"What do you mean he's gone?" Alex yelled, storming through the hallways resisting the urge to break something expensive in L-Corp.
On the other end of the phone call, Maggie Sawyer was delivering the bad news. "I mean he's in the wind" she explained. "There was an explosion in his cell and by the time security got there he was gone."
Alex seethed, pacing the hall sensing hope slipping through their fingers again. This can't be happening, not again. "Are you sure he's not dead?" she asked.
"Positive. There was no body. The explosion took out one of his walls. It lead into a service stairwell to the basement. We found his jumpsuit down there next to the laundry. We figured he changed into a guard and slipped out in the confusion through one of the maintenance tunnels. We tried locking them down but we were too late." Maggie heard Alex curse over the phone and assured her "I've already put an APB out for him. The FBI and Interpol are on the lookout. We'll find him."
"Assuming DuBois is planning to leave the city" she worried.
"You think he might go after Supergirl again?"
Alex had to consider it, given what happened. She glanced through the hallways to the room her sister and the others were waiting. She glimpsed J'onn and Kara spying on her through the crack in the door, the same worried expressions on their faces. She cursed, forgetting one was a telepath and one had super hearing. "Keep me posted" she asked the captain, hanging up and turning back to her family. They didn't need to read her mind to realise she was thinking the same gut wrenching thing they were.
The next couple of days were, to everyone's surprise, quiet. Robert DuBois never resurfaced following his escape from Iron Heights. That didn't stop the Super-friends from taking precautions in case he was still looking to collect on his bounty. As soon as Supergirl was strong enough she was taken to the Fortress of Solitude where she was ordered (by her doctor, best friend and mother) to stay until she had recovered from her injuries. The kryptonite left her system after 48 hours, the wounds healing a day or too later. Between the healing facilities of the fortress and Lena's check-ups she was able to make a full recovery within a week.
But that was a week of pacing and nervous waiting while her friends scoured the city and surrounding areas looking for Bloodsport. As soon as Brainy was able to he returned to the DEO to coordinate the search efforts from there, implementing as many resources as he could to the task. But evidence seemed to confirm he was gone. Maybe he had left the country. Maybe he was laying low.
There was one option the Danvers sisters had been forced to consider too. "What if he's dead?" Alex pondered.
"Maggie said there wasn't a body" Kara reminded her.
"Not in his cell, or at the prison" she nodded. "But that doesn't mean he wasn't killed afterwards."
Kara sighed, running her temples. "You still think Jake had something to do with it?" she asked.
Alex nodded. A few days ago Maggie shared everything they had into the investigation, off the record of course. Maggie had explained how his cell was in an unfortunate blind spot on the cell block, one the Warden had been neglecting to fix. They couldn't see what happened, but the surrounding cameras did catch a guard walking to and from his cell moments before the explosion. They interviewed everyone but this guy appeared to be unaccounted for. They later found the uniform blocks away when a homeless junkie stumbled upon it. Maggie speculated DuBois had outside help in this escape. Alex got even more interested when the forensics report determined the explosive used was small and very advanced, almost precision like in its destruction. She took it to Lena who concluded it was very sophisticated. Many Blacksmith sophisticated. "I do" Alex replied.
"But why?" Kara asked, the question racking her brain. "He warned Nia about DuBois. He wanted him out of the way. Why would he help him escape? He's less of a threat in prison."
"I don't know. But it's possible so he could lure him into a trap and make him disappear" Alex proposed. "DuBois would be even less dangerous dead" she noted.
"But if he could just have him killed, why not do it in the prison?" Kara argued. "Why warn us and not handle it himself?"
Alex didn't have all the answers. Unfortunately the why wasn't what was keeping her awake at night? Without Bloodsport they had nothing to help prove Jake was the Reckoning. They had no witness, no tape, and no evidence. Every stage of this investigation was one step forward and two steps back with them, and it was starting to infuriate Alex. "Why didn't you come straight to me with the tape you made?" she asked her sister.
Kara sighed, sinking back onto the chair beside her. "I don't know. I wasn't even sure if I could use it" she explained, feeling guilty about the whole thing. "I should've. Then maybe I wouldn't have had it on me when DuBois shot me and it wouldn't have been destroyed in the process."
