All That Glitters - Part Twelve (Conclusion) by: Enemyoffun Mike Carter is the man about campus who lives life in the fast lane. He's quarterback of his college football team, well liked by the student population and quite a ladies man. But due to gambling, Mike has a money problem. To make ends meet he takes a job at as a security guard at a museum and things go down hill from there all thanks to a gold orb.

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Author's Note: Here's the last chapter of Booster Gold, thanks to everyone who's read and commented, I really appreciate it. I'm going to take a Retcon break and go back to the Center universe. Then I'll be back back with my own spin on the Green Lantern and the Red Lantern. I'd like to thank djkauf for all the hard work and Lilith for putting up with me emailing each chapter to her. I'd also like to thank DC Comics for the wonderful characters.

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Chapter Twelve:

“Myka, turn to the left”

I did as I was told and the photographer snapped a picture. The flash was so bright that it was blinding but I guess I’ll have to live with it. It’s not every day that you get a contract with Nike. Yeah that’s right, I said Nike. How cool is that? After my little stunt in the restaurant five weeks ago, my hero career kind of took off. Ok, so not really my hero career, more like my endorsement career. As soon as the police arrived to mop up the rest of Ballard’s gang, the press came with it. I tried to get away from the cameras but it was no use. So I ended up staying for a few sound bits. Most of the stuff was about my suit and where I got it. That’s how the world found out about Skeets and that’s where I got my tag line.

“Smile bigger, sweetheart,” said the photographer and I did as I was told.

He snapped through his last frames. My face was killing me. How in the hell do those super-models do this day in and day out. This was tiring work. When it was finally over after all the frames were done, I actually massaged my face. A girl came by with a towel and I wiped my sweaty brow. Those lights were hot. Another girl handed me a bottle of water and then I unzipped the front of the jumpsuit they made me wear. It was a mockup of my real suit but with one difference, instead of the star in front there was a huge Nike swish. I didn’t have any lines to say because it was a print ad; yesterday I did the commercial. That was kind of tiring too. I spent two hours being pampered and then eight hours in a studio shooting a thirty-second ad. Who in the hell knew those things took that long to do? They showed me the final project this morning, all finished. It was kind of cool. When I shot the commercial, they had me in a flying harness---like they used in the Warrior Angel movie----and I was soaring through the clouds. In the finished commercial, I was soaring through the clouds too but the harness and wires were gone.

Luckily, I only had a few lines to memorize. But it was the tag line that drove me insane: BOOSTER GOLD, TRAVELING FROM THE FUTURE TO PROTECT OUR PAST. It was Dirk’s stupid idea; the press actually picked up on the whole future thing. Even though everyone knew I was from the here and now, it was apparently cooler to say I was from the future. I guess I should have never shown Skeets to the world. I guess you live and learn.

Speaking of Skeets, he wasn’t happy with me at the moment. He said I betrayed our partnership. I’m not sure what his deal was. I made a promise and I always kept my promises. He helped me take down Ballard and it was only fair that I help him find Brother Eye. But he was mad because I didn’t do it right away. Hey, it’s not my fault that Dirk booked all these damn things without me knowing. But as soon as I got some free time I was definitely going to help him find his super villain. I’m not sure, when any free time was going to come up, according to Dirk I was booked solid for months but I’d make time. I had too; I never back down on anything.

“You looked beautiful today, Miss Carter” said a meek voice as I walked away from the stack of Nike boxes. I turned and saw Trixie. She was standing in the shadows, holding a clipboard to her chest. She was kind of mousy and shy but cute, especially with those glasses of hers. She’s graduated from my secretary to my full time assistant. Just like Skeets---who liked to be invisible---she followed me around everywhere too. But unlike Skeets, she complimented me about everything. It was kind of annoying but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get her to stop.

“Its Myka, Trixie” I said for the umpteenth time. “You don’t have to call me Miss Carter; you’re three years older than I am.”

Ok so technically she was two but I was now playing younger, remember. At least that’s what it said on all the ID’s I now owned. It just amazed me that someone like Trixie---a super smart girl with an MBA---would lower herself to following me around.

“I’m sorry Miss Ca…I mean Myka.”

