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PREVIOUSLY . Jaime Reyes received the mysterious scarab thought to belong to Dan Garrett by accident when it was scattered to the far corner of the world - El Paso Texas - in the wake of the wizard Shazam!'s death. Bonding to Jaime, he became instrumental in saving the world from Brother Eye. Jaime came back to Earth, and after fighting a frenzied GL, found his way home. Finding out he's been gone almost a week and missed senior prom, Jaime scrambles to try to salvage his life, and ends up revealing his secret to his best friends Brenda and Paco. All the while, he notices evil strangers only he can see.

NOTE: This story takes place during the One Year Gap.

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Imagine waking up to find an ancient living artifact had grafted itself to you. Imagine that it granted you unbelievable and unexplained powers, making you fill shoes you never wanted. Imagine being a teenager who saved the world only to have to explain it to your parents. Imagine if your world was forever changed. Sound cool? He'll trade you.

 

vol. 1, issue 2:

"The Jets and the Sharks"

Written by Bowie Sessions

 

"We participate in a tragedy; at a comedy we only look."

- Aldous Huxley

 

Across the world, small embers of fire strike the ground from the outer atmosphere.

Slowly do animals approach them, leathery-necked dinosaurs nosing at the craters only to begin screaming. Their bodies flash, their appearances change. Faces blue and eyes golden, they breathe electricity. This breath turns to ice, it seems, as the world becomes white.

Sands appear where the white had formed over my vision. Before my eyes, I see a massive structure of stone form. Wicked eyes look down to me as the pyramid becomes vividly clear. Suddenly, I see the eyes belong to a man floating in the sky, covered in one of those Egyptian neckpieces and their little fancy-diapers.

He screams and rushes for me with both fists-

[Home of the Reyes Family]

"NO!" I scream and sit up suddenly. I wipe at my eyes, blinking heavily. Every time I go to sleep, I see the . weirdest things. Blinking again, I look around my room to be sure of where I am. It takes me a short walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water and back before I can convince myself that an Egyptian in a diaper is not really attacking me.

I crawl back into bed and fall back asleep, dreams thankfully eluding me for the few hours before breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast comes too early, I've decided. We really need to reschedule it.

I come to sit at the table again and this time I see there is a place set for me. I groggily nod my greetings to my family, who bitterly watch me. They offer me quiet snipes and impolite table manners, but I guess I deserve it in a way. After all, 'Jaime' ditched for a week, even if only because I was saving the world, but you can't really bring that up at breakfast. Hey, dad, pass the butter. By the way, I have a magical rock that turns me into a superhero. Mm, good pancakes.

Yeah, whatever. The silence kills.

"I'm sorry," I manage to bring myself to apologize. The table that had turned to murmuring the moment I approached finally warms, if only a little bit.

My dad finally deems me worthy of conversation, holding mom's hand, as she seems to give him needed strength. I get the distinct 'they talked about this all last night' impression. ".you're grounded until graduation, and we never talk about this again. You screwed up your life by leaving before the last week of school. You'll see your own punishment from that, I guarantee you."

Relieved infinitely by what he tells me, I nod my head. "Okay, yeah, no problem, I - thank you, dad. I'm sorry I screwed up. I -"

"Yes, you screwed up. We know that well. We're just happy you're safe," Mom interjects. Dad's hand pulls back from hers.

"Yeah, well, me, I was hoping he was dead. No son of mine would leave his family like-"

"We talked about this!" Mom snaps, silencing dad. He shrugs and goes back to his food.

"I was just making conversation," he excuses himself. Milagro looks to me and smiles so wickedly.

" I didn't agree to anything. I still wish you never came home." I smirk to her at her mockery, and reach across the table to muss up her hair. She swings violently at my arm, and once struck I pull it back as if wounded.

"You're such a brat, Mil." The table returns to laughter, and I can't stop but feeling comfortable for the first time since this all began.

[Bowie High]

The bell rings.

"Mrs. Kendrick," I approach my teacher's desk impetuously and call out her name as soon as first period ends, quickly talking so I'm not late for my next class. I'm in enough hot water as it is.

My math teacher looks up to me and squares her eyes, affixing her glasses on her face properly. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for lying to you, and that I just . I screwed up. But I've done all the homework I missed here," I start laying it out, "and I'd like to - like to let you know I'm sorry for that test. I know I missed it and even with my A I'll fail the class, so I guess I'm begging-"

She shushes me, "Tell you what - come do it tomorrow after school and I'll grade it right there. You know this counts for a third of your grade?" She checks my GPA, looking at it on her computer. Her voice took a tone of concern at that.

