Philadelphia, 11:32 AM.

February 19th​, 2010.

Aiden watched the city crawl by outside the window of the car they had sent to pick him up. The buildings were tall, modern and he couldn’t help but think the skyline must be beautiful at night, he would have to find out in the next couple of nights.

Philadelphia seemingly ran along a section of the Delaware River, and according to his attempt at research was a pretty profitable place, . Several of the largest companies in the world were based here, and other companies had appeared overnight after his apparent world-hopping. Lexcorp being the largest change that he was still getting used to, they were everywhere, with a hand in everything. Wayne Enterprises was likewise a pervasive part of America and apparently had a few warehouses here. There were so many others that he had almost immediately given up on cataloging the differences, he would learn them as they become relevant to his interests, and research them as needed.

The driver in the front seat glanced back at him again, but he paid the man no mind, he was unaffiliated with anyone important simply an average driver or so Aiden had decided, although it could have been one of the unmasked heroes for all he knew.

It had been over a month since he had arrived here, and it felt like he’d barely had a moment of peace since. The paperwork had finally been made official as of the 7th​ of February, and they had finally let him get out of the direct supervision of the police. Today was his first day in Philadelphia, and so far he’d spent it stuck in a car, for far too long.

He had managed, despite his temptation, to avoid using any more abnormal things that would be considered as ‘superpowers’ to his overseers. It hadn’t stop him from playing around with the energy that he had become aware of inside of him, moving it around his body was seemingly easy enough, it almost seemed to jump to fulfill his needs. The sudden awareness of the energy inside of him had brought with it the ability to feel those around him.

At the moment he was using it to investigate the people around him for almost a block, which made him aware of all sorts of things going on that he otherwise would have missed. People idling in alleyways, sleeping in bushes, and one couple doing something very daring in a stairwell of one of the larger buildings.

The difference between his own energy and the amount the average person had was startling.

The driver had a pretty average level of energy, and he assigned it an arbitrary measurement of the power of one unit for the sake of an estimate. If the Driver was a one, and he probably wasn’t, then Aiden would have been somewhere just upward of a hundred, which was interesting.

Aiden had needed to talk himself down, multiple times, from attempting to recreate the ability to fly, at least until he had some privacy. Although he couldn’t help but think that they would have bugged the apartment they had supposed purchased in his name. Bought, not rented, which was surprising, clearly Batman or one of the other rich members of the Justice League had decided to just give him one, instead of renting it.

Aiden wasn’t going to complain, but he also was planning on renting it out the first chance he got, and moving to somewhere cheaper so he could start bringing in some of his own money. They had essentially just given him the capital he needed to start working his way back up the ladder but he was already thinking of how he could use his powers for another stream of income.

Once he had a handle on exactly what he was capable of, he was going to start another business, but this time it wasn’t going to be construction. It was going to be a bodyguard service, of the super-powered variety, and he was going to charge people through the nose for it.

Aiden grinned to himself in the back seat of the car.

He was drawn out of his scheming when the car slowed to a stop out the front of a large and incredibly strange-looking building.

“What the hell am I looking at?” Aiden mumbled to himself as he stepped out of the car.

‘STAR. LABS’ was written on a stylish looking slab near the front of the building, but the structure behind it was just weird. Tall, multi-storied, with four large pillars at each corner of the building that almost looked like the legs of a rocket. The pillars were seemingly a blend of metal and concrete, while the rest of the building was covered in panes of sleek glass. It looked as if they had let an artist design a science building from a cartoon stereotype.

There was an older man, and a younger woman seemingly waiting for him out the front of the building, so he thanked the driver before heading towards the two.

“Welcome, you must be young Aiden.” The older man said pleasantly.

‘Young Aiden’ found himself annoyed at the descriptor.

“I’m twenty-six,” Aiden said annoyed. “But yes, I am Aiden Neve, it’s a pleasure to meet you?”

Aiden paused and waited for the man to introduce himself.

“Emil Hamilton,” Emil said sheepishly, “My apologies, I’ll do my best to remember you are in fact older then you appear.”

“Twenty-six?” The woman said bemused, “You don’t look like you’ve hit twenty yet.”

“We have something in common then, miss?” Aiden said wryly.

The woman flashed him a set of perfect white teeth.

“Dr. Simmons, but you can call me Tracy,” Tracy said happily. “I’ve heard you are from another dimension? I have some questions I would like to ask you if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Once we have finished with our actual task, Dr. Simmons.” Emil said dryly, “If you would like to head inside now, we can get started?”

“Lead the way Doctor,” Aiden said easily.

“I prefer Professor or Emil,” Emil said pleasantly.

“Emil then,” Aiden said simply as the three of them headed for the entrance. “How long have you worked here?”

