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Rip Hunter sat at a workbench in the dark with a gold-coated robot on the bench in front of him. His name was Skeets and he would be Michael Carter’s companion through time, a guardian of sorts, there to stop Booster from altering the timeline irreparably in pursuit of fame. For years Hunter had allowed Skeets at his side whilst he trained him for the day he would leave for the twenty-first century with Carter and now that day was less than a week from them. If he were being honest Rip would have to admit there was a part of him that still had reservations about what would need to be done, but given what would happen if it weren’t to happen he knew he had little choice. Finally he put the finishing touches on the tune up he was giving Skeets and shut the lid atop the robot’s head with a heavy sigh.

“Whatever happens, Skeets, Michael [i]cannot[/i] be allowed to travel back to his desired time. This Booster, as he is, is not yet the Booster that the universe needs and if he successfully travels back to 2010 he will never become it. Do you understand?”

Skeets stared up at Rip silently for a few moments. The pair had spent enough years with one another that Rip was capable of telling when Skeets wasn’t comfortable with something. Whilst he had designed him to be little more than a living, breathing encyclopedia for Booster on his travels, Skeets had transformed into so much more throughout his training. He was more human than Rip had ever intended.

“I understand, sir, but is there not some way we could tell Mr. Carter? I’m not quite sure I take to subterfuge quite as naturally as some other things.”

“I wish there was,” Rip said with a heavy sigh. “And I know it seems cruel now to deny him what he wants. Superman? The Justice League? Their achievements will be unto nothing next to what Booster will achieve once he’s ready to become the man we need him to become. He’ll get what he wants, Skeets, but it’s going to take some time.”

Again another pained silence hung over the two of them.

“I understand.”

Rip stood up from the workbench and lifted Skeets into his hands. It was a difficult burden that Skeets would have to carry, knowing that he would have to live for Booster forevermore, and his being so human had made Rip wonder whether he was capable of carrying it. As he stared down at his creation he knew that his being human made him [i]more[/i] capable of carrying it, not less, and he was thankful Skeets understood the emotional ramifications of the decision they took. Booster would need a friend where he was going. A better friend that Rip could ever be to him.

“You know I would never ask this of you unless it were necessary, old friend.”

“The world,” Skeets said gently. “Will they ever know?”

Rip shook his head.

“No, Skeets, I’m afraid not.”

There was a loud beeping noise and on the screen appeared Michael Carter wagging his tongue in the direction of the camera. Rip let go of Skeets and the robot hovered in front of him silently as the pair watched on as Michael made a series of silly faces into the camera, each less mature than the next, before eventually he shouted for them to let them in. Hunter reached across the workbench for a button and the doors slid open and Michael Carter strode in with a broad smile across his face. He was excited, Rip thought, so excited, but his excitement would turn to despair once he found out. He only hoped that Booster would forgive him when he found out what he had done.

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A few minutes had passed since Booster Gold had found out he had been marooned in 2015 against his wishes. He had passed through the first two stages of grieving in the blink of an eye and had begun bargaining in the hopes of finding some way back to his own time. His robot companion, Skeets, had spent the time attempting to reason with him and explain that there was no way back for them. The pair argued amongst themselves for a time before a bemused Daniel Carter lifted his finger lazily and pointed at the gold-plated robot that hovered harmlessly in front of Booster’s face.

“What the hell is that thing?”

An exasperated Booster rolled his eyes as if he were having to explain the most painfully obvious thing of all time.

“That [i]thing[/i] is a he and his name is Skeets.”

A titter escaped Daniel Carter’s lips.

“Wait, what? Did you say [i]Skeets[/i]?”

“Yeah,” Booster said with a frown. “What's funny about that?”

Slowly Carter’s titters turned into a giggle, then gentle laughter, until finally he was folded over laughing until his stomach hurt. Booster watched on unimpressed, Skeets hovering beside him impassively, until eventually Carter managed to get his laughter under control and regain some composure. His face was flushed red from the laughter and his cheeks were wet from the tears that had been rolling down them but a moment beforehand.

“Trust me,” Daniel Carter smiled as he wiped a tear away from his cheek. “You don’t want to know the answer to that question.”

“Whatever,” Booster said with a shake of his head. “Skeets, did you hear what he said? It’s 2015. Whatever happened back at the Time Lab must have caused the Sphere to malfunction and send us five years ahead of where we ought to have arrived. We need to get back.”

Skeets hovered in front of Michael Carter and stared in his direction impassively as if he were deliberating something. His thoughts drifted back to that day in the Time Lab and the promise he had made to his creator Rip Hunter and suddenly he found his voice.

