[center][img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYRw8fNlTMc/WS7os0sjymI/AAAAAAAA1CU/0U37v2bqWSEARLAtl1DJmlJf1-erLHrAACK4B/s1600/ted_kord____the___real___blue_beetle_by_spidermanfan2099-d4qhf7q.jpg[/img][/center] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]M A N H A T T A N , N E W Y O R K[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Less Than A Week Later | I Really Don’t Know How Much More Plainly I Can Put It… Manhattan, New York[/color][/sup] Ted looked to his left at the two people by his side, he looked to his right at the other four. So this was it, huh? This was the next level of insanity in his life. New York state senator Henry Knight was almost finished delivering his speech, to his left Max Lord was starting to get antsy, stepping back and forth from the line in anticipation of giving his own speech. It was starting to become more difficult to find a politician to put his reputation on the line for such an announcement, they had been very lucky to find Senator Knight. Senator Knight finished talking and the crowd started to applaud. Maxwell Lord stepped forward, shook the Senator by the hand and smiled for a photo op, before taking to the podium himself. In the crowd, Senator Knight’s daughter applauded and beamed with enthusiasm. Mainly for the women standing to his right, it had been a common reaction which Ted had found – women thrilled for more positive role models in the hero community in light of accusations towards Wonder Woman and the subsequent investigation. Janet and Bea basked in the limelight as was to be expected, and even Tora enjoyed the more intimate moments when she’d meet with a young fan. Ted couldn’t help but feel pride over the fact he’d been able to help make all of this happen. The investigation into the MSF Crisis in New York had brought some of his actions to light. They connected him to his message which had been sent out to all towers across New York City, his swift action which had diverted the signal to a single tower to help limit damage, and that he was behind the towers ultimately being shut down at the end. It took him some time to realise what was happening, but he began to discover that certain political elements were trying to publicly attribute as much positive action on that day to the very human Blue Beetle, whilst negative acts seemed to be deflected onto Wonder Woman, Captain America and metahuman elements on the day. They had wheeled out the small girl whom he had helped save, and made a public spectacle of her. Very little was made of the words she had to say about the Spider-Man and the X-Men member known as Nightcrawler, substantially more was made of the fact that she was returned to her family in his Bug, by him personally. It had taken the Blue Beetle going to the media himself to mention the heroic endeavours of Nightcrawler and Spider-Man which were responsible for her safely getting to the Bug in the first place, but even then, networks often tried to twist the narrative in editorials. It disgusted him. He was riding high on a wave of popularity, generated by those looking to use him as a blade to carve up a segment of the community that they didn’t like. It had only furthered his conviction for this. Steeled his resolve. Proved how necessary this idea really was. [color=tan][b]“—which is why, in light of recent events, Super Buddies Inc are proud to bring you ‘The Embassy’ and can finally announce that we are OPEN FOR BUSINESS!”[/b][/color] Maxwell Lord used a large novelty pair of scissors to cut a large red ribbon in front of the gate. The other 6 didn’t miss their cue and stepped forward to wave to the crowd. [color=tan][b]“So, would you lovely ladies like me to show you around the compound?”[/b][/color] Max asked. [color=powderblue][b]“Ted already showed us around earlier in the week, once construction was completed.”[/b][/color] Tora replied. [color=tan][b]“Let me put it this way… Would you lovely ladies like me to show you around the compound and make realistic surprised reaction-shots, whilst this camera crew from MTV’s Cribs follows us around?”[/b][/color] Bea and Janet rushed forward in front of Tora and peeled off two or three different surprised or stunned expressions. [color=tan][b]“Yes! …Yes! …mmm—maybe next time.”[/b][/color] Max Lord said, pointing from Janet, to Bea and finally wincing before turning down Tora who had made no effort to pose. The three rushed forward with the camera crew as the gates opened. Ted turned and watched the man in red pick up a small girl onto his shoulders. Hank awkwardly turned and walked towards the gates, Ted threw an arm around his friend – he was clearly struggling with the very public nature of all of this – and took Tora by the hand as they stepped through to their new lives. [hr] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E A B O D E O F T E D K O R D[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Months Ago, Just After the Conclusion of the Crisis | Boston, Massachusetts[/color][/sup] Ted staggered around his Boston home, picking up comics and action figures, the detritus of an obsolete metamorphosis. The Beetle was dead, it’s limbs in the telltale death throes within its shell. He’d shot him. Right in front of the world. And Ted had