Kerry's mind was flashing back on her old Nancy Drew books; mostly because she was trying to solve the mystery of Bridget Hennessey, her own sister! How could self-absorbed, materialistic and manipulative Bridget suddenly become intellectual, caring and quite possibly… superhuman? She had screen captures of the local Supergirl sightings from the TV News, plus she had the few photos that had been taken of the figure sailing through Detroit up until it became obvious no one else was ever going to take another photo of her. If there was any other chance to catch Bridget in that costume, she had to be there when Bridget popped out of the sky in public. With her hearing now, and her propensity for acting confused when the subject came up, Kerry realized now that Bridget was not going to take her into her confidence. On the other hand, where was she hiding that costume? Was she wearing it all the time? When was she washing it?

"Kyle…" Kerry confronted Bridget's ex-boyfriend. "You created the school's chapter of Supergirl Watchers…"

"Correction…" Kyle stopped her. "The Supergirl Fan Club…"

"Whatever…" Kerry rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Look, I need as many copies of the pictures you geeks have."

"She is beautiful, isn't she?"

"You ought to know… you once dated her." Kerry mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing…." Kerry staved off his attention to her mumbling. Even she could not resort to being so vicious as to expose her sister's dual natural. "I need pictures, as many as you have. Preferably clear and in color…. Oh, and up close…."

"Sure…" Kyle beamed over Bridget's sister, thinking she was kind of cute in her own way. "You know who she reminds me of…"

"Who?"

"Reese Witherspoon." Kyle grinned vacuously. "Think about it…. Have we ever really seen them together?"

"God, you're an idiot…." Kerry turned down the other way through the school heading for the library to research on the Internet computers. Along the way, she passed the short hall at the front entrance outside the school offices and she recognized a person she knew very well. Garbed in a dark brown suede jacket with a dark shirt and blue jeans, William Collins was the Maine writer who had helped in the local contest. She respected him as a writer, but not so much his pursuit as an infamous paranormal researcher. He was also a friend of her father and a former guest of her home. In fact, it was Paul who recommended William to help judge the essay contest. Shaking the hand of Ed Gibb briefly, the horror writer turned away to head back to his hotel.

"Mr. Collins," Kerry stopped the prolific writer and paranormal researcher. "What was wrong with my story? What? Was it just not good enough? I mean, how on earth could Bridget win?!"

"Kerry," Collins checked the time on his watch as he stared at the young redhead then removed his sunglasses. "It was a very good story, but a bit cerebral and advanced even for me. You had me looking up words in the dictionary. It could be published right now, but you really should be trying to develop your craft first before trying to make a literary statement. Try not to show off your intelligence and try more to create a story that people will want to read. In other words, you created a college level manuscript in a contest meant for high school kids."

"I was that advanced?" Kerry realized what he was saying.

"I get the feeling you're going to excel in anything you start." Collins delicately replaced his sunglasses. "Say hey to your dad for me."

"Yeah, sure…" Kerry started to turn away then stopped and grabbed his arm to deter his departure. "One other thing…" She lightly brushed her long hair out of her eyes. "What do you think of our local phenomenon? Our Supergirl sightings?"

"Give a week…" Collins lightly thought it over as his eyes looked her over through his glasses. "I'm pretty sure they're all promotions for a movie coming in a few weeks." As a paranormal explorer, he grasped on to the most logical suggestion.

"Wish I could be that sure…." Kerry realized that both the Detroit police and DC Comics had already dismissed that possibility. Taking a deep breath, she sighed turning back for her way to the library. Where other kids were rushing home and others worked on school activities, she was going to be doing research in the school library looking up strange events for the last few days. Maybe a sighting of a comet or the testimony of another regular person who suddenly felt imbued with gifts. After all, Bridget was no one special; why should she be the only one in a city of millions suddenly imbued with godlike gifts. Something had happened to Bridget; she knew it and her parents knew it. Neither of her parents was particularly distressed about it, or if they were, they were effectively hiding it. They suddenly had a dream daughter who was no longer spending a lot of money or trying to deceive them. Why should they be worried? It wasn't like Bridget would suddenly go ballistic and destroy them, or would she?

That was racing through her mind as Cate Hennessy sat stuck in traffic wanting to get home. She had had only a partial shift at the hospital, but now she felt stupid for leaving too fast and colliding with the unrelenting 3:00 after school and off work traffic. It had started out steady, but then she thought cutting through DeKalb street would be a good short-cut to Oakdale, but the detour for the new asphalt laying sent her into the wrong direction over to Demonbreun, one of the worst traffic spots in town. Accidents occurred here nearly on a weekly basis. Stoplights were mere blocks apart, and cars snarled here for hours on end. It was a major artery in town across a major highway. Four lanes of cars lined with sidewalks and crossing lanes where drivers had scant minutes to move or else get caught by the light again. The light had caught her as she expected, but when it turned green again and she started ahead, the line of cars ahead of her had not started moving. They were stopped ahead of her by police letting more cars turn off a block ahead. Another car pulled up alongside her left and Cate found herself stuck not just at the same red light but in the lane of traffic again. She couldn't turn left out of the way nor could she back up out of the way. She was in gridlock, practically parked on the intersection without anywhere to go and up ahead, the light turned red once more.

