The Police smashed the door inwards with a mighty crash, a dozen armed officers swarming through the entrance screaming identification ordering the residents to get on the ground. They funnelled into the apartment in single file, scattering in a coordinated sweep like ants checking every corner and every room. Captain Maggie Sawyer stormed in behind them, her police issue handgun posed and ready as she entered the dwelling with Director Danvers and Supergirl following behind her. One by one her officers reported the rooms were clear, the living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, even the cupboards empty. Jake White wasn't home.
events following Lean's phone call to Kara seemed to spiral for the blonde woman, her head still spinning as she stepped into her former boyfriend's place for the first time. After those lift doors closed at Cacto she was in a state of shock, her reporter's brain finally putting together the pieces of the jigsaw she'd overlooked in their relationship. It took her a few seconds before she raced to the stairwell in an attempt to cut him off, dropping her mobile along the way. She reached the lobby at the same time as the lift, by then her ears were ringing with a high pitched sound as her head swam unsteadily. She was still in her civilian clothes, not her costume, but her focus was fixed on the crowd spilling out in front of her. She pushed past men and women to get to the lift, using her hands to stop the doors from closing. It was empty. She scanned the lobby, that sound cutting through her skull amplifying the disorientations and panic growing inside her. She searched the floor, bursting into the street, whipping off her glasses to scan the bustling pavement. She couldn't concentrate, couldn't focus. She felt sick and lost and confused. Tis can't be real she thought, stumbling against the wall gasping for breath. Jake was gone and she needed answers.
Fortunately, Alex was much more level-headed when she learnt what happened. She got Brainy digging back into his background check, a deeper dive than before, and got on the phone to Maggie. They had enough circumstantial evidence to bring him in for questioning and enough to convince a judge for a warrant. By nightfall the swat team were at his apartment block battering down his door. Alex was invited to join the Captain in the search, along with Supergirl provided they didn't interfere with the police procedure. Maggie didn't know the superhero's connection to Jake and neither of the sisters were inclined to inform her. They played ball and let NCPD take the lead in securing the apartment.
"He's not here" Alex cursed scanning the empty rooms. It looked immaculate, lived in but tidy. She checked the fridge, a few scraps of food and milk left over. Kara stood beside her, still shaken by the revelation. She kept giving an apologetic look to Alex. She should've believed her. Alex didn't say anything, even though all she wanted to do was hug her. They had to remain professional right now, Director of the DEO and Supergirl, not sisters.
"Drawers are empty and there are clothes missing from the closet" one of the officers reported as Maggie surveyed the bedroom. She nodded. It appeared he'd left, but not in a hurry. They took too long.
Her gaze became fixed on the wall in front of her, her expression neutral. "Director Danvers! Supergirl! In here" she called. As they walked over she turned to her officers. "The rest of you, out. I want a perimeter ten blocks wide, I want door to door, I want CCTV, dash cams, and I want to know every taxi or uber that made a pick up or drop off. I want to know when this guy left and where he's going!"
"Yes ma'am" her officers nodded, following her instructions and vacating the apartment. That left the three women in the bedroom and the privacy to survey the wall that had caught the captain's attention. Alex's breath caught in her throat when she looked up, her eyes widening as Kara joined her, following her gaze and freezing in place.
Posted across the wall was a mosaic of photos, new articles, notes, sketches, printouts and handwritten post-it notes, different coloured string tied to pins connecting different collections of the collage. Kara stared at the wall, an investigative board. And at the centre of it was her, Supergirl, printouts from newspapers, screenshots of her TV appearances, and surrounding them photos of her normal life, Kara Danvers, including a picture she had taken for a media spot she was involved in and a hundred surveillance photos of her in the streets, at the café, bars, work, home. She barely remembered most of these, ordinary non-events in her life, yet it was like seeing it from a different perspective. She even saw photographs, 2K resolution, of her changing into her costume. This wall alone had all the evidence needed to prove Kara Danvers was Supergirl. And spreading out from that was every connection she had, from photos of her family and friends to their own wed of intrigue. Jake had photos and observations of all of them. Alex's credentials at the DEO. Brainy's appearance without the image inducer. Lena Luthor and her family connections. Nia's background before her transition. Olsen's career as a reporter. J'onn's true name and species.
