Chapter 4

At the Institute...

In the Professor's office Martha sits in a chair her head in her hands weighed down by the tidal wave of emotions that have been unleashed. She tried to be strong. She did but after 3 long months losing Clark again...this is close to the straw that breaks the camel's back.

"Here," a voice says as a gentle hand is placed on her shoulder.

Martha looks up to find Ororo standing there cup of herbal tea in hand. Martha manages a very weak smile. "Thank you," she says to her friend as she takes the cup with a slightly shaky hand.

"We will find him," Ororo promises her dear friend. Martha sips on the tea.

"Can we track the kid?" Logan asks.

Hank's face is rather grim on that issue. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news at this particular juncture but I looked at his radar track and when he went out of range he was travelling at Mach 7 and still accelerating not to mention he had reached the very edge of space in terms of altitude. By now he could be anywhere on earth."

Charles sits his hands cupped together. "I wonder what it was that set him off," he ponders out-loud.

Rogue, putting on a brave front that hides the boiling turmoil that are her emotions, speaks up to answer this one. "It was lahke he heard something. He covered his ears as if he was hearing something loud...painfully so."

"Did you hear anything?" the Professor asks Rogue back.

Rogue shakes her head.

"It must have been beyond the human hearing range," the Professor concludes.

There is a knock on the door.

"Come in Domino!" Charles beckons her.

Domino opens the door. "Have I mentioned how creepy that is?" the young woman with the bluish-white skin asks since Domino is not someone who holds back from expressing her opinion.

"You have mentioned it on occasion," Charles replies with a small smile.

"Anyway there's someone at the gate. Says she's here to see you."

"Did you get a name?"

"Crosby. Bridgette Crosby."

Virgil's assistant. Charles had left a message for Virgil saying it was urgent they speak. He can only assume she is here because of that. "Please let her in and show her here," Charles requests of Domino.

"Sure Doc. No problem."

"It's Professor. Not Doc."

Domino smirks. "I know," she says as in she does it deliberately just to be annoying.

Logan shakes his head. Like he said he just knew they should never have let her join.

Domino takes one moment to pat Rogue, whom she considers a little sister, on the shoulder in a reassuring manner to let Rogue know she is there for the younger girl as she has been all summer. That done she turns to go fetch their visitor.

A few minutes later Domino returns with the middle-aged brunette woman in tow.

"Ms Crosby," Charles greets her.

"Professor Xavier," Bridgette greets him back.

"Virgil?"

"He is not well at the moment I'm afraid. He requested I come in his place," she informs them and in her voice you can hear worry about Virgil's current state.

Charles gestures at a chair. "Please sit."

Bridgette does so. "Something has happened to Kal-El I assume."

"His nahme is Clark," Rogue spits out in anger. Kal-El is the name of the person who flew away from her.

"Of course. Forgive me," Bridgette requests of Rogue at seeing the passion in the young woman's eyes. "However you must realise his destiny was put into motion long before you met him."

"You don't know a thing about my son!" Martha tells the woman off fed-up to the back teeth of other people trying to dictate what Clark's destiny is.

"You're right," Bridgette says sounding contrite. "You're right. I don't. But I do know what it means to love someone whose calling is greater than your own," she adds, her gaze drifting back to Rogue.

"You and Virgil?" Charles inquiries gently.

"In a different lifetime," Bridgette phrases what it was she and Virgil had once upon a time. Now she lives to help him fulfil his calling. She gets back on topic. "I am here to help. Now tell me where is Kal-El?"

"We don't know," Charles answers.

"He flew," Rogue says in a suddenly weak tone. "He flew away." Once more Domino's hand finds itself on Rogue's shoulder giving a little squeeze. It hurt Domino to see her sister so broken up.

Bridgette's eyebrows move toward each other as she absorbs that. "So he's...he has completely embraced his Kryptonian destiny."

"Do you know what that destiny is?" Martha asks in the hope that it might hold a clue as to where Clark has gone.

"No. Only that it relates to the symbol that was burned into the grounds here."

"Crusade," Rogue repeats the meaning of the symbol.

"But what does that mean?" Ororo asks. "What kind of crusade?"

"Assuming you can even apply what we define a crusade to be," Hank modifies the thinking. "Clark's people may have had an entirely different understanding of its meaning."

"This...this is Jor-El's doing. He did something to him," Martha gives her view on what has happened. "But Clark is still in there somewhere deep down," she believes and then gives the reason why she believes that. "When we found him he recognised Rogue."

