"Confess what exactly?" Clark queried oblivious to what Bruce was about to tell him.

"I know about your powers. The strength and with that, speed. I know about the meteors being extra-terrestrial and how you're from the same planet as them." Bruce then went into the details. Telling Clark of his findings and his conclusions about the meteor's. He left out some important details such as the involvement with Lionel and his E.T cheerleading squad that had been waiting for Clarks landing as he found that those issues were irrelevant in the long term about how Bruce found out about his powers. He did add in some warning about the Luthor's and told Clark to be wary of them but other than that he didn't go into detail the extent of Lex's fascination with Clark.

By the end of Bruce's speech Clark had gone still, his skin had dulled gradually throughout leaving him pale in the glow of the fire. Bruce gave him a minute to digest but the mind of an eleven year old couldn't stomach silent contemplation (unless it was himself) for long and grew eager with his questions. Finally he gave up and started "Well say something."

Clark just gaped for a moment and moved his mouth a few times until words came out "So, you've known all this time?"

"Of course." Bruce felt he needed more encouragement. "I'm not going to tell anyone."

"You're not?" Clark asked unsure

"No. I'm not an idiot. Do you have any idea what they would do with you if word of your origin got out? The world would be doomed." He was offended that Clark even thought that Bruce would betray him in that way.

Clark nodded at that and jumped up suddenly animated with a newfound purpose. He paced the short expanse of the living room switching speeds from normal to faster than Bruce could follow and all the while he was muttering to himself. Bruce caught snippets about how his parents would be so disappointed and that Chloe and Pete were probably right.

"I'm not a spy." Bruce muttered sulking into the fire. He was annoyed that Clark worried about others when he was talking with Bruce. He should have been at least somewhat happy that he now had someone to share his powers with.

Clark turned with a wary look on his face "I never said you were."

"You didn't but your friend Chloe and Pete did." He spoke remembering the conversation he had overheard whilst he was trapped in the torch's vent.

Clark ran his hands through his hair "Wait but that was when I was at school. How do you know about that conversation and you've never even met Chloe and Pete how ... just how?" He was riling himself up so Bruce tried to calm him down.

"It doesn't matter how I know about it. The main thing you should be concentrating on is telling me more about your origin. I'm guessing your planet had a different gravitational pull than ours it would explain why you're able to do these amazing feats of strength if the atmosphere is lighter."

"Yeah I guess." Clark said distractedly still staring unnervingly at Bruce

"So you are an alien." Bruce confirmed to himself. Clark looked shocked at having revealed himself all over again.

"You didn't know!" He almost shouted

"Not for certain. I had theories but your admission if most helpful to me." Bruce smiled. "Thank you."

"Get out!" Clark bellowed pointing at the door

"What?"

"Out. Out of my house now."

Clark was furious with him and practically shaking from holding it in so Bruce complied. He sent a quick text to Alfred to come pick him up and left the farm house to sit at the edge of their drive. No doubt Clark was going to tell his parents that Bruce knew and also try and console Lana when he remembered that she was currently breaking down in her own house but he didn't really care. He would give Clark some space to work through what Bruce had revealed then go back and inquire to his hearts content. It was all a matter of patience and Bruce did have a week and a half left in Smallville, he could wait.

Alfred turned up ten minutes after Bruce had texted him. He looked like he had broken some speeding laws to get there as the tyres squealed to a stop. Bruce took one last look at the farmhouse before joining Alfred in the car. Alfred was happy that Bruce was alright but asked why he texted him instead of letting Clark drive him back at nine.

"He had a study date with this girl. I didn't want to interrupt." Alfred didn't look convinced but knew better than to ask him what the real reason was.

The ride back to the hotel was silent as was the rest of the night as Bruce was left on his own when Alfred went out. Lionel had convinced Alfred to go around to do who knows what so in the politeness that was ingrained in Alfred he had to attend. Bruce declined saying that he was tired which was partially true, the fright with the bat from hell had taken most of his energy away from him so he soon went to sleep after Alfred left.

Bruce found in the days to follow that Smallville without Clark as his guide was hideously boring. He had managed to starve off another meeting with Lionel and Lex until Sunday when they would be spending the day and night at the manor. It was Friday and Bruce was no sooner prepared for that than he was for his parents dying. He shouldn't joke. His parents death had spared him but Sunday would kill him.

