Chicago, 3:32 PM.
December 27th, 2009.
Aiden couldn’t help the frown that made its way onto his face.
“E-L-I-Z-A-B-E-T-H street, it's right in the middle of the city,” Aiden said, annoyed, “I don’t understand how you can’t find it.”
“Tell me again all of the connecting streets.” Lieutenant Williams sighed.
Aiden rattled off all the nearby roads that he could remember.
“Every street you’ve listed exists, except for one.” Lieutenant Williams said finally. “There is no Elizabeth street in Melbourne.”
Aiden tilted his head at the comment, finding himself unable to think of how to describe further its location to the man, and they fell into silence.
“What street is the Melbourne Institute of Technology on?” Lieutenant Williams said thoughtfully.
Aiden gave him a dry look.
“Corner of La Trobe and Elizabeth street,” Aiden said easily.
“That isn’t correct.” Lieutenant Williams said immediately.
“You can’t find La Trobe street, either?” Aiden demanded. “Come on-”
“No, La Trobe street is there,” Lieutenant Williams cut him off, “Along with Charlotte Street.”
Aiden sat back in his chair at the name. There was no Charlotte Street there. There was a Charlotte street further out of central. Had they changed the name overnight? Or was this guy still trying to get him to reveal something?
“There’s no Charlotte Street,” Aiden said seriously. “Not there, at least.”
Lieutenant fell silent for a while before flipping his pad over to the next series of notes he had made.
“SUDA Inc also doesn’t exist.” Lieutenant Williams said simply. “Neither do any of the people you listed as contacts. Nor do you, according to any banks, schools, workplaces, or anything else traceable.”
Aiden opened his mouth, then closed it astonished, what on Earth? The street name was one thing, but this was ludicrous.
“What the hell does that mean?” Aiden said helplessly, “Have I been stuck in some kind of bizarro world where I don’t exist? What am I supposed to do now? What do you mean, no banks!?”
Lieutenant Williams studied him quietly as he tried to find some kind of sense to what was going on. No banks? What about his money? His investments? What about his property?!
“Did you check the property I told you about?” Aiden demanded, thinking of his home.
“Yes,” Lieutenant Williams sighed, “It’s owned by someone who is definitely not who you are claiming to be.”
Aiden gritted his teeth for a long moment, doing his best to force his anger down with several deep breaths, lashing out in rage never put you in an advantageous spot, it did the opposite. When he had finally regained his calm, he spoke.
“What happens now, then?” Aiden said evenly. “I have no identity, no money, no family, all I have is a tail and a Spacecraft apparently.”
Aiden had to stop himself from using the words ‘Attack Ball’ when he realized that it would likely go over poorly, given the circumstances. Lieutenant Williams paused for a moment at the word spacecraft, minutely, and he would have missed it if he hadn’t been looking for a reaction.
“Your, spacecraft, has been placed under league authority.” Lieutenant Williams said cagily.
League authority? What did that mean, was there a department for stuff like this? Was Area 51 really just a meme after all?
“You’re really going to take the only thing I have left, you sure you don’t want to take the kids as well Williams?” Aiden said wryly, “I’m going to sue you all as soon as I get my identity back, I swear to god.”
Lieutenant Williams leaned back into his own chair, looking both annoyed and bemused.
“Moving us back on track here,” Lieutenant Williams said after a moment, “I’m not the only one working on your case, so we will likely have an update for you in a few hours at most, but the most likely resolution you are looking at here is a deal of some sort, but this kind of thing really is above my level.”
Aiden studied the man across from him for a while. Who’s level was it? The chief of police? The military? The government? Was he going to end up in Area 51 after all?
“What kind of deal are we talking about here,” Aiden said thoughtfully, “I just need a basic idea, I won’t hold you to anything.”
“Probably to have you checked over at least, you’ve apparently been experimented on, so they likely want to make sure you aren’t about to explode or turn into a raging maniac.” Lieutenant Williams noised out a ‘hm,’ before continuing. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and it likely won’t be the last.”
Aiden didn’t think that sounded too bad, he wanted to know what was going on with his body as well, and he should probably make dealing with his tail a priority, so he didn’t turn into a ‘raging maniac’ as soon as a full moon came along. None of that was what caught his attention, however.
“What do you mean, not the first time?” Aiden demanded, “People don’t just go around abducting people all the time, I would have heard of spaceships, and people crash landing like this before.”
Lieutenant Williams stared at him for a long moment.
“You don’t remember that girl, a woman now, I suppose, back in two-thousand-eight?” Lieutenant Williams wondered and frowned when Aiden immediately shook his head. “What about the invasion back in two-thousand-three?”
