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Chloe's POV
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I leaned my head on Jaime's shoulder as I looked at Artemis' hologram, and tried my best to ignore Bart crunching on Chicken Whizees. Finally, we all looked at him. 'We' being me, Jaime, Gar, Tim, and of course, Bart. "Uhhh, sorry. Mourning makes me hungry." Bart says. Jaime grabs him by the shirt and drags him away. I followed shortly after. "You stole those freeze-dried Chicken Whizees from my locker, didn't you?" Jaime accused Bart. "And the Pop Tarts! You've been eating all of them!" I complain. "Hey, hey, hey! Where I come from, it's not stealing, it's scavenger rights." Bart states.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "The point is, we don't have Chicken Whizees in my era. So blame Kid Flash, he got me hooked." Bart says. "Leave it to Wally to teach you to raid a fridge." I say as I cross my arms. "Forget I asked." Jaime says as he throws a hand over his face. Bart looks around. "So why is this here? It's pretty and everything, but these people are heroes! In the line of duty and all that! They deserve giant statues, big, crash, memorials! In the Hall of Justice, or something." Bart says as he gestures to all the holograms.
"Yeah, I asked that too. Captain Atom says the League doesn't want or need a public shrine to its fallen. But I dunno, it seems to me like they don't wanna advertise that we're not immortal." Jaime says as he looks at the holograms. "Pathetic." I mutter. "The handful of regular people who have seen me in action, they think I'm this guy in a new costume! The world will never know about Ted Kord's sacrifice." Jaime says as he gestures to the former Blue Beetle's shrine.
Bart grins. "But you know! And you're carrying on the fabulous Blue Beetle tradition, right?" Bart exclaims. "I wish! It's such a total rip! Superboy has Superman, Wonder Girl has Wonder Woman, Robin has Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl! You've been in this era like, what, five minutes and already you have three Flash mentors! One who feeds you junk food!" Jaime angrily rants. I kick a rock on the ground and zone out for the rest of their conversation.
I think about John, and Hal. Hal mostly. I hoped that he was alright, but there's not like there was anything I could do. John was still on trial in Rimbor, so he couldn't offer any news about him. I could only hope that both were okay. "Clo! You coming?" I hear Bart call and I look up to see him and Jaime walking away. "Wait up!" I yell as I run after. "Great! Either of you got any money?" Bart says. "Nope." I say. We both look at Jaime with eager smiles, and he sighs.
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"Today's the day isn't it?" I ask Dick as we look at intel in the mission room. It was two days later. Doom Day for the cave. "Yup. Sorry Clo, but you're going to need to get anything you need." Dick says. I sigh and look around. "This is going to be hard, Dick. Are you sure we need to go this far?" I said. Dick placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Chloe. You might want to get suited up. Pack anything you need." He said. I sighed, nodded, then left the room. I made my way to my bedroom, and shut the door. I grabbed some pictures and my phone, and put it in the explosion proof box Dick had given me, in hopes that it would work.
Then, I zeated to the zeta tube closest to Jaime's house. I knock on the door, and Mrs. Reyes answers. "Chloe! How are you, carina?" She asks as she shuts the door. "Hola, Mrs. Reyes." I say as she brings me into a hug before I can answer anything else. "Go, go! He's upstairs." She said as she waves me off, and I nod and head upstairs. "Chloe! Look, look!" I hear a small voice say. I turn to see Milagro poking her head out of her room, holding a piece of paper. "What is it?" I ask as she hands it to me.
"It's for you!" I say as I study the drawing. Maybe a flower? Or a turtle? "Thank you so much, it's amazing," I say as I squat down and wrap her in a hug. "I gotta go, but I'll see you later." I say as I continue walking down the hallway, to Jaime's room. Once I get in there, I put the box on the dresser, and flop on the bed next to him. "So what are we doing today?" I ask as he wraps an arm around me. "Anything but history." He says as he throws his textbook towards his nightstand, but it lands in the trash can. "10 points to Gryffindor. Must suck, going to school." I say as I wiggle my eyebrows, and he rolls his eyes, but smiles.
