Issue 5: "Ripping the Future, Part One"

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[Admin]

Booster Gold
Issue #5: “Ripping the Future, Part One: It All Falls Apart”
Written by Patrick J. Nestor, Jr.
Cover by Sylvain Swimer
Edited by Mark Bowers

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SOMEWHERE IN TIME

“I thought by now you would have been able to locate your partner,” a dark figure hissed.

“He has managed to elude me so far. I must admit I’m unsure of how,” a voice responded. “Of course you must realize that Rip Hunter has been helping him.”

“I expect excuses from humans, not from you,” the figure replied. “Things are moving rapidly. I have Hunter’s agents running around like fools trying to figure out the next part of time that will change. They don’t realize that it’s all a ruse to keep them diverted from messing with my real plan. The last thing I need is your old partner assisting them.”

“I cannot understand why I am unable to find him,” the voice said. “Even in his present state I should be able to trace his energy strands. He need not be activated to give off the proper readings.”

“Hunter has him cloaked somehow and hidden well but that does not excuse you from failure,” the dark figure snarled. “Find him!”

“And if I cannot change him to your will?” the voice asked. “You have opened my eye… but he may not be as easy to assimilate.”

”Then destroy him,” the dark figure replied. “The end is coming. It’s coming fast. Soon no one will be able to stop me.”

“As you command,” the voice said; and if there was a slight hint of doubt in the reply, the dark figure did not notice it.

[Admin]

POLO GROUNDS, NEW YORK – APRIL 29^th, 1964

“Faked.” Booster Gold breathed. He shook his head. “Faked.”

“I don’t get it,” Blue Beetle remarked. “Why would he do that?”

“As I said, I cannot remember why. That information has been removed from my memory banks,” Skeets explained. “But I would surmise there was a good reason.”

“This entire thing has been a fracking wild duck chase!” Booster exploded.

“Goose,” Skeets corrected him.

“Cut the English lesson, Skeets!” Booster hissed. “I want to know where the heck he’s been and what the…” Booster stopped and looked at Beetle. “Wait a minute…”

“Supernova,” they both said together.

“All that about having to keep his identity secret...” Beetle said.

“And being worried about a traitor...” Booster replied.

“And having all of this equipment…” Beetle remarked.

“And being all like ‘I know what to do’ and crap…” Booster said.

“Are you guys finishing each other’s sentences?” Mr. Miracle asked. “I thought only couples did that.”

“We do NOT finish...” Beetle started.

“…each other’s sentences!” Booster finished.

They looked at each other, then back at Miracle. “AND WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!” they both shouted.

“Okay… okay…” Miracle grinned.

“What the hell are you doing here anyway?” Booster demanded. “How did you find Skeets? What did you mean that *I* told you where to find us?”

“Just what I said,” Miracle replied. “You came to me and asked for my help.”

“Why would I do that? I’d never even heard of you until you came booming into here!” Booster said.

“From what you told me, the fact we DIDN’T know each other was a big reason you asked for my help,” Miracle told him.

Booster put his head in his hands. “Oh GOD, I hate time travel,” he said. “Maybe you should-”

Before Booster could finish, a bright light popped into the room. A second later, it dimmed out with Supernova in its place.

“Booster, you’re back. I’ve had no luck finding Rip. What did you find o-” Supernova began.

“You!” Booster shouted. “You double-crossing, secret-keeping, kidnap-faking…”

“What are you talking about?” Supernova said, sounding confused and looking around the room. “You found Skeets! Wait… who are you?” he asked, looking at Miracle.

“Cut the crap, RIP,” Booster hissed. “You better have one HELL of an explan-“

“I’m NOT Rip Hunter, Booster. Where did you get that idea?” Supernova asked.

”Butchcrap!” Booster said.

“Bull,” Skeets corrected him.

“Dammit, Skeets, CUT IT OUT!” Booster shouted. “I’ve had it with all of this smoke and mirrors! I want to know what’s going on, ‘Supernova’, and I want to know right NOW!”

