Signal watched all over the city and beyond lit up in answer to Brainy's distress call. Lena dropped her drink in her apartment, her attention turning away from the new coverage of the arrests at the docks. Nia turned pale as she immediate pulled her mask back on having only just returned home, sprinting back out of the building as fast as she could. Alex looked at her watch and urged Maggie sawyer to drive faster, the two of them already enroute with the sirens blazing through the night. Eliza looked up from J'onn's bed hearing the watch ping across the room, the urgent noise stirring the unconscious Martian. And Supergirl instantly abandoned her relief efforts halfway around the world to answer the call, the signal bringing with it a sense of ominous dread.
Brainy, however, didn't have time to wait for backup as the shadow of the Reckoning stepped closer to their SUV. He dived to the ground, scooping up the evidence bags where he collected the trinkets and gadgets confiscated from Henry Irons. The man stared at the shadow in a mix of horror and disbelief. The kid isn't meant to be here he thought.
Brainy searched through the devices and analysed them with a glance, deducing their uses one by one. A sonic emitter. An electrical restraint. A flashlight that hovers in mid-air. A stun gun. He stopped at a disc, casting a brief look of approval at the Blacksmith. "I haven't said this, but you work is quite impressive" he confessed as he stuck the device to the car door and twisted it. Both he and the Blacksmith shuffled back covering their faces.
Jake reached for the car door and was suddenly launched back by a small explosion that sprung the door open hitting him in the front, shattering the car window in the process. He tumbled backwards with a grunt, light flashing in front of his visor as he landed on his backside. He shook his head and rolled back to his feet quickly, just in time to see Brainy jump out of the SUV yanking a shotgun out of the back with him. He pointed and aimed, the blast hitting Jake in the side as his armoured suit took the hit, his heels sliding back. He threw out his hand in response, throwing a bolas at the man at lightning speed. Brainy anticipated it however, swaying to the side to dodge it pumping the shotgun. He fired again, this time hitting his shoulder. Jake took the momentum and rolled with it, swinging his trident around to fire an arc of electricity at him. Brainy narrowly flung his head back to duck beneath it, but the charged energy igniting the shells inside his weapon causing it to explode in his hands. He was forced to drop it grunting in pain, now unarmed in front of the armoured villain.
"I cannot let you leave with this man" he told him, taking a deep breath as he took up a confident stance with his hands up.
Jake didn't say anything as he marched forward, twirling his weapon in his hands as he engaged the director. Brainy demonstrated how prodigious a fighter he was, deflecting Jakes skilled blows and weaving around him gracefully before following up with jabs and strikes designed to disable him. His hits were blocked by the suit, but he could see the young man was rushing his assault. As a result a swift block and parry had the trident spiralling out of his grasp. Jake growled in frustration, lashing out with a right hook that brainy caught, using his momentum to swing him into a grapple. Jake became trapped in his arms, his left hand pinned to Brainy's shoulder. He took a second to breath, calm himself before triggering the spring mechanism to the blade of his left arm. Brainy jerked back as the blade almost cut his face, his grip loosening enough for Jake to pull his right arm up and slice his midsection. Brainy hissed and tried to leap back, but Jake held his wrist yanking him forward delivering a knee to his fresh wound which made the man double over. Jake carried his momentum further by grabbing the man's head and throwing him forwards towards the broken car door. Brainy tumbled forward unable to stop himself as he flew head first into the broken sharps of glass jutting from the car window.
A large shard cut into the man's throat as he tumbled to the ground, opening a gash across his carotid artery that had blood spilling all down his uniform. He clutched the wound tasting the blood in his mouth as he fell limply on the floor, struggling to breathe as he looked up at the Reckoning standing over him. Jake looked at the blood pouring from his neck and left him to bleed out.
With Brainy disabled he turned his attention back to the SUV, until a familiar sonic boom on the horizon made him pause. He looked up into the sky and saw the red and blue blur rocketing towards them front the distance. He cursed, reaching into his belt to find the grenade twisting the dial. When he looked up again he saw Supergirl bearing down on him at the speed of a rocket. He managed to throw the armed grenade into the air, diving for cover as it detonated into a cloud of kryptonite gas for the hero to fly into. She barrelled through the cloud caught in the mist, her trajectory missing the Reckoning and colliding with the police vehicles behind him instead. He rolled to the side to watch her collapse onto her hands and knees, coughing from the gas thanks to the impact.