".yeah, I know, I'm sorry." Everyone else is having their tests today or tomorrow. I can't tell you I'm exactly 'very ready', but whatever. Graduation is at the end of next week.

"Take it tomorrow. You've been good all year. Two Bs. I'll let your disruption slide just this once, Jaime," she says with a soft smile. I shake her hand on it and rush off to my next class with a dismissive 'Thanks!' shouted over my shoulder.

As long as I get a D on this test, I pass her class, but I need an A or else dad'll kill me. His dreams for me are way too high. I wish I could say mine were too, but I just want to make it through high school alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During lunch, I find my way to Brenda and Paco's table and sit without concern. They both just stare at me and exchange one glance before they get up and walk away from me, coughing as if it makes it seem subtle.

"It's just . weird. I'm sorry," Paco offers weakly as they step away.

I look down to appraise myself and then back at them. "What? Is this about the - thing?" I call out after them while they walk away from me. I sigh in frustration and bury my face in my hands.

When I pull my hands back away from my face, I see Gina sitting across from me. She's a pretty Italian girl, and I stood her up for prom. I'm surprised she even sat down there. Bigger person than a lot of people would be. I cheer up, just a little bit. "Hey, Gina, I was hoping I'd run into you."

"You're an ass," she tells me and then gets back up and walks away. Well. I was kind of hoping . she was going to let me explain.

"Graduation is one week away. and then you'll never see these people ever again." I whisper to myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stayed late to do some additional kiss-assing to my other teachers and am about to call home for a ride. I'm picking up my cellphone to make the ring when it starts vibrating. Paco it reads, showing a small picture of him with his finger up his nose making his eyes go crossed.

I heft the phone to my ear, "Yellow," I greet pleasantly. Maybe they want to talk. It'd be a start.

"I'm at my cousin Eddie's! Bring the taser!" Paco's voice pleads to me and then there's a click.

It takes me a few seconds to even process the information. " Paco! " I cry as soon as I snap to my senses.

"Paco! What's hap-" but all I can hear is a dial tone.

[The city of El Paso , Texas ]

I left school and got on my bicycle to start riding furiously towards Paco's cousin Eddie's place. It's a short ride, but something in my mind tells me that it can be shorter. I stop riding and slide off the bike.

I should call the police. Heck, I should call my dad. I should call the Justice League - okay, maybe that's a little much for whatever's going on, but I heard bullets in the background when he called and I know he needs me.

I don't call any of those people. Paco called me and that's because he wanted the Blue Beetle to save him. Paco called me because he trusts his best friend to come through when the chips are down. So I act rashly and do just as he asked.

Kneeling down, I open my backpack and fish out the taser. I slide it to my stomach and concentrate. Preparing to hit the button for the juice, I suddenly hear the alien scramble of thoughts intrude on my own again. It's getting familiar.

"Oh, you're there?" I ask as I hear some of the Scarab's opinions kind of rumble around through my brain, so I put the taser away, back in my backpack and stand up again, arms spread wide.

This thing kind of operates on its own time, but I try to give it some kind of signal.

"Okay. Well. Uh. Beetle Form. Activate." I suggest, lamely. My scarab gets the idea, though and as usual I end up doubling over in a brief surge of pain when it erupts from beneath my vertebrae and coats my body in its hard blue protective shell, beetlepack sliding over my shoulders.

I look down the street and it tells me I'll be faster if I just hoof it. Doubtful, I give it a shot and start running. I gasp as buildings start to blur. I used to run Track & Field all the time. and I know I'm easily hitting a four-minute mile pace. Faster still, even faster with every moment - I know I break all human land-speed records as the carapace's feet klaks against the concrete with each sudden impact

I'm fast as HELL! I'm like Kid Flash! This is AWESOME! As an afterthought, I realize I'm forgetting something. I stop in my tracks, turn around and race back. Grabbing up both my backpack and my bicycle, I opt to carry them as I start running again, faster than ever. I can hear gunfire now. It points me to Eddie's place, though I know the way. We used to go there for barbeques.

It's turning out Eddie wasn't the best of people, I'm thinking.

Once I find the street, I see a car parked outside of Eddie's place with three men firing from over its top, peppering the wall of his house. I can hear the zings and snaps of bullet-fire and I know what this is. This is an execution.

