Philadelphia, 4:32 PM.
February 26th , 2010.
“Four’ o’clock, huh?” Aiden said dryly, “Did your watch break?”
“I apologize; my work held me up.” A woman's voice said calmly. “My name is Dinah Lance; it’s a pleasure to meet you, Aiden.”
Aiden rolled the name over in his mind, where had he heard that before? It had to be another one of the heroes that he hadn’t immediately recalled.
“Pleasures all mine,” Aiden said easily, “I’ve never done one of these before, but I am rather busy at the moment, so if we could get right into it, that would be fantastic.”
There was a small pause on the line before she spoke again.
“No experience with therapy? You’ve indicated that you were the CEO of a company, I’ll admit I’m a little foggy on the details.” Dinah said evenly.
Foggy my ass, Aiden thought, annoyed.
“Former CEO of a construction company, very busy, sleep was the first sacrifice on the altar, you know?” Aiden admitted. “You understand, right? I remember you said that work held you up, nothing too strenuous, I hope?”
Aiden floated calmly above the floor in his living room, the constant practice over the last week had made keeping the exercise going much less mentally taxing, and the Ki drain itself had started to lessen along with it.
“Very subtle,” Dinah said dryly, “But we aren’t here to talk about me, how long did you work there for?”
“Built it at twenty-two, with a lot of help from my father, I come from a pretty affluent family,” Aiden said easily, “It was a couple of years before SUDA really took off though.”
“Impressive,” Dinah said simply, “How old are you again?”
Aiden rolled his eyes at the ludicrous question; she probably had a file filled with everything they knew about him in front of her, and he had told them that weeks ago.
“Twenty-six,” Aiden said dryly, “Although it would appear I’ve been de-aged before I was abandoned in space.”
“The picture I have of you does look like a teenager.” Dinah said plainly, “How have you settled into a much younger body? Any mood swings or irritability?”
“I may be somewhat more impulsive than I normally am, although that might just be the stress of everything, it was kind of overwhelming at first, you know?” Aiden said honestly. “I’m a calm person by nature, provided I’m not currently being attacked by an Amazonian while cuffed to a table; I’m sure you know the one.”
There was another long pause as Dinah apparently digested that.
“I had heard of the incident,” Dinah said eventually, “I’m almost positive you had a hand in initiating that event as well.”
“You’re going to start defending an incident that you weren’t even there for?” Aiden said, amused, “You sure that’s the hill you want to die on?”
“We’ve gotten a little off track here, but I’ll indulge this line of thought,” Dinah said evenly. “How do you feel about the Justice League?”
The meat of the meeting, huh? While trying to make it seem as if he was the one who wanted to discuss the topic, sneaky. He could flat out deny that he cared about that topic and move on, that would lock her out of asking about it again, but he was hoping he could infer some hint to jog his memory of which hero she was.
Her personality was reminding him of that one hero, with blonde hair, but he couldn’t remember who it was, he knew it wasn’t one of Batman’s crew. This seemed like the best topic to facilitate that line of investigation.
“I think they're really cool!” Aiden said childishly.
He did secretly think that, but he wasn’t actually going to admit to it unironically to what was obviously one of them
“Wow!” Dinah said excitedly, “Who’s your favorite?”
Dinah said it like she was indulging a child, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“It used to be Wonder Woman,” Aiden said, grinning, “But I’ve got my eye on another much more interesting one at the moment, you know the one with the blonde hair?”
“Black Canary,” Dinah said easily.
Aiden found himself smiling, she was good, she hadn’t even hesitated. That was definitely who he was speaking to, Dinah Lance, Black Canary, member of the Justice League.
“That’s the one.” Aiden laughed easily, “Say, you’re supposed to be my league affiliated therapist, right? Think you could get me her number, I’d love to have a conversation with her about all that heroing stuff.”
Aiden couldn’t help himself from snickering, but by this point, they both knew that he knew who she was.
“I’ll pass it along,” Dinah said evenly, “I wouldn’t get your hopes up, however.”
“Ouch,” Aiden laughed, “Ruthless, huh? Ah well, it was worth a try, was there anything left for us to cover in this session, or can we pick it up next time? I am pretty busy.”
