Return of the mullet!fic, hooray!
(I have taken to affectionately nicknaming this thing: "Booster and Beetle Take On the World and Win." If I end up using that as the official name, I will be disappointed that I couldn't think of anything better, but relieved that I didn't end up naming it "Mullet Fic.")
Here's some spoilers if you haven't seen any of OMAC Project:
Having read the entirety of the OMAC Project comics, I got it into my head to go over previous chapters with a fine-toothed comb and figure out how they jived with the sequence of events in the comics. The fact that no one ever mentions the passage of time (except really Booster, who I suspect apparently only spent two or so days in the hospital after being asploded), made lining things up a bit easier. I just assumed that events weren't passing in some sort of parallel to how fast I was reading. *speed reader, woo*
So for anyone interested, whether you've read OMAC or not, here's a loose interpretation of the sequence of events as they relate to this story:
Max shoots Beetle dead. Booster gets out of the hospital two days after Beetle visited. Wonder Woman shows up and takes him to the Watchtower because Batman has important news about Beetle. In a scene that honestly moved me, Bats shows them Beetle's goggles, Booster calls him a son of a bitch and shoots him, and Booster is bitter and sarcastic when Superdickman blocks the shot. That's comics. Now we get to where the story diverges from them. In comics, Booster and Wondy search for Batman's Satellite of Dicky Death. In this story, Booster split soon after shooting at Batman in order to jump-start his supervillain career. Guy and Bea probably ran into him a time or two, noticed the new look, realized he'd quite possibly gone apeshit nuts, and decided not to bother him with world savey things. (Possibly before and/or after he was in the process of stealing things, they just didn't notice.) Some time during Booster's crime spree and magic experimentation, Wondy twist-tops Max's head. During Booster's magic experimentation, he accidentally creates Junior. Then Booster accidentally creates Zombie Max. This all takes less than a month (as Booster said in Chapter Four). Then Booster gets it right and resurrects Ted (finally). An unspecific amount of OMAC fighting occurs elsewhere before and during the course of previous chapters, which only take, at most, three days (excluding the prologue). (Also, the OMAC stabbity of BatHo Sasha kills her dead. Because I say so.)
Aaand this chapter comes right up on the point where Brother Eye activates all the OMACs.
Whoo! Everyone still with me? Please to be pointing out any flaws in my logic, because it was kind of tricky figuring things out.
Again, many thanks to lakidaa, for the RPs that chunks of this are based on. For helping me work out plotty details. And, as always, for betaing the bejeebus outta my bracket-filled nonsensery. Also, you can blame/thank her for Skeets's new design, as it would not have been possible without her sending me comics and saying "See? See the shiny? Use for Skeets! Do eet!" (Really, how could I argue with that? ^_^)
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: The Redemption of Booster Gold } { next story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness }->
~6th Chapter
Booster got back to the house soon after Ted and Junior, but not before they had already begun taking apart Skeets's coffeemaker body, occasionally muttering some sort of geek code to each other.
"So what if we--"
"Ooh, I never thought of that!"
"Yeah! And then--"
"Bad touch!" Skeets warbled as Ted prodded his voice processor with some pointy metal tool Booster didn't recognize.
"What are you doing to my robot?!" Booster cried in horror, hastily setting the grocery bags on the floor and hurrying over to their geek huddle beside the robot.
"Fixing him!" Junior chirped, goggle-covered eyes focused intently on a panel in what passed for the robot's abdomen.
"We can make him better...." Ted muttered distractedly as he sifted through the pieces of coffeemaker for the AI module Skeets's voice processor was attached to.
"Faster!" Junior piped up.
Looking up and blinking, Ted added, "Stronger!"
"Better than before!" Junior crowed, waving a soldering iron.
"We have the technology!" Ted shouted, inserting the AI module and voice processor into the robot's abdomen while Junior leaned in to fix it in place.
There was a moment of expectant silence before the robot's head, likely formed from an old computer monitor, lit up. On the "face" screen the symbols "o_o" appeared, filling the space.
Grinning, Ted and Junior looked at each other, then burst into triumphant laughter.
"I feel so violated." Skeets said.
"Creeeeeepyyy." Booster muttered, staring alternately at the newly "repaired" Skeets and Ted and Junior, whose laughter was slowly winding down.
