The new editor tells Clark and Lois only one of them 'imps' may keep his/her job. they still collaborate, hoping a super-scoop should change his mind. An apparent opportunity is when Raymond Sacks, fires as D.A. for ordering a failed attempt at Lois's life, is spared prosecution and throws a nightclub celebration. Clark is warned by Chloe the blur's secret is compromised by impostor Zod's contact with Lois. He discovers Maxwell Lord, a wealthy tycoon and Checkmate king-level rogue, enlists Sacks for a plan to identify the Blur, whom a delivery-boy photographed, so he's captured like several people known to have seen him.

Clark is desperate to find the Book of Rao before Zod can find it. If it falls into Zod's hands, he will take over Earth. He's asking Chloe for her help. She is hampered by Tess's ravaging of her Watchtower equipment. Lois tells Clark she has a sure-fire way of getting their jobs back, but he is too preoccupied to listen. Her feelings are hurt. She says she needs a mission in life. In the midst of all this, Clark's mom returns unexpectedly with Perry White, whom she has been dating. Lois is smitten with Perry and shows him her hot lead - a photo of the Red/Blue Blur and tales of an alien race that is looking for the Book of Rao. She holds up a picture of it. Perry's jaw drops. He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a copy of the same symbol. He tells her that they have a shared story. He is investigating an explosion of a secret government complex in the Rocky Mountains but has been blocked by someone with the code name, Red Queen. Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord has imprisoned Tess, demanding that she hand over the Book of Rao. As Chloe tries to help Clark search for the book, the Red Queen locks her computers. At an uncomfortable "family" dinner, Lois informs Clark that she's breaking up with him. Tess awakes from the mind manipulation that Lord has been using on her to get the Book of Rao. She grabs his gun and escapes. She heads home to get Rao from her wine cellar hiding place. But the real Red Queen - Martha Kent - holds her at gunpoint, knowing she would go for Rao when she fled Lord. Tess is forced to hand it over. Perry and Lois's story collapses, but his good word to the Planet editor gets Lois and Clark their desks back. At the Kent farm, Clark tells his mom that he knows now she is the Red Queen. She answers back that she has never stopped trying to protect him. If he uses the knowledge in the Book of Rao to exile all Kryptonians to another plane, it will exile all Kryptonians from Earth, including himself. She hands the Book of Rao to him.