A Future Not Like the Past

by Shadow Master

BtVS/Smallville/Marvel Comics/Other There are some beings in this galaxy that have a destiny. Destiny is often confused with Fate and therefore seen as unchangeable. However while unchangeable it is not without revision as you will see...

3. A Beginning That's a Bang

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein (BtVS/DC comics/Smallville/Others). They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever and have no intention of changing this EVER. I write because it's fun and because there are those that enjoy reading my fanfic. Therefore I would appreciate it if you would refrain from taking any legal action against me. I can promise you that whatever you get from me won't cover even half of your legal fees

Note: I am now accepting suggestions/ideas for future chapters. They will have to mesh with already established facts from this and previous chapters and not contradict them in the least. I cannot guarantee that I will employ your idea but if I like it enough I will be sure to mention your name at the beginning of the chapter that utilizes the idea. I am primarily doing this because my muse isn't quite as enthusiastic as she used to be for this fanfic idea and some fresh ideas might reawaken her interest. (No slash and no character bashing AT ALL).

Kent Farm, Kitchen, One Hour Later, Jonathan Kent's P.O.V

Even after an hour I don't know what to say to Xander. Jonathan thought as his body went about its usual morning routine while his mind tried to come to terms with what he'd seen.

It had been only a few minutes before the young man had entered the house that he and his wife had been preparing breakfast for the first time since the Harris boy had arrived. It'd struck them both as a bit odd that Alex wasn't cooking like he usually did but brushed it off as the kid enjoying his newfound good health. It had been an odd sound that had drawn his attention to the window that gave an excellent view of the western side of the farm and what he had seen had left him stunned. One moment it looked like Xander was about to break into a run and the next the teenager vanished in a red and blue blur. The only clue he had been able to perceive of where the lad had gone was the parting of the plants and the brown clouds that sprouted up a short distance behind him. It'd taken a gasp from his wife to snap him out of his shock and, when he turned to her, he knew that she'd seen most of what he'd seen as well. Neither had said a word after that and, by the time their nephew had entered the house, they still were at a loss of what to do aside from look dumbfounded at what had happened. All they could do was seek the comfort of routine and hope that eventually they would receive the inspiration to move onto something more constructive.

So far he had nothing and he could tell that the silence was getting to Xander more than anything. He could only imagine what was going through the teenager's mind. Considering the political and social climate, the fear of being found out as a mutant must be festering within him.

I might not have any experience dealing with a mutant but I know what it's like to be a young man suddenly in over his head. He thought as he decided right then to break the silence.

"Look, Xander, I don't know what to say. I have honestly never come across a situation like this before," he said, figuring honesty and sincerity would be best. "What I do know is that even with this power you've been given you're still you where it matters. All you have to decide is this: will you let this new ability be a curse or a blessing?"

Not the most inspiring words he'd ever uttered but they felt right and, judging by the improving look on Xander's face, they were having the desired effect but doubts remained in his eyes.

"Martha and I will do all we can to help you come to grips with this and help you master your new power," he said, making sure that the teenager knew he had two people solidly in his corner. "I can call Principal Kwan and get him to extend your medical leave another two or three days and we can use that time to train you so that you won't use your power by accident."

"How?" Xander asked a flicker of hope and optimism appearing in the depths of his eyes.

"Well we can test to see just how much energy you need to make it work. Once we nail that down, we can drill you over and over until both your mind and body are conditioned completely to keep a lid on your power until you want it to come out. I promise you won't be alone in this Xander."

"Thanks, Uncle Jonathan."

Finishing up breakfast, he didn't waste any time calling Jim over the phone to bargain for a few more days off for Xander, citing head problems and a still lingering burn wound. He'd didn't push it too far to make sure he didn't wind up tripping over his own white lies but by the end he'd managed to get a full four days before Kwan would expect his nephew in law back in class. He hadn't been lying about his lack of experience with the whole super powers business so he didn't know whether or not four days would be enough time for Xander to get a handle on his new gift. Still it was the best he could hope for and asking for more would just cast more suspicion on the situation which was the last thing his family needed. He might be a small town farmer but he was ignorant about the whole mutant situation and how things could take a turn for the worse if others found out about Xander.

He shuddered internally at the images that turn of events brought forth.

In his heart he wanted to believe that the people of Smallville wouldn't be like some of the bigots he'd seen on television but fear and ignorance could make people do things you'd never suspect them capable of. He would just have to work with Xander hard over the next four days and make sure that, by the time he hopped on the school bus, there'd be nothing different that anyone but his closest friends could pick up on. That meant that only Willow would be able to pick up on anything and, based on what Xander had told him about her, the duo seemed close enough that it would take something monumental to shatter what they had.

He just hoped that Xander having powers wasn't going to be that one monumental something.

Feeling a hand come down on his shoulder, he turned to see his wife with a look of comfort on her face, as if trying to convey her belief that everything would work out in the end. Feeling his fears dim a bit looking at her smile, he thanked God once again for bringing the wonderful woman into his life. She gave him strength when he thought no more could be found and often knew just the right thing to say when his own words failed him.

"I know this isn't anything like we'd expected when we agreed to take Xander in but we'll get through this," Martha said softly so that the topic of their discussion wouldn't overhear them. "Together."

Placing his hand on top of hers, he gave her a look of determination that made it clear that he was with her on this one hundred and ten percent.

If there was one thing that his father had drilled into him it was loyalty to family no matter what.

Smallville High School, Later That Day, Willow's P.O.V

"That's all for today class. See you tomorrow," said the English teacher, Ms. Potter, after the final bell rang.

Gathering her things, she swiftly made her way out of the classroom and headed for the front of the school where her Aunt would probably be waiting for her. It was one of the convenient things about living with Nell that the woman's flower shop often slowed down business-wise around the same time school let out. This allowed the older woman to put a 'temporarily out' sign in the window, pick her up and drive her home without losing too much business. Her relative had told her that she wouldn't be able to do it all the time but for next few weeks at least it'd be something she could depend on. Afterwards, though, she'd have to take the school bus along with everyone else and she personally hoped that it'd be better than riding the bus was back in Sunnydale. That was a gauntlet of bullies, snobby bitches and pimple-faced nerds that, at one time or another, made her dread even seeing the torture vehicle never mind getting on it.

Hopefully things in Sunnydale would be more pleasant since there was no Hellmouth to stir things up.

After thinking that, she wondered if she'd just jinxed the whole town but dismissed it as a possibility.

No Hellmouth, in her opinion, meant it was safe to say certain phrases again.

"Hey!" came a somewhat familiar voice from behind her.

Turning around she spotted the blonde form of Chloe Sullivan jogging up to catch up to her with a friendly smile on her face. This struck her as odd since she only had a few classes with the girl but at the same time she thought it'd be nice to make a new friend. At the moment the only person she could call friend was Xander and if she was going to be living in Smallville for the next couple of years, she needed to make connections including friends.

"What can I do for you, Chloe?" she asked while slowing down to let the other woman catch up.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Xander," Chloe replied as she brought out a notepad. "I'm writing a story in the school newspaper about the bank robbery and need some background information on the hero of the hour."

It was a new bit of information to know that there was a school newspaper at Smallville High School and that Chloe was apparently a reporter for the paper. She'd known that Sunnydale High School had a newspaper but it was almost always filled with obituaries of both faculty and students, so she'd never read it herself. As for her wanting to know more about Xander, it was odd but not surprising considering how the bank robbery had been such big news in the small town. Even five days after the event, she'd still heard quite a few students talking about it, as well as a few of her Aunt's customers. In the end she supposed that answering a few questions wouldn't hurt so long as she took care not to spill anything too personal that Xander might be angry about later.

"What do you want to know?" she asked with some reservation.

"Well has Xander always been the sort of person to put himself in danger for someone else?" Chloe asked as she jotted something down on her notepad.

