DISCLAIMER: Liz, Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Kyle belong to Jason Katmis and UPN. Clark Kent, however, belongs to the WB and DC Comics. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. I don’t own them.

CATEGORY: Max/Liz, and Clark/Chloe.

RATING: PG-13

SPOILERS: Takes place immediately after ‘Ch-ch-changes’.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Much of what happens in this chapter was taken from the original story written by John Byrne. Just want you to know that I didn't think of these ideas myself.

In that single moment, Chloe Sullivan felt as if her entire world was about to end. Her best friend... The boy she was in love with... Lay there dying, and there wasn’t a thing she could do to save him.

“No...” she whispered. “No no nonononono! Clark?!”

Tears fell from her eyes as she held the lifeless body. The others gathered around, Jonathan and Martha kneeling beside her.

“Oh god...” Martha gasped, as she saw her son lying there.

Chloe looked up, towards Detective John Jones. Her eyes pleading with him.

“You,” she said in tears. “You know more about him than anyone. Help him.”

“I cannot...” he sighed.

Upon hearing this, Jonathan sprung forward and grabbed him by the collar.

“Bull, you can’t!” he yelled. “You couldn’t save the girl, so at least save my son... The person who saved her. You keep saying how you want to help us... Protect us? Well... DO IT!!!”

John’s eyes narrowed for a second, contemplating what to do. For a second, Jonathan thought he was going to attack him. Instead, he simply turned, and walked past Clark.

“Where are you going?!” Jonathan demanded.

“To save your son!” he answered, as he arrived at the hole in the ground. “Michael, that rock in the corner... Create a led container for it before it effects Clark even more.”

Then he jumped.

Mouths hanging open, Jonathan and Jim ran over to the hole and looked down. They saw Jones falling towards the bottom, but he was moving slowly. As if he had a parachute on.

“How do you like that?” Valenti asked.

*****

The flames had ceased. So, once John Jones reached the bottom of the cavern, he was free to search around.

Johnathan Kent had struck a nerve. He couldn’t possibly know, of course. Of how the flames made it impossible for him to even attempt to rescue Chloe. Even so, he had a point. He wasn’t going to let Clark die that way. Not like the others.

He couldn’t save them... He couldn’t save his own people... But he was going to save Clark.

At the bottom of the shaft were the remains of the UFO museum. The same one that he had spent so much time putting together... In hopes that it might serve his cause. Help him to better stand humanity. Now it was rubble.

The shape-shifter wasn’t about to let nostalgia overcome him, though. He had to find what he was looking for.

Finally, he saw it. A pile of rubble and ash that was once the largest display of extra-terrestrial artifacts outside the pentagon... Now destroyed. Desperately, he brushed the rubble aside, until he uncovered one sole object.

The device Clark had discovered earlier... The Eradicator.

It wasn’t destroyed. Not that he expected it to be. It would take no less than a super-nova to even put a dent in it, considering that it was made by materials thousands of years more advanced than anything found on Earth.

Clutching it under his arm, he went back under the hole and looked up. His body once again becoming immaterial, he started to float back up to the surface.

*****

“Mr. Kent?” he asked, once he reached the top once again. “Take this. Place it by your son. Whatever you do, do NOT try to activate it yourself. The slightest mistake could incinerate you.”

He handed Jonathan the Eradicator. He took it, nodding, then brought it over to Clark.

Liz looked at it curiously.

“What is that?” she asked, reaching for it.

“I wouldn’t!” Jonathan warned her. “Detective Jones says it’s dangerous.”

“It is called the Eradicator!” Jones informed them. “A device created on Clark’s own planet, it responds to the thoughts and presences of his own species. Any others it will destroy. Hence the name.”

“Right...” Michael added, handing him the led box, which now housed the meteor rock. “Explain to me again why we're trusting something called 'The Eradicator' to do anything besides eradicate us?”

“Though he may look like you, Clark’s body does not work the same way,” he continued. “It absorbs it’s nutrition from energy, and that energy is drained by exertion. He can be saved if the Eradicator restores that energy, but first his spirit must he brought back from the abyss. Max?”

Max looked at him in confusion.

“You must use your powers to restore him,” John explained. “This must be done within his unconscious, like what your sister does when she ‘dream walks’.”

“I can’t do that without her!” Max informs him.

“Yes you can, Max!” Liz argued. “Remember how you used Michael’s power when you rescued me? I think all of you have the same powers, but you just don’t know how to use them.”

“She is correct, Max!” John added. “I’ll use my telepathy to aid you...”

He touched Max’s forehead... And suddenly Max felt a wave of energy flow through him. It was similar to what happened when he connected with someone, only not as extreme. He couldn’t see inside John’s mind... Just felt thoughts that weren’t his own.

