Barry fumbled for his apartment keys at his door, balancing a tower of pizza boxes topped with various bags of fast food in his other hand and a hamburger crammed into his mouth.

Almost immediately after leaving for his food run, he'd realised that it might have been a bad idea to leave Mineko in his apartment alone. She was technically still new to this era, and there were many thing that he still hadn't explained to her.

Barry, being the mostly carefree person that he was, had shrugged off his scepticism without another thought. He assumed that Mineko would be level headed about anything she encountered.

Finally grabbing hold of his keys, Barry slipped them into the lock and opened the door. He struggled to enter the building carrying so many edibles, but somehow managed it. With a sigh he pushed the door closed with his back and turned his attention to the apartment.

His jaw dropped and the burger that had been secured between his teeth splattered onto the floor. That was the least of his concerns though... It looked like his entire apartment had been trashed by vandals or robbers. There were books scattered across the ground, their contents spilling out. His gadgets and tools were in the exact same place, some were dented, others were bent.

Finally, Barry's eyes made it to the action figures that appeared half destroyed in the middle of the room. He dropped the food he had been holding, luckily all still packaged and wrapped, then rushed over to the collectibles. They were his favourite ones... action figures of Scotty, Doctor McCoy, and Spock from the Star Trek original series. He had been waiting to find one of Captain Kirk to join them...

Scotty's red uniform was all but torn apart, McCoy's head had been popped off, and Spock was missing an entire arm. It was a slaughter.

Barry moved Spock's only remaining arm with an air of solace. "Live long and prosper, little buddy. I'll find out who did this to you..."

As if the universe was providing him with an answer for this heinous crime, he heard something smash in the next room. Spock still in hand, Barry darted into the area he had heard the noise coming from, only to see Mineko standing there with her sword.

"What's going on here?" Barry said in an exasperated tone. "Is there someone in the house? Did someone rob me?"

"There are people trapped in that device." Mineko stated lowly. "We must free them."

It was only now that Barry realised where she was pointing her Katana. The sharp end of her blade gleamed toward the television, the images reflecting off its metal surface. A movie was on; Alien, to be exact.

Barry cocked an eyebrow at her as she continued staring at the television screen. Mineko continued "There is a monster-like creature chasing them, we must pull the people out before it discovers them."

"O-Oh, I get it..." Barry finally said with a nervous laugh. He stepped closer to the woman and placed his free hand on the hilt of her sword to lower it. "I, uh, don't know how I can possibly explain this to you but they're not really there."

Mineko, face contorting in absolute confusion, glanced back at the screen. "That makes little sense. I can see them, there is no other explanation."

Barry frowned. This was going to be a difficult one to make her understand. He couldn't say anything as simple as 'It's a movie', because she wouldn't know what that is. He couldn't say 'they use a video camera to record fabricated events' because she would have no clue what a photograph was, let alone a video.

"Umm... W-Well, it's a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images."

This didn't seem to help. Mineko still stared at him as if he were speaking gibberish. "I do not understand." She stated, though she didn't have to with such a bewildered look on her face.

"Look, how about we discuss this after I find out what happened to my apartment." Barry sighed heavily.

Mineko's head tilted to the side. "Is there something amiss?"

"Is that a serious question? This place is a mess!" Barry huffed. "I'm not much of a clean freak so that wouldn't bother me if half of my stuff wasn't broken."

"Oh..." Mineko averted her eyes. "I was curious about your era, and so I investigated the materials that you stored in the house."

"You mean you did this?!"

"I attempted to read your books but they made very little sense to me... Then I found some strange bits of 'technology', as you call it. However, I could not figure out their function." Mineko picked up the mobile Barry had forgotten to take with him from the floor. "Take this, for instance. I figured it would have some important use because I spotted many people carrying them throughout the city. I analysed your current era, and came to the conclusion that chopping wood must be very important in this time."

Barry's face scrunched, and he wasn't sure if it was in amusement or plain confusion. "What gave you that impression...?"

"You have very grand structures here, I assumed that many of them were made from wood. You also rely greatly on paper, which from what I can recall, is also made of wood." Mineko held the phone out to Barry and he now saw the scratches and cracks in its surface. "I attempted pressing these little devices with the letters on them whilst pointing it at a nearby tree, but it did nothing. I then threw it at said tree... and that was as useful as tossing a shoe at it."

