New Girl in Town
By SSG Michael B. Jackson
Disclaimer: I don't own a damned thing to do with Smallville, to include any of the DC Comics characters portrayed. Hell, most of them have been around since before my parents were born, so how could I? Anyway, there's no money in this for me; I only want to have a little fun and maybe entertain a few other people as well, so enjoy and please don't sue me. I'm a poor soldier with four kids, so you wouldn't get much anyway!
With that, he turned away, heading purposefully for the shop across the street. Behind him, the deputy continued to watch for a moment, then, shaking his head, turned and headed for his cruiser. That being the case, he missed seeing the gray-clad man slip a small cell phone from his jacket and hit the speed dial. Nor did he hear the gray-suited man say, "It's set. The test can proceed as soon as the target's on site."
A few blocks away, within easy view of the Talon, a certain black-clad gentleman stood, an identical cell in his hand, into which he said just one word; "Acknowledged."
With that, he hit the 'End' key and slipped the phone back into his jacket, watching as the 'target' climbed into the passenger side of Martha Kent's burgundy Escort. He made his way the few feet back to his own pale blue sedan then, sliding in behind the wheel unhurriedly. He waited for a few seconds after Martha's vehicle pulled out into traffic, and then pulled out as well, taking care to stay a discreet distance behind. Smiling a thin smile, he thought briefly how much he loved it when an operation proceeded so smoothly.
It was a short drive from the Talon to the sheriff's office, so it only took Martha and Talia a couple of minutes to get there. Once they'd parked, they went inside, the first stop being the reception window. After a few words of explanation, they were informed that they were expected and then buzzed inside. From there, it was only a short walk to the sheriff's desk, where they found her waiting for them.
"Mrs. Kent," she said by way of greeting, and then, her tone altering slightly, "And Miss Porter." She paused for a moment, looking Talia up and down, and then said, "You're certainly looking a lot better than you did last night. Can't say much about the new wardrobe, though."
When Talia gave no immediate reply beyond a shrug, Martha chimed in quickly with, "So, Sheriff Adams, where exactly do we need to go for these fingerprints and photos?"
Raising an eyebrow, the sheriff looked to Martha and said, "In a bit of a hurry, are we Mrs. Kent?"
"Well, I-" Martha began, but the sheriff cut in with, "Because I thought we might take a few minutes to chat beforehand. Miss Porter and I never really got a chance to say much to each other last night." Then, turning her gaze on Talia, she added, "Did we, Miss Porter?"
Shrugging once more, Talia said, "Uh, not really Sheriff. I was a little out of it last night."
"Well," the sheriff said, "you don't sound too 'out of it' right now, Miss Porter, so it strikes me that this might be a good time for a little conversation. You think you're up for that?"
"I suppose so, Sheriff," Talia said in a neutral tone. "What'd you want to talk about?"
With just a hint of underlying sarcasm, the sheriff replied, "Oh, I'm just sort of wondering if, now that you've had a chance to calm down and relax a little bit, anything might've started coming back to you. You know, little things; who you are, where you're from, what happened to you, things like that, Miss Porter. Any insights there?"
Shaking her head slowly, Talia said, "Nothing yet, sheriff."
Her lips compressed into a thin line, the sheriff said skeptically, "Why is it I get the impression you're not being entirely forthright with me, Miss Porter? Hmm?"
Irritation suddenly flaring to life in her tone, Talia said, "I don't know, Sheriff. Why is it you're treating me like a criminal or something?"
Her eyes narrowing, a sudden smoldering fire in them, the sheriff said in a dangerous tone, "Excuse me, young lady?"
"You heard me, Sheriff," Talia said evenly. "If anything, I'm the victim here, and from the moment you first laid eyes on me, you've done nothing but make veiled accusations and sarcastic comments, and I don't understand what the deal is! I thought the police were supposed to help people in trouble, not badger and belittle them!"
The sheriff took a step closer to Talia, definitely inside her 'personal space', and, in a low tone said, "I think you need to cool down and remember who you're talking to here, young lady. Or is respect for authority something you just don't do?"
