Thirty-six years ago
Beth Freeman was so happy. She had just returned home to her house in Smallville. She returned after the birth of her new son, Kenny. Beth held Kenny in her arms as she took him to the backyard and looked out at the night sky.
As she looked up to the sky she saw something. It must be a shooting star, Beth thought to herself. Little did Beth know, that "shooting star" was actually the ship sending Kal-El from Krypton to Earth. Beth saw something fall from the ship and into her back yard. Beth went over to study it. It was some sort of green glowing rock.
"What a pretty piece of meteorite." Beth says.
Beth gives to piece of meteor to baby Kenny. Kenny squeals in joy as he grabs the rock.
"This is yours now." Beth says.
Beth placed the meteor in Kenny's bedroom, next to his crib. It would stay in there throughout Kenny's childhood. Kenny grew up as a weak kid. For some reason he always seemed tired and sick. His parents took him to many doctors but no one could ever diagnose what ailed him. It made school challenging for him. Not so much in the class room, but gym class or recess was always a nightmare.
Kenny tried to pick on another class mate as a boy, Clark Kent. Clark was quiet and reserved; Kenny mistook that for some kind of weakness. Therefore, Kenny would always challenge Clark to some sort of feat of strength. Whether it was climbing rope or playing basketball, Clark always seemed to best Kenny. This hurt Kenny's pride even more. Clark was the most timid kid in school, and Kenny couldn't even beat him. This anger festered inside him for years.
Smallville: Present Day
It was October now, harvest season on the Kent farm. As a kid, Clark hated harvest season, because it meant a lot of extra work. Now, Clark enjoyed it, knowing that a lot of food would be donated to a good cause. This year's harvest would be bitter sweet for Clark. This would be the first one without his mother, Martha. Clark was still struggling with the fact that she was really gone. So much had happened in the past few months. First Clark lost his mother, then he quit the Daily Plant, and finally he moved back home to Smallville to take over the family farm.
Clark was in the kitchen, on the phone with Kara.
"Okay, I'll see you when you get here." Clark says as he hangs up the phone.
Conner walks in.
"The trucks loaded up." Conner says.
"Excellent, I'll be ready in a few minutes." Clark says.
Conner had loaded up the truck with the crops to take to the harvest. Conner had worked on the farm for a couple of years now. He didn't mind the work, but still felt inferior around all these super beings all the time. Between Superman, Supergirl, even his own girlfriend, Miss Martian.
Clark and Conner head out to the truck and drive down town Smallville to the harvest festival. Downtown, all the farms in Smallville gather for both donations and selling crops from that years harvest. Clark really buried himself in working on the farm over the summer. Partially to take his mind off the fact he just lost his mother and also partially to remember the days from his childhood working on the farm with both his parents. It was weird for Clark to think about, the majority of his time growing up on the farm, he didn't even know he had powers. Now, a time without his powers feels like a lifetime ago.
Downtown Clark sees plenty of familiar faces setting up. Pete Ross is setting up his booth. Lana is setting up hers as well. Clark goes over to Lana.
"Need a hand." Clark asks.
"Hey Clark, great to see you." Lana says.
"Great to see you too." Clark surveys all of Lana's crops.
"Looks like you had a good harvest this year." Lana says.
"Oh yeah, it was a good year for us, how about you." Lana asks.
"One of the best I can remember." Clark says.
Just then someone bumps Clark in the back. Clark turns around to see a man wearing a trench coat and a bowler hat.
"Oh, excuse me sir." Clark says.
Clark looks at the man for a minute. He looked somewhat familiar.
"Kenny? Kenny Freeman, is that you?" Clark asks.
"Clark Kent." Kenny says.
"It's great to see you." Clark says.
Clark always liked Kenny as a kid. While a lot of the other kids teased Clark for being weird and having protective parents, Kenny would always invite Clark for a game of basketball.
"Yeah." Kenny says, weakly.
"You doing okay?" Clark asks, he could tell Kenny seemed a little sick.
"I'm fine." Kenny says.
"We should get together sometime." Clark says.
"Oh, I'll be seeing you soon." Kenny says as he walks off.
Clark takes a moment to look around the town. It still had that small town charm Clark loved about the city. There were some things that were different. There was now a big stage in the middle of the ceremony. But some things remained the same. He looked over to the kid's area. It was the same playpen that Clark first met Lana in.