“Okay,” Supernova sighed. “I… well… ok.”

“Ok?” Booster sounded shocked. He lowered his voice. “Really?”

“You deserve an explanation,” Supernova replied. “And at this point, maybe the best thing to do is tell you everything and you can come up with where to go from here. As it is, I admit it… I’m over my head here.”

“Perhaps we all need to give some explanations,” Skeets agreed.

“One at a time,” Booster said. “Who are you, Supernova? Really?”

“Let me hold off on my real name for the moment,” Supernova pleaded. “It’s important that I’m not found.”

“You keep saying that, but somehow I don’t think your story is going to make much sense without it,” Beetle told him.

Supernova sighed and sank into a chair at the workbench Beetle had been tinkering at. He leaned forward and pulled off his mask. A young man with dark black hair looked up at them.

“Like you, Booster, I’m from the future. Maybe not YOUR future, but the future nevertheless. My name…” Supernova said, “…is Buddy Blank. I was once a fighting machine called OMAC.”

“Future? OMAC?” Booster questioned. “What the frak?”

“OMAC stands for One Man Army Corps,” Supernova explained. “I was chosen as the test subject for an experiment by a Doctor Myron Forrest. The experiment was called the OMAC Project. I was actually only one half of the OMAC Project. The other half was a sentient supercomputer satellite that was launched into space by Dr. Forrest called Brother Eye. It was Brother Eye that performed a form of laser surgery on me that transformed me into OMAC.”

The room was silent as Supernova told his tale. Booster leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, listening intently.

“The OMAC Project was adopted in an attempt to stop the ongoing rush of crime that was starting to overrun the earth in my time,” Supernova went on. “No one was really ready for the world that was coming. An international police force named The Global Peace Agency was keeping a lid on organized crime to an extent, but was starting to lose their hold on the organizations that were terrorizing the world. Dr. Forrest came up with the concept of a satellite that could observe and instruct a single agent with the power of an army. Brother Eye was that satellite and I became that agent. It’s funny, in a way we weren’t totally different from you and Skeets, Booster.”

“And what happened?” Booster asked.

”Much of it’s a haze,” Supernova said. “We were actually fighting a madman called Doctor Scuba, who wanted to flood the world for some bizarre reason. He had a machine that was able to cut me off from Brother Eye. I was somehow transformed back into Buddy Blank. Doctor Scuba attacked and almost destroyed Brother Eye, but he managed to fight off the attacks. There was an energy backlash to Scuba’s lab and there was an explosion… I thought I was dead. From what I can tell, Brother Eye, although damaged, managed to transport me out just as Scuba’s lab exploded. Then he put himself into a repair and hibernation mode. The problem was that he must not have realized I was still Buddy Blank. I was in a sort of status hold. It was like… dreaming. I was vaguely aware of things that were happening… not asleep, not awake. It was very strange. It was during this time that someone… or something found us.”

“Rip?” Booster asked.

“No… well… not yet at least,” Supernova told them. “Something else found us first. I couldn’t tell you who or what… but it started doing something to us. I couldn’t tell what exactly was happening, but someone interrupted whatever was going on. I don’t know who interrupted things, but whoever it was saved me. What was being done to us was bad. Just after that, Rip DID find us. He was the one who freed me from status hold and activated Brother Eye from hibernation. Only, when Brother Eye was activated he was… wrong.”

“Corrupted,” Skeets said. It didn’t sound like a question.

“Yes,” Supernova agreed.

“Whatever found the two of you managed to either reprogram Brother Eye or at least change his system parameters,” Skeets said. “It was Brother Eye who set the virus upon Rip’s computer systems.”

“All those creepy little eyes make sense now!” Booster exclaimed. “Wowzer!”

“Rip took me back to his lab in the timestream. He somehow got Brother Eye into the timestream as well,” Supernova explained. “He hooked Brother into his computer system and was trying to reboot him when Brother Eye attacked for no reason. He tried to change me back into OMAC but Rip managed to cut off the laser surgery beam and jettisoned Brother Eye out of the timestream.”