Bridgette thinks some more. "There are only two challenges to a father's will. A mother's love," she explains looking at Martha before her gaze moves onto Rogue once more. "Or the love only two hearts beating in sync can know."

"A confrontation with Clark is not something we desire," Charles tells Bridgette.

Bridgette reaches into her bag and pulls out a small square box she brought along...that Virgil told her to bring along as if he somehow knew beforehand what was going on. She opens it and inside is a black rock. "You won't have to. This is black kryptonite. If Clark is still there as you believe this is the method through which you can reach him but he will still need your belief and love to give him the strength to return to you."

"Yeah that's great," Logan says, sounding as far away from enthused as possible. "Now maybe you can conjure up just where we can find him," he says with total sarcasm.

"In the end all journeys travel full circle and we end up back where we began."

Martha understands. She knows where this began. "Smallville."

The Libyan desert, near the Egyptian border...

In the skies above the desert the jet Cypher managed to hack has been shot down and the other pilots look down upon the fight that is taking place between their fellow SHIELD agents and Magneto's acolytes awaiting orders whether they are to intervene or not.

Black Widow hits Sabretooth with a long concentrated blast from her bracelets. The amount of current she just blasted into the feral mutant would have killed a normal man. On Sabretooth it sends him rolling across the sand, his fur smoking before he comes to a stop on his all fours and glares at her with a growl. She looks at him coldly. She finally has enough distance between them to order this. "Agent Morse. Target the subject in front of me and fire," she instructs the pilot of the jet in best firing position.

A jet swoops in and unleashes a hail of bullets designed to shoot other aircraft down. They rip into Sabretooth's flesh causing immense damage. Widow strides over him as he bleeds out into the sand. Not enough to kill him but even Creed will require a good few hours to recover from damage that extensive. He accused her of going soft. She doubts he is thinking that now.

Hawkeye is still trying to avoid getting crushed by the large metal mutant. He rolls out of the way of another blow and unleashes another explosive tipped arrow which he knows won't put the guy down but it will buy him a few seconds.

Clint blows out a breath as the smoke dissipates and his foe remains standing. "I've got to know something," he says. "How do you manage to keep yourself so shiny looking? Some kind of special polish? You know I have some trophies back home that could do with a shine like that so how about you do a guy a favour and share your secret."

Colossus says nothing and stomps back at his opponent.

"Great. The strong silent type...not that you are my type by the way. I'm into women...not that I have anything against people who swing the other way. I don't...and I really should stop digging this hole for myself," Hawkeye says unable to believe that he got himself into it.

"Morse to Hawkeye," is the incoming call to his communicator.

"Not the best time Bobbi," he criticises her. Hawkeye is busy back dodging Colossus. He fires an arrow that delivers an electric charge. As it hits Colossus cries out and staggers back. 'Duh,' Clint suddenly thinks to himself. Metal conducts electricity. He should have remembered that. Colossus shakes it off and moves toward Hawkeye again.

"It was never the best time for you was it Clint," Bobbi Morse says sounding bitter.

"You're going to drag that up now?" he exclaims about the fact that she is his ex and they broke up and she blames him totally. Hawkeye suddenly finds himself being thrown through the air as Colossus manages to land a partial blow thanks in part to Bobbi distracting him. Clint rolls across the sand before spitting some out that got in his mouth. "Yuck. I hate sand!" he complains.

"You hate commitment too," Bobbi adds bitterly about what broke her and Clint up in her opinion. His unwillingness to commit.

Clint gets to his feet. "Bobbi the Iron Giant is trying to squash me flatter than my credit rating so was there something you wanted other than to burn my buns?"

"There's something on the radar coming in fast and I can't contact Colonel Fury."

"Well can you be more specific Bobbi? What is it? A bird? A plane?"

"I..." Bobbi's reply is cut off as twin red beams slice into her jet followed swiftly by the same twin red beams slicing into every jet in the sky. Luckily all the pilots manage to eject before the jets crash down in the desert.

This actually brings about a pause in the fighting as everyone looks and tries to figure out what just happened. Clint squints his eyes as she looks up in the sky and spots a small dark spot that is getting larger indicating something that is coming towards them very very fast. So fast it appears as nothing more than a blur.

Whatever it is collides into the ground a short distance away making the ground shake and throwing up a huge cloud of sand. When the sand clears what is revealed in a young man dressed all in black. He takes in the scene with a cold dispassionate look from his cerulean blue eyes before he takes a stride forward towards the temple.

