#54: A Principled Time And Place

Previously, in JUSTICE LEAGUE…

Thanks to the efforts of RIP HUNTER, the JUSTICE LEAGUE of the present teamed up with the seven founding members of the team in the past, all to save the future when the villainous, time-travelling TEMPUS sought to destroy the timeline!

During the adventure, BLUE BEETLE found the remains of his best friend BOOSTER GOLD in a temporal graveyard containing the bodies of countless, great time-travelling heroes, but he had no clue why that would be-- which was strange to RIP, considering the trio have shared many cross-time-capers throughout the years, including the dimension-spanning Zero Hour event!

With the day saved and numerous adventures since, it’s about time that fact was addressed, if, that is, the team can survive a mysterious bout of time anomalies manifesting across the world…

With all this in mind, please join us now for the continuing adventures of the JUSTICE LEAGUE--



Booster Gold flew over a city so very much unlike the ones he’d known growing up in the 25th century. Gotham City in the future was sometimes called Neo Gotham, a century separated from when it was known as New Gotham. When Michael Jon Carter was growing up, years before he stole the equipment that allowed him to become Booster Gold, Gotham was bright lights and banality, skyscrapers reaching up and yawning up at the blue skies.

Midway City was tiny in comparison. Inconsequential. Not that he was the kind of person to consider things in that sense, but he could see it, dismiss it, and fought the good fight wherever he needed to.

“Huh?” started Booster. He hadn’t intended to patrol the city, but during his sojourn from Metropolis to San Francisco-- a pointless journey but one he undertook simply because it was an opportunity to get away from his responsibilities as part of the Justice League-- he’d simply decided to stop, find a place for a coffee, and now he was hovering as he checked his phone for a well-reviewed coffee shop.

But seconds ago, a shimmer picked up by his goggles drew his attention. He glanced around and noticed the birds he’d been flying near were frozen in space, and his phone was no longer loading up coffee reviews.

Believing the glimmer down below to hold some importance, Booster headed down toward the street, where a group of armoured men were setting up a device in the middle of the road. “Hey there! You wouldn’t happen to be good guys, would you?”

“Booster Gold!” buzzed one of the armoured men. “You are our commandant’s most loathed-- your arrival here has been foretold! Your time is finally up!”

“Huh? Your commandant? Who… dat?” asked Booster. “Wait… I recognise you--”

The armoured men began to attack him, but he was more concerned with the device they were setting up. It was about the size of a football, silver in colour and riveted to the ground by a solid steel pylon about half a foot in height.

Booster began to fire off blasts from his energy bands, pushing forward toward the device even as more armoured attackers swarmed over him. Above the device a tear began to form in space, and within seconds a blinding light stretched out, causing Booster Gold to vanish from view--


“I wonder if they’ll go easy on us today, Katar,” said Blue Beetle, piloting the Bug toward the day’s emergency. He was smirking, knowing that his request would rarely be acknowledged by the foes they faced. “But then again, knowing our luck…”

“How ‘easy’ we go is dependent on the threat we face,” said Hawkman. “Batman and Wonder Woman are dealing with a raptor infestation in the Gotham subway system that emerged at the same time as this thing landed in downtown Midway. Barda and Scott are currently battling a weapons platform above the Sahara and the rest of the team are on standby in anticipation of further incursions. Why now? Are the threats connected?”

“Apparently they appeared at the same time,” said Beetle. “Manifesting, appearing, defying nature, all at the exact moment in time. Thankfully no lives have been lost yet but raptors? They’re clever bastards. They might be the masterminds behind all of this.” He smirked. “I mean, I hope we’re not dealing with hyper-smart dinosaur super villains. That sounds awful.”

“Somehow I don’t think raptors are behind these temporal disruptions, Beetle,” said Hawkman, pointing down at the monstrous device that was currently storming through Midway City’s shopping district. “What’s that?”

“That’s--” Beetle paused. “Huh.”

“You recognise it?” asked Hawkman.

“I don’t know… something about it is familiar though…”

Hawkman opened up the back hatch of the Bug and gestured outside. “Well, shall we take a closer look?”

