[center][img]https://www.alltimelines.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/dc-blue-beetle-banner.jpg[/img][/center][right][color=7ea7d8][h2]Cowboys And Aliens: Issue #5[/h2][/color][/right][hr][hr][b]New York City, New York[/b]

Jaime Reyes found himself flying through a wall of solid concrete for what felt like the fifth time today. It shattered on contact with his armored body, sending him tumbling through it to the other side, where he was promptly buried in a pile of rubble, stone and rebar. He remained unmoving for several seconds, still reeling from what had just happened. He hadn't even had time to process it. He and the Spirit had descended on the Silver Surfer in a ball of flaming plasma and hellfire, moving so fast that the world around Jaime had looked like little more than sheets of color flying passed his head. Then he was...here. On the ground, his body screaming out in protest once more as his wounds reopened and blood leaked down his face inside of his mask.

[color=7ea7d8]"God, my head..."[/color] He groaned quietly, shoving away the heavy debris that covered him. The Surfer...he'd just deflected their attacks like it was nothing, hadn't he? The Spirit of Vengeance that Reyes had been hoping could match the likes of Superman had been tossed aside like a bag of rocks, used like a projectile against Wonder Woman. Even his own blast had been smacked away and redirected toward-

[color=7ea7d8]"Shit, shit- Spider-Girl!"[/color] The last thing he remembered seeing was a ball of hot plasma flying right for New York's resident superhero. He'd seen what that kind of thing could do to a human being before. If that hit her... [color=7ea7d8]"Please don't be dead."[/color] He rasped, his head on a swivel as he tried to find that white-and-black clad insect. [color=7ea7d8]"God damn it, I did [i]not[/i] come up here to kill a superhero."[/color]

Thankfully she was quicker than she looked, and she managed to flip right out of the way without being turned into a pile of human gore and slag.

He was such an idiot. A total, complete, unredeemable idiot. How he could he have thought this was a good idea? How could he have possibly considered that he could stand up against the same guy that took The Flash and Superman to task? Vigilante was right. He was just a kid. He should've...he should've ran the moment they got here, and let the [i]real[/i] heroes deal with the Surfer-

The Surfer. He was looming in the center of it all, his unblinking eyes direct right toward Jaime. They stared into his soul with an alien intensity, as if the thing could see right inside of him. And then...and then it spoke.

It spoke his [i]name[/i]. Jaime Reyes, the sixteen year old that felt impossibly out of his depth, was called out by the conqueror by name. [color=7ea7d8]"W-what?"[/color] He froze where he lay, enraptured by the brief words the alien shared about him.

It said he was the most intriguing of all. It spoke of potential he never knew he had. Despite the fact that the woman that caught a plane and the man that dragged himself out of the depths of hell were but a few feet away, the Silver Surfer had said those words about [i]Jaime[/i]. 

Little Jaime Reyes, the boy that couldn't pass a Physics test to save his life. Jaime Reyes, the accidental murderer. Jaime Reyes, the child that had failed to beat a crippled man in a wheelchair. He was the one that held the alien's attention. It...it didn't make any sense. It clashed with every thought that had plagued Reyes's mind as he rode with Vigilante to confront the herald of Darkseid. And now it contradicted his own belief in his worthlessness.

It was a moment as captivating as it was terrifying.

And it was fleeting, too, as the Surfer turned to address the entire crowd of costumed and caped heroes that had come here to put the alien down once and for all. It cried out about the suffering of the world and the power Darkseid had to save them with such conviction and authority that Reyes almost believed it.

His attention was torn away by a sound like a roaring wind turbine coming up from behind them. A blur of red and yellow burst forth from the prison's entrance, coming to a halt in all of her wounded, heroic glory. Even with the new costume it was impossible to mistake the fastest woman alive for anyone else; the moment she had struck down the Silver Surfer had been broadcast across the world for everyone to see. Reyes had never expected to be present when those two clashed for a second time, and he found his heart pounding through his chest as he looked at the heroine, hope shining through the bleak shadow that their would-be destroyer cast around it.

[color=7ea7d8]"...Kick his sorry ass, Flash!"[/color] Were all the words he could get out before she started moving. 

The two opponents became a blur of movement and thunderous noise as they kicked up a hurricane of wind around them, bits of dust flying in every direction. Even with the enhanced senses offered by the Scarab, Jaime had no idea what happened in that brief millisecond. He thought for that brief, tiny time frame that perhaps the Flash was winning-

Right up until he heard her bloodcurdling scream echo across the floating prison's courtyard. When the dust cleared and the blurs came to a stop, the Surfer was the only one left standing. He held the Flash's limp, unconscious form in his hand; there wasn't a scratch on him, and that same, uncaring look was plastered across his face.

One of the strongest heroes on the planet- half of the team that had taken down the Surfer the first time- was knocked out in the span of a blink, and she'd done no noticeable damage. It tossed the Flash aside like yesterday's trash, only for the Spider to catch her and set her down away from the action. All the hope Jaime felt building up in his chest was thrust into the sea and drowned in that split second, leaving him with nothing but a throbbing emptiness and a sense of overhanging dread. There goes their biggest gun.

[color=7ea7d8]"Give me all the juice you've got, Kha!"[/color]

Despite the fact that all of his instincts screamed to run, Jaime found himself shooting forward. It was almost like his legs moved of their own accord. Whether it was the wordless demand of the Scarab that drove him, the demand for assistance from the Spider or some kind of subconscious bravery, he couldn't know; all he knew was that he was moving very quickly toward the being that had knocked down the Flash with little effort. Wonder Woman was already descending on it, and Vigilante would hopefully be joining her in a moment. That left Jaime with an opening to try something he never had before.

He slapped both of his arms together, willing them to combine as they had when he formed the shield. As he had guessed, that same transformation worked with [i]other[/i] weapons, too- including his plasma cannons. When stuck together, the barrels changed and morphed into one, much more menacing tool. The power that radiated from the massive piece of artillery was like nothing else Reyes had ever felt. He dug his feet deep into the ground to anchor himself in place, willing the cannon to power up.

[color=7ea7d8]"See if you can't keep him still!" [/color] Jaime called out. He waited for the weapon to ignite, watching intently to make sure he had an opening. He didn't want to blast Wonder Woman right in the chest, and now he knew that the Surfer could redirect his shots if he knew they were coming. If they could pin the guy down, maybe...maybe there was a chance...

[color=7ea7d8]"HEY, YOU BALD BASTARD!"[/color] Reyes roared, his finger itching to pull the trigger. [color=7ea7d8]"GET THE [b]FUCK[/b] OFF MY PLANET!"[/color]