"...I can't move." Skeets suddenly remarked.
There was a pause as Ted frowned in confusion and Junior looked thoughtful. "But it should have at least some basic maneuverability." Ted muttered. "In the arms if nowhere else."
"Ohhh." Junior said in the voice of the newly enlightened. "Those."
"Those?" Ted asked suspiciously.
"I..." Junior cringed a little, looking sheepish, "needed the parts. And there's not much space for a robot to move around down here anyway, so...."
While Skeets muttered vaguely about doom again, Ted frowned thoughtfully before suddenly lifting his head to look at Junior. "Idea."
"What?" Junior asked eagerly.
Instead of answering, Ted moved to a stack of boxes and began rustling through them. Junior trailed behind.
"Hold me, sir." Skeets implored. Booster patted his robot shoulder consolingly.
"Ta-da!" Ted suddenly shouted, holding up...something that looked like a giant metal bug. Junior looked suitably impressed, while Booster frowned in confusion. The symbols ":(" appeared on Skeets's screen.
"It's a bug." Booster said.
Ted frowned at him as he brought his prize back to Skeets's robot body. "It's a Snoopy."
"I thought that was a dog."
Holding up the metal bug, Ted wiggled it at Booster. "It's a Snoopy. It snoops."
"Oh."
"Cool!" Junior gushed. Then something in one of the boxes caught his eye and he turned back to investigate.
"So if we can just put you in here," Ted told Skeets, wiggling the Snoopy again, "you should be able to move again."
Skeets said nothing, though ":/" flickered onto his screen.
"That's the spirit!" Ted said enthusiastically, opening the robot's abdomen once again.
"Sir?" Skeets warbled at Booster.
Booster sighed and patted his shoulder again. "Don't worry, Skeets," he said slowly. "There's...no one I'd trust with a robot body...more than Ted."
"I thought we agreed never to speak of that." Skeets muttered.
"That we did." Ted agreed, attention fixed on an open panel under the Snoopy's wings. "Transfer in a minute."
"What?"
Not answering Skeets's worried question, Ted carefully disconnected the AI module from the robot. Booster startled a little as the robot's screen "face" went dark once again, waving a hand in front of it and staring at his own reflection. Ted glanced up from inserting the module in the Snoopy and said, "He's in here, Booster."
Booster quickly dropped his hand and straightened. "I know."
"Relax." Ted told him, smiling. "I just had to disconnect his voice processor for a moment. He'll be back and chatting again just as soon as I get everything hooked up."
"I know." Booster said, smiling back. "I trust you, Ted."
A sudden clatter had both of them looking up to find Junior laying on his stomach trying to reach under a pile of various basement detritus. When they turned to face each other again, Ted made shooing motions at Booster with a pointy metal tool. "Go be a parent," he said. "I'm busy."
Booster sighed and ambled over to stand next to Junior. "What are you doing, Junior?"
The boy's frantic waving of his arm underneath the pile abruptly stopped with a soft metallic clunk. Grunting slightly, Junior shifted, then did an odd sort of crab-crawl with his arm still extended. After he had moved far enough, he rolled onto his back and held aloft the object he had been reaching for, grinning in triumph.
Booster tilted his head to look at it, then raised an eyebrow. "Spraypaint?"
"Gold spraypaint," Junior corrected.
Rolling his eyes, Booster muttered, "Of course."
Junior beamed happily. "It's for Skeets," he said. "So he'll be gold again."
"I...see."
"Done!" Ted called. Booster and Junior looked over to see the Snoopy, now Skeets, hovering in front of him, somehow managing to project a sense of agitation despite a lack of facial expression.
"I'm a bug!" Skeets complained.
"It's...." Junior spoke up, then waved a hand at Booster, floundering.
"Advanced!" Ted interjected.
"Right!"
Booster crossed his arms over his chest and frowned while Skeets said, "Oh really."
Ted and Junior's expressions indicated that yes, they really and truly believed what they were saying.
There was a pause before Skeets turned to Booster and said, "I think I have a laser." On his former robot body's screen the symbols ":D" appeared.
Ted and Junior hi-fived, almost missing as their attention remained focused on Skeets. Booster moved in closer to peer curiously at his robot pal. "Really?" he asked thoughtfully, cupping his chin with one hand. "Lasers are cool...."
