Okay, this chapter incorporates the first shift in perspective. From now on it will shift from Conner to Clark and back again as the story needs. As a result, some scenes will be duplicated from the other character's perspective. However, they will not be exactly the same. Otherwise, why bother shift the perspective at all? Enjoy!

The worst day of my life was when someone took my daughter. There was a huge earthquake in China that caused massive damage. Thousands were dead and I was trying to save as many as I could. My hands were full. So I didn't notice a team of former CIA agents showed up at her school. They grabbed her and were off before I could get to her. I would have missed them altogether if I hadn't heard her scream. As it was they were forced to leave two of the men behind to deal with me. I'm not too proud to admit that I gave them a hard time. I may have beat them up more than I needed to. I didn't mean to, but I was just so angry and desperate to get past them. My baby girl was in trouble and I had to get to her. I had to protect her.

The problem was that they drove away in a common vehicle. It was an SUV in dark blue. There were thousands of similar vehicles. To make matters worse, I could not see or hear anything from inside the van. Once it left it was like a needle in a haystack. I had no idea where they had taken her. So I chased SUV after SUV but no avail. I could not find her. Someone had stolen my little Martha.

I searched for her for hours. Going from building to building in a vain hope that I could find her. With my luck, they had taken her far away by now. If they were smart (Which I believe they were) then where they took her was shielded from my senses. Meaning that I may never see her again. A thought that made me sick to my stomach.

My phone had been ringing off the hook for the last two hours. Lois had been trying to reach me over and over again. She had even left several, long messages. Which Lois hated to do. I know that ignoring her was a bad idea. It would only worry her further, but I couldn't help it. I had nothing to give her. Our little girl was gone and I couldn't do a damned thing about it. I just couldn't face her right now.

That's when my wife got creative. She started using the hologram communicator that I had left her. Which always found me no matter what I was doing. It was a priority emergency channel that was automatically piped into my League Communicator. That was a lot harder to ignore than a phone call. I could not turn it off. Nor could I claim that I did not receive it. That would not work. She knew better than that.

"Clark Kent don't you dare ignore me! She's my daughter too. I need to know what's going on. PLEASE talk to me!" Lois yelled in my ear.

I had no choice but to respond or else she would be yelling for hours. I said, "Hi honey. Sorry for not responding earlier, but I was busy."

"I know and I don't want to bother you too much. I know that you're doing your best to find her. But it's been almost 12 hours, Clark. You're not getting anywhere. You need help."

The worst thing is that she was right. I had been circling the city for hours but had nothing to show for it. I had tried everything that I could think of. Nothing had helped. My little girl was still missing. Time was not on my side. She could be hurt or dead by now. I had to admit the truth. I needed help.

I sighed. "You're right. I need help. I'll call in the league shortly. But first, do you have leads that could help me?"

Lois was silent for a second. "Not much. Those men that you beat up are currently in a coma. I'm not trying to judge or anything but it might have been a touch more helpful if you didn't beat their brains out. Not that I would have done anything differently. Those sons of bitches had it coming. Still, it would have been helpful for them to be conscious."

"Sorry, I didn't know what came over me."

She chuckled. "You were being a dad. It makes men crazy sometimes. It's fine. Just try not to make it a habit, okay? I'm sure that her future boyfriends will thank you for it."

"Assuming she ever makes it that far."

"Don't talk like that, Smallville. We'll get her back safe and sound. We just need to get some help."

With that, she turned off the com. Leaving me alone to take the next steps. Which was I about to do when I heard the sound of the League Teleporter kicking in. Superboy appeared nearby with something that I never thought that I would see again. He had Matha Lara Kent in tow. How or where he found her was beyond me. I was just relieved to see her again. My little girl was safe.

I headed straight towards them at full speed then I slowed down to a crawl. Lightly touching down a few feet away from them. When Martha saw me her face brightened. She started to run forward as she called out my name. I opened my arms wide and waited for the inevitable impact. What else could I do? My daughter was back! I was overjoyed to see her.

I hoisted Martha up and took a moment to look her over. Fortunately, there appeared to be no lesions or obvious signs of trauma. Next, I xrayed her. Taking careful note to see if there were any tracers or foreign objects implanted in her. There were none. It seemed that they haven't done much to her yet. Whoever they were. I would double-check the results later on at the fortress, but she seemed completely normal. Nothing was out of the ordinary. She was alright.

"Martha-honey, you're alright." I said as I kissed her on the cheek.

Martha pushed against my chest. I let her move back a bit, but I refused to let her go. She said, "I was so scared. I was trapped. Mean people put me in a cage. Spoke in funny words. Wouldn't let me out. Even when I asked them nicely. They ignored me. Said bad things about me."

Now, I am the first to admit that I understood about half of what my daughter said. She was put in a cell of some kind and kept there until Superboy rescued her. The 'spoke in funny words' part probably meant that they were speaking in a foreign language. Martha currently only knew English. I hadn't taught her anything else yet. I was going to but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. What I did not understand was the bit about them saying bad things about her. How would she know that they were doing that unless she started to pick up their tongue. Which would suggest that Martha has the Kryptonian knack for languages. It's not a power-per-say, but it is quite a useful gift. One that I did not know that my daughter had. I couldn't resist the urge to ask her for more information.

"How did you know that they were saying bad things?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Just figured it out. It just started to make sense. Kinda. Just a little. Not a lot. Wish that I didn't though. They were soo mean!"

