Booster Gold #13 - Golden Opportunity, II

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Author: ScarecrowSid

Book: Booster Gold

Arc: ★Society

Set: 13

Recommended Reading -

Kara Zor-El #13 - Golden Opportunity, I

★ Now

    There are situations in which the approach of a jolly, heavy-bearded ginger is a welcome sight. Blown up to a size rivaling many office buildings and engulfed in flame, this particular replica of a ginger giant was most unwelcome. Booster gaped at the tipping mascot of Metropolis’ foremost Big Belly Burger. This monument to the nationwide chain was more garish than those in Hub City or Gotham, it towered over the surrounding street...well, it cast a long shadow at the very least. Kara was quickest and hopped into action with nary a thought to the contrary.

    She was Supergirl, after all, and the mantle stamped across her chest was one that demanded certain fearlessness. Booster watched her dart toward the blazing mascot, then turned back toward the source of the commotion. Clad in a crimson cape, his hands burning with wildfire, and his eyes gleaming sinister, Pyro hovered in the midday sky.

    “Boooooster GOLD,” he shouted. He stretched the O’s in the first half of the name and spat the second like spoiled milk. “I have been looking for you for months. You and I have a score to settle.” He coughed slightly as a plume of smoke shot out of his mouth.

    “Huh?” Booster’s brows narrowed. “Who the hell are you?”

    “I’m not falling for that this time!” he continued to shout. “You know damn well who I am. Pyro! Pyro! Pyro!” He trailed off, chanting his own name as Booster looked on.

    “Oh,” Booster mused, sudden understanding flashing across his face. “I’ll be damned. Didn’t I catch you already?”

    “I escaped,” Pyro replied. “No prison can tame a fire.”

    “A lantern cages a fire pretty well.” Booster smirked up at the burning man. Behind him, Kara lifted the burning wreckage high over her head and shouted commands down at the busy street. A pair of uniformed officers ran toward her, directing traffic away from the area she intended to drop the mascot. There was a distant echo of sirens, both from the fire department and the police. Metropolis’ finest were as punctual as ever.

    “That’s not very clever,” Pyro retorted. “I’m not a lamp.”

    “That’s true, you’re not very bright,” Booster’s smirk twisted into a wide, toothy grin. Behind him, Skeets offered a percussive sting as punctuation for his forced wit. Ba-dum-tss. It hung in the air between the two men, with Pyro’s features slowly narrowing to a scowl.

    “Enough, Booster Gold,” Pyro growled. He straightened, firelight danced across his features, etching them into a darker, deeper things than seconds before. “You and I have a score to settle, a grievance that spans the better part of a year. You deceived me!”

    “Deceived is such a strong word,” Booster mused, scratching his chin. “I’d call it a trick or a simple ruse, if you’re feeling dramatic. Deceit, however, implies that the two of us had a longstanding arrangement or relationship.”

    “Well,” Pyro replied. “We certainly have the latter now, being sworn enemies and all.”

    “Again, I think you’re reaching,” Booster said. “The first fight only lasted as long as it did because you set a building on fire, and I knocked your ass out in the second with zero effort. That second one was amazing, really, but nobody was around to see it, so that sucked.” He tapped a finger to his lips, then added, “Besides, I could have never had a ‘sworn enemy’ with such a stupid name.”

    Pyro looked ready to protest, but Booster waved his concerns aside with a casual gesture. He grinned, then looked over his shoulder. Kara was setting the smoldering mascot on the street, slowly, as the first of the fire engines approached.

    “Well, that’s enough stalling for now.” Booster grinned at Pyro, showing too many teeth once more. He rolled his neck to the right, then left. The motion was accompanied by a series of quick, soft pops. It felt good, he had been a bit tense for the last few days, but there was nothing quite like the honest thrill of spectacle. “Our audience has arrived, let’s start the show.”

