Issue 8: "As It Was in the Beginning"

RIP HUNTER’S LAB – THE TIMESTREAM

Booster Gold sat at a desk, staring at the computer in front of him. On it, a seemingly endless array of files flashed before him.

“Homework…” Booster sighed under his breath, “… sucks.”

“Spoken like a true student,” a metallic voice remarked behind him. “Never met a vid-textbook you liked?”

Booster didn’t bother to turn around. He sighed, propping his head up with one hand, clicking the computer mouse with the other.

“Shut up, Skeets,” Booster hissed. “I’ll have you know I was an honor student.”

“Of course you were,” Skeets responded, a hint of irony in his robotic voice. “Yes, Your Honor, no, Your Honor, no contest, Your Honor…”

“Nice.” Booster grinned despite himself. “I just don’t understand why I need to know all of this stuff.”

“Rip has a good reason for you knowing everything about parts of history you are going to be involved in Michael,” Skeets told him. “Keeping the fabric of time intact is an important job.”

“Jeez, you sound just like him,” Booster grumbled. He suddenly sat up. “Hey! Maybe that’s why Rip is such a stiff! He’s a robot! Heh…”

“Hysterical,” another voice replied. “Amazing that you bother with superheroics, Gold. You missed your calling as a stand-up comedian.”

Rip Hunter was standing in the doorway, his arms folded. He was wearing a frown that Booster was convinced was permanently fixed to his face.

“I’m not even going to ask you if I really need this information,” Booster said, staring at the screen. “I know what you’ll say.”

“I think th- “ Rip started, but was cut off by a loud piercing shriek.

“What The hell is that!?!?” Booster shouted.

Rip didn’t answer. He bolted out of the room with Skeets right on his heels. After a moment, Booster jumped up and followed.

Rip was bent over a workstation full of computers all hooked to one large screen. He called this section the “Data Computer”.

Skeets turned to face Booster.

“That sound was a warning alarm connected to the Data Computer,” Skeets explained as Rip typed into the keyboard. “Something happened in some point of time that was large enough to cause some sort of time-ripple.”

Rip was reading the information on the screen in front of him. After a minute he slammed a fist onto the desktop.

“Dammit!”

“So, are you going to beat up the desk or are you going to share what the frack is going on?” Booster asked.

Rip looked up.

“There’s a chronal wave moving through the timestream. It’s slight… slight enough I didn’t notice it before… but it’s building steam,” Rip explained.

Booster stared at Rip for a moment.

“Okay,” he said. “And that means?”

“Something or someone is displaced. Out of their proper point in time,” Rip told him. “It’s not something as simple as a time traveler visiting a different timepoint… that wouldn’t set things off. There is something that is upsetting the natural order of the timesteam itself.”

“What is it?” Booster questioned.

“I don’t know,” Rip replied. “I’m going to have to go take a look.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Booster said.

“No,” Rip said. “Not you. Not yet. You still have preparation to do. Hopping around the timestream properly takes training and knowledge that you don’t have yet.”

“But…” Booster started to protest.

”Just wait. I can check it out,” Rip told him, picking up a sachel and heading toward his time bubble.

Rip entered the bubble and punched something into the control panel. He looked up and nodded to Booster and Skeets. A moment later he was gone.

”This,” Booster told Skeets, “sucks.”

*****

Fifteen minutes later, Booster paced back and forth, agitated and restless.

“What the hell, Skeets?” Booster ranted, moving back and forth. “At what point do I get a chance to do something?”

“Mr. Hunter has a plan for you… It’s most likely best to wait to see what it is.”

“A plan, Skeets?” Booster spat. “It’d be nice if I had a say in whatever plan for me he has. Besides, all I do is sit around and study like a schoolkid.”

“Information is power, Michael,” Skeets replied.

“Did… did you just quote a RIFF ad?” Booster asked. “Nass. I’m going stir crazy. Where the hell is Rip anyway? Shouldn’t he already be back?”

Booster walked over to the Data Computer and stared at the screen.

