Chapter 14: The Reporter's Deal
The walk to my apartment took twenty minutes.
Chloe refused an ambulance—too many questions about how she'd gotten frostbite in October. We stopped at an all-night pharmacy for burn cream and bandages. The clerk gave us strange looks but didn't ask.
By the time we reached Oak Street, the adrenaline had faded. Chloe moved stiffly, favoring her injured arm. I moved stiffly because my core temperature was still recovering and every muscle ached like I'd run a marathon through a freezer.
"Nice place," Chloe said, looking around my apartment. The sarcasm was gentle, almost affectionate.
"It came with the cover identity."
She raised an eyebrow. "Cover identity?"
Start there. Start with the parts that are easy to explain.
I told her about the meteor crash—the real one, or at least the version I could share. About waking up in a wrecked car with no memory of how I'd gotten there, with documents that identified me as Cole Harrison and an address that led to a furnished apartment.
"Someone prepared this life for me," I said. "I don't know who or why. But when I came out of that crash, I was... different."
"Different how?"
"Stronger. Faster. More durable." I flexed my hand, watching the last traces of blue fade from my fingertips. "The meteor rocks changed me. Like they changed Sean. Like they change a lot of people in this town."
Chloe was sitting on my couch, bandaged arm cradled against her chest. Her eyes were sharp, cataloging, but not hostile.
"The Wall of Weird," she said slowly. "That's the connection I've been looking for. The meteor rocks don't just cause weird phenomena—they create people. Changed people."
"Meteor freaks, you called them once."
"I didn't mean—"
"It's accurate." I shrugged. "Some of us handle it better than others. Sean couldn't control what happened to him. His brain got rewired along with his body."
"And you?"
I met her eyes.
"I'm handling it. Mostly. But it's not easy, and it's not safe, and that's why I've been hiding it."
The silence stretched between us. Outside, Smallville was quiet—the aftermath of Sean's attack hadn't reached the news yet, but it would by morning.
"You didn't have to save me," Chloe said finally. "You could have let him take me and kept your secret."
"No, I couldn't."
"Why?"
The question deserved an honest answer. I thought about it—really thought, not just reaching for the easy response.
"Because you're my friend," I said. "And because I'm not the kind of person who lets friends die to protect himself. At least... I don't want to be."
Chloe's expression softened.
"That's a good answer." She straightened, winced at the movement. "Okay. Here's what I'm thinking. You have powers you can't explain. I have research skills and access to information. Alone, you're dangerous and exposed. Alone, I'm a reporter who gets attacked by ice monsters."
"What are you proposing?"
"Partnership." She stuck out her good hand. "I keep your secret. You help me investigate the Wall of Weird. We watch each other's backs."
[ALLIANCE OPPORTUNITY: HIGH VALUE. RECOMMEND: ACCEPTANCE.]
For once, the System and I agreed completely.
I shook her hand.
"Partners," I said. "In journalism, not crime."
"Speak for yourself." Her grin was tired but genuine. "I've committed at least three misdemeanors in pursuit of a story."
We spent the next three hours planning.
Chloe had been tracking Sean's attacks—mapping locations, timing patterns, energy requirements. Her theory was elegant and terrifying: Sean needed constant heat to survive, and his attacks were getting larger because his body was demanding more.
"He's building toward something," she said, pointing at her hand-drawn map. "Look at the trajectory. Lake party—rural, small heat source. Downtown attack—higher density. He's escalating because the small stuff isn't enough anymore."
"So what's the endgame?"
"The biggest heat source in Smallville." Chloe tapped a location on the map. "The LuthorCorp fertilizer plant. They've got a reactor that powers half the county."
My memory stirred—fragments from the show, half-remembered plot points. Sean had targeted something big in the original timeline. A reactor made sense.
"If he drains that much heat at once..."
"Meltdown. Explosion. Take your pick." Chloe's face was grim. "We need to warn someone."
I pulled out my phone. Typed a message to Clark's number—not a call, just a text. Sean Kelvin heading for reactor. Tonight or tomorrow. Be ready.
"Anonymous?"
"He'll know it's me." I hit send. "But at least now he has the information."
Chloe yawned—a huge, jaw-cracking yawn that she tried too late to hide.
"When's the last time you slept?"
"Define 'slept.'" She slumped against my couch cushions. "This is the most comfortable furniture I've ever—"
She was asleep before she finished the sentence.
I found a blanket in the closet, draped it over her, and sat down in the chair by the window. The sun was starting to rise, painting Smallville in shades of pink and gold.
I have an ally now. Someone who knows what I am and isn't running.
The thought was strange. Foreign. Since arriving in this world, I'd been operating alone—trusting no one completely, hiding everything important. But Chloe Sullivan had watched me throw a man through a window and run faster than cars, and her response had been to offer partnership.
[SOCIAL BOND: STRENGTHENED. STABILITY BONUS: +3%.]
The System's clinical assessment couldn't capture what I was feeling. For the first time since I'd crawled out of that wrecked car on Highway 40, I didn't feel completely alone.
I made coffee. Watched the sunrise. Let myself believe, just for a moment, that things might work out.
Chloe woke at noon.
"Morning," I said, handing her a cup.
She blinked, looked around, remembered where she was. "I fell asleep on your couch."
"You needed it."
She took the coffee, sipped, made a face at the taste. "Sean's going to hit the reactor tonight, isn't he?"
"That's my guess."
"And you're going to be there."
"Yes."
She set down her cup and grabbed her bag from where she'd dropped it.
"We're going to be there," she corrected. "I'm your partner now, remember?"
I opened my mouth to argue. Closed it. I was learning that Chloe Sullivan didn't take no for an answer.
"Fine. But you stay on the perimeter. If things go wrong—"
"I run for help. Got it." She was already heading for the door. "I need to go home, shower, change. Meet me at the plant at sundown?"
"Chloe—"
She paused with her hand on the doorknob.
"I know it's dangerous," she said quietly. "I know I could die. But Sean hurt me, and he's going to hurt a lot more people if we don't stop him. I'm not going to hide in my apartment while you and Clark do all the work."
There was nothing I could say to that. She was right, and we both knew it.
"Sundown," I agreed.
She smiled—fierce, determined—and was gone.
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