"Mineko, w-we don't..." Barry was lost for words. He had never witnessed anyone fail so severely at fitting in, not even himself. "We don't cut our own wood here."

"How do you gather it for the fireplace then?"

"We get someone else to do it." Barry grumbled as he checked his mobile for any unfixable destruction. Thankfully, his phone was an old Nokia and so it would take the might of Zeus to break it.

"That is quite odd.." Mineko said in a disapproving tone. "Or it's simple laziness."

Barry sighed "It's not for chopping wood. It's a phone. We use it to talk to people."

"...Why do you need a device to speak to others? We are conversing just fine at the moment."

"No, no, it's...it's for talking to people who aren't in the same room. You can use it to talk to people who are far away."

Mineko's eyes sharpened. "...I...don't understand."

"Look, I'll show you." Barry tapped several times on the screen and called Wally West on speakerphone; his friend and crimefighting partner, Kid Flash.

A ringing sound came from the device and Mineko's stare intensified on it. Suddenly there was a click and a youthful, eccentric voice came from the other end. "Hellooo?" It melodically called.

"What's up, Wally?"

"Uh. Nothing. Nothing at all. You alright?"

"Nope."

There was a tense pause. "...Uh...do you...need my help...?"

"Nope."

Mineko pressed her face up into Barry's phone, amazed. "Where is this Wally person? Can he hear me? Hello?"

"Wow, hey, back up from the mic." Wally grumbled, and Barry pulled the phone away from her. "Who is that?"

"It's a long story." Barry replied with a heavy exhale.

Mineko, still focused entirely on the device, continued to ponder the possibilities. "Is he trapped inside the object?"

"She's a samurai from the 1400s."

"Whoa! You went time-travelling without me?! Dude, are you and the samurai like...you know..."

"No. We're not."

"Not yet."

"Shut up, Flash Boy."

There was another moment of complete quiet before Wally gave a exasperated sigh. "That's cold, man. It's bad enough that Thawne showed up from the future and stole my colour scheme... Now ninety percent of the population's getting my name wrong. Now why the hell did you call me?"

"I wanted to show the new chick how my phone works."

"Oh..." Wally said, surprisingly not too upset at being called for such a petty reason. "So, she dig it?"

Barry glanced at the woman beside him who was listening intently to Wally's voice. "She digs it."

"We should show her Skype."

"No no no, baby steps dude." Barry replied quickly. "If you saw the state of my apartment you wouldn't be saying that... She decapitated Doctor McCoy."

"No!" Wally gasped. "Not Bones!"

"Are you referring to the small idol you had perched on your cupboard?" Mineko asked curiously. "If so, I fail to see the dilemma. Could you not just make a new one?"

"Wow... She doesn't even know about capitalism. This must be like waking up on a different planet to her." Wally said.

Barry walked back towards the front door to pick up his food. He placed it all on the kitchen counter and took out a large chicken wing. Mineko was still watching the entire time, even when he bit into the crispy skin. "Yeah... That's one way of putting it."

Suddenly, a shrill tone emanated from Barry's police radio on his mantle. "10-4, corner of Keller and Allred. 10-4 in progress." The gravelly quality of the sound gave Mineko a shock.

"Is that broken?" She asked with her hands on her ears.

"Sorry Wally, gotta split."

"Hey, what's going on? Don't hang u-" A clicking sound followed his voice and cut off his sentence.

Barry removed his finger from the red button and threw his phone onto the couch. In less than a second he had gotten dressed into his Flash costume. He stopped for long enough that Mineko got a glimpse of him leaving.

"I'll be back in a Flash." He quipped with a proud smirk.

Barry vanished with a bolt of lightning, and Mineko blinked while her mind started registering the fact that he was no longer in the room. She waited exactly eight minutes and twenty seconds, the amount of time it takes sunlight from the Sun to reach Earth... according to Barry.

Mineko then sharpened her sword against the kitchen counter, leaving a large gash in the metal, and then left the apartment.

It wasn't difficult for Mineko to find her way to the trouble since many pedestrians automatically pointed her to the commotion. Walking around with a samurai sword in hand isn't exactly low profile.

