The vision played out much the same as before. The sky was clogged with smoke and ash, fires burned through the city, bodies littered the ground as far as the eye could see. Nia stepped carefully over the corpses dressed in her costume, her gaze focused on the solitary figure kneeling amongst the devastation. Once again, Supergirl was weeping and covered in blood when Nia approached her. "I didn't mean too" he whispered with tears in her eyes.
Nia knelt down in front of her, softly asking her "didn't mean to what? I don't understand, what happened?" she tried to ignore the laughing she knew came next, reaching out to take Kara's blood stained hands in hers. "Kara! What did you do? Was it Jake? Did he do this?" Then, before her eyes, Supergirl dissolved leaving Nia alone in the carnage. Nia stared as her friend vanished, like dust on the wind.
She continued to hear the laughing in her ears, looking around for any clue she might've missed. It was getting easier to focus in this grim nightmare, disconnect from the emotions that once clouded her judgement and look at the vision analytically. She scanned the bodies at her feet, finding a few familiar faces in the pile. She focused on the spot Kara had been kneeling, digging through the blood until she found a face she recognised. Alex Danvers lying where Kara was. "What does this mean?" Nia asked aloud. "What are to you trying to tell me?" she asked the dream.
A chuckle suddenly snapped her attention away from the bodies around her. This wasn't Jake's laugh, with had suddenly fallen silent over the horizon. She turned around and was surprised to discover someone else with her in the dream. She rose to her feet and approached this figure as it hummed to itself. "Such a puzzle, isn't it little dreamer" the figure said, his face looking up from its shaggy hair while his robes hung from his lanky hunched frame.
"Who are you?" Nia asked, taken aback by the new arrival. This was the first time she'd had a dream where the dreams speak back to her in this manner.
"Who am I?" the stranger cackled. "That is unimportant. The better question is; what would you give to find the answers?" he asked, his crooked teeth widening into a grin."
Nia cocked an eyebrow. "You know what this vision is trying to warn me?"
"I know a lot of things" he grinned. "I know why you mother was forced to leave Naltor, or rather chose to."
"She left because it wasn't safe for her to be the dreamer" Nia interrupted.
"Yes, but why? Or maybe that's a story for another day. Right now, you're worried about your friend, your mentor, your Supergirl."
Nia approached the stranger cautiously. "What do you about this? What are you?"
"I told you, what I am doesn't matter. Or maybe it does. Maybe I'm part of the riddle. Or maybe I'm a hint." The stranger cackled, like this situation was amusing to it. "Or maybe I'm not important and just here to cloud your judgement. Are you willing to risk making a deal with the devil to find out?"
Nia narrowed her eyes. Something about this creature sounded familiar to her. She racked her brain until she recalled a story her mother told her when she was a child. A being who lived in the dreaming that would visit dreamers, offering help in exchange for a price. She had warned such creatures couldn't be trusted, that they took pride in leading travellers of the dreaming astray. "Why should I believe you?" Nia asked the stranger.
The figure looked wounded. "Why would I lie? But you didn't answer the question. Would you risk making a deal with the devil to keep you friend safe?"
"I don't know you. How would I know what you tell me is true?"
"You don't" he cackled. "But you misunderstand, it's not me I'm asking for. You have you not seen that far forward yet?" his expression darkened. "Oh dear, it seems you're not as gifted as I hoped you'd be. Such a curse being future blind, don't you think?"
Before Nia could retort the blazon insult to her heritage, the dream was rocked by the sound of a gunshot. She gasped involuntarily, her eyes widening as she looked down and found a bullet hole in her chest, crimson blood spreading through her costume. Surprisingly, however, she didn't feel any pain. She didn't feel anything.
The stranger chuckled as it watched her examine the wound. "It would seem that bullet has your name on it" he laughed. But then his eyes narrowed, and for the first time Nia noticed his eyes were hollow and vacant. "Or is it your name? Perhaps you should check?"
