Disclaimers and Useless/Useful Stuff to Know:
Don't own any of these characters. Never will. Wish I did. Major spoilers for "Countdown to Infinite Crisis". Good idea to read the comic first. Also, spoilers for the Question six-issue miniseries.
Warning: The Pool is Contaminated
by Alba Aulbath
"There now. Was that so difficult?" Alfred helped ease Booster Gold off of the table. "I'm sure with Master Sage's abilities, it will heal in no time, along with your unfortunate burns."
"I could still feel it," Booster muttered. "Not that it hurt, but... well, ya know..."
The butler nodded to him. "Indeed, I do. If you would like, there are at least two other showers in the manor; perhaps you would like to use one?" He paused, then turned his head to look towards the Question; the faceless man was seemingly staring at the ceiling. "Master Sage, what is the matter?"
"Something," the Human Enigma murmured. "Something wrong. I can See him. Ted..."
"What's wrong with Ted?" Booster demanded immediately.
"Staring. Mirror. The mark, I See it now." The Question tilted his head back down to face towards Booster Gold. With a gloved finger, he seemed to be attempting to draw a picture on his own chest. "The mark. A beetle. Blue Beetle."
"You lost me. As usual." Booster sighed.
"The scarab isn't gone," the Question muttered, turning towards the stairs. "It's in him. I can See that now..."
Booster Gold glanced briefly to Alfred, who simply gestured towards the exit, "It seems as though that you will be required with friends before you bathe, Master Carter."
Walking up the stairs, Booster followed after the faceless man. "So. How exactly can you see this?"
"The energy. Different." The Question stopped at the top of the steps, turning to Booster. "Most people... their energy is earth-based. Human beings. We're born to walk the Earth, not fly. Not shoot fire from our eyes. But magic... I See it. I See where the scarab clung to, pumped its life into him... and is part of him now. Lightning energy. Not like Flash. Not at all. Flash - the speed of lightning. Ted - the power. The power of Ra... supposedly."
"Supposedly...?"
"The first scarab was destroyed. Wasn't really an artifact of magic. ...Not really. Twisted. Alien. Egyptians have supposed links to aliens - some speculate. Not surprising." The Question turned around, stepping away. "This one... don't know for sure. Not an expert on magic artifacts."
Booster Gold considered. "Dr. Fate is."
"No," Question muttered. "Not talking to him."
"What, did the entire League and-?"
"All ignored him. All thought it was a waste of time." The faceless man's tone was easily bitter. "Even Ollie..."
There was an abrupt crash down the hallway of Wayne Manor. Booster's eyes widened, then cursed. "Ted!"
"That way." Question pointed, then hurried down towards the room where Blue Beetle was.
He had stared at the mirror enough, and finally turned away, looking down at his chest. The mark was there, plain as day. It was irritating him, almost taunting him. It would have been easier, if the scarab was just an object that happened to give him powers - so maybe, he could have found a way to undo it eventually, but.
No. It was part of him. And he thought on the "why" part.
Why was it part him.
Because it had to be, to give him life. It had to grab hold of him, his heart, his essence and heal him. Completely regenerate him, and make itself part of him to make him whole and living. It had to.
Not that he ever asked for it.
Why did it do it.
That, he had no idea.
Ted's hand clenched, and tried desperately to figure it out. How much power did he have now? Could he get rid of it?
He didn't want it.
"God damn it!"
Slamming a fist into the wall, he found that it was quite easy to break through it and everything else that stood in its way.
Strength. He had strength, too. Flight, power, and...
"Fuck." Ted pressed his back against the wall, holding his head.
The doorknob to the bathroom jiggled, and he remembered he had locked the door after going inside. Not another moment later, the door was slammed open, the Question stepping inside. He remained silent, looking at Ted quietly, then turned to observe the brand new hole in the wall that the inventor was sure Batman wasn't going to appreciate.
"Ted! What happened?" Booster was just a foot behind the Question, and quickly going to his friend's side.
"The scarab. Strength." The Question gestured to the hole. "Ted didn't like what he found."
"What... that's what he was talking about." Booster finally noticed the blue mark on Ted's chest. "Or did you get that without telling me?"
