[drabble][DCU, Skeets, Booster, PG] For the Blue...

[ajremix]

Title: For the Blue...
Fandom: DCU
Rating: PG
Word Count: 592
Characters: Skeets, Booster
In Response to: 30 days of Boostle - pain
Summary: Set during the OMAC Project, between Booster leaving Guy and Bea and his finding Jaime. The Blue Beetle brings Booster back one last time.



Sneaking around in this century was a little more challenging than Skeets expected. Of course, he thought ruefully (or as much as a security robot was capable of thinking ruefully), seeing as the early 25th century was so technologically beyond the early 21st, it really didn't come to any surprise.

It wasn't the smartest idea in the least to come here and, even more than most all the other ideas Booster had, it was ill planned as neither of them had any passable currency and the only belongings Booster had in this time period were the centuries-out-of-date clothing on his back. That, too, was no surprise to Skeets as Booster had a nasty habit of running away from things he didn't want to face (his trashed suit, Max's apparent villainous breakdown, the deaths of Dimitri and Ted) and the even more aggravating habit of not listening to Skeets during such times.

("Are you certain, sir, that leaving that time was such a wise idea?"

"What could I possibly do without working gear, Skeets? I'd just get in the way, just like Guy said."

"How can you be certain that the crisis was taken care of?"

"Look around! Nothing's wrong here- they obviously didn't need my help and it's not like there was anything there for me anymore. Not without..."

Booster had fallen silent and if it were possible for a robot to feel heartbreak, Skeets would not have been surprised if he would've felt it at that moment. Because Booster was satisfied with wasting the rest of his life in poverty and obscurity ten years before his birth rather than be in the time that reminded him of his lost best friend.)

But Skeets did not like loose ends. He preferred having every event fully concluded before he filed it away in his memory storage and he couldn't help worrying about who else Booster had called friend might have fallen before the end of the battle. So each night after Skeets bundled Booster into a shelter and ensured he was safely kept, he snuck into any nearby libraries or terminals, trying to comb through and piece together the disjointed information of the distant past. It took a few days, but he found and downloaded the records, knowing Booster needed to hear about it wether he wanted to or not.

(For a long time Booster just sat there after Skeets finished explaining. His jaw was clenched tight and lips pressed into a harsh line.

"The Blue Beetle?"

"Yessir."

"So," he tried to brush off his cracking voice and Skeets was polite enough to ignore it, "there was another one."

"Yessir."

"How did they find him?"

"There's no record of it, just that the Blue Beetle found the satellite that was controlling those creatures you fought. It seems that the scarab is actually a piece of alien technology."

"But that thing hadn't worked in years. How would someone suddenly use it?"

"I'm not certain, sir, only that someone from Texas could activate it."

"Texas? Ted's house was in Illinois. Did... after the fire..."

And there, just as Skeets hoped, was a fire reigniting in Booster's eyes, pushing aside to grief and pain that had consumed him.

"We need to go back but how-"

"When Doctor Hunter dropped us off here, he gave me instructions on how to contact him. Just in case, of course. If we ask nicely, he may be able to help us find someone to repair your suit."

Booster grinned and it was almost like before. "You're the best, Skeets.")

Comments

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Skeets is made of win. Loved this!