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Jason has spent a lot of time and effort trying to not get kidnapped on the streets of Gotham, and he’s doing pretty well all things considered. Unless you consider the fact that he’s been abducted by aliens, but Jason doesn’t think that should count because it’s technically not the same thing. Of course the most ideal way this ends is Jason escaping before he becomes subject zero to a bunch of alien experiments, but honestly he’s survived worse in Gotham.
This will be a piece of cake in the grand scheme of things, and later it will be a fun story to tell to all the other street kids, even if they won’t believe him at all.
Admittedly, waking up in a futuristic prison cell on a spaceship had been quite jarring, especially since he didn't know it was a spaceship upon first waking up. Originally, once giving himself a quick once over - his clothes were the same, but they took his fucking backpack those assholes - he had thought that he'd finally lost his flawless record of avoiding kidnapping.
Sure the cell was weirdly futuristic with what seemed like shatterproof glass making him feel strangely like a zoo animal in a glass enclosure, not an entryway or exit in sight. But still, his first thought was not 'ah, I'm in a space ship.' it was actually 'these kidnappers are rich, goddamn.'
Then a furry walked by. Except it wasn't a furry, it was an alien. Yes he screamed, no he's not ashamed to admit it. He just saw a fucking alien for the first time, just this once Jason will give himself a pass.
So alien abduction. Alright. Cool. His record of not being kidnapped is still flawless.
To Jason's displeasure, his scream doesn't startle the furry alien, but it does alert the being that Jason is both alive and awake. Normally he'd be upset about losing the element of surprise and the opportunity to try and eavesdrop while they think he's still asleep, but again, just this once he gets a pass. Plus, he doesn't even know if the aliens speak English and if they don't then eavesdropping would be pointless.
The alien bounces over, letting Jason get a better look at it. It looks shockingly similar to the blue aliens from that Avatar movie Jason never got to watch - he encountered a lot of ads for it - but this alien has much larger, almost cat-like ears. Much like a cat, they also have fur in place of hair, with not one but two tails trailing behind it. A dark blue, almost black fur surrounds it's large eyes, akin to the mask of a raccoon, and the same dark fur tips the ends of the tails and covers about half the way up their arms. Speaking of arms, the alien furry is lanky, far lankier than any human Jason has met, with slender human-like hands tipped with hooked claws. The legs throw Jason off even more, unlike the rest of the limbs which, while odd, still look marginally human, the alien has digitigrade legs with agile paw-like feet.
They also thankfully seem to have a concept of modesty - sort of, he doesn't see any shoes - as the alien in front of Jason is wearing both pants and a tight fitting tank top.
As the alien approaches Jason's enclosure - because it's becoming clear that it's less of a cell and more of an enclosure - Jason presses himself back into the corner of the room. While he can't see any exit or entrance, he's not about to stay in the middle of the room where he can't watch his back. In the corner, people can only approach him from the front, which he can see, and nothing or no one can sneak up on him.
Jason is expecting the alien furry to sound… well, animal-like when it talks to him, but to his surprise when it starts speaking it sounds a lot like what Jason imagines an old Indo-European language might sound like. Sort of like really, really, really old English but to the left and spoken with a bit of a rumble in the back of the throat. He's ashamed to admit it throws him off, he wasn't expecting it to sound so human.
When the alien talks it also lets Jason see that said alien has very sharp teeth, not like wolf or bear or lion sharp, but almost like a monkey. Which, sure it sounds like it'd be better, and it is a little bit, but Jason has seen enough pictures of snarling Baboons and Mandrills to have nightmares about encountering one.
The alien stops talking, looking at Jason expectantly. Jason glares at it. "Fuck off."
As expected, he gets no response. The alien just tilts it's head and blinks at him. An impromptu staring contest occurs then, as Jason refuses to look away first and the alien doesn't seem to need to blink as often as humans do. The alien looks away first, muttering something as it walks off, leaving Jason alone once more.
He doesn't move immediately, waiting for a few very long moments to make sure the alien isn't coming back before he lets himself explore his enclosure for the first time.
It's pretty bare bones, with what looks like a sort of alien version of a murphy bed hanging on the wall directly opposite to the glass. Fiddling with it indeed reveals that it's capable of folding up into the wall, becoming nearly seamless to the point where had it not been down in the first place, Jason probably wouldn't have known it was there. He feels along the wall where he knows the bed is and finds a button that lowers the bed back down. With this knowledge, Jason thoroughly inspects the entirety of the three non-glass walls, looking for similar buttons.