Dinah had completely lost control of the conversation at this point, and he had no intention of giving it back without a fight, she clearly read his intentions to be difficult, because that was apparently her cue to leave.
“No, I think we’ve taken some great strides today.” Dinah said dryly, “Our next appointment is a week from now.”
“Well, it was a pleasure talking to you, Dinah,” Aiden said pleasantly.
“I understand,” Dinah said easily before she hung up.
Oof, she didn’t even say it back.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 9:14 AM.
February 29th, 2010.
“Three?” Aiden said thoughtfully, “I would have expected a lot more than that, is there something I overlooked about the area?”
“Not at all,” Kalvin said pleasantly, “Its just such short notice, these are likely the ones who were actively searching for places in this area.”
Aiden hummed to himself.
“Well, they are free to look through whenever you can set up a day, sooner the better,” Aiden said easily, “They know I’ll be living here until the money clears?”
“Yes, all three were perfectly receptive of the idea, it's not that uncommon after all,” Kalvin said happily. “I know I’ve asked several times already it's just-”
Aiden laughed.
“I know I’m under market value; I really need the quick sell to fund an investment.” Aiden said easily, “It's going to make me a lot more in the long run then twenty off the top here, easily.”
It wasn’t really, but he needed it none the less.
“You’re planning on purchasing more property in the future?” Kalvin asked sheepishly.
“Of course,” Aiden said easily, “Depending on how this works out, I’ll make sure to contact you when I'm in the market again.”
“A promise of future business is always a good sign,” Kalvin said cheerfully, “I’ll make sure this is handled as smoothly as possible then.”
“Perfect,” Aiden said pleasantly, “Thanks for the update, Kalvin.”
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 2:45 PM.
March 5th , 2010.
“Interesting,” Aiden said, amused, “If I had to put a percentage on how much of that went over my head, It would definitely be around a hundred percent.”
“Sorry, sorry, I went a bit overboard, I’ll summarize it,” Tracy laughed, “It’s going well, I’ve already managed to get my hands on a better power source from another failed project, so I’m going to use that instead of buying one.”
“Sneaky, more profit off the top for you, huh?” Aiden said, amused, “Just how much do you scientist types throw away? So wasteful.”
“It’s not like that!” Tracy defended, “I keep all my old inventions and parts in case I need them, I just hadn’t found a use for this one!”
“I can think of a bunch of things off the top of my head that you could have used the old collar for,” Aiden laughed.
“It was totally useless!” Tracy argued, “There are better ones on the market already; tell me one of your ideas then!”
“Of course not, then you will want to cancel our deal.” Aiden teased, “Wow, just imagine how much money you could have made!”
“Liar!” Tracy cried, “You just can’t think of anything.”
“I’ll tell you the day after you deliver it,” Aiden said, amused.
“You and Emil both suck!” Tracy complained.
“Emil wouldn’t tell you the secret, huh?” Aiden grinned, “Principled man, isn’t he?”
“He wouldn’t, ugh.” Tracy huffed, “He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met, but he can be so uptight some times.”
That was some praise coming from a scientist that could make a gravity generating device in a month. Emil had certainly seemed strange, both present and vague at the same time as if he took in everything around him but found all of it uninteresting. There were only a few times when he had actually seen any energy in the man, and it seemed to be when he was trying to wrap his head around something strange like the monkey transformation.
“My next check-up is coming up in a fortnight, you coming back to town?” Aiden asked curiously.
“Can’t,” Tracy sighed, “Work has taken on several contracts, so we are all working on it as much as possible to make the deadline.”
“If you need to put my commission on the backburner for a while, I don’t mind,” Aiden said easily, “Don’t burn yourself out trying to do both.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Tracy said happily, “I’m doing what I love after all.”
“I wish we could all say the same, but I’m happy for you.” Aiden laughed.
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Philadelphia, 4:17 PM.
March 5th , 2010
“Goals for the future?” Aiden asked curiously.
It was obviously a barely veiled attempt to get him to tell them what he was going to aim for, and if they needed to take preparatory action against him.
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“Things you want to do, things you want to work towards,” Dinah said evenly as if he didn’t know what the word meant. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
Five years?
