James stood firming in Jake's doorway staring at him silently, the tall back man towering over the young man. He had his hands at his side, no weapons or items in them as he held his palms open. He wasn't in his guardian suit either, wearing a brown leather jacket and thick jeans over a white t-shirt. Jake looked back at him calmly before casually inviting him inside. James carefully stepped forward, following him as he returned to his room, closing the door behind him.

"Can I get you a drink?" Jake asked him, showing no signs of worry or concern as he walked to his fridge and opened it up, looking inside. "I can offer orange juice, milk…oh, complimentary champagne?" he asked in surprise pulling out a fresh bottle. James didn't say anything, keeping his glare on him. "Yeah, I'm not a fan of champagne either" he shrugged, returning the bottle and pulling out the orange juice instead. "Had I known you were coming I would've ordered room service" he smiled, pouring himself a glass with his back to the man. "How's the bike? Any problems with the engine? Carburettor working properly?"

"I'm not wearing a wire, if that's what you're worried about" he said bluntly, holding out his arms gesturing for him to be searched.

Jake looked back at him with his glass of orange juice and scanned him with his gaze. "No, I didn't think you were" he told him. "So what brings you here James?" he asked politely, leaning against the counter crossing his arms, sipping from his drink.

"I want to know what you plan to do with Kara" he said, getting to the point.

Jake chuckled. "What makes you think I plan to do anything?"

"Then why are you back?"

"My apartment blew up. Insurance is proving to be a nightmare. Landlord isn't being helpful so I'm here to sort out the paperwork" he explained.

Olsen didn't buy it. "You mean the apartment you blew up?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Why would I blow up my own apartment?" he asked. James narrowed his eyes. Jake laughed. "Do your friends know you're here?" he asked him, looking out the window down to the street. "Didn't you have to notify those two clowns down there you were up here? Otherwise the DEO might think we were conspiring, this late at night" he said.

James hadn't told anyone he was coming here. This was an impulsive move after learning about Kara's run in with the man. "I want you to stay away from her" he said.

"Then I suggest you talk to Kara about the downsides of stalking" he snapped back.

"I mean it" James growled, stepping up to him aggressively. "If anything happens to Kara, I don't care if we won't be able to prove anything. If you hurt her, you will pay for it. I will see to that."

"Is this the Editor-in-Chief of Cacto Worldwide Media talking, or Guardian" Jake asked.

James narrowed his eyes, indicating both.

Jake nodded, finishing his drink and setting it down. "I'll tell you what I warned her about. I know about you, your friend Nia, J'onn and the rest. I have no quarrel with any of you. But if any of you get in my way, that will change fast" he warned. He fixed Olsen with a cold stare, telling him "I don't want to hurt you James. I actually have come to like you. I miss working on your bike together, I miss you advice. I'm sorry we couldn't have been friends. So out of respect, I am asking you to please stay out of this. Go home" he suggested, turning around to pour another glass of juice.

"Kara is my friend. I won't let you hurt her" he promised.

Jake assumed as much. "I hope Kelly appreciates having a big brother like you" he said. Olsen bristled at the mention of his sister's name, his teeth grinding together. Jake didn't even glance over his shoulder. "She's already lost one family member. Don't make it two" he advised taking his drink. "Now if there's nothing else you can see yourself out."

Olsen glared at the back of his head, clenching is fist in anticipation. He wanted to grab this man and throw him out of the window, but he knew Jake was baiting him. He may not look it but he was capable of overpowering the larger man easily, he knew it. So he took his leave, but not before stepping forward and hissing in his ear "anything happens to Kara, you'll pay. But anything happens to my family, I will kill you myself."

Jake turned his head slightly to watch him storm out of his hotel room slamming the door behind him. He gave him points for bravado as he finished his drink and returned to the sofa to continue what he was watching.

Maggie seemed to inhale her food the moment she was given it, chopping it down with her fingers making a big mess on her plate. Alex watched in veiled horror from across the table. You'd think the woman hadn't eaten in weeks. In comparison the young red haired woman didn't have much of an appetite as she simply moved her food around with her fork. Maggie found time to pause and look up at her inquisitively, wiping her mouth with her sleeve asking "so are we going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Alex asked distracted.