Blue Beetle and Hawkman descended from the Bug and were first on the scene, and what a scene it was. The thing-- whatever it was-- stood as tall as a six-story office building. Protruding from a cerulean mass that made up the thing’s central structure, thin white tentacles with claws on the tips thrashed around the area, drawing buildings down upon themselves. Once demolition had been completed, the rubble was sucked into the base pool that expanded out across the roads like an Archimedean overflow from a bath. Whatever was absorbed into the opaque substance seemed to be broken down and redistributed through the main pillar that held the central mass aloft.

It was growing larger and larger as it demolished, immediately gorging itself on the debris it created.

“I think I can take it,” said Hawkman, bringing his mace up.

“You say that a lot in these situations,” said Beetle. “But what is that thing?”

Hawkman shrugged. “If I separate the strut separating the main body and that… puddle… it’d come tumbling down. Physics.”

“It looks familiar,” said Beetle. “I can’t place it.”

“Unless you have any other ideas, I’m going to give it a shot,” said Hawkman. He began to stretch his wings. “Stay clear.”

“No, wait, wait,” said Beetle. He unclipped his BB Gun and changed the frequency of the blast it could emit. When satisfied, he levelled the weapon up toward the central mass of the device, and closed an eye, aiming carefully.

“I don’t think your stun gun is going to make much of a difference, Beetle.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Beetle bit his lip and fired, sending a wide burst of electrical energy at the device. On impact, the limbs fell down inert, the central strut snapped, and the central structure fell into the puddle that it used to build itself back up. The pool continued to absorb whatever touched it, and when it cannibalised itself it spluttered and choked until there was nothing left but a small plaque that had been inside the device.

Hawkman didn’t look impressed at Beetle’s act, or the fact his boots were covered in the opaque liquid that had previously tried to devour whatever it had touched. “What just happened?”

“Umm, well it’s pretty simple,” said Ted. He picked up the plaque that floated towards them, and brushed the opaque liquid off the front with his glove. Without anything to feed on, the liquid was inert, though Ted would be sure to scrub his costume clean when he was back home. He held the plaque up to Hawkman and grimaced. “I think I built it.”

The plaque read: HKP Industries; Disaster Clean-Up Sentinel Mk XVII

“You did what?” said Hawkman. Snatching away the plaque, he looked further at the engraved words beneath the device’s designation: Hoshi – Kord - Palmer Industries. “When did you have time to build this?” He continued reading the plaque. The date of creation was thirty years into the future. “Oh. I get it.”

“Yeah. I haven’t-- we haven’t-- not yet-- it’s-- we’re only in the planning stages right now, and I would have thought we’d have come up with a better name for the business, but, uh, we’ve--” A quiet beeping emerged from Blue Beetle’s belt and he checked the hidden panel on his wrist. “There’s an odd transmission in the air, looks like it’s originating from over--”

Blue Beetle turned as a figure rose up out of the debris of the sentinel they had just destroyed. Trying his best to remove the sludge from his costume, a battered and bruised Booster Gold emerged, smiling sheepishly as his friends lowered their weapons. Kord rolled his eyes. “Booster, you are the worst Justice Leaguer I have ever met. And I know Guy Gardner.”

“Well, hey to you too,” said Booster Gold, holding a battered, football-sized piece of tech that he’d burned out with his still-crackling energy gauntlets. “Now… I might have stuck my foot in it again.”


Gathered around the meeting table of the Justice League sat one of the most dynamic assemblages of heroes the world had ever seen.

The Guardian was at the head of the table, sitting next to him were Doctor Light, Hawkman and Majestic. Batman and Wonder Woman were still in Gotham, hunting dinosaurs, while Big Barda and Mister Miracle were dealing with the wreckage of the weapons platform above an African desert.

A holographic representation of the Atom and Blue Beetle were projected on one side of the table, where their empty seats were, but they were hard at work elsewhere on the island.

Finally, Booster Gold sat opposite the Guardian, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“I was wondering why you didn’t answer the emergency summons when the incursions first started,” said the Guardian. “It makes sense that you were already neck-deep in the trouble.”

“I’m sorry, boss,” said Booster, chuckling. “You know what it’s like--”

“Booster, there are protocols in place--” started the Guardian, ready to reprimand him further for not responding to the emergency.

“No, no, I know, I’m sorry. I was minding my own business in Midway, when time stopped.” He held out his hands parallel to each other, palms wide. “This weird group of men were down on the street and spouting the same old nonsense about me causing them problems. They vowed to kill me and I battled them until they tore a rip in time and I ended up in the belly of that thing Teddy and Katar destroyed.”