“Two days,” Emil said wryly, “I am the director of the facility in Metropolis, but I’ve been asked to personally handle your checkups.”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at that, he had spent the better part of a day finding all the cities he could remember reading about as a kid. Gotham and Metropolis stood where New Jersey and Delaware used to be. Why send someone from several cities away, and why the director of another facility? Where was the director of this facility?

Aiden glanced at Tracy for a moment curious.

“I’m from Metropolis as well.” Tracy said happily, “I’m acting as the Professors assistant.”

Emil huffed out a breath.

“Tracy heard about the possibility that you are in fact from another reality and insisted I bring her along with me.” Emil said dryly, “I must admit, she is a far more effective assistant than any of the other ones.”

Tracy smiled brightly at what might have been high praise coming from the man, but Aiden just nodded again. His ‘secret’ was never really a secret anyway, his arrival had been very public, to many had seen both the Attack Ball’s re-entry and there was plenty of footage of him both swimming towards the boats and being escorted into the cars. Wonder Woman being seen entering the police station hadn’t done any more harm than was already done really, but she had certainly contributed.

The public had run with the story that he was an alien for the first two weeks, but he had managed to flag down a reporter during one of his rare trips outside, despite his escorts insistence for him to cease his actions, for an impromptu interview. The story had changed to something much more flattering although it was already changing again.

A man torn from an alternate earth, ripped away from his family, his friends, his lover, and everything he owned. Experimented on and abandoned once they had gotten whatever they were looking for, he told them how the Justice League had offered to set him up in the new world as a citizen, where he could live peacefully and try to rebuild some semblance of a life.

Aiden had tried to make himself out to be the most believably tragic victim that he could, and in turn, cemented his place as one of them, despite how his tail still flicked around behind him, marking him as something different.

“We will be running a series of tests to determine both your health and how your body responds to different substances in case your immune system has been compromised in some way,” Emil said idly as he brought them into a large room on the third floor. “You haven’t experienced any signs of illness, dizziness, or anything else of note?”

Aiden slipped onto the bed easily and watched as Tracy found herself a place to sit nearby.

“No signs of anything health related other than a large increase in appetite, if that counts?” Aiden said easily.

“Interesting, how large of an increase?” Emil said thoughtfully, “Increased energy requirements could point to a change in many different bodily processes.”

“I eat about four times as much as I used to, as bizarre as that sounds.” Aiden said honestly, “I find myself snacking multiple times a day as well.”

“That’s a lot of calories,” Tracy said bewildered. “Have you been putting on weight?”

Emil huffed at the interjection but looked interested at the question regardless.

“Yes,” Aiden said easily, “Although I’m seemingly gaining more muscle than fat, as far as I can tell.”

“Are you working out, or is your body naturally moving in that direction?” Emil said immediately.

Aiden blinked, having not even thought about it.

“I work out twice a week, at least that was my routine before all of this,” Aiden gestured vaguely, “I haven’t had a chance to escape supervision long enough to go to a gym though, so I’ve only been doing some basic calisthenics, sit-ups, push-ups, squats that kind of thing.”

Emil noted it down but pressed the issue.

“You know your body better than anybody else, do you think it's abnormal given the amount of exercise you are ongoing?” Emil said easily.

“I’ve seen more development in the last three weeks in an empty room then I have in an entire year at the gym,” Aiden confirmed simply.

“That much so quickly?” Tracy said shocked, turning to the computer on the desk for a moment to click through several windows. “That is definitely abnormal.”

“Extraordinary,” Emil said intrigued, “You’ve demonstrated enhanced levels of physical strength, according to Wonder Woman, was there any pain associated with using that level of force? Stressed muscles? Lingering pain in joints?”

Wonder Woman had totally narked on him, he was going to make sure he gave her some shit for that.

“No pain whatsoever, I haven’t found anything nearby that I couldn’t lift easily either.” Aiden said curiously, “I should be tearing muscles at this point, at least I think so, but you two are the doctors, what do you think?”

“We can easily facilitate a device to test your strength,” Emil said immediately, “I think, that your muscle fibers have been enhanced along with the rest of your body to handle that kind of stress, but we won’t know anything for certain without a sample to test.”

“Maybe next time.” Aiden said dryly, “I was sold the ‘non-invasive’ package, not the ‘cut me open’ kind.”

Emil grunted in consternation, prompting Tracy to giggle at the man's disgruntlement.

“You’ve indicated a desire to have your tail removed, along with some kind of implication regarding the full-moon?” Emil said slowly. “Some kind of interaction between the two? Light? An image-trigger implanted via the tail somehow?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at the man, he had been underestimating him if he’d come to that conclusion with such little information available. Wonder Woman had no doubt passed on his comments about the full moon, but he hadn’t elaborated further. Aiden had locked himself in the provided room, wrapped himself in blankets, and sat in the closet messing with his phone all night, and no monkey business had occurred.