“That’s a long time,” Aiden said thoughtfully, giving the question serious thought. “I will be rich by then, powerful enough to protect myself from just about anything; I’ll make another company of some kind, make my mark on the world, you know?”
“You’re very confident,” Dinah said idly, “You ‘will’ have all that as if it’s a forgone conclusion.”
“Its five years,” Aiden said incredulously, “That’s almost a lifetime, and I have no intention of sitting on my ass and doing nothing, at least not during working hours.”
“Powerful enough to protect yourself,” Dinah brushed past his dramatics, “From what? Why do you need to be powerful?”
“From threats, obviously.” Aiden said dryly, “I’ve been reading about all the weird stuff that has happened here on the internet. I certainly don’t feel very safe; I doubt anyone else does either, not with these superhumans popping up and running around with little regard for the average person.”
“Metahumans, don’t forget that you are one of them,” Dinah corrected almost reflexively, “So you think you will be targeted? Why?”
Not quite what he had said, but now that she mentioned it, he probably would be targeted eventually. Either because of the business that he intended to create or simply because some crazy asshole like Lex Luthor or the Brain wanted to experiment on him because he came from ‘off-world.’
“The obvious reasons,” Aiden said evenly, “People think I’m an alien, despite my best efforts. Eventually, someone will take a shot at me, and I’ll be ready.”
“What would be so bad about being an alien?” Dinah asked leadingly.
Aiden sighed; he was starting to figure out why most people disliked psychologists.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 9:03 AM.
March 9th , 2010.
“What's the expected final date of the transfer again?” Aiden asked distractedly as he continued to complete his morning workout.
His phone, on speaker, crackled a bit as the voice carried over the line.
“We are just waiting on processing now, everything else is handled,” Kalvin said cheerfully, “It should clear on the 15th March, but if there are any unexpected delays it could take longer.”
“Do we expect any ‘unexpected’ delays?” Aiden laughed as he lowered himself back down to the floor.
“No, no!” Kalvin said good-naturedly, “Everything seems to be going perfectly smoothly, I’ll call you as soon as we get confirmation, and you’ll have to bring the keys in the same day.”
“That’s fine,” Aiden said, amused, “I’ll look forward to the good news on the 15th then, thanks, Kalvin.”
“It's no problem at all!” Kalvin said cheerfully.
Aiden dropped out of his handstand for a moment to end the call before getting straight back to it.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 4:23 PM.
March 12th , 2010.
“Not really, I got into a couple of fights as a kid, I suppose, standard schoolyard stuff,” Aiden said easily, “I’ve been thinking about taking some lessons though once I have the money available.”
“Have you been looking for a job?” Dinah asked evenly, “Lessons can be expensive.”
There was no way Batman didn’t already know he was selling the apartment, so she should know about it as well.
“I’m working on something at the moment,” Aiden said thoughtfully. “I’ll have some money soon to play with.”
“Something legal, I hope?” Dinah said dryly.
“What's that supposed to mean, huh?” Aiden said incredulously, “When have I ever given the impression that I would do something illegal?”
Aiden’s business was absolutely going to be legal, eventually. That’s what secret identities were for, though.
“I suppose I should have a little faith in you,” Dinah conceded.
Aiden smirked.
“Know any good places to learn martial arts?” Aiden said cheekily. “Think you could ask that blonde chick from the Justice League? What was her name again? Blue Catapult? Black Catapillar? Something like that, I hear shes pretty good at fighting.”
Dinah sighed.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 9:35 AM.
March 15th , 2010.
“I’ll be down in half an hour,” Aiden said happily, “Thanks for all your hard work, Kalvin!”
“No problem! The work isn’t done quite yet,” Kalvin said happily, satisfied with himself, “Anything you want me to keep an eye out for in the future? Or are you happy with the apartment you picked out?”
Aiden was already half-dressed and ready to go, but he paused for a moment in thought.
“Actually, I might need small building for storage with an unloading area at some point, not for months, though.” Aiden said thoughtfully, “Somewhere to set up some production equipment once I get my hands on it?”
“I don’t spend a lot of time dealing with those types of building, but a commission is a commission, right?” Kalvin laughed. “You’re paying the new deposit today?”
