Mullet!fic chapter seven: Booster and Beetle save the world. (Skeets and Junior help.)
Arg! Finally it's finished. ...This chapter, I mean. Not the whole fic. No, there's an epilogue yet to come.
If you don't know/remember what happened in previous chapters, or are wondering just how parallel this is to what happened in the comics, check out Chapter Six where I ramble on at length about such things.
Oh yeah, and I finally settled on a name for the whole shebang. Hairy Situations and Situational Hair. (Hold your applause and "about damn time"s, please.)
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: The Redemption of Booster Gold } { next story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness }->
~7th Chapter
The plan was simple, but not idiot-proof. In Ted's experience, idiot-proofing a plan took more time and effort, and inevitably someone involved would turn out to be the idiot equivalent of a meta and the whole thing would blow up in your face anyway. Sometimes literally.
Once Skeets had done some subtle snooping and revealed that the OMACs had a weakness to electro-magnetic pulses, Ted's grin widened and everything fell into place in his mind.
"So you just happen to have a giant EMP generator laying around?" Booster asked derisively as they snuck through the darkened Kord Industries warehouse.
"No," Ted replied, shining his flashlight at the label on a crate. Not finding what he was looking for, he continued on his way. "I happen to have just built a giant EMP generator. The Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator."
Booster followed along silently for a moment, thoughtful, before saying, "Impressive name. What's it do?"
"It can generate an electro-magnetic pulse equivalent in strength to a fifty-megaton nuclear blast." Ted muttered absently, reading the label on another crate.
Booster was silent again. Unseen behind Ted, he opened his mouth to reply, then closed it to think that over. "Oh," he finally said.
"Here." The flashlight beam shone on the crate's label before bouncing jerkily as Ted handed the light to Booster. "Hold it there." When Booster complied, a crowbar appeared in the circle of light and started prying at the crate's lid as Ted grunted with the effort.
As the lid creaked open and Booster got his first look at the metallic cube, he asked, "Why?"
Bending down to inspect it, Ted glanced up at him, light casting odd shadows on his face. "Why what?"
Booster waved a hand at the Kord Omniversal. "Why build an EMP generator with the power of a-a--"
"Fifty-megaton nuclear blast?"
"Yes! Why?"
In the sharply cut light and shadows, Ted's grin looked slightly deranged. "Why not?"
---------------
While Ted and Booster retrieved the EMP generator, Skeets and Junior's part of the plan was to stay at home and use Skeets's connection to Brother Eye to convince the robot creatures (OMACs, Skeets informed them) that what they really wanted most in the whole wide world was to all congregate together somewhere out-of-the-way and uninhabited. Also, that on the way there it would be fun to use the Satellite of Doomy Death (Junior's naming contribution) for the high-tech outer space version of hitting mailboxes with a bat while driving past.
From what Skeets could sense, there was just enough human consciousness buried inside the OMACs that vague, fuzzy memories of battered mailboxes and the exhilaration of bashing the crap out of something that couldn't bash back were leaking through the collective mind of the OMACs. With that tainting their thought processes, quite a number of the creatures had taken considerable swings at the Satellite of Doomy Death.
Staring up at the words, images, and computer code flashing across the robot body's screen, Junior suddenly asked, "Why's Brother Eye so mad?"
Hovering above and to the side of his head, Skeets took a long moment before answering. "It was upset by the death of Max."
Junior straightened, eyebrows rising. "Well--What if we told it Max is ali--well not alive, he's a zombie. But he's still...um...mobile?"
The screen stopped on computer code and scrolled through so fast it was a blur of fuzzy white stripes on black background. Skeets didn't reply, though he somehow managed to convey the feeling that he was staring at the screen more intently than before, for the purpose of ignoring questions aimed at him.
"Skeets?" Junior asked. When the little robot continued to be silent, Junior huffed in frustration and, frowning, opened the communication line connecting him and Skeets to Ted and Booster. "Dad?"
"Yes?" two voices answered simultaneously. There was a pause before Ted added, "Um...."
"Um." Junior agreed, looking bewildered. "That...okay, um, later. Skeets says Brother Eye's mad because it thinks Max is dead, but he's sort of not, so I thought maybe we could tell him and maybe he'd stop...doing things."
