Smallville Season 9

The **ninth season** of *Smallville* began airing on September 25, 2009, on The CW television network, and concluded its initial airing on May 14, 2010 with 21 episodes.

### Savior

It is night time in Metropolis three weeks after Doomsday's rampage on main street. Chloe Sullivan has taken up residence in the Watchtower and is arguing with an uncooperative woman on her cell phone, trying to find a lead to the mysterious disappearance of her cousin Lois Lane. Feeling she isn't getting the help she's looking for, Chloe hacks into their computer system. Suddenly, she hears a noise coming from the elevator entrance to the tower and pulls out a gun. Chloe walks to the balcony railing and, seeing a figure in the shadows, threatens to shoot. Then Emil Hamilton appears, requesting that she put down her gun. Chloe enquires if Oliver sent him to help in her search, but he says that Oliver, Dinah and Bart have all vanished off the grid, blaming themselves for Jimmy's death. Chloe says that in that case it's up to them to bring the team back together.

Meanwhile, a monorail train approaching the city is struck by a mysterious bolt of purple lightning that appears in the sky, arcs down and pierces one of the train cars. Inside, Lois Lane suddenly materializes, on her hands and knees in the aisle. She has a bandage on her left hand and the Legion ring on her right hand. Suddenly, another bolt of lighting, this time colored blue, strikes the car and a mysterious woman assassin is now transported aboard the train, who immediately attacks Lois. Lois holds her own against the assassin, but then the damage caused to the train by the bolt of lightning derails the train as it crosses a bridge over the river and it hurtles over the edge. Lois is knocked unconscious as the train plummets to the street below, where it is caught in mid-air just above the ground by Clark Kent, who is now dressed in an all-black costume with a long coat.

Clark spots Lois through the train window, and is delighted to see her alive after thinking she was one of the victims of Doomsday's rage through Metropolis. He places the train safely on the ground, and just before Lois awakens, he speeds away. Lois exits the car and then sees a strange emblem burned into the side of a building. At the top of the building, Clark is wearing the House of El family crest on his chest as he stands proudly watching over his city.

Clark returns to the Fortress of Solitude to continue with his Kryptonian training, but Clark's lack of concentration is noticed by Jor-El who confronts his son about still being distracted by his human emotions. Clark attempts to change the subject by questioning his father on why he's unable to unlock his ability to fly like Kara, his cousin. Jor-El informs him that his Kryptonian DNA is the same as Kara's and what prevents him from taking flight is that he still thinks of himself as human. Clark disagrees, saying that he has cut all his ties to humans and embraced his Kryptonian family heritage in order to fulfill his destiny. Jor-El insists that someone is still holding him back, but Clark says he can do it.

Chloe arrives at Metropolis General Hospital and is reunited with Lois, courtesy of a call from the desk nurse. Lois tells Chloe what took place before her disappearance, from her confrontation with Tess in the bullpen of the Daily Planet over the location of an alien Orb to waking up aboard a train with a deadly ninja assassin after her. Chloe pretends to be skeptical about Lois's account of an 'alien orb' and blames the bump on her head. Lois questions Chloe on how she managed to escape from Davis Bloome, and when Chloe says that she didn't exactly escape, Lois assumes the Red-Blue Blur had kept his promise to her and saved Chloe. She also realizes that he must have been responsible for the train rescue. Chloe is surprised and disappointed by the revelation of Lois's relationship with the Blur. Then Lois suddenly remembers she had arranged to meet the Blur at their rendezvous phone booth and starts to leave. Chloe stops Lois from leaving and starts to tell her about her missing three weeks, but Lois asks for a sedative and when Chloe goes to get it, Lois departs. But she leaves behind the Legion ring.

Lois runs to the phone booth for her appointment with the Blur, but, not realizing she's late by three weeks, she walks up and down the street talking to him as if he were there and begging him to reveal himself. But there is no response.

Clark stands at the top of the Statue of Liberty and throws himself off, apparently attempting to access his ability to fly, but then he is back in the Fortress from what was a holographic mental training simulation created by Jor-El. Clark believes he's ready to move past these mental tests. While Jor-El is impressed by his son's determination, he reminds him that, while his passion can be his greatest strength, it can also be his greatest obstacle, and that Clark already knows what is blocking his training efforts. Clark realizes he must go and say good-bye to Lois.

Inside the Luthor Mansion, a dark haired man dressed in military fatigues and wearing a dog tag featuring the House of Zod insignia enters the den to find another man and a woman, also dressed in military fatigues, waiting for him. He informs them he hasn't found any more of their people and they tell him that Tess Mercer has still not divulged any useful information. The man is revealed to be Major Zod who senses mutiny from these two soldiers. They question him on how they arrived on Earth and why they haven't acquired the natural Kryptonian powers under the yellow sun. Zod orders them not to question his authority and to "kneel before Zod!" but then the other man strikes him, knocking him down.

Back in Metropolis, Lois returns to the train crash site looking for clues about why she is being targeted by an assassin. She also tries to contact Oliver to enlist his help but with no luck. A man appears at the car door and Lois, assuming he's a police detective, tries to leave but he stops her. He asks her name and when she tells him he asks where she's been for the last three weeks. Lois picks up a discarded newspaper and sees the date is September 25, 2009, confirming she has lost three weeks. The man then asks her how a seven-ton monorail train flew from its tracks and landed in the street without a single fatality. Lois says it must be a miracle but the man sees an emblem embedded in the car door's glass and says he thinks it was the Blur who saved the train. He believes the Blur to be an egotistical vigilante who can't resist leaving his symbol all over the city, and Lois tries to tell him he's wrong. Then the man grabs Lois and kisses her, and a passing policeman asks them to leave. Before she goes, Lois smashes her foot down on top of the man's foot.

Chloe returns to the Watchtower, and discovers that Emil Hamilton has used Oliver's money to purchase state-of-the-art technology for her headquarters. He says he felt inspired to help after their earlier conversation. They start working together to find answers to Lois's three-week disappearance. Chloe shows Dr. Hamilton the Legion ring Lois left behind in her hospital room and says she thinks her cousin traveled to the future. Dr. Hamilton shows no surprise at this idea and uses one of the computers to display a recorded image of "two rips in the fabric of our universe" at the site of the monorail train crash, indicating that Lois wasn't the only one to return from the future.

Elsewhere, the assassin woman displays the power of her heat vision by burning a poster about Lois's disappearance.

Tess awakens in her bedroom, her face badly bruised, and finds a man doing push ups on the floor. He introduces himself to her as Major Zod.

Later, Tess proves to be a force to be reckoned with during her interrogation by Zod's soldiers. Tess tells Zod it was not his voice she heard speaking to her from the Kryptonian orb that spoke of a place called Kandor. Zod is impressed but Tess tells him not to expect her to help him find out his missing facts, because she understood that someone from the orb would come and save the Earth from destruction. She tells Zod she now knows he has no idea how he and his people came to earth and why they haven't received their powers, and that this will cause his army to desert him. Tess tries to get the drop on Zod from behind but he easily slams her to the floor by the throat, telling her he won't hesitate to kill her if necessary.

Clark stands on the rooftop of the *Daily Planet*, and Chloe arrives, confronting him over how for three weeks she tried to track him down with no success, but as soon as Lois returns he's there, as predictable as ever. Clark tells her he chose to forsake his humanity in order to focus on his Kryptonian training with Jor-El to become the hero he's destined to be. Chloe asks how he accomplished this since it's obvious that hasn't fully discarded his attachment to humanity in the shape of Lois. Clark tells Chloe that he came back only to say goodbye to Lois. Chloe shows Clark the Legion ring and tells him of Lois's trip to the future and her return to the present, along with an assassin out to kill her.

At an abandoned building, Oliver Queen is fighting at an underground fight club. Lois enters the ring as the girl carrying the round-number card and she tells him to stop the drunken brawling as she could really use a hero right now to help her find out how she went MIA for three weeks straight, only to return with an assassin sent to kill her.

Suddenly, the outer wall of the building explodes inwards and the female assassin is standing there. Her eyes start to flare with heat vision and Oliver warns everyone to take cover. Just then, Clark appears behind the assassin, who reveals that her true motive for targeting Lois in the first place was to lure Clark out into the open. Clark grabs the assassin and super-speeds away leaving behind his symbol, much to Lois's delight.

Clark arrives at his loft at the Kent farm, throwing the woman through the barn roof to crash into the dirt floor. She gets up and tells Clark he betrayed "them" in the future she comes from and then swings at Clark, who spots Jonathan's watch on her wrist and grabs it from her. He is still wearing the watch, and he notes that the date on the assassin's watch is set one year ahead. She tells Clark that he himself gave her the watch. Then she drops a piece of blue kryptonite on the floor between them, reveals that she's from Krypton and saying they are both powerless now, she attacks him. She draws a sword, telling Clark that this will be her best chance at defeating and killing him before he can destroy their world. She rushes Clark, slashing skillfully with her sword as Clark struggles to stay clear of her blade. He grabs a nearby pipe but she cuts that in half, and then he grabs her throat. As they move further from the weakening effects of the blue kryptonite, their powers are slowly returning but she knocks him down and only a swift upward kick from Clark saves him from being impaled. She flips over onto her feet with her powers also returning and hurls a saw blade at Clark who gets a small cut on his cheek while just barely avoiding it. She swings her blade now with desperation and one of her slices cuts a chain holding an engine block which rams into her, propelling her through a wall. When Clark reaches her side, he sees she's been accidentally impaled on her own sword. Clark tries to help her as she touches his cheek and with her dying breath tells Clark, "I'm sorry".

Back at the now deserted fight club, Lois tends to Oliver's wounds. Lois tells Oliver that he might have everyone else fooled into believing the rich spoiled playboy is the real persona of Oliver Queen but not her. She realizes it's a mask he hides behind and that Green Arrow is his real persona. Oliver insists he is nothing more than just a spoiled drunken fool and the hero thing was merely a distraction just like his previous romance with her. Lois calls him "an obnoxious jackass", which he fully agrees with. Lois realizes that if Oliver is giving up on his crusade as Green Arrow then she really doesn't need him after all, and says the Blur is the real hero she needs. Oliver lowers his head.

Back at the Luthor mansion, Zod and Tess are placed on trial by Zod's own troops. Military cadet Basqat leads the prosecution, demanding that Tess reveal when she joined forces with Zod and the location of the hundreds of army soldiers unaccounted for. Tess denies knowing the Major and any involvement in their missing troops, and says if they want answers they should ask Zod. Faora recounts her memory of blood being taken from herself and hundreds of other soldiers just before the battle for Kandor on Krypton. Zod tells them that the fact that they are all present means that Krypton has been destroyed. When Faora accuses Zod of betraying them, he rises, grabs a man by the throat and throws him into his chair and tells them his record of service and personal sacrifice is greater than anyone else's. Zod tells them that, as their leader, he won't cower in the mansion as they've been doing for weeks but he intends to venture out and find every refugee solider on the planet and he will die in that quest if necessary. Inspired by the words of his commander, one soldier rises from his chair and kneels on his right knee while crossing his right arm in a fist over his chest to his left shoulder, indicating his allegiance. He is then followed by the rest of the battalion of troops present kneeling before Zod - including the assassin who had just died in Clark's arms, now again alive and well. Tess is also impressed by Zod's leadership and smiles at him.

Clark returns to the barn with a shovel, having buried the assassin, to find Chloe waiting for him and he tells her he has one year to try and stop the destruction of the world at his own hand. Chloe pleads with Clark to use the Legion ring to travel back in time to prevent Jimmy's death but Clark says he won't tamper with fate again. Clark angrily tells Chloe that he's not a God and the last time he tried to rewrite history Jonathan Kent died in his arms. As she leaves the barn, Chloe tells Clark through her tears that he has now truly embraced his Kryptonian side as there's nothing left of his humanity.

Tess returns to her office in the Mansion, now cleaned up, to discover Zod and his army have all vanished from the Mansion without a trace. Her personal security agent shows her that the video security tapes of Zod and his soldiers have all been erased, and she points out that they're dealing with an advanced society that would have no trouble hacking into our primitive technology.

Lois Lane sits at her desk trying to log into the Planet's computer system with no luck when the man she saw earlier shows up again. He says he is John Corben, a field correspondent reporter for the Daily Planet who has just returned to the states from the trenches of Afghanistan. As her new partner sitting in Clark's desk, Lois tells him not to get used to the desk because Clark will be back. Corben informs her that presently she's no longer on staff as a reporter at the Planet, which she tells him is a minor technicality easily fixed. Corben remains looking enthusiastic to be partnered with Lois. As Corben leaves, Lois notices Clark's nameplate in the garbage can and she picks it up. Then she gets a call from Clark in his Blur persona using a voice modulator device. Lois thanks the Blur for saving her life earlier, uncertain she'd get the chance to before he disappeared completely. The Blur informs her that he is supposed to leave her but he won't, but he asks that she keep their relationship a secret, which she agrees to.

Lois returns to her apartment above the Talon. She starts to fall asleep and suddenly experiences a series of vivid visions. The sky is red, a silhouette of a man bearing the insignia of the House of Zod on his chest leaps in front of a futuristic tower where one of the towers is projecting a red beam into the sky and the flag of Kandor is draped in the center of the building. A hand of a naked woman touches the back of a naked man, and then Tess is kneeling before a man who places a dog tag around her neck. Now the woman is seen to be Lois who is being passionately kissed on the neck by a man.

Then there is another woman drawing a sword out to attack, Lois facing the man, a shovel placed in dirt, hands covered in blood, a red sun and a drop of blood, Oliver digging in the dirt, Chloe running, a hand grabbing a bed sheet, Chloe lying on the ground lifeless. Clark's face is revealed as the man who's been with Lois all along, and then Alia draws her sword to strike. Lois wakes up, confused and somewhat unnerved.

### Metallo

Lois knocks on the back door of the Kent Farm house, looking for Clark. She finds the place a little neglected, with dust on the counter; however, someone has been feeding Shelby. Lois gets a call on her cell phone from her new *Daily Planet* co-worker, John Corben, who is still out looking for a story. After asking Lois out twice and being rejected both times, he begins to question Lois's flawless impression of the Blur, who has once again performed his vigilante duties and left his mark. John is convinced that the Blur has a dark side and vows to expose it as he stares at a wallet-sized photograph. As he ends his conversation with Lois, a gust of wind blows the picture into the street.

As John goes to retrieve it, he steps out between two parked cars and is hit by a large truck. As he bleeds out heavily onto the street, he still attempts to reach for the photograph. He sees a flash of light before waking up on an operating table, in a lot of pain. John removes the bandage around his upper arm to find it now half-comprised of metal, with a tube of kryptonite inserted into his arm. Surrounded by bloody curtains and LuthorCorp crates, he shouts "Hello?" with no answer. He walks over to a mirror and removes the blood-soaked gauze on his chest to reveal an artificial kryptonite heart surgically implanted into his chest, glowing green. It begins pulsing faster and faster as he begins to panic.

Clark stands on the ledge near the top of the *Daily Planet* building as he listens for trouble. He overhears people preparing for the day and a marriage proposal, before super speeding off to answer a police scanner call.

Asleep in Chloe's apartment at the Talon, Lois has another strange dream (a shorter version of the one in *Savior*). Shelby wakes her and Chloe comes home, surprised that Lois brought the dog home with her. Chloe reveals she's been taking care of Shelby in Clark's absence. As the conversation changes to the Blur, Lois nonchalantly reveals she's been communicating with the Blur exclusively. Chloe is noticeably bothered by this.

Chloe returns Shelby to the Kent Farm and confronts Clark when he returns to feed the dog. She points out that, although she covered for him this time, he needs to be more careful, because if it had been Lois instead of Chloe there, she'd have seen his Blur costume, with the House of El mark on his shirt, and known his identity. Chloe asks why Clark is still contacting Lois when he is supposed to be abandoning his 'human attachments', and says he should recognize the sacrifices already made by the two of them and finish the training he's set out to accomplish.

John Corben admits himself into the hospital, and is evaluated by Dr. Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton informs John that the bionic additions surgically implanted in him cannot be removed, since whoever performed the surgery on him has removed his heart and the kryptonite matrix is the only thing keeping him alive. When the hospital personnel try to sedate him, John throws an orderly and Dr. Hamilton across the room, showing that the modifications to his body have given him super strength.

Lois visits Tess Mercer at the Luthor Mansion, and they recall the fight they had prior to Lois's disappearance. Tess had fired Lois from her position at the *Daily Planet*, but Lois 'persuades' Tess to give her back her job by threatening to run a story on the Luthors in the *Metropolis Inquisitor*. Lois turns and leaves, and Tess says nothing. Then Stuart, an employee of Tess's, enters and shows Tess that he's pinpointed the locations of the missing Kryptonians.

Meanwhile, Clark super speeds to the hospital after hearing about the hospital incident over a police scanner. Dr. Hamilton briefs him and says that while the kryptonite in John's body is significantly affecting his abilities, it is also boosting his adrenaline and therefore intensifying his emotions.

Meanwhile, John wanders around downtown Metropolis, while the conversation he had with Lois before his accident replays in his head. John finds the photograph which had gotten him knocked down, and, again seeing the Blur's mark, decides that the accident and surgery were gifts that have given him the ability to kill the Blur.

Clark finds a *Daily Planet* keychain John left behind at the hospital, which shows he works there, so, as the Blur, he contacts Lois from the hospital and asks her to find out who in the office has lost their keys, but he warns her that the man is a dangerous super-human cyborg. They agree to meet at the usual phone booth later that night.

Chloe visits Lois at work to invite her to lunch, but sees she's not at her desk, so Chloe takes the opportunity to scan Lois's hard drive and finds some spyware installed. Then Lois returns and declines Chloe's lunch request, saying she's too busy helping the Blur.

Tess and Stuart investigate the room in which John awoke earlier, and wonder if Corben was a guinea-pig for the people who performed the surgery and who might still be monitoring his condition. Tess concludes that Zod and his people are one step closer to getting their powers.

Lois and John are back at the office late that evening. John seems more frustrated than practical about not being able to locate some records. Since they're in the process of being moved, Lois suggests that he will find their hard-copy counterparts in the archive room and asks what it is he's looking for. He says he's looking for records on the Blur, but when Lois tells him that he'll need his keys, John asks to use hers because he's left his somewhere. Remembering what the Blur had told her, Lois gives her keys to him, and excuses herself and leaves.

Lois quickly jogs to the phone booth and gets there just as the Blur calls. She is able to tell him about John Corben's identity, but is then immediately kidnapped by John.

Clark meets Chloe at the Watchtower, where they are able to uncover a video John had recorded for his sister Rebecca while he was overseas. She had been murdered three months prior, before John had returned to the United States. Upon his return, he bought the building in which Rebecca was killed. Clark and Chloe decide that John must be holding Lois there. Clark tells Chloe of his plan for tackling Corben with his kryptonite heart: he's obtained an EMP bomb which will disable all electronics within 50 feet. He plans to use it in order to get close enough to John to defeat him.

John asks Lois who the Blur is, and promises her freedom if she tells him. Lois attempts to hit him with a wrench, but he throws her into some pipes and she is knocked unconscious. Clark shows up and begins to approach John, but John's kryptonite heart forces Clark to keep his distance. John explains the grudge he holds against the Blur: a prison bus had crashed, and in the confusion, an inmate escaped who went on to murder Rebecca. In John's mind, this made the Blur responsible for her death. Clark tries to convince him that his thoughts are being influenced by the kryptonite, but when this fails he uses the EMP bomb which temporarily neutralizes the kryptonite matrix powering John, and Clark is able to get to Lois. He attempts to wake her, but before he is able to do so, John recovers and throws Clark to the opposite end of the room. John tells Clark that he's going to show him what it feels like to lose somebody Clark loves, and moves toward Lois. Clark finds a lead plate which he softens with his heat vision, then super speeds at John and molds it to his chest. When John removes it, he also removes the kryptonite heart which is stuck to it and collapses dead. Lois awakens to see the Blur standing in the shadows and asks to see his face. After taking a step forward, Clark hesitates and then super-speeds away.

Clark returns to the Watchtower and apologizes to Chloe for not being there for her when she needed him after Jimmy's death. He confesses that he has his doubts, but can't let go of the human life he's been trying to leave behind. Chloe reveals that the spyware she found on Lois's work computer was loaded by Tess; she believes Tess gave Lois her job back to find out where she was when she disappeared for three weeks. Chloe then insists that Clark ensure that Tess doesn't get to Lois's memories before he does, since Tess already knows too much about him.

Clark finally returns to the *Daily Planet*, and Lois is ecstatic that he's back, rushing to hug him warmly. But when he says "Must have really missed me", she gets flustered and claims she wouldn't have noticed his absence if it weren't for the fact his replacement was a psychopath. When Clark asks if he missed anything while away, Lois brags that she helped the Blur and sits on his desk to tell him the whole story, much to his amusement.

At the Luthor Mansion, Tess examines the kryptonite heart that served as John's life support, in awe of the power it was able to provide despite its size. Stuart enters to show Tess pictures he has found of Kryptonian symbols that appeared around the world when Zod arrived. He explains that, while their definitive translations aren't known, the designs showed similarities to the Kryptonian words for 'blood', 'nobility' and 'family'. He says hundreds of these symbols have shown up around the world, proving there are many more of Zod's people out there. Stuart shows her that one symbol is the mark of the House of El, and when he zooms in to a close-up, there is a man lying inside the mark on the ground.

### Rabid

Clark awakes alone in Watchtower. He pulls a piece of surgical tape off his arm to reveal bruises and a puncture mark. His phone rings across the room and, as he goes to get it, he passes a needle that had been dipped in kryptonite used to penetrate his skin. His phone has a text message from Oliver: "I lost her". Clark quickly ventures out into what he sees are the deserted streets of Metropolis and makes his way to the *Daily Planet*. Upon arriving, the basement is in disarray and music is blaring in the background. He calls Lois's name a few times before seeing her in the back of the room. But when she turns around, she utters an animal-like growl and charges at him, and her face is horribly disfigured.

**12 hours earlier**

Clark is listening to the police scanner at the *Daily Planet* but quickly turns it off when he sees Lois arriving. Lois is delighted to have Clark back as her partner but is also a bit irritated by the Blur not contacting her. Lois gets news of a fire but Clark is able to rush off and take care of it under the guise of getting them a quick cup of coffee. Lois is marvelling at the Blur having so quickly put out the fire while Clark tries to wipe a soot-mark off his hand. They then receive a report of a high speed motorcycle chase and Clark uses his Arctic breath to cool Lois's coffee to distract her while he rushes off and stops the biker as the Blur, only to find it's Oliver. They argue and Oliver mocks Clark, referring to him as God. Clark admits he was wrong about how he dealt with Davis but Oliver throws it back in his face, asking why he feels he has to plaster his symbol around the city. Oliver then speeds away past a cop car, which turns around to chase him.

Tess is at the mansion, going over the satellite photos of the Kryptonian symbols that have been found around the world. Two of her security guards enter and she lambastes them about not finding the new Earth-fallen Kryptonians. The longer it takes them to look for the Kryptonians, the more time they have to blend in with humanity. They are interrupted by a loud noise in the hallway and find a security guard unconscious. The power goes down and another security guard is attacked by a crazy-looking person who crashes through a window. Tess attempts to call for help but has to fight off several of the crazy people, one of whom bites her in the struggle.

Lois and Clark arrive at Metropolis General, having heard that Tess was admitted. They discuss the reason for her being there and have a spat about the Blur, who Clark claims would side with him. They overhear a doctor (Dr. Coats) talking about Tess having a virus and go into her room to investigate. Clark notes Tess said she was attacked by zombies. Amused, Lois asks what made "Cruella De Vil" snap. When Lois tries to question her, Tess wakes with her face horribly disfigured and she violently flings Lois across the room. Clark has to hold her down to be sedated.

At Watchtower, Chloe is working on her computer but quickly changes the display when Dr. Hamilton enters. However he has noticed and tells her they shouldn't have secrets from each other, but she says he's in the wrong business for that. Then Clark arrives with a sample of Tess's blood for them to analyze and identify the virus. Chloe hacks into security footage from the Luther Mansion showing the zombie-like intruders, and Dr. Hamilton hypothesizes that it may be a virus that affects the rage areas of the brain.

Clark speeds Dr. Hamilton across town to speak with the doctor at Metropolis General who reveals that the virus is probably airborne and the hospital is being quarantined, along with any other places Tess had been. They learn that she had been to the *Planet*, from where she was taken to the hospital. Clark realizes Lois is in danger from other infected staff at the Planet.

Clark speeds to the *Daily Planet* to save Lois and they fight off the horde but not before she is bitten. He gathers her up in his arms and carries her away to find someplace safe, and Lois smiles softly at this side of Clark she's never seen before.

At LuthorCorp, Oliver is with the female cop who had chased after him. He is getting drunk as she walks around in just her shirt. She finds a picture of Lois in his wallet and he appears pained to look at it. Oliver then downs some pills, claiming to have been "awake since Tuesday and those pills are the only thing keeping me vertical". The cop embraces him and knocks off his belt buckle, which they discover has a camera built in. After a brief spat when she accuses him of using the camera to put a sexy video on the internet, the cop leaves. Oliver decides that it was Tess who planted it to spy on him.

Meanwhile, Chloe has isolated a suspect enzyme from Tess's blood and Dr. Hamilton says the DCA think the virus was deliberately released by someone. He also states that the virus induces sleep, during which it germinates and takes over the infected person. Chloe says an antidote can be made if they can find a blood type which contains that enzyme. Upon looking at the data, Dr. Hamilton says he's only seen a blood type like that once and it belonged to Davis Bloome.

Clark and Lois are holed up in an office at the Planet while he wraps the wound on her leg. He tells her the infection is passed by an airborne virus, so she says they might not make it if they go outside. Saying she wouldn't want to go out without closure, she asks if he has any deep dark secrets. He dodges it by asking about hers and she tells him that she wanted to work with the Blur because she wants to be with him, saying she's never felt a connection like that before and doesn't want to be alone anymore. They gaze silently into each other's eyes for a few moments until Clark's phone rings, with a text message from Chloe to go to Watchtower. Suddenly, an infected person crashes through a glass door and Oliver follows with a 12 gauge pistol grip Remington 870 pump action shotgun which he has just fired. He says he was looking for Tess. They realize that sleeping induces the infection, so Clark leaves them boxed up in the elevator while he goes to get help, after specifically telling Oliver not to let Lois fall asleep.

Clark speeds to Watchtower and agrees to their plan to draw his blood using a needle dipped in liquid kryptonite. This proves extremely painful for Clark and renders him unconscious. Chloe and Dr. Hamilton have no choice but to leave him there so they can produce and deliver the antidote in the water supply.

Ollie and Lois are trying to stay awake as Lois comments about how far he has fallen, seeing him take pills to stay awake. Then Oliver catches sight of himself in a mirror and tells her to say he's full of it and that he misses her. But when he turns back to her, she has fallen asleep. He tries to wake her but the rage takes over and she leaps through the ceiling of the elevator.

Back at Watchtower, Clark awakes [exactly as he did at the beginning of the episode] to his phone going off.

Chloe and Dr. Hamilton are aboard the Queen Industry jet, having already released the antidote into the water supply and now ready to release it into the clouds so it will mix with the coming rain storm. Dr. Hamilton tells Chloe that he knows she has been tracking all the heroes, trying to protect them. She asks if he will keep her secret and he says she'll have to trust him.

At the *Daily Planet*, Lois attacks Clark, throwing him through a window into the street outside. He restrains her and tells her she will be ok, just as the rain begins to fall. She continues to struggle for a few moments before going limp, and soon wakes up normal. They embrace in the rain as other citizens of Metropolis fill the streets, also cured.

Clark finds Oliver drinking in an alley and yells at him for not being able to do something so simple as keeping Lois awake, asking if any part of the person he used to know is still there. Oliver admits that he looked in a mirror and Clark was right: he'd been running away from who he really is but now he knows. He thanks Clark, who leaves, and then pulls his Green Arrow suit out of a bag as he walks into the alley. He pours the remainder of his booze on it and sets it on fire.

At the farm, Clark is going through his wallet and finds an old picture of Lana. He puts it in an old photo album next to other photos of her. Lois enters and thanks him for helping her, saying she didn't remember being a zombie. But she did remember seeing a new side of Clark, which "starts with an 'H' and ends with an 'ero'." He jokes that he wasn't even wearing red and blue and she claims he has a long way to go before he can do that. She says they make a good team, but that he never did tell her his secret. As he tries to think of something to say, she says "Relax" and goes to punch his arm, but he instinctively grabs her arm and she smiles at him, telling him to save the mystery. She leaves, but just outside the door she momentarily has the same vision that has been haunting her dreams. She leaves quickly as Clark looks on concerned from inside the house.