Ted frowned suddenly, something registering as the thrill of accomplishment wore off. "Wait a minute...Skeets, how did you do that?"
"Do what?" Skeets asked, moving to hover in front of Ted again.
Ted silently pointed to the screen, where the symbols still glowed white against the black background. There was a pause before Skeets tilted to the side a little, possibly a variation on a shrug, and said, "I'm still connected to it."
"How are you still--" Ted started, brow furrowed, but stopped as Junior suddenly caught the hovering AI with one hand and started shaking the can of spraypaint in his other.
"I'm gonna make you gold again," Junior told the little robot as it fidgeted. "Just hold still."
"Sir?" Skeets warbled imploringly.
Booster sighed, moving to Ted's side and sitting next to him. "Just...go with it, Skeets."
There was an odd, hollow metallic sound that could have been the closest approximation the AI's voice processor could get to a whimper. Junior grinned. "You'll look great!" he chirped, letting go of Skeets so he could hover again. On the robot body's screen, the symbols ":(" appeared.
As the hiss of spraypainting combined with metallic whimpers, Ted turned to Booster, staring thoughtfully at the man's hair. "So, Booster," he said slowly. "Now that you've got me and Skeets back, and become a father, you think you'll give up this villainy shtick?" He reached up and flicked Booster's bangs. "Maybe wash out the dye?"
"You're one to talk," Booster snapped, then blinked and looked down at his hands. "I mean, uh, I...like it...."
There was a sudden sound like a laser firing and they quickly looked up to see smoke rising from the charred tips of Junior's bangs, a startled expression on his face. The expression quickly changed to excitement and awe as the boy exclaimed, "Cool!"
Ted sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I come back from the dead, and what do I get?" he muttered. "A mullet and the most dysfunctional...family...thing...ever."
Overhearing him, Junior piped up perkily, "I have two dads!" without looking up from his spraypainting.
At the odd look that settled on Ted's face, Booster felt the need to say something to help his friend deal with the strange new realities of his life. "You know...." he said, clearing his throat. "In the future--"
Ted suddenly covered his ears with his hands and said loudly, "La la la la, not listening!"
"Does this mean I'm the dog?" Skeets asked.
Thoughtful, Junior said, "I think you're the butler."
"...that is so true." Skeets said morosely.
Behind them, Ted and Booster continued to argue: Ted making increasingly louder claims that he could not hear Booster, and Booster trying to explain to him about genetic offspring in the future and how the whole situation would've been perfectly normal in that time period. Well, maybe not the bringing the dead back to life with magic part, but the sharing a son part, certainly.
"Max can be the dog!" Junior exclaimed with sudden inspiration. "Can I keep him? Huh? I'll clean up anything that falls off him!"
"Max?" It was amazing how much confusion the AI could fit into one syllable with his robotic voice.
Junior pointed. "He's in the closet."
Skeets was silent for a long moment before he finally said flatly, "What?" He turned to glance at Ted, then back to Junior. "I caught the news about people dying and stuff, but...what?"
Instead of answering, Junior calmly strode over to the closet door and opened it. Inside, Zombie Max, very slowly decomposing, groaned and lurched. Junior slammed the door shut in his face.
On the robot's screen, the symbols "o.0" appeared.
"I already made him smell better!" Junior announced proudly.
"OhgodIamthebutler," Skeets groaned. "Zombies are not pets."
Hearing the door slam, Booster looked up and said sternly, "Junior, don't let the zombie out!" As the boy pouted, Booster caught sight of Ted's hand twitching toward a wrench laying on his workbench, gaze fixed unblinkingly on the closet door. "Ted, don't hit the zombie!"
When Ted pouted, Booster was hard pressed not to notice the similarity between father and son.
"Is that...you, sir?" Skeets wondered in disbelief. He floated over and poked at Booster's shoulder with one of his beetle legs.
Thinking back over the last few seconds, a look close to horror crossed Booster's face. "I...don't know anymore...."
"It is!" Skeets cried. "Showing responsibility!" There was a pause before he added, "I should die more often if it makes you act responsibly."
