Welcome to the Big City (Mel)

[Jaime "Blue Beetle" Reyes]

This just really wasn’t Jaime’s year. And it was very clear that he wasn’t very well as he shuffled down the New York City streets mumbling things to himself. Or rather it appeared as if he were talking to himself. He was in fact, talking to Khaji Da, the alien A.I. that was stuck inside of him. He had decided to try and at least take a trip to New York City to try and relax. He had never really gotten to see the city and he had heard it had some pretty nice things to it. Though so far all it had been was stressful. And it hadn’t helped to ease Jaime’s anxiety. He was still jumpy and fidgety. He looked as if he might be a druggy itching for his next fix as he walked down the road in his blue hoodie which was zipped up half-way with his hands in the pockets and sporting a blue jeans and a white shirt underneath his hoodie.


Jaime purchased a small bag of chips from a street vendor and slipped into an alley and slid down the wall onto the ground were he sat and opened his bag of chips. He wished he could calm down though to be honest it was hard with Khaji Da talking in his head. He kept trying to ignore her but she just wouldn’t shut up about the ‘objective’. Just as Jaime put in the first chip and bit in he heard a person calling for help. He looked down the alley immediately to see a taller man with a smaller man on the ground. Trust no one. Help no one. Khaji Da said in that monotone voice of hers. It still disturbed him that it was his mothers voice. It sent shivers down his spine and made the hair stand on the back of his neck. Imagine your mother telling you to kill and maim and grievously injure and disintegrate people. It’s creepy. Jaime, being the good-natured person he is, immediately ignored Khaji Da’s heeding and stood up before heading down the alley way. Jaime’s eyes moved over the downed man. “What happened to him?” Jaime inquired as he bent down over the man? “He was the last guy dumb enough to follow me down this alley,” the bigger man replied as he kicked Jaime who, being untrained in any form of combat, was knocked over hard onto his back. “Ah,” Jaime bellowed in pain!

He figured any regular person would have been hurt a lot more. But he figured Khaji Da helped him a bit. Jaime looked up at the man who had a fire ball above his right hand and a wicked smirk. He was apparently planning on robbing and killing him. Though Jaime knew he’d have a hard time with that. Anyone looking down the alleyway wouldn’t see the fire though. Only the man’s back. Hostile threat detected. Terminate. Favored tactic: Disruptor. Possible Effects: Disintegration. Possibly fatal. Jaime barred his teeth. This guy was scum, that was for sure. But he was no killer. Plus he didn’t think the street cleaners would take kindly to scraping up disintegrated criminal off the ally pavement. “No! What is with you and disintegration!” Jaime snapped probably looking like a psychopath as he say the man in front of him falter a bit as if confused though he didn’t look any less threatening or intimidating.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; border-top: 2px solid #00262A; border-left: 2px solid #00262A; border-right: 10px solid #00262A; border-bottom: 10px solid #00262A;] Melody Kaelie Bates Melody was walking around, mostly because she liked walking. It was a rare thing to see Mel in her hummer that her dad bought her. The young blonde made her way down the street with her bottle of water, she had just got done with the cheer team and was headed back to the hotel room. The young girl looked down the alley and saw what most people would pass by. She ran down the alley and up to the men. “HEY WHATS GOING ON!” the girl screamed at the man who was holding a ball of fire. That’s when she noticed it, a ball of fire. Boy did this day get worse. She made her way up to the young man that was not holding fire. “Sir are you ok?” Melody was scared but she wasn’t going to try and show it. She looked back at the man. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Picking on people you have no right to pick on. There is nothing worse on earth then bullying people. And you sir should get your butt kicked.” Melody wanted to protect this young man from this bully, even if it was a bad idea to mess with a man who was holding fire. “What would your mother say if she saw you bulling people? Would she be pleased with you? Wanting to jump people and kill them.” Melody stood in front of the man who was talking to himself. She was ok with that, there was nothing wrong with talking with yourself on occasions. . [style=width: 120px; height: 120px; text-align: center; background: #EDEDED; color: 000000; font-size: 12; float: left;] tag for Jaime Reyes. [/style]

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[Jaime "Blue Beetle" Reyes]

As Jaime began to think of what to do the last thing he expected happened. A girl came through the alleyway to his defense. From what it looked like she was a civilian. She didn’t seem to have any powers as he was sure she would have used them or been in costume. Though who was he to accuse. He had powers - sort of - and he hadn't used them yet. Nor had he armored up either. He was just on the ground there. He was a bit stunned for a moment when she asked if he was okay. It was strange being called sir. It had never happened before. He was only sixteen after all. Jaime shook it off a moment later though. Scanning . . . Vitals intact. No major injuries to the host. he heard the aggravated voice of his mother. Then he remembered it was just Khaji Da again. Jaime rubbed his back for a moment. “Uh yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” Jaime responded as he looked from the girl to the man on the ground to the man with the fire ball in his hand. He noted that the girl seemed unusually not scared of a man wielding a ball of fire. Even Jaime was freaking out a bit, which was clear, and he had the Blue Beetle Scarab. He wondered if the girl might have any powers. Apparently Khaji Da seemed to read this thought and used it’s Scarab Sight before relaying back to him the information. Female human. No powers. Threat: minimal. Male Meta-human. Mutation: Pyrokinesis. Threat: Average. He listened to the screening. He still wasn’t used to these things. It always caught him off-guard. “Uh thanks Khaji Da,” Jaime responded.