The man who was the hospital doctor (Dr. Coats) who treated Tess enters an abandoned warehouse, and it becomes clear that he is one of Zod's soldiers. He is reprimanded by Major Zod for having released the virus because Zod fears it will break their cover. Coats says that, while it was a risk, it confirmed his suspicions that Jor-El survived and has taken the power from the yellow sun, and is using his powers to be a savior for humans. He presents Zod with the symbol for the House of El as proof. Zod asks if he was successful in finding this man, and Coats presents him with the vial of the blood used to create an antidote. Zod seems to congratulate him and tells him to kneel, but he then cuts off his head with a sword. He stands over the body, in the sunlight shining through a skylight in the ceiling.

### Echo

A hostage situation occurs in a textile factory in the garment district of Metropolis, where a man seated in a chair wearing a cracked doll head and a belt rigged with explosives watches over several hostages who are bound and gagged. Outside the factory, the Metropolis police and fire department arrive on the scene. While the police set up a perimeter trying to evaluate the situation, Clark as The Blur arrives on the scene to help. Super speeding into the building undetected, he rescues the hostages, whisking them to safety in mere seconds. He then burns his calling card emblem into the floor with his heat vision and turns his attention to the bomber, telling him not to detonate his explosive belt. Clark tears off the belt and then sends the bomber flying into a wall with a super smack. This tears off the mask and reveals he is also bound and gagged. The timer-detonator in the mask activates and Clark acts quickly to use his invulnerable body to absorb most of the blast from the explosion, while the remainder of the blast blows out the factory outer wall and sends a policeman flying through the air. Clark recovers to experience a short temporary loss of hearing, followed by a ringing in his head which leads him to hear the thoughts of the people around him.

Outside the factory, Clark uses a nearby Phone booth to change from his Blur attire back into his work clothes just as Lois arrives in her car and almost hits him as he exits the phone booth. Lois asks if she missed him and Clark assumes she was referring to almost hitting him with her car. Lois clarifies that she was actually asking about the Blur. Clark informs her that when he arrived, the Blur had already left and he just tried to call her from a pay phone. Lois inquires how Clark got to the scene so fast since her contact from Met P.D. didn't inform her of the story until recently. Lois climbs on top of the police car bumper to get closer to the scene, but slips and starts to fall, but before she can fall, Clark grabs her in his arms and when she feels his arm around her she thinks "Hello sailor!", which Clark hears as if it had been spoken. When he asks her what she said, Lois says for him to get his hearing checked but when she turns and walks away he 'hears' her think "Hot stuff!"

Returning to the Daily Planet to file the story, Clark continues to hear the thoughts of Lois, which consist of her second guessing her current wardrobe. Lois appears to be in a good mood until she expresses to Clark her disappointment in not getting to interview the Blur for more details on the story. Clark says the hostages being saved is all that really counts. Lois tells him there is more to the story especially with the word on the street being that the main suspect bomber wasn't the one who activated the detonator because it was on a timer. Clark asks why the bomb would be on a timer, and Lois says she's not a mind reader and the whole hostage situation is unusual since no demands were made. Once again, Clark hears Lois' thoughts which are now about the Blur who hasn't contacted her since their last encounter. Clark, concerned about Lois' feelings, hears her thoughts concerning her wish for the last maple donut that the intern Jeff had taken. Clark uses his super speed to swipe the donut out of his hand and hands it to Lois, who's very grateful. As the two of them investigate further into the story, they discover the textile factory is owned by Queen Industries. Clark thinks this should have caught Oliver's attention and then he hears Lois think "If Oliver's sober enough to care". Clark says he agrees which confuses Lois.

At the metro coffee shop, Clark meets with Chloe, who tries to test him by asking him what she's thinking, but Clark says that so far he can only hear Lois's thoughts. Chloe asks if this might be his Super hearing on the fritz. Clark explains that, as loud as Lois is, even she can't speak without opening her mouth. So Chloe suggests that Clark ask Jor-El. As Chloe leaves, Clark begins to hear the thoughts of the people all around him on the street.

Arriving at the Fortress of Solitude, Jor-El informs Clark that he planted a seed for his telepathy as part of his training and Clark must have been reasoning like a human to have activated it. Its function is to teach him to nurture his Kryptonian intuition rather than allow his humanistic assumptions to cloud his judgment.

Inside Met Gen hospital, Lois and Clark interview the hostages from the incident. A woman refuses to speak and Clark uses his telepathy to hear that she's an immigrant who fears deportation and believes they're INS staff. Clark reassures her they're not INS, and she answers their questions. Next they see a man who exaggerates everything he's telling Lois in the hope of attracting publicity. Clark informs him that giving them false information could get him into trouble and the man admits he didn't see anything. Lois is very impressed by Clark's performances. Out in the hall, Clark gets a report from the receptionist at the desk. Lois returns with a doughnut (after taking one bite out of it), to repay him for his kindness earlier. Clark informs her that Mr. Murphy, the puppet bomber, is still unconscious after his surgery. Lois believes they've hit a dead end in their investigation and is ready to call it a night, saying she has plans. Clark hears her thoughts and discovers she doesn't really have anything planned, so he suggests they grab some dinner. Lois ponders whether Clark is asking her on a date and, 'hearing' her thoughts, he quickly assures her that this isn't a date, just something like a date. Lois points out that they won't get in anywhere since almost everything is booked on Saturday night. Clark hears Lois' thoughts on the current monster truck rally at the Metropolis Colosseum and suggests that one place they could go would be the rally, and a pleasantly surprised Lois agrees, 'subject to the usual protocol' that they take separate cars so that there'll be no drama at the end of the night.

Elsewhere, Oliver Queen is seen stumbling into a small Mexican bar, where he attracts the attention of two sexy señoritas, so he orders drinks for the three of them. Oliver's flirting with the two señoritas lands him in trouble with three local tough mobsters who approach him from behind. One of the men accuses Oliver of messing with his wife. Oliver takes a sip of beer before insulting him by asking "Which one is your wife? The short one? Or the ugly one?" One of the men punches Oliver square in the jaw. Then someone enters the bar and fires a gun into the air and tells everyone except Oliver to clear out of the bar. Oliver's savior is Tess Mercer.

Back in Smallville, Chloe arrives at the Talon apartment to see Lois preparing herself for a date by using a pair of scissors to cut some old jeans to make herself a pair of cutoffs to match her sleeveless plaid shirt. Lois informs Chloe she's going to see the monster truck rally. Chloe thinks it's more than that, because of Lois' obvious desire to make her attire perfect, and asks who her "Prince Charming" is. Lois says she is surprised to hear herself saying it, but it's Clark Kent. Lois tells Chloe that they've been on the same wavelength all day and Chloe replies sarcastically "I'll bet. Sorta like he's been reading your mind?" Lois confirms that and continues to explain how she and Clark have become more than just partners over the course of their relationship, and how she's gotten so used to "carrying the load" all by herself in her previous relationships of the past but maybe now she doesn't have to. "Who would've thought? Clark and Lois versus the world," Lois says with a smile, before she gives Chloe a hug and says "Don't wait up!" as she leaves.

Clark is still at the hospital, and overhears Mr. Murphy's thoughts that "He forced me to do it. It wasn't me. I'm innocent!" Mr. Murphy continues that a "short and fat man" strapped the bomb on him, talking about toys, and wanting Oliver Queen to "pay for what he'd done to him." Clark deduces from this that the identity of the mysterious puppet master is none other than Toyman.

Somewhere in a toy workshop on a desk is a copy of the Daily Planet front page headline of Winslow Schott when he was revealed as the bomber responsible for Lex Luthor's death and still at large. In the background shadows, the voice of Winslow giggling maniacally.

Back at the now abandoned Mexican bar, Oliver sits at the bar, drinking. Tess watches him from across the room. He says she didn't give them a chance. Tess tries to find out why Oliver has plunged into this extreme drunken depression. Tess also tells him that one of Queen Industries' subsidiary factories was just recently blown up and he doesn't seem to give a damn about it. Oliver continues to drink and says she wasted the jet fuel if she just came to lecture him. Tess tells him that his company is currently failing and his shareholders are very upset. Oliver tells her to just admit the truth, that she can now take over his company as she's always wanted. Tess, seeing that her tough love approach isn't working, tries a softer tone to try to find out why he's punishing himself almost as if he has a death wish. Oliver remains quiet as she comes up behind him and touches his shoulder. Oliver is touched but when he turns to face her he hides that feeling and asks her what she really wants? Tess reveals she wants Oliver present to address a shareholders' meeting she is to host at the Ace Of Clubs. Tess turns and leaves Oliver alone in the bar to meditate on her words.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark walks in and hears Chloe thinking: "It's a good think he can't hear what I'm thinking, or else -- " He finds her waiting at his desk and cuts her off. Chloe addresses Clark on taking advantage of her cousin Lois with his temporary telepathy powers. Clark looks confused as he explains to Chloe that it's not a real date. Chloe informs him that he's obviously totally oblivious to Lois's true feelings for him and she doesn't want to see him break Lois' heart, which he seems to be doing right now by standing Lois up. Clark reveals that his intentions were good and he had asked Lois out before he discovered that the suspect bomber was in fact an innocent man, and shows a newspaper headline of the real villain to Chloe. Clark says that's why he didn't call Lois back, fearing that she'd show up here and follow him into harm's way. Clark figures that now that the Toyman has lured Oliver out of hiding he's going to strike that night at the black tie gala at the Ace Of Clubs. Clark asks Chloe to wait at the Watchtower to help, should her assistance be required.

Arriving at the outside entrance of the gala, Clark dressed in a tux stands in line with a bunch of other guests from Metropolis' social elite. Clark uses his telepathic abilities to find a name on the guest list to assume the identity of. Clark refers to himself as "Kennair" to the security guard. The guard checks the clipboard and asks if "Mr. Kennair" has a "plus one." Before he can answer, a gigantic monster truck rumbles to a stop behind Clark. Lois climbs down from the passenger side in a gold evening gown dress. Clark asks her what she's doing there. Her thoughts answer, "Standing in the shadow of six-and-a-half feet of handsome," then chides herself not to let him off that easily. Lois accuses Clark, out loud, for standing her up on their date and for not telling her about Oliver's return to society so that he could scoop her on the big story. Lois implying that's how she found out about the event.

Entering together, Clark pretends he's only interested in the story, much to Lois' dismay. He hears her thoughts: "When are you going to learn, Lois? This was nothing more than a story. He's not interested in you." Lois then leaves, deciding that Clark can "fly solo" on the story. Clark watches her for a moment seeing her heart-broken. He then turns his attention and starts listening in to the shareholders' thoughts. They are very worried about losing money and about Tess ruining the company among other things. Suddenly, Tess stands at the podium in a blue cocktail dress and introduces Oliver to the crowd as their "fearless leader." There's a small applause from the crowd. Oliver takes the podium and starts reading the teleprompter. He trails off when he realizes what he's saying. He looks down at his screen, then tries to play it off like his speech writer has a sense of humor. Some people in the audience chuckle. The screen tells Oliver to use the earpiece, which he does, causing some feedback in the mike. Everyone grasps their ears in pain, including Clark, who now finds that his telepathic abilities have gone.

The Toyman's voice comes over Oliver's earpiece. Toyman explains that he enjoyed their game of 'Hide and Seek' and now he's ready to play a new game called 'Toyman says' and the rules are simply to read everything that's on the teleprompter, that he himself has written, or die. "If you move one muscle, I will kill everybody in this room." Toyman tells Oliver with an evil laugh that the podium Oliver is standing on has a pressure plate rigged to explode. Toyman continues to laugh with great delight.

Clark realizes as Oliver continues to read his speech, confessing to his sins, that Toyman is pulling the strings. Oliver pauses, but the Toyman goads him on. Hesitantly, Oliver continues to read, declaring he's put his own selfish needs ahead of those of his employees and company, and that the only thing he's been selfless enough to part with is the blame for a heinous act he committed.

Clark calls Chloe at the Watchtower and tells her his telepathic ability has gone and he needs to find The Toyman fast. Chloe hacks into the building's security feeds. Meanwhile, back at the podium, Oliver continues to read. He hesitantly trails off, unable to read the words on the screen that call him a murderer. Toyman shouts at Oliver through the earpiece for framing him for the murder of Lex Luthor.

Clark uses his X-ray vision and sees the bomb under the pressure plate beneath Oliver's feet. Clark tells Chloe on the cellphone that they need to get everyone out because of the bomb. Oliver continues to hesitate over his speech while Toyman screams at him in the earpiece to confess. Meanwhile, Chloe gets into the security system and activates an alarm system that gets everyone scurrying out of the hall to safety.

As the crowd leaves, Clark sees Toyman standing on the outside balcony of the Ace Of Clubs. Clark grabs him and demands to know how to disarm the bomb. Clark insists this isn't a game and that a man's life is at stake. Clark thinks about it for a while and realizes that Toyman would have to know that Oliver wouldn't have let all those people die. Toyman seems very impressed by Clark's knowledge about his work. Clark figures out using his Kryptonian intuition that Toyman doesn't allow for humanistic error, that he has to control the outcome, and that's why the timer was on the mask at the factory. Clark realizes the pressure plate Oliver is standing on is fake and that the real bomb is on a timer just like before.

Clark holds Toyman over the edge of the balcony's railing, intending to scare him through intimidation to divulge the location of the timer. Inside, Oliver still at the podium, keeps focusing on the word "murderer" on his teleprompter. He looks down at the plate, takes a deep breath. Back at the balcony, Clark pulls Toyman up and realizes the real Winslow would want to live. Just as he starts counting down, Clark uses his heat-vision, melting the face of 'Toyman' to reveal that it's a robotic duplicate of Winslow Schott housing a time detonator which Clark deactivates with his heat-vision.

Oliver steps off the pressure plate just as Clark enters from the balcony and inquires how Oliver knew the bomb under the pressure plate was a fake. Oliver simply says he didn't know and had waited until everyone had left, being prepared to commit suicide, knowing that the explosion from the bomb wouldn't kill Clark.

After the authorities have left the scene, Clark shares with Oliver that Chloe tracked down the real Winslow thanks to the feed from the earpiece and that he's already in custody and on his way to Stryker's Island prison. Oliver prompts Clark to say what's on his mind. Clark expresses how he's been so busy saving others that he hasn't really paid attention to his friends and he apologizes for not having been there for him when he needed help. Oliver confides that ever since he was only five when he lost his own parents, everything that he believes that defines his character has been a façade or mask. Just then, a police siren goes off so Oliver encourages Clark to leave, which he does. Alone on the club terrace with his drink in his hand, he thinks he sees Lex Luthor where his reflection should be in a window and hurls his glass at it.

Inside an interrogation room, Winslow Schott, wearing an orange prison uniform, demands to see his lawyer. Tess enters the room and Winslow instantly recognizes her and sarcastically apologizes for intending to kill Oliver Queen, whom he refers to as her boyfriend. Winslow realizes that Tess is there for revenge. She proceeds to fire a gun into his left kneecap with a warning to leave Oliver alone. Winslow pleads in pain for help from the guards, only for Tess to reveal they had an agreement to make it look like Winslow tried to escape and Tess shot him to stop him. Winslow explains that he's afraid that they'll put him in solitary confinement. Tess reveals that is a part of her plan since she wants him to work on a "new toy"—really to study how Corben's Kryptonite heart matrix works. Winslow is delighted to be able to examine a new toy in solitude.

The next day at the Daily Planet, Clark is making copies when he sees Lois coming into the office. They stare at each other through a window. In an effort to make amends for standing her up, Clark has shared the byline with Lois after asking her help to finish the article. Clark apologizes for letting her down and Lois accepts. Clark asks how someone might get a second date after messing up, to which Lois replies, "hypothetically speaking", to wait for a slower news day. Clark assures her that "hypothetically speaking", he would get it right the next time.

### Roulette

Oliver finds himself in a bar, playing all sorts of gambling games, wasting all his money. A Chinese woman with a snake-like tattoo on her back approaches him and tells him "You look like a man with no luck." Oliver begins to flirt with her, and she tells him that she knows his type. Oliver asks "What's my type?" and Victoria says "A player who can't find a game to satisfy him."

She sets three cups on the table upside down, and spins them. Then she asks Oliver to pick one and he points to the middle cup. She lifts it up and underneath is a red pill. She hands the red pill to him and says, "What do you have to lose?" to which Oliver replies, "Absolutely nothing." He swallows the pill then walks outside. He falls down on the street with Roulette standing over him, realizing the pill was poison. He wakes up in a wooden box with a flashlight next to him. Switching on the flashlight, he reads the blood written on the box: GAME ON.

Clark arrives home in his 'Blur' attire, to find Lois doing her laundry in his living room. He quickly super speeds into his usual casual clothing; Lois turns around just in time to see him arrive and informs him that they'll be watching shark movies together. Clark begins to pick up her clothes & underwear off the couch, and Lois tells him to settle down because he can't have anything else to do in Smallville. As Clark begins to enjoy himself, Lois starts the film, only for his super-hearing to pick up a woman in distress, screaming for help. Clark makes up an excuse to Lois that he's off to get some popcorn for them, which gives him the opportunity to super-speed off to save the woman from a carjacker and return with a bowl of popcorn without alerting Lois of his mysterious disappearance. Clark rejoins Lois on the couch, just as the film begins. Lois notices Clark nervously fidgeting with his hands during the film.

Oliver feels around inside the wooden box and is able to jimmy the hinge open with a piece of wire from inside the flashlight. It springs open and he jumps out stating that's the last time he'll trust "a woman with a dragon tattoo." He's dressed in a white suit and is barefoot. He turns around and sees another wooden coffin with someone banging on the inside and muffled struggling sounds. He brushes away the dirt on the lid and reads the name "Alexander Luthor" on the box. Oliver breaks open the box only to find a pair of speakers inside and a voice laughing through them. Oliver shouts for the Toyman to come out and face him like a man. The voice states that it's not the Toyman - it's someone else that Oliver destroyed. He says that Oliver can get out of the game at any time if he says the safe word, but since Oliver never bothered to learn the rules of the game and ask, he doesn't know the safe word. He asks if Oliver has had his rabies shot as a large dog jumps through the window and begins to chase him. Oliver jumps through the shattered window and runs through a junkyard. He spots an empty car and jumps in, closing the doors to keep the rabid dog out - but as soon as he does that, he realizes that the doors are locked. A truck then speeds towards the car and crashes into it.

Clark comes back from another one of his "concessions run" and we see all the snacks that Clark has brought back. Lois is a bit annoyed, but Clark asks her if everything is okay, since she showed up with 11 loads of laundry and every shark movie known to man when she's even been known to take socks to the dry cleaners. She cracks and explains that it's Oliver's birthday and they always go out for Beer-Pong, but he hasn't returned her calls. Clark offers that maybe he's celebrating with someone else, but all the same, it wouldn't hurt to pay him a visit.

It is morning and Oliver wakes up with his face in a muddy puddle. He sees the car wreck sitting on train tracks. He walks over to a phone booth and tries to phone Chloe's, but the "dial tone lady" disconnects him. Oliver smashes the headset in frustration and then notices a stamp on his wrist from the club he was at the night before. He goes back to the club and finds the Chinese woman. She walks over, kisses him and whispers at him to be quiet because the people behind the game are there and will kill him if they discover him there. He asks why he should trust her and she tells him to trust his instincts. A couple of men come and attack the pair, but they overcome the attackers. The Chinese woman holds her hand out to Oliver and asks him "All in?" and the two run outside.

Oliver stops and asks her who she is and what's going on - her name is Victoria Sinclair and she works for some nasty guys. It's her job to knock out their targets and if she hadn't given him the red pill, they would have killed her. He promises to help her but he needs to know what they want with him; however, Victoria doesn't know and asks him who hates him enough to want him dead. Oliver realizes that there is a very long list of people that he's hurt. Suddenly, they hear gunshots so the pair continue to run, but Victoria gets shot. She tells him to let her go as it's the only way that she will be free, as a police car pulls up and the officers order Oliver to get up. He shouts that they have the wrong guy and they shoot him with a taser.

Clark and Lois go to Oliver's office after already looking for him at his apartment and his jet. There are empty champagne and wine bottles everywhere. Clark spots an invitation to the Roulette Club. Lois opens up Oliver's laptop, logs on and watches the security video of his suicide attempt at the Ace of Clubs. She gets angry with Clark because he didn't tell her about something so important and leaves the office. Clark picks up the Roulette invitation and stares at it.

Oliver is handcuffed to a chair and is being interrogated by a police officer since he has no ID or alibi. A FBI agent interrupts and states that this case has come under FBI jurisdiction. He puts a pair of shoes on the table, unlocks Oliver's handcuffs, and apologizes for the way he's been treated. He explains that they know about the 'Game' and have been tracking the group for a while. Their modus operandi is to target wealthy people and hack their bank accounts while they are distracted. He passes Oliver a laptop and suggests that he check his accounts immediately, but everything in his accounts is fine. The agent states that Oliver is lucky and he can go home after he fills out some paperwork, and leaves the room. Oliver looks at the laptop and watches as everything is suddenly drained from his accounts. He goes to the door, but it is locked and gas begins to fill the room. As he falls to his knees, Clark rips the wall off, explaining that he found the invitation to Roulette, which is only a few blocks away, heard Oliver yelling and asked what's going on. Oliver says it's "Game over."

Clark takes Oliver to see Chloe at the Watchtower, and explains that Oliver is being used as a pawn and they need to figure out who is doing it. Chloe quickly looks up Victoria Sinclair (aka Roulette) and reads that she's made a career out of betting with high stakes. Oliver asks Chloe for his Green Arrow gear back, but Chloe refuses. She says she locked up his stuff hoping that one day he'd want it back, but not under these circumstances. Oliver states that he will handle this situation how he sees fit but Clark asks him how that turned out last time. Oliver walks out, telling 'Boy Scout' he'll sort out his financial mess with the help of his lawyers.

Clark wants to go after Oliver, but Chloe tells him that he has bigger problems to deal with: she pulls up the video of Oliver's suicide attempt and zooms in on a freeze frame of Lois' attempted assassin and the tattoo on her back. Clark doesn't understand how she could have been at the Ace of Clubs because he himself had buried her. Clark decides to seek out Jor-El for help identifying this woman.

Lois is walking on a city street talking on her cell phone with someone from Oliver's GPS tracking company. She is getting more annoyed with every step she takes until she spots Oliver's yellow sports car parked a few meters ahead. Victoria walks up and tells Lois to get away from 'her car', but Lois counters that she has been inside that car enough times to know it belongs to **Oliver Queen**. Victoria claims that the car was a gift from Oliver but Lois doesn't buy it, and the two women get into a street brawl until Victoria points a gun at Lois.

Oliver enters the Roulette Club with a gun in his hand. He sees the back of Victoria sitting at the bar and raises the gun, about to shoot her. He hesitates, lowers the gun and walks towards her and realizes that it is Lois tied up and gagged, wearing Victoria's red dress and a black wig. Victoria comes in behind them with a gun raised. She's disappointed that Oliver doesn't have the killer instinct and tells him to drop his gun, and he complies. Oliver asks her to let Lois go, but Victoria responds that she's not going to play by his rules, since he didn't play by hers (he was supposed to shoot Lois). She shoots at him, but her gun runs out of bullets. Oliver rolls over, grabs his gun and points it at Victoria, who is using Lois as a human shield. Lois (through her gag) tells Oliver to shoot Victoria, but he says that she knows he won't if there's a risk that he'd hit Lois.

Oliver saves Lois, but then Victoria tells him that she has layered the place with gasoline. The club bursts into flame, but Victoria gets trapped beneath a fallen piece of wood. Oliver comes to help her and she asks why because she already caused him so much trouble, but Oliver keeps trying to help her. Victoria stands up suddenly while Oliver is still trying to help her and all the flames go out. Victoria reveals that she was trying to show Oliver that there was still a hero within himself.

Chloe is seen sitting outside the Metro Coffee Stop with a cup of coffee and reading the paper when Oliver arrives and places a queen chess piece before her, congratulating Chloe on the life and death experience game she put him through. At first, Chloe pretends to be clueless about the whole ordeal until Oliver recounts the events that took place in the game and summarized that she was the mastermind behind Roulette all along and had enlisted the aid of Victoria, Bart, Victor, and Dinah. Chloe finally admits she was indeed responsible because she thought this would be the only effective way to bring him back from the edge of the abyss by making him come face to face with his inner demons. Oliver expresses to Chloe his disdain for her methods as well as placing Lois' life in danger. Chloe reassures Oliver that although Lois wasn't part of the plan, the gun was loaded with blanks and Lois wouldn't have been harmed. Oliver inquires if Clark was aware of Chloe's involvement behind the game, but Chloe reveals that not only was Clark unaware, but he'd never approve this course of action. Oliver realizes she's right, he thanks her and takes her hand. “You saved my life, Chloe. Both the myth... and the man.” Chloe smiles back at him serenely.

Oliver returns to his work office when Lois arrives, demanding an explanation. Oliver informs Lois that Victoria was one of his psycho ex-girlfriends. Oliver apologies to Lois for the ordeal Victoria put her through. Lois asks Oliver why he didn't come to her to get help and Oliver admits he was too proud and too ashamed to admit he was in need of saving. Lois assures him some things between them haven't changed and she'll always be there for him as a friend. Lois then proceeds to start their annual drink-off celebration for his birthday.

Back at the Watchtower, Chloe finds Clark reviewing the surveillance footage. Clark informs her that he spoke with Jor-El who confirmed that Alia is a native from Kandor and that there are probably other Kandorians out there as well. Chloe immediately begins to run a full worldwide search to find more Kryptonian symbols. As they wait for the results, Chloe joyfully tells Clark that Oliver's returned to his normal state. Chloe's data search reveals Kryptonian crests scattered all across the entire planet.

With a new sense of rediscovering himself after playing Roulette's deadly game of life & death, Oliver re-assumes his identity of Green Arrow and has joined Clark above the crow's nest overlooking the city. Oliver tells Clark he looks ridiculous in his black attire and suggests that Clark could use a tailor who has a better sense of color. Clark is happy to see his old friend back. Oliver also commends Clark in his efforts in fighting crime in the city and assures Clark that he can count on Green Arrow to help him as well. Clark is pleased as he tells Oliver he thinks they'll need all the help they can get in the days ahead.

### Crossfire

Lois is auditioning for a job hosting '**Good Morning Metropolis'**. Clark is helping her as co-host. Clark misses a line and Lois asks for another take. Before beginning again, she mentions to Clark that although she is still mad at him for not letting her know how Oliver was doing, she appreciates that he could help her with the audition. They begin to argue and the producer notices their banter, smiling. Clark admits that he only agreed to help Lois out with the audition because he was trying to make things up to her, so that there would be a possibility he could take her out on a "second" date. Lois replies that he should have thought of that before he stood her up the first time. The lights on the set shut off and the producer thanks them both, having already seen what she needed to see. Lois begs for another shot, thinking that she is being rushed out of the audition. The producer informs her that she will see her again on Monday morning, when she reports in for work. Lois gloats to Clark that she won't forget him when she goes national. The producer explains that she meant both of them (despite Clark's protests that he wasn't applying for the job), she reassures them that they look "real" and have great chemistry...and that hiring Lois means hiring them both, or neither one of them. Lois gives Clark a look, and he reluctantly nods his agreement to do the show with her.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark is looking over some paperwork, when Chloe comes in and asks about Lois' interview. Clark informs her that they hired Lois and Clark, rather than just Lois. Chloe laughs at the prospect of the two hosting a morning show and asks what their first show is going to be about. Clark tells her that he and Lois will be tackling online dating, first by going out on blind dates, then reviewing the taped footage on-air. Chloe admires Clark's commitment to getting back into Lois' good graces, to which Clark replies that the most important thing is to locate the Kandorians. Chloe reassures Clark that running around looking for Kandorians has led to nothing thus far and that she suspects that Tess is hiding information that would help the search more than Clark circling the globe. When Clark offers to look in on Tess, Chloe tells him that she can take care of it and that he should concentrate on the Clark side of his dual identity and stop worrying. Chloe leaves and Clark walks over to Lois, who is sitting at her desk. He hands her some paperwork from the network and asks what she is working on. Lois explains that she is still filling out her online profile for the blind date, and that the wording has to be just right so that she doesn't end up with a lemon. Clark looks worried at this and mentions that he filled his profile out in ten minutes. Clark leans in to Lois' monitor to check out her profile and laughs at her choices and asks why she neglected to include her love of monster truck rallies. Lois is indignant at this and explains that if she were to write about monster trucks, the date chosen for her wouldn't exactly be the kind of guy that would impress the "home viewers."

At what appears to be an underground fighting ring, a man and a young woman fight it out until the woman beats him into submission. As the woman raises her arms up in victory, another man walks up and grabs her arm. The woman notices the Beretta in his waistband and they argue for a minute about her running away from him, then he leads her out of the ring while Oliver looks on.

