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The Blue Beetle stars in...The Runaway: Issue #11

Previous Issue





Unknown

Brenda didn't know if she was looking at her friend or a monster. She knew for a fact that Jaime Reyes was trapped inside that hideous shell of living armor. She had watched it steal away his body and take him over from the inside out; but he was still in there. Fighting and straining to get free, no doubt. Yet as she looked upon that angry, twisted visage, she felt a tinge of doubt. That thing could not be the sweet kid that had shown her compassion and humanity when few others would. That monster of sickly steel and unrepentant violence was so far removed from the teenage boy that slept through half of his classes and goofed off in the other half that Brenda could not help but deny it.

In her heart of hearts she knew the truth, yet her mind refused to accept what her eyes were being shown.

Jaime- or whatever had taken him over- was suspended twenty feet in the air inside of a gargantuan machine of some sort. The entire room was centered around this pillar-like object covered in stretches of cable and piping. The Beetle was being contained within a glass capsule inserted within this giant pillar of machinery. He was strapped, tied down and all but bolted together to keep him from hurting himself or breaking out of his containment unit.

And there was no doubt that, if free, that thing would be uncontrollable. Even now, with every joint held down by massive iron shackles, the little demon was thrashing and frantically throwing itself about. He was like...like a lunatic in a straight jacket. Or an animal in chains. It awoke a primal, terrible fear within her chest to see someone she cared about in such unrelenting agony.

"You're studying him, right?" Paco's voice break Brenda out of her trance. She turned away from the viewing window, her gaze tracing over her giant of a best friend. He had his arms crossed over his barrel chest, his eyes straightened into tight lines as he took in everything he was seeing. She could tell that something was going on within that brain of his; was he trying to decipher their captor's intentions? She hoped so. Every moment they spent in this hellhole made her more and more uneasy.

The old man in the wheelchair gave a slow, stiff nod that threatened to snap his pencil neck. "That's correct. That creature that's bonded itself to your friend..." Doctor Caulder pursed his chapped, cracked lips, his gaze wandering away from Paco and over to the monster in it's cage. "It's very, very dangerous."

Brenda's jaw tightened. "I could'a told you that." She snorted. "Thing's killed over thirty people by now. I think the better question is what you're planning to do with it."

"And why you had your creepy goon kidnap us." Paco added quickly with an angry huff.

Caulder raised a wrinkled hand. "Alright, alright..." He shook his head, letting out a laugh that could make a baby cry. "Kids these days. Always diving in head first." Leaning further back into his wheelchair, he let his hands fall down to his lap as he began to answer their questions with a deliberate cadence. "I want to help your friend. That's God's honest truth. And I think I can do it."

With a quick wave he gestured toward their surroundings. There wasn't a single piece of tech in the room that didn't look like it hadn't come straight from the year three thousand. "As you can see I am a man of...significant resources. I've been studying things like that creature since I was just a young man. I don't think it'd be braggadocious to say I'm the world's leading expert on them."

"And what are they? You said you had a name for things like that?" Paco interrupted.

"Patience! Patience! I'm getting to that, boy. I believe the closest word to explain what they are that you would understand would be...extraterrestrial. These, ah, parasites? They come from space."

Paco looked like someone had just punched him straight in the stomach and told him that he was adopted all in the same moment. "It's...an alien?"

"Yes! Well, in a fashion. Subject Blue has been on earth far longer than any other living thing. I believe it may even pre-date the Bialyan object it was posing as, though our dating methods have all proven too unreliable thus far to know for certain."

Brenda didn't much care where the hell it came from. She just wanted to get it off of Jaime without hurting him so they could all go home. "So do you have a way to get it off of Jaime or not?" She jumped in, her voice sharp and lacking even a degree of patience. She was done with this craziness. She'd just been dropped through a hole in reality thirty minutes ago. One of her friends was being held captive by some kind of alien parasite. Brenda had had enough of all of it, so she was rather ready to get to the point.

"He does," Paco muttered, a hand moving up to clutch his chin as his eyes fell down to his shoes. The sudden courage that had overtaken him seemingly melted away as he sheepishly finished his thought, "and he needs us to do it."

"Your friend is brighter than he looks." Dr. Caulder grinned up at Brenda, and she felt a horrific tingle crawl up her spine. "I do have a plan. And if you truly wish to see Mr. Reyes again, I suggest you help me pursue it."

***

Brenda and Paco stood alone in a dark room, silence hanging between them. They had yelled at one another until their throats went raw for over ten minutes after they learned what Caulder's 'plan' entailed. Brenda was willing to do anything to get Jaime back, but Paco...She could understand why he would be hesitant to do it. What their kidnapper was suggesting was absolute insanity, and it was horrifically, terribly dangerous for the two of them. Yet it was also the only surefire way to get their friend back. Paco thought they should find a way to escape so that they could call SHIELD- the guys that made the CIA look like a church support group.

She wasn't going to abandon Jaime. Leaving him behind with that freak of an old man wasn't an option as far as she was concerned. And letting him stay trapped inside that alien monster wasn't going to fly either. Even if it meant siding with the people and monsters that had dragged her out of her car and nearly killed her.

There were several racks of identical environment suits hanging up in lockers along each of the small room's walls. Benches sat not far from those. The suits themselves were all fairly light, save for the heavier square helmets. Their off-color cream material reminded Brenda of an astronaut's gear, in a way. She was able to pull it all on over her normal clothes without too much difficulty, surprised by how it shrunk down to match her size once everything was in place.

Paco was having a fair bit more trouble. He wasn't able to reach the zipper-like sealing line on his back. For all of his turning, huffing and reaching, the boy was just too large for his own good.

Sighing to herself, she crossed over to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Here." She offered, reaching back to help him.

She was surprised when he recoiled away from her. "Don't." He nearly growled, trying to restraint his anger at her through his gritted teeth. She had trouble seeing him face through their helmets, but Brenda didn't need to see to know how he was feeling. Paco was good at a great many things. Hiding how he felt wasn't one of them.

"Oh, come on." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can't still be mad at me."

"I can and I am." He quickly responded. "This is stupid and you know it! We shouldn't be here-"

"Well no shit, Paco, but we're here. And Jaime is out there-" She gestured toward the door. "-And I'm not...I'm not leaving him behind again."

"This...this is a fundamentally bad idea. Jaime would not agree to let us do this." Despite the words he was speaking with such vigor and passion, Paco was still trying to zip up the environment suit. He was still getting ready to go in there. "If it doesn't work, we're dead. And God forbid that it does work-"

"PACO!" Brenda all but screamed his name. Her anger caused him to freeze up, turning his full attention toward her. She felt a wave of shame wash over her, her voice dropping to more acceptable levels immediately afterward. "Paco...We can...We can figure that out afterwards, okay? Just- we have to do this. It's the only chance we've got at saving him. Please."

Paco shook his head, his hands falling down to his sides. "I hope you're right."

'Me too, Pac.'

'Me too.'
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haha yes
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1. Diana - Likable, fun, vulnerable and honest
2. Akko - relatable, driven and fun
3. Ned Stark - just and family-oriented
4. Captain America - unshakable values, charismatic
5. Spider-Man - relatable, strong values, empathetic, quip-y
6. Ignace Karkasy - cocky and snarky, justice-oriented
7. Eupharti Keeler - down to earth and vulnerable
8. Luke Skywalker - relatable and vulnerable
9. Obi-Wan Kenobi - snarky, empathetic, wise, father-figure
10. Erich Wulff - wise, strong values, father-figure
11. Dimas Solon - driven, badass, broken
12. Thor - snarky/cocky, loyal, just
13. Bellamy - loyal to a fault, relatable, family-orientated; willing to do anything
14. Batman - justice-oriented, broken
15. Arya Stark - relatable, likable
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Springton, Ohio

"Sicut Superius, Et Inferius"




Basic Information:

Population: 3,000

Weather: High of 75 degrees low of 40 degrees. Rain is common in Springton

Area: 4 square miles

Population Density: 750 per square mile

Local Time: CST

Date: September 20th, 2018

Important People:

Mayor Thomas Wellington: A fifty year old African American gentleman who ran on a platform of education and employment reforms, as well as lower taxes, Mayor Wellington is a well liked man that does his best to maintain the status quo and appease his voter base. He rarely does anything unpopular, and if he does he'll let his spinsters find a way to work it into a positive.

Reverend Matthew Griffin: Moved to Springton nine years ago with his daughter seeking a better life. He was invited to become the pastor at Springton Baptist Church, where he's made his roots for nearly a decade, cultivating a loyal congregation. His teachings have always held a sense of judgment and dread about them, as Matthew prefers more somber subject matter- believing wholeheartedly that preaching a 'prosperity gospel' is vapid and a waste of everyone's time.

Principal Harry Newt: The Principal of Springton North High School

Principal Martha Gunmen: The Principal of Springton South High School

Ol' Ren "Renny" McWheel: Patriarch of the McWheel family and pseudo-leader of the rural community in Springton

Agent Conrad Dowry: FBI Agent sent to Springton to investigate the recent murder of Officer O'Connell

Important Places:

Town Hall:

Library:

Richie Rich's Diner:

Springton Baptist Church:

Jason and Lee's Apartment:

Springton North:

Springton South:

McWheel's Farm:

Quiet Spring Cemetery:

Maggie's Occult Shop:

History:



Monster is the One, the Monad. The Ossuary was built in the 14th century by Knights Templar, drawn to this place by the presence of the One. They sought to contain the creature originally, offering up sacrifices to Apotheosis in order to sate it's ravenous hunger for consciousness. This order was continued in secret when it was handed off to the natives, who- over time- morphed and twisted the ritual into something to celebrate. They began worshiping the One as a god.

When the settlers arrived, these natives were persecuted and driven away, leaving the early settlers of Springton to be tormented by the Monad without their knowledge. This dark presence drove the town to pandemonium, imprinting insanity and violent tendencies into the weaker willed inhabitants for centuries.

