Prologue: Man of the Future
Man of the Future
By selectivehouse
Booster drummed his fingers impatiently against the table, the meat pie and mashed potatoes that he ordered from the Watchtower's canteen staring back at him impassively. He stared back at them. They continued to stare at him. A bead of sweat trailed down his forehead as he felt the hungry, penetrating stare of the potatoes begin to encapsulate and stifle his very-
"Sir, what are you doing?" Inquired Skeets, his Security Droid companion (Or, glorified Valet Unit, he chuckled) the droid hovered over to him, the two red lights for his eyes blinking.
"Oh! Not too much Skeets," He stated, quickly whipping his head around to both face his robotic companion and cover the tray of food "Just winning a battle that must be won."
The droid hovered closer to him, "Sir, if food is consumed by prolonged eye contact I must re-evaluate my database on Humanity," the droid quipped "Though, both me and you know that Human food practices, or for that matter consumption, does not involve usage of prolonged eye contact."
Booster scratched the back of his head, laughing "Ok Skeets you got me, I was actually playing a game with Atom!" he grinned, hoping Skeets would drop the subject - he had a reputation to uphold; knowing the droid, he would tell Cyborg the moment the 'Teen Twats' where beamed aboard and then, In all likely-hood, Cyborg would tell Ted.
Not today, will his partner have something to consistently dig at him with.
Skeets turned around, looking at the tables on the west-side of the canteen "Michael, Ray is over-there, sitting with Oliver and Zatanna."
Boosters grin dropped of his face, as he stared at Atom, who, noticing he was being stared at by Booster and Skeets waved at them, Booster waved back weakly as Ray laughed at a joke Oliver had said; judging from Zatanna's fuming expression, it was likely at her expense.
If Skeets could express itself, Booster would be sure he would be grinning, "Now sir, why where you staring into your food?" the AI inquired, his intent to only help his master.
Sitting down, Booster sighed putting his head into his hands, "I'm nervous Skeets," he whispered, both out of the butterflies in his stomach and that so no-one else could hear, "Ever since what happened to-" he gulped, painful memories surfacing "-Michelle, Boom-tubes never seemed to be the safest mode of transportation," he sighed, stabbing the pie and cutting it into two.
Skeets hummed thoughtfully, lights playing across his surface "Sir, I have records of this event cataloged; there is nothing to worry about," the droid hovered in front of him, stopping Booster from taking a gulp of his own brand energy drink "So please, do not be nervous, there is no risk of Dimensional Beings attacking us and Ted like what happened to Michelle."
Booster sighed, knowing that if his companion said it was going to happen, it was going to happen, thanks to the AI's very in depth knowledge of 20th century events - owing to his programming and previous 'job'.
He leaned back as much as the chair would allow, "If you say so Skeets, just never liked that Old-God tech," he shivered "Anything with any correlation with that grey monster just does not sit well with me at all Skeets,"
Skeets blinked "Ted has just contacted me, saying they are ready over in the teleporter lab, J'onn and Mister Terrific have managed to calibrate it correctly and are ready to receive us."
Booster stared at him, "Is he sure Skeets?"
Skeets hummed once more "Ted says that it was calibrated with help from Orion himself, so yes he is sure you over-sized chocolate wrapper."
Booster fumed desperately thinking of a comeback to act as a rebuttal.
He could think of none.
"Tell him I will be down momentarily, only then does he have my permission to jump face first into that Tube, Oa's not getting that much older," he commanded, wolfing down the last pieces of his meal and getting up to leave.
Skeets bobbed down in a symbol of compliance, "Done," he flatly stated "Thought of a comeback yet Michael?" Skeets questioned hovering up beside him, the droid almost with a smug grin on his face.
Booster Gold inwardly made a note to think of a comeback appropriate to droids and their circuitry; make it as lewd as possible so Oliver would break down in tears while Skeets would question Barry what he meant.
"Of course Skeets, Ted always has a bad jo-" Booster was saying before he collided face to face with Diane, whom had just exited from a door in front of him.
Booster shook his head, Wonder Woman was like hitting a brick wall as Booster shook his head once more Diane looked down upon him with a single eyebrow raised.
"Prehaps, next time you should be more aware of your surroundings," she quipped as Booster got on his feet "A lack of concentration could leave you vulnerable in the midst of combat."
