Kara listened to Nia's story with the patience it deserved. It took her quite some time, over half an hour. Olsen sat beside her the whole time, silently supporting her. Kara did as she was asked; she listened. She didn't interrupt. She sat and listened and waited as Nia told her everything she'd been dealing with the past few months. It was hard to hear, even harder to believe. When she finally finished, Kara didn't know what to say. She sat in silence, taking it all in. Nia grew anxious by the silence but Olsen convinced her to wait, and give her a moment. She took it outside to the balcony, stepping up the railing taking a deep breath to steady her thoughts. She didn't know what to think, or how to feel. It was a lot.
After a few minutes Nia stepped out and joined her, waiting by the door as Kara stared out into the city silently. "Kara?" she said, the silence making her nervous. Kara could hear the beating of her heart and finally understood the fear she'd been holding in around her. "Please say something" she pleaded.
Kara didn't know what to say, what to feel. But she had one question that seemed to permeate the others. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly, looking over her shoulder to the young brunette.
Her eyes fell to the ground ashamed. "I should have" she replied. "But I was… at first I wanted to understand what the dream meant. But then I felt guilty. Guilty that… that I could believe you might be the threat it's warning me about. I'm sorry Kara. I was afraid. I… I didn't want you to be disappointed in me" she said.
Kara's heart broke again as she released an exhale. She was disappointed. That's what she was feeling. She looked at her friend, who had been keeping this secret for so long, and she felt disappointment. Nia sensed it, shame filling her expression as Kara stepped forward slowly. She stared at the young woman who had been afraid of her and put her arms around her. "I'm so sorry" she whispered, throwing Dreamer off guard at the sheer emotion behind her words. "I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't talk to me. I'm sorry."
Nia's eyes welled up as she embraced the older woman, relief overwhelming her as she hugged her tightly. The disappointment Kara was feeling wasn't towards Nia, it was towards herself. She felt like she failed. Nia thought she'd failed Supergirl. Olsen stood respectfully back watching them, a grateful smile rising on his lips.
"I'm sorry" Nia said when they broke the embrace, tears running down her cheeks still trembling. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"Its okay" she replied, wiping her face holding her. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this on your own" she said, emotions running high in her too.
"Mr Olsen…Jimmy convinced me it was the right thing to do" she said, glancing back at the tall man nodding to them. "He was right."
Kara looked at him and smiled. "Unfortunately, he usually is" she muttered. She looked back at Nia, replaying her story. "That explains your sudden interest in Maxwell Davies."
"I was still wrong" she sighed. "I hoped I was wrong about you. But then yesterday…" Kara nodded, hugging her again reminding her she was still her friend. "I thought you might hate me for thinking that" she confessed.
"I could never hate you for that Nia" she told her, looking her in the eye intently. "Nothing you've done was anything short of brave. If anything I'm proud of you."
"Really?" she asked meekly.
"Really" she nodded, squeezing her arms supportively. "You're my friend. You're my partner. I'm not going anywhere" she promised. "We'll figure this out together, as a team, like always." Nia exhaled in relief, throwing her arms gratefully around Kara weeping for joy. Kara hugged her back, looking over the girls shoulder mouthing a thank you to Olsen. He gave her a thumbs up, happy to help.
After a few minutes the girls finished hugging out their problems and returned into the office, accepting James's offer of tissues to wipe their eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked them.
Nia nodded, grateful to him. Kara stepped up to his desk lowering her voice. "So you, J'onn and Brainy all know about this?" she double checked. He nodded. "I get Nia not wanting to say anything, but J'onn? Brainy?"
"You'll have to ask them" he replied quietly. "I only just found out recently. She wasn't coping very well."
"Thank you for looking out for her" she said, glancing at Nia slowly composing herself.
"Anytime" he smiled. He then turned it on her. "How are you feeling?"
She sighed begrudgingly. "Maybe ask me after lunch when I've gotten over the fact I might be responsible for destroying the city at some point" she answered.
"You know we don't believe you'd ever do that right" he told her.
She hesitated. "Before yesterday I would've agreed with your" she replied, not wanting Nia to know she was starting to share the same doubts that kept her from talking about the nightmares. She walked over to the young reporter, sitting besides her telling her "when you're ready, I'd like to see this dream for myself. But only if you're up for it."
She nodded enthusiastically. "I think I can do that" she said, squeezing her hand. "Thank you for… I don't know. Listening. Not thinking badly of me. I've been feeling like an awful human being lately."
"You are many things Nia, but not awful" she assured her.
