Chapter Summaries

Jino used the underworld’s Cleaners website to post a fifty-thousand-dollar mission to steal a necklace, then explored the forum while waiting for someone to accept it. In Metropolis, Deathstroke dismissed the bounty as too small, and the chapter ended by revealing his identity as Lex.

• Lex returned to the estate, learned Jino had won their bet because the Kent family kept the car, and gave Jino the Cleaners website as his reward.
• Jino posted a fifty-thousand-dollar theft mission targeting a necklace and paid the fee through his family’s bank.
• Jino browsed the Cleaners forum and read its varied and often disturbing bounties and comments.
• In a Metropolis hotel, Wintergreen noticed Jino’s necklace mission and asked Slade Wilson to take it, but Slade called the payout too small.
• Slade said he had been killing people in the military at sixteen, and the narration identified him as Deathstroke.

Talia al Ghul demanded her first mission from her father, Ra's al Ghul, the League of Assassins' leader, and he told her to choose one from the underground website. She selected a job involving a necklace in Smallville, determined to prove herself and eventually claim leadership of the League.

• Talia finished her morning training routine and went to meet Ra's al Ghul in the seaside cave where he received her.
• Talia told Ra's she was ready for her first mission, but he casually instructed her to choose one from the underground website as her graduation assignment.
• Talia left in anger, returned to her room, and slashed at the furniture while swearing she would someday take control of the League of Assassins.
• Talia searched the mission listings and chose a job to take a gemstone necklace from Lana Lang, a first-year student at Smallville High School, and leave it beneath a locust tree in the town cemetery.

Jino encountered the resentful, insect-obsessed Gerry Ted at the town market, then discussed LuthorCorp’s losses with Lex. That night, Lana opened a box of butterflies while Gerry watched her through a camera from a nearby tree.

• Jino, Chloe, and Little Black Pete visited the Saturday market, where Jino saw the Kents selling vegetables and learned an assassin had set out.
• A strange young man brushed past Jino with a hostile look, and Chloe and Little Black Pete identified him as Gerry Ted, a withdrawn boy who liked insects.
• Jino returned to the castle and teased Lex about LuthorCorp’s twenty percent loss, while Lex said he did not want to lay off longtime employees.
• Lana returned to her bedroom and opened a box of butterflies that flew around the room.
• Gerry watched Lana from a nearby tree and photographed her through her bedroom window.

Talia infiltrated Lana’s villa, stole the glowing green necklace for her employer, and secretly buried it at the cemetery to see who would retrieve it. She watched Butler arrive carrying a lead box and wondered whether he was the employer.

• Gerry secretly watched Lana through her window until Talia shot him with a tranquilizer dart.
• Talia slipped into Lana’s villa, found the glowing green necklace in a bedside table, and took it while Lana slept.
• Talia buried the necklace beneath the third large locust tree at the town cemetery and notified her employer that the item had been delivered.
• Talia hid nearby and watched Butler arrive at the cemetery carrying a lead box.

Jino discovered Talia al Ghul hiding outside his room and smashed through the concrete wall to confront her. Talia realized she could not overpower him and launched an attack, leaving her escape attempt underway.

• The Old Butler brought Jino a Kryptonite necklace, and Jino handled it before noticing someone hiding beyond his wall.
• Jino listened for the intruder, taunted her with lines from fairy tales, then punched and tore through the concrete wall.
• Jino startled Talia al Ghul, who screamed as he broke through and greeted her mockingly.
• Talia judged Jino too strong to fight and drew two daggers, then lunged at his throat and heart.
• Talia leapt above Jino and called him an idiot as she began her attack.

Talia escaped from Jino’s castle, but Jino pursued her into the forest and caught her with a powerful blow. He left her badly injured and confronted her beneath the moonlight.

• Talia leapt from the castle and fled toward the forest using the League of Assassins' secret technique.
• Lex arrived and offered to handle the assassin, but Jino refused and jumped from the balcony to pursue her himself.
• Jino landed hard enough to crater the ground, then raced after Talia as the manor’s servants watched.
• Talia wondered about the strange stone and the Luthor Family’s powerful young master while she ran through the forest.
• Jino seized Talia by the neck, hurled her into a tree, and taunted her as she struggled to rise.

Jino defeated Talia’s attempts to escape and fight him, then watched as she tried to seduce him. The chapter ended with Talia promising to show him what else she could do, while both concealed their intentions.

• Talia used a Recovery Potion and attacked Jino with a grappling hook, but he caught it and hurled her into a tree.
• Jino seized Talia by the throat and harvested points from her as she struggled against him.
• Talia remembered Ra's al Ghul and chose to use seduction to try to survive.
• Jino released Talia and invited her to continue her performance, then mocked her technique.
• Talia pinned Jino against a tree with her leg and leaned close, promising to show him many things she could do.

