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thejusticelounge2012-08-10 11:28 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2012-08-10 11:28 am
mr green sings the el paso blues
Guy turned Jason loose on the unwitting town of El Paso with instructions to meet him back there in one hour, then continued on to the address Kyle had sent him. There had to be the slightest chance the scarab-thing had healed, or woken, and Jaime could help them locate Roy. Again. He changed into plain clothes and knocked on the door.
Jaime’s father opened the door first, recognizing Gardner from their last encounter. Calling Jaime to come out of his room was easy enough as he invited the other male inside. “Yeah dad?” Jaime asked, looking from his father to Guy before frowning. “Uuhhh, I didn’t do it,” he said automatically.
That earned him a smile from Guy, which he shared with the boy’s father. “Thanks, Mr. Reyes,” he nodded. “Jaime, can we talk privately?”
Jaime and his father shared a look before the young hero was nodding his head and waving Guy to follow him. “Sure, we’ll just go to my room.”
“Nice room,” Guy said politely, as the door shut behind him.
“Sorry it’s not exactly a cool hideout or Batcave like all you grown ups have.” He joked, intoning a hint of sarcasm unit as he crossed his arms and looked over Guy. “So, what’s up?”
Guy nodded, “Right, I’ll just cut to the chase. Roy’s missing again, this time, we think intentionally. I was hoping you could help me track him down, but Kyle said your scarab might still be out of commission?”
Jaime shifted on his feet, uncomfortable about that whole mission because of what happened. Hearing someone else speak like it was nothing to lose Khaji just stabbed at his heart. But he was so good at covering the emotions that nothing showed on his face except the nervous surprise. “What? Really? Again…sheesh, you guys must have a leash or something. He can’t have gone far.”
“But you’re right. Khaji is out of commission. He has been since…well a week ago after the things that happened in Tibet.”
The Lantern shook his head, “Sorry to hear that. I wish Ted were still around, he used to be amazing with repairs, though I don’t think the scarab worked for him the way it does for you. In fact, I know it didn’t, back in the day.” He slid his hands in his pockets, frustrated that there would be no simple way to track Roy down this time, perhaps not until they were facing off against him as a Red Lantern. Guy shuddered at that thought, and pushed it out of his mind.
“If you see or hear from him, Jaime, don’t even try to engage him, okay? Just contact any of the Green Lanterns, we’ll come. And be careful, he’s gotten very manipulative, if he gives you a story, don’t buy it.”
His innocent baby eyes flashed with understanding as Guy spoke of Ted Kord. He also knew full well that something just wasn’t right with Kyle’s friend when they went after him. “I’ll do my best to keep an eye out. And um…so you were close with Ted? I know he didn’t have powers but…do you think…” He looked away, then, biting his lower lip as he shook his head, “Nevermind.”
Guy blinked at the boy, hands still in his pockets, and he shrugged and gestured with his chin. “Go on,” he encouraged, trying not to seem impatient, “I’m listening.” ‘I’m listening’; it seemed he was saying that an awful lot lately. Why was Kyle the only one who ever seemed to say it back?
Jaime didn’t like opening up. Not to strangers, not to anyone that wasn’t family, but he had to know. He wanted an outside opinion. “Do you think he’ll wake up? Khaji I mean? Is this…is this really how he’s going to leave me?” As soon as he said it, his eyes watered and he blinked back the unshed tears. He had to look away then, hating that he was getting emotional. He hadn’t had a hug in God knows how long, but usually Khaji was there to comfort him. But now, he wasn’t. He felt like such a little kid.
Guy wasn’t expecting that. The kid who he’d really only met a few times before, who had been hanging around Kyle easily enough but had gotten off on a bad foot with Guy, seemed suddenly very…fragile. “Khaji…” Guy repeated. Kyle had used that word: it must have been Ted’s scarab, Jaime must have named it. “It’s…wait, the scarab ain’t a machine? You’re sayin’ it’s living?”
The boy blinked at that. How many people had he told now? He couldn’t remember, but his brain said it was okay because Guy was a Lantern and he’d understand. “Of course he’s alive, I mean..symbiotic. That’s what it’s called here. He’s not just alien tech from the Infiltrators invasion, he’s a real being with feelings and emotions and I just—” Jaime stopped, realizing he was rambling as he shut up and bowed his head.
Quickly Guy realized that not only was Ted’s old scarab alive, but it meant a great deal to the boy. He was mourning the loss, even if it was temporary one. He reached out his hand and squeezed Jaime’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured with the same tone he used on many an occasion when there was a crisis or tragedy surrounding his friends. “I had no idea the scar- I mean Khaji - was alive.” He guided Jaime to sit down on the bed, and sat with him. “You must be really worried about your friend.”
Jaime wrung his hands together, “I—this has never happened before. I’m so worried that I don’t know what to do, or how to help when I’ve gotten so…useless.”
His heart went out to the kid, and his hand went back to the boy’s shoulder, “Hey, now. The first thing you need to know is, you’re not useless: not to the League, not to yer family and friends, and especially not to Khaji. If he’s got feelin’s and is symbiotic with you, as ya say, then he’s dependin’ on ya to be the strong one right now. I’ll bet he can sense yer thoughts, right?”
Jaime gave Guy a look and leaned into the comfort, giving a little sigh. “I just…what am I supposed to do? I mean…how…how do I be strong for anyone when it feels like everything is crashing down?”
He instinctively put his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Ya believe. Ya hope. Ya have faith that Khaji is strong, and is going to heal, and come back to you. Ya think about plans for when he’s back an’ yer together again.” He gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You hang onto those thoughts, kid, as hard as ya can, an’ ya don’t let the crashin’-down feelin’s get their way or crowd them out.”
