359 My SI Stash #59 - Perspective is Ki by Elbowsnapper (YoungJustice)

-This author is on a roll with these SI fics, their pretty refreshing to read~

Synopsis: Aiden Neve, a CEO of a construction company wakes up inside an Attack Ball that is headed on a course straight back to earth, and it only gets stranger from there.

Rated: ???

Words: 10K

Posted on: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/perspective-is-ki-saiyan-young-justice-oc.869338/ (Elbowsnapper)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics/originals mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1-2 (exceptional)

On route to Earth, Unknown Time.

December 27th​, 2009.

Aiden listened to the quiet hum that surrounded him for several minutes before he was finally able to force his eyes open. Almost immediately a mild feeling of claustrophobia raced through him as he struggled to lift his head. He was inside a small round room, white padding of some sort covered the walls, and a circular window, tinted maroon sat just outside of his sight.

Aiden had no idea where he was, but his entire body felt unresponsive, even his fingers refused to do much more than twitch minutely against the armrest of whatever chair he was attached to. There was a panel covered in buttons underneath the window, and strange symbols scrolled across the small glass panel there, yellow blocky lettering in some unknown alphabet. A prompt of some kind, bright red and alarming was flashing over the top of the strange letters, looking like some kind of error message that was vying for attention.

The panic of being seemingly paralyzed slowly washed away over the course of the next fifteen minutes as he slowly regained the ability to move his body, starting from his fingertips and moving up his arms, and finally with a great deal of effort he was able to lift his head to look out of the window.

Stars.

Aiden felt another streak of unease cut through him, his stomach contracted sickeningly with the realization that there was nothing below whatever room he was inside of, he was in space. A bright light was covering the right side of the window, and when he managed to lean forward enough to get an angle on what it was he found the sun. A moment of intent searching later he located a growing shape in the direction the craft seemed to be moving, an awfully familiar shape that any human being would recognize from a picture with just a glance.

Aiden was approaching the Earth, from space, inside a flying spacecraft of some kind and he had absolutely no idea how he had gotten here.

On route to Earth, One Hour Later.

December 27th, 2009.

Almost an hour later he was really starting to get worried, as the Earth continued to grow larger in the window and he was well aware that he had no idea how to engage any kind of landing mechanism inside the craft, which obviously would result in him crashing and dying on arrival.

Aiden couldn't read the writing on the monitor panel at all, although the shape of the foreign alphabet it did have a vague sense of familiarity to it, so he was left with two options as far as he could tell.

Option one was to let this thing complete whatever course it intended without interfering, and possibly dying, or option two, press buttons at random and hope he didn't somehow eject himself into space and die. Neither seemed like an intelligent decision, but they were all he had. His body had finally reached a point where he could almost feel everything once more, the return of sensation across his body seemed strangely connected with the approach to earth. Something twitched against his back and he froze, there was something in this craft with him, moving slightly in-between him and the chair.

The Earth had grown to completely encompass the window now, and what looked like heat or fire was starting to color the window an even brighter shade of yellow-red but he couldn't drag his mind away from the thing behind him to appreciate the view or even be scared of his impending crash landing.

The craft he was in began to vibrate as a landmass appeared distantly below with a large body of water visible in the middle.

Aiden had seen enough horror movies to realize he was about to die a horrific death via an alien parasite, so he slowly readied himself to attack, and when he gathered the willpower to force himself into action he sat forward before jamming his hand down behind him in an instant.

Pain lanced up his spine as he grabbed whatever it was, and a sensation of touching himself flared up along with it and his mind raced in confusion as he painfully dragged the wriggling thing around in front of him to stare at it without comprehension.

A long brown hair covered thing wriggled painfully in his grip as the spacecraft crashed into the water at breakneck speeds, but somehow he found himself unmoved inside the craft. Some kind of inertia dampening effect stopping him from experiencing the feeling of being thrown around in the small area violently. Water rushed past the window violently as the craft reached the bottom and abruptly stopped as it cratered the area, sending sediment and dirt up into the water and reducing the visibility to nothing.

Aiden dragged his gaze away from the window to look down at the thing in his hand.

"Why do I have a tail?" Alden said quietly, heart thudding desperately inside his chest.

Aiden slowly let his apparent tail go, noting idly that it looked very much like the kind of tail a Saiyan might have, and the savage pain vanished almost immediately after he stopped trying to crush it to death, he found himself able to move it as naturally as breathing as the final effects of the paralysis faded away.

The yellow lettering on the monitor panel settled, but the red flashing prompt continued to blink over the top of it demandingly. His mind was running the word Saiyan over in his mind as he took in his surroundings once more, the writing that had looked familiar reminded him of the blocky lettering on the Scouters from the anime, and the round spacecraft was obviously an Attack Ball in hindsight.

What on earth was happening here? How did he get the tail? How did the Attack Ball even exist, and how was it able to actually fly through space and re-enter an atmosphere? Alden realized he had no idea how he was going to get out of here, and the unease returned almost as if it hadn't left at all.

