Complicated

16.

I decided to let Raya and Clark catch up, after introducing myself to her.

As I'm sitting in the barn, I hear a noise come from down below. "Clark," I question. No answer. "Mom?"

I slowly walk down the stairs, glancing around. "Hello? Who's there?"

Suddenly, someone grabs me from behind, pressing a knife to my throat. I gasp, and the person speaks. "Hello, Cal-El. Where's your other half?"

"Um... I don't--I don't know what you're talking about," I lie.

"Don't lie to me," he snaps, the blade cutting into my neck. I wince, sucking in sharply.

"Callie," I hear Clark call out.

I'm silent. "Callie," he repeats.

"Say something," he hisses in my ear.

"U-Up here," I manage to get out. Clark looks up toward the loft to see the guy holding the knife to my neck. Clark's eyes widen, as he speaks.

"The last son of Krypton," he says, walking me down the stairs. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."

"You're the one who's been coming for us," Clark says.

"And I think it will be worth the trip." He tosses me aside, and I hit the barn walls, falling to the ground. I groan in pain. "What's the matter, Raya? Don't recognize an old friend? It's me. Baern," he says, his voice deepening when he says his name. I push myself off the ground.

"He's one of the phantoms," Raya says.

"How do you like the new suit?"

"What do you want?"

"To pay back your old man. For giving me a one-way ticket to hell. But then he had to go and get himself eviscerated along with everyone else from that ice cube you call a planet. So I guess you'll have to do," he shrugs when he suddenly shoots some sort of purple energy at him. Clark gets thrown through the wall and outside. I hear a crash come from aside, and I gasp.

"I got this. Go," Raya says. I nod, rushing outside to see the silo knocked over.

"Clark," I shout. I rush toward him, as he groans. "Are you okay," I exclaim, helping him up.

"Kal-El," Raya questions.

"Where is he," Clark asks. She glances toward the fence that's knocked down, and I sigh.

~ ~ ~

"I know my father told you where he sent us but how did Baern know," Clark asks.

"After Krypton fell, and Jor-El was dead the prisoners in the Phantom Zone discovered that he'd only managed to save his own two children. The story of your guys' survival was a myth, a rumor... One of hope for some of us, and revenge for others," she explains.

"For someone who's been dreaming of killing us, for the last 20 years, his visit was a little short-lived," I point out.

"I don't think he was expecting to fight all three of us. He was weakening. His race feeds off radioactive energy," she says.

"So, that's why he's so strong."

"Baern killed hundreds on his own planet before he came to Krypton but Jor-El managed to exile him to the Phantom Zone."

"I'm guessing that Baern's searching for a new energy source," I guess.

"It won't take him long. He can sense power sources. There's only one thing that can stop him... Your father's crystal."