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Selections from the T.B. Clark & Co. 1905 catalog, reproduced by the American Cut Glass Association.
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Caitlin Clark Unleashed: Team USA Debut Caps Eight-Month Injury Battle
Caitlin Clark is **thrilled** to **commence her inaugural appearance** with the U.S. national team **in the coming week**, when the Americans **participate** in the FIBA World Cup **preliminary round** in Puerto Rico.
This will mark Clark’s **initial competitive outing** in **roughly eight months**, as a **series of physical setbacks disrupted** her WNBA season with the Indiana Fever in…
Caitlin Clark Unleashed: Team USA Debut Caps Eight-Month Injury Battle
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Happy birthday (?)
Travis Clark celebrates his 25th birthday today
He married Katie Bates in december 2021. Since then they had two children, Hailey (3) and Harvey (1). He admitted having an affaire in january 2026.
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‘Ally Clark’ Cast: Jason Clarke Joins Amazon MGM Thriller (EXCLUSIVE)
EXCLUSIVE: The Clark(e)s are aligning, as Jason Clarke (A House of Dynamite) has inked a deal to join Viola Davis in Ally Clark, a new thriller coming together at Amazon MGM Studios, on which we were first to report last June.
No word yet on the role to be played by Clarke.
Written by Jose Ruisanchez and Irwin Winkler, with Phillip Noyce aboard to direct, Ally Clark takes us from the towering…
'Ally Clark’ Cast: Jason Clarke Joins Amazon MGM Thriller (EXCLUSIVE)
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 17 - part 7
“What?”
Clark stepped toward her.
He told her everything.
Lex.
The orb.
The device.
The stripping away.
“I’m just a normal guy now,” he finished quietly.
The words felt strange and freeing at the same time.
He stepped closer and took her hands in his.
“Being normal is a gift,” he said softly. “I never wanted a grand destiny. I only ever wanted to protect the people I love.”
He opened the ring box again.
This time, his hands were steady.
“Will you marry me, Lana… and live a normal, fulfilling, human life with me?”
No gods.
No cryptic prophecies.
No cosmic burdens.
Just them.
She looked at him.
Really looked at him.
Not at a Super man.
Not at the hero.
Clark.
The boy under the oak tree.
The farm kid who brought her flowers.
The man who never stopped loving her.
She stepped forward.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“If that’s truly what you want.”
Clark let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding for years.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
He slid the ring onto her finger.
It fit perfectly.
She laughed through tears.
He pulled her into his arms again — but this time it wasn’t desperate.
It was joyous.
He spun her once in the fading light, both of them laughing, both of them crying.
Outside, the last band of sunlight slipped below the horizon.
And for the first time in a long time—
The world felt still.
Not because danger was gone.
Not because fate wouldn’t continue to test him.
But because, for this moment—
Clark Kent chose love.
And love chose him back.
Maybe, just maybe destiny could be overridden, and the man who grew up in Kansas among the cornfields and wheat, in the quiet seasons of harvest with wholesome loving parents could forge his own path after all.
The end………… or is it
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 17 - part 6
“I couldn’t go through with it,” she whispered against him. Her voice trembled. “At least not without seeing you one last time. Ending things properly. You deserved that.”
He didn’t let go.
“I thought I could just leave,” she continued softly. “But yesterday… I got the strangest feeling. Like something was wrong. Like you were slipping away from me somehow.”
Clark closed his eyes.
You have no idea.
She pulled back slightly, just enough to see his face.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Clark didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked quickly into the kitchen, heart pounding in his chest.
He grabbed the ring box.
Turned.
Dropped to one knee before her.
The movement wasn’t dramatic.
It was trembling.
“Lana Lang,” he said, voice unsteady, “will you marry me?”
The words hung in the air between them — fragile and enormous.
Her eyes filled instantly.
“Clark…”
She pressed a hand to her mouth.
“I love you,” she said. “So much. More than I’ve ever been able to say out loud.”
She took a shaky breath.
“But I don’t think I can be in your life without holding you back.”
Clark’s chest tightened.
“The kind of danger you attract is insane,” she continued. “Unpredictable. So grand. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”
She swallowed hard.
“And besides… like you said. That ring wasn’t made for me.”
Clark’s head snapped up.
“No.”
He stood slowly, still holding the ring box.
“You misunderstood me that day. I didn’t explain it well.”
He stepped closer.
“You’re still you. You just don’t remember the first time I proposed.”
Her breath caught.
“The first time?” she whispered.
Clark nodded.
