Late for the Sky, Chapter Three
Title: Late for the Sky
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Booster/Beetle
Spoilers: Through the end of 52. Not entirely canon-compliant.
Disclaimer: All characters and music are copyright their respective owners.
Notes: If you're taking final exams this week, good luck. And if you haven't been to see the round robin lately, check it out. Interesting stuff going down.
[chapter one] [chapter two]
Cleaning up after the lobster actually took less time than Booster and Beetle had originally projected, mostly because the Chicago Aquarium wanted to examine the carcass. The two heroes were only happy to oblige, mostly because it meant they didn’t have to find somewhere to stash a gigantic, stinking lobster corpse.
Booster was floating around the financial district, taking stock of the damage. Nothing seemed structurally compromised, most of it was broken windows or cracks in the façade. Beetle was staring up at the sky, where the gash had closed over and vanished. Whatever happened before, it probably couldn’t be undone. Somebody was stuck where he wasn’t supposed to be.
“Hey, Beetle, you want to go get a coffee?” Booster called, finishing his interview with Chicago Metropolitan Police.
“Is that part of figuring this mess out?” Beetle asked.
“Yeah, and because I could go for a coffee. Meet you in front of the busted Chevy in five minutes? There’s a Starbucks just around the corner.”
“There’s a Starbucks just around every corner.”
Booster chuckled and flew off to find somewhere to change into civvies. While he generally didn’t have any problem wearing his costume out in public, mostly because it gave the citizens a sense of security, he wasn’t sure how well Beetle would take it, especially a Beetle he didn’t particularly know, even if this Beetle was supposed to be Ted. He put on a holey pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had shrunk in the wash just enough that it hugged his body almost as tightly as his suit.
The Beetle was waiting by the Chevy when Booster returned, the spitting image of the Ted Kord Booster had known and lost. Okay, maybe not the absolute spitting image, this Ted was much trimmer, but Booster was okay with that. It meant there’d be no whining about love handles. He was smiling, but his bright blue eyes clearly conveyed suspicion.
“I’ll buy,” Booster offered.
Ted raised an eyebrow. “You’ll buy? You never have money.”
“I’ve been making an honest living, and I can afford to splurge for much-needed caffeine.”
They walked around the corner to the Starbucks, ordered, and slid into a booth way in the back of the café. It was dimly lit, the furthest away from the speakers and the warbly chick with guitar music, and pretty much isolated. Ted had gotten a low-fat strawberry smoothie (to Booster’s shock), while Booster was sipping something he referred to as “The Widowmaker.” Neither spoke for a while, Ted amusedly observing the pained winces Booster would make as he drank “The Widowmaker.”
“So. You’re alive,” Ted remarked.
“And so are you.”
“Any idea how this happened, or is this some crazy hallucination brought on by a Doctor Destiny-esque villain who only made me dream up the lobster and the hole in the sky?”
Booster sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. He wished things could’ve been easier, if this had been regular Ted brought back by magic or time travel or science or some combination of the three. Maybe a hapless Checkmate lackey, an unguarded Lazarus Pit, and a mix-up between a body bag and a trash bag that happened years ago and Ted only just now escaped. None of this Mysteries of the 52 business.
“This isn’t a hallucination. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s not. It’d be a damn good one if it was. Um. Yeah. What is your knowledge of alternate worlds?” Booster asked.
Ted frowned. “I wouldn’t doubt that they exist, but I’ll have to confess my skepticism.”
Booster started ripping bits from one of their napkins and rolling them into cocktail peanut sized balls. In a careful, measured tone, he explained everything Guy had to him, describing the way the Multiverse behaved. Ted’s frown deepened with every passing moment, until it seemed the sweetness of his smoothie couldn’t even fix the scowl on his face.
“So this is an alternate world…to my world, at least. Which means you’re not the same Booster I knew. Figures. I just can’t win.”
Booster had the sudden urge to reach across the table and touch the other man, but squashed it down in the fear that this Ted wasn’t the touchy-feely type. “Hey, neither can I. You’re dead too…I mean he’s dead. Ted. The here-Ted, I mean. Sorry.”
“What happened…if you don’t mind my asking?”