"No." Ted said firmly.
"But--" Junior started to protest before Ted spoke again, cutting him off.
"Look Junior, I'm sorry we haven't had much time to talk before, and I hope this works so we'll have that time afterward. But you need to understand some things right now and I don't have time to be anything but blunt. Max killed me. Killed me, shot me in the head. He tried to kill Booster by shooting a giant space laser at him. Have you seen the huge hole in the ceiling? The fire damage? Max did that. He's a bastard who got what he deserved and the only bad part about it is that I didn't get to watch. Brother Eye is a psychotic, evil machine hell-bent on destroying metas with no regard for who it hurts in carrying out that mission. A mission that Max set it on. So no, Junior, you can not give the psychotic, evil machine the man who twisted it from just psychotic to psychotic and evil. You don't even know how it would react to Max being a zombie. It could go completely nuts and decide to wipe out all life on the face of the planet!"
There was silence on both ends of the comm, save for the muffled sounds of two men breaking into a warehouse using inside knowledge of the security system and all its codes.
"What do you mean?" Junior asked finally.
"What do I--? I mean no you can't give Max to--"
"No, about hoping it works."
Again there was silence. Then a whispered conversation between Ted and Booster punctuated by the occasional indignant hiss.
"Junior...." Ted said slowly. "This, what we're doing, is dangerous. We're...going up against over a million killer robots, kiddo."
"So...um...should I have the resurrection spells ready?"
"Booster!" Ted snapped. "Did you explain anything to him?"
"I was a little busy bringing you back from the dead!" Booster snapped back.
"And I'm grateful! When I'm not freaking out about it. But next time you accidentally create new life in the process, could you explain to it that most people don't come back from the dead?!"
Junior closed the comm as Booster started to reply. "Right," he said quietly. "Bad idea." Then, proving himself to be the son of Ted Kord, he stuffed the conversation in a little mental box to be ignored. "How much time do we have, Skeets?"
---------------
Ted and Booster weren't speaking to each other.
Ted was upset that they were going off to face untold danger and leaving behind a son who hadn't even been given the Sometimes People Just Die talk. Had, in fact, been raised thinking that people came back from the dead all the time and resurrecting them was perfectly normal, if a bit inconvenient.
Booster was upset because Ted was upset and had yelled at him. Not to mention questioning his (admittedly questionable) parenting skills.
Luckily, they had years of experience working together while they were angry and not on speaking terms.
As they made their way through the second Kord Industries warehouse they had broken into that night, Booster used a dolly to wheel the crate carrying the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator and Ted again shone his flashlight on the labels of various crates.
"Look all I'm saying is that with cloning technology what it is these days, at the very least--" Booster started.
"Booster," Ted interrupted. "Are you going to try to convince me that we don't need to explain the concept of death to him?"
"...Maybe?"
"The merchandise will be silent." Ted commanded, then shoved the flashlight at Booster and started prying open a crate.
"You know, you can't just--"
"Can and will. Hold this." The crate's lid was shoved at Booster and Ted started digging through the items inside. "Where is it?" Ted muttered to himself.
Booster opened his mouth to ask "what?" but Ted spoke up again.
"Did you ever think about it? Before? Having kids?"
"Well...I guess." Booster said slowly, leaning the crate lid against the Kord Omniversal's crate. "I mean, I sort of assumed eventually...."
"Me too." Ted said quietly. When he jammed the crowbar under the lid of another crate, it might have been with more force than was strictly necessary, but Booster didn't feel like pointing it out. "I did not--hn!--envision--huh!--THIS!"
Booster also didn't feel like pointing out that they were technically breaking and entering and should try to be quiet.
He felt like he probably should've let Ted have another go at Max with the bat.
"Found it!" Ted cried, then whirled to face Booster. "Now let's get the backup Bug put together and go save the world."
"Backup Bug?" Booster finally questioned. "I can fly us--"
"And the KOPMEG?"
"Cop Meg?"
Ted pointed to the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator, nestled snuggly in its crate. "That," he said. "Can you carry me and that?" Before Booster could state the obvious, Ted continued. "Backup Bug. Let's go."
---------------
"Skeets?" Junior asked, watching the screen curiously. "Who's that?"