It wasn't even as if he had anything better to do to waste the days until then either. Clark seemed adamant in avoiding Bruce which was relatively easy when he had superpowers and Bruce was lost in this town without a map. He had seen some of his friends, Lana had outright glared at him with her boyfriend later apologising for her (Bruce found it rather hilarious) and Chloe was always hanging around on the outskirts of his vision. Taking notes and watching him like he was on some wildlife documentary. He hadn't called her out on it yet and wasn't going to unless he was really bored. Something like that needed savouring and planning.

So Bruce was stuck walking in the fields and taking in some much needed (in Alfred's opinion) sunlight. He had found a trail that led to a lake on the bottom of Smallville and was enjoying the serenity of the place. He practiced some of his martial arts on the trees and was satisfied that it actually made a noise now. He had taken them before his parents died as his ambition when he was younger was to become to Gray Ghost's sidekick and as his father had pointed he was going to need some way of protecting himself from the bad guys. So he began taking Karate lessons, it had soon grew into three different martial arts a week after his parents died and four after his expulsion. Alfred had almost taken him out of them claiming that if he wasn't taking them then he wouldn't have been able to break that boys leg. Bruce had said that he would have found another way to hurt him and it would probably have been worse than a clean break. So Alfred relented.

Occasionally during his walk he would see some tracks mostly a rabbits and follow them to see if he could successfully sneak up on them. So far he had jumped a hare, got kicked by a rabbit and almost bitten by a fox. The brightside was that they didn't hear him until he tried to capture them. He had currently spotted a robin hanging from a branch not far ahead. Birds were tricky because they were flighty for no reason, land animals would stop and listen where birds would naturally fly off so this was a true test for Bruce's sneaking skills.

He had perfected making his footsteps light enough to make minimalistic sound and his brain catalogued the path ahead to unconsciously pick out the quietest root. He knew to stick to less twiggy area's and even get to a log or rock to avoid the ground completely. When Bruce reached the tree closest to the one the robin was sitting in he hoisted himself slowly up the branches until he got to one directly leading to the robin's tree. He edged along the branch and was half way there when he hear a snap.

The branch he was on was sturdy enough to hold his weight all the way across so he didn't dwell on his impending doom from a tree. Not that it mattered now that the robin had flew away. Bruce sighed and began to make his way more noisily back to the trunk of the tree when he heard another snap. It was closer than the last one but coming from a different direction. It was loud in its break so the thing must have been big. The other snap was too. People then. Bruce didn't worry, the locals probably used this trail all the time so he continued in his walk back.

It was only when he felt a prickling in his neck that he worried. He reached back and pulled out a dart. Sleeping tranquilizer was all he could think before his vision went black and his body fell from the tree.

Bruce woke up but kept his limbs slack like Alfred had taught him to do. He was sitting in a chair that was rather uncomfortable. He had an itch on his nose that was going to drive him crazy and his left leg had fell asleep. Unfortunately he couldn't do anything about it because his arms and legs were tied to the chair. Bruce knew all of this without opening his eyes. He had leant by now that when he got kidnapped it was better to faux sleep and gather your surroundings than alert your kidnappers to your wakefulness. So he kept his eyes closed and his breathing low and regulated. His head felt rather light and he suspected that he must have hit it on his decent from the tree. The lack of other injuries suggests that they had someone underneath ready to catch Bruce as he fell.

He listened closely. Four people were in the room with him all of which were men. They were speaking in hushed tones and clicking things in their hands presumably guns. From the sounds of them they were state of the art, none of them were catching and had a smooth sound to them that could only be found in quality material. Bruce had a better idea about who had arranged this. The voices of the men echoes slightly. They were holding Bruce in a warehouse most likely an office as the echo didn't travel far but had a metal quality to it. An office meant that there would be a hallway and probably more armed men since the kidnapper could afford it. He wouldn't be coming here though Bruce knew that much. He was here as bait with Alfred being the catch of the day. Well played Lionel.

Bruce supposed that he could play along but then it was always fun to spoil rich men's days. He sighed which was an alert to the guards that he was 'waking up' and went through the motions of confusingly looking around the room. In actual fact he was gathering the interior of his cell. It was an office like he had thought. The factory was run down and the chair he was sitting in was behind a large desk. The men had their guns and face masks two of them threateningly coming closer to Bruce warning him not to do anything he might regret.