“He was murdered. It’s this big, complicated thing, but that’s the short of it. You?”
Ted jabbed the bottom of his cup with his straw. “Also murdered. Also complicated. So…I guess I’m stuck here now. Right? I mean, you don’t have a dimensional spanner or anything?”
“Not anymore, sorry.”
“It’s okay, my luck it would’ve taken me five hundred years into the future and to a world where everyone’s a dinosaur. Or something. Maybe being stuck here will be okay. I mean, at least you exist in this world. I could’ve gone somewhere with a dead Booster and a live Beetle and we’d have to work something out. Team Blue and Also Blue just doesn’t seem to work, right?”
Booster smiled. “Right. Hey, I wanted to ask you…your suit of armor…is that from the Scarab?”
“Yeah, of course it is. Didn’t your Beetle have the Scarab?”
“Well, yeah, but he couldn’t get it to work. Dan Garrett, the Blue Beetle before Ted, he had some powers but not the whole gamut. Ted didn’t have anything, so he was basically a bug-themed pastel Batman with a sense of humor. There’s a third Beetle, he’s got the armor like you do, but he’s a teenager from El Paso. Nice kid, but more sidekick material than partner, y’know?”
Ted nodded. “That’s interesting. The Dan Garrett from my world didn’t have powers like mine, but he understood how the Scarab worked, where it came from. I think he met its creators right before he died. But yeah, it decided that I was a perfect candidate for its powers, and it and I have been working together for years now. I’ve grown attached to it…literally and figuratively.”
“It grafted to you? The spine, right?” Booster asked. “That’s what the kid said happened.”
“Exactly. It’s a shame, I would’ve loved to have built all kinds of equipment to use, but the armor’s probably more practical. I still ended up building a few things for myself, of course. Couldn’t let Dan have all the fun toys,” he explained, poking a lump of whipped cream.
Booster shook his cup, hearing the straw rattle against the sides. While he felt badly that this Ted was stuck here, in a different world, away from the comfortable and familiar, a little selfish part of him was glad that it happened. After all, in all the strangeness he’d encountered guarding the 52, a Ted from another dimension was probably the least worrying thing that could’ve come through that portal.
“So do you think this world will be okay with the mysterious return of its Azure Avenger?”
“If it can be okay with the fact that there’ll be two Beetles now, a big one and a little one, yeah, I think things will be fine. Are you going to be okay with having another Booster Gold around? One that might actually be more mature than the one you knew?” Booster asked, smirking.
“Mature? Ha. I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ted quipped. “Damn…I just realized I don’t have anything here. No place to live, no job…I guess I could stay in a hotel for a while until I figure out what I’m doing with myself.”
“Nah, you can stay with me. It’s not a big apartment, but…well, I don’t care if you’re from another dimension, you’re my best friend…for the most part. And I make it a habit to not let my best friends be homeless,” Booster said.
Ted flashed him a genuine smile. “Thanks, Booster. I’ll owe you one.”
Booster stood up, taking his cup and Ted’s to the trashcan. “I’ll put it on your tab. Come on, I’ll take you home. I don’t know about you, but after fighting Rock Lobster there, I’m ready for a nap.”
“Nap? Jeez, Booster, didn’t you just drink coffee with three shots of caffeine and half a pound of sugar in it?” Ted asked, getting up. “I figured after that, you’d be wired for hours.”
Booster laughed. “I’ll let you in on a secret, Ted. The Widowmaker? Frozen chai tea slushy thing. You’re not the only one around here trying to keep a girlish figure.”
Ted cracked a grin. “Yeah. Let’s go. I want to see how much of an honest man you’ve become.”
They walked out of the café and turned a corner, Booster activating his flight ring.
“Okay, so…I know you can fly and all, super Beetle powers or whatever, but can you do it without the suit?”
“Not without the suit, no. Looks like I’ll be bumming a ride”
Booster hooked his arm around Ted’s waist, which was much easier now that his waist wasn’t quite so wide. He couldn’t help but grin as they took off, this was simple and familiar and felt right. Maybe this would all be okay. And from the way Ted had his arms wrapped around his neck, Booster was really starting to believe that.