Mineko was baffled by the wealth of strangely outfitted people tousling about down the street. It was mainly Barry running circles around these criminals.

Unknown to Mineko, these costumed characters were The Rogues; Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Heatwave and Weather Wizard.

"Oi, who's this then?" Boomerang snarled, spying Mineko as she came sprinting in his direction.

He whipped a hand forward, sending a curved projectile flying at her. The boomerang sliced through the air, and another answered it. Mineko raised her sword hand and her blade struck the first rang, sending it spinning out of control and impacting the side of a bus stand.

The second continued on its path, but instead suddenly separated into two blades only a split second before they came into contact with Mineko's body.

Effortlessly, Mineko weaved through the air and slapped them away as if they were nothing but toys.

The grizzled Captain Boomerang smirked. "Not bad, love. Not bad at all. This one's a ripper though."

The man squeezed an arming key on one last boomerang and tossed it with extreme precision. Mineko took a breath, paused, then swiped her blade upward.

With its arcing motion came a sudden gust of wind, which propelled the lethal projectile up into the sky. Within seconds, it detonated in a blossoming crimson flower of fire and force.

Boomerang was frozen with awe as the samurai took steps towards him, but managed one last sleight of hand before calling it quits. With speed that alarmed even Mineko, Boomerang sent a flurry of his namesakes flying at his foe.

Although impressive, his speed was nothing compared to Mineko's. She twirled, spun her blade and danced through the onslaught, both dodging and deflecting the attacks.

She paused half a metre away from the long-range specialist. "Fair dinkum..." He sighed.

Not quite understanding this phrase at all, Mineko furrowed her brow in response, then thrusted the pommel of her katana into the Australian criminal's forehead. With a crack, he fell to the ground like a sack of stones.

Mineko was more than a little surprised by the ease in which that villain was defeated... And if she could do it this easily, Barry must have seen it as child's play. She failed to see why they kept trying to fight against him when they knew it was fruitless.

"Any last words as free men before I send you all back to prison?" The Flash smirked.

"Only that if you take us in you'll never find out where we hid the bomb." Heat wave said slyly. "I'll narrow it down for you. It's somewhere in Central City."

Weather Wizard cackled, and Captain Cold gave a slightly amused huff. Whilst they expressed their entertainment at the dilemma, The Flash had already searched through the entirety of the city.

Heatwave locked Mineko in his sights and sent a burst of heat at her from his heat gun. As easily as she did with Boomerang, Mineko cleaved through the air and created an updraft that curved the fire into the sky like a red tornado.

She bounded at Heatwave with a flying kick, knocking him off of his feet and onto the ground. The back of his head slapped against the pavement, rendering him unconscious instantly.

Weather Wizard quickly entered the fray, screaming in exertion as he spun and pointed his wand at Mineko quite dramatically. Mineko jolted, expecting some kind of attack from this sorcerer's spell...but only saw a black cloud form above her head.

There was a crack of thunder before rain began pouring down onto Mineko... and no one else.

Weather Wizard's eyes widened as Captain Cold snarled "...What the hell was that?!"

"Stupid thing!" The Wizard struck his device with a snarl, and a bolt of lightning howled out of the rod's tip.

If it wasn't for Weather Wizard's poor aim, Mineko would've been reduced to a pile of ash.

"That's more like it!" Weather Wizard declared triumphantly, not looking too sure on how he had finally gotten his wand to work.

With an acrobatic twirl and a keen eye, Mineko pegged her katana at the Wizard, who missed again and again with his bolts. The sword buried itself into Weather Wizard's side, and he howled in pain.

"Dammit, you bitch!" Cold hissed, bringing his cold gun to arms and squeezing the trigger.

These projectiles, whilst extremely fast, were easier for Mineko to evade as she inhaled deeply. She pressed her hands together and closed her eyes for a split second, then thruster her hands forward.

A burst of air barrelled forward and knocked Cold off of his feet and sent him flying into a parked car, smashing the windows and denting the car door with his back. Groaning, Cold's face planted into the pavement.

With all the rogues defeated, there was nothing else but to wait for The Flash to return... when he did, however, his face was plastered in sweat and dread.

"I can't find the bomb! I've looked in every visible place in the city at least a dozen times each..." He said in a panic.

"If I were one plagued by dishonour I would not hide my weapon in plain sight." Mineko pointed out, sheathing her blade.

