Chapter Summaries

Jino cured Constantine’s damaged lungs, returned to Smallville, and gave Lex a mysterious mask to study. Gabriel became human and accepted Lucifer’s offer to work for him, while Lex revealed he had left Lionel blind to protect his experiments.

• Jino gave Constantine Amber Gold, which healed his smoke-damaged lungs, and Constantine left owing him a favor.
• Zatanna invited Jino to her home, but he declined and decided to have Lex study the mask before using it.
• Gabriel learned Heaven had stripped her of her angelic status, then accepted Lucifer’s offer to become his agent.
• Lex told Jino that a weight-loss drug developed from Batgirl Julie’s lipolytic factor had revived LuthorCorp, so Jino returned to Smallville.
• Jino gave Bizarro candy at the underground laboratory and asked Lex to study the mask, explaining that he had also brought an Angel’s Sword.
• Lex told Jino he had withheld medicine from Lionel because Lionel had discovered his experiments.

Jino returned to Smallville High and met the alluring new biology teacher, Teacher Atkins, who singled him out after class and asked to kiss him. Jino accepted her advance, though he wondered what the mysterious teacher was plotting.

• One month later, Clark told Pete that making up with Jino had been the right thing to do, while Jino arrived at school thinking about the Quantum Mask investigation.
• Jino reunited with Chloe, who described her difficult summer internship at the Daily Planet.
• Teacher Atkins introduced herself as the new biology teacher and showed the class a steamy health-education film, captivating the students while Jino remained unimpressed.
• After class, Teacher Atkins asked Jino to carry the projector to the storage room and hinted that she would reward him.
• In the storage room, Teacher Atkins asked Jino if she could give him a passionate kiss, and Jino agreed.

Jino’s interrupted encounter with Teacher Atkins led Chloe to misunderstand what she saw, while Lana also became upset with Clark after he admired the new teacher. Jino later met his father Lionel, who offered him company shares to investigate Lex’s laboratory.

• Jino pushed Teacher Atkins away when he heard someone approaching, but Chloe entered and saw them in a compromising scene.
• Chloe fled in tears, and Teacher Atkins went after her while Jino insisted nothing had happened.
• Jino encountered Lana Lang arguing with Clark about his attention to Teacher Atkins, then invited Clark to visit his home.
• At Luthor Manor, Jino and Clark heard Lionel berating the chef, and Lionel called Jino into the living room.
• Lionel offered Jino ten percent of the company’s shares if he investigated what was inside Lex’s laboratory.

Jino and Clark investigated Teacher Atkins’s suspicious history and learned that she had inherited wealth after the deaths of several men around her. After Clark got drunk on Jino’s Amber Gold wine and nearly confessed his feelings for Lana, Jino knocked him out and decided to confront Atkins himself.

• Jino refused Lionel’s offer of shares and went with Clark to the warehouse at Kent Farm.
• Clark told Jino that Teacher Atkins had once been called Allison Sanders and had ties to the meteor shower fourteen years earlier.
• Jino and Clark reviewed newspaper accounts showing that Atkins’s boyfriend and later husband had died, leaving her their estates.
• Jino said Atkins could stimulate male desire and assured Clark he would handle her.
• Clark drank Amber Gold wine, got drunk, and announced he was going to confess his feelings to Lana.
• Jino knocked Clark unconscious and decided to talk with Teacher Atkins.

Jino confronted Teacher Atkins, also called Desiree, at her villa and exposed her scheme to control men with a special scent. After revealing his supernatural power, he prepared to use Judgment Fire on her, leaving her terrified and pleading for mercy.

• Jino appeared inside Atkins's villa and let her believe he had come to resume their encounter from the storage room.
• Atkins revealed that she had chosen Jino because he belonged to the Luthor Family and planned to control him into killing Lex and Lionel.
• Jino threw Atkins against a wall and explained that he had been testing her ability to control men through a special scent.
• Jino revealed his flames and told Atkins that his Judgment Fire burned sinners' souls, then asked whether a car could move without a driver.

Clark bought a red graduation ring, which released a strange energy that filled him with an intense sense of freedom. He ended the chapter wanting to do whatever he pleased.

• Chloe showed Lana her graduation ring while Pete teased her about it.
• Clark arrived hungover, and Jino encouraged him to buy a ring to help make things better with Lana.
• Clark chose the dark red ring, while Lana introduced a new student who admired Jino and asked about Clark.
• Clark put on the ring, and blood-red energy spread through his body.
• Clark felt his buried thoughts disappear and declared that he could do whatever he wanted.

Red Kryptonite made Clark flirt with Jesse and lash out at Lana and his parents. The chapter ended with Clark taking the alcohol barrel and vanishing after insulting Jonathan.

• Clark approached Jesse, praised her outfit, and angered Lana, who left in a fury.
• Principal Gibbons tried to reprimand Jesse but backed off after Jino identified her as his friend.
• Clark asked Jesse on a date, and she wrote her contact information on his palm.
• Jonathan confronted Clark about the alcohol barrel he found in Clark's room.
• Clark argued that he did not want to live like Jonathan, then vanished with the barrel.

