#1 - Save The Day, Get The Girl

#1 - Save The Day, Get The Girl

Tires squealed on the streets of New York City as three police cars raced after an armored truck. Many of the civilian cars along the busy street were driven off the road, the bank robbers driving the armored truck showing little concern for others. One of the police cruisers pulled up close to the rear of the truck, only to be met by gunfire when the rear doors flew open to reveal two ski masked robbers with AK-47s. Bullets riddled the cop car, causing the officer behind the wheel to spin out and crash into a parked car.

"One down!" one of the robbers shouted, laughing at the carnage behind them. Two of the other three robbers laughed along with him. Only the driver, still frantically racing through traffic, didn't share their sentiment. "The others are backing off! I tell you, we got thi..."

A bright blue energy blast interrupted the robber, sending him flying back into the truck. His fellow robbers raised their guns in fear and stared out the back. They watched, mouths agape, as a man flew up and landed in front of them. The man placed his hands on his hips, standing proud in his skin tight armor. A blue undershirt flowed up to cover the sides of his head and forehead, leaving only the top of his blond hair flowing free. A golden chestplate covered his shoulders and upper chest, a blue star placed on the center. Gold pants lead into blue boots. Golden gauntlets covered his forearms and the back of his blue gloved hands.

"I'm going to have to ask you fellas to pull over," the man said, a large smile on his face showing off his perfect white teeth. His eyes, looking out from under a golden visor, were cheerful and bright.

"Kill this freak!" one of the robbers shouted, opening fire. The bullets were met with a skin tight, bright blue force field surrounding the man. It caused the bullets to ricochet inside the truck and the robber quickly ceased fire, ducking down in fear for his life.

The last robber standing, wise to the ricochet situation, swung the butt of his rifle toward the armored man's face. It had no effect. The man, with his large smile never wavering, punched the robber square in the chest, sending him flying into the front. He landed with a thud next to the driver, who shrieked in fear, almost losing control of the truck.

"I suggest you cease forward momentum of this motor vehicle, sir. Before someone gets hurt."

The driver shrieked again when he realized the voice was coming from the open window next to him. Floating in the air alongside the truck was an egg shaped machine the size of his head. Golden and metallic, it had three fins angled backwards, and a blue screen on the front.

"You have the privilege of being foiled by none other than Booster Gold, Hero of the 25th Century!"

"Thank you, Skeets," Booster said, now standing next to the drivers seat. He tapped the driver's shoulder gently, grinning as the driver looked back. "You've had your fun for the day. Pull over, please."

Police cars screeched to a halt around the armored truck as it stopped in the middle of the street. A news van pulled up behind the police, the news crew practically tumbling out as they raced to catch the story. They set up the camera just in time to watch Booster toss the driver out of the truck and gracefully float down, landing on the street, his hands on his hips.

"No need to worry officers," Booster announced. His voice boomed with self importance. "I've subdued the criminals for you. Cuff 'em!"

Booster walked forward, oblivious to the dirty looks from the police officers, and headed straight toward the news crew. A crowd began to form around the scene to watch, people coming from the sidewalk and the cars stopped along the street. The news reporter, a young blond in a tight business jacket and skirt, ran up and shoved her microphone into Booster's smiling face. "Mr. Gold! That was an amazing! How did you respond so quickly to the chase?"

"You can call me Booster, miss," Booster said, his eyes noticeably looking at everything but her face. "Mr. Gold was my father. And-"

"Booster Gold is ever vigilant!" Skeets interrupted, the droid floating over next to Booster. "When the criminal scum of New York City threatens the it's fair citizens, Booster Gold will always be there to protect the innocent!"

"That must be exhausting," the reporter says, blushing and pushing her hair back behind her ear. "You've been making a name for yourself these last few weeks."

"I won't lie. Patrolling the city, senses tuned to the needs of the people, can wear on a man," Booster turned to look directly into the camera. "That's why when I start to lose steam, I always reach for a delicious Golden Boost Plus! The only energy drink that gives me the power I need without the crash from lesser drinks. Golden Boost Plus, the official energy drink of Booster Gold!"

The reporter began to ask another question, her voice stammering, but Booster continued without missing a beat. "Now if you'll excuse me, there are other people in need." He began to fly off, but stopped a dozen feet over the street when he noticed a beautiful young redhead walking up to the crowd.

It was an unusual moment. She looked directly up into his eyes. Something was familiar about her.

She managed to catch his attention just as a bicyclist was riding along the street, his eyes focused on his cell phone. He was clearly going to run into her.