"Hey! You! In the slimming black!" Hawkeye yells.

Kal-El looks at the archer but doesn't stop walking forward.

Hawkeye pulls one of his last few arrows out and loads up his bow. "Last warning!" he yells.

Kal-El stops. "You are no match for me," he states arrogantly. "You impugn the sanctity of the stone with your presence," he frankly insults everyone.

"Impugn?" Hawkeye queries at the use of that word. "Boy you have no idea how many puns I can reel off right now but I've been having a hectic day and I don't have the space in my schedule."

"I shall waste no more time conversing with you," Kal-El says dismissively before he sucks in a large breath.

"What are you going to do?" Hawkeye asks at the boy's actions. "Huff, puff and blow the house down?"

Kal-El then unleashes from his lips hurricane force winds that raise the desert sands into a maelstrom.

"Me and my big mouth," Hawkeye grumbles as his face is stung by the grains of sand and the visibility becomes practically zero.

Back in the temple Lex gets back to his feet as his father and Magneto continue to fight. Lex has to say he is surprised his father has lasted this long. It can be amazing what Lionel can do when he is motivated. Lex then feels something poking into his back.

"Don't even think of moving baldy," Live Wire instructs in her usual acerbic tone. "My finger is loaded and dangerous," she says in reference to her index finger she is poking into Lex's back. All it takes is a moment and she fries him with enough voltage to light a city.

Lex is unsure what this mutant is capable of but it would be foolish not to consider she can do what she threatens. Then he hears a scuffle sound and Live Wire is thrown away from him. Lex turns round to find Fury standing there.

Live Wire rolls to a stop and sneers angrily at who dared touch her. "You've just made your first and last mistake old man," she threatens darkly as she gets to her feet. "You thought that jolt I gave you before was something..." Live Wire arcs electricity between her fingers. "By the time I'm done I'll make your hair stand on end for the next million years or so."

"Your perchance for meaningless verbal threats has not changed I see Leslie Willis."

Everyone stops and looks to the doorway where Kal-El now stands. The sandstorm he had thrown up had provided ample cover for him to reach here without further bother.

Live Wire's lips curl up into a smoky smile. "Well dayum!" she proclaims. "Black is really your colour."

Kal-El looks at her dismissively. "I have no interest in your desire for fornication. I have a destiny to fulfil. I am here for the stone," he states his intentions.

Live Wire sighs. "Handsome why do we always end up fighting?" she asks disappointed that she has to fight a guy this good looking.

"There will be no fighting. You are no threat."

Live Wire frowns a little insulted by that. "Hey. I knocked you off your feet last time."

"You knocked my weak human personality off his feet. He is no more and I am now in possession of the full powers of a true Kryptonian."

"I have no idea what that means but I'm going to zap you now."

Kal-El's eyes narrow and he once more inhales. Before Live Wire can unleash her power he unleashes his as a sub-zero blast comes from his lips freezing Live Wire solid in a block of ice. He then holds his hand out in Lex's direction and the stone flies from Lex's hand into his. "Since I cannot allow you to continue to risk violating the sanctity of my heritage I am afraid you all must be eliminated," he announces and his eyes glow red. The two beams slice into the remaining columns holding what remains of the roof up which promptly starts its final and total collapse.

When the dust settles Kal-El can see that those who dare desecrate this place are buried. That will suffice he decides as he bends his knees and shoots straight up and away into the sky.

A few minutes after he leaves bright electrical energy can been seen from beneath the rubble. With a cry of rage and power Live Wire shatters her icy prison and blasts the debris off of her. She looks around and spots a red gloved hand sticking out of the rubble. Well she better help him...or should she?

Live Wire has this urge that she should leave him where he is as payback for...something. She grabs her head as pains shoots through it. Leslie Willis...what that guy called her. That's her name. She remembers that and...and...

Live Wire lets out a mental cry of frustration. It just won't quite come back to her. She hears Magneto moan and the instinct to obey and be loyal to him kicks back in and she goes and digs him out of the rubble. "You ok boss?"

Magneto hides the pain he is in and stands straight. He can't show weakness. "I am fine," he says in a firm tone.

"Is it me or was that freezing breath thing new?" she has to inquiry because when she was sent to battle that boy during the whole set-up to reveal mutants to the world she studied him as much as Magneto gave her information to study and as far as she can remember he couldn't do what he just did to her.