Springton, in it's modern incarnation, is the serial killer capital of the world. More people from Springton- per capita- have gone on to become serial murderers sometime in their lives. This fact has been swept under the rug and hidden to the best of the town's ability, though the occasional internet article or column in some obscure blog manages to dig up the information.

Plot/Theme Map:


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The Blue Beetle stars in...The Runaway: Issue #12

Previous Issue





Unknown

The chamber doors rolled open, and a flood of off-color mist poured inside. Hissing hydraulics rang out in an ear-piercing chorus as Jaime's containment room was revealed. It was a massive space, akin to a warehouse in scope, all of it empty save for the machine that dominated the center. Vents scattered about the concrete walls and ceiling unleashed great gusts of a strange chemical fog that mingled near the floor and lazily floated about as it filled the space.

Paco glanced down at the rubber gloves he'd been ordered to wear. A thin piece of material kept...whatever those chemicals were from touching his bare flesh. He had to wonder what would happen if Brenda had failed to properly secure the suit's zipper. He didn't know what exposure would do to him. His imagination crawled into it's darkest depths, conjuring up images of melting skin and rampant tumors. It sent a tingle rushing down his spine. Paco was forced to shake it off, focusing instead on navigating toward the monolith that was being used to shackle and bind his friend.

Jaime hadn't noticed them yet. He was still shivering and shaking like a man possessed, thrashing about with all of the fury of a demon in an attempt to break free from the suspended pod. For all of the blue-skinned monster's violent rage, it was utterly and completely silent. Where Paco expected contempt-laden screams and animalistic howls there came not but the steady sound of Reyes's breathing. It was an unnerving incongruence between the raging of the body and the inhuman quiet of the man inside.

Paco and Brenda moved side by side, approaching the mechanical pillar as cautiously as they could. Rolling bouts of mist brushed passed them and billowed up in the air, dancing and spreading like clouds in the wind. The hiss of the air pumps and the squeaking of their boots against the floor was the only sound that filled Paco's ears aside from his own shallow breaths.

"I- I don't like this." He muttered, wanting so desperately to turn and run. His feet disagreed with his cowardice, however; and onward he pressed.

"I'm not exactly chomping at the bit about it either, Pac." Brenda spoke her response, moving ahead of her larger and more physically imposing friend. "But I'm not leaving him."

The intercom system clicked into life, blaring out a moment of static as the old mechanisms whirred to life. "Anddd...stop. You're in position." Their guide, kidnapper and Jaime's only hope ordered, a grotesque sort of enthusiasm leaking into his every word. "Alright, see if you can't get his attention. Once you have him, we can begin stage two."

Brenda took in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly through her nose as her eyes rose up toward the parasite's mask. It was still turned downward, apparently unaware of their presence. She cleared her throat. "Jaime? Can you hear me?"

***

Jaime Reyes impaled a woman upon his blade, blood spraying forth from her rapidly dying body and onto his armor. He fought to keep from gagging as he removed his weapon from her chest cavity and let her fall away to the side, joining the rest of the horde he had already cut down. "Dios...mío..." He heaved, exhaustion flooding through his veins. "There's...too many of them." His arms felt heavy. They barely responded to his desires, sluggishly thrashing out in the general direction of encroaching enemies with all of the grace of a drunkard.

He had to retreat to the Temple of Derath'ath Machlan'n to escape the infested legions swarming the rest of the cyclopean city. Tens of thousands of natives intermingled with just as many humans, all of them crawling with the Red. Thick streams of that crimson, pulsating stuff swam through their flesh. Malignant tumors burst forth from their orifices, awash in puss and blood. Each looked like a shambling, rotting corpse that was being held together by the tendrils of the Red that sprung out of their bodies.

Even within the sacred walls of the temple, Jaime wasn't safe. They had flooded through the entrance in the hundreds, squeezing passed one another in some kind of race to devour Reyes whole. He was forced to fallback further and further within it's labyrinthian, twisting halls, cutting them down by the dozen only for another dozen to take their place.

He didn't understand what was happening.

This wasn't supposed to be.

O'erlanii was a peaceful world. It's oceans were a bright, bubbling blue; full of so much life. It's people- the A'askvarii- were all pacifists who hadn't waged war in over a hundred thousand years. What had brought this monster here? Why was he not able to cleanse this filth and protect this world?

'Jai...'

"Who said that?!" Reyes spun around, turning his back on the encroaching horde for a precious few seconds. "Is there someone alive in here?! I can protect you-"

'...me...'

A tentacle from one of the A'askavarii found it's way around his throat while he was turned around. The pressure was immense. Reyes thrashed and fought against the hold, swinging his blade wildly back at the tendril threatening to choke the life out of him. He turned and fought, scratching, cutting and stabbing as he wheezed and huffed. It constricted further as other arms reached forward to subdue the planet's guardian, dragging him down through the water and toward the temple's floor.

He raged and raged, fighting back against the darkness that encroached on his vision.

***

The containment pod's glass cracked, though Brenda swore she never saw Jaime hit it. "Jaime!" She spoke louder, taking a step forward toward the towering machine that held him so high in the air. "It's me. It's Brenda." Did he recognize her? Could Jaime even hear her anymore? He didn't seem at all aware of his surroundings.

"What's happening to him?" Paco asked, his eyes glued on his best friend.

"His blood pressure is spiking." Dr. Caulder's joviality faded away, replaced by shades of concern as he read off Reyes's vital signs. "He's not breathing-" The sound of his old, spindly fingers dancing across the keyboard sounded through the microphone. "-I'm lowering the pod."

The monolith buzzed and whirred, the computer's commands reaching it's gears as the capsule containing Reyes began to descend toward the ground. "Both of you need to keep your distance, is that understood? Right now that thing is not your friend, and there's no telling if it will lash out or not." With a few more strokes of the keys, the cracked glass surrounding the pod began to peel away, exposing Reyes to the mist that now dominated a large portion of the room.

"Come on, come on..." The doctor growled underneath his breath, "I know this will work. I know it."

"Uhh, he doesn't sound too confident!" Paco gulped. He took several steps backward as instructed, wanting to give the homicidal alien a healthy berth.

Brenda remained planted where she was, not but a handful of feet away from the creature. "Come on, Jaime, fight it. Fight it!"

"Wh-what are you doing?! Get away from him- he'll kill you!" Paco pleaded, waving his arms and motioning desperately for her to join him. She didn't budge.

The chitinous beast convulsed violently and uncontrollably. It's mouth dropped open as tiny, inhuman mewling whispered up from it's throat, dripping with pain. The mist seemed to gravitate toward Jaime immediately, flowing toward him and covering him in a shroud of the stuff. It blocked Brenda's view for the most part, but she could hear it. She could hear the sound of it's hide bubbling and popping under the affects of the doctor's chemical concoction.

"Commencing stage two." With the press of a button, Caulder released the restraints holding Reyes in place. "It's up to you now." He sighed. "Don't bleed on the equipment too much if this doesn't work."

"You told us this would work!" Paco screamed up at the intercom.

"Both of you: shut up." Brenda snapped, holding a hand back toward Paco. Her gaze never left the cloud of chemical fog dancing around where Jaime was. The sizzling of that monster's flesh was growing louder by the second. Each pop was already nearly thundering.

That was when the screeching started.
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The Blue Beetle stars in...The Runaway: Issue #13

Previous Issue





O'erlanii - Temple of Derath'ath Machlan'n



Jaime dug his fingers between the entangling tendril and his throat, screaming until he felt blood rising up in his mouth. For all of his inhuman strength, the A'askvarii natives had been kicked into a ravenous frenzy by the malignant power that coursed through their alien veins. That power beat crimson within their cheeks, flooding into every nerve, pore and sinew as they thrashed and cut at the scarab with all of their might. Reyes tried to hold out. He tried to cut his way through their pulsating mass, sending sprays of blood and cancer out into the sea water; but it wasn't enough. It was far from enough.

He could feel his very skin peeling underneath their suction cups. Razor sharp beaks were tearing long, ugly strips from the suit's chitin as it screeched and screamed in utter, indescribable agony. Jaime felt it's pain through their shared nervous system, every inch of it slowly burning away underneath wave after wave of poignant trauma.

"Get...off.." Reyes turned his grip about, wrapping his fingers around the tentacle attempting to strangle him. Even as he felt sea water flowing inside his suit from the various puncture wounds the alien horde had created, he began to push back against them, gaining more and more leverage by the second. "...of..me!" With a mighty heave he threw the cephalopod over his head, sending it careening against the temple wall with enough force to crack the stone.

His blades melted away, replaced by a pair of igniting plasma cannons that he quickly turned on the rest of the crowd now that he could breathe. The water crackled and sizzled as blasts as hot as the sun filled the tight hallway, incinerating every living thing between Jaime and the other end of the hall. The water evaporated along the way, though the dead air was filled in by the crushing weight of the ocean in less than a second.

Melted stone mingled with the remains of blackened corpses as silence temporarily fell over the temple of the Goddess of Protection, offering Reyes momentary peace.

Turning his head down toward the opposite end of the corridor, Jaime took in a deep breath. 'Someone...someone said my name...' It could've very well been a hallucination due to a lack of oxygen. In fact, that was the most likely answer.

'But I heard it. I know I did.'

If there was even one person left alive and untouched by the infection, they would no doubt have fallen back to Derath'ath Machlan'n's great temple. The A'askvarii believed that she would never abandon them in times of need- and Jaime was pretty sure the end of the world qualified. With no option but to either way for more monsters to descend upon him or to seek out the helpless, he chose to advance down the hall, flying through the water as quickly as his boosters could carry him.

***

Unknown



Jaime's screams rocked Brenda to her core, but she was doing her damndest not to show it. Paco was already on the edge of panic; he didn't need to see her start losing her cool if she didn't want him to go over the edge. She fought to keep the fear contained, swallowing it down even as Reyes's agonized cries reverberated through her head like a ringing gong.