I smiled, shaking my head. The two of us walked out of the studio and down the hall toward my dressing room. How cool is it that I had my own dressing room. Dirk set that up, of course. Now, according to him, I was a big star. But I hardly felt like one. But the media sure thought I was, especially the paparazzi. I thought they were bad before but now they practically followed me everywhere I went. I guess that’s the perk of being a hero who decided to share her identity with the world. It’s a curse too, definitely. After the restaurant incident, people stopped me in the street looking for autographs and though he was unseen, I had a bodyguard that lingered about in case something got really bad. I could handle myself in most incidents but there are some that require the extreme measures of my powers.

We walked together, Trixie trying to fill me on what else was planned for the day. Apparently, after this, I was supposed to go to a meeting with the Sports Illustrated people. Yeah, I decided to do it, they offered good money and besides I’ve been dying to get in there forever. Who cares if it happened to be the swimsuit issue. Hey, it was my favorite magazine for years anyway. But there was something about that that gave me pause and I had this image of a fifteen-year-old boy pleasuring himself to my picture. I shuddered at that.

Trixie stopped following me when I reached my dressing room. “You have twenty minutes, Miss Myka,” she said, smiling.

I smiled. At least she was trying to make an effort to be less formal. “Thanks, it won’t take me that long to change.”

She nodded and I went into the room.

It was a small room, barely big enough for the makeup table and the rack of clothing. I’m not a big star yet so I didn’t expect anything gigantic. Dirk was kind of pissed when he saw it though. He tried to argue that I was everything and that I deserved the best. He wanted me in one of those lot trailers, with a bed and mini-fridge. It was crazy and I told him that. He seemed to think that I was over worked and actually told me to let the “big boys handle things”. He was such a prick and if I didn’t need him, I’d fire his ass in a heartbeat.

But it turns out I did need him, now more than ever.

Two days after the restaurant incident, Pruitt tried to sue me. Apparently, I broke several bones in his body, including both his arms and a couple of ribs. It was kind of ridiculous but I suppose it comes with the territory. Dirk snapped right to it though. He put a lawyer on retainer, some guy from New York. Get this, he’s blind, how cool is that? Anyway, my lawyer told me that Pruitt didn’t have a case but he did warn me that things could only get worse. It turns out making my identity known to the world and fighting crime probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Hey, now he tells me. Anyway, he said the government was working on a law that protected Meta Heroes from lawsuits just like this one. It was going before Congress in a few weeks. In fact, I was set to go before them as well, sort of a poster child in favor of said law.

But if you think my life was all bumps then you’re wrong. Shortly after the restaurant fiasco, Bea decided to move in with me. It turns out that she got a little face time too, thanks to her part in the rescue. So the paparazzi were on her as much as me. The two of us decided it might be better if she lived with me. I think there were ulterior motives there as well but hey, I’m not complaining.

My mother went back to Buffalo a few days after that. We had a good time together; I took her to see all the sights. We avoided the Field though; things are still a little iffy with me and that place. Though the President cleared me of all charges, I still couldn’t explain what I was doing by the Gem Hall or who robbed the place if it wasn’t me. The same can be said for the bank that “Mike Carter” supposedly robbed. The bank didn’t bother me as much because Dirk had a guy handling all my finances. When my mother left, we were all in tears, her, Bea, and me. I think my mother was happy to welcome her into the family, even though the two of us have only been dating for such a short time.

A knock on the door interrupted my undressing. I groaned. I had the phony jumpsuit pulled down to my waist, my bra exposed. I waited for the knocker to go away but when he knocked, again I got fed up. I walked over and yanked the door open, ready to bust someone’s balls. But when I saw who was standing there I squealed and jumped into him, throwing my arms around him.

“Rick” I said, finally letting my best friend breathe. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I stepped back and he sheepishly held out a bouquet for me. I took it, carrying it over to my makeup table where an empty vase sat. Don’t even get me started about the squealing, I think I picked it up from Bea. Apparently, it’s very contagious.

“I heard about your commercial so I thought I’d come by and give you my well wishes.”