The static on the screen cleared briefly so the news footage could be more easily seen. "The Teen Titans," Skeets answered absently.
"Oh." Junior watched with interest as the picture changed. "Who's that?"
A faint buzz and the static again cleared for a moment. "Mr. Terrific."
"Oh." There was silence interspersed with occasional static sounds and sometimes (rarely and in the briefest of bursts) voices. Then, "Hey Skeets?"
The small AI's huff of frustration had an odd metallic ring to it. "Yes?"
Junior reached up to rub the top of Skeets's Snoopy head with a finger, an apologetic but confused look on his face. "Sorry."
Skeets hovered silently for a moment, then reached out one of his tiny bug legs and patted the boy's hand before curling it around the finger. Reassured, Junior smiled at him and turned back to the screen.
"Skeets? Who's that?"
---------------
Reassembling a high-tech hovering vehicle did not, apparently, take as long as Booster had expected. Likely because it was already mostly assembled.
Employing a healthy level of paranoia, Ted had removed several key components that were required for the Bug to...do pretty much anything. Without those key parts, the Bug was designed to do nothing but turn on the windshield wipers, no matter which button was pushed or lever pulled.
So while Ted got the Bug travel-worthy, Booster loaded the Kord Omniversal and dusted off the seats. Switching on his comm link to Ted, Booster asked, "How long is it going to take you?"
Ted grunted softly and Booster heard the sound of metal against metal. "Not long. Almost done."
Switching off the comm, Booster sighed and went back to boredly examining the interior of the Bug. Expecting emergency supplies in one compartment, he was surprised to find a spare Blue Beetle suit. Taking it out, he exited the Bug and found Ted up to his elbows in wires.
"Booster?" Ted queried, looking up from what he was doing. His eyes widened as Booster held up his suit. He glanced down at the jeans and dark shirt he was wearing, then murmured, "Didn't even notice...."
Booster shrugged. "I wasn't going to say anything," he said. "But...."
Taking the cowl from him Ted turned it so that he was staring into the yellow goggles. "Someone might see," he muttered, pulling the cowl on. "No sense taking chances." As he tried to settle the cowl comfortably, Ted frowned. "Booster?"
"Yeah?"
"It doesn't fit over my hair."
Booster stared at him for a moment, then started snickering. The snicker developed to a full-blown laugh as Ted pulled the cowl off, revealing significantly dishevelled hair.
He stopped laughing when Ted reached into his toolbox, pulled out a pair of scissors, and handed them to Booster. Setting the cowl aside, Ted turned his back to the man and gathered his hair at the base of his neck. "Booster?"
"You want me to...?"
"If you wouldn't mind."
"No, no...sure." Booster muttered, taking the handful of hair from the man and starting to snip at it with the scissors.
---------------
"Skeets?" Booster's voice came over the comm.
"Sir?"
"How's it going?"
"We're doing fine, sir. And yourself?"
There was a pause. "Skeets?"
"Sir?"
"Are the OMACs in place?"
Another pause. "Oh. Almost, sir."
"Good job. Keep us updated."
"Yes, sir."
"Skeets?" Ted spoke up suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Where's...Junior?"
"In the kitchen. Should I get him?"
"No, I'll just...Junior?"
"Huh?" Junior's voice came over the comm.
"Um...I...We...." Ted sighed. "Good luck, kiddo."
"You too, dad." A pause. "Dads. Um."
"Um." Ted agreed, then sighed again. "Later."
"Okay."
"Leave Zombie Max alone, Junior!" Booster suddenly spoke up.
"I'm not--!"
"While we're gone." Booster insisted. "Leave him alone while we're gone. No trying to feed him, no making him smell better, and don't even think of painting him."
"But--!"
"No buts!"
"B--"
"Ah!"
"Fine." Junior grumbled.
"Bye, son."
"Bye, dad. ...Dads."
---------------
They had made good time in the backup Bug, despite it not having all the upgrades that the usual Bug had. So now here they were in the Sahara (near Mount Totamai), the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator sitting on the ground in front of them.
It was big, flat, deserted, and there was nothing and no one around that could be disrupted or injured by a massive EMP blast.
Except them.
A hand landed on his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. "Hey Ted?"