“Sounds consistent with most despots we face,” said Doctor Light. “Did you recognise your attackers?”

“I did, actually,” said Booster. “They’re called the Red Morgue, a group of genetically-engineered fascist soldiers from the 26th century. It was their Crimson Guard. Armoured suits, fascist streak. A little bit deadly thanks to the metahuman genes nanite-spliced into their DNA. Each one is a mini-Superman.”

“We didn’t find any bodies matching that description,” said Hawkman.

“Did they bug out?” asked the Guardian.

“No.” Booster Gold shook his head. “You wouldn’t find any remains. Once the Crimson Guard are defeated, they break down into their basic components, so their deaths don’t impact whatever timeline they land in. Inside their armoured suits they’re just proto-matter and basic brain patterns programmed by whoever holds their control key. You wanna know the really bad thing?”

“What’s that?” asked Hawkman. “Can this time-travel situation get any worse?”

“Oh, yeah. I know who their boss is. Who holds the control key,” said Booster, turning his attention to the Guardian. “You might know him, Harp. It’s Per Degaton.”

“The time traveller? Damn, I’ve had dealings with him in the past,” said the Guardian. “But what have you done that would cause him to send his men after you?”

“I’ve no clue!” said Booster. “I mean, what do we do on this team other than fight bad guys? So maybe in an adventure we have in the future I pants him or something? Something nasty?”

“And these temporal manifestations do match up to his MO,” said the Guardian.

“As does the temporal machinery present at the incursion points.” Another football-sized chunk of machinery slammed onto the table, shredded wires and smashed panels evident where it was placed. The team looked up to see Batman and Wonder Woman present, covered in grime and claw marks. “This matches decommissioned tech the Justice Society have in their trophy room, as well as the items being analysed by Atom and Beetle down in the lab. Per Degaton’s our culprit.”

“Did someone say our names?” asked Blue Beetle, his holographic representation looking up from where he was working. “Ah, Batman arrived. More temporal footballs?”

“I hate time travel,” murmured Doctor Light. “We only vaguely remember what happened with Tempus*, and that’s just because the Guardian has had experience with time travel previously…”

*Justice League #50

“I have lived for thousands of years and even I am not entirely used to the concept,” said Majestic. He was slowly healing from injuries incurred from his battle with the God of War Ares*, his face a patchwork of bruises and sealed gashes, but he hadn’t missed a step. Even with scans revealing broken and fractured bones, with his enhanced, alien physiology he continued to fight the good fight. None of the healing technology or spellwork the Justice League had available to them seemed to work, so he simply soldiered on.

*Justice League #51-52

“This device was at the centre of the temporal incursion, where the dinosaurs emerged from,” said Wonder Woman. “All we had to do was get close enough to disable it, and the incursion was undone. The raptors were pulled back into the vortex from whatever time they were initially taken.”

“Same as the one in Midway, I suspect the Sahara--” started Booster Gold, blinking as Big Barda and Mister Miracle stepped through an orange portal into the meeting room. Barda chucked another device onto the table. “Yup, suspicions confirmed. Are you guys all right?”

“Nothing my darling wife and I couldn’t handle,” said Mister Miracle, shaking sand out of the folds of his cape. “I’ll be finding the desert in my costume for weeks, but the weapons platform vanished once Barda’s Mega-Rod did that thing in.” He gestured toward the battered temporal football.

“And that was that,” said Blue Beetle as he and the Atom entered the room. “The amount of power required to open the incursions would be massive, and it looks like they were receiving the energy wirelessly--”

“There have been massive advances in wireless energy harvesting in recent years, but at this scale? I mean, if it’s future tech, then maybe we’re looking at something decades into our future?” mused Doctor Light.

“Or maybe they fed off the temporal energy they created. Like a time loop, feedback loop, whatever,” said Booster, considering the technology. “This here,” he pointed at a burned out spot on the side, “it could have contained a small energy source, enough to get it active, then once it revved up, the original battery burned out and--” He realised everyone was looking at him, and shrugged. “--Guys, it’s just an idea.”

“That actually… that was one of my hypotheses,” said the Atom. “I think he might be right.”