“Why are you so afraid of being found by this Brother Eye?” Beetle asked.

“When Brother tried to change me back… it… it was different,” Supernova said. “I can’t tell you how I know, but I wouldn’t have become the OMAC I was before.”

“With new programming, Brother Eye would have changed Buddy into a new OMAC,” Skeets surmised. “One that would follow the ideology of the unknown assailant that reprogrammed Brother Eye in the first place. One that most likely would be a danger to us all.”

“That’s what Rip thought too,” Supernova agreed.

“So Rip tossed your robot buddy out of the timestream and stuck you in the Supernova outfit to hide you,” Booster said.

“Basically,” Supernova replied. “While my experiences as OMAC were… muted, to say the least… Rip felt that even as a sort of passenger to my own alter-ego would make me a good candidate for a suit he had built that would give temporal abilities to its wearer. The fact the suit shields me from any sort of scanning devices is a bonus.”

Supernova pulled his mask back on and stood up.

“Rip felt that anyone exposed to this knowledge could potentially give away my secret or just the fact that the information was shared could be dangerous,” he said. “However, now that you know you can go to the one place and time that I cannot to look for Rip.”

“Where?” Booster asked.

“To the time where Buddy and Brother Eye were discovered in the first place,” Mister Miracle remarked. Booster jumped at the sound of his voice. He had almost forgotten he was there.

“Yes,” Supernova replied. “Rip forbade me from ever going there. He said, even in the suit, a return to that place would be a huge mistake.”

“You said you were from the future,” Booster said. “What year?”

“2109,” Supernova said.

Booster looked at Skeets. “I don’t remember ever hearing in history vids or anything else about an OMAC or Global Peace Agents.”

”That’s because there is no record of either, Booster,” Skeets replied. “I have no mention of any of that in my memory banks.”

“You mean the memory banks that have been erased?” Beetle asked wryly. “Like, twice?”

“It makes sense you have no record of us,” Supernova told them. “You won’t have any mention of me in your records because I’m not from your universe.”

Everyone looked puzzled for a second. Then understanding flashed on Booster’s face. “Jeez! You’re from the Mult-” Booster started.

“Whoa! Some things aren’t quite ready to be discussed, Booster!” Supernova cut him off. “No matter what I’ve decided to tell you now, Rip’s rules still are in place!”

“What the heck are you talking about?” Booster hissed. “You just said yoursel-”

“Booster, I think Supernova is trying to attempt you from revealing too much in front of our guests,” Skeets interjected. “No offense to Theodore and Mister Miracle.”

“None taken. I find I’m constantly in the dark when it comes to anything connected to Booster,” Beetle remarked.

“Oh, frack you,” Booster shot back.

“You wish!’ Beetle replied.

“Couple’s spat?” Miracle asked, trying not to laugh.

“WE’RE NOT A COUPLE!” they both shouted at him.

“If we could hold off on that engrossing and intelligent discussion…” Skeets said, not without a hint of sarcasm. “I agree with Supernova. The time and place that he is from needs to be explored for traces of Rip Hunter.”

“So despite the fact he faked his own kidnapping, we still have to find the jerk?” Booster asked. “Speaking of which… you gonna tell us what you know about being a Rip creation?”

“There isn’t much to tell. At one time Rip had dispatched a number of recording spheres into the timestream to randomly pop in and out of time. He was trying to record something and wanted devices that could not be easily detected or easily tampered with,” Skeets explained. “At some point Rip received some information from one of the spheres that was important. He recalled it and after downloading the information he decided to hide it by sending it into the future. The sphere somehow wound up in a factory that was creating a series of security-bots. The sphere was used as the shell for one of those bots.”

“You,” Booster finished.

“Yes. Me,” Skeets agreed.

“Did he intend for you to become a security-bot?” Beetle asked. “Did he send you to Booster on purpose?”

“I’m not sure, but I do not think so,” Skeets replied. “It might be one of the universe’s little mysteries.”