Starting to look over his shoulder, he suddenly found himself spun around and lips pressed hard against his. The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip and an arm wrapped around him to pull him in close against another body. He was pretty sure he could hear the sound of goggles impacting quietly with his, but his eyes were closed so he couldn't be sure.
Part of his mind was jamming fingers in its ears and humming loudly, denying that anything was happening. Part was hitting him over the head and shouting that he was a moron if he could still pretend he didn't know what was going on.
And part was reaching out to tentatively touch the side of Booster's face, fingers sliding into the man's hair like he had wanted to since he saw the new color, wondering if it felt as different as it looked. ...It did, a little. Not as soft as he remembered, maybe thicker, from the coating of dye, he assumed.
If Booster was going to keep doing this, he needed to wash out the dye.
The part of his mind still denying the warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach yelled that it wasn't going to happen again and it wasn't happening now and dammit why wasn't he pushing Booster away and demanding either an explanation or that it never be spoken of again?
It needn't have worried, because Booster ended the kiss soon after, resting his forehead against Ted's with his head tilted so their goggles wouldn't bang into each other. His ragged breath brushed against Ted's lips. "Don't die again, you bastard," he whispered. "Or I'll kill you."
"Wasn't planning on it." Ted replied.
Booster squeezed his shoulder then slowly let go of him and turned to face the horizon. A roiling blue mass grew as it steadily, swiftly made its way toward them.
The timer on the Kord Omniversal was set, all that remained was to turn it on and get as far away as they could before it went off. The Bug was well outside where Ted estimated the blast range to be because there hadn't been time to shield it properly, but they were reasonably certain that Booster's shield could and would protect them.
Reasonably certain.
Ted glanced over at the man standing next to him against the ever-growing enemy. "Hey Booster?"
"Yeah?"
Turning once again to face the incoming army of OMACs, Ted said, "Ditto."
He wasn't sure what it was referring to, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Booster's mouth quirk into a smile.
---------------
"Uh oh."
Junior snatched his hand back from Zombie Max's closet door. "I wasn't doing anything!"
"Not that," Skeets said. "But that too. You heard Booster. Leave Max alone."
"Aw...."
Skeets's screen cleared to show something that looked a bit like a map of space. A dot on it was moving.
"What's that?" Junior asked, moving away from the door to stand in front of the robot body.
"The satellite."
"Of doomy death?"
Skeets sighed. "Yes, the Satellite of Doomy Death."
"What's it doing?"
"Falling from orbit."
There was a pause before Junior slowly asked, "Where's it going to fall?"
"No doubt a heavily populated area."
"People go squish?" Junior predicted.
"...People go squish." Skeets confirmed.
Junior scratched his ear and frowned. "Well that's...bad?"
"Yes, that's bad."
"Okay, so let's stop it."
---------------
It was J'onn who got the call. An unknown source was contacting the Justice League Watchtower.
An unknown source with the voice of a young male.
"Hello? Helloooo, is anyone--What do you mean what am I doing? It's on? Well for a live video feed it's surprisingly lacking in video."
"Who is this?" J'onn asked.
"Oh hi! I'm--" The boy stopped abruptly and now J'onn could hear a faint voice in the background that seemed to be interrupting. That explained who the boy had been talking to earlier. "What do you mean 'no names'? Who's going to know me? Well how about 'Son of Blue Beetle'? It's got a nice ring, don't you think? No? Um...okay. Okay! This is an anonymous tipster--I heard it on the radio, quit interrupting. Er, there's a satellite of doomy death--shut up I can call it what I want. There's a satellite falling out of orbit and it's gonna squish people. Which is bad. Could someone, like, um, go catch it? We're kinda busy right now. Okay, thanks! We're sending the coordinates and trajectory."
There was a short burst of static as the audio signal was replaced by a series of information being transmitted to a nearby computer terminal. J'onn had the Watchtower's sensors check the coordinates and sure enough, there was a steadily moving object right where they said it would be.
J'onn quickly checked to see who was available who could deal with such a problem, trying to ignore the strangely familiar headache trying to form.
---------------
The Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator went off. The OMACs fell and once more became a large group of very bewildered people.
Of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, there was no sign.
---------------
"Skeets?"
"Yes?"
"The comm's dead."
"...Yes."
"Do you...think they're okay?"
"....I hope so."