Oliver drives up to a club and talks to a woman on the street corner; the woman is the same one from the club but is now wearing a wig. Oliver and the woman go for a drive, she introduces herself as Mia. Mia asks why Oliver was "cruising for company," Oliver says that he was actually looking for her. Oliver tells her he was at the fight earlier and saw something in her that reminded him of himself during his darker days. He offers to help her. Mia wants to know what his "help" is going to cost, Oliver replies that he just wants to prove to her that she can trust him. Back at the Luthor mansion, Tess is talking to Stuart (her techie), who informs her that there is a hacker trying to get through to their systems. Tess tells Stuart to fix the situation or she will have to have him terminated; Stuart looks concerned by this. Tess remains inscrutable. Tess walks into the library where there is a gathering of people. She announces that LuthorCorp is going green through a partnership with RAO Technology, she then unveils a holograph of a solar tower. The audience claps and Zod emerges from it towards Tess, clapping. Tess is confused by Zod's presence (referring to him as "Mr. Ha-Zod" in front of the audience) and mentions that she never expected to see him again. Zod announces that he is CEO of RAO Technology, then toasts Tess, vowing that the solar tower will change the world and calling Tess their "savior."

Clark sits in front of multiple cameras, looking nervous, ready to meet his blind date. A man walks over to perform the sound check, and hands Clark an ear-bud. Once Clark gets it working, he discovers Lois speaking to him through it and asks if he can expect a running commentary from Lois throughout his date. Lois takes the opportunity to berate him for standing her up again, making Clark even more uncomfortable. Clark suggests that they discuss that another time, when cameras are not around. Lois then changes the subject to Clark's online dating profile, which she has pulled up on her computer. Lois tells Clark that mentioning that he grew up on a farm was certainly going not going to land him a worthwhile date. Just after Lois' comment, a beautiful blonde woman walks up and nervously introduces herself to Clark as his date, Catherine. Clark looks relieved, and Lois sounds disappointed through the ear-bud. The date kicks off, Catherine appears very nervous and tells Clark she hasn't had a chance to date much because until just recently she had been serving overseas in the Peace Corps. Catherine mentions that she came to Metropolis to work on her P.h.D. and couldn't decide between Sociology or Social Justice, so she was working on both. Clark looks charmed by this. Lois looks jealous. The producer gives her a thumbs up.

Tess and Zod are alone in the library. Zod explains that Tess should be grateful for all of his help and explains that all he wants in return is the Blur. Tess tells Zod she doesn't know how to find the Blur. Zod, undeterred by this information, explains that the Blur's blood had been used to combat a virus and that when he sent people to get the blood for testing, all the samples had been destroyed at Tess' request. Zod says that she would have only done that to protect the Blur. Tess insinuates that she may be able to help him, but she can't trust Zod unless they are equal. Zod says that no human could ever be equal to a Kandorian, walks out on Tess, then tells the bodyguard to get the information he wants from Tess or kill her trying.

Lois walks into Oliver's office. Oliver mentions that he is a little busy, but Lois immediately starts explaining her assignment on Good Morning Metropolis. Oliver laughs at the prospect of Clark Kent hosting a Morning show, and even more when Lois tells him about the blind date set up. Lois tells him worriedly that Clark's date went well and that hers needs to be better. Lois doesn't believe that she can trust herself to perform as well on her blind date as Clark did on his, so she wants Oliver to tell her if she had any traits he found particularly irritating when they were dating. Oliver tells Lois that everything about her was endearing, just as Mia comes in wearing only a towel. Lois expresses her disappointment that Oliver would hire a prostitute and leaves. Meanwhile, Chloe and Stuart are battling it out in cyber space, Chloe trying to access Tess' files, and Stuart trying to avoid "termination." Mia is getting dressed, when Oliver walks in and asks for his watch back. Mia hands it over. Mia and Oliver argue about her situation. She tells Oliver that she just want to pay off her debt so that she can be free and that she is sick of people trying to manipulate her. Oliver convinces her that he only wants to help and Mia agrees to stay.

Lois is preparing for her date, this time with Clark in her ear. Clark tells Lois that whoever her date is, he is a lucky man. Clark asks what Lois would say if he asked her out on another date, Lois smiles and is about to answer when Oliver arrives... as her blind date. Clark looks none too pleased. Oliver explains that he paid off Lois' blind date so that he could stand in and ensure Lois looked good on camera.

Mia drives back to her street corner in Oliver's Aston Martin to confront her pimp. She hands over the keys and tells him that the car should pay the rest of her debt. The man freaks out, puts his hand around her throat, and says that he will never let her go and that she needs to tell him where she dropped off Oliver so that he and his men can go rob him. Mia gives up Oliver's location. Lois and Oliver are back at their date, with Lois looking a little upset as she chides Oliver about Mia. Oliver confesses his feelings for Lois on camera, prompting Lois to cut the feed and drags Oliver away from the cameras to have a talk with him. Oliver tells Lois that he still loves her but Lois says her love for Oliver is only as a dear friend and that she needs to be honest with him. Oliver stops her, guessing that the person she is really thinking about is Clark. Lois confirms this. Oliver says goodnight and walks outside, only to find Mia waiting for him. Lois follows him out to make sure Oliver is okay. Oliver and Lois agree to be good friends. Oliver walks over to Mia to try and introduce her to Lois. Mia mouths that she is sorry, and then suddenly her pimp and his goons abduct them both. Clark is back at the Good Morning Metropolis set, concerned about how Lois' date with Oliver turned out. The pimp and his men load Oliver into the trunk of his car, unconscious, and are preparing to get rid of Mia and Lois; Lois struggles with her captor, knocking out her ear-bud and reactivating it. Mia kicks the pistol from the pimp's hand and catches it in mid-air, turning on him to save Lois. Mia finds that she is unable to pull the trigger, the pimp takes the pistol back and knocks Mia unconscious. Oliver gets out of the car and he and Lois take out the men, escaping into a nearby alley with the pimp in pursuit. The gunfire noise coming through the ear-bud at the Good Morning Metropolis set attracts Clark's attention and he rushes off to save Lois. Clark arrives just in time to step in between the gun-toting pimp and Oliver and Lois. Clark melts the gun with his heat vision and just barely catches a stray bullet before it enters Oliver's head. Lois, of course, sees nothing. Lois hugs Oliver in relief as Clark looks on from a nearby rooftop.

Tess' bodyguard comes in and reveals to Tess that he is not her bodyguard, he is a Kandorian working for Zod; He then gives Tess an ultimatum: tell him where the Blur is or die. Clark walks into the watchtower to check on Chloe's progress just as she finishes hacking the 100th firewall protecting Tess' servers. Just when Chloe feels that she should be getting in, a video of Stuart begins to play, telling Chloe to just give up. He puts his hand in front of the screen. Chloe is only encouraged by this and uses the video to identify Stuart by capturing his fingerprints. Chloe explains that Stuart has crazy computer skills and that she wants to use the information she can gather on him to recruit him away from Tess. Clark tells Chloe about Lois and Oliver and expresses his doubts whether it would be a good idea to pursue Lois if Oliver still cares for her, considering how hard Oliver has had it lately. Chloe rolls her eyes and tells Clark to man up and figure out what he wants.

Zod sits at a cafe, drinking espresso. He looks down at an envelope and opens it, revealing the blood-stained dog tag of the soldier he sent to kill Tess. Zod looks up to see Tess on the other side of the street toasting him with her coffee; Tess disappears. Stuart walks down an alley and turns, noticing Chloe following him. Chloe tosses down an envelope, which Stuart opens; the envelope contains the information Chloe pulled up on Stuart. She reaches out to shake his hand, Stuart accepts.

Back on the street corner, Mia is standing looking unhappy when Oliver rolls up and smiles at her, inviting her into his car. Mia gets in and they drive off.

Clark and Lois are back at the Planet. Clark approaches Lois, presumably to "man up" and finally ask her out, but Lois interrupts and tells Clark that the Producers of Good Morning Metropolis decided to "go in a different direction" and have hired Catherine Grant instead of keeping them. Lois spirals into self-doubt and Clark interrupts her by passionately kissing her.

### Kandor

Twenty years before the destruction of Krypton, at the Kandorian border, the civil war rages between Krypton's army and a rebellious clan known as Black Zero. A medic, sent by the Ruling Council, is taking blood samples from the soldiers. He is missing only General Zod's sample when Jor-El arrives and stops the medic, saying that the project cannot continue. With Zod's help, Jor-El manages to stop the medic from retrieving Zod's blood sample but, as this happens, Black Zero manages to destroy Kandor with a nuclear-like blast. Jor-El and Zod look on in shock, and Zod, whose wife and child were in Kandor, starts toward the city as the shockwave from the blast approaches. Jor-El restrains Zod, saying there is nothing he can do. In the present day, Major Zod tells his army that he believes Jor-El is the Blur leaving the Mark of El all over Metropolis, and promises his soldiers that Jor-El will pay for his treason and give them their abilities so Kandor can rise again.

At the Watchtower, Chloe is looking for more Kandorian symbols when Clark arrives. After a brief talk about Lois, Chloe informs Clark that Tess has sent teams around the globe to find the remaining Kryptonians. She says that she is currently searching in the Turkish desert (There is not any desert in TURKEY) and that Clark should investigate there, with Oliver's help to get there. Clark doesn't want to get Oliver involved and tries to slip off alone, but Oliver arrives at the Watchtower, ready to take Clark in his jet.

On the outskirts of Metropolis, Tess is talking to a man on the phone, complaining about the lack of results in the investigation in the Turkish desert. After finishing the call, she meets with Zod, who is looking at a House of El symbol on a building. Zod requests help from Tess to find Jor-El, and promises her that they will be equal partners. Tess, who already knows that the Blur is Clark, agrees to help Zod so she can have an advantage over him, and tells him that a team is already working on finding Jor-El.

Clark and Oliver are in the Turkish dessert, looking for the Kandorian mark. As they reach the correct coordinates, Clark uses his X-ray vision to see the mark below the sand and uses his super breath to blow away the sand, unveiling a giant House of El symbol. He also finds a dog tag on the ground. As he examines it, Clark discovers it belongs to his biological father.

Back in Smallville, Jor-El arrives at the Kent Farm, and encounters Chloe. When they introduce themselves, Chloe realizes that he is Clark's father, which Jor-El doesn't believe, stating that he doesn't have a son. Chloe shows him a picture of Clark, saying his Kryptonian name is Kal-El. After realizing that he has a son, Jor-El asks why Kal-El is on Earth. Chloe explains that Jor-El sent Clark to Earth to save him from Krypton's destruction. Jor-El is saddened that his wife and planet are gone. Chloe tells him they need to find the rest of the Kandorians, but Jor-El says that it will be very difficult, because of the training they had under the great commander and his best friend: Zod.

Remembering past events, Jor-El is on trial by the Ruling Council of Krypton under the charges of treason, because he stopped the creation of the Orb, which would contain the blood samples of Kandorians in case of Krypton's destruction. Jor-El states that his inventions are to be used for Healing, not to resurrect the dead through cloning, and that if the Orb releases the Kandorians on Earth, the humans won't have a chance against them. As the Council is ready to sentence Jor-El to death, Zod arrives and interrupts the trial on behalf of Jor-El, stating that his friend is the greatest hero he has ever met because he uses his science for the good of others, not for war and destruction. The Council forgives Jor-El, but only on the condition that he finishes the Orb and includes Zod's DNA and his own, so that in case of Krypton's downfall, the Kandorians can rise again and be led by the two greatest heroes they have ever met. After the session ends, Jor-El tells Zod that he (Jor-El) is in his (Zod's) debt.. Back in the present, after hearing the story of how Zod saved Jor-El, Chloe tells Jor-El about the path Zod followed.

Returning home, Clark and Oliver discuss the discovery that Jor-El is on Earth. Clark tells Oliver that he doesn't know why the Jor-El A.I. at the Fortress of Solitude didn't tell him about this; angry, he suspects that there is a part of the Jor-El A.I. that doesn't want Clark to meet his flesh-and-blood father. Oliver, listening to this, tells Clark to think about it.

Back at the Kent Farm, Jor-El is going through some of Clark's belongings in the loft, saying that he is sad that his son didn't grow up on Krypton, but Chloe assures him that Clark has had a great life on Earth among friends and family. Jor-El remembers the time his father sent him to Earth and how he met Hiram Kent, believing that he had sent Kal-El there because of the love he felt in that family. Hearing a noise in the barn, Jor-El knocks Chloe out to protect her and manages to subdue one of the intruders, but is tasered by another intruder and captured.

In the Luthor Mansion's wine cellar, Tess greets Jor-El, and tells him that she has brought him there to protect him and Kal-El, and that she released the Kandorians to save Earth. Jor-El tells her that she shouldn't have done so, and states that she is mistaken to believe that Kryptonians are so different from Humans. Tess says that Zod doesn't know about Kal-El and therefore Kal-El is safe. Tess asks Jor-El to pretend that he is the Blur so that Clark continues to be safe, and hands Jor-El a black T-shirt with the House of El crest on it. Jor-El agrees.

Clark returns to the farm, only to find Chloe unconscious. After she awakes, Chloe tells him that Jor-El was there, and that Zod also returned from the Orb.

Zod is waiting for Tess in the mansion, and asks for an update on the search for Jor-El. Looking at an image of Jor-El's arrival in the Turkish desert, he celebrates and cheers with Tess. They talk and Zod reveals that his men already managed to find Jor-El in the wine cellar. Tess, enraged, throws her glass at Zod, only to reveal a smile after Zod leaves.

Clark realizes that Chloe set up surveillance cameras in the farm after his battle with Doomsday, and is angry that Chloe didn't tell him. Searching the footage, they discover that Jor-El was kidnapped. Realizing that the only person capable of locating him was Tess, Clark decides to go confront her. Chloe and Oliver try to dissuade him, but Clark super speeds away.

Alia, Faora and Basqat bring Jor-El, wearing the T-shirt with the House of El symbol, to Zod. Zod salutes Jor-El and demands that he gives them their powers, stating that it is the least he can do after what happened the last time they met. On Krypton, Jor-El finishes constructing the Orb, and secretly irradiates it with blue kryptonite, so that the clones will be powerless on Earth. Zod arrives and Jor-El shows him the Orb and the Stones of Power containing the knowledge of the 28 galaxies; the only thing missing is the DNA samples of Zod and Jor-El. Zod asks his friend to re-create his son from a braid of hair he has kept. Stating that there could be deformities or mutations,

Jor-El refuses. Zod, angered, lets Jor-El take his blood sample, but tells him he is dead to him, ending their friendship.

Zod tortures Jor-El in an attempt to force him to reveal how he obtained his powers. Jor-El tells Zod that he used blue kryptonite to nullify the Kandorians' powers so they couldn't rule Earth as gods. He also reveals to Zod that Krypton was destroyed, and that Zod helped in its destruction by beginning a war against the Ruling Council. Jor-El tries to convince Zod to start over, saying he feels his pain and that maybe if he had agreed to give Zod his son, he would have never turned into a monster. Zod, intrigued about this information, manages to deduce that Jor-El has a son who is the one leaving the mark of El in Metropolis and saving the humans. After realizing this, he orders his soldiers to release Jor-El and begin searching for Kal-El.

Clark arrives at the Luthor Mansion, where he finds Tess and asks her about Jor-El. She denies knowing him, and Clark, enraged, grabs her by the neck, demanding to know where Jor-El is. Tess reveals that Zod has him, but that she put a tracking device on Jor-El's clothes. Clark forces her to search for Jor-El, so Tess looks on her computer and discovers that Jor-El is at the Kent Farm.

Clark super speeds to the Kent Farm and sees Jor-El on a hill, staggering. He super-speeds over to Jor-El just as he falls to the ground, and is shocked to find that Jor-El is beaten and mortally wounded. Jor-El tells Clark that he is proud of him and asks him to save Zod. After saying this, he dies in Clark's arms and Clark cries over his body.

Clark talks with Oliver at the farm, about how he wanted to know more about Jor-El. He also asks Oliver for help on finding the ones who killed Jor-El so he can to bring them to justice, as Chloe will check the farm's footage to find out what happened.

At the Watchtower, Chloe looks over the footage from the farm and sees Jor-El hiding a Kryptonian device in the Kents' house.

Clark buries Jor-El and marks his father's grave with the symbol of the House of El, stating that he can't save Zod, knowing what he has become. As he says this, Zod watches him from a distance.

### *Idol*

Lois wakes up, un-clothed, and stares out of the window. Clark comes up behind her, telling her that he wished they had more time. The two begin kissing while the red sun shines behind them...

Lois is daydreaming at work, and Clark notices. He accidentally spills coffee but fails to snap her out of her daze until he calls her out. Clark comments on Lois' impromptu vacation and also brings up their kiss. He suggests that the two should talk about it. Lois begins to flush and walks away. A delivery boy stops her and asks her to sign for a delivery. Lois gladly does.

In the basement, Lois is excited to open what looks to be a present. Clark and Lois are shocked to find stripped-down men inside the box. The men reveal themselves to be undercover policemen having wrongfully been served justice. Just when Clark begins questioning the origins of the blunder, a commotion leads Lois and him outside to find a giant House of El crest on a building next to the *Daily Planet*.

Lois immediately assumes that it is the work of the Blur, and implies that the Blur must've made a mistake. She also divulges to Clark that, to her frustration, the Blur has stopped calling her. Though Clark tries to defend the Blur, Lois, in unusually demure attire, leaves swiftly for a "top-secret interview for an expose."

Lois actually goes to visit a psychiatrist, trying to understand her strange dreams. She embarrassingly and uncomfortably blurts out that in her dreams, she is "doing the virtual Kama Sutra with Clark Kent." The psychiatrist suggests that the lack of clothing in Lois' dreams may represent the fact that Lois thinks Clark has a secret. Lois admits that the closer she gets to Clark, the more she feels he is going to disappear. Her psychiatrist brings up Lois' three weeks of blocked memory, and that she may be trying to protect herself. The subject of the Blur comes up and Lois' phone begins ringing (with the *Holding Out for a Hero* ringtone) and Lois tries to prove that she is over the Blur by ignoring the call.

Clark is on the other line with Chloe at Watchtower. Chloe defends Lois' action by saying that he cannot immediately expect Lois to forgive the Blur. Clark explains that he stopped calling her as the Blur after the events of *Metallo*. They begin to discuss the Blur's impostor, and Chloe brings up the fact that the impostor has created social networking sites for promoting the Blur's "brand". Chloe suggests that the impostor is actually trying to help the Blur, stating that she discovered five other messy saves in Metropolis not done by Clark. Clark tells Chloe that the impostor still needs to be stopped.

Across town, a black limousine pulls up near a power station, with drug kingpin Ivan Petrovich inside. Suddenly, a cougar jumps onto the hood of the car. The driver then finds himself driving on ice and the car crashes into the power source, knocking the passengers unconscious. The cougar transforms into a teenaged girl while the ice transforms into a boy of the same age. The two, very proud of their work, discuss their mistake with the "cops in the box". The girl, Jayna, brings out her cellphone to take pictures while Zan, her brother, jumps on top of the car and begins to mark it with the House of El crest. They are interrupted when the electric cables fall over and cause an explosion, knocking out all of the power in Metropolis.

The next morning, Clark and Lois arrive at the scene, and Lois begins rambling about the "blundering Blur". They walk by where the District Attorney, Ray Sacks, is speaking to the press, blaming the Blur for the recent happenings in Metropolis.

Lois sees the Blur's mark on the hood of the car, which confirms her beliefs that it is his work. Clark alludes to the Blur trying to call Lois, and Lois proudly tells him that she blocked the call. She leaves to look for witnesses while Clark notices a noise under the wreckage. Following the noise, he proceeds to find Jayna's cellphone.

Zan and Jayna are bemoaning their attempted heroic efforts when Zan's phone begins to ring. Knowing that Jayna lost her phone amidst the wreckage, the two panic and are about to activate their powers when they are both knocked out by Clark. They wake up at Watchtower, which they assume is the Blur's lair. But they are greeted by Chloe, who explains to them that their actions, however well-intentioned, were destroying the Blur's mission to help people. They promise to stop impersonating the Blur, explaining that they were only trying to help. Chloe tells them that when it's time, they will know when to step up.

Lois is trying to write an article on the recent events in Metropolis with an old manual typewriter when the power returns. Then her phone rings. Realizing it's the Blur, this time she answers and deduces that the Blur was responsible for the power reboot. Over the phone, Clark as the Blur tells her that he wasn't responsible for the recent botched saves, though he had found the perpetrators. He also explains that it was only the work of some misguided fans, and that he would not turn them in.

At Watchtower, Jayna explains that she and Zan only had each other to depend on all their lives. Zan begins to play around with some of Chloe's computers before Chloe catches him, telling him not to touch anything.

In fact, Zan had interfered with Clark's phone call so that, while Lois is berating the Blur over the phone, his response is mixed with static and then the voice-disguise is turned off and Lois is able to hear Clark's real voice.

The next morning, Lois goes to see Clark at the farmhouse, bringing him the morning paper. She suggests that they begin car-pooling to know each other better, which confuses Clark. Lois tries to make up for her "Blur-bashing" and attempts to indirectly tell him that she believes that he is the Blur. Clark tries to act oblivious, and then they're interrupted by the television, which reports that Sacks has called out the Blur to reveal himself in a press conference later that afternoon.

Lois rushes to her psychiatrist, quickly ushering out the current patient. She spills to her psychiatrist her finding that Clark and the Blur are one. The psychiatrist cautions Lois that this may only be what she wants to believe.

*"What do you think is more likely? That your mysterious caller and Clark are the same man, or that you are trying to make them one person in order to create your dream man?"*Lois still thinks that Clark has been hiding his secret from her, and she tells her psychiatrist that she does not care, though she deduces that perhaps Clark coming clean would not be the best idea. All she wants to do is help him.

Before the press conference, Clark tells Chloe that he plans to reveal himself to the public. He tells her that he is wearing Jor-El's crest, something that will give the public hope. Chloe argues against Clark's plan by telling him that he cannot sacrifice himself. Chloe tells him that he must let the public hear Sacks' condemning lies and put the importance of his identity above that of Jor-El's crest.

The conference begins and Clark watches as Sacks calls out for the Blur to reveal himself. As he is about to step up, Lois walks up onto the podium and announces to the public that she knows the Blur. She also announces that in order to best protect the people, the Blur must remain a light in the darkness, and a symbol of hope. To a convinced crowd, she asks for the public to let the Blur be the hero he needs to be.

Back at the Daily Planet, Lois finds a 'thank you' note with a rose, asking her to meet on the roof. Happily, Lois goes up, but she finds Sacks waiting for her. Sacks demands that Lois reveal the true identity of the Blur, but Lois resists and tells him that she is planning to write an expose about his dirty political antics. Sacks brushes her off, telling him that she is actually a part of his next antic, revealing a large fake House of El crest on the rooftop. Sacks tells Lois that he is planning to murder her and frame the Blur since she had publicly revealed their association. Sacks' henchmen then grab Lois and forcibly throw her off the roof, leaving hurriedly. In fact, Lois, not yet fallen, has grasped onto a flagpole at the side of the building, and is hanging on for her life.

A high-spirited Clark goes to Lois' desk to greet her, but finds her missing. The clamor leads Clark outside to see Lois dangling on the side of the building. He super-speeds to the rooftop, but with the crowd watching and cameras flashing, Clark can only climb over the ledge himself, desperately asking Lois to grab onto his hand.

Jayna arrives back at Watchtower, having overseen the situation at the Daily Planet in the form of a ladybug. She pleads to Zan that they must act, and that it is their time to step up and help the Blur. Zan agrees, and the two touch their rings, exclaiming 'Powers, Activate!'

Lois, unable to reach Clark, tells Clark that he cannot reveal his identity to the crowd below, and that she knows that he's been living two lives. Clark tries to dissuade her, but she asks him to let her go. Suddenly, a large fog made by Zan sweeps over the crowd below, blocking their view. Clark tells Lois to hang on, but she is unable to and falls into the mist. Clark super speeds down and Lois awakens after she's been gently placed onto the ground.

Sacks tries to leave inconspicuously in his limousine, but inside, he is greeted by a fiercely barking dog.

Lois, amazed that she survived the fall, credits Clark who emerges from the fog and they hug. Lois thanks Clark, but Clark says that he wasn't the one who saved her, and lies to her by saying that he took the elevator down. The phone rings in a nearby phone booth, and a disappointed Lois goes to answer the call. The Blur's voice greets her on the other end, and Lois is shocked to hear from the Blur with Clark standing in front of her.

Zan and Jayna are back at home, relishing their heroic actions, when Clark greets them in the dark as the Blur. Clark thanks them, saying that their actions should not be in efforts to aid the Blur, but to help the message of the Jor-El's crest. Stepping out of the shadows and revealing his face, he tells the two that they must believe in themselves, and be their own heroes. He also cautions them that by being heroes, they mustn't make mistakes with the world watching.

At the psychiatrist's, Lois castigates herself for seeing Clark "through Blur-colored glasses". Her psychiatrist assures her that it's normal for Lois to project the Blur's unattainable qualities onto someone close to her. Lois admits that it would be much easier if Clark and the Blur were one and the same. She also admits that, while she was happy to hear from the Blur, her thoughts keep returning to Clark.

Chloe greets Clark with Blur merchandise items being sold with Jor-El's crest on them. Clark says that one day Zan and Jayna will also be household names, referring to them as 'wonder twins' (alluding to their future legendary titles). Chloe tells Clark that Sacks is off to prison and that, with training, Zan and Jayna could provide Clark with some much-needed backup. Clark changes the subject to Chloe's save: she was the one who called Lois through the phone booth. Chloe explains that she has developed a new program that can impersonate the Blur's voice. Clark, however, is still confused as to Chloe's impeccable timing. Chloe admits that she has been monitoring security cameras, as well as cellphone activity in Metropolis. Clark becomes alarmed at how much Chloe is involving herself in his personal life, but Chloe defends her case by saying that had she not interfered, Lois would still believe that Clark was the Blur.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark and Lois are in the copy room. Clark confirms to her that he had in fact been keeping a secret from her, and reveals to her that he's nearsighted, and dons his iconic back-rimmed glasses. Lois tells him that they are "very Clark Kent". She apologizes for assuming that he was the Blur, concluding that nobody can be two different people. Lois teases Clark by recommending contact lenses, and that she'd only call him "four-eyes" once in a while. She starts to walk away, but turns back to initiate a long passionate kiss with Clark.

However, during the kiss, Lois again has a vision; seeing Clark and the red sun, Metropolis being enslaved in tyranny, and Chloe lying lifeless on the ground. Finally, Lois faints in Clark's arms.

### Pandora

At LuthorCorp, Oliver is on the phone, trying to get three of the best doctors to MetGen for Lois when Clark arrives, reporting that Lois has gone missing. Oliver is shocked, noting that Clark has been at the hospital all night with Lois. Clark said he had left to check whether Oliver had called, only to return to find that Lois wasn't there, with no releases or any witnesses. Oliver said that someone had called the hospital for a copy of Lois's test results, Emil Hamilton. Clark questions why Emil would be interested in Lois's condition, and Oliver speculates that Emil isn't, just the person he works for, Chloe.

An unconscious Lois is seen being dragged unceremoniously down an empty corridor into another room. Lois is then hooked up to computer software by Stuart Campbell. He asks Lois's kidnapper, Tess Mercer, whether it was really necessary to kidnap Lois since Tess had been spying on her computer and hacking into her medical records. Tess replies that there is a mystery concerning Lois, and that she wants to know what it is about. He asks if it is because she told her therapist that she was having flashes of the future and Tess looks surprised as she had never told him anything. He admits to sneaking a peek at what he was hacking and Tess tells him to establish boundaries. She then states that Lois's visions might not be imaginary since she had been investigating the orb before she vanished without a trace for three weeks. He asks her whether they were repressed memories, and Tess tells him they are about to find out. On the computer screen, images of Lois's visions appear, which include a man wearing Zod's symbol, landing in front of the solar tower. In the present, construction of this hasn't even started and the plans have not gone public yet, revealing that Lois *had* gone to the future.

Lois wakes up at the *Daily Planet* right after her showdown with Tess, wearing the Legion ring on her finger. She is confused to find the office empty and Tess nowhere to be found and with red light shining through the windows. Lois goes outside to find the streets of Metropolis in ruins and deserted, but, strangest of all, a red sun high in the sky. Then, flying from the direction of the solar tower, a Kandorian, Basqat, lands in front of her, demanding to know why she is out of uniform. She retorts that she dropped out of girls scouts years ago. Seeing her bleeding, he realizes she is a human and has gotten herself into restricted territory. Believing it all to be a dream, she questions his attitude and he replies that it is not her place to ask questions; she retorts that she is a reporter, and that it is in her blood to ask questions. He tells her slyly that "it would be a shame to spill it", and Lois runs off but finds him blocking her path again seconds later. Seeing a phone booth, she declares that the Red-Blue-Blur will stop him, but Basqat says he cannot under a red sun. Pointing to the Blur's ripped shield hanging from a piece of wood, he states the Blur is dead.

At Belle Reve, Tess is being hooked up to Lois's mind through a Project Intercept apparatus. Stuart thinks it's a bad idea, but Tess wants to see Lois's memories clearly as the computer showed only jumbled images. Stuart is still unsure and asks whether they should have someone from Summerholt there. Tess states that Zod said the tower would change the world and Lois's memories are going to show her how....

