Big surprise at the end of this chapter, and as I don't want to ruin it, my author notes will be at the end of the chapter this time. Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, Dreamworks and DC and Warner Bros does.
The Blue Beetle's name was Ted Kord, and he owned a corporation named K.O.R.D. Industries, one of the few industries in the world not currently a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, although the board of directors was telling him that it was just a matter of time before they merged with it. Until then, he had a friendly rivalry with Wayne; and he was pretty annoyed when he discovered that nearly every super-smart genius hero on the station had already agreed to work for or with Wayne Enterprises exclusively. He didn't know how Wayne was recruiting genius superheroes; but two could play at that game. (He had already gotten Dr. Light interested.)
But League business before corporation business. First they needed to find one of the Core League members and explain what had happened, what was on the station, and that the scientists had been taken to a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. (That just happened to be where they had landed when they returned to earth to drop them off.) And that all of them would recover.
You wouldn't think finding one of five people dressed in long underwear and capes or a woman in a glorified bathing suit would be hard, but stick them in a space station where everyone wore long underwear and capes or glorified bathing suits and it becomes a little harder. They ran into Green Lantern before they met J'onn, so Beetle decided to save a few minutes and just let him know about what happened.
In retrospect, that was a mistake. But hey, how was he supposed to know that Green Lantern was chomping at the bit for an excuse to kick Megamind out of the League?
No sooner had the words, 'we had to fall back' popped out of Beetle's mouth, Green Lantern started to accuse their blue-skinned comrade.
"Running away might be fine for a cowardly criminal like you, but heroes don't run when things get tough," Lantern told him.
"But I—"
Lantern cut him off, not pausing in his accusations, going so far as to accuse Megamind of masterminding the whole scenario (which was stupid) and Megamind seemed to, well, fold in on himself. He didn't attempt to set the record straight again; he just stood there, staring at the ground, and let Green Lantern villainize him.
Well, if Megamind wouldn't defend himself, the Blue Beetle would. And fast, because that fish of Megs' looked like he was about to punch Lantern in the mouth, and a brawl would make things worse for everybody.
Green Lantern was saying something about how, "you're the sorriest excuse for a hero I've ever seen," and Beetle opened his mouth to chew him out, but surprisingly, Booster Gold beat him to it.
"Oh, would you just shut up already?" the golden-costumed hero griped. "You weren't going to give us any credit if the mission was a stellar success, so you can't give us any grief because it didn't go the way you wanted, you glorified bling-bling boy."
Green Lantern paused, staring at Booster incredulously. "Bling-bling boy?" he repeated.
"Besides, I gave the order to fall back," Beetle added quickly. "Megamind was the only one who tried to convince us not to retreat. So shove that in your pipe and smoke it!" With that, he grabbed Megamind's arm and led him away. "C'mon, let's get out of here and let some people be happy all alone with their paranoid delusions."
Green Lantern watched them walk away, grudgingly having to admit that he had been wrong—this time. But Megamind still couldn't be trusted. He noticed with interest the look the fish-gorilla was sending him as they left was definitely a sign that he shouldn't enter any dark alleys alone with him any time soon for sure. With that observation, the Lantern turned and went to find the other Core members to inform them of this latest development.
Megamind wasn't quite sure what had happened, as nobody had ever bothered to stick up for him before when someone was telling him how poorly he had done, since it hadn't come up since he had changed his ways and when he was evil nobody had cared too. As such, he had no idea what the proper procedure was now that somebody had done so. Should he thank them? Offer them a gift or a favor? He would have to ask Roxanne when he got home.
Luckily, neither of the heroes were acting as if there was some sort of social custom that he was neglecting, so he at least wasn't offending them. He wouldn't want to offend them after they had stood up for him like that.
After they had left Green Lantern's line of sight, Booster grinned and stepped away from them. "See you later guys. I gotta go let J'onn know I'm available so he can send me on the good missions to increase my rep." With that, he and Skeets darted off.
