A collaboration between myself and Redbat132, in honor of the new Blue Beetle movie released in theaters recently. :)

Batman: The Brave And The Bold and Green Lantern Animated belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros. Lea/Midnight Hope belongs to Redbat132.

A Blue Generation

It was another typical day in Coast City. Around the road, a van with a family of four inside was driving past the welcome sign and into the city. The driver was a man named Alberto Reyes, the passenger was his wife Bianca Reyes, and behind the two were their children. The older teen son Jaime and his youngest sister Milagro.

"We're here, kids! Coast City!" Alberto Reyes called out. "Home of the famous Green Lanterns."

Milagro looked out the window with excitement. "Wow, Jaime! I can't believe we're in Coast City! This is going to be the best birthday ever!"

Jaime smiled at his sister. "You bet it is, sis," he said, knowing his sister wanted a superhero-themed party and he was already planning on showing up as the Blue Beetle, which he knew would make his sister happy. Though she and his parents didn't know he was the Blue Beetle, Jaime figured that showing up in his hero form for his little sister would be all right.

"You think we'll ever meet any of the Lanterns in person, big brother?" Milagro asked, looking at Jaime.

"Maybe," he said with a smile. "I hear they often patrol this city."

Jaime had thought about asking a few of the Green Lanterns if they could do a guest appearance at his sister's tenth birthday, but the trust between him and the Green Lanterns was still rather fragile after the scarab's hidden programming had kicked in and nearly made Jaime destroy Oa. Thankfully, Jaime had managed to fight back and not only free himself and the Scarab from that programming, he had also saved the other Scarab heroes who hadn't been as lucky as he to fight back. Thankfully, those former Scarab heroes were alive, but the experience had left a rather sour taste in the Lanterns' mouths and in Jaime's mouth too. Granted, he could be civil to them and they had been civil, but it was still a long path to regaining trust again. Jaime was just thankful that Batman hadn't given up on him. It had been thanks to the Dark Knight that the boy hadn't been eliminated while stuck in his internal battle with the Scarab when it had taken full control of the suit.

"As long as I have my big brother, I know my hero-themed birthday will be great!" Milagro stated, hugging Jaime. "Maybe I'll go as a Green Lantern!"

Jaime smiled. "That would be cool," he said, hugging his little sister, glad she still saw the Green Lanterns in a good light. He wouldn't shatter that.

Just then, around stopping at a light, Milagro saw something not far from the city's high school. "Jaime, look! There's a cool place there with a rabbit!"

"Wow, that is pretty cool," Jaime said as their dad drove on, passing by the school nearby.

Inside that high school lived a blonde town with curls. Her name is Lea Thompson. It was a quiet time during the school and Lea had just finished up her English assignment and so had taken out her drawing pad and was working on a drawing quietly.

Nothing says taking a break like sketching, Lea thought to herself, drawing out a hero she's heard about a bunch of times. And I'm in the mood to draw something...blue and in the form of a beetle-like hero.

As she thought about him, her hand moved the pencil and it wasn't long before the sketch was coming together nicely.

While I know I could never be good enough for him...that won't stop me from being his major fan, Lea thought to herself, giving a gentle smile after finishing it. "There. Perfect."

Just then, a hand slammed right near her desk to reveal it belonged to a teen girl with a mean smirk.

"Well, well, well. Look who's still drawing the usual wannabe heroes of today," replied the girl.

"Oh, no," Lea muttered, as she looked up to see who it was and cringed a bit.

The girl had straight black hair with platinum blonde highlights, dark blue eyes, and fair skin. She also had fake jewelry of a familiar blue ring on her ring hand finger and a new outfit inspired by the Blue Lantern heroine of the city. This was Amanda Perkins. Meanest girl in school and Lea's daily bully since forever.

"Hey, Amanda," Lea deadpanned. "Yes, it's a new drawing of Blue Beetle. Is that a crime?"

"Ooooh! Someone's got a crush on the Blue Beetle!" Amanda said, right out loud.

"Amanda Perkins, keep your voice down," the teacher scolded her. "If I have to tell you again, you will go to the principal's office."

Lea sighed, knowing that Amanda was not going to stop on this subject.

"Makes sense that you would have a crush on a bug hero. You're not far behind the same insect species... Shutterbug," Amanda whispered.

The blonde teen just exhaled, trying to ignore the mean nickname Amanda would always call her.

Amanda noticed she wasn't getting a rise out of Lea and was about to say something else before the teacher noticed and cleared her throat. "Amanda Perkins, even with you whispering, I still have excellent hearing," she said. "And that's strike two."

The blonde teen knew her English teacher as much as the others where she would always pay them nothing but the utmost respect. Even go to them for either after-school advice on a subject she was struggling or just ask how they're doing in general. One thing her teachers did know about Lea was that she would always be on time in class and her assignments given to her as a responsible student. And the poor girl did not deserve to be picked on by a bully like Amanda.

Amanda growled silently, folding her arms to think of a way in getting under Lea's skin without getting caught. "Don't think I'm done with you yet, Shutterbug," she whisper-hissed.