Lois wakes up on the floor of a barn with Zod's symbol on the wall. She sees a mother taking her children for food before she goes out to find herself with several more people obviously "caged up". She then sees a woman, Alia, dragging a man by the back of his neck outside, telling him that there is a penalty for stealing, before burning Zod's symbol onto his back with her eyes. She sees Lois staring at her and approaches her. Lois doesn't want trouble, just some food to eat. Alia asks her what she has to trade, and a man shoves his watch in her face, telling her it is all he has in exchange for Lois to be let go. Lois realizes it's Clark, looking weary and tired. Alia accepts it - for now.

After she leaves, Lois and Clark hug. He is relieved and happy to see her, as he thought he had lost her forever and thought she had died. Clark tells Lois she isn't dreaming, and that it is all really happening. Lois is confused about why the Kent Barn is being used as a prison and why Clark would give up his Dad's watch that is priceless to him; Clark tells her he did it for her, and that Earth has been invaded by aliens. Lois says that Tess knew about the 'alien technology' orb which contained life inside it and Clark replies that Tess may have contributed to the invasion itself.

Clark admits he tried to fight their leader, Zod, but he made all the wrong choices and a lot of people died. Lois asks him if Chloe died but he says he doesn't know, and that, after Lois disappeared, he left and hasn't spoken to Chloe for months. Lois is surprised when Clark says she has been missing for a year as she believes she had fought with Tess only hours ago, just before she put on a gold ring. Clark realizes she has the Legion ring which is probably why she is there and she says she still has it in her pocket. Then Basqat arrives, telling Lois General Zod wants to see her, so Clark tells her to protect the ring, before trying to punch Basqat who throws him across the barn. Basqat leaves dragging Lois away.

At Watchtower, Chloe is typing at her computer, looking at Lois's files on the monitor when Clark arrives, asking her for Lois's whereabouts and why she had Emil look into her records. Chloe responds she did it out of concern for her cousin. When Clark knows Chloe has kept secrets for months and when he accuses her of kidnapping Lois, Chloe realizes he's on the right track - but questioning the wrong person. She speculates that it could've been Tess who has been keeping an eye on Lois for months. Because Lois was in a coma, she couldn't possibly answer any questions but Chloe says that Tess can still run tests on her. Tess has an obsession about Lois's whereabouts when she went missing and that this all could be about Lois's trip to the future. Chloe gives Clark Lois's medical report, revealing that Lois had been suffering post-traumatic-stress disorder, and every time she has a memory, her body relives the trauma. Clark knows he has to find her, so Chloe calls Stuart, her guy on the inside.

Stuart's phone rings, but he is busy attending to Lois and Tess. Suddenly both women start trembling as Lois goes into another memory...

Lois is in the Luthor Mansion. She spots a table full of food and approaches it, about to take something to eat, when a man behind her suggests she try the truffles. Turning around, she sees Zod on the upper floor but before she can take anything, he appears next to her and takes a truffle, saying that something like that could mean life or death for 'her kind' before eating it himself. He introduces himself as "General Zod". He tells her he will give her food in exchange for telling him who sneaked her into the restricted zone. Lois tells him her father was a general too, but he couldn't coax information out of her and neither can Zod. She attempts to leave but he stops her. Zod says that her resistance will never take down his tower and he takes the Legion ring out of her pocket.

As he asks her what the ring is, Tess comes into the room and tells Zod that Lois worked for her before she disappeared. Seeing her allegiance with Zod, Lois hits Tess in the face, calling her a traitor. Tess angrily states she's Earth's savior as she helped Zod take power to ensure Earth's survival. Lois angrily calls her an "Eco-terrorist" just as Zod notes that she was seen speaking to Clark Kent. He knew that the resistance would get to him soon but Lois wants to fight both of them and snaps that Clark would back her up. But Zod says the only reason Clark is still alive is because he had hoped Clark would join him. Tess says that she also tried to convince Clark of the "good" they were doing, but he wouldn't budge. Zod then decides that neither Clark nor Lois are of any use to him and sentences them to a double execution for defying him. Telling Lois she can "enjoy a glorious last meal", he and Tess leave the room.

Outside, Zod gives Tess her dog-tags, officially making her a member of his army. Inside, Clark is brought in for his execution. He tries to go to Lois, but Basqat stops him. He pleads with Zod to spare her life but Zod replies that by defying him, he had forced his hand. Basqat forcefully shoves Clark to his knees as Zod draws his sword. He wanted Clark to join him in this new world, but now he has to bury him beneath it. As he prepares to decapitate him, a kryptonite arrow breaks through one of the windows and brings down one of the soldiers. From the ceiling, resistance fighters appear, shooting kryptonite arrows at all the Kandorians. Faora grabs Zod and forces him out of the room, saying there is too much kryptonite. Zod and Clark exchange a brief look of hatred before Zod super speeds off with Faora. The resistance fighters kill the remaining Kandorians as well as Basqat, and one them is revealed to be Oliver. Lois is happy to see him and he says the leader is Chloe who hugs her cousin.

Clark, Oliver and Chloe exchange awkward looks as though they are uncomfortable to be in each other's presence but Oliver immediately goes over to Tess, who has been shot by an arrow. At first she thought Ollie shot her, but he says he didn't. She says she has acted to save the Earth, even if it meant betraying her own people, and then dies in his arms. Oliver is devastated and turns to find Chloe standing beside him. She coldly admits she shot Tess. Later, Oliver removes Tess's dog-tag and buries her body, with Lois watching.

Tess wakes up in shock and is horrified to have learned that Chloe will kill her in the future. Disengaging herself from Lois's mind, she orders Stuart to erase all Lois's memories about this vision of the future. Stuart is unsure, noting that if something went wrong, Lois could end up catatonic. Tess tells him not to argue and he reluctantly accepts her instructions, but then decides to pull Lois out, saying they were messing with her mind. But before he can do anything, Tess shoots him from behind. She attempts to erase Lois's memory herself, just as Clark arrives but he is weakened by all the kryptonite around. Tess lies to him, saying *Stuart* went rogue and that *he* kidnapped Lois, and she tried to stop him. But seeing Lois, Clark roughly pushes Tess aside, throwing her into a table and she falls unconscious. Clark starts to disengage Lois from the computer software but instead accidentally connects himself to Lois's memories.

Chloe, Oliver, Lois and Clark are discussing the fact that they "won the battle" but they know that Zod will come after them. Explaining how Lois got there, they realize she time-traveled to their present time. However, Lois tells them that Zod took the Legion ring from her. Clark decides that they have to get the ring back and send Lois back to the past to stop Zod from constructing the tower, in order to prevent the future they are in. Chloe thinks it's a good idea, but she no longer trusts Clark after he left to fight Zod alone, and Oliver is on her side. Clark admits he tried to fight Zod like the enemy but he is with them now. Lois doesn't know why Clark went to fight Zod by himself, but they are all in it together now. Clark tells them they have to shut down the tower and bring back the yellow sun; it's the only way he can get the ring. Chloe still doesn't trust him, but finds the plan acceptable. Chloe explains to Lois that the solar tower is the source of the Kandorians' powers. It collects the yellow sun's radiation, turns it red and sends it to the LuthorCorp satellites, from where it is sent back down to earth, creating the Kandorians' abilities. If they take down the tower, it will take away the Kandorians' powers.

Lois doesn't see how they can do that as the Kandorians outnumber them, but Chloe says she powered down Watchtower so the Kandorians couldn't find it and can now send a computer virus to the tower from there to shut it down. Clark says if they power down the tower, he will be able to find the ring. Lois is confused how changing the sun would help Clark and Clark cryptically replies that he and Zod have history.

Later, Lois finds Clark washing up and he asks her if she is okay. She recaps everything that has happened that day and out of everything, she says she can't believe that he and Chloe are no longer friends. Clark says it wasn't Chloe's fault, since he turned his back on her because, after Lois disappeared, he found it difficult to be near Chloe and Oliver as they reminded him of her and that was too painful for him. So he left and went to train

himself to fight Zod. Lois wants to know why Clark has a history with him, and Clark admits he made mistakes and people died because of it. She urges him not to blame himself and says that he is not alone. She tells him they could all die tomorrow, but he says "I died when you left." She says she's here now, and they kiss and make passionate love.

Back at Belle Reve, Emil is examining an unconscious Clark, trying to get him to respond, while Chloe reports that an ambulance is coming for Stuart who has lost a lot of blood but is alive. Emil explains to her that Clark and Lois's brainwaves are connected but he may be able pull Clark out of it. Chloe stops him, telling him that the reports Tess had on Lois stated that the more times she went to see her therapist, the more memories she recovered. Emil states that the memories are physically damaging, but Chloe continues, saying that the future assassin told Clark that he would destroy the world, and Lois's memories are the key to Clark stopping it from happening.

Chloe and Oliver take Lois to Watchtower. Oliver suits up in his Green Arrow costume and gives Lois a kryptonite knife encased in lead. On the computer screens, there are videos of what has happened to the world with the Kandorians in control. Chloe starts taking down firewalls before uploading the virus into the tower. Oliver knows the Kandorians are coming so he goes ahead to make sure the coast is clear. Chloe tells Lois to go on as well and she'll catch up.

Lois runs through the streets of Metropolis and ducks behind a burnt car. Chloe comes into view and Lois signals to her. Chloe makes a beeline for her but Alia swoops down in her path, blocking her. Chloe prepares to fight, but Alia draws her sword and stabs it through Chloe who falls to the ground. Lois is horrified. Oliver approaches them, arrow at the ready, but Alia super speeds away. Lois hurries to her cousin's side but Chloe dies in her arms. Oliver tells Lois she can't do anything now but get the ring and go back to the past and stop this nightmare of a future from happening. Still grieved about what happened to Chloe, Lois runs off, leaving Oliver to defend himself against an approaching swarm of super powered Kandorians.

Zod drags Clark by the leg through the deserted streets. He says he knew Clark would come after him, just to save a doomed race who would die rather than unite under one leader and do what was required to create a new world. He finds it tragic that Clark would fight him like this. Metropolis would not have been destroyed if Clark had stopped fighting and joined him but Clark says he'd never stop fighting, and humanity will never lose its spirit. When Zod turns his back, Lois arrives and throws the knife to Clark but Zod crushes his outstretched hand with his foot. Zod sees Lois and bends over Clark, telling him "Goodbye, son of Jor-El", and then super-kicks Clark through a building into the other street. Clark crashes into the road, unconscious. Shocked, Lois tries to run to him, but Zod stops her just as the solar tower starts to malfunction. He stares, disbelieving, as the tower shuts down and the red sun becomes yellow again.

Clark appears behind him, telling him his reign of terror is over and that he is sending Lois home to stop the tower from ever being built. Zod is angered, shouting that Clark forced him to unleash his power and together they could have made Earth a paradise but Clark states that it already was; Zod never gave humanity a chance. He takes the Legion ring from Zod who remarks that humanity has made him weak. Before Clark knows what is happening, Zod stabs Clark with the kryptonite knife. He whispers that if Lois goes back, the lives they know would cease to exist, and as he strengthens his grip on the knife, he tells Clark he has destroyed their world. With a mighty effort, Clark shoves Zod away, sending him flying into a van, knocking him unconscious before he himself collapses to his knees and wrenches the knife out of his stomach. Lois hurries to his side, and panicking, tries to reassure him that everything will be alright. Struggling to breathe, Clark tells her to put on the ring and go back to the past. She refuses, so Clark orders her to do so immediately. She's scared she'll never see him again and he assures her she will if she goes back, before kissing her goodbye. He looks over her shoulder and sees Alia staring over at them, so he slips the ring on Lois's finger, just as Alia super speeds over and grabs onto Lois. The two are sent back a year to the day Lois mysteriously reappears in Metropolis after being missing for three weeks.

Clark wakes up and Chloe reassures him Lois will be all right; she'll just wake up with a headache. Emil reports that when Lois wakes up, she will no longer have memories of what happened in the future. Seeing the look on his face, Chloe assumes the future isn't good and asks him what he saw.

Later at the *Daily Planet*, Clark escorts Lois back to her desk, telling her she has to take things slowly since she got back from the hospital. Lois says she only has hypoglycemia, and that she'll be fine, but Clark doesn't want to risk losing her again. After a few moments of silence, Clark asks her what they are doing. Lois notes she's eating a doughnut and he is invading her personal space by standing so close. Clark says he meant 'us as a couple' and Lois is startled by his sudden change of behavior. She tells Clark to slow down and let her get back on her feet and Clark says she can lean on him for strength, because he feels stronger when she is around. Lois says she's done the "dating thing wrong" several times and Clark says they'll do it right, they just have to take their time. Lois says nothing. Then she suggests they get a cup of coffee and they walk to the elevator as Lois lists all the things they would do in order, amusing Clark. As they stand in the elevator, Lois takes Clark's hand.

Clark arrives at Watchtower and Oliver is surprised that he's so cheerful. Clark says he's just happy Lois is going to be okay. Chloe says Emil ran every test and has ensured she won't remember a thing - except the 5 dozen roses Clark sent her. Chloe is surprised that the two men are grinning after they just found out they will all die tragically in the near future. Oliver wants to take out Zod before he can take power, but Clark says that fighting Zod would make him more powerful. Chloe still thinks fighting Zod would be better but Clark says he'll just come back with everything he has.

Oliver wants to know if Clark thinks they could just "hug it out" but Clark remembers that, before he died, Jor-El told him to save Zod. He now thinks Jor-El meant him to save Zod from himself. Chloe states that it would be a mistake to befriend him. If the solar tower went up, Zod would get power and they would have none, including Clark. Clark tells her he knows what would happen if he treats Zod like the enemy, so now he is going to do it the right way. Zod addresses his soldiers, giving them assignments to help build the solar tower. Then Clark arrives, dressed as the Blur. Zod faces him and tells the Kandorians to "Kneel before Kal-El". They do as they're told and bow, all except for Zod who stands upright with Clark.

### Disciple

Lois and Clark leave a charity fundraiser gala sponsored by the *Daily Planet*. This is their first public date as an official couple. Clark comments on how Lois refused to show "PDA" (public display of affection) inside the gala. Lois changes the subject by commenting on Oliver's abrupt exit as soon as they had arrived. Clark reminds her how Oliver has overcome much greater obstacles in his life than them dating. Lois still seems worried though. Clark then proceeds to make a suggestion to Lois on how they could return to the farm to give her his personal tour of the galaxy and when she jokingly turns him down, Clark leans forward and plants a sensual kiss on her lips. As the kiss continues to heat up between them. Lois pulls back and insists that they take things slow because she wants this relationship to work out right. Clark then picks up on a nearby robbery in progress with his super hearing so he says "goodnight" to Lois, promising to call her tomorrow as he runs off to the corner and then super speeds out of sight . Lois enters her car, only to discover it won't start because the alternator's faulty, so she pops the hood. But then an arrow hits the car battery right next to her and she turns and sees what looks like the silhouette of the Emerald Archer against the Moon on the rooftop above. Believing it to be Oliver, Lois yells at him asking if he's "jealous much?" The Dark Archer then fires another arrow, this time directly at her as Lois turns and runs for her life down the street. However, the arrow hits her straight through her left shoulder and she collapses in the street with blood pouring from her wound and down the arrow that's impaled her.

Oliver is seen meditating in his training room, when suddenly he snaps to full awareness as a black-clad ninja appears and tries to jump him. For a moment, Oliver pins his attacker down, choking her in the process with her own weapon until the attacker screams his name and he backs off in shock realizing it's Mia, and he's almost killed her. Mia reminds him that he had invited her to train with him and she had decided to try using his skills to surprise him but she never expected lethal force from him. Then his phone rings and it's Chloe, apparently with bad news for Oliver.

The next morning, Clark returns to the Kent house to find Zod inside awaiting his return. In the kitchen, Zod expresses his fascination for the role of the apple in Earth's history. Zod mentions the Apple of Discord that started the Trojan War (in Greek mythology), and the Apple falling from the tree of knowledge designating the fall of man (The Bible). Zod also explains to Clark the difference between Humans and Kryptonians in that Humans hoard their knowledge whereas Kryptonian religion teaches that knowledge should be shared by all. Clark is unimpressed by Zod's accumulated knowledge concerning religion, and asks why he's there. Zod informs him that when his army had bowed before Kal-El previously, that was their way of showing respect to him for they believed he would help them. Clark tells Zod that the Kandorians have assimilated well and they don’t need his help as much as the humans do. Zod insists that his people need it more, especially since they don't have their powers. Clark tells Zod he can't help him because he doesn't know how to give them their powers. Zod suggests that they work together to unravel the mystery. But Clark warns him that “Earth is not another Krypton. And trying to make it one...is a dangerous plan.”

Zod then in turn warns Clark that their people aren't interested in conquering. But if they don’t get their powers soon, they will do whatever is necessary to get them in order to defend themselves, because humanity's capacity for brutality is great and should they discover the existence of the Kandorians on earth they will hunt them down like animals and eradicate them. Clark says he won’t let that happen. Zod sees he's not getting the result he's looking for so changes tactics and suggests that Clark's reluctance to take action is because he doesn't trust him because he think he killed Jor-El. Zod tells him that he lost a son, and would never deprive anyone of their father. He pleads for Clark to believe him.

For a second, Clark considers what Zod is saying could be true, but then his cell phone rings and he answers it, to learn something has happened to Lois. Clark instantly speeds out, leaving Zod alone in the farmhouse.

Inside the hospital room of Metropolis General Hospital, Lois is sitting up in her bed with a sling around her arm. Clark arrives and approaches her, saying how sorry he is and that he shouldn’t have left her alone last night, because he'd have made certain this would have never happened. Lois reassures him it not his fault and won't allow Clark to blame himself for her injury. Clark inquires what happened, and Lois summarizes: her car had a bad alternator preventing her from leaving and she witnessed a guy dressed up like Green Arrow take a shot at her, probably just to get a headline in the newspaper. Meanwhile, outside of Lois's door, Oliver is standing in the hallway watching the couple talking. Chloe arrives right beside him and asks Oliver if perhaps he still hasn't gotten over his feelings for Lois. He assures her he has and says he is just concerned about her safety. Oliver asks Chloe if she has a suspect yet, and she informs him that the suspect was disguised as Green Arrow and that the arrow which hit Lois went in under her shoulder. It didn't do any damage, but the doctor said that if it had just been a centimeter to the right or the left, her artery would have been severed and she would've died in minutes.

Chloe expresses her relief that this amateur archer had bad aim, but Oliver says it wasn't luck at all: that this is a highly skilled professional archer and this type of shot is specifically designed to take down your enemy without killing them, and not too many people in the world can pull off this type of shot. Oliver asks Chloe to inform him of the location of this arrow. She tells him that the police are still running tests on it but she managed to take a picture on her cell phone and shows Oliver the photo while explaining that it's a pretty low-tech arrow compared to his titanium arrow arsenal. Chloe can see by Oliver's facial expression that he is hiding important information regarding this case, but he denies it as he leaves the hospital.

Returning to his Office, Oliver goes to a secret compartment that stores a set of ancient arrows wrapped in a cloth bearing a Celtic insignia. He pulls out an exact replica of the arrow which hit Lois and declares a name of someone simply known as "Vordigan".

Elsewhere, a figure of a well-built man with scars on his body is seen wrapping his hand and abs with gauze and, as he dons a black leather uniform, the same Celtic insignia is marked on his neck . Now suited up, he has his own complete set of ancient Celtic arrows. He goes to stand in front of a mirror, staring at his own reflection in which his face is scarred. He then pulls his hood over his head, concealing his face in the darkness.

Back at the hospital, Lois is conducting her own research into the ancient Celtic arrow on her laptop when she receives an unexpected visit from Zod bearing a bunch of flowers. He introduces himself to Lois as a friend of Clark Kent's. Lois is not totally convinced of Zod's claim but decides to go along with his façade to find out just exactly what he wants from her. Zod continues his ruse by telling Lois how much Clark loves her. Zod says that Clark talks about her constantly and, now that he has seen her in person, he can see that Clark wasn't exaggerating about her beauty. Lois accepts Zod's compliment with a smile but is still suspicious of Zod as she inquires how he knows Clark. Zod informs her that he and Clark have a lot of history together. Zod suggests that when she's healed of her wound they'll go out one night and he’ll tell her all about the real Clark Kent. "Tequilla's on me," says Lois. "I’m not sure that Clark’s parents know the real Clark Kent." Zod chuckles. "You mean his adoptive parents." Lois comes back: "His only parents really." Zod realizes that Lois isn't aware of Clark's Kryptonian heritage and pulls out a Kryptonian charm pendant, claiming it came from a kid’s sale on the second floor. He gives it to Lois who is intrigued by its shape. Before he leaves, Zod gives a message to Lois for Clark: "You tell that Clark Kent that he’s a very lucky man." Lois looks Zod straight in the eye and says she will, as she grins at him leaving her room. Lois looks at the charm once more and then puts it down, opens her laptop amd returns to her investigation.

Mia is seen looking at a bulletin board full of surveillance photographs of Oliver in different locations around the city, Oliver enters the room and Mia pieces together that this is related to Lois's recent attack. Oliver tells her that he's looking to see who's been following him recently. Mia tries to offer her assistance in helping Oliver track down the mysterious assailant, but Oliver says he can't be her mentor anymore and orders that she leave, which she does with great regret.

At the Watchtower, Chloe is reviewing the photos of the ancient Celtic arrow, when a 'security breach' alarm goes off. She sees the computer monitor featuring the arrow image replaced by a drawing of a hooded archer. Then the lights in the tower go out and the Dark Archer appears in front of her behind the window of Watchtower. He draws and fires an arrow at her. Chloe manages to duck and the arrow grazes her on the shoulder, but the Dark Archer draws another arrow and readies to fire. But he is interrupted by a noise and without hesitation he uses a crossbow aiming it upwards as he departs through the dome roof of the tower. Clark comes in seconds later and Chloe tells him that she suspects that Oliver may have gone rogue.

Mia is walking down the street where Lois was previously attacked, searching for a clue, when she suddenly hears a noise behind her. Believing it to be Oliver, she calls out his name, only to shockingly discover it's the Dark Archer instead. He tells her that Oliver has a greater destiny to fulfill and she is going to help him. And he proceeds to kidnap her.

Back at Watchtower, Clark tends to Chloe's injured shoulder and she discusses her theory of Oliver possibly suffering from a split personality due to all the turmoil he's been through lately in his life. Clark isn't ready to believe that Oliver would resort to causing physical harm to Lois or Chloe. Chloe then confesses to Clark the truth: that Oliver's recent comeback to heroism wasn't under natural circumstances, and that the 'game' Roulette with Victoria Sinclair that Oliver played was orchestrated by Chloe. Clark isn't happy to discover this truth even though Chloe tries to justify her actions by declaring that the end result justified the means. Clark, still not satisfied with Chloe's answer, reprimands her and tells she should've told him. Chloe tells him that he is not willing to do what’s necessary. Clark asks her if it was worth the risk, if it turns out her theory was right and Oliver has gone rogue. As Clark leaves, the computer screen comes up with a search result to match the Celtic arrow.

In an alleyway, Lois finds Oliver, who explains that someone is targeting him by trying to emotionally hurt him through her. Lois wonders why the Dark Archer targeted her rather than one of Oliver's other girlfriends, so Oliver explains that his attacker knows that she's the only woman he ever truly cared about. Lois tells him that he needs to find this attacker quickly before someone else is targeted like Chloe was. Upon hearing this latest update, Oliver recognizes the pattern from the sacred oath he once took “No lovers, No allies, No disciples....", and he now knows Vordigan is going after Mia next.

Clark goes to Oliver's office and sees the surveillance photos posted. Using his X-ray vision, he finds Oliver's secret compartment that stores the set of ancient arrows wrapped in a cloth bearing the Celtic insignia. Chloe comes in and tells him that her research shows that perhaps she was wrong and Oliver isn't the Dark Archer. She shows Clark the search result she uncovered regarding the Celtic insignia: that it is from a secret society formed by 13th-century master archers training their apprentices to become vigilante assassins known as 'the Brotherhood of Sion'. Theirs is a sacred oath all apprentices must uphold: "No lovers, No Allies, and No Disciples." Clark says this does sound like Oliver's character but Chloe mentions that, after he escaped the island, he probably joined this society to become the Emerald Archer by perfecting his archery skills and now it appears that someone from this brotherhood might be targeting Oliver to settle an old score.

Oliver goes to his training gymnasium looking for Mia, but instead he finds a calling card left by Vordigan, depicting Mia's location based on the Celtic insignia.

Inside a hedgerow park maze, Mia is held captive by the Dark Archer who informs her that he trained Green Arrow and is using her as bait to lure him in. He lets her go free for sport in the maze, intending to hunt her down. Then Oliver, now in his Green Arrow attire, enters the maze and Vordigan emerges from the shadows and confronts his former apprentice. Vordigan tells Oliver that it's time to complete his training, Oliver tells him that Vordigan had embraced Oliver like his own son at a time he really needed it, but he can't follow in Vordigan's footsteps, and that's why he left the secret society years ago. Vordigan says the real reason Oliver left was because he loved the thrill of the hunt. He tells Oliver that if he doesn't finish his training willingly, he'll kill Mia just to provoke Oliver into taking vengeance against him for her death. In full rage, Oliver grabs his former master and slams him against a tree, but declares he won't kill him. Vordigan then turns the tables on Oliver and thrusts an arrow through the palm of Oliver's hand, pinning it to the tree, before leaving to hunt Mia.

Back at Watchtower, Chloe is reviewing the computer data when Clark arrives and tells her that he's checked all of Oliver's usual patrol locations, but with no sign of him. Clark mentions to Chloe that she needs to get out occasionally to prevent isolating herself from humanity to avoid getting hurt again. Chloe insists that she's fine and tells him not to worry. She then finds useful information about an altar bearing the Celtic insignia that was shipped to a private estate in Coast City. Chloe accesses satellite imagery to see that there's a maze garden in that private estate bearing the emblem of the Brotherhood of Sion. Upon closer inspection with Infrared enhancement, Chloe detects movement within the maze and, zooming in, she identifies Mia. Clark super speeds away to the rescue.

Mia continues trying desperately to find her way out of the maze, while Vordigan hunts her down like prey. She willingly draws attention to herself by making a lot of noise while trying to escape, making her easy prey for Vordigan to find. Vordigan closes in thinking he's got her trapped but Mia shows she's not as helpless as she appears and manages to ambush him instead. As she makes her way to the center of the maze, Vordigan stops her long enough to get to his feet and fire three arrows directly at her. But Oliver shows up and shoves her out of the way and places himself in the path of the incoming arrows. Clark also arrives on the scene in his Blur attire and with his superspeed uses the Invulnerability of his body to shield Oliver, causing the arrows to shatter on impact. Oliver draws and fires an arrow, shooting Vordigan in the shoulder. Clark walks over to Oliver who tells him that Vordigan once said that Oliver's dark side would rise up within him, consuming him in the process… but he was wrong. The Apprentice has shot the Master exactly where he had been taught long ago, revealing Oliver did not kill Vordigan but only injured him.

Later that very evening at the Ace of Clubs, Lois is fully recovered and wearing a green evening gown on her date with Clark, which she was late for.  She apologizes to Clark who instantly accepts since she notes that she had to take a cab from the hospital. Lois shows him the charm that Clark's "friend" gave her. When she mentions Zod's name, Clark is concerned for Lois's safety and asks her what Zod said. Lois says that Zod only said good things about him and plans to have a dinner with them. Clark warns it's not a good idea, but Lois figures there's nothing Zod can tell her about Clark that she doesn't already know. As Lois turns, she sees Oliver watching them. After a few seconds of hesitation, she turns and goes with Clark. "That’s PDA number - not that I’m keeping track", Clark says with a smile. Lois takes his arm as they walk off together.

Oliver returns to his training gymnasium where he sees Mia in the middle of a training exercise. Oliver apologizes to her for the way he treated her earlier and explains he only did it to protect her from becoming a target for Vordigan. Mia tells him that she's discovered his secret as Green Arrow and the next time one of his enemies wants to target her he should give her a heads-up. As she prepares to leave him for good, she hands him his car keys, but Oliver doesn't accept her resignation from his employment because he still wants her as his apprentice. He also addresses her concern about the ‘dark places’ inside him that worry him. Mia reassures him that’s why he needs someone like her around to keep him in check and says "There’s a dark place in everyone, Oliver. What we do with it depends on, not who our teachers are, but what we do with the lessons learned.”