"I can't argue with that" Alex agreed. "So why didn't you?"
"I was…trying to figure out what to do. The tape had more than Jake's confession on it. It would've implicated Olsen as the Guardian, exposed Nia for being Dreamer, my identity as Supergirl…and Eliza's assassination attempt on his life."
Alex froze, her face turning pale as she looked at the blonde woman. "He told you about that" she said.
Kara nodded. "It's why I went to her first."
Alex groaned, nervously gulping as she approached her sister. "Kara…"
"I know, you knew" Kara interrupted. She looked at her sister comfortingly. "I know why you didn't want to tell me. Things between Jake and I…it's all a mess. But I never thought Eliza would hire an assassin to try and…"
"Protect you? She's our mom Kara. Of course she she'd do what she felt she'd had to" Alex told her, taking a seat opposite her. "Honestly, if I wasn't the director of the DEO at the time, I'd probably have done it too."
"She thinks it's her fault Jake came back" Kara told her.
"I tried to tell her it wasn't her fault. Jake's a piece of shit. He played all of us."
For once, Kara didn't argue with her. She shared Alex's outrage. "He's going to get away with this" she said. "Whatever we try doesn't work."
"We will" Alex promised.
"No, we won't" she insisted. "Not like this. We try to do this the right way and he keeps slipping away. It's not working."
Alex narrowed her eyes. Kara always believed in doing things the right way, it was her nature. It's what made her who she is. But she was starting to sound like…her. "Kara, what are you saying?"
"I don't…I don't know" she admitted. "I'm just so tired of losing to him. Olsen's in prison and I can't do anything to help. And the moment I had something that could've helped, I lost it."
Alex reached over, taking Kara's arm and squeezing it. "We will get him. Do you hear me? He is not going to get away with this." Alex tried to sound confident, for her sister, but Kara couldn't seem to meet her gaze. She couldn't blame her. Hope was starting to run very low in the fortress.
Olsen, however, was steadfast in his optimism. Even as his lawyer detailed all the evidence against him and recommending cooperation, he remained stubborn and hopeful. Kelly was just as stubborn, standing by his side as the bail hearing loomed ever closer. She repeatedly suggested he tell the police about his moonlighting as Guardian, but he repeatedly refused. He wasn't that desperate yet, not while his friends were out there.
The lawyer was good, one of the best, and he was confident he could get Olsen out on bail, as a start. That was good enough for now. Olsen was starting to get claustrophobic inside these walls. He would sit and think, occasionally write his thoughts down. The guards were fair, nobody mistreated him despite the crimes he was accused off. He got a few scolding looks from the officers, men and women who lost friends in the attack on the Overpass. He did his best to ignore them and focus on his own mental wellbeing. He'd heard stories of inmates losing themselves to incarceration. He was determined not to fall into the same patterns. Visits with his family helped, but it was the visits from Nia that brought him hope.
Nia visited him as much as she could to update him on what was going on. She relayed the incident with Bloodsport and Jake's warning. She also mentioned how Kara wished she could be here for him. "Knowing she's safe is all that matters" Olsen told her. "Being in here is hard enough, but I don't know what I'd do with I was worrying about her too. Tell her its okay."
"I will" Nia promised. She fidgeted a little, glancing around the small visitor's room checking the officer outside the door. "How are you coping?"
"I'm okay" he assured her. He saw the concern in her expression, asking "how are you coping?"
"Me? I'm not the one in jail for something he didn't do."
"But I'm fine. You're not" he observed.
She crossed her arms, her body language confirming she was worried. He patiently waited for her to speak up, willing to listen like he always did. "I just…I wish there was something I could do to help" she sighed.
"You are" he told her. "You're here. And you're out there. You're keeping the city safe. You're keeping Kara safe."
"It's not like I'm doing much" she shrugged.
He raised an eyebrow. "The way I heard it, Dreamer saved Supergirl's life. That's more than nothing" he said proudly. She brushed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "You are helping, more than you might realise."