“Wowzer… I can’t wrap my brain around this stuff…” Booster breathed.

“You couldn’t wrap your brain around an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants,” Beetle said.

“As fascinating as your… ahem… debates are…” Mr. Miracle stopped them. “I think we really need to get moving here.”

“Yes. Booster, I think you need to go to Supernova’s time and take a look around,” Skeets agreed.

“Should I go grab Waverider and Gabriel?” Booster asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Supernova replied. “I know that someone close to Rip has been working against him. We still don’t know who it is, but I’m telling you it has to be either Waverider or Gabriel.”

“It’s possible. Be it as it may, perhaps it would be best if we left them out of things right now,” Skeets said.

“I’ll go with you,” Miracle said. “This is a pretty interesting situation… besides there had to be a reason you came to me, Booster… maybe I’ll find out what that was.”

“Okay, can that booming trick you used to get here take you pretty much anywhere?” Booster asked.

“My boom tube does work through time and space, but to follow you exactly…” Miracle started.

“It’s okay, I have an extra Travel Device,” Supernova said. “Originally I used one of the travel watches as a back-up to the suit’s abilities. I still have the time-watch.”

He walked to a blank spot on the wall and waved a hand in front of it. Seams appeared in the wall and a space opened. Supernova reached in and took out what looked like a digital wristwatch. He waved his hand again and the space disappeared. He heldthe watch out to Mister Miracle and began to explain the way it worked.

While they went over the watch’s controls, Booster walked over to Beetle and took a look at the work he had been doing.

“Any luck with this thing?” he asked.

“I’m pretty close,” Beetle told him. “I think, with Skeets here now, I can trick the hard drive into letting me open a backdoor that won’t set off the virus alarms. Jeez, I feel queasy again.”

“Don’t hurl again, okay? It’s just your body adjusting to the fluxing of time. Remember, there’s a loop on this place, keeping it just seconds before they total it,” Booster said. “As for the hard drive… keep with it. I’m willing to bet a lot that there’s something on that drive we need.”

“Why do you think Hunter felt it necessary to fake his own abduction?” Beetle asked.him.

“I don’t know, Ted. I’ve worked for the guy for a while now and, I’ve got to tell you, he’s pretty hard to read,” Booster whispered. “Sometimes I wonder if he’s all there… like all of the mucking around in the timestream has forced a few rivets loose. I will say one thing though… if he really did fake this thing, then he thinks he had to. He’s really secretive, and kind of an uptight jerkwad… but the guy is pretty serious about keeping things proper.”

“Well, watch your back, buddy,” Beetle said. “So much of this doesn’t make sense.”

“4-10,” Booster replied. Beetle smiled and didn’t bother correcting him.

“I’ve got a handle on how this works,” Miracle said, walking over to them. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Booster told him. “Where are we going, Supernova?”

“I’ve already programmed Miracle’s watch. You can home in on it and follow him,” Supernova explained. “I set the controls for Scuba’s island lab. Brother Eye and I were in space, but Scuba had a docking station that was far enough from the lab that it should have survived the explosion. You should be able to use one of his ships. Miracle says he’s a pilot.”

Booster nodded. He looked at Skeets. “Help Ted with this hard drive, Skeets. We need whatever is on it,” he said. “Supernova, you should stay here for now yourself… at least until we get back.”

Supernova nodded. “Good luck.”

Miracle looked at Booster and gave a thumbs up. “Ready?” he asked.

The two faded out.

[Admin]

SCUBA ISLAND, THE MID-ATLANTIC – JUNE 19^th, 2109

Booster and Miracle appeared on a platform overlooking the ruins of some sort of wreckage. Further down they could make out something deeper that might be the actual underwater lab.

“What is this thing?” Booster asked.

“Supernova told us that Scuba’s lab was underwater. This little island was an above-sea-level docking station,” Miracle explained. “Looks like it was abandoned since Scuba was going to flood the earth anyway and figured everything up here would just be washed away.”

“Okay… well let’s see what we can find that can get us into the atmosphere,” Booster replied.