Jake knew everything.
While Kara's eyes were fixed to the wall examining the invasive revelations, Alex's attention was diverted to the police Captain standing nearby at the doorway. Her face went pale, realising anyone taking so much as a glance at all of this would know who Supergirl was and how the two of them were related. Maggie was typing on her mobile when she looked up and caught Alex's eye. It's why she sent the rest of the swat team out of the room. "Maggie" Alex said, but the captain interrupted her. "I'll have my officers secure the scene and set up a perimeter. I trust you'll have your own forensic team up here to catalogue the evidence? Let me know what you find and I'll stay in touch about anything we pick up" she promised. She then glanced at the wall stating "as far as me or the NCPD are aware, we didn't see anything on that wall."
Alex stared at the woman, meeting her eyes noting the sincerity. "Thank you" she whispered.
Maggie nodded, a small smile on her lips before she turned her back on the bedroom and put her phone to her ear. "Dispatch, I want an APB out on Jake White. Notify airports, train stations, ports and all the taxi companies" she said, giving the sisters the room.
Alex followed to make sure she had left the apartment, wondering if she'd undervalued the trust they'd built over the years. Satisfied they wouldn't be interrupted by any other nosy police officers she pulled out her phone and called the DEO. "Brainy, I need a team down here to sweep the apartment. People we can trust. I want you to lead it." She returned to the bedroom and found Kara still staring at the wall, fixated on it. "Kara, are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"He knows Alex" she whispered, her face pale as she followed the strings between her and her friends and their secret identities. "All this time…our promise to trust each other with our secrets, asking for patience, and all this time he knew who I was. He knew about you" she gasped turning to Alex. "Mom, dad, Lena, Nia…he knows about Nia, her past, Dreamer…he knows James is Guardian. He knows everything."
"I know" she nodded, shaking her gently to snap her put of it. "We'll find him. We'll warn Nia, and Jimmy, and J'onn and Lena, everyone. But I need you to focus right now" she said, looking at her insistently until she calmed down. Kara took a deep breath and nodded, pushing her feelings aside to analyse the wall again. Alex left her too it to examine the rest of the apartment, moving next to the bed where a landline sat on the cabinet. A drawer was ajar and inside she found more photos not pinned to the wall. More surveillance images on Kara, some with her friends and family. She found one with their mother, a rare family dinner. Alex checked the back and found the timestamp. "This was taken months ago" she realised. "Thanksgiving. How long has he been watching us?" she wondered.
Kara stepped up to the wall and peered at the news articles, all of them detailing her many exploits around the world. "Some of these papers are years old" she found, checking the dates. She realised some of them weren't even in English, cuttings from foreign papers. "He said he moved around a lot. I was beginning to think that was a lie. But not all of them are from National City." She began listing off the headlines and the printing companies. "The New York Times. Muzykalnaya Pravda. Khaleej Times. The Daily Mail. There are newspapers from Russia, India, France, Spain, China, and Chicago…"
"He seems to have been tracking your career for almost five years" Alex observed, finding a cut-out from the original article about the tragedy of the Community Hospital incident. She saw a screenshot of some camera footage she remembered was played on the news, the image showing Supergirl floating over the defeated alien as the hospital lay in ruins behind her. Something about the compositions unnerved Alex, particularly how Kara was circled in red marker on the image. She looked up at the wall, the entire spider's web revolving around her. "It's like he's obsessed with you specifically" she hypothesised, joining Kara as they examined the evidence. "He wouldn't be the first person to do so."
"This isn't like Thomas Coville or the Cult of Rao" Kara said. "Nor like Ben Lockwood and his followers."
"The cult worshiped you, Agent Liberty condemned you" Alex reminded her.
She shook her head, following Alex's path to the bedside cabinet to look at the other photos. "Lockwood's vendetta was racial. He hated all alien refugees. This feels more like Lex and his vendetta against Superman" she said, scanning the articles from five years ago.