"Well today is gonna suck, because you and Bart spent all my money at the arcade yesterday two days ago." He says. "Well then, we'll just have to watch movies." I say. We get up and make our way downstairs, and just as we are about to settle down on the couch, the doorbell rings. We both groan. "I'll get it!" Jaime yells as he walks to the door, me following behind. "Dude! What are you doing?!" Jaime exclaims, and I look over his shoulder to see Bart in full costume.
I smack my face. "I'm here to hang! To chill, to spend a little downtime with my buddy Blue, BB, the Beetle, the Beetleee! Y'know, chilling." Bart says quickly. I hold in my laughter from behind Chloe. "And Volt!" He says as he points to me, and I give a small wave. "And put our secret ID's at risk?!" Jaime exclaims quietly. He stays silent for a moment. "Overreacting won't help." Jaime says, and I noticed he was talking to Scarab. "Totally, hey, don't beat yourself up. I'll never get used to this so retro obsession with secretary identities. What's the point in hiding how crash we are?" Bart says.
"Totally. Not like anyone's gonna recognize me, I'm not even from here." I say as I make my way past Jaime and unzip my jacket to reveal the top part of my suit. "Let's just get out of here before someone spots us." He says. I quickly disintegrate my pants and shoes, then fly after Bart and Jaime. Well, Bart runs, but you get the idea.
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"Here, watch this one!" Jaime says as he uses his sonic cannon to blast it into pieces. "Well?" He says as he turns to me and Bart. "Yawwnnn. Really? That's the best you can do?" Bart asks. "No!" Jaime exclaims, quickly turning and blasting a bigger rock. "How's that, hermano?" He asks us. I laughed. "Weak. Lemme try." I say. I find the biggest rock I can, and blast it with my beam, shattering it in seconds. "Voila." I say as I throw out my hands like a proud magician.
"Not bad, not bad. Boulders are definitely feeling the mode, but, one thing I learned in the future amigo, is that it's easier to destroy," Bart says as he begins to zoom around moving tiny pieces of rock, "than to create! Ta-daaa!" he holds up his hands proudly. I look around, but I don't see anything. "Uh, 'ta-da' what exactly?" Jaime asks. "Curve the attitude, get a little altitude, hermanos!" Bart says, pronouncing 'hermano' wrong. Jaime and I quickly fly up. "Oh." I say when I notice what Bart has done.
"Impulse, by Impulse! Is that crash, or what?" Bart says as I study the self portrait he had made. "Crash, totally crash!" Jaime says, and I smile. Then, boom! Something whams into him. "Blue!" Me and Bart exclaim. Tuppence Terror looks up at us. "Awww man, I spent 1.6 seconds on that self portrait, it was my masterpiece!" Bart exclaims. "And that's my boyfriend! Get off him!" I say. Then I see her. Artemis in disguise as Tigeress, and Tommy Terror. Dick and I both agreed her new name sounded like a stripper name. She flew in, trying to land a kick on Bart.
He runs away to dodge, but ends up running into Tommy T. Artemis shots a net out of a gun, restricting Bart's arms and legs and restricting him to the ground. I quickly swoop down, and kick Tommy over. He wobbles back, but quickly catches his balance and lands a punch on my face, sending me flying back. Artemis pulls me up, snaps cuffs around my wrists, and puts an inhibitor color around my neck. "Nice to see you again, blondie." I hear a voice say, and I turn to see Junior.
"Hey Junior. I suppose you won't be letting me out?" I say. "Quite the opposite actually." He says as he puts up his hand to fire ice at me, but I have other plans. I snap my head back, hitting Artemis in the face, causing her to loosen her grip, giving me enough time to kick her in the legs, and escape. But that's all I have time to do, before Tommy grabs the back of my head, and slams me into the dirt. Ouch, I know. He slams again. Double ouch. Again, triple ouch. He slams again, and my vision goes dark.
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Bart's POV
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I watch Tommy Terror wham Chloe's face into the dirt several times. I notice by the fourth time, she's unconscious. So not crash. Then the twins move onto Blue, and Junior quickly freezes him in ice. "Blue! Volt!" I call out, and vibrate myself out of the nets, just as the ninja lady throws more at me. As I run away, I see Blue breaking himself out of the ice, and shooting down both Terror Twins and Junior. He goes for the ninja lady last, but she dodges. He then clamps her to the floor with a staple, and quickly punches down Tuppence T. as she comes in for the hit.
