Super-Lana - or is She?

OK, here's another one of those convoluted, "How do we protect Superboy's secret identity" stories centering around Lana Lang. So the story goes some crooks think, for the wrong reasons, that Clark Kent is Superboy. Lana, who's supposedly lost her parents and is living with the kindly Kent's, intervenes and creates a super costume, reasoning that if she needs to exhibit some superpowers Superboy will come along and make it look like she's really super powered. Wonder of wonder, he really does that, convincing the crooks that Superboy is really a girl. The crooks try to blackmail Lana, who's been informed her parents are alive, by threatening the Kent's but Superboy uses one of his Clark Kent robots to appear simultaneously with him, totally baffling both the crooks and Lana - and me. Why didn't he just use the Clark Kent robot in the first damn place? I actually think I enjoyed these stories in my youth but now I'm old and cynical and sometimes they seem pretty dumb to me. I guess I do still like them anyway. And what's up with this secret identity business anyway. If somebody finds out Clark is Superboy then put the Kent's in a witness protection-like program, maybe as Ma and Pa Kettle, and go do your super thing anyway. Sheesh - much ado about nothing indeed. The figure by the way was made using a "Happy Meal" Catwoman figure and T-shirt cloth for the cape and skirt.