“Gibberish,” he sighed. After a moment he noticed something blinking on the screen. “Skeets, what is this?”

Skeets flew over and looked. On the screen was a blinking box and the word ‘incoming’ on it. “I don’t know.”

Booster looked around. “Incoming. Like an e-mail?”

“Could be,” Skeets agreed. “Or perhaps an incoming jaunt.”

Booster walked over to the platform where they normally jaunted in and out of the timelab. “Hey… there’s an incoming button on this panel over here.”

“Michael, I wouldn’t touch th-” Skeets started to say. Booster reached forward and pressed the button.

A moment later the platform began to glow and an object appeared on it.

Booster and Skeets stared.

“Is that a cell phone?” Booster asked. He reached down and picked it up.

“It would appear so,” Skeets replied. “Let me see the model number.”

Booster showed the phone to Skeets who scanned the barcoded label on the bottom.

“Scanning,” Skeets said. “This is a Phidias Thunderbolt. It is a cell phone released in August of the year 2013.”

“Well, what the hell is it doing here?”

“I’ve been with you this entire time, Michael. I have the same amount of information about this that you do.”

Booster flipped the phone open and looked at it.

There was a message on the phone.

Before Skeets could protest, Booster clicked the message button. On the screen was:

8-22-2013
8-22-1309 (7:49 pm) - rock
8-22-1647 (8 am) - wheel
8-22-1866 (6:35 am) - mirror
8-22-1928 (9:12 pm) - watch
8-22-1994 (3:26 am) - calculator
8-22-2124 (12:15 pm) - Disk

Booster looked up at Skeets.

”Dates,” he said.

”Absolutely,” Skeets agreed.

Suddenly the phone rang. Booster was so surprised he almost dropped it.

He accepted the call and put it up to his ear. “Hello?”

“You got it!” the voice at the other end exclaimed. “Oh thank God, you got it.”

”Who is this?” Booster asked.

“No time,” the voice said. “He’s after the artifacts. You have to get there first.”

“The what? Who?” Booster asked. “What are you talking about?”

”You have to get the vid-disk first. He’s going to work backwards,” the voice said cryptically.

“Pal, you have about 20 seconds to explain before I just hang up here,” Booster hissed.

”Wait! Listen!” the voice said. “Let me guess… Rip Hunter left there about 20 minutes ago and isn’t back yet?”

“How di-” Booster began.

“THERE IS NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!” the voice yelled. “You have to get the artifacts before he does!”

“BEFORE WHO DOES!?” Booster yelled back.

“The thief,” the voice replied. “He knows the vid-disk is at the Planet! It’s very simp- NO! HE’S found me!”

Sounds of a scuffle sounded on the other end then the line went dead. Booster tried hitting the Call Back button, but it didn’t work.

”Why,” Booster asked Skeets, “do people say stupid stuff like ‘Oh no he found me’?”

Booster went back to the data computer and started punching in the dates listed on the phone.

“Michael, what are you doing?” Skeets asked.

“I’m punching in the intel Rip has on these dates so I know what I’m getting into,” Booster said, not looking up.

”I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Skeets replied.

“Listen Skeets, I’m supposed to be helping police the timestream, right?” Booster argued. “Well, if some thief is running around stealing things throughout points in history, wouldn’t you say that would be something we should be stopping?”

“But we know nothing about this,” Skeets said. “Who was that person? Why would they send something here?”

“Obviously they were looking for Rip. How else would they be able to know how to send something to the timelab?” Booster asked. He finished punching the information into the Data Computer. He then hooked his timeband to the huge computer and downloaded the needed information from it. “No more sitting on the sidelines. Rip should have been back by now. Maybe he’s even in trouble. This could be the reason the alarm went off in the first place. In any case, I’m at least checking things out. I’ll be careful and won’t just jump into anything until I’ve scoped out the situation.”

“This is highly irregular…” Skeets said.

“DAMMIT, SKEETS, YOU KNOW I GET FREAKED OUT WHEN YOU DO YOUR H.A.L. IMITATION!” Booster shouted.

