Chapter 3
Clark sat at his kitchen table when he heard a knock on the door and was surprised to see it was Max.
"Hey Max, come on in." Clark said opening the door for him.
"Thanks. I'm sorry to just show up like this."
"It's fine. So what's up?" Clark asked.
"Nothing really, I've just been sitting at home flipping through channels with nothing on."
"Sounds like me on a Saturday night when I'm not doing chores." Clark said trying to make a joke.
"Is there anything fun around here to do?" He asked.
"Uh…not really, there is the Talon though, it's a coffee shop. Lana owns it, we could stop by there if you like."
"Sure…hey, do you by any chance know if Lana has a boyfriend?" Max asked.
"As a matter of fact she doesn't…why, you interested?" Clark asked, a little worried.
"Maybe…" Max said, letting himself trail off as they stepped into the truck.
On the way to the Talon, Max was quiet. All he could think about was the mission, and Clark's friends. He had no friends the way Clark does back home, he actually envied Clark a little bit. He couldn't take Clark away from this.
"You're awfully quiet, is everything okay?" Clark asked.
"Yeah…just miss home that's all." he said, taking off his black leather jacket that he didn't need to wear in this weather.
"It'll get easier, just look at Chloe. When she moved here from Metropolis she was ready to go back. She hated it here, now look at her, if she hadn't moved here she and I would never have become the best friends that we are." he said, Max just nodded, not really needing to hear this. I'm leaving this place soon anyway. Why does Clark have to be so nice to me? I bet he won't be once he finds out why I'm really here.
The rest of the drive to the Talon was quiet, Clark not knowing what else to say, he figured farm life would bore Max to death. Max took the rest of the time it took to the Talon to think about the mission.
"You must go to Earth, find Kal-El, bring him back here. With New Krypton in order, we need all the Generals we can get, otherwise our enemies will overthrow us." Commander L, told X.
"What if he doesn't want to come back, for all we know he could love Earth, he might never want to leave." X said.
"Then you must get him here by any means necessary. And I mean any."
"He's going to hate us for it, you know that right." X said, not liking this plan at all.
"He'll be home again, he'll be fine."
New Krypton looked exactly like Old Krypton, only it was farther away, and much closer to Earth. Right before Krypton exploded, many people escaped, retreating to the nearest planet, but not all the people that escaped to New Krypton were good.
"Hey Max, we're here." Clark said as he stepped out of the truck.
"Yeah…" Max said, snapping out of his flashback. He followed Clark into the Talon. The Talon was filled with teenagers, and Lana looked busy as usual.
"Hey Lana, need some help?" Clark asked.
"That would be great Clark, two of the waitresses called in sick, leaving me here by myself." She said rushing to pour coffee to a nearby table.
"I'll help too." Max said, though having no idea what he was supposed to do.
Closing time finally came, and the three were exhausted. Lana poured them drinks before they all threw themselves into a booth.
"That was fun." Max said, being the first to speak after the rush.
"Right…" Lana said closing her eyes as if she was ready to sleep on the spot. "But yeah…thanks again guys for helping me out. I know I could've done it without you." She gave each of them a kiss on the cheek, causing them both to blush.
"Well…we better get home, do you need a ride?" Clark asked Lana as he was standing up.
"No, Nell's picking me up in about ten minutes." She answered, standing up as well.
"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Lana." Clark said.
"Bye Clark." She said back.
"Bye Lana." Max said giving her a short wave.
"Bye." She said as they stepped out into the cold, dark night, and she shut the Talon doors.