The FigureDream
Chapter One
By - Night Foliage
Chapter Date Published - 2/1/2015
Warnings - None as of now. I don't think this fic will be very dark, or angsty at all.
Disclaimers - I don't own any of the comic characters.
Pairings/Characters - Michael Carter/Ted Kord & Booster Gold/Blue Beetle, but can be seen as bromance/friendship. It's more pre-relationship if anything.
Author's Note - This story is based mostly on the old DCU, although I do want to mention that most of my knowledge comes from the newer (relatively, like last ten years) comics. This chapter is also unbeta-ed.
The FigureDreamTM, the solution to finding that perfect companion! It can be your anything or anyone that you ever dreamed of, or haven't even dreamed of yet! The infinite beyond is your limit as you can mold this figurine to any specification possible.
Caution: The FigureDreamTM does not come with a warranty and is not allowed in certain sectors, including 2600, 0009, and 3013. We are not responsible for any legal liabilities that the FigureDreamTM may bring upon customers, their relatives, and their associates.
-000-
"I'd love to shake the hand of whoever gave this to you Rip." Booster looked intently at Rip, shaking the box in the man's direction.
Eyebrow raised, Rip simply put his chalk down and turned away from the board saying nothing. He walked to Booster and stopped in front of him. And put his hand out inbetween them. Booster glanced at the hand then back at Rip's impassive expression.
"What?"
Rip just looked at him.
Sliding the box under one arm, Booster tentatively put a hand up. Then back down. Then slowly back up again, but jerked it up just in time, closing into a fist which he put under his chin. With his knuckles supporting his head, Booster stared at Rips hand. Rip patiently waited for Booster to finish his train of thought. After many moments, Booster finally got over whatever apprehension he had and grabbed Rip's hand to shake it.
Rip rolled his eyes, "There. Now you've shook the hand of the person who's giving that item to you." And Rip strolled away, back to his chalkboard.
Booster looked at the box. Then up to Rip. Booster started to laugh maniacally.
"Is everything alright sirs?" Skeets asked, flying in from what of the adjoining rooms. The laughter was.. unsettling to say the least. Perhaps Booster had tried to pull another prank on Rip?
"Skeets, check out what Rip gave me." Still chuckling, Booster held the FigureDreamTM up to Skeets' optics.
Skeets scanned the box, then turned to Rip. " , are you sure that this is appropriate for Booster?"
"Well, I'm sure when the blind dates don't cut it anymore, then he could have something to fall back on. Besides villainy." Rip replied, dryly.
"Now that's just creepy Rip. One, you think that anyone I'm going out with is going to turn down this amazingly-"
"They will if they ever meet you outside the Internet."
"-Hot and heroic piece of superhero?" Booster continued undeterred. "And secondly, I thought a super genius Time Master such as yourself would know differently from the failed experiments of so many men before, or after, you. A man should never make robot women, especially not a robot girlfriend." He finished sagely.
That got an eyebrow raise. "Why Booster," Rip started, "I thought you of all people wouldn't be prejudiced against technological races. There are the people of Colu and Grenda to think about, they produced Brainiac 5 and Green Lantern Stel. I mean the superheroes in the twenty-first century alone, such as Red Tornado, the Metal Men-"
"Okay, fine." Booster shot Rip a look. The man always took the chance to prove Michael wrong. "Scientists and great minds alike have agreed that making your own robot girlfriend is a bad idea," Booster corrected.
Rip snorted. "Booster, if you decided to make an eight inch figurine your girlfriend, I'd have you kicked out so fast that you wouldn't remember anything except for your toothpaste commercials. I'd wipe your memories."
"Well I don't think you have to worry about that happening anytime soon." Booster set the box down.
"And why is that? Decided you wanted a mini-Skeets instead?" Rip mused aloud.
"Despite his impeccable control and programming, Skeets dipped in altitude before recovering. "Please, don't joke about that ," he said, hovering almost nervously.
"Don't worry, I installed a self-destruct in the thing when Booster decides to get himself into trouble." Rip said absently.
Skeets let out a soft rush of static, the closest that the robot could get to a sigh. Rip wasn't reassuring at all.
"Thanks, but no thanks, Rip." Booster said. He scooped the box up and placed it on top of a cabinets where it wouldn't be in the way. "I'm not that desperate. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a brunette, blue-eyed Pieces, who enjoys picnics in the moonlight." He headed toward his room to change.