Magneto must confess that it is new as far as he understands Clark Kent's powers. There was also the strange words he spoke as if Clark Kent was an alternative personality and this new one has taken over. Then there was how he summoned the stone to him. Telekinesis? Possibly.

Something strange is going on with the boy. Magneto already knew this from the lies Charles has been telling on his tv interviews about Clark Kent that something had to be going on but he had not made it a priority to discover what. After this that will have to change.

"Where's the kid?" Live Wire asks looking around for Cypher. In fact she has not seen the kid since they set off that booby trap.

Magneto looks around for any sign of Cypher too but there is none. Then he can hear voices approaching...voices of SHIELD agents. He could deal with them or allow Live Wire to but with the stone taken this little escapade has now met with total failure. There is no longer any reason to continue this confrontation. In fact since Fury is buried somewhere under all this it is in fact the perfect time to depart. He begins to float up off the floor to head out through the destroyed roof.

"We leaving?" Live Wire queries.

"Yes."

"What about the kid?"

Cypher's powers would be useful but he already translated most of the journal. Magneto can finish it himself or find and coerce someone else to do so. "There is no time," he tells Live Wire as there is no time to try and find Cypher in his opinion without having to continue this fight with SHIELD which Magneto has lost all interest in. He soars upward ordering Live Wire to follow him.

Live Wire isn't really one for caring much about others but even to her this seems a heartless act. However Mags is the boss. His word is her order...at least until she gets her memory back. Then Live Wire...then Leslie she recalls her name to be...then all bets are off that day. She transforms into her lightning form and rockets into the sky after Magneto.

Shortly after they leave several SHIELD agents enter looking for Colonel Fury. They call out his name and some rubble shifts. They rush over and start to shift the stonework...to reveal Lionel Luthor still alive but in bad looking shape.

"Colonel!" one agent shouts hoping to get a response and therefore Fury's location.

"I'm here," a haggard looking Fury responds as he emerges from the shadows at the edge of the room having managed to avoid being hit by the falling stonework.

In the meantime his agents have also managed to dig Lex out who you could count as walking wounded. He has a bleeding cut on his head but somehow managed to not be too badly hurt.

Fury mentally snorts. Of course those two would survive. Then again he still needs Lionel for whatever information he can extract and after this débâcle Fury is going to get every answer he wants out of Lionel or so help him...

"Help me," a weak voice calls out from some place nearby. Fury's head snaps round to where it came from. He calls his agents over and they start digging until they find a blond haired boy quite badly injured.

"Call in an emergency evac," Fury orders since they were done here. Although he was not done with this situation. He knows who that boy is. He's one of Xavier's. He's the one who use to go out and play hero as the 'Bayville Blur'. Well once they get back to the States Fury intends to be paying a visit to that school and have a talk with that kid.

Outside the temple Magneto finds the air filled with sand which is only just beginning to settle. He reaches out with his powers and disarms every SHIELD agent and then turns their weapons round to point at them. "This battle is over!" he pronounces. "Let us leave and you won't be harmed," he tells them. He cares little for their lives but killing them would only anger SHIELD further and he is not ready for a full scale war just yet.

"I think not," Widow declares aiming her bracelets at him. Live Wire materialises in front of her and holds her hand out. Electrical energy surges out of Widow's bracelets into Live Wire. "Hmm. Thanks for the pick-me up doll," she says having absorbed the entire charge of the bracelets. "Piece of advice honey. Don't try to use electrical devices against the Mistress of Electricity." Live Wire grins crookedly. "Ooh Mistress of Electricity," she repeats what she just called herself with an amused cackle. "I like that one. I'll have to remember it but in short I eat electricity for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

"I'll remember that," Widow promises for next time as she lowers her arms. This fight is lost. She can see that but next time...

"Colossus retrieve Sabretooth!" Magneto orders at the sight of the shot-up mutant. "Gambit get Pyro. Sandman get Ruckus. We are leaving," he decrees as he summons the transportation spheres to him.

The aforementioned mutants retrieve their colleagues and place them in the spheres before they, Live Wire and Magneto step in their spheres and they soar off into the sky and out of sight.

"Well that was a complete bust," Hawkeye complains, angry at how badly this has gone.

"Tell me something I don't know," Fury says as he appears out of the thin layer of sand still blowing around. His face is grim at what he perceives as a total failure.

"Who's the kid?" Hawkeye asks at the sight of the boy being carried on a makeshift stretcher by a couple of SHIELD agents.

"I guess he is what Magneto calls collateral damage."

