The Assignment Begins

As Susan got herself ready for the day, she reflected on when she first arrived here. Using the information General Monger had gathered on the way, it didn't take long to find the area where the greatest impact was. Still, the devastation they had witnessed even on the outskirts of the meteor shower was truly horrible: Susan was particularly heartbroken when she saw a young girl wearing a fairy costume crying after having lost her parents in a fiery impact. Still, they had to determine if this disaster was used by an alien invader to infiltrate this world undetected. They managed to collect a few samples for the General (Susan had to stop Bob from eating them a couple of times), but they found no signs that anything than these glowing green meteorites had entered the atmosphere. Then, when it was starting to get dark and Susan was about to suggest to the General that they call off the search, that's when they struck gold. Close to where a crater was left in the road (and evidence that a vehicle had crashed into said crater) there was a second impact in a nearby field. Unlike the crater in the road (which was obviously made by a meteorite impact) the impact in the field was more uniform and oblong, like the skid marks of an emergency landing.

That seemed to reinforce General Monger's belief that an alien infiltrator had used the meteor shower to hide their arrival from detection by Earth's radar network. However, they couldn't find the ship itself. Instead they found tracks and drag marks that seemed to indicate that it had been dragged off by a tractor. From the depth of the drag marks the "ship" (assuming it really was one) seemed much too small for a full grown alien, more likely either a probe or a vessel for an alien the size of a human child. They weren't able to find where whatever it was was taken to, though, as once the tracks left the field they faded to the point where they became untraceable. A search of the area didn't turn up anything either. The people they had questioned ("they" being Susan and the General, Link and the others stayed out of sight to avoid causing a panic in the already agitated populace) only seemed concerned about the recent disaster and what effect it would have on their harvest, claiming that they saw nothing else "unusual".

When days turned into months and still none of the locals came forth announcing a huge discovery (as the General had expected should have happened, concerning how this disaster had adversely affected this community's economy), Monger became convinced that the alien must have infiltrated the community itself, either by taking the appearance of a human itself or by using some brainwashing technology on the ones that discovered it. In order to discover the truth, General Monger decided that Susan should go undercover herself, but in order to do so she would have to go back to school to finish her degree (she had previously let that go after she and Derek had gotten engaged.) In order to avoid raising the suspicions of the locals (and to avoid the stares of those that might recognize her) Susan opted to take night classes at the university in the next town over rather than to attempt it at the local college. Also, Susan had reasoned, her credentials would look more professional if they came from a university and would be better accepted over someone who had just taken a correspondence course.

The next few years seemed to be the longest in Susan's life. Even though she had once wished that she could get back to a normal life, Susan had not imagined that it would turn out to be so boring, and before it was through she was secretly wishing that some new alien conqueror would set their sights on Earth so that she could get back to smashing it. Fortunately General Monger had set up a post office box that she could receive correspondences through without blowing her cover, and even though it was often months in-between the letters due to the fact that they had to travel halfway across the world Susan had eagerly awaited each and every one.

The first couple of these were about Jonathan and Mavis's wedding. Susan had really wanted to attend, but Drac understood why she would be unable to just pick up and head over just like that, and Mavis was especially supportive of Susan continuing her education. Fortunately Johnny had sent over lots of pictures, but unfortunately Mavis didn't show up in any of them (only her dress was visible). Susan recalled how Mavis had been visible in the mirrors around the castle, as well as Mavis's belief that her kind not showing up in mirrors is just a silly superstition, and she began to wonder if Drac hadn't enchanted the castle's mirrors to allow their reflection to appear.

The next ones were about Mavis finding out that she was pregnant then about Dennis' birth. Susan was as proud as though Mavis was her own daughter, and truth be told she did care for her as if she was. Now Dennis did show up in the photos, which confirmed to Susan that he inherited his father's human heritage. However, Davis did appear rather blurry in those photos, but whether that was because he had a little monster in him or if it was the product of an amateur photographer Susan wasn't sure.

The next few letters were largely about the challenges the new couple were facing as new parents, particularly that of raising an apparently human child in a place populated by monsters. Of course they also often asked how she was doing in the heartland, with Mavis and Drac telling her how much they missed her. In one letter Drac (with some input from Dr. Griffin, as it turned out that he was once a scientist) theorized that the radiation from the asteroid that struck her had given her more than size, strength and durability: they believed that it may have slowed her aging process to be a bit closer to that of Drac's and Mavis'. Thinking back to then Susan looked in the mirror and she had to agree that it was possible, for other than the change in hair color she didn't look any older than the day that meteorite had changed her life. Thinking that his input could be useful in this assignment, Susan sent off a small sample of the meteorites back to Griffin with her response. She almost asked Griffin if he wanted to come over and help, as an invisible man could prove useful in tracown an alien in hiding. However, a selfish part of her wanted to keep that part of her life separate from this king done (it had blended a bit too much already the day she and Drac had met.) Besides, she didn't know if Griffin could see without his glasses, and a floating pair of spectacles would have ruined any stealth benefits his invisibility would have afforded him.

Susan sighed and chuckled at the mental image of Griffin trying to be sneaky, then she put her hair up into a bun, remarking at how much older it made her look. She almost decided to leave the glasses behind (which had just regular glass in the place of prescription lenses) as she felt that they were an unnecessary part of her disguise that any intelligent person could see through. Every little bit helps, I guess, Susan reasoned with herself as she reluctantly put them on. Now that she had graduated it was time to begin her assignment. As she packed the last of her belongings she lingered over the latest letter she had gotten. In it Mavis talked about how she had been considering moving out of the hotel in order to better raise Dennis, who was now 5 years old and still apparently human. How Drac had desperately did everything he could think of to get Dennis' fangs to pop out so that Mavis would stay. How she had invited her grandfather Vlad to Dennis's birthday party, which was going to be the last day they would be living at the hotel. And how ultimately how it was that a (now former) friend of "Grandpa Vlad's" had changed everything when he hurt Winnie, causing Dennis to get mad enough that his fangs popped out, how Dennis used his Dhampir (half-vampire) abilities to help his family defend the hotel against the clan of close-minded vampires. Mavis had closed out the letter by letting Susan know that, in the end, Dennis had convinced her to stay.

Folding the letter lovingly she placed before setting it in her suitcase, she then zipped it up and headed out the door to where the rental car was waiting. She supposed that later on today she would have to find an apartment or something that she can rent for the duration of her assignment, but that would have to wait until later. After all, Susan couldn't be late for her first day on the job….that of a substitute teacher at Smallville High.