Sylvia is happily washing dishes from the morning breakfast.
Linda comes into the kitchen. “Um, Mom?” she asks hesitatingly.
“Yes. What is it dear?”
“Can I...help you, y'know, with the dishes?”
“Oh.” Sylvia says in surprise. “Of course.” She shifts to the side to make room for Linda. “Here. Your father's plate is particularly messy.”
Linda holds the plate up. “How much dish soap do you think this needs.”
“There should be plenty of soap in the sponges. Just scrub it till it's clean.”
Fred is adjusting his police uniform by the front door when he hears the sound of glass shattering. He rushes into the kitchen.
“What happened? Is everyone all right?”
Fred sees Linda and Sylvia standing on either side of a broken plate on the floor.
“We're fine.” Sylvia assures Fred. “Linda was just helping me with the dishes.”
“'Helping' seems to be the wrong word.” Linda says sheepishly. “Be right back!” She runs out of the kitchen.
Fred points after Linda and mouths 'dishes?' to Sylvia, who throws up her hands and smiles.
Linda comes back with a broom and dustpan. She says “sorry. sorry.” as she sweeps the pieces of glass up.
Fred is grinning now and rubbing his chin. “You know, with the way your sculptures come out I never figured you were the clumsy type.”
“Har har.” Linda laughs sarcastically. She dumps the glass into the garbage.
“That reminds me.” Sylvia says. “Fred, can you take the garbage on your way out?”
“I'll take it!” Linda declares, picking up the garbage bag. “Less likely to break something taking out the trash, right? Hehe....” she laughs nervously.
Fred and Sylvia stare at each other in bemusement as Linda runs out with the garbage.
CS
The brothers are driving down a highway at high speeds.
“Couldn't we have flown?” the skinnier brother asks.
“You want to explain to airport security what we're doing with a sonic gun, be my guest.” Paul responds.
“And you're sure it's Supergirl.”
“No doubt.” Paul assures him. “Hey, don't worry. When this is over we'll have our own private jet back. If things go well enough you can get your own jet.”
The skinnier brother nods, but looks sullenly out of the passenger window.
CS
Linda blows her nose.
“Thanks for helping me with the dusting.” Sylvia says. “We've kind of let the place go these past few days.”
“S-sure.” Linda replies through her clogged nose. “N-no problem. ACHOO!”
Sylvia picks up her purse and heads towards the door. “You sure you don't want to come with me to the church?”
“No. I thought I'd start a new project.” Linda answers as she throws away her tissue.
“Do you want me to stay home and keep you company?” Sylvia asks.
“No.” Linda says again. “I need quiet to work.”
“I'm not comfortable leaving you alone.” Sylvia insists.
“Mom,” Linda smiles at Sylvia, “don't worry. I won't leave the house. Don't let me keep you from what you like to do.”
Sylvia hugs Linda and looks like she is about to cry.
“Hey,” Linda continues to smile, “if this is how you act when when I'm just staying home, what are you going to do when I start school again?”
Sylvia wipes her eyes, “I don't know.”
“Go on.” Linda insists. “Put in a good word for us.”
Sylvia smiles. “I will.”
After her mother leaves, Linda takes a deep breath and heads to the basement. The basement has been converted into a small studio for sculpting. Linda takes several sketches out of a cabinet and a slab of sculpting clay from another cabinet.
Linda sets the items down on a table and opens the wrapping on the clay. She looks at the sketches, trying to decide which one to start.
Linda puts her hand on the clay, then takes it off again. She takes a different sketch and puts it on top of the others. She puts both hands on the clay and begins to squeeze it, then takes her hands off again.
Linda looks at the sketches in frustration and sighs.
She pulls her shirt over her head, revealing the Supergirl costume.
CS
Supergirl flies through the residential area with a serious expression on her face. She sees smoke rising in the distance and goes to investigate.
Supergirl lands in front of a house that is on fire. Two fire trucks are already at the scene. The firemen quickly get their hoses ready. “I guess I'm not needed.” she says to herself.
“Supergirl!”
A man and a woman in partially burnt clothing run over to her. “You've got to help us!” the man yells.
“Our son is still in there!” the woman continues. “There wasn't time to get him out!”
Supergirl immediately shoots towards the house, crashing through the front window.
