Brainy stood in the middle of the main hub holding his tablet as the six of them stared at him expectantly. When he didn't volunteer the information right away Alex blurted out "well don't keep us in suspense!"
With a swift nod Brainy turned around and tapped his tablet to bring up the results of his intensive background search into Jake White and his known associates. Everyone gathered around the big table, rising to their feet, lifting their eyes to watch the screens as Brainy began his presentation.
"Jake White, twenty seven years old, born in Diablo City in the UK…odd name for a city in my opinion" he added under his breath as the screens scrolled through the attachments showing his birth certificate, driver's license, school records even. Everyone followed along intently as his face filled the computer screens. "Mother was Amelia White, died from cancer when he was six years old. Father, Jacob White, owned a mechanical shop in the city where Jake apprenticed at while studying for his engineering degree. The shop was family owned, now currently managed by an Adrian Surrey, ownership transferred to Jake after his father's death. Medical complications following a stroke seven years ago."
"At least he wasn't lying about his family" Kara whispered, sounding a little relieved as she crossed her arms, mentally bracing herself for what she might learn.
Alex wasn't as patient though, ordering Brainy to "jump to the part where you figured out why he's after Kara!"
Brainy looked back at her explaining "it's just a theory based on the evidence I've collected, but I believe it's the most logical explanation." He brought up another series of files, these ones around a young woman with dark hair and angular features. Nobody in the room recognised her. "Sarah Kelly, born Sarah Linwood" Brainy explained, nodding to Kara from supplying the family name. "Born to the Linwood family in Detroit, moved to the UK nine years ago. She worked as a nurse and was transferred to Diablo City where she met Jake. Social Media shows a timeline of…apparent hostility before they began dating, then became engaged."
Nia looked up at the timeline Brainy put together, the series of photos with Jake and Sarah together. She hated to admit it, but they looked really happy together. "It's like a romance novel brought to life" she muttered.
"What happened to her?" James asked.
"she died" Kara answered, feeling rather uncomfortable recalling the fight that ultimately broke her and Jake up where she all but accused him of making her disappear. She forced herself to remember Jake had been using her and that fight didn't matter, but it didn't take away the pain it brought with it. "She was buried in a family plot I'm guessing, under her family name" she said.
Brainy hesitated before addressing her directly. "She is indeed buried in her hometown in Detroit. But that's not where she died. She returned to the US sixth months before her death, renewing her medical license under her family name before resuming her work here in National City."
Everyone looked at him in surprise. "She worked here?" Nia asked. He nodded.
"She died here?" James asked. He nodded again.
Alex shook her head impatiently. "What's this got to do with Supergirl?" she asked, not seeing the significance.
But Kara was starting to get ahead of her sister, a knot forming in her throat. "How did she die?"
Brainy looked away sadly, bringing up the news article listing her name amongst others telling the group "she was one of the fifteen people who perished in the tragedy at the old Community Hospital."
All the air suddenly seemed to get sucked out of the room as Kara was brought face to face with the image of one of her biggest failures as Supergirl as the screens showcased the horrifying events that befell that landmark. She felt that knot tighten as she replayed the memories that had been haunting her for five years. It seemed no matter what it would always come back around to torment her.
Nia stepped forward to appraise the new reports and articles Brainy brought up. She wasn't here when this happened, but she remembered hearing about it on the news in her hometown. "This is…I remember reading about this. But I didn't think it was…" she looked at Kara, who couldn't bear to look at the list of names in front of her. "What happened?"
She took a deep breath before reluctantly explaining "there was a… an inmate from Fort Razz. He wanted to conquer the planet and was willing to destroy any city that didn't kneel to him. We…I…"
"The DEO sent Supergirl out to stop him" J'onn explained, recalling the incident he was in charge of. "The inmate was from a dangerous race of aliens who were just as strong as Kryptonians, but he also cannibalised parts of the prison he was in to turn them into weapons. The fight escalated further than we had planned, we tried to get him outside the city. Unfortunately there was some battles that can't be predicted."
"But I'm the one who brought the building down" Kara said ashamed, wiping her nose and turned back to see the image of the demolished hospital. "Those people died because of me."
"You had only just revealed yourself to the world" Alex told her. "Nobody can expect you to be perfect."
"It would've been different if Superman was there" she pouted. "Unfortunately he was busy stopping a tsunami in Asia at the time. I thought I could handle it."
"And you did" James insisted.
Lena stepped forward focusing on the topic in front of them, asking "so is this why you think Jake is after Supergirl? You think he blames her for what happened at the Hospital?"
"Plenty of people do" Kara muttered, which didn't please her friends.
