Blue Beetle

Part Two

"Way to go, Ria!" A tall brown haired boy from school patted Ria on her shoulder.

"Hm?" Ria blinked in confusion as she shoved her books into her locker. Ever since she set foot on the school grounds this morning something felt different. Some students kept looking at each other and whisper while chuckling, while others would smile, wink at her or nudge her with their elbow and giving their approval for something or other. It was such a turn round from when students either ignored her or picked on her. Not that she was complaining, she was just confused.

"Ria!" Marie shrieked as she ran up to the confused teen and hugged her. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Tell you what?" Ria asked.

"That you have a boyfriend?! Duh!" Marie brushed her long black hair over her shoulder then placed her hands on her hips. "I'm your best friend. You should have told me."

"I, um, don't have a…"

"Don't even try to deny it. People have seen you with some guy decked out in some freakish blue armor," Marie waved her finger at Ria.

"But how?" Ria mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I don't know what people have been saying, but I don't have a boyfriend," Ria swallowed. She didn't like lying to Marie, but really didn't have much of a choice. At least, at the moment. This was definitely something she was going to have to discuss with Blue Beetle. "I was, however, saved by Blue Beetle."

"Blue Beetle? Who's that?"

"He's a super hero. Like Superman?"

"You're dating a super hero?! That's so exciting!" Marie squealed.

"Marie? Are you even listening to me? He only rescued me from getting creamed by a car then from two guys who probably wanted to…never mind. I don't want to think about what they might have had planned. Someone from school must have see it then told someone else, who told someone else, who told someone else and eventually got twisted into something it's not. You know how rumors are. You've played telephone, right?"

"Well, that's true. But people are saying they've seen this guy flying around town a lot," Marie pointed out.

"He's probably out on patrol or something," Ria said as she closed her locker and began heading to their next class. "Besides, he's a hero, right? They have such busy and dangerous lives how in the world would they have time for dating? Especially a girl like me?"

"Don't even start ragging on yourself. You are an amazing person. There are plenty of guys who want to date you."

"Right. Name one."

"Jaime," Marie simply replied. Ria snapped her eyes over to her best friend and narrowed her eyebrows.

"Jaime and I were nothing more than friends."

"Uhuh," Marie rolled her eyes.

"What's with that anyway? I thought you were still upset with him like I am."

"I was. Now I'm over it now. Besides, something seems to be really bothering him lately. He doesn't seem like himself," The girls stepped into their class and looked over at Jaime who was staring down at his desk completely oblivious to the world.

"Well, his best friend is missing. How would you feel if your best friend just up and disappeared one day?" Ria asked with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Tye's one of your best friends too," Marie said as Ria sat down. "Look, I know you're still angry at him for everything, but maybe its time you forgive him. I know you miss him."

Ria raised an eyebrow at her. "I can see it in your eyes. It's killing you and it's killing him."

Ria cast a glance over at Jaime.

….

"Are you all right? You're really quiet today," Blue asked as he scratched behind Nova's ear. He was sitting with Ria in a section of the park that was thick with trees and bushes. This was one place they occasionally met when Ria took Nova for her night run after school and he wasn't busy with hero stuff.

"I'm ok. Just thinking."

"About?"

"School…I guess."

"You guess?" Blue chuckled.

"Well, some rumors are going around at school and I had to lie to one of my best friends."

"What kind of rumors?"

"About us," Ria pulled her legs up and hugged her knees. There was a short paused between the two.

"Do you want to break up?"

"What?!" Ria whipped her eyes over to him.

"I'm not say I want to. I'm just asking," Blue held up his hands. "I mean, if this is going to cause problems…"

"No! I just didn't like lying to Marie even though it's probably for the best that she doesn't know. As for the rumors, the only time we've could have been seen is either when you first rescued me or from those two guys. All the other times, we've been at home or here. There's no possible way anyone can actually know we're seeing each other. My guess is that someone from school saw you rescue me and things just snowballed from there. This is high school we're talking about."

"That's true."

"Please don't ever ask me that again," Ria said softly as she placed her chin on her knees. "I couldn't…"

"I'm sorry," Blue put his arm around her and pulled her to his side. "Tomorrow's friday right? I don't have to work so movie and pizza night?"

"Sounds great. Perfect timing too."

"For what?"

"It's a surprise," Ria looked up at him and winked. "You're going to love it."

"Well, I can't wait then," Blue leaned down and kissed her. Nova whimpered and nosed her way in-between the two. "Didn't know we had a chaperone."

