THIS STORY WILL CROSS WITH OTHERS OVERTIME. A WARNING WILL BE PLACED WHENEVER THAT OCCURS.

8888

The Flight of the Blue Beetle

It all happened so fast. One moment he was in the Watchtower's lunch room and the next he was being pulled to the side by Kaldur. He spoke words he knew but had trouble making sense of them in the sentences he was using. Kaldur looked at him waiting for his reaction but all he did was turn around and rush towards the Zeta-beams. The rest went in a blur. He arrived back in El Paso, transformed and flew directly towards the hospital. He had been ready to burst in but Khaji-Da refused. His muscles tensed forcing him to stop among the trees of a park across from the hospital. The armor retracted by itself and then he was running. At the entrance his mother and sister were already waiting for him. Both had red eyes and traces of tears.

"Dad-" he was still trying to make sense of Kaldur's words.

"He is fine," his mother said before shaking her head, "not fine, but he is out of danger"

"What ha-" but he stopped when he saw his little sister start to tear up, she had been there "Milagro" he hurried to pick up his seven year old sister before she buried her little tearful face on his chest. He felt like crying as her little body trembled with every sob, "yaaaaa, yaaa" he said soothingly.

"The doctor said we could see him soon," his mother said leading him inside. She guided him still dressed in her nurse robes towards the side of the building where his father was. He felt his chest constrict at the thought of his mother being in mid shift and then learn her husband was in the way. They sat in the waiting area, and though there were plenty of seats his little sister remained on his arms. Her little sobs eventually slipped into slumber.

"What happened?" he asked pushing stray locks of Milagro's hair away from her saddened face. They said God didn't give you challenges you couldn't handle, but did they really have to come when she was still so small.

"Some idiot thought your father would be an easy target to rob," there was a pained smile on her face which told him what he imagined happened. His father was not a man to mess with, "after beating the mierda out of the punk, the kid decided to pull out a gun. He shot your father in the thigh… the artery…" and he was lucky he didn't bleed out on his way to the hospital. Jaime was no stranger of hearing of such occurrences. Since he was a child he would stay up until his mother returned from work and then listen through the door as she told his dad of the calamities that nurses saw. Though he worked alongside heroes and was no stranger to sad incidents; it never occurred to him one would strike so close to home.

"I am sorry, if I had-"

"Don't give me that Jaime," her mother said stressing her words, "you make us proud, don't ever forget about that" and her eyes softened and Jaime felt like those times when he was very small and his mother tried to appease his crying, "besides," she offered him a smile, "I will have my hands full with your father trying not to blame himself. De tal palo, tal astilla"

"What does that mean?" he wished he had taken more into learning his parent's home language.

She tilted her head before saying, "it means you are too much like your father"

It was not long after that they were allowed to enter his father's room. Jaime did his best to not wake up his little sister as he stood by the bed not knowing what to say. His mother was fast to hold her husband's hand and smile at him as new tears started to appear.

"I am still here, you know?" he said breaking the silence. Though his skin was pale, his eyes with heavy bags, and his hands pierced by needless he still smiled.

"Tonto," his wife threatened to punch his shoulder, but at the end she leaned a kissed his cheek.

"Tonto solo por ti," he replied and Jaime felt as if he was invading. He went to sit on one of the chairs in the room as his parents talked as if his father had not been shot a few hours ago, and as if they were not in a hospital room in the middle of the night. Eventually, with a more relaxed mind, he fell asleep.

The following day neither he nor Milagro went to school. The day had been spent setting the house so his father could move freely with his wheelchair, getting help to look after his father's garage (for they refused to have Jaime do it and miss school), and trying to regain a sense of normality. Through the day he would answer phone calls from family, and friends assuring that his father would be fine. His grandmother threatened to come stay with them until her bebe was back to complete health.

"Estoy bien ma… no, no me estoy forzando… mi esposa es una enfermera madre, no creo que haiga alguien mejor que me pueda cuidar…"

"I love abuelita, but she can be a little-"

"You are her grandson, try being the woman who stole her dearest son" his mother rolled her eyes as his father kept struggling to keep his grandmother from worrying too much.

At the end of that trying day as he caught up to the schoolwork he missed he saw Milagro peeking at him from door.

"Is getting late," said standing and ready to herd her back to bed. She was already dressed in her pajamas, "we have school tomorrow"

"Do they shoot at you?" she said while he was still a few steps from him, "the bad guys, do they shoot at you?"

Jaime took a deep breath as he led her towards her room, "sometimes, but I have my armor Milagro" he pulled the covers before she climbed in.