Suddenly, he knew how to ‘dream walk’. The knowledge went directly into his brain.

“I’m ready,” he said, as he stepped towards Clark.

However, before he reached him, a slender hand grabbed his wrist.

“So am I!” Liz added.

“Liz, don’t!” he warned her in a panic. “You don’t have to do this...”

“I can heal him too, Max,” she argued. “Like I did with that bird. Besides, you’ll have a better chance with two people healing him instead of one.”

“If something goes wrong, you could die!” Max responded, looking at her with complete sincerity.

“And if I don’t, he will die Max!” she said. “Ever since these powers first started up, I’ve felt scared. They’ve been a burden. But now... Now I have the chance to help someone. Let me have that chance, Max. It’s my risk to take.”

“Liz...” he attempted to argue, but she cut him off.

“If he does die, then you die too, remember?” Liz asked. “I won’t be able to live with myself if I let that happen.”

Max didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to... He gave her a look that said everything that needed to be.

Michael and Maria pulled Chloe and Martha away from Clark’s body. Jonathan placed the Eradicator at his feet, which began to glow a light blue.

Max and Liz kneeled down, right near his chest.

They clasped hands, letting a connection form between them.

If this doesn’t work... Max thought, ‘speaking’ to Liz through the connection.

I know Max, she responded. I love you too.

Then, with their free hands, they touched Clark’s chest. The three-way connection was created simultaneously, as the Eradicator began to glow even brighter.

Then everything went dark.

*****

Liz Parker was scared, that she knew for sure. Mainly of freezing to death. She was stuck in the largest blizzard she had ever seen, her bare arms going numb from the extreme cold. The snow crackling beneath her boots, she definitely knew she wasn’t in Roswell anymore.

Unless, of course, a new ice age had suddenly sprung up without her knowing.

Everything around her was ice and snow. No buildings, no people... Just an endless glacier of pure white, with more falling from the sky continuously.

“M-m-max!!!” she called out.

There was no answer. She wondered for a second if she really had died, and this coldness was what death felt like. She remembered feeling cold seconds before Max had extracted the bullet that was lodged in her at the Crashdown, but her memory didn’t contain any snow.

Without any warning, a warm hand clutched her own. She opened her mouth to scream, but stopped when she realized it was Max who held her hand.

“Max?” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. “Oh, thank god! Where are we?”

They stepped forward, still clutching hands.

“I think... We’re in Clark’s subconscious,” Max told her. “This is what it felt like whenever Isabel took me dream walking. You won’t feel cold if you can convince yourself that it isn’t real.”

Liz nodded, then suddenly felt feeling returning to her arms.

“Hey, you’re right...” She said. “So, this is Clark’s dream?”

“I guess so,” he replied.

“No,” Liz said, shaking her head. “I think it’s more of a subconscious thing. Like in the movie ‘The Cell’... This is Clark Kent’s inner mind.”

“Why snow?” Max asked.

“I don’t know,” a voice called out. “I’ve just always liked it, I guess.”

Turning towards the sound of the voice, Max and Liz noticed the silhouette of someone standing in the distance. They walked towards him and, sure enough, it was Clark.

“I always thought it was peaceful, you know?” Clark told them. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking... Farm boy that loves winter? But I can’t help it... The coldness and wind just speaks to me. Quiet, serene... Absolute solitude. My own personal fortress.”

“Clark?” Max asked. “You have to come back with us. People are worried about you.”

Clark shook his head.

“I can’t Max. Not yet...” He argued. “Someone’s calling me.”

The three of them turn to the side, as they see a small cave a few feet away. There was a faint blue light glowing inside.

“That cave wasn’t there earlier,” Liz mentioned.

Nevertheless, Clark walked towards it. Max and Liz followed, trying to lure him back.

“We have to get back!” Max warned him. “The longer we stay here, the less chance there is of any of us surviving.”

Clark doesn’t answer. Instead, he continues into the cave. Max and Liz steal a quick look at each other, and follow him inside.

There, they receive a shock... As they encounter giant walls of ice that seem to reach the heavens themselves. The room expands, obviously wider than the cave. In the center is a grand staircase, with the bright blue glow emanating from the top.

“This is impossible,” Max said aloud. “You couldn’t fit all this in a cave this small.”

“This is Clark’s subconscious, Max!” Liz reminded him. “The laws of physics don’t necessarily apply here.”

Without another word, the three of them ascend the stairs, until they reach the top. Once there, they notice the source of the light. It’s the Eradicator, suspended in midair by some unseen force.

“Who are you?” Clark asked. “Please... Tell me what you...”

As if answering, the light of the Eradicator began to glow ever brighter, until the three of them were practically blinded.

When the light faded, the Eradicator had vanished. In its place stood a man... The exact same man that Clark had seen in the window at the UFO center. He was translucent, sort of like a hologram.

