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Issue #8

‘Goldstar' 

By Ed Ainsworth

 

Jaime sat on his own personal level of Gold Industries. The couch faced the large windows, as the sun went down on the city below. He held in his hand a cool can of cola, which he had yet to touch. To his side Garfield Logan, also known as Beast Boy, jabbed with the invisible Cliff Baker, about what they'd seen and the filthy things Hawk had said down the phone to him.

“I can't believe she said that,” Garfield admitted, downing the rest of his can.

“I know. I go on one adventure, and I get an English girl telling me she's going to do all manner of filthy and, I gotta admit, pretty awesome things with her mouth.” Cliff beamed, though Jaime couldn't see. All Jaime could focus on was the mission ahead of him, and the past that lay behind him.

Milagro, his sister was still missing. The Scarabs hadn't died out as much as he had thought, and now he had an angry kid of a former Justice League member living with him and exacting his painfully irritating revenge on Jaime with his constant jabbering.

“Yo Yo, Young people!” Booster walked through the opening elevator doors, three pizza's in his hand and a fresh pack of Cola. Sometime's Booster thought it was annoying trying to hang out with kids who couldn't legally drink Beer, except Garfield, who refused to drink the stuff, but it helped him clear the backlog of Gold Boost Cola that now filled up a parking lot.

“Finally, I'm starv...”Cliff's words were cut off as a massive energy burst opened itself in the middle of the room, throwing a man and a woman out onto the floor. The man hit the ground hard, rolling a few feet before coming to a rest behind a sofa, while the woman simply hit the ground head on, bounced a single time, and lay on her front, seemingly unconscious.”

“Who the F*&k are they?” Cliff yelled.

“Well, If I knew that I'd probably have said something by now, WOULDN'T I?” Jaime yelled, the armour snapping over his flesh. He held two gun attachments level at the intruders. The man got to his feet slowly and looked from Jaime to Booster.

“Michael?” he said, before stumbling forwards. The bearded man looked as though he had been through help, and when Booster jumped forward to catch him, Jaime knew to drop his weaponry.

“Scarab?” he asked. With a twittering click and a gasp of steam from its invisible internal mouth, the Scarab spoke to Jaime.

“Hey now, that's what Rip Hunter looks like.” Jaime spoke in response to the silent tones of the Scarab.

“Okay, so if that's Rip Hunter...Who the hell is that?” Cliff asked, presumably pointing or looking at Goldstar.

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Previously

Rip Hunter and Gloss stared at their new house guest.* She'd torn her way through the Suspendium Barrier, what Rip had thought was indestructible, but apparently wasn't. Instead of running to help the woman, he ran towards the barrier to get some readings.

“Suspendium isn't permeable, I've cut it directly from time's epithelial walls. It's supposed to prevent extra time leaking from the core of time, not allow things to pass through it. You don't want blood passing from your blood vessels into the...”

“RIP!” Gloss yelled, annoyed immediately by his babbling. He lowered his voice, and wandered towards Gloss.

“Who is Goldstar?” Gloss said as she looked up to Rip.

Rip stroked his beard and knelt down next to her, brushing some of the young ladies hair from her face.

“She is the sister of Booster Gold. You know, the time traveling Justice League screwup?”

“Him? Really? Is she...like him?” Gloss asked, picking her up in her arms, and noticing the young girl who lay to the side of her.

“Who is that?” Rip asked, rushing over to her, as she rolled onto her back, looking up at Rip and screwing up her face.

“Who the hell are you?” She asked

“Rip Hunter, and you are?”

“My parents told me not to talk to strangers. How did you get me here?” She asked, looking around the time-platform.

“You came here with her.”Rip pointed over to Goldstar, who was being placed on the surgery table by Gloss.

“We're losing her, Rip.” Gloss spoke up, with panic in her voice. Rip sighed, and looked down at the little girl.

“Look, I don't have time for you at the moment. Sit here and be quiet, I've got some Chrono-Surgery to perform.”

Milagro looked up from her position on the floor to see the two heroes engaged in important work, pulling what appeared to be a Golden Star from a tiny compartment next to the table, and cutting open the injured woman's chest, ready to place it inside.

(*See Blue Beetle 6, ** See DCI: Showcase Presents 8)

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“My name is Goldstar.” She began, having spent the last ten minutes with five men fussing over her. She smiled to herself gently, a hand on her scared chest. She looked up at Rip Hunter. He had performed the surgery on her that had led to her powers manifesting the second time, but...something was different.

