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#1
AUG 11 |
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“I can’t believe it ended like this,” Ted Kord said. He and Michael Carter were going through the wreckage of the former Justice League International New York embassy. They had managed to make their way to Kord’s underground lab which was still remarkably intact.
“I know,” Carter said. “I can’t believe that Fire’s gone. How’s Ice doing?”
“Not good,” Kord said as he pressed a button on a computer terminal. Nothing happened. “She’s really withdrawn from everybody; Tora and Bea were inseparable.” He checked more equipment only to find it unresponsive. “Did the UN already cut off the electricity?”
Carter shrugged. “Are you sure Max paid the light bill?” he asked.
Kord sat down on the floor and pulled open an access panel. “Maybe the blast blew a fuse or something,” he said. He started flipping circuit breakers. “Let’s see if this’ll do anything.” He looked up to discover that the only light was still coming from his flashlight. “Great,” he said. “All this equipment and nothing to power it.”
“Don’t look at me,” Carter said. “I’m from the 25th century. I’d help but I don’t see a fusion powersphere that I could check out.”
“Thanks a lot,” Kord said. He closed the access panel and slammed his fist down to seal it. In response the building shook.
“That’s impressive,” Carter observed. “You been working out?”
Ted pulled himself up with the help of a console. “Everything’s dead in here. Let’s get to the Bug. It should still have power and we should be able to pull in some sort of radio signal or something.”
Ted and Michael stared at a viewscreen inside the Bug. On it was a scene of chaos as demons swarmed the city. "Looks like my last blind date,” Carter observed.
“Suit up,” Ted said. “Looks like it’s time for the Blue and the Gold to go to work, even if there isn’t a JLI anymore.”
“Great,” Carter said. “Can you let me out at the office? I think I left the oven on.”
Kord ducked into a storage closet in the back of the Bug and started changing into his Blue Beetle costume.
Carter groaned as he started pulling off his civilian clothes to reveal his Booster Gold uniform underneath. “I hate dealing with demons,” he whined. “They make my suit smell like sulfur.”
Beetle emerged from the back and headed to the pilot’s seat where he started flipping switches to disengage the docking clamps. “Then maybe we won’t have to get out if the Bug can handle them.” The Bug broke the surface of the river and began firing pinpoint lasers at the demons.
“This may not be a good idea,” Booster noted as the demons began swarming the Bug.
“She can handle a little extra weight,” Beetle said. “I hope..." he added under his breath.
“I heard that!” Booster yelled.
Beetle looked up to see that the Bug’s windscreen was almost covered with demons that were beginning to hammer at the screen. He pushed another button that sent an electrical charge through the Bug’s outer skin and they fell away only to see more swarming upward to replace them.
“I feel like Custer,” Beetle noted as he tried to keep firing with one hand and keep the Bug steady with the other hand on the control stick.
“Who’s that?” Booster asked. “I’m still kind of fuzzy on my history back that far. Is he the guy who invented pudding?” He paused. “Wait, wait,” he said with a smile. “I know – it was Bill Cosby who invented pudding.”
“Can we get something a little more helpful than dessert origins?” Beetle asked. “Shooting these charges through the Bug is really draining the batteries. Add in the added weight of these things and we’re looking at a serious problem very shortly.”
“What about my time sphere?” Booster asked.
“What?” Beetle asked. “You’ve got a time sphere?”
“Sure do,” Booster said with a smile. “I’ve got it at the office. And it might not be a good thing for these things to get control of.”
“You mean that building over there that’s completely covered with these things?” Beetle asked as he pointed at a screen in the Bug’s control panel.
“That would be it,” Booster said. He turned to a computer console built into the wall of the Bug and started typing.
“What are you doing?” Beetle asked.
“Sending an email,” Booster responded.
“Now might not be the best time to check and see what the highest bid on your Ebay auction is,” Beetle said.
“Just telling my secretary to pull the fire alarm,” Booster said. “I’ve got an idea.”
“Now I’m terrified,” Beetle said.
“Simple,” Booster said. “I just got confirmation so give me two minutes.”
“I’ve only got about five worth of flying left, so this had better be a quick plan,” Beetle said as his other hand grabbed the control stick as well. “Where are these things coming from?”
Booster checked a watch built into his gauntlet. “Ram the building. As long as you hit above the tenth floor we should be good.”
“Are you kidding?” Beetle asked. “That’s the sort of thing that gets you put on the no-fly list!”
“Do you have a better idea?” Booster asked.
Beetle groaned as he saw warning indicators start blinking on his control console. “Hang on,” he finally said. He aimed the Bug at the building and kicked the throttle to maximum.
The Bug slammed through the outer wall of the building before crashing through cubicles and walls to send debris flying.
Beetle and Booster climbed out of the Bug and Booster stuck his tongue out. “It looks like those things can’t handle high-speed impacts. It looks like you crashed into a jelly factory.”
“Later,” Beetle said as he grabbed Booster’s shoulder. “There are more coming and I need all the head start I can get. Where’s the time sphere?”
“Right down where the hall used to be,” Booster said. He grabbed Beetle and started flying down the hall. Beetle pulled out his BB gun and started firing behind them.
Booster landed and pointed at the door. “I think we knocked the power out. See if you can get that door open and I’ll hold them off.”
“What is it with us and power outages?” Beetle muttered as he started working on an access panel behind the cover of Booster’s force field. “Doesn’t anything work in this place?”
Booster’s eyes widened as he saw a demon start toward them that filled the entire hall. “Umm, you might want to hurry. We’ve got a big one coming.”
“This takes time,” Beetle said. He turned. “Stagg Industries? You didn’t buy the Kord Inc. doors?”
Booster launched himself at the demon. “Sorry, can’t hear you!” Booster let out a cry as the demon grabbed his leg and threw him through a wall. The demon held onto Booster’s leg and kept slamming him into anything that was handy.
“Got it!” Beetle said as the door whirred open. He turned to see Booster blast the demon in the face and finally free himself.
Booster flew erratically into the door as Beetle entered and shut it behind them. “That should hold for a while,” Beetle said. He turned around and saw Booster staggering toward the transparent sphere that sat inside the room. "How’s it look?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Booster said. “Do I need to go toward the one on the right or the one in the middle?”
“This one,” Beetle said as he pulled Booster toward the sphere. Behind them, demon hands started banging on the other side of the door.
“That security door won’t hold long,” Beetle said as he pushed Booster inside the sphere. "And we definitely don’t want them getting hold of this thing.” He closed the hatch and studied the sphere’s control panel. “And this is not English.” He turned to Booster. “How do you start this thing?”
“Push the start button,” Booster said as he pushed the button, causing the control panel to light up. “Don’t you read Interlac?”
“It wasn’t offered at my high school,” Beetle said as he let Booster take the controls. “Where do you think we should go?”
“I’d say about two weeks in the future,” Booster said. “That way we can see how things shape up and we can link up with the League if there’s still something going on.”
“Works for me,” Beetle said. Booster pushed a button and the room outside vanished to be replaced by the time stream.
“So how long will this take?” Beetle asked.
“Not long,” Booster replied. Booster turned to see an odd look on Beetle’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Just thinking,” Beetle said. “Wondering if the JLA might have a spot for us again.”
Booster smiled. “Let’s find out,” he said as the bubble zoomed toward the future.
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To Be Continued
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