Black Widow moves next to the boy and brushes some blond hair caked with blood off his face. "Magneto left him behind," she assumes.

"Maybe when he is awake we'll get some intel. Evac is en route," Fury informs them. He turns back to look at the now half-collapsed temple. He'll need every inch of that examined. Maybe there are inscriptions inside or something. They'll see. He sees Lionel getting carried out of the temple and his son limping out. Fury guesses he'll have to put up with those 2 problems for awhile longer yet.

Hawkeye sits himself down on the sand. Until the evac jets got here there was little else to do except rest and lament this disaster. To his mild surprise Natasha sits down next to him which gets a not so friendly glare out of the blond woman standing nearby that is his ex Bobbi Morse. "So I have got to know. Who won the bet?" he asks about his bet of getting a date out of her.

"It was a tie," Natasha replies. He took down Pyro. She took down Sabretooth.

"Oh I have to disagree there. Bobbi was the one who downed Sabretooth." he argues not letting her get away with that.

"I never agreed to the bet Clint."

"You never said no either."

"I also have no interest in getting involved in your issues with Agent Morse."

"Bobbi has the issues about letting go. Not me...and you still haven't said no."

"No."

"Is that a no I agree I haven't said no or no I'm not upholding the bet?"

Natasha smiles. "No."

"You're doing this on purpose," Clint complains at her infuriating refusal to be specific.

Natasha smiles wider. "No."

Clint throws his arms up. "I hate you!"

"No," Natasha repeats almost laughing...well laughing on the inside. No-one could tell by looking at her.

Smallville...

The x-jet is parked as close as they could risk it to the Kawatche caves but still within the woods where they could camouflage it. In Clark's case that is no guarantee he won't spot it but here the X-Men wait eyes glued to the radar.

A blip appears on the outer edge of the scope.

"Is that him?" Kitty asks.

Beast peers closely at its profile comparing it to the one that was picked up at the mansion when Clark departed. "The size and shape correspond to Clark," Beast confirms.

"How fast is he moving?" Scott wonders.

"I believe he may be taking it easy. His velocity is less than when he departed the mansion. Mach 3...and slowing as he approaches. We only have a few minutes though."

Charles looks to the two people who insisted on going in first and amongst the many arguments against that they pointed out that if too many go to confront Clark they risk spooking him and they can't be certain how he'll react in the state he is currently in. Charles had to concede they had a point. However Charles is extremely uncomfortable with this. "Martha. Rogue," he addresses them. "You must go now. The X-Men will follow at a safe distance."

Martha and Rogue nod and steel themselves for what is about to follow as they disembark the x-jet and hurriedly head towards the caves. Neither of them were going to be dissuaded from taking the risk of this if there is any chance of getting Clark back.

"Just to put it on record I am not happy about this," Logan expresses his view on this plan. He liked Space Boy as much as he likes anyone but with Clark's mind wired up who knows what way they were taking a great risk with Martha's and Rogue's lives.

"I agree," Charles replies. "You should go now. That is enough distance."

Scott nods, slips into his leader mode and orders the X-Men off the jet and on the trail of Martha and Rogue. If it doesn't go to plan they are the back-up. Scott really hopes this goes to plan because a fight with Clark is essentially the last thing he wants but if it comes to it that is what the lead box he is holding is for with the green variety of kryptonite within.

Kal-El lands outside the caves with a thud. He glances down at the stone in his hand. 1 stone. One third on the way to the destiny his father set in motion long ago. He strides purposefully inside and comes to the slot on the wall for the key. He raises his right hand and within his palm a light seems to glow under his skin. He places his hand on top of the slot and the energy activates the slot. Symbols light up around the slot. He touches them in the correct sequence and the cave wall opens to reveal a hidden alcove. He walks through the narrow opening into a larger space in the middle of which stands a pedestal covered in Kryptonian writing. In the centre of the top of the pedestal is a depression in the shape of a shield. Inside the depression are 3 symbols carved. One for air, one for fire, one for water. The 3 elements.

Kal-El looks down at the crystal. Inscribed on it is the symbol for fire. He places it in the place marked for it. He then looks up. "I have done as required," he says. "I have retrieved the stone from the humans."

"You have done well my son," Jor-El praises him.

"Thank you father."

"The other two must be retrieved before the humans find them. The knowledge of their locations I have already placed in your mind."

"Yes father...but why are the locations in the forms of puzzles?" he queries at the information he can see in his mind. It is not simply his father telling him where they are. They are puzzles to be solved.

