STAR. Labs, Philadelphia, 9:58 AM.

May 20th, 2010.

“Aiden, there you are,” Emil Hamilton said briskly, “Come in and sit down.”

“Nice to see you too, Emil,” Aiden rolled his eyes, following the man's directions “Tracy not here yet?”

“She is downstairs, I’ve sent her off to buy coffee,” Emil said distractedly as he clicked through screens on his computer. “A ruse, of course.”

“How cunning,” Aiden snorted, “You have something medical-related you want to discuss in private first then?”

“Obviously,” Emil said simply, “You were right to be wary of the moonlight, I exposed a portion of the sample to a concentrated amount of it and almost immediately found out that it was a terrible idea.”

“Did it explode or something?” Aiden laughed.

“It boiled almost immediately on exposure and evaporated,” Emil said, annoyed. “I was, however, able to get several readings of the process, the refracted light puts the cells in an incredibly excited state, and the few mutated cells that were present in the sample were affected more potently.”

“Evaporated?” Aiden frowned, “I’ll admit I don’t know much about this kind of thing, but that seems strange, given that when I’m exposed to it, I’m pretty sure that I won’t evaporate.”

“There is some element missing which stops the cells from undergoing any type of change. Instead, this is the reaction, but I have no idea what it could possibly be,” Emil said, frowning. “I’ve run multiple tests with a multitude of different factors, and nothing has changed the results in the slightest.”

“Probably because there's no Ki left in the sample,” Aiden said thoughtfully.

Emil turned around in his chair to frown at him.

“What is Ki?” Emil said, intrigued. “Some form of chemical?”

“It’s ‘life energy’ produced by living things,” Aiden said smoothly, “Almost everyone I’ve come across has a tiny amount of it.”

“How do you know this-” Emil started, “No, obviously you can detect it in some manner, it isn’t the tail, nor is it the mutated cells, possibly through some use of the energy itself?”

Aiden raised an eyebrow at the man; he’d been underestimating how quick the man was.

“I’m using my own energy to sense the energy of others,” Aiden confirmed, “You also have a small amount if you were curious.”

“It must be a ludicrously small amount for nobody to have found it yet.” Emil said, frowning, “I’ve never encountered such energy before.”

Aiden lifted his hand up, so his palm was facing the roof, and focused a small portion of his Ki to collect above his hand, the Ki sparked to life in a tiny orb barely the size of a large marble.

“Remarkable.” Emil said with great interest, “You can use it so freely? Is this also where your increased physicality comes from?”

“I think so, although whatever was done to me might contribute in some way.” Aiden gestured down at the tail hidden in his pants. “This is another of those don’t tell the league things.”

“Obviously,” Emil huffed, still staring at the orb. “I would like to collect a reading of this energy, and you said I myself have access to this?”

“I doubt you could even feel it given how little everybody but me seems to have,” Aiden said honestly.

“Would my own amount be the average? Yes?” Emil accepted his nod as an answer, “If my own amount was a single unit of energy, how many times greater is your own?”

Aiden frowned at the question, how was he supposed to figure that out?

“I couldn’t give you a specific number, but it's several thousand times the size of your own,” Aiden said, frowning. “It’s like a drop of water next to a swimming pool.”

“Interesting,” Emil said seriously. “Your hypothesis that this ‘Ki’ is the stabilizing factor could be accurate, but we will need numerous tests to confirm it.”

Aiden reabsorbed the Ki when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I’m coming in!” Tracy called out cheerfully before opening the door. “This secret boys club is over!”

Emil sighed and leaned back against his chair.

“Hm,” Aiden said amused, “Maybe we should kick her out so I can tell you some more of my sec-”

“Not a chance!” Tracy declared before crossing the room and pushing two takeaway coffee containers into their hands. “I’ve waited for over a month for that ‘amazing secret,’ the suspense is killing me.”

“If I’m exposed to the light of a full moon, I turn into a giant monkey,” Aiden said easily. “Ooo Ooo, Aaa, Aaa.

“What?” Tracy said, confused, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“The refracted light from a full moon contains a precise amount of energy his body uses to undergo a rapid change, the energy excites each of the cells and through-some unknown mechanism that stabilizes the growth-each cell expands and transforms in an exponential way,” Emil said sullenly, “Thus he becomes a giant ape.”

“It messes with my mind too, probably,” Aiden said honestly, “I think I’d attack everything around me, and be unable to stop myself, at least until I managed to master the transformation.”

Emil frowned at the admission.

“That was entirely out of the left field.” Tracy said, amused, “A giant monkey, really? I suppose that explains the tail.”

“Don’t remind me about the tail,” Aiden complained, “I sat on it last night and spent the next three minutes crying.”

Tracy guffawed, and Aiden turned back to Emil.

“Was there any more change to the mutated cells?” Aiden asked curiously.

“More of them, and they continue to spread throughout your body at a moderate rate.” Emil said offhandedly, “The rate is changing, but if it stayed at the original rate, it would have reached every cell within a decade.”

“Ten years, huh?” Aiden said thoughtfully.