Brainy gave them a nod of affirmation. "I believe so. However, I also think its goes further than that" he added, bringing up another stage of his presentation. "Once I found out about Sarah's connection to the hospital and double checked everything around that date. It turns out Jake was also in the city at that time. He arrived that morning. There is also a call between them at the exact time the incident occurred.
"He was paying her a visit" Nia realised as Kara felt a wave of foreboding fall over her.
"I found the police reports of the rescue efforts. He was on the scene by the conclusion. The reports say he was attempting to rescue his fiancé when they came to the scene."
"That was after the alien was defeated" J'onn said.
Brainy brought up the autopsy. "the Medical Examiners confirmed she had been buried under twelve tons of debris, which crushed her ribcage and punctured a lung, shattered her right knee and delivered extensive blunt force trauma to her body and skull. She died from internal bleeding after approximately six minutes, by which time the emergency services…"
"Wait, hold up!" Kara suddenly interrupted, turning to Brainy sharply with alarm. "Six minutes? Six minutes since what? She… she was alive!" she squeaked.
Brainy realised what he was saying and took a pause to measure the appropriate response. But in the end he just gave her the facts. "Yes, after the trauma of the injury it took Sarah Linwood approximately six minutes to die from internal haemorrhaging."
Kara's face went pale. Six minutes! That means she was alive when I left! She stumbled back against the table as both Alex and J'onn stared in shock and horror. They hadn't been aware of any of the victims surviving the initial collapse. They assumed it was all instantaneous.
Kara fought to keep her balance as Brainy turned back to the screen and brought up one final file. "I also searched through the records of the incident and found this recording in the database, confiscated from one of the civilians."
He hit play and everyone witnessed the six screens get engulfed with grainy footage of the destruction, the images shaking as people's heads bobbed about while police officers held everyone back. There was a sudden BOOM as Supergirl came tumbling out with the massive alien warrior landing on the front steps, hitting him with one final blow which knocked the brute out cold. Kara looked at herself five years ago, seeing her original costume scuffed with dust as her blonde hair fell over her face, the red blood pouring from the cuts on her forehead as she stood over the alien heaving from exertion. Kara stepped forward and saw her younger self shaking her head, her body trembling from adrenaline as she winced in discomfort. She recalled the ringing in her ears at the time from the sonic cannons, how she couldn't hear a thing, how disorientating it was. It was a miracle she managed to hear Alex calling her back to the DEO. She looked at the rest of the footage and found the camera panning across the hospital, people crawling out of the debris coughing or screaming.
Then she saw him; Jake, jumping over the rubble in the grainy footage. Her friends gasped realising he was there as Brainy played. "Holy shit" James muttered as Nia covered her mouth. Kara stared at the figure as he shouted into the rubble, the camera panning away to focus on her again. But somewhere in that she suddenly picked out something in her regenerating super-hearing. "What is that?"
"What's what?" Lena asked, her eyes fixed on the screens.
Kara looked at Brainy. "The sound."
Brainy's expression dropped as he raised the volume of the footage. He knew what she was hearing, he'd found the same when he listened to it. The volume rose as the grainy footage became a jumbled mess of voices and wind and people shouting and screaming and cheering. But Kara found one voice in the jumble, able to hear it because she'd come to recognise it and the words he was shouting. It was Jake's voice shouting for help, shouting for her. She looked up at the video and realised Jake had been calling her name, calling for help to save his fiancé. She couldn't believe it, she didn't recall.
I didn't hear it she realised, her heart sinking as her younger self suddenly flew away into the sky, leaving the emergency services to clean up and the DEO to detain the alien.
She turned around and looked at Alex, her body swaying unsteadily as she leant against the table. Lena rushed to her side mumbling something about side effects from her treatment, but all she could think about was the call for help she never answered. "I didn't hear it" she said, looking at Alex.
Alex was equally disturbed by this revelation as she stared at the footage, casting a quick look to her previous boss. "You couldn't have known" she told Kara.
"I could've saved her" she replied.
"You had a concussion and two broken ribs" she reminded her. "You couldn't have known. This isn't your fault."
"It doesn't matter" Lena said, looking at Kara with sadness in her eyes. "As far as Jake is concerned, you didn't save her. He called to you and you left her behind. That's how he sees it. That's why he's out for blood. You thinks you let the woman he loved die."
Kara looked back at the image of her flying away, the glimpse of Jake in the corner of the screen watching her disappear. The look on his face, it broke her. "I don't feel… I need a minute" she said, stumbling away from the table. Alex was about to stop her but Kara wasn't moving to the balcony. She was heading in the opposite direction deeper into the HQ. She reluctantly let her go, hoping she wouldn't disappear on them again, leaving her to look at the footage and wonder if she had as much reason to feel responsible as Kara did.
