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Today was the day that Michael Carter’s life was going to be changed forever. He sat in the seat of the Time Sphere, his hands wrapped tightly around the seat at its centre, and stared down at his feet. Beside him was his benefactor Rip Hunter who was running some last minute security checks on both Michael’s power suit and the Time Sphere. It wasn’t exactly in great condition and that fact hadn’t gone unnoticed even by Michael’s untrained eye. Rip had explained it only had enough juice to make one journey and that meant once he was in the twenty-first century there was no way of getting back. Understandably Michael was a little anxious about that.

“What if something goes wrong?”

Rip sighed.

“Nothing is going to go wrong.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’ve done this a thousand times before, Michael.”

Rip’s voice was smoky and authoritative and the look he gave Carter was doubly so and yet Carter’s nerves were no closer to being assuaged. Maybe it was something to do with the copious number of science-fiction films that Carter had watched over the years but he couldn’t help but feel like something was going to go wrong. Something always went wrong when time travel was involved. Anyone that had ever seen a Back to the Future film knew that much.

“But what if I get stranded in the Jurassic Period and have to spend the rest of my life running away from dinosaurs? Or I materialise in the exact same place as a cinder block and I’m liquidated before I even get a chance to smell that sweet, sweet twenty-first century air? Or worse, what happens if I get stuck in the 1990’s and I have to pretend I like grunge music? What then, Rip? Have you thought about these things?”

An impatient Rip Hunter looked up from Booster’s power suit.

“Could you stop talking for once?”

The pair sat in silence for a time as Rip made the last few alterations that were needed before walking off into his Time Lab leaving only Carter and Skeets behind.

“Easy for him to say,” Booster muttered under his breath. “It’s not him that's going to be strapped into this damn thing.”

“There really isn’t any reason to worry, sir, Master Hunter is the foremost expert in chronospace transportation. You’re in safe hands.”

Booster shot the robot a churlish look.

“Why don’t you marry him if you like him so much?”

“Alas, sir, even in the twenty-fifth century robosexual marriage has yet to be legalised. Were it possible though I might give it some consideration.”

“Very funny.”

Before the robot had a chance to respond to Carter’s comment Rip Hunter came striding back into their portion of the Time Lab and hurriedly pressed a few buttons on the platform overlooking the Time Sphere. On a large screen in front of them appeared what appeared to be a heavily-armed militia of some sort making their way towards their Time Lab with menace.

“Skeets, we have company.”

“Locking down the Time Lab, sir.”

A confused look appeared upon the face of Michael Carter.

“Company? What? I don’t understand.”

“What we’re doing here isn’t exactly legal, Michael, there are some people that don’t take too kindly to time travel. You’re going to have to leave sooner than we planned.”

“How much sooner are we talking?”

“Like right now sooner.”

For the first time since Michael had met Rip he allowed himself a moment of seriousness as his thoughts drifted to what little family he had in the twenty-fifth century. His mother and his sister Michelle meant the world to him, it was for them that he had taken those bungs in high school, and for them he had taken crappy acting job after crappy acting job to make ends meet. They had grown up poor and he’d promised himself they wouldn’t have to live their entire lives like that. What would they do without him? How would they get by? Michael shook his head as he pictured their faces before him.

“But what about my sister? My mom? I haven’t even had a chance to say goodbye to either of them.”

The Time Lab began to shake from the as explosion after explosion from the militia outside began to rain down upon it. On the screen in front of them more militia began to appear with every passing second and it seemed like there was to be no stop in the hostilities.

“Sir, I’m not sure how long the Time Lab’s security can hold them.”

Rip stared Michael in the eye intently as he ran his fingers lightly over the buttons on the platform before him.

“It’s now or never, Michael, either I hit this button and you can become a hero, the hero you were always meant to be, or you can stay here and spend the rest of your life sweeping up after people at the Space Museum.”

“Thirty seconds, sir.”

Michael nodded.

“Do it.”

The explosions continued and a particularly violent one hit that shook the Time Lab so badly that Rip Hunter was nearly knocked from his feet. He clutched onto the platform and returned Michael’s nod as he began to adjust the figures on it. “April 8th, 2010” the figure read to begin with but once Rip was done the date stood at “April 25th, 2015” and he hit another button that seemed to lock the date in.

“Twenty seconds, sir, they’re almost in.”

The door to the Time Sphere began to hiss as Michael buckled himself into the seat and Skeets floated inside just as the door shut. The explosions were coming thicker and faster than before now and it seemed like the militia would overrun Rip’s lab in any second. As Carter stared at Hunter a pang of gratitude washed over him as he realised what exactly the man stood before him was doing for him.

“I know I've never thanked you for this but I really ought to,” Booster muttered. “I know I’m not the easiest person to be around sometimes, I know I’m hard work, but you’ve given me a second chance in life, maybe even a third chance, when nobody else would. So thank you, Rip, thank you for everything.”

The Time Sphere began to glow with a white energy and the Time Lab began to spin around Carter and Skeets as they sat unmoving within it.

“Five seconds.”

Less than a second after Skeets had spoken there was a flash of orange light and a loud bang that made it impossible for Skeets and Michael to see what was happening outside the Sphere. The white light of the Sphere overtook them and they were plunged headfirst into the time stream, unaware of Rip’s fate, hurtling head first towards whatever awaited them in the twenty-first century.

“Deactivate Simulation: Enemy at the Gates.”

At the Time Lab the explosions and the banging had had stopped. The militia that had come pouring into the Time Lab had proven to be little more than simulations of Rip Hunter’s own design. Even the damage his lab had taken during the faux-attack had been falsified. Hunter stood alone at the platform, his shame worn clearly on his face, as he eyed the date he had sent Booster to. When Hunter had sought him out he had promised Booster he would make him the greatest hero of all time, that he would be considered greater even than Superman, and that time itself would owe him a greater debt than anyone else. They hadn’t been lies. Allowing Booster to believe he’d be a founding member of the Justice League? Those had. He was going to arrive five years later than he thought. Faking the attack was the only was to ensure that he wouldn’t realise beforehand and call a halt to the entire thing. Rip sighed as he weighed up the morality of what he’d done, the lies he’d told, but within seconds shook his head determinedly. 

The universe needed Booster Gold, even if it meant lying to him.