"Haha, not funny right now." Ted stood up from leaning against the wall. "This is crazy. I don't want this thing in... inside of me!"
The Question shrugged. "How else were you going to come back?"
"Maybe I didn't want to come back!"
There was immediate silence after Ted had shouted that. It took a few seconds for it to settle in, and cause Blue Beetle to realize what he had really said.
Booster cut in before Ted could say another word. "Yeah, well, maybe some of us are actually glad you're alive."
"Booster, I didn't..."
"So what if it isn't normal? I didn't have anything or anyone else, so I'm actually happy you're alive!"
The Question silently placed a hand to Booster Gold's shoulder. The blonde reluctantly went silent.
It placed in another awkward pause between all three of them, until the faceless man finally said, "No one asked for anything. Not out loud. Didn't ask for you to come back. ... But didn't ask for you to die, either." The Question took away his hand, stepping back. "...Didn't ask for you to come to me. But it all happened anyway. Maybe you don't want your powers. Maybe you don't want what you consider 'abnormal'. But it's there."
"What makes it so different?" Ted scowled at him. "I mean, what you call the League and everyone else. What makes me so different?"
"...What makes you..." The Question folded his arms, lowering his head. "What makes you different... is that you're Ted." He turned and quickly walked out of the bathroom.
It left the pair in a third round of silence for a few seconds before Booster Gold let out a sigh, turning to his friend. "I know... it's weird for you. I can't really imagine, but. You know. I'm glad anyway. I've already said that, Ted. And I know I'm not the only one who's glad. I think Question's actually relieved, too. In his really crazy kind of way."
"Sorry." Ted frowned and held up his hand. "I know both of you don't want to hear it, but I am. I'm really damned sorry about all of this. I... you know, when I went to check out what was going on, after no one else would help... I think I was really prepared for the worst. I didn't think that this would happen..."
"But it did." Booster eyed at him. "We don't mind if it's weird, Ted. I mean... think about it. A crazy guy who talks to dead people, a guy from the future, and a dead guy with powers from a magic bug thingamabob. It's not a big deal in this kind of world."
"It's still... kind of strange, I just don't really..."
"Well, just don't put holes through walls for awhile," Booster suggested. "We'll figure it out, Ted..." Turning around, the blonde stepped out finally, a bit awkwardly.
"Maybe," Ted muttered to himself.
"You're confusing," Booster Gold decided.
It had been twenty minutes after they checked on Ted; the two had separated for their respective cleaning rituals. By the time Booster had arrived - he was wearing regular clothes provided to him by Alfred - to the living room, the Question had already settled after a wash. His clothes were new, but somehow he still looked scruffy. It was probably due to the fact that he hadn't combed his hair and the clothes looked wrinkled on him.
There was no mask on Question's face, and no bonding gas used, so he looked reasonably normal. Just Vic Sage, with ruffled wet red hair and an expresionless face.
Vic Sage who didn't like to be called Vic Sage.
"Mm," Question replied.
"I mean. Well." Booster pulled up a chair, turning it around so he could straddle it backwards. "You don't like being personal, do you?"
The Question stayed silent.
"Whenever you do, you walk away or change the subject. You are happy Ted's back, right?"
The red-haired man glanced aside. "...Happy." He shrugged. "It's preferred he's alive."
"Then I'm going to go with 'yes I am happy thank you for asking Booster'. Okay then. So..."
"Bad subject. Don't want to talk about it." The Question eyed at him.
Booster frowned. "Why? I mean... I don't know if you've ever lost a best friend, but-"
"I have," Question told him sharply. His eyes had narrowed, staring at Booster Gold intensely, but the expression quickly disappeared. "...Have... it was awhile ago."
The reaction wasn't one that Booster Gold had expected, so it took him a moment to continue. "...But. Um. So you know? Like, how it feels and..."
"I do," he muttered. "...But for me. About Ted. It's... different. Difficult."
"Why?"
"It is. Something happened, awhile ago. Don't expect him to know or remember, but... it'd been... snowing..." The Question shrugged. "Never mind."
"Hey, no. No, tell me." Booster sat upright, genuinely interested.
Question shook his head. "Complicated. Difficult. Can't talk about it. ... But... I... wanted. Wanted to help Ted. When he asked me. Really wanted. That's enough?"
