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Author's Note: Here's the fight everyone has been waiting for. Its a little more subdued than I usually write but its still a pretty damn good scene. I throw in another minor DC character too. I have to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and DC for the wonderful characters they created.

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Chapter Seven:

The feeling was overwhelming. I looked at my hands and saw the armor slowly start to creep up them, encasing my delicate fingers in the black and blue exoskeleton. I panicked, wouldn’t you? I didn’t panic because it was happening; I panicked because of where I was. I looked around, hoping the geek boys didn’t see me. Luckily, they were all too plastered to the glass to notice what was going on. I’m not sure if I was relieved or scared. Ok, why would I be scared, well hello, it was happening again? As cool as it was the first time, I wasn’t exactly expecting a repeat performance. Ok, I did it in my dream but that was a dream and this was real life. In real life, I didn’t want this to happen.

The tingling continued to creep up my body, a lot faster than I wanted. So I took a chance and ran for it. Still no one noticed; everyone was too panicked. I fell into the crowd, allowing it to push me down the mall. I broke from it as soon as I got close to the bathroom and ran inside. I didn’t lock the door, there was no point. I went to the mirror, I needed to see this. What I saw was both terrifying and exciting. I watched, as the armor seemed to consume my body, like some kind of blue/black liquid, slowly oozing its way all over me. Besides the tingling, it was kind of cold and it looked like the stuff the T-1000 was made out of in T2---hey I’m a geek too remember.

I moved closer to the mirror as it moved across my chest. What was once liquid started to solidify and harden! At first, it didn’t look like much but then it seemed to take on an armor-like appearance. What does armor look like, well it looks like what’s all over me. It’s really hard to describe, I guess. It was both freaky and cool at the same time. It was fascinating to watch as the armor formed all over my body, covering it much like its namesake. In the dream, Khaji had called it an exoskeleton and I had no idea what she meant by that. Now looking at the armor that was forming around my body I could see exactly what she meant. It was just like an exoskeleton, in fact now I knew why they were calling me a blue bug. The armor kind of resembled a bug. It was more stylish, of course, but there were definitely bug-like qualities to it. The armor finished covering the rest of my body. The blue vision came on-line and the HUD screen appeared. It’s kind of cool actually. I flexed my fingers, watching as the armor clad bad-ass in the mirror did the same. I could hardly tell it was me in there. I waved a hand in front of my face and my reflection did the same.

“This is not a game,” said Khaji, her voice had a serious tone to it. “Whosoever uses the armor has a responsibility to uphold. The armor has activated for a reason and now you must act upon that reason.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s tied in with your emotions, so clearly you summoned it for a reason.”

I clenched my fists. I had a reason all right. For a second there I forget it but now it was the only thing on my mind. I turned away from the mirror and opened the door. When I stepped outside of the bathroom, no one noticed me at first. I say at first because a few seconds later, two teenage girls practically ran into me. They both ended up on their butts and when they looked up at me, they screamed. Typical. I reached down to help them up but they took off running again. I don’t look that bad, do I? I shrugged it off. I scanned the crowd, hoping maybe I was wrong and there was nothing to worry about. But Brenda and Milagro were still not a part of it. I looked to the bank and scanned the guards in front. There were six of them, all of them pointing their guns at the glass front.

I took a deep breath and marched toward it. Ok, saying marched sounds cooler. But I did sort of have this cool walk as I made my way across the mall. I weaved my way through the throngs of people, most of them doing their best to get out of my way. Hey, if you saw a blue armored bug chick walking toward you, you’d avoid her too. When I approached the bank, the closer guard saw me and reacted. He snapped around, pointing his gun at me. You’ve got to be kidding. His hand was shaking so clearly he wasn’t sure what to do with me.

“Sir, I’m not the bad guy here.” My voice had a metallic, robotic sound to it, which was kind of cool.

“Stay back” he stammered.

