Booster had killed Rip Hunter. It had been easier than he'd thought it would be, both in the sense that Rip hadn't put up as much of a fight as Booster expected and that Booster didn't feel as bad about it as he would've thought. But it was hard to feel bad about anything right now, since he was finally getting to set everything right.
He was going to save Ted, and Rip wasn't going to be able to stop him. Nobody would. All he had to do was pop in at just the right time and place. Max would never see it coming.
And he didn't. The look of surprise on Max's face, the sound Booster's fist meeting it made—Hitting Max felt good. A lot better than Booster had felt in a while. And he was sure it would feel even better to get Ted away from—
"Booster?" The confusion in Ted's voice was almost tangible. Booster stopped to look at Ted, and he could feel his stomach turn at the sight of those shattered goggles and bloodied face, but he quelled it. Ted was still alive, battered and bruised or not, and that was what mattered. Booster had almost cut it too close, but it was going to be OK. As long as he didn't make any mistakes—
"Stop."
Mistakes like giving the evil psychic metahuman the half a minute he needed to regain his senses and gain control. Max got to his feet, picking his dropped gun up along the way. He surveyed the situation thoughtfully before smiling. "This was… unexpected. But it does provide a convenient loophole," he mused as he placed the gun in Booster's hands. "Last chance, Ted."
Ted gave Booster a quick, sorrowful glance before glaring at Max with all the hatred he could muster. "Rot in Hell, Max."
"Kill him," Max ordered, placing a hand on Booster's shoulder. The gun shook in Booster's hands as he tried to fight Max's control, but his efforts were fruitless, and the gun was just barely beaten to the ground by Ted's body. Booster dropped to his knees not long after, overwhelmed with silent horror.
Max wiped the blood from his nose and gave Booster a sidelong look before exiting the room. "Clean it up, Sasha," he ordered his knight. "Then sanitize the whole damn thing, all of it. They were never here."
"They?" Sasha asked. A second gunshot sounded.
"They."