Before Talia could launch the fiery retort that was on the tip of her tongue, she thought better of it and simply turned for the door instead, saying, "This is pointless, Sheriff. Come get me if you ever decide you actually want to the fingerprints and stuff." With that, she strode purposefully out, the sheriff seething behind her. Rounding on Martha, the sheriff said, "Well, Mrs. Kent? You got anything to say for her?"
Sighing, Martha said, "She's not a bad kid, Sheriff. She's been nothing but respectful to me all morning, but respect is a two-way street. If you aren't willing to give her any, you're probably not going to get much in return."
While the disagreement had raged inside the sheriff's office, outside, across the street in an alley between two nearby buildings, something else entirely was occurring. Two nondescript, business-suited men, one in gray, one in black, sat inside a sky-blue Ford sedan, both busy at different tasks. The black-suited man, in the driver's seat, manipulated a small device that looked much like a palmtop computer, but wasn't. In the passenger's seat, the gray-clad man held what appeared to be a Game Gear, or something similar, but instead of making the sudden violent moves common to most video gamers, he worked the controls in an even, methodical fashion.
In the courthouse parking lot, inside the trunk of a particular gray Ford sedan, something moved in response to the gray-suited man's efforts. Small, flat black, metallic and insectile, it crawled forth from one of the several docking stations that housed it and it's kindred, moving toward a rectangular hatch in the trunk's floor that slid open as it approached. Crawling through, it shimmied along the car's undercarriage, climbing down the back tire to the ground. It then skittered rapidly away toward it's target; Martha Kent's small burgundy Escort. As soon as it reached the other car, it ascended quickly into the running gear, and, extending small but powerful nippers, went to work at the gray-clad man's behest.
Talia exited the courthouse furious with both the sheriff and herself. 'That's two for two now, Porter,' she thought dismally as she wandered toward Mrs. Kent's car. 'How many more people can you butt heads with today?'
She put her hands out and leaned her head briefly against the roof of the little Escort as she struggled to calm herself. Even under the best of circumstances, she knew, her temper sometimes got away from her, at least where her mouth was concerned, and these could hardly be called the best of circumstances. Fortunately, she'd learned at an early age not to express her anger physically; she'd found out the hard way just what she was capable of, and some of her favorite possessions had paid the price. Now, she simply concentrated on her breathing, turning inward to find her center and let the negative emotions slowly dissolve.
She was startled out of her reverie, though, by a sudden odd sound. It was a kind of scratching or scuffling, and it seemed to be coming from somewhere under the car. Frowning, she knelt down, trying to get a look underneath, but found that the little Escort was just too low to the ground to offer a decent view. Considering for a moment, she glanced around quickly, and, seeing no one nearby, slipped a hand under the edge and lifted. Once she'd raised her side of the car eight or ten inches, she bent down as far as possible and peered beneath. She looked for several moments, but saw nothing, and the sound had stopped as well. 'Huh!' she thought. 'That's weird.'
Just as she was about to lower the car and stand back up, she was startled almost into dropping it as a very familiar voice exclaimed, "Talia! What're you doing!"
"Mrs. Kent!" she said, hastily setting the Escort down. "Sorry! I thought I heard something under there, that's all." Then, seeing Martha's unwavering expression, she added sheepishly, "I made sure nobody was looking first."
Shaking her head slowly, Martha said, "Talia, can you really stand there and tell me that you thought lifting up a car in the courthouse parking lot was a smart thing to do?"
Talia sighed, and said, "No, I guess not, Mrs. Kent. No more so than getting into a pissing contest with the sheriff was. I just- I don't know what my problem is today! I just feel so… off balance. I don't know how else to explain it."
Martha's expression softened a bit, and she said, "All things considered, Talia, I'd be pretty surprised if you didn't feel a little 'off balance' right now. You've gone through an awful lot in the last twenty-four hours or so."
"I know that, Mrs. Kent," Talia said, a note of frustration in her voice. "But even so, I should have a better handle on things! It's not like I'm a rookie, or anything; I've been in bad situations before, and I've been trained how to deal with them! I-!"