A cursory search of the island revealed a small hanger. Inside, as Supernova had said, was a small ship.

“Will that thing get us up there?” Booster asked.

“Well, let’s find out,” Miracle replied.

They entered the ship and Miracle examined it. After a few minutes he settled back in the pilot’s chair and looked at Booster.

“A pretty simple, yet well-designed spacecraft,” he said. “It’s basic. Should be no problem flying it.”

As if to prove his point, Miracle flipped open a small panel on his armrest and flicked a switch contained therein. The engines roared to life.

“Do you have coordinates for where they were?” Booster asked.

“Yes. Programmed into the watch,” Miracle replied. “Strap in.”

Booster sat down and clicked the buckle on the passenger seat. The craft lifted into the air. A half hour later they entered the area that Supernova had told them about.

“Look around for anything out of the ordinary I guess,” Booster said.

“It’s space, Booster… what’s going to be out he-… wait!” Miracle exclaimed. “Look! There!”

Booster followed the direction Miracle was pointing in. A small round object floated in orbit a distance away.

“Check it,” Booster said. Miracle hit the engines and moved them towards it.

A few minutes later they came alongside what seemed to be a small space station of sorts.

“What the frack is this?” Booster asked.

“I don’t know,” Miracle said. “But it has a compatible docking arm. We can get on it.”

“Does it have air?” Booster asked as they moved to connect with the station.

“Not only does it have air, but I’m reading a life form on board.” Miracle said grinning. “Wouldn’t it be a charge if Rip Hunter was here all along?”

A few minutes later a loud clang let them know the craft was connected to the station. The two unstrapped themselves and walked through a metal tube into the station.

The docking doors opened into a bridge-like room. Computers lined the walls and floor. A large view screen was on a wall. Miracle looked at what seemed to be the main hub and pushed a button. The view screen lit up. The craft they had arrived in came onto the screen.

“See what you can find out from the computers,” Booster told Miracle. I’m going to go look for the life form you saw on the scanner.”

Booster walked through a set of sliding doors and down a hallway. At the end of the hallway was another set of doors.

“How very Star Trek,” he muttered to himself. He pressed a button but the doors didn’t open.

“Hmmm.” Booster knelt down and took a look at the control panel. He pushed a couple of buttons but nothing happened. After a second he shrugged his shoulders and blasted the panel with his wrist laser. The doors shot open.

“What the heck was that?” Miracle shouted from down the hall.

“Nothing!” Booster shouted back. “Ingenuity!”

The room inside was very dim. There was a computer station in the center of the room and what seemed to be three doors across on the far wall. Booster walked over and tried each door, but none would open and none had a control panel to fry.

He walked back to the computer station and turned on the monitor screen. The computer itself was already on. The screen was split into three sections with a camera video feed showing separate rooms with control options below each. The first two showed empty rooms. The third however, showed a figure curled up on a bunk. The figure was not moving. The light in the room was very dim and the figure was covered with a blanket, but Booster could make out a shock of blonde hair.

“Jeez. Could someone have grabbed Rip after all?” he wondered to himself.

Booster saw no keyboard. He reached out to touch the screen. It blinked. He moved his finger to the door release button and hesitated for a second. Then he gritted his teeth and touched it. A loud hiss came from the third door and it opened slowly.

Booster walked around the computer console and went to the open cell. He knelt next to the bunk, reached out and shook the sleeping figure. This close, he didn’t think it was Rip Hunter anymore.

The figure groaned and turned over. It was a young woman. She was beautiful. Booster couldn’t help but stare. As she shifted the blanket slid down to reveal something shocking.

The logo on her chest was the same “S” shield that Superman wore.

“Hey,” Booster said softly. “Hey, wake up.”

The young woman stirred and opened her eyes slightly. When she realized there was someone there she shot up.

“No!” she screamed. Her hand flew forward and pushed Booster away… hard. He flew backwards into the wall.

She jumped up and saw the open door. She glanced at Booster and jumped for the door.