"Yeah, he has. Even with his anemia he was always the first to stand up to bullies whenever they came to pick on me or Jessie. There wasn't a whole lot he could do but that didn't stop him from trying, though," she replied with a smile as she recalled the times Xander had shown his bravery. "It got him in trouble sometimes but never could help being a White Knight to people who needed help."

"What sort of trouble are you referring to?" Chloe asked with an enthusiastic grin as she jotted down the information.

"Sometimes he'd have to see the school nurse after getting beat up. Other times he'd be smart enough to plan ahead and bring a baseball bat when he knew there was going to be trouble," she replied, taking time to censor certain facts before speaking. "He got sent to the principal's office often and later on they might as well have had a seat in detention reserved for him. He didn't care, though. To him all that mattered was helping someone who needed it."

"So he's pretty selfless?" Chloe asked, sounding a little skeptical about the picture being painted.

"Well… most of the time he is," she replied recalling some of the more… questionable… moments in Xander's past.

"Most of the time?" Chloe asked, getting the same look Buffy got on her face when she spotted a shiny new weapon.

"Well, when someone he doesn't like got into trouble… o-or something he'd only step in if I made him," she replied, stumbling a bit over her concerns about what she should or should not say.

"So basically if he thinks they deserve the trouble they're in, he'll just watch it happen?" Chloe asked sounding like she disapproved a bit.

"NO! Well not always. If he thinks they're going to get seriously hurt he'll help out but if it's just a few scrapes and bruises then it's what they deserve," she said, quickly coming to the defense of her friend.

"So he's got his own code of justice and sticks to it no matter what?"

"Pretty much. Usually takes some pretty serious convincing or bribes to get him to see things my way."

"So money, girls and booze could get him to change his mind?" Chloe asked, no doubt making a mental list of bribes she could use in the future.

"No…well…girls maybe…b-but they'd have to be complete knockouts and way above the sort you'd see around here," she started babbling as her own words came back to haunt her. "Supermodels or… or something."

"So he's got high standards for the sort of girls he's into then?" Chloe asked, never once losing her pace writing on her notepad.

"Well… sort of…" she replied recalling how her friend always overlooked her for the Buffys and the Cordelias.

Tensing for a moment as she feared that the blonde would pick up on what was going on in her head somehow and do something she was gratified to see Chloe put the notepad away.

"Well I think I've got what I need from a friend's point of view. Add that to the eye-witness accounts and I think I've got my story. Thanks Willow! See ya!" she declared before running off most likely to type up the article.

Pausing for a moment, she hoped that she hadn't caused Xander any trouble but then shrugged her shoulders, figuring that it was better that the girl get some of the truth rather than be left to make it all up on her own. Hopefully it won't be like the tabloids, where everything is blown out of proportion just to sell more copies. Not likely since this was a small town and people wouldn't spend money to buy a high school newspaper when there was something better available.

With the current dilemma resolved, she resumed her trip to the front of the school, hoping that Nell hadn't been kept waiting too long.

Stretch Limo, Three Days Later, Mid-Morning, Lionel Luthor's P.O.V

"General Langston! So glad you could find time in your busy schedule to speak with me," Lionel said with his usual friendly business manner.

"Let's spare each other the false pleasantries, Luthor. What do you want?" The military man sounded like he was having a rather bad day.

"As you wish. I assume by now you've heard of the rather violent bank robbery by a mutant perpetrator not too long ago in Smallville? Terribly tragic how that young lad was hurt," he demurred, doing his best to show how 'deeply' affected he was by the event. "It's a sad thing when even a small town like that Americans can't be free of the mutant menace. However I'm sure that Trask's Sentinels will be able to prevent such travesties… in about five years or so."

He let the little man think on that for a moment before he moved onto the next phase of his scheme.

"Still, it's anyone's guess how many lives will be ruined or ended by then. A thousand? Ten thousand? A million? So many tragedies," he said before putting his price tag out to be seen. "Of course there's an easy solution to the problem if you're up to the enterprise."

"Your little project, eh?" General Langston asked, sounding like he now knew the direction things were going. "Rather convenient that this little bank robbery just happened to be done by a mutant so close to where I am. Almost as if someone had planned it that way."

"That is one way of looking at it. It's too bad that the mutant was killed during the local sheriff's raid on the bank. Now they'll never find the man's employer. Assuming he had one to begin with," he added on quite innocently. Well, as innocently as he could.

"True. I assume what you want from me is the same as what we discussed?" Langston asked, admitting unofficially that tracing the mutant back to its source was slim odds at best.

"Precisely. You will ensure that my people can complete the final phase of testing without outside entanglements impeding our progress or ruining the product's debut?" he specified, making sure that he worded things in a way that wasn't obviously incriminating just in case the General was recording the conversation.

"Sounds easy enough… but it's going to be costly to turn that many heads. Costly like say… ten million to begin with."

Greed. It's such a sad thing but the good general is getting up there in age, he thought as he realized what the military man was attempting. He probably sees this as an opportunity to acquire a retirement nest egg. A reminder of who is truly in the superior position is needed, I think.

"Perhaps. Just be sure not to spend it all on that lovely young lady you met at 4th and Rodenberry last year. Cherry, I think her name was. Rather ironic since I'm relatively sure a woman in her profession lost it long before she met you."

"You slimy little snake in the grass!" growled the general as he realized what was at stake now.

"Now, now General Langston! Let's not ruin a perfectly civil conversation with name calling," he said with a smile as the man foolishly let him know he'd hit a nerve. "All you need to do to keep your little tryst a secret from your darling wife Celeste is hold up your end of our little bargain. Do that and not only will your secret remain just that but you could walk away with enough money to retire on. A fair deal, wouldn't you say?"

"Like hell it is!? Deal's off, Luthor! Don't call me again and if you even think about spilling your guts to the media keep in mind that I know enough about you to ruin you permanently! Goodbye!" General Langston roared before the connection broke by what was no doubt a thunderous hanging up of the phone.

He sighed at the action but it wasn't entirely surprising considering that it was the man's short temper that had prompted him to ensnare the fool in his debt. It hadn't been an entire waste of time but he had been hoping that the old warhorse would have been a tad more flexible so that more use could have been gotten out of him. However it was one of the basic rules of business that whenever you enter into a risky business venture, it was always a possibility that your partner could get cold feet.

It is also a basic rule of business to tie up loose ends before they become a problem, he thought as he accessed the Luthor Corp network and navigated to server only he had access to. Fortunately Luthor Corp supplies a wide variety of electronics and equipment to the United States military, both of which have been known to include quite a few surprises.

Typing one final command into the system, he watched as the icon that interested him the most blinked amber for two seconds before turning blood red.

Fitting, considering how much blood is likely now decorating the General's office at the moment. He thought with a satisfied grin as he engaged the cleaner program to ensure that any phone records linking him to the General's final moments would be removed.

He'd likely still have to answer some questions depending on precisely how much information Langston had actually managed to acquire on him, but if made sure to relocate or remove anything incriminating on his end, all that would be left would be slanderous accusations.

Nothing a quick call to my lawyers can't hush up. However this little turn of events means that I no longer have a way to safely test BB93 without potential exposure.

Indeed, while Langston wasn't the only military officer he had under his thumb, he was the only one he had sufficient knowledge of to force things to go his way. All the rest had been considerably more discreet in their behavior and, while not spotless, did not have a black mark that would bend them to his will. It was as he considered the possibilities that an idea occurred to him that potentially could solve all his issues. It would require a review of his cannon fodder file but, with just the right timing, it could work to his benefit and present his son Lex with a suitable challenge at the same time.