“With the increased spread, how long will it take now?” Tracy asked curiously.

“Six or seven years,” Emil said evenly, meeting Aiden’s eyes. “It's likely to speed up further, depending on the cause.”

Message received, Ki use was probably responsible for the cells, which was almost a solid confirmation that they were S-Cells and not space cancer. The more he increased his Ki, the more S-cells were generated, and over time he would eventually reach whatever the threshold was to achieve super Saiyan.

“Awesome.” Aiden grinned.

“We still don’t know what the effect of these mutations is. It might not be as ‘awesome’ as you desire.” Emil said evenly, “Unless you also know about it already?”

“Aiden-club secret.” Aiden laughed, “No Emil’s allowed, and definitely no Tracy’s.”

Tracy pouted.

“I will uncover it eventually,” Emil said sharply, “It’s simply a matter of time.”

Apartment, Philadelphia, 7:37 PM

May 22st​, 2010.

“The Blue Snowman continues his string of robberies in the downtown area, targeting another jewelry store late last night.” Cat Grant said excitedly, standing at the latest crime scene. “But this time he was stopped in his snowshoes by a much needed female addition to the superhero community! Virago!”

The camera panned to show the alleyway next to the jewelry store. There was a sizeable hole that had been somehow made in the wall. It was clearly the method of entry into the store.

“Virago managed to chase off the dastardly Blue Snowman before he could get his icy claws into any of the goods, but he managed to evade capture once again!” Cat said, amused, “I’m almost starting to feel bad for the villain!”

The camera panned again to show the apparent owner of the jewelry store raging at a policewoman.

“How the hell am I supposed to get this fixed?” The owner says incredulously, gesturing at the hole in the wall. “There is no way I’m paying for this! This is fuck-”

The camera quickly swung back to Cat when the man started cursing.

“I’ll make sure to keep you all in the loop on any updates!” Cat said quickly, “This is Cat Grant, sighing off!”

Belmont Plateau, Philadelphia, 9:58 AM.

May 25th, 2010.

Aiden fiddled with the collar for a moment, before he finally managed to clip it shut around his neck again. He looked down at the grass and nodded to himself.

“Alright, not breaking any more floorboards here,” Aiden muttered, he was going to have to get that fixed sometime soon. “Collar, level two.”

The collar beeped, and his knees bent under the force that was suddenly pressing down on him, and his feet compressed the dirt slightly.

“Ugh,” Aiden grunted before forcing himself to stand upright with a little bit of effort. “That’s not too bad.”

It was definitely more challenging to move around; an average human would be having a fair amount of trouble right now, he wasn’t anywhere near his limit, however.

“Collar, level three,” Aiden said before grunting at the sudden increase.

It wasn’t particularly ‘heavy’ at least compared to his level to physical strength, but there was force being applied to parts of him that had never experienced it before. He should probably allow himself to grow used to this before trying the next level, but he was pretty sure now that he could have gone straight to five times local gravity even if it would have probably hurt. Aiden could feel his feet starting to depress the grass beneath him, and he wasn’t sure of the exact calculation, but he had to of weighed almost three-hundred kilograms right now.

“This is pretty cool.” Aiden managed, while slowly crouching down.

Aiden moved into a pushup position with some effort; it was definitely a more complicated process than just a regular pushup, of which he could do thousands with no effort, perhaps he should invest in some kind of weight belt to make it even more difficult? He could potentially reinforce some pockets into a coat and fill it with enough weights to make it more cumbersome, but that would be a job for next time.

Aiden made it to almost a thousand pushups before his arms started to give out on him, and he could easily say that he hadn’t sweated this much since he had become a Saiyan.

“Choo, Choo.” Aiden gritted out as he started on crunches. “The, gain, train, is, back, baby.”

Apartment, Philadelphia, 7:37 PM

May 27th​, 2010.

The search for the Blue Snowman’s next target was tedious. He’d made a list of the previous locations he had recently attacked. Three earlier attacks in the last month, nothing for six months before that. Jewelry Store, Pawn Shop, Jewelry store, Success, failure, failure, respectively. Each of the attacks happened after 10:00 PM, and they were always on a Friday, but separated by several weeks. The first had been on the 23rd​ of April, and the second was on the 7th​ of May, the most recent one had been on the 21st​ of May, almost a week ago now.

While there were only three points of data, there were two apparent patterns that anyone with eyes would have been able to see. Friday, every two weeks, alternated between jewelry stores and pawn shops. If the villain continued his ridiculous pattern, the next robbery attempt would be on Friday, the 4th​ of June, and a pawn shop would be his target.

Aiden didn’t really think he would be following such a distinctive date pattern on purpose, because no one would be that obvious deliberately; unless they were trying to play a longer game, which actually might be the case.

If that was the pattern he was following, it must have been something to do with his schedule and working around his normal life. Nighttime was also the obvious time to commit a crime, less visibility, and fewer people around to spot you.

