Post by Admin on Mar 30, 2010 19:21:34 GMT -5
“Dan?!” Ted could not believe his eyes. It was him. It was Dan Garret no doubt about it.
The pair of figures that hovered just inside Ted’s large kitchen window started moving in slowly. The scarab that had formed moments earlier from Ted’s laptop computer continued to emit a high pitched screech that slowly gave way to a violent vibration. It shook the entire room bringing down pictures from the wall and breaking all the glass within twenty feet.
Ted gripped the sides of his head clasping his hands over his ears. It was in his head now as his nose began to bleed. The black and blue armor clad figures of Dan Garret and Peacemaker landed softly on the floor. Ted’s head ached and throbbed and everything around him went black then back into focus.
Each time he regained focus he could see that his two former friends were moving closer and closer until finally the last time he realized they were moving past him. Finally everything went black and stayed that way.
The fall leaves crumpled beneath Ted Kord’s feet as he rushed down the concrete path leading to the front steps of Central City University. It was his first day of college and he was late for his first class. He was fifteen and only three short months ago he had graduated High School early through an accelerated program available to exceptional students.
Inside, classes had already started and Dan Garret was minutes into his first lecture of the year. Behind him he had written "Archaeology 101" along with his name. Ted entered the classroom, interrupting the lecture and sat down at the seat nearest to the door.
“Welcome,” said Dan, “Glad you could make it. Class, I would like to introduce you all to a very special student. This is Theodore Kord. Mr. Kord could you please stand up and tell the class why you are such a special student?”
Ted blushed as he stood up. “Um…well, I graduated high school three years early and won a full scholarship…because…I won several state science fairs and sold some patents to the government. Specifically, they were most interested in my work with atom smashers and supercolliders.”
The whole class looked at Ted for what felt like an eternity.
Dan finally spoke up, “Congratulations Mr. Kord. “ Then the class did something Ted was not expecting. They started clapping and Ted was beaming as he sat down. He had gotten used to getting picked on all through school for being the smart nerdy kid. This was a world of difference.
“Very good, we’ll continue with the lecture now.” Dan said and returned to the podium at the front of the class and continued. “We’ll be studying physical, cultural and linguistic anthropology, this semester…”
Ted was the last in the classroom at the end and was packing his book bag as Dan approached him.
“Prodigies are rare these days, Mr. Kord.” Dan said.
“I’m not sure I would use the word prodigy.” Ted answered sheepishly.
“Come now, I read your permanent record. With a one hundred ninety I.Q. you would serve yourself well to scale back the modesty just a smidgen.” Dan said with a smile.
“It’s actually closer to the upper one nineties. I had a cold the day of the test.” Ted replied with mock arrogance.
“That’s more like it. I look forward to helping mold that brilliant mind of yours, son.” Dan said and turned and walked towards the door. He stopped and turned back just before he exited. “ I’ll also be looking forward to seeing you here on time in the future.”
“Yes sir.” Ted answered as the two shook hands. “Sorry about that.”
“Ted! Ted!” It took a second or two for Ted to register whose voice he was hearing.
Paco was standing over Ted when he came to.
“I am so sick of getting knocked out.” He muttered as he climbed to his feet.
“Ted, they took him. They took Jaime…they took…they took my best friend.” Paco’s voice was desperate. He was clearly scared for his friend.
“We’ll find him. I promise.” Ted assured him. Ted rubbed his head for a moment then stood strait up as though something had hit him. A rush of information came to him in the seconds before he lost consciousness. He ran to a drawer and got out a notebook and a pen.
“What’s that?” Paco asked as he looked at the paper Ted was writing on.
“Right before my laptop folded into a scarab there was something on the screen. Something…I’ve never seen before…a message or maybe a frequency…” His eyes widened as he wrote. “…Or both.”
He ripped the piece of paper out of the book and handed it to Paco. ”I need you to take this down to the police station. Give it to Officer Montag. Tell him I need the items on this list and to meet me at the observatory at the edge of town in one hour. If he needs any help tracking any of this down he can call Dr. Ray Palmer at Ivy Town University.”
“Will this help get Jaime back?” Paco asked his voice cracking.
“…” Ted paused. “I’ll get him back or die trying. I promise”
“What are you going to do?” Paco asked as Ted pulled his goggles back on.
“I‘m guessing where there‘s aliens there‘s an alien ship. I‘m headed to the observatory but I have a call to make first.” Ted answered smiling.
