Kara had no idea what was going on, until Alex whispered in her ear frantically, "It's Lex Luther!"

That name rang a bell.

Then Kara remembered what Lena had told her about her brother, about the abuse, and what Eliza had told her about his criminal past, and his run-ins with her cousin.

Lex didn't look like a madman. He looked attractive under the setting sun, but he didn't look extraordinary in any way. He wore an ordinary suit, not unlike the suit Jeremiah had worn to work every day. He looked healthy and strong, but not more so than half of the teachers at Leesburg High. His red hair was well styled, but he was balding in the middle of his head. The only thing noteworthy about him was the way he talked, which was simultaneously polite and authoritative.

"Hello Eric," Lex continued, as the young man's face turned red with both fear and fury.

Lex then turned back to Lena and said, "You sense it now, don't you? Or perhaps I should say, you aren't sensing anything."

Lena said nothing. She merely glanced at Cookie, then she cowered as Lex approached her and roughly yanked her purse away.

He handed her purse to one of his lackeys, who searched through it, tossing anything he wasn't interested in to the ground, while Lex stepped back and pointed to the large black van in the driveway.

"That's why you can't sense anything," Lex explained. "Not the van, but the small box on top. A quantum field collapser. It stops the transmission of mental activity outside of our bodies. If I turned the power up, we would have difficulty even thinking inside of our own heads. It's not that I have a problem with your power in principle, but I can't very well have you spying in our heads while we kidnap you."

Lena blinked at the directness of the threat, and then pleaded, "But … what about my friends?"

"I was only planning on taking you," Lex said innocently, but then looked the other four teens over admiringly. "But we have unfinished business with Eric, too. You don't mind coming along young man, do you? We can't be leaving loose ends around making lots of noise, either. Maybe these other girls wouldn't mind helping us with our experiments, too."

The henchman pulled a flip phone out of Lena's purse and handed it to Lex, who flipped it open. "All of you girls seem to have these things these days," he said, as he looked at it admiringly. Suddenly he twisted the two halves of the phone apart, sending bits of plastic flying. Then he waved his hand at Cookie.

The henchman stepped towards Cookie, who glared at him defiantly, until he threatened to hit her with the back of his hand. Then she gave up her purse.

While everyone was looking at Cookie, Alex reached out for Kara's hand, but instead of holding it, she put her cell phone into Kara's palm and whispered, "Run."

Kara merely looked at Alex, as though the message wasn't clear.

"Call mom," Alex tried again. "Go. Now."

Kara looked at Lex, who was looking back, apparently noticing that Alex was plotting something.

Lex stepped towards Kara and waved at another henchman, instructing him to take care of business.

Now, Lex's face was very noteworthy. Now, the evil in his eyes was apparent.

Kara glanced at Alex, whose eyes were pleading. "Run!" she finally yelled.

The henchman was now rushing towards Kara, to nip this revolt in the bud.

But Kara was no longer there.

She was running back up the street towards the mall. She did as she was trained, running only as fast as a normal 16 year old girl would be expected to run, but when she felt a hand grabbing at her sweater she kicked it up a gear. A moment later, the man proved to be quite the physical specimen, as his hand clamped on her wrist. Without even considering what might be believable, Kara yanked her hand away, throwing the man off balance and into a telephone pole as she made a 90 degree turn and disappeared into the backyards of the row of houses. Once out of sight, she literally flew back up the parallel road behind Lena's house, where she could spy what was going on with her friends.

Lex and Kara's friends were still looking down the road, where two henchmen were now searching for Kara.

Lex frowned. The sky was getting darker by the minute, meaning that Kara would be that much harder to find, and after about thirty seconds of watching them search, he whistled, and the men returned to him like two well trained dogs. "Take the others inside," he spat at the men. "Think you can handle that?"

Kara watched anxiously as Lex's lackeys roughly shoved the four teenagers into the van.

Kara was shaking with indecision. If those brutes hit any of her friends, she decided she would intervene, regardless of what secrets she was supposed to keep. Kara was confident that she could handle these thugs, but she remembered that Lex had survived confrontations with her cousin. Perhaps she shouldn't feel so confident.

Lex and two men followed the teenagers into the cramped back of the van, while two other men stepped in front and started the engine.

Kara felt her heart pounding so hard that it was almost all she could hear. She didn't know what to do.

Then she remembered the phone in her hand. She opened it and stared at it like the phone was a Rubic's cube. She had never used Alex's phone before. She didn't even know any phone numbers, not even the number to her own home. Eliza told her to press 911 in the event of an emergency. But what would she say? Was this that kind of emergency?

The van started backing up in the driveway.

Kara looked at the keypad, praying to Rao for an answer. Then she saw the redial button.

She pressed it. A second later, she heard ringing.

The van was stuck for a moment, trying to maneuver around a car parked across the street.

"Alex?" said Eliza on the other side of the phone, her tone a little angry. "Where are you?"

"Mom!" Kara said, with the image of her mom back in Krypton in her mind, but Eliza would do.

"Kara?" Eliza replied with a puzzled tone. "Where's Alex."

"Lex Luthor has her," Kara cried. "He came out of nowhere."

"WHAT?" Eliza yelled.

"He grabbed Alex and our friends, but I escaped," Kara said quickly, as the van finally cleared the driveway completely and kicked into first gear. "They are starting to drive away, and I don't know what to do. Should I stop them? I think I can."

"No, Kara, but don't lose sight of them. Don't let them see you following them, but don't let them get away, even if you have to reveal yourself."

"I won't," Kara said with determination now fixed on her brow. The van picked up speed as it cruised down the street, and Kara hurried out from behind the house and began to run after them. After running for about fifty yards, she remembered that the van had mirrors. Without a second thought she jumped up in the air and floated higher until she was hovering just above the treeline. The sky was growing darker, but the sun had just gone down, so she knew she was still visible, so she floated higher. Maybe if someone saw her, they would think she was a bird.

"KARA!" the phone called out urgently.

"I'm following them," Kara said, as the van turned onto the main street and picked up speed.

"Stay with them. I'll call your cousin. He'll know what to do," Eliza said. "I'm hanging up now, but I'll call back soon. Or he will."

Kara breathed more easily, as she followed the car, now going near highway speed. The wind knocked her shoes off of her feet, and she had to hold onto her skirt or it would blow right off her hips. She felt awkward and more than a little nervous, but her confidence was growing. This was a frightening moment in her life, but at the same time, this felt like something she was meant to do. If her powers had any purpose, wasn't it for moments like this?