3.03 - Extinction

Chloe goes with Lana to have one last look around the Talon before Lana hands over the keys to the new owner.  Neither are thrilled about it being turned into a burrito bar; they meet Emily who is posing as the new owners daughter.  Lana thinks she recognizes her but it doesn't go very far; she agrees to show "Emma" the ropes of the Talon.

Lionel visits the Torch later that night, giving Chloe a picture of Emily and demanding her help; Chloe is dead pan and sarcastic towards him but recognizes Emily and shows it to Clark the next day.  Clark helps her piece together that it is Emily, that Lionel must of grabbed her last year, and Clark mentions that they'd got to keep Emily away from Lex due to Lex working with the FBI.  Chloe is taken aback and points out about Lex's grandparents' murder; Clark refutes that citing that "[they] never had hard evidence before about what Lionel was doing."  But that if they found Emily, they would have evidence that Lionel was illegally cloning people.

Chloe goes to talk to Lex; she tells him what Lionel erased - about MorganEdge, the murder, memory wipe, the confession, her entanglement with his father - and about what she had, the voicemail confession.  She points out that he has enough clout to resurrect that confession and use it.  Lex thanks her for coming forward and Chloe admits that she knows Luthor politics can be deadly but she knows he'll take care of her.

After going blind in a freak accident involving kryptonite and heat vision, Clark attempts to go back to school; sounds suddenly become amplified, specifically Chloe talking on a cellphone(unknowingly) yards away.*   She's arguing with Lionel Luthor about researching Clark yet again; she reiterates that she's done with their deal.  Lionel warns her from going back to Lex at all and tells her she will give him a new report on Clark.

Chloe visits him later in the day, clueless that he knows the truth.  Clark brings up Lionel anyway, asking her how long she's been dealing with the billionaire.  Chloe admits that it's been since last spring but she didn't tell him anything he didn't already know and he wasn't sharing anything with her.   Clark is livid that she traded him for a column and some new Torch computers regardless; she replies that Lionel caught her at a moment of weakness.   Chloe adds that once Lionel had a hold of her, he didn't want to let go; she thought of all people, Clark would of understood making a stupid decision.

Chloe's pulled records out of City Hall to help Clark find out more about the drifter in Smallville from 1961 (in reality, Jor-El).  He asks her to just go with his "hunches" and she agrees to drop it even though it's unusually detailed for a hunch.   They noticed pages missing the day of Lana's Great Aunt's murder; Chloe notices that they arrested Lachlan Luthor for the crime.   Clark tells her to talk to Lex, and that she's going to have to get over the incident about the database sooner or later.  Chloe goes to talk to him, pointing out that Luthor isn't exactly a common name; Lex denies that any of his family was in Smallville prior to buying up the cream corn factory.  

The next day, Chloe finds out that the jail record clears Lachlan Luthor and asks Clark how he's so certain about what's going on, that he's "passed crazy four random clues ago"; Clark admits that he's been having flashes back to 1961.  Chloe claims that maybe it's a past life memory or genetic memory at work.  Her sources at the Ledger faxed her the missing pages of the log book which erase Lachlan's alibi and reveal that Billy Tate, the current mayor, was the one who let him out. 

Chloe's following the murder story of Jake Pollen, a former SHS student who was found with a meteor rock inscribed with 'freak' on it next to his body; she reveals that she as a list of "hunches" that is a "purgatory before [someone] graduate to the Wall of Weird."*  Chloe reveals that she's thought Jake had meteor-enhanced powers for a while; Clark chastises for not looking into the person who murdered Jake.   In turn, she offers to team up with him on the story and admits that "really nice to have [him] back." 

Chloe tracks down the coroner's report; Jake Pollen had gills.   Clark and Lana debate what is more disturbing - the mutation or the murder.  Clark points out that no one asked to get powers, Lana retorts that many of these mutants attack both her and Chloe; she then calls Clark a vigilante.