His son had been something of an annoyance ever since he'd had to cover up the embarrassing event at Club Zero. While he was unsure of the details, he imagined it was yet another mistake on his son's part when it came to choosing women to associate with. He had managed to hush up his wayward son's involvement in the death, placing the blame solely on Max Kasich while painting Lex as the innocent bystander.

Nevertheless he was growing tired of having to clean up his son's messes and believed that the best way to force his heir to grow up would be to give him some responsibilities. They would show him firsthand that his actions had consequences beyond a lecture from him and hopefully result in tempering the young man's more reckless tendencies. He had been debating for a while now just what form those responsibilities would take and, up until now, had thought merely to put Lex in charge of the Smallville fertilizer plant, but now believed he had something better in mind.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed the number that would put him in contact with the head of the BB93 project. It took a few rings but eventually it was picked up on the other end.

"Mr. Luthor, what a surprise! I presume you're calling to inform me that our… cloak of invisibility has been secured." Dr. Jefferson stated with a bit of nervous energy.

"Unfortunately, no. It would seem that the General was not flexible enough to see our point of view," he replied, trying to put the woman at ease since it would make the conversation more bearable. "I'm afraid I will have to ask you to prepare all of the substance for travel to our Oklahoma facilities. I expect that members of the ignorant will be at your door within the week."

"O-of course! I'll begin the preparations immediately," Janice stated confidently as she tried to suppress her anxiety. "Will we be transporting all of it at once or in shipments?"

He considered that for a moment as it was a rare valid question that was not commonly heard coming from the lips of the good doctor, despite her acceptable education. It took him a moment but in the end he decided on the proper course of action.

"We will do it in three smaller shipments dispatched every second day in order to avoid drawing attention to them. I trust that you will be able to handle the details?" he asked with a bit of an edge to his voice, implying displeasure if she couldn't handle such a simple task.

"Of course, Mr. Luthor. Everything will go precisely as you desire," Dr. Jefferson stated a bit more loudly but certainly firmly enough to allay his more immediate concerns.

"I know it will. One way or another." He said before disconnecting the call from his end.

The woman might have been one of the foremost geneticists of her generation but he would bet next month's budget that all it would take to shatter her to pieces would be the mere mention of being publically humiliated. In fact he had sufficient evidence and information on her to do just that should she prove to be more of a problem than an asset. Depending on how his plan turned out, he may just have to make use of the skeletons of hers that he'd located.

Such were the sort of decisions he made every day.

Six Days Later, Smallville High School, Noon, Xander's P.O.V

"So? Is she still following us?" Xander asked casually as he grabbed his home made lunch from his locker.

"Yep. Notepad in hand and everything," Willow replied sounding a little annoyed at what had been happening for the past five days straight.

Ever since he'd come back to school there was a certain blonde shadow that had been following him around almost all the time. The only rest he got from the young woman was when he had to go to the bathroom and he had a feeling that she'd find a way around that particular obstacle soon enough. While it had only been a brief moment, he knew who was following him and, based on what his best redheaded friend had told him, he knew why. Chloe Sullivan had apparently decided to do a follow up story on him after her first story on the attempted bank robbery resulted in a fifteen percent increase in sales for the school newspaper, "The Torch". The girl was like a pitbull now and likely wouldn't stop following him around, looking for a story unless something even more interesting popped up. It'd certainly make using his super speed a little more difficult and force him to use standard transportation to get around town. Not that he had a whole lot of need to use his super speed, given how quiet Smallville was and how slow paced his schedule, but he still enjoyed using it from time to time. Hopefully the girl would eventually get bored about the lack of results and just leave him be. It might have been a fantasy of his to be the object of a girl's attention but this was bordering on stalkerism and that was just plain freaky, especially considering some of the big bads back in Sunnydale.

"I wonder if I'd be able to scare her off if I told her that I was into S&M or something," he asked her quietly and was rewarded with a giggle.

"I wouldn't try it, Xander. She just might be into that sort of thing." Willow laughed with a bit of warning in her voice.

"Mistress Chloe… has a nice ring to it."

"XANDER!" Willow exclaimed before smacking him in the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Willow. You know no one whips me quite like you," he said with humorous submissiveness.

This caused his best friend to quiet down almost immediately as her face turned tomato red in embarrassment at the images he'd no doubt just put in her head. It was always good fun to mess with Willow a bit but she knew it was all in good fun and that he'd never intentionally hurt her, whether it be with words or with fists. His foster father Tony Harris had showed him by example just how wrong that was and her refused to become anything like that drunken sonuvaBITCH! Brushing those negative thoughts away, he decided to focus on something a little more pleasant.

"So? Eat our lunch out on the picnic tables?" he asked while leading his friend in that direction.

"Sounds good."

It had been a tradition the last couple of days that they'd always choose a different part of the school to have their lunch in order to become more familiar with the place as a whole. It'd also help him figure out where the best places would be for him to make a hasty exit with his super speed without being spotted by anyone. He didn't think there were many demons or vamps that had even heard of Smallville, much less visited it, but he wasn't deluded enough to think that he wouldn't encounter any trouble of that sort while he stayed with his Aunt and Uncle. While he wasn't sure if it was his luck or the luck of his adoptive parents that had rubbed off on him, he was certain that if he wasn't careful he'd wind up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

It didn't take them long to reach an empty picnic table and without pause they sat down to dig into their respective meals. He was lucky in that his lunch was prepared by his Aunt Martha, who was a wicked cook that could give Mrs. Summers some competition. He had yet to taste any of her deserts so he'd have to wait before he'd have something to compare to the famous Summers chocolate chip cookies. He was just taking a drink of the Pepsi he'd purchased when something flew through the air and knocked the bottle out of his hand, spilling the contents all over the grass.

Mentally cursing the bad luck, he watched as a local blonde jock just jogged up to where the object, a football, had come to a stop and picked it up before starting to jog back to where his buddies were waiting. If this had been a month ago, he'd have just let it go and thought up a few fantasies about how he'd like to get even with the jock but ever since he'd been freed of his anemia, he'd found a wellspring of both strength as well as courage within himself. Getting up from the picnic table, he stepped into the path of the jock preventing him from going anywhere.

"What do you want, dweeb?" asked the jock in a dismissive manner.

"Well I'd like an apology for spilling my drink but I'll settle for you covering the cost of another bottle."

"Yeah right! Get lost." Sneered the blonde teenager as he tried to go around.

Not happening.

He immediately moved and got in the moron's way again glaring at him all the way.

"Get out of my way, loser!" demanded the football player, sounding like he was beginning to get angry.

"Not until you say you're sorry or cough up the two bucks I need for the drink."

Predictably the jock tried to grab him either to punch him or push him out of the way but his movements were nothing when compared to what a demon could do and, thanks to the training he'd had in his powers, it looked like the guy was moving in slow motion. It was tempting to make a fool of this guy by using his super speed to dodge every attack but he had enough sense to know that drawing attention to himself like that. People were wary already of ordinary people possessing seemingly extraordinary abilities because it usually meant that they were mutants. If he gave others a reason to suspect him of having super powers, it'd only cause more problems for the Kents and everyone else that he cared about. So instead he'd end this quickly using the few moves that Giles had taught him so he could make the most of his moments of strength back in Sunnydale.

Grabbing the jock's arm, he moved as swiftly as he could without appearing superhuman and executed a simple Jujutsu throw.

Or at least it should have been simple but instead of being thrown to the ground just hard enough to knock the wind out of the football player's sails, it turned out to be something more. It turned out to be a throw that all but caused the jock to bounce when he hit the ground and, when the guy didn't get right back up, he was worried enough to drop to one knee to check for a pulse. He was gratified to feel a fast but steady heartbeat and was further happy to see the athlete begin to move again, albeit weakly. Getting back to his feet, it didn't take him too long to notice that just about everyone's eyes were on him with a mix of amazement and suspicion.

Not good.