There was a knock on the office door, which was still locked so James had to walk over and unlock it before opening. The girls stood up and composed themselves as the door opened to reveal their visitor. Kara's stomach did a backflip when she found Jake standing in the entrance. "Oh, hi" he stammered, seeing the three of them together. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt. I could wait out here…"
"No, it's okay" Nia said, taking a deep breath nodding to Kara and Olsen. "I think we were finished. I'll just freshen up and get back to work" she told them, excusing herself out of the office smiling at Jake.
"We'll talk soon" Kara called to her. The girl nodded and left them alone.
Jake watched her leave, noticing the red around her eyes. "Is she okay?" he asked.
"She'll be alright" Olsen replied, saying nothing more about it. He looked at Kara and said "I could give you two a moment if you need?"
"No, that won't be necessary" they both said at the same time, making the situation awkward. They fell silent averting their gaze from one another. "Actually I came to give these back" Jake said, pulling the keys to Olsen's motorcycle out of his pocket and giving them to the man. "The engines all fixed and I had it cleaned out. Gave it a once over and lap around the block just to be sure. It's all up and running."
"Oh, I appreciate it" he beamed, happy to get his bride and joy back. "What will I owe you?"
"I've left an invoice serotyped to the handle bars" he replied, his hands in his pockets. "Along with the account number you can transfer it to. I thought I'd drop it in before I left."
"Left?" he asked, looking to Kara who was standing by the windows silently. He looked between them. "Did you two talk?" he asked.
"We did" she said, smiling politely. But even a blind man could see how uncomfortable it was. "We broke up" she told him.
He blinked in surprise and then turned to Jake. "Yeah. Took your advice and did some soul searching. I'm going back home, finish what I started" he explained, glancing around the bullpen missing the inquisitive and pointed look between Kara and Olsen as the black man sheepishly averted his gaze. "I thought I'd tie up loose ends here before I set off. Say goodbye."
"Well I'm sorry to see you go" he said, clasping his hand shaking it. "Thank you for the repairs. You are a life saver." He looked at Kara again. "Are you sure I can't give you a moment?"
"No, we already said our goodbyes" she said, stepping forward to shake his hand anyway. "Good luck. I hope you find what you're looking for" she told him.
He stared back at her warmly. "I will miss you" he said. She nodded, feeling the same. He let her go, nodded again to Olsen and then turned to make his way back to the lift.
As he left Olsen turned to Kara, his expression asking if she wanted to talk. She shook her head, stepping out of his office watching him leave wishing it wouldn't hurt this much.
The rapping of the door was loud enough to annoy the whole apartment complex. Or at least that's what Carl Carlton thought as he came out of the bathroom stuffing his shirt back into his trousers. "Alright, I hear you" he shouted when they rapped again, louder and more insistently. He peered through the eye piece to see who it was, blinking with surprise straightening his shirt and combing his hair back with his fingers before opening the door. "Miss Luthor, what a pleasant surprise. Please, do come in" he said, inviting them into his large living room.
Lena Luthor stepped into the modest dwelling, examining the cream walls and comfortable furniture, with Alex Danvers following close behind. The apartment building was a more luxury dwelling than Danvers apartment, no indication of the bankruptcy facing the former CEO of AXIS Environmental. "I'm surprised you can still afford this" Lena remarked.
"The place it rent controlled and I had the foresight to pay three months in advance" he said, cleaning up some of the scattered paperwork. "Excuse the mess. Things have been rather chaotic since I was released on bail. My court date is next week and my lawyer's not very optimistic."
"I would've thought everything coming out about Maxwell Davies and his connection to Kronos Limited would've worked in your favour" Alex asked.
"Doesn't matter, the damage is done. AXIS is shut down and all my staff are out of work. The whole company ruined. And I'll be lucky to manage a car wash after this" he said glumly, about to sit down before remembering his manners. "Forgive me, can I get you ladies anything? Tea? Biscuits?"
"No thank you" Lena replied, reaching into her bag. "Actually it's your company and staff I wanted to speak to you about" she said, pulling out the document she brought with her showing it to him. "What can you tell me about this man? He used to work for you."
"Did he?" he asked, taking the paper and reading it carefully.
"Yes, it was in your employment records" she explained, hoping she was mistaken. Alex walked the apartment examining the room, listening carefully.
Carlton examined the CV for a long moment scratching his stubble chin. "No, can't say that…oh, wait, no, yes, I remember now" he nodded, beaming into a smile. "Yes, I remember this one. Oh, but he never worked for us" he told them.
