Even heroes have the right to bleed

I can't... I can't do this. Not again.

I can't.

It's not fair.

They say what's lost is found again. It's just in Clark's experience, it tends to get back to being lost sooner rather than later.

He'd arrived at the Fortress just in time to stop Zor-El from killing Kara. Once of the few times in his life thus far in which green K had actually worked for him. The eclipse was easy enough to stop then, just remove the crystal from the console, but Zor-El had to be dealt with. Permanently.

It had to be destroyed, Lara told him. The crystal, the ring, it all had to be shattered. Deep down, Clark knew it was the only way. Deep down, he didn't want to, because he knew it would take Lara with it and he wasn't ready to let her go. He didn't think he'd ever be. But there wasn't much of a choice, so he did it. And he lost his mother, again. Kara, too, so it seemed, as she was nowhere to be found once everything was done. Just disappeared, like her father. Like Lara.

Clark searched everywhere he could think of. He even called Eirene in for reinforcement, but there was no sign of her. Kara was gone, and he'd just have to accept that. And that it was his fault, as usual. Jor-El was right; emotions weren't worth it. Eirene... wasn't having any of that, but beyond a hug and a promise to meet him at Milliways after she'd taken care of some things in her own world, there was little she could do to convince him. A wallowing Clark just has to wallow, for a while.

Still, there was one last thing he could try, he would try, and after Eirene had left, he made his way back to the arctic one more time.

"Her disappearance was not my doing. Zor-El is the only one who knows that answer."

"Zor-El is gone." There had to be another way.

"You have chosen to defy me yet again, Kal-El. And you seem to lack the capacity to learn your lesson. I'm sorry, my son. This defiance cannot go without consequence."


And then there was light.


And nothing else.

When Kara got home from her vacation to Coast City with Jimmy, she could tell Clark wasn't in the best of moods. Problem was, Clark didn't want to talk about it. Kara liked Lana, and he wasn't sure how to explain everything that had happened. Not to mention that Clark himself had been trying not to think about it.

Instead, he'd been focussing on the other thing of importance that he'd found out about: His mother. That he was willing to talk about, but Kara pleaded exhaustion and promised to answer all his questions in the morning. That would have to do.

"Hurry. My son."

It was the wind. It had to be.

"Come to the Fortress. I have little time. Hurry. I need you, my son. Save me."

Or not. Clark grabbed his jacket and headed out to the barn. Where he'd hidden Kara's crystal. The one with his mother's DNA inside of it.

"Kal-El, hurry. My son, save me. You must come to the Fortress. I need you. Kal-El, save me."

It was glowing, bright and blue, and the minute he picked it up, it did exactly what he wanted. It transported him to the Fortress. Only someone wasn't too happy about it.

"Kal-El, the crystal you carry was made by Zor-El. It has no place in this Fortress."

Somehow, Clark wasn't surprised. "My mother needs my help!"

"It is far too late for that, my son. Like all of Krypton, your mother is gone forever."

"It's not true." Clark refused to believe it, not when he knew this crystal could do something to bring her back. He walked to the main console. "We need to help her."

"Every experiment my brother conducted was motivated by power and greed."

"Hurry, my son, I have little time left."

"Do not allow human emotions to cloud your judgment."

Some things never change. How many times had he been lectured on emotions? Too many. Clark was sick of it. "I won't turn my back on my mother." And with that, he jammed the crystal into the console. Everything turned a brilliant shade of blue and he felt an energy course through him. When it was over, he realized he wasn't alone.

His mother was there.

The minute Chloe'd heard on the news wire about a "red and blue" missile that had nearly taken down a plane in mid-air over Washington DC, they both knew what it meant: Kara. And once Jimmy chimed in that he'd been helping Kara research spaceships (namely her own, but Jimmy didn't need to know that), Clark knew this could get bad fast. The government had had Kara's ship, and if she's in DC, chances are good she thinks they have her crystal.

Visiting Lionel wasn't really something Clark wanted to do, but the man had just been through quite an ordeal being held captive by some insane woman in the woods for months. Also, Clark had to admit that he'd been helpful in the past and was willing to be so again. He told Clark about Starhawk, a government agency that had been set up in Granville after the second meteor shower to search for any potential existence of extra-terrestrials.