"Talia," Martha matter-of-factly, "Whatever else you may be, you're a fourteen-year-old girl who's just been cut off from everyone and everything you've ever known. I couldn't name one adult I know who'd be able to just jump up and run with things after something like that, so don't beat yourself up because you can't. It's going to take time, Talia." Then, after a small pause to let this sink in, she said, "On the other hand, you need to really start using your head. I can see that you're a smart girl, but obviously you're a little impulsive too, and that's going to get you into trouble if it keeps up. I don't want that, and I don't think you do either."
Nodding slowly, Talia said, "You're right, Mrs. Kent. And I'll do my best to pull my head out of my- uh, that is, I'll-"
Martha gave a short laugh and said, "Don't worry, Talia, I understand." Then, looking pointedly back at the sheriff's office, she said, "Shall we?"
Talia sighed and, turning toward the entrance said, "Sure, Mrs. Kent. Let's get this over with."
Across the street, the black-suited man tapped a control on his palmtop, bringing up a small inset window in which a close-up of Talia lifting the Escort played, cryptic data scrolling along the bottom of the frame. He nodded appreciatively and said, "Definitely looks like a live one, alright. Got lots of good data coming in, too. How're things going on your end?"
The gray-clad man replied distractedly, "Still on hold, but I'll be able to pick back up in a second. Maybe five more minutes worth of work after that."
Smiling his thin smile, the black-clad man said, "Good. Then we can see just how big a jackpot this one's going to be."
The rest of the business with the sheriff ended up being not as bad as Talia had thought it would be. Sheriff Adams remained her usual gruff self, but she accepted Talia's apology readily enough, and, apparently, had at least listened to Martha's words if not exactly taken them to heart. While far from cordial, she was at least not actively hostile, and didn't push Talia for any more information on her past. Probably just biding her time, Talia thought gloomily.
Martha had considered stopping by the junior high on the way out of town, but in the end decided to just head home. It was after two-thirty by the time they were done at the sheriff's office, and, after the rocky day they'd had, she figured the school could wait. They'd have to do placement testing anyway, considering Talia's utter lack of academic records, and Martha was pretty sure that would have to be scheduled in advance. Actually, now that she thought about it, with only a few weeks left in the term, there probably wasn't even any point in enrolling Talia until the fall. She shook her head as these thoughts crossed her mind; that was looking awfully far ahead, considering that they had no idea how long Talia was likely to be with them. Still, the testing at least should be done, she thought; better prepared than not, after all.
Both of them were mostly quiet on the way home, lost in their own thoughts. And, for that reason, neither of them really noticed or paid any attention to the gray and blue sedans that trailed them, perhaps a quarter mile behind. They didn't see the gray sedan pull off to the side of the road, the driver reaching for something on the passenger seat as the blue sedan drove on past. Certainly, they didn't see the driver of the gray sedan manipulating the device he'd just picked up, working the controls in the same methodical fashion as before. But they did quickly feel the effects of his actions.
Without warning, the right front tire of Martha's Escort blew, pulling the car violently toward the ditch on that side. Then, as Martha screamed and jammed on the brakes, trying to keep control of the vehicle, she found her foot going straight to the floor without resistance, the vehicle slowing not a whit. She thought briefly of the emergency brake, but there was no time. The ditch loomed up to meet them, and, striking it with the right front corner at somewhere over fifty miles an hour, the car was launched into a cart-wheeling roll. It went briefly airborne, smashing through a rail fence and sailing on into a field beyond. It landed roof down, the right front corner catching ground first. The Escort continued on for perhaps another forty or fifty yards, rolling several more times in the process, before finally coming to a stop upside down in the middle of the field. Behind it, the blue sedan quietly pulled off the roadway, finding a good vantage point to watch whatever ensued.