Clark looked back up at the stage. A band called Remy Zero was preforming their hit song, save me. As they finished up, Lana took the stage. Clark's curiosity was peaked. He wasn't sure what Lana was going to announce.
"Everyone, may I have your attention please." Lana begins.
"I would like to thank everyone for coming out for this years fall harvest. This looks to be one of the best harvests Smallville has ever seen." Lana says.
The crowd cheers.
"However, I have something else I'd like to discuss with all of you today. This past year we lost a pillar of our community, Martha Kent." Lana says.
Clark cocks an eyebrow, unsure of what Lana is about to announce.
"Martha impacted nearly every person in our community. Whenever anyone needed a hand, Martha was always the first one to reach out and help." Lana says.
Clark swallows hard, his mother meant so much to him, both his parents did, and he missed them both deeply.
"That is why today, it has been approved that the street we are standing on now will be renamed Martha Avenue." Lana says.
Clark looks on in shock and joy. The crowd cheers on. Clark looks over and sees Lana's husband, Kyle, reveal a new bench on the street corner. There is a plaque on the bench that reads: Martha Kent The Best of Smallville.
"Clark, would you like to come up and say a few words?" Lana asks.
Clark can barely contain himself. He can feel tears rolling down his face as he walks up on stage. He takes the mic.
"Wow, I uh, I didn't know about any of this." Clark begins.
Lana smiles as she watches Clark stumble over his words.
"My mother was. My mother…" Clark pauses for a moment. He is in shock and just doesn't know what to says.
"Growing up my parents meant everything to me. They taught me so much about being a good person and looking out for others. My mother meant the world to me, and it looks like she meant a lot to everyone else here too. Thank you so much for this honor." Clark says.
The crowd applauds.
"Thank you for this Lana." Clark says as she gives Lana a hug.
"What a load of crap!" Someone yells out as the crowd quiets down.
The crowd gasps. Clark's heart sinks. He looks out into the crowd and sees Kenny Freeman.
"You're all going to let this poser stand up there and clap as he cries? Newsflash everyone, Clark Kent was adopted. Martha Kent isn't even his real mother." Kenny says.
Kyle approaches Kenny.
"Let's go sir." Kyle says.
"Get your hands off of me!" Kenny yells, and he throws Kyle off and into a pile of pumpkins.
"Kyle!" Lana yells.
Kenny removes his trench coat, revealing green tentacles protruding in and out of his body. The crowd begins to disperse.
"You get to have the whole town fawn over you, well what about me? My parents had to spend every dime they had on treatments for me and couldn't afford to take care of themselves before they died." Kenny says.
Kenny raises his fist and shoots a beam of green energy at Clark. It blasts Clark back, off the stage.
"Clark!" Lana yells as she comes over to check on him.
"That… was kryptonite." Clark says.
Kenny begins to make his way to Clark. As he does, Conner jumps on his back.
"Off of me worm." Kenny says, as he throws Conner over his shoulder.
"Get everyone out of here!" Clark says to Lana.
"But- Lana starts.
"Just go!" Clark commands.
Lana runs off, trying to organize the crowd out of the area.
Kenny beats Conner down into the pavement.
"Stay out of this, this is between me and Clark." Kenny says.
As Clark recovers, Kenny makes his way to him. He chucks Clark across the street. Clark over-exaggerates the throw and rolls behind a dumpster in an ally way. Kenny makes his way into the ally and smashes the dumpster out of the way. But Clark is nowhere to be found. Kenny can hear something in the sky behind him. He looks up and sees Superman.
"What's going on here?" Superman asks.
"This doesn't concern you." Kenny says as he blasts a beam of kryptonite at Superman. Superman is able to fly out of the way.
"Stop this now." Superman says.
"I just want Kent." Kenny says.
Superman continues to dodge Kenny's attacks, but he has to keep his distance from the kryptonite. Superman flies backwards trying to lure Kenny away from the down town district. Finally, Kenny is able to hit him with a beam of kryptonite.
"Ahh!" Superman yells out as he falls to the ground.
Superman lands in a grass field. He was disoriented. He could see white markings in the grass. He looked up and saw bleacher seating. He was on the Smallville High School football field. He is then hit in the back with another beam of kryptonite.
"This is all your fault too." Kenny says.
Superman yells out in pain as Kenny keeps up his attack. He doesn't know what to do. This might really be how it ends; he thinks.