"Come on, fight it. Fight that thing, Jaime!" She didn't know if he could hear her. She didn't even know if it mattered whether he was fighting against it's control or not. But the doctor- for all of his apparent madness- was the only one who'd offered them a solution for saving him; and that solution involved nearly killing him with whatever airborn toxin was contained within that cream-colored fog.

Reyes stumbled forward out of the mist, immediately falling down upon his hands and knees. The armored flesh of the monster was bubbling and popping, pus squirting out across it's ebony surface. Parts of it were peeling away, revealing the pinkish, distorted flesh of the boy trapped underneath. Dark marks were beginning to form across Jaime's visible skin- while it wasn't nearly as bad as what it was doing to the monster, it still looked incredibly painful. The parasite that clung so fiercely to him was being torn apart by the compound in the air, that much was clear; Brenda only hoped that her friend could survive the process to it's completion.

It looked as if it was working right up until Jaime began to speak.

"ノ ムᄊ ズんムフノ りム."

Words that could not sit on a human tongue flowed forth from his mouth, and the living shell around him began to slink and crawl back upon itself. The armor struggled against the melting of the compound, attempting to string it's liquid metal form together, weaving and bonding stronger than it had been before. Jaime fought to stand, clawing at the floor and tearing holes in the concrete in his slow rise to his feet.

He began to advance, his gaze set on Brenda. Yellowish, dead eyes tracked her every movement as the beast seemed to make for her at a crawl's pace.

"Jaime?" She felt her mouth go dry as she met those eyes and saw nothing of her friend in there. He wasn't the one in control. "You know me. And I know you would never hurt me-" She wasn't sure if she was trying to get through to her friend or if she was attempting to comfort herself moments before having an alien parasite tear her limb from limb. Whatever the purpose of her words, she kept speaking; it was all she could do in the moment to keep from breaking down. "We're- we're trying to help you. But to do that, we need you to...push through this. Yeah. Push through it. It should almost be done. Just hang in-"

"√乇刀ム乇ム刀ᄃ乇!"

The creature lunged at her, it's hands morphing and folding into some form of bladed weapons in a grotesque display of twisting flesh and mangling bone. Brenda took a step backward to dodge out of the way, Paco's scream echoing from behind her. Horrific sounds like the burning of sinew reached her ear as it swung for her, the razor sharp tip of the weapon cutting a slight hole through the center of her suit; she'd been too slow.

"Oh, shit. Shit! He cut my suit!" She cried out, slapping her hand up against the incision. She pressed her palm down as tightly against her chest as she could to keep it sealed; she couldn't let the fog leak inside and get to her body.

Paco must've finally realized that he had to do something as he leapt into action, rushing to grab Brenda's shoulders and drag her away from the alien. The fog was too crippling for it to give any sort of meaningful chase, allowing the two teenagers to retreat to a safe distance.

"You're losing him!" Doctor Caulder warned. "The host needs to be rejecting the Parainsectum's control for the agent to work to it's full affect. You must convince Jaime to let go of it for him to be free. If you do not hurry, the substance will kill him before it kills the parasite!"

"We're trying!" Paco screamed, his head swiveling away from Brenda and over toward the stumbling form of his friend. Tendrils of blueish, blackish liquid were flinging about within the fog, tearing away from the main mass before throwing themselves back at the body in the hopes of reconnecting themselves. It was a disgusting display that made Paco's stomach churn.

He couldn't let it get to him. He had to focus on saving his friend, no matter how terrible the situation looked. "The Jaime Reyes I know wouldn't let some two-bit alien mucus control him!" He yelled, apparently drawing that mucus's attention- and it's wrath- when it began to move even faster toward them. "

O'erlanii - Temple of Derath'ath Machlan'n

Statues of the goddess grew more common the deeper into the corridors and byways that Jaime went. Offerings of harvested algae and crops had been placed within baskets at the foot of some. Others had livestock thrown onto thermite pyres sitting under their outstretched tendrils. It was all incredibly familiar at this point.

He knew their customs, their beliefs and their culture just as well as the rest of the natives- because it was his culture, too. He had bowed at the feet of these same statues. He had offered up his life to Derath'ath Machlan'n the day he had grown into a man.

He had lived among the A'askvarii for decades, adapting to their lifestyle and integrating himself deeply into their society. Yet...

He knew not why.

Why was he here in this place?

When had he come here?

Who had sent him?

There were no answers buried within the darkest corners of his mind. Only vague feelings that something was amiss. Like some part of him had been...removed or corrupted. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. Ma'at Hur'r had searched all of his life for the meaning behind the scarab, but it had never offered him anything more than a proverbial shrug of the shoulders.

He ran a tendril along the wall, feeling the coarse, rough stone through the living chitin that adorned each of his six limbs. This armor was the only reason he had survived his encounters with the infestation so far. It was the reason that he was the last of his kind that still roamed free of that malignant force's control. And it would be the reason he would die alone in these harrowed halls, cold and broken.

But he was sure he had heard a voice. It had called out a name, though...he was not sure if it was his own. He had to find it. He had to push deeper into the temple. The last bastion lay not far from where he currently swam; perhaps only a few minutes away at top speed. Pushing onward, he cast aside the dread that lingered so heavily upon his mind. He had to focus. If he could save even one life- even one...

It took several minutes, but Ma'at eventually found himself at his destination. A great gate stretching forty feet into the air and carved with ancient symbols of his people. He remembered coming here with his father when he was a boy. It was a trek all the young men took when they came of age- they came to see the place where the goddess was supposedly born. Her cradle was said to lay on the other side of the door, in a chamber so large that one couldn't see the walls nor ceiling for miles.

Ma'at Hur'r stabbed his tentacles into the stone, a painful feeling welling up in his chest as he violated this sacred place. It was the safest chamber on the planet. If the priests had survived the outbreak, they would have fled inside with as many civilians as they could. Perhaps they had even taken some of the offerings and sacrifices inside so that they might sustain themselves while the plague ravaged the world and ran itself dry. He could only hope that was the case as he forced open the doors, using the scarab's great might to drag those mighty stone gates open wide.

It creaked and shuddered, though after much straining he managed to pry the threshold wide open, revealing the chamber that lay beyond.

He found not the cradle of Derath'ath Machlan'n, but instead something so entirely alien that his mind could nary process what it was being shown.

The sea had given way to air and grass and trees. Concrete turned to some kind of black pavement, with odd...white and yellow streaks painted on it. It looked like some sort of street. Ma'at saw a single structure on the other side of the pavement. It was forged from some kind of wood- a substance foreign to the ocean world of his home, yet somehow familiar...knowledge offered up by Khaji Da, no doubt.

A fence made of steel chains linked together was drawn before the odd building. He moved on unsteady limbs toward it, dragging himself along the ground until he passed through an unlocked gate. More stones led across the grass and toward the porch, where the door appeared to be not only unlocked, but ajar. Raising a brow, he entered inside.

It hit him square in the back with enough momentum and strength to drag Ma'at to the ground. He let out a surprised cry as he felt a pair of powerful limbs take hold of his back from behind, wrapping about his chest. He looked down at them, even more surprised by what he saw there. They were not the tentacles of one of his fallen brothers, but...hairless monkey arms. Pink flesh pulled taut over powerful muscles seemed to stretch as droplets of salty water cascaded down it.

Sweat?

How did Ma'at know what sweat was?

"Release me!" He cried in a tongue not his own. "Release me at once!" With all of the strength in his- legs?!- Ma'at threw himself backwards into the wall, sending them both crashing through it and into an unoccupied sitting room. Wood and drywall caught in his mouth as he fell to the ground, causing Ma'at to cough with lungs he shouldn't have had.

"No, no! I can't!" The man cried out, his voice cracking and broken. Sorrow seeped into his every word as he wrestled all of the harder to keep a hold on Ma'at. As strong as the man was, Ma'at knew he was impossibly stronger. Yet he felt an impossible tug on his mind that kept him from using that strength to lash out against his attacker.

"I- I won't let you go. Not until I have you back!" The words of his attacker were strange yet moving. They made no sense yet Ma'at felt himself on the verge of tears at the overwhelming emotion of the one attempting to hold him down and drag him to the floor.

"What is happening? Who are you?!" He demanded, the world changing colors around him as the details melted away into vague sensations and imaginings of a world far from earth. Terrors concocted by an imagination belonging to another were broken down as reality fought tooth and nail to restore itself to him.

"It's ME! It's Paco! You know me, Jaime- I'm...I'm..."

"My...My friend..."

"...Paco..."



'Jaime Reyes. The man that used our hands to kill is near. Take vengeance, Jaime Reyes. Do not throw me away until our goal is-'

The world went black.
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MEGA FEATURE!

The Blue Beetle stars in...The Runaway: Issues #15

Previous Issue







Every inch of sinew in Jaime's body shook and contorted with rage. It came on suddenly like a tidal wave of fury, drowning him in an unexplainable desire to shed the blood of a stranger. His fingernails dug themselves into his palms as he slowly began to move from the bed, tides of crimson leaking down his white knuckles. His breathing was ragged and hot, his chest almost bursting from the pressure building up in his lungs. Doctor Caulder's ugly, wrinkled visage seared itself upon the forefront of Reyes's mind like a hot iron; only one, singular desire accompanied that picture: to see his face battered, bruised and broken into a hundred pieces like a mirror shattered against stone.

Dr. Caulder's grin faltered, his fangs receding at the sight of the boy's twisted, wrathful expression. "Mr. Reyes?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly. "Are you alright?" The old man's concern was shaded with hints of panic. He looked over toward Brenda and Paco in a silent plea for them to explain what was wrong with their friend.

"It...it was you." Reyes muttered between gritted teeth, his feet hitting the cold, tiled floor as he tossed the blanket to the floor.

Paco stepped forward first, placing a palm against Reyes's chest. "Hold on, buddy, just calm it down." He placed himself directly between Jaime and the doctor. He was nearly a foot taller than Jaime and several degrees heavier. Despite his skittish nature, he was the last person Jaime would ever want to fight. "He's the guy that fixed you up. I really wouldn't recommend trying to knock his teeth in, amigo."