I held my hands up to show him I meant no harm. But of course, my stupid suit had to do something. These really cool sword-like things grew out of my wrists. They would have been even cooler if they didn’t choose that time to come out. The guard panicked and fired a shot. It hit me in the chest. Neither one of us were prepared for what happened next. The bullet crumpled on impact, flattening into a little metal disc and falling to the floor. The guard stared at me in shock and lowered his gun. I nodded and stepped around him. He continued to stand there and I walked right up to the bank doors. The other guards looked at me but none of them were stupid enough to stop me.

I peered through the glass, trying to see inside. But the lights were off. My blue vision changed, becoming green. Suddenly the whole bank lit up before me. Cool, night vision. Inside the bank, I saw a lot of people on the floor, their hands on the back of their heads, their faces done. I spotted Brenda first; she was lying over by one of the desks. I didn’t see Milagro until I looked over at the gumball machines. She was there, lying on the ground, her new ballerina bear tightly in her arms. I could see the tears rolling down her face. That pissed me off. No one makes my sister cry. I scanned the rest of the place, looking for the jackasses responsible.

There were three of them. They were carrying M-16s, wearing Halloween masks. There was a Frankenstein by the tellers, a Dracula by the desks and a Wolf Man stuffing wads of cash into a bag. None of them could see me though and that was where I had the advantage. I tried the doors but of course, they were locked. I raised one of my new sword thingies and decided to make my own. I stabbed the glass but instead of shattering, the blade went in and I sliced upwards. I moved quick, quicker than humanly possible. It was just like in the alley. I cut a hole big enough for me and stepped into the bank. My blades retracted into my arms like they weren’t even there. I’m not sure what drew the attention of the robbers but Dracula saw me first.

I’m not sure he knew what he was seeing but there was enough of me to scare him. He raised his gun and opened fire. The bullets tore into me, like a hundred bees trying to hit a single target. Fortunately, for me, they were like flies. They hit my face and chest and bounced off like nothing. Dracula looked pretty frustrated. He emptied his entire clip. The other two snapped around and started firing too but they weren’t as close as Dracula and so they didn’t have the benefit of the light from the doors. Their bullets went all over the place; luckily, most of them were aimed high. A couple hit me but most went astray and drilled into the walls. I waited until they emptied their clips, too.

When I saw smoking barrels and heard the curses, I knew it was my turn. Dracula bum rushed me. I think he thought he’d catch me off guard or something. He charged, using his empty gun like a bat. Unfortunately, for him it was dark and he was kind of off on his run. He got close but not close enough. He came at me at full speed and couldn’t stop in time. I put my arm and it made the perfect close line. He slammed into it, my forearm catching him in the neck. He went down like a ton of bricks, hitting the hard marble floor back first. It must have hurt like hell. On the ground, he was gasping and groaning at the same time.

"Johnny, you ok buddy?”

I turned to the one who spoke; it was the Wolf Man. He had stopped stuffing money into his bag and was squinting into the dark. He couldn’t see me though.

“Your friend is down for the count, give up now and I might go easy on you.’

“Screw you, bitch.”

I groaned. There were a few things I really hated in the world and one of them was when jackasses called women names. There was a C word I particularly hated but Bitch was right up there with it. I moved like lightning, leaping over the hostages on the ground and landing with cat-like grace on the top of the counter, directly in front of him. It was a good ten-foot leap, which was damn impressive. He saw me now and jumped back, scared half to death. He tried to run but I grabbed the front of his shirt and with the immense strength the suit gave me, I lifted him off the ground. I moved my face into his, we were inches apart now.

“You want to call me names, now?”

He shook his head, his entire body trembling. “What the hell are you?”

“I have no idea.”

Hey, Michael Keaton I am not, so sue me.

I pulled him close and then threw him. They made my sister cry, there was no way any of them were leaving here on their own two feet. He hit the wall, cracking the drywall. He slid to the floor, unconscious. I stared at him for a few seconds and then snapped over to Frankenstein. Unfortunately, he wasn’t where I wanted him to be. He moved; he must have done it while I was busy with his boys. Where he was now I didn’t like in the least. The blood froze in my veins. I tried to move but I was paralyzed with fear. He was standing over by the gumball machines, Milagro in his arms. He had an arm around her next and a pistol pointed against her skull. My heart starting pounding in my chest and wanted to scream out to her.