Clark made it to Washington DC in record time. It wasn't quite so easy to find his cousin but find her he did, only to discover that not only had Kara not found her crystal, she was still mad at him. A lot. She took off again, once more deliberately flying so Clark couldn't follow. He had no choice but to head back to Smallville and start the search all over.

Lana, of all people, provided the next clue, her contacts within the Luthor mansion indicating they'd seen Kara there. And Clark had to make another visit he didn't want to. Lex was less cooperative than his father, but he did tell Clark that Kara had been arrested by the Department of Domestic Security. It was back to Washington.

Starhawk had her all right, strapped to a gurney and pumping a green K solution straight into her veins. Weakened, he offered himself if they let Kara go free but the agent had no intention of letting either of them go. It took everything Clark had to push the man out of the way, knocking him out, and get to Kara, ripping the electrodes off of her.

And them something unexpected happened. He could see what Kara was seeing. He could see her memories, an argument between his mother and his uncle at the Kent Farm. His mother and Kara's father. His mother and she was beautiful.

Everything after that was a bit of a blur. Lionel arrived, taking the agent out for good. Kara was rescued and ready to come back to Smallville, where she explained as much a she could to Clark about their parents visiting years ago when it seemed the destruction of Krypton was imminent. His mother had wanted to make sure they'd chosen the right family. As an added bonus, there was a picture of her Kara had taken, tucked away behind an old photo of Martha. Fitting, Clark thought.

So Clark had his mother, sort of. And the possibility of one day, maybe getting even more. Kara may not have found her crystal, but Clark did. And that was a secret he was just going to have to keep.

For now.

There really never is a happy ending in Smallville. The good news is that Rachel's okay, and the film crew is moving on to film the rest of the movie in other locations. The bad news, Ben did end up in Belle Reve after all. Clark can't help but feel sorry for the guy but hopefully he'll get the help he needs.

So work on the farm can finally get back to being done in a normal manner, without dodging reporters (Chloe aside) or boom operators. And that's just the way Clark likes it. that's as close to fame as he thinks he'd ever like to get.

Still, some celebrities aren't so easily deterred, and Rachel stops by to say goodbye, and to say thank you one more time. And to give Clark a gift. Like a real one, wrapped up with a bow and everything.

"It's a little something from the movie. Every hero needs one."

Then she's gone, limo dusting down the driveway toward the road to Metropolis. Clark heads toward the house, only half surprised to see Eirene standing on the porch, smiling down at him.

"It's not even my birthday," he jokes, holding up the somewhat large package.

Clark knew the summer had been going by too quietly, uneventfully. Not that dealing with a brand new, superpowered, teenaged cousin was exactly uneventful, but a few mishaps and missteps aside, Kara had been coming along pretty well, all things considered.

And then the Smallville Harvest Festival came around. The biggest event of the year, where Clark could happily sell produce and get a real chance to talk to other farmers in the area. Naturally, Kara was less than impressed, until she found out about the Miss Sweet Corn beauty pageant. It all went downhill from there.

Clark tried to talk her out of it. He did. It was too conspicuous, he told her, not to mention that he wasn't thrilled about the idea of his cousin strutting around on a stage wearing nothing but a bikini. And a tiny one, at that. But she persisted, and eventually, she wore him down. How bad could it really get?

It didn't take long for them to find out. First there was the murder of one of the contestants, and then the discovery that the victim's friends were actually meteor infected, only in town using the pageant as a cover to steal a treasure map from a time capsule that was being opened as part of the festivities. One not-so-secret use of her powers later, and Kara was in their sights, talked into helping them steal the map.

Kara, however, was smarter than they thought, and realizing that the treasure was actually Kryptonian, double crossed the girls and took the map for herself. Of course, that landed in her jail, just as she was announced as the winner of the pageant.

Clark was furious. Beyond furious. Kara just didn't get it and he was at his wits end trying to talk sense into her. But first, he had to get that map and the treasure back. He knew from experience that letting anything Krypton related fall into the wrong hands was just not a good idea. Unfortunately, green K got in the way – again - and it looked for a moment that the girls were going to get away with it.

