| Synopsis | - Superman is trapped within a cloud of mysterious fog which teleports him to the other side of it every time her tries to escape it. Though Hiro Okamura comes to help him, he too gets lost in the fog.
Superman remembers the third grade, when Clark hadn't yet decided how best to tell his friend Lana Lang about his powers. When a wildfire tore through the field near their school, the children were all hurried inside - but Clark remained outside, while Lana screamed for him to come back. He could hear the footsteps of four people, and after seeing three of them making an escape, he sought the one remaining behind the flames. Hoping to put out the fire as he would a birthday candle, he blew as hard as he could, only to see the flames spread and expand as a result. Still he was determined to save the person who was left behind.
Clark wakes from his dream of the past to find John Henry Irons and Lana standing over him. He has a headache - for once - and Lana explains that his brain is demonstrating electrical activity similar to that of the cloud's energy at its edges. Superman rises and steps out onto the stoop next to the barber shop, where the regulars are still sitting as if nothing had happened - but Smallville remains drowned in the cloud. Lana comments with some irony that the people of the town seem to be calm despite the death of their sheriff and a monster's digging up her parents' bodies, all because Superman is on the job. While John Henry isn't sure that it isn't warranted, given all that Superman has saved the townspeople from, Superman admits that something is wrong, even if Lana is letting her anger at him colour her judgment. Superman hopes that Hiro will be able to get some help, while he's trapped inside the town. Hiro, however, is attacked by a creature after spending too much time playing with the cloud's teleportation field.
Facing the town, Superman addresses its populace, promising his intention to get to the bottom of dealing with it, knowing that something isn't right with the people. Obediently, they agree to stay inside and wait, and he notes that not a single one of them has an accelerated heartbeat. They are calm - and they believe in him. Good as that feels, his headache still throbs.
Lana and Steel begin retracing the steps of the creature they'd seen, and Superman catches up in time to see that they lead back to the crater where he fought and defeated Doomsday. Recalling how Doomsday used teleportation from the Phantom Zone to travel, Superman decides to fly up toward a point of light shining through the fog, knowing it will take him out of there. He is prevented by a blast of mental energy, coming from the people of Smallville, who seem to be under the influence of something. Superman hears Hiro's cries for help, and tries to withstand the mind-attacks of the town. Even Lana and Steel are attacked when they try to help. Unable to help Hiro just yet, Superman realizes that he needs to stop all of the townspeople at once - but ever since that fire when he was a kid, he has been concerned about collateral damage. Still, he's gained more control over his power since then, and he blows a gentle but cold breeze at them, breaking their concentration.
The break allows Superman and Steel to stretch the rift and grab Hiro - but that just reveals the horror of the creature that grabbed him.
Outside Smallville, the fog begins to billow and spread, capturing anything in its path.
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