Aldrich waited for the mysterious military man to respond, and after a few

extra seconds of silence, he did.

"Do you understand the position you're in right now?" said the man gruffly.

"No. Why don't you tell me?" said Aldrich.

"Don't get smart with me," said the man as his brow scrunched up in

displeasure.

"Smart with you? First, you have to convince me that you're even worth the

effort, said Aldrich.

"You son of a-," The man caught himself and took in a deep breath, calming

himself. When he spoke again, his words had a threatening edge to them. "You

have no idea where you're going. You could be getting tossed deep into a prison

pit with your key thrown out and forgotten.

You might think yourself strong, but you have no way out of this, not with the

Null containment screwing you over.

You still want to put up an attitude?"

"Lsee, so we're starting off with a threat," said Aldrich. "Quite a harsh way to

start off congratulating the man who saved an entire city, no?"

"I don't give a rat's ass what you did," said the man. "Keep up that easygoing

attitude, and I'll make sure you never see the light of day again. You

understand me?"

"You won't do that," said Aldrich plainly.

nae ap. can ae

ame te eee a eee es

"My life?" Aldrich scoffed. "It's your lives that are on the line here. I am the only

existence in history that has ever been able to control a Locus. That must

make you and your higher ups wonder, doesn't it?

What if I could control even above that? Maybe even a Titan?

Wouldn't that end it all? This entire conflict with the variants? You are afraid of

me because you don't know who I am or what I want to do, but you can't let go

of me either, because otherwise you lose what could be your biggest ticket to

ensuring humanity's survival."

"..." The man sighed, defeated, knowing that Aldrich was right. "I'm only asking

for you to take this seriously."

"Seriously? Don't be mistaken, I am taking this situation seriously," said

Aldrich. "What I am not taking seriously is you.

You aren't someone that's used to interrogating, are you? No, you're used to

giving orders, but questioning, that isn't your specialty. You're too

straightforward. Too easily riled up when your authority is challenged.

You're someone higher up with people even higher telling you to get

something out of me.

But let me make this clear.

You are not here to take anything from me.

You are here to ask me for things, and it is my choice whether to give them to

you or not.

So, if you understand and you want me to talk, then drop this tough guy act.

Tell me what you want, and I'll think about telling you what I can do."

The man stared at Aldrich for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Alright

then, you've seen right through me. Let me start this over. My name is Colonel

Davos. I oversee the Irregulars Department of the U.S. government."

"Irregulars?" said Aldrich. He had never heard of this department before.

"We aren't known to the public," said Davos. "But to give you a brief rundown,

we handle unexplainable phenomena."

"Such as?" said Aldrich.

"That, I am not obligated to disclose to you," said Davos. "But just know that

your powers and what you did tonight with that Locus falls under the category

of unexplainable phenomena."

"I see," said Aldrich. "Then what is it you want from me?"

"First and foremost, your intentions," said Davos. "I and the government need

to know whether you are on our side. On humanity's side."

"Lam," said Aldrich.

"Good. Then you understand that for national security, no, global security, that

your powers are crucial, correct? You yourself stated how important they could

be," said Davos. "I'm here to broker a deal with you.

In exchange for your services to the government, we will give you back your

freedom."

An under the table deal with a shadow government department. If comic books

and TV shows were anything to go by, then these deals usually never ended

well. Granted, that was just fiction, but it was grounded in common sense too.

The whole point of having a shadow department like this was to remove any

sense of accountability. To keep Aldrich on a leash that could be terminated at

any moment with no consequence.

"My freedom? Colonel, you seem to be under the very mistaken impression

that I lack freedom," said Aldrich.

Colonel Davos's eye looked down at Aldrich's cuffs. "You don't seem very free to

me."

"Freedom is all a matter of perspective, colonel," said Aldrich as he raised up

his cuffed arms. "These mean precious little to me. Let's just say as 1 am right

now, don't feel particularly chained down. In other words: freedom isn't

something you can use to bargain with me."

And this was very true. Aldrich was only negotiating with the government, the

AA, the Panopticon, the current power structure of the world, because he

wanted to give them a chance. If they made it too hard for him, he could just as

easily cut his losses and go out into the Wastelands to amass his power or even

try to join and overtake a villain organization from within.

Aldrich was the one with the freedom to act here.

"What? You think you'll walk away scot free in that hearing you talked about?"

Colonel Davos shook his head. "You think that just because you broadcasted on

national news that you would get that hearing that you're entitled to it?

It's entirely possible you never make it to your hearing. You might encounter

an unfortunate accident-"

"T'll only say this once, colonel, but threatening my life is the last thing you

should be doing," said Aldrich. His voice, usually calm, perhaps a little

sarcastic, now turned icy cold, laced with an inhuman rattle from his Lich

body.

Hearing this voice, the colonel instinctively shivered, his survival instincts

flaring and forcing him to step back.

Colonel Davos stepped forward again, regaining his confidence. "I'm offering

you an easy way out. If you get to that hearing, there's no guarantee that the

tribunal there will be lenient to you.

No, I would bet money that they'll order you to hand over everything you have,

your knowledge, your troops, access to your powers, and if you disobey that,

then you make yourself an enemy of not only the government, but the AA and

the Panopticon.

I don't have the power to change the minds on that hearing - that's outside of

my jurisdiction. But what I can do is induct you into my department.

You would disappear from the public eye forever, but you would still be free,

and you wouldn't have to worry about the entire government hunting you

down every single day of your life."

"Free? Now that doesn't sound like freedom to me," said Aldrich. "I would be

little more than your pet at that point, wouldn't I?"

"Call it what you want. It's either that or you get hunted down," said colonel

Davos. "Because you're far too dangerous to be kept alone.."