"What?" Jaime's gaze shot up toward Paco's, meeting his older friend's eyes. Indignation burned behind Reye's eyes.

Paco shifted uncomfortably, glancing back at Brenda. "What'd I say?" He whispered, confused and a little frightened by the look his best friend was giving him. Jaime being mad at him- really mad at him- was an entirely foreign concept. "Come on, Jaime, just get back in bed-"

A fist slammed against Paco's nose before he could finish. He stumbled backward, reaching up to grab his face as blood leaked down his lip. "What the hell, man?!" He shouted, turning to face Reyes.

Jaime took the bigger boy by the collar, channeling all of the anger coursing through his veins to shove Paco back into Brenda, sending the two stumbling back into the wall in a heap of limbs. They both cried out in confusion, the doctor's expression darkening all the while.

"You would assault your closest friends?" He inquired, his tone accusatory and sharp.

"No." Reyes plucked the IV from his arm, tossing it to the side as he made for the wheelchair bound man. He could tell that something was off immediately, but it was only just becoming clear to him what was going on. His memories were still clouded, yet Jaime still felt a sense of clarity and purpose as he marched toward the seemingly defenseless doctor. "But those aren't my friends-" He countered, reaching out to grab at Dr. Caulder in an attempt to drag him to the floor.

His hands passed through nothing but air, finding no purchase in the illusion set before him. "Huh-" The most confusing week of Jaime Reyes's life only got more so as the hospital room around him melted away, the tiles shattering against the ground and revealing nothing but a sheet of blackness behind them. Sheer, unrelenting nothingness surrounded Jaime in less than a second.

"No no NO!" The voice of the doctor rang out from every direction, both near and far, echoing through the void. "I was so close. So close. We almost have it- damn you, you stupid...stupid boy." He spat, vitriol flowing through his shouts. "Your friends proved as useless as I dreaded they would."

"I don't know what's going on here," Jaime breathed, doing his best to keep from puking. Floating in an endless void of black was hell on his senses. He couldn't tell which direction was up, down left or right. Was he floating upside down? Was he sideways? There was nothing for him to measure that by. No horizon to level himself. No light to ground him. Everything was just miles upon miles of nothingness. "-but those weren't my friends." He repeated. He could feel the fog over his mind lifting, memories forcing themselves through the cracks. Jaime held tight to even the smallest detail- even the tiniest shred of what had happened to him after he lost consciousness in the museum.

"And how, pray tell, could you possibly know that?" Caulder sneered. "Their minds are more mine than their own. I know everything they do, and I copied them to the tee."

A flash of anger filled Jaime's chest once more at the implication that this freak had somehow gotten to his friends. "Really? Because your Paco impression could use some work." He fired back into the darkness. "He couldn't speak Spanish to save his life, and he's Catholic: his mom would tan his hide if he ever said 'hell' like that."

He must've angered the voice in the darkness, because Jaime was suddenly and abruptly reintroduced to the concept of gravity as he began to fall into the void. As terrifying as it was to feel himself sinking rapidly toward a floor that wasn't there, Jaime felt a small sense of relief. He was beginning to remember. He was seeing what had brought him here- the battle he had already fought in his mind two days prior. It was a small victory was that quickly eclipsed as the scenario was quickly changed by whatever force was working his surroundings to Dr. Caulder's advantage.

Jaime landed on his back inside a massive room with a vaulted ceiling, easily more than a hundred feet up. The room itself was shaped like something of a donut, with walls of concrete well over a hundred and fifty feet away all around. Pulling himself to his feet, Reyes turned his gaze toward the center of the room. A strange, pointed obelisk sat inside of a gargantuan, spiraling cylinder. "The hell is this?" He coughed, moving toward it. The railing along the side allowed him to lean safely over, getting a better look at the bottom of the cylinder. Several dozen massive cords snaked from the bottom of the monolith, connecting to a variety of machines and tubes surrounding the interior of the hole. It almost looked like a nuclear silo converted into some kind of...giant lab.

"We're ready to begin, chief." A young man with a slight French accent called, drawing Jaime's attention away from the strange object in the center of the room. His hair was dark and matted with sweat, an eager smile spread across a tired, handsome face. "We're finally ready."

"Excellent news, Dr. LaSalle!" Another voice called from the opposite side of Jaime. It sounded vaguely familiar, yet he couldn't place where he had heard it before. "Let's begin, then. Time is wasting!" The man known only as 'chief' was broad-shouldered, with a mane full of bright, auburn hair and an alluring sort of confidence in his eyes.

Jaime followed after them as they made their way across the massive room, toward a small section of sensitive electronic equipment and a number of machines set up near the central obelisk. Around a dozen technicians in lab coats were working on what appeared to be a rather complicated chair, of all things; there was a helmet portion attached to the top, with several large tubes and wires running from it and to some of the equipment nearby. "What is this place? Why did you bring me here?" He asked, looking toward the sky. There was no reply.

The Chief and Dr. LaSalle paid no mind to Jaime as they approached the work station, each exchanging words with the rest of the staff as they prepared for whatever it was they were experimenting on here. If Jaime were a betting man, he'd say it had something to do with the giant, alien-looking piece of obsidian behind them. "Alright, Niles," LaSalle turned to his bearded friend. "it's ready. Climb on in."

They exchanged a quick, tight hug before the Chief- Niles, apparently- sat down in the odd looking chair. The helmet came down onto his head, lights blinking to life across it's metallic exterior. LaSalle stepped over, his hand resting on a lever attached to one of the machines. "Here we go. Look alive, people! We only have one shot at this." He warned before pulling down on the switch. Almost immediately after, a thunderous screeching noise reverberated out from the obelisk. It's one hundred foot tall, thin body shook with the sound, it's strange material seemingly the source of that obnoxious racket.

Jaime furrowed his brow, confused by what he saw, but he didn't have much of a choice other than to continue to stare in wonder until he figured out why it was being shown to him.

"Uh, sir, the energy levels are spiking." One of the attendants said over his shoulder. "What should we do?"

"Continue to monitor it. Let me know if we reach the red zone, but stay on task. We can do this." LaSalle ordered, looking back to his friend in the chair. "How're you holding up, chief?" He asked. Niles had a pained look painted across his face, but he was gritting his teeth and taking it. He offered a thumbs up in response, but he didn't appear capable of verbalizing that at the moment.

"We hit the red!" That same man called out a moment later. "We should pull the plug-"

"-are you sure it won't stabilize?"

"It's getting worse!" He called, the sound coming from the monolith now near-deafening. The floor was beginning to vibrate, the equipment shifting and bouncing under the power of the sound waves. Niles let out a scream, his fingers digging into the chair's arm rests. "If we don't stop, it's going to kill him!"

"NO!" The Chief bellowed, blood seeping down from inside the helmet, leaking into his hair. "It's working- I can feel it! Do not stop!" He ordered, trying his best to swallow down a scream. The pain was near impossible to endure, but Niles was going to do his damndest to try. He had worked his whole life for this. He had done the research for decades. He knew it would work- it had to work.

"Shit. Shit. SHIT." Panic rose up through the various technicians as they all came upon the same conclusion: it was getting worse, and it wasn't going to normalize anytime soon. None of them knew what would happen if the obelisk's power reached such a level, but they knew it wouldn't do anything good to the chief. They started the process to shut it down, starting for Niles with the intent to pull him out of the chair before he went brain dead. "Get him outta there, get him out-"

"CAULDER!"

It was too late. Sparks exploded out from the helmet, showering the doctor in hot embers. Other machines soon followed, fires sparking to life across a number of pieces of equipment. Tubes were blown off or torn by the sheer pressure of the energy travelling through them, sending waves of crimson light through the room. The sound of the obelisk's whirring had Jaime Reyes on his knees, his hands cupped over his ears as he tried to take in the meaning of what was going on around him.

There was an explosion, a bright light blowing out from the center of the chamber that turned Jaime's vision white.

Jaime once more floated in silence, though the void around him was a great deal brighter than the last. It burned his eyes, even when he shut them as tight as he could. "That...that was you, wasn't it?" He asked quietly. He wasn't sure if he had figured it out or if the thought had been placed into his head. With how much control Dr. Caulder appeared to have over..wherever they were, Jaime wouldn't be surprised.

"It was to be my greatest achievement." Caulder replied, his prideful voice infected by a bitterness only failure could spawn. "That obelisk you see- we found it in the deserts of Bialya, but the language written on it wasn't ancient Bialyan; it wasn't even of this world." The doctor's echoes dipped, losing the fury that he had spoken to Jaime with before the whole ordeal was forced on the boy's mind. "It promised enlightenment if we could unlock it's secrets. We were so, so close...Emile and I, we were going to change the world, boy! We were going to bring humanity to the stars with power no one could imagine!"

"Is that what crippled you?" Reyes rather bluntly asked. He was curious, but something in his clouded past stole all respect he could possibly have away from 'Niles.' Something he had done had affected Jaime on a level he couldn't quite comprehend.

"It destroyed me." He snarled. "It took decades just to gain the feeling back in my hands. If it weren't for my brilliance, I would've been paralyzed for the rest of my life; trapped in a husk of a body. But it wasn't a complete failure. It gave me...abilities."

"No shit." Jaime scoffed. "Why're you using them to go after me? The hell did I ever do to you?"

"Believe me when I say this, Mr. Reyes, what happened to you in that museum was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident."

"I had a feeling you screwed with my head. That's why I can't remember anything."

"I'm repressing it for your benefit, child. You...you do not wish to remember that." Caulder warned. "I am going to fix my mistakes, however. All of them. To do that, however, I need you to let go of something. It is the cause of your pain. If you allow me to take it, your life can return to normal- you and your friends can return to your homes and forget all of this ever happened."

Jaime felt the anger returning, flowing hot through his veins once more. "What did you do to me? What're you trying to make me forget?" He demanded to know. "I'm not helping you with anything until you get out of my head."

