What the bloody hell was a Booster Gold? Ted stared in confused at the costumed “hero”, his mind racing through every hero appearance he had watched on news over the past few years. Not many came to mind. Sure his costume had similarities to that of that Starman guy, as well as his current staff wielding replacement, but this Booster seemed entirely different.

The fact that Ted didn’t recognise the hero resulted in a look of sheer disappointment upon the man’s face. A face that Ted ended up copying several seconds later when the hero demanded to know where Ted Kord was. It took him a second to realize that he was in costume, so his face was obviously covered. Then he remembered that he had removed it several minutes earlier in the Bug. Panic washed over him as he scrambled to pull it back on.

Tracy stood to his left, putting her head into her hands disappointedly.

That was when the robot informed this “Booster Gold” who he was. That obviously didn’t fly well with Mr Gold, whose face again returned to disappointment. Before Ted himself could utter a word, the sound of barking met his ears. It would seem that the toaster had caught the attention of the fearsome Blue Beagle himself. The Labrador bounded from his basket, before stopping directly below the golden robot, barking loudly.

Irritated, Ted took one last bite of his hot dog, before tossing it gentle to the floor, where Blue Beagle began feasting, calming him down slightly.

Due to his distraction he had barely heard Booster’s rant about his uselessness. He caught snippets though. Something about returning to the twenty-fifth century. The thought made him stifle a laugh. Time travellers? Get real! That certainly got Ted thinking though of the actual possibilities of such a thing, his mind running through everything he could even remember on the subject, from Steven Hawking’s notes on the universe, to blue police boxes. It was awfully thought provoking!

One of Booster’s comment however, made Ted focus his attention on the two newcomers once more.

“First of all” Ted stated, a little annoyed at the man’s ignorance. “Did you not just see the big blue insect I just flew in here?” He moved his arms, indicating all the equipment and tech around them. “Second, never insult a guy in his secret base!”

Ted took a few seconds to breathe, calming himself, before letting out a short laugh.

“Sorry about that!” He chuckled, offering his hand to the so-called Booster Gold. “I’m Ted, otherwise known as the Blue Beetle. I know, I know. It’s a pretty big deal!” He said confidently, a smile spreading across his face. Tracy once more groaned in annoyance, face palming once more.

Ignoring her, Ted continued. “So what’s this about the twenty-fifth century?”

“Well,” Booster said with a smile. “In the interest of fairness.”

From the corner of his eye he could see the Labrador puppy leaping up at Skeets playfully and the robot’s discomfort with it couldn’t be more obvious. Skeets definitely wasn’t going to like what Booster was going to do next, but what the hell? He pulled his mask down anyway.

“Sir, Master Hunter specifically advised against revealing your identity to people in this time period.”

Rip had warned him that revealing his identity might result in his enemies attacking Daniel Carter in an attempt to get to him. But as far as Booster could see, Rip’s rules had gone out of the window the second they’d arrived five years later than they’d planned. All that mattered now was getting home.

“My name’s Michael Carter and this is Skeets,” Booster said as he shook Ted’s hand. “As crazy as this might sound, we travelled here from the twenty-fifth century in something called a Time Sphere. Problem being we arrived five years later than we were meant to and the last time we saw the guy that sent us here he was under attack. We need to get to the twenty-fifth century and to do that we need to fix the Sphere.”

The gravity of Booster’s tale was undermined somewhat by the jubilant barks emanating from the Labrador puppy as it chased Skeets around Ted Kord’s base.

“That’s where you come in Ted,” Michael said as he placed his hands on his hips. “At least, if you’ll help us that is.”

like if this needs to be rebooted.