Bruce pretended to be frightened and worked out a plan. "Wh- Where am I?"

Behind him was a pipe that if he shuffled back towards he would reach. He did just that making it look like he was struggling to get out of his bonds.

"Who are you people?"

The pipe was old and the metal that had kept it secured on the wall was loose and sharp. Sharp enough to cut zip ties.

"What do you want? Money. I have money. At least my guardian does, please let me phone him and I'll get you whatever you want."

He relaxed his hands and angled them up whilst keeping his biceps straight. He bent forward in what appeared to be a pose of submission but was just so he could reach the metal. The men refused to answer Bruce's pleas and questions as they had probably been told to do, they were yes men after all. So Bruce continued bargaining to no one whilst slowly undoing his bonds. It took five minutes for the ties to be cut and for Bruce to catch them before they hit the ground in his 'bound' hands. The next part of freeing his legs would be slightly more difficult. Unlike his hands they were tied with rope which would take much longer for him to cut. The metal would be no use to him as he wouldn't be able to snap it off himself and even if he could he couldn't get it around to his legs without the men noticing.

Bruce took hold of the zip wire in his hands and moved it so it looked like it was tying his hands together. He then shuffled back towards the desk making another tantrum like display for his audience until his legs up to his groin was hidden beneath the desk. It had reached the stage where normal people would be through trying to bargain with their silent captives and Bruce mentally braced himself for the next humiliation. He started hiccupping and thinking about anything he could that made him want to cry, his parents, Lana, Clark's stupidity. Tears crept down Bruce's face and he really tried to make it look genuine by not overdoing it by wailing or underselling it by being silent. He added the right amount of moans and whimpers that would make a professional actor jealous all the while he was making his escape. What people fail to understand when your legs are bound is that your clothing acts as a barrier between you and the rope. So long as you have some space between the rope and your skin you aren't completely bound. Under the table Bruce used the side of the chair to edge his shoes off before moving his legs slowly up and down the chair. Rope gave if you strained it so he had to put some strength into pushing on the rope whilst he moved his legs. He kept the pressure constant until he felt he had enough room to get his legs up to his ankles free and pushed back against the chair and slid his legs up. They moved like he thought up to his ankles. Bruce still had his socks on and as his captives hadn't ventured around the Bruce's end of the desk he was fine moving his legs around openly so long as he didn't hit the top of the desk. He tried to hook his socks under the rope and managed on the third try. They rode up so that the top of his socks were at the top of the rope and Bruce used this as like a peel to slip his feet out of the rope.

Half an hour after he woke up captive, Bruce was free of his bonds. Now all he had to do was escape. The men at the door were busy playing cards whilst their guns lay on their laps pointed towards the door. It would take them roughly twenty seconds to get them in position and fire them inaccurately the first time and hit target at least for the one on the left the second time. The other two were trying not to look at Bruce but had nothing to do so one stood facing the wall with his gun in his hand whilst the other looked out of the window that was mostly boarded up in the small office. Their reaction time was quicker and would mean that Bruce would have no interval before they tried to shoot at him. Which they would. They probably had no qualms with harming the cargo so long as he stayed where he was supposed to.

Bruce looked around for anything that could be of use to him whilst he went into another round of sobbing. So far he had a closed vent he could fit into if he had time to unscrew it, a chair which he was currently seated on and a desk. He needed to close off this room to the others and take these four out at the same time. Bruce pushed at the desk with his chest and found that it was moveable but he would need to wait for the right time.

Over the next ten minutes Bruce quietened down his sobbing and lay his head down so it looked like he had cried himself to sleep. There was chatter amongst the men when they were certain he was out. It was mostly talk about what they were going to buy with their money. But Bruce wasn't interested in that, what he was interested in was their positions. He listened as the voices drifted around the room until three out of the four were standing near the door. It was the best situation he was going to get. He waited until the fourth person had turned his back on Bruce to look out of the window before he slowly brought his arms forward to grip the desk underneath, he was going to have to be quick. He put all of his strength into his legs and pushed towards the men at the door. It worked as they remained too shocked to get out of the desks path. It collided with all three of them capturing them between it and the closed door in between them. Their guns were scattered but Bruce paid no attention to them and turned to the fourth. He sprinted towards the chair he had left before throwing it at the man who had tried to take aim at Bruce. The chair got him in his middle sending him backwards and Bruce yanked the gun out of his hand before he could make any attempt to fire it and smashed it into the guards face. He went out cold as the other three winded men got out behind the desk.