As Kenny moves closer, another being flies down. They get in between Kenny and Superman, and the kryptonite beam bounces off their chest.
Kenny stops his attack as he sees Supergirl standing in his way.
"Kara!" Superman yells out.
"Stop this, now!" Kara says.
Kenny stands there, out of breath. He used up a lot of strength with those kryptonite beams.
"Grr, this is both your fault." Kenny yells out.
He tries to charge up for another attack, but he is out of strength.
"Kenny, let us help you." Superman says.
"This is all your fault, you, and Clark Kent." Kenny says.
"What is?" Superman asks.
"This me, everything I've become. It all has to do with my kryptonite poisoning." Kenny says, as he falls to his knees.
"Kryptonite poisoning?" Superman asks.
"When I was a baby my mom found a green rock in our backyard. She gave it to me and I held on to it my whole childhood. Only after you showed up, scientists learned more about kryptonite. We know it affects Kryptonian's, but new studies are showing it can affect humans too, but only prolonged exposure, years worth." Kenny says.
"Kenny, I'm sorry." Superman says.
"Where did this suit you're wearing come from?" Supergirl asks.
"A couple years ago, I was contacted by some doctors from LexCorp. They offered me treatment. But once Lex was incarcerated, the project was put on ice, and I was forgotten about." Kenny says.
"What does Clark have to do with this?" Superman asks.
"Clark always made me feel inferior as a kid. Always beating me in everything I challenged him at." Kenny explains.
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way." Superman says.
Kenny squints for a moment.
"You, you're Clark!" Kenny says weakly.
Clark nods. Kenny was lying down on the field now.
"I- I can't believe it." Kenny says.
Clark x-rays Kenny's heart.
"Kenny, you're dying." Clark says.
"I'll go get help." Supergirl says as she flies off.
Superman gets up too.
"Wait, don't leave me, please." Kenny pleads.
Superman kneels back down.
"I don't want to die alone." Kenny says.
"I'm sorry Kenny, for everything." Superman says.
"I just wanted to be as good as you." Kenny says.
Clark holds Kenny's hand. He fights through the pain as he can feel the kryptonite radiating off of Kenny's body. A moment later, Kenny is gone.
"Rest in peace, Kenny." Clark says.
Superman and Supergirl helped to rebuild the downtown area, and later that week the harvest festival continued. Clark took the stage to talk about Kenny.
"I want to thank everyone for coming out again after the craziness of the past few days. I really want to thank Lana and this community for the warmth they have shown me and my mother. I'd also like to talk about Kenny Freeman." Clark says,
The crowd audibly groans.
"Now stay with me. I knew Kenny since grade school. I knew he was a bit weak and frail. But he would always invite me to play sports with him. What I didn't know was that Kenny fought with illness his entire life. And even with that illness, he fought to achieve so much. Kenny underwent very experimental treatment for his sickness, but in the end it didn't work. But he was very brave and that is why I'd like to donate this plaque to the memory of Kenny Freeman." Clark says.
Clark reveals a plaque. It reads: Kenny Freeman The Bravest of Smallville.
The crowd starts off by giving Clark a mercy clap, but eventually warms up to genuine applause.
Later, during the festival Clark finds Conner.
"Hey Conner." Clark says.
"Hey Clark, just sold the last of our crops, everything else is getting donated." Conner says.
"That's great!" Clark exclaims.
"Conner, I have a question for you." Clark then says.
"What is it?" Conner asks.
"Do I ever make you feel inferior?" Clark asks.
Conner pauses for a moment.
"No." He says.
"Conner." Clark scolds.
"Okay, it's not you, it's everyone. I have a lot of people with a lot of abilities in my life. It's hard sometimes just being… normal." Conner says.
"Ha, you know as a kid I felt like an outcast because of my powers. But in the Justice League I've met so many people that have given me a sense of belonging." Clark says.
"I had that too, for a little while, when I started on the farm. Until we lost… her." Conner says.
"My mother was the most amazing person I ever knew. Look how much this town feel in love with her and she didn't even have any super powers." Clark says.
"Yes she did." Conner says.
Clark looks at Conner, unsure of what he is referring to.
"Her love and her kindness. Those were her super powers." Conner says.
"I think we can all find those super powers in ourselves, if we look hard enough." Clark says.
Conner smiles at Clark, and Clark smiles back.
"Come on, let me help you load those crops." Clark says.
The two load up the truck and take to crops off for donation.