On her way out, Lois passes a youngish guy with a computer pad, and snarks, "Shouldn't you be in school?" OK, he's not that young, girl. He remarks to Tess that Lois has a "little fire" in her. It's an ember, tops. Tess calls him "Stuart" and asks what he has for her. He seems to suddenly remember why he's there: "It's about your missing Kryptonians." He shows her the pad with a red indicator atop a grid layout of Metropolis; he thinks he knows where they are. Tess looks even happier than if Lois had accepted her invitation to a sweaty tussle.

Back at the all-too familiar Metropolis General ER, Emil is parting ways with a uniformed cop. He goes to a darkened office. A whoosh closes the door, startling him. He turns around to see Clark. "I understand it took Chloe years to get used to your... 'entrances'." Why does everything in this episode sound so dirty? Is it me? Clark gets down to business. He heard about what happened on the police scanner. "Was it a meteor freak?" They prefer to be called Meteor-Mutated Americans, Clark. Emil says it's a cyborg, which he thinks is something more disturbing. He was built against his will. Clark remembers Lex working on projects like this before. "Not like this," Emil says, slapping an X-ray of John's chest onto the lighted display. Ominous music plays. Emil explains for Clark what the rest of us already saw in the episode, adding that the new meteorite power source is boosting the cyborg's adrenaline levels and thus intensifying his emotions. Emil is afraid that the longer the "rock" stays in his body, the more it will poison his mind. Yeah, Whitney Houston can tell you all about the evils of messing with rock for too long. Emil thinks the cyborg could turn homicidal. Clark starts to leave to go track down this mystery cyborg, but Emil calls him back to give him the only clue he has: a globe keychain. "He must have dropped it out of his pocket," Emil says. Convenient! Clark recognizes it as the keychain all Daily Planet employees are given. "He must work at the paper." Emil thinks he'll be easy to find, because "a green glow is hard to miss." Clark looks like he's just now remembers that kryptonite is bad for him. "Emil, I need a favor."