Bruce ran over to where the other guns lay and piled them up with his foot behind him in the corner. The other men were now unarmed with an armed eleven year old in the way of their ammo.

"You do not want to do this kid." One of them taunted.

The other two lunged at the same time and Bruce only managed to hit one of them before the other grabbed the gun out of his hand. Bruce didn't need a gun but it did make it more problematic now one of them was armed again. He yanked his arm out of the guys hand and kneed him in the groin before swinging his leg around and hitting the other in the back of the knee. He buckled instantly and Bruce elbowed him in the face, hard. He guessed he broke the guys nose by the crack and blood that emerged but Bruce didn't care as he lay a punch the opposite way to the guy. Two down another two to go.

The one who hadn't made a lunge for the guns was trying to get around the back of Bruce while he was busy knocking out his friend. Bruce aimed a kick at the guy's knees. The guard was smarter and saw the kick coming grabbing Bruce's foot before it could make contact. It didn't help much in the long term for the guard as Bruce knew when to use leverage when he got it and used the excess momentum from the sudden stop to swing his other leg up higher thanks to the man's catch and get him in the head. He went down and caught his head on the floor. The last one left had got his gun back and had it pointed at Bruce. He really hated guns. Bruce feinted to the left and as the man let a shot go off in that direction Bruce whacked the gun from his hands and kneed him again in the groin. He fell down and Bruce grabbed his head to smash on his knee to render him unconscious.

All four of them were defeated but there was a lot of noise not to mention a gun shot. The others would be here shortly. Bruce ran back to the desk and pushed it to cover the entry way. He even propped the chair up for extra strength. The vent was his easiest way of getting out of the room but he didn't know the blue prints of the warehouse. Deciding to worry about that later Bruce looked in the desk for something small and slim to get the vent open. There was nothing there. Growling in frustration he looked around the room for something he could use when his eyes landed on the playing cards from earlier. Grouping together three cards he used them to open the screws on the vents just as the knocking began on the closed door. Working quickly Bruce soon had it open and gathered the screws in his hands and the playing cards in his pocket and entered the vent.

It was worse than the one in Smallville high and darker too. Bruce had to feel his way around which didn't help his stealth so much. The men had broken into the room, he could hear them shouting and trying to figure out where Bruce had went. The vent went up and Bruce put his legs to good use to reach the top. He began to wonder if they figured out where he went when the first shot was fired into the wall. It hit not far below where Bruce was climbing and urged him to go faster. More shots followed and when Bruce became vertical again he knew he would have to get out of there soon. He passed two openings before he found a one he could get down from. It was high up on the warehouse ceiling but there was a pile of boxes that reached halfway up which would break his fall, he hoped. The men were spread out on the factory floor pointing their guns everywhere.

Bruce quietly unscrewed the vent and caught the screws and the lid placing them further inside of the dark abyss that was hiding Bruce. He lowered himself to his hands and jumped into the boxes below him. They all went inwards and everywhere, spreading outwards and hiding Bruce as he fell. His landing was hard and he was pretty sure something had snapped but he felt fine as he scrambled to his feet. The chaos that his fall had caused was brilliant with helping him find a hiding spot. He evaded the guards until he was under the conveyer belt in the corner. He was next to the door but knew it was going to be locked. That would be the first thing they would do. So he looked towards the windows. Three were broken and most were boarded up but right at the top there was a window that was broken but not boarded and let in most of the light in the dank warehouse.

Bruce rolled his eyes knowing that it would have been easier to get to the window from the vents. Next time he would have to calculate faster his route of escape. The conveyer belt that he was under stretched up beyond the window but was a fair gap from it. Bruce would have to chance it, but not before he created a distraction for his befuddled friends.

Grabbing a sheet and a tin he wrapped the sheet around it and tied it off with a piece of lace that some teenager must have left behind. Bruce sneaked his way over to the hallway that was around the left of the building and journeyed down to the end of it. He turned the corner and lay the tin can down so that its black tip showed, from the hallway it would look like a shoe. Bruce stalked back to the opening of the hallway and hoisted himself up above the doorway. It was hard to balance himself on it so he made quick work of his distraction. Making an agonized sound loud enough for the men to hear he braced himself as they ran into the hallway. Bruce was rather alarmed at the quickness at which they pulled the trigger on 'Bruce' and didn't feel as bad as he should have as he tumbled into the main room and closed the door on them. He barricaded them inside that part of the warehouse and after making a quick check to see that he didn't leave anyone behind began his climb to the top of the conveyer belt.