Paco took the paper and ran out of the door and down to the elevators. Ted watched and waited for the doors to close.
Ted pulled out a JL communicator. “J’onn? It’s Blue Beetle, I have a situation. I need a teleport in an hour and a half. I’ll send you coordinates as soon as I have them.”
“Should I contact the League?” J’onn asked.
“No, I have a plan.” Ted replied and shut off his signal device then leaped out of the broken window.
Sparkington Northup drove his used car past row after row of mundane orange barrels. As he listened to the symphony of horns and people shouting at one another he wondered to himself how many times he had made this drive. Twenty something years ago he was Sparky, sidekick to the superhero the Blue Beetle. For a brief time life was exciting and he felt that he was needed. Once the scarab that gave him superpowers went crazy on him he had to be hidden. He had to go away. The family fortune he would have inherited was gone. His father had spent most of it to keep him alive and pay for medical bill after medical bill when the scarab made him sick.
Sparkington now lived by another name. Jeremy Nash was no superhero. He was not rich. He was effectively nobody. He would drive back and forth to his job in the cubicle everyday and then go home where he would take out trash or listen to his wife nag him about taking out trash. He hated his life and at times he wished they would have just let him die from the scarab-caused illnesses.
The traffic once again came to a halt. He assumed there was a minor accident that everyone slowed down to get a look at, and annoyance bubbled up in his chest. His eyes rolled and he turned up the radio to block out his own dark thoughts. He listened to AM radio for the most part. It wasn’t that he felt any kinship or agreed with most of the people on the stations, but it was nice to hear there were people just as angry as he was at the world.
Jeremy flipped through the stations and one after another were being interrupted with some special update. He rolled his eyes again and guessed that maybe Angelina Jolie had adopted another child from some country he had never heard of.
“Breaking News, my ass.” He muttered and turned the station again. Finally he decided to see what all the fuss was about.
“…on the midtown bridge. Again there are reports from the midtown bridge of two apparent super villains tearing apart cars. If you are headed for the bridge you are being advised to turn back. If you are already on the bridge…”
Jeremy stared at his radio in disbelief for a moment before getting out of his car and climbing onto the hood. The half scarab that was left behind in his back started to pulse and he felt strange. He looked over the traffic ahead of him and caught a glimpse of the so-called super villains tearing apart the cars ahead of him.
“Me…they want me.” He said under his breath. He threw his hands up in the air and started waving them around.
“Hey! Hey! I’m here!” The figures stopped and looked towards him across the bridge then came strait to him. As he waved his arms and shouted for them he felt the remainder of the scarab in his back start to vibrate. When they approached him they were surrounded by scarabs. One of them split into half and the one half flew towards him at a high speed and attached to his back. He felt power surge throughout his body before everything went black.
Blood and spit dripped from Jaime’s mouth to the cold steel floor beneath him. A series of blue fists had rained down upon him one after the other. He was still not sure why he was here. He had the feeling he was being interrogated, but no one had even asked him a single question. The large blue skinned figure clad in a thin black armor that had been beating him turned to the door as it opened. Another entered the room. This one was smaller and had a more kindly look about him and held a scarab in his hands.
“That is quite enough, Infiltrator. I will take it from here.” He said dismissing the other as he set the scarab down on a sterile table nearby. “I must apologize for my friend. He has had very unfortunate dealings with sentients from your planet.”
“Wh…what do you want with me?” Jaime asked. He had been brought aboard this ship after he being abducted from Ted’s penthouse. So far he didn’t have a clue as to why.
“Millions of years ago the Reach was a very peaceful highly advanced race. When a neighboring planet not unlike yours discovered space travel we tried to teach them, to help them along with technology. It was a terrible mistake on our part. Their interest in technology was entirely focused around weapons. They caught up to us technologically long before they were mature enough as a world to handle such advancement. We were forced into a war we never wanted. The Reach was on the verge of victory when the others made a fatal mistake and launched what would you know as a nuclear attack. Mutual annihilation was inevitable. Both worlds were nearly extinct when our elders decided to download the consciousnesses of the last survivors from our world into scarabs. Most of them had gone mad or became docile from the fallout. Some were cast off . Two such scarabs eventually landed on earth. The rest of us gathered into this ship and set out to find a new world. After a great deal of time we learned we could take over a host or if we so chose we could coexist with a host. Those of us who were able to grow new bodies made it our sworn duty to find hosts for the ones who were less fortunate. Until now only select sentients were suitable as host. Weeks ago some of your earth scientist were experimenting with a scarab and unknowingly sent out a signal that we received. Your planet being so similar to the one that cost us ours makes it a perfect candidate to rebuild our world using humans as hosts.”