“I’m walking out of here,” he said, his voice trembling.

Milagro was crying and squirming, trying her hardest to get out of his grasp.

I recovered. “Not going to happen."

“You bet your ass it is,” he said, dragging my sister with him as he inched in the direction toward the door.

I jumped off the counter, making sure to avoid the scared people cowering on the floor. I stepped around them, walking slowly toward Frankenstein. “Release the girl and maybe I won’t put you in a full body cast."

“You think you’re bad ass and you may be fast but there’s no way you’re stopping me from putting a bullet in her head."

He was right. I was fast but I wasn’t that fast. I was defeated and he knew it. As long as he had my sister, there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t let him know that and I definitely couldn’t let her know that. I could see the look on her face; she was absolutely terrified. Her eyes were searching the dark, looking for anyone to help her. It was my job to protect her and I failed that miserably. How could I have left her like that? When we get out this, I swear to never touch another damn game as long as I live. That’s a promise.

“You’ve made your point. You’re a big bad dude; you don’t need the little girl. Leave her here with me and I’ll let you walk out of here.’

Frankenstein seemed to think about it but that didn’t last very long. He stared at me and even though his eyes were the only thing I could see, I knew he’d never go for it. I saw that same look in the eyes of those bastards in the alley when they tried to rape me. He was a nut job and there was no reasoning with nut jobs. I raised my hands in an attempt to show him I meant no harm and that’s when it happened. It was so quick I didn’t even know what happened. A blue ball of energy shot out of my left palm and went right at him. He didn’t even have time to react it was so fast. It hit him in the face, throwing him back. The force of the impact was so strong it pulled him away from my sister and sent him crashing into the far wall.

He hit it a lot harder than the Wolf Man and this one wasn’t made of drywall. I heard the snapping of bones. He slumped to the floor and I don’t think he was conscious. But I didn’t give a fuck. I launched across the room and caught my sister before she fell to the floor. She was crying and screamed at first, not sure what was going on.

“You’re safe,” I said softly, crying myself. I pulled her to my breast and held her tight.

She cried on my shoulder. I held her for the longest time. The security guards rushed into the room, followed by police officers---apparently, they arrived a few minutes after I did. There was a lot of commotion as the hostages started to clamber to their feet. I let go of Milagro and the lights flicked on. When she saw me, she gasped. Several others gasped too. I set Milagro on her feet and stood up, scanning the crowd. Everyone in the room was staring at me, hostages, guards and cops included. I was glad that no one could see my face.

I locked eyes with Brenda and she gave me a slight nod. Then I felt fingers entwine with my own and looked to see Milagro holding my hand.

“Are you some kind of superhero?”

I turned to her and bent to her level again. I did something without thinking, something that I shouldn’t have done. “Something like that” I said and then tweaked her nose.

Her eyes widened. “Jaime?”

I stood up, turning away. Crap, see I knew I shouldn’t have done that. She whispered my name again, giving my hand a squeeze. I tried to ignore it but there it was. I looked at her again, slipping my hand from her’s. She gave me a look, one of admiration and not of fear. Then she made a motion of zipping her lips shut. I smiled and turned back to the rest of the room. Everyone was still in stunned silence, wouldn’t you be. I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I looked around the room for an exit but the only one was blocked by a whole bunch of people. The guards and police officers rushed me with questions; it was like a barrage. I held up my hands, silencing them all. I needed to get out of here before there was a media circus.

“Look I’d like to stay and chat but I really must be going.”

Before I knew what I was doing my wings sprang out of my back, I rose a few feet off the floor and zipped through the bank. I was just above all their heads and crashed through the glass bank doors. I rose higher once I got into the mall proper; hundreds of faces below looked up at me. I rose to the glass roof, fired one of those blue energy ball thingies and zipped through the hole, making a clean, if rather messy exit.

____________________________________

“That was definitely exciting.”