Talia tried to kill Jino with a Promethium hairpin, but he revealed that he was unharmed and easily defeated her. As Jino approached her, Talia begged for her life and offered to serve him.

• Talia kissed Jino to distract him, then stabbed at his eye with her Promethium hairpin.
• Jino pretended to be injured, and Talia demanded to know why he wanted the stone before he revealed that his eye was unharmed.
• Jino mocked Talia, then slapped her aside when she charged at him in rage.
• Talia feared Jino would kill her and offered to serve him, identifying herself as Ra's al Ghul's daughter and the League of Assassins' next successor.
• Jino stopped and asked Talia what she meant by serving him.

Jino forced Talia to submit by taking compromising photographs and threatening to expose them, giving him leverage over the League of Assassins. He returned to the castle at dawn, where he thanked Lex for waiting for him.

• Jino realized Talia's connection to the League of Assassins could help him find supervillains and demanded leverage to secure her obedience.
• Jino made Talia pose for compromising photographs and threatened to spread them if she did not serve him.
• Talia agreed to work for Jino, despite her anger and her ambition to lead the League of Assassins.
• Jino returned to the castle at dawn and found Lex waiting for him outside the gates.
• Jino and Lex went inside, and Jino thanked his brother for waiting while Lex reassured him that they were family.

Gerry woke in the woods without his camera, then his mother confronted him over secretly filming Lana and threatened to send him to training school and get rid of his insects. After an accident freed the glowing insects in his car, Jino woke to visitors and agreed to go insect hunting with his classmates so he could find out why Clark was unhappy.

• Gerry woke in the woods, failed to find his camera, and hurried home to avoid his mother's anger.
• Gerry's mother confronted him with a tape of Lana and said she would send him to training school and remove the insects from his room.
• Gerry drove away with jars of insects, but one shattered during a sharp turn and the insects swarmed him, causing his Beetle to crash into an embankment.
• Jino woke at the castle and learned that Clark, Chloe, and Little Black Pete were waiting to invite him insect hunting for their biology homework.
• Jino agreed to join the group because he wanted to investigate why Clark seemed unhappy.

After Jonathan revealed that Clark was an alien, Jino urged him to focus on the person he chose to become. The two found evidence that Lana had been secretly photographed, and Clark learned that she had broken up with Whitney.

• Clark asked Jino if he was an alien too, and Jino told him that his origins mattered less than the person he chose to become.
• Jino found a camera hidden beneath maple leaves and showed Clark its photos of Lana being secretly photographed.
• Clark realized the photos had been taken from outside Lana's home and angrily insisted they report the voyeur to the police.
• Lana confronted Whitney and ended their relationship while searching the ground for something she had lost.
• Jino pointed out that Lana was now single, leaving Clark stunned by the news.

Clark and Jino showed Lana a camera containing secret photographs taken inside her home, and Clark comforted her as she broke down. Chloe identified Gerry as a possible suspect, and Jino led the group toward Gerry’s house to investigate.

• Jino teased Lana and Whitney after Lana said she and Whitney had broken up, then led Lana away with Clark.
• Clark showed Lana the camera and explained where they had found it; Lana cried after seeing the photographs.
• Jino nudged Clark into embracing Lana while she cried, and Pete and Chloe arrived and saw them together.
• Chloe remembered that Gerry had submitted insect photographs to the school newspaper, and Jino recognized him as a possible suspect.
• Pete offered to lead the group to Gerry’s house, and Jino set off with Clark, Lana, Chloe, and Pete to investigate.

Jino and the others investigated Gerry's house, where they found evidence that Gerry had secretly filmed Lana and discovered a murdered woman in the kitchen. Jino examined the corpse while the others panicked, and he told them they could wait in the living room if they were afraid.

• Pete led Jino, Lana, Chloe, and Clark to Gerry's isolated house, where no one answered Lana's calls.
• Jino smashed the locked front door, and the group entered the dusty, disordered house, where he and Clark sensed something was wrong.
• Chloe found videotapes, and the group watched footage of Lana and Whitney at a picnic before Clark stopped the tape.
• Jino led the others toward the kitchen and found Mrs. Ted's corpse with a severe abdominal wound.
• Pete fainted, Chloe ran out to vomit, and Lana clung to Clark while Jino examined the body and told the frightened group they could wait in the living room.

Jino and Clark discovered that Gerry had transformed, killed a homeless man, and left his mother dead inside a cocoon. Jino planned to use Lana as bait to draw Gerry out, and the police arrived at the house to investigate.

