The moment the odd haze around Zatanna disappeared and the weird feeling in the air began to disperse: I knew that the spell was over and hopefully, so was the Reach's control over Jaime. Zatanna stumbled a little but before she could fall, Bart zipped over to her and helped the magician to her feet.
"Zatanna, are you okay? Did it work?" Bart asked anxiously, eyes zooming between the sorceress and Jaime. "Or are we back to square one?"
"In summary: who controls the Beetles?" I asked, fighting the urge to run to Jaime and check on my friend as he groaned from the aftermath of the spell.
"Let's find out." Zatanna muttered before she stuck her hand out and preformed one more incantation. A moment later, Blue and Green Beetle reverted to their true forms: Jaime to, well, Jaime, and Green Beetle to a standard normal green Martian. "It worked, Jaime and B'arzz O'oomm are back in control of their bodies."
"It's true!" Jaime said, his voice exstatic and I finally ran over and wrapped my arms around my friend. He welcomed the hug, but continued talking. "I can feel it, I'm free of the Reach: for real this time."
"You're 100% sure? Because we've been through this before." Batgirl said. Of course the Bat is the suspicious one.
Damn I sound like Lina...
"I am certain of it." Zatanna explained.
Robin pulled up his holo-computer. "Reading no external signals since Zatanna worked her mojo. Neither Beetle is in contact with the Reach." Tim said and everyone smiled. A moment later however, I had to quickly run away as the speeding bullet that was Bart tackle-hugged Jaime. I couldn't help but laugh at my friends as Jaime's face blushed lightly before embracing the speedster.
"It's been so long." B'arzz said and everyone looked over at him as he studied him hands. "I had all but forgotten the sensation of controlling my body. My gratitude knows no bounds."
"Uh...that's great but Queen Bee's goons are waking up." Bumblebee warned and the team was suddenly very alert that we were still in Byalia.
"Time to scedadle!" I exclaimed as everyone made a run for the bio-ship.
"So spill." Jaime said as we soared above the skies, Jaime seeming very pleased to finally be able to fly by himself again. "How did you know how to cure us? That temple wasn't even in the Reach's data base."
Batgirl was the one to answer. "Bumblebee, Clairvoyance and I stumbled upon it months ago on a mission."
"I recognize the blue scarab imagery and had Batgirl record hieroglyphics." I said proudly.
"Doctor Fate was able to translate the info which revealed an ancient ceremony the ancients used to cleanse the Scarab of Reach control." Batgirl finished.
"That's why my scarab was off-mode when I found it!" Jaime realized.
"Because the ritual used magic of human origin; Fate, a Lord of Order, could not preform it. So he prepped me instead." Zatanna explained.
"Meanwhile, Batgirl and I got to hacking; starting with the previous Blue Beetle; the late Ted Kord." Tim began. "Ted's files revealed that an archaeologist named Dan Garret first discovered both the temple and the scarab in 1939. It fused with him the way it fused with you, but Dan assumed it was some kind of mystic artifact and he used it to become the first Blue Beetle of modern times. When Dan passed away, he left the scarab to his protege: Ted Kord."
"But Kord quickly realized the scarab was alien technology." Batgirl continued. "Since he wasn't about to let an alien device fuse with his spine, he locked the scarab away."
"But Garret still inspired Ted to become the second Blue Beetle, even without superpowers." Jaime concluded.
"I hear those are optional." Tim joked, and Barbara and Karen smiled as well. "Anyways, Ted suspected the Light wanted the scarab back in play. He tries to stop them from stealing it, and paid the ultimate price."
"That's where you come in." I added.
"Guess I wasn't what the Light or the Reach had in mind." Jaime joked. "But why keep all this from me?"
"Because it took months for me to learn the ritual and not to mention configure the ancient Byalian incantations to work in consort with my magic." Zatanna explained.
"And we couldn't risk the Reach knowing the temple existed until you were ready." Jaime finished before floating up to where Bart sat. "And you managed to keep your mouth shut? You?"
"Hey," Bart defended. "Making sure you stayed hero was the main reason I came back from the past. So I was motivated to keep my mouth off-mode. Don't ya get used to it now!"
I couldn't help but grin again as I ran a hand through my hair as I sent a mental thank you to Lina and Nightwing for informing me that the team was going to save Jaime. At first I had been a little peeved about being woken up after staying up super late trying to learn how to skateboard from Ed, but the moment I heard Jaime's name: I was out the door.
Suddenly, Jaime flew over to me. I raised an eyebrow, confused as to what he wanted.
"So...Hermana, any chance you could possibly, I don't know, show me where Ty is?" Jaime asked, catching everyone's attention. To be honest, I wasn't that surprised; Ty and Jaime were best friends, it was bound to happen that Jaime wanted to see him.
I sighed and gave in, icing my Hispanic friend a smile.
"Get showered and change into civvies when we get you home, then we'll see." I explained.
It's short and bad and I hate it, but I wanted to get it out of the way. So here ya go fam. ALSO DID YOU GUYS ALL SEE THE NEW LEAKS FOR SEASON 3 AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS...BUT MOSTLY "IS BLUEPULSE GOING TO BE CANON' AND "WTF HAPPENED TO KALDUR'S HAIR?"