We landed on the roof across the street from the mall. I ignored Khaji for a second and turned around; spying what was going on. The media frenzy had already started. There were two news vans there and an assortment of police vehicles. I recognized the vans from Channels 6, 7 and 25. Yes, there’s a Channel 25 News, how strange is that. There were a few news reporters set up outside and a lot of general reporters there too. The police were already doing crowd control, trying their hardest to keep the bloodthirsty vultures at bay. I scanned the crowds, looking for familiar faces, hoping that Brenda and Milagro were out of there. The last thing I wanted was them wrapped up in all this mess.

But they weren’t there. I groaned, that meant they were still inside.

“How do I deactivate the armor again?”

“Just think about it.”

I did. The armor disappeared a lot faster than last time. I felt it ooze up my body and then disappear into my back. I was standing there naked again. I didn’t have to ask for clothes this time though because my yellow dress appeared instantly. My sandals appeared too. Oh yeah I forgot to mention them, I was wearing sandals before. I’m not big on shoes---like I’ve mentioned before---so it slipped my mind. A lot of things slipped my mind but right now wasn’t the time to dwell on them. I needed to get back into the mall and make sure my sister wasn’t traumatized or something. My blue vision came back and I scanned the area, looking for a new entry point. I spotted it on the mall roof; it was one of those roof access stairwells. As soon as I thought about it, I felt the wings form from my back and I took off. It was kind of crazy, flying like this but I seemed to be used to it by now. But it was kind of cool doing it without the whole armor thing though.

“Parts of the exoskeleton can be accessed at anytime.”

We landed on the mall roof. I retracted the wings and ran for the stairwell thing. The door was locked but that didn’t stop me. The armor glove appeared on my left hand. I grabbed the padlock ripped it off. Yeah, I could totally get used to this. The glove disappeared when I opened the door. I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. There were three floors to the mall; the third floor was probably my best bet. When I went through the exit to it, I was in one of those behind the scenes type hallways. I looked around, half expecting Schwarzenegger. I ran down the hall a little bit and found another door. Opening it up, I found myself in the mall proper.

I ran to the railing and looked down. The bank was on the first level. I scanned the area but there was no one around. It looked like most of the mall had been deserted. I felt like I was in a Romero movie as I ran to the stairs. I would have taken the escalator but it didn’t appear to be working. I hate elevators, I’m not sure why. But ever since I was a kid, I couldn’t stand being in one. I guess I might have a thing for enclosed spaces. I took these stairs two at a time too. When I reached the second floor, it was kind of eerie and quiet but I didn’t stay. I kept going until I got to the first. Once there, I saw where all the people went.

They were in the food court, there had to be over a hundred people there. Police officers monitored the whole area; there were three or four facing me. I took a deep breath and marched toward them. It didn’t take long for them to spot me. The nearest one came walking over, his hand on the butt of his gun. You’ve got to be kidding me. I held my hands up, palms facing him to show I wasn’t a threat. When he got closer, I saw the scowl on his face. Oh, this is going to be good.

“Miss, stop right there.”

I looked past him at the gathered group, scanning each face individually for Brenda and Milagro. I found them sitting at a table, currently talking to a female police officer. Milagro was hugging the ballerina bear tight to her chest. She had dried tears on her face but other than that, she looked all right. I let out a sigh. I thought for sure she’d be a wreck.

“I’m just trying to get to my sister, Officer.”

I recognized him as one of the ones in the bank. He didn’t recognize me though, how could he. He looked me up and down though, giving me a thorough once over. In fact, it was a little too thorough as his eyes lingered on my chest for a little longer than I would have liked. Fucking creep. His stare made my skin crawl and if he’d been any other guy I would have kicked him in the balls. As it was though I could only shiver and throw up a little inside.

He turned from me and looked back at the Food Court. “Which one is she?”

“The little girl with the teddy bear, the one talking to that female officer.” I pointed to her but I was too far away yet for her to see me.

He turned again and looked. He stared for a few seconds then turned back to me. “What kind of older sister leaves her little one in a bank all by herself?”