seen an angle the cameras and reporters hadn’t. Just before the shot heard around the world he saw murder in the Princess’ eyes. As bad as Captain America’s action was, he could see it for what it was. Saving their kind from a worse fate. A sacrifice play of its own kind. But that couldn’t justify the act, surely? That-- That wasn’t what they were. All they could be. He dumped the books, the toys; the paper, the plastic into a cardboard box. He kicked the box around his house, filling it with the dreams of a naïve little boy. The kid who didn’t understand how the world worked. The box was getting heavy with hopes, too heavy to toe-poke around carpeted floor anymore. Now he had to lug it. He carried it to his lounge room, next to his TV. He quickly flicked an assortment of superhero DVDs in the box, picking them out expertly, as only one who spends far too much time perfectly organizing his collection can. Then he moved on to the mantle. The two perspex display boxes. A model car, and a perfectly azure Egyptian artefact. The two scarabs left to him by his uncle. [hr] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E K O R D R E S I D E N C E[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Years Earlier, Christmas Day | Boston, Massachusetts[/color][/sup] It was a white Christmas in Boston, which was rarer than you might think. The Kord boys were preparing for a visit from Ted’s favourite uncle. Dan Garrett. TV and movie superstar Dan Garrett. Jet-setting archaeologist Dan Garrett. Professor and former police officer Dan Garrett. Basically, the coolest guy in the world. “Ted! Get the table set! I can’t get everything done myself!” Ted had zoned out in front of the TV, he was watching an old episode of the Blue Beetle Power Hour. The tape had been played so often static formed on the edges of the television when he played it. “Ted! Earth to Ted!” Ted snapped back to reality. “Come on, Ted, shut that off. David’s coming too, you know how he got when you played that last time he came down…” [color=skyblue]“Oh. OK. Why’d he get like that last time?”[/color] The young boy asked, picking up the remote. “I don’t know. But that’s exactly the kind of question you’re not going to ask when he comes over. They’re family, we’re having Christmas, and we’re going to make sure everybody is welcome. Right?” [color=skyblue]“Yes, Dad.”[/color] Ted said, waiting for the final Blue Beetle punch and miming a punch of his own, as the onomatopoeic cue card flashed across the screen, followed by the poor late 60’s “frozen” visual effects of cheap plastic wrapping. As the Blue Beetle’s sidekick, the brightly coloured Nature Boy, put the knocked out goons on ice. Ted stopped the tape and turned off the TV. He walked to the kitchen and picked up the plates to set up the dinner table just as the doorbell rang. His father answered the door, whilst Ted quickly hurried to set the table. “Hello Dan, and Merry Christmas, David!” He heard his father greet them at the door. [color=skyblue]“Uncle Dan!”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Heeeeey Sparky! How’ve you been, Ted?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] He picked the younger Kord up after he reached out for his uncle once he’d come running. [color=skyblue]“Great! School’s out, I’ve been working on a go-cart, but it’s been too cold out to test. Oh, and a potato gun that can fire right over the house!”[/color] Once Ted was put down he used hand gestures to mime the projectile flying past overhead. [b][i]Blood runs down a metal confined face. Reporters gasp.[/i][/b] “Which you will not be using again!” Said Thomas Kord. “After the neighbourhood came to an accord, and forgave Mr Nicholas’ window…” [color=skyblue]“Which I will not be using again…”[/color] Ted said, dropping his head, before peeking up and giving a cheeky smirk to his uncle. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Ah-huh…[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Said Dan, not believing for a second that it would be the last he heard about the potato gun. “Ted, how about you go play with David?” Ted masked his disappointment at not getting to keep talking with his uncle. He’d just put out a new movie, [b][i]Karl LaFrey and the Plunderers of the Ark of the Covenant[/i][/b], which Ted had begged and scrounged enough money together to see 9 times at the cinema, including the two occasions he’d successfully managed to beg out of his father. It was considerably more successful than the tv series, had sequels planned and was even generating Academy Awards buzz. It had been Dan’s attempt to drag himself out of being seen as a typecast camp tv star, into an even more typecast tv and film star. Which is what tends to happen when you choose to play a character of the same name across both mediums. Ted had ample questions. “Where was Nature Boy?”, “Why no Bee-tle-si dance?”, “Where did the bright costumes go?” amongst others. But he knew David was sensitive about these things, particularly about asking the Nature Boy question, so Ted grabbed him by the hand and led him off to his room. [color=skyblue]“Come on, David. Let’s go play!”[/color] Ted led the quiet young boy away. “Egg nog?” Asked Thomas. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Please. Pass the brandy.