"But it's not enough" she complained. She looked up guiltily as she explained to Olsen "when Kara told us about the taped confession she had of Jake, what was on it, I was glad. But when she told us it would've…that using it would mean my secret, our secret, would be exposed…I was relieved it was destroyed. I haven't told anyone, not even Brainy. But you deserved to know…"
"Its okay" he shushed her, taking her hand gently. She fought back a tear as she looked back at him apologetically. She'd been feeling sick that a part of her would've preferred to let Olsen stay in prison in order to keep her secret identity intact. "I get it. I understand. You're not ready for the world to know who you are. That doesn't make you a bad person."
"Even if it betrays someone I care about?"
"Nia…I wouldn't have asked you to make that choice" he told her. "The truth is, if Kara had told me about the tape, I wouldn't suggested she destroy it too." Nia's eyes widened in confusion as Olsen sat back in his chair. "Kelly keeps asking me to tell then I'm Guardian. She thinks it'll help my defence. She might be right. But I'm not ready for the world to know who I am either, not yet. So I understand how you were feeling, how you feel. Don't feel guilty about wanting to protect yourself. And don't feel like you have to keep it a secret from your friends. They will understand too."
"You really think so?"
"I'm sure of it" he smiled.
She smiled back, relieved to have had this conversation. "I hope we get you out" she said. "It's not the same around Cacto without you."
He laughed fondly, picturing the workplace in chaos on a deadline and the reporters swarming the place. "The acting Editor-in-chief giving you trouble?"
She shrugged. "He's doing his best. The staff are just keeping the place running until you get back. They send their love."
Olsen appreciated hearing that. There was a knock on the door indicating visiting time was up. The two of them said their farewells wishing each other luck. "I meant to ask, did Kara get someone to send that letter to the network?" he enquired.
Nia took a moment to look confused. "I don't know, she didn't mention anything about it."
Olsen was afraid of that. "In case she forgets, or had a lot on her mind, there's a letter of recommendation in my desk that producers should see" to told her. "Could you check it's been sent when you get back to the office?"
"Sure" she nodded, happy to do something to help. "That's the letter for?"
"My replacement, just in case" he replied.
Nia tried not to take it as a sign of concern, but she promised to follow up just in case. She was escorted out of the visiting room leaving Olsen to await his return to the holding cell. But still he remained hopeful.
Keeping her promise, Nia returned to Cacto and stopped by Olsen's office. The acting Editor-in-Chief wasn't in, so she slipped inside to check the desk. She felt weird about rifling through the drawers but she knew she had her bosses blessing so she persevered. She found the letter James was talking about in an envelope, the writing for the network scrawled in pen. She held it in her hands, resisting the curious temptation to open and read it. She figured the office would be too busy to deal with it so she put it in her bag for safe keeping, taking the responsibility in case the worst should happen. But she knew she wouldn't need to send it. She looked around the office, still picturing him in here. She had to believe he'll return.
She turned around and was surprised by Kara walking in the opposite way. The two froze in surprise. "Nia! What are you doing here?"
"I was…Kara, I thought you were staying at the fortress" Nia interrupted with concern.
Kara brushed it off with an irritated sigh. "I'm feeling much better and sitting in the arctic was driving me crazy" she explained. She walked past Nia towards Olsen's desk. "I figured I'd come here. James asked me to make sure a letter was sent in case the network wanted to replace him. Not that they would, he's coming back. I just…" she stopped when her x-ray vision failed to find a letter.
She turned back and found Nia standing behind her with it in her hands. "He figured you had a lot on your plate, so he asked me to pick it up" she explained.
She held it up to her offering her to take it. Kara looked at it, her tension softening as she shook her head. "You should hold onto it. Everything I do seems to make things worse" she muttered, walking out onto the balcony instead. Nia followed her outside, the two of them leaning against the railing looking over the city. Kara took off her glasses and sighed. "How is James?" she asked her.
"He says he's alright" Nia answered. "He was more worried about you."
Kara chuckled. That sounded like him. She should really pay him a visit when she can. "I keep going over DuBois's attack in my head, trying to figure out when the tape broke" she said sombrely. "I should've just taken it to the DA the first chance I could."
Nia hesitated a moment before asking "why didn't you?"
