Lois waited for the dog's teeth to tear into her flesh but it didn't. She uncovered herself to find Carol holding the dog with one arm and using her other hand to cover its snout.

"Carol? What are you doing here?"

"You're welcome for saving you, Mom.

"Of course, thank you but I thought you didn't have powers."

"I didn't. It was the weirdest thing. I was at the Talon and all of a sudden, my hearing went haywire. I heard somebody across the street clicking off a light switch. I actually heard a pin drop and then I heard Shelby snarling and you trying to reason with him. I probably should have told Dad or something but the next thing I knew I was running toward you at super speed and as you saw, I grabbed him. I guess the others didn't hear because they have more control over their hearing. I bet if I let him bite me, it wouldn't even draw blood."

"Maybe not but I wouldn't recommend trying it."

"I'm so happy. I've got powers. They were just delayed."

"That means being responsible. You can't get into brawls with average people like I've heard you do."

"I know. I know. This means I'll be allowed to join the Justice League."

"Meanwhile let's concentrate on the task at hand. What are we going to do with the dog?"

"We could kill it."

Lois eyes went wide with shock. "It's Shelby. Look at the tags."

"Shelby or not, he just tried to kill you."

"He's obviously the body Zod is possessing. It's not fair to make Shelby pay for something he didn't do. You wouldn't do that to a human being."

"I didn't know you were an animal lover."

"I'm not. I just believe in justice and killing him wouldn't be justice"

"Not to admit you're fond of the animal?"

"That's beside the point."

"I get what you're saying. So what do we do with him?"

"Take him to Clark. It's his dog and he's exorcised Zod before, right"
---

"So this is Zod?" Clark said, looking at Shelby. "It explains why I found teeth marks on one of my pens. It's actually fairly clever. No one would expect it. He succeeds in breaking us up or killing one of us and then goes to a future that he can dominate and rule in human form."

"Thank you for narrating the obvious, Smallville," Lois said. "How do you get him out?"

"I don't know."

"How did you get him out of Lex?"

"I had him touch this Kryptonian emblem and it trapped him in it but it's already occupied by the present Zod."

Matthew held up the emblem with the House of El symbol. "I brought it with me. I had a hunch that you might need a future one."

"Who are you?" Lois asked.

"Child number 4," Matthew answered bashfully.

"Of course, you are," she said. "I should have known, dumb question. I just hope no more people show up from the future."

Since Zod trapped himself in a dog's body, it wasn't hard to get him to touch it with his paw.

Matthew took it back. "I'll take care of it. The mission's complete. It's time to put things back to normal," and he took out a weird gadget that had to have been from the future.

TBC