While Booster glared at the AI, Junior grinned and behind him Ted tried (unsuccessfully) to hold back a snicker. Booster sulkily muttered something that might have been dire threats.
"This is the best family ever!" Junior chirped, beaming.
At a loss, Ted said, "Uh...."
Unswayed by such logic, Junior called, "Group hug!" Then he threw himself at Booster and Ted, somehow managing to get his arms around Skeets as well.
"This is all your fault." Booster and Ted said to each other.
"I feel so loved." Skeets said. Junior's grin widened.
When the hug ended, there was a long moment when no one said or did anything, all staring at each other. It was Ted who finally broke the silence. "So, uh...now what?"
Booster fidgeted nervously for a second, then suddenly leaned over and kissed Ted's cheek. Surprised, Ted squinted a little and murmured, "What the--?"
Having turned away to study the robot body they had previously put Skeets in, Junior remained oblivious. Skeets, meanwhile, had seen and recorded it.
"I so saw that," he gloated. "I just won fifty bucks from L-ron. And another twenty from Ralph." On the robot body's screen, the symbols ":D" appeared, seeming somehow a bit bolder and, perhaps, more smug.
Then the image on the screen abruptly jumped, smeared, and was overlaid with bursts of static. "Sir?!" Skeets blurted in panic, darting for his larger robot body and huddling on its shoulder, letting out tiny beeps of agitation.
"Skeets?" Booster asked worriedly, moving to stand next to a startled Junior in front of the robot.
"Something...something is happening." Skeets muttered fearfully, buggy legs skittering a little.
Booster glanced at Ted as the man joined them, then turned back to Skeets. "What? What's happening, Skeets?"
"Something...activated. Big. All over. Vengeance. Activated!" The little AI babbled, then gave a soft mechanical whine as the static on the screen flared brightly for a second.
"Skeets," Ted spoke up slowly, an odd thoughtful look on his face. "Are you still connected to Checkmate? Like you're still connected to that robot?"
Skeets whimpered. "Alpha, beta. Activated. Vengeance. Gamma, epsilon. Activated, activated!"
"Skeets!" Ted shouted. "Are you still connected?"
The static on the screen cleared enough for them to briefly see ":,(" before flaring again. "...yes?"
"What's happening?" Ted pressed. "What's been activated?"
Instead of answering, the screen abruptly changed from static to a news report. "--reports coming in everywhere of people turning into--" The channel changed to another report with a jerky clip of a woman disappearing into the strange blue cocoon growing around her. When she was completely surrounded, in her place floated a blueish, humanoid robot-looking thing. Featureless save for a single shining orb in the center of its face, an odd fin on top of its head, and a stylized picture of an eye right above its chest.
"Oh my God...." Ted whispered.
When Booster looked at him, the man had his arms tightly wrapped around himself, absently rubbing his right elbow as he stared at the screen in wide-eyed horror. "Ted?"
Not taking his eyes from the screen, Ted said quietly, "That's the thing that beat me. Before Max...k--before. I thought I was dead, when it beat me. Then I woke up and Max...." He trailed off. When he spoke again, his voice seemed to be coming from far away. "Skeets? How many have been activated?"
The AI bug skittered a little on the robot's shoulder, nervous. "...Over a million," he said quietly. "Brother Eye activated all of them."
"Can't you ask him to stop?" Junior asked, subdued.
"What?" Skeets and Booster both asked.
Junior stared up at the news report worriedly, then turned to Skeets. "If it's your brother, can't you ask him to stop?"
"It's not my brother."
"But...you're connected, aren't you?" Junior fumbled. "Doesn't that make you related? Isn't that how it works for AIs?"
"I--"
"Skeets?" Ted spoke up musingly. "He's right, you are connected. If you wanted to, could you talk to those things?"
"I...suppose."
"What are you thinking, Ted?" Booster asked, peering at him curiously.
When Ted turned to him, the grin on his face made Booster think of the warm sun and sea air of Kooey Kooey Kooey. "We're going to ask it to stop, Booster."
-----
Previous chapters, in case you've forgotten as much about what's going on as I had:
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
[ETA of chapter the seventh: Plotted out and being written. Home stretch, folks.]
