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THE WATCHTOWER
October 29, 5:29 EST
Jaime’s been in the infirmary for a while now, but he doesn’t know how long.
Everything hurts.
He’s lying on his stomach, because putting him his back simply isn’t an option.
His back is on fire, throbbing in time with his pounding heart. But everything below it… Nothing. He feels nothing.
He can vaguely hear voices, but they sound like he’s hearing them underwater.
“I should’ve gotten there sooner…”
“The big guy had him pinned before any of us could reach him…”
“Osoroshii kotodeshita.”
“… I’ve never heard anyone scream like that.”
He remembers it, remembers the alien warriors who launched an attack on his own hometown, looking for him. They’re refugees from other planets that the Reach have taken over, and they’re on a mission to stamp out as much of the Reach’s technology as they can. Especially the Scarabs. So, they were seeking him out, hoping to destroy his Scarab and fully ‘purify’ the planet of the Reach’s influence – regardless of the consequences to his life.
In their defence, the big guy was almost apologetic as he pinned the Blue Beetle facedown on the ground.
“Your sacrifice will be remembered.”
The alien’s voice was the last thing he heard before that cabrón grabbed the Scarab, pulled, and then twisted it like one might twist a plastic bottle cap. The pain was excruciating, and then all he could hear were his own screams and the panicked voice of the Scarab in his own head.
The Scarab has been silent since then. He’s still attached to Jaime’s spine, which has taken most of the damage. Jaime vaguely remembers an orange glow, likely from Tye’s Longshadow avatar. He and Asami were with Jaime at the skate park shortly before the attack first happened, but went home only minutes prior to said attack. They can’t have been that far away, and Bart responded to his distress signal shortly before Jaime was pinned down, saying that he was only seconds away.
Jaime wonders if those seconds would have made any difference; Bart’s fast, but the alien who grabbed the Scarab was damn near invincible, even getting back up after taking a point-blank plasma cannon blast to the face.
Some doctors come in, and they talk at him about surgery before realising that he only understands every third word that they say.
His parents are temporarily granted access to the Watchtower, something normally not afforded to family members, but given the circumstances, the League is more than willing to make an exception. His mother cries at the sight of him, while his father manages to somewhat hide his tears (but not completely). They take in what the doctors are saying with more than a bit of fear.
Everyone sheds a fresh round of tears when they’re told that Jaime may never walk again. Everyone except Jaime. That will probably change over the next day or so, but right now, he can’t help but worry about how quiet it is.
He hasn’t heard the Scarab’s voice since the battle. After a whole year stuck with an alien insect AI’s voice in his head, constantly pestering him, the sudden absence is almost as painful as his back injury. And he can’t even tell anyone; Conner is still the only one who knows that the Scarab speaks to him, and he’s apparently occupied with something going on in Geranium City and hasn’t been able to get to the Watchtower, yet. Jaime debates telling someone else, but they’re already so freaked out about what’s happened to him, he doesn’t want to pile on the fact that he’s been hearing voices (or even just a voice) in his head for the past year.
Eventually, ‘night’ (for lack of a better word up here in space) falls, and most of the team and the doctors leave, though his mother stays at his bedside while his father goes to pick up his sister from Abuela’s house. Mother soon falls into a fitful sleep, but Jaime drifts in and out, the pain and the disturbing quiet keeping him from succumbing to sleep completely.
Part of him is still in shock, feeling like this is happening to someone else, miles away. The other part is swirling with rage and grief and terror and a million other emotions.
The drugs dull some of the pain in his back, but it still rises and falls with every breath he takes, and somehow the loss of sensation in his legs still hurts. But the silence in his head rings in his ears, and it hurts more than anything else.
THE END