Then, he spoke...

“My son...”

Clark’s heart skipped a beat.

“You’re my... Father?” he asked.

The hologram simply nodded his head.

“Who are you?” Clark asked, his eyes pleading for an answer. “Who am I?”

“Your name is Kal-El, from the house of El,” it told him. “You come from a planet called Krypton, a world similar to Earth in many ways. Yet, in just as many ways it is far different. At this point, you have undoubtedly discovered that you have abilities far different than any possessed by a normal human being... Perhaps you even have asked yourself why you were sent there. To give you the answers you seek, I have sent this pre-recorded message to Earth in hope that you will seek it out. You must know what became of us...”

With a wave of his hand, the landscape surrounding Clark, Max, and Liz suddenly shifted, becoming the open vacuum of outer space. Instinctively, Max grabbed onto Liz’s arm, gripping tight so they wouldn’t be separated.

“Max, slow down...” She reassured him. “This isn’t real, either. I think the Eradicator is a type of VR program. This is just a very realistic illusion put directly into our brains.”

“Right,” Max said, taking a breath. “An illusion.”

The hologram lowered his hand, motioning towards a planet that slowly faded into view below them.

“Behold, Kal-El...” he announced. “...Krypton.”

Clark looked at the world below, completely awestruck. His biological father here wasn’t kidding when he said it was ‘similar’ to earth. It was bathed in a sea of green and blue. Water and land, looking so much like he had seen in those pictures that had been taken from space.

He paused a moment to appreciate the view. To know that what seemed so far off and tiny from above was actually the place where he was born. That it housed billions of people, each with their own thoughts and dreams.

It took his breath away.

Max, however, noticed a huge difference to earth. Instead of rotating around a bright yellow sun, Krypton’s was red.

“Liz?” he asked his companion. “Is that a red giant?”

She examined it, then shook her head.

“I don’t think so,” she answered. “The size is all wrong.”

Before either of them could put any more thought into it, the scene shifted once again... As their surroundings began to evaporate.

When things returned to normal, they were on solid ground once again... But in a place unlike any they had ever seen. They were on the surface of the planet Krypton.

*****

The only comparison Liz could come up with for Krypton was in one of those old ‘Flash Gordon’ movie serials. Buildings that were stories high, but not skyscrapers like in New York... As they were made of metals not concrete. The oval-shaped ‘cars’ flew through the air, each one carrying a single person inside. Large insect-like robots wandered the ground, performing repairs to various machines here and there. Neither the vehicles nor the robots seemed to produce any fuel emissions.

There were no clouds in the sky. Not a single one. No smog either. It was like a scientist’s dream come true.

“This is incredible...” She whispered. “I mean...”

Then she noticed Clark’s father walking towards one of the buildings. Her and Max quickly followed, and they moved through the wall, arriving inside.

“Observe...” The hologram said, then faded away.

“Wait!” Clark pleaded, trying to stop him. It was no use... It was already gone.

“Clark?” Max asked, pointing towards a man walking through the room. “Look over there!”

Sure enough, the man was the same one who had claimed to be Clark’s father. Only, this time, he wasn’t a hologram. He was as real as they were.

“He can’t see us, can he?” Clark asked out loud. “We’re like Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol’, right?”

Neither of them answers, for their eyes are fixed on the surroundings. The room was a giant laboratory, with millions upon millions of electronic devices lacing the walls. Even Liz couldn’t even begin to say what half of them were for. They were so far advanced from Earth technology that it made her seem like a caveman.

Suddenly, a panel in the wall slid open, letting one of the robots from outside wander in.

“Jor-El?” It said, referring to Clark’s father. “Your guests have arrived. Two of them possess plasma-based weapons. All three are cloaked in the experimental item # 16754.”

“Send them in, Kelex,” Jor-El answered, and grabbed what looked like a palm-sized remote off of a table. He flicked three switches on it, and a larger panel opened in the wall.

The first newcomer was the most impressive, to say the least. He looked like a man in his fifties, with a furrowed brow, and dark piercing eyes. He was dressed in silk and gold... He must have been royalty of some kind.

The other two were different... More military-like. Honor guards of some kind. Liz couldn’t help but notice something... Familiar about them.

“So, how are the suits?” Jor-El asked. “As you can see, with the DNA of a native species injected into the formation matrix, they manage to emulate the physical structures almost perfectly.”

“How do you get them off?” one of the guards asked.

“Right now there’s a release valve in the bottom area near the back,” he explained. “Though, with time I might be able to remove them mentally.”

“Why can’t we just use our normal environment suits?” the other guard asked.

“We need to test these out first, that’s why!” the older one told him. “With these suits, we could observe another culture without them being any wiser.”

