Prologue
Green eyes opened blurrily and gazed around; the room was bare and dark.
"Begin phase one" a scary male voice ordered.
Black liquid began filling the container the boy was in. Panic filled him and he slammed his olive hands against the glass.
"Let Me Out!" the 12-year-old shouted, the sticky liquid was slightly past his waist and was climbing fast.
The voice didn't listen.
The black rose over his spine and soon it was coving the kid's head.
The boy felt like he was being ripped open and turned inside out.
He opened his mouth...
...and snapped awake, screaming.
The boy gasped for breath as he tried to calm his beating heart.
A woman ran in and stopped, her eyes held sadness and defeat when her eyes landed on the boy.
"Oh Saba" she whispered before calling out the door, "Claire, can you assure the other's?"
"Of course, Mary" a voice responded before the clicking of high-heels faded.
Mary walked forward and held out her hand, "come on Saba, let's go get some milk"
The boy tentatively took her hand and she led him out of the small room and into the long halls.
Saba kept his head down as he passed the other's rooms and he slowly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. The 12-year-old sat at a table while the worker went to the fridge and got a cup ready with milk.
Saba ran out of the emergency room, panic allowing adrenaline to make him go faster.
He looked behind him and stumbled into the middle of the road during rush hour. An SUV was going too fast to stop in time.
The boy brought his arms up to block his head.
Cool, metal hands grabbed him and lifted him out of the way of the car. Saba screeched and began thrashing in the iron grip.
"¡Whoa! ¡ Chico Cálmate! ¡ No te haré daño!" the familiar voice of El Paso's hero caused the boy to go limp.
Scared green eyes looked at the Scarab-Wielder carrying him. He looked so much more than he did on the News. The News didn't capture the shades of blue and black his armour was, it didn't catch the seriousness in his eyes, heck, it didn't even catch how young and different this Blue Beetle was compared to the previous Blue Beetle.
The Beetle landed on a building and carefully set the boy down.
"Are you alright?"
Saba looked himself up and down before nodding, mutely.
Blue Beetle let out a relieved breath and gave a soft "good" before holding out his hand.
"Let's get you home than"
Saba screamed and held his head; bloody tears fell from his closed eyes.
"SABA!" gentle hands caught him as he fell from his seat and held him to their soft chest.
"...Please Help! It's Saba, one of my charges, he just collapsed and he's bleeding from his eyes! …." two fingers pressed against his neck, "his pulse is rapid... he's been having nightmares... Okay" the position shifted, "Saba, Saba can you hear me?"
Saba continued to scream, his head felt as if it were spitting.
"H-he's still screaming, oh God, he's in so much pain" Mary sobbed as she held the boy closer to her chest, her should holding her phone to her ear, "pl-please help"
Saba continued to whither so the Emergency Crew entered sedatives into his bloodstream, that only made it worse.
"Ma'am has he been on any medication?" one of the crew asked as they held the boy down.
Mary sniffed, "ju-just 4.1.1 Prazosin... he was one of the Reach captives and began having nightmares... so, the doctor prescribed it"
The woman nodded and injected a strong sedative into the boy.
His withering stopped and he fell still; bloody tears still slid down his cheeks.