“I’ve wanted to marry you for three years. I just didn’t know how to ask you a second time without sounding crazy. And I didn’t know if I’d be right for you if you aged… and I didn’t.”
There it was.
The fear he hadn’t been able to fully articulate before.
Lana stepped forward and kissed him gently.
“You should’ve known I wouldn’t have cared about that,” she said softly. “And I hope you wouldn’t either.”
Her hand slid to his cheek.
“Maybe I wasn’t clear enough before about my feelings or maybe you weren’t in the right mind set to really listen to me. But hear me now. For me… the most precious thing we’ve ever had are the moments we’ve spent together. The mornings. The small things. The laughter in between disasters.”
Her eyes shimmered.
“I never cared about what the future would bring.”
Clark blinked.
“Spent… as in past tense?”
His voice cracked slightly.
He slowly closed the ring box.
“Please don’t take it like that,” she said quickly, stepping closer again. “As much as it scares me — the chaos, the threats — I would bear it. To be with you.”
Clark searched her face.
“But—”
She lifted her hand gently.
“Let me finish.”
She inhaled shakily.
“I saw you struggling, Clark. To protect everyone. To protect me. You were being pulled apart. And when I was kidnapped… when I saw what you were really up against…”
Her voice lowered.
“This is bigger than us. Bigger than Smallville. Bigger than our friends. The threats you face are enormous.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I just don’t think I have the strength, or maybe that’s not right.., the emotional fortitude or resilience to be the girlfriend, let alone wife, of the savior of the world without being some kind of burden.”
She leaned in and kissed him softly.
“You’ll always be in my heart.”
She turned and took a few steps toward the door.
Clark’s voice broke.
“Lana — I don’t have my powers anymore.”
She froze.
The words hit like a physical force.
She turned back slowly.
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 17 - part 5
Sunset– Kent Farm
The last rays of sunlight spilled across the Kansas horizon in long ribbons of amber and rose.
Clark stood in the loft, elbows resting on the wooden railing, looking out over the fields. The windmill turned lazily in the distance. The air was quiet — not ominous, not tense — just still.
Too still.
He opened the ring box again.
The diamond caught the dying sunlight and fractured it into trembling shards across the wooden beams above him.
“I missed it,” he whispered to himself.
Missed the moment.
Missed the courage.
Missed the timing.
Or maybe… he’d just been too late.
He closed the box gently, as though it might bruise.
Downstairs, he moved through the kitchen slowly, preparing supper out of habit more than hunger. Cutting vegetables. Heating a pan. The rhythm of it felt mechanical.
Every motion seemed slower now.
Was it depression?
Or mortality?
He couldn’t tell.
He reached for a plate and paused, staring at his own hands.
They looked the same.
They felt different.
No hum beneath the skin.
No infinite strength.
No awareness stretching across counties.
Just hands.
A knock came at the door.
Clark froze.
For a split second, instinct flared — use x-ray vision.
See who it is.
Nothing happened.
Right.
He exhaled slowly.
He walked to the window and tried to peer down the drive.
A car was parked too far back to make out details.
“It’s probably just Lois,” he muttered, trying to steady himself.
He walked to the door.
Opened it.
And the world shifted.
Lana stood there.
Not a memory.
Not a ghost.
Not a dream.
Real.
Her hair caught the fading sunlight. Her eyes — wide, uncertain — searched his face.
Clark stared at her as if she might dissolve if he blinked.
His throat tightened.
Then he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
Not carefully.
Not politely.
Desperately.
He held her tightly.
Longer than was socially acceptable.
Longer than dignity allowed.
Longer than necessary.
She held him just as tightly.
Her fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt like she was afraid he might vanish too.
He buried his face against her shoulder.
She was warm.
She was here.
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 16 - part 8
A moment passed
The mansion felt hollow after the impact.
The fire still burned in the hearth, but it no longer roared. It hissed and snapped softly, throwing unsteady light across overturned furniture and scattered papers.
Lex lay on the marble floor, half-curled on his side, blood at the corner of his mouth. The orb rested several feet away, dim now. Harmless-looking.
Clark stood unsteadily near the center of the room.
The silence felt wrong.
Too complete.
No distant heartbeats.
No hum of electrical wiring in the walls.
No microscopic sounds pressing at the edge of awareness.
Just stillness.
His breathing sounded louder than it should have.
Human.
Mortal.
Footsteps did not echo when J’onn J’onzz stepped from the shadows.
He emerged as though he had always been there — as though the darkness itself had shaped into him. His presence filled the room in a way the fire could not. Calm. Heavy. Ancient.