Without hesitating, I run towards the car. "Hey! Knock that off!" I yell out at them chidingly. The only response I get is rapid-fire cuss words and rapid-fire bullets. I duck desperately, before I realize I've been shot and it doesn't even hurt. Keep forgetting I'm a superhero now.

The bullets ricochet off my carapace, which seems to barely register them. Instinctually, I find myself hurling my bicycle at them.

"Aw, man-" I complain as I see my bicycle fly free of my hand. It covers the gap between the group and me before I even realize I did it. It roughly slams into one of them with bone-breaking force. I see the tire warp on impact with him and then slide underneath their car. The other two of the gang-bangers rushes into the vehicle, desperate to escape.

"Gas it! The freak's coming for us!" I hear them cry as I rush out to meet them. With no better plan, I grab the back of the car as they start to drive off and plant my feet firmly. I strain, neck tightening and arms tensing powerfully as I force myself to withstand the effort . and on instinct of some kind I find myself rolling the vehicle sideways, slamming it onto its roof like a turtle on its back. I hear the squealing of more tires coming. I bet you anything, more gunfire is about to show up.

Reinforcements, I wonder? For Eddie or against Eddie? I don't even know. I don't bother to ask, only sparing a look at my car-crushed bike before I rush into Eddie's place, kicking down the door on my way in. Eddie turns and releases a shotgun blast into my stomach on paranoid reflex. The pellets don't do a thing except cause me to crap my pants. Except, not literally. I think.

".that was . scary," I relate, patting at my struck abs. The part of me that's still Jaime really expected to die just then.

Paco stands up and runs over to me in his usual enthusiasm. I've missed seeing it. "Man! Running in like The Lone Ranger to save the day! Forget Superman!"

He hugs me, which makes me feel a little awkward, but I return the sentiment with a hearty slap on his back. "Uh, good to see you, Paco. Have you called the cops yet?"

Paco shakes his head. "Eddie told me not to, that-" his cousin cuts him off before he can finish.

"The cops? They won't come here; it's too vicious. They get killed down here, knowhamean? Now who the hell are you an' how's Paco know you, cuz I don't know you!" Eddie begins to freak out, and levels his shotgun, charging it again. but I don't buy his story even a little bit.

"One - Dude, this is El Paso , not Compton . Two - I'm his friend from school. Three - You just hit me with that and I wasn't even scratched. I'm on YOUR side, okay? Now if we can agree to calm down and maybe to stop shooting me-"

Gunfire opens up again and starts tearing through the home. Without thinking about it, I leap and tackle Paco to the ground just as the wall he stood beside gets a large hole where I just vacated him. Paco also notices this I'm guessing, as plaster falls over him. It takes him a second to register his near-death experience before he finds his voice, ".thanks, man,"

I shrug dismissively as I get back up and look out the window. One car is next to the house when three new cars burn asphalt as they screech to a halt and get out, opening fire on both the new car and the two gang bangers from earlier who now smartly hide beneath their overturned car s bullets rain at them. I hear some yelling over the gunfire, but I can't quite make it out. Judging by the inflection, I'm sure I get the four-letter-word concept.

It does not require a genius, though, to deduce that Eddie pissed some people off . and Eddie's crew just showed up to level the playing field.

"Jaime," I hear whispered.

"One sec, Paco!" I tell him, as I stand up and rush for the door.

"Jaime!" he yells, assertively. I turn and look. Eddie is lying on the ground, blood pooling rapidly from a bullet that went through his skull. I'm guessing he didn't duck. I stare for several long, excruciating moments. Somehow I don't think that image will leave any day soon.

"I need to stop this," I whisper to him quietly. Paco just watches me go and nods his head in understanding, however shell-shocked.

Paco crawls over to Eddie and grabs his shotgun, before he scuttles back away from Eddie's corpse. Setting down the shotgun next to him, Paco puts his hands over his head for safekeeping apparently. "Kick their ass," he mutters under his breath and waits for the bullets to stop.

Eddie's front window shatters as I jump straight through it to the street outside. I land on the sidewalk and take another massive leap to clear the vehicle that is firing on Paco in Eddie's place. I turn towards the people there as gunfire ricochets off me or passes me entirely and sends collateral shots into the house - smart work, Eddie's Guys. "Maybe fire away from the guy you're protecting?!" I scream at dearly departed Eddie's avenging crew.