"A test. You must solve them and prove you are worthy."

"I understand," he says. A Kryptonian only becomes of age once he has overcome many trials. Kal-El thinks about his next move. He requires more information to solve these puzzles. They refer to obscure aspects of human history and mythology. He must do research. He turns and departs. Upon leaving the opening he watches as it closes up behind him.

Kal-El then turns to find himself confronted by two people. "You should not have come here Martha Kent. Nor should have you Anna Marie D'Ancanto."

Rogue blinks momentarily caught off guard because she can't remember ever revealing her surname to Clark. The surname of the woman who adopted her, whom Rogue can barely remember, and then left her with Irene.

Kal-El decides he does not have time for this. They are obviously hanging on to the foolish belief that they can somehow reach Clark Kent. Human emotions. Utterly irrational and baffling. If they behaved logically they would not have come here. He just does not understand their thinking. Unconcerned by them and in the arrogant belief they pose no threat to him he strides forward right at them away to push past them when Martha opens the box in her hand and slams a black rock into his chest.

Kal-El freezes as a surge of energy wells up inside him and he can feel his mind start to divide. He looks at Martha in disbelief and bewilderment, unable to comprehend what she has done.

"Clark," Martha hopes to reach her son. "If you're still in there...I love you."

"We love ya," Rogue adds.

Kal-El staggers back and a strange purplish black energy surrounds him. He starts to convulse and look like he is having a seizure. Then from Martha's and Rogue's point of view it is like he starts to go...blurry around the edges.

There is flash of energy. His shirt vanishes and then there appears to be two of him trying to occupy the same space. The two versions of him phase through each other groaning and struggling against the other. One of them cries out in denial of the situation. One of them calls out to Martha and Rogue but all they can do is look on helpless and uncertain as to what is happening.

Then the two Clarks become more distinct from each other. One has the figure of 8 within the shield scar on his chest while the other is smoothed skin. The scarred Clark backhands the other and then grabs him by the throat with his right hand.

What Martha and Rogue see is almost two separate people except for their legs which aren't quite separated.

The scarred Clark chokes the other bending him back. "Your humanity has made you weak," he proclaims with an air of arrogant superiority as to why he is winning this struggle for control. This is Kal-El.

"Clark!" Martha screams and he looks at her and Rogue while he tries and fails to pry the hand from his throat but his other is too powerful. More powerful than him.

"Clark!" Rogue shouts. "Fight him!" she pleads. "He's wrong. Your humanity is what makes ya strong. Please. Come back ta meh!"

"What in zhe world!" a German accented voice exclaims as the X-Men arrive to find the two Clarks at each other's throats. There are other exclaimed terms from other X-Men. They all just look on in total astonishment at the sight before them having never seen anything like this and unsure what to do or how to react to this situation. It wasn't like they had ever conceived a plan for the sight in front of them.

Clark's eyes narrow and he turns his gaze back to his other and pries the hand away from his throat slowly. For Rogue...for his parents...for his friends he'll find the strength to beat his other half.

Kal-El grits his teeth. "You can't win. This world needs me. Not you."

"Jor-El's wrong," Clark states as he straightens back up. "You can't see it for you are only his puppet."

Clark and Kal-El reach a nose to nose position. "Even if you win I am always inside you. I always was. I am Kal-El of Krypton. I am who you would have been if our world was never destroyed," Kal-El says.

"No. You're not," Clark states simply. He holds his hand out towards the others. "Mom! The rock!"

Rogue gets it, takes the rock from Martha and throws it to Clark who then plunges it into Kal-El's chest. Kal-El cries out in pain as the purplish-black energy consumes more and more of his form. There is a bright flash which throws Martha and Rogue back and they collide into the other X-Men and they all promptly fall down into one large heap.

"Kurt!" Kitty yells. "That better not be your tail down my shirt!" she warns him.

"Actually that's me," Jean says somewhat embarrassed as she pulls her hand back.

"Dude you weigh a ton!" Evan complains at Scott who is on top of him as he tries to push Scott off of him.

The X-Men try to untangle themselves with complaints a plenty about hands touching inappropriate places.

"You alright darling?" Logan asks from his position atop of Storm where he is right on top of her his face mere inches from her.

Ororo can feel heat flush her from the feeling of Logan's warm body atop of hers. It had been a long time since any man was in this position. "I-I'm fine Logan," she assures him with an all too obvious nervous stutter as Logan rolls off of her.