“Invasion?” Aiden said incredulously, “Like aliens or something?”
Lieutenant Williams looked kind of lost for a moment as if he were dealing with something he couldn’t quite comprehend.
“Yes, like aliens!” Lieutenant Williams said heatedly. “You got on my case about a street name that didn’t even exist, but you somehow forgot the Appellaxians invading?”
“What the hell is an Appellaxian?” Aiden demanded, bewildered, having never heard the term before.
“What!?” Lieutenant Williams grit his teeth, “Do you at least know what the Justice League is?”
Aiden blinked at the sudden strange turn the conversation had headed in. What the hell did comic books have to do with this? It was clearly an inappropriate time to bring it up, given the circumstances, he’d been abducted for crying out loud.
“Of course I’ve heard of them, what has that got to do with this?” Aiden said mockingly, “This is serious, at least stay on topic, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Williams slammed his hands on the table and stood up, looming over the table for a long moment before the door suddenly opened. A tall woman with long dark hair stepped into the room, wearing what had to be the single greatest Wonder Woman cosplay he had ever seen, and he had surprisingly seen quite a few. Strip clubs were a play he frequented after all, and there had been a time when it was popular.
“Why are you dressed like that?” Aiden said dryly, “This is incredibly unprofessional, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Williams looked flabbergasted for a moment, staring at him like he was utterly insane, the cosplayer, or more likely a stripper that had wandered out of a cell, on the other hand, crossed her arms and stared at him without expression.
“I have no idea what his angle is anymore,” Lieutenant Williams said honestly, “He’s all yours.”
The man abruptly abandoned him in the room with the stripper, and Aiden stared after him in disbelief. He’s all yours? Had the man really just left her in here with him!?
“Lieutenant!” Aiden said in shock, but the man didn’t even pause as he slammed the door shut behind him. “What kind of police station is this?”
The stripper sat down across from him without a hint of discomfort, studying him carefully.
“The Justice League has been tracking you since you landed three hours ago.” The stripper articulated in character, voice like honey. “I have been listening in on the interview as well, so consider me up to date on your situation.”
The police had let a god damned stripper listen in on this interview, and she was just admitting it?
“I’m going to need that lawyer now,” Aiden said calmly. “Any other day I’d love this situation, trust me, but this cannot possibly be legal.”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“You don’t exist here. You don’t have any right to a lawyer.” The cosplayer said evenly. “Although a lawyer will, of course, be provided to you regardless if that is what you decide on.”
Aiden just watched her from across the table steadily, completely unintimidated by her complete denial of his rights.
“We have taken possession of your ship in the meantime until we can be certain that you have no ill intent.” The cosplayer said evenly, maintain her bizarre role-play. “Should we determine that you are indeed an innocent, stranded far from home, we will assist you in getting set up here.”
Aiden stared at her with narrow eyes, that ‘should we determine’ sounded extraordinarily condescending, as if she had any authority over him.
“Who’s going to assist me exactly?” Aiden mocked, “Is Batman going to walk through the door next? Although I suppose it would be Batwoman considering the situation, and the current company.”
The stripper frowned at him before placing her golden rope on the table in front of her, and he rolled his eyes when he saw it.
“Why did the Lieutenant even let you in here?” Aiden said exasperated, “Why would they bring a stripper into a police station in the first place, did you wander out of a cell?”
“Excuse me,” The woman said offended, “I am not a stripper.”
Aiden rolled his eyes at her determination to stay in character.
“Whatever,” Aiden said sullenly, “Are you going to use that thing on me now, or should we skip straight to the lap dance?”
The stripper stared at him silently for almost thirty seconds, and he stared her down, refusing to look away. He’d had quite enough of today already, and nobody had even taken him to a hospital to have this god damned anime-tail looked at.
He wasn’t backing down from a god damned stripper, regardless of how attractive she was.
“Who do you think I am?” The woman said suddenly.
“A stripper wearing a Wonder Woman outfit, or a cosplayer, could be both really,” Aiden said easily. “What did they call her again, Diana?”
The stripper stared at him silently.
“Where are Bruce and Clark anyway? Waiting outside the door?” Aiden yawned, “Can we get this over with. I’d like to go home sometime soon.”
“How do you know those names?” The stripper said intensely.
“I’m tired, I have a fucking tail now, and I am sick of this role-play.” Aiden said, annoyed, “Go get the Lieutenant.”
“Tell me how you know those names, now.” The stripper said darkly, standing up to tower over him and the table both. “You are not leaving this room until you give me an answer.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Aiden said evenly, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. “I’m done talking to you.”