"That would not be advisable." Caulder sighed, his patience thinning. "I am using my abilities to suppress your nervous system at the moment. You would be in indescribable pain if I left."

"What're you doing to me?!" Jaime howled. He heard his own voice echo through the void with the same power that Caulder's had. It reverberated violently against the white walls, sending dark cracks crawling along the endless space of nothingness. "I want out. Do you hear me?! I want the hell out!" The cracks grew larger and more numerous. Dark splotches began to suck the light from the void, tearing away at Caulder's hold over Jaime's mind as he struggled against the binds.

"How're you doing that?" The doctor asked, alarmed. "You're a child. A powerless child. You shouldn't be able to-"

'Do not underestimate me, fleshling.' Another voice joined in. Jaime knew it immediately, though from where he could not say. Another memory being hidden away from him, perhaps?

"Who...who are you?" Reyes stammered, unsure what in the hell was going on, or who had invited two voices into his head.

'Jaime Reyes. My name is Khaji Da. You are in mortal danger- let me help you.'

And the Scarab forced it's tendrils deeper into it's host mind, expelling out the foreign presence that had invaded it's space.

And Jaime was made to remember.



Issue #16




He woke up screaming, an agonizing pain flushing through every nerve in his body as he was torn in half.

Jaime had been lain on his back on an operating table, his arms and legs strapped down to the table by massive cuffs of titanium; they were strong enough to hold down a raging bull with little trouble, but the moment Reyes had awoken, the bolts could already be heard straining to keep the patient down.

There were two large objects suspended above Reyes via large, mechanical arms: an incredibly bright light to provide clarity to the surgeon, and a laser diode with a lens powerful enough to turn a block of steel into a molten puddle in a handful of seconds. Each was being remotely controlled by a pair of technicians in black and crimson scrubs, their faces covered by surgical masks, though the panic in their collective gaze was easy enough to see.

"God damn it!" The largest figure in the room was a man in what looked like a hazmat suit. He was standing over Reyes, his bulky form leaning down as he assisted in melting through Jaime Reyes's chest piece with his acidic touch. Otto Von Furth's beady, pupil-less eyes stared down in frustration at the boy through his helmet, clearly flustered by Jaime's sudden waking. "Put him back to sleep, doktor! He is going to break ze binds!" Otto's thickly German voice roared over the general commotion, his finger still held over the squirming form of the parasite as he let bits of acid drip down out of the suit and onto the creature's living metal body. The chitin screamed and fled from the burning chemicals, allowing the laser to carve small chunks out of it while it was in it's transition form.

It was a delicate process, to say the least, and having the patient awake and moving made it near impossible for Otto to do his job without turning Jaime's stomach into a crater. The host was needed alive if they wished to keep from permanently breaking the scarab that had infected him.

"I can't!" Caulder shouted back. "That damned alien broke my connection to him. You-" He pointed a finger toward one of the technicians. "-Activate the toxin! Keep it from reforming!" The chemical cloud he had used to originally capture Jaime was meant to detach the parasite from it's host completely, but they ran into numerous complications during the process. Once Reyes lost consciousness, Khaji Da was seemingly able to take over his body remotely and dug itself even further into Jaime's form. It was damned aggravating how persistent the little monster was; it refused to let go of the boy no matter what they tried. The current surgery was working while Jaime was under telepathic influence, but now that he was awake, there was no telling what would happen.

A spray of cream, off-color fog fell over Jaime as the designated attendant brought over a canister and administered the cloud. It was only coming out in short, controlled bursts to keep it from damaging the equipment or- God forbid- breaking Otto's containment suit. The living metal reacted positively to the introduction of the concoction, receding back and staying in it's liquid state since it was under duress; this allowed Otto and the laser technician to continue peeling away parts of the body. Once bits were removed from the whole, they were sucked up with a powerful vacuum and deposited in separate, thick containers that kept them from forming back together.

"Get off of me!" Jaime screamed, pulling at his restraints with all of his alien might. The bolts whined and screeched in protest, trimming away bits of metal with each violent tug. The pain he was under was worse than any he could've possibly imagined. It felt as if they were burning a hole straight through his chest, melting away at each layer of skin with careful precision, carving him up like a science project. There was no anesthetic. No attempt to lessen the pain; not that there was any they could give that would lessen the agony that they were putting the teenager through. He screamed and screamed until his throat bled.

Under any other circumstance, he would've lost consciousness at best, suffering any number of other things at worst. The scarab was the only thing protecting Reyes from the torture he was being put under. It's protective shell was frantically moving to cover up where the acid and the laser were pointed, despite the fact that it was slowly being chipped away at because of it. Any sense of self preservation that Khaji Da might've had was superseded by it's need to protect Jaime from harm.

'Our blades, Jaime Reyes. Cut through our bonds. I cannot...hold for much longer.'

It took every ounce of willpower Jaime had left just to understand the words reverberating within his mind. He gripped his hands into tightly balled fists, focusing fully on them. He felt their every movement. Their every twitch and shake. And he willed them to change. He forced his fingers together into his palms and knuckles, letting the armor tighten around them and shift into something entirely different. A sound like breaking bones popped in each of his ears as his hands turned to long, wicked blades. The serrated edges- sharper than any a human hand could forge- made quick work of the titanium shackles keeping Reyes pinned to the surgical table.

With a wordless, indignant cry Jaime cut them away, swinging the blades through the air with wild abandon. Their razor sharp edges sliced right through the blinding light and the laser projector, destroying both in a shower of sparks. One of the technicians let out an ear-piercing screech when the tip of a blade cut straight through his chest with next to no resistance, tearing a line straight though his flesh.

Otto was quick to retreat out of the way of the wild swings, letting out a string of curses in his native tongue as he cast his gaze on the boy. "You vill pay for that!" The giant of a man howled, holding up both of his hands. The rubber gloves he wore each had a cap on the end of all ten of his fingers. Through some unknown mechanism, Otto seemed to be able to pop them open at will, exposing some kind of rust-colored acid that filled the interior. His scarred, skinless face contorted in a look of concentration as he spewed forth streams of hot, burning fluid in Reyes's direction.

He was quick to turn his body away from the incoming projectiles, very aware of his exposed chest. Numerous dark, red streaks had already been made on his bare skin where the chitin had been separated during the procedure. The containers storing the rest of Khaji Da hung on the far wall, attached to a series of tubes that had been used to sort the mess of living material out in such a fashion that it never had the opportunity to bunch together and reform into one whole unit. Jaime needed to break those and rebuild the armor if he wanted to stand any chance of surviving this encounter.

The only problem being that the German in the hazmat suit was standing directly between him and the rest of the Scarab. And that angry German was spewing acid from his fingers.

'You can form a shield if you press your arms together, Jaime Reyes.'

"That'll work." Reyes let the blades melt away back into his normal limbs, slapping his arms together. Simply imagining a barrier was enough for the chitin to bend to his whims, melding into a large, full-body shield that covered his entire front half. He spun around, letting the streams of acid bounce off the much thicker body of metal. It wouldn't hold up to the acid forever, but it would last long enough for Jaime to get what he required.

He charged the other man, barreling at him as fast as he could with the shield held up before him. Otto, now aware that he couldn't easily put the boy down, leapt out of the way of Jaime's charge. "Your struggle is meaningless. All it does is extend your pain." The mechanisms in Otto's gloves turned and shifted, changing their mode of release. When the acid left his fingers it instead flowed out into ten thin strips, flowing together like a chain of water contained within an invisible field. He flung them like tendrils, letting them whip against Jaime's back. The streams cut straight through the chitin, drawing deep, ugly cuts along Jaime's exposed back.

Reyes tumbled to the floor, quivering in pain. All he could do was hold the shield up before his body, shrinking himself to keep the whips from digging into any exposed parts. "Shit, shit, fuck-" He heaved, panicked and trying his hardest to keep from completely losing it. The searing pain on his back was almost too much to handle. He could still feel drops of that stinging stuff clinging to his bare flesh, even with the Scarab armor moving back to repair the damaged section of armor.

'Continue using a single arm to shield yourself, but form a plasma cannon in the other. Aim for his aim.'

"You want me to kill him?" Jaime winced. He still couldn't believe any of his memories. part of him knew it was the truth, but he wished so desperately that he was still stuck in some kind of nightmarish illusion the doctor had thrown together to torture him. He didn't want more blood on his hands. They were already soaked as it was.

'He is a sadistic killer, Jaime Reyes. You see how he enjoys attacking a mere boy. His life is worthless.' Khaji Da was quick to reply, it's words harsh and vengeful. The Scarab did not appreciate being tormented any more than Jaime did.

After several moments of thought, Reyes relented, removing one of his arms from the barrier. It was made significantly weaker and smaller, the acid immediately going to work at burning through the thinner layers of chitin offered up to protect Jaime from the whips. His other arm was brought down, the balled fist changing and transforming into a glowing cannon. It whirred with a menacing sort of hate- an eagerness to see it's foe destroyed. He didn't want to do this, but...but he had little choice in the matter. Reyes lifted the weapon, feeling it's heat grow until it unleashed a lightning-quick blast of plasma.

Otto's helmet exploded in a burst of that rust-colored acid and rubber, bits of his hazmat suit flying through the room and sticking to the tiled white walls. Jaime had to swallow down the urge to vomit at the sight of the German's headless body remaining standing, unmoving and lifeless. He slowly stood back up, his arms returning to normal as he stared ahead at his fallen foe's corpse. It took a few seconds for Otto to fall over, sprawling out over the ground. There was no blood, brain matter or melted flesh left behind. His head was simply...gone in a burst of powerful energy.

"I'm gonna be sick." Reyes whispered, spinning around to get his eyes off of the brutal scene. It didn't stop it from being burned into the back of his mind, even as he went to grab the rest of Khaji Da that had been stolen away during that barbaric excuse for a surgery.