Clark didn’t look surprised.
Just tired.
J’onn regarded Lex first.
There was no anger in his expression.
No satisfaction.
Only assessment.
He moved toward Lex and knelt beside him, placing one hand gently against the side of his head.
“What are you doing with him” Clark asked
“Your secret must remain safe. J’onn said, this fiasco ends tonight, it stops here.
The room seemed to shift slightly.
Not physically — but in feeling.
Clark watched as J’onn closed his eyes.
A faint green glow flickered behind them.
Inside Lex’s mind—
Memories dissolved.
Clark.
The orb.
The Veritas journals.
The Colorado facility.
The cave symbols.
Weeks — three of them — unraveled and vanished like smoke in wind.
Ambition remained.
Resentment remained.
But the path that had led him here collapsed inward.
Lex’s body slackened further.
He slumped unconscious.
J’onn withdrew his hand.
“It is done,” he said quietly.
"You erased his memory” Some how Clark just knew
J’onn nodded once.
Clark nodded back, not relieved.
Just… finished, done and overwith.
J’onn stood and turned toward the fireplace, where the journals lay scattered. He picked one up, flipping briefly through pages filled with desperate translations and misinterpreted glyphs.
“The Veritas group mistranslated the Kryptonian cryptographs,” J’onn said evenly. “Their fear shaped their conclusions.”
He tossed the journal into the fire.
The pages caught instantly.
“This device was never meant to control you.”
Clark’s eyes flicked toward the orb on the floor.
“It was designed to strip you of your powers, it’s really not that much different than the technology encoded in Jor El’s crystal fortress in that regard, it’s just more compact, made for humans to use ” J’onn continued.
The words landed without ceremony.
“And it succeeded.”
Clark went still.
He looked down at his hands.
Flexed them slowly.
The skin felt the same.
The bones felt the same.
But beneath them—
There was no hum.
No solar charge.
No infinite strength waiting at his command.
He took a slow breath.
It felt smaller.
Limited.
Real.
“I feel…” Clark began, then stopped.
He searched for the word.
J’onn watched him carefully.
Clark swallowed.
“Normal.”
The word lingered between them.
Mortal.
Human.
For a moment, something softened in Clark’s face.
Not relief exactly.
But release.
“Here” John said “finish putting the rest of these notes in the fire, it’s getting to hot for me to be near”
Clark took them without hesitation and tossed them in.
“I have to restore your powers,” J’onn said gravely. “You were sent here for a reason. Your father did not send you across galaxies for a quiet life.”
Clark looked at him.
And for the first time in years—
There was no defiance in his eyes.
Only exhaustion.
“For the first time…” Clark said slowly, voice rough, “I’m not carrying the world.”
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 16 - part 7
His smile widened — thin, hungry.
“I suppose none of this matters very much now. In a few short moments, you’ll be my mindless slave. And then…” His voice softened into something almost intimate. “We’ll see what you can really do once you’re mine to command.”
“I’ll never serve you, Lex,” Clark growled, fighting through the pain.
“That’s it,” Lex whispered, savoring it. “Fight it. Struggle. Cling to your independence until the very last second.”
His eyes darkened.
“It will make it that much more delicious once your mind is conquered. It’s to bad for you Lana couldn’t dig up enough dirt on me to put me behind bars before this happened huh? Maybe had you two worked together you might have actually succeeded.“
"I wanted to let it go Lex, we both did. We wanted to move on with our lives and put the past behind us.”
“You might think that Clark, you and Lana are alike in so many ways, but if there’s one thing I know about her is she holds on to a grudge almost as hard as I do, she craves revenge almost as much as I do.” “You made her that way Lex. She’s not like that anymore.”
“No, maybe not, but look at where that’s gotten you. She was right Clark, I should have been behind bars or even killed. lord knows she wanted to kill me.”
“Lana cherishes life Lex, that’s something you’ll never understand.” He said groaning in pain.
“and if we got you imprisoned you’d just get out with all of your money and connections anyways.” he says meekly barely able to lift his face off of the floor.
“Ha, yeah, you got me there Clark, I probably would have. But both of you failing to kill, your pathetic morality, it’s what makes you weak!”
“It’s what makes us human. I always felt you could be redeemed Lex.”