Nia looked at him, then looked down at the wound. Without thinking, she brought her hand up and reached into the bullet hole, her fingers sliding into her chest stretching the wound wider. She didn't feel any pain as she reached in and took hold of the bullet, pulling it out of her body. She stared at the glowing green slug, which appeared to be from a rifle. There was something etched into the metal, a symbol. Her breath inhaled when she saw it was the family crest to the House of El, Supergirl's symbol.
"I guess that bullet wasn't meant for you" the stranger cackled as the dream suddenly collapsed around her.
Nia woke up on the couch in the medical room Lena Luthor had set aside for Brainy at L-Corp. Brainy was lying in a hospital bed in the middle of the sterile room with machines monitoring his improving vitals. Nia sat up on the couch, the blanket draped over her falling to her waist as she rubbed her eyes. She couldn't recall how long she'd been asleep, checking her watch to see it was almost eleven in the evening. She looked up just as Lena was walking in to check on Brainy, nodding to Nia asking if she slept well. "A little" she replied, rising to her feet still tired.
Lena cast an eye over the young woman who'd been at her boyfriend's bedside all afternoon. "You should go home, have a shower, take a break" she advised. "Brainy's in good hands here. And his recovery is going well. I predict he'll be up and about the day after tomorrow."
Nia nodded. She was in need of a shower. But she was hesitant to leave him, in case something happened. But maybe she needed a break, a moment to figure out what her dream meant. "Okay" she sighed reluctantly. "If something changes…"
"You'll be the first person I call" Lena promised.
Nia nodded, thanking her for everything she'd done, giving the sleeping Brainy a kiss on the cheek before walking out of the room to find the lift that will take her outside.
Lena leant Nia her car keys so she could drive home. Nia made a mental note to get her own car at some point so she wouldn't have to rely on her friends so much. She crossed the parking lot with Lena's keys in hand and her handbag slung over her shoulder, pressing the button listening for the beep of the vehicle unlocking. The car park was dark with only a dozen vehicles parked up. Lena's car was in her designated parking space near the entrance. Nia approached it and paused by the door to check her bag. Her mind was still preoccupied by the dream she'd had, debating whether she should call J'onn so they could discuss it.
She caught the reflection in the car window and froze, her body entering alertness as she waited a few seconds before spinning around to confront the figure she saw creeping up on her. Dream energy glowed in her palms as she brought her hands up in front of her, aiming them at the young man in the leather jacket approaching the car. His hands came up, one holding a large suitcase, the other empty. His expression didn't convey alarm or surprise, only controlled tension. "I'm only here to talk" Jake White informed her.
Nia kept her hands up as she glared at the man who was responsible for having Olsen arrested for a crime he didn't commit, for putting Brainy in the hospital, and for inciting her nightmares these past few months. She was surprised he would be so bold to come after her like this, without his suit of weapons. She glanced around the car park for witnesses or back-up, but he appeared to have come alone. "I've got nothing to say to you" she said angrily, resisting the urge to blast him with her energy and drag him to the police station.
He kept his arms spread as he stepped forward. She stepped back instantly, prompting him to keep his distance and lower the case in his hands. "I'm not here to fight" he told her, demonstrating this by showing he was unarmed. No weapons, no belt, no tricks. Her expression showed her scepticism however. She couldn't trust he came here without some means of defending himself. "I just want to talk. Five minutes, that's all I ask."
Nia narrowed her gaze and scoffed. "Why would I be interested in hearing anything you have to say?" she asked him pointedly. "After everything you've done."
"I'm not going to pretend or apologise for the actions I've taken" he said. "That would just waste both our time. I'm here because Kara is in danger."
Nia almost burst out laughing. Is he serious? "Whatever it is you're planning for her, we will stop you" she promised.
"I'm not the problem right now" he warned. "It's Robert DuBois, Bloodsport. He's still in the city and he's going to try and kill Supergirl."
