Harper's story line is flying too close to Brenda's lmao

*

"What?" I snap, stepping away from the group and storming towards Doctor Magnus. "I'm not leaving!" 

As if my statement is the most obscure thing he has ever heard, Doc swivels around with a confused frown on his face.

"Mahiko, if T is on the loose again he may be looking for his old experiments to see where he went wrong. I can't protect you if-"

"I don't need you to protect me!" I interrupt.

No no no, my place on this team does not end here. Not out of fear, not running from someone who has already ruined enough of my life.

"You don't get to just...control me and tell me where I can and can't go," I tell him, calming down a little do get the point across. "I'm not a Metal Adolescent anymore. I'm here, on this team. T has no initiative as to where I am. If anything I'm safer here." 

I do not want to go back to my life in that tiny room in Doc's mansion, waking up and eating with kids doomed to die when I am not. I do not want to sit idle by and watch them fall around me.

Doc seems unsure of what to say. His eyes cast past me and I follow that gaze to Batman and Captain Atom.

"Doctor Magnus," Nathaniel begins, approaching from behind and placing his hand on my shoulder, "You sent Mahiko here to learn how to be a hero because she remains unaffected by the experiments. If anything, does that not make her more of a target and therefore safer where no one will ever find her?"

Clearly reluctant to comply, Doc sighs heavily. Alissa and Theon continue to ignore me, turning their backs and wheeling Axel into the Zeta.

"The house has a barrier around in. Despite Mahiko's...resistance to the nanobots, she still has them. If T put trackers in them the only signal he will get is the one outside of the barrier. Yours," He's trying to scare me, "He will come for you."

"Let him," Batman says. I nearly smile.

There is an unprecedented amount of guilt building in me. 

Doc is only doing what he thinks is right.

I step away from Captain Atom and begin walking towards my previous mentor. I had hated him once, upon realising that he was the one who invented the technology we were tortured with. Then I grew to love and respect him like a father figure for his dedication to fixing us.

"Doc," I begin, reaching him and taking his hands in mine. I stare at him, unabashed, "Please." 

His brow furrows. There are a million questions there; do I not miss them, do I not want to go home. He voices none of them and instead sighs again.

He squeezes my hand, "The tiniest sign of trouble, Mahiko."

"And I call you," I nod.

He looks past me again, to either Batman, Captain Atom or both. He nods at them before his focus moves back to me.

"Be careful," he says, letting go of my hands and leaning down to hug me instead.

"Always am."

I feel like Doc leaves with a small piece of me. Departing with the rest of the girl from Creeper's Point. He turns his back and heads towards the Zeta, heads to his home, but not mine.

I just have to be careful.

◊

◊

His warmth knows no bounds.

"Were you always this hot or is it the Scarab?" I ask, walking my fingers up his hoodie-clad chest. 

After saying goodbye to Doc I had taken a shower and washed the night away. When I returned to my room Jaibae was in there, waiting for me after his own. 

He knows I needed a hug.

"Jaime?" I call out, drawing my head up from his chest to stare at him. He's frowning at the roof and I know that means Scarab is annoying him. "Shut up Scarab."

His eyes snap to me, "He says 'no, you shut up'." Scarab seems to argue against the translation and Jaime rolls his eyes, "It's the same things as 'you are the one who should be silent'."

I laugh and place my head back down on him. 

If I'm honest, a large majority of my desire to stay here has to do with Jaime. Shocking about my character, I know (note the sarcasm), but I can't see myself being with him as much if I'm not here.

"Can I ask you something?" He says. Damn, just as I was nodding off.

"Mm?"

It takes him a while to cough the question out, but when he does, I understand why.

"What happened when you were kidnapped?"

The question stops my fiddling with his jumper. 

I was afraid of being asked that by everyone. We have all had our dark times; M'gann and being a white Martian, Nightwing losing Robin, Superboy being a clone, Garfied's mother's death.

My...'dark time' was implied to be my ousting from Japan and my mother's coma. I had managed to fend off talking about my captivity to everyone except Doc and Captain Atom.

"Why?" I respond quietly.

This seems to panic him, "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked-"

"It's okay," I interrupt, reaching up and patting his face, "I was expecting someone to ask. I'm glad it's you."

He doesn't respond, probably because he's not sure what to say. Instead he presses the arm around me further into my side, like a safer comfort.

"We were supposed to go on that school trip. The one to the Guadalupe Mountains. I needed a couple of things before the trip so Harper and I went to the mall the night before. Her parents started doing the usual so she had to go home early. I stayed until it closed because I got stuck at Mac longer than the Outdoor store. On my way home it was dark and there was no one out. And...someone grabbed me from behind and stabbed me with a needle."

He squeezes a little tighter. Maybe he remembers rejecting my offer to go to the mall with me. 

"When I woke up the first time I was on a plane. I remember seeing Chemo and a hooded figure and there were other kids on beds around me. They put me out again when they realised I had come to."