Inside the Escort, Martha hung limp from the shoulder belt, semi-conscious and moaning, the deflated driver's side airbag sagging in front of her. On the passenger's side, Talia hung from her restraint as well, but while a bit disoriented, she was wide awake and completely unhurt, her inhuman resilience having spared her injury. Shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs, she looked around, took stock of the situation, and then began to act. She reached down and, not bothering with the release, ripped her seatbelt loose, dropping her to the Escort's ceiling. Next, she turned slightly and gave the passenger-side door a good hard kick, tearing it free and sending it flying twenty or thirty yards across the field. After that, she turned to examine Martha, intending to pull her out and get her away from the vehicle, but she ran into an immediate snag with that. It looked as though, somehow, Martha's side of the car had been mangled so as to force the dash assembly and steering wheel down, pinning Martha's legs underneath. Talia couldn't see whether or not Martha had been injured by this, but she was most definitely wedged in.
After considering for a moment, Talia said, "Mrs. Kent? Mrs. Kent, can you hear me?"
Blinking in confusion, Martha replied weakly, "Talia? Yes, I hear you; what's going on? My head…"
"It's okay, Mrs. Kent," she said evenly. "We had an accident and you're stuck in here now, but I'm going to get you out. Just hang on and stay clam, okay?"
Talia took Martha's muttered, "Uh-huh," as an affirmative and climbed out the passenger side. She took another moment to examine the vehicle, taking note of exactly how it lay, and then, picking the most likely spot, began to lift. Fortunately, the Escort wasn't exactly a heavyweight among automobiles, and she found it relatively easy to manipulate. She pushed it carefully up onto the passenger side, not wanting to take a chance with Martha still on the other side, and then on over so that the undercarriage was falling earthward. Then, allowing her most esoteric ability to well up from inside, she shot up and over the vehicle, landing on the other side and catching it before it could hit the ground. She gave a grunt of effort as the full weight hit her, and then carefully lowered the Escort onto it's wheels.
Once the vehicle was down, she ran back around to the driver's door and, sinking her fingers into the metal as if it were tin foil, ripped the door off and tossed it aside. Then, as she was examining the damage to the driver's side, trying to figure the best way to extract Martha, she caught both the heavy scent of leaking gasoline and the hissing sound it made as it hit the hot exhaust system under the vehicle. She bit her lip then, and said, "Mrs. Kent, I'm gonna try to make this as quick as possible; we probably don't have much time!" With that, she went for the direct approach.
First, she grabbed the steering wheel itself and yanked upward with all her might. The steering column bent with a rending shriek, and the wheel came off in her hands with a metallic pop, which was just about what she'd hoped for. Next, she reached down and, sinking her fingers into the lower edge of the dash assembly, pulled upward carefully. As she'd hoped, it gave with little trouble, and within a few seconds she had Martha's legs free and clear. Unfortunately, by this time she could smell smoke, and flames were becoming visible underneath the car; she knew that her time had just about run out.
Desperately, she reached down to pop Martha's seatbelt loose, but the mechanism was jammed. Cursing, she took hold of the buckle and yanked at it, ripping the mechanism apart with her bare hand. Then, with a hasty, "Hang on, Mrs. Kent!" she scooped Martha up in her arms, turned, and, allowing her power of flight to surge up once more, skimmed away from the car at high speed, her toes just inches above the ground. Before she'd covered fifty feet, there was a titanic explosion as the fire finally got to the half-empty fuel tank, igniting the vapors inside. Talia pitched forward immediately, covering as much of Martha's body with her own as possible, only praying that it would be enough for her to escape serious injury as the blast washed over them.
Back in the blue sedan, the black-suited man held his palmtop, tapping controls occasionally as different aspects of the drama unfolding in the field in front of him caught his interest. Then, as he watched the smoke clear after the blast, he was interrupted by the electronic buzzing of his cell phone. Raising an eyebrow, he reached into his jacket, slipped it out and, hitting the 'Send' key said, "Go."
"Lost the drone," the voice of the gray-clad man said on the other end. "It was clear; must've been shrapnel from the blast."
The black-clad man frowned and said, "How far out did it get?"
"About fifty meters," the other replied. "It'd just made it into some brush at the edge of that copse of trees when I lost it."
