Most of the super-friends ended up waiting in the courthouse for a while after Olsen was transferred into the van. Nia in particular stayed behind so she could speak to her boyfriend privately. "There was something different about this one" she said after she finished recounting what she had seen in her vision, still rattled by the details she made herself remember.
Brainy sat in contemplative thought as he pondered the data. "The imagery does indeed sound to be more vivid" he said. "And this is the first time you've said Jake himself has appeared beside Kara in the dream."
"It's not just that" she said worried. "It felt more urgent, like…like it's getting closer to coming true." she looked at the young man asked nervously asked him "what if he was right. I've been having this nightmare for months. What if I'm too late? What if I took too long to figure out what it meant and now I can't stop it?"
"That will not happen" he said confidently, rising to his feet and offering his hand. "Because we will stop whatever your visions are predicting. We will solve this riddle together."
Nia looked up at her boyfriend, his confidence infectious as she took his hand and eagerly rose to her feet. "Should I call Kara?" she asked.
"Yes" he nodded, promptly leading her towards the exit with their friends are still lingering. "We should call everyone. J'onn, Alex, even Lena. If we all work together, it should be a simple task to…" his course of action was waylaid when he felt Nia's hand squeeze him as she stumbled to a stop. He turned and saw the young woman was suddenly struggling to stay upright. "Nia? Are you alright?" he asked.
"I don't know" she answered. She suddenly came over all dizzy when she stood up. She shook her head to focus but her vision started to tilt, her head beginning to spin, her limps becoming heavy. She took a deep breath and felt her eyes droop, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion creep up on her. No, not now! Why now? She recognised the symptoms of her narcolepsy, but they aren't usually this pronounced. She teetered on her feet, falling against Brainy's arms as she fought to keep her eyes open. "Brainy, I…" she stammered until her attention drifted to the sound of a ticking clock. She turned around, looking for the course, but the courtroom was ordinary as it tilted on its axis. She heard Brainy's concerned voice call to her, but it sounded far away. "Do you hear that?" she asked, the sound of a clock getting louder in her ears. Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick…
Brainy didn't hear what it was Nia was experiencing. All he saw was the woman begin to falter on her feet. She looked tired, but also alert, like she was both asleep but also awake. In all his studies to her future he'd never come across anything akin to sleepwalking, but there were rumours that some of her bloodline had experienced moments where they teetered between the waking world and dreaming. If Nia was daydreaming, then this was a cause of concern. "Nia, focus on my voice" he said, holding her steady guiding her back to the bench. He looked over his shoulder and caught J'onn's eye, the telepath sensing something was wrong and rushed over. "Tell me what's happening!"
Nia lifted her head, her gaze flickering between the courthouses and beyond. She tried to focus, tried to drown out the clock ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath and looked ahead and saw someone standing behind Brainy, a tall black man in the suit of the Reckoning. His expression was sad as he met her eyes. "James?" she whispered.
Several miles away now, the transport van rocked over speed bumps as it traversed the city streets making a steady pace. Traffic was good to them as the armed officer's rod with their prisoner in silence. James sat with his wrists handcuffed in front of him linked to the floor, along with his gaze as he contemplated what might happen when he got to Iron Heights. There were a lot of dangerous people there, some he helped put away both as the Guardian and as Jimmy Olsen. The prospect of being locked up with them started to dawn on him and brought a new level of anxiety.
Several minutes into their journey the officer sitting across from him started to fidget. "What is that?" he asked, pressing his hand to his helmet.
"What?" the driver asked, his helmet on his seat beside him.
"That noise. It's like static" the officer replied, banging his ear like it was ringing.
Olsen didn't hear a thing.
The driver glanced over to the man sitting next to him on the other side of the grate, an inquisitive shrug. "I don't know what you're talking about" they said.
"I'm telling you, I hear something" the man said, unhooking his helmet to pull it off. Olsen looked up at the bald man as he winced in discomfort, lowering his gun to fiddle with the hearing aid he was wearing. When he switched it off he sighed. "Son of a bitch must be broken" he mumbled.
"I didn't know you were deaf" the officer in the passenger seat said in surprise.
"Partially deaf in this ear" the man replied as he examined his aid. "Got hit by an explosion months ago when that cyborg hit the city with his robot minions. This is supposed to be brand new" he complained.
