Seeing Green Episode IV: Close Encounters

Chapter Six

"You cut your hair."

Bruce turned to face him. "Really, we're having a crisis and the first thing you say to me is about my hair?"

Green Lantern shrugged. "It looks cute, I dig it."

Bruce snorted as she turned back to her Batcomputer. The green glow he'd been adding to the room vanished then and when he came up by her side he was dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. "So what's the deal? You said you needed me for something."

"Yeah." Bruce said as she clicked her way across a few screens. "Have you seen the footage from before Superman disappeared?"

"Yeah, who hasn't? What about it?"

"Well it was a shitty recording but after I had the Batcomputer work on it for a while I was able to zoom in and see this." Bruce pointed to a frozen blurry and blown-up image of Ursa holding Lois. "This look familiar to you?"

Hal leaned forward and peered at the device just barely visible in Ursa's right hand. "Um...not really, it's super blurry."

"Well, it's the Phantom Projector. Believe me, I've seen it a few times."

Hal looked down at her, his blue eyes bright. "But I thought it was safe in Kal's fortress. She must have...oh of course, his fortress has been melting hasn't it?"

"Yeah, global warming and all that. Probably made it a lot easier to steal."

"Shoot. So you think...you think she put Kal in the Phantom Zone?"

"I'm almost positive."

Hal pulled back from the screen and crossed his arms, his brow knit. "This is bad news..."

"Could be worse," Bruce said as she rose from her chair. "He could be dead."

"Well...I don't know. All of his enemies are in the Phantom Zone. Seems to me they're probably having a good old beat-down on him right now."

Bruce frowned. "Yeah..."

"So you want me to try to bust him out?" Hal asked as he turned to face her.

"Yes. Barry, Oliver, and Diana are trying to look for Kara right now. And if we're going in the Phantom Zone, I think it might be handy to have someone who can fly."

"Wait, what? You're coming too? I thought you were going to help find Kara."

"Finding Kara is important, but once we do, who's going to take down Ursa?" Bruce turned and stepped down from the central dais before going over to her suit on the manikin. "Kara doesn't have her powers anymore and I'm afraid that if Ursa has the Projector, attacking her head on isn't smart. I think we need Superman on this one. He's the only one that knows Ursa, and he might even have an idea of where she might be hiding out. So yes, we're going to go get him back. Now get lost while I change."

"Awww. Fine, I'll go see what's in your fridge upstairs."

Bruce watched him jog up the stairs before turning back to her suit and pulling off her hoodie. In a matter of minutes she was fully suited up. She'd gotten it down to a science, what needed to be put on first and just how to do it. She'd had to when emergencies came. Finally she took off her glasses and put her contacts in. For a moment she looked at herself in the mirror. She touched the back of her head, her hair now short and chopped in a pixie. She'd just had it done the other day.