I smiled. He knew about my commercial because I called and told Jenet about it. The two of us were keeping in touch now. After all, she was one of the first people to officially know that Myka and Mike were one and the same.

“Thanks” I said, smelling the roses. “How have you been?”

I looked him up and down. He was looking good, real good in fact. He had a rugged look going and if I didn’t know any better I could swear he was bulking up. He’d always been this frail thing but I think I saw some muscle definition underneath that t-shirt of his. What’s more, his glasses were gone and it looked like he was starting to grow a beard. I’m not sure if I liked that or not but he had this five o’clock shadow thing going on that was really working for him. It made him look a whole hell of a lot cuter, not that I was noticing. Hey, I’m happily in love with Bea.

“I’m doing good,” he said, looking around the room. His eyes only went once to my bra and then quickly looked away. “I’m seeing someone actually, a lab tech. She’s a year older than me but it’s cool. The two of us work in the same lab, so we have that in common at least.”

I was happy for him. “That’s great. Have you been watching the news?”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, the Great Booster Gold. Who would have thought that pigheaded Mike Carter would turn into the beautiful poster girl of Metas everywhere?”

He said it in jest and I punched his arm. But he was right. Somehow, overnight I was the poster girl for Metas. I’m not sure how it happened but whenever someone mentioned Metas now they couldn’t help but mention me too. It was kind of strange really, and I guess I’m not complaining but I’m hardly poster girl material. There were so many of us out there, surely one of them was more fit to take that title. Why weren’t they hounding Jade, Terra, or even Giganta? All of them were much more qualified than I was. Heck, the only thing I’ve ever done is save the President and beat up a bunch of bastards in a restaurant. In the restaurant Bea was there too.

FYI, the media dubbed her Fire, how cool is that. Well she didn’t think so and she’s been kind of cranky about it since.

We talked for a few more minutes but I think we kind of ran out of things to say. He was still my best friend but we didn’t have much in common anymore. Hell we didn’t have much in common when we were living together either, but now it seemed different. It was like being friends with the tomboy girl next door. It was kind of cool when you were younger but then when she started to grow and mature, things got kind of awkward. She was suddenly no longer one of the guys and the two of you had nothing more to talk about. Reluctantly I was the girl next door now and boy had I ever matured.

He sighed. I think he knew it too. “Look” he said softly. “I wanted to apologize for everything. I was a dick and I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

I nodded. “I kissed you.”

“Yeah but I asked for it and I shouldn’t have. I was confused and scared. I was losing my best friend and even though you might not have noticed, you were changing and not just the obvious way either.”

I nodded. I noticed. Boy did I notice.

“You don’t have to apologize to me,” I said, “I understand.”

I leaned forward and hugged him. It was kind of awkward but it was like hugging a brother. I think I could live with that. We pulled away and then he kissed me on the cheek. We said our goodbyes. But you know me, I never really say goodbye to anyone and I told him that. He smiled and left. I sighed and walked over to my makeup table. I looked over at the roses, smiled and finished undressing.

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“Bea, I’m home”

I walked into our darkened apartment, nearly stumbling over the hideous pink umbrella stand by the door. Who the hell has umbrella stands anyway? It belonged to Bea and she wouldn’t let me throw it away. I’m not complaining, she did fill my place with a lot of stuff I didn’t have. Hey, it helps when I don’t have to spend money on furniture. But it was kind of surprising that the place was so dark. Usually Bea was home when I finally stumbled into the house, no matter what time of the day it was. You see she got a promotion. She was now the personal assistant to the Head of HR at Wayne Enterprises. Her boss, Mr. Fox, was a cool guy. He let her have real flexible hours, so she could come and go, as she liked. But she worked a lot; I think she liked to bury herself in work to get over the fact that she had a secret life. She was a hero after all, even if she didn’t want to admit it. But I can’t talk her into joining me in any of my promotional ads. Apparently, she still wants nothing to do with the hero lifestyle.