Olsen glanced at the hearing aid as it whined in his hand, the noise audible now it was closer to him. "Must be faulty" he remarked.
The man looked at him and nodded. "Expensive shit too. Pray you never need one of these" he said as a joke, holding it up to the black man.
Their eyes narrowed as the whine got louder the closer he held it to Olsen. The officer examined the aid again and they looked at Olsen. He climbed out of his seat and held it out, listening to the high pitch static as it was suspended in front of the prisoner. Olsen stared at it in confusion until the officer picked up his gun. "Don't move" he ordered, putting the hearing aid down so he could frisk the man with his hand.
Olsen stayed still as the man searched him, though he didn't know what he was expecting to find. He was shocked however when the man reached into the inside of his jacket and found something in the pocket. He pulled it out, holding a small device smaller than his palm. "The fuck is this?" the man asked him.
Olsen could only stare at it and shrug. That wasn't there when he left.
Before anyone could ask any questions, the hearing aid rose in pitch again until it was teeth chattering "what is that?" the driver asked wincing from the noise.
The next thing they knew there was a pop from the wheel well and the whole van suddenly veered into oncoming traffic, the steeling locking up sending them all careening sideways moments after the device the officer found exploded in his palm.
"Nia, I need you to concentrate" J'onn advised, kneeling in front of a dizzy and confused Nia Nal in the courthouse. He could sense her thoughts and the jumbled mess they were entering. Her memories were getting muddled with her dreams. He connected with her telepathically but it was hard to find his mental footing. She kept phasing in and out of one thought to another. He hadn't traversed anything like this in hundreds of years. "Nia, can you hear me" he called, both outload and across her mind.
"It's too loud" she rambled, her face displaying her discomfort as she clung to Brainy and the Martian. He looked into her mind and heard the bell tolls in her head, twelve strikes ringing loudly deafening her. He tried to silence them but she wouldn't let him, her consciousness forcing her to listen. "Kara, stop! You have to stop" she whispered, the image of the nightmare in her mind along with a jumble of others. "Don't go! Don't do it" she cried.
J'onn recoiled as he was struck with a powerful image of a young woman with red hair, the emotion behind it powerful enough to force him out of the young woman's mind. He stood up as Brainy continued to support the delirious young Dreamer, turning to look at Eliza who was nearby very concerned. "Where's Alex?" he asked.
James blinked and saw white mist, his ears ringing as he forced himself up off the floor of the van. The handcuffs chaffed as he tried to move and found them still bolted to the metal floor. He sat up awkwardly, his head bleeding from where he hit the side of the van when they crashed. He looked up and found his vision unfocused, but he was able to make out the image of the officer in the van with him struggling to his feet. He was shaking his head trying to speak into his radio, reporting the crash. The receiver came back with static. "Hey, you alright?" he shouted, banging on the grate separating him from the driver. There was no response. He turned to look at Olsen instead, grabbing his gun and pointed it at him. "What was that thing? What did you do?" he barked.
"I don't know" he stammered. He was just as confused as the man was.
They both turned and tensed as another high pitched whine reared up before there was an explosion at the back doors, the bolt locking them together suddenly bursting open by a controlled explosion. Olsen covered his head as the officer whirled his gun around and pointed it at the back. Before he could say anything he was shot twice in the vest, the shots knocking him back and leaving him gasping for air.
Olsen looked up and saw another officer in heavy swat gear and a mask and goggles climb into the back of the van. They looked down at the officer and knocked him out with the but o their pistol before turning it on Olsen. He held up his hands in surrender, fear flashing across his face as he saw the barrel of the gun pointed at him. He expected them to shoot him. But instead they shot the chain bolting him to the floor. "Come on" the disguised voice grunted as they reached over and grabbed Olsen by the collar yanking him out of the back of the van.
Nia started to calm down after a minute while J'onn hurried through the lobby dialling Alex's mobile. He cursed when he got her voice mail. "She's not picking up" Eliza reported, trying her number and getting the same response. "What's going on J'onn?" she asked worried.
"I don't know" he said with concern.
There was a sudden commotion near the entrance as police officer started running outside. The two of them followed finding Maggie running with her phone pressed to her ear. "What's going on?" he asked her, running up to the young woman catching her elbow.