“I just want you to think about what you are doing,” Skeets said.

“I thought, and I’m doing,” Booster shot back. “Now are you coming or what?”

The little flying bot seemed to hesitate only for a moment, then flew over to the platform that Booster had climbed onto.

”I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Skeets said as they faded out.

METROPOLIS – AUGUST 22^nd, 2124 – 12:14 pm

Booster and Skeets appeared in an alley way.

“So, where do we start?” Skeets asked.

“Well, I have two theories,” Booster said.

“Oh God,” Skeets replied. “You have theories.”

“Oh shut up, you flying X-Box,” Booster shot back. “The guy said that the thief knew the vid-disk was at the Planet. So I asked myself… which planet?”

“Which planet indeed,” Skeets said.

“Assuming we’re talking about Earth,” Booster said, “two ideas came to mind. The Daily Planet and Planet Krypton. Since more people seem to call the Daily Planet by the singular ‘The Planet’ I figure it’s a good place to start, which is why we’re in the alley behind it.”

Skeets was silent for a moment.

“My God, I can’t argue with that,” Skeet finally said. “It’s actually logical.”

Booster shot a frown at his flying sidekick. “Have I told you lately how much I hate you?” he asked.

“Let’s just go take a look,” Skeets said. “Carefully.”

Opening an alley door, the two entered quietly.

“What is it we’re even looking for?” Skeets asked.

“I don’t know,” Booster replied. “Hopefully something will present itself.”

A second later a loud crash came from a floor above them.

“Don’t you love it when I’m right?” Booster called out gleefully. He lifted into the air and headed for the stairwell. Skeets followed.

A minute later, people began pouring down the stairwell. Booster flew over them.

“What’s going on?” he called down to the crowd.

“Some guy in all black is up there tearing up our offices!” someone yelled back.

Booster burst through the doors and saw the aforementioned figure rifling through a desk.

“I’m sorry, the gift shop is actually downstairs,” Booster said, lifting just above the figure’s head.

The figure turned and looked up. Without a word, he pointed some sort of device at Booster.

“Oh no, a super powerful weapon! Whatever will I do?” Booster called out.

The figure pressed a button and a beam emitted out of the device at Booster. He threw his force field up with a smile.

And was still blasted right out of the window behind him into the sky.

“WHAT THE FRACK!?” Booster shouted. He hadn’t felt anything, but still had been forcibly jettisoned from the building. He reversed his direction and flew back in through the hole in the window.

“Nice little toy you have there, pal!” Booster said. The figure was now tearing through a file cabinet, which he then picked up and heaved at Booster.

Booster caught it and threw it back. The thief leapt over it and at Booster. They collided and grappled for a minute. Booster blocked two punch attempts and tried to grab a hold. The thief kicked him in the chest and flipped back to the floor. Booster fired a blast from his gauntlet.

The figure leapt out of the way and rolled into an open office doorway.

Booster followed in. The figure had ripped open a box when Booster came in.

“So what’s the deal here?” Booster asked. “What can be so important about a…” Booster stopped when he realized what was on the chest of the thief.

It was a bat. The exact same one that Batman wore.

The thief looked at Booster and seemed to make a decision. He threw the box at Booster and leapt out of the office window.

Booster swatted away the box and followed the thief out, but when he was outside, the thief was nowhere in sight.

“What the frack is going on here?” Booster wondered. He went back inside.

Skeets came flying over to Booster. “Did you see that?” Booster asked.

“The bat-logo? Yes I noticed it when we came in,” Skeets replied. “While you were playing with whoever-that-was though… I think I found what they wanted.”

Skeets turned and flew over to a trophy case in the office of the publisher. Inside it was a holographic vid-disk. On the top of it were the initials ‘LL’.

“What the heck do you think he wanted with this thing?” Booster asked, reaching into the case and picking up the vid-disk.

“I don’t know,” Skeets answered.

“I’m taking this with me for safekeeping right now,” Booster told him. “Let’s get back to the timelab and try and figure this out.”