Lena furrowed her brow. "But I found…"
"Yes, I heard. We kept his paperwork on file with those records" he explained, pacing the room rereading the CV. "no, he interviewed for a placement, wanted to work at the company. On the factory floor no less. Yes, I remember this one. Gave him the tour myself. Intelligent lad" he smiled proudly. "So intelligent for one so young. In fact, he reminded me a lot of you" he remarked, looking at Lena. "Child prodigy, I swear. We walked through the melting tanks while we were incorporating plasma cutters to melt down the hull of an alien ship. I could tell he was interested, I could see the lights dancing in his eyes. He looked at our set up and came up with this idea to channel the plasma through a magnetised ion field, firing between two rods charged with electricity. Sketched it right there on the spot in minutes. Like a catapult" he laughed.
"Or a trident" Lena muttered, glancing at Alex who stopped pacing. "But you didn't take him on?" she asked him.
He shook his head sadly. "no. couldn't afford to. Shame too, bright kid like that. Could probably have revolutionised the company. Except we were barely holding onto the staff we had. Bringing in anyone new would be impossible. At the time we were struggling with the insurance payments. That was the main issue. Kid even offered to work for free, just to get the factory floor experience. If I could've ensured him I would've happily let him volunteer. Instead I promised to keep him on file in case the opening presented itself. In the end I suppose he dodged a bullet" he chuckled, finally taking his seat at the table, still staring at the document.
"That tour" Alex asked, stepping forward to join Lena who was pulling out her mobile phone. "When was it?"
Carlton looked distant trying to recall. "A few weeks before…before everything went down with those robots" he said. "As I said, dodged a bullet."
"And you showed him everything?"
"Not everything. Still had the classified areas, naturally" he scoffed. "No, he just wanted to look around, see what we did. He was interested in everything. The machines, the process, even caught him peeking into our server room. Asked many questions. He was sorry the allegations crippled our company too" he added sadly. "As am I."
Lena pulled up the file she was looking for and found the image attached. "Mr Carlton, just so there aren't any misunderstandings, was this the man who came for the interview?" she asked, showing him the photo.
Carlton's eyes lit up when he saw it. "That's the lad" he nodded. Lena turned pale as she showed the same picture to Alex. "Handsome young man. The irony is I would've hired him anyway. Worth the risk I thought. His references checked out. Got to talk with Maxwell Davies personally. Yeah, he warned me about his paperwork mishaps and abrupt exit but otherwise believed him to be a talented designer. Worked on a few of their projects. Said he lead one of them too" he said, getting lost in the missed opportunity while Lena and Alex exchanged a look.
Kara's phone rang from her desk, snapping her attention away from her now ex-boyfriend leaving. She came over and read the caller ID as Lena's. "Hey Lena, I can't really talk right now" she said after answering the call.
"Kara! It's Jake!" Lena cried over the phone. "It's all about Jake White!"
Kara looked up hearing the ding of the lift doors opening in front of Jake. "I really don't want to talk about him right now" she said, turning away from his sight to take the call privately. "I'm at work and I've just…"
"Kara, just listen!" Alex's voice shouted alongside Lena, confusing her into bewilderment. "Lena compared those account numbers you found in TITAN's records to L-Corp's database and found out the accounted initialled W.J. is the same account number linked to Jake's old payslip. I just checked with Captain Sawyer and she triple-checked the bank details confirming it's in his name."
"What?" she said, taken aback by their urgency, glancing over her shoulder to see him step inside? "Okay, so? He worked at a lot of places. He told me."
"He also interviewed for a place at AXIS Environmental one week before the heist of Metallo drones" Lena continued, sounding panicked and out of breath. "We just came from Carl Carlton's apartment and he told us Maxwell gave his reference. He told him he was on the Samaritan project, lead the team even. He designed the Reckoning suit Kara!" she cried.
Kara's eyes widened the more she listened. Not because she believed what they were saying, but because he heard the conviction in their voices. They believed what they were saying, which was enough to make Kara turned around and stare at the lift as five people gathered inside waiting for the doors to close. Jake stood in the middle, politely making room for his companions before his gaze lifted up and found her staring back. Their eyes met as she lowered the mobile phone from her ear, Alex and Lena's voices calling for her frantically. He saw the expression on her face, innocently waving back as the doors closed.
"See you around Kara Zor'El" he said in a whisper only Kara's super hearing could pick up, his smile sending her world turning upside down as the lift doors slammed shut between them.