"Yeah, I guess." Booster didn't sound very satisfied, but with the Human Enigma, he fathomed that as the best he was going to get out of the Question.
"Gentlemen."
The pair turned their heads in the direction of the shadows, where Batman stepped out.
"Jeez, do you have to do that, even in your own home?" Booster grumbled.
Batman didn't respond. "In a half hour, Oracle and I will be finished. Alfred will have your suits repaired and cleaned, too, by then. After that, he'll escort all three of you to the airport and hand you your papers for your new identities. Clothes and everything else will be at this address." He held out a slip of paper to the Question, who accepted it. "It's where you'll be staying."
Booster leaned over to look at the address, then raised his eyebrows. "Philadelphia?"
"Don't worry about bills or anything. I'll be funding." Batman turned sharply, stepping away. "I won't be back, but when we're done, Alfred will let you know."
"Naturally," Booster muttered.
Question looked over the address, then narrowed his eyes. It seemed as though he waited until the Dark Knight was out of earshot to speak, "Did this on purpose..."
"What?"
"Never mind." The Question placed the slip of paper into his pocket, then stood up, walking out of the living room.
Perking up and looking confused, the blonde looked after the Question. "Where you going now?"
"Hungry. Alfred's busy with the suits. Going to eat." The Human Enigma glanced over his shoulder to Booster Gold. "Coming?"
Shrugging, Booster followed.
While Ted pulled the pleasant blue sweater he'd been given by Alfred over his head, he had been considering what was going to be happening for, likely, the next few weeks. He was going to be in a home, given by Batman - probably his subtle way of saying sorry, or at least pretending to be - and rooming with both Booster and the Question.
Pausing, Ted backtracked.
Booster. The Question. And himself.
Guy from the future with no clue. A nutjob with ridiculous feng shui powers. And a dead guy with common sense.
One house.
"And they say Batman is one of the most brilliant minds of the League," Ted grumbled.
The inventor stepped out of the bathroom once he was finished slipping on the shoes that Alfred had left for him. Perfect fit; he wasn't really sure how the butlet managed it, but he always just seemed to know what would fit and what wouldn't. He supposed that caring for Bruce Wayne (and other children) for so many years would have given him some sort of sixth sense about shoesize and all; that was Ted's presumption, though.
Not immediately spotting either Booster or Question, the brunet continued through the various rooms of Wayne Manor - until he came upon both of them inside the kitchen. The Question had found and taken a pickle jar, and was currently eating to his heart's content, as it appeared. Booster Gold had settled upon a container of peanuts.
"Got hungry," Question murmured to inform the brunet.
"So I can see," Ted commented wryly.
Digging into his pocket, the Question held out a slip of paper. "Address. Our new place. Leaving sometime later. Batman didn't specificy much. Philadelphia. Going there by plane. Alfred will take us to the airport."
"Philadelphia? Nice place." Ted shrugged, looking over the paper. "Do we have any idea what this house is supposed to look like?"
"No, but because Batman's paying for it, I'm hoping it's nice and expensive," Booster expressed between munches of his peanuts.
"Or he could be a jerk and give us a crappy place," Ted grumbled.
Question shrugged, taking and pocketing the paper. "Can't be picky."
"Sure we can. We just don't have a damned choice about it."
"Point," the detective agreed faintly. "...But better for us to be safe at this point in time. Isn't that what you think?"
Blue Beetle frowned faintly to himself; he wanted both of them to finally be out of danger because of Checkmate - more specifically, because he still felt responsible for both of them and the life threatening situations they had been in for the past few days. It didn't mean that he appreciated being forced to go somewhere because the JLA thought it was a brilliant thing to do. Moreover, it was Batman's idea. Batman, who couldn't even growl up a 'I'm sorry'.
As a matter of fact, no one apologized to him.
"It's temporary," the Question murmured.
"Is that what Batman said?" Ted muttered darkly.
"It's what he claims. And it's what we decide. It's temporary. No God can tell us otherwise."
The inventor considered that. True; the JLA couldn't really force them to stay put if they didn't want to... could they?