"You're making a mistake." The doctor rolled out from behind cover, his gaze tracing along the damage and destruction that the parasite-possessed Jaime had caused. It was hard to imagine a sixteen year old boy was capable of so much; and to think, Caulder knew the Scarab was capable of so much more than wrecking a single room. "That creature has done nothing but cause you ill, child. Give it to me. Let me take away this pain."

Jaime shattered one of the containers lined up on the wall, letting the living metal slide up into his armor and be absorbed into it's ever shifting mass. He didn't respond to Caulder for several seconds, his attention focused on breaking free the rest of the Scarab's missing pieces. "He didn't do any of this." Reyes retorted. "We didn't kill those people- you did."

"It is as a I said before: it was an accident. And I apologize for the part I played in your trauma. But I assure you, I didn't do any of this because I wished to see you hurt. My actions-"

"Really?" Reyes interrupted, turning about on his heel. The armor was still snaking together and repairing itself on his chest as he started to move toward the wheelchair bound telepath. "Really? Explain it to me, then. Explain to me how you accidentally turned me into a fucking murderer-" Almost without realizing it, Jaime had shifted one of his hands into a plasma cannon, the gargantuan gun whirring and clicking as it charged up a shot. "-And maybe, just maybe..." He could barely keep himself together. His voice was ragged and cracked. His arm shook near uncontrollably. Reyes had been running for his life...fighting to stay alive...all in an effort to find this man. This was the man that had taken control of his body and his mind and used him in an act so deplorable that it was impossible to truly describe. A massacre. Innocent blood shed, and all Reyes could do was watch, helplessly, as he participated in it.

Jaime pressed the weapon against the side of Dr. Caulder's head, tears running down his cheeks underneath his mask. "Maybe I won't blow your head off."
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The Blue Beetle stars in...The Runaway: Issue #17

Previous Issue





Doctor Niles Caulder took a deep, slow breath. He locked his gaze with the unblinking eyes of Reyes's mask, refusing to so much as glance at the weapon pressed against his temple. "It would be much easier to explain if you took that gun out of my face, boy." He spoke evenly, his eyes stalwart and steely, utterly unafraid of the alien being standing over him.

"What? What?!" Jaime felt his blood run hot. 'Disgust' could not adequately explain the churning in his stomach at the sight of the doctor's expression. How could he sit there, a weapon shoved against his head, and not so much as blink? "You think I won't?!" Reyes snarled, the parasite's grip growing tighter around his wrist as he shoved Caulder's head with the muzzle of the cannon. "After everything you've done, you still think- you still think I won't?" He shot a finger back behind him, pointing toward the corpse of Caulder's surgeon. "It wouldn't...it wouldn't be the first time."

Caulder crossed his hands over his lap, his neck craning as he looked up toward Jaime. The sympathy in the old man's eyes was almost enough to drive Reyes over the edge. "You were protecting yourself, were you not? You had no other choice. That does not make you an executioner, boy. It isn't like you."

"You don't know a damn thing about me." Reyes countered.

"Really?" Caulder raised a brow. "I don't? I was in your mind, boy. I know more about yourself than you do. For instance, I know you struggle in school because it bores you. You think your teachers are old and out of touch. I know your friends drag you to the same diner after school everyday. You insist you don't mind, but they know how much you hate the food there; yet you always choose to go with them regardless." Niles couldn't see the boy's face through that lifeless mask, but he could tell he was faltering. His firing arm was unsteady and lowering with each word, and Jaime's breathing had tightened. Caulder was getting to him. "I know your mother makes you do the dishes every night. And I know your father's struggling to make ends meet. And there's a young woman that sits in front of you on the bus- Traci, I believe, that you've been terribly infatuated with-"

"That's enough." Jaime snapped, though the conviction in his voice had faltered. "Why're you telling me all this?"

Caulder sighed, his hand moving up to rest on Reyes's wrist. "Because I know that as much as you hate me, boy, you could never live with yourself if you took my life. Everything that's happened- it's already eating you up inside, isn't it?" Slowly, tentatively, Niles started to guide Jaime's hand away. He didn't force it, allowing Reyes to absorb what he was hearing at his own pace. "I can only imagine what it's been like for you..." His eyes held on Jaime's own, though there were brief, difficult to discern shifts toward something else in the room.

Sleep had not come easily to Reyes since the incident. He'd only managed to pass out from sheer exhaustion once, while he was pulled over on the side of the road in a car he'd stolen from a stranger. Even then, the nightmares had forced him back into reality but a handful of hours later. Jaime felt weak and exhausted, his muscles burning and his mind drinking up the confusion and fear like a thirsty traveler in a desert oasis. The whole while, the only company that he had during his travels was a detached, aggressive voice in his head. After all of that- after all of the trials and tribulations- he had finally come face to face with the man responsible for it. Jaime had been so captivated by the concept of vengeance that he had never slowed down long enough to consider if he even had the will to pull the trigger.

"You said it was an accident." Jaime's arm fell to his side, limp and powerless. The organic weapon shifted back into a normal hand as Reyes took several steps from Caulder's side, returning to the operating table to take a seat on it's bloodied and cold surface. He'd hear the telepath out before he decided what to do. Maybe it would offer him some new perspective on what had happened; maybe it would give Reyes the excuse to go through with the dark fantasy that had consumed him since the moment he saw Caulder's face. "What happened?"

Caulder sighed, his shoulders falling. As much as he'd want to say that he wasn't afraid to die, Niles had never felt his heart race as quickly as it had when Jaime put a gun to his head. Was he afraid? Excited? It was hard to say; the adrenaline certainly didn't help determining how he felt in the moment. But he had swallowed down those feelings to talk Reyes off the edge. It looked like it had worked- for now. "I only wanted to talk to it." He began, his mouth slightly agape as he search for the words. It wasn't a pleasant memory by any means. "LaSalle and I had been working to find and exploit ancient technology since our college days. When we found the artifact in the Smithsonian, we didn't even stop to consider the implications of attempted contact. It matched the energy signature of the first...The Veteris to your Iuvenis-"

"The first?" Jaime interrupted. "There's another one?" That was alarming to hear. After everything that had happened, he wouldn't wish Khaji Da on his worst enemy; on top of that, for all of the power it held, he could only imagine what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands. He wasn't even sure if it was safe in his own.

"Indeed. My colleagues and I spent years tracking it. It seemed to nest primarily in Metropolis, but rumors led us all the way up to Gotham City on one occasion. We chased it as long as we could, documenting it's every move and studying it. When we finally developed the technology, we began to scan the rest of the country for signs of others. We didn't know what to expect, but...This was so much better than anything we could have dreamed of." The corners of Niles's thin lips ran upward slightly. There was a genuine twinkle in the old man's eyes as he explained it.

That smile quickly melted away as he proceeded with the rest of his tale. "You must understand, then, why I was so incredibly eager when we found an inactive Scarab. This creature represented everything I had been chasing since my youth. It was the proof that my research hadn't been for nothing- that I wasn't some..some wacko conspiracy theorist. And after the disaster with the obelisk...I was so eager to make up for my mistake that I ended up creating one far worse than I could have ever imagined." Caulder sighed, a hand moving up to rub the tiredness from his eyes. When he looked up, he cast his gaze over Reyes's shoulder, as if he were looking for something.

"I reached out to Khaji Da telepathically using the language we had deciphered from the obelisk before it was destroyed. I foolishly believed I understood their connection. But the moment I did, it awoke and...well. It struck out. I'm still unsure why, if I'm being honest with you Mr. Reyes." Once more, the doctor's gaze flickered passed Jaime, looking to something beyond their current conversation.

Reyes felt his heart drop into his stomach. "Bullshit!" He pushed himself off of the operating table, taking several steps toward the doctor. Khaji Da had been convinced that foul play was involved. Caulder had outright kidnapped him in an attempt to steal away the suit; why should Jaime believe him now? What incentive did he have to think Niles wasn't just lying to save himself from Jaime's wrath?

"You wanted the Scarab for yourself, and you'd do anything to take it.Including killing those people!" He was done sitting back and listening to Caulder lie to him. He could see the weasel was squirming, desperately trying to find an out that kept him from getting what he deserved. Jaime brought forth his talon, the razor held close to his chest as he approached the doctor. It was time to end this.

"I wouldn't recommend that, Mr. Reyes-" Caulder's warning was cut short when Jaime brought the blade swinging through the air, it's tip passing less than an inch away from his scrawny throat. He jerked backwards in his wheelchair, throwing himself back in a desperate bid to escape a gory death. He wheeled himself as far back as he could until he felt himself smack up against the far wall. "This isn't you, boy. It's- It's the Scarab. Don't let it- WARP!"

But Jaime wasn't listening to reason. Whether or not the anger was his own, he didn't quite care. It burned so hot that he felt nothing but the need to throw himself at his enemy and tear him apart. He had all but dreamt of ending this man- of ending the nightmares- and he had finally had enough of Caulder's attempts to weasel out of what was coming to him. Reyes drew his blade from within, lunging for the man's throat with every intent to-

There was a sound akin to a blister popping through an old microphone. Before the Scarab could plunge his talon into Caulder's heart, a hand had taken him by the arm and thrown his weapon off course. It impaled through the wall, cutting apart tile and drywall in a spray of ceramic and dust. Reyes spun around to see who had appeared to stop him, only to be greeted by a fist to the face.

He barely felt it, all things considered; but Reyes was disorientated enough to stumbled backward, tearing his weapon from the wall. "Who the hell-" Before he could finish, another flurry of blows was sent his way, though this time it appeared his opponent was wielding some sort of piping as a makeshift baton. A metallic clang sounded as each blow connected with the chitin, the living material reverberating loudly with every hit. Jaime was more annoyed than in pain as he lashed out, attempting to slice through whoever was assaulting him.

"-llǝɥ ǝɥʇ oɥʍ" A man draped in darkness stood in front of Reyes, the piece of lead piping in his fist sliced in twain by Jaime's wildly swinging blade. His cloak of stars danced with his every agile movement, ducking and weaving passed Reyes's unsure attempts to skewer him.

