Cassidy Freeman: Tess Mercer

Eternal

Tess Mercer

Clark Kent: I'm not some problem to be solved.
Tess Mercer: I get it. It's too early. Just know I'll wait for you, Clark. I'll wait for you to come to me.
Clark Kent: It's gonna be a long wait.
Tess Mercer: [Clark walks off] It'll be shorter than you think, Kal-El.

Tess Mercer: According to the Kawatche Indians, this boy is part of a two-headed creature - good and evil. The Luthors were too busy feuding over which one of them was worth enough to be your adversary that they couldn't see the truth... that there was another boy who came to Earth with you. Davis Bloome.
Clark Kent: [chuckles] So you think that Davis Bloome and I are from another planet?
Tess Mercer: Lionel found Davis on the day of the meteor shower. He thought he was the Traveler, but then the boy's tests seemed normal.
Clark Kent: So, Lionel was holding Davis.
Tess Mercer: Only for five days. Then he threw the boy out onto the street because he got a phone call from Martha Kent.
Clark Kent: [chuckles] Tess, you are reaching.
Tess Mercer: Am I? It's Lionel's own words, and I quote - "I have the wrong boy, but I believe that I have found the true Traveler." Why else would Lionel Luthor arrange an adoption for a boy who seemed to come out of nowhere? It looks like you're the reason Davis was abandoned in the first place.

Tess Mercer: There is a savior among us. You are here to betray him.
Davis Bloome: I haven't betrayed anyone.
Tess Mercer: I finally realized that until you fulfill your destiny, he won't have his great challenge to overcome. He cannot become the world's savior without triumphing over the world's destroyer.
Davis Bloome: What savior? What you are talking about?
Tess Mercer: Clark. There's a reason you two don't get along. You were destined to kill each other.

Tess Mercer: I have this feeling that you'll never fulfill your great destiny until you meet your greatest challenge.
Clark Kent: You don't know anything about my life.
Tess Mercer: If this is the way that you lied to Lex, then I can see how it pushed him over the edge.
Clark Kent: Lex was racing toward that drop-off way before he met me.
Tess Mercer: Yeah, but betrayal... you know, the more you love someone, the harder it is.
Clark Kent: Are you threatening me?
Tess Mercer: I'm not that naïve.

Clark Kent: I think I'm finally ready for the front page.
Tess Mercer: An article.
Clark Kent: Found a stack of missing persons cases that no one's talking about. There are similarities between them all. This city is being attacked and no one seems to care.
Tess Mercer: Kind of makes you wish the Red-Blue Blur wasn't sitting down on the job.

Tess Mercer: I can't print this.
Clark Kent: You need to print it.
Tess Mercer: No, they're called facts, Clark, and you don't have any.
Clark Kent: You don't care about these victims?
[realizing]
Clark Kent: You're sweeping this under the rug.
Tess Mercer: Great. Another conspiracy theory, 'cause I love those. Look closely. You will not find a web of lies behind this façade. That would be your department.

Tess Mercer: The new contemplative Clark Kent. I like it.
Clark Kent: I'm kind of busy.
Tess Mercer: With what? Farm chores? I'd let you off if you were saving a busload of children, but... cleaning the feeding bin?
Clark Kent: I'm really sorry that you bought into this strange obsession that the Luthors had for me, but...
Tess Mercer: I don't think of it as buying it. I think of it as believing.
Clark Kent: If you choose to spend your Saturday nights reading the journal of a madman, sounds to me like you have a few holes in your personal life.
Tess Mercer: We all look to idols. Religion, the rich and the famous, because we have holes in our lives. But it doesn't mean that these things aren't real.
Clark Kent: What you've made me out to be is not real. I'll never be that man.
Tess Mercer: Not until Judas is at your back.

Davis Bloome: You think you can keep me here?
Tess Mercer: I know, there's nothing that can restrain you.
Davis Bloome: Then what are you gonna do?
Tess Mercer: I've been asking myself that question for the last few hours. What do you do when you find Judas in your midst? Who would Christ have been if Judas had not betrayed him? Maybe we would remember Jesus only as a teacher roaming the desert.
Davis Bloome: I don't quite understand what you're getting at.
Tess Mercer: Without Judas, Jesus would have never risen from the dead to come back and face his greatest challenge: saving humankind.

Tess Mercer: [opening the curtains and seeing Davis wince] Were you expecting a chorus on angels? I'm sorry to disappoint you. I wanted to be here when you woke up. I apologize, for the state that you're in. I didn't expect you to end up like this. I was trying to kill you. But... that seems to be harder than I thought.
Davis Bloome: [weakly] Why am I here? Who are you...
Tess Mercer: Shh. You're safe with me. Safer than out there. If the world knew you were a serial killer, you'd be running from torches for the rest of your life.
Davis Bloome: You got the wrong idea about me, lady.
Tess Mercer: It's not your fault that you were born with a killer instinct. I even admire your altruistic selection of victims. It's like keeping bats around to wipe out the parasites that prey on the city.
Davis Bloome: I can't control myself.
Tess Mercer: I know you've tried to absolve yourself, but... even suicide wouldn't really work for a guy who can't die, would it?
Davis Bloome: I am not who you think I am.
Tess Mercer: No. You're not who you think you are. And today... you proved my theory.

Tess Mercer: [to Davis] After I discovered that you'd been a little unfriendly to a few Metropolis citizens, I started looking into your background. The only problem is... you don't have one. I thought I hit a dead end until I inherited this. Stole it, if I'm being honest. Thought this might jog your rusty memory. It was Lionel Luthor's. It tells a fascinating story about a boy who fell to Earth the day a meteor shower destroyed a small Kansas town. I'm beginning to believe the boy did not come here alone.
[extended flashback sequence]
Tess Mercer: The day the meteor shower struck Smallville, Lionel sent out a search party for you. Lionel had you taken from that field because he thought you were a prophesied messiah called the Traveler. A visitor from another planet sent to save humankind. But what Lionel didn't realize is that there were two boys that fell to Earth that day. The Traveler... and you.