Get out your guns, battle's begun,

He had been so quiet for the past two weeks. He didn't talk to himself, and that's what bothered the whole team. If he didn't stay cooped up in his room, or sitting in a corner with his MP3 on, he'd always make excuses to leave the cave. He didn't interact with them, save for missions. Then again, it was sparse.

Nightwing had told them he thought it started a few months back, after it was clear the Reach was an enemy of Earth. Whenever he could, Jaime would train without his armor. He'd always spar with Canary. At first it was very funny to see him get thrown around. But as time passed, and Jaime grew more serious, it almost became painful to see him be thrown on his back; the look in his eyes told me how much he suffered. Or rather how much he made himself suffer…

Are you a saint or a sinner?

She still remembered the conversation, how it had horrified her. After a mission where Jaime felt he had done particularly poorly, he had skipped the showers and went straight to his room. Bart had, of course, met him after his speedy shower. She wished he'd never had done that, but then none of them would have known… Jaime had been abusing himself physically; he was even fighting the armour to do so. She remembered how she had sobbed and bawled after seeing him with a blade imbedded in his wrist. What really disturbed her wasn't the blade or the blood, but the look in his eyes; Jaime didn't seem to care. He had simply tore out the blade, threw it on the ground turned around and left.

After the "incident", Blue had been put under constant surveillance. He always showed up with blisters and cuts on his fingers and hands. That's when he stopped talking altogether. He just trained and stayed in his room.

If love's a fight, then I shall die,

"Get your head in the game Wonder Girl!" it was the third time Nightwing had to call her back to reality. This was it, the mother ship. All or nothing, if they failed now then Earth would become another of the Reach's conquests. They couldn't fail, not just for their planet, but all the planets the Reach had conquered. She dodged a stab from a Reach soldier and threw him into a small group near Impulse.

They had been fighting their way through the upper levels of the ship for quite some time, yet she couldn't find it in herself to be tired, or afraid. None of them could, Jaime seemed oddly at home; he was just mowing through them. That is, until Black Beetle finally showed up and shot Blue in his side. He flew into a wall and created a small crater from the impact. He stood up with difficulty and before he could say anything Connor had sucker punched Black Beetle.

With my heart on the trigger.

That's when everything thing sped up. It was like the end of a great movie, where the heroes completely destroy the opposition before the final fight. Nightwing told us our formations and let us loose. Jaime, Nightwing and Connor were team Alpha. Impulse, Megan and Robin were Beta. Alpha and Beta had to access the mainframe computer, while the rest of us made sure nobody would disturb them once they got there. Cassie was happy with the formation; she wanted to fight. She plowed through the Reach's soldiers with relative ease, the gods must have decided to help her in this difficult war.

They say before you start a war,

This was bad, very very bad. They had had difficulties fighting Black Beetle before, but now it seemed he was almost invincible; nothing could make him move. He held Blue Beetle under his foot. Superboy had tried to push him, only to be redirected into a wall. Megan was about to lift him when he shot at her with his sonic canon. They were at a stalemate. Until Blue grabbed Black Beetle's ankle, lifted his feet and kicked Black Beetle's left knee with all his might. This gave Jaime just enough time to activate his jet pack and fly both of them into the ceiling where they started to fight.

You better know what you're fighting for.

Jaime had only one thought on his mind: ending this here and now. He was tired of suffering and making the others suffer while he was under the Reach's control. He hated himself, everything had been his fault. The others didn't say it, but he knew what they thought of him; a monster, a freak who talks to himself. He had enough. "You cannot win, let me take control" said the scarab multiple times during the fight. Jaime didn't have to, he being vicious enough on his own. The team didn't have to help, even though they did what they could. The scarab must have acknowledged Jaime's fighting spirit and skill, as it stopped talking. Jaime slashed at Black Beetle at a speed that would put the Flash to shame. He never let Black Beetle get a single move in. He activated his jetpack and gave his adversary a rocket propelled kick to the chin. Black laid down unconscious, but that wasn't enough for Jaime, he retracted one of his swords and advanced towards his defeated enemy. Soon Nightwing realized what was about to happened and tried to stop Jaime "Dude, stay whelmed! This isn't you!" But it was very much him. Jaime wanted to kill Black Beetle, he wanted his blood, and he wasn't just saying that because the scarab was urging him to. It took Connor, Impulse and Nightwing to dissuade Jaime from murdering the alien. The convincing argument was to think about the other times when he didn't murder his opponents, the same reasons applied here. Jaime had thought of Cassie.

