[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]  P R E S E N T[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR]
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[b][h3][color=Dodgerblue]B E E T L E' S    B L U E S[/color]   A N D    A    [color=red]F L A S H[/color]   O F     [color=yellow]Y E L L O W[/color][/h3][/b] 
[/CENTER][COLOR=purple][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3] H A P P Y   H A R B O R[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][sup][color=silver]March 11[sup]th[/sup], 2017 - 01:15 PM | [i]Mount Justice - Headquarters of the Justice League[/i][/color][/sup][/INDENT]


Ah, Mount Justice! From here, the Justice League watched over the world with eyes ever alert to the presence of evil! Yes, there was no job more noble than that of serving as an eternally vigilant guardian, ready to alert the world’s heroes to spring into action on a moment’s notice! Truly, only the most dedicated and worthy were entrusted with…Monitor Duty!

Well, at least that was how they’d pitched it to Ted the first time around. As the Blue Beetle had found out since, it mostly consisted of staring at a bunch of screens while trying not to fall asleep in his chair or binge eat too many donuts, like the world’s most glitzy and glamorous security guard. Oh sure, sometimes he gave dispatches and watched other heroes whizz away to stop a villainous scheme or a natural disaster but when was the last time it’d been him doing derring-do and rescuing orphaned kittens from flaming trees or the like? Occasionally he took over Den Mother duties for the Titans or gave people a ride in the Bug, but as rewarding as mentoring the next generation of heroes could be at times, ‘babysitter’ and ‘chauffeur’ weren’t exactly the titles he’d had in mind when he put on the big blue bug-suit.

“Yeah, Ted, join the Justice League! It’ll be great! Travel the world, see new places, meet interesting, exotic supervillains and foil them! Just what happened to me, huh? I used to be Blue Beetle, dashingly handsome scourge of Chicago’s criminal underworld! Mad scientists with fake PhDs and crazy psychos in colorful headgear used to line up around the block to take a shot at me! Now I’m just,” he spread his arms wide and kicked his swivel chair into a spin “Ted Kord, world’s smartest hall monitor.”

Well, Ted supposed it wasn’t all bad. Being a mentor for the Titans had a lot of rewarding moments when it wasn’t full of teenage drama or behind-his-back, thought-you-didn’t-know mockery. But man, just let him get ONE crack at an A-grade, top-of-the-line, world-threatening bad guy and he’d show them all that the Azure Avenger still had what it took to rock these tights!

Well...they weren’t exactly tights and they were getting a little tight around the middle, but that didn’t matter!

“Yeah, I’ll show ‘em! I’ll show ‘em all! BWAH-HAHAHAHA!~”

[code]Recognised: Flash.[/code]

Barry had to give it to Batman, Beetle, Beast or whoever designed the computer system for Mount Justice. Within a split second of standing outside the entrance it had scanned him and opened the door. He had watched Wally test the reaction time of both the system and the door, resulting in a bloody nose, which was why Barry stopped to actually allow the computer to scan him. The computer was exactly what he was here for, the League kept records on everything super powered. He wasn’t exactly sure where Batman got his hands on all the information, though Barry wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know either.

As he worked his way through the halls of the Justice Leagues secret headquarters, he heard the maniacal laughter coming over the P.A. system. He half expected to turn up to the monitor terminal to find one of the Titans. While they had their own headquarters it wouldn’t be the first time one had decided to mess with members of the League, as he rushed into the room the displaced air rushed forward blowing any loose papers from their resting place.

He had to repress a sigh, it wasn’t any of the Titans that sat at the monitor terminal. Instead it was none other than Blue Beetle. The worst thing was, the maniacal laughter over the P.A made more sense now than it would have if it had been one of the Titans.

Beetle got a lot of flak, but what set him apart to Barry was how truly genuine and carefree he was. Which was more refreshing than facing the Scowl of the Caped Crusader. Out of habit, more than necessity, Barry cleared his throat after he had slowed. 

“Uh, Ted? You left the mic on…”

Ted stopped mid-cackle and tried his best not to let his embarrassment show too blatantly.

