it is now time for a fightytimes interlude

[scarabsuited]

WHO: Jack Bauer, Khaji Da
WHERE: MEAN CITY STREETSSSSS
WHEN: 6/10
WARNINGS: Fightytimes?
SUMMARY: Boy, we sure got different in a hurry
FORMAT: No


The City still had its Blue Beetle.

Actually, the City had more of its Blue Beetle, given summer vacation and Jaime Reyes' absence from any sort of work or social life or...anything to take up time. There was, in fact, nothing but time, and it became much and more the City's.

It was really quiet in that head of his; staying productive kept the Scarab from repeatedly acknowledging it. That silence was disheartening.

If it had a heart.

(But according to people like Ruka or Kara Zor-El...)

Such things were irrelevant in the moment. The moment being the tracking of very unpleasant, very drugged-up ne'er-do-wells. Such quarry was easily set aside to others with similar vocations, but...well...

They just had to go and pull that hit-and-run, didn't they?

Well.

Well the Blue Beetle just happened to blast the front of their 4x4 after they took a turn off a major street. Woopsie.

Comments

sorry for late tag been doing stuff all night

[out_of_time]

Jack didn't patrol the way the other vigilantes did. He was an agent, he functioned best with a set objective, a goal to guide him. He was heading towards tonight's goal- target, really- when his path intersected with the Blue Beetle's yet again.

His current practice for getting around the City as a fugitive involved walking fast in a nondescript hoodie, avoiding lights and busy streets, keeping his head down, and ignoring everything around him. Ignoring a car exploding as it passed him was not part of that practice.

Jack reacted instantly, reflex taking over, experience screaming 'attack' and 'aerial strike!' His gun came out and he put his back against the wall as the wrecked vehicle coasted to a stop. The people inside seemed to still be intact as they piled out, screaming obscenities.

He was going to ask them if they were okay and render first aid, but when he saw the signs of criminal affiliation and heavy narcotics use, he paused and scanned the area first, starting with the skies. This might not be what it seemed.

no probs!

[scarabsuited]

What it was, however, was the Blue Beetle landing heavily on the back of the wrecked car, feet denting heavily into the metal. It almost drowned out the petrified shrieks from the men inside, wildly pawing at each other, climbing from back to front to pile out of the car. Clown car, maybe? Car of clowns. Scarab would consider it later.

Hurry up, little ants; it didn't have all day (well, it did, but...). The Beetle strode off the rear of the car, landing awkwardly and seeming to take extra time to restore balance. What time it lost in doing so it made up by simply drifting over to the pile of scrambling limbs and jackets, grabbing a handful and chucking it over the wreck.

The man rolled to a stop in a sprawl at Jack's feet, disoriented and horrified, moaning for help.

[out_of_time]

The quality of mercy and Jack were not exactly on a first-name basis, especially since he was Ported back in, but he wasn't completely without pity either. The look on his face as he saw the moaning man in front of him stemmed more from his deep, coldly ingrained sense of practicality than any glowing sense of humanism. Whatever this guy had done to have the Beetle tearing into him like that, he posed no threat to anyone right now. There was no point in hitting him further. Of course, he didn't know about the hit and run...

He'd heard that the Blue Beetle had changed- read the file on the Jaime Reyes 'killing.' Ever since then, word on the street had changed about how the hero operated. Now he was seeing it for himself, and it didn't look much like the guy he'd teamed up with before.

Jack stepped forward with his gun pointing downward and his other hand raised. "Beetle!"

[scarabsuited]

Scavenging through the heap of distressed bodies continued after the shout, though not very long; it found their weapons and proceeded to toss them into a pile on the curb. The addictive substances, too, found a pile rather quickly made as the men volunteered to hasten the collection in hopes of not getting thrown across the street.

As Jack approached, the Blue Beetle straightened, still looming over its quarry, and turned its head in silent regard for the ex-cop.

Bauer.

Jaime respected him. Doubted, too, though somehow convinced himself it was alright. The Scarab was hardly so troubled in its determination of the man's uses; it found him much more valuable behind the steering controls of a helicopter. Without?

Eh.

[out_of_time]

No response. That was definitely not normal. Jack lowered his hand, but his body tensed. He moved to the pile of weapons to make sure they were secured- standard procedure. They seemed safe, and none of the subjects- hostiles?- were giving any trouble.

Still, something did not feel right here. He tried again to establish some kind of dialogue. "What's the situation here?"

[scarabsuited]

The situation? The Scarab thought it rather self-explanatory. It merely blinked Jaime's eyes, training his gaze on Jack's motions while remaining relatively still.

As for a reply, speech wasn't going to happen. Not unless Jack wanted to be witness to some pretty pathetic attempts an advanced puppeteer had to offer (it was pretty brutal).

Instead, the communicator he carried signaled a message:

FUGITIVES OF A HIT-AND-RUN INCIDENT
POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES AND WEAPONS

Another eleven seconds, another slow blink.

AUTHORITIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN ALERTED