That pissed me off. This scumbag was judging me. Cop or not, he had no right. I felt my anger rising but I managed to keep it in check. “First of all, she wasn’t alone, she was with my friend Brenda and second of all, it’s none of your damn business.”

Ok, like I said, he pissed me off. I don’t think he liked that very much. He gave me another scowl. He opened his mouth to scold me but I was already brushing past him. I didn’t have time to stand here and throw barbs back and forth. I got about ten feet before he caught up with me and grabbed my arm. I spun around, my fist clenched. I so wanted to break this bastard’s nose. I would have too if not for someone shouting a name:

“Josie!” I looked around and saw Milagro running past an officer trying to grab her.

I groaned at the name she used. But I didn’t let it bother me as she practically leapt into my arms. I held her tight, burying my head into her shoulder as she cried on mine. I turned to the officer, glaring at him. He didn’t say anything, what more could he say. I left him standing there and carried Milagro back over to the Food Court. I went to the table where Brenda and the female officer were sitting. I managed to pry her away long enough to put her in the chair she vacated and took one of my own. The officer was Hispanic like us. I looked at her nametag, Montoya. Hopefully she wouldn’t be a jackass like the other guy.

She wasn’t. She was sweet and understanding. She asked Milagro a few more questions and did the same with Brenda. Most of them were about before the robbery took place and during it. There were no questions about the mysterious blue girl in armor but that didn’t stop Milagro from talking about her. She kept rambling on about how cool she was; casting sideway glances at me each time. Montoya wrote it down of course. Brenda was looking at me too, questioning with her eyes. I gave her a slight nod of my head, hoping that was enough for now. After Milagro was done telling the officer about the Blue Beetle---I kind of like it, it fits---Montoya turned to me.

“And where were you when all of this was going down, Miss Reyes?”

“The video game store” answered Milagro for me. I think she was trying to protect my secret identity. How cute is that. “She’s always playing those stupid games. She’s kind of a tomboy like that."

I sighed and nodded. “Guilty as charged. I was playing a demo for the new Halo game when I heard screaming. I tried to get back to the bank once I realized what was going on but the crowd pushed me back. So instead, I went up to the third floor to get a better look. Unfortunately all I saw was a whole lot of nothing, though I did get to see that cool superhero girl fly off.”

Milagro and Brenda smiled at me with their eyes. Montoya asked me a few more questions and I answered with the best lies I could come up with. When she was satisfied, she flipped shut her notepad and moved on to the next table. The three of us let out a collective sigh. After that, we had to wait until the other witnesses and hostages were all interviewed. It took nearly two hours for that. I grabbed Milagro’s hand when they finally allowed us to leave. I held it as tight as possible, there was no way I was ever letting her out of my sight again. She complained that I was cutting off her circulation but I didn’t care.

As we left the Food Court, Brenda pulled out her phone and called for a car. “The limo will be here any second.”

I nodded.

“Josie, I need to use the bathroom, can you let go of me so I can do that.”

I let go of her hand. “What’s with the Josie thing?”

She smiled. “Well I can’t very well call my sister, Jaime, that’s a boy’s name. So I’ve decided your name’s going to be Josephina from now on.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

She shook her head. “Nope.” She laughed as she walked off into the bathroom.

Brenda and I sat on a nearby bench. “I like it” she said with a smile of her own. “You’re definitely a Josephina; can I call you Josie too?”

I sighed. “I suppose it’s inevitable, huh.”

“You’ll get used to it,” she said with another laugh. I playfully gave her a little shove.

Milagro came back after that. She sat down next to me, taking my hand in hers. She held it quietly for a little a bit and then asked the question I was dreading: “Where did you get that cool suit?”

I sighed and looked at Brenda; she shrugged. So I took a deep breath and told Milagro everything. She listened intently and nodded a lot. When it was over, she squeezed my hand and gave me a big hug. Then she looked at me oddly. “So can I talk to Khaji too?”

“I’m afraid not. Tell her that I’m only able to talk to those I bond with.”

I told her what Khaji said and she frowned a bit. "I wish you’d have given me that stone.”

I didn’t know what to say. But I knew what I was thinking.

