"Oh, my God," Lena says, frightened and concerned, "you're telling the truth."
Jack shakes his head and looks at her confused... then suddenly his gaze freezes, his eyes glassed over.
"Ms. Luthor," Beth Breen, Biomax CFO, says. "He can't hear you, no one can."
Lena, looks away, chuckles, and shakes her head as she begins to understand. Looking at Beth she says, "You've been controlling him this whole time."
"Poor sweet boy," Beth says sarcastically, "wanted to scrap the whole thing just because of a pesky little side effect that removes free will. Not financially responsible."
"You're going to kill me now, aren't you?", Lena asks. "It's the only reason you'd tell me all of this."
"Again, not very financially responsible," Beth retorts as she taps the device in her ear.
Jack steps over to a near by table and picks up a sub dermal delivery device.
Beth continues, "I already control Jack. Why would I kill you when I can control you? And by extension L-Corp. Think of that merger."
Lena backs away as Jack approaches her under Beth's control. She begs him to listen, hoping desperately a piece of Jack is still awake somewhere deep inside.
As Jack closes in, a loud crash comes from above as Supergirl breaks through the ceiling, picks up Lena, flys her across the room, and sets her down.
"You okay?", Supergirl asks Lena.
"Yeah," Lena replies.
Jack stands with his arms stretched out to his sides as thousands upon thousands of nanobots swarm out of his body.
"You need to get out of here," Supergirl strongly urges Lena.
Lena hurriedly replies, "No, I've got a better idea." Nodding towards the nanobots she says, "Keep them occupied."
Supergirl flies around the warehouse keeping the nanobots distracted while Lena deals with Beth. In the struggle Lena knocks the control device out of Beth's ear.
Supergirl tries using her freeze breath to stop the nanobots, but the swarm intensifies, surrounding her, picking her up, and pinning her to a metal frame. They begin to overwhelm her.
Lena begs Jack to stop, but he doesn't respond. She notices the control device on the floor and stomps on it, which wakes Jack from his daze.
Jack gasps and then doubles over in pain as he starts phasing between his solid human form and a concentrated nanobot swarm.
As one swarm squeezes the life out of Supergirl and the other consumes Jack, Jack begs Lena for help and directs her to the mainframe.
Lena checks the computer and says frantically, "I think I can override it!"
Supergirl struggling, cries, "Lena, hurry!"
Lena shouts, "I'm almost there, okay?"
Beth gets to her feet, starts walking toward Lena and says, "You'll kill him."
Lena freezes with a look of dread on her face.
Beth continues, "The override destroys the nanobots. They've merged with him. You kill them, you kill him."
As Beth passes behind Lena, Lena strikes her square on the chin with her elbow, knocking her cold.
Supergirl's mouth and body are now encased in nanobots as she struggles not to succumb to their pressure. Lena, at the mainframe computer, struggles with her emotions as she's forced to make an impossible choice.
Jack groans in agonizing pain and begs Lena to engage the override.
Lena, in mental anguish, freezes for a moment as Jack cries out in pain and Supergirl begins to lose consciousness. Finally, Lena forces herself to press the key, triggering the override.
The nanobots in Jack's body and the swarm encasing Supergirl converge in the air above them and then fall lifeless to the floor.
Jack, free of the nanobots, gasps in pain, falls to his knees, and rolls onto this back. Lena rushes to him, kneels beside him sobbing, and holds his hand as he dies.
In this moment, a realization forms in Lena's mind... why does this feel so familiar and why hasn't Supergirl walked up behind her yet? Lena turns her head and sees Supergirl's body face down, motionless on the floor at the foot of the metal frame.
Lena rushes to her, rolls Supergirl over, looks into her dead stare and... "Kara?!?... Oh, God, Kara, no!" Her sobbing intensifies as she begins feeling overwhelming agony and cries, "No, oh please, God, no... you can't leave me, Kara!! I love you, you can't leave me! This isn't right! This isn't how this happened!" Lena buries her head in Kara's chest and howls with grief.
Kara and Alex land on the veranda at DEO headquarters. As they make their way down the steps toward the hub, Brainy comes running up and says urgently, "Thank goodness you've both arrived!"
Kara asks nervously, "Brainy, what's wrong?"
"It's Lena," Brainy replies with concern in his voice.
As the med bay doors slide open, Alex, Brainy, and Kara hurry in as Brainy explains, "Her vitals are still strong, she doesn't appear to have suffered any physical trauma from the confrontation, but take a look at her eyes."
Alex steps forward, slides open Lena's eyelids, and immediately notices the unusual, seemingly random, eye darting.
"Rapid eye movement," Alex says alarmed. "What's going on?"
J'onn steps into the room and says, "She's trapped in what we Martian's call a Mind Prison."
