- Clark's first day on the job at the Daily Planet begins with a bus exploding right outside the building, which leads him and Lois on a trail of someone who might be infected by kryptonite. Chloe finds a runaway teenage girl, named Bette, whom Chloe suspects is involved in the explosion when Bette (whom will later become the fire-starter Plastique) has the meteor-rock power of pyrokinesis. In the meantime, Chloe also meets a local medic, named Davis Bloom, who takes an interest in her, even though she's engaged to Jimmy Olsen. Elsewhere, Tess meets Clark for the first time as she takes over the Daily Planet in Lex's absence and immediately senses something not right about him.—Moviedude1
- When Clark shows up for his first day at the Daily Planet dressed in a plaid shirt, Lois gets him to change into a borrowed plain shirt inside a phone booth in the office. As he emerges from the booth, they hear an explosion from outside and are thrown into each other's arms. Clark quickly runs outside to investigate the noise.
Clark arrives on the main street, where a bus has exploded. He uses the cover of smoke to tear open the roof of the bus to allow the people inside to escape. As he is helping them out of the wreckage, he notices a red-haired woman still inside, and carries her to safety.
Meanwhile, Chloe notices a girl stumbling around, coughing due to smoke inhalation. She shouts out for an EMT to help, and through the thick smoke emerges Davis Bloome. He runs over to Chloe and begins to examine the girl. He gives her first aid and thanks Chloe for her help. Clark asks another EMT if the red-haired woman is okay, only to hear that she's been taken somewhere. Clark spots Chloe and comes over for a talk. He suggests that she should come back to the Daily Planet, now that Lex is no longer in charge. However, she declines and begins to tell Clark about the other changes in her life, before Clark is distracted by a text from Lois to Clark, asking where he went.
Back at the office, Clark comes in and finds Lois chasing down a story. He tells her about the police theory that the bomb misfired, but was too busy helping people to get a source. An aide comes in to escort Clark to the boss, who asked specifically to meet with him.
Upon entering what used to be Lex's office, he sees that the Daily Planet's new owner is Tess Mercer, the red-haired woman he saved from the bus. Tess tells Clark that Lex has told her all about him in the past, especially his "thing for saving people." She asks for suggestions on where to find Lex, but he tells her he doesn't know what happened to him. Tess concludes by thanking Clark for saving her life, but as he leaves he tells her that he'd hate to see her life get consumed by the job the same way Lex's was. Tess' assistant comes in and asks if she should have someone keep an eye on Clark. Tess tells her she's going to watch him personally, because she believes he's hiding something.
Chloe brings food for Bette in the hospital waiting room. Bette explains that she's between homes right now with no parents. As Chloe goes to get a soda for her, Davis shows up and recognizes Chloe. When he hears that Chloe plans to drop Bette off at a street shelter, he talks to Bette and offers to get her into a home where he knows somebody. Chloe volunteers her house, under the condition that Bette will consider Davis' offer, and she agrees as long as she's not forced into anything.
As Lois and Clark go to the bomb site, Lois wonders about Tess talking to Clark. She denies being jealous of his meeting with the new owner, and Clark reassures Lois that Tess was just welcoming him to the Daily Planet. Lois attempts to charm an officer into gaining access to the bomb site, with no luck. Clark uses his super hearing and determines from the bomb unit that there wasn't actually a bomb on the bus. Lois is skeptical, but Clark wants to talk to Bette. Lois goes to talk to the other bus passengers and emergency personnel, while Clark heads for Chloe's apartment.
Bette is preparing lunch when Clark arrives (now back in his own red-checkered shirt) and he mentions to Chloe his suspicion that someone with a meteor power was responsible for the explosion. Bette overhears them and says she knows another street kid named Tommy. Bette says she can take Clark to find him, and knows where he hangs out.
They drive back to Metropolis and find Tommy hanging around a skate park, where Tommy recognizes Clark and attempts to run away. He runs down a back alley and Clark tells him he only wants to talk, but Tommy gets angry. Bette, behind Clark, begins to shoot fire from her eyes at some explosive barrels near Tommy, killing him. Bette pretends that Tommy blew himself up, but as soon as Clark leaves, she grins cynically.