Hmm. . . that suggested that she had that ability to break down new languages and learn them. It wasn't proof. God, no but it was interesting. I would have to test this later on. See if she could start to pick up the phonemes and syntax of a language that she had never heard before. It would be interesting to see what my baby could do. But that was a low priority right now. Her health and safety were my primary objectives. So, I let it go.

Martha became more animated as she told her story. I could tell that this was her favorite part. "Then Conner found me. He was sooo cool! He just ripped the door off the hinges. Like you can Daddy. Then he talked to me. He was all nice and stuff. Then he picked me up and got me outta there!"

My daughter had picked up an annoying habit from her mother. Whenever I popped up on the TV she would watch with rapt attention. Cheering when pulled out a cool move or punched out a bad guy. Lois kept telling me about it as if it was completely adorable. I'm not sure how I felt about my daughter enjoying me beating the 'snot out of people.' I know that Lois was fine with it. I just wasn't so sure. I wish Lois had not introduced her to the broadcasts.

Now I was stuck with a child who was obsessed with my powers. She thought that they were the 'coolest powers in the world.' Which was flattering but wildly inaccurate. There were people with cooler powers than me. I would show her, but I didn't want to make the problem worse. Already, she would ask for rides all the time. Or beg me to do 'cool stuff' when we were in Smallville. I gave in to her almost every time. I couldn't help it. Which was not good for discipline but as Lois would point out - I suck at that. I tend to dote on her. I wanted to give her everything that I was denied. Which is probably too much, but I digress. Maybe it wasn't so bad that she got to see someone else with my powers.

"He did?" I asked her.

"Yup, He was sooo strong! His friends are nice too. Miss Martian can lift things with her mind. Kid Flash can run really fast! Aqualad does cool stuff with water."

Oh great, she got to see other powers. Now she can obsess over them too. I thought as my daughter went on.

"And Robin and Artemis can . . . uh . . . I don't know what they can do. They can do something! I'm sure that it's cool too!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her that they were normal humans. They had no 'cool powers.' They were instead skilled at the art of stealth and weaponry. Which so far my daughter was not obsessed with. I intended to keep it that way. I decided to let it go.

"She talks a lot, doesn't she?" Superboy asked me.

He caught me off guard. He was right. Martha was a motormouth. Just like her mother. I was used to it, but for one such as himself, it may be disconcerting. For me, it was a sign that everything was fine. She was not too traumatized by her experience. It seemed that she even enjoyed a part of it. That was good. Even if the situation as a whole was not. At least my daughter found some new friends.

I laughed. "Just like her mother. Lois never stops talking. Goes on and on about this thing and that. Has an opinion about everything. Constantly gets herself into trouble by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It's so human. I wouldn't change them for the world."

That's when our conversation began to shift. Superboy took the opening and tried to get information out of me. He wasn't being malicious but he was invading my family's privacy. Which I did not like. I know that both Lois and Bruce kept pushing to open up to the boy but I did not want to. I had a child already. Her name was Martha. I did not approve of his creation. They stole my DNA to create him. I was violated. I was not going to forgive that easily. Yes, I knew that it was not the boy's fault. That did not make it easier for me. I wanted very little to do with him.

Then the fool asked me how I conceived my daughter. Which was really none of his business and not something that you should ask in front of a child. I was not going to discuss sex with Martha present. What the hell was wrong with him? She's five years old! Didn't they teach him to behave better than this?

"I don't understand. How is her age relevant? Is there a reason why she must not know how she was created? Shouldn't everyone know how they were born?"

I sighed. It seemed that no one explained this concept to him. He reminded of a child who didn't understand why the world was the way it was. He had a lot to learn and someone had to teach it to him. Maybe they were right. Maybe I should pay more attention to the boy. I still didn't think of him as my son, but he did need guidance. Which clearly he was not getting. I was not ready to take on that mantle just yet. But I decided to explain a little.

"Perhaps, but not now. I'll explain the birds and bees to her when she hits puberty. But not a minute before, got it?"

I ended up threatening the boy. It was not my intent, but it came out that way. I couldn't help it. I was very protective of her. I needed to shut down his conversation for now. Maybe I would pick it back up when I felt more comfortable. When Martha was nowhere within earshot. Maybe. I don't know. I still thought that it was none of his business.

"Got it." He finally said.

I felt like a jerk. So I tried to soften my tone. "Well, I suppose that I should be getting her home. Lois is beside herself with worry."

This was not the way that I wanted this conversation to go. Sure, I was uncomfortable with the boy and I didn't like him. But he had saved my daughter. She was unharmed because of him. I owed him big time for this. The least I could do was to be civil and thank him. It was the right thing to do. It just wasn't the easy thing to do. Finally, I managed to say. "ThThank . . . you . . . for saving her. I'm in your debt."

I was about to leave when I felt a slight tug at my suit. I looked down at Martha to see her looking up at me. "Can I play with him again Pa?"

Of course, she wanted to hang out with Superboy again. He had rescued her. Showed her cool powers. She was not going to let this go. I was going to have to deal with this. I just didn't want to deal with this today. So I gave her the non-committal answer, "Maybe . . . I don't know. I'll think about it."

That seemed to do the trick. Martha relaxed and snuggled in real close. I kissed her on the top of her then rocketed off. I wanted to be alone with my family. I did not want the boy to follow. So, I made a point to go in the wrong direction. Once I was satisfied that he was not following I corrected our course. I needed to tell Lois the good news! Martha was home.

So, this is Clark's perspective on what happened. What do you think about it? Please answer in your reviews.