    To his surprise, Pyro shot forward with uncharacteristic ease. Like a rocket fresh from launch, he was a pillar of smoke and fire that hurled at Booster so quickly, the hero barely had time to float aside. There was a sharp, warm sensation across Booster’s abdomen as the nearness of the villain nearly seared him.

    Booster rounded, his arm outstretched as he followed Pyro’s trajectory with his fist. His shot was precise and perfect, but struck short of it’s mark. At the last moment, Pyro darted right and avoided the beam of golden light. It thundered against the stone siding of a nearby office building, sending chunks of glass and rock crashing toward the ground.

    “Dammit,” Booster scowled, bringing both arms up to target the sailing debris. Several of the larger chunks came into focus, their positions and paths locked, as he fired off a series of concussive golden blasts at full power. He shattered them as best he could, but there were still too many and too many more people along the footpaths below. All he could think to do was shout, “Run!”

    Kara was quicker. In the space between breaths, between the quick pulsing of his heart, a blue streak wove between the frightened masses below. She carried each of them away, so suddenly and so deliberately that Pyro stopped to watch, frowning down at her. Booster took this moment to hurl himself at the villain, lightning arcing across the face of his gauntlets, and struck hard against the man’s jaw. It was weak, almost like glass. Pyro fell to the ground below, more like rock than a man. He landed among the burned belly of the Big Belly Mascot, a loud thump marking the end of his journey.

★ ★ Now

    Kara hovered over to Booster’s side, an odd expression upon her face. She didn’t quite look annoyed or concerned, merely curious. Booster offered one of his most earnest, albeit rehearsed, smiles.

    “Do things normally go like this when you’re around?” Kara asked.

    “Not usually,” Booster replied, chuckling.

    “Usually things go worse,” Skeets added cheerily.

    “Shut up, Skeets,” Booster hissed.

    Kara stared at them both, then down to the ruins housing Pyro, and at last toward the scattering of glass and stone across the sidewalk and street. She shrugged, waving down as people shouted their thanks. Chants of “Supergirl” rang through the air.

    “Well, maybe you are more famous than I am,” Booster mused. “You know, I think you could really--”

    Something stirred beneath them. It rumbled at first. Like the slow scattering of small pebbles across the side of a mountain, the first whispers of an avalanche of stone. Both heroes glanced down the husk within which Pyro lay, it hissed plumes of acrid, slate-black smoke.

    Kara’s eyes narrowed, studying the remains. She sniffed the air, then scowled. “What is that?”

    “Smoke?” Booster offered, his mocking more out of habit than intent. “He was on fire, maybe he’s cooling down.”

    She glared daggers at him, then stared at the mascot once again, her expression pensive. “Something is happening in there,” Kara whispered. “He was glowing like before, but it was more like coals. Now he looks like something freshly smelted.” She motioned him forward. “Come closer, you can see it better from up here.”

    “That’s an interesting way to describe it,” Booster remarked. “Are you a metalsmith in your free time, kid?”

    “I had a broad education,” Kara replied. “My teacher insisted on it.”

    Booster glanced at her, smirking again. “I’m pretty sure I broke his jaw, Kara,” he said. “He’s down for the count. I gave him the Booster speci--”

    He was interrupted by another round of rumbling, higher and harsher than the first. It echoed and thumped through his heart like the desperate howls of a beached whale. It was pure, visceral, and angry. It was clear, hungry, and wretched. It was all of these things, all at once, and Booster felt a sharp cold run across the back of his neck.

    The Big Belly Burger’s mascot, for the better part of a century, had been a portly fellow wearing a too small t-shirt over the aforementioned belly. He had a thick, ginger beard that spanned the whole of his face and sat at a comfortable length the width of an average palm. He had short hair, slicked back and an ever present smile on his face. When Booster saw the mascot now, he saw something different.