"Ahem." Three heads turned towards Alfred Pennyworth, who was gesturing. "If you would, sirs; I have taken care of your ... business attires accordingly and packed what essentials you'll be needing at your new residence. They're in the trunk of the car waiting for you outside. However, you may wish to review the identities Master Bruce and Miss Oracle have organized for you before we take our leave. Master Bruce has thought it appropriate to prepare yourselves physically for different appearances, considering your fame or otherwise being infamous amongst the public."
"'Prepare yourselves physically'?" Booster glanced at the other two.
"Disguises. Changing our appearances," the Question elaborated, holding out his hand and accepting a folder from Alfred. "Whatever we can change."
Alfred nodded. "If you require assistance...?"
"Might." Question glanced through papers and other necessities in the mix. "Driver's lisences. Hmm." Turning towards Ted, he remarked lightly as he offered him the identification card, "Mr. Parker."
"Huh?" Ted raised a brow, accepting it and glancing at the card. "...'Peter Parker'? You gotta be joking..."
"And Mr. Scott Summers," the Question added, giving Booster Gold his card. "Bruce changed your hair in it. Have to do the same."
Booster looked a little alarmed. "Huh? But... but I like my hair color!"
"Doesn't matter. Have to change it, Michael."
"But... I..." Booster glanced to Ted, silently pleading for help. However, his friend simply shrugged at him. "But I don't wanna..."
"Want to change your hair color, or let Checkmate find you?" The Question peered at him; the blonde could only frown.
Ted leaned over to try to glance at the detective's card. "What's yours?"
"...Matt Murdock."
"Who did he get to come up with these names, Bart Allen?" Ted muttered, rolling his eyes a little.
"Nn. Not surprised." In a very low voice, Question was close to grumbling, "At least mine wasn't Walter Kovacs."
Booster was puzzled by that. "What?"
"Nothing." The Question placed the card away into his pocket. "Have fake birth certificates and everything else here. I'll take them." He shuffled the papers together back into the folder before tucking them away into his coat. Approaching Booster, he took the blonde's wrist. "C'mon."
"But I like being blonde!" Booster complained, sticking out his lower lip as he was dragged off. "TEEED!"
Ted rubbed the bridge of his nose and pretended not to hear. "Do you have any spare glasses without lenses, Alfred?"
"Yes. You would like a pair, then, Master Kord?" Alfred responded curiously.
"Hey. Works for Clark Kent," Ted muttered, shrugging.
Before the three left for passing through security, Alfred had made sure they were prepared, appearances and suitcases and all. Booster unhappily had dark red hair and had been given a pair of shades by the butler; the Question made due with himself, dyeing his hair completely black and wearing sunglasses, completely blacking out his eyes - the Human Enigma went to the extent of giving himself a cut on the left side of his jawline to conceal his newfound identity; Ted left himself simply with the pair of glasses with no lens.
Afterwards, Alfred smiled calmly to them, handing Ted a bag. "As I'm sure you'll all be very hungry when you arrive. A safe trip to you all - as it is much deserved, sirs."
Ted seriously wondered how Alfred kept his sanity, living with someone like Batman.
Approaching the security area towards the gates, Ted took a glance inside the bag he'd been given. "Whatever it is, it smells really, really good."
"Hey, it's Alfred, man. I swear, he can make anything," Booster commented.
"Nn." The Question sounded distracted, glancing over his shoulder.
Ted lifted a brow. "What is it?" He lifted his head, to glance behind himself. However, he didn't notice anything or anyone out of the ordinary - but he did keep in mind of the Question's Sight.
"Someone. I..." Question sounded bothered, very engrossed with whatever he was seeing or Seeing. "Recognized someone. Or... thought I did. ...Nothing..."
"Did you or didn't you?" Booster peered at him.
"Column A or B. Person's dead," the Question told him bluntly.
It quickly grew a broad silence in the trio.
Booster stepped through the metal detectors without any apparent problems, continuing on his way quietly; however, the Question stopped after the metal detector went off on him.
"Sir, please remove all objects from your pockets," the security guard told him.
Question narrowed his eyes a little, muttering to himself, reluctantly digging into his pockets. He placed a variety of objects into the container; a silver fork that Ted was positive was from Wayne Manor, two paperclips twisted together, the batarang from a couple of days before, a CD that was apparently deliberately broken in half, a lock, a file, and a broken watch.
