"Hey, Smallville!" Clark instantly jerked awake. He was in his room. He instantly jerked awake, throwing the covers off. He looked up, squinting. Lois strode in to the room. She almost tripped over Krypto, the dog, who was sleeping beside Clark.

"Pesky mutt!" Lois snapped.

Krypto looked up with puppy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Clark asked, embarrassed that he was only wearing boxers.

Lois appreciated his hard abs for a moment then clapped her hands. "Wake up, sunshine. It's Monday, which means there's school today. And what tha hell happened outside. Your grass is like…nonexistent."

"Why are you here?"

"Very friendly in the morning, aren't you farm boy?"
"I repeat, why are you here?"
"Ms. Kent asked me to come. To make sure you had someone to take care of you."

"Take care? I'm not a baby."
"You are now." She tore the covers off him and tossed them over Krypto. He barked, then went back to sleep. "Get up!" She yelled at Clark. She grabbed his ears and pulled him in to a standing position. "Breakfast will be ready when you get down." She said.

Clark yawned. "Where's Bart?"

"Bart? Who's Bart?"

"The kid who was here."

"Oh, him. He's already gone."

Clark stood up, alarmed. "Gone."

"Yeah. He went out with Chloe."

"Chloe? Where'd they go?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not a mind reader."
Clark shook his head.

She punched him in the chest. "Now get ready, Smallville."

With that, she walked out of the room. She breathed deeply. The event still shook her. Just, seeing the man disappear like that. She shook her head. She had to get this off her chest to somebody, but whom? She headed down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"ARE you sure you won't get in trouble for skipping?" Bart asked.

"Nope, I'm sure." Chloe pulled her car in to the driveway for the Sullivan house. "Besides, Dad's not home."

"Are you sure we couldn't do anything other than……the Torch thing in the house?" Bart asked slyly.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Listen, sport," She said, ruffling his blonde hair, "Maybe in another ten years, when you've actually passed puberty, o.k.?"

"I have passed it." Bart said jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Bart smiled seductively, "Wanna find out?"

Chloe shook her head. "You're one in a million, Bart."
He smiled.

They got out of the car and headed towards the house.

CLARK had hastily bathed and dressed in a red flannel shirt and blue jeans. His long, soft hair had grown considerably, Lois noted. She shook her head. C'mon, this is Smallville we're talking about here.

"Need a ride?" She asked him. She bit in to her omelets, and in an instant, had tossed it in to the garbage can. "Ahhh, disgusting!"

"Now you know how we feel." Clark said.

"Ha, ha, ha, Smallville. You're hilarious. Stick to the cows."

Clark smirked.

"Need a ride, farm boy?"
Clark shook his head.

"Good, cuz I just had by car cleaned." She grabbed her car keys out of her pocket and head out.

"You know what?" Clark called. "I think I do."

Lois rolled her eyes. He followed her out to her SUV.

"If I find any cow droppings in my car, Smallville, I'll roast your ass."
"Very mature, Lois."
They entered the car and Lois started the ignition.

"Listen, Smallville. When I drive, you keep your head down. My reputation will be nonexistent if they find out I'm riding with you, o.k.?"

"Reputation?" Clark asked. "C'mon, you're riding with the Smallville football captain."

"Don't let it get to your head, Farm boy. I still think you throw like a girl."
Lois drove off.

"Very supportive, Lois."

"I know," She quipped.

Clark looked back at the Kent farm before they left.

THEY entered Chloe's room. Bart looked around.

"I'm impressed, Chloe."

She turned, puzzled. "Why?"
"Because you have every newspaper in here from 1896."

"1907, actually." Chloe said truthfully.

Bart shook his head. "Alright, Chloe. What was so urgent that you wanted to show me?"
She sat him down at her computer. She turned it on. Then she turned to look at him.

"This might be a little hard to handle, Bart."

"Bring it on." He said confidently.

"O.k." She said, and opened up the file.