Well baby you are all that I adore,

They kept advancing towards the main computer room, meeting less resistance thanks to Black Beetle being down. They still had to rip through the door, and with only one heavy hitter, they had to wait for the others to converge to their location. As soon as the whole team was there, they started forcing they're way through the door.

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be.

"You fear death, yet you help this team bring you there?" The scarab had asked him. It took all of Jaime's efforts to think his response "I don't fear death, ese. What I really fear is that I'll never see her again. That she'll go to heaven and that I'll be sent-" the scarab interrupted him "Such notions are nonsensical, Jaime Reyes. You would sacrifice your life for the benefit of billions? You are like the bearded man" "You mean Jesus?" he chuckled "Nah, I'm nothing compared to him." After a short silence, the scarab spoke again, as the door was torn down "You are a strange human Jaime Reyes. This scarab was honored to have had this partnership with you." Jaime smile "Me too Kajih-Da, It was an honor to serve with you." He said the last part aloud.

I'm an angel with a shotgun,

Everything felt like a slow motion sequence; the last ditch effort of the Reach negotiators and their elite guard, the lasers that were shot, their dispatching at the ends of the team, until…

Fighting 'til the war's won,

"Cassie, take this" Jaime handed her a small USB drive. She took it without question, "What is it?" He walked to the main panel "Just open the file on it when you're a safe distance from the ship, okay?" when you're a safe distance from the ship. Realisation hit Wonder Girl harder than a haymaker from the man of steel himself, "Jaime, what are you planning on doing?" "Just promise me you'll do as I say alright?"

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

"WHAT!?" Cassie screamed "Jaime, you can't be serious! There has to be other ways!" "No. No other way, moza. The Reach would never self-destruct, so I have to do it remotely from the armor." He explained. He hugged her tightly, tight enough for her to hurt, but she didn't want him to let go "Why?" she was crying "Porque Te quiero" he whispered. Jaime wrapped his hand around the hand with which she was holding the drive "Promise you'll open the file from a safe distance, okay?" She nodded in tears.

I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe.

Jaime looked at Nightwing, who nodded sternly. "Superboy, open the windows" he nodded at the glass "Miss Martian, call your ship. Robin, come with me and Blue Beetle. The rest of you get into the ship as soon as it arrives and wait for us there."

Don't you know you're everything I have?

The trio headed for the console, and started to hack their way in. Jaime obviously had help from the scarab. As soon as they were authorized in, Blue turned to his teammates "Okay jefe, I can do the rest on my own." "Are you sure?" Nightwing's tone was solemn; he didn't want to lose a teammate. "I have to." The two birds nodded and joined the team.

…And I, wanna live, not just survive, tonight.

It's not like he wanted to do this, it hurt him so much. Just looking at the team, the look in their eyes: admiration, sadness. They were all looking at him, even Connor who was glancing over his shoulder as he hammered away at the surprisingly strong glass. The glass shattered and the ship arrived…

Sometimes to win, you've got to sin,

Each member of the team walked up to him, patted him on the back or hugged him, saying their goodbyes. Nightwing was the first to come, he ut his hands on Jaime's shoulders and said "It was an honor to fight by your side Blue Beetle. You will be remembered." They fist pounded and then the others came, one by one.

Don't mean I'm not a believer

Eventually it was Bart and Cassie's turn. Cassie was bawling and Bart was tearing up, but tried to keep his joker smile on. "Hey, guess you'll never enslave humanity now, hermano?" he nudged Jaime's shoulder. "Guess not, hermano…" They hugged, just like when brothers separate, and Imulse regained the group.

…And major Tom will sing along.

Cassie cried. Hard. She clung onto Jaime and bawled into the crook of his neck. She didn't even have to bend over, since Jaime had hit a growth spurt. He held onto her as she cried, and the faceplate retracted. Jaime took a shaky breath and Cassie looked up. He was red eyed and tears were silently streaming down his face. "It's okay to cry, Hermosa." He said soothingly. He was crying too, because of her. He had to accompany her through everything. She went on her tiptoes, to try and kiss him, but was stopped by his deft fingers. "I-I can't" he whispered shameful "It wouldn't be right. It would only hurt you more." But he wanted nothing more than to kiss her. He took a step back, out of her grasp, which made her cry out and latch herself onti him again. Only this time he wasn't responding. He grabbed her by the shoulders and told her to leave, "Please," he pleaded after a moment "If not for me, then for everybody else, they need you" And she took a step back.

Yeah they still say I'm a dreamer.