Nia paused, momentarily lowering her hands. She remembered Bloodsport. Last she saw him Kara had knocked him off the cargo ship. They didn't find him after. That was before Jake attacked the convoy and killed the Blacksmith. She brought her hands back up, asking the man "I thought Bloodsport was working with you?"
"I hired him to get Henry Irons out of the country" he explained. He sensed the response Nia was about to fire back and acknowledged "I know, rather rich considering I ended up killing the man myself. I and Dubois already had that discussion. He's a mercenary, and he's good. He knows there's a large bounty on Supergirl's head and he's looking to collect it. He has the skills, the weapons, and the kryptonite to pull it off."
Nia held Jake's gaze coldly, but inside she was starting to panic. What he was saying tracked with what she had been told about the man. It he was going after Kara she needed to be warned. But that begged the question why was Jake warning her. "Why come to me? She asked curiously. "I thought you wanted Supergirl dead too."
Jake's expression twitched, and for the first time Nia began to wonder if that was what this was about. She recalled the conversation she and Kara listened in on between him and Irons a few days ago, the Blacksmith hinted that Jake's priorities might have changed. Nia wasn't sure what to make of it at the time. But maybe this wasn't about killing Kara anymore, not outright. "Let's just say my plans don't align with his at the moment" he said cautiously. "And I came to you because Kara needs to be warned. And I didn't think anyone else would be gracious enough to hear me out. I know you care about her, and I know you'd want to know if she was in trouble."
Nia still had her doubts. Just because she was, as it turned out, crazy enough to listen to the man they'd been fighting for months doesn't mean she believed him. "If you and Bloodsport really aren't in this together, why aren't you out there stopping him?" she asked.
"Believe me, I would if I could" he scowled, the bruising briefly noticeable in the overhead lamppost.
It took Nia a moment to figure out what he meant. For Jake to stop Bloodsport he'd need his suit and gear. But if he did and he was seen, it would compromise the frame he'd put on Olsen. He couldn't stop Bloodsport without exonerating James, so he came to her instead. Nia cringed inwardly. If she ignored the warning then she'd be risking Kara's safety just to play chicken with the Reckoning. If she believed him she'll be helping him keep his plan intact. "Why me?" she repeated.
"Because you care too much about Kara to simply dismiss my warning" he replied. He came to her because he knew she wouldn't be able to ignore the chance that what he told her was true. He also had another reason as he looked down at the case by his feet. Keeping his hands up him used his boot and pushed the case towards the young woman. She stepped back hesitantly as it skidded to her feet, looking at the man suspiciously. "Consider it a gift from the blacksmith" he explained. "Go ahead, it's not rigged or anything."
Nia glanced down at the case, keeping her focus on him waiting for any deception. But her curiosity compelled her to take a look, so she cautiously crouched down to slowly unclasp the case. She braced for a trap as she opened it. But to her surprise she found a replica of her costume waiting inside. More than a replica, an upgrade with gauntlets, a mask and boots. She scanned the outfit and noticed her old gauntlets within, looking up at Jake with confusion. "What is this?"
"Something Irons made a while ago" he told her. "He's a tinkerer. When he gets inspired, he tinkers. And you inspired him, apparently. He reverse engineered your gauntlets and improved them, created a costume that built on what you had already. I couldn't tell you the specs, I wasn't really paying attention. But I know he hoped to give it to you one day."
Nia knew she shouldn't accept this, but at a glance it was hard not to admire the look of it. She closed the case and rose back to her feet looking at him. "Why give it to me?"
"Because he'd want you to have it" he said. "And consider it a good will gesture."
"You think this will make up for what you did?"
"I don't expect anything" he said with a shrug. "Believe me, don't believe me. Keep it or scrap it. I came here to warn you about DuBois. It's up to you what you do with the information. All I can do now is wish you luck."
He stepped back and turned, walking back into the darkness leaving Nia to contemplate what to do next. She knew she should've chased after him and brought him in, but she figured his warning about Kara would need to take priority. Or maybe she was just too stunned and too tired to think clearly.