Post by The Wonderful Wachter on Aug 1, 2012 18:18:06 GMT -5
Ultimate Brave and the Bold Annual #1
Next Season On Brave and the Bold…
Blue Screened
Next Season On Brave and the Bold…
Blue Screened
Hub City, Michigan
More than a year had passed since Jaime had the misfortune – oooow!! – fine, lucky fortune with a cherry on top of bonding with the Blue Beetle Scarab. A lot had happened in that year. He’d become a household name. He had action figures and corporate sponsors. His father’s business was no longer in danger of going under and he had more than enough money for a college fund. Heck, because of his tutoring during the off-season, he’d passed enough courses to already be considered a senior. Sure, he was missing out on all the fun times in a High School classroom but he was happy to do without all the bullying.
Yet it hadn’t been all fun and games.
Seigelville had been rocked to its very foundations, in part, thanks to his mentor Ted Kord. The Scarlet Scarab still gave Jaime waking nightmares. He’d stare at his reflection in the mirror and wonder if his own scarab would take over his body. Was he in danger of never having a peaceful death? Would he die too and become a puppet…
Jaime shook his head. It wouldn’t do to dwell too much on it. The Scarab didn’t appreciate that line of thinking.
Then there was the subject of their losses. Kalvin had vanished for over three months before showing up last Jaime had heard, in breach of contract, in Coast City after his kidnapping. Kate had spit in Ted’s face… And then there had been the Twins and Booster… They were lucky to be back for a second season at all. In fact, Ted was lucky still be walking around free and to have a business. But he had found a great partner and one helluva producer to pitch the second season.
Brave and the Bold was going international. World sanctioned heroes… Sponsored by both nations and corporations. It was like the Superhero Olympics except lives were still at stake. But hey, they still would get gold medals. Booster Gold that is.
Jaime chuckled at his own joke, aware that the Scarab was groaning. Little parasite was developing quite the personality. But it didn’t matter. Booster would have appreciated the joke.
So yup. Jaime had been a hero for more than a year, most of it spent as the sole protector of Seigelville and a few other southern cities when needed. Hard to believe he was now considered a veteran. That he was up for consideration for team leader despite his age.
Leader… that’d be cool.
White eyes stared at him from across the RB 002’s cabin. It was the face of a devil, horns and all though it wasn’t quite the western interpretation of a devil. He wore vibrant blue and gold samurai robes over unusually hued – okay, who was Jaime to judge – blue skin. Probably the second bluest hero next to Jaime. His face was that of a demon with two large white horns sticking out of his forehead and a strange goatee made of fire. He was what do you call it… An Oni? Akuma?
“What the heck is a Shinigami?” Jaime asked the Scarab after it brought up the data on his companion.
The devil looked up, startled. “How do you know what I am, Beetle-senpai?”
“Uh… just a guess.” A year later and he still didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when talking to himself.
“In answer to your question, a Shinigami is a death spirit. Much like your Grim Reaper,” the azure demon explained in flawless English. “It… it is what I have become… though not by choice,” he hastened to add at the end. As if the thought of working with a grim reaper would scare Jaime. Well, he was right but couldn’t let that show now could he?
“That sounds cool, I guess. Does that mean you know when people will die?”
“Yes, Beetle-senpai.”
“Okay… not so cool. That must suck.”
“It does.”
Jaime met those inhuman eyes so full of remorse and longing. Well… maybe a change of subject was in order. “So, um, I… uh…” the teen stammered, “I read in your dossier that you used to be a stuntman. That must have been fun.”
“It was.” The man looked down at his feet, horns pointing uncomfortably towards Jaime. “But as you can see, there is not much need for the Ao no Oni in that line of work.”
“Blue Orge?” He looked nothing like Shrek.
“Correct once again, Beetle-senpai,” his smile couldn’t help but be sinister when he glanced up. It was just the way his face had been built. “Though I believe they will market me as Blue Devil. Something about Orges being too friendly in western culture.”
“Ha. Was just thinking that. So, think we’ll be a team?”
“Perhaps.”
