A/N: I do not own these characters or the shows they come from, I am only borrowing them for bit.

Lex's eyes went wide as the two vans suddenly slewed across the road in front of him, blocking it. He hit the brakes, and the Ferrari skidded to a stop.

"Lex?" came Clark's questioning voice.

He shook his head, not knowing what was about to happen, and cursing the fact he'd left his gun at home. He didn't want to bring one into the plant, where angry ex-employees could get at it, or leave it in his car, which could be stolen by joyriding teens or worse. At the moment though, he wished he had it with him instead of it being locked safely away in his bedroom. He had a gut feeling that somehow these vans showing up just after the mutant bear or whatever it was attacked was simply not a coincidence. It couldn't be. This was Smallville.

Clark was apprehensive as he saw people in military gear get out of the van. They were all carrying weapons. He turned to Lex, asking silently what they should do.

Lex said, "Let me talk to them, Clark. Maybe I won't need to get security after all. I'm actually surprised that all the previous mutants didn't bring the military sooner. It'll be okay." Clark somehow doubted that, but he settled back down, waiting.

A tall man in fatigues came up to the car and nodded a hello. "Howdy folks. In a bit of a hurry?" Col. O'Neill didn't want to scare the locals-he needed their help. "Sorry we stopped you like that."

"Not a problem, I needed to check the brakes anyway." Lex replied dryly. "Lex Luthor, nice to meet you. And you are?"

"Col. Jack O'Neill. My team-" Col. O'Neill said, waving behind him. "Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Janet Frasier, and Teal'c. We kinda had a couple questions we needed to ask you and we're in a hurry."

"In a hurry to race onto private property?" Lex asked. "May I ask what this is about?"

"Would you happen to know how to get to Jonathan Kent's place? He's a local farmer." Jack replied.

Clark spoke up. "I'm Clark Kent, his son. What do you want with him?" Clark was beginning to worry a bit. He was almost resigned to the fact that the military might be there for the creature. But for them to know his Dad's name? He began to feel a pit of unease in his stomach.

"Uh Carter?" Jack turned to his subordinate. Before they talked Col. O'Neill wanted to make sure he wasn't chatting with a Goa'uld.

Maj. Carter stepped up to the passenger side of the car. She smiled at the teen.

"Hi, my name is Sam." She shook Clark's hand, taking her time and cocking her head and staring at him intently for a moment.

"We recently lost a satellite and it might have crashed onto your Dad's property. We just want to retrieve it."

She flashed another devastating smile at Lex, walking around to shake his hand as well and repeated the intent stare. She smiled at them again and walked back to Col. O'Neill, nodding that they were Goa'uld free. O'Neill acknowledged that, and said to the two mystified locals, "So, can you show us the quickest route?"

Lex and Clark looked at each other, not knowing what that was all about. Clark silently asked Lex if he should lead the military to the shed. He knew the metal ship wasn't a satellite, but had the feeling that these people knew that as well. Lex didn't know about the ship, but he had seen the creature. He probably thought that this was a cover story. Lex nodded slightly and turned to Col. O'Neill.

"We can lead you to where that Object is." He said, stressing the word object. He did indeed think that the military knew more than they were saying. He also figured that they would be the best at containing the creature. They certainly were well armed.

"Well good, but actually if you just gave directions…" Col. O'Neill trailed off, not wanting civilians interfering with their recovery operation.

He was also taken aback that the locals had actually found the ship. He glanced back at Dr. Frasier-the two young men might not have Goa'uld in them, but if they'd been near the ship, they needed to be checked out.

Clark interrupted his thoughts. "I know my Dad's lands better than anybody, and we found your, uh, satellite. It's quicker if you follow us."

He nodded to Lex, and his friend put the car in gear, quickly turning it around and heading back the way they'd come. Clark had decided that the quicker the military took this ship and the creature from it away from Smallville the safer he would be. He didn't want them looking around the countryside and finding his own ship. If he led them to what they wanted, maybe they would just leave and not come back. Clark was a little curious about the creature-it might be an alien from another planet, like him. It certainly hadn't seemed friendly, though, and mostly he just wanted to live a normal life.

Col. O'Neill looked at his team, shocked that the locals just took off like that.

"Ookayy," he drawled. "I guess we follow them. For now." He jerked his head to the van, and team piled back in.

The vans took off, following the Ferrari as it turned off onto a dirt road leading deeper into fields. Suddenly the car in front of them stopped, and it was the vans' turn to hit the brakes. The reason for the car stopping quickly became apparent. Running toward them was a creature. O'Neill and his team were out of the van quickly, guns up and trained on the thing running toward them.

"Teal'c, any ideas?" the Colonel asked his alien friend, wondering what the thing was that was approaching. Dark and fast, two arms with claws, two smaller arms, and a-tail?

Teal'c looked at the creature intently. "I am not certain, O'Neill," he replied.

Daniel was also looking. "Jack, it almost looks a bit like an Unas. But, uh, with extra limbs."

Col. O'Neill cocked his head, nodding slowly. "So do you think it's a host?"

Major Carter shook her head. "There's no way to tell from here, sir. But I'd say that the ship was manned, and this is the creature that was in it. We need to be careful."

In the car, Lex was fascinated as the creature ran closer. Definitely not a bear. Bipedal, and the tail gave it balance as it ran, making it very fast. He abruptly leaped out of the car, hauling Clark with him and running to safety behind the nicely armed military types. He wondered if they would shoot first and ask questions later. He was about to find out.

To be continued eg>