I wish I had her courage. My whole body ached as I trudged over to the couch, dropping my bag on the floor as I dragged my feet. I still don’t carry a purse; it makes me feel too girly. My mother and Bea bought me several on our shopping excursion but they were still in the bags at the bottom of my closet. Hey, I’ve still got to hold on to some of my manhood and that means no purses. I carry a bag though. It’s a messenger bag; Trixie picked it out for me. It’s kind of cool and a lot manlier than a purse. I don’t look anything like a chick either when I’m totting it around town either.

I flopped on the couch, looking about in the dark. Where the heck was Bea?

“Skeets” I said, hoping he was nearby.

He didn’t follow me today. He said he wanted no part in the fake lifestyle I concocted for myself. He’s still pretty pissed that I welched on our promise. But it’s not my fault; I’m just too damn busy. But as soon as I got some free time I was definitely going to help him find this Brother Eye guy.

Skeets appeared, floating out of the bedroom. “You’re home, finally.”

I groaned. “Don’t start with me tonight. Where’s Bea?”

“Miss De Costa is working late tonight. She left you a message on the machine.”

I nodded. Bea didn’t work late often but it happened. It was strange but it felt like we’d been living together forever but it had only been a couple of weeks. But it sure felt a lot longer than that. Don’t get me wrong, I loved living with her but I kind of missed the bachelor lifestyle. No, I don’t mean bachelorette lifestyle either. I kind of missed being Mike. Not a lot but enough to realize that some things about being a guy weren’t so bad. Others I definitely wouldn’t miss. I mean guys can only have one orgasm at a time, how screwed up is that and you know what, I don’t’ think I’ll miss my penis either. I know that might come as kind of a shock but it’s not really all that big of a deal. Now that it’s gone, I feel kind of relieved. How screwy is that?

I slowly pushed myself off the couch. Skeets didn’t even wait for me to say anything more; he just turned and floated into one of the spare rooms. I let him go; I wasn’t in one of his moods tonight. I’d had a rough, tiring day. After leaving the photo shoot, I met with the Sports Illustrated people. They wanted to fly me out to California as soon as possible. Apparently, they were scouting locales and found the perfect one for the shoot. My shoot, at least. They were going to do me separate from the other girls, less stress they said. Yeah, I’m that much of a commodity now, I think I get more paparazzi than all the cast of Gossip Girl combined. How messed up is that? Anyway, they wanted to do my shoot as quick as they could because it was getting close to the summertime rush---it’s only May---but they wanted to beat the tourists. So I let Dirk handle all that. He’s good with the negotiations. After the meeting, I found myself at dinner with some political snobs that I needed to brown nose. Apparently, they were on the committee that was overseeing that law I mentioned. I need to kiss their asses to make sure me and other Metas the world over didn’t get sued for doing what they did best, mainly helping people and stopping the bad guys.

The dinner went a lot longer than I expected. There were three of them---the politicians. They kept referring to Metas as “you people”. It was annoying the hell out of me. I did everything in my power to stop from belting all of them. Luckily, Bea wasn’t there or she would have roasted their asses. It was bad enough that people sneered at us when they saw us holding hands and kissing in public but badmouthing Metas was not something she stood for.

I trudged into the bedroom. We had a king sized bed now. It was the only thing that we purchased that neither one of us had. Ok, there was some Victoria’s Secret’s stuff too, but that hardly needs to be mentioned. I stripped down to my underwear, kicking my clothes about the room. I was too tired to pick them up and was certain Bea would have a fit when she got home. She was a neat freak and I was a slob. Talk about the Odd Couple. I had one up on her though because the other night she had a nightmare and kind of lit the bedspread on fire. She nearly burned the hell out of me, luckily Skeets was there and he woke us before anything bad happened. So whenever she mentioned my slobbiness I just mentioned that incident and she stopped bitching.

I groaned and dropped face first onto the bed. I lay there for a few seconds and then crawled under the covers. I’m not sure how long I was awake but sleep came quickly.

The cold breeze woke me. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up to my chin. Though it was May, it was still chilly this time of night. I tried to ignore the breeze but the flapping of the curtains was really annoying. I groaned, why in the hell were the curtains flapping? Bea didn’t like the windows open because she was afraid that a bird would fly into the room while we were sleeping. She’s weird like that. I rolled, pulling a pillow over my head, trying to ignore it. But the flapping was too loud and annoying. So finally, I pushed myself up and squinted at the clock. It was three in the morning. I groaned and turned to Bea, hoping she’d get up and close the window.