He had landed inside a body of water somewhere in the middle of a landmass, he had been too distracted by the tail and the fire to register which country it had been. How deep underwater was he, should wait inside for someone to investigate the crash? Had anyone even noticed it in the first place? The choice was taken entirely out of his hands as the pod door suddenly opened and water rushed in.

Aiden managed half a breath before he was underwater, and in complete darkness, he noted in the sudden adrenaline spike that he could see pretty well considering the lack of light as he pulled himself out of the Attack Ball.

He planted his foot on the top of the ball and pushed upwards as hard as he could, dragging his arms down at the same time as he desperately swam upwards, following the stream of bubbles from the pod to the surface, he realized he wasn't running out of breath as quickly as he expected as he swam.

Aiden could see the surface of the water now, as the light penetrated enough of it for him to see properly now, the water seemed so clear to his sight now, it was strangely calming, and the lack of most sounds contributed to the effect.

Aiden knew he hadn't been able to see this well prior to this whole event, so something had happened to his eyes as well and it was another factor he was storing as evidence for a theory that was becoming more likely by the second. An Attack Ball, A Saiyan's tail, massively increased lung capacity, vastly improved eyesight, and he was swimming at a much faster speed then he thought was possible.

Had he somehow become a Saiyan?

Aiden broken the surface and took in a long deep breath, he hadn't even approached the point of struggling for air. He immediately confirmed that his vision had indeed improved greatly, as he took in the details of tens of boats moving towards his position, lights flashing on the tops of only some of them. His hearing had also received a similar upgrade as he could hear the loud conversations clearly, that was taking place on the boats still a hundred meters away from him.

"Remain where you are, do not approach, we will come to you!" A loud voice rang out clearly over some kind of loudspeaker system on one of the boats. "Any hostile movements will be met with force, please lift a single hand if you can understand this message!"

Aiden had no intention of making any hostile movements against anyone, so he raised one of his hands, as he paddled with the other to keep himself afloat. One of the smaller boats approached very slowly, and a man in a police vest stood at the front sternly.

"I am Lieutenant Williams," The officer said calmly. "Identify yourself."

Aiden immediately noted the man's accent.

"Aiden Neve," Aiden said easily.

"Your spaceship was spotted landing in the lake," Lieutenant Williams continued, "What are your intentions here?"

"You have an American accent," Aiden said helplessly, "I'm from Australia, I woke up in that spaceship, and now I somehow have a tail, I'm fairly sure somebody experimented on me?"

Lieutenant Williams paused for a long moment before placing his phone back to his ear and listening, and Aiden continued to paddle in the water beside the boat unthreateningly.

"If we can confirm that as true and you co-operate with us, we will do our best to sort this situation out," Lieutenant Williams said calmly, "Do you understand and agree, Aiden?"

"Yeah," Aiden said easily.

Lieutenant Williams listened to his phone for a moment before putting it away, before hooking a lightweight ladder over the edge of the boat.

"Come on up," Lieutenant Williams said evenly. "Avoid making any sudden movements and keep your hands visible at all times to avoid any incidents."

Aiden paddled over to the ladder and pulled himself up slowly, realizing very quickly that he was much stronger than before when he lifted his body weight like it wasn't even there. He ascended the ladder at a slow deliberate pace to avoid setting any of them off and climbed over to stand in the boat.

Aiden glanced around at all of the officers calmly for a moment before nodding.

"I'm totally naked," Aiden said evenly, "In case you didn't notice."

"We noticed," A female officer said wryly as she held out a simple brown blanket.

"Thanks." Aiden sighed, belatedly covering himself.

"I'll need you to sit down here and remain there until instructed otherwise." Lieutenant Williams said calmly, gesturing to the bench against the cabin wall.

"No problem," Aiden said easily.

Aiden moved slowly over to the bench and sat down, with his hands visible outside of the blanket.

"You said you were from Australia," Lieutenant Williams asked evenly, "Where exactly?"

"Melbourne." Aiden said calmly, "I'm the CEO of SUDA Inc."

"SUDA?" Lieutenant Williams asked simply.

"Sleek Urban, Design, and Aesthetics," Aiden said easily.

Lieutenant Williams studied him for a long moment before slowly noting it down on his pad and asked another question. Aiden almost frowned at the strange reaction, the officer clearly didn't believe he was who he said he was for some reason.

"You said you were experimented on? Can you elaborate?" The officer asked seriously.

Aiden nodded calmly as he thought about how he wanted to spin the story.

"I'm assuming I was experimented on because last night when I went to sleep I certainly didn't have a tail," Aiden said evenly, "I didn't go to sleep in a spaceship either, I went to bed in my apartment on Elizabeth street."

Lieutenant Williams noted it down quickly before frowning down at him.

"How old are you?" The officer asked steadily.