She turned back to them looking very alarmed. After a moment of hesitation she explained "the prisoner transport holding James Olsen was ambushed. We've had reports of explosions, gunshots…we don't know what's happening."
Nearby Kelly overheard, her eyes widening as she rushed up to ask "where's my brother?"
Maggie looked at her hesitantly, but J'onn could sense the thoughts in her head. "You think it's an escape attempt" he said.
"I didn't say that" she interjected. But after a moment she admitted "it sounds like a potential prison break. Nobody can get the officers on the radio and 911 is getting calls about a car crash. But I don't understand how anyone could pull this off without outside help."
Kelly's expression suddenly tightened as she fell silent. J'onn turned to her, her thoughts now coming though with one name in the centre. "What do you know" he asked her, telepathically nudging her to be honest. He didn't like using such methods, but if the person she was thinking of is mixed up in this he needed to know.
Kelly resisted the nudge as she looked up at him, unaware he was attempting to manipulate her. The looks on Maggie and Eliza did the rest though as she swallowed. "Alex thought James might be in danger. When we talked, she was going to…I think she might be behind this" she confessed.
Maggie and J'onn's eyes widened as they looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to believe Alex would be so reckless, but it sounded like something she might do in her current state of mind.
Olsen was dragged through the traffic jam roughly, his wrists still handcuffed as his rescuer pushed him ahead. He couldn't understand what was happening, it was all occurring so fast. The masked figure pulled him out of the van and began leading him through the carnage left by the van careening into the street. Several police cars were already arriving on scene but they were blocked by the cars who swerved to avoid being hit and collided with each other. Police officers and FBI agents barked at them to stop, but the armoured figure just veered them between two trucks and ducked into an alley.
"Who are you?" Olsen asked, running ahead feeling the pistol against his back. He looked over his shoulder at the masked figure, unable to see their face. "What do you want?"
"I'll explain later" the muffled voice said as it grabbed his arm and yanked him around a corner. "First get down to that street there" they said, pointing to the end of the alley.
Before he could talk back there was a rush of air as a bullet skimmed the wall next to them. More gunshots rang out over the alley as police officers gave chase. The figure turned and fired back with their pistol, ordering Olsen to run while they covered him. He sprinted in the direction they suggested, taking the opportunity to escape praying he wasn't making a mistake.
He reached the end of the street and hopped the low wall, rushing into an underpass where several tents and shelters were set up. This was one of the homeless communities in the city. He remembered reporting on it a few months ago before the populace were relocated. It was meant to be so the site could be repurposed by a property developer, but the organisation was discovered to be corrupt. The homeless were still moved though, this time to a more habitable shelter a few blocks away. He still spied some occupants in the tents hiding from him as he ran past. He stopped by a graffiti painted wall to catch his breath, peering back to look for his saviour as more gunshots echoed through the underpass. He pushed ahead, deciding he could take his chances on his own now he was away from the crash site.
But what was he going to do? He could lay low, hide out somewhere. Maybe he could find his friends and help them prove his innocence. The moment he considered that he felt sick. He didn't want to put them at risk. If they helped him hide they'd be aiding and abetting a fugitive. And he knew they'd jump at the chance to help. He should turn himself back in. running away would make things worse. But first he needed to figure out who rescued him.
He pushed ahead, looking for somewhere to hide until they caught up. He figured they could either tell him who they were or he could fight them for it. He looked around for something to help un-cuff his restraints. He froze when he turned a corner and found a police cruiser parked around the corner, ducking back until he realised it was empty. Why was there an empty cruiser?
A hand suddenly clasped his shoulder making his jump, turning back to see the figure in the mask and googles beside him. "Get in" they said, leading him to the empty car glancing over their shoulder. "I've bought us a few minutes" they said.
"Did you kill them" he asked them as he was shoved to the police car.
The officer shook their head. "No, which means they'll be here soon. You have to trust me James" they said, looking at the man opening the back of the car.
Olsen hesitated, looking back at the stranger feeling something familiar about them. He thought back to his approach to the transport van, the bump with an officer, the flash of red hair…he decided to trust them and climbed into the back of the car.
"I need to get down there" Maggie said, sprinting into the parking lot with J'onn and Kelly close behind. "I can't believe she'd be so stupid" she hissed under her breath.