    The first difference was that the man was melting, the stink in the air had been caused by the more rounded portions of the mascot’s considerable girth being riddled with small holes. The second was that he was burning, not in the uneven, undisciplined way that he had burned before, when he fell from his perch atop the Big Belly Burger. He burned now like fresh fire, cool blue at his core and billowing into bright orange against the meager breeze between the city’s tall, shadowing buildings. The last difference was the most obvious, and the most striking, he moved. The fire surging within the Big Bellied Mascot brought him to life, his static arms and joints melted away, the shells of them housing a construct of shadow, ash, and flame.

    A lurching, metallic grate accompanied the giant as he rose to his feet. Booster gaped, unabashedly, at the colossus forming in front of him. It rose with the creaking familiarity of old machinery set to work after a long span of inactivity, and the smile upon the mascot’s face was more manic now, more sinister. The beard was no longer a beard, not in the sense it had been before. Forks of fire danced from the mascot’s jaw, cool blue along the shape of it and spiraling orange and black at its end. The eyes, too, were changed. They were no longer cartoonish or jolly, instead they were pitch black and smoking.

    The entire situation was ludicrous, of course, but Booster wasn’t quite sure what to do. In this, too, Kara was quicker. Supergirl flew up to face the colossus, her expression placid as she stared it down.

    “The guy you were fighting,” Kara shouted, “It looks like he’s the heart of this thing.”

    The colossus lurched his head from left to right, as if checking the joints. He then shrugged his shoulders, stretched his fingers, and stamped his feet. The ground quaked below, setting off a dozen car alarms a mile in every direction. In spite of this showing, Kara continued to study it.

    It was a massive thing, even it was dwarfed by the skyscrapers on the surrounding city blocks. The original mascot had stood nearly three hundred feet tall, and the strange transformation seemed to have stretched this to five hundred feet or more. He was still portly, and Pyro’s fire erupted from some dozens of facets all across the form. There was another lurching sound as the thing raised an arm, drawing it back and forming a fist. Kara did not give it time to act. As fast as lightning and as sure as thunder, she struck Pyro’s colossus in the shoulder of that same arm.

    It staggered back against the power of her blow, trying to steady itself. Not one to waste a moment’s advantage, Kara flew behind it and struck again from the opposite side. There was a hissing sound as pieces of the mascot’s shell fell away. She rounded him, hoping for a third strike, but the open flame seemed to rebuff her.

    “Skeets,” Booster hissed. “What the hell is that thing?”

    “Some sort of fire giant, sir?” Skeets replied, his inflection at the end hinting more at a question than an answer. “Mythology is full of them, there’s the Ifrit, the Surt--”

    “Skeets,” Booster said firmly, cutting the drone off. “The historical record, is any there mention of that thing?”

    “No, sir,” Skeets replied flatly. “It’s new.”

    “Well, that’s lovely,” Booster said, frowning. “How to do we stop that?” He gestured to the colossus of fire as several pillars of flame erupted from its prodigious belly.

    Kara, for her part, was resilient. She followed up her failed attempt with the sudden hurling of a small, red sedan that struck the colossus in its face. It staggered again, but not before craning its left arm forward. The makeshift fingers of fire and nails of iron dragged against the side of the nearest building, tearing through the glass and brick as if they were paper.

    It was a small mercy that the streets below were mostly abandoned, as Kara was otherwise occupied and Booster was nowhere near fast enough clear it. He took this opportunity to soar toward the colossus as it followed Kara, trying to take hold of her. The attempt was an utter failure, and its other hand crashed against another office building. This enclosed space was working to Kara’s advantage, but the whole of the area was densely populated.

    Booster took aim with both arms and loosed a volley of concussive blasts that struck just south of the colossus’ eyes. There was no way to know whether or not the eyes were functional or decorative, but fighting dirty was the best way to deal with something this size.

    His attack appeared to have some effect, as the creature turned toward Booster and a cloud of black smoke filled the air. It spread quickly, like ink in water. Within seconds the whole of the street was obscured, and Booster heard the call of terrified onlookers.

    “Hey, kid,” Booster shouted. “Can you hear me?”