"I don't know. I guess I was afraid. For Eliza, for James, for you…for me. If I had turned that in, then everyone would've known Kara Danvers was Supergirl. I supposed I could've doctored it, but it would've have been admissible, they'd need the original. I just…I just…"
"Wasn't ready for the world to know yet" Nia finished. Kara looked at her expecting her to be disappointed in her. But to her surprise she saw relief. "You aren't the only one who was afraid" she said, recounting her conversation with Olsen.
Kara's eyes widened as she discovered what James and Nia's stance on the situation was. She blinked in shock and broke into a laugh. "All this time we were all on the same page. Oh, now I feel worse" she groaned.
"I know" Nia grumbled. "But Olsen is okay with it. I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now."
"No" she agreed. But she felt a little better knowing there were people who understood what she was thinking. She shook her head, thinking about that mind set. "Ever since I found out Jake knows our identities, there's been this feeling of dread in the back of my mind wondering "what happens if we catch him and he tells everyone?" we've never actually discussed that possibility, have we?" Kara asked, looking at Nia.
Nia blinked, realising they hadn't. They were always going to figure it out as it goes. But that fear had always been a part of their investigation, a thought hovering in the back of their mind. Nia knew she had spent a few wakeless nights wondering about it. "Do you think that's why he's been winning?" she asked.
Kara shrugged. "I'll admit, there has been a part of me afraid to actually go after him because of it. It's not like I'm subconsciously sabotaging myself. But still…Rao, when I talked to Eliza about the tape and she admitted to the…things Jake said about her" she said, silencing Nia's curious glance with a hand, "she told me she was prepared to face whatever consequences came her way. Because it was the right thing to do. She could've been in big trouble."
"Eliza is braver than me" Nia muttered.
Kara shared the sentiment. Her adopted mother turned out to be braver than all of them. Jake had been keeping them hindered simply by knowing the truth. That needed to change. Not in the "reveal ourselves to the world" sense, but in a "stop it from affecting our decisions" sense. They needed to be braver.
Thinking of bravery, Kara looked over to her young protégé and asked her "do you still have the suit Jake gave you?"
Nia stiffened, glancing at her Kara uncomfortably admitting "yes. But I can get rid of it. I know I don't need it."
"Maybe not, no" Kara nodded, turning to face her. "But if you want to keep it, it's fine" she told her, earning a look of confusion from the girl. "I can't be mad about where you got the suit forever, but I had to admit it does suit you. And I've had to listen to Lena comment on how incredible the Blacksmith's work has been over the last couple of months so at least we know it was made by the best. And if it's safe…it's your costume Nia, you're identity. You shouldn't let me be the reason you don't accept it if you want it."
Nia leaned against the banister, thinking about the suit and all the advantages it gave her in the fight with Bloodsport. Her lip kept curling upwards until she couldn't help but confess "it's a really good costume. I want to keep it."
Kara nodded, proudly squeezing her shoulder. "I know I already thanked you for saving my life, but I think I need to thank you again" she said, looking at her friend affectionately. "The last few months, this last year, you've really grown and stepped up. The Children of Liberty, Bloodsport, Hank Henshaw, the Blacksmith, Jake…I wouldn't have been able to handle any of it without you."
"I was just doing what you taught me" she blushed.
Kara shook her head. "No, you've done more than what I could've taught you. You're stronger, more powerful, and braver in so many ways. You are an amazing woman, an incredible reporter and an awesome superhero. National City is lucky to have you, and so am I."
Nia saw the pride in Kara's expression and was overwhelmed with her words. Her rosy cheeks blushed brighter as she was swept up in the praise and fell into an embrace with her mentor. The two of them hugged before turning to look over at the city as equals, which Kara couldn't be happier for.
Uplifted by Kara's faith in her, Nia had an epiphany and suggested "we should start our own investigation into the Reckoning, into Jake."
Kara narrowed her eyes. "We already have, and it's not going well" she sighed.
Nia took her arm, gesturing to the bullpen. "I'm not talking about a police investigation. Like you said, we're reporters. So let's be reporters. Let's break the story and expose Jake White for who he truly is."
The two reporters regroup at J'onn's office, the PI giving them permission to set up an investigation board while he was out speaking to his contacts for any leads to DuBois's whereabouts. For Kara and Nia however, DuBois was only a single name on their mind as they set up the board with one target; Jake White.