"I think someone was getting jealous," Ria laughed at Nova licked her cheek.

"Probably a good thing," Blue said sheepishly.

"I should get going," Ria said with flushed cheeks and a grin. Blue stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and stood up. "See ya tomorrow."

"Absolutely," Blue said then kissed her again.

…

"You're awful giddy today," Marie noted as Ria was beaming with a smile.

"It's just a really good day."

"Friday!" The girls shouted then giggled.

"Ok. Seriously, what do you have planned?" Marie asked.

"Just a typical friday movie night. Nothing special," Ria replied.

"And here I thought you were going on a date with that Blue Beetle guy," Marie said just as Jaime appeared. Jaime and Ria locked eyes for a second. Ria was the first to break the look.

"Marie! I told you those are nothing but rumors," Ria hissed.

"Maybe so, but they keep getting bigger and bigger," Marie shrugged. "I think someone honestly believes you are dating him."

"Dating who?" Jaime asked cautiously.

"No one. I-It's just rumors," Ria said awkwardly. Marie kept casting her eyes between the two who obviously wanted to do more than idle chitchat.

"Well, I gotta go. Bye!" Jaime quickly said then ran away from the girls.

"Ugh! You two are hopeless!" Marie threw her hands up in the air.

"Whatever," Ria rolled her eyes then walked away. "He dug his own grave."

"Says the girl who's head over heals for the bilingual boy," Marie said as she watched Ria's retreating form. She sighed and followed after her friend. "Either way, I'm so jealous of your movie night. I'm stuck babysitting the twins tonight."

"Maybe we can have a movie night soon," Ria smiled. "We haven't had a girls night out in weeks."

"That would totally rock!"

"Hey, Cook!"

"Great," Marie said when Amanda's voice filled the halls. Marie jogged to catch up to Ria's side as Amanda and six of her followers began to surround Ria. "What does she want now?"

"To torment me. What else?" Ria rubbed her temples then turned to her tormentor. "What do you want?"

"You to stop spreading lies about having a boyfriend," Amanda shoved Ria's shoulder.

"You're so pathetic to lie about such a thing," One of Amanda's follower said and the rest giggled.

"I never claimed to have one."

"You're just trying to get people to like you. It's not going to work. I mean it. Stop it right now."

"Amanda, I don't care what you think anymore. I didn't start those rumors."

"Back off, brainless," Marie said standing firm beside Ria. "She didn't start any rumors."

"I mean it, Ria. Admit your a liar or else," Amanda ignored Marie and glared at Ria.

"Amanda," Ria said as she stood up tall and looked the girl right in the eyes. "I'm not playing your childish games anymore. I don't know what your problem is, but from this day on, I'm going to ignore you."

Ria stepped around Amanda, make sure to step far enough away she would bump the girl even if it was accidental. Marie nodded. "That's my girl! Ria! Wait up!"

Marie ran after Ria. While weaving her way through the hall of students Marie caught a glimpse of Jaime. He didn't see her, however. She smiled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away. He's still looking out for her.

"What now? She totally dissed you," One of Amanda's followers said.

"Oh she is not going to get away with disrespecting me," Amanda fumed.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Don't worry, girls. She won't get away with this. I guarantee by the time I'm done with her she'll wished she was never born," Amanda flipped her hair over her shoulder and stomped away.

…

"Slow down, Nova," Ria chuckled as her dog pulled her upon the porch. "I think you're more excited to see Blue than I am."

Ria reached into her pocket and pulled out her key. She unlocked the door and the two stepped in. She tossed her keys onto the table by the door and Nova started growling. "What is it, girl?"

Just then a guy stepped out of the shadow cast living room. Ria stood in defense mode. "Who are you?! What do you want?!"

The guy just chuckled as he stepped into the light. Ria's eyes widened. It was one of the guys that cornered her before. "Race. And you're as hot as ever."

"And you're as creepy as ever," Ria spat. "Get out!"

"Sorry, babe. You're not getting away this time," Race said then snapped his fingers. Race's friend Tommy stepped out from the living room too just as a heavy thud happened behind her. Ria whipped around to find a third guy behind her. This one she's never seen before, but he looks just as rotten as Race and Tommy.

When Race stepped towards Ria, Nova leaped out at him in attempt to bite him. Race was too quick on his feet and round house kicked the dog. "Nova!"

"Not so fast," Tommy said as he grabbed Ria's wrists and pinned them behind her.

"We've got plans for you, babe," Race said as he tilted her chin up. She flinched when she noticed his eyes held a hungry graze in them.

