you_tried | IC CONTACT

[At least it's a little bit nice that Booster reinforces the idea that he knows Jaime's not going to up and take over the world. And he's right about one thing: Jaime wouldn't know what to do with himself if he did. What would he do with the world? Lecture it into being nice? Ask them if they could please turn all of their cameras off, because being on the world stage is going to give him hives?

No, thank you. Booster is, all things considered, taking this about as well as Jaime could have humanly expected him to, but that doesn't stop it from being a deeply uncomfortable subject.]

I'd have to be an idiot not to be, don't you think?

That's what I assumed.

[ But he lets out a sigh, feeling faintly relieved and then less-faintly guilty for being relieved. Like he actually thought the answer would be any different. ]

No one should have that kind of power. For their sake. I think it'd give me ulcers.

Trust me, if I could just get rid of half my powers, I would.

[But he can't. Maybe some people would deem the Scarab to be too powerful, wonder if he shouldn't just get rid of the whole thing for once and for all, but even looking past the fact that Jaime genuinely loves the other half of his powers, Khaji Da is his partner. If it's the whole package or nothing at all, it's a no-brainer which one he chooses.

He leans against the countertop.]

But I'm stuck with them, so instead I'm just really careful. There's more, too, but that's more individually dangerous instead of...

[He's still holding his smoothie with one hand, so he gestures with his free one.]

Ka-boom.

[ Jaime's awkward little "ka-boom" in the quiet of their kitchen is almost comical, except for how dark the whole situation is. So he can take down pretty much the whole League if he wants to. If he gets brainwashed or the Scarab gets hijacked or something...

... sure, Booster had said the League doesn't deserve to know. And they don't, right? He's pretty sure that still stands. It isn't a problem now. It's only a potential problem. ]

You wanna tell me the rest, or does "a whole lot of stuff" pretty much cover it?

Um... I don't really know everything I can do, Booster. I'm not even using the Scarab properly. I'm not supposed to be able to do anything that's non-lethal, but I've figured it out.

[He gnaws a little at the inside of his lip, trying to go over everything he knows he can do. Some of them, he uses. Others, he doesn't. He tries not to think too hard about what he's really capable of and there's a good reason for that: it freaks him out.

He's scared of himself, but he doesn't want to spend his whole life actively scared of himself, which means that he busies himself with the powers he likes, his ability to generate clothing, the ability to fly, and everything else he holds dear. He rocks back on his heels for a second, then seems to come up with something resembling a list.]

I can track people down, and you already know about the whole superstrength thing. I can make plasma cannons that probably run hotter than anything anyone's got here - [so, disintegration of people, that's a check] - and I think my sword-hand-thingies can cut through most things. I can control tech, and I can knock out a bunch of people at once using, uh... population control?

[He winces, knowing just how bad that sounds.]

And I can survive a lot. That's all I know about. I think.

... Wow.

[ There's something about this that makes Booster feel uncomfortably like an authority figure, and uncomfortably lost. Like he's supposed to know what to do with all this information, point Jaime in the direction of something or someone that can help him deal with all this. But — he has it under control already, doesn't he? If he can do all that stuff and he hasn't... well, isn't that good enough?

He doesn't know what Superman or Batman would do. Give the kid a lecture on stuff he already knows? Stuff he probably loses sleep over?

Jeez, Jaime looks so miserable. He can't imagine this kid seriously being a threat. ]

And you've already figured out how to use a ton of this stuff without actually hurting anyone. You know that's kind of amazing, right?

[The thing is, Jaime already thinks he knows what he's doing, and where he's going. At least for now, he does. Nobody but the Reach will be able to give him answers, and until then, it's just plan after plan, stacked up neatly in his head.

If he winds up going bad and he can't be stopped, Traci will kill him. Green Lantern will, in all likelihood, help. Until then, he's going to keep himself from going funny like his other self (maybe other, future Jaime just can't take tragedy well), and get some technopaths to look at him. Other than that, what else is there left to do but wait?

Kaidan suggested testing his limits, but he's still unconvinced when he knows how astronomical those limits are.