“How do we track down the creator of these things-- how do we find Per Degaton?” asked Hawkman. “A mad man with the ability to set up temporal incursions? We know he’s going to strike again. Maybe he already has. I hate time travel.”

“We can triangulate the signals sent by the devices prior to their activation,” said the Atom. “The island computer is working on it now. Thankfully, battering these things hasn’t knocked their internal computers into smithereens. With the two additions from Gotham City and the Sahara, the algorithm can be completed much faster.”

Blue Beetle nodded intently. “Yeah, we hooked the JSA’s copy to the one from Midway and generated half a signal. With two more, we might be able to get the whole.”

“I need to change out of this costume,” said Wonder Woman. “But I’ll be back shortly.”

“Me too,” said Batman, considering the grime-encrusted cape trailing at his back. “Let me know when the algorithm is complete.”


Booster Gold headed back to his quarters, only to be stopped down one of the corridors by Blue Beetle. “What’s going on, Michael?”

“What do you mean, Teddy?”

“Your Rain Man moment with the incursion… machine… what was that?” He kneeded his temple with the edge of his palm. “Man, just thinking about you showing smarts like that hurts my brain. No offense.”

“Taken, bro.” Booster shook his head. “Ted, I’m from the future, you pick stuff up on the way back. Write it off?.”

“Nah, you don’t,” said Ted. “You never have. You’ve been on your a-game since we joined the team after Kobra, but you never demonstrated that kind of knowledge before.”

“C’mon, don’t insult my intelligence,” Booster grinned.

“It’s just… weird is all,” continued Beetle. “You and time travel, why does that--” There was a buzz at Ted’s belt and he checked his wrist to see a transmission appear. “Right. We’ve triangulated the location the data was being sent from. Weird. Looks like we’re headed to Berlin. We’ll pick this conversation up later. Hopefully this headache passes by then.”

“Sure thing, but my answer isn’t going to change. I just pick-- oh, it doesn’t matter, let’s go,” said Booster.


“Berlin makes sense, considering Per Degaton is a time-travelling Nazi,” said Blue Beetle. “I read the Society’s old case files-- wasn’t he a teaching assistant at a local university when he went AWOL into the timestream?”

The Justice League materialised at Tempelhofer Park, a decommissioned airport and current public space. The bodies of old airplanes sat awaiting removal, but at this time of night, with no one about to consider it, the place was a beautiful ghost town, a memorial to a place that was once a bustling hub of travel and activity.

The Guardian considered the old terminal building, nearly as old as him and still in perfect condition after all these years. The architectural style was, unfortunately, classic Nazi, inevitably constructed to Hermann Göring's exacting standards. It was out of bounds to the public.

Harper thought it best demolished.

“Yes, Berlin was Degaton’s old stomping ground,” said the Guardian. “I had a run in with him back in the sixties. Crazy bastard back then, but I’m just wondering which version of him we’re going to be meeting today.”

“Version?” questioned Hawkman.

“The man’s a time traveller,” said Booster Gold, answering the question quickly. “We could be facing off with a strapping Nazi lad in his mid-twenties, or a hardened time traveller in his forties. I don’t think I’ve ever seen record of him appearing past his forties, but…”

“Jesus, Michael-- why do you know so much about this guy?” asked Blue Beetle.

The Guardian shut the conversation down. “Save it for later, any insight we get is--”

The ground underneath their feet ruptured violently, and catastrophic beams of energy burst upwards, lighting up the sky like a barrage of fireworks had been set off all at once. From the holes in the ground swarmed dozens of armoured soldiers, red stripes wrapping around their suits.

“Crimson Guard!” declared the Guardian. “Remember, they’re artificial bodies programmed to destroy-- Majestros, could you please confirm?”

“Of course,” said Majestic, his eyes flaring. “No central nervous systems present. No signs of true life.”

“Pull the trigger!” shouted the Guardian.

Majestic nodded and obliterated the first wave with a blink of his Zoom Vision then watched as clouds of ash drifted back toward the ground.

“Well that was easy,” said Blue Beetle. “What’s ne--”

Further members of the Crimson Guard appeared via some sort of teleportation field, arriving around Majestic. Three of them wrapped their arms around him and a split second later he was gone, vanished from the park. The rest of the team were engulfed by the time-travelling soldiers, though they valiantly fought on.