Kara's lungs burned but she was able to shake it off quickly enough. The cloud dissipated almost immediately and she climbed up the car to her feet. She hissed as her palm caught a metal sharp cutting into her skin. She looked at the blood on her hand and then over to Jake in his suit, his belt buckle humming with red solar energy. she grit her teeth and rose to stand before him, fixing her furious eyes upon him when she saw Brainy lying on the ground a few feet away. She couldn't get him help without her powers, but she could make Jake pay.
"You really want to do this now?" he asked, kicking his trident up into his palm with his boot.
She glared at him. "Yes, now" she agreed. After all the chaos he'd caused and harm he'd done since he came back, this was what they'd been waiting for. She was sure Jake was grinning behind his mask as she sprinted at him, the two of them leaping into battle on the overpass.
With Kara depowered Jake had the upper hand, his suit protecting him as she punched and pummelled him. He deflected and countered her blows with his weapons and fists, calling upon the training he'd gotten from some of the best fighters in the world. But he was surprised to see Kara Zor'EL had become more capable since their last fight. She'd been training too, using the DEO facilities and L-Corp resources to cancel out her powers and learn how to fight without them. So when she countered his moves and sent him tumbling to the ground it was evident they were evenly matched. "About time you started applying yourself" Jake muttered, torn between frustration and admiration as he retaliated with a feint and then a backhand swing cracking the edge of his trident against her skull. She cried in pain as she was sent spinning to the ground, blood pouring from her head staining her blonde hair.
Their fight was interrupted when the police siren cut through the noise along with crashing metal as Captain Sawyer's car came barrelling through the ruins of the convoy to intercept them. Both the young woman behind the wheel saw the devastation left in the Reckoning's assault before seeing the man himself crouched in the middle of the battlefield. Alex's eyes narrowed as she saw Jake standing in their path, her hand tightening around the handgun in her lap. But then she saw his arms raise as he aimed his trident at the oncoming vehicle and her blood pressure dropped.
The centre prong of his weapon catapulted out of his trident and stabbed through the bonnet of Maggie's car. The engine whined and sparked as the steering wheel suddenly locked up, the driver's eyes going wide as she was powerless to stop it careening off to the left where it crashed into the concrete barricade at the edge of the overpass. The car bounced and smashed through the wall and came to a dangerous stop hanging over the edge of the overpass and the thirty foot drop to the train tracks below were a handful of police officers already lay dead. The police captain held her breath as the front hovered over the edge, the back wheels spinning uselessly in the air inches from the ground locked into fifth gear. Both passengers leaned back in their seats until the wheels touched the ground, their spinning motions pushing the car a few inches further over the edge. "Crap!" Alex cursed, tipping them forward until they were precariously balanced on the edge gripping their seats and the dashboard. Alex's eyes met with Maggie's as they both looked down at the drop that awaited them.
On the overpass Kara charged into Jake while his back was turned, grappling for the trident sending it clattering away where the mechanism made it retract into itself. Jake kicked out at the superhero throwing her over his head where she was able to land on her feet with a hand on the ground, ready to spring back at him as he sprung up to mirror her.
The police car teetered forwards a little, the concrete beneath its chassis cracking giving way a little bit. Enough to make the passenger's butts clench as they tipped forward. "Supergirl!" Maggie cried in panic, catching Kara's ears diverting her gaze briefly to see the precarious situation her sister was in.
Kara looked at the cruiser hanging over the side and then back at the man crouched in front of her. He reached up to his back with one hand and drew a familiar green sword from its lead scabbard brandishing it before her. She inhaled instinctively feeling the tingle of kryptonite in the air as they looked gaze with each other. "What's it going to be?" he asked her.
Kara glanced over her shoulder to the car holding her sister and the police captain. They were in trouble, but without her powers she wouldn't be able to save them and then stop Jake getting away in time. She turned back to the man, the monster who was always a step ahead of her, who always manages to escape. She couldn't let him get away again. So she made a drastic decision and put her faith in her sister as she fixed her gaze on him and sprung forward.
Jake could say he wasn't expecting that choice, but he was no less prepared for it as he sprung up to collide with her. He swung at her with the sword, which she ducked beneath and caught his wrist to try and disarm him. But this phase of the fight held greater stakes as Jake used a combination of his skills with the blades in his gauntlets to wound the hero, slashing and cutting her costume drawing blood from her skin. She parried his arms but focused on the kryptonite blade, the effects of being in close proximity already effecting her muscles and breathing the longer she remained up close. They grappled and slammed into the downed convoy vehicles, Jake pinning her to the car with the blade at her throat. She used all her strength to keep it from cutting her, though her neck felt like it was on fire as her skin blistered from the pure mineral. She threw her head forward head-butting the visor, cracking it with the impact causing Jake to grunt. He pulled an arm back to stab at her with a blade, which she dodged letting it whistle past her ear and puncture the metal before throwing her weight into her shoulder. The move broke the grapple but it resulted in the sword slicing her stomach.
