We're Not In Kansas Anymore

Epilogue 2

"Chance Encounter"

Chloe Sullivan was in a hurry.

This was not unusual to anyone who knew her, as Chloe seemed to always be on the go, looking for the next big story of her burgeoning journalism career. For the time being that meant coming up with stories for the Torch, the school newspaper of Smallville High, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she would get her shot at a major paper.

Right now she was about to get an interview with Lex Luthor in his new office at Luthorcorp headquarters in Maxville. Ever since his father Lionel had been arrested in a major scandal involving trafficking in babies with several other notorious underworld figures, Lex had been placed in charge of the company by the board of directors and given carte blanche to do whatever was needed to clean things up.

Chloe had known Lex for years back in Smallville, and frankly she had always had her suspicions about him as well as his father. That Lex had proven instrumental in Lionel's capture and had in fact first alerted the authorities, including Maxville's greatest heroes the Commander and Jetstream, were signs that maybe Lex was trying to show he wasn't such a bad guy after all. The fact he had personally invited Chloe for an exclusive for her paper meant that maybe he didn't consider Smallville so small anymore.

Another thing not unusual about Chloe, to anyone who knew her, was that she could get easily fixated on something to the point that she would sometimes miss things going on around her. This was exactly what was happening as she was getting out her cell phone to call her dad and let him know she was about to meet with Lex while she was crossing a very busy street. While the crosswalk sign indeed read "walk", at that moment a cab was coming and the driver was distracted and had just noticed the red light as he slammed on his brakes…but not in time.

"MISS…LOOK OUT!"

Chloe, startled as she heard the screeching brakes and a strange thump, spun around to see that the cab was resting mere inches away from her. Between her and the cab stood a boy about her age with reddish brown hair and dressed in a red and white shirt and blue jeans. It looked like the boy was leaning back against the front of the cab, though he had a nervous look on his face, which was almost nose-to-nose with Chloe's.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Uh…yeah," said Chloe, realizing how close she had come to getting hurt, "I…I'm okay."

"Come on," said the boy, gently taking Chloe by the hand, "let's get out of the street."

Chloe and her new friend made it over to the plaza of the Luthorcorp building. She didn't notice that all the while he kept glancing back to make sure she also didn't look back to see that the front of the cab was now smashed in exactly where he had been standing and the noise of the city covered the sounds of the startled driver yelling and the steaming of the smashed radiator as the other cars tried going around him as he blocked traffic.

Once at the plaza both of them were able to catch their breath, and Chloe got a good look at him. He was only a little taller than she was and maybe the same age. He also had the strangest green eyes she had ever seen before, though there was something about the shade that seemed eerily familiar somehow.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again with total sincerity. There was something about the way he held himself and had such an earnest look on his face that reminded her so much of her friend Clark, though he was a lot shorter.

"Yeah," Chloe smiled back, relaxing now, "thanks for the concern."

"It was the least I could do," the boy said back with a lopsided grin that Chloe found adorable, "can't let people get hurt…especially a cute girl like you."

Chloe, though flattered, had to keep from laughing. This seemed like a nice guy, but he was about as subtle as Lionel Luthor trying to sing in a church choir. She noticed how his eyes kept looking around like he was too shy to look at her directly. Who was this…Clark's long lost brother?

"Well, at least let me introduce myself," said Chloe, who then realized that she was STILL holding hands with the boy, though strangely enough she found she didn't want to let go, "my name's Chloe Sullivan."

"I'm Will," said the boy, who also noticed the held hands and let hers go as if he had offended her somehow, "…sorry. I mean…I'm Will Stronghold."

"Stronghold?" asked Chloe, "as in "Stronghold's Superior Real Estate"? I see their signs all over town."

"Yeah," said Will in his bashful way that was really winning Chloe over by the second, "my parents are Steve and Josie Stronghold."

"Steve Stronghold," said Chloe, her journalistic mind racing over her history, "he used to be a reporter with the Maxville Daily Star…retired right after he exposed Luthorcorp was illegally dumping toxic waste and was nearly killed by the Scorpion before the Commander got involved. Old Lionel slipped off the hook that time too."

"Uh…yeah," said Will, not knowing what to make of someone "outside the business" knowing so much about his dad's history in great detail.

"Sorry," said Chloe with a smile that sent a shiver up Will's spine, "I run the school newspaper back where I come from…I guess you could say journalism is my obsession, and I really liked reading your dad's articles. As a matter of fact that's why I'm here in Maxville…I'm interviewing Lex Luthor on what's going on in the company now that he's in charge and how it will affect things back in my hometown."

"Where's that?" asked Will.

"Smallville," said Chloe, "you've probably never heard of it."

Will almost let slip that he'd heard of Smallville and that his friend Clark was from there, but then he remembered he was talking to a "citizen", someone outside the super community who may not even know Clark, much less about his powers. It was best to keep his mouth shut about such things until he learned otherwise.

"I'm here to see Mr. Luthor too," said Will, "my folks drew these papers up for him about some real estate deal he's doing in Smallville. I just thought I'd fly over…I mean COME over and deliver them myself."

Chloe was puzzled for a moment about why Will had seen fit to correct himself about such a silly thing. If this guy was a few inches taller and had black hair, she'd almost swear he was Clark.

"Well," she said, "let's go in and see him then."

Will gave her that grin again, and the two of them entered the great complex and were met by Otis, who despite wearing a nice suit still wore the straw hat he had never been seen without.

"Hello Miss Sullivan," said Otis, surprising her, as he had never addressed her so formally before, "Mr. Loothor is expectin' you. An' I see Mr. Stronghold is here too. If you like you can both come with me an' Mr. Loothor will see you both."

The two followed Otis to a private elevator, and as they walked the two kept stealing glances at each other until Will finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Uh…when you're done would you…do you have any plans for lunch?"

"No," said Chloe, "but I may be a while interviewing Lex. If you don't mind waiting…"

"That would be great," said Will, "I'll wait as long as you need me to."

With that they boarded the elevator and headed up to the offices above. All the while though, they found they were too busy concentrating more on each other than anything else.

To be Continued