"Oh... Good thinking." Barry said with a nod. He pressed a button on his ear piece, then spoke again "Superman?"

"What...?" Mineko said in confusion.

"Oh sorry, there's a phone in my mask." Barry apologised genuinely to the puzzled warrior.

Mineko's eyes lit up with amazement "Fascinating..."

Barry tried to hail his old friend once again. "Supes? You there?"

Soon enough, a calm and cool voice entered Barry's ears. "Always am, Barry. What do you need?"

"The Rogues put a bomb in Central somewhere...I need you to give it a little scan."

Cold's grizzled voice suddenly interrupted from somewhere on the floor "You think we're that stupid?! We covered the thing in lead."

Barry turned and saw that Mineko had secured Cold's weapon.

"Shut up Leonard. If you can see through everything, the one thing you can't see through is gonna be a little suspect, isn't it?" The Flash pointed out.

"Aw shit..." Cold sighed.

Superman promptly returned "Got it, Town Hall level three, hidden behind the wall by the bathroom. The wall looks like it's been re-plastered so it's a little out of place."

"Dammit, I checked there twice. It's always the town hall or something, it's never a fast food joint or a GameStop."

"They're a predictable bunch, pal."

"Thanks for the assist. You're a lifesaver."

"So are you. Take care of yourself."

Soon after they had finished their conversation, The Flash disappeared then reappeared faster than the human eye could detect. To someone like Mineko, one minute he was talking to Superman and the next he was holding a disarmed bomb.

"Any more surprises?" The Flash said, tossing the now useless weapon onto the ground. "Because I'm getting a bit hungry."

It wasn't long before Central City PD arrived to secure the scene and pile the Rouges onto a wagon for lock up.

An officer approached Barry and reported "Nice work... That bomb was bad news. It would've wiped out five city blocks."

"It was a team effort. You can thank Big Blue from Metropolis and my friend here." Barry gestured at a confused Mineko.

The officer's mouth dropped. "Oh, she a new Leaguer?"

"Not quite, but we'll see. We'd best be going."

As they walked away Mineko was still baffled and turning her head to stare at the officer. "Who are those people? Are they the leaders of this place? Are they the Emperor's protectors?"

"They're a bit like protectors, I guess." The Flash shrugged. Before he continued his sentence he had already changed into his casual clothing. "But not really for an Emperor... We don't have those here. They kind of keep the public safe... or they're suppose to.... Kind of like protectors of everyone."

"You sound unsure if they actually do as you say." Mineko said, eyebrow's furrowing.

"It's... complicated. They're people, they have their own minds and ambitions. Some of them do a good job and some don't."

"That is contradictory. Duty and personal gain are seperate entities, they should never intermingle."

"Well, they do here." Barry sighed as they finally reached his apartment. "Thanks for the help back there, by the way."

"You could have easily defeated them without me." Mineko stated simply.

"Y-Yeah... but that's not the point." Barry opened the door and rushed over to the food on his counter. He brought it to his lips, readying himself to start eating again, before his eyes met Mineko's again. She didn't show it but he knew she must have been hungry. "Umm... What do you like to eat?"

"Vegetables, Wheat, Rice, Seafood..." Mineko frowned. "But I am unsure whether I will like anything from your time... Everything here has been altered. Even the fruit tastes like poison."

"Yeah, they... spray a lot of pesticide and stuff on it." Barry rubbed the back of his head. "You've still gotta eat though, you can't help us if you starve to death."

Mineko seemed to agree with this statement but her lips tightened all the same. "Do you have anything that is not soaking in chemicals?"

"Well, I mean, there's a Sushi place around the corner... Their stuff's alright, I think. I mean, it's essentially just rice and raw fish, I don't see why they'd need to taint it."

"That will have to suffice."

Barry nodded then scooped up the bags of takeout he'd left in his apartment. With his arms now full, he dove his head into one of the bags and caught a bunch of fries between his teeth.

"Alrigh'. Let's go, I'm starving." He replied with a full mouth, implying that he was going to eat at the Sushi place as well.

Mineko exhaled slowly but followed him anyway. She felt as if she'd spent most of her time in the future just watching Barry stuff his face... and it didn't look like that was going to change any time soon.

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