Oh yes, and one more thing. As promised: Zombie Max. (If it's too dark to see, let me know and I'll fix it. I'm on a new computer screen and I'm still working out how what I see compares to what everyone else sees. And if you just want to see the original pencil lines, click here.)
Here's some spoilers if you haven't seen any of OMAC Project:
Having read the entirety of the OMAC Project comics, I got it into my head to go over previous chapters with a fine-toothed comb and figure out how they jived with the sequence of events in the comics. The fact that no one ever mentions the passage of time (except really Booster, who I suspect apparently only spent two or so days in the hospital after being asploded), made lining things up a bit easier. I just assumed that events weren't passing in some sort of parallel to how fast I was reading. *speed reader, woo*
So for anyone interested, whether you've read OMAC or not, here's a loose interpretation of the sequence of events as they relate to this story:
Max shoots Beetle dead. Booster gets out of the hospital two days after Beetle visited. Wonder Woman shows up and takes him to the Watchtower because Batman has important news about Beetle. In a scene that honestly moved me, Bats shows them Beetle's goggles, Booster calls him a son of a bitch and shoots him, and Booster is bitter and sarcastic when Superdickman blocks the shot. That's comics. Now we get to where the story diverges from them. In comics, Booster and Wondy search for Batman's Satellite of Dicky Death. In this story, Booster split soon after shooting at Batman in order to jump-start his supervillain career. Guy and Bea probably ran into him a time or two, noticed the new look, realized he'd quite possibly gone apeshit nuts, and decided not to bother him with world savey things. (Possibly before and/or after he was in the process of stealing things, they just didn't notice.) Some time during Booster's crime spree and magic experimentation, Wondy twist-tops Max's head. During Booster's magic experimentation, he accidentally creates Junior. Then Booster accidentally creates Zombie Max. This all takes less than a month (as Booster said in Chapter Four). Then Booster gets it right and resurrects Ted (finally). An unspecific amount of OMAC fighting occurs elsewhere before and during the course of previous chapters, which only take, at most, three days (excluding the prologue). (Also, the OMAC stabbity of BatHo Sasha kills her dead. Because I say so.)
Aaand this chapter comes right up on the point where Brother Eye activates all the OMACs.
Whoo! Everyone still with me? Please to be pointing out any flaws in my logic, because it was kind of tricky figuring things out.
Again, many thanks to lakidaa, for the RPs that chunks of this are based on. For helping me work out plotty details. And, as always, for betaing the bejeebus outta my bracket-filled nonsensery. Also, you can blame/thank her for Skeets's new design, as it would not have been possible without her sending me comics and saying "See? See the shiny? Use for Skeets! Do eet!" (Really, how could I argue with that? ^_^)
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: The Redemption of Booster Gold } { next story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness }->
~6th Chapter
Booster got back to the house soon after Ted and Junior, but not before they had already begun taking apart Skeets's coffeemaker body, occasionally muttering some sort of geek code to each other.
"So what if we--"
"Ooh, I never thought of that!"
"Yeah! And then--"
"Bad touch!" Skeets warbled as Ted prodded his voice processor with some pointy metal tool Booster didn't recognize.
"What are you doing to my robot?!" Booster cried in horror, hastily setting the grocery bags on the floor and hurrying over to their geek huddle beside the robot.
"Fixing him!" Junior chirped, goggle-covered eyes focused intently on a panel in what passed for the robot's abdomen.
"We can make him better...." Ted muttered distractedly as he sifted through the pieces of coffeemaker for the AI module Skeets's voice processor was attached to.
"Faster!" Junior piped up.
Looking up and blinking, Ted added, "Stronger!"
"Better than before!" Junior crowed, waving a soldering iron.
"We have the technology!" Ted shouted, inserting the AI module and voice processor into the robot's abdomen while Junior leaned in to fix it in place.
There was a moment of expectant silence before the robot's head, likely formed from an old computer monitor, lit up. On the "face" screen the symbols "o_o" appeared, filling the space.
Grinning, Ted and Junior looked at each other, then burst into triumphant laughter.
"I feel so violated." Skeets said.
"Creeeeeepyyy." Booster muttered, staring alternately at the newly "repaired" Skeets and Ted and Junior, whose laughter was slowly winding down.
"...I can't move." Skeets suddenly remarked.