Batman and Wonder Woman battled in tandem, their moves complimenting each other as they sprang over people’s heads and knocked out the villains attacking them. Big Barda and Mister Miracle worked in a similar way, with Scott drawing the soldiers in and Barda smashing their armoured heads into dust with her Mega-Rod.

Hawkman tried to get some height but the Crimson Guard dove at him, and a second later he was gone, transported away from the scene of the fight. Even as he threw punches and kicks to the attacking superhumans, the Guardian tried contacting Majestic, then Hawkman, but to no avail.

With the battle raging across the park, the team became aware of the weird drones flying overhead, with some kind of large lens mounted on the front. The drones zipped in-between the masses of the Crimson Guard, and Blue Beetle blasted one with his BB Gun to see that the lens was actually a camera-- whatever was happening was being transmitted elsewhere!

“We’re being watched--!”

Doctor Light blasted through the torsos of the Crimson Guard, but they began to head toward her. Before the villainous legion could get their arms around her, Booster Gold leaped between the clones and Kimiyo, throwing up a shield that allowed the heroes to remain safe while Doctor Light continued to blast with her hardlight energy beams.

{What are they doing?} she asked. {Where are the others?}

{Radio telepathy isn’t linking to them,} said the Guardian.

“Wonder Woman!” Batman reached out as Wonder Woman was wrenched back into a swarm of the Crimson Guard, then he himself was tackled to the ground and teleported away. Both went radio silent via the nanotelepathic link.

“Where are they being sent?” asked Blue Beetle with a grimace. “Booster! Any ideas?”

“None! Genuinely none!” replied Booster.

“Keep fighting!” shouted Big Barda. “Give no--” The Crimson Guard managed to get their arms around her legs and she was gone, tackled to the ground and teleported away in close succession. Mister Miracle was next, then the Guardian, before finally Doctor Light was kidnapped, leaving the Blue and the Gold to face off against the remaining legions of time-travelling soldiers.

“Any ideas?” asked Booster Gold.

“I want Majestic back,” said Blue Beetle. “Wide burst Zoom Vision. Beautiful thing.”

Booster clicked his fingers. “I don’t have that, but I can always do this.” He slammed his fist into the ground and a small scale forcefield separated Beetle and himself from the Crimson Guard.

“A bubble isn’t going to do us much good,” said Beetle. “Got something better?”

“That’s just to get us some cover. Gonna push my batteries to eleven,” said Booster, fiddling with his gauntlets. “Wide range burst through the bands, should get the area clear enough. You ready to cover your eyes?”

“Godammit, where did you pick this stuff up, Booster? When did you become good at this stuff?”

“When I joined the damn Justice League, Teddy, c’mon,” replied Booster. He thrust his hands outside of the forcefield and closed his eyes, and then his energy bands detonated, sending a wave of catastrophic energy outward toward the Crimson Guard.

“Okay, okay, I didn’t cover my eyes,” said Beetle, white dots blurring his vision. As he began to see again, he could see that they were now surrounded by the quickly-disintegrating militants. The camera drones began to zip toward another tear in time, ready to return to wherever they were initially sent from.

“They’re leaving!” said Blue Beetle, “you all right?”

Booster pulled the damaged batteries out of his wrist gauntlets and chucked them to the ground as they shorted out for good. The back-up batteries in his powersuit almost cried out as they were violently drained to zero. “My hands hurt but I understand now isn’t the best time to complain,” he replied quickly.

“Is your flight ring still operational?” asked Beetle.

Booster nodded and grabbed Beetle, barrelling toward the quickly-closing hole in space that the drones were vanishing into. The two splashed through the portal and it snapped shut behind them, leaving them standing at the feet of an octogenarian in a black uniform, red hair fading to white and grey and his long beard a tangled mess.

“Booster… Gold… we meet face to face… at long last…”

“Oh, crap,” whispered Booster.

“Guess we found Per Degaton,” replied Beetle.

“And it will be the last thing you ever do!” shrieked the old man, the floor beneath the Justice Leaguers electrifying and shocking them unconscious.


Blue Beetle and Booster Gold awoke, shackled at their wrists, with their hands raised above their heads. They were in transparent tubes in a darkened room, and standing before them was Per Degaton, poring over data being fed to the numerous computers scattered across the immediate area.