"Can you get papi one of them too?" she asked as her large brown eyes searched his with hope.

Jaime sat on the side of the bed. He tried to think what to tell her. It would be wonderful if everyone could be protected with armors, but that's as far as the benefits went. Though he agreed with his parents to not tell his little sister that he had been controlled by the Reach, he wished she was old enough to understand.

"Sorry, this is the only one," on Earth, "but I promise you I will do my very best to protect you and our family"

She gave him a watery smile before exhaustion overtook her. He watched as she slept soundly unaware of all the threats out there. Unable to think anymore after that he packed away his books; he would catch up in free period the next morning. As he was getting ready to change he found he couldn't move; not because of Khaji-Da but he was stuck on the last words he had told his sister.

"It is a highly recommended source of action Jaime Reyes"

"Leave it to you to agree to violent methods" Jaime threw the stupid idea out of the window. He was supposed to be a hero and as such he had to follow the rules of heroes when it came to dealing with scum. No matter how trying, they were not to take justice into their own hands. The idiot who shot his father was already in custody and would not be long after before he went to the county jail. It seemed his father was not the only person he had hurt.

"The next recommended source of action is to interrogate him. Statistically it is very unlikely for your father's establishment to be targeted in daylight. It does not generate a high enough profit to call attention to itself"

"Sheeh, thanks" But he had to admit Khaji-Da was right. He couldn't recall his father's garage ever being robbed in the middle of the day. There had been a few occurrences in the middle of night, but it was never serious, just tools and some pieces which were covered by insurance.

"Carlos Barrera will be transferred tonight to the county jail,"

Jaime closed his bedroom door before slipping out through the window. He kept telling himself he was just going to make sure the guy made it to county jail, nothing else.

"It is a still an unexplainable phenomenon to me how humans are able to lie to themselves"

It was the middle of the night when he spotted the bus for the county jail park in front of the police department. He watched from the top of the roof as a few prisoners came out marching in a line. It didn't take him long to identify Carlos Barrera. His face was a mixture of purples and blues from the beating he received from his father. The ugly thoughts faded at the sight of how he limped towards the bus. His father had done enough damage to the guy to remember not to show his face near their garage.

Once they were all in the bus they started the trip towards the county jail. Jaime decided to fly high and watch over the bus. It would take about an hour so he decided to make sure everything went smoothly. Towards the middle of the trip the bus stopped, and so did he in the middle of the air. He waited wondering if there was an issue with the bus. Khaji-Da didn't register any struggle or abnormality. Then he saw Carlos run out of the bus as fast as he could and towards the woods. Jaime at once went after him.

"Alejate demonio!"

"Non-rational energy detected"

"Would it kill you to call it magic?"

It was very faint but as they got closer to the man he saw the light source of magic surrounding him. He didn't have to worry for a moment later the man crashed against a tree and fell back. He picked him up by the shoulder and slammed him against the same tree he crashed.

"What in the-" he forgot about his question when he saw the man's eyes. They were completely white, as if his pupils had completely disappeared.

"No, por favor no Dama, no fue mi culpa!" the man cried out struggling to free himself.

"Source of non-rational energy" Khaji-Da confirmed his suspicion.

"Quien es la Dama?" he asked leaning closer to look at the man's eyes. He saw himself reflected on the whites but there was something else.

And then the man's eyes returned to normal and he stared at the Blue Beetle's eyes with relief.

"Gracias a Dios," the man slipped to his knees, "La Dama is gone"

"Who is La Dama?"

"Is better if you don't know," the man said shaking as he got on his feet.

"You work for her?"

"Used to, I failed and now she will hunt me for the rest of my life" he took a deep breath, "por favor, take me to jail. I think she might not be able to reach me there"

That was a first, he thought as he led the man back to the bus. At the edge of the woods he spotted the cops looking for the man.

"She tried to help you escape?"

"No, she wants to punish me herself" and then the man walked forwards with his arms raised. It wasn't long before the officers saw him and escorted him back to the bus.

He made sure to track the bus until the new inmates were inside the county jail and then he flew back home to catch a few hours of sleep. As he readied to go to bed he saw his communicator blinking. He placed it to his ear.

"Hermano!" he almost threw the communicator out the window.

"Tune it down," he whispered harshly to his friend.

"Sorry, sorry," Kid-Flash said with a nervous laugh, "so, how are things? I heard you are not coming in for a while"

"Dad is much better," he said feeling relieved to say those words, "Milagro is still a little scared, and mom is taking over things as usual"

"And you?"

"Just tired" he said unsure about what he had seen that night. Who was La Dama? And why was she targeting his dad.