But her spot was empty. She was still working this late.

I rolled over and sat up. I threw the covers off and as soon as I did, I jumped. There was someone standing at the foot of the bed. It was dark and I only saw his shape but he was just standing there. He looked kind of freaky too; the only features I could make out were what appeared to be two points on the top of his head. What the hell is this?

I cleared my throat. “Who are you and what the hell do you want?”

He threw something onto the bed, it was a folder, it landed at my feet. “You’ve been busy. Henry Ballard was a tough guy to get but you handled it well.”

That voice. It was so cold and raspy but also very familiar. It took me a few seconds but I finally recognized it. “You” I said, surprised and shocked.
“You’re the guy from the alley?”

He nodded. “You’ll be happy to know that I took care of the rest of Ballard’s operation for you.”

“If you were so interested than why didn’t you do it yourself?”

“It wasn’t mine to take care of.”

“That’s it,” I said, pulling the covers up to cover my half nakedness. I didn’t want some pervy freak to see me in my underwear.

“I was testing you. Trying to see if you had what it took to take him out and you did. I’m very impressed.”

“Is that why you snuck into my bedroom at three in the morning. You wanted to tell me that I passed your little test.”

He shook his head. “No. I wanted to tell you that you did me a favor and now I’ve done you one as well.”

I groaned. What was he talking about? “Favor, what favor?”

“You took care of Ballard for me.”

“You told me to do it.”

“You were going to do it anyway. Revenge is like that. He wronged you, threatened your mother. It was only natural that you’d go after him.”

How did he know all that? “You want a thank you or something.”

“No. Like I said you did me a favor and now I’ve done you one.”

I looked at the folder for the first time. It was a manila file folder. It didn’t look all that impressive. I reached forward and grabbed it, opening it up. Inside there were a bunch of pictures, most of them of a gray building in the middle of a desert. It didn’t mean anything to me. I sighed and closed the folder.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s a facility in the Baja Desert of California. It was run by a very dangerous woman and now it’s deserted.”

I nodded. “What does it have to do with me?”

“Nothing. But it does have something to do with something you’ve been looking for.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing I’m looking for.”

He smirked. “What about an advanced artificial intelligence program from the future.”

I stared fish eyed at him. How in the hell did he know that. “Brother Eye, you mean?”

He nodded. “I’ve been tracking it for a while. I traced it to this facility and then the trail went cold. My resources haven’t been able to dig up anything either, which bothers me some. I’m passing it on to you; I think you’ve got better resources.”

I looked at the pictures again then back at him. But he wasn’t there anymore. I snapped around, finding him by the window.

“Take that flight to California tomorrow. When you get there, make a stop in San Francisco and look up a young woman named Josie Reyes. She might be able to help you find the answers to questions you seek.”

I looked down at the pictures again. “I’ll think about it.”

I looked back up and he was gone. I threw off the covers and ran to the window, hoping to see where he went. But there was nothing. How in the hell did he do that? I stared out the window for some time until I finally got too cold and shut it. I rubbed my arms and then turned to the door. I looked at the folder on the bed and sighed. I guess it couldn’t hurt to look. I took a deep breath and wandered into the living room.

“Skeets” I shouted, “you still up?”

He hovered out of one of the spare rooms. “I don’t sleep.’

I nodded, forgetting he was a robot. “You still want to help looking for that Brother Eye thing?”

“It is my mission.”

I nodded. I had the folder with me. I tossed it on the floor in front of him, its contents scattered about. He looked at the pictures then back at me. His little red light got brighter when he looked at me. I nodded.

“Call Dirk and tell him we’ll take that flight tomorrow morning as planned. After the photo shoot, you and I are going to San Francisco.”

I yawned and stretched. Then turned and walked back into the bedroom. California and everything else could wait until tomorrow. Tonight I was going to get some sleep and hopefully my Bea would be home soon to warm the other side of my bed. I crawled into bed and closed my eyes. Life couldn’t get any better than this.

I smiled, closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.