"The thing you want to talk about but to reluctant to" she replied. Alex looked up in confusion until Maggie clarified "Kelly Olsen? I'm pretty sure you've been thinking about here ever since you ran into each other at the hospital."

"No I haven't" she replied defensively.

Maggie could see right through her façade. She had her own fair share of break-up s that have left her a little out of sorts. "So how serious were you two?" she asked.

Alex sighed, realising the police captain was going to drop this. She dropped her fork and crossed her arms leaning against the table. Maggie was patient, sitting silently across the table watching her. "We were…I guess we were serious. Or was going to be. It's complicated" she said.

"The good ones usually are" Maggie smiled.

Alex shook her head. It felt weird talking about her almost girlfriend to her ex-girlfriend. "The thing is we had just started to go out, properly, but then she had to take this job out of town and moved away. Suddenly I wasn't sure if we were still together. We hadn't spoken in months, it just sort of…ended? I think. Neither of us said it though."

"But now she's back" Maggie said. Alex shifted uncomfortably. "She's back, and she didn't tell you she was back" she guessed.

"We were both at the alien's protest rally. We just bumped into each other, out of nowhere. I didn't what to do, what to say. I felt…I felt happy and angry and upset all at the same time. Does that make sense?" She nodded. "Thing is, I don't know which of them I'm supposed to be feeling. Why didn't she call? Did she even want to see me? Does she still want to be with me?"

"All valid questions you could probably ask her yourself" Maggie remarked. "She might be asking much of the same questions about you" she added.

Alex stared at her. "You think so?"

"Well, she invited you to get together sometime soon didn't she" Maggie reminded her. "She wouldn't have done that if she wasn't ready to talk."

"I guess" she conceded. However the thought of sitting down and finally talking to the woman gave her just as much trepidation and worrying about it did. "But what if she just wants to confirm she never wants to see me again" Alex asked.

Maggie shrugged. "You'll never know unless you talk to her. But the big question you need to ask yourself is do you want to be in a relationship with her?"

Alex pondered the question, yet the answer seemed to be completely obvious even now. She liked Kelly, missed her too much not to want her back. So yes, she did want to try again. She prayed Kelly felt the same. If only we didn't have this Reckoning stuff hanging over our heads she sighed as she pushed away her food.

The rest of the night was quiet for National City. Everyone returned home or worked overtime, either falling sleep or fighting to stay awake. For Nia Nal, it was a little different. She fell asleep while fighting to stay awake.

She had been up late helping Brainy with his analysis of the personnel at the DEO, organising their documents and reading mountains of research. She couldn't place the exact point she finally dozed off until she opened her eyes and found herself dreaming. She knew it was a dream because she was running through the streets of National City which seemed to stretch to the horizon. She ran frantically, not quite sure where she was going but knew she had to get there quickly. Figures blurred past her as she pushed her way through a thickening crowd, forcing her way past towards a freestanding set of lift doors in the middle of the pavement. She blinked and found the street was now the lobby of the DEO facility. She pushed through the crowd as the doors opened, more faceless figures walking in the opposite way as the crowd piled into the small lift. She felt the crowd begin to suffocate her as she fought to step inside.

"You're too late" Jake said as he walked past her. She would've missed him if his shoulder hadn't bumped into hers in the commotion. She turned her head and saw him looking back at her dressed in a boiler suit, his face distorted like the image of a VCR. The signal kept changing from Jake to a random black man who was keeping his head down. Dreamer came to a stop fighting the crowd to chase after Jake, who walked backwards laughing as the crowd swept her up and dragged her into the lift. "You can't stop what's already happened Miss Nal" he called out as she was crushed against the mass of bodies, gasping for air as the lift doors closed around her.

The lift dinged and the doors opened again. Suddenly she was alone in the lift, the crowd vanished. She was dressed in her costume. She looked out into the streets she'd just ran down and nervous stepped out onto the uneven ground covered in dead bodies. She choked on the stench of death and rotting flesh, looking around through the smoke clogged fog at the crumbling buildings on fire around her. She slipped on something under her feet, falling to her knees in the mass grave becoming covered in blood. She looked at her hands, crimson red and dripping. She tensed when she heard the sobbing, looking up in horror to find Supergirl kneeling in front of her in a similar state. "I'm sorry" she wept, her face smeared with blood as she looked desperately to Dreamer. "I didn't mean to" she said.