Still, running away would only make matters worse so he decided he'd give a feasible reason for what happened before the imaginations of the crowd manufactured something without him.

"That, my good jock, was an example of why you should never underestimate someone. I've only taken a couple of Jujutsu classes but I was still able to throw you onto your back," he said as he walked back to Willow and sat down. "Next time you knock someone's drink over, have the decency to make up for it somehow."

There. He'd given them a reasonable explanation for how he'd been able to throw the blonde caveman and put the moron in the wrong. Hopefully this would be enough to make everyone dismiss anything else and allow him to get on with his day. Seconds ticked by and, for a moment, he was afraid he'd have to do something more to get everyone else to let the incident slide. However then the noise level of the area went back to normal and no one seemed to pay him any undue attention. He let out a sigh of relief at this and went back to his meal that he'd now have to find something else to wash down now that his pop was all over the grass. That was until someone new placed a can of pop next to his hand.

Looking up he found out that it was Chloe, who had a grin on her face but oddly no notepad in her hand.

"Thanks."

"Hey, for taking Whitney down a peg in front of everyone, I'd have given you an entire vending machine full of Pepesi if I had the money," she declared before sitting down next to him. "Ever since him and the football team won the team's two hundredth victory, they've been acting like they're gods or something. It's nice that someone showed everyone just how normal they really are."

"Yeah, well, back in Sunnydale we had jock problems too but this is the first time I've actually done something like this," he said, trying to treat it like it was nothing. "Hopefully he and his buddies won't gang up on me after school."

"Well, if I were you, I'd think about sneaking out of the school a couple minutes before the final bell. Whitney and his pals are many things but forgiving isn't one of them," Chloe stated with a bit of seriousness in her voice. "Head out of one of the side entrances and you should be able to give them the slip for today."

"Thanks, Chloe." He said with genuine gratitude for helping him avoid another possible confrontation. He might not want to look like a coward but neither did he want to risk a situation where his secret might be exposed.

The Outskirts of Smallville, A Van parked on a Dirt Road Near the Highway,

Two and a Half Hours Later

"Here's the job, boys: in precisely half an hour a tanker truck will be coming down the highway carrying a substance inside of it that our client is willing to pay top dollar for. The guy's even gone so far as to provide us with a means of storing the stuff," a man dressed in black military gear said as he patted the complex looking tanks beside him. "The plan will be a three step process. Step one will be your job, Rose. You will use the civilian car we acquired to block the highway and pretend to be the typical damsel in distress. This will stop the truck and will signal the commencement of step two.

"Step two will be your responsibility, Jericho. You and your team will move our second and third vehicles behind the truck to make sure it can't turn around." He pointed out the place on the map he'd posted up for all to see, "You're team will then exit the vehicles and secure your immediate area, eliminating any witnesses that come close enough to identify us. Spare no one.

"Step three will begin once the immediate area is secured. My team will move in with these tanks and begin siphoning the substance. Once both tanks are filled, we will place explosives at key points on the truck, set the timers for five minutes and then vacate the area. The local and state authorities will be so focused on containing the aftermath that pursuit won't happen for at least twelve hours."

"Where are we to drop off the cargo?" Rose asked with her usual sharpness.

"Our employer said he'd contact us with a suitable drop off point once he's satisfied that we've completely escaped the authorities," he replied, not sounding happy about lacking that particular detail.

His daughter didn't sound like she liked it either but it was not their job to question their employer about such a minor detail.

"Gather your things and be ready to move out in ten minutes. Move out!" he ordered before turning his back to his team.

"As you command, Lieutenant Colonel Wilson!" replied most of them save his children.

It wasn't a new thing for them. Ever since their mother died, making him responsible for their well-being, he'd done his best but they still saw him as a man who deserted their mother. The only reason he could come up with for them agreeing to become a part of his mercenary group is because they wanted to learn the skills they'd need to kill him in a couple of years.

Not that he had any problems with that. If he got so old that a pair of rookies like them could kill him, then he was no longer fit to possess the title of 'Deathstroke'.

Thirty Minutes Later, The East Exit of Smallville High School, Xander's P.O.V

"Looks like the coast is clear, Wills." Xander said as he looked about the immediate vicinity of the way they'd chosen to sneak out of the building. "Let's go before the cavemen rub two brain cells together."

"I doubt they have one brain cell between the lot of them," she said with a smile as they quickly made their way off High School property.

He had to smile as well at that because it was pretty rare to find a jock that had a decent brain inside of his head, as well as a kind heart. He wasn't about to bet his continued well-being on the off chance that one of them might be nice enough to tell their friends to back off. They continued to take side roads and alleys until they were a good three blocks from the school before emerging onto the sidewalk. Willow had already called her Aunt Nell and asked the woman if she wouldn't mind meeting them at the flower shop and driving them home. It'd taken spilling some of the truth, dodging angry jocks, but the woman had agreed to it without much prodding.

Walking down the street, everything seemed to be peaceful, enough which should have been his first clue that something bad was going to happen. While he wasn't a big fan of the concept of a cosmic balance, he'd seen enough to know that there existed a counter system between good and bad luck, wherein if you had too much of one the other would show up sooner or later to even things out. He'd had good luck by beating the jock at lunch and avoiding Chloe's inquisitive reporter mind but, with his evasion of an after school beating, the counter system had decided it was time to balance things out.

It started as a soft thumping noise in the direction of the highway but what followed didn't fill him with the warm fuzzies. A large cloud of green gas soon surged into the sky before taking on a pace more common from gas being blown by the wind. He didn't know what it was but he seriously doubted that a cloud that sort of color could be considered a good thing in anyone's book. Deciding to err on the side of caution, he grabbed Willow by the arm and the two of them ran the rest of the way to Nell's flower shop.

"Willow? Xander? What's wrong?" Nell asked as she walked out from behind the cashier counter.

"There was some sort of explosion outside of town and now there's some sort of gas being blown this way!" He replied as he began to look about the room for the different ways the gas could enter the store. "We need to plug up all the different ways it could get in here, pronto!"

"Gas?! Are you sure it's heading this way?" Nell asked, sounding distinctly more alarmed than before.

"No way of knowing without some way of telling which way the wind is blowing," he replied as he grabbed the doormat and began to push it into the space between the door and the floor. "Could be heading this way or it could go the other way but best not to take chances until we know what the hell it is."

"What about your Aunt and Uncle?" Nell asked as she used a nearby tablecloth to make a window more airtight.

"Their farm is on the other side of town. The gas will have to blow by us before it gets to them," he replied, his concern spiking for a moment before settling down a bit.

"Unless they've come into town or have business on the side of town that the gas is coming from," Willow said almost absentmindedly as she moved to block the back door of the flower shop.

"Not helping, Willow!" he exclaimed as he paused in mid-movement before resuming his search for the various air vents that might be in the building.

Nevertheless, it was a good point. He didn't know what Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan's schedule was for the day, so they could literally have been anywhere in Smallville or on the outskirts. If they got caught up in that cloud and it turned out to be harmful then there was no telling what would happen. They could be killed or infected with some kind of disease! He couldn't let that happen!

Moving back to the front door he pulled the mat out of where he'd stuffed it minutes ago and opened the door.

"Xander? Where are you going?"

"I have to make sure Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan are alright. If they're anywhere in town I need to get them to safety."

He gave Willow a meaningful look in the hopes that she'd realize what he intended to do and was rewarded when she gave him an acknowledging sharp nod. "Alright! Just be careful." She said with extra emphasis on the word 'careful'.

"Aren't I always?" he said before jogging away from the shop to the nearest alleyway.

As soon as he was deep enough into the alley that he could be sure no one could see him, he took off at top speed and began searching the town for the couple that had taken him in. He did his best not to stop or slow down enough for people to get a good look at him but just the same he needed to pause every once and awhile in order to be certain. However, as he passed through towards the edge of Smallville that would soon be engulfed by the gas, he began to hear a sound that stopped him in his tracks: He heard screams of pain and suffering.

