Jaime Reyes

Silver Scarab

Jaime Reyes

## Biography

### Early Life

Jaime Reyes was born to paramedic Bianca and mechanic Alberto Reyes in Taos, New Mexico. At an early age, Jaime showed immense promise, prompting his parents to splurge their life savings on sending Jaime to Rio Grande Preparatory Academy, where he excelled in science and mathematics, but struggled with the arts and humanities.

At Rio Grande, he became best friends with Paco Testas and Brenda Del Vecchio. Jaime was a victim of great expectations, and as such he became heavily involved in all kinds of extracurriculars and contests, amassing an impressive collection of scholarships for himself. His acclaim gained him an elusive internship with Kord Omniversal after they opened a new joint facility with STAR Labs in Taos.

### Blue Beetle

While working at his internship, the building went into lockdown mode, and Jaime was forced to take shelter in a research lab alongside Daniel Garrett. Garrett retrieved a BB gun for himself and began fighting back against two assailants; Sportsmaster and Deathstroke. As Garrett fought, Jaime escaped, hiding in Garrett’s office, where he fell into a full on panic attack.

Then suddenly, something bit him, or his back, it felt like, and a small blue disk affixed itself to Jaime’s back, and an A.I calling itself Khaji Da “borrowed” Jaime’s nervous system and motor controls and fought back against the two assailants, blowing a hole in the side of the building and effectively saving Garrett’s life.

Garrett whisked Jaime through a Zeta platform and to Kord Tower in Chicago, where he introduced him to Ted Kord and Michael Jon Carter. The three then briefed Jaime on what exactly Khaji Da was - some kind of ancient sorcerer who had affixed himself into a mystical talisman that had allowed Dan to become Blue Beetle, and later used the talisman to assist Kord Omniversal with their technology firm.

However, following the recent death of Jason Todd, Ted and Michael advised him not to become a superhero - and leave the heroics to the professionals. In exchange for his agreement, Ted paid off his schooling and offered a recommendation letter and hefty scholarship to a college of his choice - with the guarantee of a position with the tech conglomerate upon completion of school. Jaime eagerly agreed.

He soon discovered that even if he wanted to stop being a superhero, he couldn’t, as the talisman was now permanently affixed to his back and would sometimes completely hijack his body without his permission. Often, Jaime had weird dreams about the device taking control and woke up wondering if these things had actually occurred.

Jaime was called into action during the OMAC Crisis, the recipient of a distress signal sent out by Booster Gold, prompting Jaime to bail on Paco’s Fourth of July cookout. Midway through his flight to San Diego to assist with the damage caused by the Watchtower’s wreckage, Khaji Da bugged out on him and sent him crashing into the sea.

Jaime woke up nearly twelve hours later back at home, with no memory of the prior twelve hours, and Khaji Da was avoiding the answer. Jaime tried to get in contact with Ted, only to discover that his mentor was now dead. Soon after, Ted’s involvement in the OMAC Project was revealed to the public, and Michael announced the shutdown of Kord Omniversal.

Jaime managed to track down Michael, finding him in the Marino Casino on Kooey Kooey Kooey, drowning his sorrows. There, he convinced Michael to dust himself off and help him become the second Blue Beetle. Michael was inspired and agreed. While flying home in Michael’s private jet, however, Jaime suddenly created an energy cannon and blasted Michael, destroying the side of the aircraft and downing them into a nearby island.

For months, Michael was assumed dead, and the black box of the plane had been stolen - leaving no flight logs. Jaime, however, was found by his parents asleep in bed the next morning, and was bizarrely chipper.

### Silver Scarab

What followed was a year-long period of Jaime being a backseat driver to his own body, as Khaji Da’s true masters, an alien race known as the Reach, used Jaime as their own little soldier on Earth, stockpiling technology from Kord, STAR, and other laboratories, while also helping execute the kidnapping of several teenagers, leading to them being experimented on by the alien armada.

Booster eventually returned and the Reach was outed as the secret collaborator of the Light and puppeteer of the Rann-Thanagar war. Booster assembled a small strike force including Black Canary, Micron, Bumblebee, Darkstar, Zatanna, and a recreated Skeets to reprogram Khaji Da, stripping Jaime of the Blue Beetle moniker and freeing him from alien control.

Now, with a clean slate, and shiny suit of armor, Jaime dubbed himself the Silver Scarab and led the fight against the Reach, with a knowledge of their inner workings, he helped dismantle their technology after they attempted a terraforming of the Earth.

Jaime learned of his actions of the past year and was fearful of exclusion from the superhero community. He was surprised when instead, the Titans offered him a membership and a shot at redeeming himself.  Feeling as if he had sullied the Blue Beetle, Jaime has since taken up the moniker of Silver Scarab, planning to return to bring justice to Ted’s moniker when he feels as if he’s earned it. He's taken an internship at STAR Labs, where Skeets and Green Beetle have been helping him reprogram the scarab using a digital file of Ted’s consciousness.

## Notes

* Several elements of Jaime's story are taken from the *Young Justice* animated series.