Brenda’s phone rang a few minutes later. She took it, talked to whoever it was on the other end and clicked it off. “The car’s here.”

I took Milagro’s hand again much to her protesting. But I didn’t care, like I said before; never out of my sight again. We walked quietly through the mall. We passed Officer Montoya; she smiled as we went by. We passed the other cop too and he gave me a dirty look. I wanted to give him the finger but I figured that would get me arrested or something. When we got outside there was a larger media frenzy than before. The cops were doing everything in their power to hold back the growing crowd of curious on lookers and news people. I scanned the crowd with blue vision and saw a familiar face in Tana Moon, the woman who had been there for the other incident of mine. She was talking to one of the bank employees. She looked over my way and her eyes lit up when she saw Milagro. I think everyone knew about the little girl with the pink bear.

Tana wrapped her interview up quickly and raced us down. She cut us off. I bit my lip and we nearly collided with one another.

“Can I ask you girls a few questions?”

Before any of us could say anything she stuck the microphone in our faces, well Milagro’s actually. I pushed it away, pissed. “What the hell is wrong with you, lady? She just went through a traumatic experience and now you’re traumatizing her even more.”

“I just want to get her side of the things, put a face of innocence on the whole thing” said the bloodthirsty reporter.

I wonder if I could punch her.

“The girls aren’t answering any of your questions,” said a stern voice to our left.

“Excuse Me,” snapped Tana, turning with us to the source of the voice.

Brenda was the only one who smiled. There was a tall Hispanic woman standing there, dressed in smart lavender suit, her skirt so tight and her heels so high she looked like she could crush anyone just by staring at them. She had long flowing dark hair and an air of superiority. When Tana’s eyes locked on her, I saw the color drain from her face. It would have drained from anyone. There wasn’t a soul alive in this town who didn’t know Amparo Juarez; she was a force to be reckoned with in every circle. I’m not really sure what kind of business she was involved in but whatever it was, it made her super rich.

Brenda rushed forward and gave her aunt a hug. “Thanks for coming, Tia.”

Amparo kissed Brenda on the head. Then she shot daggers at Tana. “These girls have all been traumatized and if you continue with any line of questioning, I’ll sue the hell out of you and that rinky dinky news station you work for. Do I make myself clear?”

Tana nodded.

Amparo looked at Milagro and me. “I recognize the little one but I don’t know you.”

Milagro spoke for me. “This is my cousin, Josephina; she’s visiting from El Paso.”

Amparo smiled. “You’re a very pretty flower my dear. You must drive the boys crazy.”

I blushed. Why the hell did I blush?

"C’mon” said Brenda, pointing off toward a white stretch limo. “You have to see this.”

It was rare to see her so excited. Milagro slipped away from me and took off, following Brenda gleefully. Amparo lingered behind with me, matching me stride for stride. It was kind of intimidating, especially seeing, as she was so much taller than me.

“I hear the Blue Beetle was here?”

I nodded. “She stopped the bank robbers and rescued my sister.”

“How generous of her.”

There was something in her tone that I didn’t like. It was only there for a second and then it was gone but it was there nonetheless. I never really liked Amparo; she kind of freaked me out. But there must have been something good about her because Brenda loved her. Brenda was always a really good judge of character. So I smiled up at her and the two of us walked slowly over to the limo.

___________________________________

“You guys suck,” said Paco’s voice over my speaker phone. “You go and have a day at the mall and leave me to rot in school.”

“Paco, we were clothes shopping, girl clothes shopping. I didn’t even want to be there.’

“You make a valid point.”

I was sitting on my bed, the phone on the sheets in front of me. I didn’t have a real phone in my room, but for my birthday last year, my parents surprised me with a pretty cool cell phone. It was nothing like Brenda’s fancy iPhone but it had some Wi-Fi capabilities and it could take pictures and video. That’s all I really needed. It was the only present I got last year because money was tight because we were getting ready to move to California. This year, my parents promised, there would be more money, especially now that my Dad was making twice as much as he used to down in Texas. My mother was pulling in good money too. We were still Middle Class but we were probably middle middle Class if there is such a thing.