“Hold on!” Booster shouted and jumped also. They both got to the door at the same time and collided. “I’m not here to hurt you! I’m setting you free!”

The young woman skidded backwards on her rear-end until she crashed into the end of the bunk. Her eyes were open very wide and she stared at him.

“Booster?” she asked carefully. “Booster Gold? How?”

“Yeah!” he sighed in relief. “I am… you know me? But… but… I don’t know you… who are you?”

“It’s me… Booster… it’s…” she broke off. Her eyes somehow became wider. “Oh God… oh…no... you… you aren’t Booster. At least… not the Booster *I* know. Of course not. He’s dead.”

She sat back and started to laugh. Her laughter did not sound happy. Sobs mingled with her laughter.

Booster sat stunned. He didn’t know what to say. Supernova had said that his universe was not their own. She was talking about this universe’s Booster Gold.

“Oh God… they’re all dead aren’t they?” she stammered. “They’re all gone.”

“Um… I…I…” Booster had no clue what to say or what to do. He wondered how long she had been trapped here. He then did the only thing he could think of… he reached out and took her into his arms. She didn’t resist. She slumped into him and sobbed. “It’s okay… you’re free now,” he told her, stroking her hair. They sat and he held her as she cried softly.

A few minutes passed. The young woman lifted her head and looked at him.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Booster told her. “It’s no problem. Are you… are you okay?”

“I’ll be alright. There really isn’t any choice is there?” she said. She moved away a little and settled back against the bunk.

”What’s your name?” Booster asked. “How long have you been captive here? Who was keeping you here?”

The woman hesitated. She looked down for a second and seemed to be thinking. Then she nodded, almost to herself, and looked back up into Booster’s face. “I’m… I’m … Linda,” she told him. “Linda Danvers. And I’ve been here… oh God… a long time.”

“Are you from Krypton?” he asked her.

“No, why would you ask-” she started to reply, and then broke off and smiled. She looked down at her chest. “Oh… the insignia. That’s right… you would have no idea.”

She put her head back and laughed.

Booster didn’t want to push her, but he needed some answers. “Linda,” he said carefully, “I know you’ve been through something major here… but I need your help.”

Linda continued to laugh. She laughed so hard she started to cry.

“I… I… sorry…” she managed to stammer between giggles. “G… give… give me a s…sec….”

Booster waited a few seconds. He then opened his mouth to ask her again, but she beat him to it.

“Okay. I’m okay. Really,” she said. “No, I’m not Kryptonian. I AM known as Supergirl… at least I was… but I’m not related to Superman or anything. I know him… well... KNEW him. I’ve been here for at least four months. Maybe more. The last twenty days or so there hasn’t been anyone else here. The machines kept feeding me, but aside from that there hasn’t been any activity that I could tell of.”

“What is this place?’ Booster asked. “Who put you here?”

Linda looked at Booster and her face twisted slightly. “Extant,” she snarled.

“Extant?” Booster replied. “Who the heck is Ex-“

“BOOSTER!” Mister Miracle’s voice came from outside the room. “GET OVER HERE! SOMETHING’S HAPPENING ON THE PLANET!”

“Who?” Linda asked.

Before Booster could respond, Miracle was in the doorway.

“Dammit, Booster, we… who is this?” Miracle demanded.

Booster picked himself off the ground and put a hand out to help Linda up. “Mister Miracle, meet Supergirl,” he said.

“Supergirl?” Miracle asked. “What’s a Supergirl?”

“Long story,” she said. “What do you mean something is happening on the planet?”

“I was trying to get something off the data systems… something that might tell us anything. Then the computers up here just started going crazy. They started recording some sort of major energy spike from the planet below,” Miracle explained. “The readings are off the charts. Something is happening down there and it’s not good.”

“Show me!” Linda shouted and she ran forward. Booster and Miracle followed. Booster filled him in as they ran down the hall quickly.

They all burst into the bridge area. A beeping noise was coming from the main computer hub. On the view screen the earth below was centered. Various screens self-scrolled tremendous amounts of data.

