B1 (Blue Beetle X OC): The Unordinary

Chapter 27: Kidnapping, emphasis on the kid

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Chloe's POV

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I leaned my head on Jaime's shoulder as I looked at Artemis' hologram, and tried my best to ignore Bart crunching on Chicken Whizees. Finally, we all looked at him. 'We' being me, Jaime, Gar, Tim, and of course, Bart. "Uhhh, sorry. Mourning makes me hungry." Bart says. Jaime grabs him by the shirt and drags him away. I followed shortly after. "You stole those freeze-dried Chicken Whizees from my locker, didn't you?" Jaime accused Bart. "And the Pop Tarts! You've been eating all of them!" I complain. "Hey, hey, hey! Where I come from, it's not stealing, it's scavenger rights." Bart states.

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "The point is, we don't have Chicken Whizees in my era. So blame Kid Flash, he got me hooked." Bart says. "Leave it to Wally to teach you to raid a fridge." I say as I cross my arms. "Forget I asked." Jaime says as he throws a hand over his face. Bart looks around. "So why is this here? It's pretty and everything, but these people are heroes! In the line of duty and all that! They deserve giant statues, big, crash, memorials! In the Hall of Justice, or something." Bart says as he gestures to all the holograms.

"Yeah, I asked that too. Captain Atom says the League doesn't want or need a public shrine to its fallen. But I dunno, it seems to me like they don't wanna advertise that we're not immortal." Jaime says as he looks at the holograms. "Pathetic." I mutter. "The handful of regular people who have seen me in action, they think I'm this guy in a new costume! The world will never know about Ted Kord's sacrifice." Jaime says as he gestures to the former Blue Beetle's shrine.

Bart grins. "But you know! And you're carrying on the fabulous Blue Beetle tradition, right?" Bart exclaims. "I wish! It's such a total rip! Superboy has Superman, Wonder Girl has Wonder Woman, Robin has Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl! You've been in this era like, what, five minutes and already you have three Flash mentors! One who feeds you junk food!" Jaime angrily rants. I kick a rock on the ground and zone out for the rest of their conversation.

I think about John, and Hal. Hal mostly. I hoped that he was alright, but there's not like there was anything I could do. John was still on trial in Rimbor, so he couldn't offer any news about him. I could only hope that both were okay. "Clo! You coming?" I hear Bart call and I look up to see him and Jaime walking away. "Wait up!" I yell as I run after. "Great! Either of you got any money?" Bart says. "Nope." I say. We both look at Jaime with eager smiles, and he sighs.

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"Today's the day isn't it?" I ask Dick as we look at intel in the mission room. It was two days later. Doom Day for the cave. "Yup. Sorry Clo, but you're going to need to get anything you need." Dick says. I sigh and look around. "This is going to be hard, Dick. Are you sure we need to go this far?" I said. Dick placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Chloe. You might want to get suited up. Pack anything you need." He said. I sighed, nodded, then left the room. I made my way to my bedroom, and shut the door. I grabbed some pictures and my phone, and put it in the explosion proof box Dick had given me, in hopes that it would work.

Then, I zeated to the zeta tube closest to Jaime's house. I knock on the door, and Mrs. Reyes answers. "Chloe! How are you, carina?" She asks as she shuts the door. "Hola, Mrs. Reyes." I say as she brings me into a hug before I can answer anything else. "Go, go! He's upstairs." She said as she waves me off, and I nod and head upstairs. "Chloe! Look, look!" I hear a small voice say. I turn to see Milagro poking her head out of her room, holding a piece of paper. "What is it?" I ask as she hands it to me.

"It's for you!" I say as I study the drawing. Maybe a flower? Or a turtle? "Thank you so much, it's amazing," I say as I squat down and wrap her in a hug. "I gotta go, but I'll see you later." I say as I continue walking down the hallway, to Jaime's room. Once I get in there, I flop on the bed next to him. "So what are we doing today?" I ask as he wraps an arm around me. "Anything but history." He says as he throws his textbook towards his nightstand, but it lands in the trash can. "10 points to Gryffindor. Must suck, going to school." I say as I wiggle my eyebrows, and he rolls his eyes, but smiles.