Next chapter ^^' sorry it took so long…and there's a character you will be very shocked about…;D sorry if it doesn't center mainly on BluePusle, I just need you guys to understand everything first!

Conner stood, glaring, and Bart shifted on his feet, looking nervous. Jaime had just escorted Garfield to his room, and the air was tense. The Kryptonian noticed the speedster was vibrating slightly, and raised an eyebrow.

"Erm, well, do you n-need something?" he looked up with wide green eyes.

After a while, Conner let out an annoyed sigh.

"Clearly, you've made a mistake. Fix it."

With those words, Conner stalked from the room, leaving a very confused Bart. His mouth opened and closed before he felt a sharp pain behind his head, his knees trembling. His vision blurry, he gulped in air but his mouth became more and more dry. His thoughts raced; he wished someone would help him, anyone.

Please, please come I cant help feeling so helpless Jaime—

"Oops, sorry double!" a voice chuckled darkly, before he passed out.

~x~

"No! I won't. I'm so tired!" Nightwing covered his eyes, trying not to beat the living hell out of Garfield.

When he found out that the two boys had left the hospital room before their appointed release times, he had gone looking for them. They were supposed to go on a mission today—a simple one, in fact. He had no luck finding Bart, but the shifter was in his room, looking pale.

"Fine, god dammit! Can Bart at least come with me?"

"Alright, but remember—nothing dangerous."

He stood up and left, his head aching. The black sand Jaime had been talking about confused him, and he still didn't know what it was. The scarab hero had disappeared, Gar had told him, saying something about skateboarding. And his search for M'gann had been unsuccessful; it was like she had just…vanished. And Conner was pretty worried too, even though he wouldn't admit it. Nightwing made his way to the main room of the warehouse, where he was surprised to see Bart. The speedster seemed different; Nightwing narrowed his eyes slightly as the teen jumped and whirled around, a smug smile playing on his lips.

"Hey, you're back Batboy! I have a question: have you seen Conner?" Bart asked, his dark green eyes glinting.

Nightwing managed to shake his head; a terrible feeling was growing in his stomach. Bart had never called him Batboy before, and there was something sinister about his suddenly dark eyes, and his sunglasses…

As Bart ran past him, their arms brushed slightly; Nightwing's entire body went cold, and suddenly he couldn't feel anything. He heard a slight laugh; and then the feeling stopped abruptly. He opened his mouth a fraction, and a puff of black sand curled out.

~x~

After what seemed like ages, the pain subsided, and M'gann took a shaky breath before getting back to her feet. A groan escaped her mouth as her eyes trailed back up to the electric gate she had just gotten shocked by. She let out a soft groan as she stood up, her legs feeling like they were on fire. Alarms rang loudly, and a dense haze was beginning to fill the air as she started to run. As her feet hit the hard pavement, a loud crash sounded behind her, and she quickly looked back to see a figure emerging—the evil Blue Beetle, she assumed.

After knocking out her cell guards with a heavy iron pole and shutting down her collar, she made a hasty escape—running up the stairs as flamethrowers shot past her.

M'gann was beyond tired, and every bone in her body was aching, but she ignored it.

Concentrating hard, she turned invisible and began to carefully fly towards the direction she hoped was the team. Her head throbbed with pain and her arms and legs were a slashed red mess, but she blocked out the pain, knowing she had to get to the Warehouse, had to tell Nightwing and the team that—

Without warning, a searing pain tore up her leg, and a scream escaped M'gann's throat. She looked down through a crimson haze to see a large bullet had struck her leg. Trying not to pass out, she flew faster, her breath coming in short gasps and black spots dancing across her vision.

Finally, finally, finally, she landed near an empty bus stop. Clutching her hair tightly, the Martian silently cried, the pain feeling more and more numb, until she heard a terrified voice.

"Miss? Are you ok?"

M'gann looked up into the eyes of a very serious looking boy, maybe 10 years old, with messy black hair covering his face. All she could make out was a piercing blue eye.

"Yeah, I'll be o-ok," she winced as she stood up, wiping tears from her face.

It took a lot to make her cry, but it wasn't just the pain: it was the plan. The plan that the Reach had, and it was a pretty damn good plan. M'gann was just so afraid she wouldn't reach the team in time that fear and panic were overwhelming her.

"What's your name, little boy, and why are you out so late? Your parents might worry." she said, glancing at the quickly fading sun.

He gave her a long look, his tongue poking slightly out of his mouth, before answering her.

"My name is Jason Todd, and I'm just walking. I don't have any parents. Why are you bleeding?