That just left Megamind, Minion, and the Beetle, and the awkward silence that settled around the three seemed to get all the more thicker with each passing moment. Megamind knew he should probably say something, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of a single thing. Socializing looked so much easier on the television.
"Oh, geez," Beetle finally sighed. "You're probably going to think I'm a total creep for asking now, and that I just told off the Lantern so you'd say yes—but I didn't, I mean, I want you to say yes, of course, but that's not why I told him off…and I'm rambling." He closed his eyes, though one couldn't tell with the goggles he wore and muttered, "This is a great way to make a spiel, Beetle."
Megamind didn't understand some of that—mostly the comment about spilling, as Blue Beetle had no liquids or any other type of object dropping accidentally from his grasp—but he did catch the basic drift. "You want to ask me a que-este-oon?" he asked, just to make sure this wasn't another of those weird social terms that always threw him for a loop.
"Well, yeah, I do." The Blue Beetle gave him a grin that was sort of apologetic as he continued. "And this really isn't the best time for it, but I just know if I wait the next time I meet you you'll be on Wayne's payroll, and then I'll have lost my chance. The thing is, I have this…this friend," he stressed the word 'friend' overmuch, Megamind noted. "Who has a research and development company, who's been looking to hire some more inventors."
"That's nice," Megamind said finally, when it appeared that the Beetle wasn't going to further elaborate.
Beetle, realizing that Megamind wasn't getting it, added, "And he'd really appreciate it if you'd accept his offer."
Megamind frowned, then gawked as he realized what was being asked. "You mean, as a job? A legal job?"'
"Yes!" Beetle jumped on the nibble. "He'll pay 75,000 annually, which is average for a research & development engineer in your home state, um, but we can negotiate price, and stuff. You think about it, and let me know, ok?"
Megamind looked thoughtful. "You're sure your friend wants me, right? I understand he would want super geniuses who're in the League, but he might not feel comfortable hiring a former super villain, you know."
"Trust me, he wants you," Beetle said, a secretive grin on his face. "I know Ted Kord so well, sometimes it's like we're the same person."
"As in K.O.R.D. Industries?" Megamind asked, seemingly absentmindedly. "They have a branch office in Metrocity; I've robbed it several times over the years."
"Great! Then you're familiar with the facility's layout." Beetle saw through the ruse for what it was; a rather sneaky way to test the waters to see just how sincere the offer truly was. "You won't even have to do anything too different than you're doing now. You just get legal access to K.O.R.D. Industries materials and labs, and maybe help the other scientists out a bit every now and again, but basically all you have to do is whenever you make an invention that won't destroy the world should it fall into the wrong hands, you let K.O.R.D. Industries patent it so they can promote it and stuff. They'll pay you extra bonuses if your inventions make a lot of money," he added quickly.
Megamind nodded thoughtfully and stroked his goatee as he thought. "OK," he said finally.
"Ok, as in you'll think about it?" Beetle asked hopefully.
"Ok, as in I'll take it," Megamind clarified.
"Seriously?" Ted Kord was thrilled, and it showed clearly in the Beetle's body language. "You don't want to shop around, see if you can get a better offer or anything?"
"Why should I?" Megamind asked. "K.O.R.D. Industries has the only major research and development plant in Metrocity, they're willing to hire me, and I recently find myself with a serious need to find a way to acquire cash legally. It's only logical that I accept the offer."
"Great!" Beetle couldn't keep the smile off his face. "That's perfect. You get a job, I…my friend get's one of the world's most brilliant inventors on his payroll and everybody's happy!"
"But what do you get out of this, Beetle?" Megamind asked, as if he hadn't noticed the Beetle's slip of the tongue, although he certainly had. It gave new meaning to the earlier remark about Ted Kord and Blue Beetle seeming like the same person, not that he would ever tell anyone that.
Beetle's grin turned a bit mischievous. "Well, it does give me the right to get one of those decoupage guns…" he hinted, before laughing at the scowl Megamind gave him.