She cried in pain, ignoring the discomfort to using her legs and charge into the man sending him to the ground. The sword went clattering out of his grasp but he retaliated with his other gauntlet and its blade. She brought her hand up and caught his fist, the blade stabbing through her palm bringing pain and water to her eyes. She lashed downwards with her other fist, pummelling the man until his back hand knocked her off of him. He crawled across the ground, his locking onto the first weapon he could see and scrambled for it. She leapt at him grabbing his leg. He got hold of the folded trident before twisting around and kicking Kara in the face with her boot. She felt her nose crack as she was knocked backwards against the convoy vehicle, the air knocked out of her lungs briefly stunning her long enough for Jake to leap up and hit the lever springing his trident back to mast where he stabbed it down at her. She screamed as it pierced her shoulder, punching through her and into the metal of the vehicle trapping her on the ground.
Jake grunted as he left the weapon there, crawling to the dropped sword while Kara tried to pull it out. The weapon proved too stubborn to move without her powers, the prongs digging into her shoulder lodged in the metal. She kicked at the ground trying to get leverage but it was hopeless. She screamed in anguish as Jake stood over her, the sword in hand. She glared at him, waiting for him to kill her while she was trapped. He seemed to be considering it, but he didn't. He shook his head and turned away. "What are you waiting for?" she shouted at him.
He glanced over his shoulder, quietly informing her "this is not the end. You'll know when it's time to settle this." then he stormed away, returning to his mission.
Kara went to scream at him again until she heard her sister shouting across the street. She turned back and saw in horror as the car she was trapped in was inching forward again, the two woman frantically trying to get their seatbelts free and escape. But they were running out of time and Kara doubled her efforts to get up. She realised she made a mistake and now she'd failed everyone. "No!" she screamed in anguish.
Alex was screaming too, because she knew they weren't going to get out of this. She watched the world tilt downwards with every rock of their seats, the two of them clinging to the dashboard praying for a miracle. She saw Supergirl's fight with the Reckoning and realised she wasn't coming to save them. Alex pressed her signal watch, praying for some kind of Devine intervention. Maggie's hand wrapped around hers, the two of them locking gazes. "I'm sorry" Alex whispered.
Maggie nodded. "So am I" she replied, closing her eyes waiting for it to end.
The concrete beneath the car crumbled and the car lurched forward, its weight tipping it over the side causing both woman to brace themselves and scream.
Then, out of nowhere, the car lurched to a stop. The momentum threw the woman forward until their seatbelts locked into place catching them as they hung over the edge. They tensed panting, their eyes closed holding still. Alex was the first to open them and discover them we no longer falling, the car suspended over the drop. She shook Maggie, who reluctantly opened her eyes and inhaled fearfully. "Kara?" Alex asked hopefully, looking outside as the car began to lift up the way it came. "Supergirl!" she shouted.
Her questions were answered when the head of the Martian Manhunter rose into their field of view across the bonnet, the green alien grimacing in pain as he floated beneath the car catching it with his hands. Alex stared in shock and relief as J'onn lifted the car up back onto the overpass slowly. Her expression turned to concern when she saw the pain he was in. he was supposed to be in bed, but he left the hospital ward to save her. Lifting the car was proving too much too soon for him.
fortunately another figure came leaping up from the streets below, her boots springing off platforms of blue energy as she leapt behind the car to lasso it's axel and help pull the car up. Maggie finally manage to kill the engine so the back wheels would stop spinning, staring at the two heroes pulling back to safety. She released a long exhale before turning to Alex, spontaneously shooting forward to kiss the woman out of relief. Alex recovered from the shock and laughed, embracing their fortune with the woman thanking whichever god answered her prayer.
While the superheroes were either incapacitated or distracted, there was nobody left to stop Jake from rushing to the SUV holding Henry Irons and ripping the door open. Henry stared at him in surprise as Jake reached in and broke the handcuffs keeping him trapped. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked the masked man.
"We've got to go!" he replied frantically, grabbing the man by the coat and dragging him out of the vehicle. The man cried out in pain, discovering he'd twisted his foot in the crash. "Can you walk?" Jake asked, and Henry nodded limping by his side as fast as he could.