"How?", Kara asks as her look of concern deepens.
"My guess," J'onn adds, "is she was exposed to the same psychic wave at Al's that you were."
"Given their proximity to one another," Brainy remarks, "that seems to be the most plausible hypothesis."
"J'onn, can you reach her and bring her out, like you did with me?", Kara implores him.
"I tried," J'onn tells her with regret in his voice, "but I couldn't penetrate the psychic barrier."
Kara turns to her sister with a look of fear on her face. "Alex?!? What do we do? I can't lose her, not now."
Alex wraps her arms around Kara, who buries her head in Alex's shoulder, as Alex inquiries nervously, "Brainy, J'onn... any ideas?"
"Well," Brainy reports, "if my understanding of the Mind Prison is accurate it is almost identical in nature to the Mind Palace we used to help you recuperate from your fight with Reign, Kara."
"Brainy?", Kara lifts her head from Alex's shoulder and asks, "Do you think we could use the lattice to enter Lena's mind like you did with me?"
"And like Kelly did with James," Brainy interjects, "yes."
Kara wipes the tears from her eyes, looks at Alex, and declares, "Then I'm going in to get her."
Kara lays down on a recovery table next to Lena. Brainy walks over with the lattice.
As Kara settles in, Brainy places the lattice on her forehead, and J'onn says, "Kara, you'll have to convince Lena that what's happening to her isn't real. She has to make a conscious choice to free herself from the prison."
"Gotcha," Kara utters nervously.
"You got this, sis," Alex reassures her as she takes Kara's left hand and squeezes it. "Be careful."
Kara gives her an acknowledging nod as Brainy activates the lattice and Kara slips from consciousness.
Lena walks down the hall of Kara's building toward her loft… nervous, scared, and fidgeting as she approaches Kara's door.
A flood of emotions consume her heart as she thinks back to all the horrible, vengeful, spiteful acts she's perpetuated over the last year against her best friend, meant to cause as much pain and anguish as possible; pointless retribution for the pain and anguish Lena had endured because of all the lies.
Lena stands in front of the door for what feels like an eternity, terrified that Kara will simply use her x-ray vision to see her standing there and ignore her.
Fighting the urge to abandon all hope, Lena knocks on the door.
Kara turns the knob, opens the door, and stares harshly at Lena, sending a chill down Lena's spine.
Slowly, Kara steps away from the door, walks back toward her dining room table, and turns to face Lena as she enters and closes the door.
Lena turns back to Kara, takes a couple of steps forward, inhales, and says with dread in her voice, "I have made a terrible mistake. I was hurt."
Kara, standing with a hand on one of her dining chairs, raises the other to stop Lena.
Lena stammers to a stop as Kara moves toward her, places her hands on Lena's shoulders, softens her stoic stare and says compassionately, "I hurt you. We hurt each other."
A look of confusion begins to form on Lena's face as she mumbles, "This... what.. I...".
Kara wraps her arms around Lena for a long, warm, intense embrace and whispers in her ear, "It's okay. It's okay, Lena. I forgive you. We have forgiven each other."
"I don't understand," Lena says in a daze, "you're furious with me. How?"
Kara releases her hold, steps back, takes Lena by the hand, guides her to the sofa, and slowly lowers both of them down to sit facing each other.
"Lena, this may be hard to accept," Kara begins slowly and thoughtfully, "but you are trapped in a psychic Mind Prison."
Confused, Lena replies, "I'm what?"
Kara continues, "Think back. Try to focus. We were outside of Al's Bar...".
"Al's?", Lena mutters.
"Yeah," Kara says encouragingly, "Al's Bar. Do you remember? We were confronted by someone claiming to be Vril Dox who wants to take Brainy back to 31st century Colu."
"Vril? Brainy?", Lena's eyes sharpen as she concentrates on the words and continues, "I was trying to cast a spell... and we crashed through a wall."
Kara exhales relieved and says, "Yes, we did, and it seems Vril's attack on us was not only telekinetic, but also psychic."
"And he's trapped me in this psychic fear torture chamber?", Lena questions emphatically.
"For the moment," Kara replies.
"How do I get out, Kara?", Lena asks with concern in her voice.
"Well," Kara replies, "J'onn assumed once I helped you realize what was happening you'd be able to will yourself out, but...".
"But?", Lena repeats anxiously.
"If this Mind Prison works on the same basic principle as the Mind Palace Brainy used with me and James," Kara postulates, "then my guess is you have to face your greatest fear to unlock the door."
Lena turns her head towards the loft door and turns back, stares longingly at Kara as a lump forms in her throat. She stands up from the couch, walks around the table, and says, "My greatest fear?"
"Yes," Kara responds.