Swooping down so fast the crowd gasped and scrambled, Booster grabbed the woman, spinning her up into his arm while at the same time reaching out to grab the front of the man's bicycle. He came to a sudden stop, barely managing to stay on the bike, and dropped his phone for good measure.

"Has no one ever taught you not to text and ride?" Booster asked rhetorically. The man fumbled an apology, grabbed his cracked phone, and rushed off in embarrassment, the crowd calling after him.

"Are you all right, miss?" Booster asked, gently touching down onto the street.

"Y-Yes," the woman mumbled into his shoulder before looking up into his eyes. "Thank you."

The look in the woman's bright green eyes made Booster's mind go blank for a moment. Once he regained his senses, he smiled warmly and set her down.

"You're welcome. All in a day's work, after all. Miss...?"

"Jones," she said, her ruby red lips parting in a smile. "Michelle Jones. But, uh, people call me M.J."

"I...um...have some more patrolling to do. But if you need someone to talk to about this traumatic experience, I'm free for dinner tonight?"

M.J. finally averted her eyes, blushing. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"And if I was?"

"I've never dated a super hero before," M.J. looked back up into his eyes. "I'd say yes."

"Skeets!" Booster shouted suddenly, causing M.J. to jump. "Get this lovely lady's number!"

Booster started to take off, but not before making a gun motion with one hand and a phone with the other hand. "I'll call you." Then he turned and flew up into the New York City sky, Skeets following as soon as he acquired M.J.'s number.

"Very well done, sir. #BoosterGold is already trending again on Twitter, and you only have two more contractually obligated plugs for Golden Boost Plus."

Booster continued into the sky, mumbling his agreeing response to Skeets. Once above the buildings, he stopped to survey the city below him. "You got that number, right?"

"Of course, sir!" Skeets replied. "Filed away under O.N.S."

"Good, remind me to call her tonight."

"As you wish, sir."



"Sorry this was a bit last minute," Booster smiled sheepishly. He walked up to the door of the Firesyde Restaurant, M.J. holding his arm. He was dressed in a black suit and tie. A golden handkerchief peaked out of his jacket pocket. His blond hair was perfectly styled to look perfectly unstyled.

"It's all right," M.J. laughed. She was dressed in a simple and sleek black dress. Her red hair was tied up in a bun behind her head. "I was worried you weren't going to call at all."

"Of course not!" Booster protested, moving to open the door for her. He gave an embellished wave of his arm. "After you."

"Ah yes, welcome to the Firesyde Restaurant," the host smiled as they walked up to the podium. He was dressed in a shirt, tie, and pin stripped vest. His thinning hair had so much product plastering it to his scalp that it look like it would need a hammer and chisel to move it. "Do you have a reservation."

"Of course. Under Gold. Booster Gold." As the host looked down toward his book, Booster placed a hand on the podium, his other arm resting atop it, and discreetly lowered a twenty dollar bill from his hand.

"Hmm," the host mumbled, trying to hide his amused smirk. "Gold. Gold. I do not see..."

Booster quickly coughed into his fist before lowering another twenty. When the host continued feigning his search, Booster mouthed, "Really?" at him and lowered a third twenty.

"Ah yes, here it is!" the host looked up and smiled. "Right this way, Mr. Gold."

After quickly mouthing, "Asshole," to the host, Booster turned to smile at M.J. and held out his arm, which she took. "Must be new. I come here so often, yet I've never seen him."

"Oh, so you bring a lot of women here?" M.J. smirked, her eyes squinting in a way that made Booster's heart skip a beat.

"Well, I mean, no. Not really. Some. Sure," Booster stammered before recovering. "But I do a lot of business dinners here. You know, with my sponsors. Agents. I've turned down some big casting directors here too."

"Oh really?" M.J. raised an eyebrow. They reached the table and after Booster pulled out the chair for her, she sat down. "For anything I might know?"

Booster gave her a dismissive look as he sat across her. "I'm not one to name names. After all, I don't want to color your enjoyment of any projects. When all you can think about is how well I would have played the role."

She giggled. Booster sighed in delight. She was perfect. He couldn't believe how well it was going. He almost wished Skeets were here to see. It would shut that little bastard up for a bit.

Small talk continued for a while. The waiter came and went. M.J. ordered a Metropolitan. Booster ordered a Whiskey Sour. The table was covered in a soft, white cloth. The candles in the center reflected in her eyes, giving an orange glow surrounded by the green.

"So I know you claim to be from the future..."