"I know you didn't" Nia nodded, tears in her eyes as she reached out and cupped Kara's face, the blood on her hands smearing with Supergirl's tears. "We'll find a way to stop it" she promised.

"How can you prevent something you don't know is coming" a voice asked her from behind. Dreamer spun around and found a tall dark skinned man in a trench coat standing over her, pushing his eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose. She remembered him, the Blacksmith. She lunged for the man but he pushed a remote control and she was dragged down by a net exactly like the one he ensnared her with at the hideout of the Children of Liberty. "You are an inspiration Miss Nal" he smiled, walking up to her as she struggled against the electrified net, pinned to the blood-soaked floor kicking up guts and body parts. She heard Jake's laughter echoing around the city alongside Kara's sobs, looking up to see the Blacksmith's face flickering like Jakes had done. "I hope we'll see each other real soon" he said as his shape distorted into a figure in red and black armour, a skull mask printed onto the helmet as he pulled out a gun from his thigh, pointed it at Nia and pulled the trigger.

Nia woke up at the table she fell asleep at, the remains of a cold bagel stuck to her cheek as she lifted her head groggily. "Good morning" her boyfriend said, pausing in his work nearby stepping away from the laptop to greet her.

She groaned, peeling the bagel off her face and tossing it onto the discarded plate. "What time is it?" she asked.

"It is exactly nine fifteen and thirty two seconds in the morning" he replied, bringing over a freshly poured cup of coffee to her. She stood up and stretched, taking the mug and the obligatory kiss that came with it. "You've been asleep for exactly seven hours and twenty nine minutes. I had contemplated moving you to the bedroom for more comfort, but have observed most human react negatively to being disturbed."

"Especially if we're a light sleeper" Nia nodded. She kissed Brainy, whispering "I appreciate the thought. I was up late and nodded off. I didn't find anything" she sighed.

He nodded. "I didn't expect you would. Not that I didn't' have faith in you" he added quickly.

Nice save she thought with a smile. She tested the coffee and found it a bit too bitter, walking over to her kitchen counter. "Did you have better luck?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking" he nodded. He didn't elaborate yet however, observing a few tells in his girlfriend that led him to deduce "you have had another vision. Was it the same?"

"The same, but different" she explained, the imagery she dreamt still fresh in her mind. "It kept changing between the dream and a memory. I couldn't tell where one ended and another began. Everything was distorted."

"Would you like me to call J'onn so we can analyse it together?" he asked.

She shook her head. She didn't need a telepath to help her remember. "I saw Kara, exactly like before. She was crying, the city burning around us. We both had blood on our hands this time."

"A curious development" Brainy remarked.

"Jake was there. No, not there. Before. I was running to the DEO, the day he was arrested. I ran into the lift, or was carried in. he walked past me, but his face kept changing. I saw him again after. At least I think I did" she said. It wasn't clear. The black and red armour stood out, but it was different. It wasn't like the Reckoning suit at all. And the gun he pulled…Jake doesn't use a gun. There wasn't a trident. No horns, just the skull. Maybe it was something new, a new suit, something more dangerous."

Brainy took her silence to mean she wasn't ready to continue discussing it. That was okay, he could be patient with her. He was eager to share his own finds at this time. "I'm taken the data we know and have about that day and determined the right search parameters for our investigation into our mole" he explained, walking back to his laptop and sitting down. Nia stayed to finish adding her sweetener while she listened to him demonstrate "we know there was no spyware present when I examined the interview room before Jake's arrival. So by process of elimination only a select few men and women on shift during the window of opportunity could've planted. Distressingly, my investigation has forced me to conclude that the only people who had opportunity to plant it was the team I selected to prepare the interview room."

"I thought you said you handpicked them yourself" Nia said, sipping her coffee and finding it much more agreeable to her taste buds.