He immediately got that the girl defending him had a certain . . . distaste for bullies. Perhaps they were a pet peeve of hers. He didn’t particularly like them either. The pyrokinetic didn’t seem to like the girl much. There was a clear distaste on his face. Or was it aggravation? Maybe a little bit of both with some extra stuff sprinkled around. “Outta my way girl,” the man snarled throwing the fire ball at her before streaming a line of fire at them both. Jaime’s eyes opened wide as he thought of what to do. At the thought what to do the blue and black Blue Beetle armor surrounded him and two large fire resistant shields came from his arms. He just go in front of the girl holding up the shields around himself, the body and the girl causing the fire spread to the sides of the alleyway causing scorch marks along the side of the buildings. He really hoped he hadn’t just cost the building owners money or anything. The look on the guys face was a mix of surprise, anger and frustration. Jaime barred his teeth as he tried to think of what to do next. He had to protect the girl and fight the guy at the same time. Not to mention preserve the body of the person on the ground. He hadn’t even checked if the man was alive yet. Not to mention even if he was dead he would want the family to have something other than ashes left of him. Though he supposed if he wanted to be cremated this could save the family some expenses.

“Uh, c’mon Khaji Da! Gimme some options here! Scan somethin’ or whatever the hell it is you do! he yelled back at the scarab as the man began to fire a barrage of fire blasts at them that he blocked with his shields. Strong-Force Disruptor. Potentially fatal. Possible disintegration. Giant Laser. Fatal. Photon Blaster. Possible Permanent Blindness. Jaime gritted his teeth at the response. “These options suck! Jaime yelled impatiently. He didn’t want to kill or permanently blind the man! He wanted to stop him. His eyes moved over to the ground which he noticed was covered in dirt and dust which had built up. They he thought of something. “Uh Khaji Da can the shields be turned into rotating blades like a fan?” A moment later his question was answered as they did so and he slammed them at the ground and caused all the dirt and dust in the alleyway to blow onto the man like a miniature dust or sand storm. The sand was fighting off the fire but the man eventually decided to fly up above it and fire a stream of more fire at him. “Ay dios mio . . . this guy just won’t quit . . .” Jaime muttered to himself as he turned the fan blades into canons that blasted water at the pyrokentic who was flying by using fir as a jet propulsion.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; border-top: 2px solid #00262A; border-left: 2px solid #00262A; border-right: 10px solid #00262A; border-bottom: 10px solid #00262A;] Melody Kaelie Bates Melody’s eyes widen in fear, now this guy was trying to attack her and the boy she was trying to help was talking to himself. Ever since she got back from her trip she had been running in to crazy people. It wasn’t just the Joker running around being crazy it was a lot of people and people with powers were showing up more and she was just getting really confused. Melody closed her eyes and waited for the fire to hit her, but there was no fire, it was just nothing. Mel thought she must have been dead. Their was no way in this world that she would be alive after that. Opening her eyes she saw the boy was gone and that a hero was now in front of her. Mel looked at the other dude on the ground. She quietly moved to the man, “Sir? Are you ok.” the man didn’t reply to her, she began to worry. Thoughts ran through her head, she began to suspect he was dead and that she couldn’t do anything to save him, tuning back to the hero she couldn’t help but feel alittle more relieved, she wasn’t alone and that was always a plus. She did wonder where the other boy had gone. She wondered if he had left, that was until the hero spoke…..it was the boy….he had been the hero…..this amazed the young girl. She also wondered why he kept talking to himself, then again that was none of her business. “Get him!” Melody cheered him on from the side lines like the cheer leader she was. . [style=width: 120px; height: 120px; text-align: center; background: #EDEDED; color: 000000; font-size: 12; float: left;] tag for Jaime Reyes. [/style]

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[Jaime "Blue Beetle" Reyes]

