Day 1

Susan was feeling rather nervous as she got out of the car, even more so than when she was first set against Galaxar's giant probe droid. She wasn't entirely sure why she was so anxious, though. After all, she was only responsible for the futures of the young men and women that she was going to be teaching while she was here, that the success or failure of her mission depended on her convincing everyone that she was actually here to be a teacher, that if she was unable to discover the whereabouts of the alien invader (assuming that there really was one) or the probe droid that had arrived during that huge meteor storm (which this neck of the woods was famous for now) then this world could be caught off guard by an alien invasion that they are not prepared for.

Okay, it's official: I'm doomed! Susan thought to herself before shaking her head and admonishing herself, Get ahold of yourself, Susan! You've prepared for this for 5 years, if you don't count the 3 years prior to getting engaged with Derick, and even have the degree to prove it. Now toughen up and get in there! As she approached the entrance she saw kids either entering the building or milling around it, but her eyes was drawn to an unusual grouping (at least it was unusual back when she was in high school what seems like a lifetime ago): A Caucasian young man with dark hair, tan jacket and red and black backpack, an African-American boy about the same age, and a short-haired blond girl with a serious-looking camera and a look of perpetual curiosity in her eyes, all three of whom were having what seemed like a spirited yet friendly conversation. Of course this grouping of students didn't look like a bad thing to Susan. In fact she was glad that people were so much more progressive in this day and age, especially since she had experienced for herself not too long ago what it's like to be segregated from society for being "different". Susan almost wished that she could hear what they were talking about, but she was here to play the role of a teacher while she attempted to uncover clues as to what happened to the craft that accompanied the meteor shower 5 years ago (as well as its possible occupant), not to eavesdrop on students' random gossip, so she headed off towards the entrance. About that time the dark haired young man also headed toward the school entrance, or rather to where a dark-haired young woman with a blue long-sleeved shirt was talking to a girl with long-blond hair and a letterman's jacket on. When he did Susan saw the other boy from that group take a $5 bill from in his jacket and hold it up as he said "Give him ten seconds." to which the short-haired blond coutered, "Five."

Are they betting on their friend? Susan thought in disbelief, though the question turned out to be rhetorical as five seconds later the dark haired boy collapsed on the ground, his books scattering everywhere. "Statistical fact:" Susan heard the short-haired blond say to her friend as she took the fiver from him, "Clark Kent can't get within five feet of Lana Lang without turning into a total freak show." Ouch! That was brutal! Susan thought to herself, and in spite of her earlier decision she found herself lingering around as the dark-haired girl (Lana, Susan guessed) helped the boy (Clark?) pick up his books, and as she did she saw that Lana had a necklace with what appeared to be a large cut emerald set in it. Susan wondered how a kid her age could afford something like that, that is until the sensor hidden in her watch detected the unique radiation that came from the asteroids that pulverized this town 5 years ago, which baffled Susan even more.

"Nietzsche," she heard Lana say to Clark as she handed the book back to him, "Didn't realize you had a dark side, Clark."

"Doesn't everybody?" Clark replied to her.

Yeah, definitely progressive these days, Susan thinks silently. Back in her high school days if she or any of her classmates were found to be reading Nietzsche's works then they would surely be labeled as Nazi sympathizers. Of course Nietzsche wasn't a Nazi himself: he had died before the Nazi movement had even begun, but his sister had inherited her brother's works & she edited them to reflect her own German nationalist ideology before publishing them, those "works" apparently becoming associated with fascism and Nazism until 20th century scholars uncovered and made available Nietzsche's original and unadulterated works.

Recalling that she had a meeting with the principal before she was to go to her first class, she heard Lana ask Clark, "So what are you: man or superman?" to which Clark answered, "I haven't figured that out yet," just as she entered the doors. On her way to the office she saw a creepy young man just staring at a trophy case set in the wall, sliding glass doors keeping others from touching them. It wasn't that the boy looked strange or anything: he looked not much different that any of the other kids his age that Susan passed on the way here. It was the waves of anger and hatred she felt coming off of him as he stared at the case that sent shivers running down her spine. Putting aside her misgivings, as she realized that she would have to deal with students like that too, Susan just kept walking until she entered the principal's office.