Whatever he's expecting from Booster, it sure as heck isn't a compliment. He looks up again, lip curling, just a little.]

It's not like I learned how to use it like some piece of machinery. You know that, right? All I really did was talk to him until we started figuring this whole thing out.

[ It's a compliment for a lot of reasons. Because Booster doesn't know how he'd live with something like that, for one thing. He puts himself in Jaime's shoes, and the train of thought just kind of ends — what would he even do?

Booster shrugs, giving Jaime a are you kidding me kind of look. ]

So you had a friendly chat with the alien beetlebot that lives in your spine and figured out how not to kill people. That's not not amazing.

Well... thanks. But I don't think that's exactly something to be patting myself on the back for. I mean, not killing people is sort of the bare minimum of not being a completely awful person.

[He worked at it, sure, and he fought hard -- but so did the Scarab, and he can't imagine he'd have gotten as far as he did without a lot of help and a good dose of magical interference. He doesn't spend a lot of time reassuring himself that hey, at least he hasn't killed anyone yet!

...unless you count the Negotiator.]

You're really trying hard to dodge this.

I'm not dodging it! I mean, I'm proud of other stuff. That one's just, uh, not a great defense. It hasn't exactly held a lot of water with anyone else.

[Everyone's just waiting for him to slip up, it feels like. Not having slipped up yet isn't something he's proud of partly because of that reason, but partly because it's a work-in-progress. He can't ever stop being vigilant about that sort of thing, which means he's not about to slow down and congratulate himself for it.]

All right, all right, whatever you say.

[ Booster waves a hand, deciding this isn't exactly worth arguing about. ]

I'm just trying to be encouraging here. Unless you wanted me to lecture you about great power and great responsibility or whatever.

No, no, I think -- I think I've got the responsibility bit pretty down pat.

[He takes it seriously enough to make himself sick.]

But, um... I guess the other thing you should know is that I've sort of made plans in case it does go wrong? Like, if someone does that whole mind control thingy on me again, or something? I know they'll be asking you about it if it ever comes up.

You did, huh? And why do I not like the sound of that?

[He wrinkles his nose.]

Well, there's nothing to like about the idea, right? But a guy's gotta have a contingency plan.

[Or at least he does if he can destroy cities. Superman's got one for himself, he thinks.]

I can take pretty much everything but magic. If anything goes wrong, Traci'll handle it. [A beat.] And Hal, I guess, but I'm pretty sure I'd beat the living crap out of him first.

[Not that that's not an appealing option.]

[ Booster grimaces, partly at Hal, partly just at the idea of someone "handling it." It's probably good that he's planning ahead, just in case, but... that's seriously sobering. ]

Yeesh. I'm sure that wouldn't endear him to you any more. [ He sighs, poking at his straw with the tip of his index finger. ] And Traci's okay with this?

Better than okay. She said that she wanted to handle it.

[He raises his free hand out in front of him.]

I don't get it either, but if that's what makes things easier for her, I'm not about to argue.

[ Booster looks faintly concerned about that, but doesn't try to inspect the point any further. ]

If that's the kind of relationship you have... [ a shrug. ] It sounds weird to me, but if it makes both of you feel better... I guess it's probably best that it's someone you trust, huh?

[He just shrugs again, uncomfortably. He doesn't want her to have to do it. He wants it to be someone who hates his guts, someone who won't see it in their mind's eye, someone who won't be bothered. Maybe Superman has all this junk about giving that right to the people who matter to him, but...

God, how much do you hate the people you love, to put that on them?

Then again, that's nearly what he's doing, telling all this to Booster.]

She's the one who'd have to live with it. If it makes her feel better about it, that's all I care about.

[And really, the only reason he wouldn't want it to be her is to spare her feelings. It's her call.]

Anyway! That's, um, the plan. And it pretty much covers everything that everyone else is worried about.

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i like how I'm like "OH THIS IS WHAT BOOSTER SHOULD KNOW" completely forgot that i already wrote it

remembering things is hard, who needs that

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