Jaime could hear the girl checking on the man, though Jaime didn’t have the time to check himself or even look. He was caught in a battle in the air having manifested tinted blue translucent wings. Jaime’s inexperience with fighting was clear as he was barely managed to keep up with the man who had a unique fighting style of his powers mixed some kind of street brawling. Jaime hadn’t even tried to make up a fighting style. He didn’t want to be a hero. And the fact he wasn’t quiet sure what his powers made him capable of which severely handicapped his ability to use them effectively. Jaime could hear the girl cheering him on below like a cheerleader. It definitely boosted his confidence a bit. He wasn’t sure of himself. He wasn’t exactly cut out to be a hero. Or so he thought. It was nice to have someone cheering for him though. Fire scorched the side of his head only to be easily healed a moment later much to the man’s surprise. “I’m getting out of here you freak!” the man yelled as he went to fly away. Jaime looked up and manifest his arms as giant stapler like weapons and fired them. One flew by the man only for the second to pin him against the wall. As he flew up he fired two more which stopped the man from squirming around. He watched as the man tried to burn them but it was fire resistant.

Kill him Jaime Reyes,” the Scarab ordered almost monotone as it tried to form some sort of lethal weapon on his arm. “No! We’ve been over this! No lethal force,” Jaime ordered Scarab as he override it and stopped it. To Jaime’s surprise his arm formed into what looked like a large taser. He flew up to the man’s face. He was angry. This man should be ashamed of himself for what he was doing. Taking advantage of people like that. Hurting people. Stealing. “Now, then - did we learn a valuable lesson today? I like it when a valuable lesson is learned,” Jaime said rhetorically, almost jokingly but more annoyed than jovial. There was dry sarcasm in it. He saw the man building up spit in his mouth and shocked him with the taser device incapacitating him. He took the metal things off and they disintegrated into dust for some reason. He didn’t know, he didn’t care. He grabbed the knocked out man and brought him down and laid him on the ground. Then he remembered the other two. The girl and the man. Jaime turned leaving the knocked out man and eyed the girl and man. “Is he okay?”

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; border-top: 2px solid #00262A; border-left: 2px solid #00262A; border-right: 10px solid #00262A; border-bottom: 10px solid #00262A;] Melody Kaelie Bates Melody looked at the blue dude. “He needs a hospital right away. You wouldn’t happen to fly would you because I don’t.” Melody smiled a bit and was worried for the man. “what a first day in New York, I get to see a hero in action and I get to help save a mans life. Im on fire today.” The blonde looked at him. “If you cant fly I can go get my hummer its not to far from here.” The girl smiled and looked at him hoping that he had flying powers and so he could take the man with him while she drove her hummer. Melody didn’t do flights which is why she had her hummer here for her school trip seeing that she didn’t fly in airplanes she often took her hummer and the few students who could not afford plane tickets. Melody watched the boy, she was unsure of what to do. She looked down at the man who was passed out and had many wounds that needed medical attention. Looking at the man that the blue hero had stopped we should take him to the police station as well, I’m not sure they could find him way back here.” Melody’s voice was like a calm melody that pianos made when they were playing a lullaby. The girl held on to the man that was hurt. “what do we do?” she was starting to get freaked out as the man started to bleed all over her. . [style=width: 120px; height: 120px; text-align: center; background: #EDEDED; color: 000000; font-size: 12; float: left;] tag for. [/style]

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[Jaime "Blue Beetle" Reyes]

Jaime rubbed the back of his neck. He was worried. What if the guy didn’t make it? What if he wasn’t fast enough to save him? He bent down next the man as Khaji Da began to use her Scarab Sight to diagnose the man before returning the information. He really did need to get him to a hospital right away. “You’re first day too, esse? Helluva town.” Jaime picked the guy up. He wouldn’t be able to throw him over his shoulder. Then he’d get in the way of his wings. Almost as instinct Jaime immediately replied “I’m not a hero,” Jaime rubbed his face worried. “Aw man, I don’t have time to go through this,” Jaime said as he thought of the man whose life was in the balance. In his hands. Two translucent wings came out of his back. Terminate the girl. She is a threat to the mission. She has seen your face. Jamie shook his head at the monotone voice in his head. “No, Khaji Da.” Jaime backfired seemingly out of nowhere at the scarab. His eyes turned to the girl and then went straight to the pyrokinetic on the ground. “Oh, right . . . forgot about him for a moment there. Hospital, police station got it,” Jaime said nervously before he took a deep breathe. He picked up the other guy under his arm and he took off into the air.

He was going to bring the man to the hospital first but he passed over the police station on the way so he dropped off the criminal quick. He activated the booster rocket pack which came out under his translucent tinted blue wings as he flew through the sky faster than before. He was at the hospital in no time and he simply dropped him into a third story window on a bed next to a nurse. “Bad guy, robbed him, beat him up, used him as bait when he tried to rob me, bad dude was a pyrokinetic, he needs immediate help,” Jaime said fast, snappy and quick before the nurse could even get a word out. He was gone before she could say anything back. Jaime was now in the alleyway next to the hospital. “Aaaaagh,” Jaime bellowed in pain as the armor retracted into him! Jaime breathed in and out slowly. That gave him quite the scare. Seemed New York City wasn’t the place to go to relax. Definitely not a great first impression. He rolled his back down against the alleyway brick wall until he was sitting on the ground again. He needed a moment to gather himself. He really wasn’t cut out for the whole hero game.