After awakening Heat Vision, Clark devised a plan involving Bruce Wayne’s money and went to Jino to borrow cash for a trip to Gotham. Jino also learned that Ra's al Ghul planned to return to Gotham for revenge, while Lionel and Lex clashed over the transformed Luthor Manor.

• Clark vented his anger by punching down a tree, then accidentally discovered that he could fire Heat Vision.
• After seeing a newspaper report about Bruce Wayne’s plans for Gotham, Clark decided he could put Wayne’s money to better use and began forming a plan.
• Jino returned to Luthor Manor, where Lionel had turned Lex’s living room into an office, and watched Lex confront his father.
• Talia messaged Jino that Ra's al Ghul had recovered and intended to seek revenge in Gotham City, and Lana Lang asked about Clark.
• Clark arrived at the manor and asked Jino to lend him money so he could travel to Gotham.

Bruce Wayne announced a major Wayne Enterprises investment to rebuild Gotham’s industrial neighborhoods and modernize public transportation, framing the city as a future shaped by its people. Meanwhile, Clark arrived in Gotham and charged into a Wayne bank.

• Bruce prepared to host a banquet despite having gone without sleep, intending to use Wayne wealth and newly appointed officials to improve Gotham.
• Clark complained about Gotham’s smog, learned about the Wayne Family, and decided to live like a rich man by targeting Gotham Wayne Bank.
• Bruce told the banquet guests about his parents, his father’s motto, and the importance of looking toward the future.
• Bruce announced plans for Wayne Enterprises to invest in rebuilding dilapidated industrial residential districts and reforming Gotham’s public transportation system.
• Clark tore up his newspaper and sped through the bank’s revolving glass doors.

Clark robbed Wayne Bank using his superhuman strength and speed, while Bruce learned of the crime at a gala and headed to investigate as Batman. Batman arrived at the bank and asked Gordon what he thought of the scene.

• Clark smashed through Wayne Bank’s bulletproof glass, knocked out the guards, and escaped with sacks of cash.
• Bruce presented his Future City Project at a gala and met Vicki Vale and Lincoln March.
• Gordon received news of the robbery and left the gala; Bruce recognized the masked robber as the man who had tormented him and went to the bank.
• Gordon inspected the wrecked bank lobby, where Batman appeared and asked to examine the scene before the police disturbed it.
• Gordon welcomed Batman’s help and asked what he thought of the crime scene.

Batman investigated the superpowered robbery at Wayne Bank, traced a clue to Clark Kent, and prepared an armored suit to confront him. After Clark returned to Jino with stolen money and dismissed Batman, Bruce planned to travel to Kansas under the pretext of making an investment.

• Batman examined the fist mark at the robbery scene and estimated that the robber was a powerful teenager with super speed and unusually tough skin.
• Batman reviewed surveillance footage and spotted a newspaper in the hand of a red-hooded figure outside the bank.
• Clark arrived at Luthor Manor with stolen cash and gave some of it to Jino, then dismissed Batman as an ordinary man in a costume.
• Bruce completed preparations for armor made with Promethium and Mithril and identified Clark Kent through fingerprints on the newspaper.
• Bruce decided to try to guide Clark back onto the right path, but planned to use force if Clark refused.
• Bruce asked Alfred to book him a flight to Kansas so he could approach Clark under the pretext of investing.

Clark rejected Jonathan and Martha’s values, left Kent Farm, and planned to make a name for himself in Metropolis with Jino’s help. Meanwhile, Bruce met Clark at Luthor Manor and became Batman to investigate him and the mysteries surrounding Smallville.

• Clark returned to Kent Farm dressed in expensive clothes, argued with Jonathan about money and kindness, and flew away after declaring he would leave Smallville.
• At Luthor Manor, Clark told Jino he planned to go to Metropolis, and Jino gave him a business card for a football team manager he knew there.
• Bruce arrived at Luthor Manor and recognized Clark as the person he had come to find, while Jino revealed Clark’s plan to move to Metropolis.
• After leaving the manor, Bruce reviewed his intelligence about Clark and Smallville, put on his Batman suit, and began investigating the town.

Clark, driven to violence by the Red Gem, collided with Batman's Bat-Armor on a deserted highway, and Batman subdued him while demanding information about a mysterious man. As Batman prepared to use truth serum, the man appeared and asked if Batman was looking for him.

• Clark sped toward the figure blocking the highway after the Red Gem erased his instinct to brake.
• Clark and Batman's Bat-Armor crashed through the road and into a field, where Clark attacked with Heat Vision.
• Batman ejected from the armor before it exploded, punched Clark, and sprayed hallucinogenic gas into his eyes.
• Batman beat Clark and demanded to know his connection to the mysterious man, while Clark denied knowing him and threatened to kill Batman.
• As Batman prepared to make Clark drink truth serum, a cold voice asked, "Are you looking for me?"

Batman confronted Jino, who taunted him about his parents’ deaths, while Clark challenged the masked man and was swiftly overpowered. As Clark attacked again with Heat Vision, Jino’s eyes began glowing blue and a new battle was about to begin.

