| Synopsis
| - In a secret location, the man who arranged the train job between Lex Luthor and Glen Glenmorgan brings together a team called the Anti-Superman Army in order to auction off a certain item that he has procured. It is the rocket engine core from the rocket that brought Superman to earth, which the Anti-Superman Army themselves stole. The core is made entirely of Kryptonite, and this man knows that with it he can derive all of the radioactive isotopes that could kill or change Superman in some way. In return for giving each of them a splinter of Kryptonite, the man asks that they each perform one task in his name.
In his old Fortress of Solitude - a satellite orbiting the earth - the Superman of the near future expresses his confusion at meeting members of the Legion of Super-Heroes who have used their time-travel technology to bring him back to this early point in his career. Saturn Woman and Cosmic Man explain that without the Kryptonite powersource, the escape pod on which Superman came to earth will die, and with that death, the Collector AI will re-infect the space station and Earth's computer network. This is why they came back - to prevent history from being changed by that infection.
Meanwhile, their timebubble itself has lost power, but with a normal alkaline battery from Earth, they may be able to get it running well. Suddenly, they are attacked by Erik Drekken, a man who can evolve and devolve his genetic material at will. With Saturn Woman's help, Superman manages to get Erik to return to his humanoid form. Superman demands to know where the Kryptonite engine was taken, and Saturn Girl's telepathy determines that Erik saw the Anti-Superman Army, and that they are hiding the engine in the one place no one would look for them - inside Superman's brain. Nimrod the Hunter used a teleport rifle to fire a microscopic lead-pellet filled with tesseract space into Superman's brain. Saturn Girl demands to access his memory.
In the past, the 13-year-old Clark Kent helped his father to subdue their neighbour's rogue bull. Jonathan marvelled at the boy's strength, which sets Clark to thinking about his alien heritage. Jonathan believed that the rocket was a lifeboat, meant to send Clark where he could do some good. Clark agreed, wondering if his parents might ever come back for him. He suspected that they would not, and Jonathan commented that without any knowledge of his family, it would be up to Clark to determine for himself what the S-shield means. Later that night, Clark noticed that he was being watched by three strangers. As it happened, it was Garth, Imra, and Rokk, looking at the boy who was to become a hero.
When Saturn Woman asks whether there was anything strange about the memory, Superman realizes that the colour of the barn kept changing - a sign of the pellet's presence putting pressure on his amygdala, altering his memory. The Legionnaires plan to gain access to the pellet via their time bubble and a tessaract key given to them by Drekken - they can already sense their future selves inside.
Inside the meeting chamber hidden within Superman's brain, Saturn Girl uses her abilities to project an image of the Sisterhood of Abiding Hate onto the Kryptonite Men. The man who called the gathering realizes that the Sisterhood cannot possibly be there, and has his minions attack them, only to realize too late that he was duped. Cosmic Man appears behind him and threatens that with his magnetic control over the iron in the man's blood, he has the upper hand.
In desperation, the man turns the lead casing around the Kryptonite engine to glass, in hopes that the raw radiation will flood Superman's brain. The pull of Cosmic Man's field causes the Kryptonite to split into pieces and smash through the glass, exposing its radiation to the room. Somehow, in the confusion, the man and most of the shards of Kryptonite disappear. With Cosmic Man left holding the only shard left, the Anti-Superman Army prepares to steal their only chance of getting something out of the meeting back.
On the satellite, Superman is succumbing to the radiation poisoning coming from inside his own brain. The rocket is beginning to experience power-failure. Suddenly, Superman realizes how he can save the rocket and stop the reboot of the Collector AI. Using the radiation of the Kryptonite in his brain, he can power the rocket too. However, Drekker leaps out and holds him back from dragging himself toward the ship.
Superman's struggle with Drekker and the urgency of the situation causes him to recall when he sat at his father's deathbed and Jonathan Kent had asked Clark to promise him to use his powers to become a force for good; never to give up the fight to make the world a better place.
Finally, Superman throws Drekker off of his back and shoves his hand into the rocket's fuel core. The radiation gives the rocket enough time to reactivate, and it emits a blast that knocks Drekker back, fulfilling its mission to protect the son of Krypton.
Moments later, the Legionnaires return in a roughshod state, having apparently succeeded in regaining the Kryptonite engine in the meantime. With little time left before the current era's Superman returns, they drag Superman into their Time Bubble. He falls unconscious, and Saturn Woman admits that she was ashamed to have looked back into his memories, seeing how they had been disappointed with him when they met him. But for him, they had been the proof that the planet earth had a future worth fighting for.
- After the death of his parents, Clark Kent gives up the farm to his neighbour, Mr. Fry. The Frys' own farm has been foreclosed upon, and Clark feels it is the least he can do to help a friend. Still, the place has a lot of memories.
His parents had never been ashamed of his abilities, and though he had to keep them secret, his parents encouraged him to use them to stand up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves.
Later, when he told his friend Pete Ross about his intention to become a reporter, Pete was surprised. Clark's apparent obsession with astronomy seemed to indicate a future in that field to him. Pete on the other hand, joked that he might like to use his super-human powers to secretly fight injustice. It was just a joke, but the idea resonated with Clark.
Lana Lang felt that Clark had too much to offer to simply stay in Smallville. The important thing to her, though, was that no matter where Clark went, if he ever came back to Smallville for a visit, he would always have family there in her.
On that last day in the Kent house, Lana and Pete are there with Clark to help see him off at the train station. While his friends pack the car, Clark takes a moment to look over all of the family photos on the wall. Finally Clark accepts that he is on the path to doing what his parents always hoped for in him, and he joins his friends outside.
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