That was confirmation enough for him that whatever the gas was, it wasn't healthy for human beings. This urged him on as he resumed his super speed search of the town for his Aunt and Uncle, not wanting to even think of what they could be going through if he didn't find them in time.

Faster and faster he moved but, as time passed, so to speak, he couldn't find them anywhere and hoped that that meant they were safely back at the Kent farm.

He was just about to head back to Nell's flower shop when a car came roaring in from the highway, erratically going from one side of the street to another at high speed. Worried that someone might get hurt if things continued, he ran up alongside of the car with the intent of getting control of it somehow. However, when he looked into the driver's side window, he saw a sight that almost made him lose his stride and fall to the ground.

The people in the car were changing.

They were changing shape and, unless he was mistaken, one of the ones in back was into a substance that looked like liquid metal. It was a family, that much he was certain of, but the changes they were undergoing were causing them such pain that it was a miracle that the person behind the wheel was able to maintain as much control of the vehicle as he/she had up until now. Opening the door, he grabbed the steering wheel and tried to guide the vehicle to the side of the road while at the same time maintain his current running speed. It wasn't easy since the person behind the wheel seemed determined to keep the car going forward but eventually the pain of what he was going through sapped his strength, causing him to go limp in his seat. It was only seconds later that he watched the driver melt into an unidentifiable substance but he was still able to keep enough of his focus on his job that he was able to bring the car to a complete stop.

That was about all he could do, though, since he was neither a scientist nor doctor and he had no idea how to help them.

I've got to stop this! He thought as he imagined how things would go with the rest of the town if they wound up getting a dose of the gas.

Wracking his brain for a solution, the only thing he could come up with was something he'd read about in a comic book, so it'd have to do. Thus he took off pushing the upper limits of his super speed and began to circle the edges of the gas cloud in an effort to contain the dangerous vapor. In the comic book, the hero was able to manipulate the air pressure with his super speed so that he could keep the dangerous gas in the middle before directing it away from innocents. He was attempting the same trick. However the problem with running at super speed though was that the surrounding world was moving at super slow motion, so it seemed to take forever, but he could see the green gas moving in the right direction. Encouraged by this, he maintained his pace until he was certain that the entirety of the jade cloud was under his control before modifying his path so he could take the dangerous substance away from Smallville. It wasn't until he was beginning to feel the burn from his exertion that he realized he had no idea where to take the stuff or contain it, aside from what he was doing. Racking his mind, he tried to think of a way out of his current predicament when he recalled something about water being a good way to neutralize some poisonous gasses. With that in mind he began to direct the green cloud towards a river he'd gone past a few times with Aunt Martha in the truck. It wasn't a lake or anything but it was closest and right now that was what mattered the most.

I'm going to be hungry enough to eat a horse after this! He thought as he did his best not to screw things up.

When he finally reached the river, though, he was forced to leap across the water since he was fairly sure that he wasn't fast enough to run on water like the comic book hero. It messed with his control of the gas a bit but thankfully his speed was such that it didn't matter all that much in the end. Now, though, he had to figure out how to get the gas into the water and that was straining his little brain.

Maybe if I started running in the opposite direction? he thought before doing just that. Worth a shot!

By this point he was truly beginning to feel fatigue but, just like he used to back in Sunnydale when his anemia began to act up at a crucial moment, he pressed onward towards his goal. Hundreds of innocent lives were at risk including those he considered family and friends. Failure was not an option. With determination as his fuel and bravery as his engine, he pushed his body to meet the needs. Bit by bit the gas did what he desired by becoming one with the water, turning it to a darker color than was before. As the last bit of it entered the water, he realized something.

The water was now polluted and if someone drank from it the effects of the gas could still hurt someone.

With what strength he had left, he ran ahead of what he could see of the gas/water mix and began to use whatever was handy to form a makeshift dam. Whether it was wood, dirt or garbage, he used it in the construction of his barrier at a speed that was beginning to drop back to something approaching the upper limits of what a normal human could do. Once he was satisfied with this improvised dam, he did his best to go to the other end to make sure that the tainted water didn't flow the other way somehow. It took longer this time to make a dam and, by the time he was done, he was not only filthy but tired as well.

I'd better get out of here, he thought as he began to enter the nearby woods using his memory to navigate towards Smallville proper. The police will probably be here soon to sniff around.

Four Hours Later, HAZMAT Command Tent

"Give me a sit-rep, Agent Carter," ordered the cigar-smoking man on the computer screen.

"Not good, General, but not as bad as it could have been," Agent Carter said as she began sending the information collected so far from what the techs said was ground zero. "Near as we can tell, a tanker truck carrying an bio-genetic cocktail was being transported past Smallville when it was ambushed by mercenaries. They botched siphoning of the substance, resulting in an explosion that released the contents in gaseous form and then was blown in the direction of the town."

"Any ID on the perps?" asked the General, who seemed to be mulling over the info. "Or the owners of the tanker?"

"Pulled up IDs on two of the dead perps but it was a near thing. Both have run with a variety of organizations but intel puts their last employer as Deathstroke," she replied, knowing what would come next.

"Not like Slade to be sloppy like this. Met him once overseas and always looked to be a straight up professional," commented the General before taking another puff of his cigar.

"That's what I thought so I'm having our tech heads go over the area for any sign of sabotage or faulty equipment. As for the truck, all I can say is that it belongs to a transport company in Metropolis. I sent agent's Nelson and Travers to follow up on that end," she stated before receiving the latest report on the civilian population. "Right now I'm betting on one of the big three companies there being involved. Based on the preliminary analysis of the substance, there's no way anyone else could have put it together."

"Any idea what it was supposed to do?" asked the General, who was probably dreading the Charlie Foxtrot things were turning into.

"I have… suspicions. While ninety-five percent of those affected by the gas cloud died, the remaining five percent have begun to exhibit superhuman abilities. A teenager by the name of Hawkins is showing signs of being an EM generator, one Garfield Logan has transformed into six different green animals so far and a redhead by the name of Kincaid has been transformed into a mass of liquid metal. At least we think it's Cessily Kincaid, since the rest of the victims in the car had ID on them belonging to the Kincaid family. The girl is having a lot of trouble keeping a humanoid appearance with some areas of her body melting a bit."

"So you think this gas came from an experiment to create super humans? Like Weapon X?" asked the General, not sounding like he was in a good mood one little bit.

"Possibly. However I don't think it's been tested on humans before now." She picked up one of the newer reports she'd been given, "The effects are too random and chaotic. There'd be no way of knowing what super power a person would receive or how powerful it would be."

For a few minutes there was silence as the General looked to be debating the various courses of action open to them. She could only imagine what he would choose to do. If it was her calling the shots, though, she'd order the entire town placed under quarantine until they had an accurate record of every living person possessing super powers as well as what they could do. Once their files on those people were completed, the quarantine would be lifted and those with useful abilities as well as being old enough would be approached for the Avengers Initiative. It was still in the planning stages, of course, and perhaps a little early to be recruiting members but if the General's timeline prediction was accurate, sooner would be much better than later.

"Continue co-ordinating emergency relief and examination of the area," ordered the General as he took the cigar out of his mouth. "Once things calm down you'll be assigned command of the observation team stationed just outside Smallville. While some of the affected might have been just passing through, most are residents and that means someone is going to have keep an eye on them."

"Is it wise to allow those with powers such freedom, sir? We have no idea just how powerful some of them are or what they might do once they leave Smallville," she pointed out.

As long as they were quarantined they had control of the problem as well as the information that got out to the rest of the world. If they did as the General proposed, it'd only be a matter of time before every third world dictator and corporate C.E.O tried to get their hands on the substance that could give an ordinary human super powers, even if it meant distilling the stuff from those already changed by it.