Lena turns away from Kara, closes her eyes, inhales, gathers her courage, opens her eyes, exhales, turns back to Kara and nervously utters, "Kara... there is something I need to say to you."
Kara, smiling with a concerned, but compassionate expression. "Alright."
Lena begins, "I have spent so many years dealing with the inner turmoil of trying to protect myself from letting the world hurt me while desperately searching for a love that is the missing piece of my heart. I hid behind my crusade to rehabilitate the Luthor name and built a suit of armor around my heart to cast away anyone who got too close to me. Every time I would retract a piece of this armor and begin to let someone in I would just as swiftly cut their legs out from under them and refortify my defenses. I pushed away Jack, I pushed away James, and tried so desperately to push you away, too."
Kara eyes begin to water and her compassion intensifies as she utters, "Oh, Lena...".
Lena continues, "But you... more than anyone else ever in my life, chipped away, and chipped away, breaking through my defenses, revealing my scared, lost soul desperately searching for companionship, comfort, security, compassion, and a home where I would be accepted and loved for who I am."
"Lena.. I do...," Kara struggles with intense emotions.
"Many years ago," Lena continues as she sits down in her favorite game night chair, "when I decided to leave Metropolis for National City I did so because I thought it would be amazing if a Luthor and Super not only lived in the same city, but could find common ground and work together to make a better world. But from the moment you first stepped through my door with Kal, even though I didn't realize it then, it ceased to be about a Luthor and a Super and it forever became about Lena and Kara. Your smile, your glances, the slightest touch and your warm, loving embraces... your strength, your vulnerability... your wit, your goofiness, your boundless optimism, your unending faith in me... meeting you changed the trajectory of my life, fundamentally altered my perception of the life and world I wanted to be part of."
Tears begin to roll down Kara's cheeks and her heart fills with anxious joy as she stands and walks toward Lena.
"You are my anchor, my beacon, my heart, my world, my soul...," Lena says as she begins to tear up. "I love you, with all of my heart, Kara."
Kara, mustering the inner strength to compose herself, steps in front of Lena's chair and stretches out her hand to Lena.
Lena takes Kara's hand, stands up, and looks in Kara's eyes.
Kara stares back at her. "Lena, for so many years I've lived in this world, a stranger in a strange place. I've been fortunate to find a surrogate family that has loved me, guided me, and protected me on my journey. I've struggled, however, searching to find a love, a true love, to share my triumphs, my trials, my dreams, my passions, my heart, my soul, and my world with. I've been blinded for so many years by fear and uncertainty, unwilling to unlock the door in my heart where the passion and truth of my true love reside. I've finally realized I've had the key to that door all along, and it's you. You are my anchor... my beacon... my heart, my soul, my home."
Kara places her left hand on Lena's right cheek and caresses it gently. Lena leans her cheek into Kara's palm and closes her eyes savoring the rush of emotions flooding through her. Kara looks at the hand on Lena's cheek and notices the glimmer of the gold band twinkling from a sliver of sunlight shining through a window beside them.
Lena lifts her face from Kara's hand, looks deeply into her eyes, and they lean towards each other, lips gently brushing together. As the sensation begins to register in both of them they tighten their embrace and give themselves fully, deeply to a long, passionate kiss.
For them both, the world feels as if it's standing still. Time has no meaning. No one and nothing can touch them in the intensity of this moment. The rest of the world is but a backdrop for the beauty and majesty of their love.
As they begin to slowly pull back from each other a wide grin spreads across Lena's face as she says coyly, "Did that really happen or are we just dreaming?"
With an equally satisfying wide grin on her face, Kara looks into Lena's eyes and sheepishly says, "Yes."
They both giggle and press their foreheads against one another. Lena reaches down with her left hand and takes Kara's right, fingers intertwined. Kara looks down at their hands and notices the brilliant emerald green band on Lena's ring finger.
Lena pulls Kara along towards the loft door, looks into her eyes, places her free hand on the door knob, and begins to turn it. "We've found each other, my love. Let's go home."
As Lena opens the door a brilliant white light floods their field of view.
"Kara?! Kara?! Wake up," Alex urges her.
Kara's eyelids flutter lightly as she begins to regain consciousness. Her eyes open, Brainy removes the lattice, she looks at Alex and says, "Lena? Is Lena okay?"
From the exam bed next to her, Kara feels a hand grab hold of hers, and she hears a familiar voice say, "Kara Danvers, you are my hero... and I love you."
Kara lifts her left hand up to her face and, to her amazement, see the gold band adorning her ring finger. She then looks over at Lena's left hand holding her right and sees the emerald green band on Lena's ring finger.
Kara sits up, throws her legs off the bed, steps over to Lena still holding her hand, and with a loving glow about her, says, "With all that I am, I love you, too."