Aiden listened to the sound of her feet as she stomped around the table, but he refused to move from his spot. The stripper had the audacity to reach down and drag him sideways out of his chair by the front of his shirt. The only thing that kept him from spilling over entirely was where his hands were still shackled to the table in front of him. Aiden jerked himself back against her grip, but she refused to let go.
“Hey lady,” Aiden said darkly. “Don’t fucking touch me; this is the only warning I’m giving you before I engage in vigorous self-defense.”
The woman scoffed before she jerked his face down, so they were level with each other, she was tall for a woman, but he was pretty tall himself before this Saiyan nonsense, and he seemed to have gained an inch or two.
“How do you know those names?” The woman said harshly.
The stripper jerked him forward again, pulling his arms tight against the shackles, and he’d had enough of the assault on his person. Aiden ripped his hands away from the metal table, shattering the chains. They fell to dangle from the thick cuffs still locked tight around his wrists.
The woman’s eyes went wide at the sudden movement, and he pushed her bodily away from him with both hands, she stumbled back a few steps before she caught herself. She immediately slipped into some kind of fighting stance, but he had already reseated himself at the table.
“You’re a metahuman.” The stripper said cautiously.
“Oh, my fucking god lady.” Aiden groaned as he banged his head against the table. “Look, if you’d caught me at a club, we would be having the night of our lives right now, but this is not the time for this crap. I just want to go get this fucking tail looked at before I die of tail cancer or something.”
Aiden chastised himself for revealing that he had super strength to a fucking muggle, but she was assaulting him, and he had already tried to get her to leave him alone multiple times, for all he knew she was going to pull a knife out of her cleavage and shank him. The woman took two steps towards him, and he turned to her in disbelief.
“Do you not know the meaning of the word stop?” Aiden said in frustration.
“You are under the mistaken impression that I am a stripper.” The woman said, annoyed.
The woman reached out and snatched the shackle around his wrist. Aiden had to stop himself from pushing her away from him again but instead frowned at the crumpled piece of metal held in her clenched fist.
“I am Diana of Themyscira, or more commonly known as Wonder Woman,” Diana said coolly, crushing the metal into a tight ball in her hand.
“That doesn’t change anything,” Aiden said flatly, mind racing despite his tone. “You just assaulted me for no reason, some superhero you are.”
This woman clearly had super strength and was claiming to be Wonder Woman, her cosplay was top-tier, and he had a tail. It wasn’t that much of a leap now that she had demonstrated such abnormal strength to assume that he was somehow in a world with fucking Wonder Woman, although that made the Saiyan stuff make even less sense than before.
“I acted out of frustration, but you cannot deny that you provoked me.” Diana said evenly, “Mentioning those names demonstrates the capacity to cause some substantial problems.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should have established who you were before you started talking down to me from your ivory tower.” Aiden said smoothly, “I think it’s become pretty obvious that I’m not from here.”
“The spaceship gave that away,” Diana said dryly.
“For the love of-,” Aiden scoffed, “My Earth doesn’t have superheroes, but it’s still Earth. I am not an alien. I was abducted and put in that thing. I already explained it like three-hundred times.”
“Perhaps you will be willing to allow me to test the veracity of your claims?” Diana said evenly, gesturing at her golden rope, still sitting on the table.
“I’ve got absolutely zero confidence that you would stick to any agreed-upon questions, especially after your little temper-tantrum,” Aiden said immediately.
“You bring my honor into question?” Diana said, offended.
“Sorry, what was I thinking?” Aiden said deadpanned, “I forgot that attacking a guy who’s chained to a table is a sign of incredible honor.”
Diana twitched at the comment.
“For all of your sarcasm, I do not hear a counter-offer,” Diana said finally.
“I get to tie you up and ask some questions,” Aiden said smoothly. “How’s that for a counter-offer?”
“Absolutely not.” Diana denied it at once. “Try again.”
“I’m apparently very far from home,” Aiden said evenly, “I need a place to live, with a weekly food budget, and an identity so I can return to some semblance of a normal life, hook me up, give me my ship back and we will call it a day.”
“You are asking a lot, for a single question answered truthfully,” Diana said thoughtfully.
“You have a bunch of multi-millionaires in your team. You can afford it.” Aiden scoffed, “Be glad I didn’t ask for the lap dance, it was a harder decision than you’d think.”
Diana huffed at the comment, crossing her arms once more.
“Very well,” Diana said clearly, “I agree to your terms, but there are some additional stipulations I’ve been, encouraged, to apply.”
Batman talking in her ear?
