[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/H3gQQuc.jpg?1[/img][/center]
[right][sup][b]Beetle Base. Kord Mansion. Westchester. New York State[/b][/sup][/right][hr]
[color=6ecff6]"Okay, you can do this,"[/color] Ted Kord murmured to himself as he powered up the airship. He felt the low rumble of the high density battery packs sprung to life through the floor. His eyes swept over the instrumentation panels around his field of view, and everything read as it should. No power spikes like the last time, which almost resulted in the damn ship exploding here in the lab...which of course would have lead to his death. Which wouldn't have been ideal.

He took another deep breath in and flipped a switch on the console next to him, and through the long, almost 180 degree view port, he saw the hanger doors he had installed begin to open. Thanks to the Bug's, as he called the airship thanks to its beetle-like shape, slim profile, he had managed to make the hangar doors fairly inconspicuous in the small cliff-side of his father's old house. 

[color=6ecff6]"Welp, here goes nothing,"[/color] he winced as he pushed the throttle forward. The ship zipped in that direction almost whisper quiet, and Ted let out a triumphant yell that he was immediately ashamed of afterwards. The anti-gravity tech he had managed to gleam from the Scarab worked beautifully in small scale applications, that much he knew. Kord Sciences was already rolling out new anti-collision technology for cars that featured it, allowing passengers to be encased with a bubble of protective antigrav energy. But the idea that it could allow something as big as the airship to move almost silently through the air was nothing more than theory.

At least it was nothing more than theory before tonight. 

Bringing the Bug to a higher altitude, he put the craft on autopilot towards the city and flipped on the police scanner. He had little hope that it would turn up anything useful. The police seemed more intent on keeping the outward appearance that the city was under control more than dealing with the actual problems of the city lately. But it was somewhere to start.

Ted rested his chin on his hand, leaning on the armrest of the Bug's pilot chair, and peered out the window as he went. Not long ago, the traffic he saw bellow would have been a rare sight after the pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt for a short time, especially here in New York. The city had been one of the initial epicenters, and while other cities across the country had the time to prepare, they didn't. More people died here than almost anywhere else. The unrest that followed had brought the city, once the crown jewel in the country, to a level of crime more like Gotham or Hub. That wasn't good. Ted had to admit he was happy to see people getting about their lives again, even if the world they came back to seemed awfully different. 

Once the pandemic had really shown itself, Kord Sciences had went into overdrive to support mitigation efforts. Their self-disinfecting mask technology and miro UV air purifiers supposedly save the city from even more pain. He had been hailed as a hero, though he passed along most of the credit to his team. He didn't feel like a hero. Not yet. He felt like he could have done more. Maybe that was why he cooked up this harebrained scheme to start fixing the crime problem in the city. Maybe that was why he was flying in the most advanced aircraft in the world dressed like something out of a comic book. He wasn't sure, but he was going to go through with this one way or another.

He could hear Dan Garrett's voice, like an echo of the past, filter through his head. "That's what you said when you barnstormed the world with me." Was Ted just too much of a thrill seeker to sit behind a desk and help the world? He didn't know. Maybe.

The radio crackled, drawing his attention away from his inner thoughts, "All units, we have a report of a break in at STAR Labs up in Harlem. Requesting someone go check it out."

"Harlem?" a voice on the other end scoffed. "You think we're going up there any time soon? After last week's protest. They can bite me."

[color=6ecff6]"Well, girl,"[/color] Ted shrugged and spoke to the airship, [color=6ecff6]"they're calling our number."[/color]

He piloted towards Harlem, realizing this was the first time that he'd really be testing out the stealth capabilities of the Bug. Kord had some smaller drones he used to test some of the other potential capabilities of the Scarab tech, and they had passed through the city completely undetected. Of course, they were about 1/100th the size of the Bug, so this was a big gamble he was taking.

Luckily, as the Bug floated silently over the city, no air traffic bulletins came over the police scanner. He exhaled and smiled, obviously pleased with his own work. Well, mostly his work. Cribbing the basics from some alien technology didn't hurt, either. The Scarab had shown him so much and allowed him to push his inventions further than he could have ever dreamed of before.

The Bug came to a stop above STAR Labs, and Ted started a scan of the building as he double checked his gear. His suit was made of a titanium nano-weave, with thicker pieces of plate on the major joints. Overall it was lightweight and protective. It would stop a knife and resist some small caliber arms fire, but it was far from impenetrable. Its tones of blue were reminiscent of the way the light shone off the Scarab when he first saw it. Pulling the cowl over his face, he felt the nano-weave fiber tighten across his face and lock on. Once it did, the subtle heads up display activated in his goggles, showing him the progress of the Bug's scan.

"Scan complete," a computerized voice came through the cowl's communication system.

[color=6ecff6]"Thanks, Kha,"[/color] the Blue Beetle responded to the simple AI he had integrated into his systems. [color=6ecff6]"Display it in the HUD."[/color]

A small, 3D display of the building appeared on the lenses of his goggles. It was rudimentary, just showing walls and stairs, but he also saw eight heat signatures strewn across the building. Two were on the roof access, and six were further down in the building, all in the same room. He assumed they were rummaging through, trying to find anything of value.

[color=6ecff6]"Eight. Okay, eight. I can do eight. Right?"[/color] he murmured to himself. 

"I am unable to perform that calculation, sir," the AI responded dryly.

[color=6ecff6]"Thanks for the vote of confidence,"[/color] Ted sighed.

"You are welcome, sir."

Ted, or as he fashioned himself now, "The Blue Beetle", shook his head and smiled wryly to himself. For an emotionless, simple algorithm, Kha certainly had some good dry wit. 

Making his way to the center of the Bug, he took a hold of the ripcord quick drop system he had designed for quick insertion or extraction from an area. His boot snapped into the t-bar at the bottom, and took a hold of the strong metal cable.

[color=6ecff6]"Well, here goes nothing."[/color]

He pressed a button next to him, and the floor of the Bug opened up to the night sky, and the Blue Beetle dropped into action for the first time.