He ends up finding one other that leads to some sort of bathroom - thank god, he was getting worried about that actually - toilet, sink, and what he assumes is a shower all included. Unfortunately it's the only other thing he finds, and he can't even hid in the bathroom because if he spends more than an hour in there the door starts turning transparent.
Fucking aliens.
The aliens learn pretty quickly that Jason will only eat or drink something that comes to him sealed. Even then it took some trial and error on their part to figure this out. His first meal, they gave Jason what looked like a salad and a glass of water, watching him for a few minutes before seeming to decide that he might only eat when they're not around.
Except Jason didn't eat, part of him was tempted to pour the water out and throw the salad on the floor, but after careful consideration he concluded that was a bad idea because he'd either be left in the mess he made or they'd come in and clean it and either option was not ideal. So instead he just did the classic, pushing the tray as far away from him as possible and glaring at it from the opposite side of the enclosure until they get the message.
His second meal on the spaceship goes much the same, except they try a water bottle instead of a glass and a sandwich. They look especially hopeful when Jason actually picks up the water bottle to inspect it, it looks like any other plastic water bottle you'd buy in a grocery store on earth which is nice, but when he sees the seal has been broken he does actually throw the bottle - cap still on - at the window.
The aliens jump when it hits the window, but the bottle thunks harmlessly onto the floor in Jason's enclosure earning them a snort and snarky quip of: "What? You didn't see that coming?" From Jason as they give him what he thinks is an exasperated look. It's hard to tell with these guys.
At this point Jason was starting to get hungry and thirsty, but he would not give up just yet. Much to his relief, the furry aliens are pretty smart and despite not seeming to understand English finally correctly conclude that a sealed water bottle is something Jason will drink from as his next meal comes with one. It could still be a trap or drugged, but he figured that this is the best he's getting and he doesn't want to die up here so after cracking it open and giving it a sniff, he takes a tiny sip.
The aliens cheer. Jason flips them off, although he is suddenly terrified that their cheer is because they successfully tricked him. But when half an hour goes by and he still feels fine, he decides that the cheer is because they don't want him to die and he finally had some water. With tentative trust in the aliens and the bottle, Jason downs the rest of the bottle in relief.
It's after this incident that they get the message, and from then on his water is delivered to him via sealed water bottles, and following yet another meal where he refuses to eat, his food then starts coming in sealed packages that Jason recognizes from grocery stores. So either the aliens really stocked up on grocery store food in Gotham, or they're still close enough to earth that getting this stuff isn't hard. He really hopes it's the second one, because in that case escaping and getting back to earth will be so much easier.
The first thing Jason did after exploring his enclosure was moving all the bedding from the bed and to the floor underneath it to create a nice safe cave for him to sleep in. He spends most of his time in this cave, bored out of his mind. The regular food and water thing is nice, but after about a week - it's hard to tell time up here, but he's doing his best - the solitude and lack of literally anything for him to do beside occasionally watch the aliens when they appear outside his enclosure is starting to get to him. It's driving him crazy. And honestly, making him feel a bit depressed.
Jason kinda thought the whole "humans need social interaction" thing was sorta bullshit, but now he's starting to see the truth in it. It might not be as bad if he had something to do, but god he would kill for literally anyone to talk to. Anyone.
At the very least, the aliens seem to be concerned about Jason, which gives him hope that they want to keep him alive, and after a week of being up here with absolutely nothing happening he's pretty sure they don't want to experiment on him - at least not yet. Whatever the reason, they want Jason alive and Jason wants to stay alive, such he wants to be alive to escape and the aliens want him alive for a currently ambiguously unknown reason, but still. Their main goal is the same.
This doesn't mean he likes the aliens or even trusts them, but Jason likes to think they have a truce going right now. That being said, he's noticed more and more aliens stopping by his enclosure, chattering softly to one another while looking at Jason and then at holographic tablets. They must think he's sick or dying or something.
He's not. He's just bored and misses the company of human beings. Of course he can't tell them that, so he keeps to his cave and lets them worry. Maybe if they decide they can't figure it out, they'll wipe his memory and send him back to Earth. Or just kill him. Hopefully it's the first one.
Jason doesn't get sent back to earth, nor do they kill him. Much like the pattern the rest of his life has followed, fate decides upon a secret third option as an outcome instead of one of the other very obvious and sensible options. Like bringing him back or killing him. Both very reasonable and sensible options.