“We didn‘t …”
“In order for us to use you as hosts you must reflect the final emotions that were felt in the original bodies of each scarab. It is well known that when a loss is suffered, there are five stages of grief. My fellow council members in the Reach would have been in various stages of this having, watched our planet destroyed. Your planet is going to die. The Earthmen known as Peacemaker and Dan Garret have become denial and rage. Ironically it is Peacemaker’s rage over the wars on your planet that make him susceptible. Garret being resurrected is a denial of death. I am the Negotiator. There is one to follow who will represent depression. And you…you are to become Acceptance.”
“That’s…impossible.” Jaime replied.
“Stage one.” The Negotiator said coldly. His hands behind his back as he watched Jaime intently.
“What? What are you talking about? We have heroes. The Justice League, the Justice Society, they will stop you.” Jaime said as he tried to get up. He lunged at the Negotiator who easily side-stepped his attempt.
“Stage two.” He said.
Jaime fell back to the ground. The Negotiator leaned over casually to where Jaime lay. He reached out with one hand and pressed hard into a gash on his head. Jaime screamed.
“Please…stop…”He begged. The pain was more than he could bare.
“Stage three.” The Negotiator said as a small smile curled around the corners of his alien mouth.
The door opened once again and three more figures joined them. Peacemaker, Dan and Sparkington. All were encased in various styles of the same black and blue armor with scarabs protruding from their backs.
When Jaime saw the three of them a frown took over his grimace from the pain. He lowered his head and sighed. He felt nothing but despair.
“Stage four.” The Negotiator said evenly. “You are ready. You will become Acceptance.” He said picking up the scarab from the table. “Do you Accept?”
Jaime looked up at the scarab and then panned around the room observing the four beings in front of him. He thought of his world, his life, friends and family. He thought of his heroes and everyone who had ever put their life on the line to help someone else. He thought of all these things and answered.
“You’ll have to kill me.” And he lowered his head again to await the final blow.
The Negotiator stared at him in disbelief. The Infiltrator had put quiet a beating on this Earthling. He expected he would break very quickly. Confidence returned swiftly to the Negotiator. “Take him to the lower level. Put him in a cell. Give him no food or drink. He will break.”
Sparkington picked him up and carried him out of the door. The Infiltrator walked in as they passed. He had been waiting outside of the door. “Had you not stopped me, he would already be broken.”
“Had I not stopped you he would be dead.” The Negotiator replied. “We need him alive and we need him to accept the scarab on his own.
“Gotch’ya.” Ted said and leaned away from the telescope at the Midway City Observatory.
He had spotted a ship just outside of Earth’s atmosphere that did not belong. It was covered in designs similar to the ones on Peacemaker and Dan’s scarab armor.
“I got all the items on your list, Kord. What’s happening out there?” It was Officer Montag who had just entered the large round room. He walked up behind Ted and placed a large box on the floor.
Ted turned around and motioned him to come with him to a nearby desk. On top of the desk lay two BB Guns. They had been modified a great deal. “I received a message from the alien ship. They have a traitor onboard, who wants to help us. It told me how to beat them. Take one of these. I’ve rigged them to emit a high powered magnetic pulse. If any of those armored things masquerading as my friends come near, these guns should short circuit them and rip that armor right off.”
Montag picked one up and looked at it. He got a feel for the size and weight of it pretty quickly.
“So you were right? An alien invasion is coming? Again?”
“Yeah, apparently destroying Earth has become quite the alien past time. We should really try and spread the word about baseball.” Ted answered with a smile.
“What’s this other stuff for?” He asked.
“I’m going to convert this telescope into a super-collider cannon. With any luck when you fire it, the resulting collision of atoms will create a big bang effect. The cannon will direct it at the alien ship.”
“A big bang effect? Like the one that created the universe?” Montag asked in disbelief.
“That’s right. Like the one that creates every universe and once said universe is created, it forms it’s own vibrational frequency to exist on. If I’ve calculated everything correctly--- and I almost always do--- then the alien ship will be sent to a baby universe where it can’t harm anyone.”
“Okay…let’s back up here a minute. You said when I fire the cannon?” Montag was still eyeing up the BB Gun and seemed generally uneasy with the whole situation. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I may have friends on that ship. I have to find out and bring them back if I can, but if I’m not back in one hour…” Ted turned and looked Montag directly in the eye. “You have to fire that cannon whether I’m on the ship or not.”