Rogue manages to untangle herself from Kurt whom she had landed on and spots Clark lying shirtless on the ground not moving. She runs over to him and kneels down beside him. His body is covered in a sheen of sweat. She gently touches his head as if unsure what to expect. Mrs Kent soon joins her.

Clark starts to stir.

"Clark?" Rogue queries hopefully.

Martha and Rogue roll Clark over onto his back. "Clark?" Martha is the one that now queries.

Clark's eyes flutter open and they focus in on Rogue first. His hand reaches up and gently cups her cheek. "Hey you," he says softly.

Tears sting Rogue's eyes as looking into the soft gaze of his eyes she can see the familiarity with which he now looks at her. It's him. Rogue just knows it is. "Hey yourself," she says back.

"Miss me?" he queries with a small tried looking mischievous grin that Rogue knows only belongs to Clark.

Rogue laughs. "In your dreams Wonder Boy," she snaps off her usual sassy retort.

Clark pouts for a moment before turning his focus on his mother. "Mom."

Martha bursts out into happy tears. "Clark. Is it...?"

"It's me," he promises her. "I'm back."

Hank appears next to the small group. He kneels down and looks Clark over. "How are you feeling Clark?"

"Tired," is the reply.

Hank smiles, happy that amazingly this plan has seem to gone off exactly as they hoped...which could be a first for them. Though they need to get Clark back to the jet where Hank can do a more thorough evaluation of the alien teenager. "Logan!" he shouts needing Logan to help pull Clark up as due to Clark's dense structure he is not light.

Logan and Hank pull Clark to his feet and support his weight. Clark looks at his assembled friends. "Hi guys!" he greets them with a small wave. "So did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" he asks with a lopsided grin.

Everyone bursts out laughing. As the noise calms down the sound of a phone ringing can be heard. It's Martha's and she pulls it out her pocket and answers it. As she does so the colour in her face visibly drains before their eyes. Ororo is over to her friend in an instant. "Martha. What is it?"

Martha looks at Ororo, her expression one of complete disbelief. "It-it's Jonathan. He's awake."

Smallville Medical Centre...

It was a miracle. That is the only thing the doctors could say. Jonathan Kent had no measurable brain activity and had had none since he had been brought in 3 months ago and then suddenly he is awake and in full possession of his faculties as if nothing had ever been wrong with him. There was still the issue of his damaged heart but that was still manageable with medication.

Martha and Clark knew it could not be a coincidence. Jonathan woke up at the exact same moment Clark was freed from Jor-El's control. How the two events were connected is anyone's guess. It is most likely they will never get a full explanation.

After the doctors had given Jonathan the ok to leave he and Martha had been catching up for 3 lost months. In other words they were sitting on Jonathan's hospital bed and making out like teenagers.

Clark knocks on the door looking a little embarrassed and sorry he has to interrupt him. Since they left the cave Clark had been found a white t-shirt and a pair of his trademark glasses was back perched on his nose. He pushes them back up his nose with his thumb. "So...uh ready to go?" he asks.

"Well since the doctors said your father is a walking breathing miracle that would be a yes," Jonathan says.

Martha smiles at her husband, places her hands on his cheeks and kisses him again full on the lips indescribably happy to have him back.

"It seems thanks to you I'm back," Jonathan says to Clark since Martha had more or less caught Jonathan up on events involving Clark breaking free of Jor-El and his awakening.

"The real heroes are mom and Rogue," Clark deflects the praise off himself feeling he doesn't deserve it. "If it wasn't for them I would still be Kal-El."

Jonathan takes a moment to absorb that. "Son. Do you remember anything that happened after you got pulled into that wall?"

"I can just remember the last couple of days...and even that's jumbled." Clark pauses as disjointed images, Jor-El's voice and lines of Kryptonian script flash in front of his eyes. "It's...I think it's all in here," he continues tapping on his head. "I...need time," he requests. Time to try and sort it out.

"Clark when you were fighting Kal-El you said some things about him being a puppet?" Martha inquires confused by that.

Clark's eyes dart back and forth. "I can remember saying it and when I did I understood what I meant but now..." he shakes his head as he can't quite grasp it.

Martha reaches over and places her hand on her son's arm. "You take as long as you need to," she tells him as in not to push it and take whatever time he needs to sort it out and that she and Jonathan will be there for him.

"I'm not sure we have that long. Jor-El let me out early...before he was finished with me. I know that for certain. There is something important I have to do and the fate of the world rests on me completing it but I can't remember what it is."