"I'm afraid will have to confinscate a few of these items, sir-" one of the security guards began, but the second cut him off.
"I see loads of people from Gotham walking away with a batarang; I don't think that's a big deal."
"Eh, true. But this fork..."
"Is everything in an airport these days considered lethal?" Ted grumbled.
However, the Question turned his head to look at the brunet, his tone a bit confused, "They're not?"
Ted introduced his hand to his own forehead, sighing heavily and shaking his head.
"We're confiscating the file, but you can have everything else back after you walk through the metal detector again," the first security guard informed the Question.
"The file but not the fork - yeah, I see the logic in that," Ted murmured.
"It was a perfectly good file," the Question mumbled. "Took it from the Watchtower." He stepped through the detector a second time without any difficulties.
After emptying his pockets, Ted found himself baffled when he followed the Question; the detector had gone off after he stepped through. "That's... weird, I don't have anything else-" Then he considered.
The scarab had metal residue; did that get absorbed inside of him, too?
"Sir, please take off your shoes," another security guard requested from the Question; the Human Enigma was grumbling, obviously irritated. After taking off his shoes, the guard was alarmed to find sugar packets in one of them.
Ted sighed. "Good Lord..."
The metal detector still went off on him, and the inventor wanted to scream in aggravation.
Booster Gold had gone on ahead to his seat, sitting back and returning to his can of peanuts that Alfred had allowed him to take with him. Much to his surprise, the Question and Ted were still behind at the security checkpoint, but he thought about it. After all, Question seemed to have difficulty with authoritive figures... hopefully, he wasn't giving them too tough a time. It was one of the last things they all needed.
He had wondered about this, going to all live in the same space. On one hand, vacation was really ideal; Booster was still recovering from his burns, both old and new, and a gunshot in his shoulder. So far, he'd been able to deal with it relatively well; the Question's reiki ability to help heal and take away the pain was helpful.
On the other hand, Booster still really wanted to go and confront Checkmate for all of the hell they had put them through. He was furious with the JLA and just about every other costume crimefighter in the world. They'd all ignored Ted. It had gotten him killed.
Ted was alive again, but it didn't make what they did any more or less right.
What had honestly shocked him was possibly J'onn's behavior; Batman had always been something of a jerk - though the extents these days were a bit shocking to Booster - and Superman obviously didn't like the Question much to begin with. J'onn, on the other hand... had been something of a father figure for all of them. He had been someone they all looked up to and respected, even if they didn't voice it. They didn't have to; the Martian was psychic, after all.
But, he had pushed Ted aside as well.
Booster was angry with all of them, and felt frustrated that none of them understood what they'd been through, how much it had rocked his world to hear that Ted had died. He'd lost too many people to begin with. While he hadn't had much time to really adjust to the news, the very fact that his best friend had died... he could predict what would have occurred next. He would have snapped, would have killed Maxwell Lord if he could have. He would have still blamed the League - maybe more so. It could have ended badly.
Which was why he was so glad that Ted came back.
"I can not believe y- no, no. No, wait, I do. Because you're Grade A crazy, I swear!"
Blue Beetle, of course. Booster lifted his head and waved a hand to both him and the Question.
Grumbling, Ted flopped into his seat next to Booster. Pointing at the dark-haired detective, he continued with, "This nutjob had toothpicks in his shoes!"
"Why toothpicks?" Booster wondered, clearly confused.
"Why not?" Question muttered, folding his arms.
"Why did you have toothpicks!" Ted demanded.
"Why don't you?"
"I... uh..." Ted slapped his hands to his face. "UGH. I'm not even going to think of a sufficient response to that!"
The Question shrugged. "You and the metal detectors. What was wrong?"
"Um." The brunet hesitated. "I don't know. Kind of..." There was a brief sigh. "Something to do with that mark on my chest now, I think. I kinda bluffed my way out of it; there can be metal in ink for tattoos, so I kinda left it as that."
"Mmm."
"Better than being the one carrying around a fork in my damned pocket," Ted muttered.
"It was a nice fork," the Question told him, his tone quite close to sounding pleasant, sitting back and looking almost... proud of himself.
