James Olsen lived in the quiet residential region of National City in a small but modest two bedroom bungalow with a garage extension. He made sure it had two bedrooms in case he ever entertained guests, such as his sister or mother when they came to visit. In his main bedroom he had a secret cache inside his wardrobe where he stashed his Guardian outfit. It used to be in the garage until he had it remodelled a week ago and hadn't gotten around to returning everything from his secret life as a vigilante into the workshop.
And it seemed he wasn't liable to yet because now he had his motorcycle stashed inside and was caked in grime looking over the damage it had sustained from the assault on the facility in Metropolis. It took him and hour for the towing company to bring it back here where he had to dodge some annoying questions about how it ended up in the middle of a crime scene or how it sustained such damage. He lied and claimed he was visiting a friend and his bike was parked nearby when the militia rolled in and shot everything up. The police were smoothed over by the DEO assistance and the tow truck driver just shrugged and had him fill out the paperwork.
He tinkered with the engine pulling out yet another shattered component before hearing his mobile ring inside the house. Picking himself off the floor he wiped his hands and entered his simple kitchen to find his phone on the counter. The caller ID read Kara's name so he answered it. "Hey, you feeling any better" he asked, recalling how sick she looked when they picked her up following her fight with Metallo.
"A little better" Kara sighed, the sounds of the city streets bustling in the background indicating she was walking back to her apartment. "The kryptonite effects wore off an hour ago so I went to see Lena."
"Ok" he nodded, leaning against his counter after retrieving a bottle from the fridge to sip. "How'd it go?"
"Well, I near enough accused her of being responsible for Hank Henshaw get hold of the kryptonite" she said, guilt bleeding through her voice.
Jimmy winced. He knew how tense things got when Kara found out Lena cracked the formula for the stuff. He was the first to learn about it. It wasn't a pretty conversation. "How'd that go down?" he asked cautiously.
Kara sighed. "It was rough, but we talked it out. She swore she destroyed everything connected to that formula and hasn't told a soul, and I believe her. It just came out and I feel really bad about thinking about it."
"Kara, you're a reporter" Jimmy reminded her. "It's our job to ask the hard questions, even to our friends. At least you can be sure Lena wasn't involved" he said supportively. "Was she of any help?"
"She's looking into Kronos Limited to figure out why they'd want Axis to mass produce Metallo" she reported, though sounding less optimistic. "So far it's turning into dead ends. All we know is it's a shell company and there's no way to trace the work orders."
Jimmy crossed his arms and pondered the dilemma. "Maybe I should pay her a visit and see if I can help" he said, avenues of investigation already forming for him to chase up.
"That'd be great" Kara agreed. "I'd help myself but I'm a little rattled after today so I think I need a bit of time to myself."
"Kara Danvers willing taking time off?" Jimmy laughed mockingly. "I need to record that."
"Yeah, okay, very funny" she sighed hearing his chuckling. "But after my near breakdown at Lena's and acting out at the power station yesterday I think the stress is finally starting to kick in."
"Well don't worry about work" he said. "Nia's on top of it and so am I. take your time and you can make it up when you're ready."
Kara thanked him, appreciating the understanding though feeling bad about bunking more of her time at Cacto. "How are you doing?" she asked him. "I heard you and Nia did a great job stopping the robbers while Jon and I were distracted."
"Well we held onto the power core" Jimmy nodded, glancing at the notes he'd been making of all the things that didn't make sense. "But in the end I don't think they were that interested in it. Like it was a diversion. Which I suppose makes sense if they already have kryptonite."
"So why attack the facilities at all?" Kara echoed.
"We were close to finding out where they were going, if only…" Jimmy said before stopping himself. He was silently furious with Alex about her decision during that fight. She was set to intercept the militia and have they detained and arrested, they could've ended it. But the moment she heard about Metallo and the kryptonite she diverted everything to save Kara. He couldn't blame her decision to protect her sister, but it was frustrating they let Hank's men get away as a result.
"I know. Alex hates herself for it too" Kara said, as if reading Jimmy's mind. She could see it all over everyone's faces when she was brought to the DEO to be treated under a yellow sun lamp, the judgemental glances. Alex never got reprimanded in person be she felt the same, throwing everything at finding Hank Henshaw once Kara was safe at the HQ. "I'm just glad you and Nia are alright" she added.
"Same" he smiled before looking wistfully into his garage. "Shame I can't say the same about my bike. It took quite a beating back there."
Kara indulged in his loss, sympathetically asking "how long will it take to fix?"
Jimmy groaned. "I don't know. My usual mechanic is out of town for the month" he said. He had intended to take it to his friend until he remembered the guy had taken a holiday, which Jimmy pushed him into getting, and had closed the garage. So recalling that he solemnly ordered the tow truck to deliver his bike to his home where he might repair it himself. Unfortunately he wasn't as experienced with a wrench as he was with a camera. "I might have to wait for him to get back."
On the other side of the phone, Kara wallowed in sympathy knowing how much he valued his bike. She walked along the street where pedestrians and cyclists crossed her path taking a slow stride to her building. "I'm sorry to hear that" she said, looking up in time to see another motorcycle about to depart, a familiar Harley Davidson.
"It'll be fine" Jimmy said over the phone, his voice lost as Kara's attention was diverted to the young man in a leather jacket tuning his engine with a small toolkit. Jake stood up and revved the machine, the engine purring to life earning a big smile. He caught Kara watching and waved. She waved back. "Kara?" Jimmy's voice called.