“Something like that, it's also extremely sensitive to touch.” Aiden derailed the man's line of thought, “Debilitating even.”

Tracy turned back around to study him curiously.

“Does the pain worsen closer to a full-moon?” Emil fished, “How did you come to know about the moon being a problem when you had only just arrived hours prior?”

Aiden realized that the man was obviously not going to let this point go, and his attempt at levity back then with Wonder Woman had buried him here, he could probably swing something in return for the information.

“It’s a private matter that I had absolutely no intention of telling anyone, but I would, of course, be happy to tell my good friend Emil all about that incredibly interesting and personal piece of information,” Aiden said deadpanned, “In exchange for some information and favor.”

Tracy looked amused at the dress-up and was watching to see Emil’s reaction but she didn’t have to wait very long.

“Very well,” Emil said dryly, “What information?”

Aiden had been thinking about the future this past month, there had been little else to do, after all, he had been stuck in a room by himself. There were several things he wanted, and several things that would make it much easier for him to increase in strength.

One of those things was a lead on somebody who could make him a room with artificial gravity, surely a director of ‘Star. Labs’ could point him in the direction of someone who knew something about that.

“Two things,” Aiden said evenly, “Do you know anyone who could make a room with artificial gravity?”

Emil frowned at the request.

“I know of many individuals who would be capable of such a task,” Emil said seemingly bemused, “What is the other?”

‘Many,’ sounded pretty good to Aiden, but he expected it to be something of a rarity, even in a DC world, clearly, he wasn’t very up to date on what they could do.

“I need a place to put it once I get the funds together to pay for it,” Aiden said easily. “Who do I need to talk to around here to get the clearance for something like that?”

Emil nodded thoughtfully.

“You do need a license to utilize something like that legally,” Emil said thoughtfully, “Depending on the purpose and the morality of its use, I would be willing to deal with those issues for you, that was the favor I suppose?”

“It was,” Aiden confirmed. “I intend to use it to train my body under the effects of increasing levels of gravity, which I happen to mysteriously know will be an effective training method.”

“The same mysterious way you know about a connection between your tail and the moon?” Emil said evenly.

“Yes,” Aiden said easily, “This is medical information doctor, if you tell anyone about anything without my permission, well.”

“You’ll kill me?” Emil said deadpanned.

“Worse,” Aiden said immediately, “I’ll sue you.”

Emil snorted but nodded.

“You have a deal then,” Emil said bluntly. “Tracy.”

Tracy’s eyes widened at the sound of her name.

“You’re kicking me out?” Tracy said alarmed. “I want to know about the mysterious things as well! I’m a physicist this is totally my area! You’re being totally unfair professor!”

“Black, two sugars.” Emil said plainly and without mercy, before turning back to him. “and what will you have, buddy?”

Aiden grinned at the absolute savage of a man.

“White vanilla latte, two sugars. Thanks, Tracy.” Aiden laughed, “I can’t wait to divulge all my really interesting secrets, Pal.”

“It's not funny!” Tracy called over her shoulder, as she stomped out the door. “Stop laughing!”

The door slammed behind her.

“Strangely enough.” Emil said amused, “Dr. Simmons is actually one of the people I would suggest talking to about your proposed artificial gravity room, I believe shes had a hand in creating several devices that deal with gravity in some manner.”

Aiden nodded at the suggestion.

“I’ll speak to her about it after we are finished then.” Aiden agreed. “My tail has a very strange interaction with the light that is refracted off the full-moon, and I can tell it has something to do with turning into a giant rampaging thing if I stare at it.”

Emil raised both eyebrows at the sudden divulgence.

“Light reflected off the moon is simply light, it should have no interaction that normal light from the sun doesn’t incur,” Emil said frowning.

“The words ‘Blutz Waves’ come to mind, but I couldn’t tell you the origin, there is probably an element of image trigger like you guessed as well,” Aiden said seriously. “It's fine as long as I stay inside on those days, but it would be easier to just remove the tail entirely to avoid the issue.”

Emil snorted at the last comment.

“Easier to remove something that is for all intents and purposes an extension of your spine?” Emil rolled his eyes, “We will be doing a thorough investigation on it before anything that extreme is even going to be on the table.”

Aiden sighed at the dismissal of his desires.

“I look like a weirdo, running around with a tail! There was a pair of white coats downstairs that were pointing at it and giggling when we came in!” Aiden argued passionately, “It's ruining my style, just cut it off man, it's not like it's in between my head and my shoulders, what possible harm could it do?”

“That may be the most reckless thing I’ve ever heard someone suggest out of vanity,” Emil said incredulously. “It is not happening until we are absolutely certain no complications will arise.”

Aiden felt like pouting, stupid fucking tail.