"Hey…kid? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" Ted gently shook Blue's shoulder, he was breathing, if those shallow sips of air could be called that. What if that suit was somehow affecting him? Maybe it zapped at his life force, or induced some kind of coma.

Hey…weirder things have happened.

"Come on kid…wake up. Please." This was getting scary. Maybe Ted should've let Bats take a quick look. After all, he's the only one of the JLI who's had any experience with kids. Robin seemed to be fine…kind of. Ted was just about to call up the JLI headquarters when-

"W-what?" Blue stirred, and shook his head. He propped himself up onto his elbow, and felt his eyes roll to the back of his head. "Where am I…is this the Beetle Cave?"

Ted let out a quick breath of air he had been holding in and smiled. "Glad to see you're alive kid."

"The Blue Beetle?" he said in amazement, honestly, Ted had never seen so much excitement on one person's face. "What happened?" Blue swung his feet from his cot and swept the toes of his sneakers against the cold floor.

Ted depended his voice, he couldn't let Blue know about his secret identity. "I was kind of hoping you could help me in that department." Ted had questions. Lots of them, starting with how this kid knew about the Beetle Cave. Hell, Booster didn't even know about 'the cave' yet, mainly because Booster would make fun of him for it. But he couldn't ask Blue right away, he was still disoriented from his Robocop impersonation. Seriously, where did kids today get that kind of shit?

"The last thing I remember was going out to help…the JLI, and then…everything went blue." He pulled his palm to his forehead and closed his eyes. He shook.

Ted raised his arms, trying to find some form of comfort to give him but-

"I can't believe this," his creased frown had turned into a large smile. "I'm talking with The Blue Beetle…well, I mean the second one. But still!" his voice reverbed through the cave like a ripple in a drawn bath.

"Y-you know about the Blue Beetle before me?"

Blue nodded. "Not much, but I do remember he used…" Blue closed his eyes, as if trying to grab a hold of something locked within his mind, but he just could snatch it fast enough. "He used-"

"Look kid, not that I want to rush you or anything, but would you mind if I gave you a quick once over? Maybe run some tests so I can understand a little bit of what's going on."

Blue only shook his head and smiled. That toothy grin of his was so bright it could have lit Gotham City for a week. It kind of made Ted's heart pound a little. Most of the time when he went out with the JLI no one even noticed him, it was only moderately better in Chicago, but even then most people treated him like an annoyance rather than a protector.

This appreciation…hell, this Hero-worship, was nice. Was this how Superman felt every day?

"Alright, I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off so I can get a clean scan."

Blue obeyed and removed his shirt.

"Speaking of which, can you give me a number I can call? Maybe your parents or something?" First rule of superheroing, when dealing with a minor make sure their parents (or super-rich substitute guardians who dress-up as bugs to save the world) know where they are. "You said you 'when out to help', where did you come from?"

Blue's thin lips curved upward…as if he knew something he wasn't telling. "Kord Manor."

Ted raised an eyebrow, "So…you're staying with Mr. Kord? Alright. Well, when we're done here I'll escort you back to his place personally. How does that sound?"

To Blue it sounded great…but also a little false, as if Blue Beetle's words were being played through a synthesizer, or read from a script. Blue knew Mr. Kord…uh, Ted, wouldn't be worried about him. Not with Blue Beetle by his side, in fact, Blue knew that once his favorite superhero brought him back to Kord Manor, Ted Kord would not be there.

But how Blue knew that…was another mystery entirely.

It didn't take long for Blue Beetle to gather the tools he needed for the inspection. Nothing major, just a flash light, some machines to measure heart rate, a stethoscope, and a lollipop for his patient (if he was a good boy).

"Take a deep breath kid."

Blue obeyed.

Nothing out of the ordinary. A heartbeat in his chest. Normal muscle tissue under his skin. Everything seemed fine. Ted looked onto Blue's back and froze.

"W-what is this?"

Latched onto Blue's back, like some kind of parasite, was the scarab. Dan's scarab. It's pinchers molded into Blue's skin like a leech.

Where the hell did that thing come from?

"But that's impossible," Ted whispered. "I just saw this two seconds ago. I-it's still in the glass case."

"Uh…Mr. Beetle?" Blue asked, "Are you alright?"

Ted slowly placed his hands on Blue's shoulders and moved his face so close that Blue could smell hotdogs on his breath. "Listen to me kid. I need you to tell me everything you can about that thing on your back." Ted was shaking. Was this…fear? " Right now."

Blue ran his fingers against his back, and his fingers bumped against cold steel.

"W-wait," Blue said, "I know this…thing. It…it's my…" he closed his eyes, unsure of the words forming in his mouth, "scarab?"

"Khaji Da" Blue said. His smile widened, as if he had just found the answer to a lost question "That's right. Khaji Da."

Khaji Da…those were the magic words Dan used to activate his powers…how did this kid know them? Bats was right, there was something going on here. Something that Blue didn't (or rather couldn't) fess up to.

The Beetle Computer began to blink…someone was on the line. Ted tapped a few keys on his keyboard, and up popped the dark knight himself.

"Beetle, the League and I did some testing on that hair sample I took. There's something you need to see. Get down here…and bring your kid. I believe I found something that can help him."

Blue Beetle looked towards Blue and smiled.

"Alright then, it's time for a field trip."