“I had to do some experimental surgery on you, Michelle.” Rip began, before he was pushed out the way by Booster, who hovered over her for a few seconds before pulling her into a tight hug.

“You're alive.” he whispered into her ear. She felt her shoulder become wet with his tears, and she smiled, returning his hug with equal vigor.

“I am alive, Michael. Thanks to Rip here, he gave me a Golden Star for a heart. It means I can travel through time like you did, and gives me similar powers...only makes me better.” She gave him a big kiss on the forehead and beamed a smile to the others.

Particularly, the young, and incredibly handsome Jaime Reyes. She released her brother and sat up, looking at the assembled group. Particularly at the confusion on Rip's face. How did she know about what he'd done to her.

“You were unconscious..” he began before it started to click into place.

“Oh. Right. Time travel.” He smiled and secretly scolded himself for being so stupid. He turned away from the group, tapping Booster on the shoulder and waving for him to come over to the corner.

“We need to have words.” Rip said quietly.

“What are you doing here?” Cliff asked, slightly captivated by her beauty. Suddenly all thoughts of Hawk and her filthy mouth were out of his head.

“I've come back in time to prevent...I want to stop what happened in my time, and make sure that we've won. All of us. We've won our battles and our hearts.” She smiled again, and ran a hand through her hair, her eyes not for one moment moving off Jaime.

“What's your time like then?”

Michelle began to start opening her mouth, before Rip interjected.

“Shouldn't really tell them, Goldstar. You're here to prevent this stuff from happening, you might cause it to happen just by telling them about it.” He raised his finger in disapproval, before Booster came shooting over to his sister again.

“I'm glad you're alright. Are you staying here? You can stay wherever you want.”

Michelle looked from Jaime to her brother and smiled.

“I'd love to stay, after all, there's so much here for me.”

She stared at Jaime a little more, and Booster turned to look at him as well.

“What?!” he asked.

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Previously

“We don't want to get too involved in this,” Rip said, as he typed in the co-ordinates to Milagro's home.

“I'm glad that you found it to trust us, Milagro.” Gloss was knelt down before the young girl, who was stronger than she was at that age. She put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.

“Well, you've been brave, and you get to go back to your parents now.” Milagro smiled, but then her face dropped.

“Jaime won't be there will he?” She looked up at the Asian lady, and her face dropped as well. She looked away.

“I can't say, Milagro. We don't want every element of time.” Gloss lied to her, cursing herself as she did so.

“Okay, well, I hope he is there, but I don't think he will be.” Milagro said with a sad smile.

“The door open is open, Kid. Take care.” She smiled, and walked through the portal. She clearly wasn't old enough to distrust or care about where it led or what their intents were.

Milagro's smile grew wider as she walked back out into her front room. Her mother dropped the plate of food she was carrying and ran over to her daughter.

“MILAGRO?! MILAGRO!!”

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“I know this is an inopportune time.” Rip began, looking towards the teenagers gathered together.

“But they're going to be okay, Michael. Everything will be alright with them now your sister is here. They're going to face some hard times, but when it comes to it, you'll be back to help them.”

“That is assuming I'm coming with you, Rip.” Booster said, his voice and face hard.

“I know, Michael, but we need you. Gloss and I, we can't do this without you. The team I am assembling you know, but in this element, in this place outside of time, they're unknown quantities. You'd be my right hand man,” Rip said, clearly this distressed him a little.

“Right hand man? And you're saying they can stay safe, and you could...drop me off just after I've left, right? So I've not missed anything?” Booster asked, looking over his shoulder at the group again.

“In theory, if all goes well, then yes, Yes we could do that,” Rip said, dodging the question a little.

“Alright. We'll do it. I'll just tell them I'm going for a few hours, and then you can...beam me back or whatever when we're done. A few hours from now.” Michael shot off into the background, to talk and hug his sister some more.

Rip watched from the background. He knew those three would be important in the coming events. Goldstar for her knowledge of the future, but he feared she would think with her heart, and not her head.

Cliff, because he was the only early warning, protection they had from the Scarab's and their off-shoots, though he worried for the sanity of the boy, and his need for revenge against Jaime.

And the Blue Beetle himself, would he be instrumental in the ending of the Scarab War, or would he be the downfall of the planet.

Only time would tell.

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Next issue: Drug Running! More Whysper, and the trio embark on their first mission!