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Dan slumped into a recliner. “That kind of a year, huh?” Dan flashed his eyes as if to respond with “You don’t know the half of it.” [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Running around shoots, playing to studio heads schedules, PR work, dragging the kid around whilst I’m doing it… I figured when I’d be producing my own movie I’d be able to set my own hours which work better for me, but the extra hours work counter all of that.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] “You think it’s good for him? David, I mean.” Thomas asked, giving him a tall mug. Dan took a long draw. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]I’m starting to wonder. I mean, first I thought, ‘Sure. Why wouldn’t it be? Ted would love that kind of stuff.’ He can’t get enough of it. Great kid. But then, with some of how he was handling the show. I mean that’s why I didn’t push him into the movie stuff. It was too big an ask for him. But you’ve seen him. He’s sad all of the time. Morose. And I can’t get him to break out of that funk. Teacher’s say he can be moody sometimes. And then there’s the episodes…[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Thomas nodded, slowly working on his own drink. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Still. It’ll be better this year. It’s one of my mandated gap-years. No shoots. I can trickle through PR work here and there. I’ve got a dig planned out south of Cairo this year. There’ll be more down time. I’m bringing his tutor and nanny, and the four of us are going to trek around Northern Africa on holiday for about a month and a half as well.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] “So to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, then?” Thomas held out his mug, to clink, which Dan obliged and then checked the contents. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Oh… I’ve finished mine.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] “It’s alright. There’s plenty more.” Thomas grabbed the empty mug and started walking to the kitchen, when they heard yelling and a brewing commotion coming from Ted’s room. The two adults rushed over. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Alright, alright, wot’s all this going on in here, then?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] The worldly Garrett asked, poking his head around the door and nailing a stereotypical British bobby accent. [color=skyblue]“I don’t know. We were playing, and then he went up to some of my figures and started wigging out and breaking stuff!”[/color] Ted called back. David was quiet, sullen, and had two figurines in balled up fists as he sat on the bed. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Ah Hell. Sorry Tom. I think we’d better be heading home…[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] [color=skyblue]“No!”[/color] Ted cried. [color=skyblue]“You barely got here!”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]I’ll tell you what, Sparky. You can get your present early, just give me a moment to go get it.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Dan worked on gently trying to get David to respond, let go of the figures and get off of the bed. After a while he asked Thomas if he would have any better luck whilst he went and got Ted his present. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Sorry we’ve got to duck out so soon, Ted. But I had to see the look on your face when you cracked this open.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] He reached down and grabbed a box from under the tree, one handed but gently holding it longwise. Ted looked at it, and then looked up at his uncle. The box was about handspan width and breadth, and just over a foot long in length. The wrapped box held boundless promise. It could have been anything. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Well? Go on, Sparky.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] He tore at the paper, giving that boundless promise a singular form, as the box’s reality took shape. [color=skyblue]“It’s… the Scarab! Oh man! Oh, this is awesome!”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]I got told it’s a 1:20 replica of the real thing I drove around in.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Dan smiled, seeing the joy in Ted’s eyes. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Crazy. We used to call these things ‘toy cars’, now it’s all ‘collectible replica models’. Now you have fun with that thing, yeah?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] [color=skyblue]“Oh-ho, you bet!”[/color] Ted replied. Dan tussled the shaggy bed of auburn hair on Ted’s head, which made him flinch and close his eyes, perfectly setting him up for the sleight of hand which came next. Dan brought his hand up behind the small child and dropped a fedora on the young boy’s head. He stepped back with a smile. Ted felt the strange weight on his head, and the far too big hat dropped over his eyes. He took it off to reveal the obstruction and gasped. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Costuming had three. I asked and they let me have this one. Merry Christmas, Sparky.