I run over to find Chloe, still unconscious. "Chloe, Clo." I shake her, but she doesn't move. "Give her to me." Blue says as he runs over. He lightly tossed her over his shoulder, his face lacking concern for her. I watch as the villains stand up. Blue furrows his eyebrows. "Or, since they outnumber us four to two, we could recommend tactic strategic retreat." He says. "Totally, but first how did they find us out here in the middle of- Uh, huh." I begin, but I notice Aqualad, on a cliff above, holding some type of device.
I speed up to him. "So you're Aquald, working with the bad guys I see. Taking their alien tech to track our friend Blue, and almost kill Volt? Not crash dude, not crash at all." I say as I dodge his oncoming sword attacks. I quickly grab his tracker, and he stands up, looking confused. "Zoink! Loaded!" I say, and I run off. I reach Blue and Clo just as the villains are making their move. "They can't follow us now! Let's book!" I say as I begin to run, turning to see Blue in close pursuit.
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Chloe's POV
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I open my eyes, my head throbbing in pain. "Ughhhh." I say as I place my hands over my face. "Chloe, hey, mi amore, are you okay?" I look up to see Jaime, his face filled with concern. "I've had better days, here put me down, I can fly." I said as I noticed him carrying me. "Nah, it's fine." He said, and I nod and lean my head against his chest. I quickly scan my surroundings, and notice Bart speeding under us. After a bit of flying, we reach the alley with the zeta tubes. Jaime sets me down, and I lean on him for support since my head is still spinning.
Bart speeds us next to us a second later. "Hey hermana, you okay?" He says as he places a hand on my shoulder, still pronouncing the Spanish wrong. "I'll be okay. Let's go." I say as I activate the zeta tubes. "Recognized, Blue Beetle B-22, Impulse B-24, Volt B-23." The system reads as we enter the cave. "Ha ha! Left them in the dust!" Bart exclaims happily. "Left who in the dust? And what is that?" Dick asks as he points to the device in Bart's hand. I groan and rub my head.
"You guys explain. I'm going to get water." I said as I walked off towards the kitchen. Wolf barks a greeting from the couch as I walk in. I grab a glass and pour myself a very nice cold glass of water, and just as I sit down, hear the vent open behind me. A hand comes on my shoulder, and I turn to see Tigeress, or Artemis. "You okay?" She silently asks, and I nod. Wolf sits up and sniffs, but places his head back down and moves no further. Artemis goes over quietly and snaps an inhibitor collar around his neck. Then she turns back to me.
I hold up a finger and chug the rest of the water. "Okay, ready." I say as I stand up. "Sorry again." She says, and she raises her fist, and punches me straight in the face, and my world goes dark again.
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Jaime's POV
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"Agghhh, I'm an idiot!" Nightwing exclaims as the device Bart brings back finishes scanning, the result flashing red. Nightwing quickly turns, only to have Superboy being thrown at him. I notice Junior up above, and he shoots down a bridge of ice. Bart goes to deal with him, while I cover ariel. Bart takes out Junior quickly, and sees Tuppence T. walking in the room. He runs to stop her, but gets sent back, right into Tommy.
Bart punches him, but it does nothing, except get him in an inhibitor collar. He punches Bart, and throws him across the room. My next concern, where was Chloe? I blast a sonic wave at Tommy, and he covers his ears. I watch as Nightwing struggles with the ninja lady, only to get shocked by the collar she put around him. This was not going well. I aim my cannon at her.
"Stand down!" I hear Aqualad shout, and I turn to see him, holding Chloe, who's unconscious, again. This was so not going well. "Switch to plasma cannon. Wide dispersal, incinerate them all." Scarab suggests, deadly as usual. "Good guys included? No thanks." I said as I looked at the bag Aqualad was holding in the other hand. "This battle is over." He says. "I don't think so, traitor!" I say as both of my hands shift into cannons, aimed at him. "Then rethink, Beetle." He says as he lowers the bag.