“Yeah,” Aiden grinned, “I just need to drop past the bank first.”
“Understood,” Kalvin chirped.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 2:59 PM.
March 19th , 2010.
“I don’t mind at all,” Aiden said easily, “Put it down for a week, I don’t want to be the reason you got fired.”
“I’m not going to get fired,” Tracy said quickly, “The main build at work is just taking much longer then we all expected, and if that one gets delayed, we are going to take a hit to the commission.”
“Its fine, Tracy, relax.” Aiden reassured, “I’m a big boy; I can wait a couple of weeks.”
“Thanks, Aiden,” Tracy breathed in relief. “I’ll take you out for coffee next time I’m in town as an apology.”
“Sounds good to me,” Aiden said pleasantly, “My dear coffee-lover.”
Tracy snorted at the reminder.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 4:23 PM.
March 19th , 2010.
“Where are you staying now, then?” Dinah asked, bewildered. “You didn’t mention this in any of our previous conversations.”
“I assumed you already knew,” Aiden said curiously, wondering if she was acting. “I’m in a hotel for the moment while I wait for my deposit to clear on the new place.”
“What was wrong with the old place?” Dinah asked, honestly.
“Nothing, I just needed some money to play with, and downgrading the apartment was the easy method available.” Aiden said smoothly, “I’ll end up paying Batman back eventually if you’re worried about that.”
“I have no idea about that,” Dinah said immediately, “What do you plan on doing with the money you have to ‘play’ with now?”
“Are you my financial advisor, as well as my therapist?” Aiden said, amused.
“You don’t have to answer,” Dinah said calmly, having recovered.
“No, no, no.” Aiden said loudly, “You clearly wanted to know, so I’ll tell you all about my Friday night plans.”
“Friday night plans?” Dinah said evenly.
“I met this total fox of a woman downtown last week,” Aiden started with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I told her I’d buy her one of those really expensive-”
“Moving on,” Dinah said dryly. “You will need to keep us updated on the address of your new residence.”
“I’m pretty sure Batman already knows,” Aiden said, amused, “but I’ll pass it along at our next therapy session, Big D.”
“That might be the worst nickname anyone has ever given me,” Dinah said, annoyed.
Aiden just laughed.
----------------------------------------
Philadelphia, 10:03 PM.
March 20th , 2010.
“Aiden,” Emil said distractedly, as he typed away at his computer. “Your entire body is fascinating, from what I’ve been able to discover from the non-invasive scans, at least.”
“Still gunning for that sample, huh?” Aiden said, amused. “Any luck with the tail?”
Emil glanced over his shoulder.
“A sample would make this an order of magnitude faster,” Emil said, annoyed. “The tail isn’t grafted on, it’s a staple part of your body, the nerves are a seamless continuation of your spine, and the removal would likely be incredibly damaging.”
Aiden almost sighed, they had literally just cut them all off in the show, with swords or energy attacks.
“It also appears that your body contains some kind of unknown cell mutations that I’ve never seen before. Even taking into account your strange body, most of these cells are located in two different areas,” Emil said intrigued, as he used the projector by his desk to shine a picture of a male body on the wall. “The most concentrated amount is located just below your neck, in between your shoulder blades.”
A small blip appeared on the image and Aiden tilted his head in thought, he hadn’t had a chance to watch much of the newer stuff that had been released before he’d been isekai’d, but he could vaguely remember something about S-cells and transforming via back tingles. It had sounded stupid at the time and even looking at what could be proof of concept, it was still ridiculous.
A second blip appeared right at the base of his tail, where it connected to his spine.
“The second one is located here, at the nervous system locus connecting the spine and tail,” Emil said plainly.
“Which area has more of these mutated cells?” Aiden asked distractedly.
He felt around in his back for the area, and there was something there, like a small ‘texture’ change in his Ki, but it was so faint it was almost non-existent, and a followup attempt at the tail revealed much the same, barely there.
“Currently, the tail, but it's not by much.” Emil said immediately, “I would like to perform another full series of scans again to see if there are any differences since the last time, so you’ll need to lose the shirt.”
Aiden sighed; more tests.