AN: I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying the series so much. And I hope you continue to enjoy.


I stood in the grotto of Mount Justice in front of the holograms that were dedicated to the fallen heroes of the League. The plaques that were in front of each read as such, "Jason Todd, Ted Kord, Tula," and now, "Artemis Lian Crock." I stared at Artemis, or her hologram. I had known her for only a day. I stood beside Jaime, Bart, Gar and Robin. The girls were all somewhere upstairs.

Suddenly I heard a crunching noise to my right. I looked and saw Bart eating chips. Seriously? "Uh sorry." He said, "Mourning makes me hungry."

Jaime grabbed his shirt and pulled him away from us. I furrowed my brow and stepped in between them.

"Hey guys, there's no need to fight!" I said.

"He stole those freeze dried chicken wizzies from my locker!" Jaime looked at Bart, "Didn't you?"

"Hey, where I come from it's not stealing, it's scavenger rights. The point is we don't have chicken wizzies, freeze dried or other wise, in m era. So blame Kid Flash. He got me hooked."

Jaime put his hand on his head. "Forget I asked."

"So why is this here?" Bart asked, "I mean, it's pretty and everything, but these people are heroes! 'In the like of duty' and all that. They should have big statues. Big crashy memorials in the... Hall of Justice or something."

"Yeah, why don't they?" I asked.

"Yeah, I asked that too." Jaime said, "Captain Atom says the League doesn't want, or need a shrine to it's fallen. But I don't know... It seems to me that they just don't want to advertise we're not immortal. The hand full of regular people who've seen me in action, they think I'm this guy in a new costume." He said gesturing to Ted Kord, the previous Blue Beetle. "The wold will never know about Ted Kord's sacrifice."

"But you know." I said with a smile.

"And you're carrying on the grand Blue Beetle heroic tradition, right?" Bart said.

"I wish!" Jaime said. "It's such a total rip! Superboy has Superman. Wondergirl has Wonderwoman. Robin has Batman, Nightwing, Blade, and Batgirl." He looked at me, "You've got a whole planet full of mentors!" Then he looked at Bart, "You've been in this era like what, five minutes? And already you have three Flash mentors, one who feeds you junk food." Bart smiled and hid the bag. "But me? I never even got to meet the guy that should've been my mentor."

"Dude," I said looking at him, "I haven't gotten a chance to meet any of the other Green Lanterns. All of 'em from earth were on Rimbor before I even got here!"

"Heh," Bart laughed, "I hear that. You know, we all have more in common than you guys might think. Our love of chicken wizzies for example." He said leaning closer to Jaime. "Let me buy you some to replace the bag I salvaged. We'll all hang. It'll be totally crash." He hooked an arm over each of our shoulders.

Jaime and I looked at each other. I shrugged. Why not?

"Uh, sure." Jaime said.

"Great!" Bart exclaimed. "Either of you got any money?"

I smiled, "No, but I know where Ma'gann keeps it..."


A few days later I stood in the training room facing off Nightwing. I held my arms near my face to protect it. He stood a few feet away doing the same. I didn't have my suit on. His orders. He said that I needed formal hand-to-hand combat training. Mom had given me a few pointers but nothing serious. I was a black belt in karate and I had learned a bit of boxing from Dad, but even still I was having trouble. Nightwing was good. Real good. I dropped low and tried to take his feet out from under him, but he had anticipated it and jumped over landing behind me. I stood and turned to face him, once again putting up my guard. I was almost as tall as him, but only about half as wide. I threw a right an he side-stepped and punched me hard in the jaw. I stepped back dazed. He tackled me tot he ground and got his legs around my mid section. I put my hands up to guard my face as he punched my stomach. I gasped and dropped my guard for a moment. He went to punch me in the face but stopped an inch from my face.

"Good try," He said with a smile, "but you're still punching too hard. Don't put it all in one hit." He helped me up. "And use your size to your advantage."

I nodded. "Again." I said through heavy breaths. Nightwing raised an eyebrow. Before we could the computer called out, "RECOGNIZED: BLUE BEETLE B-22, IMPULSE B-24"

They ran out of the zeta tube and Bart said, "Ha, ha! Left them in the dust!"

"Left who in the dust?" Nightwing asked. I noticed Bart was holding something that kinda looked like a TV remote. Apparently Nightwing also noticed. "And what is that?"

"Souvenir!" Bart said.

"Souvenirs are Beast Boy's thing ese." Blue said.

"Oh really? I thought it was Kid Flash who..."

"Can we get to it?" Nightwing cut Bart off.

"Sorry," Blue apologized, "Aqualad attacked us with Icicle Jr, the Terror Twins and a ninja girl I didn't recognize."

"This is how they tracked Blue." Bart said holding up the device. "I made sure they couldn't do it again."

"So you brought foreign, possibly alien tech into the Cave?" Nightwing asked, clearly pissed. "Rookie mistake!" He sighed. "Alright, give it here." He took it and hooked it into the computer. He typed something on the screen and looked irritated.

