A/N: Heeey. So I actually didn't post this one on tumblr caaause of what happened recently in the news. Warning, this is pretty damn sad.
Rated for death.
- - -
"Oh, worthless meat. When will you really your efforts are useless?"
Jaime clenched his teeth, staring with such hate towards his opponent, Black Beetle. If it wasn't for the armour, he would have already been done for. He was really taking a beating from the Reach soldier. A quick glance to the side reminded Jaime of Black Beetle's prisoner. Bart.
Black Beetle had made a move to attack him again. The two beetles engaged once more, attacking each other and generally destroying the room. Meanwhile, Bart was trying to get out of his containment pod. He couldn't vibrate thanks to the collar around his neck. So he was trying to knock the pod over by thrusting his weight onto one side. He wanted to help Jaime, rather than be trapped and useless. He stopped for a moment, hearing Jaime cry out in pain. Bart stared, seeing his boyfriend pinned up against a wall, one of the staples from the stapler gun, penetrating straight through the armour on Jaime's stomach.
And as Bart would suspect, Black Beetle wasted no time. A plasma canon was aimed towards him. Black Beetle was threatening Jaime as the hispanic pulled the staple out of his body and let himself down. If Jaime took one step, Black Beetle would fire. Bart suddenly slammed himself into the side of the pod, hoping to finally get out. But it barely budged. Black Beetle, however, fired towards him. Bart was lucky enough to duck down at that exact moment. The beam shattered the glass above him, which let him escape. He hopped out and started to run over to Jaime's side. But he fell to his knees and slid to a stop when the collar around his neck shocked him.
Jaime, on the other hand, was attempting to stand with all the blood loss. His armour was stained and it refused to grow back over the wound. It hadn't gone all the way through, thankfully, but it hurt like hell. As it should. He focused his gaze on Black Beetle, but Jaime really wish he hadn't. Black Beetle had moved.
Black Beetle had come out of a back room.
Black Beetle was holding a small person by their shirt collar.
That person was Milagro.
Jaime's eyes widened, and his armour retracting from his face in response. He stared, his face frozen in worry, fear, and anger. Behind him, Bart yelled for him to move. Bart even got up himself. They had to rescue her. But as Bart moved forward, Black Beetle chuckled darkly.
"Jaime!" Milagro called out, reaching to him as Black Beetle pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her in a deadly embrace. His grip was tight. Milagro cried out.
"Let her go!" Bart demanded, taking a step forward. There was a deadly gaze in the speedster's eyes. But he couldn't do much with a collar on. Black Beetle stopped crushing Milagro, and seemed to comply with what Bart said.
"Very well." the villain said, before another chuckle erupted from him as he set the girl on the ground. She didn't spare him a second glance before taking off towards Jaime, who looked relieved. That is, until he heard the charge of a plasma canon.
"Milagro—!"
The bright light came up behind his sister, and suddenly, she was disintegrated before his eyes. Jaime's eyes started to swell. He stared wide eyed at the open space now between him and Black Beetle. Suddenly, the pain in his stomach didn't hurt so much. Suddenly, the pain in his heart was overwhelming. Shattering, crumbling away. He wanted to rewind. How… how does one even register to what happened.
Jaime watched as Black Beetle simple smirked and then walked away, clearly achieving his goal of breaking the new beetle. If the beetle's spirit was broken, taking him for capture was going to be no problem. So long as that speedster could be dealt with prior to the fight.
"Jaime. Jaime. Look at me, Jaime."
"Jaime, look at me."
"Jaime there's nothing else we can do. Jaime, focus."
The latino simply sat there, collapsed on his knees, staring at the spot where his sister was before she…
Bart smacked him.
Jaime felt numb.
"Jaime Reyes, get it together! It's sad and painful but there's nothing we can do about it! We have to get you help. And you need to get this collar off me. C'mon! Life keeps going, we have to get out of here."
If Jaime had been in such a daze, he might have noticed how frighteningly calm Bart was about this. Sure, his voice shook, but he seemed to know what to do. But Jaime couldn't think about that. He just kept staring straight ahead