The six people behind the car attacking Eddie's place all look understandably edgy as I stand on the opposite side of their car. Their hesitancy is over-ridden surprisingly quick and they all start shooting at me, because it worked so well last time.

One of them focuses an assault rifle on me and opens fire. Where the hell did he even get that? I feel the power welling up in me. I feel the Scarab scream and squawk, furiously pissed. I feel my arm get heavy, and I point it right at their car against my will as rings start to form and roll down my arm, forming a cannon.

They see a light start to glow from my arm. So do I for that matter. "Ohno-get out of the way!" I cry to them and they roll desperately away as my arm releases its cannonball of lightning. The impact detonates the vehicle, sending it flying several feet off of the ground before it returns to the earth in a smoking, mangled heap. I turn towards the rest and kneel down, focusing.

"You did this trick before too. shieldshieldshieldshieldshield." I desperately pray. Prayers are answered, as wings form on my wrists and merge into a giant circular shield in front of me. Bullets collide with it and just stop, taking their onslaught as I wait for the outpour of fire to stop.

I hear sirens getting closer and I just press on. "Knock . it. OFF already!" I cry out to them angrily. My arms snap apart and the wings press onto my back. Without having to think it, I find myself leaping high into the air. The wings flap just once . and then sweep all the way back to allow me to plummet straight down.

I aim the landing, sending both feet into the center one of the three 'cavalry' vehicles. As I come down, people leap free of the car, in time to see me collide with it and cave it in. The wings tear loose from my arms and soar into the opposing vehicles like five-foot-tall shurikens, tearing the vehicles into shreds. I just sort of stare.

The wings fly back around as the gangbangers all flee the scene rapidly, just in time for the police to pull onto the street. They reconnect to my back and I leap in through the window to find Paco before the cops can spot me.

He greets me as I land when he releases another buckshot blast from the shotgun into my chest. The impact kicks but I don't feel it. "Stop SHOOTING me!" I yell angrily, and buckle to my knees.

"Is it over?" Paco asks. "Uh, sorry, by the way."

I nod my head, as my armor prepares to pull into me and I gasp. "Yeah, and the cops are already here. No time to run. I'm a stay with you. Back up your story. What is your story?"

Paco is quiet for a second, thinking. "Eddie said he was gonna have a barbeque. I came by for it, brought you with me. Usual thing. Then they roll up here. We don't know why."

"Got it," I submit before screaming briefly, shoving my hand over my mouth to contain the pain as the armor disappears beneath the surface. Sweating and dizzy, I gasp and force myself to focus through the overwhelming sensations.

"But you do know why, don't you?" I ask Paco. He doesn't answer. That's all the answer I need, I think.

[Rex Trailer Home; Socorro , Texas]

There is a run down parking stop that caters to all manners of RVs and Trailers, where societal pariahs, runaways, restless spirits and aimless wanderers all come to call home for at least a few days. The entrance is marked by a large neon sign reading 'REX TRAILER HOME, WELCOME!'.

Among the swath of vehicles is a long silver trailer with all the lights off inside except for the soft glow of a television within.

Labeling on the trailer door reads 'Driscoll' with a mail drop directly below it, as if somehow UPS might get the idea to hunt them down.

Inside the mobile home, the television is jumping channels with haste. Klik. Klik. Klik. Klik. MVH2's Behind the Song. Klik. Klik. The channel flashes to some old rerun that suddenly interrupts with a news broadcast, which he stops on just as the anchor begins excitedly speaking.

{Breaking News! A large upset between two gangs tonight led to three people dead and many more with serious injuries. However, what really makes this story take a new light is the appearance of a new hero of El Paso 's own.} the television squawks out while a teenaged right-arm amputee looks on, setting down the remote he'd been abusing just moments ago.

The teen sits forward as they begin to stream a video of a weirdly armored hero, interest piqued. {Described by eyewitnesses as a giant blue-armored bug man, shown here in a video taken by a neighbor.}

"Hey, mom, come here!" he calls out, to a silent response.

"Something cool's on," he adds.

"What's that, Cody?" his mother responds, walking over with a bowl of cereal to sit next to him on their couch.

