| Beetles to Battle! |
[Dec. 28th, 2010|02:01 am] |
El Paso, Texas, was under attack. A swarm of black-armored, mechanical scarabs had descended upon the peaceful town that was home to the third Blue Beetle. The property damage toll was already high, the death toll rising. And in the middle of it all was a man in crimson and black beetle-based armor of his own. The terror of time, the so-called "Black Beetle", which Dinah had pointed out once that the name didn't make sense if a majority of his armor wasn't black.
No one knew where he came from, but he was an enemy to both Time Masters and Beetles alike. And now, he was making a very personal strike.
El Paso's champion, secretly local dentist Jaime Reyes, had sprung into action, the powers of his scarab armor making him more than a match for any individual scarab in the warm, but their numbers soon threatened to overwhelm him.
"No.
"No.
"Not that one either.
"No. We're not destroying the town in order to save it!"
He looked to soon be overwhelmed, and his thoughts turned to Traci, the love of his life, to his sister Milagro, to his parents, and his dear friends Brenda and Paco. And to Mr. Kord, who always insisted he call him Ted, and who had been the best mentor a fledgling hero could have asked for. I'm sorry guys. Guess my best wasn't good enough...
Bolts from above shattered the scarabs around him to dust, and he looked up to see an even bigger mechanical beetle in the sky, only this one was bright blue. Weapons ports along its edges and antenna were blasting away. A voice came over the Titans emergency frequency he still kept active, just in case. "Hey, Doc, need a little help with this procedure?"
He had never been more grateful to hear the voice of Dinah Kord. Certainly, she and that green-haired boyfriend of hers could be trouble, but their hearts were in the right place, and in this case, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Freed of the immediate trouble, he converted his armor's hands into cannons, blasting away at still more of them as he took to the sky on wings of energy. "Right now, I'd take G'nort!"
"You calling me a dog, Reyes?"
And then there was no more time for jokes, only for fighting. Together, they began to take back the city. More and more mechanical scarabs littered the city, but compared to the prospect of not living another day, the citizens would welcome the chance for clean-up. Soon, it appeared they were all gone.
The Bug hovered over the city, the Blue Beetle right next to it. "This feel... too easy?" Dinah asked. "I mean, yeah, those things were tough... but not exactly Blacky's usual standard. And where is he, anyway? I know those were his robots. When he's supposed to show up and gloat?"
"Been wondering the same thing," Reyes replied. "Scarab's not finding anything. Which is bad."
A power blast shattered the cockpit of the Bug. Its engines kept it afloat, but its pilot began to fall to the ground. Recovering quickly, she fired a grappling line from her BB-Gun, swinging to the street below. Reyes raced after her.
"Oh, well done," a voice said, and they turned to see the Black Beetle standing before them. "Did you enjoy your last heroics, Jaime?"
"We've beaten you before," Reyes said, charging weapons. "We'll do it again."
"I think not. History is quite specific. Today is the day you meet your maker. At my hands."
Dinah shook her head. It wasn't possible. Rip surely would have said something. Or Riley. If he knew. Did he know about this? Was this solid time? Or could it be changed...?
"Puh-lease," she taunted, intent on distracting the Black Beetle. "You done monologuing yet? Some of us have places to be after we kick your ass."
Well, it got his attention. The Black Beetle turned and fired an energy beam at Dinah and she saw her life pass before her eyes. Reyes moved faster, throwing up arm shields and intercepting the beam.
Or rather, that's what he tried to do. The beam ripped through the shields, ripped through him, and ripped through Dinah as well. It hurt, but only for a moment. And then she couldn't feel anything.
"History did not lie, Jaime. And all your heroics for nothing. You couldn't even save the girl." With that, the Black Beetle was gone.
Dinah could just manage to look down, see the hole punched through her. And she knew she would not live. Love you, Ri...
"Khaji Da..." she heard Jaime whisper. "Can you... save her...?"
A pause.
"Don't care about me. Can you save her?"
Another pause. "Then do it. Host transference.... begin."
"Jaime..." she tried, her voice a croak and blood in her mouth. "Don't... you'll die..."
"Better me than you, Di..."
She felt something slip inside her. Felt herself starting to get better. A strange voice echoed its way through her head, by-passing her ears and going straight for the brain, felt new flesh knitting itself until she could turn her head to see a very naked, very dead, very holey Jaime Reyes beside her. She could move now, crawled over to the body and pulled herself up.
"No!" she cried, tears fogging her goggles. She ripped them off. "No!"
"No..."
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