"You're late," Principal Kwan said sternly, his disapproving glare looking even more severe on his oriental features. The fact that he was head of his school only served as further proof that things had changed greatly from when Susan was a teen, when a person of possible Japanese descent being a principal in this country would have been unthinkable. However, these thoughts were the last things Susan wanted to focus on as she gave Kwan her best apologetic look as she said, "Sorry about that, sir. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up taking the long way here."

"Well see to it that it doesn't happen again," Kwan admonished her, "I consider myself firm but fair. I don't expect any more from my students than I do my teachers or myself. I want them to be on time, to get their homework completed and to not cheat or take shortcuts, and to avoid doing anything to disrupt the learning environment for everyone else. The same goes for you."

"Yes sir!" Susan responded smartly. Principal Kwan's mannerisms had reminded her so much of the General that she nearly saluted him as well, though she thankfully caught herself before she did. Kwan must have picked up on that, however, as he asked her curiously, "Former military?"

"You can kinda say that," Susan conceeded, "I took some ROTC in high school, then I finished my term in the Coast Guard."

Kwan raised an eyebrow as though he was impressed with her response, and Susan was glad that General Monger had the foresight to include those details in the papers that Kwan was reading through now. In fact the only part that wasn't cooked up by the General's people was her degree (though she had to get it under a false name), but she was assured by him that they would all check out if Kwan or anyone else were to run a check on it. "Well you certainly had gotten some good marks," Kwan commented aloud, "and you have some impressive references as well. From what I can tell you could have easily gotten a teaching position somewhere, so why apply as a substitute?"

"Maybe I could have applied for a full-time position," Susan agreed, "But it's been my experience that many places value experience over pure book learning, and I felt it would be not much different here. Of course it would make sense: it wouldn't make any difference how well versed you are in the different techniques if you choke under the pressure of teaching actual people. In my opinion, working as a substitute both provides valuable experience that you just can't get in a classroom as well as proves to both potential employers and to myself whether or not I can handle taking the position on full-time yet."

"Good answer," Kwan said, looking impressed, "Well I don't see any real issues here, at least as long as we see eye-to-eye on the punctuality issue."

"Absolutely," Susan answered with confidence.

"Then welcome to Smallville High," Kwan said as he stood from his desk and extended his hand to her, which she firmly grasped and shook as Kwan continued, "Let me show you to your classroom."

Exiting the office, Susan and Kwan came up,on the trophy display case again. The strange boy was nowhere in sight, instead she saw a couple of teachers sweeping up broken glass from it as there was now a huge hole in it. "What is this?" Kwan asked crossly, "What happened here?"

"Someone broke into the trophy case," one of the teachers told him, though he seemed to her to be stating the obvious, "strange thing is that the only thing missing is a framed photo of members of our football team that played the Homecoming game five years ago."

"Any idea as to who did this?" Kwan asked them, his irritation barely contained.

The other teacher shook her head regretfully as she said, "We heard the glass break, but by the time we got here whoever did it was long gone."

"I might have some idea as to who," Susan volunteered. As Kwan and the others turned towards her she continued, "Granted I didn't actually see him break in, but on my way to your office I saw this strange boy staring at it and not in an admiring way. I'm new around here so I don't know who he was, but if I saw him again I know I would recognize him."

"That would be helpful, Ms. Gail," Kwan said to her, then nodding to the other teachers he continued to lead Susan down the hall. "You will be teaching Mrs. Morris' 9th grade English class, as she was abruptly called away for a family emergency, though she seemed unable to give me an approximate return date," Kwan explained as they walked. Of course Susan knew that the "family emergency" was a lie, just an excuse Monger's people had cooked up for Mrs. Morris to give Susan an in here. However, even though the General was covering for the teacher with false contact numbers in case anyone from the school tried to contact her during the assignment, as well as verifiable paperwork to show them (if need be) once she returned, Mrs. Morris still seemed rather reluctant to leave her students in the care of a relative rookie until Susan assured her that they would be in good hands. Still, Susan felt a bit nervous as Kwan handed her a packet and said, "Here is her course planner. Feel free to make adjustments to it if you need to, but keep notes if you do so that Mrs. Morris can pick up where you left off when she returns."