Over the next couple of hours until late in the evening, they poured their energy into mapping out everything they knew and had uncovered over the past several months. They started at the beginning, with the attempted heist from a delivery truck for Axis Environmental who had been contracted in secret to create an army of Metallo Drones. Investigating the heist lead them to TITAN Industries and their former CEO Maxwell Davies, who stole blueprints from L-Corp to create his Samaritan project; a line of super suits designed to combat extra-terrestrial threats one the same level of Supergirl. The original goal was to use the manufactured Metallo Army to stage an invasion which Maxwell would then save the city from as a massive publicity stunt. However, factors hindered their plans such as the inability to find a replacement power source for the drones.
That was when Hank Henshaw intervened. With his own militia, he raided Axis Environmental and stole the drone army thanks to a tip off from a source they are certain was Jake, who interviewed for a position at the company before being rejected due to their financial situation. As they mapped out the board they included the loose threads detailing how Hank was approached by the Blacksmith and the Reckoning to help complete the robbery and perform a series of heists at experimental power plants to trade for a stockpile of kryptonite large enough to power their drone army. Hank intended to use his army to invade Argo II through the transmat portal until they were stopped and betrayed by the Reckoning. Henshaw was incarcerated in prison soon after.
The attack also lead to the reveal of the Samaritan program as Maxwell Davies stepped up, using the parasite organism to stage further attacks and collect data on metahumans including Dreamer and Supergirl. They laid out the evidence they uncovered proving he stole the blueprints from Lena's computer and worked behind the scenes to create the Metallo Army. They investigation lead to the discovery that the Samaritan was conceived by Jake when he worked at TITAN Industries, the RECON-KNG his concept before he left and Maxwell was forced to finish the designs on his own. The DEO was exposed and removed from his office, leading to a rampage that ended with the Reckoning murdering him before he could tell them about Jake's involvement. But his involvement was discovered and evidence found at his apartment before it was destroyed by an explosion.
The two of them steadily ran through the printer ink as they made hard copies of the reports, phots and evidence they consolidated, detailing their investigations into Jake's background as an engineer, his motive when his fiancé died, his links to each of the companies and parties involved. They included Henshaw's escape using the Samaritans Maxwell created to launch and invasion to Mars before he was defeated. Kara makes a note on the board to follow up with the facility holding Hank Henshaw, as her last fight left him in a comatose condition which she needed to check up on. If he was awake he might be willing to talk to them, or he might just stay silent out of spite. Further threads included the Sentinel of Liberty, Miranda Oakridge, who admits she never learnt the Reckoning's identity.
They run through the threads carefully, detailing Jake's activities when he returned, the conspicuous lack of sightings of the Reckoning before then, Henry Iron's involvement and reveal, DuBois and Peacemaker's dealings with the Blacksmith, all leading to the huge confrontation on the overpass where the Reckoning murdered Henry Irons. They begrudgingly included the framing of Olsen, linking Jake to the possibility as he had access to Olsen's garage from fixing his motorcycle, and that Kara herself introduced them. With all the evidence on the board they connected the webs of string to where it was needed to be.
When they stepped back to analyse everything they had, it was compelling. "Too bad no court of law can convict him" Kara sighed.
The pair of them stood side by side, their blouses unbuttoned and brows coated in sweat, the two of them sipping from coffee cups as they nursed aches in their necks. All the evidence they had was circumstantial. There wasn't enough hard evidence. "Is it enough to write an article?" Nia asked optimistically.
"No newspaper will accept an accusation piece like this without the evidence to back it up" Kara warned. "Not even Cacto would risk opening themselves up to a lawsuit of deformation."
"So even with all we have, it's not enough?"
Kara leant on a table, rapping her nails examining the board. "Maybe not for an exposé. But it might be enough with we just print the facts. Lay out the timeline, detail the events as they played out. We don't accuse Jake of being the Reckoning…"
"Instead we focus on why he was considered a suspect. Is considered a suspect" Nia nodded. "Let the readers decide for themselves."
"If nothing else it'll put Jake in the public eye under a very hot spotlight" Kara smirked. "But we'd have to be very careful with how we word it. One false mistype and he could sue use for slander."
Nia chuckled. Somehow the idea of their new nemesis throwing a lawsuit at them seemed comical compared to what he's done. "Do you think it might rattle him into making a mistake?" she asked.