-----
[ETA of epilogue: I know what's going to happen, I just need to write it.]
If you don't know/remember what happened in previous chapters, or are wondering just how parallel this is to what happened in the comics, check out Chapter Six where I ramble on at length about such things.
Oh yeah, and I finally settled on a name for the whole shebang. Hairy Situations and Situational Hair. (Hold your applause and "about damn time"s, please.)
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: The Redemption of Booster Gold } { next story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness }->
~7th Chapter
The plan was simple, but not idiot-proof. In Ted's experience, idiot-proofing a plan took more time and effort, and inevitably someone involved would turn out to be the idiot equivalent of a meta and the whole thing would blow up in your face anyway. Sometimes literally.
Once Skeets had done some subtle snooping and revealed that the OMACs had a weakness to electro-magnetic pulses, Ted's grin widened and everything fell into place in his mind.
"So you just happen to have a giant EMP generator laying around?" Booster asked derisively as they snuck through the darkened Kord Industries warehouse.
"No," Ted replied, shining his flashlight at the label on a crate. Not finding what he was looking for, he continued on his way. "I happen to have just built a giant EMP generator. The Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator."
Booster followed along silently for a moment, thoughtful, before saying, "Impressive name. What's it do?"
"It can generate an electro-magnetic pulse equivalent in strength to a fifty-megaton nuclear blast." Ted muttered absently, reading the label on another crate.
Booster was silent again. Unseen behind Ted, he opened his mouth to reply, then closed it to think that over. "Oh," he finally said.
"Here." The flashlight beam shone on the crate's label before bouncing jerkily as Ted handed the light to Booster. "Hold it there." When Booster complied, a crowbar appeared in the circle of light and started prying at the crate's lid as Ted grunted with the effort.
As the lid creaked open and Booster got his first look at the metallic cube, he asked, "Why?"
Bending down to inspect it, Ted glanced up at him, light casting odd shadows on his face. "Why what?"
Booster waved a hand at the Kord Omniversal. "Why build an EMP generator with the power of a-a--"
"Fifty-megaton nuclear blast?"
"Yes! Why?"
In the sharply cut light and shadows, Ted's grin looked slightly deranged. "Why not?"
---------------
While Ted and Booster retrieved the EMP generator, Skeets and Junior's part of the plan was to stay at home and use Skeets's connection to Brother Eye to convince the robot creatures (OMACs, Skeets informed them) that what they really wanted most in the whole wide world was to all congregate together somewhere out-of-the-way and uninhabited. Also, that on the way there it would be fun to use the Satellite of Doomy Death (Junior's naming contribution) for the high-tech outer space version of hitting mailboxes with a bat while driving past.
From what Skeets could sense, there was just enough human consciousness buried inside the OMACs that vague, fuzzy memories of battered mailboxes and the exhilaration of bashing the crap out of something that couldn't bash back were leaking through the collective mind of the OMACs. With that tainting their thought processes, quite a number of the creatures had taken considerable swings at the Satellite of Doomy Death.
Staring up at the words, images, and computer code flashing across the robot body's screen, Junior suddenly asked, "Why's Brother Eye so mad?"
Hovering above and to the side of his head, Skeets took a long moment before answering. "It was upset by the death of Max."
Junior straightened, eyebrows rising. "Well--What if we told it Max is ali--well not alive, he's a zombie. But he's still...um...mobile?"
The screen stopped on computer code and scrolled through so fast it was a blur of fuzzy white stripes on black background. Skeets didn't reply, though he somehow managed to convey the feeling that he was staring at the screen more intently than before, for the purpose of ignoring questions aimed at him.
"Skeets?" Junior asked. When the little robot continued to be silent, Junior huffed in frustration and, frowning, opened the communication line connecting him and Skeets to Ted and Booster. "Dad?"
"Yes?" two voices answered simultaneously. There was a pause before Ted added, "Um...."
"Um." Junior agreed, looking bewildered. "That...okay, um, later. Skeets says Brother Eye's mad because it thinks Max is dead, but he's sort of not, so I thought maybe we could tell him and maybe he'd stop...doing things."
"No." Ted said firmly.
"But--" Junior started to protest before Ted spoke again, cutting him off.