THEY were late to school. Lois had been stopped for going over to speed limit. Thus, they both received after school detentions.

"Good job, Lois."

"Stuff it, Smallville." She said, pushing him aside and running in to the school.

Clark shook his head and made his way to Science.

"Hello, Mr. Kent." Ms. Finster said as he entered. The whole class turned to stare at him.

"Hello, Ms. Finster." He said nervously.

"And why, exactly, are you late?"
"Ummm, you see, I-''

"Don't particularly care, Kent. How does an after school detention suit you?"

"Ms., ummm, Finster. There was a fire at the farm."

"Farm Boy!" Someone called out and the whole class erupted in laughter.

Clark blushed.

Ms. Finster shook her head, "Listen, Kent, I'm sorry about the farm incident but that shouldn't stop you from getting to school on time, should it?"
Clark shook his head. "No, ma'am."

"And you're sorry, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am." Clark looked up hopefully. Maybe there was a chance he wouldn't get a detention.

"And you won't do it again, will you?"

"No, ma'am."

"And you'll always be on time."
"Yes, ma'am."

"Good, be here immediately after school."

The class erupted in to the laughter again. Clark dropped in to his seat, embarrassed. Mrs. Finster smiled sweetly at him. She had never liked the Kent boy. Jonathon should have been hers. And then that hussy Martha had stolen him from her. She loved to embarrass Clark.

The rest of the class went by normally. Clark had done his homework in Lois's car so she couldn't hurt him for that. After class, Clark headed straight for his locker. He was doing his combination when someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey, Clark." Lana said.

He breathed in. She looked so much better than she had at the hospital.

"Hey, Lana." He said. "I thought you'd still be at the Medical Center."

"Funny how things turn out." She said.

"How's Jason?" He asked, getting some books out of his locker.

"Oh, he's doing great. He woke up this morning."

"Yeah? That's great for him." She noticed the disappointed tone in his voice, but chose not to comment. It felt kind of good, to have the boy of her dreams jealous.

Lana sighed, "Sorry about the beating you took from Ms. Finster."
"She never liked me."

"No, she didn't." They walked along the hallway to their next class.

"Thanks for the reassurance, Lana." Clark said jokingly.

"No problem."
Lana looked around. "Where's Chloe?"

Clark had been wondering the same thing all day. "Oh, I haven't seen her?"

"Have you asked Lois?"
Clark didn't want to lie to Lana but he didn't want anyone to find out about Bart either. He had only been unlucky that Lois had found out.

"No." He said.

They made their way in to the class room.

"See you later, Lana." Clark breathed.

She smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek. Then she made her way a few rows up to her seat. Clark stared, breathless. He swallowed and rubbed his cheek where she had touched him.

"Hey, Farm boy. Get a life!" A teenager had been the source of the insult. Clark turned towards the newest kid at Smallville High, Kevin Granger. He was atleast 6ft. 8 inches and 325 pounds. He was also a month away from his 20th birthday. He had failed three grades. He was bald with a very chubby figure.

Clark ignored him.

"Farm boy, I'm talking to you." Kevin pushed his shoulder lightly.

Clark contented himself with the thought that he could literally break this kid in half if he wanted to. He breathed deeply. He turned to look at Lana. She was shaking her head. "No, please, no." She whispered under her breath.

He heard her. He couldn't get in to a fight this early in the day. So he studied his hands.

"I'm talking to you, you little piece of crap." Kevin stood in front of his desk.

Clark swallowed. The pen he had in his hands shook.

"Listen, you stupid little fu-''

"Why don't you just leave him alone?" Lana strode up to the scene, crossing her arms.

"What, you need your girlfriend to fight for you now?" Kevin asked snidely.

Clark stood up. "Leave Lana out of this."

"Leave Lana out of this." Kevin mimicked. "I'll talk about her anyway I want."
"No, you won't." Clark said threateningly.

"Oh, yeah?" Kevin asked.