Jaime swallowed, nodding and resting his head in Guy’s chest. “You’re right… yeah… you’re right… he can hear me so he knows I’m fighting… knows I’m fighting…” he squeezed his hands together.
Guy continued to provide the comforting human contact this kid so desperately and obviously needed. He could imagine the situation easily: parents who didn’t quite know how to contend with a child with super-powers, much less know how to support him through this crisis. That was even assuming he’d even told them about the current situation with Khaji. There might even be a part of them that was a little hopeful that the scarab remained asleep, and their son could return to living a normal, routine life that wasn’t fraught with dangerous hero work. Jaime needed the support of people who understood right now, more than ever.
“So if he can hear ya, and he knows yer thoughts, what do you want to say to him, right now?” he asked gently.
Jaime looked down, swallowing hard as he nodded and tried not to cry when Guy asked him what he wanted to say to Khaji. His breathing got hard, and he started tearing up, “I just want him to be okay…”
“Jaime?” he said softly, “It’s safe to let it out. It’s safe here, kiddo…” he rubbed the boy’s shoulder gently. The kid needed a damn good cry, and soon.
“No. No,” he shook his head, pushing away because he doesn’t want to cry. There’s no point in crying now. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry. You’re busy… I’m taking up your time you could be spending on your search.”
The moment the boy pushed away, Guy released him. Part of allowing him to feel it was safe to express his grief was also him knowing he wasn’t trapped, physically or otherwise. “Don’t worry about that right now, Jaime. This time the search is gonna take a lot longer; Roy doesn’t want to be found.” He twisted a little to face the boy better, “Right now, this minute, I think you need a friend a lot more than Roy needs a space cop.”
Shyly, Jaime bowed his head and felt the need to crawl into something. “…I just want my friend back. Do you…you know what that’s like? Just. Wanting to take someone back from well…something bad?”
Guy’s thoughts immediately went to Hal, and his descent into being taken over by Parallax. Then he thought of what he went through when he learned Tora had died, and he and Bea had tried to lead her back out of the depths of Hell, only to fail in the attempt. And then there was Kyle, lifeless, his ring flying off his hand in search of a new Green Lantern for Sector 2814…
“Yeah, kid,” he answered just barely above a whisper, “I know.” He cautiously reached out again, this time only touching Jaime’s arm, to let him know he wasn’t alone. “Y’know somethin’, though? I just thought of the three closest people to me in my life, an’ how at one point or another, I lost ‘em. I was damned lucky…I got ‘em all back again.” Except Ted Kord. Ted wasn’t coming back.
Jaime nodded, swallowing hard as he kept trying to convince himself that Guy was right. Khaji would come back. He had to come back. “No, yeah…okay, you’re right… he’s gotta come back. He has to… he will,” he nodded resolutely.
The man next to him nodded solemnly, “I’m sure of it. After all, he’s gone through a lot to protect an’ defend ya, and of all the people he could have chosen, he chose you. So, ya must mean a helluva lot to him, right? He’s gonna fight to come back to ya.”
“Well I can’t really say he chose me on purpose… I mean, half the time we’re fighting and it’s not like he has to stay with me. He can find someone better. You know? But he stayed and that’s… it means something to me. Just like he means something to me. But I don’t… I worry. Worry so much.”
“Kid… do you have any idea how much me an’ Kyle fight?” Guy smiled warmly at that, and chuckled a little, “Stayin’ is everything, and so is worryin’. Just means ya care about each other, like brothers, ya know? Best friends, forever.”
He took a deep breath, nodding. “Yeah. That… I guess that’s what friends do huh?” he looked up at him, a small smile spreading over his face, breathing easier now.
“Big time. Everythin’ yer feelin’ right now? It’s because he’s yer best friend. Ya just keep remindin’ yerself he can hear ya, and ya tell him you’re there for him. You, kiddo, are the most powerful thing in Khaji’s world right now, an’ that ain’t helpless, that’s everythin’, buddy,” he smiled, glad to bring the boy back into a positive frame of mind. “Hey, you were asking me earlier about Ted Kord?”
“Oh, yeah..I didn’t—well, he didn’t have any powers yet he still kept Khaji close and was a hero with everyone…how?”
Guy smiled and looked up at the ceiling, fond memories coming back to him of Ted with Michael, and their crazy stunts. He wished he hadn’t been brain-damaged back then, so he could have appreciated them more at the time, even joined in. He certainly would have been a better friend to Ted.
“Kid, let me tell ya about Ted Kord. He was the smartest man I ever met, even smarter than Batman.” He glanced down at Jaime, “Yeah, I said it. Smarter than even the almighty Bat himself. Ted was humble, too, didn’t show off his smarts or rub people’s noses in it. He invented everythin’ he carried in his arsenal of gadgets an’ stuff, an’ he could fight. Most of all? He knew how to laugh, and when. Back in the JLI, he an’ Booster Gold would pull the craziest shi-…er…stunts.”
Jaime enjoyed hearing stories about the old Blue Beetle, mostly ones where he was liked among others. A part of Jaime wished he could be the same, and he wanted to be just as smart as Ted: maybe not enough to make things, but he and Khaji could work better if he understood half the things he said. He always felt like a bother when he had to get Khaji to explain something to him. But his main reason for asking was to see if he could be like the others. Could he be as good as Ted Kord? He didn’t have powers, and look what happened to him.
“It’s okay to curse, I probably do it more than you, plus the Spanish,” he grinned jokingly, feeling warm inside from the story. “He sounds great…Michae—I mean Booster, gets um, drunk sometimes and talks about him a lot. Sometimes I feel bad ‘cus I’m not the Beetle he wants…”
He was rewarded with a sad smile and a tousling of his hair. “Kid, I know Booster wouldn’t want you to feel bad for that. It wasn’t the costume Michael was close to, it was the person wearing it, an’ no one can replace him, or should even try.” Guy made a mental note to have a beer with Booster one of these days, and catch up with him. It had been too long since they’d last talked.