• Jino found a hollowed-out eyeball and oversized flies, then led Clark upstairs to search Gerry's room.
• Clark opened a cocoon and found a dried corpse; Jino concluded that Gerry needed human flesh and blood to sustain his transformation.
• Jino told Clark that Gerry was obsessed with Lana and would likely come for her, so they could keep watch and stop him.
• Jino, Clark, Chloe, and Lana left the house, and Lana said she had called the police.
• Two officers arrived, recognized Jino, and grew serious when he told them that Mrs. Ted had been killed.

Jino and Clark stayed at Lana Lang’s house to protect her from Gerry, who broke into her bedroom and revealed his monstrous transformation. Jino stopped Gerry’s attack and repeatedly slammed him through the floor, leaving the fight underway in the living room.

• The town police sealed off news of Mrs. Ted’s suspected murder and sought help from their superiors.
• Jino and Clark waited at Lana Lang’s house while she tried to sleep, expecting Gerry to come for her.
• Gerry entered Lana Lang’s bedroom, declared that he would take her as his bride, and transformed his arms into scythe-like blades.
• Gerry lunged at Jino and Clark, but Jino caught his blades and threw him through the floor into the living room.
• Jino repeatedly smashed Gerry into the floor as Lana Lang screamed.

Jino tried to kill Gerry, but Clark stopped him long enough for Gerry to escape as a swarm of flies. Jino arranged for Lex to make a powerful insecticide to hunt Gerry down.

• Jino beat Gerry and prepared to kill him, but Clark intervened and argued that Gerry should face the law.
• Gerry transformed into a swarm of flies and escaped through a broken window, leaving Jino furious with Clark.
• Jino punched Clark, who accepted the blame for letting Gerry escape, then Clark rushed out of Lana Lang's house.
• Jino asked Lex to produce insecticide potent enough to kill every insect within a hundred-meter radius, and Lex agreed while asking for Gerry's corpse for his experiment.

Gerry recruited Whitney, who revealed that Lana Lang’s emerald necklace weakened Clark, and Gerry recognized the stone as the same kind he used for his insects. Meanwhile, Clark struggled with conflicting advice about how to stop Gerry before Gerry confronted him with glowing green stones.

• Whitney tried to lift a dumbbell with his injured arm and swore revenge on Jino Luthor.
• Gerry visited Whitney, spared him because they both hated Jino, and learned that Lana Lang’s necklace had weakened Clark.
• Whitney told Gerry that Lana Lang had lost the necklace the day Clark stopped weakening around her, and Gerry recognized the stone.
• Clark ran through the night, blamed himself for his confusion, and smashed a tree while wondering how to capture Gerry.
• Gerry appeared behind Clark, dodged a thrown tree trunk, and showed him several green-glowing stones.

Jino’s newly awakened X-ray Vision helped him deduce that Gerry might be hiding in an abandoned factory, while Jonathan revealed that Clark was missing. Clark was being held there as bait for Jino, weakened by Kryptonite as Gerry planned to capture them both.

• Jino awakened X-ray Vision while basking in the sun and learned that Lana Lang and Jonathan Kent had come to see him.
• Jino discovered that Clark had not returned home and suspected Gerry had captured him because of his Kryptonite-powered transformation.
• Jino studied a town map and identified an abandoned factory near Gerry’s home as a likely hiding place.
• At the abandoned factory, Gerry held a weakened Clark captive with Kryptonite and planned to use him as bait to lure Jino.

Jino ambushed Gerry with Gene Bombs designed to poison him, then forced the pesticide into his mouth while Gerry was helpless. Gerry lost consciousness as Jino wondered whether Lex could still study his corpse.

• Gerry prepared an ambush at the steel factory, holding Kryptonite and waiting for Jino while Clark hung helplessly in the air.
• Jino struck Gerry with an iron can that released green gas, then filled the factory with more Gene Bombs.
• The gas caused Gerry intense pain and made his body crack as dead insects fell from his flesh.
• Wearing a lead protective suit, Jino approached Gerry and taunted him while Clark watched from above.
• Jino forced the last can into Gerry's mouth and released the gas inside, and Gerry's consciousness faded.

After waking from a nightmare, Clark apologized to Jino for his choices during Gerry’s attack and returned home to face his parents. Back at the castle, Jino learned that Lex’s Kryptonite experiment could alter human genes, and Lex proposed combining it with the Clark Gene.

• Clark woke while Jino carried him through the woods, then apologized for putting others in danger during Gerry’s attack.
• Jino told Clark that Lana Lang was safe at the castle and reminded him to explain his absence to Jonathan and Martha.
• Clark left to go home, and Jino returned to the castle, where Dominic and two assistants waited for Lex.
• Jino told Dominic that Lex would not meet them, and Dominic left to report Lex’s attitude to Lionel.
• Lex returned from the research facility and told Jino that Kryptonite could change human genes and grant altered subjects strange abilities.
• Lex wondered what he could create by strengthening altered subjects with Kryptonite and adding the Clark Gene.