"I don't claim to be," Booster interrupted with a smile. "I am."

"Okay. So what kind of a name is Booster Gold?" She paused to take a tiny sip of her drink. "Is that a typical name parents give their kids in the, what was it, 24th century?"

"25th century, actually," Booster corrected. "2469 when I left, to be exact. And yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Gold decided Booster was a good, strong name for their favorite little boy."

"Well they must have known what they were doing," M.J. smiled, looking directly into his eyes. "To raise such an altruistic son. I mean, you did choose to travel back in time to be a hero. It was a choice, right?"

"Yes and no. I was already a well known hero in my time. I was facing a particularly evil villain, the Malefactor, when he stole some time travel technology and tried to come back in time to kill my ancestor."

"Oh like Sarah Connor," M.J. said, resting her chin on her hands in rapt attention.

"Sure," Booster replied, unsure what she was referencing. He needed Skeets for that kind of thing. "Anyway, I traveled back to stop him. The amount of damage he could do to the timeline was...too terrible to imagine. Long story short, I defeated him, as I always do, but the time travel equipment was destroyed in the process, stranding me here."

"But aren't you damaging the timeline now?" she asked as their food finally arrived. The pasta dish she ordered had some kind of cheese and meat in it. Booster's chicken and shrimp was steaming hot. "Doing just as much damage by helping as he would have been hurting?"

"Well," Booster paused to finish chewing his shrimp. "I mean, what else was I supposed to do? Stand idly by while villains and criminals terrorize the people of this time? My timeline changed the moment Malefactor and I arrived in this time. Allowing evil to thrive by my inaction would just be...irresponsible."

"I can see that," M.J. agreed. She gently swirled the pasta on her fork and brought it to her red lips. "So you must have prevented so many tragedies since being here. With your knowledge of the future."

"So many," Booster agreed. "Some you wouldn't believe."

"And the earthquake in California last week? Over a hundred people died. Couldn't you have, I don't know, warned them at least?"

Booster coughed, choking a bit on his whiskey. It burned his throat, so he quickly grabbed his water and gulped some down. "I am afraid I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the events of this time. This is ancient history for me, remember."

"Isn't that what your little droid is for?" she quickly followed up, raising an eyebrow. "Skitter, or something?"

"Skeets," Booster replied, his tone even and measured. He raised his own eyebrow. "And while he does carry a lot of information, again, not every tragedy was meticulously recorded in history.

"Sorry," M.J. lowered her eyes. "I'm just curious."

"It's okay," Booster smiled, shaking off the moment. He reached across the table and put his hand on hers. "I swear I do everything in my power to help those in need. Always."

"Then what about science?" she quickly responded. "Technology? Surely your Skeets has access to knowledge that could help scientists in our time? Make leaps toward research in cancer, climate change, world hunger."

Booster pulled his hand back across the table, as if recoiling from something undesirable. "Yes, but it wouldn't be responsible to give all that unearned knowledge too quickly."

"But feeding into corporate greed is?" M.J. was now leaning forward, her elbows on the table. "Is shilling crackpot energy drinks really helping the present? Is your sponsor going to help cure cancer if the public lines their pockets?"

"All right, enough!" Booster said a bit louder than he meant, causing the rest of the diners to turn and look. Turning red slightly, Booster leaned in over the table and lowered his voice. "What is this? Some kind of a interrogation?"

"I'm just looking for the truth."

"Cut the shock. You're a reporter, aren't you!"

"No. Not exactly."

Booster practically leapt to his feet. He started to turn to leave, stopped long enough to down his drink and take another bite of chicken, and then stormed off.

"Excuse me sir!" the host tried to move in front of him, but Booster easily pushed him aside. "Sir, you cannot just leave without pa-"

"Put it on her tab!"

M.J. took a wad of bills out of her purse and quickly shoved some into the host's hand before rushing off after Booster. She caught up when right as he was about to fly off and grabbed his jacket.

"Listen, I'm sorry for putting you on, but you've been pretty dismissive of anyone trying to get your story."

"Ooooh," Booster shouted, lifting an inch or two off the ground and turning in the air to face her. "So I'm just a story, is that it? So you are a reporter, Miss Jones!"

"It's Watson. Mary Jane Watson. And no I'm not a reporter, exactly. I'm one of creators on the Bugle Network's YouTube channel. I-"

"Oh shock!" Booster shouted, snapping his fingers in recognition. "M.J. Watson! I've seen your makeup videos!"

"You watched my old makeup videos?" Mary Jane asked, her face contorting in confusion.