“Don’t even try and escape, boys,” rasped Degaton. “I’ve not lived this long without paying attention. I know you destroyed your power suit’s batteries taking out the last of my Crimson Guard. I wasted good resources on growing them, and the only thing they did was guarantee your deliverance to me with your batteries drained to nothing.”

“Good morning to you too,” said Blue Beetle.

“Yeah, you’re looking good considering what I assume is your mega-advanced age. You aren’t even baaaaAAAAAAHHH!” Electricity shot through Booster Gold as he was mid-quip, and he slumped over, gasping for breath as his skin sizzled. “Jeez… Jeez… Jeez…”

“I don’t want to hear you speak, you effete snot!” spat Degaton. “I’d retired from the world, from time travel, and all I’ve done is watch to see where I went wrong in life. I was going to hand my younger self the keys to the kingdom, give him the exact instructions to win ownership of whatever century I deign best, and through my scouring I found multiple examples of you-- you, Booster Gold-- sabotaging my efforts! I wouldn’t have seen it if it wasn’t for the fact it’s all you’ve done for decades!”

“I’ve seen you!” Per Degaton was revving up now, his thick beard matted with spittle as he raved. “Throughout my life you’re always there! I thought it was simply a coincidence, that you were temporally entangled with me for whatever reason-- it happens, and I ignore it, like you’re a shade or an echo or whatever-- but when I saw you with the Justice League, I finally knew! It was a coordinated attack! You were doing reconnaissance for the League and it was only a matter of time before you struck! So what better era to conquer than the one that caused me so much trouble? When the Justice Society were old and I could be young and victorious? The time incursions are a proven asset now, so all I need do is send their schematics back to my younger self, and he can deploy them at will!”

“Shut up, Degaton,” said Beetle. He looked over to Booster in his tube. He winced, the ache in the back of his head intensifying. “You did a what? Reconnaissance?”

“I clearly wasn’t,” said Booster Gold, smiling through the pain. The same camera drones that watched the battle unfold back in Tempelhofer Park were floating behind Degaton, relaying all that occurred to some other place.

“Liar!” spat Per Degaton. “You have stalked me across time!” He threw a switch and Gold screamed as more electricity wracked his body. “I have seen you sabotage my attempts at domination across the timeline! And for that, I will strike at your present to punish you!”

Gold slumped over and Blue Beetle strained against his restraints. “You’re a mad man! The Justice League will shut you down and when we break out of here, I promise you, you aren’t going to like what I do to your face!”

“I like you, Blue Beetle, you’re very valiant,” said Degaton. “And from the biometric scans the containment tube is taking-- you didn’t even know what your idiot friend was up to, did you?”

“Ah, he’s always up to something,” said Beetle, glancing over to Gold, who was currently smouldering after the repeated electric shocks. “Right now it looks like he’s cosplaying barbecue.”

“Bwa… ha… ha…” murmured Gold, beginning to smile.

A number of viciously loud explosions began to rumble the decrepit bunker the three men stood within. Degaton looked around, confused. “What-- what is this?”

“Pretty standard Justice League fare,” said Booster Gold. “You locked Mister Miracle up, you mook. Only fair he gets to escape.”

“B-but I broadcast your defeat across every television set across the globe-- this was my time!” raved Degaton. “I was supposed to send the directives back to my younger self-- I’m not--” He shook his head. “No time for regrets now. Your batteries are dead, Booster. It’s only fair I kill you before the day ends.”

Degaton hoisted up a large laser rifle that Booster recognised to be from the 23rd century. Old-fashioned and bloody. Enough to finish the job at hand-- killing Booster Gold.

Before Degaton could fire off a blast, Gold smirked. “Funny thing is, drained batteries can recharge.” He chuckled. “Especially if you subject them to sustained electrical bursts.”

Degaton fired off a blast that shattered the tube containing Booster, but Gold’s forcefield sent the blast right back, rattling the weapon and destroying it from the inside. Per shrieked as he dropped the rifle, then staggered backwards. “Oh, Gottverdammt!”

Booster smashed his hand through Beetle’s tube and freed his best friend. “I’ll sort this guy out, you go find the others. Radiotelepathy is back up.”

“All right, Superman,” said Beetle. “I’ll be right back with the cavalry.”