“You can’t be serious…if there’s a problem that big can’t you call--”
“No.” Ted interrupted him. “If I call in help everytime there’s a bad situation… I got this. One hour after I leave you fire the cannon.”
For the next several minutes Ted was hard at work taking parts off and adding new parts onto the super microscope. “That should do it.” He said after some more hard work. Ted picked up the second BB Gun and holstered it. He punched some final numbers into the computer hooked to the makeshift super-collider, and looked to Montag. “One hour. This button here.” He said and pointed to a blue button he had rigged to the device.
Montag took a deep breath and let it out. “One hour. Good luck.”
“J’onn, it’s Ted.” He said into a JL signal device. “I’m sending up the coordinates now.”
Ted disappeared and Montag stood there watching with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Good luck.” He said again, this time to himself.
Ted materialized aboard the Reach ship as planned. He looked around noting the layout and style of the ship.. It was cold and steel and heartless. He likened it to a Midwest manufacturing plant minus the corporate safety signs put in place to avoid lawsuits. Steam billowed from various engines and the resulting wet residue covered the steel. Ted guessed he was in an engine room of some sort and was sure an alarm would follow his presence in short form.
Quickly he moved along the edge of the walls with his re-built BB gun in hand. As he crept along the wall he searched for any sign of a computer to plus into. He needed a lay out of the ship if he was going to find his friends. Peeking around the next corner Ted found what he was looking for.
“Eureka.” He whispered and jaunted toward the open door of a room with a large computer hub.
Ted looked around after entering the room and felt an uneasy chill run up his spine.
“This is almost too easy.” He said to himself as he pulled out the small hand-held computer from his belt that had made using Mother Box technology and plugged into the hub. At that moment he heard foot steps coming down the corridor just outside of the room.
“Of course…” He mumbled to himself. “I was just asking for that…”
Two armor clad figures entered the room but not before Ted had managed to hide underneath one of the consoles. His handheld device was still plugged into the hub and he was hoping against hope that they didn’t notice it.
From where Ted was hiding he could barely see the two figures who had graced him with their presence. He raised his BB gun and aimed it in their direction. He had hoped he could avoid drawing any attention right away, but he was prepared to do so if necessary. The figures walked around the room, checking monitors and pushing buttons. They said nothing to one another but didn’t seem as though they needed to.
After several nerve-wracking moments his visitors turned to exit the room. Ted breathed a sigh of relief as he watched them go back down the corridor. He came out from under the console he had hidden in and retrieved his unnoticed device. The download was nearly complete giving him access to a layout of the ship. He peered into the hallway to see that the two figures were stopped waiting for a pair of doors to open.
As Ted peered down the hallway the device was finalizing the download he had set up. He had barely gotten his head back inside of the door when it was finished. Much to his dismay as the download competed a barely audible noise came from his device.
**ping**
In Ted’s mind it may as well have been a scream in a megaphone. The two figures turned sharply back towards the room and Ted cursed under his breath. He readied the BB gun and waited for them to return….
Jaime shivered and rubbed his hands up and down his arms. He could no longer guess how long he had been in the cold, sterile cell. Occasionally he paced the floor to keep warm and to distract himself from what was happening.
“Fine mess you got us into, Paco…” He said half-joking. The truth was that he missed his friend at this moment more than he ever thought he would.
He was in pain from head to toe but it was much less intense than earlier. He had to wonder if it was the cold numbness taking over or if he was actually getting some sort of strength back to his body.
He hadn’t heard a noise outside of his own breathing for hours. No guards, no Negotiator, nothing. Alone…He pushed the thought aside and began pacing the room.
“Jaime Reyes…” A voice cut through the silence. He looked for the source but could not find it.
“Who’s there?” He asked.
“Jaime…I can help you.” The voice came again. This time Jaime realized he wasn’t hearing the voice so much as feeling it. It wasn’t English. It wasn’t any language he recognized. It wasn’t even human. Yet, somehow he understood it.
“Not…a trick?” Jaime responded.
“No trick. My name is Khaji Da and I can get you out of here, but please take me with you.”
Jaime felt as calm as he ever had. He didn’t know ho or why but he trusted this strange voice.
“Okay.” And Jaime Reyes became acceptance.