There was a pause as Ted frowned in confusion and Junior looked thoughtful. "But it should have at least some basic maneuverability." Ted muttered. "In the arms if nowhere else."
"Ohhh." Junior said in the voice of the newly enlightened. "Those."
"Those?" Ted asked suspiciously.
"I..." Junior cringed a little, looking sheepish, "needed the parts. And there's not much space for a robot to move around down here anyway, so...."
While Skeets muttered vaguely about doom again, Ted frowned thoughtfully before suddenly lifting his head to look at Junior. "Idea."
"What?" Junior asked eagerly.
Instead of answering, Ted moved to a stack of boxes and began rustling through them. Junior trailed behind.
"Hold me, sir." Skeets implored. Booster patted his robot shoulder consolingly.
"Ta-da!" Ted suddenly shouted, holding up...something that looked like a giant metal bug. Junior looked suitably impressed, while Booster frowned in confusion. The symbols ":(" appeared on Skeets's screen.
"It's a bug." Booster said.
Ted frowned at him as he brought his prize back to Skeets's robot body. "It's a Snoopy."
"I thought that was a dog."
Holding up the metal bug, Ted wiggled it at Booster. "It's a Snoopy. It snoops."
"Oh."
"Cool!" Junior gushed. Then something in one of the boxes caught his eye and he turned back to investigate.
"So if we can just put you in here," Ted told Skeets, wiggling the Snoopy again, "you should be able to move again."
Skeets said nothing, though ":/" flickered onto his screen.
"That's the spirit!" Ted said enthusiastically, opening the robot's abdomen once again.
"Sir?" Skeets warbled at Booster.
Booster sighed and patted his shoulder again. "Don't worry, Skeets," he said slowly. "There's...no one I'd trust with a robot body...more than Ted."
"I thought we agreed never to speak of that." Skeets muttered.
"That we did." Ted agreed, attention fixed on an open panel under the Snoopy's wings. "Transfer in a minute."
"What?"
Not answering Skeets's worried question, Ted carefully disconnected the AI module from the robot. Booster startled a little as the robot's screen "face" went dark once again, waving a hand in front of it and staring at his own reflection. Ted glanced up from inserting the module in the Snoopy and said, "He's in here, Booster."
Booster quickly dropped his hand and straightened. "I know."
"Relax." Ted told him, smiling. "I just had to disconnect his voice processor for a moment. He'll be back and chatting again just as soon as I get everything hooked up."
"I know." Booster said, smiling back. "I trust you, Ted."
A sudden clatter had both of them looking up to find Junior laying on his stomach trying to reach under a pile of various basement detritus. When they turned to face each other again, Ted made shooing motions at Booster with a pointy metal tool. "Go be a parent," he said. "I'm busy."
Booster sighed and ambled over to stand next to Junior. "What are you doing, Junior?"
The boy's frantic waving of his arm underneath the pile abruptly stopped with a soft metallic clunk. Grunting slightly, Junior shifted, then did an odd sort of crab-crawl with his arm still extended. After he had moved far enough, he rolled onto his back and held aloft the object he had been reaching for, grinning in triumph.
Booster tilted his head to look at it, then raised an eyebrow. "Spraypaint?"
"Gold spraypaint," Junior corrected.
Rolling his eyes, Booster muttered, "Of course."
Junior beamed happily. "It's for Skeets," he said. "So he'll be gold again."
"I...see."
"Done!" Ted called. Booster and Junior looked over to see the Snoopy, now Skeets, hovering in front of him, somehow managing to project a sense of agitation despite a lack of facial expression.
"I'm a bug!" Skeets complained.
"It's...." Junior spoke up, then waved a hand at Booster, floundering.
"Advanced!" Ted interjected.
"Right!"
Booster crossed his arms over his chest and frowned while Skeets said, "Oh really."
Ted and Junior's expressions indicated that yes, they really and truly believed what they were saying.
There was a pause before Skeets turned to Booster and said, "I think I have a laser." On his former robot body's screen the symbols ":D" appeared.
Ted and Junior hi-fived, almost missing as their attention remained focused on Skeets. Booster moved in closer to peer curiously at his robot pal. "Really?" he asked thoughtfully, cupping his chin with one hand. "Lasers are cool...."