As they faded out, they didn’t notice the thief watching them from an air duct. The thief clicked on a com-link and spoke into it.

“I failed,” the thief spoke. “Booster Gold showed up and got his hands on the vid-disk. He’s already gone.”

“Damn. Should have know he’d get dragged into this,” the response over the com-link came. “Okay, get back here. We have to figure out what to do and hope that he won’t know where to go for the other items.”

RIP HUNTER’S LAB – THE TIMESTREAM

Booster stood in front of the Data Computer, trying to figure out the importance of the vid-disk.

“Jeez, Skeets, I can’t find anything here,” he complained. “It’s actually not even a vid-disk from that time period. It’s an antique by 2124 standards. The thing was produced in 2043!”

“Any thoughts as to who it once belonged to?” Skeets asked.

“LL?” Booster wondered. “Lois Lane? Lex Luthor? Who the heck knows. Both would have been kind of old in 2043.”

“What next?” Skeets asked.

“I guess we should go to the next date on the list. The guy on the phone warned that the thief was working backwards… and the list seems to be in date order overall except for the first being out of sequence… as well as being the only date without an object attached to it. What do you think is up with that?”

“Booster, this entire situation is a mystery,” Skeets replied. “I wonder where Rip is. It’s been quite some time since he went off.”

“I don’t know Skeets and right now, I’m not really worried about Rip,” Booster said. “Let’s go and pop to the next date on the list and see if we come across the Batman wanna-be.”

“And where are we going in 1994?” Skeets questioned.

“Um… well….” Booster stammered.

“Nice. Out of theories?” Skeets teased. “I see. Well, I have an idea of my own. We can get to the time period early and stay in the atmosphere. From up there I can most likely be able to tell if there is a shift in the chronal levels. If someone else pops in through the timestream, I should be able to detect it and narrow their location down.”

“Skeets, you are a genius,” Booster sang out and rushed forward.

Skeets sighed, sounding strangely human… but he followed Booster to the platform.

NEW YORK – AUGUST 22^nd, 1994 – 3:10 am

Booster and Skeets appeared on the top of one of the Twin Towers.

“This is a good as any place to sit and wait,” Skeets remarked. “Hopefully whoever is coming won’t come earlier than this.”

Booster leaned against the wall and looked out into the dark sky. A few minutes went by in silence.

“This is all weird, huh, Skeets?” he asked.

“It certainly is,” Skeets replied.

“I have to wonder. What kind of a thief goes after the stuff listed on this phone?”

“If we can catch him, we’ll have to ask him,” Skeets said. “I won- Hold on….”

Booster turned at looked at Skeets. “Got something?”

“Yes,” Skeets said. “Central City. The High School. There were two quick blips.”

“Let’s go!” Booster said. They faded out.

CENTRAL CITY – AUGUST 22^nd, 1994 – 3:16 am

Booster and Skeets appeared in the gym of the school. It was dark and very quiet.

“Okay, now what?” Booster whispered.

“The chronal-energy release was in here,” Skeets replied.

“I don’t see or hear anything,” Booster said.

“Be careful,” Skeets said. “Remember there were tw-”

Almost if one cue, the dark-dressed thief leapt out of the shadows at Booster.

“BOOSTER!” Skeets projected.

Booster looked up just as he was tackled. He shoved his legs up and managed to flip the thief off of him. He rushed back at him and they wrestled. Booster got an arm free and was able to pin the thief down. Sitting on top of the dark figure, Booster ripped the mask off the thief.

“Okay, pal, now let’s see… HOLY FRACK!” Booster shouted.

The thief was a young female with burning dark eyes.

“Skeets! Get over here.” Booster called. He got no answer. Booster took his eyes off of the girl for a minute and saw Skeets lying on the ground.

“What the-” he started to say when he felt a jolt of energy on the base of his neck. Booster collapsed.

“Took you long enough,” the girl said as she got up.

“I had to take out the security-bot first,” the new figure, dressed in dark scarlet with a very Flash-looking insignia on their chest, replied. “Now let’s get rid of this pest.”

TO BE CONTINUED…


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