The alternating between stores could be explained by the decisions one tended to make when they lost. The first time The Blue Snowman had attempted to rob a jewelry store, he succeeded at it, and then he had switched targets to a pawn store, likely to throw anyone off the trail.

But he had gotten caught by Virago and failed to get anything from there. The next time he went out to steal something, it had probably been under the assumption that he had much better luck at the jewelry store, so he went after a different one. Only Virago had caught him again before he managed to get away.

What would someone do next? Four options, Four strategies.

Option one was to switch targets again, hoping that Virago wouldn’t expect them to go back to another pawn store. Option two was to attack a jewelry store and hope that Virago kept an eye on pawn shops because of the emerging pattern. The third option was to attack somewhere wholly new, a bank, maybe.

The fourth option was what Aiden would have done if he was in the Blue Snowmans position, attack one of the previous locations again because Virago would expect him to be at one of the other stores. Out of three attempts, the Blue Snowman had only succeeded once, and it was a while ago now, it was also a jewelry store, which would break the established pattern likely muddying the water further.

Aiden knew where he was going on the 4th​.

Alleyway, Philadelphia, 11:04 PM

June 4th, 2010.

Aiden felt a lance of satisfaction dance through him as his clever reasoning had panned out. It was immediately deflated by the fact that Virago had apparently come to the exact same conclusion. Either Virago was even more clever then Aiden had thought he was, or it had been a pretty simple deduction to make.

Either way, it left him pouting on the rooftop as Virago chased The Blue Snowman around the alleyway. Virago certainly seemed like she had recovered from whatever had been in that dart. Aiden quickly noted that neither of them was particularly fast or strong. Virago had a grappling hook she was using to outmaneuver the armored Blue Snowman.

Funnily enough, The Blue Snowman, despite wearing what appeared to be a powered suit of blue armor, was getting his ass kicked.

“How do you keep finding me!” The Blue Snowman cried incredulously, in a digitized voice.

Virago managed to hook her grappling hook around the villain's large metal boot, and the taut cable sent the Blue Snowman tripping backward onto his back in the alley.

“You’re not as smart as you think, Snowman,” Virago said seriously.

Aiden pouted, he’d been really proud of that deduction too, but apparently, the Blue Snowman was just an idiot. Virago wrangled the villain over onto his armor stomach and was attempting to tie his arms together. Aiden hopes this wasn’t going to get him branded as a villain. Luckily he had already ditched the superman mask.

“Blue Snowman!” Aiden called down off the roof.

Virago moved away from the tied up villain immediately and got her eyes on him, looking almost panicked. Aiden noted they were a peculiar shade of bright blue, very distinctive look what with the white hair sticking up all over the place.

“Who are you?” Virago demanded seriously.

“I’m a bodyguard for hire,” Aiden laughed. “Hey Blue, If you hire me, I’ll protect you for the next hour.”

“How much!?” The Blue Snowman cried in his strange voice.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Virago said, bewildered. “He’s a villain!”

“A bodyguard holds no prejudices!” Aiden smirked. “A thousand an hour, no partial hours, a second over, and you owe me two.”

“That’s practically theft!” Blue Snowman cried in dismay.

“I don’t want to hear that from a thief!’ Aiden called back immediately.

The Blue Snowman let out a digitized whine.

“I’m not letting him walk away again,” Virago said firmly.

“Fine!” The Blue Snowman cried out, “One hour!”

Aiden grinned behind his mask.

“If you come down here, I’m going to have to hurt you,” Virago said seriously, posture tensed.

Aiden actually found the woman pretty intimidating, despite her apparent lack of powers. Regardless, he decided on a plan while he had the chance before nodding to himself and leaping off the roof.

Virago didn’t hesitate and immediately shot her zipline straight at him.

Aiden spun in the air and slipped underneath the cable, as everything seemed to slow down to his senses, he landed in a crouch only feet away from the Hero. Virago was already moving into a savage kick that completely missed him as he darted around her at speed. Aiden clamped his hand down on the Snowmans shoulder and threw him up into a fireman's carry before zipping up into the air with a burst of Ki.

The Snowman was actually not that heavy, given the appearance the thick metal panels gave off, but there was still some weight to him. Aiden spun in the air to take in the area and immediately took off to the west as Virago’s zipline dragged her up onto the roof of the building.

“Get back here!” Virage called, annoyed.

“You’ll never catch us!”The Blue Snowman taunted digitally, still hanging off Aiden's shoulder. “Haven’t you heard of the Flash!?

Aiden grinned under his Flash mask as he tore away from the Hero. Giving her credit, Virago managed to keep up with him for almost a block before he poured on the speed and crossed half the city in an instant.

“Whoa!” The Blue Snowman cried. “Who even are you?!”

“I’m the bodyguard you owe a thousand dollars to, but you can call me Bubbles!” Aiden grinned. “Hey, Blue, I’ll knock five hundred off the hourly rate if you find me some new clients!”

“Deal!” The Blue Snowman said immediately, “I’ll market you to everyone I know! What else do you want? I need more of those discounts!”

“I’ll get back to you on that!” Aiden laughed.