“Back, sir? There is no back.”

Booster ran his hands through his golden hair with frustration.

“What? Don’t you get it? Unless we go back we’ll be stuck here for good. We’ll have to spend the rest of our lives here, Skeets.”

“The only man capable of repairing a broken Time Sphere is Rip Hunter, sir, and given how our last encounter with him ended it’s better that we operate under the presumption we’ll never see him again.”

Booster’s face dropped completely as if any hope he might have had was destroyed by the robot’s comment. Inside himself Skeets could feel the doubt creeping through his body with every second he looked upon Booster’s distraught face. The promise, he reminded himself, he had to keep the promise he’d made. Booster would get what he wanted in the end, he’d become the greatest hero that ever lived, even if no one would ever know about it. 

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m afraid so, sir.”

Booster began to pace up and down Daniel Carter’s lounge as if he were thinking of some solution to their problem. To anyone with any knowledge of the man beneath the costume it would have been absurd and endearing in equal parts. Michael Carter was [i]far[/i] from the sharpest tool in the box, something he was never shy about, and though he possessed a genius intellect relative to the average twenty-first century citizen, he could spend a thousand years attempting to fix the Time Sphere even with the right technology and he’d never be able to do it. Science wasn’t exactly Michael’s thing and it never had been. Throwing the pigskin? He was more than capable at that. Staying on his feet after ingesting more overpriced alcohol than any human ever ought to? Sure. Science? Less so.

“Can’t you fix the Sphere? I mean, no offense, you’re a robot. Aren’t you meant to be good at these things?”

An awkward silence settled on the room that even Daniel Carter felt as the sentence left Booster’s lips.

“That highly presumptuous comment aside,” Skeets said bemusedly. “The technology needed to even begin attempting to repair the Sphere hasn’t been invented yet and won’t be for at least another two and a half centuries. Were I to attempt to use twenty-first century technology to do so we would more than likely result in our untimely deaths.”

Booster continued to pace up and down the room.

“There must be [i]someone[/i] that can fix it.”

“I am afraid not, sir.”

Names began to filter through Michael’s brain as he strained to think of someone with the intellect to fix the Time Sphere. Suddenly he wished he’d paid more attention in history whilst at school. 

“What about Bruce Wayne? I mean, if the guy’s capable of hiding the fact he’s B-” Booster’s eyes opened as he remembered Daniel was stood beside him. “What about Lex Luthor?” He has enough money to buy the world twice over, surely he’d be able to help us out on this one? Help me out here.”

“I'm sorry, sir.”

Daniel Carter cleared his throat and interjected into the pair's exchange. He had little to no idea what was going on, but as he prepared to speak it was clear from his face that he felt confident he had the solution to their problem.

“What about Ted Kord?”

Booster cocked an eyebrow at the name. 

“What? Who the hell is Ted Kord?”

“Kord Omniversal are only the biggest company in the Midwest,” Daniel Carter said with a nonchalant shrug. “They say he’s the cleverest man in America. At least, [i]some[/i] people say he’s the cleverest man in America. If anyone can fix this Sphere thing of yours, it’s probably him.”

“Skeets?”

The robot stared in Booster’s direction as he beamed with optimism. Silently Skeets ran Ted Kord’s name through every database he had access to as he weighed up the likelihood of his being capable of fixing the Sphere. As with Wayne, Luthor, and every other name Booster had thrown out, the chances of Kord fixing the Sphere were impossibly small. But there was something else there, a slither of information that caused Skeets to pause, something that might give Booster Gold hope. He had lied to Michael Carter, time and time again, because Rip Hunter had told him it was necessary and he had no doubt it was. He had told Skeets not to tell him. He had said nothing about providing him with hope.

“There is a small chance,” Skeets said. “But I must stress that it is a [i]very[/i] small chance, sir, near infinitesimally so.”

Booster strode across the lounge and grabbed Daniel Carter by the lapels, pulling him into him, and placing a forceful kiss onto his lips. Carter struggled against Booster for a few seconds until the latter let go of him and wiped his mouth dry with his sleeve.

“You genius,” Booster said with a broad smile. “You absolute genius.”

After a second it sunk in to Booster that he’d just open mouth kissed the man that was likely to be his great, great, great grandfather and he frowned for a moment. Then like a magpie catching sight of a shiny object in the distance his attentions were drawn back to Ted Kord. Booster didn’t care how low the chances were, he didn’t care how unlikely it was, if there was a way for him to get home he was going to pursue it until his dying breath. 

“Ted Kord, whoever the hell you are, we’re coming for you.”