Kara stumbled into the bathroom and thanked Rao the room was empty. She rushed to the sink and splashed cold water in her face. She was feeling queasy, nauseous. Lena had warned the inject she gave her to clear her system of Kryptonite could result in side effects, maybe some vomiting. But she didn't think that's what was making her feel sick. "If you don't know, then your sister didn't do a very good job in her background check as I thought" Jake had said when she asked him why. Now she knew and it all made sense.
"I trusted you" she had said.
"So did she" He replied.
Alex was right, her condition meant she wasn't in a position to hear anyone or help anybody. But it didn't change the fact she left an innocent woman to die. Jake's words continued to echo in her head. "You're just a girl in a costume with powers. You are no hero, you're just an amateur vigilante!"
She felt the bile rushing up and flung herself into the nearest cubicle, doubling over the toilet throwing up into the basin. As she vomited she felt the weight of her sins push her down until she couldn't breathe, feeling like Sarah Linwood trapped that hospital until she ceased to exist. Kara wiped her mouth and felt the tears dripping from her nose, her hands gripping the toilet bowl trying not to break it as she fought for control between the guilt of causing this and the anger she felt towards herself.
Alex went looking for Kara few minutes after she ducked into the bathroom, only the young woman had slipped out of the building after all. She cursed to herself immediately going looking for her. But to her astonishment she found she wasn't out in the city or her fortress. She had gone back to her apartment instead as Alex walked in finding her out of her costume and in her pyjamas eating her large tub of ice cream. Uh oh, that tub only comes out when she's wallowing she thought as she put her bag down and walked over to join her on the sofa. Kara barely looked up as her sister sat down next to her. "I'm surprised to find you here and not out there" she said cautiously.
"I can't screw anything up from in here" she replied bluntly.
Alex groaned internally. Yup, she's wallowing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the signal watch Lena had made for Kara, designed to look like a regular watch. She held it out to Kara. "Do me a favour and make sure you keep this on you next time you disappear" she asked.
"I didn't disappear, I just came home" she said.
"all the same, as long as there's a guy out there after you and the streets are full of kryptonite, I'm telling you to keep this on you" she insisted. "It's bad enough you don't keep your phone with you when you're out their saving the world but you can damn well wear a watch."
"Last I checked I don't work for the DEO anymore" she retorted. "So you can't actually tell me what to do." Alex glared at her stubbornly until her younger sister begrudgingly took it off her and looked at it. "Fine, so how does it work?"
"Same as before" she replied, showing the watch on her wrist flipping open the cover revealing the button. "Press once to activate and it sends a signal to every other watch. So I you end up in trouble we all can come running."
"Does it have a GPS tracker too?"
"Only when activated, which I'm not happy about" she added with a huff. Kara rolled her eyes. Of course her adopted sister would love to keep Kara on an electronic lease. "You didn't screw up five years ago" she said after watching her stuff more spoonful's of ice cream into her mouth.
"Fifteen people died" Kara repeated. "One of them is the reason Jake is coming after me and putting you in danger."
"Temporary deafness is a valid argument."
"I'm not deaf now. I can hear what people out there are saying. I've been causing just as much chaos as the bad guys."
"That's not true."
"Hank didn't trigger a solar flare that knocked out all the satellites" she said. Alex bristled as Kara looked at her saying "I overheard the arguments you were having with your bosses. They don't trust me. I'm the reason we can't extradite Jake back to the US. Lena's having to play along with blaming me too to keep her company afloat too. And before you say anything, I don't blame her. She's just doing what she needs to. She's not the only one."
Alex sighed turning in her seat. "How many times do we have to have this talk where I convince you that you are not to blame for all the stuff that goes wrong in this city? I'm starting to think you have a bigger ego then Lex Luthor."
Kara blinked staring at the redhead, her mouth full of ice cream. "Wow, you're going there?"
"Yeah, I guess I am" she nodded.
Kara knew better than to take the bait though, swallowing her food responding with "well at this rate I'll be as dangerous as he was too."
Alex gave up and let out a frustrated sigh. "You are infuriating sometimes."
"well, as long as I'm here eating ice cream and not trying to save the world, things can't get any worse" she retorted pessimistically.#
Their talk was interrupted by the door to the apartment suddenly being thrown open as an older woman came barging in carrying a large suitcase. The Danvers sisters jumped up and spun around in surprise to find the tall middle aged woman with greying blonde hair in a large coat standing in their doorway heaving for breath as she looked at the pair of them. "I forgot how many stairs this apartment building has" she muttered as she dropped her suitcase at her feet.
"Eliza!" Kara stammered, choking on her ice scream.
"Mom!" Alex gasped.
Eliza Danvers looked at her two stunned daughters asking them "well are you going to invite me in?"