Clark arrives at the Crow's nest and confronts Zod, informing him that "Lois Lane is off-limits" as he places the Kryptonian pendant in front of him. Zod explains that it's a Rao charm representing 'Good Luck' and doesn't understand the hostility Clark is showing . Clark, still full of anger, demands to know why Zod would give this to Lois in the first place. Zod informs him that in Kryptonian lore Rao symbolizes all that is good but, once again, Clark is assuming the worst of Zod. Clark does not accept his explanation and remains strong and adamant as he declares "We both know the only reason you visited Lois was to send me a message. You can’t hurt me but you will hurt the ones I care about." Zod responds to Clark by telling him that living on Earth amongst humans has made him mistrustful. Clark tells Zod he trusts those who trust him. Zod states that he doesn't believe him, because if he truly trusted he would have told Lois who he really is. Enraged Clark warns Zod that by crossing that line Clark won't help him regain his powers, and Zod says he's just trying to save their race.

Again, Clark doesn't buy his excuses and suggests that all Zod truly cares about is his power to control his army, because without them he's nothing more than an officer with no-one to command. Zod starts to argue: "I do not do this out of ego, I do this out of desperation." Clark, still unimpressed, says, "Don’t act as if there isn't an agenda you’re not telling me about." Clark threatens Zod with a serious warning “You go near Lois again, I will destroy you all”, and with that he speeds off into the night leaving Zod alone who says “You won’t have to” as he looks out at the city skyline.

Upon descending to the street below from the crow's nest, Zod is greeted by Faora who was awaiting his arrival and they discuss their search for a Kryptonian object known as the Book of Rao, which they believe Jor-El had hidden on Earth. And once it is found they will have the means to regain their powers by turning the yellow sun into a red sun. Then Zod declares that "Kal-El won’t be the only one with powers on this Earth. He will be just one of many soldiers in my army or a prisoner in my stockade.” With an evil grin on his face, Zod looks upwards at a designated spot showing the Solar tower under construction.

### Absolute Justice

Chloe leaves a café while trying to call Clark, but only gets his voicemail. As she leaves him a message about bringing the team together, the power in the vicinity goes out. She sees a mysterious figure on the building above her and runs into an alley where she meets the man. He says his name is Sylvester Pemberton and they're both trying to put a team back together.

He tells her he knows about Watchtower and says that he and his friends were a team first. When the air temperature abruptly drops, Pemberton throws her into a dumpster, telling her to stay down. The dumpster starts shaking and Chloe hears a battle going on outside. When she tries to see what is going on, huge icicles tear through the dumpster. When it's over, Chloe gets out and finds Pemberton lying on the ground, mortally wounded. She calls for help, but he warns her that whoever attacked him will go after the others and repeatedly says the word "Check" before dying.

Clark arrives at Met Gen to find Chloe being treated for frostbite. He explains that he's been busy helping the Kandorians find their place among other humans, but Chloe doesn't believe that's possible. She notices the police officers collecting Pemberton's equipment and copies the data from Pemberton's phone. Clark observes a distraught teenage girl but when she realizes he's a reporter, she mistakes his concern for an interview and storms off. Chloe reports that Pemberton's last call was to a man named Wesley Dodds and sends Clark to talk to him.

Dodds is asleep in his apartment in front of his television. He dreams of Pemberton and his adversary in their battle. Waking up, he ponders over a gas mask. He puts it on and turns to see Pemberton's murderer standing in the doorway, who calls Dodds "Sandman". The eyes in the gas mask covering Dodds' face freeze and shatter.

At Watchtower, Oliver meets with Chloe. He notes that she has been keeping an eye on him too while trying to bring their group back together. She hacks into the hospital's video surveillance and tracks down the ID of the girl who had argued with Clark: Courtney Whitmore. Chloe tells Oliver she needs him to get Pemberton's light staff. Clark arrives at Dodds' apartment only to discover his dead body. The letters 'JSA' are written in blood next to the body.

At the hospital, Chloe meets with Emil Hamilton who is examining Dodds' body. Emil confirms that Dodds was murdered like Pemberton, with ice, but the ice had some human DNA, which means a metahuman was behind both murders. Emil questions what 'JSA' means and Chloe suggests it's a calling-card from the murderer. Chloe then leaves to help Clark who is going through the newspaper archives.

Alone in a room, the killer lays out photos of a number of individuals on the floor. He crosses off the photos of Pemberton and Dodds and then picks up a photo of Courtney.

Clark and Chloe go through the *Daily Planet'*s old records and find files on Pemberton, Dodds and eleven other criminals, along with an old film, which they play. They see each of the people arrested by the police. Pemberton is one of them; he was charged with stealing from his own company. Though he had no previous criminal record, Dodds was also taken into custody. Also arrested were Al Pratt, a physics professor, for assaulting police officers attempting to arrest Dodds; Ted Grant, a heavyweight champion; Jay Garrick, a research scientist charged with fraud and resisting arrest; Alan Scott, a broadcast CEO, for aiding and abetting; and Abigail Hunkel, an elderly woman. According to the files, they all tried to take the blame and exonerate each other. Chloe reads about the evidence of jury tampering and missing witnesses, and that eventually none of the convictions held up. Chloe tells Clark to go warn Carter Hall, one of the men on Pemberton's call-list, while she continues the research.

Clark goes to the museum where Carter works. Carter finds Clark observing all the artifacts and tells him that the museum is *permanently* closed. He wants to know why Clark is there, so Clark explains that Dodds and Pemberton were both murdered. Clark notices a man behind Carter, mumbling to himself and clutching a bowling bag in his arms. When Clark asks who he is, the man mumbles, and says his name "was" Dr. Kent Nelson. Carter says he's very sick, while Nelson continues to whisper nonsense. Clark pursues the matter of Pemberton, and Carter denies talking to him, saying he ignored his calls. Clark looks at Nelson again, and x-rays his bag and sees a helmet inside, which turns to face him. Carter tells Clark they have nothing more to say, so Clark leaves. After he leaves, Nelson tells Carter that the helmet says Clark could help, but Carter says that they only help themselves, like they’ve always had to.

As Oliver is informing Chloe via cellphone that the staff is missing, he sees Courtney walking down the street with it. He approaches her and she points the staff at him, but hesitates when he tells her that two men are dead. Nelson appears and activates the staff, making himself and the girl disappear.

Oliver and Chloe track down Pemberton's car. Oliver prepares to break into the car, but Chloe just opens the unlocked door. Inside the glove compartment, Ollie pulls out a diary with info on all of them, showing that Pemberton knew the identities of Oliver's team. Chloe figures that Courtney must know too.

Nelson takes Courtney to the museum, where Carter takes the staff from her and tells her to go home. Courtney insists that they have to do something before someone else gets killed. When Carter refuses, she questions whether she will have to go to another team for help, but Carter says that this generation isn’t a team. She argues that if he had done something when Sylvester asked, then Sylvester wouldn't be dead. Carter walks away, so Courtney asks him what Shayera would have done, stopping Carter in his tracks.

Clark meets with Chloe, who has located a former metahuman villain named Joar Mahkent, the Icicle, who is now in a psych ward at Met Gen.

Carter, Nelson and Courtney are in a conference room where Carter tells Nelson that they need **him**. Nelson is frightened and doesn't want to, but Carter insists that, although his morality may have wavered, Nelson's never did. As Nelson approaches the bowling bag, he admits he wishes he could remember his life before Dr. Fate. He believes he had a family and a wife named Inza, but he scared them away. Carter reassures him he didn't drive all of them away. He opens the bag and takes out a golden helmet, which he calls 'Nabu'. The helmet suddenly wraps itself around his head and transforms him into Dr. Fate. Courtney smiles as Dr. Fate greets Hawkman. Carter opens a hidden compartment, revealing a winged harness, a mace, and a hawk mask.

Clark and Chloe arrive at the psych ward to learn that Mahkent is in a vegetative state. They see a golden light coming out of his room and enter to find Dr. Fate standing over Mahkent. Clark grabs him, which causes Dr. Fate to see Clark's destiny. Dr. Fate tells him that he is of value, but that Chloe is following the same path Dr. Fate does. When Clark asks who he is, Dr. Fate calls him his friend and teleports him away.

Chloe calls Green Arrow from Watchtower to report that Clark is gone. Green Arrow is searching for Courtney and finds her in Suicide Slums in a star-covered costume. When he realizes she's acting as bait, he jumps down into the street, but she tells him to leave. The killer arrives and begins a fight with Stargirl. He knocks Green Arrow down and then attacks her. She attacks with the energy staff and their two weapons clash, throwing them off their feet. She runs for the staff just as he shoots icicles at her, but Green Arrow deflects them with an arrow. The killer gets away and Stargirl is furious that she missed her chance at him. A winged figure flies down from the skies, grabs Green Arrow, and flies away.

At Watchtower, Chloe is trying to contact Green Arrow when he comes crashing through the window. The winged figure then appears at the window and says to stay out of their business, before flying away.

Chloe is tending to Oliver's wounds when he makes sarcastic remarks that this mysterious team of vigilantes are very good at what they do. This makes Chloe feel ashamed that a bunch of retired super-vigilantes are capable of beating them so easily and maybe her idea of tighter teamwork with the League is just a hopeless idealistic fantasy. Oliver says she shouldn't count them out just yet, and he shows Chloe an ancient shuriken he took from Hawkman while in his clutches. Chloe realizes that a museum is their enemies' headquarters and that is probably where they are holding Clark captive. Oliver suggests they get some reinforcements, and a call is made to Detective John Jones.

Clark awakens in what appears to be an abandoned museum and he goes around pulling off dust-covered sheets to find it filled with a rich legacy of long-forgotten items belonging to a generation of vigilantes, who Clark discovers were a team of superheroes named the Justice Society of America.

Hawkman swoops down in front of Clark saying that Dr. Fate says he's a big deal, but he doesn't see it. Dr. Fate steps out from the shadows to state that Clark is unlike the others. Stargirl then steps out and says Dr. Fate's words convince her that Clark can be trusted. She says Sylvester was trying to assemble a new Justice Society comprised of surviving members and their proteges. Hawkman objects, saying it will never work and this new generation will make the same mistakes they did. Clark says that despite their differences, none of them are villains.

Suddenly, Green Arrow arrives, and tells Clark how Hawkman threw him through a window and Hawkman offers a second go. Oliver rushes at Hawkman who sweeps Oliver off the ground and onto the table with his mace poised to strike as Green Arrow aims his crossbow at Hawkman's throat. Stargirl pleads with Hawkman to stop. John Jones then walks into the room and asks if it's too late to say they come in peace.

Hawkman insists that this crisis is the JSA's responsibility and doesn't concern Clark and his team, and once justice has been properly served, they will fade from existence once again. Clark says that he hopes they won't do that. John says they're stepping into this matter whether the Justice Society likes it or not. Clark says they're not leaving until the murderer is brought to justice.

Lois arrives at the Planet talking to a fellow reporter whom she assumed was Clark. Arriving at her desk, she discovers a package. Inside are the files about the Justice Society, the trumped up records they were framed with, and a note that reads "The Truth Will Set You Free". Tess Mercer walks up behind Lois and implies that the package is actually for her, but Lois shows her the label with her name on it and Tess walks away.

The young Icicle visits his comatose father and states he will make the JSA pay for what they have done to him. Back at the Justice Society's brownstone, Carter Hall talks about how his team had successfully managed to clean the streets of crime decades ago and that a secret branch of the Government insisted they work for them. The JSA had refused, so the government went after them, unmasking them, took them away from their families and branded them criminals.

Clark says he'd have never surrendered if he'd been in their situation, but Carter furiously remarks that neither Clark nor his team have even started to battle crime seriously. Courtney mentions that there are still a dozen Society members they can rally to their cause again. Clark knows that Carter still cares as he's kept their meeting place intact all this time, and Carter says this will be strictly a temporary alliance. Chloe then walks in with two suggestions for leads for finding Icicle and asks to use their computer to follow them up. Stargirl takes her to a desk and reveals a vintage computer setup and a rotary dial telephone.

Tess Mercer walks into her office and is immediately apprehensive when she sees that a White Queen chess piece has been left on her desk.

Chloe and Courtney go to Watchtower to use its modern electronics equipment. Courtney marvels at the vast supply of technology, but also notices there are no pictures or tables to sit and eat at, and she tells Chloe how the brownstone was a second home for the Justice Society's members. Chloe asks Courtney how she got started in this business and she says her stepfather Pat was the Star Spangled Kid's sidekick, Stripesy. She tells Chloe that her team should also get together at times when there isn't a problem and that Watchtower needs to become a little more family friendly than its current "nuclear war room" decor. Chloe says that Courtney's not really blood-related to any hero, but Courtney answers that 'family' is about much more than bloodlines. Oliver checks in, saying that he and his wingman await action.

Oliver signs off, complaining how he hates the waiting part of the job, and Hawkman shoots back that Oliver loves talking though and he wishes he'd just shut up. Oliver asks why they were teamed together and Hawkman says he specifically requested it so that he could keep Oliver in line.

Meanwhile, Clark has stayed behind at the brownstone where Dr. Fate tells him he is the very hope that John Jones spoke of. He says he sees everyone's fate except his own and he has seen that Clark will lead this generation of heroes just as Hawkman led his. Clark says he met another team who also hinted at his destiny without revealing much, so Dr. Fate tells him he will be the start of a new age of heroes, a silver age when new heroes meet the new challenges. And when Clark shows himself to humanity, he will embody the symbol of that hope, and he will even eventually defeat his ultimate enemy, Lex Luthor. Clark says Lex is dead, but Fate speaks on. Then Clark hears Lois at the front door and says she shouldn't be involved in this matter, but Dr. Fate insists that Lois is the "key".

Dr. Fate uses his powers to open the door to admit Lois, causing Clark to super-speed from view as she enters the building. She is a bit startled to meet Dr. Fate, who tells her that Carter Hall is out at the moment and she says she knows he was part of a group of heroes who were railroaded by the government and she guesses he's one of them. Dr. Fate says he sees her fate, mentions that she is the one he will need, before using his powers to put her outside and close the door on her.

Back in the halls of the mysterious headquarters that is playing host to Icicle, a woman enters his room and tells him he's taking his assignment too personally, which is causing him to be sloppy. He snarls back at the woman, stating that the only reason he took the job when she got him out of the juvenile system was to settle a vendetta against society for what they had done to his father. He surrounds the woman with his power, threatening to choke her with his icy touch, but she claims she isn't bothered by the cold, so Icicle backs down. He cites the several people he killed for her who might have even been innocents and says she owes him for that. She responds that this is strictly business and that it should have been finished years ago and is a black mark on Checkmate's record. He sneers, insisting that she should let him finish it.

As he arrives at the Planet, Clark phones Chloe for a progress update on their search for Icicle. She informs him that Fate and John are staked out at the nitrogen depot, while Green Arrow and Hawkman are staking out the hospital. Clark tells Chloe that someone purposely wants Lois to be involved. Clark then spots Tess snooping through Lois' desk, and he confronts Tess, who gives up the JSA files she was attempting to take. As she leaves, she tells Clark that Lois is in way over her head in this affair. Lois then enters, to find Clark who is very interested in the story she's working on. Lois informs Clark that she's been chosen by an anonymous source for this story and she's discovered that there was once an actual team of superheroes similar to Metropolis' current hero, the Blur. She also found out something she realized she wasn't supposed to know during her investigation: a high placed agency connected to the government arranged for the Icicle's son's release from juvie, and Carter Hall was the one who originally injured the young man's father.

At the nitrogen depot, Dr. Fate tells John that his being an alien intrigues him, as he saw the same qualities in Clark that the helmet of Nabu revealed to him. He also knows that John sacrificed his powers to save Clark, realizing his importance to humanity. Then, as they discover two dead employees, Dr. Fate says they are in danger. Fate says today is not the day John is destined to die and uses his powers to transport John to Mars, exposing him to the Mars atmosphere which causes John to reform into his natural Martian appearance for a split second as he falls to the ground in a comatose state. At that moment, Dr. Fate is impaled from behind with an ice spear by Icicle, who then spots that the helmet of Nabu has fallen off Kent's body, and picks it up.

At the hospital, Courtney and Clark listen as Dr. Emil Hamilton explains that the unconscious John Jones has been admitted and is undergoing some sort of incubation. Courtney says a part of her hopes that Hawkman finds Icicle first and exacts his brand of justice, but his crossing the line so often after they were hounded by the authorities only made the line harder to find. Clark urges her to make the right choice.

Back at the Planet, Lois discovers more files about the JSA in the archives room. Amanda Waller then appears behind Lois, telling her she gave Lois the necessary clues because she was very impressed with her ability for uncovering the truth. She says she works for an organization that hides truth and hands Lois a cell phone, telling her she'll be in touch with her, before leaving.

Icicle enters his father's room. He bids his father goodbye and turns off his father's life support and watches him die. He then dons the Helmet of Nabu and golden energy fills the room as the Icicle screams at the visions he now sees.

Back at the JSA brownstone, Oliver tells Carter it's obvious that Hawkgirl's death is what started the team's unraveling. Carter tells Oliver she was his wife, Shayera, and they were originally born over a thousand years ago, but an old enemy placed a curse on them and they were made to live over and over again only to lose their loves as they had to watch each other die and leave the other behind, lifetime after lifetime. Carter says the sooner he dies now the sooner he can be reunited with his beloved again. Oliver tells Carter that now his team along with Courtney is out there counting on him and it's time to think of them and not himself.

Hawkman flies into the Watchtower, dropping Green Arrow to the floor as Clark and Courtney enter the room. Hawkman says from now on they fight together. Icicle then teleports into the room, wearing the Helmet of Nabu, and he uses his power to hold Chloe in a choke hold until she is rendered unconscious. Stargirl rushes to her side. Hawkman flies down with his mace, as Clark uses his heat vision, Green Arrow fires an arrow, and Stargirl fires her staff in a multiple assault.

Icicle staggers for a moment and then fires back with a mystic energy which sends them all flying away from him, and he starts to fire an energy bolt to kill Stargirl, who stands her ground. But John Jones suddenly flies into the room from the shattered window and knocks Icicle a distance away from Courtney. Icicle remarks that he thought he'd killed him earlier, and John states that's why he is Mars' sole survivor. The entire team surround Icicle and Hawkman uses his mace to knock the helmet off of Icicle.

Back at the JSA headquarters, Carter hangs up his helmet as he admits that Clark's team was better than he'd thought they'd be. Clark says they'll never be as good as the JSA, but they are his best friends. Carter answers that Clark must learn to trust them and remember they are people too and will make mistakes, but to keep on trying like Clark had inspired him to do himself. Clark asks if Hawkman is retiring and Carter says no, that Courtney is contacting old members and their children as proteges, and he hopes to teach the next generation a few things. Courtney then walks in, saying she's already learned a great deal and asks Clark what his team is called. Clark ponders for a moment and says "A work in progress".

Chloe is cleaning up in the Watchtower when John Jones super-speeds into the room. Chloe asks him if he enjoys having his powers back, to which John says yes and even though he does, he plans to continue protecting and serving as a detective. Chloe says that she will do the same. John points out to her that there is a limit to how much knowledge someone can have and it drove Kent Nelson insane, and John worries that Chloe is in a similar danger by isolating herself from society. She insists she can handle it, and John assures her that he sees them as his family.

Oliver arrives and suggests they go out for dinner, and John agrees and after a few seconds, Chloe agrees as well. Back at the Daily Planet, Lois shows Clark her front page headline featuring the Justice Society of America and honoring the team for their act of service as Heroes. Clark is proud of Lois' accomplishment and hopes there will be more of them. Lois points out that he could have had a byline with her, and mentions what Dr. Fate said about her destiny with a "Savior" and "Sentient Power" and how they'll need each other.

Elsewhere, imprisoned in a heated cage, Icicle is suffering and requesting to be set free. Amanda Waller walks in and he pleads for another opportunity to finish his mission. Waller reveals that, as her pawn, he's done all that was needed by getting the JSA back into action and back in the public eye in a favorable light. She says that they and the next generation of heroes that follow them will comprise the army she will need for the coming apocalypse that lies ahead. She then pulls out a pistol and aims it at him, welcoming him to the "Suicide Squad," before firing. She exits the room and greets agent Tess Mercer, who is an undercover member of Checkmate.

### Warrior

At the Metropolis WonderCon, a young boy named Alec Abrams admires a rare Warrior Angel comic book, and asks the worker if he can take a look at it, but the worker tells him that opening the book will lower its value. However, the worker then unlocks the case to check it, and when he is distracted by a man knocking over the comic display, Alec takes the opportunity to run off with the book. He bumps into someone dressed as a stormtrooper in the process.

Meanwhile, Chloe is also at the convention, and bumps into Lois, who is dressed as the stormtrooper. To Lois's dismay, she has been assigned as embedded journalist for the day at the convention, but she can't get anyone to talk to her. Chloe suggests that maybe it's her choice of outfit. Lois wonders if that is why Clark has been avoiding her, but Chloe assures her it is not. Chloe gets a text from Oliver, and Lois advises Chloe to let go of the tech world for the day and have some fun.

Backstage, Alec opens the comic book, and as he reads the first few pages, magical sparks begin to fly.

Meanwhile, back in the convention hall, the lights go out and a giant globe falls, directly above Chloe . A young man dressed as a superhero catches the globe and saves her, and he asks her if she's okay as the onlookers applaud.

In Metropolis, Clark has stopped a couple of thieves when he gets a call from Lois. She wonders why he is so late, and Clark tells her that he will be right there. She asks him to pick something up from her apartment. With Clark still on the phone, a third thief tries to run away, so Clark picks up a can from the trash and throws it at the guy, knocking him out. He then proceeds to Lois's apartment, where she eventually leads him to the outfit she wants, though he first sees her *Combat* outfit and a French maid outfit that she refuses to explain.

Meantime, Chloe visits the new superhero, Stephen Swift, and introduces herself, explaining that she is in the business of helping heroes and she offers to talk some more over coffee.

Clark arrives at the convention and asks Lois the point of the whole thing. Lois explains that it is fantasy and it is meant to take people out of their ordinary lives and give them a chance to see the world in a new way. She asks him what his dream is, but Zatanna interrupts from behind them and asks Clark if they can speak alone. Clark and Zatanna head off, leaving a clearly jealous Lois behind.

Zatanna explains to Clark that her father went on a cursing spree when he was young, and that she has spent the last several months cleaning up his mess and rounding up all the cursed items, which include the Warrior Angel comic that was stolen by Alec earlier. She explains that she needs his help finding it before someone opens it and comes under the effects of the spell. Clark, using his superhearing, overhears Lois having an argument with a man, and heads off to investigate, only to find that she has locked herself in the men's room under the pretext that the line for the women's room was too long. She comes out wearing an amazon princess costume and smiles at Clark while the onlookers check her out. She tells Clark that a rare Warrior Angel comic book was stolen from the convention, and Clark tells her that he is helping Zatanna in tracking it down. A man dressed as a gladiator asks if he can take a picture with Lois, and she gets Clark to take it. She then suggests that she and Clark split up so they can cover more ground, and she goes off with the gladiator.

On the other side of town, Chloe and Stephen talk about how he got his powers, when all of a sudden he hears a couple of bullies harassing a young boy in an alley way. He saves the boy while Chloe looks on in amazement. Chloe asks if his powers were from meteor rock exposure, or if he was born with them, "which would make you a metahuman."

Back at the convention, Zatanna uses a locator spell to track the book backstage, and Clark uses his x-ray vision to find it hidden underneath some boxes. Zatanna is impressed at his abilities, but Clark just dismisses it as another day of work. Zatanna can't help but agree with Clark, citing that as a magician, the idea of fantasy and make-believe doesn't have the same impact, and one must instead find it themselves. She then summons a room full of candles and proceeds to place a spell on Clark, convincing him to give into a fantasy and kiss her. Surprisingly however, Clark manages to break the spell, causing Zatanna to realize that one thing stronger than her magic is Clark's thoughts towards someone else... Lois.

Clark returns to the *Daily Planet* and finds Oliver and Lois speaking in apparently intimate tones. As Oliver leaves, he warns Clark that Lois may be a tad angry. Lois sarcastically informs Clark that she is not one to get jealous over someone like Zatanna and that she knew Clark would tell her if anything was going on between them. Taken aback, Clark and Lois share their information about the boy Alec.

Meanwhile, Chole takes Stephen to the Talon, where Stephen plays happily on Lois's Xbox, while Chloe, who appears somewhat frustrated by the childish behavior of someone she'd thought of as a possible love interest, attempts to interview him. Stephen counters that Chloe never lets herself have fun, and that if she joins him in playing, he will answer her questions. She agrees, and as he lists his powers, he rises slowly into the air, surprising both of them. Excited by the idea that he can fly, Stephen takes Chloe on a moonlight flight across Metropolis.

At the Watchtower, Clark and Zatanna use Chloe's resources to track down Alec, while Zatanna explains that she only used her powers to help Clark gain perspective on life and the enjoyment of fantasy. At that moment, Chloe arrives, and after Clark and Zatanna get her up to speed, she realizes that Stephen is really little Alec, so she rushes off to try and help him before Zatanna can reverse the spell. As she leaves, Clark and Zatanna discover that the comic foretells that Warrior Angel, upon being betrayed, will become the evil Devilicus.

At the same time, Chloe confronts Stephen about the source of his powers, and explains that Zatanna plans to undo the curse. Feeling betrayed by this news, Stephen morphs from the sweet young man, to a demonic version of himself, and then proceeds to take Chloe to the top of a skyscraper. He demands that Chloe tell him where Zatanna is, so he can stop her, or else he will kill Chloe. But before he can carry out his threat, Zatanna's counter-curse goes into effect. Unfortunately, the force of the magical blast throws Chloe off the rooftop, but thankfully the Blur is there to catch her and the two return to the rooftop, to find little Alec huddled in tears.

Clark takes Alec back to the farm, where he explains that being a hero is not about powers, but rather doing the right thing. Alec feels guilty for becoming a bully, but Clark says that not all bullies are bad people, and can still have good inside them. Appreciating Clark's advice, Alec offers Clark a picture he drew when Clark was still the "Red & Blue Blur". The two smile as they mutually agree that the 'S' shield is a better design than the one on Alec's drawing.

Clark returns Alec to the Daily Planet, where Zatanna has gotten the charges against Alec dropped. Zatanna then suggests that she and Clark date, but Clark replies that he has a different fantasy in mind. Disappointed, but not surprised, Zatanna tells him to make sure to tell Lois how lucky she is.

Clark then proceeds to admit to Lois that Zatanna kissed him. Lois is unsurprised, and informs him that she already knew due to his inability to make eye-contact before and the fact he smelled like a magazine insert. Lois then proceeds to get even by kissing a random passer-by. Thrown off but still intent on making it up to Lois, Clark offers to take her to the after-Con Costume ball. Lois accepts both the tickets and the apology, stating that she will pick out his costume.

Back at the Watchtower, Chloe arrives to see Oliver doing target practice with bow and arrow and admits to him that she had less than a smooth day, and she feels as if she is incapable of having fun these days. Oliver agrees that he seems to share that problem, and that they need to take their fun when they can get it, and "Sometimes, it's right in front of your face. You just have to want to see it." Sharing a look, Oliver then offers his bow for Chloe to shoot, and answers her question about knowing when to let go with "It's all about your heart. Just listen." With a look of fear and intrigue, like she's just realized something, Chloe releases the arrow.

### Persuasion

It is Valentine's Day night in Metropolis and every happy couple is out on a romantic dinner. Well, almost every couple, because Lois and Clark are out investigating the quick development progress made in the completion of the RAO Solar tower. Lois stands on Clark's shoulders to look over the construction wall of R.A.O. Inc and tells Clark she thinks it's unusual that high, advanced technology is being moved at night rather than in daylight and she suspects that they must be hiding something. Clark says he's sure that someone is keeping an eye on the situation. Lois suddenly slips off Clark's shoulders and falls into Clark’s arms and he is delighted to catch her. As they leave the alleyway and walk down main street, Clark suggests they drop this story, which makes Lois a little suspicious about his motives, but Clark merely says they should be out on the town having dinner together . . . by candlelight. Lois goes on a rant about how Valentine's Day has become more about commercialism and less about romance, which is overheard by romantic couples having dinner, so Lois apologizes for her remarks. She also reminds Clark that history has proven that if she embraces V-day in any romantic way at all, it always ends in disaster. A girl dressed up like a fairy then approaches with Valentine goodies. She offers some to the couple. Clark starts to decline because of Lois’s earlier remarks.

However, Lois goes straight for the chocolates, expressing that she hasn't had dinner, and at that moment the girl wishes them both a Happy Valentine's Day as she blows 'pixie dust' on them. [Unknown to either of them, it is laced with gemstone kryptonite.] For a moment, Clark seems to have a reaction to the dust, as his eyes glow blue for a second, before returning to normal. Lois walks away happily eating her chocolates and Clark follows her to the Daily Planet.

Inside the bullpen, Lois is eager to follow up on her story, but Clark is much more interested in focusing on their relationship at least for tonight. Lois jokes that perhaps Clark would prefer a more traditional, old-fashioned relationship with her, with which he agrees, thereby unknowingly hypnotizing Lois into pursuing a traditional relationship with him, under the influence of the gemstone kryptonite which causes Lois's eyes to glow blue for a second before returning to normal. Then, the City Editor comes in and informs Lois that apparently the RAO, Inc ribbon-cutting on the tower will be in two days time. Clark turns to Lois to tell her he needs to check the building permits and explaining that he'll look into the story further if it's ok with her. Lois gives a shrug and a huge smile: “Anything for your career, sweetie.” For a split second, Clark is slightly confused by Lois's willingness to give up her story but he doesn't bother for an explanation as he leaves.