"I hope so" Kara replied, stifling a yawn looking at her empty coffee cup. "We should get some sleep, make a start in putting this all together in the morning."
Nia nodded, feeling just as tired as Kara did. She checked her watch, and the calendar. "What about Olsen's bail hearing? Isn't that first thing tomorrow?" she asked.
Kara looked at the clock and cursed. She'd forgotten. "Yeah, okay…first we'll go to the court house, then we can explain our plan to him when he gets out."
"If he gets out" Nia muttered.
Kara heard her and stepped up to the young woman. "He'll get bail. And when he's out he can help us put this story together. If we make enough noise we're bound to knock something loose which can help us. Jake's biggest advantage was he flew under the radar where nobody saw him. We need people to be watching him, now more than ever. So get so sleep" she advised, picking up her bag and leaving a note for J'onn before flying back to the fortress.
Nia hung back to look over the board again, slumping into a chair feeling her eyes drooping. She had faith in the article, had faith it might make things difficult for Jake. It might even help Olsen if their story inspires witnesses to come forward with information. She looked over the board and made a short list of places and people she could try talking to; Hank Henshaw, the engineering team at TITAN Industries, the staff at Iron Heights, the Empire Hotel, his old neighbours, and new neighbours, anybody who might've crosses paths with Jake during his activities. The evidence was out there, it would just take a while to find it.
Nia's eyes fluttered closed briefly before she sat up in her seat. She was so tired she was surprised her narcolepsy hadn't kicked in yet. But when she stood up she realised it had and she was indeed asleep because she found herself in an inky void leading to nowhere. She sighed in her dream, shaking her head to focus one whatever it had to tell her. "Hello?" she called out, her voice bouncing out into the ether. She walked in a circle until she found a figure silhouetted in the distance with their back to her. She approached them cautiously, walking over a floor she couldn't see. "Hello?" she called again, stepping up to the dark figure in front of her.
The figure turned and she found the familiar suit of the Reckoning standing before her. She grew tense as his distorted faceplate turned to face her, her face reflected in the metal. She stepped back bringing her fists up, her hands glowing with blue light. The Reckoning brought his hands up, removing the helmet to reveal the face underneath. Nia's eyes narrowed in confusion as James Olsen was revealed under the mask. "What? I don't understand" Nia squeaked, her voice whispering back to her.
"It's too late for me Nia" James said sadly, a tear falling down his face. "It's up to you now. Look after Kara for me" he said.
Before Nia could ask what he meant the man was suddenly engulfed in flames. She reared back from the heat as the fire spread over his body, circling around her like a living thing stretching over the void. She winced from the light as she tried to peer through the smoke, the dark figure of her boss crackling into dust as he was burnt away. Her ears suddenly rang drawing her eyes up to a massive clock hovering over her, its ornate hands pointing to midnight sending its bell tolls across the landscape to rattle her ear drums. She covered her ears to try and muffle them, but the chimes echoed in her skull making her scream. She spun away in an effort to escape the noise only to be met with the familiar nightmare of Supergirl kneeling on the ground covered in blood and weeping. Kara looked up at her through red eyes. "I'm sorry" she sobbed, the bodies scattered around her.
Nia forced herself to look down at the corpses, all her friends and colleagues surrounding them staring back at her. She stumbled towards her mentor as the smoke filled her lungs, the city burning on the horizon. But then a familiar laugh stopped her in her tracks as a figure stepped up from the pile of bodies behind Kara. Supergirl didn't register his hand as it was placed on her shoulder as Jake stood up staring at Nia. "You're too late, little Dreamer" Jake mocked. "You've had months, and now you're out of time. You can't stop what's about to happen. It's too late" he cackled, his laugh echoing around them.
Nia glared at the smug expression as he stood over her friend and mentor, screaming defiantly as she blasted him with a wave of blue energy. His image shattered along with the dream as she was catapulted back into the waking world, waking up in the chair she sat down in gasping for breath.
She stood up and stared at the board before turning to the clock on the wall. The time read five to eleven. She may not be able to make sense of her dream yet, but it was clear in its message. Whatever Jake was up to, it was happening soon.