    Nothing. Not a word. There was too much commotion, too many people shouting all at once.

    “Skeets,” Booster said. “I need thermal imagining.” There was a sudden change on his goggle’s display, as if someone had wiped it clean. The darkness of a second before was replaced by the shimmering outlines of people, radiating in several shades of red, orange, blue, or green. All mixed together. He could make out their shapes, huddled behind cars or down alleys.

    At the heart of all of the shadows, he made out the massive outline of the Big Belly Colossus, stomping wildly once more. There was something clutched tight in his hand. A slender thing, too far away to make out clearly. Kara. It had to be Kara.

    Booster flew then, not in the unprepared or lazy way he did moments earlier. He flew straight, fast, and directly. Both arms out, he prepared another volley, and the blasts concussed against the colossus’ arm, but the grip held. He landed upon the hand, firing a focused, continuous beam, that cut through the grip.

    “Kara,” Booster shouted. “Grab my hand.” He held it out to the slender figure, but nothing happened. A second later, he felt his heart sink as the colossus’ hand clenched and the figure was crushed.

    Nothing followed. There was no cry or blood. He stared at it, blankly. In this thermal scope, it was merely a blob in the shape of a person. Booster stretched out and touched the figure, then disabled the thermal sight. He was staring not at the crushed remains of a young girl, instead there was a street lamp.

    “Oh shit,” Booster muttered. He brought up his force field as the colossus’ other hand slammed down hard on the one upon which he stood. It was heavy, but, for now, his shield held. It wouldn’t hold for long, his display flashed alerts and Skeets echoed warnings in his earpiece from his street level location. He was definitely going to be crushed. And then his shield gave way.

★ ★ ★ Now

    “That wasn’t bad, as far as distractions go,” Kara said, her arm held out to help him up. “Why were you attacking the lamp?”

    “I thought it was...nevermind,” Booster said, getting to his feet. The inky black of the colossus’ smoke had begun to fade now, its retreat hastened by Kara’s artful rendition of a cyclone. Booster glanced at the colossus, it lay prone against the street. It still blaze, almost violently, but its arms and legs were bound by knots made of thick, metallic wire as wide around as a car tire. “That was clever.”

    “That won’t hold him for long,” Kara said, sighing. “I thought he was going to crush you, so I sped things up a bit. He’s already melting through them.”

    “Then we need a new plan,” Booster replied. “Where did you find that wire?”

    “Construction yard on the other side of town, they were steel girders when I found them,” she grinned at this. Booster glanced at the restraints again. They were indeed girders, and had likely been straight and hard forged moments earlier. It would have been a considerable effort on her part to twist then into wire, iron simply wasn’t that malleable unless significant force was applied.

    “Damn,” he muttered. “You might be stronger than Clark.” She was scary.

    She shrugged away the observation, then gestured at the colossus. “We need to stop the fire, I think.”

    “I’m open to suggestions,” Booster replied.

    “Water or dirt,” Kara suggested. “Though I can’t guess where I’ll find enough water to quench that thing. I could hit a landscaping company and look for dirt.”

    “Water,” Booster repeated. He brought up a map of the area on his display, they were three miles from the river. “I’m guessing he won’t be courteous enough to burn himself out,” he added, sighing. “We could use the river.”

    “It would take too many trips to bring that much water here,” Kara said.

    “I was more proposing we drown the bastard,” Booster mused, rubbing some ash from his cheek. “Bring him to the river, not the other way around.”

    “We’re not going to kill him,” Kara cautioned.

    “No, no,” Booster said. “Of course not. You can fish him out after.”

    Kara studied him for a moment, then nodded. “How?”

    “I’ll lead him there,” Booster said, grinning. “It should be fun.”

    A short way down the road, there was a heavy, persistent creak as the restraints gave way.

★ ★ ★ ★ Now

    Booster Gold remembered a story, not one of heroes or villains, but one of rats. Long ago, in some far off place, a young man led rats away from a village by way of a magic pipe. He played and they followed, one after another. Obedient and in line.

