Six Weeks Ago – Oakland, California

Two kids, Lamar and Yance, are playing basketball and they’re interrupted when they see a burst of light overhead that splits into multiple smaller balls, and one crashes near them. Lamar goes to investigate and finds a fiery crater. A ghostly robed figure merges into his body and demands to know where Kal-El is from Yance. When Yance can’t answer his question, the possessed boy disintegrates him with a burst of purple energy.

The Present

Dr. Groll meets with Lana in one of Lex’s cars, turns over the black box and all of his information on it, and warns that the Luthors have begun military testing. He’s concerned for her and then leaves… as Jimmy Olsen takes photos.

At the barn, Chloe meets with Clark and they go over photos of the crash sites, including the Oakland one. Chloe reveals that her investigation shows the two boys are missing, irradiated human ash was found on the site, and something has been following a path of nuclear power plants toward Metropolis. Chloe heads out to follow up and Raya arrives. She understands about how he was forced to leave her in the Phantom Zone and they talk about how he had to keep his powers secret.

At the Daily Planet, Jimmy shows Chloe the photos he took of Groll leaving the car with someone (who he hasn’t identified as Lana). He wants her help, particularly because he doesn’t have much to go on. She warns him that the Luthors can be dangerous. After Jimmy leaves, the boy from earlier arrives and asks Chloe for the archives. Puzzled, she gives him directions and he goes through the records until he identifies Clark as Kal-El.

At Luthor Manor, Lex gets word that Groll has taken the material and then Jimmy comes in for a meeting Chloe helped set up. Jimmy asks for answers and shows him the photo of Groll approaching the Luthor car, then Lex has the guards take him out. Jimmy manages to secretly snap a few photos of the papers on the desk. Lex then confronts Lana who lies about where she went. He asks her about Groll and she taunts him about how he’s unaccustomed to dealing with someone on his own level, and he demands the black box.

Clark and Raya are racing and she’s telling him about Jor-El. She warns him about how Earth will destroy itself as Krypton did, and wonders why it wasn’t covered in his training. He tells her that he hasn’t had any training and the Fortress is destroyed, and she tells him to accept his destiny. The Kryptonian prisoner in the boy’s body arrives and introduces himself as Baern, an alien from a different planet then Krypton. He blasts Clark out of the barn with a radiation blast but starts to weaken. He goes after Raya, who kicks him through the wall. She goes to Clark while Baern escapes.

Raya tells Clark of how the Phantom Zone prisoners heard of Clark and thought of him as a legend, and Baern is from a race that can absorb power. She warns that only Jor-El’s crystal can stop Baern.

Chloe confronts Jimmy who is working on his photos from the manor, photos of Kryptonian hieroglyphics (Jimmy thinks they’re Egyptian) from the device that Zod used to try and destroy the Earth. Clark and Raya arrive at the Daily Planet and Raya recognizes the photos from the black box, which can provide a power source capable of powering Baern indefinitely.

At the manor, Lex enters the room with the shard of the black box where Lana has left it for him. She confronts him on the fact he’s working with the military and says they’re on different sides. Lana says he’s obsessed and gives him the ultimatum of her or the box. When he doesn’t answer, she goes out but a weakened Baern is at the door and goes for the box. He shoves Lex away, grabs the box, and absorbs its energy, draining it into dust.

Lana meets Lex at the hospital for treatment and they wonder how Baern knew about the box. Lana wonders if he suspects her but he says he doesn’t. Clark arrives and not very subtly tries to find out what happened. After Lex leaves for x-rays, Lana confronts Clark and he shows her the photo of the black box, and she reveals it’s been destroyed.

Clark and Raya go to the Fortress where she reveals they need to lure Baern there where they can drain his power off. Martha arrives home to find Baern waiting for her, but before he can kill her, he gets the power signal Raya has activated from the Fortress. Baern arrives and fires a blast of energy at him, which Clark barely manages to deflect with Jor-El’s amulet. Baern fire a blast through Raya but Clark has enough time to brace himself and use the amulet to extract the energy and remove Baern from the host body. She tells Clark the amulet now has enough power to restore the Fortress before dying from her wounds.

Lamar wakes up at the hospital and can’t remember anything of the last six weeks. Jimmy doesn’t have any luck with his story and reveals he was almost fired thanks to Lex’s influence but managed to talk his way into working in the basement.

Lex confronts Lana over her lying to him but she notes that makes them even. She feels its better that the box is destroyed, and wonders what Lex would have chosen if they hadn’t been interrupted.

Clark talks to Martha about what he’s lost with Raya’s death and says he’s ready to stop running and be who he really is… and face his destiny. He vows to capture every prisoner that escaped from the Phantom Zone, while in the Arctic the Fortress glows with energy, restored.