Snippet from my untitled Blue Beetle & Teen Titans rejects fic :)
Click. Snap. Click. Snap.
They're sat inside a Big Belly Burger, waiting for their order of fries. A female singer he doesn't recognise croons Spanglish over weirdly retro beats on the speakers. Eddie is fidgeting with the catch on his now-useless slider phone, out of nerves or boredom, he doesn't know.
The first thing they did once they got into town was to buy a mobile phone. It's strange, but there aren't many payphones around, and whatever happened to them while they were in the Bleed and subsequently in their fall back to Earth must have fried their cellphones. Luckily, he found one of those rundown stores selling spare electronics for cheap that accepts cash and doesn't ask questions. At least one thing hasn't changed.
Click. Snap. Click. Snap.
The phone they bought is a palm-sized thing with a wide touch-screen, one of those smart-phone models that only came out last year, and yet the store owner seemed almost happy to part with it. "It's ancient," he'd said in a comfortingly thick accent, "I was about to chuck it out with the garbage. I'd sell it to you for free, chiquito." Things only get stranger from there. It took less than a minute for Khaji to jail break the phone and recalibrate itself to the local network. They tried his family's numbers again, even tried the Titans Tower secure line, but no dice. What Jaime found on the internet was even less reassuring.
Click. Snap. Click. Snap.
"Could you go grab us some drinks? I need a minute alone with the scarab."
"Sure...?" Eddie throws another glance at Jaime, not quite hiding his worry as he slides out of his seat.
[ You were vexed by his opening and shutting of his phone case. ]
"I didn't realise it was state the obvious hour."
Khaji Da does not respond. Jaime rubs his temple.
"Sorry, sorry. Yes, I'm stressed. Tell me you have some good news, at least."
[ You are still alive, as is Eddie Bloomberg. You have enough money to acquire sustenance for another week, during which I can help you find a job and — ]
"Khaji. I need to get home."
[ You are technically in your hometown. ]
"But it's not the El Paso I know. Right? Tell me I'm not crazy."
[ Jaime Reyes is correct. Based on our quick search of the government domains, social network platforms and news sites, the Reyes family never lived in El Paso. There is no record of your parents or extended family in the state registry. Your name does not exist in the class registers of your high school. Your sister— ]
"Also doesn't exist! I know! I got it the first time." Jaime looks over to the self-service machine. What is taking Eddie so long? "I asked you for good news, Khaji."
[ Actually, your sister exists. Milagro Reyes, age 18, enrolled in Edge Keys High School. According to her posts on Instagram, she was last seen at the Kord Centre Mall — ]
"Did you say eighteen? And where the heck is Edge Key?"
[ I have some more good news. While there is no record of your other family members in the state of Texas, a Reyes Auto Repair Shop was recently removed from the business registry in Edge Key, Greater Palmera City. ]
"What? We have to go to Edge Key!"
"What's Edge Key?" Eddie sets a tray down, almost spilling the two extra-large cups of soda balanced precariously on it. The fries look tiny in comparison.
"That's what I'm trying to find out. Khaji, can you — hold on, I'm syncing you to the phone so Eddie can see."
The phone lights up, and Jaime expects Khaji's words to crawl across the screen like text messages the way he's done the few times Jaime tried to sync the scarab to his old phone via blue-tooth. Instead, the phone starts talking in a lady computer voice.
"Your scarab was a chick this whole time?" Eddie exclaims, the half-chewed fry in his hand forgotten.
"What? No! I didn't even know it could speak like this."
"I simply utilised this phone's built-in text-to-speech system. It is not my problem that the manufacturers could only imagine AI voices as female."
"I think it just insulted every super-computer in the cape community..."
"Anyway, the coordinates?"
[ There is one last thing you should know before you go, Jaime Reyes. The Blue Beetle was last sighted in Palmera City six hours ago. ]
The boys pause and look at each other.
And on the screen of the phone appears a crisp, 4K picture of a guy in a costume that looks exactly like him, mid-flight in the streets of a city he's never been to.