    Booster Gold could not play the pipes, nor any instrument of value. He was a fairly impressive hand with the triangle, but that wasn’t going to help him here. No, Booster was forced to rely on something else entirely: his silver tongue.

    “...And seriously, what kind of a name is Pyro?” he exclaimed. “You really thought you could be my arch-nemesis or something? Come on man, you’re a joke!”

    Step by step, the colossus followed. It left slag and fire in its wake, but it did not attack. Its attention was fixed on the man insulting it. There were moments where it sped up, coming to a near dash, and then slowed to something barely above a crawl. It was harrowing, to say the least.

    “Oh, look at me,” Booster continued, “I have a cape and a fire fetish.” He flapped an imaginary cape and gave an exaggerated flourish as he walked on. Booster lowered his voice, muttering, “Skeets, I’m running out of ideas.”

    Kara, who waited by the river with Skeets, broke in across his earpiece. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” she hissed. “How is this even working?”

    “Don’t underestimate the power of dumb luck,” Booster whispered back. “Thankfully, there’s enough of him left in that thing that his ego still bruises. Are you ready with your part of the plan?”

    “Push him in the river,” Kara repeated dully. “It’s not difficult to remember.” There was a soft static click as she signalled the end of their exchange.

    “Teenagers,” Booster muttered. He looked up at the colossus, grinning, and raised his voice, “Oh, and let’s not forget about your mother...”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Now

    This diatribe persisted across the following miles, with Booster being forced to make personal attacks on the man’s hygiene or fondness for walk in freezers when he was moody. All were fabrications, to be certain, but he ran out of material several hundred feet into the ordeal. The silver tongue he was so proud of turned out be leaden.

    The final hundred feet to the river were uneventful and, truthfully, by this time Booster himself was bored.

    “Will you just fall in the fucking river already,” he muttered. The lumbering giant continued to follow him, at an almost agonizing pace. Booster sighed, letting his head hang. “Kara, are you ready?”

    “Yeah,” Kara replied. “But I’m not by the river.”

    “What?” Booster asked. “Then where the hell are you?”

    “About ten miles away,” she replied. “I had an idea, just hold him there.”

    “What idea?” his question never made it through, it was drowned by a loud, hungry howl from the colossus, followed by the thundering of earth as it dashed at Booster. The thing had clearly sensed his distraction and sought to capitalize on the situation.

    Booster shot to the right, avoiding a suddenly agile hand that slammed into the ground. “Whatever you’re going to do, you’d better do it!”

    Another strike nearly caught him, and the colossus followed up by hurling a van in his direction. It soared past and into the river behind him. Certain that this would not end in his favor, Booster took a long leap back and stared the colossus down.

    “Kara,” he hissed. There was no reply. “Skeets, where is she?”

    No reply.

    Then came a boom, not the kind of iron striking iron. It was the boom of a hammer shattering glass. Booster looked up and saw a streak of blue strike the colossus square in the center of its back and push hard against the metal remains of the Big Belly Mascot. Kara pushed, mustering all of her might to action and the colossus began to slide. Strong as it was, it failed to keep its balance.

    Not needing an invitation, Booster sensed the right moment to act. He aimed and fired a series of concussive blasts at the thing’s feet, shattering its toes and crippling its ankles. Another lurch followed, and it fell into the river.

    Water surged in either direction of the city, flooding the streets and dousing the nearest of the fires the creature caused. It receded just as quickly, and there was the sound of heavy bubbling from the river as the colossus’ fire died.

    Skeets hovered beside Booster as Kara floated toward the river. She took in one, deep breath and let it out. The air in front of her glittered, briefly, and the water beneath froze.

    “She frightens me, sir,” Skeets remarked as the young Kryptonian slowly descended on the shore.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Now

    “Well,” Booster mused. “That was fun.”