“Whatever, Zan!” he replied.

Upon hearing this, Max and Liz’s eyes went wide.

“Max, thats you!” she said, pointing at the oldest one. “It’s you... From before you died the first time.”

“That’s impossible,” he stated. “He... I... Look human.”

“Or Kryptonian,” she corrected him. “Jor-El said they’re wearing some kind of suits. Like the ones the skins used. The one on your left is probably Michael. I’d recognize that attitude anywhere.”

The third one examined his hands closely, looking for something.

“What kind of weapons do these S.K.I.N suits have?” he asked matter-of-factly.

“Really, K’Var?” Zan spoke, slightly annoyed. “Can you put your war-monger tendencies on hold for a little while?”

“It’s all organize tissue... No mechanical devices,” Jor-El explained. “However, you should have access to that particular species’ natural advantages. For example, right now your body is absorbing energy from our sun, and converting it into nutrition. You won’t have to consume any food until you remove it.”

“Not what I would call an advantage, Jor-El!” K’Var mumbled, then headed towards where he came in.

Zan quickly turned towards his other companion.

“Rath, follow him!” he commanded. “Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Rath nodded, and then followed K’Var out the door.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Jor-El said once the two of them were gone. “Isn’t that true, old friend?”

“You have no idea,” he replied. “You Kryptonians are lucky. You’re ruled by science, not a monarch.”

“In my opinion, I don’t see it as such an advantage,” Jor-El said with a smile.

He then turned towards a circle in the floor and outstretched his hands. Instantly, a holographic control panel materialized, on which he started to type out formulas and calculations.

“We’ve conquered every square inch of our planet,” he explained as he continued to type. “There are no earthquakes, no floods, no eruptions. Every dangerous beast is either tamed or extinct. It doesn’t even rain unless we wish it to.”

Zan walked up behind him.

“Your tone tells me you’re unhappy about it?” he asked. “Why?”

“I’m a man who likes a challenge, your highness,” he said, as he turned to face him. “On Krypton, there are no challenges left. That’s why I suggested we take your contract. Maybe I could find the excitement I seek some place else? Here... I want to show you something.”

He types some more keys, which caused the keypads to evaporate. In their place, a hologram of a planet formed, spinning on an access.

“Krypton?” Zan asked.

Jor-El smiled, and shook his head.

“No, as hard as it is to believe, it’s not,” he informed his guest. “This planet is light-years away... So far I’ve only been able to send probes. The natives call it Earth.”

“Not very imaginative, are they?” Zan asked.

“From my scans, it is almost identical to Krypton,” he continued. “The dominant life forms look like Kryptonians. It’s wild... Untamed. Just like Krypton was millions of years before. The people display emotion freely, without being looked down upon.”

“Why don’t you go there?” Zan asked.

“If only I could..." Jor-El sighed, shutting off the hologram. “Earth orbits a yellow sun. Unlike an Antarian, the skin suits won’t work the same way for a Kryptonian. We need a solid supply of energy to keep us functioning. We have no way of knowing how yellow solar radiation would affect us. But I promise you... I will look into it.”

“Joe-El?” a female voice called behind them.

Jor-El and Zan looked behind them at the woman who had just entered the room. She was dressed almost exactly like Jor-El was, all but her face hidden behind the green and black suit. Jor-El stood transfixed.

“Lady Lara?” he greeted her. “Um... This is king Zan, from Antar.”

Lara nodded her head, silently greeting him.

“I take it you are wearing one of the skin suits?” she asked Zan. “Remarkable, aren’t they? Jor-El is a genius without equal.”

Jor-El smiled at her.

“Don’t be so modest, Lara,” he said. “Without your input concerning the DNA matrix, I never would have completed them by this point.”

“Fair enough,” she admitted. “Both Rath and K’Var wish to see the town square. Should I...?”

“Yes, yes, let them,” Jor-El agreed.

With that, she left. Jor-El stood there with a dreamy smile on his face.

“You like Lara, don’t you?” Zan asked. “Does she know?”

“It would make no difference if she did,” Jor-El sighed. “Our culture had long ago abandoned physical relationships between men and women.”

“What about children?” he asked.

“Scientifically created in the matrix chambers by combining DNA,” he explained. “Notions like passion and love are considered outdated. One of the reasons I envy you, Zan. You’re allowed to spend your life with someone you love.”

Zan chuckled.

“I’d hardly call my relationship with Ava ‘love’,” he admitted. “We were married because of royal decree.”

“Was there someone else you would have preferred?” Jor-El asked him.

“No, not really!” Zan replied, shaking his head. “Have you ever felt that you didn’t belong somewhere? That your true destiny lies elsewhere?”

Jor-El smiled.

