Sarah Cortez (UE-43)

"For a... for a sad story, it's really basic."

- Sarah Cortez to Jordan Kent

Sarah Cortez, born Sarah Cushing, is a student at Smallville High School, the daughter of Lana Lang and Kyle Cushing, and the sister of Sophie Cushing.

After a suicide attempt, Cushing slowly recovered and befriended the Kent twins. During her own struggle with her family, she developed a relationship and a close bond with Jordan Kent, eventually becoming a couple. However, Cushing progressively noticed him keeping secrets from her, most notably her sudden disappearances as he possessed superhuman abilities. The disappearances snowballed over the year and Kent was missing until after Cushing's mother's mayoral election. Cushing could no longer accept his behaviors and broke up with him, though remained close friends after discovering his identity as Superman's son.

Early Life
In 2006, Sarah Cushing was born to Kyle Cushing and Lana Lang Cushing in Smallville.

During her childhood, Cushing has been in dancing classes and played dolls which made her happy. The happiness was present until her 13th birthday, when she took her mother's pills bringing catastrophic changes to her family.

At some point, Cushing met the Kent family in a summer and played with the Kent twins.

Danger in the Barn
In fall 2020, Cushing attended Martha Kent's funeral with her family and met the Kent family once more. Cushing pointed out the poor internet connection to the Kent twins, and they located the router in the Kent Barn, where Kent attempted to impress her by climbing the scaffolding with a ladder to reach the router. However, the straps to the steel beams suddenly broke and Kent fell to the ground while Jonathan attempted to protect his brother. Cushing soon ran out and sought help from Clark. Unbeknownst to Cushing, Clark used his powers to uncover his sons and brought them to safety,

Bonfire Incident
On the following day, Cushing invited Kent to a party at the Shuster Mines. As they exchanged their stories, Kent attempted to kiss Cushing and discovered that she was in a relationship with Sean Smith. The misunderstanding broke out into a fight as Jonathan tried to defend his brother once more. However, Kent's Kryptonian abilities began to trigger his heat vision and created an explosion. The fire department arrived minutes later and put out the fire, with Cushing surviving the incident with minor injuries.

Still shocked by the incident, Cushing talked to Kent and Jonathan on the Kent Farm the next morning and made sure that they did not suffer major injuries. Cushing then left, leaving the twins in the farm and dealing with the consequences of Kent's manifesting abilities.

Family Struggles
For the first day of school, Cushing asked Jonathan about why Kent missed school. Jonathan claimed that his brother was sick, and they continued to walk to their classes despite Smith's intimidation on Jonathan. After attending Morgan Edge's town meeting, Cushing bought her sister Sophie to their family family barbecue.

After breaking up with Smith and arguing with her mother during the cheerleading practice, he met Kent and Jonathan at Victoria May's and talked before Lana arrived and brought her away. Cushing questioned her mother's decision in hiding and denying their family struggles before reconciling with her the same night, where she discovered that both of them want more for their lives.

Lake House Party
When the Crows won a football match, Corey Wellnitz invited his classmates to his lake house party. Cushing, Kent and Jonathan attended and Cushing talked to Kent about Jonathan's status as an outsider in Smallville. The two grew closer before Kent and Jonathan discovered that Tag Harris started developing superhuman speed and was unable to control it.

Harvest Fest
During the Smallville Fest, Cushing asked Kent to go with her and arrived at the festival late as she was needed to take care of her drunk father. Cushing apologized to Kent and Jonathan interrupted them after drinking alcohol brought by Timmy Ryan. Cushing was furious and annoyed, leaving Kent alone to handle Jonathan. Thankfully, Cushing made up with Kent soon afterwards, with Cushing hoping she could express her apologies over her overreaction to Jonathan.

Kidnapped by Tag Harris
Initially promising the Kents that she would watch their game in Metropolis, Cushing later volunteered to babysit Sophie while her parents attend a dinner. However, the peaceful evening was interrupted by Tag Harris, and she was kidnapped. Cushing woke up hours later and discovered that she was brought to Metropolis, where Tag hid her in an underground hideout before the DOD and Superman located them. Cushing confronted Kent the next morning and told him that she was frightened, though Tag was focused on Kent and would not hurt Cushing in the first place. She also grew concerned over the video of Kent in the bonfire incident, asking him if he was involved with Tag's sudden [[X-Kryptonite (UE-43)|mutations. Kent dismissed her concerns and Cushing reminded him that he could advise her anytime he wants.

