Blue Beetle (1) Checkmate

Dan Garrett

2010

Blue Vally

The sun shone bright in Blue Valley. The birds chirped and flowers bloomed. Ted Kord walked up to  the massive lab in the centre of town. Ted was fresh out of university, having studied abroad at Cambridge, and was now going to work for his uncle's company. He had interned there a few times during his trips back to Blue Valley during the breaks in his semesters. He walked through the narrow hallways as scientists passed him by welcoming him on his first day. He made it to the office of his uncle, Jarvis Kord. As he entered the office Jarvis was talking to a man, he had a luxurious blue suit, a designer red tie and polished shoes. His hair slicked back, teeth whitened, and tinted black shades surrounded his tanned complexion. He turned to face Ted, instantly he knew who it was.
"Teddy!" Maxwell Lord stated as he turned with his arms stretched out. He walked over to him wrapping him in a hug which Ted returned. They both smiled as they broke the hug, Ted moving to a seat as Maxwell and his uncle finished up their conversation. Max left saying goodbye to both Jarvis and Ted leaving the uncle and nephew alone. Jarvis walked to the front of his desk before offering a hug to his nephew. Ted accepted the hug as his uncle welcomed him to the team. Moments later two more men walked into the office. One looked a similar age to Ted and had a sticker on his blue blazer that read 'Ton'. The other was a tall man, standing at about six feet tall. He had brown hair blue eyes, he had a blue lab coat on and a golden wedding ring around his finger.
"Ted this is my partner Dan Garrett" Jarvis stated stretching out his arm to point at Dan. "And this is his student Ton" Jarvis continued. Ted shook hand with Dan and Ton as he smiled.
"Thank you for giving me this opportunity" Ted stated looking at the two older men in the room. They left the office as Dan and Jarvis showed them around the lab. It had amazing equipment and a brilliant setup. Ted's mouth remained open in amazement throughout the entire tour. The tour finally ended as they got to Dan's office. Ted and Ton were sent to meet up with some of the other scientists and help them with their current project. Once the Ted and Ton had left Jarvis turned to Dan.
"So you said you found it?" Jarvis questioned as Dan sat down on his chair. Dan nodded pulling out a map and spreading it across his desk. It was a map of the city of Pompeii. Dan pointed to the massive volcano on the island.
"That's where the relic is" Dan stated with excitement in his voice. Jarvis smiled back rolling up the map. "So who should we take on this expedition?" Dan asked. Jarvis turned looking at the scientists working in the lab. His eyes focused on Ted and Ton who were mixing some chemicals together.
"What about are protégés?" Jarvis asked turning back to look at Dan. Dan gave Jarvis a confused look.
"Are you sure they are ready for this?" Dan asked his voice changing to a serious but lighthearted tone. Jarvis nodded with a smile.