“Listen up, boys,” a voice with mechanical overtones interrupted their discussion. Entering the compartment was another armored figure. Not part of the cast. Just another faceless member of The Reach. The blue and silver plates sparkled in the dim lighting. “We’re approaching the drop zone. We’re not stopping.” The figure waited expectantly for the obvious question. Neither hero offered one. “Your target calls himself Film Freak. Petty criminal who wastes his abilities in stealing electronic goods.”
“Awesome,” Jaime hacked into the RB 002’s data feed wirelessly instead of wasting brain power listening to the grunt. No way around it, he didn’t like The Reach. And the Scarab most certainly did not. Felt like a violation that there were copies of himself wandering around out there. “See you ground side then.”
Jaime hopped up out of his seat, startling the soldier. Film Freak’s abilities sounded interesting and it’d been awhile since he had a chance to properly stretch his wings. He glanced over his shoulder before popping open the airlock. “Need a ride?”
Blue Devil smiled that sinister grin that seemed to stretch all the way to his horns. “I have my own ways.”
With a slight pop and startling flash, Blue Devil vanished into blue fire.
“Awww. How come I never get the cool powers?” With those words on his lips, he slammed open the door and dove into the night sky, leaving behind a stammering Reach soldier talking about ‘I wasn’t done debriefing…’
---
Film Freak called a closed down store his villainous lair. From the looks outside, it used to be a Circuit City. Large. Easy to hide in back when it had merchandise… And yet, Jaime’s sensors were picking up high EMF readings and it was drawing power like it was a 24/7 rave. Only one life sign inside… calm heartbeat. Blue Devil wasn’t there yet.
Front doors were booby trapped. Beetle circled around quickly until he found a suitable entry point. It was a wall on the south side littered with graffiti. He transformed his arm into cannon with the focus point of a laser scalpel. The tight beam cut an arched doorway for Jaime to kick open. But he didn’t kick it open. He had learned quite a bit in his past year. With the heartbeat on the other side of the store, it called for a more subtle approach. His arm cannon transformed again and a grappling hook snapped onto the brick. He retracted the line slowly. Quietly.
Ha.
Wildcat would have got himself blown up with the front door and probably thought Jaime should do the same. Nope. Super spy time.
He slipped in unnoticed and found the source of the strange readings… “That’s a lot of TVs.” Wall-to-wall, ceiling to floor… Every surface was covered with television screens, from fifty year old TVs that emitted only static to the latest in Kord Electronics roll-screens that you could take with you anywhere and flatten on any surface for on the go HD service.
Movies… Television shows… Anime… All were playing. A cacophony of flickering light. No sound… Wait… He heard laughter.
Blue Beetle took one step.
Every TV turned to one channel.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” He blasted the closest screens without hesitation, paving a path halfway through the store.
”Now, now, Blue Beetle, is that any way to treat a fan?” The TVs asked him, the voice echoing about eerily. They showed a single man. Middle-aged and slightly paunchy with no hair on the top of his head yet a fine line of gray around it.
“Film Freak…”
“Right you are,” Film Freak laughed. ”Though I lied about being your fan…” TV sets began to flicker. ”I much preferred the second Blue Beetle.”
Like something out of the Ring… hideous, statically beings started to crawl out of the screens. It took him a moment for Jaime to realize just who they were… Ted. Film Freak was going to attack him with copies of his predecessor.
Not.
Jaime released a massive EM Pulse to disable all electronics in his vicinity. As one, all the televisions shorted out and the pale imitations of Ted vanished without incident. Now that was easy. However, something was wrong… He couldn’t detect a heartbeat anymore from farther inside the abandoned store.
“No, no, no… The file didn’t say he had a pacemaker.” Wings sprouted from Beetle’s back as he prepared to dash to the heartbeat’s last location.
“He did not, Beetle-senpai.”
Jaime spun around to find Blue Devil standing behind him with a spear of light in one hand and the unconscious Film Freak at his feet. “Whu… How?”
“It was a duplicate.”
“Whu… How?” Jaime repeated.
“He had no death date.” There was that creepy smile again. The one that stretched all the way to his horns.