"Hey, kid! Are you okay? Wake up!" shouted a teen who sounded like the person was standing right above him.
"Que?" asked the other hesitantly.
"There, you're finally all bandaged up. What did you get yourself into? I'm Harry, by the way," he responded.
The bandaged teen tried to sit up but pain shot through his body at the quick sudden movement. He was bracing himself to fall back against the wooden surface that he was lying on. All he felt were two hands on his shoulders holding him up in a sitting position. He lifts his head up and slowly opens his eyes to see who had helped him.
"Hey, you okay? It's not a good idea to be moving around so much. You never mentioned your name," said Harry.
"I don't think I should tell-" said the teen before Harry interrupted him.
"I just saved your life. You were face down in a pool of your own blood. I promised you that I wouldn't take you to a hospital. I had to drag you all the way to my home with you on my back. My dad's not going to be happy with that trail of blood. I think I deserve to know the name of the person I just saved. Please?" he asked.
'He is a threat, Jaime Reyes. He must be terminated,' said the scarab.
'He must be eliminated, Harry. He is a threat to us. He serves no purpose,' whispered Venom.
"Shut up! Wait... what did you say? Never mind..." the two teens said at the same time as they looked away nervously.
"So... your little buddy talks to you too, huh? Were you born with it or did it grow on you or something?" asked Harry as he moved to sit right in front of him.
"What are you talking about?" asked the alarmed teen.
'He knows, Jaime. We must annihilate him!' shouted the scarab.
"No! I mean, um... I'm a schizophrenic?" he replied nervously, hoping the teen had bought it.
"I saw the blue thing on your back that's shaped like a beetle. I needed to wash your clothes and check your wounds. It talks to you, doesn't it?"
"... si, it talks to me- alot. Most of my friends and family think I'm going loco."
"Least you have friends... hey, you never mentioned your name. Don't hold out on me! I told you my name."
"My name's Jaime. Thanks for not taking me to the hospital."
"No problem. I wasn't going to listen to you until I felt it and decided to get a better look. It's nice to meet you, Jaime."
"Mucho gusto. What did you mean by 'your little buddy talks to you too?'"
"Well, I have this, um, symbiote that latched itself onto me awhile back. It's been telling me that I should get rid of you."
"Yours too? Wow, it's... nice to finally have someone under-"
"Harry? Are you okay?" shouted a man as he ran into the room.
"Dad, it's okay. I-" said Harry before he was interrupted by his father.
"Don't give me such a scare! What did you do to leave that trail of blood?" he asked.
"Well, I owe your son my life, sir. He brought me here and patched me up. You're lucky to have such a skilled son. He'll be an excellent doctor," said Jaime as he shifted attention from Harry to himself.
The man froze as those words left the teen's mouth. He stared at Jaime and then back at Harry. Harry saw a look on his face that he hadn't seen his father give him in such a long time. Pride...
"My son saved your life? Well, I'm happy to hear that you are fine but why didn't Harry take you to a hospital? Is there more to this?" he asked.
"Well, I'm deathly afraid of hospitals. Too many bad memories. Besides they always manage to stitch me up bad. Your son knew exactly what he was doing. I don't think it'll even scar," Jaime said as he pulled up his sleeve shirt to reveal the stitches.
"Well, I'm happy that he's helped you. Harry... I'm proud that you've saved his life but you still need to clean up that trail of blood. I'll go make dinner for the three of us. Is there anything in particular that you two would like?" he asked.
"Anything as long as it's not chicken... I used to help out with my friend's family farm and one day, another friend of ours decided to put the food meant for the chicken in my hoodie. The chickens attacked when I went to feed them..." said Jaime shyly as Harry laughed.
~Meanwhile Somewhere Else~
"What do you mean he's gone? People don't just vanish off the face of the Earth!" shouted Bart as he looked around.
"Some people can... M'gann does it all the time," said Beast Boy who smirked when he saw the look on Bart's face.
As they started to bicker, the Justice League and the rest of the Team walked into the mission room. Batman stood in between the two groups and waits as all fall silent. Nightwing walks out of the shadows to stand before Batman.
"Why did you call us here?" asked Batman.
"He's gone... Blue Beetle's nowhere to be seen or found. We tried M'gann's powers, Zatanna's tracking spells, locating his communicator's signal, looking in his usual hot spots, but nothing... we've got nothing besides a reason on why he might have disappeared," said Nightwing.
"Explain," said Batman.
Everyone watched as Batgirl typed on the large holoscreen that had just popped up before them. Robin started typing on his own personal one above his glove. Suddenly, several boxes containing information started popping up in front of them.
"About a month ago, there was an intruder lurking around a private k-12 school in El Paso. Not too long after that occurred, girls from that particular school have gone missing on their way to and from school. Most of the girls have been returned alive and healthy, except for one who is still missing. This little girl just so happens to be Milagro Reyes, Jaime's little sister," said Nightwing as her picture was shown to them.
"This video basically tells you how far Jaime is more than willing to go for his sister," said Robin as he pulled up a video.
~ Video starts to play~
"Am I late?" asked Jaime as he captured the attention of the person filming the whole ordeal.
"Dude, your sister is twelve! What took you so long to get to your sister's party?" asked the girl behind the camera.
"I needed bandaids after I finished up with Milagro's presents. I almost got blood on them and that would've ruined them for her. Did she start opening her presents or cutting the cake?" Jaime asked.
"No, Mr. Jordan isn't here with the cake yet and everyone's been waiting for you. Milagro wanted to open your present first. Get in there and give her your present," she said.