But no. No, the next time Jason wakes up there's a small pile of what Jason initially assumes to be blankets or maybe clothes. It's only when he sneaks forward and shakes off some of the sleepiness still clinging to his brain that Jason realizes that this pile is a whole ass child.
At thirteen years old, Jason is pretty small for his age - a result of living in poverty and all that fun stuff - but the new kid looks like he's in decent enough clothes so likely not another street kid like himself. Going off that assumption and the idea that a kid in a decent household would be an age appropriate size, he'd guess the new kid is about eight years old.
His brain sorta short circuits when the reality of what this kid being here means. He finally looks out into the space beyond his enclosure and yeah, the aliens all look like they're holding their breaths waiting for something. As if this new kid will suddenly heal Jason or whatever.
They abducted another kid so he wouldn't be lonely. Oh god. Oh fuck. No. No, no, no. They're not bringing Jason or this new kid back to Earth. They're also not killing the two of them either, because why abduct another kid if you were going to do either? Why abduct another kid if not to try and fix the one you already have, or have a backup if the first one is defective.
Okay, it's fine. Jason knew this wasn't going to be easy, and while he naively hoped that maybe they'd eventually bring him back to Earth, he realized his best option was to try and escape. But now he's got this other kid to worry about too and it just complicates everything.
He could leave the kid behind, but the thought of doing so makes him queasy. Unless the kid turns out to be an asshole, then Jason will gladly leave him behind no he won't, he'd still try to save them both.
Glaring at the aliens, Jason crawls out further from his makeshift cave and grabs the kid by the back of his jacket and pulls him across the smooth floor and under the bed with him. He does his best to be gentle, but manoeuvering a kid in a space this small proves to be more difficult than anticipated and getting the kid situated so that he's behind Jason is a challenge and a half.
Luckily whatever they gave the kid to knock him out still seems to be going strong, as the kid stays solidly unconscious. Jason tries not to think about the fact that they probably used the same shit on him when they abducted him and could have done so many different tests without him even knowing.
Jason continues to stand guard for the new kid, a useless endeavour in hindsight, but something that certainly makes him feel slightly better in the moment. The furry aliens come and go, seemingly satisfied with whatever arbitrary measurement of Jason's well being that they've come up with is back up to their standards.
Surprisingly enough, it isn't long before the new kid is waking up. He'd expected it to be longer before the kid woke up, but then again he has no frame of reference for any of this stuff given that he too was unconscious for an unknown amount of time before waking up himself. Unlike the newbie here, there was no one else in his enclosure with him to give him any idea of how long he'd been out for. Then again, he also only knows how long the kid's been out since Jason noticed him, but that's gotta be better than nothing he reasons.
The kid wakes up slowly, clearly disoriented and unaware of his surroundings.
"Psst," Jason whispers, keeping his hands off the kid so as to not startle him, but still leaning in close just in case. "Don't freak out," he continues, scrambling for something to say.
In his defence, there's no guide book on how to tell someone they've been abducted by aliens, and Jason wasn't given any time to prepare, so sue him. He's doing his best.
The kid jolts back. "Wha- ge' 'way." He mumbles groggily, weakly swatting in Jason's approximate direction.
Oh god, Jason realizes with stark horror. This kid is gonna get himself killed. I gotta watch out for him, he's helpless.
Jason quickly informs the kid - whom he soon learns is named 'Tim' and is actually 'seven and a half' - about everything that he knows and introduces himself as soon as Tim is fully awake and aware. Tim is obviously spooked, and despite knowing Jason for all of five minutes at this point, all but glues himself to Jason's side. The side Tim attaches himself too tingles weirdly for a moment, having grown unfamiliar with physical touch during his not so brief stint in space jail.
He's not ashamed to admit that he leans into the touch once it registers. He didn't even really realize how much he missed the touch of another human until Tim's valiant attempt to merge with him. Jason wraps the arm not held captive by Tim around Tim's shoulders and pulls him impossibly closer, blinking back tears by burying his face in Tim's hair.
He hasn't known Tim for long, but he feels attached to Tim in a way he's never felt before. Maybe it's because they've both been abducted by aliens, maybe it's the fact that Jason hasn't seen another person in what has got to be close to two weeks by now. Or maybe it's a combination of both, but either way Jason knows that as fucked up as it is, he's glad Tim is here.