Blade walked in and looked at the device. "What is that?" She asked.

"We're trying to figure that part out." Nightwing told her.

Suddenly the computer went crazy.

"Uh I'm an idiot!" Nightwing shouted.

He turned and got hit in the chest by Superboy's lifeless body. I looked where he came from and put my suit on. I looked and saw Tommy Terror, one man who I was not proud to share a name with. I flew at him but he backhanded me across the room, implanting me in the wall. Icicle Jr stood in an alcove in the wall.

Impulse took him down then he charged his sister, who was carrying Beast Boy, but bounced right off and into the awaiting hands of Tommy. He tried to punch him with his super speed but it seems that Tommy was made of concrete. He put a collar on Impulse that somehow took his powers away. He punched Impulse and he landed in the center of the room.

I removed myself from the architecture and flew at Tuppence. She tried to punch me in the head but I was too quick for her. I hit her hard in the gut and she leaned forward into my knee. I spun and kicked her in the chest. She staggered back and dropped BB. She charged me and dodged my high kick, dropping behind me. I felt one one of those collars slip over my neck.

I laughed, "Sorry girly, but all my powers come from this." I flashed my ring.

"No problem sugar." She said with a smile. She pulled out a remote and pressed a button. I felt all my muscles tense as the familiar sensation of being shocked passed through my body. I was really getting really tired of being electrocuted! I stood up to hit her again but something stopped me.

"Stand down!" Aqualad called.

"Aqualad!" I yelled. Rage boiled inside of me as I remembered everyone's faces at the funeral. Cassie's face. Cassie's tears.

"This battle is over." He said in an annoyingly calm voice.

"I don't think so traitor!" Blue shouted.

"Then rethink, Beetle." He set down the bag he had. It hit the floor with a metallic thud. "This is the same type of bomb that obliterated. Melina Island." He pulled the bag back revealing a big metal, alien looking, object. He held up a detonater. "I am holding down the dead man's switch. If my thumb comes off of this button, for any reason, Mount Justice falls."

Was he serious? Would he really do it? I sighed. Of course he would. He killed Artemis. This was just another mission to him. I couldn't let this happen. This was my new home. I had just got here!

"We're standing down." Blue said holding up his hands.

"What?" I asked.

"We can't risk him blowing Mount Justice. Stand down." Blue told me.

"Huh" I sighed. He was right. "Fine." I said holding up my hands.

"Wise choice." Aqualad said.

Icicle Jr slid down on a slide made of ice and said, "I'm fine by the way."

"Good." AL said, "Escort Beetle, Impulse, and Beast Boy to the Flyer."

"What about these four?" The ninja girl asked.

"As hostages here they have value. But Nightwing and Blade are ordinary humans. And with out his ring, so is Green Lantern. Superboy, a human-kryptonian hybrid clone. Neither category is of any interest to our partner." AL explained.

"Aqualad, You'll regret this!" Nightwing yelled.

Aqualad walked up and punched NW hard in the gut. "I believe I have outgrown the name Aqualad, as well as anything resembling regret. I will leave the bomb with you, as a souvenir. Oh and the dead man's switch has a five mile range. Do not pursue." And then they left, leaving me, Nightwing, Blade and Superboy.

I ripped the collar off of me with ease and took Superboy's off. Blade and Nightwing got theirs off with ease.

"Go after them!" Nightwing yelled.

"On it!" I replied and flew through the halls. I could hear the others behind me but I was much too fast for them.

I burst through the door and onto the beach as Aqualad's ship took off. I looked behind me and saw the others on the supercycle right behind me.

That's when the blast hit me. The first thing I could think about was the heat. It was blistering. Then the boom. It was so loud. My head was ringing. I couldn't breath. The shock wave had knocked the breath out of me. I struggled to breath at all. I felt the sensation of falling. I looked down. I was falling. I saw the water approaching fast. I still couldn't breath. 'This is bad!' I hit the water and everything went black.


I woke up on the beach with Blade giving me mouth to mouth. My eyes went wide and I sat up. I opened my mouth to say something but doubled over in pain. I tilted my head to the side and vomited sea water. I looked up and saw the heap of flaming rock that used to be my home.

"Are you OK?" Blade asked me. I looked at her and was about to respond when a though passed through my head.

"My lantern!" I said and flew into the rubble. I found the area where my room used to be and started digging through the rocks with my bare hands, receiving a few burns in the process. I saw the smoldering pile of burnt cloth and metal that was once my bed. I grabbed the bottom of the frame to lift it up. "AHHHH!" I pulled my hands away. The metal was red hot. I made a huge energy hand and threw the bed. 'Oh thank god!' The safe was still there. I ripped off the door, not taking the time to put in the combination, and saw my lantern, untouched.

I looked around at the wreckage. Rage built up in me at one thought. 'Aqualad!" HE. WOULD. PAY!


AN: What? An update before midnight? Well it is the weekend so here you go. And as always, thank you for reading