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] He said with a wink. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]So did you see it?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Thomas started to walk young David Crandall back through this house, having started to settle. [color=skyblue]“Did I see it? I saw it [b]nin--[/b]”[/color] Ted stopped as he saw his father. [color=skyblue]“I saw it two or three times. You know, a sensible number of times.”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Ah-huh…[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Dan replied, knowing full well what that really meant. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]And what did you think?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] [color=skyblue]“What did I think?”[/color] Ted had a hundred questions, but seeing his cousin David and his state, made the young boy censor himself for a question he felt would be somewhat appropriate to ask. [color=skyblue]“I thought it was great! I did have one question though…”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Shoot, kiddo. What did you want to know?[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] [b][i]The sound of a single shot. Blood runs down a metal confined face. Reporters gasp.[/i][/b] [color=skyblue]“You know that scene, where Karl was running from all those guys in Tunisia, and that one guy with the sword came out, and he was waving his sword all around, showing off like, and then Karl just pulled out a gun and shot him. Why’d he do that? Karl was never shooting people in the tv series.”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]Ah![/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] Dan said, taking a knee to get himself closer to Ted’s height. [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]That came about because the studio heads wanted to make sure the movie audience knew ‘This was not your father’s Karl LaFrey’. That he wasn’t going to behave exactly the same as the Blue Beetle in the TV series. It’s the same reason they use his given name instead of Blue Beetle in the title.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] [color=skyblue]“But I love the tv series!”[/color] [b][color=red]“[/color][color=blue]I know you do, kiddo. But the studio heads felt they had to make a statement early in the series. They mandated it. Good news is though, writers can do just about anything now though, with the success of the first one. Maybe one day you can write us a way to take down the bad guys without killing them.[/color][color=red]”[/color][/b] He winked as he got back to his feet and was about tl leave. Ted waved. He looked up. [hr] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E A B O D E O F T E D K O R D[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Back to Only a Few Months Ago, Just After the Conclusion of the Crisis | Boston, Massachusetts[/color][/sup] Ted looked up from the car and the blue artefact. Two scarabs of a Beetle past. He put them back on the mantle. Tears had been streaming down his face. As he snapped back to reality he could hear the television was on. He looked down to his hip. He drew his B.B. gun. The television was playing earlier footage from Wonder Woman’s hearing at Washington D.C. Minutes before she’d dropped everything to engage the Crisis. [color=FCDA63]"The real purpose of this committee is to control heroes and metahumans. Your country's attempts on the previous generations have failed. Now, they have decided to set up this committee to make all of you find the answer. However, this generation of heroes is unlike any that I have ever seen. I've read the writing on the wall. They'll resist your country's attempts at controlling their lives. They'll band together and show the entire world that their powers are meant to protect and defend. Instead of giving in to your hatred, this new generation will only become stronger."[/color] Diana turned around and looked at the people, some of them had their phones out to film her. [color=FCDA63]"I know that I haven't been a perfect role model for them or the whole world. And I have disappointed many of them recently. That's how I know the heroes of today and tomorrow will make me proud. They'll be better than me. They'll become everything the heroes of the past stood for. Now, I have a city to save."[/color] Be better. Be more. The writers can do just about anything. Maybe one day... take down the bad guys without killing them. He looked down at his B.B gun. He’d done it. He’d found a way to make a difference without ever needing to kill. And then when he lost it, he was able to do it again with nothing but a circuit board, a soldering iron, a hotel hairdryer and a shitload of caulk. Tears dried on his cheeks within the cowl. He sniffed deeply. [color=skyblue]“Ah shit… what the Hell am I even doing here?”[/color] He chuckled at himself over how ridiculous this all was. He’d found a way to better the world and he was going to drop everything because the people before him had made mistakes? No. We’ve got a new Blue Beetle and the writing’s fixed. Using his glove he remote-started the engines to the Bug. Within fifteen minutes he was amongst the relief effort digging through the debris of the Empire State Building.