What's Rip Up To?

Because he's certainly up to something. What was he doing at that place at the End of Time? He was looking for someone, and expecting trouble if his drawn weapon indicates anything, but who was he looking for? My guess would be he was looking for the Time Stealers, since we haven't seen them since Ted Kord went back to get shot in the head by Max*.

What strikes me as really odd is, Rip narrowly escaped the Black Beetle's attack, and clearly seemed to recognize it was Black Beetle attacking him, yet he didn't say anything to Booster. Not one word about it, just hey, you need to get to the Batcave and recover those photos Batman had of you. Can't let anyone know you're actually a halfway decent hero. Which left Booster to be surprised when the Black Beetle shows up and starts trying to kill him and "Batman".

What does Rip gain from that strategy? It seems like Black Beetle's plan involves eliminating Rip Hunter, I'm guessing because his knowledge of how time works would present the greatest threat to whatever other schemes BB wants to unleash. I think he's realized he can't figure out who Rip's parents are, but he's guessing they were heroes, and so he's going to kill as many heroes as he can until Rip Hunter ceases to exist. I think that's what he's planning. Obviously Rip can't tell Booster that he is Rip's dad, since I'm sure that would mess with the intergrity of the Time Stream, but that still wouldn't explain why he wouldn't at least warn Booster about the Black Beetle.

The best guess I have is Rip is counting on Booster's typical behavior. He figures Booster will be able to at least piece together what BB, if not necessarily why, and will go charging into the past to stop him. That will keep BB busy dealing with Booster (and whatever he's trying to do at that time), and Rip will have an opportunity to make preparations. Like maybe sneaking onto a ship belonging to the Reach, and borrowing the device that removes the scarab out of someone, perhaps?

* We have seen the Ultra-Humanite in the pages of Power Girl, but it might not be the same Ultra-Humanite. The Time Stealers may have chosen a U-H from a different universe. There are fifty-two to choose from. Even if they chose the one from New-Earth, they might have taken him from much earlier in his career, or much later, than the present day.