The City Editor gets a rude reaction from Lois when he asks to see her completed assignment. Lois informs him that a traditional woman does not spend her time in the office when she can be at home taking care of her man's needs, and she tells him she quits.

Clark visits Chloe at the Watchtower and requests the passports and ID cards she's prepared for the Kandorians to assimilate into society. Chloe still isn't thrilled about Clark's plan to try and help the Kandorians adjust to life on earth and suggests that he transport them to the Phantom Zone before they become a threat to Earth. But Clark believes that if the Kandorians have the chance to experience how good life on Earth can be they won't try to conquer and rule. Chloe reminds him that one of the Kandorians is responsible for the death of Jor-El. Clark angrily tells her to focus on watching his back, while leaving "the rest of the planet" to him. Chloe's eyes temporarily glow blue and, as he starts to leave, with determination she tells him that she'll protect him "no matter what it takes".

Clark heads to the R.A.O. tower construction site and finds Alia and Faora and gives them their passports and ID cards to become official citizens. They both admit how they had misjudged his intentions and wonder if there is any way they could repay him for his kindness. Clark asks them to tell him who killed Jor-El. He says he knows that Zod took him from Tess but he wonders if Zod was the last one to see his father alive. Faora knows Clark wants justice, but she warns that Zod has a lot of loyal followers and, if Clark goes after him, there would be a war.

Clark returns to the Kent house to find Lois in the kitchen immersed in food preparation and dressed in traditional 1950s 'happy homemaker' attire. Clark is very confused and asks Lois what's going on. She tells him that she's moved into the house, although she will be staying in the guest room until they're engaged. "Engaged?" says a baffled Clark. "Uh-huh," says Lois with a huge smile.

Later, Clark sits at the head of the table as Lois serves him the home-cooked dinner she prepared, but it is a complete disaster and even Shelby won't eat it when Clark sneakily passes it under the table. Lois enquires if Clark enjoyed her charcoal pot roast. Clark tells her it’s delicious and tries to get an explanation about the sudden alteration to her character. Lois pours him a beer and reminds him that he's the man and that he persuaded her into moving their current relationship as a couple to a more traditional one. "What if I miss the old Lois?" Clark asks. Lois tells him it's too late and that she quit her job at the Planet so she could commit herself wholeheartedly to pleasing him in any way she can. When Clark learns of this, he is shocked that Lois would give up her fast-rising career as a reporter, and realizes that Lois isn't acting like her true self and must be under some kind of influence. Clark makes an excuse to leave so he can investigate.

Meanwhile, inside Luthor Mansion, Tess is in the bathroom taking a bath and sipping a glass of champagne. Unbeknownst to her, Zod is watching through the slightly open door, savoring the moment as Tess caresses her body. Then Zod walks in and shocked by his entrance she calls for her security team. Zod informs her that it's useless to call them. Tess tries to get up but Zod tells her to stay put because he likes her just where she is. Tess decides to change her tactics and attempts to seduce him into joining her in the tub.

Chloe (under the influence of Clark's hypnotism caused by gemstone kryptonite) goes over to the farm, and is shocked to find Lois there. She tells Lois that she is a distraction to Clark and that she has to leave him and that she will never understand the real Clark

Clark retraces their earlier route in Metropolis to find out what has happened to her. He comes across the girl who was dressed as a fairy the previous night and finds out that the "fairy dust" comes from 'a quarry near Smallville'. Realizing it is probably meteor rock, he suspects it is the reason Lois is acting the way she is. Clark then gets a text from Lois saying: "911".

Clark returns to his loft to see a heartbroken Lois sobbing in front of the mirror. Echoing Chloe's words to her, she says she's pathetic and Clark would be better off without her in his life. Clark desperately tries to calm her down and realizes that she's not acting like her normal self due to the influence of gemstone Kryptonite.

Lois however continues with her emotional outpouring and reveals she could tell he hated the dinner she'd prepared for him earlier and the idea of moving in together is a joke. Lois informs him that Chloe was right to protect him from her. Clark insists that Chloe has a tendency to be overprotective sometimes. Lois further explains that she doesn't know the first thing about being a housewife, and Clark is delighted that Lois is finally opening up to him but realizes it's not of her own accord so tries again to reason with her calmly and insist that something else is going on. However, Lois says that it hurts her to be around him and she has to leave him and Smallville. Clark, not willing to let her go, promises they'll be together forever, and Lois now truly believes him and they share a tender kiss together and a long embrace. A now happy Lois reveals her plan to move out of the guest room. Clark suddenly realizes what she means but before he can address it, she’s off and running into the house excited. Clark is left alone in the loft totally flustered.

Heading back to Watchtower, intending on confronting Chloe, Clark instead finds Emil Hamilton who's in a state of immense panic as Chloe has locked the main system mainframe preventing him from gaining access. Clark tells him to calm down. As he does so, Clark's eyes glow, and Emil immediately starts to act dismissively toward his previous crisis problem. Clark tries to get Emil to revert to his normal state, but with no luck as Emil ignores him and goes to get a beer. Clark explains to Emil that he's encountered a new form of kryptonite that has the ability to cause people around him he gains contact with to be very suggestible to anything he says, but he's unable to undo the effects afterwards. Emil suggests that Clark put this new ability to good use and Clark decides he can as he looks at Jor-El's ID tag.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Lois is on the phone in a bedroom looking into a mirror while talking to Martha Kent who grants her permission to wear her wedding dress, which Lois then admits to her she is already wearing, and smilingly addresses Martha as "Mom". Lois then dances through the Kent house, throwing paper, and bounces on the bed while talking to her sister Lucy on the phone and revealing her wedding announcement. Lois continues to celebrate by re-enacting wedding traditions as she then calls her father Gen. Sam Lane, pleading with him to make the necessary traveling arrangements to attend her wedding.

Later that night in Metropolis, Clark, clad in his Blur attire, confronts Zod at the Solar Towers construction site, requesting to talk to him. Zod, uninterested, tells him that he's aware of his intentions to isolate him from the Kandorians. Clark tells Zod that Zod lost the right to lead them when he killed Jor-El. Zod responds by telling Clark that Jor-El was like a brother to him and despite their differences he could never take his life. Clark tosses Jor-El's dogtag at Zod and demands the truth from him by using his power of Persuasion on him. For a split second, Zod's eyes glow purple blue, but then return to their normal color and Zod truthfully tells him he didn't kill Jor-El—but he knows who did: Tess Mercer. Zod continues to tell Clark that the Kryptonian way says she must die for justice to be realized. Clark says he will not kill, and Zod tells him he himself tortured his father badly and still Jor-El would not betray his son. Upon hearing this, Clark becomes enraged and snatches Zod up in his hands. Clark admits to Zod that there are times he wants to seek revenge. Upon admitting his true hidden dark feelings, Clark persuades himself and is now infected with gemstone kryptonite as his eyes glow purple blue as he superspeeds away, leaving behind Zod looking very pleased with himself.

Chloe breaks into Tess's office, accessing her computer, and discovers that Tess has hacked her computer systems at Watchtower. Tess comes into her office holding a gun in her hand and Chloe says she plans to use a super-computer virus to destroy the encrypted firewalls. Realizing she's serious, Tess warns that doing so will reveal Clark's secrets to the world. However, she admits that she's lost her faith in Zod and that Clark can command the Kandorians once they gain their powers from the solar tower, and she asks Chloe to work with her. Chloe says she'll think about it, but then hits Tess instead. As she grabs Tess's gun and reaches for the flash drive with the virus, Tess kicks the gun out of her hand. They struggle for a while and then Tess gets the gun. As she starts to pull the trigger on Chloe, Clark comes in at superspeed and takes Tess to a nearby rooftop parking lot. He throws her across the roof and tells her he's there to collect for the life of his father.

Clark then proceeds to fire his heat-vision around them making a fiery circular wall of flames, but Tess insists she just wants to help Clark lead the Kandorians to save Earth by using the solar tower to restore their powers. But Clark tells her how the tower will steal his powers instead and Tess pleads with Clark that she didn't know that would happen. Clark tells Tess he'll save Earth but not with her in it and his eyes begin to blaze red with his heat vision when Chloe appears behind him holding green kryptonite in her hand which disposes of the persuasive effects of gemstone kryptonite for both her and Clark, returning them to normal.

Alia has met with Zod and she confesses to him that it was she who killed Jor-El, as she felt he would have found a way to destroy them had he lived. She hands Zod a gun she was holding and says that justice must be served and then kneels in front of him. He seems undecided, but then he shoots her, in the Kryptonian tradition.

The next morning inside the Kent kitchen, there is a Daily Planet 'Announcements' page on the counter featuring Lois and Clark's engagement. Clark is on the phone with his mother while Lois watches on uncomfortably. Clark informs his mother that the paper is going to be printing a retraction since there was a miscommunication. Lois is trying to take a bite out of a piece of pie, but the mortification is too much. When Clark is finished his phone call with Martha, he gives Lois a message from her: “My Mom says ‘When you’re ready, you can borrow it’." Lois tries to pretend she doesn't know to what Martha is referring and then Clark says her father also left a message. Lois, now actually embarrassed, prepares to start calling her family and friends and declares to Clark that she's never buying chocolates from a fairy again: "I don’t know what she put in that stuff but I promise you I wasn’t myself." Clark, having a little fun, says he enjoyed the outfit she was wearing . Lois looks up at him with an awe-like realization. “You really are an old-fashioned romantic, aren’t you?” Clark just smiles back right at her. Lois comes to the realization that it’s easier to complain about Valentine’s Day tradition than it is to give it a shot, and the kind of relationship she has with Clark is something more special. Lois's cellphone voicemail then rings, alerting her of twelve messages from Chloe apologizing. Lois goes on about moving in with Clark and says that things are moving too fast for her and she thinks it's best to just stick to their original plan. Clark agrees and says they need to be honest about everything. Lois asks him if he would trust her with it if he had a big secret, and notes that she confessed on national TV she knew the Blur. Clark reassures her that she did the right thing and he would trust her, but Lois wonders if her big mouth might one day ruin their relationship. Clark assures her it won't and she won't be able to get rid of him so easily .

Later Clark in his Blur attire attends a solemn funeral for Alia as her brow is marked with her Kryptonian family crest and then her body is burned in a funeral pyre. The flames rise high and Alia vanishes. Clark confronts Zod, asking how Alia died and he tells Clark that he learned it was she who had killed Jor-El and, as Clark wasn't willing to kill, he had to slay his own soldier to get justice for him. Clark believes Alia didn't deserve to die and warns Zod that he's gone too far, just like when he tried to manipulate him into killing Tess for him. Zod said he thought that when Clark first found them it represented hope, but then he saw Clark's unwillingness to kill that he had inherited from his moral human upbringing and this prevents him from being a true Kryptonitan. As Clark begins to walk away, Zod warns that in a few days Clark will see what real justice is and then he will have to choose between his Kryptonian heritage or his humanity.

Clark heads to the Watchtower and stares at a holographic blueprint image of the solar tower on the main computer screen with a look of turmoil on his face as Chloe then joins him. Clark wants to know, if Chloe was under orders to protect him, why she didn’t allow him to kill Tess. Chloe tells Clark that she couldn't allow it because he's a represented symbol of hope for the world that she will never allow to be compromised. Clark informs her that Zod killed Alia, who was Jor-El's murderer. With this news, Chloe points out that the future they had visited has already begun to change, but Clark looks at the hologram and says there's only one way to be sure.

Clark heads to the Crow's nest and stands on the head of the Gargoyle. As the wind is flaring his coat, he stares intently at the towers and makes a fateful decision to ensure that the future he had witnessed - in which Zod & his army ruled humanity with tyranny - does not come to pass. Thus, he blasts his heat vision to its maximum level, towards the tower.

Meanwhile, at the wall entrance of the solar tower construction site, Zod is giving an interview about the ribbon-cutting that is set to occur in the morning. Zod says it will be the dawn of an age of infinite power. Suddenly, both he and the reporters hear a massive explosion from up above as the tower explodes into numerous fires and begins to fall.

### Conspiracy

Faora is in Metropolis staring at a poster of the solar tower labeled "Tower of Tomorrow Terminated". Clark arrives and points out that it would be best if she kept her Kryptonian origins a secret and not show off her dog tags to the public. She is still upset that the tower has been destroyed and feels as though she no longer knows who to trust. Clark tells her he understands she is still upset but that she can't change what has happened and the future will  be better without the tower. Faora says that what gives her hope is the fact that Clark has found her sister Vala, who is excited to see Clark. Clark wants to see that they are adjusting well to their new lives, but Faora believes it would be better if they had their powers.

Vala, on the other hand, waves the matter aside, as she knows that Clark will be there to protect them as well as the humans. As Clark leaves to follow the police sirens, Faora warns Vala not to get her hopes up about Clark as he is in love with a human. Faora invites Vala out for a coffee after she closes up the bookstore. Vala gets her keys from the counter when the front door opens, but Vala sees no one. She locks the door and closes the blinds, but when she turns around, she sees a man wearing a gas mask. She screams in terror and frantically but fruitlessly attempts to leave, but the man grabs her and knocks her out with sleeping gas. When Vala wakes up, she is imprisoned in a container, wearing just her underwear, along with two other Kandorians.

The next day at the Daily Planet, Lois gets a message from "The Wall" when Clark arrives and she quickly hides the phone in her desk drawer. She then flirts with Clark and tells him that although they are together, they don't spend much time together and should "stop and smell the roses". Clark says he knows where to find some and decides they should have dinner at a romantic café. Their moment is then interrupted when Faora shows up. Clark has to put their plans on hold to see what she wants. Clark reminds Faora that she isn't supposed to come to *The Planet* but Faora tells him she had no choice as she couldn't risk Zod finding out she is in contact with him. She tells Clark that Vala is missing and she needs his help in finding her.

Oliver enters his office to find Tess in his chair. She wants to know why he isn't upset about the tower being destroyed as it cost their company a lot. Oliver says he thinks there is a better way to make the world greener. Tess suspects him of having a hand in its destruction, but Oliver reminds her it was a freak accident. Tess isn't convinced and after their previous history, she doesn't believe she can trust anything that came from him. She then tells him that the CFO told her that someone in his company was taking funds from the company and advised him to put a stop to it; Tess then gives him confidential papers on the matter.

Clark goes back to the bookstore where Vala works and finds Zod there. Zod has taken over the situation and makes sure that neither the police nor the owner of the store knows what is going on so Clark could go back to saving the humans. Clark is there to help find Vala, but Zod doesn't want his help. He blames Clark for Vala's abduction as well as two other Kandorians, and informs him that whoever kidnapped them always left the Kandorians' family crest behind. Someone is hunting the Kandorians and they can't protect themselves because the solar tower was destroyed and they have no powers. Zod tries to punch Clark, but Clark easily stops him. While everyone believes the tower's destruction was an accident, Zod and Clark both know that Clark destroyed it. Clark knows it would be better for everyone, but Zod is adamant. Clark sees that Zod isn't going to tell the Kandorians because he doesn't know who or how many of them have turned against him and now that the tower is gone, Zod is weaker than ever. Zod tells Clark to think what he wants, but without their powers, the Kandorians' blood is on Clark's hands.

Vala is still imprisoned by her captor, who has treated her and their fellow Kandorians as guinea pigs. He knows she is an alien, even though she vehemently denies it. He has seen that her people want to inhabit Earth. He is using his captives to get proof that they are aliens and expose them to the world so they would be hunted and eradicated. Vala is horrified by the severed arm with a Kandorian tattoo he shows her and screams for the man to stop as he goes on to hack the other Kandorian.

Chloe is at her apartment when Oliver arrives. He turns up the music and tells Chloe that his arrival wasn't a "booty call". He has turned up the music because he thinks that Tess could be listening, and whispers to Chloe that Tess gave him evidence that someone was stealing from his company: Chloe. In the past, a lot of women used him for his money, but he never would have believed Chloe would be one of them. Chloe denies that she was stealing, just borrowing the money from him. She is using it to buy insurance for the entire planet.

Clark has a secret meeting with Faora to ask her what Vala's connection is to the other two Kandorians that are also missing. Faora confesses that they were "cybernetic engineers" and were performing experiments on humans in an effort to restore power to the Kandorians. Faora worries that this may be the reason that they were kidnapped.

Lois goes to the café for the date she and Clark arranged, when Bernard Chisholm arrives, offering her a story that would make the highlight of her career: aliens have invaded the earth and he has caught some himself as proof. Lois doesn't buy into his story but feigns interest. She tells him she is going to call her editor to inform him of the scoop but she really plans on going to call the police. Bernard sees through her lie and forcefully takes her back to his laboratory.

He handcuffs her to a chair with a computer and reveals an imprisoned Vala to her. Lois is horrified to see Vala in her position and orders Chisholm to release her but Bernard insists Vala is an alien. He removes his hat and shows Lois the horrific scars on his head - remnants from the Kandorian experiments. He explains that he died of a heart attack, but then woke up, to find his head in this condition. Lois states that if Vala had saved his life he should be thanking her, not harming her. Bernard counters that it is up to him and Lois to stop the invasion and save mankind.

At Metropolis General Hospital, Faora tells Clark that Vala and her colleagues were stealing cadavers from the hospital morgue for their experiments. When the experiments failed they left the corpses for the authorities to find. Clark says that these people never consented to be experimented on and Zod shouldn't have allowed it, but Faora tells him that Zod didn't know. She tells Clark that he's only known Zod for a few weeks and has no right to pass judgment on him. She tells him about how Zod went behind enemy lines alone to carry her to safety and that he has always done what was right to protect his people. Clark is slightly taken back by this new revelation about Zod's life on Krypton before his ultimate betrayal. Still Clark questions Zod's involvement in Jor-El's death, Faora insists that Zod has always considered Jor-El a friend and Clark really doesn't know him as well as he might think.

Zod infiltrates the Daily Planet bullpen under the guise of a nerdy reporter which he has acquired by stealing a press pass, notebook, and glasses from various employees. He then makes his way to an employee named Molly Nichols and convinces her to release any and all information related to alien invasion, in particular letters sent to the newspaper that deal with UFO's. While searching through the box, Zod discovers a bunch of Chisholm's letters with the return address listed.

Chloe takes Oliver to an abandoned truck trailer where she shows him an array of containers housing kryptonite arsenal weaponry as insurance for the day when Zod and the Kandorians manage to regain their powers and attempt to enslave and rule earth. She also informs Oliver that all the ID tags she had given to them have tracking devices hidden within them. Oliver is slightly confused by Chloe's actions and suggest they talk to Clark. However, Chloe explains that they can't afford to trust Clark because he'd be against their choice. As they leave, unbeknownst to them, one of Tess' men takes photos of them.

Back at Chisholm laboratory, Lois is being forced to type Chisholm's story while also trying to escape, when she hears a noise. At first she thinks it’s Chisholm returning. But it's revealed to be Zod who informs her he's an undercover FBI agent who has been watching Chisholm for a while. Zod frees Lois from the manacles and inquires where Chisholm was keeping his prisoners. Lois says that only one survivor remains, pointing to a plastic curtain. Zod investigates and finds Vala, who he tries to free just as Chisholm returns. Lois tries to warn Zod about him. Unfortunately, Chisholm pulls out his gun and aims it at Zod, shooting him directly on the side of his abdomen just as Zod attempts to walk towards him. Gunned down, Zod lies in a pool of his own blood. Chisholm turns his gun on Lois, demanding that she finish writing the story.

Chisholm tries to cut open Zod when Clark bursts in and shoves him across the room. Chisholm accidentally electrocutes himself to death. Clark tries to save Zod from his gunshot wound, but he dies, so Clark grabs some kryptonite and cuts his hand and puts his blood on Zod's wound. Zod instantly heals and wakes up, then says to Clark that he believes he can trust Clark now.

Back at the Daily Planet, Lois is finishing talking on the phone about a blood sample she wants analyzed when Clark shows up. They both reflect that they have secrets. When Clark goes up onto the roof to meet Zod, Lois gets a text from "The Wall" and she realizes the blood sample is missing; in its place is a white pawn chess piece.

Up on the roof, Zod asks Clark how he knew his blood would save him and Clark replies that he didn't know. Zod winces, apparently in pain from his "wound", and says that he may be healed but he's not made of steel. But when Clark leaves, Zod's face changes, his 'pain' disappears and he stands up tall and jumps off the roof, to fly up into the sky - just like Clark.

### Escape

On a dark and deserted road, Chloe in her car gives Clark information via cell phone about crimes going on in Metropolis. She is impressed by the speed with which Clark attends to the problems. Clark tells her that he is handing the job of the Blur over to John Jones while he goes away with Lois but he will be carrying his cell in case something happens. Chloe tells him that the city can survive a weekend without the Blur and tells him to enjoy his trip. Clark mentions to her that Bart is in town and recommends she meet up with him, but Chloe demurs, implying that she has other plans, and hangs up.

Clark arrives at the *Daily Planet* and discovers that Lois has prepared several travel bags for a range of possible scenarios for their mysterious romantic getaway. She asks Clark where they are going and Clark tells her that they're going to a country inn.

Maggie McDougal at the McDougal Inn welcomes a couple signing in as Mr. and Mrs. Green and asks them what kind of bed they will need. The woman says that a "Queen" would be fine. Maggie gives the room key to Chloe and Oliver Queen.

In Metropolis, Zod flies onto the roof of the Daily Planet, where he tests his new super hearing and listens to the citizens of Metropolis talking about the Blur. Then he receives a text message from someone saying they need to meet.

Clark and Lois arrive at the Inn in the dark and in the middle of a storm, arguing over how long it took them to arrive. Clark tells her that it would not have been so long if they hadn't stopped to see the world's largest ball of yarn, but she suggests that he will thank her later. Maggie eventually appears and Clark apologizes for being late. Maggie says that she's sorry but the room they booked has developed a water leak because of the storm and they cannot stay there. Clark asks if she has another room available and Maggie informs him that she has rented the last room to a couple who had arrived without a reservation.

Lois inspects the guests book and finds that this was the Greens and she threatens to drive them out. Clark stops her, saying maybe he can fix the leak. Clark goes up to the room and uses his heat vision to weld the pipe, but notes that the furniture has been moved away from the leak and the room is a mess.

As Lois carries her luggage through the lobby, she accidentally brushes up against and rips a portrait of a man on the wall. The rip momentarily shines and Lois apologizes to Maggie for what she did. Maggie tells her that her great-great-uncle had it coming, because he usurped his sister Siohban's throne, took her castle and her crown and then killed her. According to the legend, the dead Siohban felt so betrayed that she made a deal with the underworld and was allowed to walk among the living again but at a price: to kill any man who crosses her path. Lois is intrigued by the legend and Maggie offers her a cup of tea while they wait for Clark. Lois refuses but takes the opportunity to ask after the room of a couple who are making out on a sofa nearby. The innkeeper does not answer, so Lois tells her that she was joking and leaves to help Clark.

From the tear on the painting, an ethereal mist emerges and possesses the woman who is with her boyfriend on the couch. A lock of his hair turns white and then the girl takes the boy out of the room.

Lois enters their room and is surprised to find Clark just finishing up and everything perfect. Clark says he fixed the pipe, and Lois tells him that he is her hero. She goes to undress and looks out to see him trying to make the bed perfect for them both. Clark says she is perfect when he sees Lois in her nightgown, and then both appear a little uncomfortable at the prospect of getting into bed together. Then they do so, but as they settle down to spend their first night in bed together, they are interrupted by a terrifying scream.

In the forest, the girl possessed by the spirit of Siohban is dragging the lifeless body of her boyfriend.

Clark and Lois go out into the corridor with the other guests to try to find out what has happened, but the innkeeper says that the sound they heard might have been one of the wolves in the forest. She asks everyone to return to their beds, but before they can, Clark and Lois get a big surprise when they meet Oliver and Chloe in bathrobes in the middle of the lobby.

The next morning, Lois cannot stop talking about the fact that Oliver and Chloe are a couple and apologizes to Clark for having fallen asleep after talking endlessly about it. She suggests that perhaps the four should sit down to breakfast together, but Clark tells her that maybe it would be best to give Chloe and Oliver their space. Oliver and Chloe come out of their room to find Lois and Clark sitting in the dining room, and Oliver suggests that they act as if they did not see them, but Lois cheerfully waves them over. With the four sitting at the same table, the situation becomes uncomfortable for all when Lois tries to prove she consents to the relationship between her cousin and her ex-boyfriend, saying that destiny gathered them all there. Chloe says that more than destiny was at work, because they deliberately chose an inn that was far removed, so that the newspapers wouldn't find Metropolis's most eligible bachelor. Lois replies that she meant 'former bachelor' but Chloe quickly changes the subject and asks Clark how they found the place. Clark replies that he found Lois's copy of the brochure in the Talon apartment and thought that she would like to visit the place. Lois tells him that she doesn't know anything about a brochure and then Chloe says that the brochure was hers. Clark apologizes to Chloe for the misunderstanding. Lois then drags her cousin off to talk more about her new relationship with Oliver.

Lois tells Chloe of her happiness about Oliver and her, much to Chloe's surprise, but Chloe says that she and Oliver are not in any kind of relationship and are just having fun and not forming an attachment. She asks her cousin to not make any more comments and Lois agrees.

Meanwhile, Clark and Oliver find themselves in an embarrassing situation, trying to talk about everything that has happened. Clark tells Oliver that Chloe has suffered a lot and he doesn't want to see her hurt more and then asks Oliver to be very careful with her.

At the Kent Farm, Tess is waiting in the loft when Zod arrives. Zod questions Tess's motives for the reunion site and she replies that Clark Kent is the only thing that keeps them together. She says that, although Zod denies it, both of them want the same thing, a better world, but Zod tells her that she wants very much to have someone who could be her equal. He says that everyone she has loved never trusted her and always betrayed her and he then offers her an escape to a tropical island. Tess strokes his chest, apparently trying to seduce him, and questions his drastic change of mind. He says that he still has ideals and she counters that he has secrets. She walks away a few steps and then draws a gun and shoots him. Zod is surprised by this and shows her that he caught the bullet in his hand, but Tess does not seem at all surprised. Zod asks her how she knows about him and Tess replies that no general leaves his war unless he knows he has won it. Zod points out that had she been wrong, her experiment could have killed him, and she replies that some risks have to be taken. Zod grabs her by the neck and threatens to kill her for knowing his secret, but then Tess opens a small box, hidden behind her back, which contains kryptonite, and it weakens Zod, who falls in pain to the ground. She tells him that she never will kneel before anyone and Zod says that he wouldn't want that, and then Tess takes the lead as the two passionately kiss.

Oliver decides to follow Clark's advice and he buys a present for Chloe, but she feels pressured by the act to formalize their relationship and ends up arguing with Oliver about it. She leaves the room to clear her mind and heads for the forest. She takes a lantern with her and sees a ghostly figure in the woods. She pursues the figure and then spots the partially hidden body of the guy killed by Siobhan. She turns to go back to the inn, but the girl possessed by the spirit appears and touches her, transferring the spirit of Siobhan into Chloe's body.

At the Inn, Lois and Clark are preparing for a romantic encounter. 'Chloe' sees Clark and Banshee fixes on him as her new target.

Later, when Clark is in the shower singing about Lois, 'Chloe' enters the room wrapped only in a towel. Clark, rather surprised to see Chloe nearly naked close to him, covers up quickly and asks what she is doing. 'Chloe' then drops her towel and says she wants to be with him, but Clark quickly covers her, thinking that she is drunk. Now Lois enters the room, dressed in a risque Scottish outfit and with liquid soap in her hands, and is shocked and angered by what she finds. Clark tries to explain, but Lois furiously gives the soap to 'Chloe', inadvertently transferring Siohban's spirit from Chloe's to her body, and 'Lois' leaves. Chloe momentarily faints into Clark's arms, and when she wakes up and sees Clark's naked torso, she asks what he is doing. She then realizes that she is also completely naked under her towel and, very distressed, runs out of the room.

Meanwhile, 'Lois' encounters Oliver, who thinks she is about to scold him for what happened with Chloe, but she in fact offers to take him to see Chloe and the two leave the Inn.

Clark and Chloe meet outside the inn and try to figure what possessed Chloe and where Lois and Oliver have gone. Chloe tells Clark that she doesn't remember anything after her fight with Oliver, and then asks if he saw her naked. When Clark doesn't answer, Chloe assumes the worst but changes the subject to express her concern for her cousin in that he might injure a human during sex. Clark, uncomfortably, tells her that Jor-El's training has given him better control of every part of his body. Then they find the lifeless body of the boy in the forest and Chloe starts to remember everything.

On the other side of the woods, 'Lois' and Oliver are walking through the woods when 'Lois' suddenly strikes him and throws him to one side. In a flash, Oliver sees the spectral face of Siohban.