Beetle headed out of the room, leaving Booster with Degaton, who had dropped to his knees and began to sob and rant.

“It was-- never-- supposed to end-- like this--!” cried Degaton.

“You shouldn’t have messed with the Justice League,” said Booster, as he handcuffed Degaton’s hands behind his back. “We’ll always find a way to win. And stop old Nazis like you.”

Degaton shook his head. “You can’t have-- it was my ultimate plan-- test my devices in the 21st century-- and you-- you--”

“We shut you down for good,” said Booster Gold, grinning. “You tried to lock up the Justice League and they turned it around-- as per usual.”

Booster hauled him up and patted him on the shoulder. “I’d say you’re going away for a long, long time, but Beetle tells me I need to cut down on my quippy dialogue.” He glanced up and saw the camera Degaton was using to stream his all-conquering visage to every television and shook his head. “Jeez, way to get the brand out there.”

Booster pointed a finger at it and destroyed it, and as the sparks flew time suddenly froze around them. leaving a female figure to emerge from a small rectangular doorway filled with light. The new arrival would have been familiar to those present if it wasn’t for the fact that time had suddenly stopped, leaving her to walk amongst them unseen and imperceptible.

“What a mess this is,” the woman said, quietly. She placed a hand on Booster Gold’s shoulder and he cried out, zapped out of the timestream and into this in-between place with her.

“What-- what-- oh! What are you doing here, Rip?” asked Booster, looking up at her.

Rip Hunter smiled and gestured around the bunker, toward the transmitter Booster just destroyed. “With that act, you just became the greatest hero the world has ever seen,” she said. “Sure, it was the Justice League in a joint effort, but that livefeed, your face plastered across every screen in the world, solidifies you as a force for good-- capable, controlled and greater than what you were before.”

“But… that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” asked Booster Gold, looking down at the frothing and frozen Per Degaton. “This monster was going to unleash temporal hell across the face of the world and now he’s been taken down!”

“Our work protecting the timestream is predicated on a level of anonymity due to your actions. You’ve split your time ably between your duties in the Justice League and with me, mainly because our work takes place between the seconds.”

“It’s doing nothing for the bags under my eyes,” said Booster, attempting to check his reflection but finding that in their current state of frozen time, no reflection came. “A few hours older from one minute to the next…”

“I chose you because you’re special, Booster, but you also had a reputation, one that made our work so much easier. No one expects you to be flying around the timestream saving lives in places I can’t go, and if they see you, they dismiss it as… well… a Booster Gold screw up. If you start getting publicly competent, then stuff like this happens. And Per Degaton just declared that you were running around the timeline causing him problems, and that got broadcast to the entire world. Every single time-travelling threat out to cause the universe problems, every time-travelling villain who ever saw your face, they’re about to rain down on this date and tear the world apart.”

“Per Degaton goes after me and he ends my world,” said Booster. “Well. Damn. But I… I did good work. I saved lives. I helped take down Lord Naga with the others and earned my spot with Ted. We shut down Stormwatch, fought gods and monster and supervillains-- we stopped the Annihilator in Bialya and saved the president’s granddaughter from the Mad Hatter! I… you want to take that away from me?”

Rip placed a hand on Booster’s shoulder. “Those events will still occur. By now, you know that the timeline will resolve itself in your absence. We just need to go back and make sure you don’t join the team. I’m sorry it’s come to this. Honestly. You’re one of the greatest heroes this world has ever seen, but the world needs to not see you.”

“We already had to go back and stop Ted from learning about my extra-curricular activities,” said Booster Gold, with a sigh. “I mean, I understand that the less people who know about me the better, but my best friend doesn’t even know…”

“We did what now?” said Rip. “Oh, don’t tell me, that must have been a future version of me. It's actually a smart idea, Mike.”

“And we can’t even keep this straight,” said Booster.

“Yeah, yeah I'll do that tomorrow. I know a Blue Martian who owes me a favour. Might be side effects though… Headaches at the sight of you… Psychic fortification… I'll figure it out..”

“Headaches..?” Said Booster, events falling into place. He sighed, resigned to the situation. “Right. Let’s go back then.” He nodded in agreement to the decision he’d made in his head. “I remember the moment my dream came true. So let’s go back and ruin it.”