"Well...I mean...I saw a couple. Cuz I thought you were h...look yeah I saw a couple. Then you started talking about representation in media or something and it got boring."

Mary Jane's eyelids lowered over her eyes. She was clearly not amused. "Charming. So yeah, I came out tonight to try and figure out if you were legit or not."

"Legit? I'm the most legit hero you'll ever meet!"

"Really? Because I don't see the Flash trying to sell sports bars every time he's on camera."

"Oh I'm sorry!" Booster shouted, knocking her hand off his jacket. To her credit, she didn't even flinch. "Some of us aren't able to get a billion clicks on YouTube talking about which eyeliner goes with which lip gloss or whatever! Even heroes have to make a living!"

Booster turned to fly away. He tried to ignore the small crowd that was forming around at the spectacle. He tried to pretend he didn't see the cell phones filming him.

"Maybe you wouldn't need to make such a living if you didn't have pay a bribe to get a table at a restaurant!"

He ignored her taunt. He ignored the laughter. None of it mattered. He was a hero. Everyone knew he was a hero. That's all that mattered. That's all.



Booster landed on the fire escape outside his fifth story apartment. He hated his apartment. Rent was high. The landlord never fixed anything. He was pretty sure his neighbor sold pot out of his apartment. It certainly smelled like it, at least.

"Skeets!" Booster bellowed as soon as he entered through the window. "Get me a beer, wouldya?"

He practically tore off his jacket and tie, tossing them onto the single loveseat in his "living room." His apartment barely qualified as single bedroom. It was essentially a studio apartment with a tiny halfwall between the kitchen and the rest of the space.

"How did it go?" Skeets asked, flying over with an open Natural Ice in his tractor beam. "You have returned early. And alone. And have begun drinking."

Skeets had to wait while Booster finished chugging the entire can of beer before he responded. "She was a reporter!" Booster's face twisted in disgust. At the idea of reporters or the beer, Skeets couldn't be certain. "Get me another."

Skeets flew off into the kitchen. Booster started taking off his vest, being delicate with his one suit despite how angry he was. He couldn't afford another. "We need to ramp up the product placement, Skeets! And more Instagram posts from heroics! And get me a charity event or something we can get trending! I can't keep living like thi-"

"If you're upset about your lack of money, Michael, perhaps you should have planned ahead when coming back in time?"

Booster turned toward the voice and raised his arm, preparing to fire an energy blast from a gauntlet that wasn't there. What he found was a young girl, no more than twelve or thirteen, standing in his doorway. Her blond hair was pulled in three directions, two short ponytails and one long braid hanging down the side of her face. She was dressed in a white tank top, black skirt, and stripped leggings.

But the most unusual thing was her eyes. Her bright blue eyes looked at Booster as if she were staring right through him. As if she was seeing something only she could see. Being in her gaze was the most uncomfortable thing Booster could imagine.

"Who are you?" he asked, finally realizing he didn't have his gauntlet on and how silly he looked. He lowered his arms and awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Layla Miller." She said her name as if that was all the explanation required.

"Oookay," Booster sighed. "Well it's late so why don't you head on h-"

"I need your help, Michael."

"Well I'm off the clock. Try the police." Booster started moving slowly toward her, arms out as if walking toward a growling dog. Then it dawned on him. "Wait...how do you know my name?"

There was the first hint of a facial expression since this conversation began. A slight, ever so slight, curl of her lip. "I know stuff."

Booster's pot boileth over. Dropping his arms to his side, their weight pulling his shoulders down, he breathed an exasperated sigh and whispered. "Ok that's creepy." He quickly began shouting. "Skeets! Please come zap this creepy girl until she's gone! I can't take this anymore! Where's my beer?"

Skeets quickly darting toward the door, not even stopping when Booster reached out the grab the floating beer trailing behind him. He headed straight for the girl and charged his stun ray. Just as he was about to fire, Layla stepped to the side, reached out, and quickly pressed a pattern on Skeets' face panel. The droid instantly powered down, falling into the girl's outstretched arms.

Shutting the door behind her, Layla walked over and handed the lifeless droid to Booster. "I need your help."

"Ok kid," Booster slammed his beer down on his apple box end table and snatched Skeets from her hands, pushing the sequence to power him back up. "I don't know who or what you are, but I have had enough women pushing me around tonight. There's nothing you can say that's gonna-"

"I need your help. Someone from the future it trying to kill me."

Skeets played his power up jingle and floated out of Booster's hands and past his wide open mouth. "Wait...what?"

-To Be Continued-