…

"Eh?" Jaime cocked his head to the side as he stared at his friend.

"That's right. I'm going with you!" Impulse threw up his hands in the air.

"Do you not understand the definition of a date?" Jaime asked.

"Of course I do. It's a social or romantic appointment or engagement. And that's what I'm going to do. Engage! I have to meet this girl if I'm going to protect her, right?"

"Does it have to be tonight? We don't get to spend that much time together."

"Technically you get to spend all day with her at school. Besides, I'll only stay for a short time then leave you two to your plans of making out."

"Why do I bother?" Jaime asked no one then summoned his armor and flew through his window. Impulse dashed off and ran down the side of the house then followed Blue Beetle.

Blue sighed to himself. He would have love to fly up high to loose his speedster friend then drop down into Ria's backyard, but knew that wouldn't work. Somehow Impulse knew where Ria lived. He figured Impulse followed him or Ria at some point. So he had no choice in letting the boy follow him to his date. He was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed Impulse suddenly stopped. "What's up?"

"Does Ria always leave her front door open?" Impulse asked while pointing to the house. The two hurried over and cautiously stepped inside.

"Nova?!" Blue rushed over to the dog. Nova whimpered. "Easy, girl."

"No one's here," Impulse said after he raced through the house. "Nothing seems to be taken…Except for…"

"Ria," Blue whispered as he gasped for air. "Impulse, take Nova to the vet's office. It's just a few blocks west of here. I've got to find her."

"Right," Impulse nodded. He picked up the dog and dashed out of the house. Blue followed and took to the sky. He flew over head trying to think of who might have taken her and where. His heart was pounding so hard he almost didn't hear the scarab talking to him.

"Calm yourself, Jaime Reyes."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do! How in the world am I supposed to stay calm when she's been taken?!"

"If you were calm you would have realize you can scan for her."

"O-Oh," Blue mumbled. He swallowed and began scanning for Ria.

"There. That storage unit."

…

"You are so going to regret this," Ria hissed from her spot on a crate. Her hands were tied behind her back and her ankles were tied as well.

"Oh? Who's going to help you? You sure can't help yourself. Or is your imaginary hero boyfriend gonna come rescue you?" Tommy and the unnamed guy laughed.

How in the world did they know about that? They don't go to my school. Ria narrowed her eyebrows in thought. "I have a hero. He's not imaginary. But he is going to be furious when he finds you."

"Imaginary or not, who wouldn't be attracted to her?" Race asked as he pushed himself of the wall he was leaning against. He walked over to Ria and looked her up and down. The look he was giving her made her shiver, in a bad way. He suddenly reached out and ran his hand over her thigh. She tried to jerk away from him, thankful to be wearing pants. "You're beautiful."

"I think they want to be alone," Tommy chuckled.

"What ever. I'm not leaving until I get paid," The unnamed guy said.

"Paid?!" Ria demanded. "Someone's paying you to kidnap me?!"

"Don't worry about that, babe. I won't take money for taking you. I'll just take you," Race ran his hand over her thigh again, but this time ran his hand up her side to her shoulder where he pressed her down onto the crate. He then crawled on top of it, straddling over her.

"Get off of me," Ria hissed.

"Calm down, babe. You're gonna enjoy this," Race said as he traced her lips with his finger. He then lean down and placed kisses trailing her neck, cross her jaw line until he placed his lips on hers. She about gagged. His breath was covered with smoke and alcohol.

"Don't…," Ria begged. The other two boys weren't close enough to hear her, but they still chuckled.

"Just relax, babe. I'll be gentle," Race said but his smirk told other wise. He kissed her again. This time forcing his tongue into her mouth, she felt like he was trying to suck the life out of her. His hands were roaming her body as she tired to invision she was else where. He broke kissing her to take a breath and she tried turning her head to get away from him. She couldn't. He was just too strong for her to escape. Tears stung her eyes as he went back in to kissing her roughly.

A loud crash caused the other two boys to jump back, but Race kept kissing for a few seconds longer. He did stop and slowly looked up to see what the noise was. He smirked when he saw Blue Beetle standing in the middle of the room with pieces of the roof scattered on the floor. Blue was in shock at first then exploded in rage. Blue rammed into Race, taking him through several crates that were stacked up in the wear house. "Get away from her!

"Blue!" Ria cried out as she rolled over to her left and tried to sit back up. He didn't hear her as he continued his assault on Race. The other two boys ran over to help Race, but Blue easily flung them away. She cringed when she hear and saw Race's right wrist being snapped. Tears began to streak her cheeks again. "Blue, stop!"