For once, Kara not listening to Clark paid off; she broke out of jail and showed up just in time to save him, and get the treasure: a Kryptonian SOS. Which meant that there was another of them somewhere on Earth, and had been all this time, that Clark never knew about.

As if that hadn't been enough, in the middle of it all, Lana came back from the dead.

Well, she'd faked her death, she explained to Clark once he'd gotten over the shock of her simply showing up in the barn one night, to get away from Lex. Not that Clark could blame her, but she'd done it all on her own. She hadn't trusted him for help. Deep down, that hurt. Still, it was Lana and after losing her once, and then losing his father in exchange to keep her safe, Clark couldn't just let her go again. She could stay at the farm while she got things sorted out.

The only problem was that once she did, she didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave. And Clark couldn't bring himself to ask her to, either. She'd been through so much - they'd been through so much – that he let her stay. It wasn't going to be forever, and even though Lana seemed more than interested in starting a relationship back up, Clark did his best to make sure she knew that wasn't an option.

Or so he hoped.

Eirene was going to kill him.

Clark had promised himself that once the phantoms were dealt with, he'd go to the Fortress to complete the training Jor-El keeps telling him he needs to do. He knows the Fortress is back up and running – he can just feel it – but it's been a while since he's been here. For good reason, of course.

Now that he is, there's just one thing he needs to clear up first.

”A Kryptonian girl showed up at my doorstep. Her name is Kara. Last time that happened, you were behind it.”

It had thrown Clark for a loop. After the destruction of the dam and Lois and Chloe's presence there, which he still wasn't clear how that came about, he decided to go with Lois when she went back to survey the wreckage. To try and figure out what she knew, if anything, and also to say goodbye. He didn't know how long he'd be gone, after all. That was when they found the spaceship - a Kryptonian spaceship – in the woods near the reservoir. And then they'd been attacked by a blond girl, moving too fast for Lois to see, but Clark sure as hell saw her as she flew up and out of sight after telling him to take a hike.

He'd told himself it couldn't be her. She's not supposed to be here until he's older, if at all. He's supposed to have time.

It doesn't take long for Chloe to track her down, monitoring reports of a blond woman barging into schools and harassing the children. It didn't matter who she was, Clark wasn't going to let that kind of behavior go unchecked. So he found her at a playground, picking up little boys and asking them what their names were. Clark put a stop to that pretty damn fast, grabbing her by the arm and speeding her away.

Turns out she was Kara, sent to Earth by her father to look after him. It seemed her ship has crashed in the river and been trapped, only released now after nearly two decades of suspended animation because of the damage done to the dam. A familiar enough story to him by now, but still really, really weird to hear when it actually applies to him. And having her really there... it'll take some getting used to.

Then her ship went missing. After a crash course in superhearing, they were able to track it down in a bunker owned by the Department of Domestic Security (which Clark would let himself freak out about later) but only in time for Kara to absorb the blast as it self-destructed. And then it was gone, and Clark was left with a teenage girl who knew nothing about Earth.

And he had training to do.

There really wasn't much time to get to know each other, but Clark had to do this. If he let it go every time something new came up, he'd never go. Chloe had agreed to help Kara, who'd acquired a bit of humility after learning from Clark that Krypton had been destroyed (and hadn't that been fun to have to tell her). He also had a feeling there would be someone else watching who could intervene if things got too out of hand.

So Clark finds himself at the Fortress, asking his father about the new girl, and why he'd never been told about her, or her family.

”I know nothing of her arrival."

Clark isn't sure he believes that, but it's no matter now. There are other things to deal with.

”What about my training?”

”Your training starts with Kara. Watch over her, Kal-El. She poses a greater threat than you believe.”

Heading back to the dam was the first order of business. Along the way Clark managed to save a little boy and his father from the flood waters, which gave him a little boost he so sorely needed, but the state of the dam itself was a shambles. And part of that was his fault.

