[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 U S Y  B E E T L E - P A R T  O N E [/color][/h3][/b] 
[/CENTER][COLOR=gold][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3] C H I C A G O[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][sup][color=silver]March 13[sup]th[/sup], 2017 - 10:28 PM | [i]Ted Kord's car, in the middle of traffic[/i][/color][/sup][/INDENT]

"I still don't see why you're going there, Ted." 

"I've explained it before, Tracey, I owe it to these guys! It's a whole 'forgive your attacker thing' and it's kinda the least I can do after the company ruined most of their lives. Now, how we doin' on the preparations?"

Tracey sighed on the other end of the line, while Ted focused on driving over to the K.O.R.D. specialty containment facility. She was Ted's number one confidante, with almost as good a mind as his in quite a few areas and considerably more business savvy than Ted himself. Better still, she was one of the few civilians Ted trusted with the full truth of his Blue Beetle identity and well, she was basically the glue holding his life together.

"The Bug's new windshield isn't going to come cheap, it's not easy fabricating a transparent glass-like material capable of withstanding the pressures of the ocean floor [i]and[/i] the vacuum of space. We'll get it done without any problems, though. That big piñata you ordered shaped like your head should be here in time for the party, but I'm going to need you to confirm our order went through on the cake, Carapax's hacking seems like it might've screwed it up."

"That fiend! It's his most diabolical scheme yet!"

Ted was rewarded with a laugh that made him grin to himself despite being on the way to prison.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that all of our systems seem free of any trace of him, and the upgraded containment unit for him is online as we speak. Even if we did have to spend all of last night working on it."

Ted tapped a staccato on the steering wheel "I promise I'll make it up to you. On the plus side, you still look beautiful by the light of an arc-welder!"

Another burst of laughter, another tiny victory. "You're the heart and soul of romance, Ted."

"What can I say, I was an English Major, it's the poet in me. I'll call ya back, Trace. I'm here."

Here, specifically, was the Kord Omniversal Primary Holding Facility. It sounded like a place where stuffy businessmen met to discuss company stock options and investment strategies. The reality was more grim. It was a stark white, walled-in building with only one entrance past a manned checkpoint-slash-control room, and Ted had built it in cooperation with state and city officials in order to serve as a prison for his most diabolical foes. 

Sure, most of them weren't Batman caliber villains, but the occasional heavyweight oddity slipped onto the list. Promethium Man alone was indestructible, super-strong and capable of super-heating himself to the point that he could just walk through the walls of most prisons. Doctor Polaris required a completely non-metallic cell with the ability to be heated to high enough temperatures to destabilize his powers in an instant. Heck, containing Chronos the Time Thief meant creating something that imprisoned him in both space and time, just so future versions of himself didn't pop in for a jailbreak. 

Designing the place had been a fascinating and entertaining intellectual challenge. Visiting it was an entirely different matter. Ted parked a fair distance away and approached the checkpoint on foot, giving the more likely than not lonely guard a big toothy grin he could see from the window. The man on duty looked more than embarrassed at what he must've assumed was a surprise inspection after the other day's unpleasantness.

"Look, Mr. Kord, I'm sorry about the breakout the other day, but only three got away and-"

Ted interrupted, waving his hands in an almost wildly placating gesture

"Don't worry about it, John, don't worry. It wasn't your fault anyways, there were bigger factors at play. I'm just here to check out our most newly returned convicts."

The guard sighed and sagged into his chair in relief, a dopey sort of 'Thank God' grin slipping onto his face.

"In that case sir, it'll be all the usuals to get into the building."

He pressed a little button out of sight and a series of little panels opened up on the guard box exterior to reveal a microphone, a retinal scanner at eye height, and a handprint scanner plus thermal recognition. Ted put first his eye and then his palm up to the little machine to get cleared through, then leaned in close to the microphone

"Ted Kord: [color=dodgerblue] [b]BWAHAHAHA![/b]" [/color]

[code]Recognized: Theodore Stephen Kord. External Security Measures Disarmed. Front Gate preparing to open. Have a Nice Day.[/code]

Ted waited patiently for the massive Promethium alloy gates to slide open a service entrance for him, tapping his foot to some improvisational jazz number he made up as he went along.

"Mr. Kord? I know it's late and all, but happy belated birthday. I just wanted to thank you for the job, after everything you've done for me and the family, even if it is isolated out here."

"What? Oh, thanks John, but call me Ted!"

Ted walked through the passageway opening up through the big blocks of ultra-strong and precious metals that his company was easily able to afford and made a mental checklist for each of the different scanners he was passing. The huge quantities of Promethium only reminded him of why he was here.

It was time to pay for his mistakes.

[hr]

"Curt, if you're finished now, I'd just like to tell you that I've made some serious developments the work towards your cure."

Curt Calhoun, known to the world at large as Promethium Man, sagged against the force field that coated his cell. He'd launched into a furious attack against Ted as soon as  he'd seen his former employer, but every blow against the energy matrix served to strengthen it until he'd been tired out.

[color=silver][b]"I don't care anymore. What life is there for me outside of this stupid hellhole of yours? I'm a criminal thanks to the mob and thugs like Overthrow helping me take a shot at you. Half of them want me dead now, for not finishing the job. My wife left the city after I got pulled into my first failed attack on Kord Omni, said she couldn't take the shame of what I'd become. My face gave my son nightmares after the first time he saw it, and I'll probably count myself lucky if he doesn't even remember me. I have no sense of touch anymore, haven't felt a single thing in nearly a decade! Do you have any idea what any of that's like!?"[/b][/color] 

Curt slammed the barrier again, glowing white hot for an instant as sparks rebounded off his fists before falling to his knees. His metallic face was pressed up against the barrier and twitching, as if struggling to project his anguish onto a silver mask. It broke Ted's heart, not least of all because he really was responsible for the accident that had turned one of his own factory foremen into this pained creature, if only through negligence.

"Curt, you may have given up hope but I promise you, I never will. We're so close to a cure, I've even mapped out your pre-mutation DNA. I just need time but you [i]will[/i] be able to feel again. I might not be able to fix everything, but I'll start there. I've kept a stipend for your family in your name, too, every month. You're still taking care of them, Curt, and they know that." 

Ted reached into an inner pocket of his suit and pulled out a small stack of envelopes, using a hand signal to a camera to get them to open a small slot in the forcefield for him to slip them through to Curt. His son had to be about thirteen or fourteen now, and he'd just started writing to his dad. Protocols for the facility meant that no communication went in or out other than through personal visits, a necessary precaution after Chronos sent letters to himself with paradox-causing ramifications. Ted turned to leave, figuring that it would be better to leave his former employee in peace for now.

[color=silver][b]"Mr. Kord?"[/b][/color]

It was the first time in ages that Curt Calhoun's voice hadn't rang with hatred for him, and as he turned back around Ted noticed that his former factory manager was in serious danger of developing rust stains on his cheeks.

[color=silver][b]"Thank you."[/b][/color]