“No one can replace you either, ya know. You’ve got a lot of things going for ya that Ted didn’t. And you’re like him in all the ways that count most: ya believe in what we’re doing, ya got the backs of your teammates, and we can count on ya when it matters most. That was Ted, in a nutshell.”
“He sounds nice,” he whispered, having always been the type to just get the whole picture and sum it up into something simple. He swallowed again though when the silence again fell over them and he wondered if it would be awkward to hug the other man. Ah screw it. He’s crazy enough already that he may seem normal to Guy. Reaching up he tugged Guy down, squeezing him in his arms and whispering, “Thank you..for everything.”
Guy took the hug and returned it tightly, relieved the kid could hug. It was a clear sign he’d done some good; if nothing else, Jaime knew there were people - particularly adults - could turn to in a personal crisis. “You’re welcome, Jaime. Anytime ya need someone to talk to, ya can reach me by yer League communicator, ya know. I know they tell ya it’s for official use, but that’s total crap; we all call each other for whatever, all the time. An’ the Zeta pad is right over our apartment. Doors, and ears, they’re always open to ya.”
“Well that sounds great Guy. Maaaan and here I was thinking you’d be an asshole about well…you know..me being a whiny little punk.” he smiled, pulling away to sit back on his heels. “Guess it’s more fun when you’ve got friends that treat you…like equals.”
Guy rose and gave him a smirk, “If you were acting like a whiny little punk, then I’d treat ya like one, kid…but you were acting like ya needed a friend,” he stuck his hand out to clasp the young man’s hand in a bro-grip, “So, ya got one.”
Jaime blinked and he gave a wide smile, shaking as best as he could with Guy’s hand. “Oh jeez. Getting friendly with a Lantern. What would Khaji say?” he laughed nice and warm.
“All the more incentive for him to get better and wake up, right?” Guy shook then released his hand, moving towards the door, “He’s gotta stop ya from consortin’ with Team Green! I’ve gotta meet with Jason, now, but keep me an’ Kyle posted on Khaji, okay?”
“Yeah. You’re right,” he stood to walk Guy out. “Thanks again for helping me out with…my emotions. And I’ll definitely keep you on speed dial. No worries.”
Guy nodded, gave him a John Wayne salute, put on his aviator sunglasses, and headed down the street as any normal person might, until he was several blocks from Jaime’s home. It wasn’t until then he ringed on his uniform, and flew off to meet with Jason.
“Jay?” called out quietly into the alley where he’d agreed to rendezvous with Jason earlier. He could have used his ring to locate Jason by the ring-copy he’d given him, but only as a last resort. He’d created it and given it to Jason for his protection, not as a tracking device. The Guardians might have a problem with it being in Jason’s hands, but Guy felt it was a bigger crime to show the young man such overt distrust.
“Jason?”
Jay rubbed his knuckles, just a little twitchy, like a greyhound scenting a rabbit. “Yeah, Guy?” he stepped out of the shadows, surprising the Lantern. “… You didn’t get anything out of the Beetle kid?”
Guy shook his head and picked Jason up on a beam of energy, flying off in a north-easterly direction towards Bludhaven. “He can’t help us for now. Khaji, his scarab is still dormant, so we’ll have to look for Roy the hard way.”
Jay shook himself, going still at the glow of energy . “Good ol’ footwork. Where to then, old man?” No wait, Roy would have… he swallowed down the disappointment and the hurt that Roy didn’t want to talk to him, at all, anything to do with him, and focussed, trying to clear his mind. “Dick’s place. He mighta left some clues.”
“That’s what I’m thinkin’ too. An’ while we’re at it, I wouldn’t mind being able to track down Dick, as well. He should at least be keepin’ in touch with Damian; you, you’re old enough to understand he needs some time away, but Damian’s just a kid, an’ he tends to draw conclusions that are pretty harsh, y’know?”
Jay looked down; the ground was filtered green and moving fast. “He texts me. Last I heard he’s in France, with a little detour for his personal stalker. He hasn’t been talking to the kid?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” he side-eyed Jason a little guiltily, “I’ve been away a week, an’ Kyle mentioned he hadn’t heard from him, so I guess I just drew my own conclusions,” he sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose. “So fill me in, what’s this about a stalker?”
Jay shrugged, trying at nonchalant. “It’s very Dickie. He always loses his phone - every two weeks or so you get a new number texting you or calling saying hi, and it’s sure to be Dickie. But anyway, he realised that his phones had been getting stolen, not lost. and videos of him had been uploaded on the internet.”
“Videos?” This piqued Guy’s interest. It could be sinister, or amusing, but either way it would be entertaining for their flight to Bludhaven.
Jay grinned a little. “Yeah, videos. You know it’s Dickie, he’d just have vids of - well, himself. Anything, really. And he’d send ‘em to me to share sometimes.” Because I miss him and pester him for everything. “And some asshole got hold of them and made him an internet porn sensation. And he didn’t even know.” Jul 4
Guy raised an eyebrow at that. “Ya pestered him for porn?” he couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “Jason, you ever heard of the internet? Last I heard, Dick was away because he needed a break from makin’ the rest of the world happy. You two talk about stuff besides sex, don’t ya?”
“I pester him for him,” Jason said primly. “And we do talk. We’ve been talking like this since… god, I dunno. A damn long time. And we talk about how he’s feeling and stuff, it’s not my fault he brings up his hot Russian. Well, not his anymore, Dickie scared the shit out of him when he pulled Nightwing on him. Heh.”