“Oh uhh, clearly I was just simulating a possible super-villain attack, y’know, with the long, frustrated monologue about society’s lack of appreciation, the maniacal laughter and all! Congratulations for-” He paused and let out a sigh “I mean, I don’t believe me either. Just don’t tell Batman. You know how he gets.”

Ah, Batman. If there was anything more demeaning than always being second best to a man with no flaws, it was always being second best to a man with no flaws that you actually [i]liked.[/i] Yeah, the Caped Crusader somehow managed to be everything Ted wasn’t: professional, stoic, feared by his enemies and respected by his colleagues and he never once let Ted forget it. Well, he never really said anything about it either, but then again with a guy like Batman all you really needed was a look.
“So, apart from a laugh at my expense, is there anything I can do for the Fastest Man Alive today? Maybe whip up a bicycle capable of withstanding the Speed Force? I mean your feet must get tired at some point, right?”

Barry shrugged. “If Jay were still alive I’m sure he would have taken you up on that offer in his old age.” The concept of a bicycle that could withstand the speed of a speedster was an interesting one however, what would happen if it was then attached to a battery? Could he potentially store enough power to power a house, or something bigger? He shook his head, his mind was running away from him. “Also, I’m not laughing at you Blue. Think how I feel on monitor duty, time really drags on.”

He walked over to the computer, and plugged in a USB flash drive. “I confronted two Speedsters today, Trajectory and Speed Demon. It’s the first time they’ve ever teamed up, but they’re old news. What I am more interested in-” He opened a video of the security footage from the museum, showing the front entrance from across the street. Barry's back was visible but what he was focusing on was the visage of Zoom. “-This guy here.” Barry tapped his finger on the screen.

“He’s fast, from what I managed to glean from the crime scene, before Captain Signh kicked me out, and from what I saw I’d wager he’s nearly as fast as me. Calls himself ‘Professor Zoom’. Subtle name I know, but I don’t know anything on him. There has been sightings of a yellow speedster in Central City though, ruling out Wally I’m guessing that it’s this guy. Think you can get your miracle computer to help me out?” Traditionally he would have done this himself, it was part of his day job after all. He had spent years piecing together evidence and finding out where it could lead someone, in his Father’s case he had even worked against the evidence. 

That all being said and done, Barry knew how Ted felt. When the League formed it was in a crisis, and they had reacted. Sure in Jay’s day he was one of the most powerful people on the planet, but compared to some of the others who were on the League his powers paled in comparison. After all, his only real ability was to move really fast (with some handy tricks). It had taken time for him to learn his place, what he was capable of. Everyone was invaluable to the team, he just had to help Ted realize that.

Ted was already back at the keys with a determined expression by the time Barry finished asking, absorbed in having a meaningful task to do. “Well, if it can beat me at Chess, Go, [i]and[/i] Minesweeper then I figure it has what it takes to tell us a thing or two about Not-so-Mellow-Yellow there.” He couldn’t really take credit for the computer, since it was mostly Batman’s creation, but he had performed a few useful tweaks to the system whenever he’d gotten too bored so having it complimented did help improve his mood a little bit. “We’ve got this one good look at him to work with, so it’s no big deal to cross-reference a rough outline of his body metrics and facial structure with Batman’s list of metahumans, not to mention parse through any rumor or story about this yellow speedster seen around Central City for keywords and phrases that might lead to anything good. Plus, y’know, bring up any news stories or articles involving freak accidents, rogue magic events, secret military experiments, high-end science projects or people getting electrocuted while plugging in their new treadmill, typical supervillain genesis events.” 

As Beetle spoke the computer generated what looked like a wire-frame model out of the visage of Zoom before rapidly flickering through a series of computer-generated headshots of suspected individuals, briefly lining them up and discarding them one by one. It also started generating a list of names and a short summary of incidents connected to them that might hint at speed-based powers, as well as another for locations where the yellow speedster had been sighted. Occasionally a news article or a research paper popped up as well.

