Chapter 2/Punks

Lois was working behind the counter at The Talon, when a crowd of noisy kids entered. They were carrying skateboards and some were even skating on them towards the counter. They were all wearing the typical skater dude/chick clothing. So tacky, Lois thought. The beanies, the long striped socks and arm warmers. She sighed.

"Oh great," she said sarcastically. "Punk kids. Just what I need."

"Yo! Foxy lady, get me a coke will ya?" An obnoxious boy of about twelve years with brown hair sticking out from under a black beanie approached the counter. Lois noticed with annoyance that he carried a cigarette lighter.

"Okay, first of all," Lois began, "don't call me 'foxy lady.' Second of all, there's no smoking in the Talon. You're going to have to put your lighter away."

"Yeah, sure," the boy said, pocketing the lighter. "Whatever you say hot momma."

Lois rolled her eyes but got the boy his coke. He grabbed it roughly out of her hands. He pulled his beanie lower on his forehead and turned away, starting to exit the building. Lois realized what was happening and hurried out from behind the counter to grab hold of the boy.

"Hey, you need to pay for that." Lois said, threateningly.

Quick as lightning the lighter was out again. The boy grinned maliciously up at her. "If you don't let me go and give free cokes to all my friends, I'll light this place up so hot your dead grandmother will feel the flames."

The group of skaters cheered and hollered in agreement. Lois narrowed her eyes at them. Thinking quickly, she snatched the lighter out of the boy's hand. He started in surprised.

"Hey!"

Lois would not hear any excuses. "Don't you 'hey' me, squirt. Now either pay for the coke or get out of here."

The boy lifted defiant eyes up at Lois. "Make me." He said.

"All right," Lois agreed. Quickly grabbing the boy's arm, she wrenched it behind him until he was yelling in pain.

"Had enough already?" Lois asked through gritted teeth.

The boy nodded. "Okay, okay, you win. I'll pay for it."

Lois released her hold on the boy. That was her mistake. Suddenly the lighter was gone from her hand and there was the smell of burnt wood in the air as one of the chairs caught fire. Lois quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher but as soon as that fire was out, another one popped up behind her. Then another, and another.

The kids scrambled to get out of the burning building. The last one to leave was the fire starter. He stood in the midst of the flames, staring at Lois as she struggled to put out the fires by herself. When she noticed the boy standing there she shooed him away.

"Get out of here," she yelled over the crackling inferno. "You could get hurt."

The boy started to back away. "I warned you!" He shouted, but his eyes looked uncertain. He turned and fled.

The flames were growing too hot for Lois to control. Smoke encircled her. Wracking coughs shook her body. She dropped the fire extinguisher and made her way to the door. She fell to the floor and crawled through the smoke.

Suddenly the fire was gone. Completely gone. Lois sat up gingerly. There were black holes everywhere and singed furniture, but the fire had disappeared. The young woman got up slowly. She looked down at her arm and noticed she had burned herself. She took a sharp breath. Pain ripped through her. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed 9-1-1.

"Hello? I need to report a fire at the Talon."

000000

"Lois!"

Chloe rushed over to her cousin and hugged her tightly. When the other girl winced, Chloe looked down at the bandaged arm.

"What happened?" She asked.

Lois tried to act nonchalant. "Oh nothing. Just the Talon catching fire, that's all."

Clark came up behind Chloe. "The Talon caught on fire?" He asked.

Lois looked up at him. "Oh, hey Smallville. Yeah, some punk kid set fire to it. Don't worry; the building's still standing."

Chloe's eyebrows rose slightly. "A kid? How did he do it?"

"He had a lighter. Strange thing though, when the fire was getting too big to put out, I tried to get out. Then suddenly, the fire was gone."

Clark started. "It just disappeared?"

Lois nodded. "Yeah, any ideas about that?"

Chloe and Clark exchanged a look.

"Did you catch the boy's name?" Chloe asked her cousin.

"No."

Chloe looked thoughtful. "What did he look like?"

"You know, the usual kid. Brown hair, white, black clothes, beanie pulled low over his eyes, obnoxious."

"We'll keep an eye out for him." Clark said.

"No need for that, Smallville. The police are looking for him now as we speak."