“Tell me all about it. I’ve missed a lot while I’ve been on Oa, it seems,” Guy mused. They didn’t actually have that long a time to kill, the journey from El Paso to Bludhaven taking only minutes, with a few minutes more for Jason to direct him to Dick’s apartment. “I’m guessing he’s not unlike you and Dami, leavin’ traps all over the place, isn’t he?” It wasn’t a question.
Jay snorted but didn’t answer. He just headed to the door, and started doing something complicated to the door frame rather than the locks. It wasn’t that he’d be able to disable all the tricks, but any alerts would just notify Dick that it was Jay in his place.
The Lantern allowed Jay to precede him into the apartment, trusting the younger man’s experience. Plus, Jason had been here before. “So, between a space cop and a vigilante detective, what do ya think we should be lookin’ for to find Roy?” Guy was testing him a little, but also he was interested in Jason’s investigative approach. It wasn’t uncommon for small details to escape the notice of someone who was accustomed to working on a planetary or even galactic scale.
Jay glanced at him, and then prowled through Dick’s apartment. It looked as… well, as normal as it usually was. A bowl with a spoon that was, thankfully, rinsed out on the coffee table - a mark of Roy’s influence, if nothing else. “It probably wouldn’t be in the bedroom,” he said, after a moment. “If there was a sign. But where Roy normally is.” He looked around, frowning. “Plane ticket stubs, maybe. The trash, paper scraps, something.”
“Tell ya what, kid, I’ll go through the papers an’ trash, you see what you can hack out of the computer, there,” Guy suggested. “Anything, web searches, e-mails, online purchases…”
Jay snorted, “And all the porn history?” but he went over to boot up the computer. It was an older model than the one that Guy’d given him, but probably still pretty powerful. It was slower though, and he took his time to look around the room while it booted up.
Meanwhile, Guy began to look at the mail that had been most recently brought in. It matched the day before Dick had left. A quick perusal of the paper trash revealed several receipts, which he began sorting on the kitchen counter into piles; the ones he was most interested in were the receipts paid for by either a credit card or ATM debit card. “Unless he paid for it online, skip the porn. I want to track either Dick or Roy by their purchase records. Might be the only thing we have to go on, and even then it’s doubtful in Roy’s case.”
Roy didn’t want to be found, and he knew police tracking procedures as well as any crime fighter did. He’d have to be a fool, or not thinking clearly to make such an error. Guy was hoping for the latter possibility.
Jay tapped a few keys, heading into the history. “You know Roy used to be - a spy right? FBI.” He wouldn’t have left it there. Not shopping online. “Search history’s better bet.”
Guy cursed himself, “Damn. I’d forgotten…I wasn’t with the League then, I was kinda doin’ my own thing…” he said regretfully.
Jay stared at the screen, the shift of reflections in the monitor. “Yeah. You were - doing things.” Good things, normal, helping people everyday kinda things. “Read the files. And Roy’s… Harper’d keep his tracks covered, there probably won’t be anything to be found.” Unless Roy fucked up or - no, he wasn’t Bat-trained, but he wasn’t careless.
He looked over the search history again, trying to see if there were legitimate gaps in there, that would indicate that Roy had searched for something and deleted it. Of course he could have just used chrome on private browsing, which would kinda suck. He considered sticking in a program that he’d gotten to track keystrokes in the past oh, specified time-period, but it’d turn in a hell lot of crap and very little useful information. “There… there’s a lot of search on France,” he said, finally. If Dick was anything, he’d probably use his phone to buy tickets. He tried to hack into the flight lists, hoping to see if any of Dick’s aliases had flown recently. To France?
“Anything on Tibet?” Guy asked hopefully. He knew it was a long shot, especially given the circumstances.
Jay looked over the web pages again and shook his head. “Nope nothing. It really seems more like this is Dickie’s search history,” which didn’t say very much about Dick’s state of mind if he’d left these up here.
Guy wandered over and looked over Jason’s shoulder, but didn’t interfere. The kid knew exactly what he was doing. “It was worth a shot, at least. I’m real glad I brought ya along, Jason.” He held up a wad of carefully flattened receipts and papers, “These might give us something. I’ll check with Oracle later. But right now…” he grinned at Jason, “How about we drop in on Steph and take her out for sushi?”
Jay turned to look up his shoulder at Guy’s grin, and the praise warmed him, a little. The fact that he couldn’t FIND anything on Roy felt a little less like failure. But then, if any of them really didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t be. Dick hadn’t really tried, or else he was thinking about something else very hard. “Sure. Why not? Haven’t seen Steph for ages.”
He clapped a warm hand on Jason’s shoulder and grinned wider, “Sounds like a plan. Shut ‘er down, and I’ll…” he had pulled out his communicator to text Stephanie, but paused, “Wait, there was one more thing. You think you can find me a sample of Roy’s DNA around here?”
Jay laughed, the sound a little forced. “Find a sample? Dude, it’d be - everywhere.” He got up, and headed to the bathroom.
Guy returned to the communicator in his hand and texted their next stop: ‘In Bludhaven, wrapping up here. Sorry we’re late, El Paso took longer than expected. Ready for late-night sushi?’
Jay came back with a little ziplock of some red hair. “Probably a good idea to cross-check it with Wally’s DNA,” he said, “But I’m fairly sure it’s Roy’s.”
“Good work…” Guy glanced down at his communicator and laughed, then showed it to Jason; it was Steph’s text response: ‘Get your shiny green butt over here! And Jay’s feathered one, too! ^^’
“I don’t have feathers! The one who does is Dickie!”
Guy only laughed as they headed out the door, “Let’s not keep the young lady waiting…Featherbutt.”
Jay punched Guy’s shoulder, grinning wide. “I’ll show you who has the feathered butt, ass.”