"Look Junior, I'm sorry we haven't had much time to talk before, and I hope this works so we'll have that time afterward. But you need to understand some things right now and I don't have time to be anything but blunt. Max killed me. Killed me, shot me in the head. He tried to kill Booster by shooting a giant space laser at him. Have you seen the huge hole in the ceiling? The fire damage? Max did that. He's a bastard who got what he deserved and the only bad part about it is that I didn't get to watch. Brother Eye is a psychotic, evil machine hell-bent on destroying metas with no regard for who it hurts in carrying out that mission. A mission that Max set it on. So no, Junior, you can not give the psychotic, evil machine the man who twisted it from just psychotic to psychotic and evil. You don't even know how it would react to Max being a zombie. It could go completely nuts and decide to wipe out all life on the face of the planet!"
There was silence on both ends of the comm, save for the muffled sounds of two men breaking into a warehouse using inside knowledge of the security system and all its codes.
"What do you mean?" Junior asked finally.
"What do I--? I mean no you can't give Max to--"
"No, about hoping it works."
Again there was silence. Then a whispered conversation between Ted and Booster punctuated by the occasional indignant hiss.
"Junior...." Ted said slowly. "This, what we're doing, is dangerous. We're...going up against over a million killer robots, kiddo."
"So...um...should I have the resurrection spells ready?"
"Booster!" Ted snapped. "Did you explain anything to him?"
"I was a little busy bringing you back from the dead!" Booster snapped back.
"And I'm grateful! When I'm not freaking out about it. But next time you accidentally create new life in the process, could you explain to it that most people don't come back from the dead?!"
Junior closed the comm as Booster started to reply. "Right," he said quietly. "Bad idea." Then, proving himself to be the son of Ted Kord, he stuffed the conversation in a little mental box to be ignored. "How much time do we have, Skeets?"
---------------
Ted and Booster weren't speaking to each other.
Ted was upset that they were going off to face untold danger and leaving behind a son who hadn't even been given the Sometimes People Just Die talk. Had, in fact, been raised thinking that people came back from the dead all the time and resurrecting them was perfectly normal, if a bit inconvenient.
Booster was upset because Ted was upset and had yelled at him. Not to mention questioning his (admittedly questionable) parenting skills.
Luckily, they had years of experience working together while they were angry and not on speaking terms.
As they made their way through the second Kord Industries warehouse they had broken into that night, Booster used a dolly to wheel the crate carrying the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator and Ted again shone his flashlight on the labels of various crates.
"Look all I'm saying is that with cloning technology what it is these days, at the very least--" Booster started.
"Booster," Ted interrupted. "Are you going to try to convince me that we don't need to explain the concept of death to him?"
"...Maybe?"
"The merchandise will be silent." Ted commanded, then shoved the flashlight at Booster and started prying open a crate.
"You know, you can't just--"
"Can and will. Hold this." The crate's lid was shoved at Booster and Ted started digging through the items inside. "Where is it?" Ted muttered to himself.
Booster opened his mouth to ask "what?" but Ted spoke up again.
"Did you ever think about it? Before? Having kids?"
"Well...I guess." Booster said slowly, leaning the crate lid against the Kord Omniversal's crate. "I mean, I sort of assumed eventually...."
"Me too." Ted said quietly. When he jammed the crowbar under the lid of another crate, it might have been with more force than was strictly necessary, but Booster didn't feel like pointing it out. "I did not--hn!--envision--huh!--THIS!"
Booster also didn't feel like pointing out that they were technically breaking and entering and should try to be quiet.
He felt like he probably should've let Ted have another go at Max with the bat.
"Found it!" Ted cried, then whirled to face Booster. "Now let's get the backup Bug put together and go save the world."
"Backup Bug?" Booster finally questioned. "I can fly us--"
"And the KOPMEG?"
"Cop Meg?"
Ted pointed to the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator, nestled snuggly in its crate. "That," he said. "Can you carry me and that?" Before Booster could state the obvious, Ted continued. "Backup Bug. Let's go."
---------------
"Skeets?" Junior asked, watching the screen curiously. "Who's that?"
The static on the screen cleared briefly so the news footage could be more easily seen. "The Teen Titans," Skeets answered absently.
"Oh." Junior watched with interest as the picture changed. "Who's that?"