“More often than you could imagine,” he answered. “I find myself looking through the history books, wondering what it would have been like to have lived during the great battles. As a boy, I fantasized about being Nightwing. Going from city to city, righting wrong. Yet, I was born in an age with no wrong left to right!”

He turned back towards the console, where the image of Earth had been a few moments earlier.

“Maybe something...” He mused. “For now, however, we need to get you to the science council. They’ll want to know our progress...”

As they began to walk away, the scene suddenly dissolved before their eyes once again.

“What’s happening?” Clark asked.

“I think it’s some sort of time lapse, maybe?” Liz suggested. “So you can see something more important.”

*****

Liz was correct, of course. When the world materialized once again, Jor-El was back in his lab. On the holographic view screen, where the image of the earth was before, was now two large balls of energy. One red, one yellow.

“Computer!” Jor-El commanded out loud. “Take in observations. Using the energy scans my solar probes have taken of the earth’s star, I’ve begun analyzing it in contrast to our own sun.”

He looked over some readouts that materialized on a hand-held computer.

“From what I’ve gathered, the radiation from yellow-spectrum sunlight isn’t toxic,” he concluded. “However, it is much different than the energy that radiates from a red-spectrum sun. If Krypton was under a yellow sun, its heat would probably melt the polar icecaps. I can only assume that the planet earth has a much ticker atmosphere to screen out the extra energy input. Still no hypothesis on how the additional energy would affect our bodies...”

Just then, he heard a rumbling noise, as the ground shook beneath his feet.

“What was that?” he asked out loud. “Kelex? Was that an quake?”

The insect-like lab assistant rushed to his side.

“That would not be possible, master,” Kelex answered. “The counsel’s generators prevent Krypton’s tectonic plates from shifting. Also, you have a tele-message from the planet Antar.”

“Hmm... I wonder what caused...” he started to say, but then quickly forgot. “Antar? What is it?”

“It is from the king!” Kelex responded. “A distress signal!”

“Quickly, alert the council!” he commanded, grabbing a remote control off a table.

“I already have!” the robot informed him. “They have decided not to involve themselves if it does not concern Krypton.”

“Damn them and their...” he cursed. “Then get my ship ready. I’m going to Antar myself!”

“Warning! Traveling off-planet without the proper considerations...” Kelex tried to warn his master.

Jor-El wasn’t listening.

“Just do it!” he ordered.

*****

Max didn’t even have time to react. In as short of time as it took him to blink, he was on Antar... Seeing his home planet for the first time. It reminded him of Roswell a little, with an endless sea of sand. Although, he reminded himself, this was probably just the one corner of the planet. There were jungles, oceans, and cities out there somewhere.

Right now, though, they were in the middle of a war zone. Weapons were being fired left and right, by creatures he had never seen before.

Correction, he had seen one before. When Nasedo died... These were his own people.

The war had begun.

“I have to stop this!” he said out loud. But before he could do anything, Liz grabbed his arm.

“This already happened, Max!” she reminded him. “There’s nothing you can do for these people now. But you can find out what happened to you. Finally.”

Max nodded, as they ran towards the palace. By the doorway was Jor-El, attempting to sneak in unnoticed.

As a precaution, he pressed a switch on his remote. Metal reformed in his hand, until it resembled a gun.

One of the Antarians saw him, and pointed their weapon at him. He spoke a warning in a language that neither Max nor Liz understood.

Luckily, Jor-El was quicker. A blast of orange energy shot from the gun, knocking the Antarian to the ground.

“Be glad it was set to stun,” he commented, and then ran inside the palace. “ZAN!?!”

He ran down the corridors, towards the throne room.

*****

Inside the throne room, king Zan paced back and forth. Without the skin suit, he looked very similar to the rest on the Antarians.

“Where are they, Ava?” he asked his companion. “Rath was supposed to report our status. These rebels...”

“Are easily stopped!” she informed him. “If you weren’t afraid to do what’s necessary.”

“These are my people!” he responded. “There has to be a way to reason with them other than wholesale slaughter.”

“I should have known!” Ava snapped. “You know what your problem is, Zan? You’re weak. You refuse to do what’s expected.”

“You mean I’m not a warlord like K’Var?” Zan retorted, turning his back to her.

Silently, she picked a spear off a nearby wall.

“No, you’re not like him...” She said.

Then plunged the spear right through his back, puncturing his heart.

“...Unfortunately!”

At that precise moment, Jor-El burst into the room. He watched in horror as he friend fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the wound.

Grinding his teeth in rage, he changed the setting on his weapon.

“Who are...?” Ava started to ask, as Jor-El pointed the weapon at her.

“MURDERER!!!”

Without warning, a beam of white-hot energy erupted from the gun. It punctured the alien’s body. She screamed in pain, then fell beside Zan.

Gasping in surprise at what he’d done, Jor-El fell to his knees. His gun reverted to its original appearance.