"Perhaps so, but unduly confining them will only make them less co-operative both now and in the future. Your 'listening post' will be enough to keep tabs on the locals and those that choose to leave we will monitor electronically, since they all seem to live in major cities," the general explained in a serious tone. "Until they show even a hint of being a threat to the civilian population, we can't hold them against their will. Monitoring them will have to suffice for now."

"Yes, sir," she stated with some reluctance at being assigned babysitter to a batch of newly made super humans.

"Don't sound too disappointed, Agent Carter. You'll have more to do than just monitor the new super teens," the General said with an amused grin on his face. "There's also the matter of the super powered individual that kept the entire town from being affected by the gas cloud."

True.

Not all of the agents she'd sent out to investigate that matter had come back yet but, from what she'd been told so far, there appeared to be a human out there capable of running at speeds approaching Mach two. They couldn't be certain since all they had to make this estimate was security footage and eye witness accounts of events but, until proved otherwise, she would consider it accurate. Impressive, since it exceeded the maximum recorded speed of the mutant criminal Pietro Maximoff and thus worth locating for recruitment purposes.

While she still didn't like the idea of being assigned to nowhere-ville Kansas, the potential long term for her career, if she could be the one to get most of the recruits for the Avengers Initiative to sign on it, would be a sure fire way to advance her career.

"Quite. Very well, I accept this assignment and strive to meet your expectations, Genera," she stated officially before saluting.

"I'm sure you will, Agent Carter. Fury out."

Luthor Corp Tower, Approaching Lionel Luthor's Office, Afternoon, Same Day,

Lex Luthor's P.O.V

I wonder what lecture he's going to use this time. Lex thought as he walked down the hall of the top floor of Luthor Corp Tower towards his father's office. Hopefully one of the shorter ones.

He'd been through three such meetings before now since the incident at the club and each time his father all but called him a failure. Not that he'd heard any great words of praise from his father ever before in his life but it usually took something significant to earn more than a disappointed look from him. In this case it took a death in front of numerous witnesses as well as a security camera, if what he'd learned was accurate. Obviously his father had been forced to dip quite deeply into his pockets and open his closet full of skeletons to sweep it all under the carpet. In the past this is where it would end but he had a feeling that his father was going to up the stakes a little.

Not even bothering to wait for his father's toady Dominic to announce his arrival, he walked right into the office of the C.E.O, where he saw his father in the middle of a phone call. That worked to his advantage since it allowed him to get the first hit in against the old man in the little war of willpower they often engaged in. Moving over to the liquor cabinet, he poured himself a drink from the most expensive bottle he could find while listening in on the phone conversation.

"Make sure that the renovations are done to my precise specifications. I'm expecting almost every room to be occupied and time is not on our side," Lionel said while sending a momentary glare at his son. "Do what you have to just get it done!"

With that the C.E.O of Luthor Corp hung up the phone, looking quite irritated and that, he decided, was deserving of a toast. Briefly raising his glass before taking a sip, he waited for his father to begin his grand presentation.

"Well, at least you have the good taste to pick a good vintage, Lex," Lionel said before walking over to pour a glass for himself. "I'd savor it if I were you. It is likely to be the last quality alcohol you'll partake of for quite a while."

"You sending me to Luthor Corp's Antarctic installation, Dad?" he asked jokingly, since he doubted that his father would go that far with his punishment.

"Why would I send you to a place in the middle of nowhere?" asked his father rhetorically, as though he found the whole question absurd. "You wouldn't learn anything there that would help you when you come into your inheritance. Instead I plan to make you in charge of two business ventures that require a Luthor's touch to become successful."

"What? Pillaging and plundering?" he asked sarcastically, making their family sound like bandits or pirates.

"Not quite. The first is the Luthor Corp fertilizer plant in Smallville, Kansas. Productivity levels have been dropping and profits along with them. I'll expect you to get levels back to where they should be," his father dictated, clearly not impressed by the sarcasm. "The other is a more recent development. I assume you've at least had presence of mind to pick up a newspaper in the last few days or watch the news broadcasts on TV?"

"I might have skimmed a few pages," he replied sharply, not liking the insinuation that he didn't keep up with current events.

"Then you're aware of the attack on the tanker truck outside of Smallville resulting in its contents being released over a quarter of the town. Ninety-five percent of those exposed died from the exposure but the remaining five percent, amazingly enough, have gained superhuman abilities." His father clearly favored this part of the explanation, "Most are residents of Smallville, with only a few being people just passing through. However a situation has arisen in the last day or two that has caught my attention.

"While some of the families of those who've received super powers have welcomed their relations back with open arms, others have renounced all ties with their gifted kin. Considering the rising anti-mutant sentiment among the general population, it's likely those families rejected their kin tossed them in the same pile as the mutants. At the moment the government is providing food and lodging for them but I doubt it'll last. Eventually the press will lose interest and there will be no reason to put on a good show for the public."

"Is there a point to this or is it just a lesson in the cruel nature of the world?" he asked, beginning to lose his patience.

"The point, Lex, is that there is now a group of people possessing a wide variety of superhuman abilities without homes to go to in a country where the number of businesses willing to hire mutants aren't even worth mentioning. They are alone, they are afraid and very soon they will be without a means of supporting themselves short of crime. That makes them vulnerable. I plan on converting our ancestral home outside Smallville into a dormitory of sorts for those unfortunate individuals. They will have a roof over their heads and food enough to satisfy even the most voracious of appetites."

"And you'll be doing this out of the kindness of your own heart?" he asked, not believing for one moment that his father was doing this for altruistic reasons.

"Be realistic, son! There's a war looming on the horizon and the deciding factor won't be guns or bombs but superpowers," his father scolded with a ruthless look in his eyes. "Whichever army, whichever force, has soldiers possessing the strongest of abilities they will decide the course this world will take. In exchange for my benevolent assistance, I intend those individuals to work for me."

"I assume my job then is to put a friendly face on the whole operation and endear them to the idea of working for Luthor Corp." He really should have seen this coming, he really should have. "Or would they working for you, personally?"

It was just like his father to take advantage of other people's weaknesses and vulnerabilities for his own gain. He even suspected that his father was at this very moment gathering leverage on each of the super powered individuals he predicted would accept his invitation, just in case they became 'resistant' to the idea of being employed by a Luthor. Whether the leverage would come in the form of trouble for them specifically or their families, he didn't know. Probably both.

"I wouldn't object to one of them becoming my personal bodyguard once they had sufficient training in their new abilities," Lionel replied in a moment of rare honesty, "however if they should show aptitude in other areas, Luthor Corp is always looking for promising employees."

That was one of the things he could say safely about his father. He never let any potential resource go to waste and always managed to find a use for people, even if it ended up being a sacrificial lamb.

"I already have a construction crew working on the mansion to make it more suitable and the foreman assures me it should be complete by the end of the week." His father picked a folder off of his desk and handed it to him, "And I expect you to be there to welcome the new tenants before you evaluate the fertilizer plant."

"Fine," he said, knowing that if his father was willing to put this much effort into the second venture, he'd have leverage waiting in the wings to make sure he went along with it.

This appeared to surprise his father but the look quickly left his face to be replaced with his usual overlord look. It didn't affect him the way it no doubt affected others. Now, though, was coming the moment of departure and he would not allow his father to have the last word to claim victory this time around.

In this case, the best parting shot he could deliver was to leave without being dismissed and to completely ignore his father's existence.

So he did.

Four Days Later, Driving Down Main Street, Smallville, Afternoon, Xander's P.O.V

I might not be a lifelong resident of Smallville but even I can see that things have changed around here. Xander thought as he drove Uncle Jonathan's pickup truck.