The black-suited man nodded and said, "Doesn't matter. Should be out of sight for the time being, and we can come back and sanitize later. I'm breaking contact for now; we need to review and collate before we report to higher. This one's even hotter than we thought."
As soon as she felt the searing wave of heat and concussion blow past, Talia looked back quickly, trying to gauge the likelihood of an immediate secondary explosion. When none seemed forthcoming, she rolled off Martha and, staring at her anxiously said, "Are you okay, Mrs. Kent?"
Putting a hand to her head slowly, Martha looked to Talia and said, "My neck hurts, my legs hurt, and I've got a pounding headache, but other than that… well, I guess I'll know for sure once I get checked out by a doctor." Then, concern furrowing her brow, Martha said, "What about you, Talia? Are you alright?"
Smiling wanly, Talia said, "You know the deal, Mrs. Kent. I'm fine, of course." Then, with a deep sigh, she added, "But your car sure isn't. This is a great way to cap the day, isn't it?"
"Talia," Martha said in a very serious tone, "Forget about the car. It's only a thing; it can be replaced. Our lives can't, and it looks like you just saved mine. Thank you, honey."
Talia flushed and said, "You don't have to thank me, Mrs. Kent. You'd have done the same for me."
"Still," Martha said, "the very least I owe you is a 'thank you'."
"If you say so, Mrs. Kent," Talia said. "But it's enough for me that you're alright." Then, smiling mischievously, she added, "You're way too cool a lady to have anything happen to you. And I'm sure you've got a husband and a son who'd agree."
Martha started to laugh, winced as her throbbing head protested, and then said, "Speaking of which, we'd probably better try to get a hold of them. Right after we get a hold of the sheriff, that is."
Talia grimaced and said, "That might be kind of hard, Mrs. Kent. Wasn't your phone in your purse?"
Looking back at the burning wreck, Martha sighed and said, "Unfortunately." Then, perking up, she said, "But, believe it or not, a cell phone is a luxury, not a necessity. There must be a phone somewhere around here."
As she said this, they both heard a car, a rather hot one by the sound, come roaring up the road, and, as it came within sight of them, screech to a halt. Looking toward the roadway, Talia saw a good looking, well-dressed and curiously hairless young man jump out of a silver Porsche and come running in their direction.
"Well," Talia said slowly, "I don't think we have to worry about that now. There's some bald guy on his way over here as we speak, and I don't think anybody who dresses like that would be without a cell."
Martha heaved a sigh and, forcing herself up a bit to look in his direction, muttered, "Great. Now the day's just perfect."
Cocking her head just slightly, Talia said, "You know this guy, Mrs. Kent?"
But before she could answer, the young man came pelting up, concern written large on his face, and he exclaimed, "Mrs. Kent! What happened? Are you alright?"
Looking up at the newcomer, Martha said in a wan voice, "Well, I've been better, Lex. But all things considered, I'd have to say I'm lucky not to be a whole lot worse."
Relaxing visibly, he knelt down beside Martha and said, "I'm glad to hear that, Mrs. Kent. Is there anything I can do?"
"I'd appreciate it if you could call the sheriff's office, Lex," she said, and, looking toward the wreck added wryly, "I seem to be having a little trouble with my phone right now."
Smiling his sly smile, Lex said, "Now I know you're alright, Mrs. Kent."
She smiled in return and then said, "Also, if you don't mind, once you've called the sheriff, I'd like to borrow your phone for a minute. I need to call Clark and Jonathan and let them know what's happened. I need to tell them that Talia and I are alright before they get a call from the sheriff."
Quirking an eyebrow as he dialed, Lex looked to Talia and said, "So you're the mysterious Talia." Then, extending his free hand as he put the phone to his ear, he said, "I'm Lex. Lex Luthor. And I've just been dying to have a word with you all day…"
Well, end of chapter 4, and where do things go from here? Find out in chapter 5, 'Suspicions' later this week! For now, please review; your comments and suggestions are of immense help to me, and I enjoy hearing your feedback.