A faint buzz and the static again cleared for a moment. "Mr. Terrific."
"Oh." There was silence interspersed with occasional static sounds and sometimes (rarely and in the briefest of bursts) voices. Then, "Hey Skeets?"
The small AI's huff of frustration had an odd metallic ring to it. "Yes?"
Junior reached up to rub the top of Skeets's Snoopy head with a finger, an apologetic but confused look on his face. "Sorry."
Skeets hovered silently for a moment, then reached out one of his tiny bug legs and patted the boy's hand before curling it around the finger. Reassured, Junior smiled at him and turned back to the screen.
"Skeets? Who's that?"
---------------
Reassembling a high-tech hovering vehicle did not, apparently, take as long as Booster had expected. Likely because it was already mostly assembled.
Employing a healthy level of paranoia, Ted had removed several key components that were required for the Bug to...do pretty much anything. Without those key parts, the Bug was designed to do nothing but turn on the windshield wipers, no matter which button was pushed or lever pulled.
So while Ted got the Bug travel-worthy, Booster loaded the Kord Omniversal and dusted off the seats. Switching on his comm link to Ted, Booster asked, "How long is it going to take you?"
Ted grunted softly and Booster heard the sound of metal against metal. "Not long. Almost done."
Switching off the comm, Booster sighed and went back to boredly examining the interior of the Bug. Expecting emergency supplies in one compartment, he was surprised to find a spare Blue Beetle suit. Taking it out, he exited the Bug and found Ted up to his elbows in wires.
"Booster?" Ted queried, looking up from what he was doing. His eyes widened as Booster held up his suit. He glanced down at the jeans and dark shirt he was wearing, then murmured, "Didn't even notice...."
Booster shrugged. "I wasn't going to say anything," he said. "But...."
Taking the cowl from him Ted turned it so that he was staring into the yellow goggles. "Someone might see," he muttered, pulling the cowl on. "No sense taking chances." As he tried to settle the cowl comfortably, Ted frowned. "Booster?"
"Yeah?"
"It doesn't fit over my hair."
Booster stared at him for a moment, then started snickering. The snicker developed to a full-blown laugh as Ted pulled the cowl off, revealing significantly dishevelled hair.
He stopped laughing when Ted reached into his toolbox, pulled out a pair of scissors, and handed them to Booster. Setting the cowl aside, Ted turned his back to the man and gathered his hair at the base of his neck. "Booster?"
"You want me to...?"
"If you wouldn't mind."
"No, no...sure." Booster muttered, taking the handful of hair from the man and starting to snip at it with the scissors.
---------------
"Skeets?" Booster's voice came over the comm.
"Sir?"
"How's it going?"
"We're doing fine, sir. And yourself?"
There was a pause. "Skeets?"
"Sir?"
"Are the OMACs in place?"
Another pause. "Oh. Almost, sir."
"Good job. Keep us updated."
"Yes, sir."
"Skeets?" Ted spoke up suddenly.
"Yes?"
"Where's...Junior?"
"In the kitchen. Should I get him?"
"No, I'll just...Junior?"
"Huh?" Junior's voice came over the comm.
"Um...I...We...." Ted sighed. "Good luck, kiddo."
"You too, dad." A pause. "Dads. Um."
"Um." Ted agreed, then sighed again. "Later."
"Okay."
"Leave Zombie Max alone, Junior!" Booster suddenly spoke up.
"I'm not--!"
"While we're gone." Booster insisted. "Leave him alone while we're gone. No trying to feed him, no making him smell better, and don't even think of painting him."
"But--!"
"No buts!"
"B--"
"Ah!"
"Fine." Junior grumbled.
"Bye, son."
"Bye, dad. ...Dads."
---------------
They had made good time in the backup Bug, despite it not having all the upgrades that the usual Bug had. So now here they were in the Sahara (near Mount Totamai), the Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator sitting on the ground in front of them.
It was big, flat, deserted, and there was nothing and no one around that could be disrupted or injured by a massive EMP blast.
Except them.
A hand landed on his shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. "Hey Ted?"
Starting to look over his shoulder, he suddenly found himself spun around and lips pressed hard against his. The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip and an arm wrapped around him to pull him in close against another body. He was pretty sure he could hear the sound of goggles impacting quietly with his, but his eyes were closed so he couldn't be sure.