Indeed it had been only four days since the incident that people were beginning to refer to as the 'Big Bang' but already he could see changes throughout the small Town. People were looking at other with a hint of mistrust in their eyes, a mistrust born of knowing that the people walking down the street next to them could have superhuman abilities but possessing no outward sign of it. Even being someone who'd lived in Smallville all their lives didn't seem to help lessen the suspicion being cast between everyone. It hadn't gotten bad enough that people were attacking each other on the streets but that could mostly have to do with the government placing a unit in the center of town in what used to be a movie theater called The Talon. The whole place just screamed government and he'd spotted no less than ten new camera emplacements around town that looked like they were top of the line. It was why he was using the pickup truck rather than just using his super speed to go from place to place. While the fact that he hadn't been picked up yet proved that normal cameras couldn't provide a clear picture of him at superhuman speed, he was worried that these new ones could. Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan also thought that as well, which was why they let him borrow the truck since he had his driver's license.

He was just in town to deliver a few baskets of vegetables to a local general store and maybe pick up a few things but from the atmosphere everyone was giving off he'd do his best to get it all done quickly. The town of Smallville had gone from a nice, quaint little town that he thought he could get to like and changed into something a lit powder keg with an invisible fuse. His legal guardians tried to convince him that everything would go back to normal in a month's time but he had a feeling that nothing would ever be able to make things go back to the way they'd been. Too much had changed, some of it good but some of it bad, and time only went in one direction.

Seeing the general store getting closer, he hit the turn signal and pulled into the only available parking spot with as much care as he could. After all, this wasn't his truck and the last thing he needed was for Uncle Jonathan to get mad at him because he damaged it. Getting out, he pulled the list out of his pocket to check to see what the store got before picking up the first basket of produce.

"Hey Xander!" came a voice he had blissfully been free of since the Big Bang but now it appeared he was back on her radar.

Turning around, he found that the identity he'd paired with the voice was right on the money because walking up to him with a smile on her face was none other than Chloe Sullivan, intrepid reporter for a high school newspaper. Putting on his best friendly smile, he hoped that she was just coming at him with a bit of fellow student chit chat rather than an interview. It wasn't that he didn't like the blonde but he believed the phrase 'the people have a right to know' had a little too much control over her sometimes. He agreed that people deserved to know about things that would affect their lives but he didn't believe that such knowledge should come at the cost of innocent peoples' lives.

"Hey, Chloe! What're you doing here?"

"Just picking up a few groceries for my Dad. You?"

"Dropping off some stuff from Uncle Jonathan but I think I'll be heading back to the farm as soon as I can," he said, looking at the people on the sidewalks. "There are some seriously bad vibes rolling around town today."

"I know what you mean. I keep thinking I'll turn a corner to find someone being burned at the stake," Chloe stated, making her own dislike of the state of affairs known. "It's like everyone's forgotten that they're glaring at the same people they've lived with for years."

"Yeah," he said, wondering how Chloe would react if she knew about his powers. "People are stupid like that."

"What're your thoughts on the madhouse this place has become?" she asked, acting more like the reporter he knew her to be.

"It's going to be a while before things get back to anything resembling normal. Kinda like Sunnydale, Smallville's been pretty much free of the whole super powers and mutant mess the rest of the world is so obsessed with. Now that we have neighbors and friends in that category, we're going to find out the hard way who the intolerant bigots are and who has the brainpower to see past the differences."

It was true that he figured lines would be drawn soon between those who could see past differences and those who focused only on the differences. He knew where Aunt Martha and Uncle Jonathan stood, as well as himself, but as for everyone else he was still playing the waiting game. He'd wait and see how they behaved both in class as well as around town to see what sort of people they were inside. He hoped that they weren't like some of those anti-mutant bigots or else life in Smallville was going to get seriously volatile in the weeks to come.

"Then I guess it'll be up to us to enlighten the masses!" Chloe said as a smile broke out on her face.

"Us? What do you mean us?" he asked, puzzled by what she'd just told him.

"Well… The Torch lost about a third of its employees to the Big Bang and I've been promoted to run the whole thing, so I need to fill positions. So I figured that since you might want to get in Principal Kwan's good books, you might want a job with the school newspaper. If you… want to, that is?" she asked, now sounding more than a little awkward about it.

It was not something he'd initially planned on doing but, after a few seconds of consideration, he could already see some of the benefits of working at the Torch. For one thing, while it might not have the connections the official town paper had, he had a feeling that if anything unusual or interesting happened, Chloe would be one of the first people to find or she knew who to ask for info. Considering how things were likely to go in the weeks to come, he had no doubt that he'd need to stay on top of things to keep damage to a minimum. Plus the blonde reporter did have a point that a positive position in the school newspaper would go a long way to repairing his rep and getting it away from 'punk kid who had his nerdy friend tweak his grades'. At least those were the words Principal Kwan's gossip mongering secretary had said were written in his official record by Snyder.

"Sign me up." he said with his trademark smile, "Can't guarantee I'll be putting out Pulitzers every issue but I'll do what I can."

"Not a problem!" Chloe said with a smile as bright as the sun, "Just try to make your deadlines and we'll call it even."

"No problem. Look, I've got to make a few more deliveries but I'll spin by the Torch later, alright?" he asked, taking note of the time and how many more stops he needed to make.

"See you then!" she said before walking away.

With that meeting pleasantly ended he resumed his drop off of the produce with the general store before getting back into the pickup truck and pulling back into traffic.

It took about two hours to finally finish making all the deliveries and, with them done, he began to head back into town since the last delivery had been out in the county. He was just about to pass by the last bridge before hitting Smallville proper when he noticed something that had him bring the truck to a complete stop. The railings halfway across the left side of the bridge were broken and completely bent outwards, as though something heavy had rammed right into it. Add to that the roll of barbed wire and pieces of black tire rubber he saw littering the road it left a very troubling sequence of events in his mind.

Running over to the broken section of the railing, he could see bubbles rising up from the churning water that all but confirmed what he'd deduced. Without thought he dove into the water and searched for the vehicle he knew had gone off the road and into the river. While not an excellent swimmer due to his anemia, he was still good enough to control which way he went underwater, thus he followed the bubbles and soon found the car. Moving around to where he figured the driver's side was, he soon spotted a young man who looked to be in his early to mid-twenties but the guy was unconscious from the looks of things. Reaching for the door handle, he pulled back on it as much as he could only to have the thing come off in his hand. Throwing it to the side, he grabbed the side of the door and pulled for all his worth and finally things went his way as the entire door came off in his hands. Moving it to the side, he reached in, unbuckled the seatbelt and pulled the young man free of the car.

Swimming to the surface was much harder now that he was essentially carrying dead weight but he refused to let the young man in his arms go. His lungs weren't complaining yet and, if he was right he'd be able to get to the surface of the river before it got to that point. Once he got his footing on the shores of the river he was able to move much more easily and left the water completely. Laying the young man on the ground, he was able to get a better look at him now and gazed upon the odd sight that the guy was completely bald. At first he thought the guy might be one of those neo-Nazi types who shaved their head but he could see not so much as single sign if impending hair growth. Usually, even if you shaved your head, you could still see pinpricks of hair poking out of the top of the head but this was completely barren.

Shaking his head to clear it, he immediately went about checking the guys vitals and was concerned to find that the man was neither breathing and had no pulse. Almost immediately he began to administer CPR but carefully, since he didn't know what sort of internal injuries the guy might have. This turned out to be the correct course of action since he felt a rib straining beneath his hands and immediately reduced the strength. For a time he thought that he was too late and the guy was beyond reviving but then without warning the form before him took a gasp of air. Easing the man on his side, he watched as water was spat and choked out of the formerly dead man's mouth but that came to a stop as the cracked rib made its presence known.

"Easy! You've got a banged up rib," he said as he tried to keep the man's movement down to a minimum. "Rest here while I try to find a phone to call an ambulance."