Jaime hadn't a clue where this guy had come from or what his deal was, but he was only getting angrier by the second. "I'm not done with you yet." He snarled, taking a quick step forward as he attempted to bat away this new enemy.

"Warp, please escort Mr. Reyes off the premises-"

"No!" Jaime roared, wheeling back around on a dime. He was too close. He'd finally found all the pieces of the puzzle. Finally found himself face to face with Caulder. It was too close for him to simply lose it all now. "You- you were stalling- you played me!" Jaime wanted to leap at Caulder again, but he found a pair of strong arms wrapped about his chest, pinning his arms to his side. "Damn it, no!" He pushed back against Warp's grip, attempting to break his hold so that he could finish what Caulder had started.

"We're far from done, boy. Do not worry about that. But until I find a way to get that monster off of you..." He looked over toward his partner, nodding slightly. "...We will have to part ways."

Jaime threw his shoulders back, snapping Warp's hold like a twig. He threw an arm upward, metal shifting and squirming around it as an organic weapon began to take shape. The shinning barrel of a plasma cannon whirred to life, even as Warp scrambled to put his hands back on Jaime so that he could teleport the boy away before he could cause harm to Doctor Caulder.



The last thing Reyes heard was the thunderous sound of his weapon discharging as he was thrown into a hemorrhage in reality. He began to fall, his vision turning into a sky of swimming, crimson blood. Voices echoed all around him. The sound of carefree laughter mingled with the screams of the tortured and the damned, thundering over the quieter talks of lovers at a park and the hovering whispers of betrayers in a dark alley. A single, low hum undercut the entire cacophony; a beat of two short, one long, two short, two long repeated over and over like the rhythmic sounding of drums.

...

And he fell.


"...What is this place?"


And he fell.

"...What's happening to me?"


And he fell.


"...I- I wanna go home."

Darkness consumed the bleeding sky, devouring it's bright redness and replacing it with a space that was blacker than black. No light touched it. No eyes could perceive what lay within or beyond it. It was like an inky void, quickly chewing it's way through this twisted reality that Jaime found himself falling through.



This place between dimensions where the rules were not the same and where the walls between what was real and what was not were thinner than anywhere else before them. It was an equation without numbers. A story without words. A life without death. It was antithetical to the nature of existence. It was the nonsensical ramblings of a mad, dead god.




End.

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• Tʜᴇ Dᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ •


A barrage of flaming arrows, explosive bolts and fireballs exploded against Arnaakus like the tide crashing against the side of a cliff. Fire washed over the demon's frozen exterior, sending wave after wave of steam billowing up as the slimes were turned to vapor from the sheer heat. The dozens of flung projectiles made the demon's exposed arm their target, burning through that thick build up of ice with surprising rapidity. He gave an angry, pained howl in response that shook the very foundations of the crypt.

"Cooonsuume!"

With strength only it's titanic arms could afford, the monster took hold of the bent steel and splintered wood of the great doors and tore them off at the hinges. A thunderous crash resounded as the mangled remains hit the floor of the chamber. Arnaakus had to duck down to pass through the vaulted ceiling of the hallway, his eyes burning with an intense desire to feed upon the souls standing before him.

He gripped his claws into a tight ball, six razor-sharp shards stabbing forth from the interior of his arm. Icy growths like the spines on an animal's back covered the top portion of Arnaakus's limb, their menacing, jagged tips glimmering in the light of the dungeoneers' pyre. Each was roughly six feet in height and one and a half in width, their crystal-like forms cracked and fragile looking even at a glance.

The titanic boss flung his arm around, sending the spines scattering across the field of battle- targeting three toward the back row of fighters and three toward the front team. The shards shattered on impact with the ground, creating a barrage of hundreds of tiny shards that were sent soaring in every direction. Too small to cripple, maim or kill, the shrapnel was meant more as a particularly painful distraction than anything else.

Arnaakus's primary method of murder came when he held up one of his arms above his head a few seconds later. He took a number of seconds longer to bring it slamming down against the stone, cracking it in the process. The creature grumbled as he brought his limb sweeping from one end of the hallway to the other with the intent to smash anyone caught in his way up against the wall. Only those closest to it- namely the melee fighters and Tiferet- were in danger of being squashed flat.
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Violin-based

Irondust - Expels a small pebble from the end pin of Tiferet’s violin, very quickly. Cast by either adding a small violin flourish to her current song, in which case it takes on an effect based on said song, or cast by playing a single violin note while not playing a song. Extremely small (<1 second) cooldown time. (Duration: N/A)

Kronos - Provides a small buff to both movement speed and skill/spell cast times. Lasts for as long as the song is being played, unless Tiferet plays it in its entirety, in which case it lasts for another 1.5 minutes. Fairly long cooldown time. Irondust is slightly faster, though the difference is such that there’s no noticeable effect. (Duration: 3:14, 4:44 with completion bonus)

Hestia - Makes all allies’ attacks fire-aspected. If the song is played to completion, Tiferet gains one small fireball orbiting her for each ally, which she can fire at enemies as a small fire-aspected attack or keep around her as a shield. Unused orbs dissipate once the battle is over. Middling cooldown time. Irondust is fire-aspected. (Duration: 1:52)

Olympia - Makes all allies’ attacks lightning-aspected. If the song is played to completion, each enemy currently aggroed on Tiferet or a party member takes 100 lightning damage, divided by the number of aggroed enemies. Middling cooldown time. Irondust is lightning-aspected. (Duration: 2:31)

Ineffabilis - Grants allies a universal reduction to damage, starting at 5% and increasing to 10% if the song is completed. Longish cooldown time. Irondust gains the ability to pierce through up to three targets. (Duration: 2:32)

Fallen Angel - Grants Tiferet and allies smoky-looking, intangible wings, allowing them to fly decently quickly while the song is playing. An extremely powerful buff, with an accordingly long cooldown time. Irondust fires three projectiles at once. (Duration: 3:30)

Imprinting - Grants Tiferet and allies information on the weaknesses of their current enemies, including any physical weak points or similar. Information does not go away once the playing stops, but rather is gathered slowly as the song plays. Fairly short cooldown time. Irondust homes in on enemies, going for weak points if any are identified by the spell. (Duration: 2:00)

Parousia - Resurrects one defeated party member. Must be played fully to work properly; if Tiferet is interrupted, the spell fails. Can only be cast once per day. Irondust heals instead of harms, for the same amount of HP. (Duration: 4:38)

Voice-based

Man With The Hex - Grants one target greatly increased strength and speed, while also allowing Tiferet the ability to influence their minds and implant suggestions. Suggestibility scales with how intelligent the target is; an animal could be easily convinced to turn on its allies, but your average wayfarer would be difficult to convince (unless someone else managed to most of it already). Fairly long cooldown time. (Duration: 3:00)

The Visitation of the Ghost - Solely a self-buff, unlike Tiferet’s other spells. Similar to Midnight, the spell grants Tiferet increased strength and partial invisibility, as well as intangibility and a terrifying, ghostly appearance. However, the intangibility lasts for the duration of the song, rather than for a few seconds. Mostly used when solo adventuring to clear out groups of enemies with her sword, or to really freak someone out. (Or both.) Intangibility can be bypassed by magic and enchanted weapons. Extremely long cooldown time, owing to the strength and fairly long duration of the spell. (Duration: 4:24)

Violin and voice-based

Midnight - Grants Tiferet and allies increased strength and the ability to become invisible for several seconds at a time. In addition to only lasting for the song’s duration, Midnight must be cast at night in order to work. Effect scales inversely with the amount of ambient light in the area; total darkness produces the strongest effect. Rather long cooldown time. Irondust becomes invisible. (Duration: 3:42)

Eat You - Transforms an ally of Tiferet’s choice (including herself) into a vampiric monster. They grow fangs, become notably more muscular, and get a rather gaunt, ghoulish cast to their skin and face. They also become afflicted by a terrible bloodlust, and will attack the closest monster to start with, but if none are left, they will begin to turn on their party. They can use their fangs to consume blood from living targets, and will do so instinctually, which heals them for about ⅓ of the damage they inflict. The various buffs and special attacks this spell provides are fairly potent, but are offset by the penalties to intelligence the buffed person takes; they become little more than another monster, albeit one that’s allied until there aren’t any more opponents. In addition, once Tiferet begins casting this spell, she cannot stop; someone would have to rip the violin from her hands, gag her, or otherwise attack her to stop the spell early. Middling cooldown time. (Duration: 3:52)

DK/Decay - A potent damage over time spell, rather than a buff. All targets currently aggroed on Tiferet or a party member begin rotting, suffering heavy damage over time while the song is being played. Much more difficult to play than other songs, due to being difficult to both sing and play. Extremely long cooldown time. Irondust causes the same rotting effect in the target, spreading outwards from the impact point. (Duration: 2:32)
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Cowboys And Aliens: Issue #1


Warpath, Texas

Jaime Reyes woke with a start when he found himself thrust through a wound in reality and falling through the sky. "Ah, hell- not this again!" Visions of white, puffy clouds and a sea of blue sky rushed across his vision as he spun and tumbled through the air uncontrollably. Jaime flailed his arms and legs in a desperate bid to find some sort of object to grab hold to and anchor himself to; a useless gesture, given the fact that he was somewhere in the lower atmosphere.

He had no idea how he'd gotten here. Some...monster had appeared and thrown him into a portal to hell or something- where the air screamed and the sky bled, and nothing made even a shred of sense. Reyes wasn't given even a second to celebrate escaping it now that he was sent plunging toward the earth at record speeds for the second time that week.

'Dios mío, when does it end?'

There wasn't time to lament the never ending chaos. He had to find a way to control his descent. Reyes stopped flailing, instead choosing to thrust all of his arms and legs out like he was about to make a snow angel. After a few moments of observation, he could tell that he was falling backward. 'Gotta spin around.' He realized. Awkwardly he plunged half of his body downward, letting the wind catch him and do the rest of the turn for him. Reyes felt slightly sick as he twisted through the air, contorting his body like he'd seen people do in sky diving videos.