"Thank you," Susan said as she accepted it from him.

"And relax," Kwan told her, "First class is always the hardest, but I'm sure someone like you will have no trouble getting them back in line. If anyone Does give you too much trouble, however, then just send them to me and I'll take care of it."

"I will," Susan told him, "Thanks."

Kwan gave her a small smile as he said, "Go get 'em."

Giving him a nod, Susan took a deep breath, then she turned and entered the room. The room was already full of students, most of which were talking amongst themselves or fiddling with their various electronic devices. Only a few of those here took notice of her arrival, among those she recognized the blond girl who had bet against her friend Clark. Susan turned to the blackboard and wrote her name (or rather the name she was given for this assignment) "Susan D. Gail" upon it, suppressing a smile as she did so. She supposed that Monger and the others had a good laugh when they come up with it, but Susan liked it. It was particularly fitting with this assignment being in Kansas, she just hoped she could avoid any tornadoes while she was here: if she got whisked to any far-off lands her friends would never let her hear the end of it.

Turning back to the classroom Susan said aloud, "Good morning everyone! My name is Susan Gail, but you can call me Susan. I'll be your English teacher while Mrs. Morris is on leave. While I am here to teach you, I do not feel that it should be a miserable experience to be dreaded. So as long as…" Susan trailed off as she realized that the class was largely not paying attention to her. Even some of those who had taken note of her arrival had seemed to lose interest (the blond girl being one of the few exceptions that were still listening). While she may have wanted once to get back to a "normal" life, being flat-out ignored was one insult that she couldn't herself ignore, particularly since this group of young people was supposed to pay attention to her.

"HEY!" Susan yelled as she slammed her hand on her desk, the loud, sharp sound chasing away all conversation as the student body turned their eyes towards her, many of their mouths hanging open. Susan cold have sworn that she had heard the room's windows rattle in their frames when she had hit her desk, and when she lifted her hand she notices a small crack in the thick, wooden surface where she hit it. Rein it in, Susan! she admonished herself. Aloud she said, "If you think that we're being too formal here, or that you already know everything that I can possibly teach you, then I suppose you can instead call me Mrs. Gail, and we could begin with a pop quiz to see just how prepared you actually are?" Many of the students let out groans at this news, and Susan cocked an eyebrow as she said, "No? Then settle down and turn to the start of Chapter One of your textbooks." As the students obediently followed her instructions Susan went back to her desk to go over Mrs. Morris' course planner. Sitting down she saw that a few of the students would give her curious glances, but one in particular was practically scrutinizing her over the top of her book whenever she thought Susan wasn't looking: Clark Kent's blond friend. She wasn't particularly sure what it was that had caught this girl's attention or why, but Susan was determined to be more careful from now on. Until she had located the alien object and its possible occupant, the last thing she needed the people of Smallville to find out was that Ginormica was hidden in their midst as a high school teacher.

Susan breathed a sigh of relief when the last bell rang. Thankfully there wasn't any more incidents, nor had anyone asked her any uncomfortable questions about the incident in her first class (though the one girl, whom Susan learned was Chloe Sullivan from the class roster, had taken longer than the rest to get moving to her next class, like she was expecting Susan to do something else.) Before she could leave for the day, however, Susan had to go see Principal Kwan for one more meeting. This one was mainly just him asking if she was settling in ok (she was), though he was curious if she had again seen the boy who vandalized the trophy case (she hadn't.) Since it was the weekend & her next class wasn't until Monday anyway, Susan asked him if she could leave her car parked in the lot while she went and stretched her legs for a bit. He assured her it would be fine, but he went on to warn her that "Homecoming" was this weekend, & with the big game and the dance both getting the students extra riled up she might find her car with a few unwanted "accessories" if she left it unattended too long. She thanked him for the info, then she left the school grounds and broke into a brisk jog.