Ted frowned suddenly, something registering as the thrill of accomplishment wore off. "Wait a minute...Skeets, how did you do that?"
"Do what?" Skeets asked, moving to hover in front of Ted again.
Ted silently pointed to the screen, where the symbols still glowed white against the black background. There was a pause before Skeets tilted to the side a little, possibly a variation on a shrug, and said, "I'm still connected to it."
"How are you still--" Ted started, brow furrowed, but stopped as Junior suddenly caught the hovering AI with one hand and started shaking the can of spraypaint in his other.
"I'm gonna make you gold again," Junior told the little robot as it fidgeted. "Just hold still."
"Sir?" Skeets warbled imploringly.
Booster sighed, moving to Ted's side and sitting next to him. "Just...go with it, Skeets."
There was an odd, hollow metallic sound that could have been the closest approximation the AI's voice processor could get to a whimper. Junior grinned. "You'll look great!" he chirped, letting go of Skeets so he could hover again. On the robot body's screen, the symbols ":(" appeared.
As the hiss of spraypainting combined with metallic whimpers, Ted turned to Booster, staring thoughtfully at the man's hair. "So, Booster," he said slowly. "Now that you've got me and Skeets back, and become a father, you think you'll give up this villainy shtick?" He reached up and flicked Booster's bangs. "Maybe wash out the dye?"
"You're one to talk," Booster snapped, then blinked and looked down at his hands. "I mean, uh, I...like it...."
There was a sudden sound like a laser firing and they quickly looked up to see smoke rising from the charred tips of Junior's bangs, a startled expression on his face. The expression quickly changed to excitement and awe as the boy exclaimed, "Cool!"
Ted sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I come back from the dead, and what do I get?" he muttered. "A mullet and the most dysfunctional...family...thing...ever."
Overhearing him, Junior piped up perkily, "I have two dads!" without looking up from his spraypainting.
At the odd look that settled on Ted's face, Booster felt the need to say something to help his friend deal with the strange new realities of his life. "You know...." he said, clearing his throat. "In the future--"
Ted suddenly covered his ears with his hands and said loudly, "La la la la, not listening!"
"Does this mean I'm the dog?" Skeets asked.
Thoughtful, Junior said, "I think you're the butler."
"...that is so true." Skeets said morosely.
Behind them, Ted and Booster continued to argue: Ted making increasingly louder claims that he could not hear Booster, and Booster trying to explain to him about genetic offspring in the future and how the whole situation would've been perfectly normal in that time period. Well, maybe not the bringing the dead back to life with magic part, but the sharing a son part, certainly.
"Max can be the dog!" Junior exclaimed with sudden inspiration. "Can I keep him? Huh? I'll clean up anything that falls off him!"
"Max?" It was amazing how much confusion the AI could fit into one syllable with his robotic voice.
Junior pointed. "He's in the closet."
Skeets was silent for a long moment before he finally said flatly, "What?" He turned to glance at Ted, then back to Junior. "I caught the news about people dying and stuff, but...what?"
Instead of answering, Junior calmly strode over to the closet door and opened it. Inside, Zombie Max, very slowly decomposing, groaned and lurched. Junior slammed the door shut in his face.
On the robot's screen, the symbols "o.0" appeared.
"I already made him smell better!" Junior announced proudly.
"OhgodIamthebutler," Skeets groaned. "Zombies are not pets."
Hearing the door slam, Booster looked up and said sternly, "Junior, don't let the zombie out!" As the boy pouted, Booster caught sight of Ted's hand twitching toward a wrench laying on his workbench, gaze fixed unblinkingly on the closet door. "Ted, don't hit the zombie!"
When Ted pouted, Booster was hard pressed not to notice the similarity between father and son.
"Is that...you, sir?" Skeets wondered in disbelief. He floated over and poked at Booster's shoulder with one of his beetle legs.
Thinking back over the last few seconds, a look close to horror crossed Booster's face. "I...don't know anymore...."
"It is!" Skeets cried. "Showing responsibility!" There was a pause before he added, "I should die more often if it makes you act responsibly."
While Booster glared at the AI, Junior grinned and behind him Ted tried (unsuccessfully) to hold back a snicker. Booster sulkily muttered something that might have been dire threats.
