trans_9 | In another life

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In another life | Open

Jaime had been poring over the notes left to him by his other self and his investigations had led him here.

The Vatican. He stared up at the scarred edifice of the building, bullet holes and scorch marks. Places near the doors and windows where claws had gouged into the stone. He traced a finger along one of these marks as he tried to imagine what it must have been like. A tide of, well, zombies, surging against the makeshift fortifications. Gunfire and explosions. The stench of death. And this had been something his other self had been convinced was his own fault. Jaime couldn't seem to grasp the magnitude of it. Thousands of people, dead. Because of a mistake? The malevolence of others. He opened and closed a fist.

This wasn't his mistake though. It wasn't his burden to carry. It shouldn't be. He wasn't here. And yet he couldn't help feeling slightly culpable. It had been him, a version of him, that had made the decisions that led here. Finally, he spoke aloud.

"No. This wasn't me. I don't have to live burdened by what someone else did." A pause.

"Even if it was me." Khaji snickered mentally, a faint buzz against the back of his mind.

"Oh, yeah, laugh it up, bug."

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"He's my symbiote. Scarab. Whatever you want to call it. He's embedded in my spine. Long story." Jaime grins.

"I'm Jaime, by the way."

Rachel didn't really make an effort to hide the glare that came naturally at that word. "A symbiote in your spine?" she repeated slowly, watching him.

After a moment, she offered her name a bit begrudgingly. "Rachel."

"Yeah. Like I said, it's a long story. I'm a teenager from El Paso, he's an alien bug-robot from outer space. Together, we fight crime." He grins.

"I'm serious about the fighting crime part. Nice to meet you, Rachel."

Rachel rose an eyebrow, breaking her nasty stare somewhat. Alien bug-robot was slightly different. He was being open about it, too, but that didn't mean he was trustworthy.

Even if he seemed pretty serious about the crime fighting part.

"Seriously?" she asked, a bit incredulous. That did not seem like alien symbiote activity, from her experience.

"Seriously. I go by the name Blue Beetle, punch bad guys, fight aliens, save the world. The whole nine yards." Jaime gave a shrug.

"Not exactly what I was expecting Junior year to be like, but there you go."

It was annoying that it sounded a bit familiar, when she wasn't ready to trust him. "I doubt anyone's highschool goes how they expect," she said. Of course, his (and hers of course) were even more weird than normal.

"So what, you were some kind of superhero?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." He winces just slightly as he activates his alien bug-suit. One never quite gets used to it. Jaime rolls his shoulders once its finished.

"Yep. Super-hero is probably the best word for it."

Rachel immediately tenses at the sight of his suit being activated, taking a step back, glaring something fierce, and starting to call into mind the image of some serious fire power. It might have been better if he'd warned her-- she wasn't about ready to trust a symbiote, especially not one that could do something like that. 'Superhero' or not.

"Is that... what it does?" she asks, staring hard at him. But subtly, she was bulking up a bit, if slowly at first. This was seeming kind of familiar, now. Had Marco or Jake mentioned this guy?

"Well. Yeah. That's what he does. Khaji pretty much grants me all my abilities. Flight, energy shields, energy cannons, all that stuff. How I ended up with him is a pretty big tale, though." He's enjoying not having to lie to people about his powers. Very cool.

Rachel wasn't so sure she wanted to acknowledge it having a name or a gender or whatever else. But listening to him explaining it... "So what, you actually can control it, and it does all that stuff?" she asked incredulously, showing it in her voice openly. It sounded like a better trade off-- but she didn't trust it to not be the one talking, either.

"Uh, sort of. It's more like a partnership. He gives me advice and how to use the suit, though I don't need much instruction these days. Heh. And I mean, he could probably take control if he wanted to get into a battle of wills, and really tried to force me. But he won't. We're friends. We trust each other." He smiled.

"Kinda weird, I know."

There. Even if he was lying, that was it. The parasite could take over, at any time, even if it wasn't always in control. Even if he claimed they were friends, there was no reason to trust it.

"Yeah, sounds weird," she said, instead. She'd settled down to completely human again (fortunately having stopped before it stopped being subtle). But she wouldn't be afraid to take this guy down on a moment's notice.

Jaime concentrated again and in a moment he was back to normal, clothes intact. His hair was a little ruffled, but that always happened. He reached up to try and get it back down, though it seemed to be a losing battle.

"You'd think he could deal with helmet hair, y'know?" He grinned.

Rachel was glad to see that he had changed back to his own normal form. Less likely that she'd have to morph on a moment's notice to take him down if necessary. Now she might get two moments.

She couldn't help but smirk at his hair problems, though. "Hey, not everyone can have perfect hair," she said.

"Not my gift. Apparently yours, though," Jaime quipped in reply, looking at Rachel's rather perfectly in place hair.

"Instead I have to get by on my awkward charm and biting wit." Jaime and Marco may begin to sound suspiciously alike at this point.

Rachel snorted at the flirtation. Oh yeah, she saw the resemblance to Marco. Tossing her hair over one shoulder, she eyed him suspiciously. "And how far's that gotten you?" she sniped.

"Well," Jaime admitted, "I stopped a secret alien take-over of Earth. Without powers. Or pants at the time, for that matter. Long story. But I think it works out alright."

Jaime shrugged, grinning at Rachel, as of yet unaware of the tension that she felt.

Rachel rose an eyebrow at that. Especially the 'without pants' part. But to claim to stop an alien invasion...

"Oh, sounds charming," she said, not giving away whether she actually believed the invasion part. He'd already proven he had some kind of... alien technology, though. "So what, highlight of your superhero career?"

"I guess? I mean, haven't done anything that big, since. Mostly small-time stuff. Which is fine with me. Alien invasions are usually the big leagues. You know, the Justice League, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern. The heavy hitters. That one just happened to be, well, kind of super secret, long term, and kind of a personal thing for me and Khaji." Jaime shrugged again.

"I'm glad I don't--well, didn't, have to deal with that kind of thing every day. Now I'm stuck with it."

Oh, now there were some names she recognised. "Are you saying you knew Wonder Woman?" she asked. Because even if she didn't care that much about super heroes (most of them were kind of stupid), there was no way she couldn't like Wonder Woman. "And why not? At least it's more interesting than high school on its own."

"Uh, well, no. I did meet Batman, once. And one of the Green Lanterns has come over to my house a couple times for a barbecue. That was kinda cool. I worked with the Teen Titans, too." He grinned, feeling suddenly awkward.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I don't think I'd give it up now, you know? But it's a lot of extra stress on top of getting my math homework done."

"I guess it is," she said, but she was considerably less interested in the thought of Batman and Green Lanterns. And admittedly she didn't really know much about the Teen Titans (and she didn't care, really).

She shrugged. "I guess?" She'd always been good about keeping up her grades while doing her own 'hero' stuff. "Got to have priorities or whatever."

"Priorities are good. And my folks are really understanding about it, as long as I get my homework done on time. Which is kind of a pain sometimes, but I do it." He shrugged.

"Thank God for a supportive family, y'know?"

A part of Rachel was just sort of annoyed at that. She'd managed to balance school and saving the world, but without her family even knowing. And when they did...

"Sounds like you were pretty lucky," she replied, but it was a bit noncommittal.

"Yeah, I was. I've had some good teachers and role models to draw on, and some great friends to help me through the tough times." He smiled, giving Rachel a simple, open expression of happiness and friendliness.

". . .So, what was it like where you came from? I mean, I assume you're not from my Earth, right?"

In another life | Open

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