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Kyle may have passed out. Just for a split second, a moment in which his brain completely fell apart and rewired itself in a last-ditch effort to comprehend what he just saw. Kyle isn’t sure he will ever fully comprehend what he just saw.
In the wake of the sonic boom, silence settles over the farm like snowfall, eerily quiet against Kyle's heartbeat pounding in his head. He has to take some very intentional slow, shaky breaths before he can hear anything other than his heart going a mile a minute. Apart from the obvious shock (Clark Kent can fucking fly ), Kyle’s first thought at the display of power is of Morgan Edge, and the havoc he wreaked on Smallville by possessing its residents and giving them powers, Kyle included. So sue him, Kyle is still traumatized by having an alien try to take over his brain, and random acts of superpowers ignite a new kind of fear in him.
His first theory is that Clark must have been possessed at some point too, but hadn’t been brought back, and had adapted to some kind of double life with the alien entity taking over. Then he remembers the power-inducing meteor dust from the mines, and how Jon was found with the stuff - maybe Clark still has a stash somewhere. But he knows instinctively that that’s not true, because when Kyle thinks about it, there has always been something different, something off about Clark Kent, long before billionaires masterminded alien invasions and teenagers started huffing space rocks.
As his heart slows and his breaths stop trembling, Kyle becomes keenly aware of the two teenagers still standing on the porch, dead silent and still. Waiting for Kyle’s reaction. He looks up, searching those two young faces (so similar to their father) for something, anything, that might give Kyle just a hint of a clue as to what the hell is going on. To who (or what, his mind supplies) Clark Kent really is.
He locks eyes with Jordan, anything he might have tried to say dying on his lips at the look of steely resolve on the kid’s face. He’s seen that look before. Where?
Jordan takes a deep breath, glances at his brother, and says, “You should go home, Mr Cushing.”
Right. So the kids aren’t going to say anything. Smart, probably, on their part. Better to wait for their dad to come back and explain the whole thing away. Better to get on with their lives and pretend this never happened. Maybe Kyle should do the same.
So Kyle nods, and turns, and gets back in his truck, and is halfway down Sellers Road when he realises where he’s seen that determined, steel-locked gaze.
He slams on the brakes.
Fucking Clark Kent is fucking Superman.
The rest of the drive is a blur as Kyle reimagines his youth in a totally new light. There are so many strange and unexplainable events from his childhood and teenage years that suddenly make sense. How in elementary school Clark was rarely allowed playdates ( because little kids can’t control their superpowers ), how he struggled with loud classrooms and especially gross cafeteria food ( super senses, Kyle realises). And as they got older, there were fires put out before firefighters could get there; psychopathic teenagers mysteriously stopped before they could hurt their classmates; and that one time Lex Luthor drove off a bridge and lived to tell the tale.
Plus, the car crash - Kyle can’t believe he forgot about the car crash! When they were sixteen Lana had lost control of her car and spun out in the rain. Later, the car was found wrapped backwards around a tree, not unlike Sarah’s earlier tonight. But just like Sarah and Junior, Lana and Pete didn’t have a single scratch on them, like someone had plucked them from the cab as they rolled. And now, Kyle realises, someone did.
Chrissy is sitting at the kitchen table when Kyle enters his apartment.
“Hi! Is Sarah alright?” Chrissy stands up but, noticing his dishevelled state, doesn’t show the usual affection she would give Kyle in private. “I didn’t know if you’d want me here tonight but, um, I just wanted to check in…so…” she drifts off, clearly put off by whatever crazy Kyle is exuding. Honestly, he mostly wants to be alone right now, to think about old memories and make sense of things, but since Chrissy is here…
“Uh, yeah, Sarah’s fine,” he placates, stepping further into the apartment. Any other day Sarah’s safety would be on his mind all night, but right now he brushes it off swiftly. “Hey, you work with Clark sometimes, right?”
“Um…yes.” Chrissy frowns. “What does that have to do with Sarah’s crash?”
“Nothing!” is Kyle’s first reaction, but that isn’t true now, is it. “Well, maybe everything.”
Chrissy, still frowning, takes Kyle’s hand and guides him to sit down at the table.
“Kyle, what are you talking about?” Chrissy asks slowly.
Kyle goes to say it, the phrase that has been swimming in his head for the last half hour, and can’t help laughing. It still sounds ridiculous even in his head: Clark Kent is Superman!
“Kyle, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“Chrissy, this is going to sound crazy, but I swear it’s true,” Kyle takes a breath, searching Chrissy’s face, begging her to believe his next words, “Clark is Superman.”
“What?!”
“It all makes sense: Sarah’s crash, the ice at the fire sites, all the crazy things that have happened since his family moved here. It all comes back to Clark.” Kyle realises as he says it that it’s completely true: Morgan Edge must have targeted Smallville because he knew Superman was in town. Same with Ally Alston and the bizarre-looking superman from the alternate Earth. Things like that never happened before the Kents came to town.
“Kyle, I love you, but that’s insane.” Chrissy argues. “None of those things are related, and-”
“Yes, they are! I’ve been thinking about this all the way home from the farm and-”
“The farm? I thought you were at Lana’s.”
“I-I was, but then Sarah wouldn’t be honest about how she got out of the car unhurt, and I thought it had something to do with Jon because he was at the party and the fire that was put out with ice, plus when the alternate Earth thing happened the Jon from the other Earth had powers, but then I got to the farm and, and Clark flew. And I don’t know about you, but there’s only one superhero I know who can fly, has ice breath, and can move fast enough to pull someone from a car in mid-air. ”
Kyle is so consumed by his explanation that it takes him a second to register Chrissy’s expression. She’s surprised, but not as surprised as Kyle would expect someone to be on hearing that their coworker is a superpowered alien. More just surprised by his outburst. And she’s not looking Kyle in the face, her gaze instead moving between the table and somewhere just beyond Kyle’s shoulder, like she’s avoiding admitting something.
“Wait…you…” Kyle catches Chrissy’s eye, and there’s no denying that she’s not actually surprised by this revelation. “You knew?!”
“Only since a few months ago, but, yes,” Chrissy nods, still avoiding looking at Kyle. Logically, he knows it’s not her secret to share, but in the moment it still feels like a betrayal.
“So that’s why you didn’t want to investigate the fires.”
“It would be a conflict of interest.” How many times has Chrissy told herself that, Kyle wonders. How many times has she turned down stories, important things that the public deserves to know, because it would affect one person? People still have questions about Morgan Edge, about Ally Allston; what has Chrissy’s newspaper kept from the people of Smallville, just to protect Clark’s secret?
“A conflict of interest?!” Kyle jumps to his feet. “Chrissy, this could be the key to the biggest story in the world, ever!”
“That wouldn’t be right, Kyle. Clark is my friend.”
Kyle huffs a laugh. “Screw this.” He snatches his keys from the table and makes for the door. “The people of Smallville deserve to know who is really living in their town.”
“Kyle, wait!” Chrissy springs from the table to follow him, but as Kyle twists the doorknob, the whole apartment begins to shudder.