"Oh, yeah." Clark replied.

"And what are you going to do about it?"
"You just watch."

Kevin swung at Clark. The fist smashed in to him and bounced off. Kevin screamed. Clark just stood, watching. He had heard the crack of bone and so had most of the class that were about.

"What tha hell?" Kevin hollered, dropping back. His fingers were dislocated, obvious to everyone there. A couple of his fingers were even broken. "What tha fuck did you do to me, Kent?"

Clark shook his head. "Nothing."

The teacher of this class, Ms. Carols walked in. She saw the huge boy on the floor, clutching his hands and asked. "What happened here?"
Kevin pointed at Clark. "He broke my fingers, Ms. Carols."

Everybody in the class except for Lana was afraid for him. They instantly helped collaborate the story.

"No!" Lana argued. "He hit Clark, Ms. Carols. Everybody saw it."
"If he hit Clark, why is he on the floor, Ms. Lang?"
"He….He." Lana was at a loss for words.

"Let's go, Mr. Kent." Ms. Carols grabbed Clark by the arm and dragged him along.

Bart stared at the screen, mouth hanging open. It was a file from LUTHOR CORP. It showed his photo and sort of an 'unerground' warrant for his capture. The Reward was $400,000. Bart swallowed. He turned to Chloe.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Through Luthor Corp." Chloe said obviously, and sipped her coffee nervously.

"This is obviously an underground thing." Bart said slowly, "Where'd you get this."
"I know someone who knows someone, who's married to someone, who's the uncle of someone who can hack in to Luthor Corp files.

"So….is this some kind of bounty?"

"Yeah, I think so. But I've never seen something like this. You must have pissed someone off real bad, Bart."
"Yeah, I must have."

"Listen, I'm not one for prying," Chloe started.

Bart rolled his eyes.

"O.k., I am. But, please. Why would they put a bounty on your head?"
"It's nothing."
Chloe didn't want to get him angry but she needed to know this. "Please, Bart. I can help you. Just let me know and I'll-''

"Jesus Christ, it's nothing, Chloe."

Chloe shook her head and sipped some more coffee.

Bart stood up and began pacing.

"I'll find out anyway, Bart."

"Yes, I know you will."
"Then, what's the point."

"They're just something's in my life better kept secret."
"C'mon, Bart. Everyone has the skeletons in their closets."
"Mine isn't just a skeleton. Mine is a whole freaking demon."
"O.k., I'm trying to understand."

"Is it Dead or Alive."
"What?"
"The bounty."

"Oh, it's alive."
"Atleast I have that bit of hope left."

"Please, Bart. Maybe I can help you."

Bart sighed. She was right. She'd find out sooner or later.

Seth Hanison stood outside the hospital and breathed in. He had just sent a death squad after Lana's boyfriend. One would soon go to her house. He stood outside the Sullivan house and breathed in again, savoring the beautiful nature's scenery.

He turned to the 22 men behind him. They were all armed to the teeth, guns, grenades, knifes, you name it. The kid would be fast, they'd have to be prepared. They were about thirty ft. away from the Sullivan house now. Anybody who posed a threat to the operation would be eliminated. They could have attacked them back at the Kent house, but Seth knew they would have stood no chance against Clark.

The only element Bart had up was speed. And Seth was prepared for that. There was only so much you could do with speed. Only so little. Seth was going to attack him at the center point.

Seth aimed carefully. He was a sniper. He saw the girl in his cross hairs. He pulled the trigger.

CHLOE went towards Bart. "C'mon, Bart. Please. Just, let me help you."

The bullet sped by, hitting the wall. Chloe dived down and Bart on top of her. They lay, not thinking about the awkward position. There were gunshots all over now. A voice shouted, "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You know you can't hide."

They heard the front door break. Bart stood up, a confident expression on his face. If they wanted a fight, they were going to get one. With that last thought, he sped straight at the soldiers. He had a job to do.