"Good luck with your date." Rip called after him.
Booster paused. Then turned to the Time Master.
"Was that sarcasm?"
"No. It's your proverbial day off. Enjoy your superhero-free date."
"Well now you've jinxed it."
"Probability predicts that you should have at least one super-free day."
"I can name four people off the top of my head who can affect probability, let alone time."
"People from other superhero universes don't count."
"That's still more than zero."
"Go have fun on your date."
"Well, I will have fun on my date."
And with that, Booster swept out of the room, effectively ending the conversation. Rip rolled his eyes.
-000-
"I'm guessing your date didn't go well, sir?"
"Gee Skeets, how did you guess?"
"You are currently in your costume instead of civilian garments, you have several low-grade lacerations (I will go get the medkit), and appear to be covered in an unidentifiable gelatinous substance."
"I wouldn't let Rani anywhere near me if I was covered in something dangerous. It's jello," he said, wiping some off his visor. He sniffed the brightly colored gelatin. "Some fake fruit flavor, but I guess Rani shouldn't get too near me anyway. I don't know where this stuff has been."
Skeets came back, medkit and towel floating on top of his chassis, while Booster found a place to sit dow.
"Was your date adventurous?"
"I wish," Booster said with a sigh. He then sat down on a chair in the corner, he would clean up later. At the moment he just wanted to get off his feet. He nodded gratefully towards the robot, and took the items.
"Was she a fangirl?" Skeets asked, hovering (literally) around Booster so he could scan for further injuries.
"No," Booster's nose wrinkled at the thought. "Although it would have been better if she had been, then I would have an excuse to dislike her."
"Did something happen?" Satisfied that Booster's wounds were mostly cosmetic, Skeets settled in front of the hero to hear his story.
Booster yanked his visor off, rubbing his face vigorously. "Nothing," he said, the sound muffled slightly. He took the towel away. "It's nothing. I picked her up at a coffee shop, we went to a nice restaurant, and walked in the park afterwards."
"That sounds like a typical evening, what went wrong?"
"She was just boring. Nothing about her was.. special," Booster finished lamely.
"Then how did you come to be covered gelatin?" Skeets inquired, because really, how did Booster managed to get covered in gelatin on a boring date?
"That happened after I dropped her off at her place."
"What happened?" Skeets and Booster glanced over to the doorway, seeing Rip walk in, then pause at the sight in front of him. He blinked once, then shrugged before continuing to the chalkboard. "I hope you're cleaning that up."
"Yeah, yeah…" Booster rolled his eyes, because of course the jello wouldn't faze Rip.
"What happened?" Rip asked.
"You!" Booster exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the Time Master.
"Me?" Rip raised an eyebrow.
"It was the Royal Flush Gang!" He continued, still pointing.
"You're serious?" Rip's other eyebrow lifted up, both of them lifting up towards his hairline.
"Seriously! You were wrong." Booster hissed out.
"So I was wrong." Rip said, casually without a care. Booster's jaw dropped at the statement. "Probability says that I have to be wrong every once in awhile."
Booster's face scrunched up, "Har de har, Rip."
"But that doesn't explain the gelatin," Skeets chimed in.
"The jello," the hero said flatly. At that particular moment, a rather large, brightly colored glob decided to slide off of his costume and onto the floor with a 'plop.' He glared at the offending smudge of goo. "The jello's because I crashed into the buffet table."
"Why didn't you shield yourself?"
"Because there were people everywhere!" He stood up abruptly, flinging his arms outward in frustration. Skeets swooped away as globs of jello flew everywhere, but quickly came back when Booster hit hand against one of the cabinets. Some paper and boxes fell to the ground, but he didn't bother picking them up, instead choosing to sit back down. "Sorry, Skeets," he mumbled, suddenly drained.
"No harm done," Skeets said as reassuringly as he could.
Booster smiled, refreshed from the AI's support. "Anyways," he continued, a small smile on his face, "if I activated my force fields, everything I hit would have been repelled onto the unsuspecting face stuffers."
"So you took the hit instead. How selfless." Rip replied, not at all impressed.
"Give me some credit Rip, I wasn't about to let anyone get maimed by the dessert table. Besides, the jello cushioned my fall." He stood and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me," Booster paused mid sentence when many of his joints popped loudly. "I just want to take a shower then go to sleep."