“Great Rao...!” he cursed. “What have I done?”

He was silent for a moment, until he beard labored breathing coming from one of the bodies.

“Jor-El...?” a week voice called to him.

“Zan?” he questioned, and ran over to the fallen king. “Hold still... I might be able to...”

“No time...” Zan whispered. “Don’t worry about... Me. Scientists have an emergency plan... In case of... Death. Save... Yourself...”

Zan’s eyes shut, and his head fell back. He was dead.

“Computer... Cloak!” he commanded out loud.

Within seconds, a wave of energy moved over him. Then he vanished from sight.

*****

“I just saw myself die...” Max said over and over again. Liz held his hand tightly, while the throne room vanished.

“It’s ok, Max...” she tried to console him. “It’s the past, remember? It already happened.”

It didn’t make any difference. Max was in shock, she knew.

“Ava was Tess...” He stated. “Tess killed me. Just like Alex. She killed me...”

It wasn’t as if Clark could help out. He was almost in a trance, watching the scene around them.

“Max, look?” she said, as the room started to form again. It was a dark room, with curved walls. Along the sides were people, dressed exactly like Jor-El and Lara were, sitting at tall podiums.

In the center of the room was Jor-El.

“We are disappointed in you, Jor-El of the house of El!” one of the surrounding Krypotnians told him. “You have defied scientific procedure and executed one of Antar’s ruling class.”

“Ava had just murdered her husband, the king!” Jor-El informed them. “It was Just.”

“Nevertheless, the act should have been left to the native authorities,” another told him. “As of now, our relationship with Antar is dissolved. That is the counsel’s decision.”

“I understand!” he responded, then turned to leave.

As he left, another quake hit... Stronger than the one before.

*****

The three teenagers watch as the years pass by in seconds. Machines keep Jor-El young as the years go on. Forty years pass by, as he toils away.

“Take in observations...” he told the computer. “The first plague... First sickness... In over three hundred years has stricken us. The mysterious ‘green death’ replaces the solar energy in our cells, poisoning us. At first we get weak... Becoming weaker until death. The only physical sign of the green death is a emerald hue appearing on the victim’s skin.”

He turned towards his other experiment.

“I’ve found that yellow-filtered sunlight drains the green poison out, unlike the normal red-hued kind,” he continued. “A bizarre side-effect is instantaneous healing of other wounds. Cuts and bruises vanish as if they were never there. However, I’m convinced that the green death has something to do with the unexplained quakes that have hit us the past few decades.”

As if on cue, another quake hits. The laboratory shook, causing Jor-El to fall.

“Status report!” he asked.

Kelex hovered into to the room.

“The largest one yet, master!” the robot informed him.

“Send another probe!” he told him.

*****

More time passed, as Jor-El made test after test on the information he received. One day, he saw something that gave him the answer he seeked.

“Great Rao...” He whispered.

*****

“What’s wrong?” Clark asked. “What did he see?”

Neither Max nor Liz said a thing. They simply continued to watch as they found themselves once again they found themselves in the counsel’s room.

“Jor-El?” the counsel leader asked. “Why did you call this meeting.”

“I’ve discovered the cause behind the green death plague,” he sighed. “And the quakes that have plagued us for years.”

“The plague is caused by tectonic shift?” a female member asked.

“No, and neither are the quakes...” He explained. “My scans have shown me that the plague is caused by radiation being absorbed into our bodies through the same photosynthesis that sunlight is. I’ve found that very same radiation under Krypton’s crust.”

“That’s preposterous!” another council member stated. “We would have found it sooner...”

“Except we stopped looking!” Jor-El reminded them. “All the chemicals... The artificial ingredients we added underground to improve the soil did something we didn’t expect. Heated by the molten core, all the various elements under our feet have fused into one. A radioactive element. That’s what’s killing us. And it’s getting worse!”

“Worse?” the leader asked. “We’re dying, Jor-El. How could it be worse?”

“Prepare yourself...” he said, taking a deep breath. “This radioactive element is getting stronger. That’s why this plague hasn’t appeared until now... Because it wasn’t yet strong enough. It’s slowly reaching critical mass, causing these quakes to get stronger, and stronger, until...”

He closed his eyes.

“Until a final eruption annihilates Krypton!”

“Don’t be naive, Jor-El!” the council leader stated. “We’ve had complete control of our planet for thousands of years! Your scans must be wrong!”

“I swear to you...” He said. “A year, a month... Maybe even a few days from now, Krypton will explode. If we don’t do something soon, we are all dead men!”

The entire council broke into laughter.

“You’re mad!” he exclaimed. “You’re all mad! We’re all doomed, and you see it as a joke?”

“That will be enough, Jor-El!” one of the counsel members ordered.