"Is this you thinking like a reporter?" Alex asked her. Kara nodded. "I have to agree. Everything here, you are at the centre. You, Supergirl, Kara Zor'El, this is a lot of information he's collected." She looked closer finding another printout pinned at the edge, the DEO stamp at the top. "Including your medical records from our database. Whatever he's up it it's all about you. He even betrayed Hank Henshaw so he could have you all to himself."
Their back and forth was interrupted by the ringing of the landline next to Jake's bed, going off just when Kara was reaching into the drawer below it. She leapt back in surprise, staring at the ringing phone. She looked at Alex who stared at it equally surprised. Even Maggie returned from the hallway upon hearing it. They all looked at each other. "Is there a protocol for this?" Kara asked.
Maggie walked forward gesturing the woman to step back, pulling out her gloves sliding them on. Kara stepped back and made room for the woman. But just as her hand reached the receiver it stopped ringing. Maggie looked at it a moment, the blinking lights indicating no message. "Possibly just a telemarketer" she shrugged, stepping past Kara to speak to Alex. "We could set a tap on the line in case any of his associates call" she suggested while Kara went back to the drawer. The phone started ringing again the moment she got close.
Kara looked at both the women as they stared at it before peering at the windows. Something didn't seem right. Kara listened and used her senses but didn't see anyone in the vicinity who might be watching the apartment. Plenty of onlookers observing the police, but nobody in view of the phone. She hovered over the bedside cabinet, letting it ring for a whole minute before cautiously picking up the receiver. She saw Alex freeze when she did, caution and alarm in her expression. Kara brought the phone to her ear nonetheless, hearing nothing but silence. "Hello?" she said.
"Took you long enough" Jake's voice responded.
The colour left her skin when she heard his voice, her lungs inhaling a gulpful of air instinctively. "Jake?" she muttered allowed, looking at her sister whose eyes suddenly widened. Both woman reacted immediately, whipping out their phones to triangulate the call and figure out where it was coming from. That left Kara the task of keeping him talking. "Where are you?" she asked him.
"You know I'm not going to make it that easy for you" he replied bluntly. He didn't sound like the sweet compassionate man she met months ago any more. He sounded colder, serious, and confident. "And we both know there's a more pressing question you want to ask" he said. She hesitated, glancing around the room. "Come now Kara Zor'El, I think we've both earned a candid discussion with each other, don't you?"
She did have so many questions to ask, all those emotions she was pushing aside coming back to the surface. She looked back at Alex, who stayed nearby coordinating with Brainy on tracing the call. Maggie was at the hallway barking orders to her officer to check the surrounding area. Kara took the risk and turned away from them both, calming her nerves and finally asking "why? Why are you doing this?"
There was a brief pause before he came back sounding disappointed. "If you don't know, then your sister didn't do as good a job in her background check as I thought. Christ, I even left you the file. Don't tell me you didn't read it!"
"I trusted you!" she hissed, the sentence escaping her mouth before she could stop it.
"So did her" he muttered. "And yet here we are. This is where trust got us." he took a moment to sigh before asking her "did you really thing all of this was easy? This wasn't how it was meant to go, for the record."
"You trusted you" she repeated, more angrily. "I liked you. I thought we were…I brought you to my place. We…"
"Believe me, I'm just as disgusted in myself as you are" he said. She even heard the vile in his voice. "Things got…complicated, I'll admit. But the reasons for all of this remained the same."
"What reasons?" she asked. "You attacked my friends. You killed Maxwell Davies. You helped Hank Henshaw try to destroy my home!"
"A means to an end" he replied curtly. "And as for Maxwell, I won't lose sleep over that glory hound. Your friends…I have no ill will for them. I actually have some great respect for them. James in particular. He's a good man, gave me some good advice. They all just got in my way. Believe me, if I wanted those dead they would be."
"What about me?" she asked defiantly, looking at his obsession wall. "Don't you want me dead?"
"You have no idea how much I want that" he growled.
"Why? Why me?"
