"Meteorite? What meteorite?"
Jonathan frowned in confusion when he heard Victor mention it. The word seemed ordinary, yet the tone Victor used made it sound far more serious.
"Clark's strength isn't invincible," Victor explained calmly, turning to face his parents. "Whenever he gets close to meteorites, his body becomes weak and uncomfortable. It's like a severe allergic reaction."
Jonathan stared at the two brothers in disbelief.
"This is real? Clark, Victor… why have you never told your mother and me something this important?"
The idea that both of them had been hiding such a dangerous secret left him stunned.
"You and Mom are already busy enough running the farm," Clark replied with a slightly forced smile. His voice was gentle, but there was a hint of guilt behind it.
"Besides, if you knew meteorites could make me sick… you'd only worry about me even more."
"Clark…"
Martha sighed softly and pulled her son into a tight embrace. Her heart ached seeing him like this.
"Maybe… it isn't such a bad thing if I become an ordinary person," Clark said hesitantly.
When he still had his powers, he often felt isolated. Being different from everyone else made him feel like he never truly belonged anywhere. After Victor revealed his own abilities, that loneliness had eased somewhat.
But now…
Clark wasn't truly depressed about losing his powers.
Yet a quiet concern lingered in his mind.
If he remained powerless while Victor still possessed incredible strength, then no one would be able to stop his younger brother if he ever crossed the line.
Victor noticed Clark glancing at him with subtle worry. The meaning behind that look was obvious.
He rolled his eyes slightly.
"Son," Jonathan said gently, trying to comfort him, "as long as you're healthy, that's what matters most."
Martha nodded in agreement.
"Whether you can lift a pickup truck or not, you're still our son."
Jonathan thought for a moment before adding with a small smile, "At least now you don't have to hide your abilities anymore."
Clark considered that for a moment.
Being ordinary did come with certain advantages.
For one thing, he wouldn't have to constantly avoid sports at school anymore. He also wouldn't have to awkwardly stay away from Lana just because of the meteorite necklace she always wore.
"Lana…"
His eyes brightened slightly as the thought crossed his mind.
Maybe he could finally join the football team.
Maybe he could stand beside Lana without worrying about getting sick.
Maybe losing his powers wasn't entirely bad after all.
"You're probably not the only one who changed yesterday," Victor said suddenly, interrupting Clark's drifting thoughts.
Clark coughed lightly and straightened up, pretending he had been paying close attention the whole time.
"What do you mean?"
"Lightning struck both you and Avery at the same time."
Victor looked at Clark and his parents calmly.
"But Avery didn't turn into charcoal."
Jonathan blinked.
"What are you getting at?"
Victor crossed his arms.
"That lightning turned green because of the meteorite in Avery's backpack. When it passed through his body… it's very possible that it triggered a mutation."
He paused slightly.
"In other words—he probably gained abilities."
Clark's expression changed immediately.
"Victor… we need to go check on Avery."
…
At the Reagan house, the family sat around the dinner table.
"Avery, where were you yesterday?"
His mother looked worried as she asked the question.
"I went to your room earlier to tidy things up. Your backpack is missing, and your clothes look like they've been burned."
"I'm fine."
Avery cut into his steak with an unpleasant expression and answered without looking up.
Yesterday something unbelievable had happened.
After the lightning strike, he gained power that felt almost godlike.
But he soon discovered something else.
There was something on this planet that could restrain him.
Meteorites.
Whenever he approached them, his entire body became weak and painful. His strength vanished instantly, leaving him weaker than an ordinary person.
Since his father was a geography teacher, the garage contained numerous rock samples—including meteorites.
After returning home, Avery conducted several experiments.
Each time he approached those meteorite specimens, the same result occurred.
His body weakened instantly.
"Why would I have such a fatal weakness after gaining such power?"
His eyes darkened as anger boiled inside him. His fists clenched tightly around the knife and fork.
That flaw destroyed many of the grand ideas he had already begun imagining.
Avery could not accept the idea that someone who should rule the world had such an obvious weakness.
"School ends early tomorrow," his father Reagan said sternly, breaking the silence. "Why didn't you come home directly?"
Seeing his son's gloomy and disrespectful attitude made Reagan furious.
"If you weren't planning to eat, why come to the table at all?"
His voice grew sharper.
"You're always disobedient. Do you know how embarrassed you made me yesterday at school?"
The son of the strict geography teacher becoming the subject of staffroom jokes because he couldn't finish his homework was humiliating.
"That's enough," his wife Beth said softly, placing a hand on her husband's arm.
But Avery suddenly slammed his knife and fork onto the table and stood up.
"Enough!"
He glared at his father with burning anger.
"I'm already eighteen years old. You don't get to control me anymore."
He still remembered the humiliation of being scolded in front of the entire class the day before.
"You think I don't have the right to lecture you?" Reagan shot back angrily as he stood up despite his wife's attempts to calm him.
"With grades like yours, you might not even get into college!"
"College?"
Avery laughed coldly.
His expression was full of mockery.
"That's the limit of your imagination."
He slowly clenched his fists, feeling the terrifying power coursing through his body—strength capable of destroying tanks and airplanes.
His eyes shone with fascination and greed.
"You have no idea what kind of power I possess now."
"My future is something a small-town high school geography teacher like you could never understand."
He tossed the twisted knife and fork onto the floor.
A ferocious smile spread across his face as he wiped his hands calmly.
"I'm leaving this place."
"This town has trapped me for eighteen years."
"And now it disgusts me."
Smallville was full of meteorites.
Everywhere he went, there were things capable of weakening him.
But once he left this place…
The world would become his playground.
…
After reassuring their parents that everything would be fine, Clark and Victor left the house together.
They walked down the muddy country road, puddles splashing under their shoes.
Clark looked troubled.
"If Avery really has abilities now… he shouldn't use them to do anything bad."
As he said that, Clark couldn't help remembering Avery's rebellious expression on the bridge. The boy had stood on the railing during a thunderstorm with rock music blasting in his ears.
Even now Clark wasn't confident about Avery's character.
"Clark," Victor said coldly, "sometimes you have to respect other people's fate."
Clark frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
Victor didn't even look at him.
"Stop trying to save everyone."
Standing on a bridge railing during a lightning storm just to look cool while listening to music was already foolish enough.
"If someone dies doing something like that, it's not anyone else's fault."
People had to face the consequences of their choices.
Victor felt no sympathy for someone like Avery.
Because their parents had been present earlier, Victor hadn't said this bluntly before.
"You like playing babysitter for everyone that much?"
"He's still a teenager," Clark said helplessly. "Don't be so harsh on him."
He couldn't help noticing that Victor clearly disliked Avery.
And if they met him soon, Clark worried things might turn into a confrontation.
"You do remember how old you are, right?" Victor replied calmly.
Clark fell silent.
Because of his unusual life, he had faced problems far beyond what most children ever experienced. That forced him to mature faster than his peers.
But even so—
He was still only eighteen years old.
Whoosh!
As they continued walking down the road, Victor suddenly stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
Roughly a hundred meters away, a figure shot across the road at dozens of times the speed of sound. It vanished into the distance like a flash of lightning.
Even with Victor's eyesight, he could only see a vague blur streaking across the horizon.
The scene felt strangely familiar.
But something about it was different.
Clark, now an ordinary human, saw nothing.
He simply noticed Victor suddenly stopping and staring down the road.
"What's wrong, Victor?"
....
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