Skeets hovered next to him, somehow conveying his worry through the action. "Are you sure you're okay, Booster?" The AI asked.
"I'm fine, Skeets." Booster said, patting the robot affectionately and inadvertently getting gelatin on his chassis. Skeet's must have been very worried, since he didn't mention the faux pas. "Besides the failed date and a fight against some second string villains, today's been a pretty good day."
"It's already been three days here." Rip commented.
The smile slid off of Booster's face and was replaced by a grimace. He looked at the chalkboard.
Father son duo?
New, new, new, 52
Second recovers position
Wade's First Flight
That wasn't a good sign, Rip working meant that he was going to expect Booster to work. "What do you have for me now," he said, resigned. "Just tell it to me straight, will this involve magic? I hate it when the missions involve magic."
Rip stopped what he was working on, finally turning to face Booster. "What mission?"
"The mission, RIp. You know, the whole being a hero without anyone knowing? The whole, we have to fix the whole fabric of the universe before it bursts into flames? What do I have to do now?"
"Nothing," Rip said, looking at Booster as if he was crazy, a look that Booster knew a little too well.
"Booster stared suspiciously at the Time Master, who went back to his work. Booster watched as Rip started working on some complicated time changing thing-a-ma-jig, before letting his shoulders sag in relief. Some times it was hard to tell when the man was messing with him, if at all. A stupid grin spread across Booster's face at the thought of some sleep.
"Hi Mikey."
Michael turned, and smiled wider. "Hi Rani," he replied cheerfully.
She stood next to the doorway, unmoving. "Do I need to get the rad gel?" She questioned.
"Nope!" Booster said, popping the 'p.' "Not radioactive at all, just fruit flavored."
Rani smiled back, walking into the room."You look happy," she commented, hopping onto the table.
"Well I'm free Rani!" Michael swept her up in his arms and she giggled despite the fact he might have been getting jello on her. For a second he thought about doing some backflips with the Legion ring, but thought better of it. Instead he started swinging Rani around in circles, making her laugh, which caused Michael to laugh.
"So you can spend the day with me?" Rani asked, all smiles.
"Spend the day with you?" He repeated dumbly. Mentally, Michael stumbled, crashed, then burst into flames. However, he managed to not let it show on his face as he set Rani down. She continued to smile brightly at him. "Of course, I'll spend the day with you."
She turned away slightly, still smiling, but more shyly now.. "Really?" She asked, tentatively.
"Really." Michael said warmly, kneeling so he was her height, his original grin turning into something softer.
He suddenly snapped his finger, "And you know what every good day starts with?" He said cheerfully, picking Rani back up.
She giggled, but let let him. "What?"
"A good breakfast of course! And what breakfast wouldn't be complete without chocolate chip waffles, smothered in sugary syrup," he said, whisking her away to the kitchen.
Skeets hovered after them. "I'll go help."
"You do that Skeets," Rip replied.
"...And AFTER we have our waffles, we can go color in the main room while Rip works!" Michael said loudly. His voice and words cut straight into the Rip's concentration.
Rip grimaced. "Wonderful."
Comments -
1) The time that Booster turns to villainy is inspired by the comic, but it also super-inspired by the Mulletverse written by The Reel Lifer.
2) The reference to the probability changer in a different universe was a reference to Domino (XMen). She's the only one I can think of at the top of my head.
3) I actually started writing this a few years back, at least 5 years back, so I don't remember everything about this. But I do remember that I wrote most of the things on Rip's chalkboard were references to the comics at the time. The Father son duo was because I really liked the Bruce and Damian relationship. The second line was random actually, before the reboot happened. I actually don't remember what the third line was referencing to. And the fourth line was a reference to the Green Lantern movie that came out, with the actor that played Wade Wilson, played Hal.
4) Rad Gel, short for radiation gel, a reference to the Artemis Fowl series.
-000-
Author's Note -
I started this story awhile ago, about 2010-2011 ish. But I never got around to typing it, let alone finishing it. I have the first couple of chapters written on paper, but I just never got around to finishing it. Recent events has caused me to want to write again, so I decided to actually type this up and post this.
That being said, this story might be a little bit dated even if we don't account for the new 52. I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.