Guy was still laughing as Jason locked and resealed the door, or whatever it was he was doing to the doorframe, “Sorry? Did you just tweet something, little Jaybird?”
Jaime’s father opened the door first, recognizing Gardner from their last encounter. Calling Jaime to come out of his room was easy enough as he invited the other male inside. “Yeah dad?” Jaime asked, looking from his father to Guy before frowning. “Uuhhh, I didn’t do it,” he said automatically.
That earned him a smile from Guy, which he shared with the boy’s father. “Thanks, Mr. Reyes,” he nodded. “Jaime, can we talk privately?”
Jaime and his father shared a look before the young hero was nodding his head and waving Guy to follow him. “Sure, we’ll just go to my room.”
“Nice room,” Guy said politely, as the door shut behind him.
“Sorry it’s not exactly a cool hideout or Batcave like all you grown ups have.” He joked, intoning a hint of sarcasm unit as he crossed his arms and looked over Guy. “So, what’s up?”
Guy nodded, “Right, I’ll just cut to the chase. Roy’s missing again, this time, we think intentionally. I was hoping you could help me track him down, but Kyle said your scarab might still be out of commission?”
Jaime shifted on his feet, uncomfortable about that whole mission because of what happened. Hearing someone else speak like it was nothing to lose Khaji just stabbed at his heart. But he was so good at covering the emotions that nothing showed on his face except the nervous surprise. “What? Really? Again…sheesh, you guys must have a leash or something. He can’t have gone far.”
“But you’re right. Khaji is out of commission. He has been since…well a week ago after the things that happened in Tibet.”
The Lantern shook his head, “Sorry to hear that. I wish Ted were still around, he used to be amazing with repairs, though I don’t think the scarab worked for him the way it does for you. In fact, I know it didn’t, back in the day.” He slid his hands in his pockets, frustrated that there would be no simple way to track Roy down this time, perhaps not until they were facing off against him as a Red Lantern. Guy shuddered at that thought, and pushed it out of his mind.
“If you see or hear from him, Jaime, don’t even try to engage him, okay? Just contact any of the Green Lanterns, we’ll come. And be careful, he’s gotten very manipulative, if he gives you a story, don’t buy it.”
His innocent baby eyes flashed with understanding as Guy spoke of Ted Kord. He also knew full well that something just wasn’t right with Kyle’s friend when they went after him. “I’ll do my best to keep an eye out. And um…so you were close with Ted? I know he didn’t have powers but…do you think…” He looked away, then, biting his lower lip as he shook his head, “Nevermind.”
Guy blinked at the boy, hands still in his pockets, and he shrugged and gestured with his chin. “Go on,” he encouraged, trying not to seem impatient, “I’m listening.” ‘I’m listening’; it seemed he was saying that an awful lot lately. Why was Kyle the only one who ever seemed to say it back?
Jaime didn’t like opening up. Not to strangers, not to anyone that wasn’t family, but he had to know. He wanted an outside opinion. “Do you think he’ll wake up? Khaji I mean? Is this…is this really how he’s going to leave me?” As soon as he said it, his eyes watered and he blinked back the unshed tears. He had to look away then, hating that he was getting emotional. He hadn’t had a hug in God knows how long, but usually Khaji was there to comfort him. But now, he wasn’t. He felt like such a little kid.
Guy wasn’t expecting that. The kid who he’d really only met a few times before, who had been hanging around Kyle easily enough but had gotten off on a bad foot with Guy, seemed suddenly very…fragile. “Khaji…” Guy repeated. Kyle had used that word: it must have been Ted’s scarab, Jaime must have named it. “It’s…wait, the scarab ain’t a machine? You’re sayin’ it’s living?”
The boy blinked at that. How many people had he told now? He couldn’t remember, but his brain said it was okay because Guy was a Lantern and he’d understand. “Of course he’s alive, I mean..symbiotic. That’s what it’s called here. He’s not just alien tech from the Infiltrators invasion, he’s a real being with feelings and emotions and I just—” Jaime stopped, realizing he was rambling as he shut up and bowed his head.
Quickly Guy realized that not only was Ted’s old scarab alive, but it meant a great deal to the boy. He was mourning the loss, even if it was temporary one. He reached out his hand and squeezed Jaime’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured with the same tone he used on many an occasion when there was a crisis or tragedy surrounding his friends. “I had no idea the scar- I mean Khaji - was alive.” He guided Jaime to sit down on the bed, and sat with him. “You must be really worried about your friend.”
Jaime wrung his hands together, “I—this has never happened before. I’m so worried that I don’t know what to do, or how to help when I’ve gotten so…useless.”
His heart went out to the kid, and his hand went back to the boy’s shoulder, “Hey, now. The first thing you need to know is, you’re not useless: not to the League, not to yer family and friends, and especially not to Khaji. If he’s got feelin’s and is symbiotic with you, as ya say, then he’s dependin’ on ya to be the strong one right now. I’ll bet he can sense yer thoughts, right?”
Jaime gave Guy a look and leaned into the comfort, giving a little sigh. “I just…what am I supposed to do? I mean…how…how do I be strong for anyone when it feels like everything is crashing down?”
He instinctively put his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Ya believe. Ya hope. Ya have faith that Khaji is strong, and is going to heal, and come back to you. Ya think about plans for when he’s back an’ yer together again.” He gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You hang onto those thoughts, kid, as hard as ya can, an’ ya don’t let the crashin’-down feelin’s get their way or crowd them out.”
Jaime swallowed, nodding and resting his head in Guy’s chest. “You’re right… yeah… you’re right… he can hear me so he knows I’m fighting… knows I’m fighting…” he squeezed his hands together.