The teen decided to ignore Amanda and went back to drawing.

Eventually, the bell rang and it was time to leave class. After taking a quick pic of her new art progress with her phone, Lea was about to put her drawing book away when Amanda grabbed it.

"Hey!" Lea exclaimed, having her right palmed hand out. "Give it back, Amanda. That doesn't belong to you."

"Oh, come on, Shutterbug. Let's see your dumb art," the girl sneered at her.

"You know well that I don't share my art with just anyone," Lea reminded, standing her ground. "Please, give it back, before I inform the teacher that you took my drawing book without my permission."

"Try to get it, Shutterbug," Amanda said, before going to walk away with the book.

"Amanda!" Lea exclaimed, already getting in front of her to block the door. "I'm serious, give back the book right now!"

"Ugh, fine! You want it so bad? Then go get it!" Amanda said, throwing the book towards the trashcan that was nearby.

"Don't you dare!" Lea acted fast by grabbing the book from hitting the trash can.

"Your art belongs in the trash, Shutterbug!" Amanda said loudly with an arrogant laugh.

A moment later, the teacher came out and grabbed Amanda's arm. "You and I are going to go have a long talk with the principal about your bullying, young lady," she said before turning to Lea. "Lea, are you alright?" She asked in concern.

Lea sighed, hugging her book close. "I am now. Thanks, Ms. Jillian."

"You're welcome, hon," Ms. Jillian said, before marching Amanda to the principal's office.

As the blonde teen grabbed her things and left the room, she opened her book to realize a page was torn off and missing. Lea gasped when realizing this.

"My latest Blue Beetle sketch! It's gone!" Lea exclaimed, piecing out what happened and gasped again in realization. "Amanda...,"

Before throwing the book, Amanda tore a page of her recent sketch to keep for herself…which is now in her possession.

"I got to get that page back now!" Lea exclaimed, making her way to the principal's office to find Amanda and get her missing page back before it becomes ruined completely.

However, fate had other plans when Lea's ring began to glow about danger.

"Oh, come on! Now?!" The blonde teen groaned, along with getting an alert about trouble happening at the city at this very moment. "…Ugh, fine! So glad that I'm in my lunch period now."

Knowing she's got no choice; she quickly went outside the school behind an empty alley to transform into her Blue Lantern alter ego…Midnight Hope.

Just as the transformation finished, she heard screams and immediately took the air, scanning the area for trouble.

"Please be a simple and easy baddie with no powers I can handle...," Hope begged to herself, very limited with the time she had there. "At least, long enough where I don't have to call GL too soon."

She soon spotted Tattoo Man and he was causing quite a ruckus with the tattoos that he could manipulate.

Hope just facepalmed with a heavy breather. "Why do I even bother asking? All right...I can handle Tattoo Man. No problem."

Jaime and his family quickly tried to get out of the way, but Tattoo Man laughed and sent a tattoo tiger after them. Jaime picked up his sister and began running, seeing his mom and dad run in another direction as more tattoos flew out from the villain.

Acting fast, Midnight Hope focused deeply to make a construct of a cage to lock that tiger tattoo before throwing it back at the villain.

"Bad kitty! No attacking people!" Midnight Hope exclaimed, creating strong light from her ring to make the other tattoos disappear from hurting anyone.

"You?!" Tattoo Man roared. "How dare you! You're going to pay for that!"

"Yeah, yeah, nice seeing you again," Hope said, rolling her eyes while constructing a giant fist to punch her opponent back.

That definitely did hit Tattoo Man, and it flew him to a car. "Got to admit, that was strong. But not enough for this!" Tattoo Man exclaimed, as his tattoos formed an axe to hit Midnight Hope.

"Yikes!" Midnight Hope did a tuck and roll from that axe swing. "The only axe I like are the ones with strings!"

To prove a point, Midnight Hope flew out of the jewelry store and constructed a guitar connected to a large enough amp speaker. She strummed one powerful cord to create a soundwave large enough to send Tattoo Man flying until hitting on top of a street lamp.

"Wow!" Jaime's little sister said in awe.

He couldn't help agreeing on that but was a bit worried when he saw that the soundwaves were making the windows rattle and he grew worried about the people inside those buildings.

Turned out, Hope was able to catch that, too, and quickly ended the amp speaker and guitar constructs from making any worse damage.

"Time to cover up this walking newspaper for good!" Hope replied, flying down to take down her opponent.

"Go, Blue Lantern!" The little girl cheered before Jaime got both himself and his sister inside a nearby building where they'd be safe.

Okay...This is different, Jaime thought to himself and the Scarab while hiding for safety. I thought there were only Green Lanterns that exist. Not Blue ones. Especially girl Blue Lanterns.

There are other Lanterns, but she is the first Blue Lantern I've seen here, his Scarab said quietly.

Seriously?! You've been holding back on me about this?! Jaime argued. Why didn't you tell me there were more Lanterns sooner?

You never asked, the scarab answered.

…Okay, fair point, Jaime said. How many Lanterns are there exactly, and are they all different colors?