“What’s happening?! What can we do?!” Linda shouted above the beeping.

“I don’t know!” Miracle shouted back. “All I can tell you is that there’s some sort of strong energy flux coming from the planet. I can’t tell you what it means!”

Suddenly the beeping stopped. The three looked at each other when another, more sinister sound filled the bridge.

“This is how the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” A deep and gravely voice came out of nowhere.

“Extant!” Linda shouted. “Where are you, you maniac?!”

“Ah, Miss Danvers,” the voice replied. “The question should not be where I am, but WHEN I am. Did you enjoy your little stay in my humble abode? I’m so sorry it’s at an end.”

“Where the hell is that coming from?” Booster hissed.

“The com!” Miracle pointed. “It’s coming from the com!”

“Excuse me, Mr. Free, I’m speaking,” Extant said. “Don’t be rude. As it is, you have inserted yourself into matters that do not concern you. So hush. Now, Linda, may I call you Linda? I feel we’ve become so close these last few months.”

“I’ll kill you,” Linda whispered. “For what you did to them… for what you did to me.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Extant taunted her. “Sorry you interfered with me now? Sorry you brought your little pocket world to my attention with your actions? Did I get to tell you how your little friend died? That she begged in the end? Begged for her pathetic little life? I told her, ‘You are a fear prisoner. Yes, you are a product of fear.’ But she didn’t see. Do you see, Booster? Can you see yet?”

“Who are you? WHAT are you?’ Booster demanded.

“I know you have Buddy Blank, Booster… and I know that without Rip Hunter you are NOTHING!” Extant laughed. “It’s all falling apart for you, and your little worthless attempts will count for NOTHING.”

Booster felt a pang of panic. He knew about Buddy. This must be the being that Supernova told them about. Linda must have been the one that interrupted Extant when he was doing whatever he was doing to Buddy and Brother Eye. Could Extant know where Buddy was hidden? That would mean he knew where Ted and Skeets were too.

“Yeah, well why don’t you come up here and tell me that to my face, pal?” Booster challenged. “You sound like a lotta talk to me!”

“Oh, I’d love that, but you see, I have more pressing matters to attend to,” Extant replied. “Oh, by the way Linda, did I say the world would end with a whimper, not a bang? Strike that… reverse it.”

“What are- NO!” Linda screamed. “NO!”

The planet on the view screen began to glow.

“Oh yes. It’s over for you all. Say goodbye, Linda, and say goodbye to everything, Booster. I know when Buddy Blank is now. He was right, you know. He shouldn’t have told you who he was,” Extant said. “Try and find comfort in your last moments, and the knowledge of what is about to happen, with this thought: Cassandra in Greek legend, you recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence the agony of foreknowledge combined with the impotence to do anything about it. Oh, did I say that would be a comfort? I meant torment. Goodbye, my little time travelers.”

“NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!” Linda screamed.

A moment later the world below them exploded. The light from the view screen was almost blinding.

“Frack!” Booster yelled. “The shockwave! It’ll take us out too!”

“Booster! Linda!” Miracle shouted. “We have to get out of here before-“

The words weren’t completely out of his mouth before the shockwave ripped into the satellite and tore it apart.

[Admin]

SOMEWHERE IN TIME

Extant sat and watched the satellite’s destruction on Brother Eye’s view screen.

“Three down, just a couple to go,” Extant mused. “Wherever and whenever you are, Hunter, you’re too late.”

He stood up and smiled. The smile was totally absent of any warmth at all.

“Brother Eye, you have the information you need. It’s time to retrieve your partner,” he said. “Kill the rest.”

“As you command,” Brother Eye replied. “And as you requested, the group you have commissioned have began to carry out your orders. Tell me, sir; is it really necessary to lead the universe to absolute destruction?”

“It’s more than the universe I am after, Brother Eye,” Extant told him as he walked away. “You should consider that destruction is a form of creation. As for my little group… they just want to see what happens when they tear the world apart. They want to change things.”

[Admin]

To Be Continued!

[mockingbird]

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