Guy continued to provide the comforting human contact this kid so desperately and obviously needed. He could imagine the situation easily: parents who didn’t quite know how to contend with a child with super-powers, much less know how to support him through this crisis. That was even assuming he’d even told them about the current situation with Khaji. There might even be a part of them that was a little hopeful that the scarab remained asleep, and their son could return to living a normal, routine life that wasn’t fraught with dangerous hero work. Jaime needed the support of people who understood right now, more than ever.
“So if he can hear ya, and he knows yer thoughts, what do you want to say to him, right now?” he asked gently.
Jaime looked down, swallowing hard as he nodded and tried not to cry when Guy asked him what he wanted to say to Khaji. His breathing got hard, and he started tearing up, “I just want him to be okay…”
“Jaime?” he said softly, “It’s safe to let it out. It’s safe here, kiddo…” he rubbed the boy’s shoulder gently. The kid needed a damn good cry, and soon.
“No. No,” he shook his head, pushing away because he doesn’t want to cry. There’s no point in crying now. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry. You’re busy… I’m taking up your time you could be spending on your search.”
The moment the boy pushed away, Guy released him. Part of allowing him to feel it was safe to express his grief was also him knowing he wasn’t trapped, physically or otherwise. “Don’t worry about that right now, Jaime. This time the search is gonna take a lot longer; Roy doesn’t want to be found.” He twisted a little to face the boy better, “Right now, this minute, I think you need a friend a lot more than Roy needs a space cop.”
Shyly, Jaime bowed his head and felt the need to crawl into something. “…I just want my friend back. Do you…you know what that’s like? Just. Wanting to take someone back from well…something bad?”
Guy’s thoughts immediately went to Hal, and his descent into being taken over by Parallax. Then he thought of what he went through when he learned Tora had died, and he and Bea had tried to lead her back out of the depths of Hell, only to fail in the attempt. And then there was Kyle, lifeless, his ring flying off his hand in search of a new Green Lantern for Sector 2814…
“Yeah, kid,” he answered just barely above a whisper, “I know.” He cautiously reached out again, this time only touching Jaime’s arm, to let him know he wasn’t alone. “Y’know somethin’, though? I just thought of the three closest people to me in my life, an’ how at one point or another, I lost ‘em. I was damned lucky…I got ‘em all back again.” Except Ted Kord. Ted wasn’t coming back.
Jaime nodded, swallowing hard as he kept trying to convince himself that Guy was right. Khaji would come back. He had to come back. “No, yeah…okay, you’re right… he’s gotta come back. He has to… he will,” he nodded resolutely.
The man next to him nodded solemnly, “I’m sure of it. After all, he’s gone through a lot to protect an’ defend ya, and of all the people he could have chosen, he chose you. So, ya must mean a helluva lot to him, right? He’s gonna fight to come back to ya.”
“Well I can’t really say he chose me on purpose… I mean, half the time we’re fighting and it’s not like he has to stay with me. He can find someone better. You know? But he stayed and that’s… it means something to me. Just like he means something to me. But I don’t… I worry. Worry so much.”
“Kid… do you have any idea how much me an’ Kyle fight?” Guy smiled warmly at that, and chuckled a little, “Stayin’ is everything, and so is worryin’. Just means ya care about each other, like brothers, ya know? Best friends, forever.”
He took a deep breath, nodding. “Yeah. That… I guess that’s what friends do huh?” he looked up at him, a small smile spreading over his face, breathing easier now.
“Big time. Everythin’ yer feelin’ right now? It’s because he’s yer best friend. Ya just keep remindin’ yerself he can hear ya, and ya tell him you’re there for him. You, kiddo, are the most powerful thing in Khaji’s world right now, an’ that ain’t helpless, that’s everythin’, buddy,” he smiled, glad to bring the boy back into a positive frame of mind. “Hey, you were asking me earlier about Ted Kord?”
“Oh, yeah..I didn’t—well, he didn’t have any powers yet he still kept Khaji close and was a hero with everyone…how?”
Guy smiled and looked up at the ceiling, fond memories coming back to him of Ted with Michael, and their crazy stunts. He wished he hadn’t been brain-damaged back then, so he could have appreciated them more at the time, even joined in. He certainly would have been a better friend to Ted.
“Kid, let me tell ya about Ted Kord. He was the smartest man I ever met, even smarter than Batman.” He glanced down at Jaime, “Yeah, I said it. Smarter than even the almighty Bat himself. Ted was humble, too, didn’t show off his smarts or rub people’s noses in it. He invented everythin’ he carried in his arsenal of gadgets an’ stuff, an’ he could fight. Most of all? He knew how to laugh, and when. Back in the JLI, he an’ Booster Gold would pull the craziest shi-…er…stunts.”
Jaime enjoyed hearing stories about the old Blue Beetle, mostly ones where he was liked among others. A part of Jaime wished he could be the same, and he wanted to be just as smart as Ted: maybe not enough to make things, but he and Khaji could work better if he understood half the things he said. He always felt like a bother when he had to get Khaji to explain something to him. But his main reason for asking was to see if he could be like the others. Could he be as good as Ted Kord? He didn’t have powers, and look what happened to him.
“It’s okay to curse, I probably do it more than you, plus the Spanish,” he grinned jokingly, feeling warm inside from the story. “He sounds great…Michae—I mean Booster, gets um, drunk sometimes and talks about him a lot. Sometimes I feel bad ‘cus I’m not the Beetle he wants…”
He was rewarded with a sad smile and a tousling of his hair. “Kid, I know Booster wouldn’t want you to feel bad for that. It wasn’t the costume Michael was close to, it was the person wearing it, an’ no one can replace him, or should even try.” Guy made a mental note to have a beer with Booster one of these days, and catch up with him. It had been too long since they’d last talked.