"Twenty-six," Aiden said easily.

"You don't look twenty-six," Lieutenant Williams said immediately.

Aiden blinked in surprise at the response, opening his mouth and then closing it again. What did you say to someone who told you that?

"How old do I look?" Aiden said frowning, glancing around for some kind of reflective surface but making no move to stand up.

"Seventeen at most." The officer said without hesitation.

"I'll take it as a compliment than," Aiden said strangely.

"It's not one." Lieutenant said dryly, "So you went to bed last night in your apartment in Australia, and woke up in a spaceship looking like this?"

Aiden stared at the man helplessly for a second before he managed to pull himself together again.

"That's exactly what happened." Aiden confirmed, "Where are we anyway?"

"Lake Michigan, just offshore from Chicago." Lieutenant Williams said after a moment's pause. "You know where that is on a map?"

"America." Aiden said wryly, "The accent gave it away though."

"I don't want to hear about accents from you." Lieutenant Williams snorted. "So you have no intention of doing anything strange like attacking a city or eating people?"

Aiden looked at the man in disbelief.

"Of course not," Aiden said alarmed, "Why on earth would you think that?"

Lieutenant Williams gave him a strange look at that.

"You're a bit naïve for a supposed CEO, aren't you?" The officer said candidly, "That kind of thing literally happens all the time."

Aiden was fairly sure the guy was just messing with him now, so he just shook his head at the nonsensical remark, he had just crash-landed back on earth after apparently being abducted, so he could deal with some strange remarks. They had almost made landfall by now, and the city looked even more impressive then he would have expected even for such a famous city, actually, a lot of the buildings looked a great deal more modernized then he would have expected and he had something of an eye for such things given his line of work.

More police cars greeted them as they led him down the pier they had tied off on, Aiden couldn't help but notice all of the flashes of cameras and questions being called out. So he waved happily to the press before they had him slip into the back of one of the cruisers.

"So what happens now?" Aiden asked curiously.

"We take you down to the station." Lieutenant Williams said from the passenger seat, "Once we confirm that you are who you say you are and figure out everything else we can about the situation you'll likely be sent on home to Australia."

Aiden nodded easily, he would be home in time for supper.

Chicago, 1:17 PM.

December 27th, 2009.

Aiden sighed for the hundredth time as he sat in the simple grey room waiting for the Lieutenant to come back again, it had been hours and nobody had come to inform him of anything yet, it seemed like such a waste of time to just be sitting around like this, accomplishing nothing at all.

He could be working, or out drinking, or meeting women in nightclubs for sordid affairs. Sitting in an empty room was the complete opposite of a good time, and messing around with his strange new tail could only remain actively entertaining for so long.

There weren't even one of those mirrors like in the movies.

Aiden didn't know whether or not he really was a Saiyan, or this was somehow an elaborate trick, but the tail was definitely real, and he was already planning on paying a plastic surgeon or someone to remove it, just in case it was entirely realistic and he turned into a giant ape when he looked at the moon or something.

Besides having a tail in a world where nobody else did was humiliating and would make him a target for jokes made at the costly expense of his painstakingly crafted reputation of competence and professionalism. Aiden had worked hard to get where he was so young, and he wasn't going to let some silly tail jeopardize his hard-won success.

Regardless of how awesome dragon ball z or the idea of becoming a Saiyan was.

Aiden was trying to figure out where he would sit in a world where he was the physically strongest being, no average human, not even the strongest weightlifter, or the fastest sprinter could hope to approach even a Saiyan as Goku had been as a child.

Aiden could remember bullets being deflected off his skin on multiple occasions, and that had been back in dragon ball, as well as being strong enough to lift cars, fight massive dinosaurs, and vanish from the human sight with his speed.

All of that should at least be within his grasp, even if he was as weak as Goku had started as. What had his power level been back then before they had stopped using the system entirely? Ten? Surely he could match that at least, he was willing to work as hard as he needed if the result were making himself ludicrously stronger. Aiden could become an MMA fighter or a boxer, and dominate the competition with ease, earn himself some of that cash cow, with probably zero risks on his part.

Busting his ass as the CEO of a boring-ass construction company could be a distant footnote in his biography a few years, he wouldn't be quitting his job until he was sure reality actually worked out that way, but still the dream of fame, luxury and pleasure were there to be grasped.

Aiden couldn't help the smile that worked its way onto his face.

Chapter 2

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 place 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."

"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, maintaining 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 bewildered, "I am not a stripper."

Aiden rolled his eyes at her determination to stay in character.

"Whatever," Aiden said flippantly, "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 said annoyed, "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.

Aiden very carefully didn't show any reaction to this startling discovery.

"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 plainly, "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 sighed, "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 rolled his eyes. "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, it's not like they can't afford it." Aiden laughed. "I would have asked for the lap dance instead if I'd thought it would have gone over well."

Diana huffed at the comment, faintly amused.

"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.