Suddenly, Jaime was being pushed into the next room by none other than Ty. He doesn't let up until everyone in that room could see him. Only one of them speaks up when they see him.
"Hermano, you're here! I thought you weren't going to make it," said the little girl as she ran towards him.
The little girl had long black hair tied up in two pigtails, light brown skin, and big brown eyes. She wore baggy black pants, green sneakers, a black shirt, and a green jacket with the Green Lantern symbol. She smiled widely as she reached Jaime.
"Of course, I did. I wouldn't miss your birthday even if the world was ending. Feliz cumpleanos, Milagro," he says as he handed her the present.
They watch as she looks in and squeals. She jumps up to hug him before she runs to a nearby bathroom. Everyone in the room looks over at Jaime, who was smiling up at a man that had seemed to just appear to his left. The League and Team were surprised to recognize him and they looked amongst each other only to realize that he wasn't with them at the moment.
"How does she like your presents? There's no way that the rest of our presents will be able to top yours," he said.
"She just went to go change into it and it's technically your present to her, too. I couldn't have gotten it for her if it weren't for you. Did you bring the cake, Mr. Jordan?" Jaime asked.
"I snuck it in through the kitchen so Milagro can't peak at it. And I told you to call me Hal or GL. I've got a present for the two of you later on after your sister's initiation," said the man.
"Mr. Hal, you're here! You did get my invitation!" Milagro shouts as she ran to hug him.
"Well, someone has to give you the initiation. Ready to become a Green Lantern?" Hal asked with a smug look on his face.
"Yes! The crazy one and Jaime taught me the words," she said excitedly.
"Get your lantern and press your ring fist against it," he said as she did what she was told.
"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light!" they chanted together.
"Congrats, sis! You're a Green Lantern," Jaime said happily.
The camera turned so they could see everyone in the room, who had their eyes on the girl. There was one person in the crowd that looked straight at the camera, nodded, and disappeared into a hallway. The person with the camera started to walk off into a hallway with Jaime, Hal, and Ty in front of it. They stopped in the kitchen and standing there was the person that was looking at the camera.
"Where do we go from here?" asked the person who they could now see was a teenage boy.
"Now we wait for them to make their move, Paco. We don't know who yet but they're after me," said Jaime as he walked over to the windows and the other door to the kitchen.
"Why can't you go to the Justice League to help you?" Ty asked. "Since you're apart of their Young Justice League thing, they might actually help."
"They can't help with an unknown threat like this. 'Sides, you technically did because I'm here," said Hal.
"Do you really think they'll be after Milagro?" asked the girl holding the camera.
"Don't know but at least now she'll have a fighting chance. As long as she is a Lantern, they won't be able to do much to her without alerting a fellow Lantern or Jaime. This is were that gift of mine comes into play. I've got a dog tag for you and your sister," said Hal as he threw two dog tags at Jaime.
"What do they do?" he asked as he put his on.
"If Milagro is ever in any danger your dog tag will turn from a dark color to a more brighter color depending on the threat level. The dark colors are usually possible Metas with unlocked powers or fellow heroes. The brighter the colors the more chance that it's a predator or villain. If it turns white that means that she's been taken somewhere far away from El Paso. If you press your fingers on it and wish to know where your sister is, then it'll take you to her but only if you're in costume, just in case that she's out in space. I had Zatara make these for Carol and me so if she was ever kidnapped again that I'll know and I'll be able to respond quickly. I asked his daughter to adjust the spell by telling her that it was to keep an eye on a relative here," he said.
"How far is far away?" Paco asked.
"Anywhere that Milagro or her family do not go to would make it turn white but it'll look greyish but if she leaves the planet or gets transported to another universe it'll turn white for sure," Hal said.
"Another universe?"
"Happens alot when you're a member of the Justice League... after you're done filming, put the camera in a shoe box and put it beneath the creaking floorboards underneath the bed in Jaime's room. If something happens to either one of them, only Batman or his kids will be able to find this. They'll know what it'll mean," said Hal as the teens stared at him.
"Should I be concerned that you know the layout of my room?" asked Jaime.
"Well, when we first met, it was because your parents hired me as your babysitter and it was around the time you first came across the scarab. Your mom had asked me to go through your room hoping that I could figure of why you were running off in the middle of the night. Your parents were worried that you might be either a drug dealer or an addict. Were they relieved that you were just helping Ty calm down and keeping him from running away!" exclaimed Hal.
"When are you heading back?" Paco asked.
"Tomorrow, that's why I thought today was a good day to initiate her. I was terrified when I first spotted the ring heading straight towards her room. Caught it just before it could slip onto her finger. This has to stay a secret... for now... Bats will kill me for keeping it from him but... right now we don't have many options... there are others on the League keeping secrets so it's better not to take a risk. The League and their younger counterpart have become divided, so trusting them with this will only cause unneeded bloodshed. Now we wait and hope that they never need to see this..." said Hal before he motions for the girl to stop recording.
~ Video stops playing~
The League stood in silence after the video ended. No one spoke as they were not sure if they could trust their voice at the moment. After a few minutes, one of them finally decided to speak up.
"This just went from bad to worse," said GL Guy Gardner. "Wait, did she just call me 'the crazy one?'"
A.N. I just wanted to say that I was inspired to write my own crossover about Blue Beetle in the Ultimate Spider-Man universe by 'Two Little Bugs' by Melancholy's Sunshine. I just always figured that Harry had troubles with hanging out with his friends because Venom talked about killing them. Jaime and Harry could most likely bond over their mutual irritation for the voices in their heads. By the way, it takes place just after Harry first gets his hands on Venom despite what Harry said.