Clark and Chloe talk with Maggie to learn more about the legend of Siobhan and she tells them that, according to the legend, Siobhan returned from the underworld with great powers and that any man who heard her wail died instantly, so the villagers renamed her Silver Banshee. She says that there was a portal in a relic that belonged to Siobhan, through which she could return to this world, but that her uncle was so afraid of his sister that he performed a ritual to seal the portal with Siohban's own blood. Clark uses his X-ray vision and finds Siohban's portrait underneath the portrait that Lois scratched. They realize that Lois accidentally opened the portal, and Clark asks Chloe to find a way to close it while he goes to look for Oliver and Lois.

In the woods, the spirit of Siobhan emerges from Lois's body and prepares to take her revenge on Oliver. She screams her banshee cry at him, forcing Oliver to his knees before her, but Clark arrives and Siobhan stops. Clark tries to reason with her, but Silver Banshee attacks him. Clark defends himself with his heat vision, but the interaction of her cry and his heat vision causes an explosion which throws him backwards through the air.

Chloe tries to figure out how to close the portal with the help of the innkeeper. They find the diary of Bevan McDougal, but it is in Gaelic. Maggie says she can read it and discovers that fire can close the portal. Chloe cuts the portrait out of the frame, and places it into the fire which is burning in the fireplace. This closes the portal just as Siohban is about to attack Clark, and the Silver Banshee is exiled back to the underworld.

The next morning at the Luthor Mansion, Tess is in bed with Zod and he asks her how she weakened him at the barn. Tess only tells him that she has her secrets, and Zod reminds her that he is willing to do anything to protect his secret. Tess tells him that only a few people know how to stop him and Zod replies that that's why the information she has is so valuable. Tess tells him that they are on the same side and then asks if he is jealous of Clark. Zod lets her know that he is jealous and says that he wants to know what can take his powers and how he can get them back. Tess kisses him and gets out of bed, saying that information is also power.

Chloe is sitting outside the inn looking at the unopened gift that Oliver gave her, and Oliver appears and tells her that it is a spoon. Chloe looks at him and then starts talking about what happened. She makes him promise not to take more relationship advice from Clark Kent and then lets him know that the relationship they already had was fine for her. Oliver takes the opportunity to ask her about her feelings for Clark and Chloe says that although she loved Clark a lot in the past, she waited a long time for him to notice her, but it didn't happen. She tells Oliver that she only wants somebody who wants her, and although Clark is a very good friend, he's not the man for her and she discovered that many super saves ago. Then Chloe asks him about Lois and Oliver says he has already moved on. Chloe smiles and kisses him.

Back at the Talon, Lois is telling Clark how horrible their trip was, but Clark tells her that it was not so bad, especially the ball of yarn. Clark lifts Lois onto the table and starts to kiss her passionately, when her cellphone starts to ring. Clark says it could be important and insists she take it. Lois asks for some privacy and Clark, still holding her, tells her to pretend he is not even there. She tells him that she can't do that, so he lets go of her. She answers her phone and it is Zod pretending to be the Blur, although Lois seems not to have noticed that his voice is different. 'The Blur' says he needs her help to get information about Tess Mercer and Lois says that he can count on her support. He tells her that this time she cannot tell anyone that he is talking with her. Lois promises and Zod tells her that he knew that he could count on her.

### Checkmate

Amanda Waller is in her office at Checkmate headquarters; she walks over to her chess board, picks up the white Queen and, after a few seconds of contemplation, touches it to a black Pawn and then uses her Queen to knock over her own white Knight.

Tess enters her office at the *Daily Planet* to find a white knight has been removed from her chess board. She immediately opens a hidden compartment and takes out her gun, a small tranquilizer and a duffel bag. She exits in a hidden chute and drops out the other end wearing different clothes and a dark wig. She walks through the streets and is spotted by two Checkmate agents who attack her. She defends herself and flees with the agents on her tail. One of them corners her but before he can shoot her, Green Arrow intervenes. After a short spat about "black-on-black" wardrobe, Green Arrow tasers the agent. Tess then knocks Green Arrow unconscious and injects him with the tranquilizer. The other agents who attacked her arrive and take him away.

At Watchtower, Chloe tells Clark she is worried because Oliver hasn't checked in, and that security footage has been shut off in the vicinity where Oliver went missing. She then chides Clark for not following protocol like everyone else, meaning she could not contact him to help. Suddenly the security cameras come back on and John Jones is at the scene where Oliver was last seen, but Chloe says she hadn't called him.

Clark super speeds to him and asks why he is there. John says he hadn't heard of Oliver's disappearance and that he was there on police business. He tells Clark to trust him but Clark x-rays him and sees an ear-piece in his pocket. When Clark questions him again, Jones says he shouldn't have done that and flies off, leaving Clark behind.

Elsewhere, Oliver is tied up and unconscious, being transported in a truck. Once Tess is alone with him, she tries to get a look under his hood, but Amanda Waller interrupts her via video feed, saying she doesn't have clearance for that information. She congratulates Tess on her performance and dismisses her. Tess leaves, and the chair Oliver is sitting in gives off an electrical shock, awakening him. She welcomes him to Checkmate and tells him that she is recruiting him to work for the government. While she explains further, he quietly picks the locks on his handcuffs, and once she's gone, he frees himself. He uses explosives to blow off the door and jump out of the truck onto the door, which slides to a halt along the road. He runs off as the truck stops further down the road.

John Jones approaches one of Checkmate's agents, Edward Lott, and tries to get him to come clean on the location of Checkmate. After trying to shoot John, Lott seems to want to comply, but he bites on a suicide pill and falls to the ground in the alley. John reads his memory and learns the location of Checkmate just before the agent dies.

Waller is angry with Tess for letting Green Arrow escape and asks if she is fully committed to the agency. Though Tess declares she is, Waller reminds her that there is only one way out of Checkmate.

Oliver returns to Watchtower for a sweet embrace with Chloe. He gives her and Clark the details of his kidnapping by Checkmate and his escape. Chloe recalls Sylvester Pemberton's dying word, "Check" and that Checkmate was responsible for hunting down the Justice Society of America. Chloe figures Cameron Mahkent was recruited by the agency as well, and that it wasn't a coincidence that he attacked Pemberton.

Chloe eventually tracks down the man connected to the ear piece which John Jones had, and learns that he's now on a slab in the morgue after last being seen with Jones. Clark zooms off to investigate, while Oliver wants to join as well, but Chloe insists he stay on the down-low since he's now on Checkmate's radar.

Instead, Oliver attends a Luthor Corp. function where Tess is in attendance. After sharing some cynical moments, the pair swap comments on Ollie wearing black-on-black, repeating remarks made when she kidnapped Oliver, which makes Tess realize that he is the Green Arrow.

Meanwhile, Clark discovers the knight chess-piece on the dead man from the alley and figures out that Tess was part of the kidnapping. He rushes to her office and x-rays her walls to find hidden weapons.

Over at Checkmate headquarters, John Jones gets a peek at some mysterious blood sample, but Agent Waller walks in on him. "That blood traveled light years to get here and it's foreshadowing a threat we will not take lightly," Waller says. He tries to convince her that she's acting irrationally about a war that has not even begun, but she traps him in a ring of fire.

Chloe heads to MetGen to get information on the missing patients who were meant to be checked in at the mental institution Belle Reve, but who have instead ended up at Checkmate. The double agent doctor is initially hostile, but when he spots that Chloe is trying to scan his PDA he initiates a counter-scan and offers to show Chloe the documents she wants which are down in the basement......

Back at the party, Tess and Ollie get into a fight over their secret identities, which includes a lot of knife throwing by her.

Clark interrupts the fight to get info out of Tess, but she won't budge until Clark holds her over the edge of the building rooftop. She then explains that she was approached by Waller after she began working for Lex Luthor. "Oliver wasn't even the real target," she cries to Clark. "Then who was it?" he retorts. "I don't know. Something they call Watchtower.”

Checkmate agents drag a bound and gagged Chloe into a secret room.

Clark zooms off immediately after and Tess tries to explain to Ollie that Clark is in trouble, and once she says Watchtower is the target, Ollie also jumps on the case and heads for headquarters.

Over at Checkmate, John Jones takes on Waller's appearance, enabling him to escape from the ring of fire and destroy the Kandorian blood.

Clark confronts Waller, but she turns the game on him: either Clark joins Checkmate and gives up the names of everyone in his league or she will have Chloe killed. Suddenly, the power goes off, giving Clark an opening to find the room where Chloe is. Clark takes out a room of Checkmate agents before stopping a speeding bullet aimed for Chloe. After the fight, he takes her back to Watchtower.

Clark apologizes for abandoning Chloe and recognizes that he needs to work with her more because she's in the thick of the action. "You saw Watchtower as big brother and you turned away," she says understandably. "I didn't give you enough credit. You're the one who brought us together, you're the one who saw our potential," he replies. Unfortunately, Waller now knows the true identities of the Blur, Green Arrow and Watchtower.

John Jones finds Waller and erases her memory.

Tess tries to apologize to Ollie, hoping that having given him the information on how to sabotage the Checkmate power supply will make him trust her again. But Oliver says he cannot forgive her for having betrayed him.

Ollie goes from dark to light immediately when he meets up with Chloe and expresses his concern for her.

Back at the barn, John Jones assures Clark that his identity is safe. Part of Clark wants to agree with Waller, saying that preparing for the oncoming war isn't such a bad idea. Eventually he will have to choose sides, Clark concedes, but John tries to convince him that he should be a neutral ambassador who will bring everyone together.

John tells Clark that there are more players on the board than he thinks, and that things aren't always black and white.

In Amanda Waller's office, a Red Queen chess piece is on her chessboard as she states that Checkmate has been blocked by a new player and, sweeping the queen aside, saying that it's time for a new game.

### Upgrade

Lois is digging up information on Tess Mercer in one of her labs just like "The Blur" (aka Zod) asked her to do. She finds out that Tess' scientists are performing many experiments with kryptonite, but she doesn't know on what. When Lois attempts to find out, a security guard and one of the scientists discover her and they try to get her to leave. As Lois is being hauled off, the scientists discover that their experiment has gone missing. In the commotion of finding whatever it was that went missing, Lois is able to knock out the security guard and attempt to escape. However, an explosion knocks her unconscious and she is rescued by someone with a green and glowing heart.

The next morning, Clark goes to visit Lois. She has an unexplained cut and can't seem to remember how she got into bed with the clothes she was wearing the night before. Clark becomes convinced that Lois is hiding something from him. As Lois tries to distract him from asking more questions "The Blur" (still Zod) calls. Lois excuses herself from Clark, to inform "The Blur" about Tess' labs, but assumes that he already knows about them because she thinks he saved her in the explosion. Lois hangs up on him to go find Clark and apologize, when she stumbles upon John Corben in an old warehouse. It is there that Lois learns about John's upgrade, a small device they've inserted on his neck to control his every move. She also discovers that John saved her and that unless he finds kyrptonite and fast, his heart will stop. Wanting to help him, Lois helps Corben to her car so they can search for kryptonite.

In the meantime, Clark wants to know what Lois has been hiding from him, so, with Chloe's help, he tracks where she went last night and ends up in a random spot on the street. He notices a manhole right by where he's standing. Clark ends up where Lois was the previous night as a great deal of red smoke surrounds him - it's red kryptonite.

Clark heads back to Watchtower and when Chloe arrives she sees that he's discovered that there are arsenals of kryptonite all over North America. Convinced that this is Tess' doing, Clark is about to head out to confront her, but Chloe stops him and tells him that the arsenals are hers. Chloe tries to explain that they were in case of an emergency, such as the Kandorians attacking Earth, but Clark becomes angry that she didn't tell him and knocks her to the ground. He burns a huge Mark of El on one of Watchtower's walls before taking off.

Meanwhile, John has discovered one of Chloe's arsenals and uses some of the kryptonite bottles to refuel his heart. As he starts to get out of the truck, Clark arrives and is weakened by John's heart. Zod flies in and arrives right afterwards, blows up the truck, gives Clark a little nod, and leaves. Lois arrives on the scene not too long afterwards to see if John is all right. He tells her that The Blur blew up the truck. Lois is skeptical about John's claims however she does remind him that the last time he encountered The Blur, John attacked her and tried to kill her. Lois believes if the Blur really did attack him it wasn't intentional.

Chloe arrives at the underground lab and finds Tess. She notes that Tess is still a wanted fugitive on Checkmate's radar, and Tess deduces that Clark must have turned against Chloe after he discovered her kryptonite arsenal depository. While searching through the wreckage in the lab Chloe discovers traces of red kryptonite in the lab, accounting for Clark's irrational behavior. Tess learns that Red kryptonite changes Clark's personality from a good old wholesome farmboy to a rebellious and immoral bad boy. Tess reveals to Chloe that she had her scientists conduct experiments with both the Green and Red Kryptonite to upgrade her new bodyguard. Chloe warns that if Clark reveals the existence of the Kandorians to the world, Tess' goals are in jeopardy.

Elsewhere at a warehouse, Zod is experimenting with a lead-covered kryptonite dagger and discovers it's the source of weakness that causes him pain, so he immediately covers up the weapon with the lead sheath. Just then Clark appears behind him. Zod begins to explain the irony to Clark about how a piece of their home planet has become their own Achilles heel on earth. Clark inquires how he acquired his powers . Zod informs him that he gained access to his Kryptonian abilities from the blood that Clark had provided to him. Zod then begins to play upon the isolated emotions Clark must have felt growing up, being the only one of his kind. Zod says that none of Clark's friends could possibly truly understand him, and that he needs an equal. Clark insists he has no equal but when Zod says that by joining force they could accomplish much together as brothers, Clark under the influence of red kryptonite reconsiders his offer with a gesture of a Kryptonian handshake.

John and Lois board a bus heading for an army base in South Dakota where her father General Lane has a doctor Emmet Vale waiting to help John. John sees a woman struggling to get her luggage into the rack but when he helps her she slips a green disk onto the back of his neck where his input upgrade was installed. It immediately commands him to return to base and John and the woman exit the vehicle with Lois being cut off by another of Tess' agents and injected with a needle which knocks her out. Lois is left on the bus as John and the agents walk away.

Zod and Clark are walking away from a green kryptonite cache they've just set ablaze. Zod is intrigued by Clark's sudden enthusiasm in seeking retribution. Zod also points out how Clark reminds him of his father Jor-El and how during their friendship, even when they used to fight, he still admired and respected him. He assures Clark that he now has someone who's like a brother that truly understands him. Together they head to the top of the Space Needle structure in Seattle. As they look out across the city Zod continues to talk about the relationship he had with Jor-El. Clark offers to take Zod to the Fortress where he can talk to his old friend. But just before that Clark decides to have a little fun with his powers by creating a snowy blizzard in Seattle with his Arctic breath.

Back in Tess's lab, Chloe detects an unusual weather disturbance emanating from Seattle. She uses satellite imagery to see that Clark and Zod are responsible while they are atop the space needle. Chloe notices Tess' reaction towards Zod having his super powers and realizes that she's known about his recent power recovery. Tess doesn't respond but she does admit that she's confused as to Clark and Zod's sudden alliance. Before Chloe can explain any further they're interrupted by the arrival of John Corben, who is now a mindless drone due to the chip interface in his neck.

Arriving at the Fortress of Solitude, Clark gives Zod a brief tour while also explaining the purpose of Jor-El's A.I. program, which is accessible from the crystal console. But it appears to not be functioning properly due to Zod's presence. Clark tries to manually rearrange the crystals but to no avail as the console still doesn't operate as it should. Furious with Jor-El refusing to respond, Clark threatens to destroy the fortress. But Zod convinces him not to proceed, reminding him that his father left the book of Rao on the planet somewhere, and with that book's knowledge and the fortresses' technology there would be no limits to what they could achieve. Clark agrees with a smile.

Chloe tracks Corben's location but as he approaches the designated destination, she switches off the computer monitor just as Tess approaches and asks where Chloe sent Corben. Chloe pretends it's just a hunch and refuses to provide any more detail. Suddenly they both hear a noise coming from the entrance of the lab. Chloe goes to investigate. Lois comes in to confront Tess and insists that Tess can't cover up what she's done to John Corben or this secret lab beneath Metropolis. Chloe appears behind Lois using chloroform to knock her unconscious and tells Tess she'll take care of her cousin while Tess cleans up any evidence of the laboratory existence to make sure no one ever believes Lois's story.

Corben arrives inside the Fortress using the portal entrance from the Kawatche Caves and uses his kryptonite heart against them. Zod and Clark try to outflank him as they start to weaken from the kryptonite radiation. Clark uses his heat vision to bring down the ceiling on him attempting to crush him flat. But the impact instead knocks loose the control chip. Corben begins to advance towards them, now back in control of his will. Zod and Clark combine their superbreath to freeze Corben in place in an ice crystal.

However, Corben's kryptonite heart powers up, giving him the strength to break free. Corben kicks Zod aside and turns his attention to Clark, and begins to explain that someone sent him there to save Clark. He then uses a shard piece of kryptonite to stab Clark, which frees him from the effects of red kryptonite. Corben then picks up the control chip and uses the Key to teleport himself out. Clark looks around and realizes that Zod is long gone.

Later, John meets Lois on the street in Metropolis, where she gives him the new red kryptonite heart she'd retrieved from the lab. John expresses his admiration for her honesty and loyalty towards him, and the fact she gave him a second chance when no one else would have. He wonders if she'd want to pursue a meaningful relationship with him. Lois admits that she's grown to like him as a friend but she's with someone else right now who's very important and special to her. Corben says she's a real dame and hopes the guy she's with knows just how lucky he really is.

Elsewhere, Zod is drinking when Tess arrives and confronts him with photos of himself with Clark atop the Space Needle structure. She warns him that she's the only one who has Zod's best interests at heart, as long as she benefits from it as well. When he points out Tess is the one who sent Corben to attack him, Tess notes that he hasn't… yet. They then kiss passionately, and Tess warns Zod that Clark isn't as reliable as he may think. She then shows Zod the photos of Clark providing Faora and Alia human ID papers and claims that Clark is slowly forming a rebellion alliance against him with his own people.

Inside Watchtower, Chloe is cleaning off the House of El signature that Clark had previously burned into the wall. Clark arrives to apologize to her, admitting that in that future he had witnessed prior to its alteration, Chloe's kryptonite arsenal was the only thing that helped humanity have a fighting chance against the Kandorians. Clark admits that the red kryptonite unleashed his innermost desire to have a family and a feeling of acceptance that he longed for, and that in a strange way Zod represented the closest thing to an actual family he could have.

Unbeknownst to Clark however, Zod assembles the remaining loyal soldiers at the Fortress and uses the kryptonite-laced knife to cut himself with as he gives a speech to his followers about accepting their birthright. He drips the resulting blood into a bowl and tells them that they will prevail, and offers the blood to them so they can also access their natural Kryptonian powers that are rightfully theirs to claim.

### Charade

Lois is hidden inside someplace dark dressed in a bunny outfit. Meanwhile, disgraced former D.A. Raymond Sacks arrives at a party to celebrate his early release from prison at a swanky backroom club. Sacks meets a young man who is trying to collect a $1 million solar reward, when Lois jumps out of a large cake that has been wheeled in. The crowd cheers as Lois is helped out of the cake and she blows a kiss to Sacks as he looks at her seductively. Suddenly, she sees Clark standing just a few steps away and he yells her name in surprise. Lois then walks over and takes a swing at Clark as multiple cameras capture the moment with one of the photos ending up on the cover of the *Inquisitor.*

Still in their tux and bunny outfiit from the night before, Clark and Lois are sitting in the office of the new Editor-in-Chief, Franklin Stern. Stern asks them what happened and, when they say nothing, assumes that they had some sort of "lovers spat". They both disagree, saying that they don't have "spats" and that they try to keep their personal lives separate from work, but Stern tells them that they won't have to try any more because they are both fired.

Yesterday...
Chloe is standing in front of a coffee shop and gets a text from "EmeraldArcher1" (Oliver). The text is of the Metropolis skyline with the tag "You should see the city from up here" to which Chloe smiles. Lois arrives and Chloe scolds her for not being on time but Lois says that nothing can ruin her good mood. She tells Chloe that Clark is taking her up to the roof that night to do some star-gazing and Chloe gives her a telescope that Lois had asked her to find as a gift for Clark. Lois

and Chloe sit down inside the coffee shop and Lois tells her that tonight she is going to drop "the L bomb". Chloe asks her why they haven't volleyed the "L" word and Lois tells her that there are a lot of relationship "milestones" that they haven't come to yet. Lois says that tonight they are going to air all of their secrets and Chloe looks very concerned about what this means for Clark and his secret.

Chloe goes to the Kent Farm, where Clark has just arrived home, and confronts him about telling Lois his secret. Clark seems surprised and says that he hasn't planned to tell Lois anything, but that he is making dinner so that she will tell him all of her secrets. Chloe seems upset because when Clark started calling Lois as the Blur, he asked her not to tell anyone including her boyfriend that they were in contact. Clark says that a relationship with secrets cannot work so if Lois is going to trust her with her secret, then maybe he can trust her with his.

Clark and Lois have an awkward moment in the elevator on the way to work at the Daily Planet, but it passes as they begin heavily making out. They stop kissing as the elevator opens onto the bullpen and Lois notices that there is a lot more foot-traffic than normal. Clark tells her that it must be because of the new Editor-in-Chief. Lois makes a quip about how the Editor position is like a revolving door with people spinning a wheel of fortune to get the job, when Franklin Stern, the new Editor, turns around having heard everything she just said. He tells them that he must have "pulled the lucky number" this week and then correctly guesses who Lois is as a result of her flamboyant personality. He tells them that, though there have been quite a few Editors lately, he hopes that the Board of Directors will make his posting permenant. Stern says that he believes Lois and Clark are involved in an inter-office romance, which the two deny and quickly step apart. He then tells them that D.A. Raymond Sacks has had his conviction overturned, and the one of them who brings him that story will get to stay while the other is fired.

Meanwhile, Chloe is looking through Tess's computer in the LutherCorp CEO office when Tess arrives and catches Chloe in the act. Chloe immediately acts hostile towards her and Tess remarks that their truce must be over. Chloe tells Tess that she is wrong to be allied with the Kandorians and Zod; Tess tells her that she knows that Oliver is Green Arrow. Chloe asks what Zod has been up to, but she remarks that, since he hasn't been to see Tess in a while, they must have had a falling out. Before she leaves, Chloe tells Tess that she must be getting very lonely because she is running out of people to betray. Tess looks distraught.

Clark and Lois are researching Sacks with the hope that if they both land the story, they will both get to keep their jobs. Clark believes that for Sacks to get released, he must still have powerful friends in the mayor's office. They discover that there is a party being thrown in Sacks' honor at a club that is frequented by mobsters, so they decide to split up to cover more ground. Before she leaves, Lois tells Clark that she can't wait for their date tonight and Clark just smiles at her nervously. Lois gets into the elevator and begins making numerous calls to "The Blur" (actually Zod) for help and rambles for three or four messages until she finally asks him to be her wingman with the Sacks story she is working on.

Clark goes to the Watchtower to get Chloe's help so that he can find Sacks before Lois does. Chloe remarks that she is also busy with watching the Fortress for Zod and updating the security in the Watchtower, but she has discovered that Sacks has put out a one million dollar reward for a photo of the Blur. Clark suspects that Sacks would have a favorite club or restaurant since he enjoys the VIP treatment, and they find one: Tony's Pizza.

Meanwhile, Lois has already found out about Tony's Pizza and confronts Sacks as he gets out of his limo. He says that Lois has too much faith in the Blur and tells one of his men to get rid of her and her dead body. Clark as the Blur arrives just as the goon is going to shoot Lois, and saves her by throwing her into a construction zone. Sacks, realizing that the Blur has ruined his plan again, leaps into his limo and speeds away. Lois sees the Blur's shadow through a sheet of plastic covering the construction area, and thanks him for responding to her calls. Clark realizes then that Lois has been talking to someone pretending to be the Blur for weeks and has been investigating things for this imposter. As Clark speeds away, the young man from the opening scene steps out, excited, saying that he took a picture of the Blur. Before Lois is able to stop him, he runs off with the photo.

Lois pulls out her phone and begins to dial a number when Clark arrives.

He demands to know who she's calling and asks if it's the Blur. He is upset that she lied to him about not talking to the Blur any more and asks her if she even knows who she's talking to. Clark demands to know who "the Blur" is and Lois becomes upset that he doesn't trust her. She asks Clark if he would reveal the Blur just to save their jobs. Clark says that he is in fact trying to help her because she sometimes has too much "blind faith" in someone she doesn't even know. Lois says that she trusts the Blur *because* he has not revealed himself to her; she knows that the Blur is only trying to protect her from anyone who would want to hurt her. Lois then storms away, leaving Clark standing there looking frustrated.

Clark speeds into Watchtower and tells Chloe what has happened. Having stolen Lois' phone, he asks Chloe to trace her calls to discover the identity of the fake Blur. Chloe remarks that, though she can still find the number, Lois has deleted everything off of her phone in an impressive attempt to keep the Blur's secret. She traces a call to the fake Blur that Lois is currently making in a telephone booth and they discover that some amateur photographer has taken a photo of the real Blur. Lois tells the fake Blur that she is headed to Sacks' party in hopes of delaying the photographer so that he can stop Sacks from seeing the photo.

Lois arrives at Sack's party and finds out that the "surprise" who was supposed to wear the sexy bunny outfit inside the cake hasn't shown up yet. Clark in his tux has also somehow gotten into the party and is looking around for the photographer when Lois jumps out of the cake just like before. She sees the photographer standing behind Clark and throws the punch just like in the opening scene. Clark avoids her punch and she stumbles into the photographer, grabs his phone, and crushes it under her foot. Before Sacks can do anything to her in retribution, Clark grabs Lois and rushes her out of the club with the crowd still clapping at what they thought was the entertainment. As the photographer looks down at his destroyed phone, Sacks pats him on the back and tells him that they didn't need the phone, they just need him. The young man is taken away by one of Sacks' goons, as a mystery man with a black King printed on his handkerchief watches from a balcony.

Back at the Daily Planet, Lois and Clark are leaving, having cleaned out their desks. Lois is upset about what she calls Clark's “obsession” with the Blur, because she believes that he went to Sacks' party in hopes of getting the Blur photo for himself. Lois tells him that she doesn't like this side of Clark and, before Clark can defend himself, she storms away again. When Lois walks around the corner, she stops and starts to cry but before she can do anything, she is kidnapped by an unknown assailant. Lois is taken to a strange facility and hooked up to a machine, along with the young man who took the photo of the Blur and four other victims (all presumably with connections to the Blur). The man with the black King on his handkerchief is standing over Lois, the last piece in his puzzle. Ray Sacks is admiring a black Knight that he assumes is an invitation to join the handkerchiefed man he calls the Black King.

The Black King tells him that everyone hooked up to the machine has wittnessed the Blur and that by using the individual pieces in their minds, he can create a complete image of the Blur. Using his device to extract memories from each of the six people who have seen the Blur, the Black King will finally be able to discover the true identitiy of whom he believes to be the most infamous and dangerous metahuman of them all. Sacks asks him if he is going to use the metahumans to protect the planet, but the Black King tells him that, unlike the White Queen, Amanda Waller, he intends to eliminate all metahumans, citing them as outside the rule of order and unpredictable. Sacks reminds the Black King that he too is a metahuman and the King tells him that his ability gives him first hand knowledge of how dangerous they can be. The two of them then turn to watch the holographic display as it gradually creates an image of the Blur using the combined memories of the six people hooked up to the machine. Chloe and Clark are investigating Lois's disappearance back at Watchtower.

Chloe has discovered that along with Ray Sacks, a number of other criminals were released from prison around the same time. Clark recognizes them as criminals that he personally put away. The man that is displayed on Chloe's desk is Rick DeGroot and is one of the six people kidnapped by the Black King. They find out Maxwell Lord, the Black King, threw Sack's “welcome home” party, and that by funding the governor's re-election campaign, Lord was able to get Sacks and his associates out of prison.

Ray Sacks is walking out of the basement of the club where his party was held and is talking on the phone to an unknown associate. He tells his associate how with what Maxwell Lord has in the basement, he is a very powerful player who has just given him the "keys to the city". Suddenly, Clark arrives and throws Sacks against a wall, knocking him unconscious. He kneels down to pick up Sacks' black knight saying “Checkmate” as he crushes the chess piece in his hand.

Maxwell Lord is hovering over Lois as the image of the Blur is slowly being compiled. He reaches out and begins transferring her memories to the machine; suddenly the image of the blur becomes much clearer. Maxwell comments that she is fighting his power and realizes that she must know the Blur. Clark arrives and tries to save Lois but Maxwell informs him that he will erase all of her memories if he attempts to do so. Clark tells him to let her go but Maxwell refuses and tells him that for her to resist him so strongly, the bond between her and the Blur must be one of love. Maxwell then uses both hands to increase his mental hold on Lois but, at that moment, Clark leaps through the holographic display that has been building an image of the Blur and destroys the machine.