After getting home from the mall, my mother was there waiting. Apparently, she heard about the incident over the dispatch and was actually in one of the ambulances at the scene. She never saw us because things had been kind of hectic. Unbeknownst to us, there was a bit of a stampede to get out of the mall and lot of people got hurt. My mother was running priorities back and forth all afternoon. She was able to cut out early because she wasn’t actually on the clock for today. So when she got home and didn’t find us she was a big wreck. She didn’t stop worrying until she saw us on the news and saw both me and Amparo tell off that bitch Tana.

When we actually got in the door, she smothered Milagro with hugs and kisses. Milagro tried to shrug them off but my mother would have none of that. Milagro tried to tell her she was ok, that the Blue Beetle saved her. But my mother would have none of that. The Blue Beetle was now big news, apparently. When we got home my mother had the TV muted but I saw grainy security footage, enhanced with night vision to show me beat the hell out of the three goons. It was too grainy to see real faces but there was no doubt that it was Milagro. My mother said she nearly had a heart attack when she saw it.

We spent the couple of hours before dinner answering all the questions we could. During dinner, my father stopped in. He didn’t say much. He ate his meal and went into the den. I tried talking to him but he gave me the cold, silent treatment. My mother glared at him and I tried my best to ignore him. It hurts when your own father won’t even look you in the eye anymore. I thought he was ok with everything but apparently, he wasn’t. After dinner, my mother had followed him into the den and they had a good shouting match. I took Milagro upstairs with me.

That was four hours ago. It took me almost three and a half hours to get up the nerve and call Paco. When he answered, he had no idea who I was at first. That was five minutes ago. Now, I’d just finished filling him in on the day’s events, including the Blue Beetle stuff. Yes, so one more person knows my secret.

“So what are you wearing?” he asked, trying to sound all suave.

“You did not just ask me that.”

He groaned. “I didn’t mean it like that. All your old clothes don’t fit right, so you bought new ones right. I was just wondering if you were wearing your usual PJs or new ones.”

I groaned and looked down. I was sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt---an old one of my father’s- --and a pair of panties. I told him this, blushing while I did so.

“That is so hot.”

“I’d punch you if it wouldn’t hurt so badly.”

“You have to be here with me too.”

I tried to change subjects and told him about the new Halo game. He was kind of jealous. We talked about that for a little while and then of course, like the typical guy his thoughts strayed back to me.

“Are you at least a babe?”

I groaned. Is he ever going to give up? Instead of describing what I looked like now, I did the next best thing. I took my phone, held it far enough away from me and snapped a shot. Then I texted it to him. “I sent you a pic.”

I waited about thirty seconds and then I heard his response: “Damn Jaime, you’re a total babe now. How in the hell did that happen?”

“Beats the hell out of me.”

We talked for about an hour more than my phone beeped. I looked at the little battery symbol in the corner of the screen and groaned. I told him I had to go because my phone needed to charge. He wanted to know what I was going to do about school and I told him that for now I was staying home. He got a little jealous again and told me maybe he’d play hooky tomorrow so we could hang. We had a laugh and then said our goodnights. I grabbed my charger and plugged the phone in. I left it on my desk and shivered. Early this morning I must have left my window open because it was kind of windy and there was a breeze whipping the curtains about.

I shivered again, rubbing my cold arms as I got up to close it. As I got to the window, I noticed something on the floor in front of it. I used to have my desk by the window but I kept dropping things out of it. There’s no screen on my window, it fell off a couple of weeks ago and my father was too busy to replace it. So without a screen I had to move my desk. That’s probably how whatever it was got in here.

I bent down and picked it up. It was a sheet of folded notebook pad. I shrugged and flipped t over; my name was on it. When I opened it up, I saw a scrawled handwritten letter, in red ink: We’ve been watching you and we know who you are. Stay off our turf or face the dire consequences. If you ever pull a stunt like that in the mall anywhere near us, we will end you. There was no signature on the bottom but I didn’t need one to know who had sent it: Posse.

I crumpled up the note and tossed it into my trash bin.