~x~

The wind rushed past Jaime as he increased in speed, feeling the warm breeze against his skin. Coming to a stop at the end of the hill, the Hispanic male looked out to the cliffs and then heard a loud booming noise. Smiling slightly, as he knew what came after this, his thoughts went back to the double of Bart who called himself Catalyst. It was strange; Jaime had thought at first Bart was just acting weird, but this didn't really suit him…he tried to find Nightwing to tell him, but their leader had disappeared.

"You know we have a mission tonight right? And then a party that Roy is throwing."

Jaime looked over at Conner with a slight grin.

"Yeah, yeah I know ese. But, uh, who else is coming?" he asked softly.

Conner rolled his eyes with a frown, knowing who he was hinting at.

"Yes, Bart is going. That is, if he's healed properly."

Immediately, a mixture of pain, concern, and hurt filled Jaime's dark eyes, and he stayed silent, looking out to the ocean.

"Well, I have a small villain to take care of soon, want to help?" he asked, and Conner nodded, his steely gaze a shade softer.

"Well, according to Nightwing, until he bailed on us for Wally or something, something has been stolen from this lab. It was part of a cloning device, I think."

"That doesn't sound too good. Let's hurry."

The two took off; Jaime encased in his armor, flying, and Conner super-jumping near him. Blue Beetle suddenly felt this uneasy feeling, as if he was being watched, and slowed, his wings beating much slower. Suspended in the air, he looked down and called, "Superboy?"

The black-haired teen jumped high in the air once more pausing and looking upward. He could barely see his companion because of the dark clouds started to roll in from the east.

"Yeah?"
"I—I…nothing."

Superboy growled slightly, then turned and jumped again. He landed crookedly, and, as he picked himself up off the ground, saw a black cloud start to move—fast.

Towards Blue. The teen was unaware of the threat, and Conner's voice failed him as it enveloped him. Bracing himself and leaping upward with great force, the super teen smacked into Blue, immediately feeling the black sand stabbing into him like millions of needles. Both Blue and him fell towards the ocean.

The water was so cold that Superboy felt his body go numb. Trying to keep Blue afloat, his legs kicked hard. The water choked him, and his lungs began to burn, but he surfaced, gulping in huge breaths of air.

"What the—ah!" Blue had regained conscious and was currently breathing in water.

Superboy swam for the cliff as best as he could; the scarab hero was still dazed from hitting the water so hard. The black sand had seemed to disappear; all that was left was some dark substance floating on the water. With Blue clutching onto his arm for dear life, they reached the shore. Superboy pulled himself up, then dragged his friend next to him.

"Blue?" he gasped, shivering as a cold breeze swept by them.

Jaime had changed out of his armor and was hugging himself, his dark eyes looking up to the sky. The night was lit by thousands of twinkling stars, and Conner tilted his head to look at them. They were silent for a while, until a soft buzzing noise made them jump. Conner looked around quickly, before fishing in his pocket for his phone—which surprisingly hadn't been ruined in the water. He glanced at the caller ID with a frown before pressing the accept button and lifting it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Conner?" a hoarse female asked.

"Yeah…" he looked confused.

"This is—Jason stop running!—this is M'gann, and I n-need help: fast."

"M'gann?! Where—you—where are you? And who's Jason?

"Long story! I just—ow—I'm at this bus stop, it's empty. I need someone to—Jason look out!"

"Are you under attack?"

"No—well kind of—it's a long story. Just call Nightwing and ask him to meet us at—stop that!—at the bus stop on 4th near the harbor—crap!"

There was a burst of a static, then a high-pitched scream that was quickly cut off as the line went dead.

Jaime looked over curiously, but Conner just stood up and walked away, waving a hand in his direction. Jaime blinked in surprise and jumped up, trailing after him.

Conner seemed shocked; his blue eyes were wide and he kept gasping for breath as if there was no air.

"You ok hermano?" he asked hesitantly.

"That was…M'gann…she needs help and she's with someone named Jason." Something flickered in the super teen's eyes that Jaime couldn't quite place. He sighed, jogging a bit to keep up with Conner's fast pace. They were heading along a beach trail, and the sharp limestone cliffs stood out against the moonlight.

"Well, what did she say? C'mon, I know she said something," the Hispanic teen nudged his friend.

"I need to tell Nightwing something. Hurry up." Came the short reply.

Jaime ran a hand through his short black hair and sighed miserably as Conner began to run. They both raced up the rough stairs crudely carved into the cliff's edge, and Conner jumped high, landed a hundred feet away. Jaime summoned his armor, the cold metal creeping up his back and encasing his face. For some odd reason, the annoying scarab on his back was silent: Jaime didn't know if that was good or bad.

So that was it ^.^ review please, you have no idea how happy they make me :DDD

~samxbluepulserx