Booster Gold smiled a radiant; crowd pleasing smile, able to make women swoon and men to look in wonder, "Excuse me Princess for our encounter, I, Booster Gold, sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that has occurred due to our meeting," he smiled the same smile again; bowed in front of the Princess of the Amazons.
Wonder Woman was not amused.
"Flirting as always Michael, I must take my leave, me and Kal have special plans for the night," she said in a sultry manner. Booster didn't even know Diane could do sultry, he opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to articulate a response. Diane smiled, knowing she had beaten the big-headed show-off.
She walked off leaving a very flustered Booster behind, who had suddenly taken the hue of a ripe tomato.
Skeets watched her go, "I wish they have a happy occasion together, Kal-El has been rather stressed over Lex Luthor's attempt at destroying Smallville; the rumors the Zod has escaped The Phantom Zone," he chirped, turning to Booster - who was still a brilliant shade of maroon, "Sir? Are you feeling alright?"
Booster looked at Skeets; the blush loosing its hue; a familiar golden hue returning to his skin, "Never been better Skeets. Never been better..." he trailed off looking down the hallway where Wonder Woman had gone.
He slapped himself in the face, "Come on Skeets, Ted's been waiting long enough for the comeback I have been cooking up for him!"
Deathstroke spun in the air, pulling his sword out of his sheath on his second spin, Starfire saw this and tried to react, her hands glowing with a familiar green energy, but the Assassin was too quick for the Alien and stabbed her through the chest, directly under her collarbone, or whatever the filthy alien had as an equivalent.
The Alien screamed; fell to the floor, blood pouring out from her wound, the viridian blood quickly pooling around her. She gasped and tugged on the sword, trying to pull it free - but her hand fell slack when Deathstroke knocked her out cold with a solid punch to the temple.
As her head lulled to the side, Deathstroke pulled the sword out from her and sheathed it where it belonged, "Sorry immigrant, I would love to finish you off along with the rest of your sorry team," he looked around surveying the carnage he and his allies had wrought.
Robin was out cold along with his Alien Princess; Cyborg was effectively a statue from the point when the EMP grenade that Lex had so graciously provided had detonated, freezing the man-machine in his own body, Cyborg still glared hatefully at him.
Raven had Morgaine to deal with, though, judging from the gasps of pain outside, his ally was winning this battle; Kid Flash battling his counter-part, Reverse-Flash, though knowing the adult Flashes luck with his adversary, he stood no chance.
As for Beast Boy and Donna Troy, he had not seen them since the start of the skirmish, they were likely incapacitated or still battling Solomon Grundy, the simple Zombie was notoriously easy to out-wit however, so Deathstroke would have to act quickly to complete his objective.
He took out the Lex Corp teleporter and started at it, Lex had said it would take him directly to the Watchtower if he used it in a place with synchronization with the Watchtowers mainframe, so he had came to the Titan Tower.
It was an easy choice, beat the Titans and destroy the Watchtower? Deathstroke had almost considered going cheaper than what he had settled at for the pricing of the mission, but old habits die hard.
He chuckled - flipping the safety off on the machine, which responded with three glowing green lights and a low droning - going even 50% off could have likely brought him Bialya and Dubai; he could have retired on a high with the backing of thousands of Oil companies.
"Though where's the fun in that?" he said, his voice muffled by the mask he always wore.
He pressed down on the button; almost instantaneously he felt the extremely uncomfortable sensation of being ripped to pieces, atom by atom, as the net of light appearance of a boom-tube appeared above him, the tunnel creating a shockwave, throwing Starfire and half the room across to the opposite side.
"I always hate these-" began Deathstroke as he was torn to pieces by the technology of the Gods, dispersing from the Titan Tower and finding himself on-board the Watchtower.
"So, Blue Baby," Booster sniggered at the expense of his partner, "Prepped and ready for Oa?"
Blue Beetle rolled his eyes, honestly, Boosters jokes were actually getting worse "Yes Green Lantern, Kyle and Guy are ready to escort us to the Reach conglomerate, you know why we are going, right?" asked Beetle, a smug look plastered across his face from his oh so funny joke.
Booster smiled along with him, the memories of his arrival where always both pleasant and annoying, much like the overgrown dung beetle next to him.