Martha and Jonathan share a worried look about what Jor-El has done to Clark in the last 3 months and whether there will be lasting ramifications for their son. "It'll come back to you son," Jonathan says trying to assuage Clark's concerns. He changes topics to something else Martha mentioned. "So your mother says you can fly now?"

Clark smiles in a small self-deprecating manner. "Kal-El can fly. Clark Kent needs to practice a bit more," he replies as in he can't remember for the life of him how Kal-El did it.

"How did that feel?"

"Amazing," Clark says and it was. He can remember enough about how it felt to say it was the most amazing experience of his life. However it was also something else. "And scary. If I can do that then what is left that I can't do. Maybe I can do anything."

"You can," Martha assures him.

"That's you mom because I don't know if I could have gone through what you did for 3 months with me missing and not knowing if dad would ever recover."

"I didn't do that alone Clark," Martha points out. "I had friends to fall back on." For which Martha is eternally grateful because she isn't sure she could have endured it alone.

"Like how much longer are they going to be?" a voice echoes down the corridor and into the room. Kitty's voice sound a little impatient.

All 3 Kents smile. "Speaking of friends," Martha says.

"There are some people here to see you," Clark fills in the rest.

Jonathan smiles at the thought of seeing the children again. "Well then. Lets not keep them waiting."

Jonathan hops off the bed and helps Martha down before they exit the room and at the far end of the corridor, now dressed in their civilian clothes, are the students along with Logan, Ororo, Charles and Hank. It had been decided to give the Kents some privacy first to allow them to restore their family bond.

At seeing Jonathan the children all run up to him smiling and then all of them start talking at once asking questions or trying to tell him what he missed over the summer. He can't make out any of it but it doesn't matter. Just to see and hear them again is enough.

During this Rogue moves next to Clark and slips her hand into his.

"Children!" Charles shouts over them as he rolls up behind them. They clear a path for the Professor. "Jonathan," he greets the man. "It is good to see you again."

"It's good to be seen again."

Ororo gives him a hug and Hank shakes his hand. Logan's reaction is a simple nod of his head which is about as much expression of emotion as you would expect from Logan.

"So if you are all here who's looking after the others?" Jonathan asks since leaving the younger students behind alone will result in yet another mansion being required.

"Ms Crosby was kind enough to agree to assist Domino in watching over the students," Charles says in relation to Bridgette.

"Poor woman," Logan mutters under his breath.

Clark asks something he was wondering about when he didn't spot her. "Did Wanda not come with you guys?"

At that Rogue yanks her hand back out of his. "Ah'll beh outside," she says in a cold voice before marching off.

Clark scratches his head utterly confused by what just happened as he watches Rogue's retreating angry form. "What did I say?"

"Rogue and Vanda had a teeny tiny falling out over zhe summer," Kurt explains Rogue's reaction totally underplaying the size of the blow-out Rogue and Wanda had.

"Like totally," Kitty says. "I don't think they've said two words to each other in the last 2 months at least. It's not been fun," she says with a sad tone and strained weary expression indicating how difficult it has been at times with all the tension between Rogue and Wanda.

"And I just raised her name," Clark realises the hole he just fell into by making it even remotely seem like he was putting Wanda ahead of Rogue.

"Fraid so. Good luck patching that one up dude," Evan says.

Clark covers his eyes and shakes his head. "I should have stayed brainwashed," he mutters while desperately trying to think how to make this and everything else up he owes Rogue.

Charles rubs his brow for one moment. Rogue and Wanda's frosty relations had become an issue which would be why he never brought Wanda along. The last thing this situation needed was Rogue and Wanda at each other's throats. "Lets go home," he decides.

Author's Note: Since Clark was brainwashed I decided he would have access to his full range of powers including his super-breath and freeze-breath. I wanted SHIELD to lose so Fury comes to the conclusion he needs his own superpowered team and it doesn't take much to guess what team I am referring to. They have their own movie coming out. D'Ancanto is Rogue's surname from the x-men movies. In the comics I'm not certain they have ever confirmed what it is and I was avoiding Darkholme as Rogue for the moment doesn't know Mystique is the one who adopted her so I chose to use D'Ancanto. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; Clark and Jonathan return to the institute and try to catch up on the last 3 months they have missed while Fury and Magneto ponder their next moves.

Additional Note: I have added a poll on my profile page where you can vote for which 2 girls you want to see possessed when I do a version of the episode Spell. Please vote and help me out. Thanks!