{.calling himself Blue Beetle, this hero proceeded to get in-between both sides and stop further serious injuries, fighting both parties into submission. Beyond those injured, his actions allowed the Police to take into custody nine members.}

Cody seems excited by the program and turns to his mom to explain it, "I heard about this guy. it's the New Blue Beetle, he's a superhero and it looks like he's from El Paso . Maybe I-"

His mother cuts him off quickly. "I thought we agreed . you're retired. It's why we moved from Colorado . Too much history and-"

"Yeah, I know," Cody bitterly frowns and raises the remote, changing the channel.

[ El Paso Texas Police Station]

"-that's all we're going to need, Mr. Reyes. You can go," the Officer allows, leading me out of the interrogation room. Outside, in the waiting area, Paco is still sitting there, biding his time.

What strikes me as strange is that Paco's biding his time by talking to my dad, who sits next to him. My dad is all kinds of smiles, which I hope is a good sign. I don't know for sure and so proceed with caution, hands in my pockets as I walk over to them both. "Hey," I greet them both noncommittally, with a feigned smile.

"Jaime!" my dad calls, standing and covering the distance to hug me tight. I resist for just a moment . and find myself collapsing into it, and like a kid I bury my face into his shoulder. I hold tight to him for a good while.

Paco just waves at me from behind my dad as he stands up from the chair.

Finally, dad lets me go and I relax from the grip. He slaps me on the shoulder and beams at me when he speaks, "I'm proud of you, Jaime. You were really there for your friend." My eyes pop open and I look to Paco, who shakes his head fervently.

".well, I just . he called and I went, so I'm - I'm not in trouble for skipping out on the grounding thing?" I ask, with hope in my voice. I was dreading it.

Dad shakes his head to that. "Oh, you're in trouble alright. But I think I'm a get you an X-Box. To pass the time in your room."

My dad loops an arm around my shoulder and starts leading us out of the precinct. "I'm sorry to hear about your cousin, Paco, but sounds like he got into trouble," he offers in condolence before moving on to lighter matters.

"I'll buy you boys a pizza and drop you off at home, Paco, before Jaime comes back to the house. He's not allowed to go out after classes are done, so you're going to have to come over to see Jaime from now on." my father continues to lay it on thick while I just sort of stand there in shocked silence. Just what did Paco tell him? Obviously not that I was the Blue Beetle, but . I guess he could've said some stuff about what I did. And how I lost my bicycle. Well. 'Lost' is not the right word, really more of a 'destroyed'.

Life might be on an upswing. I think things are finally turning around for me.

Unless something unexpected shows up, I guess.

[entering Earth's atmosphere somewhere above the Central United States]

A surge occurred approximately three weeks ago. Sensors screamed and alerted a being half-way across the universe. Even at the fastest his ship can move it took him just this long to approach the Milky Way Galaxy, of the Virgo Supercluster. Screams and cries echo throughout the ship in a mangled unison from a hundred different creatures while klaxons blare.

Sirens flare to warn them of the dangers of re-entry, gravity re-asserting itself in the ship and heat shields rising over viewports to protect the vessel from tearing apart. The ship stops suddenly miles above Earth, staring over a large swath of ground. The ship harmonizes data while the alien within taps at keys, --Confirm Landing.--

The vessel descends rapidly, a blur of grasslands and buildings moving behind it as it lands somewhere in plains. The computer Bleeps as they come to a complete stop and de-pressurize the ship. The hatch opens, dropping to allow a ramp downward and free of the knife-shaped vessel that spans approximately seventy feet long by twenty high.

The computer chimes once more.

--Local area name: Las Cruces , New Mexico.--

The alien steps free of the dark ship, revealing a tightly-muscled, lithe four-armed female. Free of eyes, ear or mouth, her 'hair' is a clump of fleshy tendrils.

--Confirmed: Proceeding on foot. Activating Cloak. Nearest target: South by South-East--

The ship disappears from view in a ripple of air, as the alien woman rushes into the night.

[END]

Wait, isn't that 'one-armed guy named Cody Driscoll' also known as ex-Titan Risk? Why is Risk in this issue? And where are those evil eyeless guys, anyway? What's with this Xeno guy? What's going on in his dreams? Can I think up any other questions that are even vaguely pertinent (answer: no)?

All this (maybe!) and more when Jaime graduates high school and meets his first enemy, Xeno!

See you next month, and remember, to those about to rock: We salute you.

- Bowie

Note from the Author: I strongly believe we should rename Cody Driscoll aka 'Risk' to something more appropriate for the chance-taking amputeed hero. "One-Armed Bandit" maybe?