"Okay, you. You." Ted pointed at him. "You, don't talk right now. You're going to give me a nervous breakdown in the next twenty-four hours."
Though the Question went silent and Ted slid down in his seat to brood, Booster was positive he saw a faint smug expression on the Human Enigma's face.
Booster Gold sat back a bit, shrugging to himself as he picked up a magazine from the net in front of him. There wasn't much to look at, but left him at least looking as though he was busy.
Pass the time; that's all there was now.
There had been snow then. It was biting at his skin, cold and gnawing, warning. This was death's ground.
Gravestones were surrounding him, crying out to him, screaming. They were cold, too.
He sat against the casket, holding his head. It'd been the first time in years that he shed tears.
Two days before, there had been gunshots and red staining the white snow. The shots were meant for him.
Step, step, step, and approaching.
He lifted his head, to find flowers were offered to him.
And it was him, and him who smiled at Vic Sage, nobody ever smiled at Vic Sage.
Step, step, step, and was approaching...
It had been the day Dr. Rodor - sweet, old Tot, rest in peace, in peace, peace...
Flowers had been offered by him.
In six true words, he said,
"He'd want you to celebrate life."
He wept.
There was something wrong, something dark, reaching into him, trying to force him out-
"You, who walks between two worlds. Give me what's mine."
"Hey. HEY. Psst! Wake up!"
"Give me your-"
"Question!"
The Human Enigma jerked awake, blinking, frowning.
Had he fallen asleep?
Turning his head, he looked at Ted, who was hovering over him. "You all right...?"
The Question sat back slowly, touching his forehead. "...Fine."
Letting out a sigh, Ted scowled at him. "See? You do need sleep like any other human being," he told him.
"Mm." Question lowered his gaze, closing his eyes.
Who had it been? Who interrupted him?
Him. Him. Dead, but alive.
How?
The Question pondered the question.
"Finally," Booster grumbled. "You sure that was only forty minutes?"
The plane took a dip as it began to land.
Him, him, him. He, who refused to somehow die, to pass on. What did he want?
Question bit at his knuckles. Was he nervous? Against something like him, yes. What did he want?
"Question, c'mon," Ted hissed at him.
"Ah. Yes," the Human Enigma murmured.
Step, step, step, and was approaching...
A smile, flowers, Six True Words.
Taking his suitcase, he turned to Ted, briefly touching his shoulder. "...Thank you," the Question murmured.
The inventor raised a brow at him, clearly puzzled.
The Question did not elaborate, leaving the plane ahead of him.
The three had taken a taxi out into Philadelphia after leaving the airport. There was a bit of another awkward silence around the trio; the Question was quieter than usual, and it bothered Ted. Seeming to have a sixth sense about Ted's unease, Booster Gold chose to say nothing in return.
Hence, they all said nothing.
There was just something a little more odd about the Question - that was what Ted figured. The Hub City vigilante seemed to be in deep thought, brows narrowed into a deep frown and considering something. However, Ted couldn't fathom what; moreover, Question probably wouldn't have been willing to share.
What he wasn't sure he could admit to, before he woke the Question up in the plane, the man had looked as though he was in great pain. By all things logical, it was weird. By all things illogical, it was still really strange. Ted wasn't sure what to make of it, and if it was something he really ought to have inquired about.
Still, he stayed quiet, pressing his forehead against the seat in front of him.
When the taxi stopped at the appropriate address, the three stepped out and stopped at the stoop to see the home they were basically being forced to live in.
It was, naturally, big; that was the first word that came to Ted's mind. It was a Victorian house, a bit old-fashioned but completely taken in good care by the looks of it. It had a few different shades of blue - something Ted could appreciate - and a pleasant garden planted in the front. There was a backyard, from what Ted could tell from his angle, and... well... generally speaking, it was just huge.
Big enough for three people with serious issues, no doubt. Or, Ted hoped.
"What'd I say? Nice, big, and expensive," Booster smirked.
Ted folded his arms, then shrugged, grinning.
"Eh, it'll do," he commented.
Notes:
After intenseness... I figured some pretty normal events would be appreciated. WHAT DO YOU THINK ZOMG.
Yeah, I'm updating this way too quickly for my own good.