"Huh" she replied, zoning back to her conversation.
"Where'd you go?" Jimmy asked.
"Nowhere" she replied.
"You were silent for almost thirty seconds" he said. "If you need to be somewhere as Supergirl…"
"No, no, I promise, I don't…" she said, her cheeks turning red as she insisted she wasn't distracted. She caught Jake's eye again as he packed up his tools and her blush got hotter. Then she decided to turn it to her advantage, compelled to help her close friend. "Actually I might have an idea" she said, walking purposely to meet with the young mechanic.
Fifteen minutes later after being given a lift on the back of his motorcycle, Kara directed Jake to Jimmy's house and introduced the pair of them. Explaining Jake could help Jimmy reluctantly let the man take a look at his bike. Jake examined the engine and frame and the damage sustained and asked bluntly "where did you drive this? Through a battlefield?"
Jimmy looked at Kara who stood beside him patiently, an awkward pause before answering "just through metropolis. Nowhere special."
"So nobody was shooting at you?" he asked suspiciously.
Jimmy scoffed. "What makes you say that?" he joked.
Jake reached into the machinery and yanked out an object jammed into the carburettor, holding it up for the man to look at. "Because I'm pretty sure that's a bullet" he said, passing Jimmy the slug from an assault rifle.
Jimmy looked at the bullet and then glanced at Kara who shrugged. "It was parked by that facility that was robbed earlier today" he conceded.
"The one Supergirl tried to stop" he asked in surprise. Jimmy and Kara nodded. "Explains the bullet holes" he muttered.
"So what do you think?" Kara asked him. "Can you help?"
When she approached Jake on that street and mentioned a friend was having trouble with the engine, she neglected to mention that trouble involved the machine being ripped apart by gunfire. He told them as much when he explained "it can be fixed, but not easily. You said you're regular guy is out of town? You got nobody else to look at it?"
"Nobody I trust" Jimmy replied crossing his arms. "Kara told me you used to work in a garage?"
"With my old man" Jake nodded, still examining the bike mentally cataloguing the repairs needed. Jimmy could see the gears working. Kara mentioned he was an engineer and see how he approached the problem he could tell this guy fixed a lot of stuff in his time. "Ordinarily I'd say yes, I could fix this. But to be honest half of this would need to be replaced. The belts snapped, your coolant tanks shot to pieces literally, extractor fan is gone…"
"I thought as much" Jimmy nodded, joining beside the young man. "The oil is still leaking and the entire starting system is caput."
"Basically if you so much as sneeze on this it will fall apart" Jake concurred.
Kara's expression became downcast. "So there's nothing you can do?"
Jake pondered it a moment, checking his watch before telling them "I know a few guys who would have the parts you're looking for. I could give you a list of their names and you might be able to convince them to help. But you'd need a decent mechanic to assemble them. And depending on how long they take to ship the parts, it took take days, couple of weeks before you're up and running again."
Jimmy nodded. He'd already deduced that much. But Kara was determined to make this work and suggested "what if you fixed it?"
"Excuse me?" Jake asked.
She shrugged. "You said you were looking for something to do while you're here" she pointed out. "You have just as much experience as a mechanic."
"I wouldn't want to put you out" Jimmy argued, appreciating what Kara was trying to help.
Jake went to decline but reluctantly admitted to the man "I am between jobs right now. I mean, I suppose I could come by when the parts come in and give you a hand."
Jimmy turned to him. "Really?" the man nodded. Jimmy looked at his bike, knowing there was no way he'd be able to fix it himself. And he had enough to afford hiring a mechanic and possibly purchase the necessary parts. "If you're sure, I reckon we could work something out" he said.
Jake nodded, shaking the man's hand telling him "I'll start on that list and make a few calls. But be warned, these parts won't be cheap."
"I appreciate it" he said, shaking his hand with a warm smile. Jake stepped away to start calling around giving Jimmy a moment to talk to Kara. "Interesting fellow" he commented as the girl beamed. "Where'd you say you two met?"
For the first time Kara suddenly went quiet, her cheeks blushing as she quietly replied "we just sort of bumped into each other a few days ago."
Jimmy nodded, watching his ex-girlfriend gaze at the young man the same way he used to gaze at her. "He wouldn't happen to be the guy you went on that date to Angelo's with, would it?" he asked.
Kara's head spun so face she almost made herself dizzy. "I don't… I don't know what you're talking about" she chuckled in that nervous way she did when she was trying to hide something embarrassing. Jimmy looked at her and she folded immediately. "Who told you? Was it Lena? Oh no, Alex dobbed me in didn't she?"
"Does it matter" he chuckled. In fact he heard it from his friend who was behind the bar that night. But he decided to let Kara fume over a fake betrayal. "You much really like this guy if you're willing to bat for him like this" he commented.
She shrugged. "We're just friends" she said. "That date went poorly."
"Most first dates do" he whispered. Kara continued to blush, prompting him to suggest "Maybe he deserves a second chance."
Kara didn't say anything, hearing Jimmy's words echo with her own despite how much she was trying to talk herself out of it. She wasn't sure if she was ready to risk stepping out of her comfort zone again, not unless she was sure he was genuine about who he was. That engagement ring still haunted her, even though he promised there was nothing behind it.
Something Jimmy said earlier resonated all of a sudden: "It's our job to ask the hard questions, even to our friends." Sooner or later she'll have to ask those hard questions, whether she was ready to hear the answers or not.