Clearly unsure of what to say, he remains silent.

"The next time I woke up we were in this...lab. Like a, solid concrete lab. I was in-between Lenore and some other boy. We watched the boy get dragged away screaming and it was the last time we saw him. T, who rarely spoke, would experiment on different kids every day. Some would come back traumatised, others wouldn't come back at all. He had a different experiment for each of us. A girl who had to submerge Chemo's mucus everyday; she disintegrated in a week. A boy who had parts of his brain removed everyday and replaced with robotics. Me-" The scars are heavy on my neck, "Injecting platinum nanobots into my bloodstream. It sent me into cardiac arrest a few times. It was only a few weeks but it felt like a lifetime. When Doctor Magnus and the Metal Men smashed through that wall and the sun shone through, I thought I was dead, in heaven."

Still unsure on the right words, he uses actions instead. He moves from beneath me, a small, concentrated frown on his face. He turns on his side and pulls me in again, now more of a hug than a rest. 

I slide my arm over him and hug back, tightly, feeling safer and warmer than ever.

"I'm sorry," he whispers sincerely. It almost feels like those simple two words could fix all of it. Even more so when he draws back and gently leans down, pressing a soft kiss to the metal implant scars left behind, easily hid but still daunting to me.

The peaceful moment is broken apart by the sound of his phone ringing in his back pocket.

"Answer it," I smile when he looks to me for permission.

He takes it in hand and squints at the screen because we're in a dark room and the light is blinding.

"Hey Tai," he answers groggily. I remain silent because it would be strange if I was suddenly with Jaime. He puts it on speaker anyway.

"I went by your house. Where are you?" 

"I'm at the skate park."

Tai scoffs, "Where? I'm here now." 

Jaime stares at the phone, stunned. I imagine that Scarab is reprimanding him for it. 

"The...one across town."

"Why?"

"Visiting my aunt," he answers hurriedly, "Anyway, what's up? I can come to the skatepark now."

Tai doesn't say anything for a while, but there is clearly talking on the other end. Whispering, in fact.

"Paco and I can't find Harper. We've been calling her for hours. We were hoping you or maybe even Mahi've heard from her."

I sit up, startling Jaime.

"We're coming right now!" I exclaim, diving over Jaime's body to get out of the bed.

Harper's in trouble. Harper's in trouble. 

"Mahiko? Are you in El Paso?" Paco's voice says.

"Surprise! Jaime didn't want to tell you guys!" I respond in a mad dash to pull on some platform sneakers. Jaime watches me roll around the floor with them, frowning.

"So that's where you really are," Tai responds.

"Uh...yeah. We'll be there soon," Jaime says before hanging up.

"That," I point to one of my handbags impatiently. He reaches for it as I pick myself up and fix my hair. Jumpsuit, platforms, denim jacket; it'll do, gotta get Harper.

I string the bag around my shoulder when he hands it to me, along with my skateboard, then rip my bedroom door open.

"I knew it!" I snap when we step out into the hallway.

"We should have been paying more attention," he agrees quietly, rushing to keep up behind me with his own larger board under his arm.

"She was so coy about it last time but I didn't even think!"

Harper's father is the owner of a factory in El Paso, which essentially has made him quite wealthy. He cast Harper's mother aside a long time ago. She left and took Harper's brothers with her, but left Harper and her older sister behind.

His wealth has brought him very much, including a place in El Paso's gang underworld. He hits the narcotics hard with Harper's step mother and it often results in both being beaten up by him.

"Where are you two going?" Gar calls out from the sofa beside La'gann.

"Out," is all I say.

Jaime catches up to me finally, looping his hand with mine as we rush into the Zeta.

When Harper takes a really bad beating she runs away. We don't know where she goes but we know that it's not safe because she has no family outside of the city and her mother lives in Canada.

We emerge from the El Paso Zeta, Jaime's suit climbing over him and my skin turning Platinum. We shoot up into the night and head towards the skate park.

"Do you think we can, you know," I gulp, "Kill her dad?"

Jaime's head snaps to me, shock donning his features, "Of course no-...You're not helping!" I assume Scarab takes my side.

If we kill him, if we kill all of the gang fathers in the city, will it not result in the toppling of the system? Harper will never have to take another beating. 

"There," Blue whispers, pointing to Tye and Paco leaning up against the tree in the shadows of the park. The two of us lower down into the street nearby, unmasking, before joining hands and sprinting down the street into their view.

"There you are!" Paco exclaims, running across the road to us.

"Where have you looked? Where haven't you looked?"

Tye raises his hands. He looks tired, stressed, "We've looked in all the usual places. The school, the mountains, the park, your house. We can't find her."