Oh, now that was a good one!
"Yes Blue, Kyle uncovered evidence that shows that the Reach may have constructed your Scarab, our mission is to go and covertly gather information - blah blah blah," he threw his arms up in the air, "Batman gave us the information; you know how he gets with making sure everyone understands as much as him about everything!"
Beetle smiled, Batman was renowned for his impressive ability to both lecture and interrogate; being around Oliver had made the Dark Knight refine his talent into an art, "Just checking, know how you get with mission briefings, when you could be staring at Dinah's backside."
Booster puffed out his chest, "I aim to impress Ted; it's hard not to when your Booster Gold: Man of the Future!" he said with an extravagant flourish, thankfully, without Skeets playing his awful self promotional video.
Ted grinned, his mind formulating a plan to get Michael thoroughly embarrassed by the Green Lantern Corps, "You know Mike, Oa's a boiling bot of so many Alien cultures - various races across the universe congregate there, maybe, you could impress some Alien chicks?" he smirked, feeding Mike's ego, "I mean, for the legendary Booster Gold, it should be easy right?"
Booster grinned manically, "Oh man, with girls like Alia and Soranik Natu..." he shook his head in what Ted would guess would be disbelieve, "I don't think the Green Beans realize how lucky they are."
Ted put his arm around him, "Imagine! Legions of beautiful aliens, all ready to hear all about the legendary Booster Gold; ready to satisfy your every desire!" he whistled, "I can see them now partner, all lined up and read to suc-"
"If you are done bantering with Gold, I believe we are at the teleporter gateway, Ted, though, I fear our search in the Reach conglomerate with be fruitless," his scarab chimed in, his every-word with it's trademark aggressive undertone.
Ted looked up, sure enough, they had reached the door into the teleporter laboratory. Ted shook Booster, whom had a look of rapturous bliss upon his face, "Come on all-star, we have arrived at our sordid destination," though Ted would never admit it, boom-tubes were always an uncomfortable experience to say in the least; always hated using them - though it was preferable to flying to Oa, which would take years.
Booster laughed, typing in the password to the array's into a keypad built next to the door, "Gotta agree with you Ted, never liked using the bloody things, they al-"
Booster had stopped and was staring at someone inside the room, "What now?" thought Ted as he shimmed past Booster to get a look at the object that stopped him in his tracks.
A man was in the center of the room, with black and orange cleaving the mid-section of the mask he wore; the abundance of heavy arms, finished with a vicious broadsword - dripping with green blood, it was obvious who it was.
Deathstoke: The World's Deadliest Assassin.
He cracked his neck and turned to Beetle and Booster, "Well, ain't this a surprise - I had expected far greater resistance then you two, I almost feel offended," he drew his rifle; Booster growled and began to fly, charging up his power gauntlets, as Ted pulled out his BB gun, "How do you prefer to die: Lead or Steel?"
Booster took the first shot, a bolt of energy impacting with the zone Deathstroke would have occupied, had he not executed a back-flip away. He fired a burst of shells from his automatic rifle, all three shots impacting with Booster, though causing no damage to his advanced power suit.
Beetle had managed to approach Deathstroke silently, but before he could fire his gun at the Assassin, Deathstroke had disarmed him in an instant - the two rapidly traded blows, Ted seemingly loosing to the precise, practiced and plotted movements of the Mercenary.
Booster looked around the room, Deathstroke would have set up a fallback, no way could he have expected to take on the likes of Superman all by himself, at least, not without some major ace up his proverbial sleeve.
There! Nestled amongst the electronics supporting the boom-tube was a small rectangular box, embellished with the disturbing symbol of Lex-corp.
He tore his way over to the box, Skeets following close behind him, he pushed aside various cables and circuitry to get to the box; very suddenly realizing he had no idea what to do with it, "Skeets!" he shouted, a groan of pain sounding much like Ted coming from behind him "Any idea what this thing does; a way to shut it off?!"
Skeets hummed as another groan from Ted confirmed he had lost to the Assassin, "Done sir, device is a temporal bomb: able to rip a hole in space and cause catastrophic damage to it's surroundings," Skeets lectured as Deathstroke incapacitated Ted with a backhand of his sword hilt, "Disarmament should be simple - simply remove the interior motherboard."