"Ria? You all right?" Impulse suddenly appeared by her side and helped her sit up.

"Stop him! You have to stop him!" Ria begged Impulse.

"Blue, stop!" Impulse ran over to his enraged friend. He ran in-between Blue and Race, flinging them apart then ran over to Blue and grabbed his shoulders. "Stop! This isn't you!"

"He deserves it! He deserves to die for what he was going to do to Ria!"

"Maybe he does, but not by your hands! Do you want Ria to view you as a murderer?!"

Blue snapped out of his rage when Impulse said this. He hesitantly looked over at Ria. She was staring with fearful eyes at Blue. He walked over to her. "I-I'm sorry. Hold still."

Blue spoke softly as he used scarab to cut the ropes from her wrists and ankles. "Ria, I…"

Ria leaped off the crate, wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. "Blue."

Blue sighed and wrapped his arms around Ria. They stood like that for a while before he picked her up and headed for the door. Impulse was about to follow when the guys tried to sneak away. He ran around them, tying them up in the process. "You three can hang around here until the authorities arrive."

The trio entered the house through the backyard, startling Ria's grandma in the process. "My goodness! Ria, I thought you were upstairs. What happened? You look like a wreck."

"She was kidnapped and Nova's been taken to the vet, ma'am," Impulse said before anyone else could speak.

"Child, are you all right?!" Mrs. Cook rushed over to overlook her grandchild.

"I'm fine, Grandma. Just…deflated. They didn't hurt me or anything," Ria put on a smile. Blue and Impulse raised an eyebrow at her.

The doorbell rang interrupting further conversation about this. "Go ahead, Grandma. I know you've been looking forward to this."

"Ria, I can cancel."

"Grandma, it's ok. Blue arrived just in time," Ria kept smiling then looked over at the boys. "So did, um…"

"Impulse," Impulse said.

"Well, if your sure you're all right," Mrs. Cook gave her granddaughter one more look.

"I'm sure. You should have fun. I'm just going to take a shower then, if Blue still wants to, we'll have our date," Ria looked at him and he nodded. "We'll just be upstairs then."

The three teens headed up to Ria's room as Mrs. Cook answered the door. "I didn't think your grandma was going to be home tonight."

"She recently joined a quilting circle that makes quilts for charity. Every week they hold a meeting at a different member's house."

"Then how are we supposed to…," Ria pointed to a corner of her room where a tv and dvd player was set up.

"That's the surprise I was talking about," Ria explained. "Grandma allowed me to buy them. We can watch tv in here as long as we leave the door partway open."

"You have a sweet grandma," Impulse said as he inspected the tv and player.

"So, uh, Impulse, will you be staying?" Ria asked.

"No!" Blue quickly replied.

"Ok, ok. I can take a hint. I just wanted to meet you, Ria. Though I wish it was under better circumstances. I'm glad you're all right," Impulse smiled softly at her.

"Thanks. Maybe we all can get together someday?"

"I'd like that," Impulse nodded. "Well, I should get going."

"How? Grandma and her…"

Ria didn't get to finish her sentence as a whoosh of air rush through the room and Impulse was gone. "He's a speedster. He's actually Flash's grandson."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story." Blue shrugged.

"Ok. I'm going to take a quick shower. How about you order the pizza?" Blue nodded as she grabbed a pair of clean clothes and stepped into her bathroom. "I won't be long."

A short time later, Ria stepped out of the bathroom. She was dressed in shorts and a large shirt that hung off her right shoulder. Even though she was standing in the room her eyes and mind were else were as she mindlessly dabbed her wet hair with her towel. Blue could tell what was on her mind and rushed up to her. He took ahold of her shoulders. "Don't! Don't think about what might have happened. It's over and your safe now."

She nodded. "Ria? Why didn't you tell your grandma about…"

"There's no need to worry her just on something that almost happened," Blue gave her a skeptical look. She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Just…kiss me."

He did. He leaned down and kissed her like he was trying to erase what Race tried to do to her. They were interrupted by Mrs. Cook knocking on the door. "The vet just called. She's going to keep Nova over night, but she's all right."

Once the pizza arrived, Ria grabbed it, a couple sodas, a bag of chips and some snicker doodle cookies. One of Mrs. Cook's quilting ladies spoke up as Ria passed them. "My, my, you've got a lot of food there."