Based on what I learned, there are about seven known Lanterns of the Emotional Spectrum...and possibly more counting, Scarab explained. Green Lanterns are Will and the main entity. Blue Lanterns represent Hope. Red is Rage, Yellow is Fear, Violet is Love, Indigo is Compassion, and Orange is Avarice. Most of the following are destructive.

Blue is hope? Jaime repeated curiously. So, this Blue Lantern is a good guy? Er, heroine?

Statistically, yes, the scarab answered. Her Lanterns' blue energy is said to boost the Lanterns of Will tenfold.

So, she's at least on our side, Jaime said in his mind. Good.

Yes. This Blue Lantern is most likely an ally, Scarab confirmed. She also appeared cautious when doing her attacks.

"Jaime, look! The Blue Lantern girl won!" Milagro called out, snapping Jaime's daze in mentally talking to the Scarab. "She stopped that mean tattoo guy!"

Outside, Midnight Hope used her ring to construct a box around an unconscious Tattoo Man and quickly flew off to drop the baddie into prison. Most of the civilians around were cheering on the Blue Lantern, but Hope didn't pay much attention to that and had to get back to school.

Jaime watched her leave and he fell into thought. Wonder if we'll see her again, he said to the Scarab. What do you think?

If she's from this city as much as the other famous Green Lantern, then most likely, Scarab answered.

He nodded. Let's keep on our toes then, he said. I'm hoping she's not going to be like how the other Green Lanterns were during the whole Reach thing, but let's not go rushing headlong to meet her just yet, yeah?

Agreed, Scarab said.

Meanwhile, Hope returned to Midtown High and became Lea again. While she did another good deed in saving the city, Lea was still bummed out about not seeing if Amanda still has her drawing or not. In fact, she hasn't seen Amanda all day after getting in trouble in class.

Oh, great, Lea thought, her shoulders drooping. Looks like my day just got a little worse.

Just then, her ring glowed with an incoming call. "Hope? Are you there?" Hal's voice came through her ring, to which she quickly ran to a nearby janitor's closet, glad that it was unlocked, and made sure to lock the door before answering the call.

"Yes, GL. I'm there," Lea deadpanned. "Something wrong?"

"Just heard about Tattoo Man attacking and word has it a female dressed like a Lantern, but was blue in color, stopped him," Hal said, a smile in his voice. "I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that was you."

"Yep...All me," Lea answered, not sounding proud. "Tried to do minimal damage to the city."

"Gotta say, kid, I'm impressed," he said. "Even Batman commented that you did a good job and believe me, he doesn't give out compliments like that to just anyone. You really impressed him."

"Just doing my part to help Coast City, GL. Nothing more, nothing less," Lea replied, still a bit down.

"Hey, what's wrong, kid?" Hal asked. "You sound like you might have lost something and you can't find it."

Lea felt her hand clutch from hearing that. "That obvious? Well, to sum things up...it involved Amanda. Again."

"What did she do now?" Hal asked, knowing his niece had issues with Amanda being a bully to her.

"Stealing my drawing book and almost throwing it in the trash," Lea answered. "While I was quick enough to catch it with Amanda being sent to the principal's office...she tore a page from my drawing book during the trash throw fiasco where it's most likely gone or ruined forever right about now. And it was a new drawing I worked hard on for just a draft."

"Want me to help you look for it?" He offered. Though the drawing was just a draft, he knew how important Lea's drawings were to her.

"No, Hal. As much as I hope to find it in one piece, I already know it's too late," Lea sighed, shaking her head lightly. "This is one mess that can't be fixed. "Besides, you coming over just to find a draft drawing of another hero doesn't seem worth the trouble."

"Hey, now," he said. "It's important to you, kid. You know all you have to do is ask and I'll be there to help. Anyway, just wanted to tell you to keep on your toes. The Guardians said that Blue Beetle is in the vicinity. Even though he proved to be a hero, they still treat him as if he's a threat."

This caught the blonde teen's attention. "You're kidding. Blue Beetle? He was the hero I was drawing and thinking about today! He's really somewhere in Coast City?"

"Yes, he is," Hal said, a smile in his voice. "He's a good kid. A bit headstrong, but he's learning, much like you. I think you two would get along just fine."

"Heh...Do you really think so?" Lea asked, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Yeah, I believe so," he said. "You sure you don't want my help in finding it? I could even ask Spectre or Martian Manhunter to help out, too."

"I think I'll manage," Lea assured, feeling a little bit better. "If I do need any help, you'll be the first I would call."

"All right," he said. "Good luck."

Nodding, Lea ended the call and left out of the janitor's closet while in deep thought. Blue Beetle in Coast City...Now that is one hero I would not mind meeting. Then again...he probably may not be interested in a heroine girl like me.

Despite being a fan of Blue Beetle, Lea learned something about him from the Internet which made her stomach turn a bit. And she prefers not to take any chances in knowing whether it is true or not.

Little did she know, the Blue Beetle was actually closer than she realized.

Please leave Redbat132 and myself a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418