Megamind swiftly made his way to the table 'belonging' to the Order of Reformed Super Villains Plus One and retrieved his flier/blueprint from Plastic Man, who couldn't stay long to visit as he was soon called away on League business. Firestorm had left a half-hour ago. With nothing else to do, Megamind took his leave of the tower and returned to his Law-Abiding Lair (and for the record, he hated that name too, and would not use it again).
The reformed hero and his fishy friend walked into their lair, pet a few brainbots and threw a wrench for them, and narrowly evaded one particularly bad bot who was still determined to chew Megamind's arm, and walked deeper into their lair, the air around them ringing with evil laughter. Because, face it, they were in a good mood, their recent financial dilemma had been solved, and evil laughter was as natural to them as breathing. And it was hard not to do the evil laughter at all during their trips to the Watchtower; Megamind for one needed a break from anti-evil vigilance. It was just laughter. After all, it's not like he was planning to take over the city. Been there, done that.
The duo reached the back, Minion stopping briefly to feed Megacat who bit Megamind on the leg as she was in a contrary mood today, but her teeth couldn't penetrate the leather and so other than to give her the, "No, no, no, no, no biting," finger wag formerly reserved for his brainbots, he let her be as she meowed at him before rushing to her food bowl to eat Purina cat chow.
Megamind's previous good mood doubled when he saw the readout showing how close the download for their new robot was to being completed. "Minion, it's almost done, it's almost done!" he said excitedly, doing a happy little dance in his glee. "Quickly, go call Roxanne!"
"Right away, Sir!" Megamind's excitement was infectious, it seemed, for Minion's delighted smile mirrored his boss's as he rushed for the phone.
"And remember not to tell her! It's a surprise!" Megamind called after him eagerly before sitting in his big leather chair and waiting for the download's completion.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the download finished and with unrivaled glee, Megamind disconnected his robot from his computer terminal. His excitement turned to wonder as the robot's body twitched, and finally she opened her eyes, revealing pale irises with just the slightest hint of pink tint…
Unlike her boyfriend, Roxanne Ritchi had not had a good day. Her latest camerawoman, a girl named Zoe, was so airheaded she had actually forgotten to turn the camera on at all during the day, and one of the things Roxanne had had to cover was an important, exclusive interview with the mayor. She had called him after she had found out, but the mayor had stated that he was busy and wouldn't be able to do another interview for another week, if he let them have another exclusive interview at all instead of using a more 'reliable' news network. Needless to say, Zoe was now unemployed, and Roxanne was out yet another camera crew. Roxanne's pay for today had also been docked, even though she had performed her job admirably and it hadn't been her fault Zoe was an idiot.
Then Minion called her just as she was beginning to relax at home, being tired from the unproductive, completely wasted day, and insisted that she had to come to the Lair, right now. He wouldn't tell her why, although he did say that Megamind had gotten a job today at K.O.R.D. Industries, which was good news at least, as her boyfriend's budget had slowly gotten tighter and tighter and she had seriously been thinking that she would have to start supporting him and Minion as well as herself.
With a sigh, she made her way down to Megamind's Lair, eagerly greeted at the door by an extremely happy boyfriend. This was rare; he hardly ever came to greet her himself, as he tried hard not to make himself seem desperate or clingy. He usually failed at that, but normally it was in a cute, insecure, adorable way. Today it seemed he was too excited to care about things like that.
"Roxanne!" he cried, his eyes literally dancing with boyish delight. "I got you a present!"
Roxanne couldn't help but smile back at him, his obvious pleasure in giving her a present reminiscent of a little child and it was that childlikeness that was part of the reason she loved him. "What is it?" she asked, amused.
"Ah, ah, ah," he grinned at her mischievously. "That would spoil the surprise, my dear Ms. Ritchi."
Playing along, Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Surprise? Megamind, you're so predictable."