“No one can replace you either, ya know. You’ve got a lot of things going for ya that Ted didn’t. And you’re like him in all the ways that count most: ya believe in what we’re doing, ya got the backs of your teammates, and we can count on ya when it matters most. That was Ted, in a nutshell.”
“He sounds nice,” he whispered, having always been the type to just get the whole picture and sum it up into something simple. He swallowed again though when the silence again fell over them and he wondered if it would be awkward to hug the other man. Ah screw it. He’s crazy enough already that he may seem normal to Guy. Reaching up he tugged Guy down, squeezing him in his arms and whispering, “Thank you..for everything.”
Guy took the hug and returned it tightly, relieved the kid could hug. It was a clear sign he’d done some good; if nothing else, Jaime knew there were people - particularly adults - could turn to in a personal crisis. “You’re welcome, Jaime. Anytime ya need someone to talk to, ya can reach me by yer League communicator, ya know. I know they tell ya it’s for official use, but that’s total crap; we all call each other for whatever, all the time. An’ the Zeta pad is right over our apartment. Doors, and ears, they’re always open to ya.”
“Well that sounds great Guy. Maaaan and here I was thinking you’d be an asshole about well…you know..me being a whiny little punk.” he smiled, pulling away to sit back on his heels. “Guess it’s more fun when you’ve got friends that treat you…like equals.”
Guy rose and gave him a smirk, “If you were acting like a whiny little punk, then I’d treat ya like one, kid…but you were acting like ya needed a friend,” he stuck his hand out to clasp the young man’s hand in a bro-grip, “So, ya got one.”
Jaime blinked and he gave a wide smile, shaking as best as he could with Guy’s hand. “Oh jeez. Getting friendly with a Lantern. What would Khaji say?” he laughed nice and warm.
“All the more incentive for him to get better and wake up, right?” Guy shook then released his hand, moving towards the door, “He’s gotta stop ya from consortin’ with Team Green! I’ve gotta meet with Jason, now, but keep me an’ Kyle posted on Khaji, okay?”
“Yeah. You’re right,” he stood to walk Guy out. “Thanks again for helping me out with…my emotions. And I’ll definitely keep you on speed dial. No worries.”
Guy nodded, gave him a John Wayne salute, put on his aviator sunglasses, and headed down the street as any normal person might, until he was several blocks from Jaime’s home. It wasn’t until then he ringed on his uniform, and flew off to meet with Jason.
“Jay?” called out quietly into the alley where he’d agreed to rendezvous with Jason earlier. He could have used his ring to locate Jason by the ring-copy he’d given him, but only as a last resort. He’d created it and given it to Jason for his protection, not as a tracking device. The Guardians might have a problem with it being in Jason’s hands, but Guy felt it was a bigger crime to show the young man such overt distrust.
“Jason?”
Jay rubbed his knuckles, just a little twitchy, like a greyhound scenting a rabbit. “Yeah, Guy?” he stepped out of the shadows, surprising the Lantern. “… You didn’t get anything out of the Beetle kid?”
Guy shook his head and picked Jason up on a beam of energy, flying off in a north-easterly direction towards Bludhaven. “He can’t help us for now. Khaji, his scarab is still dormant, so we’ll have to look for Roy the hard way.”
Jay shook himself, going still at the glow of energy . “Good ol’ footwork. Where to then, old man?” No wait, Roy would have… he swallowed down the disappointment and the hurt that Roy didn’t want to talk to him, at all, anything to do with him, and focussed, trying to clear his mind. “Dick’s place. He mighta left some clues.”
“That’s what I’m thinkin’ too. An’ while we’re at it, I wouldn’t mind being able to track down Dick, as well. He should at least be keepin’ in touch with Damian; you, you’re old enough to understand he needs some time away, but Damian’s just a kid, an’ he tends to draw conclusions that are pretty harsh, y’know?”
Jay looked down; the ground was filtered green and moving fast. “He texts me. Last I heard he’s in France, with a little detour for his personal stalker. He hasn’t been talking to the kid?”
“To be honest, I don’t know,” he side-eyed Jason a little guiltily, “I’ve been away a week, an’ Kyle mentioned he hadn’t heard from him, so I guess I just drew my own conclusions,” he sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose. “So fill me in, what’s this about a stalker?”
Jay shrugged, trying at nonchalant. “It’s very Dickie. He always loses his phone - every two weeks or so you get a new number texting you or calling saying hi, and it’s sure to be Dickie. But anyway, he realised that his phones had been getting stolen, not lost. and videos of him had been uploaded on the internet.”
“Videos?” This piqued Guy’s interest. It could be sinister, or amusing, but either way it would be entertaining for their flight to Bludhaven.
Jay grinned a little. “Yeah, videos. You know it’s Dickie, he’d just have vids of - well, himself. Anything, really. And he’d send ‘em to me to share sometimes.” Because I miss him and pester him for everything. “And some asshole got hold of them and made him an internet porn sensation. And he didn’t even know.” Jul 4
Guy raised an eyebrow at that. “Ya pestered him for porn?” he couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “Jason, you ever heard of the internet? Last I heard, Dick was away because he needed a break from makin’ the rest of the world happy. You two talk about stuff besides sex, don’t ya?”
“I pester him for him,” Jason said primly. “And we do talk. We’ve been talking like this since… god, I dunno. A damn long time. And we talk about how he’s feeling and stuff, it’s not my fault he brings up his hot Russian. Well, not his anymore, Dickie scared the shit out of him when he pulled Nightwing on him. Heh.”
“Tell me all about it. I’ve missed a lot while I’ve been on Oa, it seems,” Guy mused. They didn’t actually have that long a time to kill, the journey from El Paso to Bludhaven taking only minutes, with a few minutes more for Jason to direct him to Dick’s apartment. “I’m guessing he’s not unlike you and Dami, leavin’ traps all over the place, isn’t he?” It wasn’t a question.
