Xir'ee Carrelson sat inside the Talon, drinking not coffee, but a Sobe. She didn't like coffee, and wouldn't be hanging out inside a coffeehouse, had there been another place to be in this wretched town. She sat and read a motorcycle magazine, instead of the files her grandmother had given her to manage. She looked up and saw Lex Luthor enter. She smirked and went back to reading her magazine. "Welcome to Smallville," she mumbled to herself, "where all rich people exile their unwanted kids." Rumor had it that Lex Luthor had been sent to Smallville because he was weak. The young woman couldn't agree more--Lex Luthor was pitiful. He stuttered and stammered and was easily intimidated.

Xir'ee had also been sentenced to Smallville, but for *completely* different reasons. Her grandmother was convinced that Xir'ee--or Redd, as her mother and father had called her--was wild, unresponsable and the devil incarnate. It was all true, save the latter. She had been expelled from Metropolis Private after wreaking havoc on a field trip. As punishment, her grandmother sent her to Smallville, where she was to attend public school the very next day. Redd was excited. No more uniforms and no more silly dress codes. She was *miles* away from her evil grandmother, and she was content. But that wasn't the end of her punishment. She also had to run the factory that was competing with Lex Luthor's after school. She hated Lex. She hated anyone that didn't have a backbone. Nevertheless, she was bored tonight, and needed some fun.

She set her magazine down, propped her feet up on the table and whistled. "Hey, Lex Loser! You here lookin' for your missing vertebrae?"

Lex turned around and saw her in, spiked collar, messy hair, leather pants and all. "N-No," he stuttered. "I-I own the place, ac-actually." He hated her. She always made him feel ignorant, despite the inventive genius he was. He gulped, and tried not to stutter. "What are you doing here?"

Redd smiled cockily. "Wouldn't wittle curly top wike to know?" she said using a condescending voice. "Figures you'd own the place. If it sucks like a Luthor, it's owned by a Luthor."

"Then why are you even here, Xir'ee?" he asked. He knew she hated being called Xir'ee.

That ticked Redd off. Her brows furrowed and she pushed her red-tinted, non-prescription glasses up. "Because, Loser-Boy, there ain't *nothin'* here to do in this God-forsaken town. Except, maybe...street racing..." She arched an eyebrow. "But lil' ol' me hasn't had anyone take up the offer...Wittle Wex Wuthor wouldn't happen to want to wace, would he?"

Redd's condescending voice gave Lex a headache. "No," he said and turned to leave her.

Redd stood up and raised her voice to make sure everyone heard her. "Awww...Is Wittle Wex afrwaid? Bok, bok, bok!"

Lex stopped dead in his tracks. He was sent to Smallville to prove that he wasn't a backboneless chicken. Now he could try and prove it. "N-No. Let's go."

Redd smiled. Lex "Loser" had fallen right into her little trap.

It was almost pitch black. It wasn't late at night, though. Clouds were lingering from the thundershower they had earlier that day. A solitary figure walked down the empty, winding road until she reached the bridge. It was a nice place to just sit and think. Sure, she had her Fortress of Solitude, but there was just something about the sound of running water, the cool breeze that seemed to emanate from the glassy ripples and how one's reflection seemed to have a life and personality all it's own. She usually stopped here on her way home from the Talon of school just to think and meditate. For such a young girl, she had a lot on her mind.

She stood there, gazing out over the bridge into the crystal water, listening to the crickets chip, contemplating.When out of nowhere, a motorcycle and Porsche come straight at her, well exceeding 100 miles an hour. The motorcycle lost control and spun violently, while the Porsche swerved and hit the tall, blonde girl.

The cycle spun off the other side of the bridge. The cyclist managed to dismount and grabbed the railing of the bridge. The red-headed girl hung off the side of the railing as she watched her precious bike get sucked into the strong currents before beginning to rock herself back and forth to increase her momentum to backflip to safety.

The Porsche careened over the bridge, taking the blonde with it. They plummeted into the water. The driver was knocked unconscious, sustaining several injuries. Surprisingly, the girl didn't have a scratch on her.

She noticed that water is filling the car and the unconscious driver will drown if she doesn't act fast. She swam at an amazing rate towards the silver vehicle. When the door won't budge, she did what would be considered humanly impossible: She tore the roof of the car off and ripped the seatbelt in two to free the bald driver.

She reached the surface and pulled the young man to the riverbank. His lips were beginning to turn blue, as he wasn't breathing. She immediately began CPR as she had been taught to do her freshmen year of high school. She breathed gently into his mouth, not wanting to burst his lungs with her own powerful ones. She prayed that he'd start breathing.