"Predictable?" Still smiling, her boyfriend did something that was a cross between skipping and a complex dance step and made his way to the red curtain. "Do you call this predictable?" he asked, throwing the curtain back.
Roxanne's smile faded and she gawked at the robot that Megamind had brought back the other day, who was wearing a slimmer, more feminine version of Megamind's jumpsuit, looking all the world like a female version of her boyfriend with hair. Oh, and she was sitting up on the table, swinging her legs back and forth, with a smile on her face that rivaled her boyfriend's own.
"Ollo," the robot said, giggling cheerfully. "I'm Indigo. And you're Roxanne! I'm going to be your new camerawoman, and that makes me so happy!"
Roxanne looked over to Megamind in shock, but the happy yet relatively innocent expression on his face confirmed that this wasn't some sort of joke. "Surprise!" he said excitedly. "Do you like it?"
Ted Kord would call this a good day. He hummed to himself happily as he exited his airship, lovingly named 'The Bug' and stepped back into his own hideout. He'd been struggling to keep K.O.R.D. Industries out of the red recently, but hopefully Megamind's patents would be a great help keeping the business out of Bruce Wayne's pockets, as the businessman was hinting that he would eagerly buy Ted out. If push came to shove, and in the end Ted did have to sell, then he would ensure that Megamind at least would not be fired as part of his terms and conditions. (Technically, Wayne Enterprises couldn't fire someone on the basis that they had a checkered past if that person did not participate in unethical activities anymore, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen.) Ted liked the genius, and after practically begging Megamind to work for him it would be a shame for him to lose his job because Ted had the business sense of a brick.
Ted sighed, then wearily pulled off the Blue Beetle mask, his eyes blinking as they took in the world around them without the yellow tint his mask always gave everything, and took a seat in front of his computer, casually flinging his mask onto the desk. He took a look around his hideout fondly, pausing to take a better look at items of sentimental value, or perhaps things he had run across during his adventures that were just plain dangerous, that he had placed here for safekeeping. His eyes made their way to the center of his makeshift museum (for there was no other word for it) and widened in shock as he realized one of the glass cases had been shattered.
No. Oh, no.
"The Scarab!" Ted was on his feet in an instant, making his way over to where the Scarab, an item his late mentor, Dan Garrett, had used to become the original Blue Beetle. Garratt had found the Scarab in a Pharaoh's tomb on an archeological expedition in Egypt. The Scarab had granted him super strength, the ability to fly, and the ability to produce energy charges from his hands. Garratt had been certain that there was more secrets the Scarab had that he had yet to unlock, yet he had died before he could find out. And Ted…well, Ted couldn't even get the Scarab to turn on for him.
He had initially given the Scarab to his uncle, Dr. Jarvis Kord, in hopes that he would be able to unlock the secrets that Dan had so longed to find, only to discover that Jarvis had tried to reverse engineer it to create an army of Beetle droids to take over Ted's hometown, Hub City. He still shuddered to think just how close he had come to dying that day…
But anyway, he was fine, the Scarab was recovered, and dear old Uncle Jarvis had taken a free all-expenses-paid trip to the Happy Padded Party Room, compliments of his rather ticked-off nephew. And the Scarab had been placed on a pedestal in his hideout, ignored but definitely not forgotten. Better that no one used the Scarab's power rather than someone using it for evil purposes.
Now though, the glass that he had kept the Scarab behind was broken, shattered, and the Scarab itself was nowhere to be found. Who could have managed to find this place, evade the security, and then only take the Scarab but nothing else? Almost afraid of what he would find, Ted quickly brought up the security cameras to find out the identity of his mystery thief.
The truth was not what he expected, but perhaps disturbing in and of itself. It turned out, no one had taken the Scarab. It had just powered up suddenly and flew out by itself.
Ted leaned back, cupping his chin with his hand and frowning. Why had the Scarab suddenly powered up and left all of a sudden, when it had been dormant for years now, refusing to so much as spark whenever anyone tried to turn it on? And where was it headed? Well, one thing was certain; it would seem that Ted was finally going to witness the secrets that his mentor had wished to see so desperately.
He wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing.
El Paso, Texas…
Two teenagers were in a vacant lot behind the local McDonald's, one, a thin, scrawny boy with shoulder-length black hair, scrambling around the lot as if looking intently for something, and the other, a young man with a crew cut and a body that would make him perfect for football, looking bored out of his wits.
"I'm telling you, Paco, I saw something hit the ground over here. Like a meteor or something," the thin one said as he looked around.
"Yeah, yeah, you said that ten minutes ago when you came out here," Paco said, sounding suitably unimpressed. "Face it, Jaime, there's nothing here. And it's getting late, and stuff."
"Well, you can go if you want," Jaime Reyes said matter-of-factly. "I'll just be a few more minutes. I bet I can find it. Hey, maybe it's Kryptonite! Wouldn't that be cool?"
"Um, yeah, I guess," Paco replied, rolling his eyes at Jaime's eager love of all things superheroish. "See you tomorrow, I guess."
"Later, Paco," Jaime called after his friend's retreating form, not bothering to pause in his search.
A few minutes later, he noticed what appeared to be a blue…thingy…half-hidden behind a rock. Curious, Jaime picked it up. It looked like... "Some sort of bug?" he guessed, turning it around.
Suddenly, the mandibles on the Scarab-like thing suddenly lit up, and it shot out of Jaime's hands, and—there was no other explanation for it—burrowed its way into his back.
"AH!" Jaime screamed in agony, trying to grab the thing, but it was positioned in that one place on the back you can never reach, and he couldn't grasp it. And suddenly, the pain was gone as quickly as it came. Jaime caught his breath, panting as he wondered what the heck that was about, when blue-and-black armor suddenly extended itself around his body, covering him with a futuristic-looking version of the Blue Beetle uniform.
"Hello, Jaime."
"What's that? Who's there?" Jaime looked around, freaking out as he tried to figure out what the heck was happening to him.
"I'm the suit, Jaime."
"The…suit?" Jaime looked at his now-gloved hands, then his gaze turned to his shoulders. A mandible-like growth was on either side of his shoulders, and now that he was paying attention, he noticed that they lit up whenever the words showed up in his head. (There was no other term for it, it wasn't actually audible speech, and though he had no experience with telepathy it seemed different from that too.)
"I was sent to this world to find a suitable host, a being of pure-hearted intent, Jaime, and I found you," the suit continued.
"Huh." Jaime had many questions, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was 'huh.' Deciding that that probably wasn't the best way to figure out what to make of this thing that had burrowed itself into its back and turned him into some sort of armored insect, he added, "Do you uh, have a name? Besides 'the suit'?"
There was a pause, then the suit answered. "Many people on your planet call me the Scarab. But my given name is Khaji Da."
"Cay-gih Dah?" Jaime said aloud, unintentionally mangling the name.
After another silence, Khaji Da spoke again. "Call me Suit."
"Can do," Jaime said cheerfully. "So, what exactly do you want? Because I'm not going to attack Tokyo, if that's what this is about."
"No, we're not going to attack Tokyo, Jaime," Suit said, sounding amused. "We're going to protect your world."
Jaime's eyes widened beneath the full-face mask. "You mean like super heroes?" he asked.
"Yeah. Like super heroes."
"No. Freaking. Way." Jaime stood there for a long moment, frozen to the spot in shock. Then an excited, pleased grin crossed his face. "THIS IS AWESOME!" he shrieked.
Yes, being the extremely selfish person I am, I want BOTH Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes in my fic, with NO character deaths. *Grabs Megamind's de-gun and aims it at the writers at DC who killed off Ted Kord.* I WANT TED HE'S MINE! NOBODY KILLS HIM! AND I WANT JAIME TOO! *Tackles Jaime to the ground in an attempt to claim ownership.*
Jaime Reyes' name, for future references, is pronounced Hi-May Ray-az.
