The FigureDream

Chapter Two

Happy Valentine's Day~

I hope your weekend is full of love!

-000-

Chapter Date Published - 2/15/2015

Not beta read.

'I needed that.'

Okay, so he also needed to hibernate for a year and more time (pun intended) to himself, but today was as good as it was going to get for Michael. With the city twinkling serenely, and villain-free, below, Michael had to admit that today was a good day, the best he's had for quite some time. Although the nap he had right beforehand helped, and he was looking forward to digging into the pizza and ice cream he was carrying back.

'I should take a break to spend time with Rani more often.' He thought to himself, and found himself satisfied with how he truly meant it.

Michael didn't want to admit it, but he was originally dreading the day with her. He barely knew how to act around her regularly (especially without Shel, a part of him whispered), let alone how to be around her for a whole day. Rani was a little girl from a different timeline and world, whose IQ ran closer to Rip's than his own.

He almost stopped mid flight when he remembered: she was a little girl from a different timeline and world than his own.

With that thought, he did pause to check on the food. The pizza was still warm and they could always them up, but the ice cream was staring melt. Michael flew a little faster.

Michael would try to make sure Rani had a fun childhood. If nothing else, he was confident in his ability to make her laugh.

-000-

Letting out a sigh of relief, Booster entered the time stream.. He didn't quite understand it, but he knew that the ice cream wouldn't melt due to science. But, now that he had the option to slow down, he was reluctant to do it. Traveling through time could take less than a second, but Booster typically enjoyed taking it slow.

However, he was… uncomfortable with leaving Rani alone with Rip.

It's not that he didn't trust the time traveler with taking care of her. In fact, it was the other way around, Booster was worried about Rani influenced Rip.

When Rip had 'reacted' (blown a gasket) during the 'Butterfly Incident,' Booster had laughed. After all, what sort of interpretations would a mysterious butterfly on the chalkboard bring?

Then Booster really thought about it. What would Rip have done if he thought that the butterfly wasn't Rani's?

Well the first thing Rip would do, would probably to lock down Vanishing Point. Then, if he was paranoid enough to think that someone had already broken in without anyone's notice, Rip would probably jump to the conclusion of mind control.

Booster shivered at the thought. Rip was very thorough, and having to prove that he was in the right mind to Rip would not have been a pleasant experience.

But, what if Rip thought it was a sign? Oddly enough, the Time Masters often received messages from the time stream. From what Rani told him, Rip had been less concerned with how it got there, and more concerned with the implications of the sign.

Booster had been around long enough to know some meanings of butterflies; destiny, fate, the future, death. He wondered what Rip thought the butterfly meant.

He was brought out of his musings when he felt the pull of solid reality tugging at his person. It gently pushed him out of the time stream and he stepped into what was probably the most messy he had seen the main room. And that was saying something.

"What happened here?" Booster said, voicing his thoughts aloud. The place was in disarray. It looked like most of the files of evidence they had were all over the floor. He gingerly walked around the stacks of papers and pictures littered about the room.

Then he came to the chalkboard.

"What the fu-"

"No need to be alarmed, Booster." Skeets interrupted, floating over to him.

He tried to turn towards Skeets, but he couldn't rip his eyes away from the chalkboard. Instead Michael kept looking at the board, and choked out, "What happened?"

"Rani was curious about what happened beforehand, so with Rip's permission she used the database to look at the timelines news."

"Uh huh..."

"She discovered superheroes instead."

"What?" That got Booster's attention, and he finally managed to take his eyes off the chalkboard. Actually, the situation was making a lot more send. It would explain why Booster recognized most of the files. And looking more closely, the only reason why the place seemed messy was because the files were placed near and on the ground, in easy reaching distance of a child.

"But that doesn't explain…" Booster trailed off, but Skeets immediately picked up on his train of thoughts.

"She has favorites," Skeets replied.

"Everyone has favorites," Booster replied back. Inwardly he started to relax, hero worship was something he could understand.

"She's rather partial to the Atom (Ray Palmer and Jay Choi), , -Nite, Oracle, Toyman-"

"One of Superman's villains?" Booster interrupted.

"No, the younger one that is closer to her age," Skeets explained.

Booser reviewed the list. "So she likes the smart ones."

"Yes," Skeets agreed. "She admires the ones that use their intelligence in the field."

"So, not me," Booster joked. Although he was sad that he wouldn't be her favorite. Huh. "So, who is her favorite?"

Skeets seemed to pause at the question. "Her favorite…" The robot trailed off.

Booster chuckled. "It's fine Skeets, I think we've already established that I'm not going to be her favorite. She does have a favorite right?"