Which turned out not to be fast enough as they were blinded by the lights of a pair of police helicopters above them. They shielded their eyes and weaved through the convoy and bodies until they heard the sirens of dozens of police and FBI vehicles approaching. More were in the distance behind them. They had lingered too long and now every law enforcement agency in the city was closing in. Jake sprinted forward to check the road and found two police cars rocketing towards them. He switched the setting on his left gauntlet and fired a stream of flames at the road creating a wall of fire to block the cars and make they veer to a stop. It also cut off their escape however, so he ran back bringing Henry with him. They backtracked the way they came realising that way would be cut off to.
"THIS IS THE POLICE. PUT YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GORUND AND YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEADS!" one of the helicopters roared shining their light on the duo. Jake fired the cannon on his right wrist hitting the tail rotor sending the flying machine veering off course nearly hitting the second one. He cursed realising that was his last cartridge, rushing over to the side to look at the drop and any potential exit while the helicopter crashed down below.
"We'll never make it" Henry said, reading the young man's mind about jumping over the side. "You're suits running low on power" he observed, wincing when he put his weight on the ankle. "You should go."
The police were closing in and they were out of options. Jake stepped back drawing his sword as if he intended to fight his way out. "Not without you" he said.
"Kid, in my state I won't be outrunning anyone" he explained realistically. "But you can get out of here. Leave me behind."
"No! I'm not leaving you here!" he insisted.
"It's okay kid."
"It's not okay!" he cried, pacing the street trying to think of something clever. "If you stay, if they arrest you again, you won't survive" he told him. "You clients…"
"I know" he nodded, accepting his fate. "That's why I won't be going to jail" he said, stepping up to the young man. "You remember what I told you? My final contingency?"
Jake remember, and he didn't like it. "No, there's got to be another way" he said, shaking his head listening to the sirens, scanning the area.
"There isn't" he said, watching the young man pace frantically. "Kid. Kid! JAKE!" he snapped, pulling him to face him. His expression was calm, his eyes misty as he told him "I swore when my time was up, I would decide how it ends. I made this decision a long time ago. I won't let another of them chose how I die. I want it to be by my greatest creation." He reached out and took Jake's hand, the one holding the kryptonite katana, one of his best weapons. Jake shook his head, looking up at the man as he reached out and clicked the switch on the side of his visor, the mask lifting up so he could see his face one last time. "I thought I had lost my family a long time ago" Henry whispered. "But you kid…I always felt you were like a son to me. This is how it needs to end."
"No" Jake sobbed, tears in his eyes. "I've already lost too much, too many people I care about. I don't want to lose you too" he said.
"I know, and I'm sorry. But it has to be this way" he said, stroking the young man's cheek and he brought the blade up to point at his ribs. "It's time kid" he said, the sirens getting louder, the helicopter spotlight pointing down at them. Jake could hear them too, but he couldn't see for the tears in his eyes. "Come find me after" he asked.
Jake nodded, promising "after."
Kara looked up from her pinned shoulder to see the two of them standing in the middle of the street between the vehicles, her eyes picking out the green blade held between them. Her chest tightened as she saw Henry say his goodbyes before helping the young man thrust the blade into his ribcage. "NO!" she screamed as Jake killed the Blacksmith, the blade piercing his chest jutting out of his back, the man's eyes fixed onto Jake's as the young man broke into tears.
From Maggie's car Alex witnessed the murder and felt the floor give way from under her feet. Maggie saw the anguished look and followed it, immediately wrestling with her seatbelt to get free. J'onn saw it and tried to intervene only for his body to collapse in front of the vehicle. Nia dashed around to catch him, oblivious to the development.
Jake stared into Henry's eyes and lowered is body down to the ground, the last flicker of life fading behind them. He pulled the sword out and held the bloody blade beside them, weeping for his mentor breaking into tears. He sobbed, pain and sorrow overwhelming him as his voice crackled with a cry of anguish. Police officers began to surround the overpass and advance on his, drawing their guns pointed them at the armoured figure leaning over the dead man. Jake heard the approaching footsteps, the shouts barking orders to surrender, fighting through the sobs to breath. He closed Henry's eyelids before sitting back on his ankles, gripping the green sword tightly in his hands. The police barked again, surrounding the Reckoning.
Jake took one last look at the man on the ground, the image of his Sarah flashing before his eyes along with the memory of her in that rubble. He unleashed pained bellow before yanking the visor back down, pulling another grenade out of his belt and slamming it against the floor. The surrounding police officers covered their faces as a blinding flash of light erupted around Jake launching secondary flashes into the air, filling the overpass with thick smoke. The men recoiled from the sharp explosions before quickly swarming in, their weapons primed and ready sweeping the area.
But when the smoke cleared only the lifeless body of the Blacksmith remained.