Trainwreck

by Shadar

February 11, 2015

James found himself staring at the costumed blonde as she held what had to be a ten-ton bolder over her head. Which wasn’t as impressive as it sounded given she’d been holding a locomotive the same way only moments before. She was cleaning up from the train wreck she’d just stopped.

He squinted through the viewfinder at her as he snapped his Nikon as fast as he could.

“Telekinesis, right?” he asked between shots. “For lifting things?”

“Nope. Just good muscles.”

“How good?”

She bent down nearly to the ground and then leaped upward, sending the huge bolder flying over the trees to land somewhere down below. He felt the impact through his feet.

She brushed her hands off as she stood up straight. “Very good.”

“Jesus. You’re really beautiful.”

She blushed slightly. “I wasn’t expecting that to be your first reaction.”

“Second. So, based on the “S” I’m guessing Kryptonian.”

“You would know best, James. You’ve taken more pictures of him than anyone else.”

How did she know his name?

“Let me guess. His sister?” He was going to say girlfriend or wife but she looked too young. 

“Cousins. It’s a long story.”

“Wow. And nobody has ever seen you before?”

“I took a different path.”

“And you can do the whole thing? I’ve already checked off ‘stopping a speeding locomotive’.”

“I’m reading the contents of your wallet, Mr. James Olson living at 1039 Pine Street.”

He wasn’t so sure he wanted her staring at his waist to read his wallet in his back pocket. Weren’t x-rays dangerous? He wanted to have kids some day.

“And I’d see a doctor about that left testicle, James. Looks a little swollen.”

“That’s my good one. The other is shrunken.”

“Oh, sorry. Everything else looks real good.”

He felt very naked. “Ah... yeah, OK. Thanks. I think. So, are you bulletproof too?”

“Of course. It would be incredibly dangerous to do this kind of thing if I wasn’t.”

“And you can burn things? With your eyes?”

“Melt steel.”

“So, what’s your best power? Of them all. Favorite maybe.”

She turned at the sound of some people scrambling up the embankment. They’d soon be in view. Turning, back, she winked at James.

“Guess.”

Before he could open his mouth, she leaped straight up into the sky, shrinking to a dot that briefly flared into a cone of mist as she broke the Mach. And then she was gone. 

James kept staring up, heart pounding. “Got it. Flying.”

The team of approaching rescue workers topped the embankment behind him just in time to flinch as her sonic boom cracked over them.

James continued staring up, smiling broadly. “Bet you’re in space by now, Supergirl.”

He reached down to hit the record button on his phone app. “Make sure to call her Supergirl in the story. I mean, if he’s Superman...”

Turning away before anyone could ask him any questions – this was going to be his exclusive – he scrambled down the opposite side of the embankment to look for the boss’s assistant, Linda Danvers. Cat had said she was driving over to pick him up.

It had been pure luck that he’d been on this particular train on this particular day at this precise moment. At least it would have been if he believed in luck. Some things happened for a purpose. Like his having his Nikon ready to go.

He’d almost made it down to the road when Linda stepped out from behind a clump of bushes, adjusting her skirt. A geeky-looking brunette dressed in a long plaid skirt and a bulky sweater. He wasn’t sure if she was horribly unconscious of style or was actually into the retro look.

“First rule of reporters, Linda,” he shouted to her, “is to take care of business before you leave. Where’s the car?”

She brushed a wisp of brown hair from her face, and for a brief moment, her blue eyes reminded him of the girl he’d just met. He shook his head, laughing at himself. What an idiotic connection. Danvers was nobody, just this girl with a weird, nerdy personality, almost like she had Asperger’s or something. She was the exact opposite of the confident, powerful and very beautiful Krytonian he’d just met. If not for the weird way she had of always getting things done, Cat would have fired her long ago.

“Cars over there,” she pointed at a yellow Prius. “Where we off to now?”

“Back to the office. I’ve got a story to write.”

“About surviving a train wreck. Pretty cool. And you’re so calm about it all. I’d be a wreck. Crying my eyes out. Kissing the ground and happy to be...”

“Not about a wreck,” he interrupted. “About a girl. A super girl. The Supergirl.”

“Huh,” she asked. “Are you OK? Get hit in the head or something? Superman we got, not that anyone has seen him for a while given he’s visiting the Andromeda Nebula to stop a war between the Andromedans and the Tsinti. Or whatever. Just a wild guess. But he doesn’t have a girlfriend last I heard.”

“Cousin. He’s her cousin. And she’s a beautiful blonde. And stronger than you could possibly understand.”

She closed the driver’s side door and hit the Start button. “Obviously, given I can’t even run up a flight of stairs without gasping. But really, she was beautiful?”

“Stunning. Incredible. Like no one on Earth.”

Linda smiled as she saw James settle back in his seat, eyes closed, a huge grin on his face. “She sounds amazing.”

“Oh god, she was. Is.”

Linda elbowed him in the side. “So, tell me more. Really beautiful, huh? Thought you didn’t like blondes?”

“Just drive and shut-up, Danvers. I’ve got a story to figure out.”

The End