Part of his mind was jamming fingers in its ears and humming loudly, denying that anything was happening. Part was hitting him over the head and shouting that he was a moron if he could still pretend he didn't know what was going on.
And part was reaching out to tentatively touch the side of Booster's face, fingers sliding into the man's hair like he had wanted to since he saw the new color, wondering if it felt as different as it looked. ...It did, a little. Not as soft as he remembered, maybe thicker, from the coating of dye, he assumed.
If Booster was going to keep doing this, he needed to wash out the dye.
The part of his mind still denying the warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach yelled that it wasn't going to happen again and it wasn't happening now and dammit why wasn't he pushing Booster away and demanding either an explanation or that it never be spoken of again?
It needn't have worried, because Booster ended the kiss soon after, resting his forehead against Ted's with his head tilted so their goggles wouldn't bang into each other. His ragged breath brushed against Ted's lips. "Don't die again, you bastard," he whispered. "Or I'll kill you."
"Wasn't planning on it." Ted replied.
Booster squeezed his shoulder then slowly let go of him and turned to face the horizon. A roiling blue mass grew as it steadily, swiftly made its way toward them.
The timer on the Kord Omniversal was set, all that remained was to turn it on and get as far away as they could before it went off. The Bug was well outside where Ted estimated the blast range to be because there hadn't been time to shield it properly, but they were reasonably certain that Booster's shield could and would protect them.
Reasonably certain.
Ted glanced over at the man standing next to him against the ever-growing enemy. "Hey Booster?"
"Yeah?"
Turning once again to face the incoming army of OMACs, Ted said, "Ditto."
He wasn't sure what it was referring to, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Booster's mouth quirk into a smile.
---------------
"Uh oh."
Junior snatched his hand back from Zombie Max's closet door. "I wasn't doing anything!"
"Not that," Skeets said. "But that too. You heard Booster. Leave Max alone."
"Aw...."
Skeets's screen cleared to show something that looked a bit like a map of space. A dot on it was moving.
"What's that?" Junior asked, moving away from the door to stand in front of the robot body.
"The satellite."
"Of doomy death?"
Skeets sighed. "Yes, the Satellite of Doomy Death."
"What's it doing?"
"Falling from orbit."
There was a pause before Junior slowly asked, "Where's it going to fall?"
"No doubt a heavily populated area."
"People go squish?" Junior predicted.
"...People go squish." Skeets confirmed.
Junior scratched his ear and frowned. "Well that's...bad?"
"Yes, that's bad."
"Okay, so let's stop it."
---------------
It was J'onn who got the call. An unknown source was contacting the Justice League Watchtower.
An unknown source with the voice of a young male.
"Hello? Helloooo, is anyone--What do you mean what am I doing? It's on? Well for a live video feed it's surprisingly lacking in video."
"Who is this?" J'onn asked.
"Oh hi! I'm--" The boy stopped abruptly and now J'onn could hear a faint voice in the background that seemed to be interrupting. That explained who the boy had been talking to earlier. "What do you mean 'no names'? Who's going to know me? Well how about 'Son of Blue Beetle'? It's got a nice ring, don't you think? No? Um...okay. Okay! This is an anonymous tipster--I heard it on the radio, quit interrupting. Er, there's a satellite of doomy death--shut up I can call it what I want. There's a satellite falling out of orbit and it's gonna squish people. Which is bad. Could someone, like, um, go catch it? We're kinda busy right now. Okay, thanks! We're sending the coordinates and trajectory."
There was a short burst of static as the audio signal was replaced by a series of information being transmitted to a nearby computer terminal. J'onn had the Watchtower's sensors check the coordinates and sure enough, there was a steadily moving object right where they said it would be.
J'onn quickly checked to see who was available who could deal with such a problem, trying to ignore the strangely familiar headache trying to form.
---------------
The Kord Omniversal Prototype Mass EMP Generator went off. The OMACs fell and once more became a large group of very bewildered people.
Of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, there was no sign.
---------------
"Skeets?"
"Yes?"
"The comm's dead."
"...Yes."
"Do you...think they're okay?"
"....I hope so."
-----
[ETA of epilogue: I know what's going to happen, I just need to write it.]