    He and Kara sat atop the roof of the Big Billy Burger, which had somehow escaped the entire affair with little damage, sipping from a pair of milkshakes. Behind them lay the remains of their respective meals, the one behind Kara was significantly larger. Well, she did have a teenage metabolism, albeit an alien one. Much to Booster’s chagrin, his own pile was more meager. He had a waistline to watch, after all.

    Further behind them, at the center of the roof, sat his Time Sphere. It had cooled to the point where he could leave, but Booster chose to linger. Kara was good company. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of Michelle. Bold, decisive, and always ready to do the right thing. A little reckless too, but the best people always are.

    “A little,” Kara replied with a small grin. “I’ve never fought a giant monster before.”

    “Neither has Clark,” Booster added, smirking. “You’ll be on the front page of the Planet for this, kid. It’ll be good press.”

    They sipped in silence for a time, watching as the city officials, officers, and good samaritans directed the clean-up crews. In times of crisis, it was always Metropolis that led the way in ready, rightful responses. A young officer was talking to a woman, looking somewhat admonished. He gestured up Booster and Kara, waving his arm frantically. The woman looked up at them now, she had short, brown hair and wore large aviator style sunglasses.

    As she glanced up at the two heroes, Booster gave a quick, nonchalant wave. The younger officer appeared at her side a moment later with a bullhorn. There was a squelching sound as she pressed down on the attached microphone.

    “I’m Inspector Sawyer, with the SCU,” she said. “We’re going to need your statements.”

    “In a minute,” Booster shouted back, much louder than he intended. “I’m having lunch, Inspector.”

    “Who the hell are you?” Sawyer asked, annoyance creeping into her tone. “Her sidekick?”

    Kara snorted beside him before covering her mouth with the back of her hand. She stifled her giggling as best she could, then smirked up at him.

    “He’s Booster Gold,” she shouted, immediately needing to stifle another laughing fit. Kara offered her devilish smirk once again, then turned back to Sawyer and added, ”He’s really famous.”

    “Buster Gold?” Sawyer asked. “I’ve never heard of him. Are you sure, Supergirl? He could be some costumed wannabe.”

    “BOOSTER,” Booster shouted back. “Not Buster.

    “Whatever,” Sawyer called back. “I need your statement.”

    “Oh, I’ve got a statement for you, Inspector,” Booster began, “It’ll be two words--”

    Sawyer had turned and walked away before Booster could finish his reply, and he let the abandoned pieces of it fall around him. He guffawed softly, then shrugged.

    “Kara,” Booster said, staring down at the throng of reporters pushing their way up against police barricades and interviewing witnesses. “Why did you ask me about time travel?”

    She watched the crowds as well, not glancing in his direction. “I wanted to help a friend,” Kara said, her tone even. “Something happened to her and...she’s not the same.”

    Booster nodded. “I understand,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help with that. At least, not in the way you want me to. Time travel is...complicated.” He paused, grasping at words to try and veil the truth. Instead he decided to be direct, but vague.

    “I met a man recently, someone a lot like me, who devoted the better part of his life trying to change history,” he continued. “He was broken and haunted by the things he did to make it happen, and his success wasn’t quite what he expected it to be. And he isn’t the man he was, not anymore. Playing with time is dangerous business, and it changes more than just the events...it changes the people who live through them.”

    “It’s a good thing I don’t have a time machine,” Kara replied with a somber smile. “Or I might do it.”

    “Maybe,” Booster said. “Hell, I’d probably do it too, but there’s some other truth in that. The way you get what you want is as important as getting it in the first place,” he turned to face her, but her eyes were far off. “Kara, Luthor is trouble.” Skeets moved to interject, but Booster held up a hand and silenced him. “Skeets, I know what I’m doing,” he said. “I won’t reveal anything, but she needs to know.”

    “Yes, sir,” Skeets replied, somewhat admonished.