The pair of figures that hovered just inside Ted’s large kitchen window started moving in slowly. The scarab that had formed moments earlier from Ted’s laptop computer continued to emit a high pitched screech that slowly gave way to a violent vibration. It shook the entire room bringing down pictures from the wall and breaking all the glass within twenty feet.
Ted gripped the sides of his head clasping his hands over his ears. It was in his head now as his nose began to bleed. The black and blue armor clad figures of Dan Garret and Peacemaker landed softly on the floor. Ted’s head ached and throbbed and everything around him went black then back into focus.
Each time he regained focus he could see that his two former friends were moving closer and closer until finally the last time he realized they were moving past him. Finally everything went black and stayed that way.
Blue Beetle
Issue #4: "The End Is Nigh…Again"
Story and Cover By Chris Paugh
Edited by David Charlton
Issue #4: "The End Is Nigh…Again"
Story and Cover By Chris Paugh
Edited by David Charlton
The fall leaves crumpled beneath Ted Kord’s feet as he rushed down the concrete path leading to the front steps of Central City University. It was his first day of college and he was late for his first class. He was fifteen and only three short months ago he had graduated High School early through an accelerated program available to exceptional students.
Inside, classes had already started and Dan Garret was minutes into his first lecture of the year. Behind him he had written "Archaeology 101" along with his name. Ted entered the classroom, interrupting the lecture and sat down at the seat nearest to the door.
“Welcome,” said Dan, “Glad you could make it. Class, I would like to introduce you all to a very special student. This is Theodore Kord. Mr. Kord could you please stand up and tell the class why you are such a special student?”
Ted blushed as he stood up. “Um…well, I graduated high school three years early and won a full scholarship…because…I won several state science fairs and sold some patents to the government. Specifically, they were most interested in my work with atom smashers and supercolliders.”
The whole class looked at Ted for what felt like an eternity.
Dan finally spoke up, “Congratulations Mr. Kord. “ Then the class did something Ted was not expecting. They started clapping and Ted was beaming as he sat down. He had gotten used to getting picked on all through school for being the smart nerdy kid. This was a world of difference.
“Very good, we’ll continue with the lecture now.” Dan said and returned to the podium at the front of the class and continued. “We’ll be studying physical, cultural and linguistic anthropology, this semester…”
Ted was the last in the classroom at the end and was packing his book bag as Dan approached him.
“Prodigies are rare these days, Mr. Kord.” Dan said.
“I’m not sure I would use the word prodigy.” Ted answered sheepishly.
“Come now, I read your permanent record. With a one hundred ninety I.Q. you would serve yourself well to scale back the modesty just a smidgen.” Dan said with a smile.
“It’s actually closer to the upper one nineties. I had a cold the day of the test.” Ted replied with mock arrogance.
“That’s more like it. I look forward to helping mold that brilliant mind of yours, son.” Dan said and turned and walked towards the door. He stopped and turned back just before he exited. “ I’ll also be looking forward to seeing you here on time in the future.”
“Yes sir.” Ted answered as the two shook hands. “Sorry about that.”
*******
“Ted! Ted!” It took a second or two for Ted to register whose voice he was hearing.
Paco was standing over Ted when he came to.
“I am so sick of getting knocked out.” He muttered as he climbed to his feet.
“Ted, they took him. They took Jaime…they took…they took my best friend.” Paco’s voice was desperate. He was clearly scared for his friend.
“We’ll find him. I promise.” Ted assured him. Ted rubbed his head for a moment then stood strait up as though something had hit him. A rush of information came to him in the seconds before he lost consciousness. He ran to a drawer and got out a notebook and a pen.
“What’s that?” Paco asked as he looked at the paper Ted was writing on.
“Right before my laptop folded into a scarab there was something on the screen. Something…I’ve never seen before…a message or maybe a frequency…” His eyes widened as he wrote. “…Or both.”
He ripped the piece of paper out of the book and handed it to Paco. ”I need you to take this down to the police station. Give it to Officer Montag. Tell him I need the items on this list and to meet me at the observatory at the edge of town in one hour. If he needs any help tracking any of this down he can call Dr. Ray Palmer at Ivy Town University.”
“Will this help get Jaime back?” Paco asked his voice cracking.
“…” Ted paused. “I’ll get him back or die trying. I promise”
“What are you going to do?” Paco asked as Ted pulled his goggles back on.
“I‘m guessing where there‘s aliens there‘s an alien ship. I‘m headed to the observatory but I have a call to make first.” Ted answered smiling.
