Burning Bridges

Know Your Enemy

Clark returned not more than five minutes from when he left to fly off to the Fortress of Solitude with J'onn at his side and an odd lantern-like device at one hand and a large quiver full of arrows in the other. He instructed the pair to wait for him as he retrieved the gadget from the North Pole and it didn't take much convincing from his part as Barry seemed to have Kara under control. She still needed healing anyway, and flying at warp speed was definitely not a soothing remedy to such a wound.

He grinned at Kara and Barry before landing with a great thud on the sandy ground, dust billowing around them upon impact. The Martian landed more gracefully than Clark did, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so. As they were introduced to each other, Barry tipped his head slightly at J'onn in acknowledgement, who returned the gesture.

"Ready?" Barry asked, facing Clark. The older man bobbed his head.

Kara stepped forward, eyeing the device in Clark's hand. The contraption was about a foot wide, metal buttons decorating the top and a smooth round crystal dome at the center encased in an otherworldly metal with a handle of the same material at each side. Peering into the crystal, Kara noticed movement—white wisps against emerald, swirling around like a whirlwind.

"I didn't know you had this," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"The Phantom Zone Projector," Clark nodded, lifting it slightly up in the air. He frowned at it. "I've had it inside the Fortress for a long time. I'm sorry I only told you now," he glanced at Kara apologetically before facing the others to explain. "We can send Non and his men to the Phantom Zone. It's an interdimensional realm; Kryptonians thrown there are rendered powerless." He explained to Barry.

"Those who go there can't grow old or die there since the entire dimension is in stasis," Kara added. "That's how I survived and how I look younger than Clark."

Barry nodded. "So what are those?"

"Phantom zone arrows, about thirty of them." He answered, holding the quiver to Barry. "Same material, same purpose. A member of the Teen Titans tested it out once and it works as well as you can imagine it to be."

"Clark likes making gadgets." Kara flashed Barry a lopsided grin. Barry grinned back at her, instinctively reaching out to take hers in his. Their fingers meshed together perfectly. "He also makes a habit of showing it off, as you see," she teased her cousin with a raised eyebrow, who simply shrugged.

The speedster took the arrows and peered at it.

"Heard you had friends who like archery," Clark added when Barry raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks," Barry mumbled. "But these aren't that much compared to them. There are a lot of Kryptonians in our universe."

"That's why we're going to lure them to one place for this," Clark bobbed his head to the device again. "At first, I really didn't want to use this, but we've let Non wreak havoc in one too many Earths. Time for him to be put down where he can behave. So," he turned to the pair. "Shall we?"

J'onn cleared his throat. "I will stay in this Earth for the meantime while Superman is gone. You all take care."

Kara rushed to the Martian and enveloped him in a tight embrace. He gingerly wrapped his arms around her waist, hoisting her up like a child. "We will, J'onn," she smiled against his neck. "Take care of Alex for me, okay?"

"I will," he nodded, letting Kara untangle herself from the hug. J'onn watched the three superheroes jump into the portal before turning his back and flying off to National City.

Meanwhile in the other universe, a certain bespectacled blonde and a brunette in a lab gown were inside the S.T.A.R. Labs cortex, the former twirling in Cisco's chair every two minutes to check up on the field and the latter walking back and forth from her laboratory to peer over her companion's shoulder. Felicity and Caitlyn were tense for what was to happen, tense beyond relief that both were incredibly jumpy at each sound that there was inside the facility. The combined nervousness from the two females was enough to send each other flying to the two helioguns leaned against the glass doors of the laboratory.