The next part made Bruce's brain cringe. It was rather a long way down and the hole wasn't that big, he was going to have scratches. Unfastening his belt he pulled it from around his trousers and made it into a loop again. He braced himself then leapt and used the belt as and extension of his arm to catch the broken window. Bruce's belt swung him towards the window but the glass wasn't strong enough to hold his weight and cracked under the belt. When Bruce himself banged into it the glass broke off outwards spraying the outside world and Bruce with shards.

Bruce was right, he was covered in scratches some of them long and some of them short. The worst one was one that was on his hand. He had a shard of glass the size of his finger pointing up at him from the back of his hand. It really hurt and Bruce tried not to cry in pain. He gathered his belt and secured it on some of the longer gashes on his arms that had been exposed due to his short shirt and kept the shard in his hand to prevent any more extensive blood loss.

Bruce recognized where he was. Clark had shown it to him when he was trying to scare him the second day he was here. Telling Bruce about how the Luthor factory had been experimenting on people there making them into zombies so they had to close it down. Utter bullshit but Bruce humoured Clark none the less. Right now though he was rather glad that Clark had shown him this warehouse and made his way south. It was a five minute run to the Kent farm from here. Quicker than going to Alfred and he couldn't call him anyway since they had taken his phone. Bruce didn't care if Clark didn't want to see him, he needed help and Clark was nearest.

Bruce was panting by the time he knocked on the Kent's door but managed to pull himself together as he heard footsteps approaching. The door opened and Bruce was ecstatic to see that it was Clark and not his parents.

"I don't suppose your powers include healing people do they?" Bruce joked

Clark looked horrified before ushering Bruce inside towards their kitchen. "Oh my God what happened?"

"I got kidnapped. It happens." Bruce shrugged as Clark pulled out the first aid kit and went to work on his glass sculpture of a hand.

If anything Bruce's answer horrified Clark more "What. But. Who? How did you get away?"

"Lionel. I suspect he was having me kidnapped so when the police put out a search and he's the one who finds me in the eyes of Alfred he will be a hero and therefore a trustworthy person. Not to mention it's always nice to have the upper hand in business. We would practically owe the Luthors our company if he managed to succeed."

"Lionel? I always knew he was untrustworthy but to do this..."

"It happens." Bruce said. It did and this wasn't the first or last time he was going to be the subject of a kidnapping.

"Right. So how did you get away?" Clark finished with Bruce's hand and moved up to the belt.

"I fought some of them off and trapped the others. They were rather stupid, much like you." Bruce winced as one of the gashes started to sting from the antiseptic.

"You fought them?" Clark seemed questionable "Alone? With no help?"

"Yes" Bruce said hesitantly. "Like I said it wasn't hard. I only got these because I misread the strength a common window holds. Shan't be doing that again."

Clark patched up the rest of Bruce's scratches in silence and although Bruce was aching to question Clark about his powers he held his tongue. "I'm going to phone Alfred and tell him that you're staying here tonight."

"I am?"

"Who's to say Lionel won't try and come after you again. I'd feel better if you were where I can keep an eye on you." Clark went to retrieve the phone.

"I take it this means we're friends again?" Bruce tried.

Clark looked angry for a moment before responding "So I'm your friend? That's how you see me?"

"Yeah." Bruce said obviously.

"Then why would you put up a pretence. Why would you lie to me? Am I really your friend Bruce or are you just using me to get the answers you want." Clark ranted

Bruce digested this. "I never lied to you Clark. I may have put up a pretence but I never lied. I like spending time with you and I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was using you. I wasn't. I like solving mysteries and that's what drew me to you but I still want to spend time with you now the mystery is solved. I hope that what we had before doesn't change because I told you about how I know."

Clark was silent for a while and just looked at Bruce trying to find something that Bruce couldn't. He sighed "I need to phone Alfred in case the man hunt has already started. After that I'll get you some clothes and we'll watch a movie or something, okay?"

"Okay."