Think Mahiko. You're her best friend. Where else could she be? She used to run to the school and climb into the gym through a broken window, then patch herself up in the med bay. Or she would head out into the desert and climb a tree, then sit there and patch herself up. She would come here and sit in the curve if she was only a little bit hurt, skating until the sun comes up. She used to show up at my house and my mother would hate it because she didn't want us getting involved. Abuela would smack her daughter's head and-

"I know where she is," I say.

Jaime, Paco and Tye ask where but I'm already turning around, slamming my board into the road and skating back down the street with them following, shouting at me.

I can't think of anywhere else she might be.

"She'd need some medical supplies if it's really bad, somewhere to sleep, somewhere he'd never go and a familiar face. There's only one place that has all that," I respond.

The few stragglers out don't really react to us, used to the young people of this city skating around at all hours.

"We're going towards her house, Mahiko," Tye complains.

I look back at him smugly before I take a turn, down a familiar road that is, yes, near to her house, but a place I know she might go.

The stop is so quick the boys go skating past me as I kick my board up, turning to face the elderly home my very own abuela is in.

"She'd go here," I announce when they get back to me, Tye and Paco breathing hard.

The lights are on and a receptionist sits at the desk. It's nearly dinner time and the visiting hours are almost up, but I know she's here.

We enter and the desk attendant looks up.

"Hey Mrs Dongsal," Paco greets, causing the suspicious eyes looking upon us to shift to a smile.

"Paco! What are you doing here so late? Does your mother know you're out?" Ah, that makes sense.

"Yeah," he chuckles, walking up to the desk. This place smells like old people and soup. "Just taking Mahiko to see her grandmother. Abril Garcia?"

"Abi! Of course, room 34. She's had so many visitors today!" The overly cheerful woman shouts. I ignore her, already knowing where my Grandmother is. Jaime stays close as I hurry down the hall, passing by other rooms and a couple of nurses and trolleys.

"A. Garcia," I point to the plaque tacked on to a door at the end of the corridor. I don't bother knocking which Jaime reprimands under his breath, pushing the door open to find quite a distressing sight.

Harper smiles from her seat beside my sleeping grandmother, but it does nothing to calm any of us. She has a black eye, revealed by her pinned-back fringe. A cut is clear on the bottom of her lip.

"Sorry," she says quietly, glancing away, "I left my phone at home."

There isn't much else I can do but move forward and hug her. I do it carefully, just incase her shoulders are injured.

"I would have gone to the school," she says as the boys shut the door, "but..." she points to her foot. Above her high-tops a red is starting to turn blue. "Sprained."

She couldn't limp far.

Paco and Jaime walk over to her, but Tye stays by the door, arms folded firmly and head turned to the side, unwilling to acknowledge it. I step back as well, intent on telling him that she needs to stay somewhere and that somewhere is with him.

I look up at him and open my mouth but he holds his hand up, "I know."

Abuela has not remembered me for some time, but when Harper used to come here and volunteer to get away from home, she got to know my grandmother better than I did.

"Can you walk? At least to the door?" Tye asks, completely straight-faced.

Harper regards him with the same kind of expression. Not hard, just non-existent.

"Yeah," is all she says.

With Paco supporting her, Tye opens the door and Harper hobbles out, managing a walk that won't be questioned by anyone.

"Man," Jaime mumbles, running his hands down his face.

"I get it," I say, "we spend our time helping and saving people, but we can't even save or help our own friend."

I smile at my grandmother's sleeping form before shutting the door behind us. Jaime doesn't say anything. When we get outside, Harper has to stop and breathe through the pain. I wish I had healing powers, now more than ever.

"Platinum. Blue Beetle. Do you copy?" 

Jaime pretends to get a call on his cellphone, turning away to press it against his ear when really, it's Mal talking to us through the comms.

"We copy."

"Got a mission. Urgent one. Hit the cave soon as you can."

We both leap into action.

"Sorry guys but my mom says I- we have to go home now," he looks pointedly at Harper, "are you going to be okay?"

It's a useless question, because we both know that when Tye is with her, nothing can happen.

"Aw man, I better get going to!" Paco shrieks when he sees the time. He throws his board down after an emotion-filled fist bump with Harper. I quickly run up and give her another hug.

"Text me in the morning," I tell her.

She nods as Jaime and I join hands and start to back up with suspicious eyes on us.

"Don't drop her," I tease Tye, because I know he intends to carry or piggy-back her to his house, where they will undoubtedly share his bed instead of one taking the couch. We turn around and head back down the road.

Whilst it may have seemed like Tye did not care, he cares very much. Behind closed doors Tye and Harper fight a lot less. She'll probably cry in front of him tonight and he'll wipe away her tears.

"They're so cute," I say without the usual enthusiasm, taking my hand from Jaime's to wrap my arms around one of his. He just smiles at me comfortingly. 

We go back to being Blue Beetle and Platinum around the corner, flying into the air and heading for the Zeta.

"One day," I tell him, looking at the stars, "she's going to run away and something really bad is going to happen."