He simply stared at them for a moment. Then, he whispered...

“We’re going to die, and you’re all too blind to see it!”

“THAT WILL BE ENOUGH!!!!” the leader screamed. “We will hear no more of this ranting!”

“As you wish!” he muttered, then he turned around and left.

As he exited the counsel chambers, the ground started to shake once again.

*****

“Kelex?!” Jor-El hollered as he burst into his lab. “Contact Lara and tell her to meet me in my lab. I want the matrix chamber sent here immediately.”

“But Jor-El...” Kelex responded. “It has not yet reached full term. Think of the risk...”

“I know the risks, and accept them!” he responded. “There’s no time left... I must get to work.”

He activated his holographic projector displaying the two suns.

“One last experiment...” he continued. “Oh, and Kelex... I’ll need some raw materials. The strongest you can acquire.”

*****

Much later.

Lara ran into Jor-El’s laboratory as quickly as she could. The quakes were happening almost continually now.

“Jor-El?!” she called out for him. “I came as quickly as I received your summons. The world has gone mad. Have you...”

Then she saw it. Jor-El stood in the center of his laboratory... With an infant child cradled in his arms.

“Jor-El?” she gasped. “What have you done? Is that...?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “This is Kal-El... our son.”

“He was not to be removed until the first stage of maturity!” she reminded him. “You removed the matrix from the gestation chamber without consulting me? Are you as mad as the counsel says you are?”

Kal-El cried, causing Jor-El to hand him to Lara.

“I take it you’ve heard the news?” he asked. “Here... I think he wants his mother.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that nonsense?” she asked. “Surely, you made some mistake...”

“I checked and double-checked, Lara... Every result is the same!” he assured her. “You’ve seen the evidence yourself. Feel the quakes. Krypton is doomed.”

She stared at Jor-El completely horrified.

“But... But...” she stuttered. “How can this be. We have been complete masters of our world for generations. We know every rock, every tree, and every animal. It does not rain unless WE wish it to...”

He looked at her grimly. Lara then knew he was telling the truth. In shock, she sat down in a chair.

“No...” She whispered. “Is there any way to save us?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Jor-El responded. “But there might be a way to save our son.”

Lara stood back up, not understanding.

“How?” she asked. “If Krypton will truly be destroyed, how can he possibly survive?”

With one quick motion, he turned on the holo-screen. The hologram of planet Earth appeared once more.

“This planet here... Earth.” he explained. “I’ve been studying it for a long time, in hopes of exploring it someday. It is almost identical to Krypton, only less advanced. The people even resemble Kryptonians. Here... I’ll show you.”

With the flick of another switch, the image went closer... Until it could make out a patch of farmland.

“It looks so... Primitive." Lara noticed. “Like a history book.”

Then a farmer came into view. He was bailing hay, shirtless, with beads of sweat trailing down his forehead.

“AHHHHHHH!” Lara screamed, covering her eyes. “That... That savage! Did you see him, Jor-El? He lets his bare flesh touch unprocessed air? What kind of horrors do you want to send Kal-El into unprotected?”

“To us they may seem horrors, but not to him!” he corrected her. “And he will not be unprotected.”

The screen transformed back into the twin suns, as the larger yellow one moved to the forefront.

“For, you see, Earth orbits a yellow star!” he explained. “I’ve made studies, and found that it radiates energy a thousand times more potent than our own red sun? Under the light of this star, a Kryptonian’s cells would become living solar batteries. Kal-El will be faster, stronger, and more powerful than any living being on the planet. His skin will be indestructible, so that not even the most powerful weapon will be able to pierce it. In time, even gravity will not be able to hold him!”

“Then... Then he will teach them?” she asked. “Kal-El will instruct them in the proper Kryptonian ways?”

Jor-El shut off the view screen.

“Are our ways really so ‘proper’ Lara?” He asked her. “How have we paid for our ‘control’ over our planet? With sterility. We no longer possess the passion we once did... And it’s cost us our lives.”

Suddenly, a small spaceship rose from the ground, as the roof opened up.

“I refuse to let our son share that same fate!” he whispered. “I’m sending the Eradicator with him, so that one day me might learn of us.”

The room shook again. Lara held her baby close.

“Lara... Please...” Jor-El pleaded, asking her to hand him the child. “There’s no time left.”

Reluctantly, she handed Kal-El to his father. He gazed at him for an instant, before placing him inside the ship.

The ship closed immediately, sealing the child inside.

“Goodbye... My son.” he said, as the rocket blasted through the roof towards an unknown fate.

Outside, geysers of green radiation burst through the planet’s crust, causing people to run in panic. Buildings start to topple, as the ground shakes more than ever.

Back inside, Lara slowly took Jor-El’s hand.