The ship left and he thought he heard her cry. He was sure of it. After many lengthy seconds, Jaime sat at the chair "Are you ready?" a moment later his reply was seen on the screen "Self-destruct sequence initiated." Two counters appeared: one was counting down the amount of time left before the ship exploded and the other was counting down until when he'd have to authorize the destruction of the ship. Only a second separated the two counters, but it was a second that made the whole difference for Jaime, his friends, his family and Cassie. The second counter would end before the first and only the armour could make the authorization…

Back on the ship Cassie was bawling at the window, looking at the ship. Everyone else was silent, they feared that if they tried to make a sound, they'd start crying or worse. Once at a safe distance Nightwing spoke "…C-cassie, could you give me the drive Jaime gave you?" it was almost instantly in his hand, without a word. He plugged it in and moused over the single file that the drive held. He clicked it.

A sound file opened and immediately they heard Jaime's voice. "Well, I never thought I ever have to make something like this. I always thought if somebody would sacrifice themsef it would have been Nightwing, or one of the seniors… I wanted to- had to-" he corrected himself "make this for two reasons: I wanted to make sure you guys would have a proper goodbye if I didn't have the chance in the ship." He sighed "Goodbye, you were the best family anybody could ever hope for; you guys made me the hero that I am today. I got on this team and I was a small town kid that was afraid of what he could do. Now look at me…" Jaime chuckled nervously "Thanks guys. The second reason why I made this is for Cassie" She whipped her head up and her breathing hitched "If I couldn't tell you: Te quiero, mi amor. I've been meaning to tell you, but I couldn't, I don't deserve you-" "You're wrong!" She cried "After betraying you, I vowed to destroy the Reach if it was the last thing I did. Which, if you're hearing this, it is. I never knew if you loved me too, Cassie" "I did!" "Guess I'll never know… It wouldn't have worked out, I never would have been good enough for a diosa like you." The others knew Jaime tried ti hurt her so she would feel less pain when he was gone, but Cassie cried and argued "That's not true!.. Jaime, you were the best man I ever knew!" and she kept on crying, barely finishing her sentence. "Finally, I wanted you to hear this" Jaime shuffled and grabbed something and guitar started playing…

I'm an angel with a shotgun…

"Get out your guns, battle's begun. Are you a saint or a sinner..?" Jaime could hear his rendition of Angel With a Shotgun by The Cab. He sighed, that song took him so long to learn, mostly because he had to learn the guitar. He sighed, This was it. Now or never. All or nothing.

He sat straight and looked at the countdown, which was reaching its end as he sang "I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe…" He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes…

..And I'm gonna hide, hide, hide my wings tonight.

The ship exploded, lighting up the night with its fiery remains that burned out before reaching the ground. The team's ship hovered as they watched. Cassie was beyond bawling, no words could describe the pain she felt. She was on the floor clutching her heart, the other girls were hugging her to try and somewhat soothe her. The rest of the team stood there, suffering in silence…

…And I want to live, not just survive… tonight.

It had been a week since Blue Beetle's death. His funeral was grand, and the greatest of heroes were there to honor his sacrifice. It was broadcasted on international television. Blue Beetle was now known as Earth's Savior in the time of the Reach. His name was engrave on the Hall of Justice Memorial for Fallen Heroes.

Jaime Reyes' funeral on the other hand, was humble, like him. Only the team and Jaime's family and closest friends were invited. His small white tomb stone had a small inscription: Jaime Reyes, first born son, big brother, hero. It rained, as if nature itself was saddened by his death.

Back at the cave, the heroes were all sitting in the living room; silence was heavy in the air. Cassie silently cried while Batgirl held her, rubbing her arm. They heard the Zeta tube.

"Recognized: Blue Beetle B-22" "What!?" they all cried and Jaime Reyes entered the living room battered, covered in scorch marks and scratches, but alive.

They all swarmed him, hugged him, and ruffled his hair. Cassie tackled him across the room into the wall and kissed him as she held onto his collar. She was crying even harder now that her lips were against his.

As soon as her lips left his, she curled up to him, crying with tears of joy. Jaime would be lying if he said he wasn't crying or curling into Cassie's arms as she did to him.

"…how..?" She barely whispered. He chuckled "I had to authorize the self-destruct one second before the counter hit zero." "…And that was enough time for you… to escape?" said Nightwing. Jaime laughed "Of course not hermano. I needed the armour to do the authorization. I simply used Black Beetle's armour. My scarab hacked into his and programmed an algorithm that would authorize the self-destruct. The counter wouldn't count down to zero until authorization so I just left."