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to be continued...
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Rating: PG-13
Characters: Booster/Beetle
Spoilers: Through the end of 52. Not entirely canon-compliant.
Disclaimer: All characters and music are copyright their respective owners.
Notes: If you're taking final exams this week, good luck. And if you haven't been to see the round robin lately, check it out. Interesting stuff going down.
[chapter one] [chapter two]
Cleaning up after the lobster actually took less time than Booster and Beetle had originally projected, mostly because the Chicago Aquarium wanted to examine the carcass. The two heroes were only happy to oblige, mostly because it meant they didn’t have to find somewhere to stash a gigantic, stinking lobster corpse.
Booster was floating around the financial district, taking stock of the damage. Nothing seemed structurally compromised, most of it was broken windows or cracks in the façade. Beetle was staring up at the sky, where the gash had closed over and vanished. Whatever happened before, it probably couldn’t be undone. Somebody was stuck where he wasn’t supposed to be.
“Hey, Beetle, you want to go get a coffee?” Booster called, finishing his interview with Chicago Metropolitan Police.
“Is that part of figuring this mess out?” Beetle asked.
“Yeah, and because I could go for a coffee. Meet you in front of the busted Chevy in five minutes? There’s a Starbucks just around the corner.”
“There’s a Starbucks just around every corner.”
Booster chuckled and flew off to find somewhere to change into civvies. While he generally didn’t have any problem wearing his costume out in public, mostly because it gave the citizens a sense of security, he wasn’t sure how well Beetle would take it, especially a Beetle he didn’t particularly know, even if this Beetle was supposed to be Ted. He put on a holey pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had shrunk in the wash just enough that it hugged his body almost as tightly as his suit.
The Beetle was waiting by the Chevy when Booster returned, the spitting image of the Ted Kord Booster had known and lost. Okay, maybe not the absolute spitting image, this Ted was much trimmer, but Booster was okay with that. It meant there’d be no whining about love handles. He was smiling, but his bright blue eyes clearly conveyed suspicion.
“I’ll buy,” Booster offered.
Ted raised an eyebrow. “You’ll buy? You never have money.”
“I’ve been making an honest living, and I can afford to splurge for much-needed caffeine.”
They walked around the corner to the Starbucks, ordered, and slid into a booth way in the back of the café. It was dimly lit, the furthest away from the speakers and the warbly chick with guitar music, and pretty much isolated. Ted had gotten a low-fat strawberry smoothie (to Booster’s shock), while Booster was sipping something he referred to as “The Widowmaker.” Neither spoke for a while, Ted amusedly observing the pained winces Booster would make as he drank “The Widowmaker.”
“So. You’re alive,” Ted remarked.
“And so are you.”
“Any idea how this happened, or is this some crazy hallucination brought on by a Doctor Destiny-esque villain who only made me dream up the lobster and the hole in the sky?”
Booster sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. He wished things could’ve been easier, if this had been regular Ted brought back by magic or time travel or science or some combination of the three. Maybe a hapless Checkmate lackey, an unguarded Lazarus Pit, and a mix-up between a body bag and a trash bag that happened years ago and Ted only just now escaped. None of this Mysteries of the 52 business.
“This isn’t a hallucination. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s not. It’d be a damn good one if it was. Um. Yeah. What is your knowledge of alternate worlds?” Booster asked.
Ted frowned. “I wouldn’t doubt that they exist, but I’ll have to confess my skepticism.”
Booster started ripping bits from one of their napkins and rolling them into cocktail peanut sized balls. In a careful, measured tone, he explained everything Guy had to him, describing the way the Multiverse behaved. Ted’s frown deepened with every passing moment, until it seemed the sweetness of his smoothie couldn’t even fix the scowl on his face.
“So this is an alternate world…to my world, at least. Which means you’re not the same Booster I knew. Figures. I just can’t win.”
Booster had the sudden urge to reach across the table and touch the other man, but squashed it down in the fear that this Ted wasn’t the touchy-feely type. “Hey, neither can I. You’re dead too…I mean he’s dead. Ted. The here-Ted, I mean. Sorry.”
“What happened…if you don’t mind my asking?”