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; border-top: 2px solid #00262A; border-left: 2px solid #00262A; border-right: 10px solid #00262A; border-bottom: 10px solid #00262A;] Melody Kaelie Bates Melody watched him take off, she then took a second to catch her breath, “a hero is someone who does what’s right my friend.” She mumbled under breath as she walked from the alley and down to her hummer. Getting in she buckled up and began to drive to the hospital to meet up with the young hero. Parking in a parking area the blonde made her way up to the front of the building and sat down. ~Mel what if this hero doesn’t show back up and he’s just gone. You should just head back to the apartment~ Melody was thinking to herself and maybe she was right, would he come looking for her? Shrugging it off melody waited besides if he didn’t come back she had nothing better to do then wait to hear about the man anyway. Soon mells mind went to something else she heard a painful sound coming from the alley. ~well hell alleys seem pretty entertaining mell why don’t we go check it out~ the blonde got to her feet and ran towards the alley she was just in time to watch the boy change, running back to her hummer she got her water bottle and headed back, walking up to the boy she offered him her bottle. “Need a drink?” Melody leaned down to the boy and looked at him. “You are brave you know, and thank you for covering my behind when I was trying to cover yours.” She smiled handing him the drink of cold water. . [style=width: 120px; height: 120px; text-align: center; background: #EDEDED; color: 000000; font-size: 12; float: left;] tag for. [/style]

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[Jaime "Blue Beetle" Reyes]

Well damn. And here he was thinking New York City was a big place. It didn’t seem to take long for this girl, whom hadn’t even been here for a full day yet, to find him. This was going to be a problem. The only people who knew his identity were his parents. Well, his sister too. And his best friends Paco and Brenda. Not to forget his grandmother and the queen pin La Dama. Peacemaker too. And Booster Gold. Wow. A lot of people knew who he was now that he thought about it. But still, they didn’t pose a potential threat by knowing. He had no idea who this girl was and he was sure she a good person, but someone he didn’t know knowing who he was didn’t sound too good. At least she didn’t know his name yet. Perhaps thinking that was what had calmed down Khaji Da who was basically throwing a temper tantrum inside his head at the moment. God he couldn’t stand Khaji Da. It was giving him a real headache.

Jaime was about to instinctively say no to Melody’s offer for water. But then he remembered he was thirty. “Yeah, thanks,” Jaime said taking the bottle and taking a sip of it. It felt good to have something to drink. And to meet someone who wasn’t trying to kill him. Which seemed the norm now. The status quo for villains and criminals seemed to be ‘attack Jaime Reyes’. IT was really tiring. He had plenty of respect for superheroes before, but he had a better respect and understanding of what they had to go through. Albeit he still thought the whole ‘not telling your loved ones’ thing was pretty damn stupid. Y’know unless you were a teenage mutant who’s parents utterly despised mutants. That was pretty much the only valid excuse he could think of. Jaime was practically taken aback by her thanking. IT seemed out of character for the universe. He had saved the universe and all of the heroes asses from Brother Eye and what thanks did he get? The Justice League was attempting to take his life! Or well, the Green Lantern Corps. But they were associated and the member who attacked was a part of the Justice League. “Thanks. Seems like you’re the only one who appreciates it lately,” Jaime said before realizing his response. “Sorry about that, I’m just . . . Really stressed lately. Let’s leave it at that.”

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Melody smiled. “I’m sure there are others out their who appreciate it. I’v just always been a nerd about heroes.” The girl remembered the first time she saw batman. How he rescued the people and how Nightwing was at his side with the rest of Bat-family. Then her watched beeped, it was about time to head back to the hotel where she would meet up with her class. “It was nice meeting you but I have to go find my class. I don’t want to be late for dinner. If you want you can come along, im sure the other students wouldn’t mind.”

Melody was always a polite girl and she loved making friends. Walking to her car she looked around. This was going to be hard. She had no clue how to get around the NY. It was a big town and she was a small human. Letting a sigh of annoyance come out of her mouth she stared at the car. “I hate driving. I would rather walk.” Unlocking the car she wondered when a good time to get in would be. Seeing her car was on the side of the road and it was busy she really didn’t feel like getting ran over.

“Melody you should have just stayed in Gotham, it would have been safer and you could have walked.” Steping out in to the street to get in her car a truck blared his horn and now the blonde was staring down a simi that wasn’t going to stop.