“Yeah, well, look where that got you. Any second now and you will be mine. Think of it Clark together we will rule this country. my mind and your muscle. I’ll be president, no a king, no, I’ll be emperor of the world!” “What ever it is you believe about me Lex I’m not powerful enough to conquer the world.” “That’s where you’re wrong Clark. it says clearly in these veritas journals it’s your destiny to. Maybe you haven’t realized the full potential of your abilities yet, but no matter, through my guidance I’m sure you will get there. It’s just ironic that through you, your destiny becomes my own. You will conquer the world for me. It’s poetic justice in a way, don’t you think Clark.”
The orb pulsed violently.
Clark felt it then.
The final shift.
The strength inside him — the solar fire that had fueled him for years — flickered.
Dimmed.
Gone.
He collapsed fully to the floor.
Chest heaving.
The orb glowed—
Then slowly dimmed.
Its top rotated back into place with a quiet mechanical click.
The buzzing stopped.
Silence.
Lex’s smile widened slowly.
Triumphant.
“Rise,” he commanded.
Clark didn’t move.
Lex stood and walked over, boots echoing sharply against marble.
He crouched beside Clark and grabbed his jaw, fingers digging into his skin.
“Obey me.”
Clark’s eyes snapped open.
Not glowing.
Just human.
And he drove his fist directly into Lex’s jaw.
The sound of impact cracked through the room.
Lex flew backward, crashing into a chair, the orb clattering across the floor.
Clark remained on one knee for a moment.
Breathing hard.
Everything felt… different.
He tried to summon heat vision.
Nothing.
He listened for distant heartbeats.
Nothing.
The air felt heavier.
His muscles felt… mortal.
Lex rolled onto his side, stunned, blood at the corner of his mouth.
“But how…” he whispered.
Clark stood slowly.
Not effortlessly.
Not like before.
He swayed slightly — caught himself.
His voice was steadier now.
But quieter.
“Guess it wasn’t what you thought.”
Lex stared at him.
And for the first time—
There was no certainty in his eyes.
Only confusion.
And fear.
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Smallville: A Different path
Chapter 13 - part 5
Oliver was ready for it. “Relax, Clark. She’s okay.”
Clark froze, chest heaving.
Oliver nodded once, firm. “They all are. After Brainiac went down and I was sure the area was safe to approach, I used a torch from my utility belt to cut through the bars and free them.”
Clark’s breath left him in a shaky exhale — relief so intense it almost made him nauseous.
Then the other thought caught him.
“And the time machine,” Clark said, voice tight. “Did you do anything with it?”
Oliver looked away for a beat, like he didn’t like the answer he had to give.
“Honestly, Clark… there wasn’t much I could do.” He exhaled. “I took what little C4 I had left and wired it along the structure. It brought it down, but…” He shook his head. “There are still so many pieces. The whole place is littered with debris.”
Clark’s gaze sharpened. “I radioed for a cleanup crew to come in,” Oliver added, “but they were pretty far out, and—”
“And what?” Clark asked, immediate concern cutting through his exhaustion.
Oliver took a slow breath. “And after I left, they radioed me back. Said the feds were already sweeping the area. My crew couldn’t get in.”
Clark lay back, the weight of that settling into him like cold lead.
“Oliver…” he said after a beat, voice dull with the implications. “You wouldn’t happen to have solar lamps, would you?”
Oliver blinked. “Huh?”
Clark’s eyes fluttered as if even speaking cost too much. “Nothing. It just might help speed my recovery since it’s night now. I get my powers from the sun.”
Oliver shook his head once, almost incredulous. “Duly noted. If this ever happens again, I’ll be sure to bring them.”
Clark let out a breath that was almost a laugh — almost. “Let’s hope nothing like this ever happens again.”
Oliver didn’t hesitate. “I can second that.”
Outside Turpan, China
“Damn it.”
Lex’s voice snapped across the dusty excavation site like a whip.
They’d been at it for days. Scanning. Digging. Sifting. Mapping. Re-mapping. And still—
Nothing.
Lex stood rigid beside the pit, the desert wind tugging at his coat as if even the elements were trying to pull him away from his obsession.
“What am I missing?” he murmured — not to the workers, not to his crew, but to the universe itself.
He stalked back to his table, where the Veritas notes lay spread out in precise, meticulous order. Maps. Symbols. Coordinates. References. Fragments.
He forced himself to slow down.
To look again.
To actually read.
His finger traced a line he’d skimmed before — a section of text he’d dismissed as flourish.
Then he stopped.
“There,” Lex whispered, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t see this before.”
A riddle.
“I am a twin, yet we never meet,
Two openings, the same in size but not in substance.
I wake up to the sun’s bright beam,
While my brother sleeps in a starlit dream.