Was now a bad time to admit he hated heights?

"KHAJI!" Jaime shouted over the sound of rushing air. "You wouldn't happen to remember how to fly now, would you?!"

'I do not.'

"Helpful as always!" Reyes fired back. 'Come on, Jaime. Think. You've got a whole alien arsenal to work with. Gotta be something you can do to keep from going splat.'

'I do not understand your panic. We already survived a fall from a similar height; there is no need to worry.' Khaji Da's voice was as dry and disinterested as ever, as if the idea of slamming into the earth at reentry speeds was going to be a pleasant experience to walk away from.

"Wait! Do we still have that engine you had me steal from that jet?!" Reyes's panic subsided slightly, a tingle of hope washing through the tips of his fingers.

'We do. I must remind you, however, that I am unable to assist you in piloting-'

"Yeah, yeah-" Jaime waved it off. He didn't need this useless extraterrestrial's help anyway. "Just deploy 'em! I have an idea!" The Scarab, for it's credit, didn't hesitate, the plates of chitin on Reyes's back parting to allow the weaving tendrils of living metal to form an identical pair of jet engines. He could feel the power humming through them radiate down his spine; it was an odd sensation, but it gave him an equally odd sense of confidence as he continued to plummet toward the earth. There wasn't a whole lot of time for him to doubt himself in the moment.

Slowly he forced his arms down from his side, pushing against the immense pressure of the air blasting up against his spread limbs to point his hands downward. "Right. Here we go." He breathed. With a thought he transformed the material around his fists into a pair of plasma cannons. Each pulsated and twitched like living flesh, seeming to beat with the pace of Jaime's own elevated heart rate as he turned them toward the ground. He had broken through the clouds by now, and he hadn't made any significant progress toward slowing his descent.

"Alright. Alright. Okay." Jaime could see the sand and dirt below. There didn't look to be any bodies of water or trees to aim for- on the bright side, there looked like there was a settlement of some kind not far from his current trajectory.

'What is your plan, Jaime Reyes?' The alien asked, it's curiosity piqued in the worst possible moment.

"Stick around and you'll find out!" The next step in his master plan involved swinging both of his legs down. It was easy enough to accomplish, though keeping his body pointed in a straight line was unsurprisingly difficult given the turbulent forces bashing at him from every angle. "Do I have control of the engines?!" He yelled to the voice inside of his head.

'You do. Simply think it and they will activate, as all our adaptations do.'

Reaching inside of his own mind, Jaime felt for this control that Khaji Da spoke of. Sure enough, it was there; it was like searching for feeling in a hand he'd slept on all night. It was odd, the say to least, to discover what amounted to a fifth and sixth limb attached to his lower back. "I've got it." He confirmed with a slight nod. Now all that was left to do was to concentrate. To focus on his guns and the jets on his back.

He pulled the trigger on all four at the same time. A series of clicks sounded in his ear as each ignited in quick succession, the energy stored within flaring to life. There was enough, longer drone that came with them climbing up toward maximum power. He'd never fired them off with everything they had before- he figured it would be quite the show.

The duel beams of light exploded out from his hands in tandem with the first pulse of his back-mounted rockets, flashing across the sky with such brilliance that one might mistake it for the heavens opening up to reveal the pearly gates. It painted the air a deep, bright blue that bounced across the clouds like the flashes of lightning.

It certainly didn't feel like heaven when all the force of his fall was abruptly thrown back against Jaime's extended hands. There was an immediate jolt backward, his momentum all but halted as the atmosphere collided with his upper body. He let out a harsh series of grunts and curses at the force exerted on his wrists in particular. "JESUS!" He howled.

Reyes nearly panicked again when he felt himself begin to ascend back up into the sky. "Nononono- shit- fuck!" He cut the power output down to a quarter, but even then he could still feel himself starting to head up with increasing rapidity. Jaime repeatedly cut down on the power flowing to the quad-sources of thrust until he felt his momentum halt again. Eventually he was able to work himself into a hover.

He was hovering. In the air. Hundreds of feet above the ground.

Jaime was actually flying.

"YES! YES! Hahahaha- yeah!" He roared out a laugh in victory, all the tension in his body melting away to be replaced by sheer exuberance. Everything that had led up to this- the pain, the exhaustion, the rage and the grief- it was forgotten in that one, quiet moment as Reyes looked out onto the horizon. He could see for miles in every direction. Sure, there wasn't much to see out here- wherever out here was- but it was still the best feeling he had experienced in...well. Maybe ever, the more he thought about it.

Each of his arms shook and trembled as Jaime fought to keep himself stable. Both of the cannons seemed intent on sending him flying off course the moment he dropped his guard, so he was forced to pay them both a good deal of mind even as he simply hovered there for a few, precious minutes.

"Right. Well. Time to land." As much as he would like to stay in the sky forever and forget the problems of the world below, Reyes had a great deal of things he needed to do. Like find out where he was, and what had happened to Brenda and Paco- if they were even in Caulder's dungeon at all, and not just mental projections meant to keep him off balance. Jaime only hoped they were back safe and sound in Washington, probably worried sick about him. 'God, Brenda's gonna punch me in the mouth the next time she sees me.' He thought with a smile. It was probably the first time he'd looked forward to being punched in the teeth.

"Um..." He glanced around, blinking. "How am I going to get down?"
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Cowboys And Aliens: Issue #2


Warpath, Texas

Jaime Reyes had started to direct himself toward the town in search of a landing site, using the makeshift turbo engines strapped to his arms as pseudo flight sticks.

He moved with roughly the same amount of finesse as a bull charging through a China shop. With every burst forward he felt himself lurch and nearly lose control, being forced to wrestle against the force pushing up against his arms to keep from launching head first toward the desert floor. "Damn it, come on!" No amount of grumbling or growling was helping him steer any more effectively. The settlement was coming up quick, and if he didn't find something to land on, he'd accidentally end up smashing through the side of one of these buildings.

A voice carried on the wind reached his ears, nearly sending him toppling over out of surprise.

"What, who-" He caught sight of the voice's origin in roughly the same moment that it became clear enough to understand. There was a figure standing atop one of the rickety buildings, shouting about 'fellers' and 'hay' in an accent that Reyes recognized immediately. 'I'm back in Texas?' It was a lucky break, to be sure, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He'd had enough bad luck recently to last a lifetime. He was even luckier that the man had decided to help direct him instead of immediately taking pot shots at what looked like a demonic suit of bug armor straight from hell.

Following the Texan's advice, Jaime started to scan the immediate block of houses for bales of hay. It didn't take long to zero-in on a trailer stuffed from top to bottom with those giant, uncomfortable looking plumps of dead grass. He positioned himself over the trailer, hovering a good forty feet above it to keep the cannons from lighting it all ablaze. "Here goes nothing." Reyes sucked in a breath and cut off all four of his engines, letting gravity drag him down to the ground with frightening rapidity. He hit the pile with a loud thud, straw spraying out in every direction as he destroyed several layers of bales in his fall, smacking down against the trailer with enough force to pop the tires. The rest of it was either crushed underneath him, sent rolling off the side or dragged down to topple atop him.

He lay there covered in dried out hay for several seconds, tempted to simply pass out for a few hours. He was in desperate need of the recovery time after everything that had went down, and the fall straight onto his already injured back had done little to lessen the pain he was already in. Reyes might need more than sleep, the more he thought about it; he might need a doctor.

But alas it wasn't to be as the sound of plodding feet drew Reyes out of the tons of hay, his body forcing itself through the side as he rolled off the trailer and hit the dirt with a crunch. Plucks of straw remained lodged in several places along Reyes armor, refusing to come loose no matter how much he shook at it.

The man he had to thank for guiding him here was dressed head to toe like half of the men Reyes knew in El Paso, basically confirming his suspicion that he was, indeed, back home. He didn't recognize this town in particular- it looked like any number of tiny, out of the way hamlets that dotted the state's plains- but it meant he wouldn't need to worry about finding a bus ride back home dressed head to toe like a Martian invader. "Don't- don't freak out, I'm not gonna hurt ya." Reyes brought his hands up in front of him to prove he meant no harm, assuming his appearance would calm some alarm in the cowboy- though, thinking back, he'd been quick to offer him help back when he was lighting up the sky like it was the second Battle of London.

It was a bit striking to think about how desensitized most people were to the strange and the impossible these days, but he wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't the first superhuman to land in this guy's backyard. It was going to take some time to get used to the world being the way it was; hell, it'd take even more time coming to grips with the fact that he was one of the superhumans making life so difficult for everyone else.

Reyes felt obligated to introduce himself, despite the...unique circumstances of the situation. This guy was the reason he hadn't gotten himself into even more trouble by flying through someone's house or landing atop a car. "Thanks for, uh, helpin' me out back there. My name's..." Reyes went to introduce himself, only for his eyes to catch something on the horizon. "My...name's...do you- do you see that?"

He felt the blood drain from his face at the sight of it.

Jaime had the audacity to think that maybe- for just one moment, he thought that just maybe he was done with being hunted, chased and assaulted at every turn. It had finally looked like he would get a moment of peace to recuperate and rest. But he'd been wrong to think that it was over.

It stood with an eerie stillness atop a nearby hill, looking down at them with eyes full of a ravenous sort of contempt. Even at this distance, Reyes could tell that it was massive. A giant in every sense of the word with wide shoulders and a chest of rippling muscle and tight sinew, all tightly backed into an eight foot tall frame draped in the color of the midnight sky. It didn't move at all, save for the slow rise and fall of it's chest as it infected the air with it's hot, hungry breath.

'Not compatible.' The voice of the Scarab snarled, it's voice dripping heavy with an anger that gave Reyes pause.

"I think you need to go." Reyes gulped, wrapping his hands into fists. "I dunno who this guy is, but he looks like trouble."
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