J'onn didn't want to believe it either. But with everything she'd been through, everything Jake had put her through, she was in a dangerously turbulent mind right now. He sensed the hostility towards Jake when he was here earlier and feared she might do something she'd regret. He was gratefully she was still focused on protecting her friends first. But staging a jail break was still reckless. "What will happen to Olsen?" he asked the police captain.
She turned back and sighed. "If he's gone, he'll be a fugitive. And the first people the FBI will talk to are his friends, family and colleagues. They'll think he's guilty." She howled in anger. "That impulsive, irresponsible woman! She's made things worse!" she screamed.
Inside the courthouse, Lena had returned and was now tending to Nia as she began to recover. Brainy explained she had some strange episode of narcolepsy, which the scientist was aware of and was attempt to treat. Nia had stopped drifting to sleep and was wide awake again, though her confusion remained. Lena treated her with a cup of coffee to keep her alert. "Do you need me to call anyone?" she asked her.
She shook her head. But as an afterthought she said "Kara. I should call Kara."
"I'll do that" Lena said, dialling her number to try and reach her at whatever crisis she'd be interrupting.
J'onn returned to check on Nia, leaving Maggie to attend to the escape attempt while Kelly paced frantically outside. "I need to go find Alex, and Olsen" he told them.
"You need to hurry" Brainy agreed. "If James Olsen has indeed escaped, it will only strengthen the illusion of guilt."
"What's happened to Olsen?" a voice interrupted, startling everyone. J'onn turned around in surprise to suddenly find Alex Danvers standing behind him dressed in her leather jacket, a worried expression on her face. Eliza stood up from the bench she was sitting on as Brainy blinked in mild surprise. She looked at them all. "What's going on?" she asked.
Kelly walked in and saw her, taken aback by shock. "You're here!" she squeaked, looking at J'onn. "But I thought…"
J'onn rushed up the young woman, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the side. "Alex, I need you to be honest with me right now" he hissed, turning her to face him intently. "What did you do?" he asked her.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Olsen's transport was ambushed" he explained coldly. "Kelly told us about your conversation, about what you were planning. Now I need to know, what you did!"
Alex stared at him, and immediately he sensed the innocence in her thoughts. "I didn't do anything" she said. "I wanted to help him. I was afraid of what might happen if he got to prison. But Kelly was right, it would've been reckless. I didn't…I didn't want you to be disappointed in me again. I swear, I swear on my dad, I haven't done anything" she promised.
J'onn's expression slackened, his grip on her arm loosening. He believed her. She was telling the truth. He turned to the others, the question hanging over their heads.
Amidst the confused looks, Nia took a shaky breath until she heard the chime of the clock. At first she was afraid it was in her head again. But then she looked up and saw the clock on the courthouse wall indicating it was just gone noon. She stared at it intently, the memory of the bell tolls hitting her hard enough to make her drop her coffee. "It wasn't striking midnight" she whispered, her most recent dream replaying in her mind. "It was striking noon."
The figure climbed into the front seat and put the handgun on the passenger side. Olsen sat in the back looking out of the barred windows and through the grate separating them. "Are you hurt?" the figure asked the man in the back, unhooking the helmet on his head.
Olsen shook his head while he checked for police chasing them. It didn't feel safe being here. "Why are you doing this? This seems too risky" he said.
"Relax James" the man smiled as he removed his goggles and mask. "The last the place they'll think to look for an escaped fugitive in the back of a police car. And they won't have time to check them all before we get away."
Olsen saw the logic and nodded. But then his chest tightened as he listened to the man's voice as he removed the mask distorting it. His breath caught in his throat as he turned to look at the back of the young man's head, his gaze flicking to the rear-view mirror where their eyes met in recognition. Olsen tensed, realising he'd made a grave mistake.
"Don't worry Mr Olsen, I'm not going to hurt you" Jake smiled, pulling out a small remote and pressing the button. A cylinder of gas sprayed into the backseat engulfing his fugitive making him cough as he tried to open the back doors. The car was locked leaving him trapped as he banged on the windows, his eyelids falling heavy until he slumped into the backseat. Jake waited until he was out cold before starting the engine. "It'll all be over soon, I promise" he whispered as he drove out of the underpass and into the chaotic streets as he made his way in the opposite direction to the chaos.