    “If you want to make a name for yourself, then do it by yourself,” Booster said. “I learned that a long time ago in a life a long time from now.” He smiled at his phrasing, then added, “Lex Luthor is a dangerous man. I won’t tell you not to work for him, but I think you should be careful.”

    There was a buzzing sound, and Kara brought out her phone and glanced at the screen. She grimaced, then typed out a reply. Booster watched her, puzzled.

    “Is something wrong?” Booster asked.

    “Clark,” she muttered. Kara puffed up slightly, then stated, “‘Are you working with Booster Gold now? Kara, that guy is reckless!’”

    Booster scoffed, “How dare he, the property damage was minimal at worst.”

    “Most of it was your fault, sir,” Skeets countered.

    “Shut up, Skeets,” Booster replied flatly. “It was Pyro’s fault, I just happened to make minor contributions.”

    “Sir,” Skeets said. “We have an incoming communication from Superman.”

    Booster blanched slightly. “We should go.”

    Booster jumped to his feet and dusted himself off, then clapped his hands together. He turned toward the ship, briefly, before spinning back in Kara’s direction. She stood too, cocking her head slightly in the direction of the time machine.

    “And where are you going now?” she asked.

    “Nazi Germany,” Booster replied, beaming. “Gotta meet up with a secret society of heroes and save the world. You know how it is, I’m sure.” A sudden thought pierced him, and his smile broadened, “Care to join me? Living history is so much more fun than reading it.”

    “Thanks, but no,” Kara replied. “I have a feeling you’re going to crash again, so I should stay out here,” she rolled her hand in gesture, “You know, to save you.”

    “Are you ready to make a statement then?” Sawyer called from below, her bullhorn back at hand. “We really need to move things along.”

    “We certainly are,” Booster shouted. He turned to Skeets, “I really wish I had one of those, I’m going to shout myself hoarse at this rate.”

    “I could simulate one,” Skeets offered.

    “Really?” Booster asked incredulously. “You can do that?”

    “Yep.”

    “Great, hey...do we have any Soder?”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Now

    Booster Gold’s voice rang hard around the Big Belly Burger, his grin was broad and his stance appropriately heroic. A dozen different cameras were trailed on him, Kara stood a foot to his left and Skeets hovered to his right.

    “This was a dangerous day in Metropolis,” he said, his tone raised an octave by Skeet’s projection. It sounded more heroic, and was thoroughly more captivating. “But thanks to the combined efforts of Supergirl and myself, the city is safe.” He brought up a can of Soder with his free hand, and popped the tab back. A refreshing hiss echoed from Skeets and through the crowd. Kara followed suit with her own tab, either amused or annoyed. It was hard to tell... “At the end of a long day, it’s nice to settle back with a drink and think back on work well done.” He took a drink and smiled down at them, “Sometimes, even superheroes get thirsty.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Now

    “That was dramatic,” Kara said, grinning.

    “Call it my present to you,” Booster replied. “That little spot will pay dividends. Enough to cover college, at any rate.” He gestured Skeets toward the Time Sphere, then turned to Kara and held out his hand. “It was nice working with you, Kara Zor-El.”

    “You too,” she said, shaking his hand with a slight inflection of her superhuman strength. Booster was certain his knuckled would pop, but her grip slackened.

    “Michael Carter,” Booster quickly added. “That’s my name, feel free to call if you ever want to try the dynamic duo thing again. Skeets added my contact info to your phone.” He started walking toward the Time Sphere, up it’s ramp, and turned back for one final wave.

    “Oh,” he said. “I was serious about branding yourself, kid.” Booster smirked. “With all the Power you’ve got, I don’t think ‘Super’ is the name you want to use.” He walked up the ramp, waving absently, and stepped through. The door hissed shut behind him, and the engines kicked to life. Booster glanced at Skeets, who had hovered nearby.

    “It was small, Skeets,” Booster said. “Just a nudge.”

    Skeets was silent.

    “Maybe you should drive this time,” Booster added, settling into his seat with an appreciative sigh. “I’ve had a long day.”

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