“Then this is the end?” she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

He nodded his head sadly.

“If I am to die, I thank Rao it is with you...” He told her.

“Jor-El?”

He looked at her, beginning to cry himself.

“Since the moment I met you...” He said. “Since the moment they told me you were to be my mate, I’ve felt an emotion that no one has had for thousands of years. If this is truly the end, I will be happy to die here, with you...”

He moved closer.

“...For I have always loved you!”

Then they kiss. For the first, and last, time.

*****

Clark, Max, and Liz could only watch in horror as the small ship sped away with unbelievable speed. Around it, the planet trembled and shook.

Until, just as the ship holding the infant Kal-El escaped the atmosphere, Krypton exploded!

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Clark screamed at the top of his lungs, as he saw his home planet evaporate before his eyes. He collapsed to his knees in shock.

“All those people...?” Max whispered. “They’re gone?”

Liz held him, as Clark just sat there... Still in shock.

“And so it ends...” Jor-El’s ghostly voice called out across the vastness of space. “Every hope, every dream... Every one of our people perished in that final, deadly explosion. All except one.”

The hologram of Jor-El reappeared once again, placing his hand on Clark’s shoulder.

“I know it will seem difficult for you, despite your great powers” He said. “Some people will fear you... Others might even try to destroy you. But I ask you, please be patient with them. These Earthlings are capable of great evil, true. But also tremendous good. Live among them, my son... So you may find where your destiny truly lies.”

Clark looked up at him, pleadingly.

“Father...?”

“Learn!” Jor-El said, as he plunged his ghostly hand right into Clark’s forehead.

“Agh!” he screamed, as light began pouring out of his eyes.

“Wait!” Max ordered, rushing forward. However, the energy pushed him back.

*****

Back in reality, Max and Liz were thrown back as the connection was broken. The Eradicator continued to pour energy into Clark’s body at an accelerated rate.

Only this time, he wasn’t unconscious. He was alive... And in pain.

“What’s going on?” Chloe asked. “What’s that thing doing to him?”

No one gave any answer. No one truly knew, not even Clark.

Clark himself felt dozens of invisible needles piercing his skin, and his mind began to be filled with information. Thoughts and images so alien that he couldn’t explain them to someone if he tried. Slowly, painfully, he felt his humanity slipping away.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Jonathan ordered, picking up the pipe that Chloe had dropped earlier. Without thinking, he ran up to the Eradicator and struck it with all his might.

The second the pipe connected, it exploded. Jonathan was thrown backwards, falling to the ground. The Eradicator’s glow faded, and it hit the ground.

Suddenly, Clark’s mind became clear again. He remembered what had happened. The meteor rock almost killed him, but this... This thing that he found brought him back. He remembered everything... Jor-El, Krypton... Everything!

“Dad?” he asked, shaking his head. “Mom... Dad? Chloe?”

“Clark!” Chloe exclaimed, and threw her arms around him. “Thank God... I thought you were...”

“I know...” He whispered. Chloe felt him shivering, holding her close.

Meanwhile, Max ran over to Jonathan.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Nah...” Jonathan responded. “That pipe’s seen better days, though. That didn’t take long. You only took seconds.”

“Seconds?” Max asked, surprisingly. “It felt like we were in there for hours.”

Just then, a pair of police cars arrived on the scene. Sheriff Hanson stepped out of one and walked over to the group.

“Good lord!” he exclaimed. “What happened here?”

“Arson!” Valenti told him, as he stepped forward. “I barely got these kids out in time.”

Hanson looked him over.

“Don’t mind me saying, Jim, but you look like hell!” he said. “Can you come down to the station and give a statement?”

Valenti paused for a moment. Until...

Go, John’s voice called in his head. I will protect them for you. Meet us back at the Crashdown.

Valenti looked over his shoulder towards John Jones. Uneasily, he nodded, and followed Hanson towards the vehicles.

At the same time, the others walked past them, towards the Crashdown café.

“Michael?” Max asked under his breath. “You’re not going to believe me, but I saw our pasts while I was healing Clark. I saw myself die!”

Michael looked at him wide-eyed.

“Max, that’s...”

“Shh... Quiet!” he warned his friend. “That’s not all. Tess killed me. She’s the one who betrayed us, not Isabel!”

Michael clenched his fist in anger.

“And we fell for it!” he muttered. “So, what do we do now?”

“Simple...”

The two of them turn around towards Clark, who was leaning on Chloe for support. Slowly, he let her go, standing up under his own power.

“...We stop them!”

TO BE CONTINUED...

NEXT: Liz uncovers the secrets of the meteor rocks. Clark tells his dad about what he learned from the Eradicator. John Jones reveals his true form. Meanwhile, Kyle must make a dangerous choice that can save them all…but will the price be higher than he’s willing to make?