"R-right…pocket. Cell phone," said the twenty-something young man.

Not knowing if the cell would work after being submerged, he decided it was at least worth a try since he had no clear idea of where the nearest phone would be. Flipping the device open, he was gratified to see that it appeared to be in working order and immediately dialed 911.

Here's hoping the ambulance responds faster than they did back in Sunnydale! He thought as he put the phone to his ear.

Smallville General Hospital, One Hour Later, Jonathan Kent's P.O.V

What has Xander gotten himself into this time? Jonathan thought as he strode quickly through the halls of the hospital.

He had only gotten the call about twenty minutes ago and it had taken him this long to get to the hospital without his pickup truck. Now he was reviewing the facts he'd been told by Sheriff Miller when he'd called the Kent farm while at the same time keeping an eye out for the young man who'd begun to grow on him in the last week. According to Ethan there'd been a car accident out by the old Reeves Bridge and that Xander had dove into river to save the driver. It'd been a close call but his nephew had managed to rescue the driver and revive him with CPR before calling for an ambulance. Ethan had said that Xander hadn't been hurt but had insisted on accompanying the car crash victim to the hospital just to be sure that the man was going to be okay. He had smiled at that news as it fit with what he'd learned of the teenager's personality but that smile had quickly faded when the Sheriff had let slip who the driver of the vehicle had been.

Lex Luthor.

That had been enough to get him to call around for a ride to the hospital until he finally called Nell and got her to come over and pick him up. He knew that Martha hadn't been happy about that despite the neutral face she'd had on but she had to realize that whatever relationship he had with his ex-girlfriend, it was nothing more than friendship now. He'd told her countless times, whenever he'd wound up spending too much time with Nell, but she always got the same look no matter how much he tried to reassure her. In the end he'd just come to accept the fact that there would always be a certain level of friction between the two women and just did all he could to keep it to a minimum. He'd kept the talk between him and Nell neutral on the way over, only to arrive five minutes ago with her saying she'd wait if needed. However he'd fortunately spotted his pickup truck and, after pointing it out to Nell, told her he'd drive home himself. She'd given him the same look she'd used to when things didn't go her way but without a pretext for sticking around she left as he'd wished.

Now, though, he'd have to do his best to discreetly get Xander away from Lionel Luthor's kid as quickly as possible. While he applauded his nephew's actions in saving the young man, he didn't want the teenager to get entangled with that family if it could be avoided. He remembered all too well how the elder Luthor conned or swindled various landholders around Smallville out of their property or tricked them into signing contracts that were written to favor him completely. He didn't even want to think about the less than legal ways that Lionel Luthor had acquired certain things but he was sure that if the police ever found out, the corporate shark would be imprisoned until judgment day. While he hadn't had the displeasure of meeting the younger Luthor, he doubted that the apple had fallen very far from the tree.

Turning the final corner, he came upon Xander looking through the window of one of the rooms where one Lex Luthor was being treated. "Xander!"

The youth turned immediately and smiled in welcome before taking a few steps away from the window. "Uncle Jonathan? What are you doing here?" Xander asked, looking a bit puzzled at the presence of the Kent patriarch.

"What am I doing here? I got a call from Sheriff Miller that you'd saved someone from drowning," he replied as though it were obvious why he'd come so swiftly. "I was concerned about you, Xander. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. A little wet but changed into some clothes you had in the back of the pickup," he said. indicating the set of clothes he was wearing. "I just want to make sure that Lex is okay before I headed home."

Lex? I'm not so sure I like the sound of that. He thought as he found it awfully familiar of the teen to refer to someone he'd just met by his first name.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Smallville General might not have everything hospitals in the big cities have but the doctors are every bit as good," he reassured the teenager in the hopes of luring him away. "He'll be fine as long as he listens and does what he's told."

"I wouldn't count on it, Mr. Kent," came a cocky voice that could only belong to a Luthor. "My family isn't exactly known for doing what they're told."

Turning, he spotted a bald twenty-something young man. He could see that there was some discomfort but the arrogant pride that seemed to be inseparable from the Luthor family made it barely perceivable. Not wanting to make this an even bigger mess than it already was, he put his best polite face on.

"I'm all too familiar with that," he stated doing his best to keep his voice neutral.

"Yes, I'm sure you are. In any case, I just wanted to thank Xander for his help," Lex said with what he supposed was meant to be genuine gratitude. "If it wasn't for him, I'd likely be dead right now."

"I just did what came natural," Xander stated, looking a bit uncomfortable at the gratitude he was receiving. "Besides, I'm sure anyone else would have done the same thing."

While he didn't like the Luthors, he had to agree with his nephew that the people of Smallville were decent enough that they would have done the same had one of them come upon the accident site. Unlike the Luthor family, people who lived in Smallville didn't have limitless amounts of money or luxurious homes, but rather had to earn everything they had through hard work and friendship. They knew that in this world it was necessary to lean upon each other and help each other out when things became too difficult to handle for one person alone. For people like Lex and Lionel, everyone else was probably nothing more than stepping stones for them on their way to acquire greater levels of power or wealth.

Such people disgusted him to no end.

"Maybe. Still, if there's anything I can do to repay you, just let me know," Lex said, extending a hand that Xander didn't hesitate to shake firmly.

"He'll call you," he said before covertly pulling Xander away from the man and towards the parking lot of the hospital.

Without another word he picked up the pace as soon as he was sure they were out of the younger Luthor's sight, since he didn't want to spend any more time in the young man's presence than he had to. He only got to the escalator before Xander yanked his arm free and he knew he would have to explain his actions sooner or later.

"Okay, while I'm all for male bonding, would you mind explaining why we had to walk away from Lex like he was a Leper or something?" Xander asked, sounding like he'd be quite annoyed if he didn't get a decent answer.

"The Luthor family doesn't have the best of reputations in Smallville. For over a decade they've been swindling people out of their land and tricking them into deals that reduced them to near poverty. Friends I've worked with for years have lost everything! All because of the Luthors!"

"Okay! I get that Lex and his dad have caused quite a few problems in Smallville but it's probably been mostly Luthor senior that's been making the calls," Xander said, sounding a little irritated but at the same time understanding. "Think about it. Lex's dad is the C.E.O of Luthor Corp, right? If Big Daddy Luthor is as bad as you say he is then what're the chances he's giving Lex any say in things at all?"

That thought stopped him before he could go further to tell his nephew precisely what he thought of the Luthor family. It was a grudging point but a point nonetheless. Lionel Luthor was a ruthless businessman who did whatever was necessary to get what he wanted and didn't like sharing one little bit. While there was a possibility that he might give his son some power, it was more likely that Lionel would keep the lion's share for himself while throwing only bread crumbs to everyone else. If that was the case, Lex's only guilt was by association and perhaps not caring about the blood that was soaked into every hundred dollar bill he had. He didn't like that but, at the same time, he had to admit that perhaps he should give the younger Luthor the benefit of a doubt for the time being. If he was right it'd only be a matter of time before Lex did something to prove he was no better than his father. However, if Xander was right, then any undue prejudice would push the twenty-something Luthor towards his father's way of doing things.

He couldn't let himself do that.

"I guess you're right," he allowed grudgingly as the doors opened on the ground floor. "Just… just be careful around the Luthors. Lionel's had two decades to influence Lex and poison his son's mind with his way of thinking."

"I'll be careful but if who a person was raised by had that much influence over who they were when they grew up, then I'd be stuck in a bottle like Tony was most of the time." Xander said as he quickly strode away from the elevator towards the parking lot.

It took until his nephew stepped out into the sun for him to get over the revelation that the teenager had been raised by a drunk. He wasn't sure how to react and more or less strode up to the front doors on auto-pilot but hopefully by the time they got back to the farm, he'd have his head on straight enough to speak.