"This is the best family ever!" Junior chirped, beaming.
At a loss, Ted said, "Uh...."
Unswayed by such logic, Junior called, "Group hug!" Then he threw himself at Booster and Ted, somehow managing to get his arms around Skeets as well.
"This is all your fault." Booster and Ted said to each other.
"I feel so loved." Skeets said. Junior's grin widened.
When the hug ended, there was a long moment when no one said or did anything, all staring at each other. It was Ted who finally broke the silence. "So, uh...now what?"
Booster fidgeted nervously for a second, then suddenly leaned over and kissed Ted's cheek. Surprised, Ted squinted a little and murmured, "What the--?"
Having turned away to study the robot body they had previously put Skeets in, Junior remained oblivious. Skeets, meanwhile, had seen and recorded it.
"I so saw that," he gloated. "I just won fifty bucks from L-ron. And another twenty from Ralph." On the robot body's screen, the symbols ":D" appeared, seeming somehow a bit bolder and, perhaps, more smug.
Then the image on the screen abruptly jumped, smeared, and was overlaid with bursts of static. "Sir?!" Skeets blurted in panic, darting for his larger robot body and huddling on its shoulder, letting out tiny beeps of agitation.
"Skeets?" Booster asked worriedly, moving to stand next to a startled Junior in front of the robot.
"Something...something is happening." Skeets muttered fearfully, buggy legs skittering a little.
Booster glanced at Ted as the man joined them, then turned back to Skeets. "What? What's happening, Skeets?"
"Something...activated. Big. All over. Vengeance. Activated!" The little AI babbled, then gave a soft mechanical whine as the static on the screen flared brightly for a second.
"Skeets," Ted spoke up slowly, an odd thoughtful look on his face. "Are you still connected to Checkmate? Like you're still connected to that robot?"
Skeets whimpered. "Alpha, beta. Activated. Vengeance. Gamma, epsilon. Activated, activated!"
"Skeets!" Ted shouted. "Are you still connected?"
The static on the screen cleared enough for them to briefly see ":,(" before flaring again. "...yes?"
"What's happening?" Ted pressed. "What's been activated?"
Instead of answering, the screen abruptly changed from static to a news report. "--reports coming in everywhere of people turning into--" The channel changed to another report with a jerky clip of a woman disappearing into the strange blue cocoon growing around her. When she was completely surrounded, in her place floated a blueish, humanoid robot-looking thing. Featureless save for a single shining orb in the center of its face, an odd fin on top of its head, and a stylized picture of an eye right above its chest.
"Oh my God...." Ted whispered.
When Booster looked at him, the man had his arms tightly wrapped around himself, absently rubbing his right elbow as he stared at the screen in wide-eyed horror. "Ted?"
Not taking his eyes from the screen, Ted said quietly, "That's the thing that beat me. Before Max...k--before. I thought I was dead, when it beat me. Then I woke up and Max...." He trailed off. When he spoke again, his voice seemed to be coming from far away. "Skeets? How many have been activated?"
The AI bug skittered a little on the robot's shoulder, nervous. "...Over a million," he said quietly. "Brother Eye activated all of them."
"Can't you ask him to stop?" Junior asked, subdued.
"What?" Skeets and Booster both asked.
Junior stared up at the news report worriedly, then turned to Skeets. "If it's your brother, can't you ask him to stop?"
"It's not my brother."
"But...you're connected, aren't you?" Junior fumbled. "Doesn't that make you related? Isn't that how it works for AIs?"
"I--"
"Skeets?" Ted spoke up musingly. "He's right, you are connected. If you wanted to, could you talk to those things?"
"I...suppose."
"What are you thinking, Ted?" Booster asked, peering at him curiously.
When Ted turned to him, the grin on his face made Booster think of the warm sun and sea air of Kooey Kooey Kooey. "We're going to ask it to stop, Booster."
-----
Previous chapters, in case you've forgotten as much about what's going on as I had:
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
[ETA of chapter the seventh: Plotted out and being written. Home stretch, folks.]
Oh yes, and one more thing. As promised: Zombie Max. (If it's too dark to see, let me know and I'll fix it. I'm on a new computer screen and I'm still working out how what I see compares to what everyone else sees. And if you just want to see the original pencil lines, click here.)
