Okay, so finally to this chapter and I plan on revealing the reason for Lana's survival, which no one managed to successfully guess, not that I'm surprised, since I added an unexpected twist to the story. Hope you guys like it.

After he'd dropped Lana off at Smallville Hospital, Superman managed to swipe a sample of Lana's blood and flew towards the Arctic, since he was hoping that he might be able to find answers about how the hell she'd managed to make it through an avalanche unscathed. Not even a scratch.

That was when he arrived at the Fortress, he found Kelex waiting for him.

"Hello Master Kal, how can I be of assistance?" Kelex asked.

"Analyze this blood sample and see if you can detect any abnormalities in it." Clark said as he handed Kelex in the sample before pulling up his father's AI.

"Father." Clark said.

"Hello my son." Jor-El said.

"Father, can you tell if there are any abnormalities in the blood sample Kelex is scanning?" Clark asked the Ai.

"According to my tests no. Everything seems perfectly fine. However, where did you get this blood sample from, since it is clearly not from your cousin and she is the only female kryptonian on this planet." Jor-El said, shocking Clark.

"I'm sorry what?" Clark asked, thinking he must've somehow misheard his father.

"According to my analysis, all genetic markers in this sample are coming back as perfectly normal for a kryptonian woman." Jor-El said.

"That's not possible. There must be some kind of mistake." Clark said.

"I just ran the tests again and got the same result. Who is this sample from?" Jor-El asked.

"A friend of mine, Lana Lang. But she's human. She's never shown any sign of kryptonian powers before, she's lived in Smallville her whole life." Clark said, thinking that there must be some kind of mistake.

"Son, there is no mistaking these results. It would appear that your friend is a kryptonian and always has been." Jor-El said.

"Then why wouldn't she have shown any signs like I did growing up?" Clark asked.

"I do not know. Perhaps if you could acquire a sample of Ms. Lang's DNA prior to whatever event it was that caused her Kryptonian genes to manifest, I might be able to offer an explanation." Jor-El said and Clark nodded, thinking that he'd needed to go to Lana's house and find something with her DNA on it from this morning.

Luck was on his side since during his super speed search of Lana's house, he'd found her hair brush, which she'd used this morning and found a piece of her hair in it that he was then able to take back to the Fortress.

"Well?" Clark asked as his father's AI ran the tests on the hair sample.

"Well, this is interesting." Jor-El said.

"What is it?" Clark asked.

"It would appear that Ms. Lang's DNA was genetically modified to present itself as human. It's quite advanced work and it had to have been done correctly otherwise there could've been highly catastrophic consequences." Jor-El said.

"How is that possible? I know all kryptonians aside from Kara and I were genetically engineered, but this seems unprecedented. Why would anyone do that?" Clark asked.

"Most likely because our house was not the only one with the idea to send our children to Earth to save them from Krypton's end. However, it would appear that since Ms. Lang was not born the same way as you were, her parents were able to make some modifications to her DNA to make it appear as though she is human in order to help her fit in Earth. It's rather ingenious, if somewhat cruel and extreme. I can only assume that Ms. Lang has no idea of her true heritage." Jor-El said.

"Can you tell what house she belongs to?" Clark asked.

"I am still running through all the known houses of Krypton. It will take some time to determine what house she belonged to. Perhaps if you could find the vessel that brought her to earth, it could shine some light on that topic." Jor-El suggested.

"I don't even know where to start looking." Clark said

"I recommend you going to the ones who took her in. They may know something." Jor-El said and Clark nodded, since honestly, he thought it would be a good idea to make sure he had all the facts before he told Lana about any of this. Since he did intend on telling her, but he wanted to make sure he had the full story, since she deserved all the facts.

At the same time that Superman was at his fortress, Tal-Rho was at his own, since the incident at the mines had complicated his own plans.

"What is it, my son?" the AI of his father Zeta Rho asked.

"There has been a complication that has delayed our plan." Tal said.

"What kind of complication?" Zeta asked.

"The mine that contains the x-kryptonite we need to power the eradicator is currently buried in rubble due to collapse in the primary tunnel, making it inaccessible at the moment. It will take time for human crews to clear it out, since I cannot risk exposing myself until it is too late for Kal-El to stop me." Tal said.

"I see. Do you know what caused this cave-in?" Zeta asked.

"Not yet, but I am attempting to find out. Especially since I have a hunch that it was not an act of nature. Someone caused that cave in and when I find them, they will feel my wrath." Tal said and Zeta grinned.

"Good. In the meantime, continue searching for recruits, so that when you are able to access the x-kryptonite again, you'll already have volunteers." Zeta said and Tal nodded.

"Of course. I promise I will see this through to the end father. No matter what." Tal said.

"For your sake, you'd better." Zeta said as Tal flinched, since even though it was only an AI, that didn't mean that it couldn't hurt him. He'd learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago and it had only strengthened his resolve to ensure that this plan succeeded.