She wasn't sure how long it was, but before she knew it she found herself at a bank by a bridge crossing a huge river. The scenery was so peaceful here that gave into the unconscious urge to sit for a moment. Utterly relaxed, a number of thoughts crossed her mind, the first and largest of these was just what it was that she was doing here? The simple answer to that would likely be that she wanted to do something more for this planet than just being sent in to smash whatever invader that had targeted Earth this month or to stop the rampage of whatever monster that was out and about in the open. Yes it was General Monger that had given the assignment to her, but she could have turned him down by stating the fact that she had no skill in subterfuge (even less than she had in teaching, at least there she had SOME schooling before her "Ginormica" days.) Now she was beginning to regret her eagerness. She had no idea as to where to start looking for clues as to the alien artifact's current location, no idea as to who to ask about it, and how would she do any of this without raising the locals' (and possibly the alien's) suspicions and blowing her cover? She reasoned with herself that it was only the first day, much too soon to declare this mission a failure and to ask Monger to send someone else here to take her place, but that didn't make her anymore confident in her ability to complete it.

Still it was rather peaceful here. She thought it might be nice if she could bring Drac and Mavis here to see it for themselves, though she wasn't sure if that was even possible. Susan had learned from one of her letters that Mavis had some super-strong sunblock that allowed her to go out during the daytime now and not burst into flame, but Susan was worried that it wasn't quite strong enough for a place as bright and open as this. Still, at the very least she could take some pictures to send back to them. Susan took the camera out of her purse (whose hidden compartment contained the same high-tech cuffs that had been placed on her back at the hotel, now repaired by the new alien ally on their team), but before she could take a shot she noticed something odd on the viewfinder screen.

Increasing the camera's zoom and the focus, she saw that Clark Kent was leaning against the railing in the middle of the bridge, looking just as contemplative as she had been just a moment ago. I guess that he comes out here to do some thinking too, Susan reasoned to herself. As she watched a truck drove past him & a bundle of what appeared to Susan to be razor wire fell out of it, unspooling as it rolled across the asphalt. Realizing that it would be a dangerous road hazard if left as it was, Susan walked up to the bridge in order to take care of it. Maybe this Clark would help her (though she wouldn't need it, being super-strong and all, though she'd take it to keep her cover intact) and she could use that as a conversation ice-breaker. Perhaps she might even manage to get some info that would help her succeed in her assignment?

Before she could reach the bridge, however, a silvery-grey Porsche blasted past her driving way too fast, forcing Susan to dodge out of the way to avoid getting hit (though it would likely be the car and the driver that would get hurt in that collision, not to mention that it would blow her cover for sure.) The man driving must have been distracted or something, though, as he didn't even swerve or anything until he was practically on the hazard. Going too fast to stop or dodge it, the car drove over the bundle and Susan heard the squeal of the ruined tires as he lost control of his vehicle. Her heart then went into her throat as she saw the car smash dead-center into Clark as it plowed through the side rails and plunged into the river below.

Once the shock wore off Susan made her way down the embankment, stripping off all but her innermost layer of clothes (which she wore over her Ginormica jumpsuit) on the way. It might be too late for Clark Kent, whose young life was surely cut short by that collision, but at the least she can possibly save the driver so that he can live to atone for his stupid actions, even if she revealed herself and failed the mission entirely in the proccess. As she reached the bottom as was about to leave the treeline, however, Susan was shocked to see Clark pop up to the river's surface, alive and swimming to the shore as he dragged the unconscious driver with him. Her shock and confusion only deepened as Clark, looking utterly unharmed in spite of what just happened to him, flipped the driver (who, despite his bald head, looked as young as Clark was) onto his back and began performing CPR on him until the driver vomited up river water. Once the young driver caught his breath he looked up at his rescuer in confusion and said, "I could have sworn that I hit you."

Clark, looking a little winded himself, responded to the young man's query saying, "If you did, I'd be….I'd be dead."

But he DID! Susan's mind practically screamed even as it tried to make sense of what she just witnessed, He DID hit you, and you SHOULD be dead! But what did it mean? Not only did Clark survive a 60+ MPH impact and a 30 foot fall into the river below, but he also didn't seem to have a single bruise or cut to show for it! Sinking back silently into cover to retrieve her clothes, a thousand different possibilities ran through her mind with one likelihood presenting itself most strongly to her. It was impossible, of course, for the kid was too human for it to be true, his attempt to talk to talk to Lana Lang most pathetically so. However, despite the sheer improbability of her hypothesis, Susan found herself unable to discount it completely: Could Clark Kent be, in actuality, the alien she was here searching for?