“He was murdered. It’s this big, complicated thing, but that’s the short of it. You?”
Ted jabbed the bottom of his cup with his straw. “Also murdered. Also complicated. So…I guess I’m stuck here now. Right? I mean, you don’t have a dimensional spanner or anything?”
“Not anymore, sorry.”
“It’s okay, my luck it would’ve taken me five hundred years into the future and to a world where everyone’s a dinosaur. Or something. Maybe being stuck here will be okay. I mean, at least you exist in this world. I could’ve gone somewhere with a dead Booster and a live Beetle and we’d have to work something out. Team Blue and Also Blue just doesn’t seem to work, right?”
Booster smiled. “Right. Hey, I wanted to ask you…your suit of armor…is that from the Scarab?”
“Yeah, of course it is. Didn’t your Beetle have the Scarab?”
“Well, yeah, but he couldn’t get it to work. Dan Garrett, the Blue Beetle before Ted, he had some powers but not the whole gamut. Ted didn’t have anything, so he was basically a bug-themed pastel Batman with a sense of humor. There’s a third Beetle, he’s got the armor like you do, but he’s a teenager from El Paso. Nice kid, but more sidekick material than partner, y’know?”
Ted nodded. “That’s interesting. The Dan Garrett from my world didn’t have powers like mine, but he understood how the Scarab worked, where it came from. I think he met its creators right before he died. But yeah, it decided that I was a perfect candidate for its powers, and it and I have been working together for years now. I’ve grown attached to it…literally and figuratively.”
“It grafted to you? The spine, right?” Booster asked. “That’s what the kid said happened.”
“Exactly. It’s a shame, I would’ve loved to have built all kinds of equipment to use, but the armor’s probably more practical. I still ended up building a few things for myself, of course. Couldn’t let Dan have all the fun toys,” he explained, poking a lump of whipped cream.
Booster shook his cup, hearing the straw rattle against the sides. While he felt badly that this Ted was stuck here, in a different world, away from the comfortable and familiar, a little selfish part of him was glad that it happened. After all, in all the strangeness he’d encountered guarding the 52, a Ted from another dimension was probably the least worrying thing that could’ve come through that portal.
“So do you think this world will be okay with the mysterious return of its Azure Avenger?”
“If it can be okay with the fact that there’ll be two Beetles now, a big one and a little one, yeah, I think things will be fine. Are you going to be okay with having another Booster Gold around? One that might actually be more mature than the one you knew?” Booster asked, smirking.
“Mature? Ha. I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ted quipped. “Damn…I just realized I don’t have anything here. No place to live, no job…I guess I could stay in a hotel for a while until I figure out what I’m doing with myself.”
“Nah, you can stay with me. It’s not a big apartment, but…well, I don’t care if you’re from another dimension, you’re my best friend…for the most part. And I make it a habit to not let my best friends be homeless,” Booster said.
Ted flashed him a genuine smile. “Thanks, Booster. I’ll owe you one.”
Booster stood up, taking his cup and Ted’s to the trashcan. “I’ll put it on your tab. Come on, I’ll take you home. I don’t know about you, but after fighting Rock Lobster there, I’m ready for a nap.”
“Nap? Jeez, Booster, didn’t you just drink coffee with three shots of caffeine and half a pound of sugar in it?” Ted asked, getting up. “I figured after that, you’d be wired for hours.”
Booster laughed. “I’ll let you in on a secret, Ted. The Widowmaker? Frozen chai tea slushy thing. You’re not the only one around here trying to keep a girlish figure.”
Ted cracked a grin. “Yeah. Let’s go. I want to see how much of an honest man you’ve become.”
They walked out of the café and turned a corner, Booster activating his flight ring.
“Okay, so…I know you can fly and all, super Beetle powers or whatever, but can you do it without the suit?”
“Not without the suit, no. Looks like I’ll be bumming a ride”
Booster hooked his arm around Ted’s waist, which was much easier now that his waist wasn’t quite so wide. He couldn’t help but grin as they took off, this was simple and familiar and felt right. Maybe this would all be okay. And from the way Ted had his arms wrapped around his neck, Booster was really starting to believe that.
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to be continued...
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