Talent Show
Days later, Cushing hesitated about joining the talent show. Kent urged her to sign up and discovered that she was struggling with stage fright since she was a child. Kent claimed that he would be there for her and shared his experience playing piano before his social anxiety dominated. Returning home, Kyle played the guitar to help Cushing practice. Kyle also hoped to be there with Cushing to help ease her stage fright. However, during the audition, Kyle did not appear on time and Kent volunteered to accompany Cushing as her pianist while the latter sang Amos Lee's Little Light.

For the entire week, Cushing and Kent grew closer while they prepared for the performance. Unfortunately, Kent was poisoned with Synthetic Kryptonite Gas and began to struggle to breathe. He was unavailable during the performance and Kyle stepped up for his daughter, to her delight, before leaving abruptly afterwards.

Holding Out Hope
Cushing soon left her family after blaming her mother for her father's actions, before returning to talk to the Kent twins about the truth of her father's actions. Kent and Jonathan revealed the fact that Kyle was arrested by the DOD and brought her to meet him. The trio was then stopped by a DOD guard and was quickly able to convince General Lane to let Cushing enter the camp. Seeing his daughter, Kyle remained eradicated and did not recognize her. Thankfully, while Cushing tried to restore Kyle's mind, Superman was able to destroy the Eradicator and successfully reverted the process in many victims, including Kyle who then cheerfully rejoined his family.

Targeted
The Kent family arrived in the Cushing Residence after the chaos. Cushing asked to be alone with Kent and told him that she does not want to be friends with him anymore, and kissed him on the lips, after thanking the twins for being straightforward to her.

While Smallville returned to normal, the Cushings were targeted by the Smallvillians who blamed them for Edge's presence in the town. The family ignored the blames and cleaned up the paint on their doors, with the family growing closer again.

Cushing and Kent skipped the school gathering to Atlas Lake, where the former revealed her memories with her grandmother and how she told her the stories of the family. As they kissed, they were arrested for breaking into private property, which they were unaware of. Lana bailed Cushing out and brought her home, before Lana confronted George Dean for placing the blame of bringing Edge to Smallville on Kyle.

Blamed by countless Smallvillians, the Cushings thought to leave the town as Kyle was offered a job in Bristol County. Cushing was sure that they would not be able to sell the house and reassured Kent that they would remain in Smallville, kissing him as Sophie saw them and running off to tell Lana. However, she was, in fact, wrong about her parents' decision and was furious at them, leaving the house to find Kent.

Chaos in Smallville
Unbeknownst to the trio, Lois tried to alert the twins about Edge's attack on Metropolis. Sam was able to locate them and ordered them to get in the car, including Cushing. While driving back home, Edge attacked the vehicle and kidnapped Kent, with him telling Cushing that he loves her before leaving. Cushing was the only one not injured in the incident and ran to seek help from her family, they quickly arrived and brought Jonathan and Sam to treat their broken limbs.

While Smallville was in chaos over the DOD's persistence in staying, the Cushings assisted Sam in catching the residents' attention before Edge arrived and created more Subjekts with DOD's soldiers. The Cushings coordinated the people to enter the camp as Steel failed to incapacitate Edge. As Edge left, Lane ordered the Cushings to help spread the news of evacuation and emptied their house.

Unfortunately, the Cushings were unable to leave the Main Street with a traffic jam. An explosion soon occurred in the mines and frightened the people, with Kyle telling everyone to get into the diner for shelter. Thankfully, the chaos quickly ended when Superman and Steel depowered Edge and the Kent family restored Kent's mind.

Victory
Smallville was severely damaged after the battle and its residents worked together to clean up the mess, like they used to years ago. The Cushings were no longer targeted and invited them for a barbecue party, while Cushing and Kent conversed about the latter's claim of love. The two kissed on the farm and Cushing emphasized that she cherishes him, before leaving.

Quinceañera
At the Quinceañera ceremony, Sarah Cushing changed her name to be Sarah Cortez.

Abilities

 * Singing: Cushing showed her singing skills and successfully auditioned with the help of Kent.
 * Trilingualism: Cushing is fluent in English and Spanish, while learning French in school.