It reveals a 'U' shaped black and gold piece of metal. "This is the same bomb that destroyed Malina Island. I am holding down the dead man switch. If my thumb comes off this button for any reason, Mount Justice falls. And do you think I will stop there? I have not hesitated to kill a friend, I will not hesitate again." He says and he kicks Chloe forward with his other foot. Her beautiful blonde curls cover half her face, she looks like she does almost every night, just asleep. But this time it was much worse.
"The traitor bluffs! And if not, I calculate we can survive the blast." Scarab says. "But my friends can't!" I say as I lower myself down, keeping an eye on Aqualand, and Chloe. "We're standing down." I say, and I feel an inhibitor collar snap around my neck. "Wise choice." Aqualad says, as he stands up, throwing Chloe over his shoulder. Junior slides down behind him. "I'm fine, by the way." He mutters. "Good, escort Beetle, Impulse, and Beast Boy to the flier. Take her." He says as he hands Chloe over to Junior, who grins and tosses her over his shoulder. I didn't take much to get an idea of what he was thinking.
I clenched my fists tight as I watched him walk away with her. "Get moving, son." Tommy says as he shoves me along, and we head towards the beach exit. "Move it bug." Junior says as he shoves me along, Chloe still in his arms. "No. We cannot allow ourselves to be taken prisoner." Scarab says angrily. "Not much choice, is there?" I replied. "None at all." Junior says, thinking I'm talking to him. "Inaccurate. I have accessed the functions of this inhibitor collar. I will disable it so you may attack." Scarab says. "And risk Aqualad blowing up the cave? I don't think so." I disagree. He really was an angry Jiminy Cricket.
"Then Jaime Reyes, you leave me no choice, I am taking control." Scarab says. Uh-oh. The collar begins to smoke. "What? No, you can't!" I exclaim as Scarab makes two metal balls, and lunges at Junior and ninja lady. Junior goes flying as I hit him, dropping Chloe causing her to roll back. I take out ninja lady as well, then make a plasma cannon and fire it at Aquald, who goes flying back into a rock, releasing his grip on the switch. "No!" I quickly turn to look at the mountain but nothing happens.
"You were right... it was a bluff! Get him!" I yell as I charge at Aqualad. But he electrocutes me in the chest before I can do anything, and the last thing I see is the ninja lady firing something at me.
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Bart's POV
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I slowly groan, and open my eyes, and I hear someone else groaning. I turn to see Gar behind me, while Blue and Chloe are tied up in front of us. "Do it." I hear Aqualad say from behind us. I look out the window in front of us, to see Mount Justice, just before it explodes into a fiery ball. It's exactly how the future turns out to be. "No, no!" I exclaim as I watch the fire rage on.
I turned to Chloe, who was next to me. Her head was bowed down, her curly loosely falling around her face, out of the normal ponytail. "Chloe, Chloe, Clo!" I say as I kick her in the leg a couple of times. The last time, she slowly lifts her head. "What... what happened?" She asked as she looked around, noticing we're on a ship. "Well, we got captured by Aqualad, who exploded Mount Justice, and now we're in his ship." Gar recaps for her. She doesn't say anything. She turns her attention towards Blue instead.
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Chloe's POV
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This is definitely not how it was supposed to go, or at least this part. The cave exploding and us getting captured? Not supposed to happen. I turn and look at Jaime. His head is down, and his eyes shut. I kicked him in the leg a few times, but it didn't do anything. "What do we do now?" Gar asks. I sigh. "I have no idea. We just... have to hope. Ugh, that sounds like such a Nightwing thing to say." I mutter the last part to myself. "You can hope all you want kids, that's not going to get you anywhere." I heard Junior's voice above me, and I looked up to see him, the Terror Twins, Art-Tigeress, and Kaldur.
"Get these three in pods. I need Volt." Kaldur says. The terrors grab Gar and Bart, while Tigeress grabs Jaime. "Woah, woah, woah. Where are you taking them?" I say as I watch them be dragged away. "That does not concern you." Kaldur says, then punches me in the face, and for the third time today, my world goes dark.
Someone laugh with me at this photo, I paused perfectly. YJ S2 E9