"Oh, come on!!!" Her temper flared and her fist pounded the dashboard, and then she heard it: the horn of the garbage truck coming toward her on the intersection. It was coming up on her just a might too fast. Didn't the driver see that the traffic was backed up in front of it? Cate looked to see if she had room to back up or to turn out of the way. She was boxed in with all the other commuters. The truck's brakes locked on and it started screeching to a stop a bit too late. Tires screeching against the asphalt road, it still had about fifty tons of momentum to take it into Cate's car. The nurse and the mother of three widened her eyes and dropped her jaw and turned to jump from her car to avoid a possible collision. Truck driver Lionel Bruce dropped his sandwich from his mouth, grabbed his wheel with both his hands and stood on his brakes trying to stop his truck as hard as he could. Cate Hennessey was too scared to think rationally; she was scared for her life and fighting with her seat belt. No cars were moving except for the truck screeching straight into her path. Lionel Bruce clenched his teeth and stood on his brakes. Time seemed to slow down for Cate as she started scrambling and fighting her way out of her car.

Bruce heard a sudden thump and opened his eyes. Someone had hit his fifty-ton Peterbuilt truck and was slowing it down. All he saw was the top of a blonde head, but by-standers, pedestrians and on-lookers from the sidewalk turned with a moments notice and pointed at the red caped figure holding back the garbage truck. It was her!!! The girl from the news and photos and they all saw her too. She was holding back against the grill of the screeching fifty-ton behemoth, one leg back stretched for momentum, all her godly strength channeled forward into the garbage truck. Rising up from the driver's side of her vehicle, Cate Hennessey wanted to run at first then realized what she was watching. With twenty feet shrinking down to two feet, she realized that if this girl was her daughter that she had just saved her life. The truck grill had caved in under its own weight under the young beauty's strength. It was slowing down soon enough but not fast enough. The blonde one in the Supergirl costume pushed her shoulder against the dragging disposal truck and exerted more of her strength to it. The massive mechanical behemoth finally lurched to a stop with a vast shudder. She felt the side of her mother's car in her back just a second more from calamity.

"Bridget??!!!" Cate recognized her daughter. Bridget whirled round in shock and recognized her mother. Oh god, not here, not like this. People around her cheered at her feat of strength and began taking her picture with their mobile phones.

"I'm sorry…" Bridget suddenly made a face of confusion. "I think you've confused me with someone else…" She turned her head up as her body lifted up off the ground and propelled her skyward. Lionel Bruce was too amazed to say anything. He cocked his head skyward watching the young girl ascending as well. At twenty feet above, Bridget reached to steer her flight and swung into the direction of her home. Confused and speechless, Cate looked round trying to figure out what to do and suddenly realized she was standing in a busy road. The light was green and she could pull ahead now. Bruce was looking around asking for witnesses. The bumper-to-bumper traffic would keep him stranded for a while, but Cate Hennessey could turn off Demonbreun at her easier convenience. Still rattled and trying to understand what she should do, she pulled into the parking lot of the church and stopped her car. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed for home.

"City morgue - you stab them, we slab them." Rory answered it with his usual impropriety.

"Rory!!!" Paul grabbed the phone from him as he chopped vegetables for dinner. "Hello?" He answered it a bit more acceptably.

"Paul! Paul!!!" Cate could barely catch her breath. "Paul!!!"

"Cate, what is it?" He suddenly had a scary thought. "Please tell me you're not pregnant!!!"

"I saw Bridget!!!" She was screaming hysterically. "I saw Bridget!!!"

"Well, I…" Paul looked beyond Rory on the sofa to Bridget coming down the stairs near the kitchen and invading the refrigerator near him without looking up at him. "I see Bridget too." He chuckled at his wife for being so alarmingly melodramatic. Taking a bottle of water from the refrigerator door, the blonde one turned and looked up to her father.

"No, Paul…" Cate was slowly calming down. "I saw our daughter… in her costume…."

"What?!" Paul gutturally voiced the word in shock. Bridget looked at him as she swiped a piece of chopped cauliflower to snack on. "But that's impossible… she's right here!!"

Cate was struck speechless by that realization.

"Put her on…" She beamed connivingly to speak to her daughter. Through the phone, Paul handed it over to his daughter and the would-be costumed crime-fighter chirped her little teenage voice up to her mother over the handheld.

"Hey, mom, what's up?" Bridget took a carrot this time from the vegetables her father was cooking for dinner.

"Bridget…" Cate's voice sounded with a knowing affection to her voice; it was the same tone she had when she had caught her children in a lie. "Where were you a few minutes ago?"

"Where was I supposed to be?" Bridget checked out her fingernails and leaned toward her brother watching her. "Was I supposed to get something?"

"Bridget…" Cate's tone rose a bit. "You were just here on Demonbreun a minute ago. You just stopped a garbage truck with your bare hands!!! I saw you!!!"

"Is that what this is about?" Bridget made a face of frustrated annoyance. "Mom, that girl is not me!!"

"I saw you!!!"

Bridget just rolled her eyes. Her father looked at her from over his boiled vegetables and mashed potatoes. Rory had taken an interest in his sister's side of the conversation and was smiling with the thought she was busted. Paul just listened and mentally debated if he wanted to know or not.

"Yeah, whatever…" The blonde one was tired of these accusations from her family. She just wished they'd forget it.

"Bridget, look…" Cate changed her tone to try and be more understanding. "You can tell me anything. I want to talk about this…." She heard her daughter sighing defeatedly depressed and then the phone clicking off at home.