Paco took the paper and ran out of the door and down to the elevators. Ted watched and waited for the doors to close.
Ted pulled out a JL communicator. “J’onn? It’s Blue Beetle, I have a situation. I need a teleport in an hour and a half. I’ll send you coordinates as soon as I have them.”
“Should I contact the League?” J’onn asked.
“No, I have a plan.” Ted replied and shut off his signal device then leaped out of the broken window.
*******
Sparkington Northup drove his used car past row after row of mundane orange barrels. As he listened to the symphony of horns and people shouting at one another he wondered to himself how many times he had made this drive. Twenty something years ago he was Sparky, sidekick to the superhero the Blue Beetle. For a brief time life was exciting and he felt that he was needed. Once the scarab that gave him superpowers went crazy on him he had to be hidden. He had to go away. The family fortune he would have inherited was gone. His father had spent most of it to keep him alive and pay for medical bill after medical bill when the scarab made him sick.
Sparkington now lived by another name. Jeremy Nash was no superhero. He was not rich. He was effectively nobody. He would drive back and forth to his job in the cubicle everyday and then go home where he would take out trash or listen to his wife nag him about taking out trash. He hated his life and at times he wished they would have just let him die from the scarab-caused illnesses.
The traffic once again came to a halt. He assumed there was a minor accident that everyone slowed down to get a look at, and annoyance bubbled up in his chest. His eyes rolled and he turned up the radio to block out his own dark thoughts. He listened to AM radio for the most part. It wasn’t that he felt any kinship or agreed with most of the people on the stations, but it was nice to hear there were people just as angry as he was at the world.
Jeremy flipped through the stations and one after another were being interrupted with some special update. He rolled his eyes again and guessed that maybe Angelina Jolie had adopted another child from some country he had never heard of.
“Breaking News, my ass.” He muttered and turned the station again. Finally he decided to see what all the fuss was about.
“…on the midtown bridge. Again there are reports from the midtown bridge of two apparent super villains tearing apart cars. If you are headed for the bridge you are being advised to turn back. If you are already on the bridge…”
Jeremy stared at his radio in disbelief for a moment before getting out of his car and climbing onto the hood. The half scarab that was left behind in his back started to pulse and he felt strange. He looked over the traffic ahead of him and caught a glimpse of the so-called super villains tearing apart the cars ahead of him.
“Me…they want me.” He said under his breath. He threw his hands up in the air and started waving them around.
“Hey! Hey! I’m here!” The figures stopped and looked towards him across the bridge then came strait to him. As he waved his arms and shouted for them he felt the remainder of the scarab in his back start to vibrate. When they approached him they were surrounded by scarabs. One of them split into half and the one half flew towards him at a high speed and attached to his back. He felt power surge throughout his body before everything went black.
********
Blood and spit dripped from Jaime’s mouth to the cold steel floor beneath him. A series of blue fists had rained down upon him one after the other. He was still not sure why he was here. He had the feeling he was being interrogated, but no one had even asked him a single question. The large blue skinned figure clad in a thin black armor that had been beating him turned to the door as it opened. Another entered the room. This one was smaller and had a more kindly look about him and held a scarab in his hands.
“That is quite enough, Infiltrator. I will take it from here.” He said dismissing the other as he set the scarab down on a sterile table nearby. “I must apologize for my friend. He has had very unfortunate dealings with sentients from your planet.”
“Wh…what do you want with me?” Jaime asked. He had been brought aboard this ship after he being abducted from Ted’s penthouse. So far he didn’t have a clue as to why.
“Millions of years ago the Reach was a very peaceful highly advanced race. When a neighboring planet not unlike yours discovered space travel we tried to teach them, to help them along with technology. It was a terrible mistake on our part. Their interest in technology was entirely focused around weapons. They caught up to us technologically long before they were mature enough as a world to handle such advancement. We were forced into a war we never wanted. The Reach was on the verge of victory when the others made a fatal mistake and launched what would you know as a nuclear attack. Mutual annihilation was inevitable. Both worlds were nearly extinct when our elders decided to download the consciousnesses of the last survivors from our world into scarabs. Most of them had gone mad or became docile from the fallout. Some were cast off . Two such scarabs eventually landed on earth. The rest of us gathered into this ship and set out to find a new world. After a great deal of time we learned we could take over a host or if we so chose we could coexist with a host. Those of us who were able to grow new bodies made it our sworn duty to find hosts for the ones who were less fortunate. Until now only select sentients were suitable as host. Weeks ago some of your earth scientist were experimenting with a scarab and unknowingly sent out a signal that we received. Your planet being so similar to the one that cost us ours makes it a perfect candidate to rebuild our world using humans as hosts.”