Once inside among all the rubble, he looked for Lionel to no avail. And then another voice caught his attention: Lois Lane. Clark barely had time to wonder what the hell she was doing here, but it was obvious she needed help and that's something he could do. Finding an unconscious Chloe with her he wasn't prepared for. And then the hospital was the most important place to get to.

Lois couldn't explain much. She'd gone to the dam to investigate a lead she'd found on Lex and ended up on the wrong side of a knife when one of the guards caught her sneaking around. When she came to, Chloe was there, unconscious, and Lois no longer had a stab wound in her stomach. Clark likes this less and less the more he listens. Shaken and unable to sit around and wait, she leaves him there to stay with Chloe while she goes off to find out what Lex did to them. Clark just tells her to be careful.

It's an hour or so later, and Clark still hasn't seen a nurse or anyone who knows anything about Chloe when the doctor arrives. Only she won't tell him anything because he's not family. Clark's had it, and barges in on the room Chloe was supposed to be in only to find one of the nurses he remembers stitching up someone else. She takes pity on him. Of a sort.

"She didn't make it. I'm sorry."

It's more than he can take. First Lana, now Chloe and he couldn't do a damn thing to help either of one them. Clark almost feels like he can't breathe as he stumbles down a hospital hallway and then the sound hits - any and all filters he can keep up against the onslaught of superhearing are gone and despite the pain, he just can't seem to care.

Until one particular sound makes its way through.

"Clark! Somebody help me! Help!"

He's at the morgue in a matter of seconds, and even with his hearing back under control, it isn't hard to figure out which drawer the baning and yelling is coming from. He rips off the door and pulls the drawer out.

Chloe's alive.

"Am I in a morgue? Why am I in a morgue?"

"You're alive. That's what matters now."

"But I wasn't alive, was I?"

No, she wasn't. But that's not important, as Clark continues to point out. She is now, and she needs to have someone look at her. Chloe thinks he's crazy and doesn't want to be a lab rat any more than he does, going so far as to take her own death certificate. Lana's happens to be underneath and once again, Clark's heart breaks when Chloe looks at him confused and shocked. But for the time being, they need to get out of there, and fast.

They make it back to the Talon easily enough, and once Chloe's had a chance to shower and change, they both decide denial is the order of the day. Because there's still a phantom on the loose, one that looks exactly like Clark, and two muddled heads are still better than one. It doesn't take them long to determine that somehow, the phantom was weakened, and that he seems to like green k a hell of a lot more than Clark does.

"So maybe he went to find more meteor rocks so he could recharge and finish the job he started."

"You know, Oliver's been tracking all of Lex's meteor shipments for his 33.1 experiments."

"Yeah, and it says here in these records that there were several containers transferred to Reeves Dam just a couple weeks ago."

Chloe isn't sure Clark can stop him on his own. Clark isn't sure, either. But there's someone he just might be able to ask for help.

While he still may be reeling from the revelations from both Lionel and the Martian - who Clark now knows is called J'onn - hearing that the last phantom is on the loose and killing people means it's time to get down to business. And there's only one place and one person he can turn to right now.

Clark brings Chloe up to speed as best he can and then it's time to get right down to work, setting Clark up on his own computer on the desk facing hers. They don't have time to waste so if Clark can help by putting what computer skill he does have to work, he'll do it.

There are several continuing truths in Clark Kent's life: Oliver Queen is a good guy to have on your side; Lana Lang brings out his protective side like almost no one else; Chloe Sullivan is the most stubborn person he's ever met; Lois Lane can't help but get herself into trouble.

And Lex Luthor is turning into a madman. Turns out Ollie was right when he said Lex was building an army. Clark just didn't realize he meant literally. Taking out a genetically enhanced super soldier wasn't easy and if it hadn't been for the blond billionaire's tip, Clark might not have been able to handle him. He's just getting increasingly frustrated with his lack of options; kill or be killed has never seen a strategy that worked for Clark, yet someone always seems to end up dead anyway.

But Lois is safe, Oliver and the boys are still taking the fight to 33.1, Chloe is still stubborn, Lana is still married to Lex and Lex, well, he's still up to something.

And Clark still isn't looking forward to finding out what's coming next.