“Team Achilles just took down Axis Amerika,” said Blue Beetle, as he leaned back in his chair inside the monitor womb. “How did we miss that?”

"Yeah, you're normally quite good at being a busy body, Teddy," said Booster Gold, grinning. Beetle shot him a look and he shrugged indifferently.

“It’s something I’m looking into, Mister Kord,” said Cyborg. The teenage half-man, half-robot’s CPU was plugged into the main computers nearby, scanning the system for issues. “I’ve noticed information isn't feeding into our databanks like it should. I’m sorry, but those guys aren’t the subtlest of super-creeps, and I feel like the Justice League should have picked up on their location using the ambient information sponges that are set up.”

“Yup yup,” said Beetle. “We’re plugged into every website on the world wide web. College-me would have hated that, but hey, it’s not like we’re spending all our time watching porn or reading people’s blogs, Booster. And hey, Victor, call me Ted. We’re all friends here.”

“Yeah, you say that, but this is Justice League, and I can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by the invite,” said Cyborg. “I know they’re piloting a new membership model, and anyone can be asked to help out at any time, but there’s a difference between that and being asked onto the island.”

“Well, one thing leads to another here, nowadays, Vic,” said Superman as he stepped into the main chamber. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. Sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“Are you kidding? The computers here are insane. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Cyborg.

“Martian wetware and hardware extrapolated from Mother Box designs,” said Superman. “Or so I’m told. Ted does most of the computer maintenance, and he does a damn fine job of it.”

“Oh, you,” said Beetle. “Did you see this Axis Amerika thing?”

“Yes,” said Superman. “Quite concerning we didn’t pick it up. What’s your take, Vic?”

Cyborg swallowed hard, not expecting to be put on the spot. “I… I think someone’s eating intel before we receive it here. I think someone, somewhere, is intercepting datafeeds before they make it into your fancy computers, so you can’t put two-and-two together like you have done previously.”

“Stormwatch?” said Ted, looking over at Superman. Booster Gold grimaced, but said nothing.

“Potentially. Harper seems to think so,” said the Man of Tomorrow. “Are you all right to keep watching the world?”

Ted smiled. “Quietest part of my day. Until it isn’t.”

“Good man,” said Superman. “Vic, could you follow me, please? And Booster, how about you?”

"Ah, I'm here to bug Ted, not for what's about to come. It's going to be legendary though. I've got my camera ready," he tapped his goggles. "Have a good one, guys."

Booster left the newest iteration of the Justice League to their devices and headed down one of the numerous corridors on Laputa, until he arrived in one of the disused cargo bays. Opening the heavy doors, he stepped inside and walked up to Rip Hunter, who was waiting patiently on the step of her Time Sphere.

“Are you done?” said Rip.

“Yeah,” said Booster. “No Justice League for me. Not now, not ever. And you’re sure everything’ll be all right? All the adventures I had when I was on the team, they’ll make it through in one piece?”

Rip nodded. “C’mon, Michael. Of course they do. They’re the Justice League. I’m sorry, but our work is bigger than the team, bigger than this moment. First we need to go back and make sure Degaton doesn’t spot you during our sabotage missions. And for that, I’ve bought help--” She gestured inside the Time Sphere and a small, football-sized drone zipped out, a strip of blue light where its eye might be.

“Holy crap, Skeets!” beamed Booster, embracing his floating, cybernetic sidekick. “Where have you been?” He looked over at Rip, who sat and smiled. “You bought him back to me! Man oh man!”

“Master Booster!” buzzed Skeets. “Mistress Hunter finally located all the components she required to repair me! I am back and ready to assist you in any way you might need!”

“I stripped the incursion machines of the required tech,” said Rip. “I couldn’t help myself.” She shrugged dismissively. “So… are you ready?”

Booster grinned and took a step inside the Time Sphere, followed by Skeets overhead. “Off we go to save the multiverse, Rip. Punch it.”


NEXT ISSUE: The anonymous tipster feeding intel to the Justice League lands the team smack dab in the middle of a heavy metal mystery, while the returning, ring-slinging John Stewart is stuck on monitor duty. When Blue Beetle lends the Green Lantern a book to see him through the night, no one could guess the terrifying events that will leave the team torn asunder when all is said and done. Will the team make it out of our next multi-part epic in one piece? IT ALL BEGINS NEXT MONTH!