Back at the Daily Planet, Clark tells Lois what happened and figures that Tommy's powers ran out of control, and ultimately killed him. She's recorded everything he said, but won't go with the story unless she has scientific evidence. She goes off to the hospital to get a coroner's report, after giving Clark the chance to do Tommy's obituary.
Chloe is at the Isis Foundation trying to replace a light bulb when Davis comes over with Bette's application for the home. Davis helps her with the light bulb and when they get fairly close, Chloe becomes a bit flustered and tells him she's engaged. Davis backs off and says he hasn't heard anything about Isis, but knows about "meteor types" and figures they can use the help. He suggests that Chloe help the meteor people, and Chloe reveals she has researched his past, discovering that he was a foster child and moved around to numerous homes. Davis advises her to hold on to real love, if she has indeed found it.
At the Luthor Mansion, Tess is reading a file on Bette when an aide comes in to report they're still unsure of the girl's whereabouts. The aide notes that Tess tried to approach Bette on the bus and things didn't go well, and that Lex would have terminated the girl immediately. Tess reminds him that she's in charge now, and things are going to be different. She orders the aide to bring Bette to her.
Lois sneaks into the coroner's room at the hospital, with a reluctant Clark outside holding flowers. Davis sees him and they introduce themselves to each other. Davis mistakenly assumes that Clark is Chloe's fiancé. When he realizes that's not the case, he asks Clark not to give away that he told Chloe's secret.
At Chloe's apartment, Bette is preparing to leave despite Chloe's objections. When Chloe doesn't stop, Bette makes an object explode using the explosive force from her eyes, and Chloe realizes that Bette has that power and not Tommy.
At the hospital, Lois gets the file which reveals that there was no meteor rock in Tommy's body. His rap sheet shows that Tommy was a major criminal, but never used explosives. They deduce that Bette was responsible and Clark super-speeds to Smallville.
Meanwhile, Bette explains to Chloe that she deliberately set off the explosions first to protect herself on the bus, and later to get revenge on Tommy when he betrayed her. Bette says she was locked up by some corporation at Black Creek until a week ago when they were released, supposedly after tagging, but she had avoided being tagged. Bette told Tommy, who sold her out. Chloe says she was there too and that she also had meteor powers, but they shouldn't kill, no matter what. When Bette threatens to dispose of her, Chloe makes a run for it. Bette aims a blast at Chloe, who falls down the stairs. Clark arrives just in time to catch Chloe and deflect the explosive blast, which bounces back and stuns Bette. Clark convinces Bette that he will help her no matter what she's done, and insists she is not a monster. He offers her his hand and she takes it.
Bette is sent to Belle Reve, and Chloe and Clark are cleaning up the mess in her apartment when she notices her ring has fallen off. Clark has found it and gives it back to her, and asks how long she's been engaged. She wonders if Jimmy told him, but Clark doesn't give up his source. He asks why she kept it from him, and she expresses her concern about the changes the engagement will force upon their friendship. He tells her that her happiness is one of the most important things in the world to him, and that she shouldn't worry about anything else.
Tess and her team intercept the prisoner bus on its way to Belle Reve, and Tess talks to Bette about coming back to LuthorCorp. Tess claims that she is trying to help her, and that she shut down the Montana facility where she was previously held. She says that Bette is a hero, and that she can be part of a team of heroes Tess is putting together.
Lois has gotten a front-page headline about the bus explosion, and thanks Clark for his help. She gives him back a corrected version of his first article, Tommy's obituary. They talk about Chloe's engagement, and Clark reminds Lois that she should be happy for Chloe.
When Chloe phones Davis, she gets his answering machine and leaves a message to thank him for helping her to decide to re-open the Isis Foundation. At that same time, Davis is lying unconscious in an alleyway, naked and trembling. As he slowly returns to his human self after mutating, he wakes up and screams.
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