“We didn‘t …”
“In order for us to use you as hosts you must reflect the final emotions that were felt in the original bodies of each scarab. It is well known that when a loss is suffered, there are five stages of grief. My fellow council members in the Reach would have been in various stages of this having, watched our planet destroyed. Your planet is going to die. The Earthmen known as Peacemaker and Dan Garret have become denial and rage. Ironically it is Peacemaker’s rage over the wars on your planet that make him susceptible. Garret being resurrected is a denial of death. I am the Negotiator. There is one to follow who will represent depression. And you…you are to become Acceptance.”
“That’s…impossible.” Jaime replied.
“Stage one.” The Negotiator said coldly. His hands behind his back as he watched Jaime intently.
“What? What are you talking about? We have heroes. The Justice League, the Justice Society, they will stop you.” Jaime said as he tried to get up. He lunged at the Negotiator who easily side-stepped his attempt.
“Stage two.” He said.
Jaime fell back to the ground. The Negotiator leaned over casually to where Jaime lay. He reached out with one hand and pressed hard into a gash on his head. Jaime screamed.
“Please…stop…”He begged. The pain was more than he could bare.
“Stage three.” The Negotiator said as a small smile curled around the corners of his alien mouth.
The door opened once again and three more figures joined them. Peacemaker, Dan and Sparkington. All were encased in various styles of the same black and blue armor with scarabs protruding from their backs.
When Jaime saw the three of them a frown took over his grimace from the pain. He lowered his head and sighed. He felt nothing but despair.
“Stage four.” The Negotiator said evenly. “You are ready. You will become Acceptance.” He said picking up the scarab from the table. “Do you Accept?”
Jaime looked up at the scarab and then panned around the room observing the four beings in front of him. He thought of his world, his life, friends and family. He thought of his heroes and everyone who had ever put their life on the line to help someone else. He thought of all these things and answered.
“You’ll have to kill me.” And he lowered his head again to await the final blow.
The Negotiator stared at him in disbelief. The Infiltrator had put quiet a beating on this Earthling. He expected he would break very quickly. Confidence returned swiftly to the Negotiator. “Take him to the lower level. Put him in a cell. Give him no food or drink. He will break.”
Sparkington picked him up and carried him out of the door. The Infiltrator walked in as they passed. He had been waiting outside of the door. “Had you not stopped me, he would already be broken.”
“Had I not stopped you he would be dead.” The Negotiator replied. “We need him alive and we need him to accept the scarab on his own.
*******
“Gotch’ya.” Ted said and leaned away from the telescope at the Midway City Observatory.
He had spotted a ship just outside of Earth’s atmosphere that did not belong. It was covered in designs similar to the ones on Peacemaker and Dan’s scarab armor.
“I got all the items on your list, Kord. What’s happening out there?” It was Officer Montag who had just entered the large round room. He walked up behind Ted and placed a large box on the floor.
Ted turned around and motioned him to come with him to a nearby desk. On top of the desk lay two BB Guns. They had been modified a great deal. “I received a message from the alien ship. They have a traitor onboard, who wants to help us. It told me how to beat them. Take one of these. I’ve rigged them to emit a high powered magnetic pulse. If any of those armored things masquerading as my friends come near, these guns should short circuit them and rip that armor right off.”
Montag picked one up and looked at it. He got a feel for the size and weight of it pretty quickly.
“So you were right? An alien invasion is coming? Again?”
“Yeah, apparently destroying Earth has become quite the alien past time. We should really try and spread the word about baseball.” Ted answered with a smile.
“What’s this other stuff for?” He asked.
“I’m going to convert this telescope into a super-collider cannon. With any luck when you fire it, the resulting collision of atoms will create a big bang effect. The cannon will direct it at the alien ship.”
“A big bang effect? Like the one that created the universe?” Montag asked in disbelief.
“That’s right. Like the one that creates every universe and once said universe is created, it forms it’s own vibrational frequency to exist on. If I’ve calculated everything correctly--- and I almost always do--- then the alien ship will be sent to a baby universe where it can’t harm anyone.”
