One of the many, many problems that came with working for Dee Wing is that, ever so occasionally, reports would come in before anything actually happened. There were stories from other agents that they were sent into the field years before what they were investigating even happened.
Podunkville was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary, as ordinary as a small town in a fly-over state can be. Now he'd have to go through the awkward conversation that this man with the accent was, in fact, with Homeland Security and was here investigating something, no we can't tell you what, need to know basis, etc. etc.
That said, he thought as watched the sparse landscape go past the taxi window, it would be nice to have a few days off.
But that comforting thought evaporated when the taxi driver said "Wouldja look at that?" It looked like a shooting star to begin with, but became brighter. It hit somewhere just behind the horizon. Even this far away, the explosion could be heard. "Holy ****!"
Well, there was the explanation. "Keep going."
"You crazy? That was probably the rooskies firing the first shot!"
"Trust me, if that was a nuke, we'd be dead."
"Well, I ain't becoming a mutant. You can walk."
"Like hell I am. Keep going, if you like your job." He produced his not-technically-fake badge.
A few moments later, another bright light fell and hit the ground, this time much closer. Nigel was getting worried. Coming from space usually meant a Lovecraft-style anomaly, which he was not trained to deal with. He was very close to calling home, getting experts in, when he remembered the driver. "Did you see where that fell?"
"Yeah, it was close, I think."
"Get as close as you want. I want to see what that was."
The driver dropped him off several streets away, before speeding off in the opposite direction. When he got there, there was already a large crowd of people, murmuring amongst themselves. Thankfully, nobody seems to have approached the object. Gibbering fish-men were never fun to deal with, especially child-sized ones. Just as thankfully, it had hit a shop - what did they call them? A general store - that was closed for the night.
Standing on top of some rubble, he brought out the badge. "Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your homes. The authorities are dealing with this. Please remain calm." The crowd thinned, but there were still some people about. But the object didn't seem to be doing anything. If it continued to do that, the stragglers would just wonder away out of boredom.
He turned to face the glowing rubble. Dust was still settling, so he covered his mouth with his coat collar. Behind him he heard a car pull up. Somewhere deep inside himself he doubted it was the police. They don't usually backfire.