Jay snorted but didn’t answer. He just headed to the door, and started doing something complicated to the door frame rather than the locks. It wasn’t that he’d be able to disable all the tricks, but any alerts would just notify Dick that it was Jay in his place.
The Lantern allowed Jay to precede him into the apartment, trusting the younger man’s experience. Plus, Jason had been here before. “So, between a space cop and a vigilante detective, what do ya think we should be lookin’ for to find Roy?” Guy was testing him a little, but also he was interested in Jason’s investigative approach. It wasn’t uncommon for small details to escape the notice of someone who was accustomed to working on a planetary or even galactic scale.
Jay glanced at him, and then prowled through Dick’s apartment. It looked as… well, as normal as it usually was. A bowl with a spoon that was, thankfully, rinsed out on the coffee table - a mark of Roy’s influence, if nothing else. “It probably wouldn’t be in the bedroom,” he said, after a moment. “If there was a sign. But where Roy normally is.” He looked around, frowning. “Plane ticket stubs, maybe. The trash, paper scraps, something.”
“Tell ya what, kid, I’ll go through the papers an’ trash, you see what you can hack out of the computer, there,” Guy suggested. “Anything, web searches, e-mails, online purchases…”
Jay snorted, “And all the porn history?” but he went over to boot up the computer. It was an older model than the one that Guy’d given him, but probably still pretty powerful. It was slower though, and he took his time to look around the room while it booted up.
Meanwhile, Guy began to look at the mail that had been most recently brought in. It matched the day before Dick had left. A quick perusal of the paper trash revealed several receipts, which he began sorting on the kitchen counter into piles; the ones he was most interested in were the receipts paid for by either a credit card or ATM debit card. “Unless he paid for it online, skip the porn. I want to track either Dick or Roy by their purchase records. Might be the only thing we have to go on, and even then it’s doubtful in Roy’s case.”
Roy didn’t want to be found, and he knew police tracking procedures as well as any crime fighter did. He’d have to be a fool, or not thinking clearly to make such an error. Guy was hoping for the latter possibility.
Jay tapped a few keys, heading into the history. “You know Roy used to be - a spy right? FBI.” He wouldn’t have left it there. Not shopping online. “Search history’s better bet.”
Guy cursed himself, “Damn. I’d forgotten…I wasn’t with the League then, I was kinda doin’ my own thing…” he said regretfully.
Jay stared at the screen, the shift of reflections in the monitor. “Yeah. You were - doing things.” Good things, normal, helping people everyday kinda things. “Read the files. And Roy’s… Harper’d keep his tracks covered, there probably won’t be anything to be found.” Unless Roy fucked up or - no, he wasn’t Bat-trained, but he wasn’t careless.
He looked over the search history again, trying to see if there were legitimate gaps in there, that would indicate that Roy had searched for something and deleted it. Of course he could have just used chrome on private browsing, which would kinda suck. He considered sticking in a program that he’d gotten to track keystrokes in the past oh, specified time-period, but it’d turn in a hell lot of crap and very little useful information. “There… there’s a lot of search on France,” he said, finally. If Dick was anything, he’d probably use his phone to buy tickets. He tried to hack into the flight lists, hoping to see if any of Dick’s aliases had flown recently. To France?
“Anything on Tibet?” Guy asked hopefully. He knew it was a long shot, especially given the circumstances.
Jay looked over the web pages again and shook his head. “Nope nothing. It really seems more like this is Dickie’s search history,” which didn’t say very much about Dick’s state of mind if he’d left these up here.
Guy wandered over and looked over Jason’s shoulder, but didn’t interfere. The kid knew exactly what he was doing. “It was worth a shot, at least. I’m real glad I brought ya along, Jason.” He held up a wad of carefully flattened receipts and papers, “These might give us something. I’ll check with Oracle later. But right now…” he grinned at Jason, “How about we drop in on Steph and take her out for sushi?”
Jay turned to look up his shoulder at Guy’s grin, and the praise warmed him, a little. The fact that he couldn’t FIND anything on Roy felt a little less like failure. But then, if any of them really didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t be. Dick hadn’t really tried, or else he was thinking about something else very hard. “Sure. Why not? Haven’t seen Steph for ages.”
He clapped a warm hand on Jason’s shoulder and grinned wider, “Sounds like a plan. Shut ‘er down, and I’ll…” he had pulled out his communicator to text Stephanie, but paused, “Wait, there was one more thing. You think you can find me a sample of Roy’s DNA around here?”
Jay laughed, the sound a little forced. “Find a sample? Dude, it’d be - everywhere.” He got up, and headed to the bathroom.
Guy returned to the communicator in his hand and texted their next stop: ‘In Bludhaven, wrapping up here. Sorry we’re late, El Paso took longer than expected. Ready for late-night sushi?’
Jay came back with a little ziplock of some red hair. “Probably a good idea to cross-check it with Wally’s DNA,” he said, “But I’m fairly sure it’s Roy’s.”
“Good work…” Guy glanced down at his communicator and laughed, then showed it to Jason; it was Steph’s text response: ‘Get your shiny green butt over here! And Jay’s feathered one, too! ^^’
“I don’t have feathers! The one who does is Dickie!”
Guy only laughed as they headed out the door, “Let’s not keep the young lady waiting…Featherbutt.”
Jay punched Guy’s shoulder, grinning wide. “I’ll show you who has the feathered butt, ass.”
Guy was still laughing as Jason locked and resealed the door, or whatever it was he was doing to the doorframe, “Sorry? Did you just tweet something, little Jaybird?”