“Y’know Batman always likes to act like detective work is this big, difficult arcane art, but I think he just does it to seem more mysterious and intimidating. You don’t need pointy ears and a cape for this!” Blue Beetle stared hard at the image of Zoom’s face and the generated model, squinting.  “Come to think of it, the guy [i]does[/i] look kind of familiar. Not like I know too many speedsters though, I’m probably just imagining things.” 

Ted was distracted from any further musing by an emerging pattern in his searches, pulling up a few scholarly articles and a number of opinion pieces.

“Hmm...have you ever heard of a Doctor Elias? ‘Cause from the looks of things he has a [i]big[/i], science-y man-crush on you! Submitted a few papers on the implications of the existence of Speedsters for the laws of physics, a whole bunch of op-eds in scientific monthlies on what he thinks make your powers tick the way they do, kinda the PhD version of putting up a bunch of pictures of you on his school locker. If anyone’s using science to imitate you he might be a pretty good place to start. Facial recognition is still running, but I can set it to ping you when it’s finished. There’s a whole list of locations for sightings of Zoom too.”

Barry chuckled. “If you think this is easy, there’s always more cold cases in Central City if you’re ever feeling bored.” He stopped to look at the screen as it processed a variety of complex algorithms, Barry knew his stuff but that Bruce had designed these systems - with some input from Ted - was astounding. “That said, just give us a computer like that and you’d half the time it takes to close a case.” 
At the mention of familiarity, Barry just shrugged it off. He’d seen the guy in person, and hadn’t really seen any sense of familiarity. It was probably just Ted’s mind playing tricks on him, or trying to lighten up the mood. The mention of Doctor Elias was something else, Flash - or in this case Barry Allen - had followed his work closely. He arrived in central city a couple of months ago, a real advocate for cleaner, renewable energy. Iris had done a piece on him just a couple of weeks ago, her and Barry going to one of his fundraisers in his facility and the work he was doing was impressive.

There had been something off about him however, he quite often shied away from the questions regarding the Flash. After all it wasn’t possible to inhabit either of the Gem Cities and not have an opinion on the Scarlet Speedsters. “I’ve heard of his work, he’s a brilliant scientist. Advocate for green energy and a better tomorrow, though he’s not really spoken about the Flash in any interview though. That’s curious.”

He leaned over Ted’s shoulder trying to get a better look at the computer screen. There were a lot of theories on why Speedsters generated lightning, or what looked like lightning, when they ran. On how when they caught someone from a falling building they managed to retain speed, and not break the person in half, not to mention why people weren’t torn to shreds when being carried by a Speedster. All in all it was interesting stuff, and without getting a hard detailed look at the research it looked as if Doctor Elias was stumbling onto the existance of the Speed Force. At least that was where the theories seemed to be pointing, as far as Barry knew Elias wasn’t actually a speedster… or was he?

This research, and the fact that Zoom appeared not long after Doctor Elias moved to Central City. From his work, not just as a hero but as a CSI he knew that some things were more than just a coincidence. He gave Ted a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks Blue-” his earpiece buzzed, an alarm he had set earlier to remind him of something incredibly important. “-I gotta run, but I’ll let you know how this works out. If you ever need my help in return, just give me a call.” With that he turned around, and kicked off down the corridor.

Ted deserved more time out of Mount Justice. Maybe he’d give him a call next time he needed a hand instead of Batman.

Blue Beetle left the computer to its facial recognition scans and went back to monitor duty with the kind of long-suffering sigh that’d make even the most melodramatic overactor embarrassed. This time though, Beetle was smiling. Barry had reminded him that if nothing else he was still valuable for his smarts. Maybe he really did still have what it took to save the day without the League’s help!

 He went back to his usual round of  keeping watch until a message came up behind his goggles reminding him of an appointment: Ted Kord was due to give a talk on his vision for the future at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, entry tickets and all other proceeds going to charity of course.

Well, if he couldn’t do any good today as Blue Beetle, at least he could do some as Ted Kord.