"Well, I'm entertaining a friend and we are teenagers," Ria chuckled. The ladies began chattering happily about how they use to be young and what foods they use to eat. Ria shot her grandma a 'What the heck did I say to get them to talk about their pasts?' look. She just returned Ria's look with a shrug. Ria rolled her eyes then hurried back upstairs before the older women started talking about their grandkids and possibilities of hooking her up with one grandson or another.

The two teens spent the rest of the night eating junk food and watching movies. Once they were don't watching movies they sat around talking, playing cards or whatever they could think of to entertain themselves. At one point the two teens fell asleep. It wasn't until early the next morning when shouting caused Ria to jerk awake. "Hm?"

She shifted and noticed someone beside her. She opened her eyes to Blue Beetle. "Hey. You're still here?"

"Yeah," Blue nodded. "I didn't feel like leaving you."

"You're sweet, but grandma's gonna kill you."

"Or not."

"What do you mean?"

"She apparently came in here at one point last night and covered us up," Blue said looking down at the blanket covering them.

"Grandma let you stay the night? In my room?" Ria asked with totally confusion.

"I guess yesterday was a big deal for us all," Ria turned her eyes back to the blue clad armored boy. He leaned down and kissed her. More yelling caused them to break apart.

"What's going on down there?" Ria asked as she stood up from the bed. Blue followed her but stayed inside her room and hidden by the door. There were two police officers standing just inside the front door. "Grandma?"

"Ria," Mrs. Cook turned to her.

"Miss Cook?" One of the officers asked.

"Yes, sir," Ria nodded.

"Do you know an Amanda Johnson, Miss?" The second police officer asked.

"Yes, sir. She's a girl from school," Ria replied. "What's going on?"

"Ria, apparently those guys that kidnapped you yesterday were hired by Amanda," Mrs. Cook said.

"What?!" Ria's eyes widened.

"The three guys that were detained confessed that Miss Johnson hired them to kidnap you. They also told us about some guy in blue armor bearing up the one called Race," The first officer said. "We would like to question him. DO you know where we can find him?"

"Uh," Ria did her best not to glance up at her bedroom. She had no clue what to do and she was sure Blue didn't know either. There was no way he could just come downstairs and say hi.

"Assuming the boy really is a super hero wouldn't the person you should be asking is Superman? Wouldn't this boy be one of them? Or maybe The Flash? Or Batman? Yeah. Batman would be fun to call up. Why don't you call the bat up?" Mrs. Cook laughed. "My grandbaby is a teenager. She has school work, swimming practice…Even if she did know this blue guy, how do you think she calls him? Do super heroes have cell phones? Pagers? Website? Doesn't Batman have some kind of bat call or something? Something like…Here batty, batty, batty?"

"Uh…Yes, ma'am," The first police officer blink and slowly backed away from the chatty woman. Ria stifled a snicker. Her grandma was always a talker and she did have some valid points here. "If you will excuse us."

"Wait. Don't we need to come down to the station and fill out reports?" Mrs. Cook asked.

"D-Don't worry about that, ma'am. We have all we need. We'll be in touch," The officers tipped their hats then just about ran out the door. The two girls busted up laughing.

"Thanks, Grandam," Ria said once she was able to compose herself.

"No problem, sweets," Mrs. Cook kissed Ria's forehead. "I didn't wanna go down to the station anyway. Maybe that girl will leave you alone now."

"Maybe," Ria replied then looked up to her bedroom. Mrs. Cook gave her a nudge with her elbow and an all knowing smirk. Ria rubbed her arm then made her way back to her room. Once inside she found him sitting on the edge of her bed. He was hunched over, resting his elbows on his legs as his hands dangled between his knees. She walked over and sat down beside him. "Bl…"

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that because of a bully," Blue quickly said. "I should have noticed how twisted she really was. I could have done something."

"What are you talking about? You don't have to go to school with her. How would you have known anything about this? Besides, I don't think anyone would have ever guessed she'd take it this far. Maybe her parents will realizing something is wrong and get her the help she needs."

"You're being awfully forgiving," Blue shot her a glance.

"Well, I don't want you to be upset because of something that was out of our control. Besides…I'm getting a bit tired of holding grudges."

"Does that mean you're going to forgive him?"

Ria wrapped her arms around his and leaned against his side. "I don't know. I just don't understand why I can forgive Amanda for hiring someone to kidnap me so quickly, but I can't forgive Jaime for lying to me."

Blue sighed. I'm lying to her just like I did as Jaime. She's trusted me twice now and I've don't nothing but betray that trust. I'm going to have to tell her the truth. But…I'm afraid of loosing her.

Notes: Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be the last. Enjoy!