Lois awakens, sits up, and sees a monitor in front her that shows a reflection of the Blur standing right behind her. She says that she wants to see his face or even know his real name but that for her to protect his identity, she cannot know anything about him. Lois tells him that she is aware of the danger that his identity poses to her so she asks him to leave. Clark places his hand on her shoulder and she touches it briefly before he super speeds away, leaving her to cry as she grips her shoulder and looks into the monitor to see now only herself. Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord leaves his house to try and escape Metropolis when he is forced into a limo outside where he meets the Red Queen.

Clark is in the Barn, fixing the tractor, when Chloe comes in to see if he's still beating himself up over what happened to Lois. He asks her which him: the Blur that Lois would die to protect or the boyfriend she was protecting him from. Chloe tries to tell him that he did his best, but he is too upset because he feels that the Blur got all of Lois' trust while he got all the rest, so one side will have to say goodbye to her if he wants to have any part of Lois at all. Chloe tells him that she tracked the fake Blur phone to RAO Industries which is owned by Zod. Clark gets upset because everything that Zod told him about them being brothers was a lie and that he was manipulating Lois. He tells Chloe that he knows what he has to do.

Having received a hand-written letter from the Blur, Lois answers a phone call  in the payphone that he first called her at. It is Clark, as the Blur. He tells her that it was a place that meant something to both of them. Lois wants to know what her next mission is, but Clark tells her that there won't be one and that this will be their last conversation together. She says that she needs him to feel important, but Clark tells her that she doesn't need him for that and that there are other things in her life that can make her feel that way.

Lois doesn't believe him, but Clark tells her they would do anything to protect each other, so he cannot risk her life, but he will be watching over her. Clark looks down from the rooftop where he is watching her and tells her goodbye before she can say anything else. As the Blur hangs up on Lois for the last time, she says "goodbye" and stands there in shock as she looks up at the bright full moon.

Later that night, Lois arrives at a romantic dinner on the rooftop of the Daily Planet that Clark has set up for her. The two try to reconnect but she is still devastated by the loss of the Blur. Lois admits that she had been talking to the Blur and says that she shared things with him that she couldn't share with Clark. Clark tells her that he still wants her in his life, but Lois says that she cannot ask him to be okay with it. He tells her that he understands how it seems unfair to have this calling that you can't share with anyone. Clark looks at Lois and asks her if, since the Blur is now gone from her life, is he enough. Lois looks as though she is about to say something but instead remains silent.

### Sacrafice

Chloe meets an owner of a coffee stand, he asks her if she always works this late, she answers all night, every night. He asks her what job makes her work so long, she answers it's an NPO that helps people in need. He asks if she's trying to save the world, she answers all night every night. She goes to Watchtower in the elevator. There are new security measures in place in the elevator - fingerprint assessment, voice recognition and passwords. Chloe is admitted into Watchtower and sees a warning message regarding the Kandorian file being accessed. She looks at a box that seems to hold a gun and sees it missing, then she sees Tess with the gun, aiming at her. She asks how Tess found out her secret, and Tess says that Oliver's voice wavered when he heard that watchtower was kidnapped. She distracts her and tries to get her gun back, then Watchtower begins a lock-down. Chloe says she can't unlock it: "Watchtower is in control now".

Clark visits Oliver's office and asks him for help in finding Zod. Oliver suggests using Watchtower, but Clark says he doesn't want this kind of equipment to fall into the wrong hands and he wants to keep Chloe safe. Clark tells Oliver about Zod pretending to be the Blur. He asks Oliver to bring Zod to try to make peace.

Chloe and Tess try to get out by various means, including shooting the metal doors. Chloe finds out that a transmitter was what caused the lock-down. Tess says she didn't bring one; they realize that Checkmate must be the cause.

Checkmate are working on getting the information they got from watchtower and are trying to find its location, it turns out that Stuart Campbell is in charge of the search.

Chloe and Tess are looking for a chip in her bag, and realize that Checkmate might have obtained a lot of information in the short time they had access. They find out that the chip is in Tess' body, and try to get it out but it moves, then Tess tells Chloe that's it's a parasite powered by her body's biorhythms.

At a Kryptonian ceremony with Faora in the middle, Clark arrives and says he's glad they found a way to preserve their culture on Earth. Faora says that Zod has forsaken them because they tried to fit in with humans, and they're waiting to ask his forgiveness. Clark tells her that Zod now has super powers.

Green Arrow breaks into the mansion to find Zod there. Zod offers Green Arrow a chance to join forces against Checkmate. Green Arrow says that if he lets Zod go after Checkmate, he'll start a war. He shoots Zod in his leg with a Kryptonite dart.

Tess and Chloe realize they don't have a lot of air left, Tess says that watchtower is programmed to prevent people from hurting Chloe, and that's why she doesn't let Oliver get close. Tess says that Oliver is not going to leave Chloe since he has a purpose with her. Tess puts ice to her forehead and Chloe realizes that the nitrogen coolant of watchtower can help them blast a hole in the steel. They get out using a desk to smash the frozen steel door.

Clark shows Faora the messages from his father regarding the destruction of Krypton by Zod. She tells him she's pregnant with Zod's child.

Zod manages to remove the Kryptonite dart and downs Oliver by burning a large 'Z' onto his chest, and he then leaves. Amanda Waller tells Campbell to stop looking for Tess since they found the Aliens, but he refuses to stop. Chloe and Tess are in Met Gen looking for a way to deactivate the chip. Faora tells her people she wants to have peace and Checkmate breaks in. Oliver tells Clark that Checkmate is after the Kandorians. Chloe tells Tess that the only way to remove the chip from her body is to stop her heart so that the chip stops moving. This will kill Tess, but Chloe promises to revive her with Atropine. Chloe performs the operation, and then shocks her with the paddles to bring her back to life. Chloe warns Tess not to say anything about her or her friends, otherwise next time Chloe won't rescue her.

Waller talks to Faora and Zod attacks Waller, Zod talks to Faora about their past, and says she betrayed him. Faora tells him that she knows that he sacrificed one world for his ego. Zod tells her she knows nothing about sacrifice, but she tells him she knows more about it than he ever will. He chokes her to death after she refuses to kneel before him. He sees the flowers in her hand and her other hand on her stomach and realizes she's pregnant, he listens to the fetus' heartbeat fading away.

Waller says that they're at war and the Black King is missing, that Zod destroyed their Metropolis field office, and orders Stuart to contact the UN. She and Campbell see everyone dead, and then Zod appears and starts burning everything.

Chloe visits Oliver in the hospital, where Clark is outside. They see the castle burning on the TV news, and she tells him that there is movement in the fortress.

In the fortress, Zod lies to his soldiers that the humans killed Faora and her unborn child. Clark arrives and tells them it's a lie, and that he left her alone with Zod. Zod says that Clark helped Waller. Clark tries to talk to Vala saying that she, more than anyone, knows that her sister Faora wanted peace. She says that the humans will not allow peace and sides with Zod. Zod says that all humans will kneel before him, and he gives Basqat a nod and they all fly away.

### Hostage

At the Kent house, Clark searches for the Book of Rao where Jor-El hid it and discovers that it is no longer there. He informs Chloe, who is busy trying to reassemble the Watchtower. Chloe figures that Zod was trying to recover the Book of Rao and warns Clark about it. At that moment, Clark hears something and goes to investigate, only to find Lois sneaking around. She claims that since they've been fired from the *Daily Planet*, she's been trying to keep herself financially afloat and insists that they need to try and get their jobs back. Lois tells him that she has a story that will get them hired back but Clark doesn't seem concerned about their jobs. Lois explains to Clark that she needs to find a "purpose" in life and Clark tries to calm her and tells her she is overreacting. Lois is offended and wonders why he's not working to save their jobs.

Clark continues to try to get Lois to calm down but she suggests they should take a break from their relationship. Before he can respond, Martha Kent returns home and comes in the front door. Clark asks what she is doing there and Martha explains that she has come to visit her son and asks why he wasn't at the Planet. He lies and explains that he's working from home, and then Martha spots Lois and invites her to stay for dinner. Without knowing what to say, Lois accepts and then Martha says that all four are going to have a very good time. Clark wonders why she says four of them and then Perry White comes in with her luggage and Martha introduces him as the man that she is dating.

Martha goes to the barn to remember old times and reminisces about her time spent with Jonathan, and then Clark comes in. Martha explains that the Senate broke earlier for recess and apologizes to Clark for not being home for so long. She confesses that she couldn't face the memories before, but that Perry has helped her to come back. Martha tells Clark how proud she is of who he has become and that she is happy knowing Clark has someone in his life. Meanwhile, Lois is very excited about meeting the famous Perry White and tries to impress him. Perry tells her that he has read some articles written by her and Clark, and then Lois says that she has a major story of her own. She shows Perry a photo of the Blur and tells him that she believes there are aliens among us, and shows Perry a drawing of the Book of Rao. Perry becomes impressed with the drawing and then shows her one story that he's been covering for months which involves the same artifact, someone named Red Queen and an agency called Checkmate. After they swap details and discover they're both working on the same story, Perry proposes that they write the story together.

At the Luthor Mansion, Tess wakes up to find that she has been kidnapped and is being held hostage inside her own room. There are bars on the windows and a huge metal door keeping her locked in. She quickly guesses that Checkmate is holding her captive, and then Maxwell Lord comes in and smashes her to the floor, demanding the location of the Book of Rao.

Very nostalgic, Martha prepares dinner as Lois comes down and then Martha asks her how she and Clark are doing, noting that Perry tells her that they haven't been writing together. Lois fakes that they're OK, but can't lie to Martha and nearly reveals that she felt better helping a "friend", referring to the Blur, because she needed a purpose in her life and found this with him. Martha explains how she found her purpose when she came to Smallville and tells Lois that she needs to look inside herself to discover hers.

At the Watchtower, Chloe attempts to find more information about the location of the Book of Rao on the web, but is blocked by a virus set by the Red Queen; she informs Clark about this. She tells Clark that the Red Queen is not part of Checkmate. Clark says he will investigate after going to dinner with his mother and Perry because he feels obligated to both of them.

Clark finds Perry and suspects of him drinking alcohol again, but Perry demonstrates otherwise and then informs him that he is covering a story with Lois. Perry confesses to Clark that he wants to propose to Martha at dinner, but Clark suggests that Martha might not give him the answer he's looking for because she is not ready for that.

Clark continues trying to fix his relationship with Lois, but she becomes very closed to the possibility, and both start arguing again. Martha then reappears and Clark and Lois pretend to be happy again. Martha is shocked to see what appears to be Jonathan coming in the door, but turns out be Perry wearing Jonathan's jacket. Martha leaves the room concealing her tears and Clark then explains to Perry what happened.

The dinner comes and everybody enjoys the food. Lois and Clark continue painting a false picture of their lives but the situation becomes increasingly strained. Lois can't handle the situation anymore and decides to tell the truth to Mrs. Kent. She confesses that they have been fired from the Daily Planet and that they are also taking a break in their relationship. Clark insists they can fix it, but Lois decides to breaks up with him, in front of his mother and Perry, saying that she needs time to herself, without Clark and without the Blur. Lois apologizes for everything and leaves the table, and Clark follows her and reaches her at the door. He asks her not to do this, but Lois tells him that if he really loves her, he should let her go.

Perry tells Martha that he is going to make sure that Lois gets home safe since they have a story to finish. He gets up from the table, dropping his briefcase and files. Martha recognizes the Book of Rao on the drawing and becomes very concerned about it. Perry leaves after Lois, and Martha and Clark stay on the porch.

At the Luthor Mansion, Maxwell brings Oliver to Tess's room and she goes to help him. Oliver blames Tess for everything that is happening and accuses her of setting up the whole thing as an act to learn about the Book of Rao; he also accuses her of being the Red Queen.

Martha talks with Clark about what has happened and he apologizes for lying to her. Martha says that she understands. Clark confesses his problems with his double identity and Lois. He says that Lois is a different person when she talks with the Blur and that for some reason, she's not ready to share that side with him. Martha tells Clark that the only way to bring Lois back is to be honest with her and take the next step in their relationship; otherwise he will have to let her go. Meanwhile, at the Talon apartment, Lois and Perry find that it has been raided.

They suspect that the Red Queen is behind everything. Lois finds the cellphone that Amanda Waller had given her and calls Checkmate, demanding a meeting with the Red Queen.

However, the line seems to have been canceled and instead contacts Lois with a Mexican restaurant. Knowing that the whole thing is a screen to cover for Checkmate, Perry takes the phone and threatens to publish the entire history of the Red Queen if they do not put them in contact with her, but the communication is cut. After a while the phone rings again and a voice gives the coordinates to find the Red Queen. Lois and Perry feel excited.

Clark meets Vala and she accuses him of killing her sister, but Clark denies it. He asks her if Zod has the Book of Rao and why it is so important. Vala explains that the Book could finish their lives on earth and that Zod can't find it because someone named Red Queen blocked all his moves. Clark asks her if she knows who the Red Queen is, and Vala replies that it is Tess Mercer.

Back at the Mansion, Maxwell tortures Oliver to force Tess to reveal the location of the book and then threatens her with killing him. Tess pleads for Oliver's life. Maxwell gives her a last chance and then Oliver tries to persuade her to reveal what she knows, saying that she has always been the only woman in his life. In that moment, Tess realizes that all this is an illusion generated by Lord. She knocks him down, breaking through his illusion and returning to her body. Tess then knocks Lord out and escapes. Maxwell calls the Red Queen to tell her what happened and then falls to the ground in agony.

Perry and Lois go to meet the Red Queen and wait for her at the Metro Coffee Shop until she appears on top of a rooftop. They climb the fire escape to try to talk to her. As Lois reaches the roof, Perry slips and is left hanging on the fire escape ladder dangling from the building. Lois drops a cable to him just as Clark shows up and sees Lois rescue Perry from potential death. Meanwhile, the Red Queen gets into her limo and drives away, but just at that moment Clark appears and stops the car, ripping open the door. He demands that she give him the Book of Rao. The Red Queen exposes him to green kryptonite and knocks him down while she escapes.

Clark goes to see Chloe at the Watchtower and informs her that Tess is probably the Red Queen, but then Chloe informs him that Tess was being treated for broken ribs at Metropolis General while Clark was confronting the Red Queen. Clark asks Chloe how long they have to wait until the systems of the Watchtower start working again, and Chloe says it could take a little time. Clark tells Chloe that he has seen her rebuild the Watchtower in one night and asks her what is happening. Chloe then confesses that the Watchtower was ready but that she wasn't. She tells Clark that she has known about the Book of Rao for months but didn't tell him because she lost sight of the things that really matter. Chloe explained that when Clark abandoned her, she retreated into Watchtower and withdrew from the world, but that now she has Oliver and wants to go back to the real world and that she's not a hero and virtual reality bites. Clark tells her that what she's created is more important than both of them and could help future generations, and that because of this, she is as much a hero as the rest of them. He insists that he needs her and then Chloe decides to be Watchtower again and open the sealed doors. Chloe confesses to Clark that all that she had done was to protect him and then Clark realizes who could be the Red Queen.

Tess returns to the real Luthor Mansion and goes to the wine cellar to take the Book of Rao from a hidden space. Then the Red Queen appears behind her, who turns out to be Martha Kent. Martha forces Tess to give her the disc, accuses her of being predictable and tells her that if she is not careful, she might end up on the wrong side in the coming Apocalypse. Martha warns Tess  not to approach Clark Kent again and disappears.

The next day, Lois and Perry go to the *Daily Planet* where Perry confesses that he managed to get Lois and Clark's job back after talking with the editor. He says goodbye to Lois. Lois thanks him and after Perry leaves, Lois goes to her desk and finds a note from the Blur, saying it's finally time to meet.

At the Kent Farm, Clark finds Martha cooking in the kitchen and asks her when she is going away. Martha tells him that she never let go of Clark and will return soon. Then Clark confronts her for being the Red Queen. Martha is shocked by this revelation and then explains to Clark that when she went to Washington she discovered that there were forces working against him and that the only way she found to fight against them was to create the Red Queen.

Martha confesses to Clark that she always thought the world needed him more than her, but that the truth is that she was afraid of losing him. Clark says he needs the Book of Rao. Martha gives it to him and warns of the effects of the disk, saying that it could exile all Kryptonians to a different plane of existence, including Clark himself.

### Salvation

An airplane towing a banner reveals the date to be 2013 during the World's Fair, which is being hosted in Metropolis.

Lois Lane is exiting the office of Editor-In-Chief Perry White of the *Daily Planet*. She has just been assigned to investigate a scandal at the Pentagon, and mentions that 2012 was just like the Y2K scare years ago, something she correctly assumed. Upon exiting, Lois is immediately confronted by Jeff the intern informing her of numerous things, including a fruit basket from the Dalai Lama as well as Clark wondering about her sandwich preference at a deli. Lois is handed a newspaper with the main article being about Lex Luthor running for President of the United States. She is seen wearing a ring on her finger, signifying her engagement. Lois expresses her frustrations with her current assignment, but is interrupted when she notices a pair of glasses sitting on his desk and his chair spinning rapidly, followed by various declarations that the plane has lost power and is headed for the *Daily Planet*. Lois runs up the stairs and yells for Olsen, saying that he "had better be getting every pixel of this!" As she walks to the window, someone shouts, "up in the sky" to which Lois smiles. As the focus shifts upwards, Doctor Fate's words can be heard in the background declaring, "You will lead this generation as Hawkman once led ours." The reflection of the plane can be seen in the *Planet'*s rotating globe, followed by a red and blue blur, flying past it twice, correcting the plane's course.

Clark Kent wakes up, gasping for air, revealing the previous sequence of events as a dream. He looks around, confused, and notices a black box sitting near him in the loft. He opens the card attached which reads, "If you choose to stay, Love Mom." Clark opens the box and lifts the top. The red, blue and yellow House of El emblem reflects inside his right eye and pupil.

Lois opens a door and exits onto the roof of a building to meet the Blur. She questions his reasons for meeting, but says she is glad they are. "The Blur" responds by walking out of the shadows, revealing his face: Zod. Lois asks how Zod could possibly be the Blur, referencing how she saw him get shot. Zod says that his powers healed him and demonstrates his super speed. Lois shows disbelief, and Zod says that she saved him in the past and is his hero. Lois responds with the Blur's previous instructions of not trusting anyone, to which Zod says to Lois that Clark is looking for him and adds that Clark has something that could hurt him. He asks Lois to investigate, telling her that Clark isn't who he says he is.

In the fully operational Watchtower, Chloe Sullivan is discussing the Kandorians and the impending war with Oliver Queen via web-cam. Oliver says that he is coming back to be with Chloe, to which she interjects saying they need to protect the database, awkwardly ending the conversation. Clark arrives and their conversation reveals that the Kandorians are moving, the assembled team has kryptonite weapons and Chloe knows about the identity of the Red Queen. Clark mentions that his mom inherited Lionel Luthor's library when he died and says that Zod has lied about the Book of Rao; it isn't a bible, but can instead be used to send all Kryptonians to another world. Chloe wants to use it immediately, until Clark says it will happen to him as well. Clark declares that his fate is on Earth, due to his trials and Doctor Fate's declarations, but Chloe questions whether that is the true purpose of his trials or if it was leading him to make the ultimate sacrifice. Clark believes that there is another way, but Chloe says Jor-El never said he was to be a guardian for Earth and that Clark has inspired an entire team of heroes who will be there to protect Earth. She questions if instead of protecting the Earth, Clark's true purpose was in fact to lead his own people.

Zod flies to the Fortress of Solitude, angry that Jor-El refuses to speak with him and instead shared the "Secrets of Rao" with Clark. He intends to destroy the main console, but is interrupted by Tess Mercer. Zod is surprised to see her there and says that she isn't welcome. He asks how she got there, to which she responds she flew after having searched for the "Ice Castle" for two years. Zod relates Tess to Icarus, but she says she is there for redemption, to which Zod replies that there can be no redemption for hiding the Book of Rao. Tess reveals that she is not seeking his forgiveness and attacks him with a knuckle-type weapon laced with kryptonite. She continues to beat and kick him, saying that she has seen the future and what he did in it. Tess kicks Zod once again, but he stands up and declares that she "touched the sun" when she opened the Orb and now she will learn what it feels like to get burned. Zod then begins to burn her with his heat vision, while she screams.

Clark speeds to the Fortress and immediately declares to Jor-El that he will not save Zod if it means leaving everyone he promised to protect. He declares that he has accepted his purpose and that there must be another way to stop Zod. He calls for Jor-El again before discovering the shattered remains of the main console. Zod appears behind him, declaring that he made sure Jor-El cannot help him anymore. They argue about the necessity for war, and Clark tries to reason with Zod, trying to save him from making another mistake like Faora. Zod says he can never receive redemption for that and Clark says he can, mentioning Clark's loss of his earth father due to Clark reaching for power that wasn't his and tempting fate. He says Zod must forgive himself and tells him about his team. He says too many will die and they both declare they know their destinies. Zod departs, and Clark sees the burnt remains of Tess, who he picks up before speeding away.

Lois opens a package left for her on her desk in the *Daily Planet*. It is revealed to be a plane ticket from Perry. Lois walks over to Clark's computer and searches for the Blur. She goes through numerous images until she finds one of Zod and lets out a sigh.

Clark visits Tess in the hospital. One side of her face is badly burned and disfigured. Tess reveals she did what she did to save Clark from Zod. Clark says that he has the Book of Rao, but it is useless because the console in the Fortress is gone. Tess says he doesn't need the Fortress and reveals that the Kandorians built a crystal energy source when they attempted to turn Earth's sun red. Clark says he already destroyed the tower, but Tess reveals she removed the crystals from the rubble and moved it to his crow's nest above the city and that it can power the Book of Rao. She says she is trying to atone for her sins and that Clark is the only one who can save them, but that he has run out of time, for the war has already begun.

Zod's soldiers are seen scattered throughout the world, burning Zod's emblem onto famous monuments, including the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Greece, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and the Washington Monument.

At Watchtower, Chloe and Oliver are having a conference call with the various members of the combined Justice League and Justice Society. She says they have time, as the military believes it to simply be a hoax. Stargirl, Black Canary and Hawkman say that there are no signs of the Kandorians in the various locations where the monuments were scorched. Hawkman says they need to lure them out, and he and Oliver have a disagreement about what to do. Chloe says they must wait for Clark. John Jones agrees with Chloe, but Cyborg agrees with Hawkman and then everyone debates what to do. Clark appears and says that while Carter's abilities allow him to come back, the others who may die on both sides cannot. He says the Kandorians have been led astray by Zod and declares that he will sacrifice himself and send all of them away forever using the Book of Rao. The others say there must be another way, but Clark disagrees and says that the world will need them to work together as a team. He says that they must accept his destiny and protect the world. They somberly accept, and Chloe says she is proud of Clark, then leaves saddened. Oliver stops him from following and tells him to say goodbye to Lois. He says that Clark owes her the truth, but Clark says that telling her would simply hurt her more. Oliver then tells him that he should at least say goodbye.

Basqat appears to Zod on a roof and asks if he has the Book of Rao. Zod says he doesn't and tells Basqat not to question his resolve. He says he will destroy the book, then asks Basqat if they have completed their mission. Once he affirms this, Zod mentions that his men are scattered throughout the world and that Clark is left alone in Metropolis. Basqat says they have destroyed their satellites, to which Zod proudly declares that, by dawn, they will have the Book of Rao and the planet will belong to them.

In Watchtower, Chloe is frantic as she tries to recover communications. Oliver tells her to calm down, then proceeds to mention that after Tess infiltrated Watchtower, he had a satellite launched specifically for Watchtower. Chloe is relieved, but Oliver says he has to turn it on from the Earth station. Chloe gives him a hand radio, and he kisses her before leaving to complete his mission.

At the Kent Farm, Lois is searching Clark's belongings. While she is initially not worried, once she discovers Dr. Swann's journal and sees the image of the Book of Rao, she begins to become unnerved. Clark arrives and begins to tell her how much she means to him. Lois mentions that Perry offered her a job in Africa and that she would turn it down for Clark. Clark is taken back by this, and Lois says that they need to be honest with each other. Clark denies multiple times that he is hiding anything and tells Lois that her best choice is to go. Lois is clearly distraught by this and leaves after they hug.

Tess wakes up in the hospital and begins to go into cardiac arrest. A shrouded woman is shown knitting in the hallway and, when Tess is declared dead, proceeds to enter the room and close the door.

Oliver is on his mission and is taking directions from Chloe in order to navigate through a series of ventilation shafts. After Oliver succeeds, Chloe sees that the stations sensors have detected multiple others there with Oliver. The air ducts begin to be bombarded and are continuously dented in as Oliver makes his way through them. In fear of the worst, Oliver and Chloe declare their love for each other, but Oliver immediately says, "Chloe, they're not Kandorian!"

Clark goes to his crow's nest and finds the Kandorian console. He searches his pocket for the Book of Rao, but discovers it is gone and realizes Lois must have taken it.

Lois is seen by the phone booth when Zod appears. Lois says Zod (as the Blur) is the one person she can believe in, and Zod says that he can see her heartbreak. Lois says her heart is shattered, and Zod, while saying how hurtful it is to learn the one you love is lying to you, places his hand on Lois's shoulder. Lois reaches for his hand and then realizes from his touch that he isn't really the Blur. Zod asks for the book, but Lois says that she hid it in case Clark followed her. Zod asks where it is and Lois, in order to see if he really is the Blur, says it is where she confessed to him that he was the most important person in her life. Zod shows that he doesn't know where it is, and Lois begins to walk away. Zod super-speeds in front of her and says that he shouldn't have tried to deceive the Blur's most devoted follower. He proceeds to say that he has nothing against killing her and powerfully pushes her away to her supposed death, but Clark arrives, moving at super speed, punches Zod away and rushes to catch Lois. He prevents her from fully hitting the phone booth and sets her down. She comes to and walks over to him in the shadows, asking for his forgiveness for being deceived. She hands him the Book of Rao and Clark drags her towards him and passionately kisses her. Once he departs, she shows a look of shock, smiles and then declares, "Clark!"

Back at the crow's nest, Clark prepares to insert the Book of Rao into the console when Zod and his army appear. Zod says that no one is going anywhere, and Zod and Clark try to get the Kandorians to trust them instead of the other. Zod says Clark is lying, to which Clark mentions Faora and how she wanted to leave Zod but paid for it with her life, as did another. In anger, Zod smashes Clark into a wall and whispers that Faora was a traitor. At this point, the other Kandorians use their super hearing to hear Zod whisper "Do you think I wanted to kill my own child?" Zod realizes that his army has heard this and looks worried. He tries to get them to believe his point of view, but they all remove their armbands and switch allegiance to Clark.

Vala begins to approach Zod, but is stopped by Basqat, who declares that they will deal with Zod on their own soil. Vala tells Kal-El to "take us home," to which Clark responds by releasing the Book of Rao into the console. It levitates and begins to glow along with the crystals before flying into place, causing a pillar of golden light to appear, soaring high into the sky. The various Kandorians begin to disappear in the golden light until only Zod and Clark remain.

Zod then pulls out a blue kryptonite dagger that takes away both his and Clark's powers, preventing them from ascending up into the portal like the others. Zod then says, "I told you, I'm not going anywhere!" As it begins to rain, they engage in hand-to-hand combat, with Clark saying that Zod knew what would happen. Zod exclaims "Better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven," then slashes Clark with the dagger across the chest, then on his forearm. Clark removes his jacket in order to block the dagger. Zod tells him to fight like the humans he loves and lunges at him once again, with Clark blocking with his jacket. He manages to get Zod to drop the dagger after slamming him to the ground. Clark scrambles for the dagger, but Zod bashes him with a chunk of rock sitting nearby. Clark quickly recovers and lands a powerful uppercut at Zod. It seems like an even match until Zod quickly gains the upper hand in the battle and attacks multiple times with Clark fighting back as best he can.

Zod kicks Clark through a window, then jumps through the air to deliver the final blow with the dagger. Clark rolls out of the way, and Zod thrusts at Clark again. Clark catches his arm and struggles to avoid being stabbed. Zod, nearing victory, declares, "Unlike you, I will lead from a throne, not from the shadows. Every human, including the woman you love, will kneel before Zod!" Clark looks behind him and, in the accumulation of his emotions, says to Zod, "You already destroyed my first home. I won't let you take this one." Clark then lets himself be stabbed by the dagger, to Zod's great surprise. Clark stumbles backwards with the dagger in him and falls off the edge of the building, looking at Zod one last time.

Zod looks up from his seeming victory as the golden light from the Book of Rao descends upon him. Realizing what has happened, his expression turns to worry and he looks at Clark, who has a victorious grin on his face while continuing to fall backwards. As Zod, now defeated, ascends into the golden light and lightning, he yells. Clark is then seen freely falling now, his arms outstretched and the blue kryptonite dagger still in his torso, and he is bathed in a golden glow and a shower of rain.