"Yes, she does." A beat. "Intelligent, resourceful, without powers (she seems partial to those), innovative, dedicated-"

"Ugh. It's not Batman, is it?" 'Damnit Bruce!' Booster cursed inwardly and groaned out loud.

"It.. is not Batman."

"Good," Booster said relieved. "The bats are just trouble. Except, O, well, she's trouble in her own way, but I could see why Rani would admire her. Is it one of the bats? I may have to disown her if it is."

"Disown Rani," the AI said flatly.

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far. But I would probably try to bribe her or try to change her mind, even if I did have to do some digging to find the perfect one… Preferably someone female, maybe? Wait, she has powers. I could work with someone married, Barry Allen, for example. But he has powers too…"

"You don't have to worry about disapproving of Rani's favorite superhero, Michael." Skeets said.

Booster looked like he was going to reply to that statement, but a loud noise caught his attention. He then realized that he was still carrying the food. "Hold that thought, Skeets. Let's get the food to the other's first." And he started walking towards the monitor area where he thought he could hear Rani and Rip.

Booster caught sight of them in front of the main monitor. Luckily they didn't seem bored. Rani sat in front of the screen, engrossed by whatever was playing. Rip stood next to her, a smile on his face, whether at Rani or at the screen, Booster couldn't tell. "Hey guys, sorry for the delay-"

He stopped.

On screen was a past video from some Kord Industries tech demo.

"I assume you approve?" Skeets asked, voice gentle.

Booser nodded absently, unable to look away.

'That would explain the beetles and the hearts on the chalkboard.' His brain supplied dumbly.

While Rani and Michael only had eyes for the brunette on screen, Rip was ready to end the marathon of Ted Kord videos.

"You're back with the food, finally." Rip said, gently brushing against Rani. The action gently shook her out of her reverie, and she went to go give Booster a hug. Rip pausing the vid and Rani's hug pulled Michael out of his own headspace. He returned the hug as best he could with the food in hand.

When they pulled back, Michael suggested that they clean up the place here, so they could keep watching videos.

Rani's eyes widened at the suggestion. She hesitated, but nodded shyly. "Thanks Mickey." She said softly.

"Of course," he replied automatically.

"Okay," she confirmed, then started to clean up.

"Here," Rip interjected, and took the food from Michael's arms. "I'll put the ice cream in the freezer and reheat the pizza, while we clean up."

The items were whisked out of his hands, before Michael could react. "Thanks Rip," he called out. Rip didn't look back, but lifted a hand in acknowledgement.

And then Michael was left alone with Rani and the multitude of papers. He held in a grimace at handling the papers concerning people he knew, but Michael buckled down and started helping.

-000-

The beetles were still on the chalkboard.

Rip took cleaning up before they are seriously, so all the papers and evidence were organized and put away. The vids were put away, Rani decided that they didn't need to watch while they ate. The place was spotless.

But the beetles were still on the chalkboard.

It could have been a small mistake. Compared to the mess from the papers, the chalkboard was nothing. The small beetles and hearts say harmlessly on the green, grainy surface.

He didn't remember to clean up (although truthfully he was hoping that someone else would do it). Maybe Rani wanted to keep it on the board. Skeets could have seen it, but maybe he didn't have it in his robotic heart to erase it. But why didn't Rip erase them?

A dull pain was starting settle in his head. Ugh, he had been scowling long enough to cramp the muscles in his forehead.

Lifting a hand to massage his temple, Michael decided that the beetles didn't matter, so long as Rani was happy.

"Is something wrong, Mickey?" Rani asked.

"Nothing's wrong," he tried to reassure her. Rani made a face at him. "Maybe I'm a littttttle bit tired," Michael started to stretch, then flexed for her with a cheesy grin.

She giggled at his antics like he hoped she would.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day," Michael asked casually, doing his best to change the conversation.

"I was going to watch a few more vids before going to bed. Do you want to join me?" Rani asked with a smile.

Michael hesitated. He wasn't too sure if he could handle watching footage of Ted. But he did promise…

"It's okay, Mickey." She said readily. "You've had a long day. And I don't need a chaperone anyway."

He tried not to let it show how grateful he was for that answer, so instead Michael ruffled her hair. "I'll just head upstairs then. Thanks."

Rani rolled her eyes while she fixed her hair, but she was smiling the whole time so Michael didn't worry about it. He gave her one last smile, before heading to his bedroom, fully intending to catch up in the sleep he deserved.

I wanted to get a chapter out for the holidays (sorry, it's late) and I hope it brings a smile to your face. It's still the beginning of the fic, so it's slow, but I hope to start churning out some more chapters soon.