“Okay…let’s back up here a minute. You said when I fire the cannon?” Montag was still eyeing up the BB Gun and seemed generally uneasy with the whole situation. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I may have friends on that ship. I have to find out and bring them back if I can, but if I’m not back in one hour…” Ted turned and looked Montag directly in the eye. “You have to fire that cannon whether I’m on the ship or not.”
“You can’t be serious…if there’s a problem that big can’t you call--”
“No.” Ted interrupted him. “If I call in help everytime there’s a bad situation… I got this. One hour after I leave you fire the cannon.”
For the next several minutes Ted was hard at work taking parts off and adding new parts onto the super microscope. “That should do it.” He said after some more hard work. Ted picked up the second BB Gun and holstered it. He punched some final numbers into the computer hooked to the makeshift super-collider, and looked to Montag. “One hour. This button here.” He said and pointed to a blue button he had rigged to the device.
Montag took a deep breath and let it out. “One hour. Good luck.”
“J’onn, it’s Ted.” He said into a JL signal device. “I’m sending up the coordinates now.”
Ted disappeared and Montag stood there watching with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Good luck.” He said again, this time to himself.
*******
Ted materialized aboard the Reach ship as planned. He looked around noting the layout and style of the ship.. It was cold and steel and heartless. He likened it to a Midwest manufacturing plant minus the corporate safety signs put in place to avoid lawsuits. Steam billowed from various engines and the resulting wet residue covered the steel. Ted guessed he was in an engine room of some sort and was sure an alarm would follow his presence in short form.
Quickly he moved along the edge of the walls with his re-built BB gun in hand. As he crept along the wall he searched for any sign of a computer to plus into. He needed a lay out of the ship if he was going to find his friends. Peeking around the next corner Ted found what he was looking for.
“Eureka.” He whispered and jaunted toward the open door of a room with a large computer hub.
Ted looked around after entering the room and felt an uneasy chill run up his spine.
“This is almost too easy.” He said to himself as he pulled out the small hand-held computer from his belt that had made using Mother Box technology and plugged into the hub. At that moment he heard foot steps coming down the corridor just outside of the room.
“Of course…” He mumbled to himself. “I was just asking for that…”
Two armor clad figures entered the room but not before Ted had managed to hide underneath one of the consoles. His handheld device was still plugged into the hub and he was hoping against hope that they didn’t notice it.
From where Ted was hiding he could barely see the two figures who had graced him with their presence. He raised his BB gun and aimed it in their direction. He had hoped he could avoid drawing any attention right away, but he was prepared to do so if necessary. The figures walked around the room, checking monitors and pushing buttons. They said nothing to one another but didn’t seem as though they needed to.
After several nerve-wracking moments his visitors turned to exit the room. Ted breathed a sigh of relief as he watched them go back down the corridor. He came out from under the console he had hidden in and retrieved his unnoticed device. The download was nearly complete giving him access to a layout of the ship. He peered into the hallway to see that the two figures were stopped waiting for a pair of doors to open.
As Ted peered down the hallway the device was finalizing the download he had set up. He had barely gotten his head back inside of the door when it was finished. Much to his dismay as the download competed a barely audible noise came from his device.
**ping**
In Ted’s mind it may as well have been a scream in a megaphone. The two figures turned sharply back towards the room and Ted cursed under his breath. He readied the BB gun and waited for them to return….
*******
Jaime shivered and rubbed his hands up and down his arms. He could no longer guess how long he had been in the cold, sterile cell. Occasionally he paced the floor to keep warm and to distract himself from what was happening.
“Fine mess you got us into, Paco…” He said half-joking. The truth was that he missed his friend at this moment more than he ever thought he would.
He was in pain from head to toe but it was much less intense than earlier. He had to wonder if it was the cold numbness taking over or if he was actually getting some sort of strength back to his body.
He hadn’t heard a noise outside of his own breathing for hours. No guards, no Negotiator, nothing. Alone…He pushed the thought aside and began pacing the room.
“Jaime Reyes…” A voice cut through the silence. He looked for the source but could not find it.
“Who’s there?” He asked.
“Jaime…I can help you.” The voice came again. This time Jaime realized he wasn’t hearing the voice so much as feeling it. It wasn’t English. It wasn’t any language he recognized. It wasn’t even human. Yet, somehow he understood it.
“Not…a trick?” Jaime responded.
“No trick. My name is Khaji Da and I can get you out of here, but please take me with you.”
Jaime felt as calm as he ever had. He didn’t know ho or why but he trusted this strange voice.
“Okay.” And Jaime Reyes became acceptance.