Brainy nodded. "I believed I had vetted them equally, but it would appear my process was floored." He pressed a button and brought up the six DEO members who he had selected, their photos appearing on the screen. "One of these six is our mole" he said analytically.

Nia turned around holding her mug in both hands, walking towards the table to peer over Brainy's shoulder. The second her eyes skimmed over the photos she froze dead in her tracks, the mug slipping out of her grasp shattering onto the floor. Brainy turned around and leapt to his feet in concern, racing over asking if she was alright. She stared at the laptop screen. "That's him" she said.

Brainy followed her outstretched arm, her finger pointing to the laptop showing the six of them. He looked back at her asking "who? Someone you saw in your vision?"

"Yes, no…yes" she said, walking close leaning against the chair staring at the six faces. The one on the upper right was of a dark skinned middle-aged bald man. She pointed to him proclaiming "that's the man I saw. That's the Blacksmith!"

Brainy looked at him, then back at her. "You mean you saw this man in your dream posing as the blacksmith?"

"No, Brainy, he is the Blacksmith! He's the man I saw in the Children of Liberty's hideout, the man who spoke to Me." she blinked in shock as the memory brought to the surface of her race to the DEO flashed in her head. This time there was no distortion as she recalled bumping into a man in a boiler suit with his head low, the cap covering his face. She looked across and glimpsed the same man glancing at her before she hurried on into the lift. "That's why I had the dream. It was a memory. I ran past him on his way out of the building before Jake showed up" she told Brainy frantically. "It's him!"

Brainy looked at the young woman. He wanted to believe her but he'd be neglecting his duty if he didn't consider the evidence. He called up the image stored in his memory of the profile she gave the sketch artist following her encounter with the Blacksmith. The features were strikingly similar. It wasn't enough to be considered proof however. But it was a start. "Nia, need you to be sure" he said carefully. He didn't want her to believe he didn't trust her, but he had to ask. He took Ni's shoulders and looked at her in the eye. "Are you absolutely sure it was him?"

Nia looked at the image of the man on the laptop and then looked back at Brainy, locking her confident gaze with his. "I'm a hundred percent sure" she said.

That was good enough for him. He slipped back into his chair and accessed the man's personnel file. Nia hovered over his shoulder following him as he read out the information. "His name is Henry Irons, forty-seven years of age. Joined the United States Army Corps of Engineers at the age of seventeen, discharged with full honours after fifteen years of service. Became a private contractor until being recruited to the DEO nineteen months ago." He looked at Nia sharing a glance. It would appear the man she selected had all the qualifications needed to be the weapon smith they were looking for. "His record is spotless, no outstanding notes, no living family except a younger brother and nephew who is currently serving. Not married, no children. No criminal convictions. His private contract work has taken him all over the globe. It wouldn't be hard for a man of his background to make connections to become a weapons maker and trafficker." He read the DEO postings, his brow tightening. "Oh sprock" he muttered.

"What?" Nia asked.

"When he join the DEO, by a request after passing his tests and probation, was to work in the department that stores and manages confiscated equipment of unknown origin. Five months after being posted there, he was promoted to senior administrator. He is in charge of the storage, and removal, of every piece of equipment, including alien weapons and armaments, in the facility.

Nia's mouth went dry. "You mean he has access to every dangerous thing you've confiscated in the last year" she asked.

"It would be simple to use his position to arrange the removal, and disappearance, of anything that caught his attention" Brainy nodded. There was no doubt about it. Henry Irons was the Blacksmith and he's a member of the DEO. He was on the team Brainy assigned to secure the interview room where he could've planted the camera, clocked off his shift and passed Nia on the way out. He was on a rotating shift pattern, able to work remotely, giving him plenty of time to conduct his illegal activities alongside his day job.

"What do we do now?" Nia asked. This was the break they needed. They found him. "Do we tell the police? Tell Colonel Hayley? Tell Alex we found the blacksmith? Oh god" she realised. "How are we going to tell her he used to work at the DEO?" she wondered.

"Correction" Brainy said, reading the duty roster and reaching for his phone. He dialled security and rose out of his chair, informing his girlfriend "he hasn't the left the DEO. He's presently on duty as we speak."