“Batman talking in your ear?” Aiden said, frowning, not bothering to filter the thought. “Give me the short version.”
“Monthly medical check-ups at a facility of our choosing, weekly phone interviews with a Justice League appointed psychologist, both mandatory,” Diana said evenly.
Aiden frowned at the second one.
The medical check-ups were a good thing, it would save him having to pay for them himself, but a psychologist? It was obviously a way to keep track of whether he had any intentions of revealing their identities, but if he was going to put up with that nonsense, he was going to get something else out of them.
“I’ll agree to those stipulations. On the proviso that you bring your best doctor to remove this tail as soon as possible, at no cost. Oh! Completely unrelated to what we are talking about, but when is the next full moon?” Aiden said wryly. “Could be a crucial deadline.”
Diana narrowed her eyes at the pointed question and glanced to the side for a moment, before looking back. He couldn’t hear anything coming from her, so it probably wasn’t an earpiece, was Martian Manhunter linking them all up?
If you’re reading my mind right now, I’m going to be terribly upset.
“Agreed.” Diana said finally, “The next full moon isn’t for another week. We will be holding onto your ship for you.”
Aiden had nowhere to store it anyway, so that was fine, but a concession of that magnitude needed compensation.
“You said I was asking for a lot,” Aiden said calmly, “You want to study the technology, that’s worth much more than anything I asked for, and you’re trying to push it through as a footnote in our negotiations.”
Diana crossed her arms as she studied him, but he met her gaze steadily. He knew exactly what he was going to ask for.
“Aiden, If you ask me for that lap dance,” Diana said evenly, “I’m going to do something we would both consider very dishonorable.”
Aiden quickly tried to think of something else. What did a Saiyan need?
“I’ll be going out and testing what I can do with this strength nonsense, and whatever else I discover.” Aiden said slowly, “I’d like you to not harass me about it.”
Diana studied him for several long moments before she spoke.
“What exactly can you do?” Diana wondered.
“Somebody call the Justice League,” Aiden said deadpanned. “I’m being harassed.”
“Asking a question is not harassment,” Diana said, annoyed.
“As if Batman won’t be watching me with drones or something ridiculous like that, you can find out when I do,” Aiden said simply. “We’ve been skipping around the main topic since I found out you weren’t a stripper. I know most of the identities of the members of the Justice League.”
Diana drew a sharp breath in through her nose, at the stripper comment or the confirmation that he knew them all, he wasn’t sure.
“I also know a bunch of other random stuff about other well-known people,” Aiden said thoughtfully, thinking of the villains he knew about. “I have no intention of telling anyone about any of it. You can confirm that with the bondage of truth. I must warn you, though, Diana of Themyscira, I am totally a rope-bunny, and I will enjoy every second of it.”
Diana sighed at the apparent confession, but dutifully retrieved her golden-rope, and looped it around his proffered arm without fanfare.
“My safe word is Amazon,” Aiden said huskily before grunting as she pulled it tight around his arm. “So rough.”
“What are your intentions here?” Diana said clearly.
It was a pretty open question all things considered, and for a second, he was tempted to say a lap-dance. A feeling was starting to rise up his chest, and he felt his mouth open almost against his will, but he was still in enough control to choose what to say.
“How strange.” Aiden said calmly, “I intend to find out who took me from my world and put me here; I have no intention of hurting anyone at present.”
“Anyone at present?” Diana said dryly.
“If somebody attacks me in the future, I have every intention of making sure they do not do so again,” Aiden said honestly. “I will hurt someone to defend myself as well.”
“Do you have any intention of revealing the identities of the Justice League or its allies?” Diana said clearly.
Despite her nature, he was still surprised she hadn’t strayed to ask him how he knew. He didn’t have much faith in people if he was honest, but his opinion of her was rising by the second. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to resist the temptation himself.
“I do not,” Aiden said smoothly, “If you try to manipulate, blackmail or otherwise force me to do something I object to, that may change in response.”
Aiden was comfortable with the answer he had given, mutually assured destruction was a decent enough tool to keep things steady, for now at least.
“You don’t have a very high opinion of the Justice League,” Diana said, seemingly disheartened at the thought.
It was a statement, and the compulsion didn’t force him to speak, but the truth-only effect was still present.
“That’s not it, heroes are fine. I don’t have a high opinion of people in general, but so far, you have stuck to the questions, so my faith in you has already risen far above most.” Aiden said smoothly, “But your physical attack upon my poor unarmed, tied up person was a dent that probably won’t go away any time soon.”
Diana twitched at the comment, and he fought to keep the smirk off his face.