When I am walking upon the ground,
He is upside down, never found.”
Another line beneath it, almost like a smug footnote:
Polar opposites they are.
Lex’s lips parted.
“Wait… just a minute.”
He snatched a globe from the corner of the table, spinning it with one hand, the other already doing the math — quick, instinctive, almost eager. Coordinates. Degrees. Distance. Antipode.
The globe stopped.
Lex stared.
His expression shifted — not relief, not joy.
Recognition.
“Turpan, China…” he murmured, voice almost reverent. “The polar opposite twin of…”
His eyes lifted, sharpened into something predatory.
“…Smallville, Kansas.”
He smiled — slow and cold.
“The last stone is in the Kawatche cave.”
Lex turned sharply to his crew.
“Pack up,” he ordered. “We’re going home.”
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Smallville: A Different Path
Chapter 12 - part 3
Kara gasps.
“No… Why? Why would you want such a thing?”
“Desire is irrelevant,” Brainiac replies evenly. “I am, as you say, a machine. My emotions are artificial facsimiles meant for better interaction with sentient lifeforms. My motivations are purely programmed — and my programming demands it of me.”
He steps closer.
“After I was nearly destroyed the first time, I was freed from my original programming to help Zod. But buried deeper was a contingency plan — coding so strong, so powerful, not even losing over half of my archival knowledge and being reduced to a mere puddle of liquid metal and nanites could undo it.”
His eyes glow faintly.
“Kal-El must die, Kara. And you will be the one to do it… or Jimmy dies.”
“How about I just destroy that time machine of yours right now!” Kara screams.
“Jimmy is not here yet,” she adds desperately. “You can’t kill him!”
“Kara… how naive you are.”
Brainiac tilts his head slightly.
“At any time, I can direct the nanites I injected into his brain to sever his vital functions. I can do this remotely.”
He gestures toward the device behind him.
“Attempt to destroy the machine — he dies. Fail to follow my orders when I give them — he dies.”
Kara stands frozen.
The weight of it crushes her resolve. Her mind races, but no solution forms.
She says nothing.
At Oliver’s Watchtower
“Please tell me you’ve discovered something by now,” Clark says, pacing.
“Sorry, Clark,” Oliver replies. “The satellites are still down. I’ve got my supercomputers scanning all reports from Colorado — no matter how trivial. We’ll find her.”
Oliver places a steady hand on Clark’s shoulder.
Clark pulls out his phone and tries calling Lana again.
No answer.
“Damn it!” he snaps.
“If anything has happened to them—”
“The good news,” Oliver interrupts carefully, “is the EMP device is ready. If Brainiac does have them, he won’t for long. This thing will fry his circuits for good.”
“Let’s hope it works, Oliver,” Clark says quietly. “For all of our sakes.”
Back in the Valley
I have to do something, Kara thinks.
If Brainiac sees or hears me calling Clark, he’ll kill Jimmy before I can even give Clark the location.
That’s it. I’ll text him.
She slowly turns away while Brainiac is occupied making final adjustments to the device — programming, optimizing, ensuring everything functions as intended.
She pulls her phone from her pocket.
Oh please, Clark… please check your phone soon.
Her fingers tremble as she types:
“Clark, Brainiac is controlling Jimmy through some type of nanite injection remotely. His life is in danger.”
She hits send.
She begins typing again.
“The coordinates here are—”
“Kara.”
His voice is right behind her.
She freezes.
He stands barely five feet away, as if he can sense technology the moment it activates.
“Hand me the phone,” he says calmly, “or Jimmy dies right now.”
Her throat tightens.
Before she can finish the second message, she turns and hands it to him.
Defeated.
Alone.
Mentally beaten.
Brainiac crushes the phone effortlessly in his hand. The metal crumples with a sharp crack.
He turns back to the machine, continuing his programming without another word.
Fifteen minutes later, a van comes bouncing down a dirt path carved through the trees. Its suspension struggles over the rough terrain as it emerges into the clearing in front of the device.
Kara feels the full weight of everything pressing down on her shoulders.
The van stops.
Two people she’s never seen before step out and pull an unconscious Lana from the back.
Kara’s breath catches.
Then Jimmy steps out of the driver’s seat.
“Oh my gosh…” she gasps.
I have to get her out of here.
But before her trembling body or frantic mind can react, Brainiac is already moving.
He directs the men to place Lana inside a reinforced cage near the base of the structure.
Jimmy follows without hesitation, climbing inside with her, his expression blank and lifeless.
The cage door slams shut.
Locked.