"Because I hate you" he said. "I distaste you and everything you claim to be. You call yourself a hero of the people, the saviour of the world, but you're not. You're just a girl in a costume with powers. You are no hero. You're just an amateur vigilante."
Kara felt her fury building in her chest. She was used to people challenging her role as a hero. Lockwood. Lex. All those who came before. But it confirmed what she suspected. This was personal for Jake, whatever it was. "Whose doctrine do you follow then?" she asked, following Alex's signal to keep the conversation going. "Agent Liberty? Or are you another fan of Lex Luthor like Maxwell was?"
"Lex was always an egotist before his obsession" he scoffed. "I did attend a few of Lockwood's rally's I'll admit. But my quarrel wasn't with the aliens. Just you. I found a better avenue to work under, a partner who could use my talents."
"You mean the Blacksmith?"
She heard him chuckle. "I warned him you guys would soon be after his enterprise. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll keep you and the DEO busy. I'll be keeping the sword though. One of his best works" he said.
"So what happens now?" she asked, struggling to hold it together. She wanted to smash this receiver and rip down this photo wall with her bare hands. "Was it all a lie? Everything?"
There was a long pause before he reluctantly admitted "no. not all of it. That was the problem. You got more out of me in five weeks than people have been able to in five years. What we had, it…confused things" he said.
"Confused how?" she pressed. When he didn't answer she snapped "Jake! Where are you?"
"I didn't call to give away all the answers Kara" he snapped back. "I called to tell you to relax. I'm going away for a while, give us both some space. You need to process all this and I need to re-establish my priorities. Don't worry, when the time comes we'll be ready to settle this."
"You won't get away with this" she warned. "We know who you are now. We'll be coming for you."
As if on cue, Alex's face lit up as Brainy came back with the triangulation. But then her expression faltered as she looked up and down the room. Kara turned to look at her, silently asking where he was. "I don't get it?" she whispered, looking at her and Maggie. "My people say the call is being relayed from this building." Maggie looked around the room before advising her officer to search all the apartments floor by floor, bottom to top.
Kara heard Jake chuckled. "I'm sure you will. You and Dreamer and Guardian and the Martian Manhunter. I look forward to it. Until then, you may want to be more worried about that relay transmitter your sister mentioned" he advised.
Kara blinked in surprise. How did Jake hear that? She looked through the windows again and them the room. "Where are you?"
"Out of your reach, for the moment" he replied. "I'll be back. Before you hang up, you might want to take care of Miss Danvers. She seems to be standing in the wrong place. Kara eyes widened as she turned to Alex, who was standing in the middle of the bed room in front of the wall. Her eyes narrowed and she used her x-ray vision to survey the floor below her at the same instance a high pitched whine cut through the air piercing her ear drums. She followed it to the detonator strapped to the conceal package hidden under the floorboards covered in lead paint. Her gut clenched as she realised what was about to happen As Jakes voice called over the receiver falling from her grasp "see you soon Supergirl."
Alex looked up in time to see her sister scream her name a split-second before the bomb in the apartment went off around them.
The line went dead as Jake removed the mobile from his ear, detaching the tiny detonator switch from the device before taking the mobile apart. Once it was in pieces he gathered them in his palm and tipped them into the empty plastic cup on his foldout table. The tablet in front of him displayed a blank screen, the video feed offline. He switched the tablet off and folded it away.
"Would you like anything else sir?" an air hostess politely asked him. She was young, dark brown hair, her blue and white uniform fitting her slim frame nicely. She wore a dazzling smile and a kind pair of eyes.
Jake looked up at him from his seat, politely replying "no thanks. That's alright." Before she left he gently added "actually, do you have a rubbish bag?" holding up his plastic cup which she assumed to be empty. She nodded, reaching for the little dustbin on her trolley and offering it to him. He binned the cup thanking her before sitting back in his chair. He looked across to the small family in the middle aisle, their little girl hopping in the chair wearing a Supergirl t-shirt. He averted his gaze, turning it out the nearby window of the aeroplane, his hand fiddling with the engagement ring on his finger. "See you soon" he muttered again, watching the horizon.