• Jino appeared in the rain and unsettled Batman by asking whether he had discovered the truth about his parents’ deaths.
• Jino mocked Batman’s ruined armor and his defeat by Clark, prompting Clark to turn his anger toward the masked man.
• Clark charged Jino, but Jino slowed time, dodged the attack, and flicked Clark into a crater.
• Clark climbed out of the crater and attacked Jino with Heat Vision while Batman watched from a distance.
• Jino’s eyes glowed icy blue as Clark’s Heat Vision approached.

Jino defeated Clark by overpowering him and removing the Bloodstone Ring, then Batman was incapacitated and returned to Wayne Manor. After waking, Bruce ordered Alfred to update the masked man’s file, monitor Clark, investigate the Red Gem, and establish a mining company in Smallville.

• Clark and Jino fought with Heat Vision, Freeze Beams, and repeated blows, but Clark could not match Jino’s strength.
• Jino slammed Clark into the ground and removed the Bloodstone Ring, leaving Clark exhausted and ending the fight.
• A voice confronted Batman, then someone struck his spine and caused him to lose consciousness.
• Bruce woke at Wayne Manor with Alfred beside him and learned that Alfred had found him outside the manor.
• Bruce rejected Alfred’s suggestion that he live more ordinarily and ordered investigations into the masked man, Clark Kent, and the Red Gem.

After an explosion left Clark unconscious near the Kent farm, Lana found a mysterious love letter at her parents’ grave and read it with Jino. Jino later brought Lex a Red Ring, explaining that it caused Clark’s recent changes and brought out his darker impulses.

• Martha and Jonathan found the unconscious, mud-covered Clark outside their farm after the early-morning explosion.
• Lana visited her parents’ grave and found an envelope addressed to her beside the gravestone.
• Jino startled Lana at the cemetery, read the letter’s John Donne poem, and suggested Clark might have written it.
• Jino went to the underground laboratory and told Lex that a Red Ring was causing Clark’s irritability and reckless behavior.

Clark learned that Jino could also use Heat Vision and heard that Lana had found a love letter at her parents’ grave. Lana and Chloe waited at the cemetery to discover who had left it, and Lana chased a fleeing figure in white.

• Lana ignored Clark at school, while Jesse confronted him about their promised date.
• Jino told Clark to practice controlling his Heat Vision and mentioned seeing Lana at the cemetery, where she found a love letter.
• Clark worried Lana might be in danger after seeing the letter’s contents.
• Lana told Chloe she would wait at the cemetery that night, and Chloe joined her.
• A figure in white fled from the cemetery, and Lana ran after them, calling for them to stop.

Lana met Byron, the mysterious boy who had written her a poem, but Clark accidentally knocked him unconscious while trying to protect her. After the group took Byron to the hospital and then a cafe, Byron reacted with hatred when he learned Jino was Lionel’s son and hurried away before dawn, leaving his grudge unexplained.

• Lana praised Byron’s poems and asked why he had written one for her, and Byron said she had inspired him.
• Clark charged into the cemetery and knocked Byron into a tombstone, leaving him unconscious, so Lana, Chloe, and Clark took him to the hospital.
• At Smallville Hospital, Jino encountered Clark, Lana, Chloe, and the injured Byron, and the group went to the all-night cafe.
• Byron ate ravenously and apologized to Clark was met with Clark’s own apology, then Byron learned Jino was Lionel’s son and confronted him with hostility.
• Byron left the cafe before dawn, and Lana wondered why he hated Lionel while Jino remarked that Smallville had many strange people and events.

Chloe uncovered Byron’s connection to a LuthorCorp pharmaceutical experiment, and Clark, Lana, and Chloe found him chained in a cellar. After Clark brought Byron into the sunlight, Byron collapsed and warned them he was about to lose control.

• Chloe discovered that Byron had participated in a pharmaceutical experiment in the Metron Region eight years earlier, under a company owned by Lionel.
• Lana, Chloe, and Clark went to Byron’s cottage, where Clark found a chained cellar hatch and opened it.
• The group found Byron shackled in the cellar, but he insisted they leave him alone and warned that he had hurt his father before.
• Clark tore off Byron’s shackles and carried him toward the exit despite his protests, while Lana reassured him that his parents had lied.
• Sunlight struck Byron, causing him to convulse and collapse, and he told the others to leave because he was about to lose control.

Sunlight transformed Byron into a powerful, frenzied creature, and after he struck Clark, he fled into the forest seeking revenge on Lionel and the Ziben Family. Jino located Byron as the intruder reached Luthor Manor, where Lex tried to evacuate while Lionel ordered the staff to prepare firearms.

• Sunlight triggered Byron’s transformation, and he punched Clark through a cabin before fleeing into the forest.
• Lana Lang and Chloe told Jino what had happened, and he used magical energy from Heaven to locate Byron.
• Byron ran through the forest, intent on killing Lionel and taking revenge on the Ziben Family.
• A mysterious intruder stormed Luthor Manor and knocked down the guards, prompting the Old Butler to urge Lionel and Lex to escape by helicopter.
• Lex headed for the stairs, but Lionel refused to flee and ordered Jack to gather the staff and prepare firearms.