The parents huddle together, staring at their burning house.
Less than thirty seconds later, Supergirl bursts from the front door carrying a small figure. She lays the five year old child on the ground. The parents and two of the fire fighters run over to her.
“Mickey!” the mother screams.
“He's not breathing.” one of the firefighters observes. He bends down to perform CPR.
Supergirl stops him. “Let me.” She leans over the child, takes a deep breath, and exhales into his mouth.
Mickey coughs, and his breathing returns to normal.
Supergirl rises, breathing a sigh of relief. The parents stay by Mickey's side. And the firefighter is impressed.
“Those are some mighty strong lungs you got there.”
CS
Cutter is still sitting in his hospital bed. He drops his phone in boredom.
The nurse comes in again. “Mr. Sharpe?”
“Yes?” he asks irritably.
“You have two visitors.”
“Two?” Cutter asks, surprised.
“They say they have a story for you. Should I send them in?”
“Sure.” Cutter says in a deadpan tone. “Why not.”
Cutter makes a funny face as the brothers enter. “Well I'll be. Samuel and Paul Westfield. What brings the two of you all the way to Leesburg?”
“Supergirl.” Paul answers.
Cutter is skeptical. “And why are two former industrialists from another state so interested in our new resident superhero?”
“We know where she comes from.” Paul says.
Cutter starts taking the conversation seriously. “I'm listening.”
“Supergirl is not a real person.” Paul explains. “It's an artificial life form made of an unstable protomatter matrix.”
Sam shifts uncomfortably behind Paul. He looks uncomfortable for the rest of the scene.
“She sure looks like a real person.” Cutter says, his skepticism returning.
“It isn't.” Paul insists. “It pretends to be, but that's all it is, an act. It's a dangerous menace to society.”
“What makes you call her a menace?”
“It ruined us.”
The scene shifts to a flashback. A fire has broken out in a research laboratory. Scientists and workers are running for the exits.
Paul is running against the crowd. He runs into Sam.
“Sam! What the hell's going on?”
“It's the Matrix!” Sam yells. “It's gotten loose!”
“My god...” Paul says, horrified. He continues to run against the crowd.
“Wait!” Sam yells after him.
Paul runs down a flight of stairs and opens a door marked 'restricted' with a key from his belt. He stares in terror at the sight before him.
Silhouetted against the flames is a humanoid figure with a body like a classic alien. It looks at Paul then turns towards a nearby wall. It extends its hand towards the wall and blows a hole through the concrete without touching it.
The scene shifts back to the hospital.
“Your main research facility was destroyed in a fire.” Cutter recalls. No one was killed, but you lost millions in research and contracts. You claimed it was sabotage at the time, but the courts ruled that there was criminal negligence and that safety standards were ignored. You lost everything, and now no one wants to deal with you.”
“It was sabotage.” Paul insists. “Just not corporate sabotage.”
“It was the Matrix.” Sam says softly.
“Even if what you say is true,” Cutter goes on, “what connection is there to Supergirl?”
“Supergirl first appeared one month after our facility burned down, in a city not thirty miles away.” Paul explains.
“And that's your evidence?”
“It made me suspicious.” Paul says seriously. The camera focuses on his face. “It was when Supergirl demonstrated telekinetic powers that I became sure. Our Matrix had those same abilities.”
“All right.” Cutter says. “Why are you only coming out with this now? And why come to me?”
“We couldn't do anything when Supergirl was moving from town to town. By the time we'd get there it would have moved on. But when we saw your report that she is staying in this town, we knew that this was our chance.”
Cutter's eyes narrow. “Your chance for what?”
“To clear our names. If it admits to what it did the publicity will get us back into the business. Can you imagine how 'the men who created Supergirl' would go over as a tagline?”
“You want me to arrange a meeting between you and Supergirl.” Cutter concludes.
“That's what we want.”
“I'll have to think about that.” Cutter says.
“We understand. Thank you for your time.” Paul hands Cutter his business card before leaving with Sam.
Cutter hurriedly dials a number on his cell phone.
“Hi, Mr. Thornton? It's Cutter Sharpe....Wendell, from the hospital. Yeah, do you think you can pull some strings and get me discharged early? I've got a story. Either 'Disgraced Industrialists go Crazy' or The Real Origin of Supergirl.'”