Booster scrambled with the device, fiddling with the casing until he found a release and with a click, the front of the device popped off - exposing the innards. With a flourish, he pulled the motherboard out, throwing it on the ground and smashing it under his foot.
"Haha Deathstroke! Your plan has bee-" he gasped, blood cascading over his power suit, thanks to the sword newly embedded in his chest.
Deathstroke pulled the sword out from his chest, Booster falling to the ground in pain, "SIR!" Skeets screamed, the droid rushing to his masters side, but being intercepted by a bullet from Deathstokes pistol. The droid fell to the floor; was silent.
"Annoying droid, figures," Deathstroke snorted as he holstered his weapon, "Saved this sword for Batman, luckily for me, it doesn't discriminate" he said, squatting down next to Booster, who was moaning in pain, "Just set off the timer; teleport out of the Watchtower; retire on enough money to purchase Star Labs - simple, just a bit dissapointed it was Gold and Blue instead of the 'Man of Steel', got some Kryptonite with his name on it."
"Drop your weapons, Slade," snarled a deep voice from behind Deathstroke.
Deathstroke smiled under his mask, "Ah! Batman," he turned around and was greeted with the sight of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Hawkman, all glaring at him, "I see you brought the whole motley crew along, no matter, if you stop me, the Watchtower detonates - without me on it," he held up he detonator, "See, I have this."
As soon has he held it up, the League moved into action to grab it off him, Superman leading the charge, he smirked under his mask, his plan all ready in motion.
"Wrong move," he said, as he pressed down on his teleporter.
Instantly, the bomb linked to his teleporter rather than the false detonator, sparked, the motherboard's removal removing all failsafe's in place and detonating the charge, causing a black hole to form in it.
However, the pull of Deathstrokes boom-tube caused the black hole to tear its way across the room to the tube, merging with the tube - turning it a deep black color and greatly diminishing it's stability, while exponentially increasing its strength.
"What-" Deathstroke began, as he and Booster where sucked into the boom-tube, the rest of the League bracing themselves from being sucked into the tube, Superman quickly grabbing onto Ted and pulling him backwards.
As soon as it started it was finished, the room looking like a Red Tornado had been through it, Deathstroke and Booster Gold no-where to be seen.
Batman was the first to spring to action, "J'onn, find Michael," J'onn nodded his head, and brought his fingers to his temples, after a minute of searching J'onn opened his eyes, his brow knitted in worry.
"I cannot locate either Slade or Michael Carter, I fear they may have been flung to another universe due to the interference of the temporal bomb," J'onn spoke, worry evident in his voice.
"We must find him," Superman stated, "No man must be left behind; who knows what terrors Deathstroke could get up to, Aquaman get The Flash-"
A loud boom shattered the windows of every building in Ponyville, lights being turned on in every house-hold, with most Ponies waking to the gargantuan shockwave.
A tube made of the most spectacular lights deposited it's travelers directly over a large building shaped like a particularly extravagant carousel and closed instantly afterwards, one creature smashing through the building; the other quickly recovering and landing on its feet, glancing back at their abrupt and chaotic entry.
It was forced to move when a scream from inside the building forced it to snap back to reality, it spotted a forest on the far side of town, took off with great haste, it's mind a confused mess.
...BEEP...
...BEEP...
Booster cracked his eyes open, the noise of the heart rate monitor rousing him - and immediately regretted the action, memories and senses flooding back to him; bringing a dull throbbing pain in his chest.
Moving his head down - the action causing him great pain - he looked at his chest, his wound he sustained fighting Deathstroke had been bandaged by a member of the League, "How thoughtful, they do want me around afterwards it seems," he mused to himself, "I wonder how Ted is?"
Ted?
TED!
He twisted his head around looking at the other bunks for Ted, the action causing a spike in his monitor. He wasn't in the Watchtower infirmary; this wasn't the Watchtower at all.
Where was he?
The wooden door to the room was flung open, as two miniature horses galloped into the room, one with a lab-coat and glasses; the other with a nurses hat on top of its head - both featuring a horn on their foreheads.
They stared at him; he stared back, the two mini-horses looking quite fearful now he was awake. Booster snorted with laughter.
"No. Fucking. Way."
