone was not looking forward to explaining, well, anything. Clark didn't want to hear it for using his powers the way that he did.
There had not been a single word spoken since they were on the bridge. If the situation had been different, Rhone would have thought the Kent farm quaint. It was comfortable and homey. It suited the people that lived there.
A thought occurred to Rhone. "How do you know Lex?" she turned to ask Clark.
Clark gave her a 1,000,000 watt smile, "He -- hit me with his car."
Rhone looked up him and smiled. "I can see how that would breed a friendship," she nodded.
Clark chuckled. "His car went off the bridge and I pulled him out," Clark clarified.
She nodded again, "I read about it, among many of your other exploits, which now seem more plausible."
Jonathon and Martha sat down across from them. They looked at each other. They obviously didn't know where to start.
Rhone's curiosity got the best of her, "Can the two of you…?" She gestured at Clark.
"No, we don't share Clark's -- abilities," Jonathon answered.
She was interested, "How long have you been able to…?" She turned to Clark.
Clark looked to his parents. Jonathon gave him a she-already-knows-anyway nod. "All my life, at least what I can remember," Clark said.
"How did it happen?" she asked.
"Happen?" Clark didn't understand the question.
"Yeah, did you live next to a nuclear power plant or play with an X-ray machine as a child?" she attempted lighten the mood.
They all smiled. "No," Clark said, "I guess I was just born this way." He looked to his father.
"That involves a little more of a -- demonstration," Jonathon said after a moment's pause. Rhone got the hint that she would get a demonstration after their "talk"
"What about you, Rhone?" Martha asked.
"About two years ago," she began with hesitation. Rhone didn't know how much she should tell them. She felt pretty safe with these people, not only because she liked and trusted them, but because they seemed to keep Clarks secret well enough. "I was taken by a -- relic," she said.
"Relic?" Martha asked.
Rhone put her right hand just above table, open in front of her. It took the others around the table a moment to realize that a dark puddle was forming underneath it. It was reflective, just like what she used to save Jonathon on the bridge. It solidified on the table at about a two-foot radius. Clark reached to touch it.
"Clark!" Martha said quickly.
"It's OK," Rhone said with a small smile. Clark touched it; it felt like normal metal, but a little warmer. Martha and Jonathon couldn't resist touching it as well. She turned her attention back to the solidified puddle and formed it into a perfect cube without touching it, using only her mind.
"It didn't have this form then. It was also much smaller, less massive, than what I believe it is now," she said looking back on the day that she first saw it.
"What did it look like then?" Clark asked.
"It was a sword," she said, "a katana, to be exact." They could tell that she was thinking about it. "There was an accident," she summed up an extensive story in only a few words. She didn't like to talk about it. It led into other areas of her life, areas that lead to the past. They seemed interested, maybe she should write a book or something. One day she would tell them. When she could face it herself. She absorbed the cube right through her skin. Without warning, she became covered in the same substance. It was like body armor. They seemed shocked but adjusted to it. The metal that had been covering her head was absorbed into the rest of the "suit" so they could continue talking without being intimidated.
"Who knows about your abilities?" Jonathon used the word he used to describe his sons powers after finally finding his voice.
"Only one man knows for sure that I have this artifact," she said. "My Sensei knows everything," she attempted to specify. She definitely had to make that "long distance call" now. "You seem to have kept your secret safe," she observed.
"Besides the three of us, only one other person knows. And we are pretty sure that it's safe with him," Martha said.
Rhone put a hand on Clark's, "Your secret is safe with me. I know what it is like to have to hide who you are, what you are." She turned to Jonathon and Martha, "You were right, are right, to keep this a secret. Protect what you are at all costs." She turned back to Clark.
He was smiling widely at her again. "We won't tell on you either," Clark said.
She smiled at him. Then she turned to the two across the table. They were smiling and each gave a nod.
He just kept grinning at her. "What, Clark?" she asked.
"I thought I was alone with my abilities for so long," he said.
Rhone smiled; she had thought she was alone too. Even though their abilities weren't exactly similar or came from the same source, there was some sort of connection there. One of those connections you feel with a brother or a sister. Only it happened later in life, so you could appreciate it. "Let's see that demonstration you promised me," she said to Jonathon.
They all got up. They never thought they would actually take someone down to the storm cellar.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked back to Clark, "Then -- let's test each other."
"What do you mean, test each other?" he asked.
"Let's see what we can do; strength, speed, other abilities. We are out in the middle of nowhere," she pointed out.
They stepped outside; the rain had stopped for now. "It's -- in the storm cellar," Jonathon said, leading the way. They all followed.
It was late afternoon when Rhone left the Kent farm. She took them up on lunch instead of dinner. But they insisted that she come for dinner another day.
She told them she preferred to run back to her hotel. After what they had seen, they didn't doubt her. She could run pretty fast, definitely not as fast as Clark, but fast all the same. They had never seen another human being run that fast. With the armor on, she was just as strong as Clark and pretty much shared his invulnerability. Without it, however, she was just as frail as anyone else and slightly stronger than the average human man. She had acute natural senses like seeing, smelling, and hearing. She could also see in the dark and had a sort of weak clairvoyance that she used to know the branch would fall into the road and that Jonathon would slip and fall. It gave her increased agility and reflexes as well.
She showed them that she could use the metal to grab onto things, like she did on the bridge. She said it was useful when she had to get around in Metropolis in a hurry. They didn't really understand what she meant. They did understand that using the relic, she could climb a smooth vertical wall with no other assistance.
She felt mildly guilty about keeping some things from the Kents. There were certain things that were -- personal. Things the relic had decided to change to make her a better soldier. Things that were in her past and in her present, she should have told them about the military. No, they were safer not knowing. And if she couldn't tell them about the military, she sure as hell couldn't tell them the details about her Sensei.
Her feet pounded on the pavement. She was sure there were things they neglected to tell her -- maybe not. She was trained to expect the unexpected, never to show surprise, but when they showed her the storm cellar -- she considered herself fortunate she didn't have to ask for a change of underwear. She didn't see that coming. To them, she must be no less -- shocking. She decided that when she was done at Plant Number Three she would still visit Clark when she could. It was nice to have someone that she couldn't damage to test herself on. Someone she couldn't cut.