Kara laid on the rocky ground, motionless. Half of her legs were still in the pool of mud, but she did not care. She was not even conscious to realize it. If there were any inhabitants on this world that happened to walk past, Kara would have looked to them like a dirty, blonde haired angel clad in red and blue, banished to this hellish landscape. She certainly looked like she didn't belong here, with her bright colored and cheerful clothing. A figure shrouded in ragged cloth knelt over the girl, turning Kara's body over on her back. She was pulled out and away from the mud pool, and the figure picked her up, carrying her away.
When Kara regained consciousness, she found herself in a damp, filthy and dark dwelling. It looked like a cave of some sort, with eerie greenish lighting. She looked down at herself, noticing that her clothes were cleaned of the mud from earlier, but not entirely. She stood up, gasping at something that looked like a rotted skeleton. Kara knew that she was still trapped wherever she was. She still had no powers.
There were odd and interesting sculptures all around the cavern. There was something familiar about them to Kara. Something unique. As she thought about this, a hand reached from behind her, reaching out to touch the back of her. Kara whirled around, coming face to face with a rugged looking man, perhaps in his mid fifties. Kara glared at him for a second and then smiled for the first time since she landed on this dark world.
"Zaltar!" Kara felt slightly better knowing that she wasn't alone here. The man produced a thin dark green bottle that was filled with some kind of liquid, offering it to Kara. "Squirt?" he said. Kara only looked at him. "Zaltar, it's me. It's Kara." Zaltar smiled grimly. "I know. Squirt?" Kara accepted the bottle, squirting oily liquid in her mouth, but quickly spat it on the dirty floor. "What is that? Where are we, Zaltar?" Zaltar took the bottle from Kara's hands. "Nowhere." Suddenly, Kara realized . "The Phantom Zone."
"It's lonely here, my dear Kara. So sad." Zaltar had changed a great deal since leaving Argo City. He seemed sad, pitiful, and hopeless, no longer ambitious and full of brilliance. "I've been here forever, and I shall stay here forever." He turned his back to Kara, trotting away as she shook her head in disappointment. "Zaltar, we have to get back to Earth. We have to get the power source and return it to Argo before it's too late!" She continued. "The person who has the Omegahedron tricked me. She's taken my cousin, Kal-El, and she's controlling him somehow, with something called magic. Zaltar, we have to stop her!"
"She sounds like a force to be reckoned with, my girl." Zaltar leaned against a wall, painting symbols from mud. "There is no way out of here. We are both banished here, for all time. There is no escape. That is the point of the Phantom Zone!" Zaltar turned to look at the young blonde girl. "Give up, Kara. There is nothing you can do now. All is doomed, and we will suffer for it, for all eternity." Kara was suddenly filled with a burning rage. "I WILL NOT!" she shouted. "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP! I WILL NEVER SPEND MY ENTIRE LIFE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS! I WOULD RATHER DIE FIRST." Zaltar gave a half smile in the dimly lit cavern. "Strong words, my girl, but there are far worse things than dying." Kara paced around the room, thinking. "You always taught me to have pride, Zaltar," she said. "There's always a way out. If there's a way in. there's a way out." Kara could see that Zaltar was about to reveal something to her, but he quickly shrugged it off. "Kara, come. I'm having some company in a short while. My neighbors, banished here like me. Criminals. Zod, Ursa and…" Kara turned away from him. "Zaltar, please.!" He finally gave in, impressed by her courage. "There is a way. I could do it." Kara smiled again. "Then please, teach me how." Zaltar continued. "There's nothing to teach, girl. No practice. You only get one chance."
"Are you sure you won't have a squirt, Kara? Once you get used to it, I think it's delicious." Kara bit her lip and took the bottle from Zaltar. "You're right, Zaltar. Absolutely right. I mean what is the point anymore. There's enough doom and gloom in the air. Accepting defeat is better than taking a chance to try and redeem ourselves by saving our city, Superman, and all of the people on Earth, who are going to be made to suffer by this wicked sorceress, thanks to us. CHEERS!" Kara put the bottle up to her mouth for a squirt, looking at Zaltar with pleading eyes.
"We could die trying." Kara dropped the bottle and rushed up to Zaltar. "But we won't, Zaltar. We won't. Come on." Full of joy, Kara rushed up the damp stairs leading to the surface. Zaltar followed a moment after.