Private Jet

Dan, Jarvis, Ted and Ton sat on the company's privet jet as they flew to the city of Pompeii. They flew above the clouds and over the crashing crystal blue sea. They chatted amongst each other working out what they would do when they get there. As the jet got closer to the island it started to slow down. The land of Pompeii became viable out of the windows. The ground was burnt and covered in a overload of hardened lava. The jet was still able to land a private strip being allocated to the company. They got of the plane Ted and Ton carrying the gear for their mentors. The landmarks of the past were crumpled and fractured as the four men walked through the city. They head straight for the volcano, the relic they were looking for hiding within the depths. The rocks crumbled beneath their feet as they scaled up the jagged side of the volcano as they slowly reached the top. At the top the volcano the resting lava eroded heat, the sweat starting to fall down the four men's heads. They found an entrance that led reaper into the volcano the heat rising the further they went down into the bowls. The walls were rough and jagged with burn marks covering them. They came to a structure hallway down the trail. It blended in with the walls around it but it had something sticking out of it.
"The relic!" Jarvis exclaimed excitedly, running over to the wall and wiping the dust away from it. He smiled as he pulled out a chisel and started to break it out of the wall. "Once we sell this to Max Lord we are going to be rich" Jarvis stated still excited.
"What?" Dan asked abruptly causing Jarvis to stop. Jarvis turned to look at Dan. "I thought we were giving this to the museum not to Max" Dan stated anger starting to rise in his voice.
"Come on Dan. Max is going to give us a lot more then the museum. Don't you want to be rich Dan?" Jarvis asked with a mischievous smile on his face.
"Not like this" Dan stated folding his arms in defiance. Jarvis nodded, gesturing for Dan to collect the relic. As Dan stepped forward Jarvis pulled out a gun, shooting Dan in the back. Dan fell over the side of the walkway as Jarvis turned to Ted and Ton. He pointed the gun at them before demanding they mine out the relic.
"No!" Ted stated stubbornly standing in front of Ton.
"Stupid boy" Jarvis hissed as he fired another shot of his gun. As the bullet travelled towards Ted, Ted closed his eyes. He opened the seconds later looking down, to his surprise there was no bullet hole. He look in front of him seeing a dark blue shield. The shield disappeared returning to it originator. The three men looked to their side. Over the edge hovered Dan. He had a dark blue armour on, his face was covered with a blue masked that covered his eyes, the lens glowing a bright yellow. The hands of the armour were a bright yellow and beetle like wings attached to his back helping his float above the massive drip beneath him. Jarvis looked at Dan in shock before unloading the rest of the ammo in the gun on Dan. Dan pulled his hands together recreating the shield. The shield blocked every shot as he floated down in between the three men. As Jarvis stood there terrified the island started to shake. Hot lava started to shoot up spraying onto the walkway they stood on. The walkway cracked as The part Jarvis stood on collapsed under his feet, plummeting him into the darkness below. Ted and Ton started to run but the ground started to break under their feet as well. As the ground became no more they felt themselves be lifted up. Dan had picked the up and was flying them to the entrance of the cave. As they reached to entrance the top started to crumble. Dan noticed the breaking of the entrance throwing Ted and Ton through as the rocks fell over him. Ted and Tim landed on the warm rocks of the volcano. The entrance to the cave was completely covered over. In between the rock was the glimmer of a yellow hand. Ted rushed over pulling the hand revealing Dan. Dan's amour had been destroyed, patches of his skin peering through the holes in his armour. Once Ted fully pulled out Dan he saw the reason Dan was so still. He had a massive sharpened rock pierced through his stomach. Dan's eyes opened pain coursing through his body. He turned to look at Ted. He pointed to his back as he started to cough up blood. Ted looked at Dan's back seeing a blue object that was in the shape of a beetle. It was wrapped around Dan's body it's legs coming over his shoulders and around his waist.
"Protect the Scareb" Dan stated as he pressed a button on his armour before he closed his eyes for a final time. The Scareb detached itself from Dan falling to the ground. Ted picked it up holding it in his hands as an aircraft appeared above Ted and Ton. It shot down a beam teleporting the two up. The aircraft was blue and in the same shape as the Scareb. The ship shot them back to Blue Valley, it landing in a secret storage facility below the lab. Ted and Ton got out of the ship walking back to Dan's office. Ton looked at the Scareb that Ted still had a firm grip of.
"What are you going to do with that?" Ton asked pointing to the Scareb. Ted looked panicked. He looked around the room seeing an opened safe. He rushed over putting the Scareb inside and locking the safe. "Do you know the code to that?" Ton asked. Ted shook his head before leaving the building.

A few days later

Ted lay in bed with his girlfriend Melody Case. He was relaxed when they heard a knock at the door of his apartment. Ted walked out in his sleeping shorts opening the door to a man in a suit.
"Hello Mr Kord" the man said extending his hand for Ted to shake. Ted shook the hand of the man asking him what he wanted. The man handed Ted some papers. "Since your uncle has been missing for an extended amount of time the police have announced him as dead. Therefor his will has been read and since he has no children of his own he has named you the new owner of Kord Industries" the man stated handing Ted a pen. "Sign here please" he asked pointing at the bottom of the paper. Still in shock Ted signed the papers not realising what this meant. Before he realised the man snatched the papers off him and left.
"Who was that babe?" Melody asked as she walked out of the bedroom yawning and stretching in the doorway. Ted confused and worried didn't answer.